Word Count: approx. 2402

Spoilers: Post-Series, Pre-Those Left Behind

Paring: Mal/Inara, Crew

Rating: PG

Author's Note: Still toiling away, slowly but kinda surely. The end grows closer.

Thanks as always to the loverly anjulie for graciously reading this over when I forced it down her chat window ;o)

Oh yeah, and I’ve taken away the ‘Epilogue’ for Part 14, because it’s gone way past being an Epilogue and into a full part, so… that’s where I’m at! :o) Thanks for reading!

Title: CHOICES – Part 14 D

Author: 2x2

By the middle of the next day, Simon decreed Inara stable enough to continue her bed rest in her shuttle, regularly supervised and monitored, and would likely soon be able to eat real food – or at least as real as it got on Serenity.

Inara was relieved, having quickly wearied of her inactivity and the sterility of her surroundings. Not that she wasn’t grateful for all Simon had and was doing for her, and she certainly had no lack of company; quite the opposite, in fact. But she felt exposed in the infirmary, and she longed for the soft comfort of her own bed and silks and the welcome privacy of some genuine solitude.

There was a great deal she still had to sort through and process, not the least of which was finding out what had actually happened to her once she and Mal had been whisked aboard the ship; Simon had put off her questions and none of the crew would discuss it when she prompted. She was seriously beginning to wonder if Mal hadn’t threatened them all with promises to kick them off the ship or throw them out the airlock or some such nonsense because no one was talking – all in an effort to spare her, she was certain, but the not-knowing was driving her mad. It was causing her more anxiety than if they would just come out and tell her. She gathered it must have been a near thing from the way they all avoided her eyes when she asked, but she was fine now if a little tired; had all her fingers and toes and other extremities and, as far as she could tell, was