Laundry day was always a good day, in Mal’s opinion. Particularly when it was done at Celestial Liu’s Laundry on Persephone. Liu was fast and somehow always managed to get the bloodstains out of Mal’s shirts without asking questions. Plus, Liu always called him “Captain Mal” and never hassled him if he had somehow managed to misplace his “tickee.” Which, given Mal’s line of work, tended to happen with alarming frequency.

With just about anyone else, Liu’s strict policy was “No tickee, no washee.” But somehow for his good friend Captain Mal, he made an exception. Efficient and not overly nosy went a long way with Mal. When he could afford to do so, he always tipped Liu a bit extra. Mal also suspected that the time he sent Jayne to have a chat with a local tong boss trying to extort protection money out of Liu also went a long way toward building good will and clean undergarments.

Although he’d never admit to it, when Liu did his laundry, it always smelled better. Not all flowery, but kinda the way his Ma’s laundry did from when he was a kid. So the neat bundle River had brought back, all wrapped in white tissue and tied with red silk ribbon was a good thing.

He set it down on the bunk and carefully untied the ribbon, setting it aside so he could give it to River at a later date, as she liked to use them to tie back her hair. Undid the paper, folded it back and…

Stopped and stared.

For atop his neatly pressed and folded pants and shirts was something that was clearly not his. First off, he didn’t wear sheer lace. Second, purple was not his color. And third, he didn’t have the correct anatomy to properly fill the upper half of those two particular matching garments.

But the part that stopped him dead cold was one of Liu’s infamous “tickees,” pinned to the garments in question. At the very bottom, in Liu’s distinctive scrawl, were two words: “Miss Inara.” Dear Sweet Baby Buddha, he was staring right at what she wore under her…when she…

Visions of her in that matching purple bra and panty set s