Independently Blue:

this fic is inspired by characters and situations created by joss whedon, tim minear and brett matthews, i have no claim or copyright on this material.

PG-13 - part one.

this story is set quite some time after Serenity the movie but flashes back to episodes from the firefly series and some of my earlier fics.

part one

Objects in Space. Funny how many things in life come down to that.

Given the chance Inara Serra might have reflected ruefully on the truth of it.

But time was a luxury she was frequently forced to for-go, and so this is the story of a bar stool, a head -

and if not star-crossed love... then certainly crossed eyes seeing stars.

Anyhow the story goes something like this.

Woman walks into a bar -

No wait, I'll back it up some.

Inara Serra's shuttle tucked itself like a chick under the protective wing of its mother as it slipped into place on the starboard side of Serenity.

It had been a while.

"That you keeping me steady, Zoe?" Inara's voice was edged with brightness put there like lip-stick, but she was sure the pilot would understand. Hell, with Serenity pitched up here on a moon that even Mother Buddha would have overlooked, the arrival of her shuttle must be something of a pleasant distraction at least.

Inara was taken aback when she heard an unfamiliar voice and a male one.

"You must be the Ambassador we've been expecting."

She sucked in a breath.

"That's not a title I chose for myself," in fact it's old - can we just not go there please, "but yes - this is Inara."

"Welcome back to Serenity."

Inara had done the math. "You must be Shepherd Face," she said neutrally.

"That would be me, uh-huh. Call me Solomon, everybody else doesn't."

"That's a nice name. Are you very wise Solomon?"

A momentary pause.

"Well, I'm here anyway."

"And that makes two of us. I've been looking forward to meeting you," she lied smoothy. It wasn't malicious, just... damn if Book's death didn't still...

But she closed that off. That was fo