Firefly is not mine. Forgive me if the fighting is a bit awkward. I generally don't write unarmed combat.

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IV. A Bit of a Ruckus

Mal liked nights aboard Serenity, when the crew was asleep. He liked how it felt. The ship was the only place in the universe. Everything else, the horrors, the worries, the failures, the needs, they didn’t exist. It was just him and his boat.

And Inara, at the moment. He heard her voice in the shuttle as he walked past. Why that woman found it necessary to stay awake at all hours of the night escaped him, but it offered an opportunity for some fun at her expense. He needed it. It was hard to shake the feeling that things were about to get more complicated than he’d bargained for.

He found her on the Cortex, her back turned to him. “Didn’t know you were still looking for clients,” Mal commented, moving to peer over her shoulder.

She pulled the curtain over the console and turned to glare at him. “It’s none of your business.”

Mal was prone to object to that, so he didn’t acknowledge her protest. “You have been dancing around something lately.”

“It’s just some ancient history.” She fixed him with a brutal, no-nonsense glare. “None of your—”

The door suddenly slammed shut, followed by a loud ‘thump’.

Mal rushed over to open it, yanking at it with everything he had. He turned to Inara. “Tzao gao. Locked.”

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“There you are,” River said, watching the intruder finish with Inara’s door, “I knew something was wrong.”

He turned and vaulted over the railing to land right in front of her. She pulled back half a step at the sight of his icy green eyes. “River Tam.” His voice held satisfaction, nothing else. “I’m going to kill you.”

River felt a flutter of fear, but reason soon dispelled it. They had been trained by the same people—and she had always been the best. “You’re going to try.”

He lashed out, but she had already ducked, sweeping his feet out from under him. He caught himself and pushed back to his feet, throwing an upper