Title: Afterlife Parts V & VI

Not Mine: All the characters and little plot references belong to Joss and Co...

Setting: Takes place after the movie. (Some spoilers). Everyone tries to move on. This part picks up where Part IV left off...

V

Mal entered the empty kitchen, and in the comforting half light he went behind the stove and poured a cup of tea from the iron pot. With great effort he pulled out one of the wicker chairs and sank down under the weight of all the decisions he was facing. He was used to having the fate of others in his hands, but he never took it lightly, and knowing what needed to be done didn’t make it any easier to do. What was easier was to stay put and wear away the hours and the days. He took a sip of the hot liquid and felt it course through him as he lowered his head into his hands.

Inara stood quietly watching him in the doorway as her heart skipped a beat. Part of her wanted to turn and run, he hadn’t seen her yet, and he didn’t have to. A larger part of her wanted to reach out to him, despite the pain it might cause her, just as she’d done before. She folded her slender arms against her floor length sleeveless peach silk gown and bit her lower lip. The question of whether she would be staying or leaving remained unanswered between them, as did so much else. She had been taught to expertly read and understand a man, and his desires, but the Captain confounded her like no other. As much as she tried to reason herself out of it, she cared for him, and as much as she tried to deny it, she was in love with him.

“Mal?”

He lifted his head and turned at the sound of her nightingale voice behind him. The room’s glow seemed to change sources and radiate from her.

“Hi there,” he told her, “I didn’t hear you come in.” Her long black hair fell loosely around her shoulders in waves, the way he liked it. His blue eyes drifted over her, lingering over her beautiful face, then drifted down over her dress, admiring the way it clung to her curves.

She entered the