Title: Something to Talk About

Pairing: Mal & Inara

Rating: PG

Disclaimer: I Own Nothing

Author's Notes: This is just something I put together. I don't believe I have ever tried my hand at writing "Firefly" but I've certainly read a lot of them, and I am, of course, a big fan of the Mal and Inara pairing. This takes place post-BDM but the exact time, I purposely made unknown... or it could be due to my own laziness.

“So.”

“So,” Mal repeated, his breathing returning to normal.

“What are we going to do now? Will we be keeping this a secret from the crew or will we throw caution in the wind and just tell them?”

“Thought I be the one to think up a plan like that.”

“You’re taking your sweet time.”

“Maybe I wanted you all to myself,” he said with a sly smile.

Inara ignored him. “Maybe.”

“Do you want to tell them?” he asked a little more seriously.

“I don’t know,” she answered honestly. “It just makes things–” Inara couldn’t find the words, but fortunately, Mal did.

“Real.”

“Yes.”

-----------------

“I remember when I was on Sihnon, one of my fondest memories was spending time in the library. Randomly choosing books from the Earth-that-was section. Such beautiful stories.”

Mal smiled. “Who were your favorites?”

“It wouldn’t interest you.”

“Let me be the judge of that.”

“All right.” Inara relaxed against him, for the first time letting a man take her in his arms without having to hold back. “At the Guild, they focus a lot on works that shows the negative side of relationships, as another way to teach us not to make the same incalculable mistake. I remember one written recently, a tragic story about a woman named Penelope and her lover.”

“Let me guess,” Mal said. “Unlike the famous heroine that shared her name, the lover was no Odysseus.”

“Okay, Mal,” Inara said and was suddenly out of his arms and facing him with a look of intense interest. “For a border raised independent ex-soldier and now-smuggler, you are frustratingly wel