“You gonna laze around in here listenin' to that mournful noise all day?" Mal asked, entering the shuttle as the last strains of a song faded and then started up again - the same tune that had been repeating for the last two hours.

"What I do with my time is my business, Captain. And I'll thank you to stay out of both," Inara snapped at him from where she lay on her sofa, a slender arm covering her eyes. She didn't bother to identify her visitor as he barged in, there was no need. None of Serenity's other occupants would ever dream of behaving as rudely as her captain.

"Oh, I got no intention of gettin' into your business, darlin'. But you been mopin' about this shuttle for the past two days, and even Kaylee ain't been able to get you outta this funk you're in. So, that tells me somethin's either wrong, or botherin' you, and seein' as how you got my crew all worried, seems to make it my business."

“You may assure your crew that Companions do not suffer from funks, that if something were bothering me you’d be the last person I would ever tell, and please feel free to close the door on your way out. Oh, and don’t call me 'darlin’'.”

Mal smirked and strolled to her couch where he sat and leaned back comfortably. "Well, now – darlin'," he said, stretching his hands behind his head. "Way I see it, you got two options. Either you tell me what the trouble is, we sort it out together and I go on my merry, or I sit here – an' I got lots of time, darlin' – and make you crazy 'till you give in, tell me what the trouble is, and we sort it out together. So...which is it, Inara?"

Pulling the pillow tighter to her stomach, Inara sighed. “You are quite possibly the most irritating ma