Love, Loyalty and Serenity: Conclusion

By the time they docked with Serenity, the storm outside had abated. The storm in Inara had also subsided; in fact, she was sound asleep. Mal shook her awake. She sat up slowly and moaned.

“Leave me be,” she slurred. Her eyes were only half-open. Mal supported her as she stumbled out of her seat and he led her toward the hatch.

“We’re back. Home. C’mon, ‘Nara. You look like you sorely need your bed.”

“Bed,” she echoed.

The walk to her shuttle was a long one for Inara in her utterly spent condition. Mal never once let go of her arm. She moved woodenly, like a zombie, her beautiful dark eyes empty and lifeless. Inside, Mal sat down next to her on the bed, not yet willing to leave her alone to wrestle with her newly captured memories. It had been too long since she had last spoken and he was beginning to wonder if the nightmare of the last few weeks was starting all over again. He reached out and tentatively touched her arm, not sure what she needed or what he was able to offer her.

“Inara?” he asked.

She turned and went behind the ornate privacy screen that dominated one wall. He swallowed and pretended not to look as she stripped off her soaked clothes without much thought as to whether he was watching and emerged wrapped in a dry robe. She was shaking and wore a shattered, defeated expression. Mal watched her sympathetically.

“Need anything?” He asked.

“Please don’t leave me alone,” she said, astonishing them both.

“What?”

“Please?”

“If that’s what you want.”

He had no experience with the fragile, needy side of this normally sharp-tongued, independent woman. It appeared Inara was surprising her own self as well. She hesitantly curled up in a ball on one side of the bed. He stared as she pulled the coverlet up over her body and lay down, all the while watching him with woeful uncertainty. He stood there frozen for longer than she could bear. She finally reached over and tugged feebly at his sleeve. It worked; he