Inara opened her shuttle door frowning as the smell became even stronger then inside. She hasn’t smelled a smell like this since – ever! It was so nauseating she was risking meeting the dinner she ate last night. She saw Simon coming, holding a surgical mask to his face,

“What is this smell?” he asked, disgust evident in his voice “Smells like sulphur…ugh!”

Inara’s eyes were actually watering by now and ever the gentleman, Simon handed her another mask from his pocket.

“I think it’s coming from the galley, where are the others?” she asked as she looked around for any member of the crew.

“Kaylee’s in our bunk Zoe and Jayne are in their bunks too. The smell isn’t this awful as out here. I’ll just go back to ask Kaylee if she needs anything, there must be a problem with the toxic waste.” He theorized, disgust evident in is expression.

Inara headed to the galley and what she saw was something she would remember for the rest of her life.

Mal was fumbling with pans and green gunk was all over the place, including him. He managed to turn off the oven and sighed…his expression was both disappointed and sad and just plain defeated – defeated by ex-veggies.

He threw the pan and some utensils in the sink, not caring about the noise they made. Inara felt sorry for him, everyone made fun of his cooking…Simon liked to remind him that he wasn’t any better than him and the more he tried, the bigger the disaster.

Mal noticed her presence and the sad expression he had stopped her from laughing or commenting.

“Just say it.” He muttered as he turned around and sat on a chair “The other are probably dead from laughter or from the smell.”

Inara knelt in front of him, getting what she wanted – a surprised look and him diverting his attention from his self-pity to her “Mal you were planning on cooking something special. I can tell because of all the things on the cupboard but today wasn’t your turn to cook. It was mine, why did you try to cook today?”

He just looked at her and those sad eyes where almo