Mal sat up and looked around. For a minute, the interior of Inara’s shuttle looked back at him in the semi-darkness, while Inara breathed softly beside him.

“Gorram,” he whispered, waiting for something to confirm what had woken him. “I coulda sworn ...”

“Could have sworn what?” He turned and Inara’s eyes were open, looking up at him.

“Coulda sworn Serenity did a hard burn.”

She smiled. “That would be a neat trick, with Linda in sick bay and the ship on auto-pilot.”

“Well, something woke me,” he said slowly, and scanned the room again as if waiting for something to jump out. “And I been trusting my instincts too long to just let it go.”

Inara reached up and touched his shoulder. He looked down at her, and her face was serious.

“I’ve learned to trust your instincts, too, Mal. Wash always used to say the ship had a mind of her own, so maybe she did do a hard burn. But I’m sure she had her reasons, and it’s not happening anymore, is it?”

Mal took a few seconds to collect his thoughts.

“You think the ship did it ... her own self? Do you really believe that, ‘Nara?”

“I don’t know for sure.” Inara shrugged. “After all, it’s a big Verse, and hundreds of impossible things happen every day. Just look at me here, in bed with you.” She smiled to let him know she was joking. “But whether the ship did a hard burn or not, it’s not doing it now. Maybe you should get back to sleeping? After all, you’ve got all those captainy things you’re supposed to be doing in the morning, don’t you?”

He looked at her for a few more seconds, then smiled and shook his head.

“Yeah, those captainy things ...” After another minute, the Captain sighed. “I guess I can tell Kaylee to check the engines tomorrow. That’s a captainy thing, too. I’ll add it to the list.”

Inara nodded solemnly, and Mal lay back down again. She melted into him as he put his arm around her, and she sighed as well. For a few minutes, there was quiet.

“Mal?” Inara whispered.

“Sorta working on that whole sleeping thing a