Mal-Inara, garage and the Tams.

[bad_in_latin]

"Inara?"

Mal is enunciating pretty clearly in the relatively miniscule space of the shuttle. It's been a quiet afternoon, but Mal's book gets closed and shoved off onto the top of the foot locker by the end of the bed with a distinct thump.

"Doin' anything that can't be interrupted?"

He's been fidgety all afternoon.

Comments

[makesmeatease]

Inara jumps at the thump of the book, blinking as she's brought out of her reverie. She blinks, for a moment, at the letter open on her screen before turning to Mal. "No. What is it?"

[bad_in_latin]

"We have to go to Milliways. I need to show you somethin'."

Mal leans over the edge of the bed, pulling up the hems of the covers to try and look for both his boots and Inara's shoes.

"[I got to get you to stop cleaning]," Mal mumbles in exasperation.

[makesmeatease]

Inara laughs softly and moves to her closet, taking out their shoes. "Everything has a place, qin ài de."

She looks at him as she hands him his boots. "You need to show me something? Everything okay?"

[bad_in_latin]

Mal takes his boots from Inara's hands, fingertips grazing skin for half a second before turning to laces in a measured pace. "I've been needing to show you something for awhile, but it ain't been right til now."

When someone else forced Mal's hand about it, he notes to himself.

"Nobody's dead or bleeding; that right there puts me ahead of my usual statistics, don't you think?"