(Untitled)

[makesmeatease]

Inara had an itch to talk to her husband. This time, it had nothing to do with Kaylee or anyone else...it was just about her. About them

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[bad_in_latin]

'To talk' is husband code for 'uh-oh', but Mal keeps a patented smiles on his face. "Shi a," he offers, and the closest bar door seems to be hovering around Naomi's makeshift room fashioned out of a spare crew bunk. Mal climbs down first which gives him a feeling of vertigo when he essentially climbs into the Milliways door, and he turns to help Inara through.

"Anywhere particular?"

[makesmeatease]

"Just...somewhere private." Inara moves to take his hand in a reassuring way. She can read him. She knows that smile.

[bad_in_latin]

"Private. Private, private, private..." Mal's fingers drum against his thigh as he walks.

Garage. Nope. Especially if this is about Kaylee and Simon.

Room upstairs. Seems safe. (Seems away from Ma.)

Mal stops at the bar to acquire a bottle of wine and a pair of glasses before digging out the key to the room they keep here.

[makesmeatease]

She's quiet as they make their way upstairs...and when they're there, she takes the wine and glasses from him, busying herself with pouring out liberal amounts for the both of them.

Inara hands one to Mal and then sips at hers and sighs.

"I need something to do, Mal. I'm bored." She laughs, helplessly. "And...I need to broach a subject with you that...you don't want to talk about."

[bad_in_latin]

Bored.

Something Mal doesn't want to talk about.

He's learning. He doesn't go straight to what his fear is.

"What is it."

[makesmeatease]

She freezes for a moment before just saying it. "I want a baby, Mal. I want to discuss us having a child. And...the boredom thing. That too."

[bad_in_latin]

"You want a baby so you won't be bored -- "

[makesmeatease]

"They're not mutually exclusive, Malcolm!" Inara says sharply, setting her wineglass down. "I'm bored, so regardless, I'm going to find some sort of work or something to do to keep me busy."

She sighs. "And yes, a child would keep me busy but that isn't why I want one."

[bad_in_latin]

Well thank God for that at least! Mal is still looking a bit taken aback by the two facts side by side -

Inara wants a baby. He's known this.

Inara's bored. Mal's known this too, in some form or another.

The hand not clutching liquor is carding fingers through hair. "How long've you been thinkin' on all of this again?"

[makesmeatease]

"A while." Her voice is softer this time. "Decided that...before wasn't the time to think too hard on it."

Kaylee and Simon took up a lot of her brainspace.

"It wouldn't be the end of the world." Either thing.

[bad_in_latin]

Immediately, Mal starts shaking his head.

"No. No." When he looks up, it is to watch Inara as Mal speaks. This is important and it feels so --

-- So too little too late.

"I need you to be happy."

It takes a minute, but this is followed by, "Think the boredom'll be the easier one to address though, don't you?"

[makesmeatease]

"Mal, I'm not...I'm not unhappy with you." She steps forward, shaking her head. "It's not you."

She focuses on her feet for a moment. "I guess I could go and get that teaching job. Or...something. I just...I don't know. I just know I need something."

[bad_in_latin]

"I can't...I don't know what to suggest. All I can hope is that you're tellin' me if -- if I'm stopping you from doing things you want to be doing."

Kaylee followed Simon in the world, after all.

[makesmeatease]

Inara did it first.

"You're not. I just wanted you to know that I may take a job that requires me to leave the ship sometimes. I'd rather not teach, it'd take me away far too long."

[bad_in_latin]

Mal nods, finishing his wine far too quickly and not caring when his sinuses complain about it.

"Was that the part you thought I wasn't going to like?"

[makesmeatease]

"No, I figured it'd be the baby thing." Inara reaches for her wine glass again, sipping at it. "Or maybe you'd not like the whole of the conversation."