Inara and Mal headed towards the galley, the smell of bacon and toast filling their nostrils as they walked. The nearer they came to the enticing smell, the more Inara tried to disentangle her hand from Mal’s, just like she usually did, but this time he didn’t let go. She shot him a look, silently using her eyes to question his actions. His response was to pull her closer and kiss her. At first, she tensed from the shock of what he was doing on such a public place but it had to happen sometime so she just relaxed against him and kissed him back.

Kaylee’s squeal brought Inara back to reality and she realized where they were standing. She looked around; the entire crew was there in the galley, looking at the hatch where she and Mal were standing. They all had smiles on their faces.

Within seconds, Inara found herself in the crushing embrace of her best friend, who was practically pushing Mal down the hallway in her fury to reach Inara.

“I’m so happy for ya Inara!!” Kaylee stated, a huge smile spreading across her face.

“Thanks Kaylee,” Inara hugged back.

Before Mal had a chance to slip away, Kaylee turned her attentions to him, crushing him in a bone-breaking hug.

“I love my capt’n!” Kaylee said, grabbing the two of them by the hands and pulling them down the stairs into the galley.

“About gorramn time they stopped beatin’ ‘round the ruttin’…” Jayne started to say only to be interrupted by a slap upside the head so strong it almost made his head touch the plate full of food he was eating. River accompanied the slap with her best attempt at an intimidating look.

“She knew,” Simon said to no one in particular, “she always knows…”

River smirked at her brother, and stuck her tongue out in his direction.

“Brat,” Simon muttered. He was still smiling as he gazed upon Kaylee who had finally stopped fussing over the captain and her best friend.

“We’ve been waitin’ for this,” said Zoe, mater-of-factly, although Inara could tell Zoe was still smirking in Jayne’s general direction; Jayne w