CHAPTER THREE

"He’s real sweet, usually," Kaylee told Drake as she sat down next to him on the couch. "He’ll warm up. He’s just not the kind who knows how to be friendly right off."

"Looks like he had a little crush on you," Drake said with a laugh.

"Yeah, well," Kaylee muttered, trying to ignore the feeling of guilt pressing down on her heart. "It ain’t like he didn’t have his chance."

"His loss is my gain," Drake said lustfully. "I don’t suppose you’d have any wine, would you?"

"Wine?" Kaylee asked, laughing a little. "Why would you . . .?"

"I feel like celebrating my gain," he said simply.

"Then you’re in luck. Wine I got."

"This is just my lucky day," Drake said. His voice, tinted with utter amazement, made Kaylee laugh. "I don’t want to drink it here, though," he told her. "We should go somewhere more private."

Kaylee giggled, "Don’t want too-serious doctors sneaking up on us do we? And the preacher’ll be back any minute."

"Your room?" he asked hopefully.

Kaylee opened her mouth to assent, but quickly remembered that River was hidden up in Zoë and Wash’s room, which meant Simon would be in and out of the crew quarters. She didn’t want him to see her steal away with Drake, although she didn’t bother to think about why that was. "The shuttle," Kaylee suggested. "After all, it’s why you’re so lucky."

"No, it’s not," Drake said suggestively, leaning forward so he could nuzzle her neck with his nose.

Kaylee kept giggling as she stood up, grabbing his hand and pulling him up with her. "Come on," she said, smiling sweetly. "We’ll fetch the wine and then I’ll give you a tour of the shuttle."

"Is it that big?"

"No," Kaylee said, shaking her head playfully. "But I know every little corner."

"Then by all means," Drake said. "Let’s get that wine."

* * *

"So," Ojal, one of Inara’s fellow companions, asked. "Tell us all about your adventures."

Inara laughed and turned to her dinner. It was nice, she thought, to be eating dinner with one’s colleagues in an intimat