TITLE: "PARLOUR GAMES"

AUTHOR: Alison M. DOBELL

FANDOM: "FIREFLY"

PAIRING: Mal/Inara.

RATING: PG-13.

STATUS: SEQUEL to "NO HIDING PLACE"

ARCHIVE: Yes. Just let me know where.

FEEDBACK: Welcomed.

EMAIL: AlisonMDobell@aol.com

WEBSITE: http://carlajane.50megs.com/Ali00.html

SUMMARY: "Mal and the crew take a job on Sophia.

Simon accompanies his mother to see the Chancellor

before moving on to the next level of his plan."

The usual disclaimers apply. The characters and 'Firefly'

are the property and gift of Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy.

No infringement of copyright is intended.

"PARLOUR GAMES"

"Firefly" story

Written by Alison M. DOBELL

* * * * *

Sophia. A beautiful surfeit of average. Every hill and plain of her as unremarkable as could be without being specifically terraformed to be just a notch above nondescript. The kind of mid rim world you could lose yourself in and not nobody would notice your coming or your going. Mal fell in love with it immediately. The others, not so much. It made no never mind to Zoe whether it was made of mud and *goushi* or platinum. It was a planet with little or no Alliance presence and for now that was shiny. Inara Serra considered her options, her body still warm and heated from the night's excursions, her mind still reeling from the fact that she and Mal had finally stopped dancing around each other and given in to their feelings. Part of her was waiting for the fire and brimstone, the other part expecting to wake and find it had all been a dream.

But then the dream gave a languid moan and warm very male limbs stirred, arms wrapped slowly around her as the Captain rolled from his back to his side, eyes slitting open as lazy as a cat on the verge of sleeping. Inara knew he was anything but and marvelled how Mal could go from the depths of sleep to not only awake but bright eyed and alert in a matter of seconds. His reflexes were not the only thing she fou