Disclaimer: These characters belong to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy. But the love I feel for them is all mine.

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A Marriage of Convenience.

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“You gonna take all day to unload one mule? Sometimes I think I'm payin' you too much. Only person of this boat as makes a livin' from lyin' on her back is Inara here. Come on, people. Look lively!”

“We've been looking 'lively' all morning, Sir,” Wash replied, coating the last word with heavy sarcasm as he got to his feet. “Which is why we're lookin' big with the dead tired now.”

“Yeah. Whatever. Got everythin' on the list?”

“Special delivery for you, Cap'n Grumpy, Sir,” Kaylee twinkled up at him, holding out a package wrapped in brown paper.

Mal set it down on one of the crates and began carefully unpeeling the packaging under the watchful eyes of his pilot, mechanic and shuttle tenant.

“You bought my wife a birthday present?” Wash demanded as Mal lifted a box from the package, his jealous outrage not entirely feigned.

“I sincerely hope not,” Inara said, regarding the pink and white gingham box with its candy striped ribbon with undisguised distaste. “I can't imagine Zoe wanting anything from that store.”

“Ain't for her,” Mal snipped huffily. Clasping the box close to his chest, he bounded off up the stairway two steps at a time.

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There was something about the tall, broad-shouldered woman fixing herself a mug of coffee in the mess that seemed familiar to Jayne. He desperately tried to recall the previous night and whether he had brought back one of the village whores to his bunk. He really hoped not, because there was something about this woman's back that told him her face would be powerful ugly.

“'Scuse me, ma'am,”he said as politely as he could, just in case she was a paying passenger that Mal might take objection to him insulting, “but mugs an' such for passengers is over th..”

His jaw fell open in disbelief as the woman turned around to face him. For some reason he couldn't fathom, the Captain was standing right there