Hi! New post-er here :). I've been off work this week so have of coursed re-watched my box set and the BDM as well as drooled over my visual companion (Merry Christmas to me!) sort of obsessively for the last few days and suddenly got inspired to write this fic. I was spurred on mostly by the trunk business Joss mentions in the visual companion and the comments Nathan and Morena made that I just loved. Also, to be honest I wasn't anywhere near satisfied with how Mal and Inara parted ways in the comic book so I thought I’d try my hand at it (though I’m sure it’s been done a million times before and much better). One of my favorite moments in Firefly occurs between the two of them in OIS and I’d been kicking around for a while the idea of exploring what could have happened after it and am kind of intending to incorporate that into this fic (It’s already in here but I want to expound a whole *lot* more :)). Any comments or suggestions are really appreciated since this is my first foray into the Firefly fic world, and it's admittedly a little rough.

***

The trunk was half hidden under the bed, its smooth polished surface reflecting the sunlight that splashed in through the uncurtained window like glass, the clasps glittering, glowing through the shadows under the skeletal frame.

He doesn’t know how she missed it, this one shining thing in the wake of all this darkness, when it was like a beacon to him, that one corner caught in the light.

He saw it the moment he stepped inside the shuttle and he had gone to it, knelt beside it, his fingers tracing the gold and silver inlay briefly before giving it a shove, sending it further under the bed and tossing the original mattress down on top of it, not even really making the decision to do so until it was already done, and then faking a final once-over as Jayne stuck his head in, asked if they was done yet, if everything was out.

He nodded once, slapped his hands on his thighs, and said, “yep”, before turning on his heel and following him out onto the catwal