Torchwood/Doctor Who & Firefly - fic - A Dance to the Music of Time, Jack/Inara, 15/R
Fandoms - Torchwood/Doctor Who and Firefly
Title - A Dance to the Music of Time
Author - laurab1
Pairing - Jack Harkness/Inara Serra (couple of others implied - wait and see)
Rating - 15/R, for semi-explicit sex, and Jack's filthy mind
Length - ~2900 words
Spoilers - TW - 1.12, Captain Jack Harkness, DW - 27/1.9 & 10, The Empty Child & The Doctor Dances, FF - episode 5, Shindig
Summary - Written for the crossover challenge on tw_exchange. Prompt 80, by kallanda_lee - Firefly: Jack and Inara dance together
Warning - A tiny bit of kink
Disclaimer - These people belong to the BBC and Joss Whedon, not me
Thanks to in_the_bottle for beta-reading, art advice and Chinese help.
Feedback is loved and appreciated :) Enjoy! If you only want to ogle Morena Baccarin and/or John Barrowman, then comments aimed solely at the cover (click x3 for full size) are just fine ;)
A Dance to the Music of Time
by Laura
Serenity’s on her way to Persephone. Maybe Mal and the crew will find a job, maybe they won’t, but that isn’t Inara Serra’s main concern. A few days ago, she had put the word out on the Cortex, that she would soon be on Persephone, and she’s clicking through the messages from potential clients.
Inara can’t find anyone that interests her, even among her regulars. However, she does learn about a ball, apparently the ‘social event of the season.’
“Oh, let’s just do this the old-fashioned way,” she says to herself, getting up from her desk and going to her wardrobe. Opening it, she takes out the five dresses that show off her fabulous assets to their full advantage. Trying on each one in turn, she decides on the gold one. As she exchanges the dress for her robe, and finishes putting the other ones back in the wardrobe, there’s a knock at the door of her shuttle. “Come in,” Inara says, and Captain Mal Reynolds enters her domain. “Good afternoon, Captain,” she greets.
“Morning,” Mal replies. “We're downing, and in case Wash don't kill us all, local time's gonna be in the a.m., ten or so.”
“Yes, I saw that.” Does he have another motive for being in her shuttle?
She left the Cortex screen open, and Mal then makes vague pointing gestures towards it. “Making plans?” he asks.
‘Would it be any of your business if I was?’ Inara thinks bitterly. “Yes, I am,” she tells him. “I’m attending a ball tomorrow night.”
“On your own?” Mal asks.
“On my own,” she confirms. “I couldn’t find anyone that appealed, and I do have to pay you my rent.” Mal’s eyes go a little wide at that, and Inara laughs to herself.
Then he has to go fishing for information, and disrespecting how she earns her living. Again. ”Tell me,” he says, “all the men there have to pay for their dates, or just the young rich ones with stamina?”
“Most of the women there will not be Companions,” she informs him, “if that's what you're asking. Perhaps the other men couldn't attract one.”
“Huh. Sounds like the finest party I can imagine getting paid to go to.”
“I don't suppose you'd find it up the standards of your outings. More conversation and somewhat less petty theft and getting hit with pool cues.” A little condescension, just for effect.
She moves to the door, to encourage Mal to leave her in peace, if he’s still not going to make a move. “I understand, if you need to go prepare for that ‘it's ten in the morning’ issue.”
He gets the message, it seems. “Yeah. Better do that. Cuz I think this is more of an evening look.” He indicates his clothes, and exits the shuttle.
***
Inara spends much of the following afternoon preparing for the ball, carefully slipping into her dress, styling her hair, applying make-up and donning jewellery. She smiles at her reflection, says goodbye to the others, and goes off to the ball.
***
Captain Jack Harkness recently left March 1941, and the middle of the London Blitz. Having just perpetrated yet another incredibly successful con, once again screwing over the Time Agency something rotten in the process, the ex-agent with a stolen name and a stolen past is now in the Time Vortex. In his stolen Chula timeship, he’s jumping the tracks with complete and utter abandon, a huge grin on his face.
He needs to celebrate the fantastic monetary outcome of his con, and some drinking and dancing will do just the job. Anything more will be an added, and much welcome bonus. “Computer, I wanna make a stop, please.” Jack slows the engines a little.
“Affirmative,” a semi-robotic, generic American female voice replies. She’s a personality chip he bought from Sirius Cybernetics, on Alpha Centauri. While he’d been distracted by some...dancing, his ship had been invaded. By some kind of really small dog. It had taken hours to get them all out.
“Can you scan for a party I could crash, anywhere or anywhen near our current location?” he asks. “I really want to have a dance and a drink.”
“Affirmative,” the computer replies, and produces a sequence of bleeps, whirrs and flashing lights. “There is a ball that fits your requirements,” she soon tells him. “May 2517, Athens, on Persephone.”
“Persephone? As in the Greek goddess of the underworld?” Jack asks, emphasis on ‘underworld.’
“Affirmative.”
“Sounds like just my kinda place. And you know how much I love balls,” Jack says mischieviously, (he’d swear she makes a sound that could be classed as embarrassment at that - doesn’t she know him by now?) taking the ship to the right year and location, and then leaving the time tracks. There’s a jolt as he does this. “Prepare for atmospheric entry and landing, Computer.”
Jack asks the computer to pinpoint the exaction location of the ball. He lands his ship near the ballroom, secures it, and goes off to the ball. Flashing psychic paper gains him entry. He’s announced by the usher. The ballroom is beautiful. So many well-dressed, gorgeous people. And an amazing, floating chandelier. “I’m in heaven,” Jack says, smiling.
***
“Miss Inara Serra,” the usher says, announcing her presence at the ball.
She sees a friend, and sitting beside him on the couch, Inara compliments him, "Lao peng you, ni kan qi lai hen you jing shen." Rising, she sees a man approaching her, various kinds of intent written all over his face.
He’s wearing a blue-grey uniform, which does wonders for his physique, but he’s quite clearly not Alliance, because he’s actually smiling. Added to that, his uniform bears an insignia Inara doesn’t recognise - a pair of bird’s wings. His manner is somewhere between Mal’s and Simon’s. To top it all off, he asks her to dance. How could she possibly refuse?
***
Standing by the marble pillar to the right of the musicians, a glass of champagne in his hand, Jack watches the latest arrival to the ball say a few words to someone. His wrist computer tells him she’s speaking Mandarin Chinese, a language Jack has yet to master, and as she gets up from the couch, he runs his eyes over her, slowly and carefully.
Curves in all the right places, he notes, eyes painted like Cleo’s (she’d absolutely loathed that pet name), full, red, sensuous lips, hair piled up on her head and decorated like a European princess, a deliciously low cut dress, and as a finishing touch, diamonds round her neck and on her ears.
In short, really hot. Carrying herself like Satine had done... The realisation hits Jack as an afterthought. He hadn’t planned on paying for his “anything more”, but he’ll quite happily pay this gorgeous woman. He deposits his glass on a passing (very attractive) waiter’s tray. Smile on, and charm at the ready, Jack strides over to Inara.
“Captain Jack Harkness at your service, Miss Serra,” he announces, taking her hand, and bringing it up to his lips to kiss her knuckles. “Would you like to dance?”
The band starts a waltz, Jack’s favourite, and she immediately replies, with a smile, “I would love to, Captain Harkness.”
Jack grins, holds her in the correct manner and leads her to the dance floor.
***
As they move around the dance floor, Captain Jack Harkness decides to tell Inara the history of the waltz. She knows all of this, of course, having studied it at the Companion Training School, but his voice is really sexy, so she’s perfectly happy to just let him talk.
“The waltz first became fashionable in Vienna around the 1780s, spreading to many other countries in the years to follow,” he says. “The dance, and especially its closed position, became the example for the creation of many other ballroom dances. Quite a scandal, that closed position caused,” Jack continues. “All that fuss, over a bit of personal contact,” he says wickedly, tightening his hold on Inara, and pulling her close.
“Wo de tian!” Inara gasps, as she feels his body against hers.
Jack just smiles lasciviously at her.
“Gaisi,” she mutters distractedly.
And then the usher announces Kaylee’s presence, with an escort. Looking over to the entrance, Inara sees that Mal is Kaylee’s so-called escort. “Tamade,” she says, rolling her eyes. Something very bad is very likely to happen, now.
“Inara?” Jack sounds somewhat concerned.
“Here, Captain.” She returns her attention to him, smiling. The music changes to a different rhythm, he smiles back, and they begin a new dance.
***
Going through the steps of another dance from 1830s Europe, Jack decides to show his hand, and make a proposition. He pulls Inara close again, and whispers in her ear, “How much? For one night with you?”
“Captain!” she chides, but Jack suspects that it's mainly for effect, ‘cause when he looks at her, she’s smiling. Besides, like chiding him’s actually going to have any effect. Jack could have played the fish out of water card, and claimed to not know how this society works, but that clearly wouldn’t have worked on Inara, and it appears he has already successfully charmed his way into her bed.
“How much, Inara?” he repeats, with a little growl, also for effect.
“Whatever you’re willing to pay, Jack.”
Personally, that’ll be a lot. He suspects the same goes for most of Inara’s clients. ’A girl after my own heart,’ Jack thinks, impressed at her business acumen. “C’mon, then. Let’s go and have our wicked way with each other.” He winks at her, offering his arm.
***
Before they depart, Inara checks that she won’t be missed. Mal's speaking to Sir Warrick, indicating that he might have found a job, and Kaylee's holding court with some fellow mechanics. So she takes Jack’s arm, and they walk out of the ballroom without attracting attention.
When they’re outside, Jack separates from her. Pulling a silver control out of his pocket, he says, “I’ll be right back,” and blinks out of sight. A few minutes later, he blinks back into sight.
Inara isn’t quite sure how to react to that.
“Is this enough?” He hands her a box of credit chips.
Looking at just how much money he’s given her, Inara says, “More than enough. This will buy you a very good time, Captain.”
“I hope so, ma’am.” He grins at her.
They attract a taxi to take them back to Serenity, and Inara’s shuttle.
Jack opens the door, and lets her go inside first. “It’s hardly a black cab, but it’ll serve its purpose.”
Inara has absolutely no idea what he’s talking about.
***
They aren’t greeted by anyone, when they arrive at the ship. Inara leads the way.
“This is better than my ship,” Jack whistles, when they arrive at Inara’s shuttle. He closes the door behind him, and sits on the edge of her bed.
Inara locks the door, and places the money on her desk. She then looks in a mirror and starts to remove her jewellery; Jack takes off his uniform jacket, places it on a chair and watches her reflection closely. When she’s done, and her hair’s loose, she turns back to him, asks him to stand, and begins to remove his clothes. Then, Inara takes off her dress, and Jack removes her underwear.
And then she tumbles him onto the bed. Jack is incredibly impressed. He’s kissed, stroked, played with. The heat and passion rise. Once Inara’s protected them both, he slips inside her, still letting her take the lead, for now. They climb up and up, and then they fall back down, and catch each other.
“Wow,” Jack says happily. After a couple of minutes.
“Yeah,” Inara replies.
Jack’s inordinately pleased that he managed to reduce her to monosyllabic. He smirks to himself, pulling out of Inara’s body, out of her warmth. Enjoying the afterglow, they doze for a while.
About half an hour later, they’re still just laying on top of Inara's bed, and completely unselfconscious in their nudity.
Jack turns to face her and puts his most seductive smile in place. “Got anything else, Inara?”
***
Inara can tell what he’s after, just from his expression. “Plenty,” she tells Jack, gets up, and looks for a certain box. She locates it and deposits it on the bed. For the first time in years, she’s bringing out the toys, just because he asked so nicely. She retrieves the key from her bedside cabinet and unlocks the box. Getting back on the bed, she opens the lid, and lets Jack examine the contents.
His beautiful blue eyes go wide. He then winks at her, saying, “Oh, yes,” and choosing a couple. Jack moves her onto her back, silently telling her that this time, he’ll take the lead.
Inara then proceeds to be shown a spectacularly good time herself. She’s kissed and caressed, and Jack clearly knows what he’s doing with the toys he picked. He protects himself, pushes inside her again, and Inara soon has an absolutely amazing orgasm.
When she remembers how to speak, she hears herself say, “Wow.”
Jack says, “Yeah,” and rolls off of her.
Oh, the skill, the expertise, the swiftly turning the situation around on her. All that money he gave her. He’d probably be undercover if he was, but is Jack that very rare breed, a male Companion?
***
Much later, still just on the bed, Inara asks Jack if he’s a Companion. That must be her society’s term for the world’s oldest profession.
“A Companion? No, Inara,” he replies. “Why do you ask?”
He doesn’t plan to tell her what he does do for a living, and just how he got the money he paid her.
“Jack, you’re better at seduction than I am,” she says, “and I’m trained.”
Jack is far happier at that assertion than he thinks he really ought to be.
“Well, then, Miss Serra, your training in seduction clearly isn’t extensive enough,” he says, moving so he’s laying on top of her. “I think another lesson from the Captain is in order.” Jack places his hands on her neck, more stroking, more caressing, and kisses her very, very thoroughly.
It is only a kiss, but Jack still manages to makes Inara melt.
***
‘Gods, this man is good,’ Inara thinks, as she’s kissed. She’d add him to the Client Register, with the highest recommendation possible, but something tells her Jack Harkness may not be back this way again.
After several minutes, they eventually separate, happy and sated. She pulls the covers up over them, and they go to sleep.
***
The next morning, Inara puts a robe on, and she helps Jack get dressed.
“Thank you for a fabulous time, Inara,” he tells her, putting his jacket back on. He then kisses her goodbye; just a quick, closed mouth kiss on her lips.
“Thank you, Jack,” she replies. “Best sex I’ve had for quite a while,” she says.
‘Short, and to the point. You go, girl,’ Jack thinks, making use of an appropriate 21st century turn of phrase. “Yeah, me too,” he says, smiling. “Goodbye, Inara Serra.”
“Goodbye, Captain Jack Harkness,” she says.
Jack gets out his teleport control, and once again blinks out of sight, transporting himself back to his own ship.
“Miss me?” he asks his computer, once the ship’s powered up.
***
‘Oh, Mal would love one of them,’ Inara thinks, as Jack disappears. ‘It’d be a real help, the next time someone’s trying to shoot him.’
Now, are those cows she’s hearing? Moving cattle, that’s the job Mal got? Well, money’s money. Money means they can eat; Kaylee can buy engine parts, which means they keep flying. Inara leaves her shuttle, and goes along to the main hold. Mal’s sat on a walkway, looking down at the cows, a bottle and some mugs beside him.
“Cattle?” she asks, sitting down beside him.
“Cattle,” Mal replies. “I defended your friend Roberta's honour. She was at your fancy party, on the arm of some idiot called Atherton Wing, and he weren’t showing no respect to her. Apparently, that meant Sir Warrick thought I could be trusted with these beasts. Do you want some of Kaylee’s engine-fermented wine?”
Atherton’s not all bad, but Inara keeps that to herself. She’s so happy she had missed what would have undoubtedly been a fight. “Yes, please,” she says, and he pours them both a mug.
“Mighty fine shindig,” he says, and they chink their mugs together.
“Indeed,” she agrees.
“Any luck with the...?” Mal makes appropriate gestures, looking decidedly awkward.
“None of your business,” Inara tells him, but it’s with a smile.
“Huh.” He sounds put out. They sip their wine and watch the cows.
***
Jack’s back in the Vortex, jumping the time tracks. Suddenly, the alarms start going. A mauve alert. His monitors show him there are a couple of (time)-space vehicles in his vicinity. An opportunity for another con?
“Can you pick up the energy signals, Computer? I think one’s a Chula ambulance,” he says.
“Affirmative, cylinder-shaped craft is a war-ready Chula ambulance,” she replies.
“Can you lock onto it, so we can land it?” he asks. “What about the other one, the blue box? What is it?”
“Affirmative. Unable to identify second craft. Appears to be capable of time-travel.”
“Like us,” Jack says, piloting his ship back to his current home turf. “And her occupants are about to be conned. 1941, here we come, again.”
-the beginning-
Author’s Notes
Chinese translations...
“Lao peng you, ni kan qi lai hen you jing shen” - "You're looking wonderful, old friend."
“Wo de tian!” - My God!
These last two are very, very rude, I’m reliably informed.
“Gaisi” - Damn
“Tamade” - Son of bitch
Yes, I did indeed include Cleopatra, Satine (from Moulin Rouge), and Hitchhiker’s ;)
The 1st Mal and Inara scene is re-written from the transcript at TWIZ tv.
The information about the waltz is from Wikipedia, and the rest of the dance-related stuff is based on the DVD commentary for Shindig.
Title - A Dance to the Music of Time
Author - laurab1
Pairing - Jack Harkness/Inara Serra (couple of others implied - wait and see)
Rating - 15/R, for semi-explicit sex, and Jack's filthy mind
Length - ~2900 words
Spoilers - TW - 1.12, Captain Jack Harkness, DW - 27/1.9 & 10, The Empty Child & The Doctor Dances, FF - episode 5, Shindig
Summary - Written for the crossover challenge on tw_exchange. Prompt 80, by kallanda_lee - Firefly: Jack and Inara dance together
Warning - A tiny bit of kink
Disclaimer - These people belong to the BBC and Joss Whedon, not me
Thanks to in_the_bottle for beta-reading, art advice and Chinese help.
Feedback is loved and appreciated :) Enjoy! If you only want to ogle Morena Baccarin and/or John Barrowman, then comments aimed solely at the cover (click x3 for full size) are just fine ;)
A Dance to the Music of Time
by Laura
Serenity’s on her way to Persephone. Maybe Mal and the crew will find a job, maybe they won’t, but that isn’t Inara Serra’s main concern. A few days ago, she had put the word out on the Cortex, that she would soon be on Persephone, and she’s clicking through the messages from potential clients.
Inara can’t find anyone that interests her, even among her regulars. However, she does learn about a ball, apparently the ‘social event of the season.’
“Oh, let’s just do this the old-fashioned way,” she says to herself, getting up from her desk and going to her wardrobe. Opening it, she takes out the five dresses that show off her fabulous assets to their full advantage. Trying on each one in turn, she decides on the gold one. As she exchanges the dress for her robe, and finishes putting the other ones back in the wardrobe, there’s a knock at the door of her shuttle. “Come in,” Inara says, and Captain Mal Reynolds enters her domain. “Good afternoon, Captain,” she greets.
“Morning,” Mal replies. “We're downing, and in case Wash don't kill us all, local time's gonna be in the a.m., ten or so.”
“Yes, I saw that.” Does he have another motive for being in her shuttle?
She left the Cortex screen open, and Mal then makes vague pointing gestures towards it. “Making plans?” he asks.
‘Would it be any of your business if I was?’ Inara thinks bitterly. “Yes, I am,” she tells him. “I’m attending a ball tomorrow night.”
“On your own?” Mal asks.
“On my own,” she confirms. “I couldn’t find anyone that appealed, and I do have to pay you my rent.” Mal’s eyes go a little wide at that, and Inara laughs to herself.
Then he has to go fishing for information, and disrespecting how she earns her living. Again. ”Tell me,” he says, “all the men there have to pay for their dates, or just the young rich ones with stamina?”
“Most of the women there will not be Companions,” she informs him, “if that's what you're asking. Perhaps the other men couldn't attract one.”
“Huh. Sounds like the finest party I can imagine getting paid to go to.”
“I don't suppose you'd find it up the standards of your outings. More conversation and somewhat less petty theft and getting hit with pool cues.” A little condescension, just for effect.
She moves to the door, to encourage Mal to leave her in peace, if he’s still not going to make a move. “I understand, if you need to go prepare for that ‘it's ten in the morning’ issue.”
He gets the message, it seems. “Yeah. Better do that. Cuz I think this is more of an evening look.” He indicates his clothes, and exits the shuttle.
***
Inara spends much of the following afternoon preparing for the ball, carefully slipping into her dress, styling her hair, applying make-up and donning jewellery. She smiles at her reflection, says goodbye to the others, and goes off to the ball.
***
Captain Jack Harkness recently left March 1941, and the middle of the London Blitz. Having just perpetrated yet another incredibly successful con, once again screwing over the Time Agency something rotten in the process, the ex-agent with a stolen name and a stolen past is now in the Time Vortex. In his stolen Chula timeship, he’s jumping the tracks with complete and utter abandon, a huge grin on his face.
He needs to celebrate the fantastic monetary outcome of his con, and some drinking and dancing will do just the job. Anything more will be an added, and much welcome bonus. “Computer, I wanna make a stop, please.” Jack slows the engines a little.
“Affirmative,” a semi-robotic, generic American female voice replies. She’s a personality chip he bought from Sirius Cybernetics, on Alpha Centauri. While he’d been distracted by some...dancing, his ship had been invaded. By some kind of really small dog. It had taken hours to get them all out.
“Can you scan for a party I could crash, anywhere or anywhen near our current location?” he asks. “I really want to have a dance and a drink.”
“Affirmative,” the computer replies, and produces a sequence of bleeps, whirrs and flashing lights. “There is a ball that fits your requirements,” she soon tells him. “May 2517, Athens, on Persephone.”
“Persephone? As in the Greek goddess of the underworld?” Jack asks, emphasis on ‘underworld.’
“Affirmative.”
“Sounds like just my kinda place. And you know how much I love balls,” Jack says mischieviously, (he’d swear she makes a sound that could be classed as embarrassment at that - doesn’t she know him by now?) taking the ship to the right year and location, and then leaving the time tracks. There’s a jolt as he does this. “Prepare for atmospheric entry and landing, Computer.”
Jack asks the computer to pinpoint the exaction location of the ball. He lands his ship near the ballroom, secures it, and goes off to the ball. Flashing psychic paper gains him entry. He’s announced by the usher. The ballroom is beautiful. So many well-dressed, gorgeous people. And an amazing, floating chandelier. “I’m in heaven,” Jack says, smiling.
***
“Miss Inara Serra,” the usher says, announcing her presence at the ball.
She sees a friend, and sitting beside him on the couch, Inara compliments him, "Lao peng you, ni kan qi lai hen you jing shen." Rising, she sees a man approaching her, various kinds of intent written all over his face.
He’s wearing a blue-grey uniform, which does wonders for his physique, but he’s quite clearly not Alliance, because he’s actually smiling. Added to that, his uniform bears an insignia Inara doesn’t recognise - a pair of bird’s wings. His manner is somewhere between Mal’s and Simon’s. To top it all off, he asks her to dance. How could she possibly refuse?
***
Standing by the marble pillar to the right of the musicians, a glass of champagne in his hand, Jack watches the latest arrival to the ball say a few words to someone. His wrist computer tells him she’s speaking Mandarin Chinese, a language Jack has yet to master, and as she gets up from the couch, he runs his eyes over her, slowly and carefully.
Curves in all the right places, he notes, eyes painted like Cleo’s (she’d absolutely loathed that pet name), full, red, sensuous lips, hair piled up on her head and decorated like a European princess, a deliciously low cut dress, and as a finishing touch, diamonds round her neck and on her ears.
In short, really hot. Carrying herself like Satine had done... The realisation hits Jack as an afterthought. He hadn’t planned on paying for his “anything more”, but he’ll quite happily pay this gorgeous woman. He deposits his glass on a passing (very attractive) waiter’s tray. Smile on, and charm at the ready, Jack strides over to Inara.
“Captain Jack Harkness at your service, Miss Serra,” he announces, taking her hand, and bringing it up to his lips to kiss her knuckles. “Would you like to dance?”
The band starts a waltz, Jack’s favourite, and she immediately replies, with a smile, “I would love to, Captain Harkness.”
Jack grins, holds her in the correct manner and leads her to the dance floor.
***
As they move around the dance floor, Captain Jack Harkness decides to tell Inara the history of the waltz. She knows all of this, of course, having studied it at the Companion Training School, but his voice is really sexy, so she’s perfectly happy to just let him talk.
“The waltz first became fashionable in Vienna around the 1780s, spreading to many other countries in the years to follow,” he says. “The dance, and especially its closed position, became the example for the creation of many other ballroom dances. Quite a scandal, that closed position caused,” Jack continues. “All that fuss, over a bit of personal contact,” he says wickedly, tightening his hold on Inara, and pulling her close.
“Wo de tian!” Inara gasps, as she feels his body against hers.
Jack just smiles lasciviously at her.
“Gaisi,” she mutters distractedly.
And then the usher announces Kaylee’s presence, with an escort. Looking over to the entrance, Inara sees that Mal is Kaylee’s so-called escort. “Tamade,” she says, rolling her eyes. Something very bad is very likely to happen, now.
“Inara?” Jack sounds somewhat concerned.
“Here, Captain.” She returns her attention to him, smiling. The music changes to a different rhythm, he smiles back, and they begin a new dance.
***
Going through the steps of another dance from 1830s Europe, Jack decides to show his hand, and make a proposition. He pulls Inara close again, and whispers in her ear, “How much? For one night with you?”
“Captain!” she chides, but Jack suspects that it's mainly for effect, ‘cause when he looks at her, she’s smiling. Besides, like chiding him’s actually going to have any effect. Jack could have played the fish out of water card, and claimed to not know how this society works, but that clearly wouldn’t have worked on Inara, and it appears he has already successfully charmed his way into her bed.
“How much, Inara?” he repeats, with a little growl, also for effect.
“Whatever you’re willing to pay, Jack.”
Personally, that’ll be a lot. He suspects the same goes for most of Inara’s clients. ’A girl after my own heart,’ Jack thinks, impressed at her business acumen. “C’mon, then. Let’s go and have our wicked way with each other.” He winks at her, offering his arm.
***
Before they depart, Inara checks that she won’t be missed. Mal's speaking to Sir Warrick, indicating that he might have found a job, and Kaylee's holding court with some fellow mechanics. So she takes Jack’s arm, and they walk out of the ballroom without attracting attention.
When they’re outside, Jack separates from her. Pulling a silver control out of his pocket, he says, “I’ll be right back,” and blinks out of sight. A few minutes later, he blinks back into sight.
Inara isn’t quite sure how to react to that.
“Is this enough?” He hands her a box of credit chips.
Looking at just how much money he’s given her, Inara says, “More than enough. This will buy you a very good time, Captain.”
“I hope so, ma’am.” He grins at her.
They attract a taxi to take them back to Serenity, and Inara’s shuttle.
Jack opens the door, and lets her go inside first. “It’s hardly a black cab, but it’ll serve its purpose.”
Inara has absolutely no idea what he’s talking about.
***
They aren’t greeted by anyone, when they arrive at the ship. Inara leads the way.
“This is better than my ship,” Jack whistles, when they arrive at Inara’s shuttle. He closes the door behind him, and sits on the edge of her bed.
Inara locks the door, and places the money on her desk. She then looks in a mirror and starts to remove her jewellery; Jack takes off his uniform jacket, places it on a chair and watches her reflection closely. When she’s done, and her hair’s loose, she turns back to him, asks him to stand, and begins to remove his clothes. Then, Inara takes off her dress, and Jack removes her underwear.
And then she tumbles him onto the bed. Jack is incredibly impressed. He’s kissed, stroked, played with. The heat and passion rise. Once Inara’s protected them both, he slips inside her, still letting her take the lead, for now. They climb up and up, and then they fall back down, and catch each other.
“Wow,” Jack says happily. After a couple of minutes.
“Yeah,” Inara replies.
Jack’s inordinately pleased that he managed to reduce her to monosyllabic. He smirks to himself, pulling out of Inara’s body, out of her warmth. Enjoying the afterglow, they doze for a while.
About half an hour later, they’re still just laying on top of Inara's bed, and completely unselfconscious in their nudity.
Jack turns to face her and puts his most seductive smile in place. “Got anything else, Inara?”
***
Inara can tell what he’s after, just from his expression. “Plenty,” she tells Jack, gets up, and looks for a certain box. She locates it and deposits it on the bed. For the first time in years, she’s bringing out the toys, just because he asked so nicely. She retrieves the key from her bedside cabinet and unlocks the box. Getting back on the bed, she opens the lid, and lets Jack examine the contents.
His beautiful blue eyes go wide. He then winks at her, saying, “Oh, yes,” and choosing a couple. Jack moves her onto her back, silently telling her that this time, he’ll take the lead.
Inara then proceeds to be shown a spectacularly good time herself. She’s kissed and caressed, and Jack clearly knows what he’s doing with the toys he picked. He protects himself, pushes inside her again, and Inara soon has an absolutely amazing orgasm.
When she remembers how to speak, she hears herself say, “Wow.”
Jack says, “Yeah,” and rolls off of her.
Oh, the skill, the expertise, the swiftly turning the situation around on her. All that money he gave her. He’d probably be undercover if he was, but is Jack that very rare breed, a male Companion?
***
Much later, still just on the bed, Inara asks Jack if he’s a Companion. That must be her society’s term for the world’s oldest profession.
“A Companion? No, Inara,” he replies. “Why do you ask?”
He doesn’t plan to tell her what he does do for a living, and just how he got the money he paid her.
“Jack, you’re better at seduction than I am,” she says, “and I’m trained.”
Jack is far happier at that assertion than he thinks he really ought to be.
“Well, then, Miss Serra, your training in seduction clearly isn’t extensive enough,” he says, moving so he’s laying on top of her. “I think another lesson from the Captain is in order.” Jack places his hands on her neck, more stroking, more caressing, and kisses her very, very thoroughly.
It is only a kiss, but Jack still manages to makes Inara melt.
***
‘Gods, this man is good,’ Inara thinks, as she’s kissed. She’d add him to the Client Register, with the highest recommendation possible, but something tells her Jack Harkness may not be back this way again.
After several minutes, they eventually separate, happy and sated. She pulls the covers up over them, and they go to sleep.
***
The next morning, Inara puts a robe on, and she helps Jack get dressed.
“Thank you for a fabulous time, Inara,” he tells her, putting his jacket back on. He then kisses her goodbye; just a quick, closed mouth kiss on her lips.
“Thank you, Jack,” she replies. “Best sex I’ve had for quite a while,” she says.
‘Short, and to the point. You go, girl,’ Jack thinks, making use of an appropriate 21st century turn of phrase. “Yeah, me too,” he says, smiling. “Goodbye, Inara Serra.”
“Goodbye, Captain Jack Harkness,” she says.
Jack gets out his teleport control, and once again blinks out of sight, transporting himself back to his own ship.
“Miss me?” he asks his computer, once the ship’s powered up.
***
‘Oh, Mal would love one of them,’ Inara thinks, as Jack disappears. ‘It’d be a real help, the next time someone’s trying to shoot him.’
Now, are those cows she’s hearing? Moving cattle, that’s the job Mal got? Well, money’s money. Money means they can eat; Kaylee can buy engine parts, which means they keep flying. Inara leaves her shuttle, and goes along to the main hold. Mal’s sat on a walkway, looking down at the cows, a bottle and some mugs beside him.
“Cattle?” she asks, sitting down beside him.
“Cattle,” Mal replies. “I defended your friend Roberta's honour. She was at your fancy party, on the arm of some idiot called Atherton Wing, and he weren’t showing no respect to her. Apparently, that meant Sir Warrick thought I could be trusted with these beasts. Do you want some of Kaylee’s engine-fermented wine?”
Atherton’s not all bad, but Inara keeps that to herself. She’s so happy she had missed what would have undoubtedly been a fight. “Yes, please,” she says, and he pours them both a mug.
“Mighty fine shindig,” he says, and they chink their mugs together.
“Indeed,” she agrees.
“Any luck with the...?” Mal makes appropriate gestures, looking decidedly awkward.
“None of your business,” Inara tells him, but it’s with a smile.
“Huh.” He sounds put out. They sip their wine and watch the cows.
***
Jack’s back in the Vortex, jumping the time tracks. Suddenly, the alarms start going. A mauve alert. His monitors show him there are a couple of (time)-space vehicles in his vicinity. An opportunity for another con?
“Can you pick up the energy signals, Computer? I think one’s a Chula ambulance,” he says.
“Affirmative, cylinder-shaped craft is a war-ready Chula ambulance,” she replies.
“Can you lock onto it, so we can land it?” he asks. “What about the other one, the blue box? What is it?”
“Affirmative. Unable to identify second craft. Appears to be capable of time-travel.”
“Like us,” Jack says, piloting his ship back to his current home turf. “And her occupants are about to be conned. 1941, here we come, again.”
-the beginning-
Author’s Notes
Chinese translations...
“Lao peng you, ni kan qi lai hen you jing shen” - "You're looking wonderful, old friend."
“Wo de tian!” - My God!
These last two are very, very rude, I’m reliably informed.
“Gaisi” - Damn
“Tamade” - Son of bitch
Yes, I did indeed include Cleopatra, Satine (from Moulin Rouge), and Hitchhiker’s ;)
The 1st Mal and Inara scene is re-written from the transcript at TWIZ tv.
The information about the waltz is from Wikipedia, and the rest of the dance-related stuff is based on the DVD commentary for Shindig.