From Beyond

[meatbabies]

The crew will see them slinking off, disappearing around hallways--shifting shadow shapes and the backs of heads ducking around corners. They're always people they think they know. Dead loved ones, perhaps, or loved ones they're not sure are dead or alive. They lead crew members into dangerous places, sudden drops, parts of Stacy where things can

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[am_alwaysfree]

Mal stretched slowly, and kept walking. He was tired after a long day, and just wanted to fall into his bed on Serenity and sleep off his exhaustion

[almostluver]

Inara turned a corner, intending on returning to her shuttle after a short use of the Sensoriums, but came to a complete stop seeing Mal running toward her, yelling for Tracey. Her mouth dropped open in surprise because as she too looked around, she wasn't seeing the same thing he was obviously.

And then she watched in horror as a crimson stain began to spread across his shirt and then as he began to fall. "Mal!!" she cried, rushing to his side. She dropped to her knees, and her fingers hovered over him for a moment before she pressed her hands firmly against his wounded shoulder.

"Mal?" she whispered, thinking that this was too much like the dream she'd had where he'd been shot. "Mal?" she repeated, trying to ignore how warm his blood felt against her hands. "You'll be OK, do you hear me, Mal?"

[am_alwaysfree]

Time seemed to speed up from when he was shot to when he ended up on the ground. Tracey and the battlefield had disappeared, and suddenly Inara was there next to him. Where in the world had Inara come from? She hadn't been there a minute ago.

Mal clenched his teeth together against the pain as he forced himself to sit up, letting out a low groan despite his best efforts not to. The wound couldn't be that serious, and even if it was, he wasn't going to let on about it, not with Inara there.

"'Nara, what're you doin' here? This ain't no place for you," Mal said, his voice very clearly communicating his annoyance at being shot.

[almostluver]

She winced slightly, moving a bit to accommodate him better and still keep pressing her hands against his wounded shoulder. She swallowed but she made her expression placid as she yanked her shawl off from around her shoulders and used it to try to staunch the blood flow.

"I think this is a good place for me to be right now," she murmured, trying to keep the worry out of her voice. "Do you have to move around so much? You're making your shoulder bleed more."

[am_alwaysfree]

Mal couldn't help laughing in sheer consternation. He didn't know whether to be angry at Inara's stubbornness or be grateful for her concern. Although, he had a hard time admitting that he was actually grateful that she was there.

When she pressed her shawl against him, he shook his head and protested, "You'll get blood on that." He tried to reach for it to pull it away except he missed by inches. Great. He cursed the blood loss for messing up his aim.

"..Hey, 'Nara." Mal shifted slightly so he could get see Inara better.

[almostluver]

"It doesn't matter," she insisted stubbornly. What a thing to worry about though. He was there bleeding and he was worried about her getting blood on her shawl. "I can always get another one, it's just clothing," she said, trying her best to keep her tone calm and detached, but she was sure she wasn't exactly succeeding.

When it came to Mal, she was never really able to keep exactly how she felt under wraps.

Inara looked up from his wounded shoulder and met his gaze. Her eyebrows drew together slightly and she swallowed, realizing just how close he actually was. "We... We should think about getting you to the medbay," she said, her cheeks flushing a little as she bit down on her bottom lip and shifted her gaze back to his shoulder.

[am_alwaysfree]

"Remind me to get you a new one later," Mal said, his tone equally insistent. "Just clothing or not, if it ends up ruined 'cause of me, I'm going to replace it for you."

The corners of his mouth twitched as he noticed the slight flush in her cheeks. Maybe it was the effects of the bullet wound talking, but he hadn't noticed just how pretty she was. But as he was about to tell her that, he frowned as the place where he'd been shot began throbbing painfully. His conversation with Inara had been enough to distract him, but it seemed it wasn't going to be easy to keep his mind off it.

"Might be a good idea," Mal began, still frowning as he realized he was beginning to feel cold. "I'm startin' to not feel so good, Inara." As he said that, he wondered if she'd hold this against him later; after all, it wasn't like him to admit to being anything but strong.

[almostluver]

"I'm sure you won't need to get me a new one," she said softly - focusing on keeping her shawl pressed firmly against his shoulder. And really, her ruined shawl was the last thing she was worried about. Mal had to know that.

Her eyes widened a little and her gaze once again flickered up to find his. "OK," she nodded, refusing to panic. He was hurt. It wasn't the first time he'd been hurt and knowing Mal, it certainly wasn't going to be the last.

She shifted to his side, and wrapped an arm carefully around his waist and managed to position herself so she was reaching across his chest to keep her hand pressing the shawl against the wound. "OK, put your arm over my shoulder so I can help you up."

[am_alwaysfree]

Mal simply shrugged in response then, and immediately regretted the action, as he'd just caused his wound to start hurting again. "All right, if you're sure about that, 'Nara..."

He tried to think of some comment he could say that would make her feel better. She looked so worried, and he really didn't like seeing her that way. "Don't look like that, 'Nara. This is nothin', dŏng ma? I ain't gonna die here."

Some of the bravado of his words was lost as he winced and leaned heavily against her, as he slowly put his arm around her shoulder.

Zāogāo, but getting shot really hurts, Mal thought to himself. He spoke up, mostly to himself, "It's funny how a person can get shot a bunch of times, but still never really get used to how it feels."

The minute he said that, he regretted it, and said almost apologetically, "Forget I said that, 'Nara. Didn't mean to get so sentimental."

[almostluver]

Inara's lips pressed together in annoyance and she had to bite back the snarky remark. Of course it was just like him to try to play off being shot like it was nothing. She wanted to tell him off, but really, what would that accomplish? Nothing but make him irratated right along with her.

So she said nothing, and managed to regain her placid expression. "Of course you won't," she said, her voice calmer than it had been moments before. "Because you're too stubborn to die here." She was being slightly sarcastic, but it was probably true. Mal had to be to most stubborn man she knew. And that was saying a lot.

Slowly helping him to his feet, Inara's eyebrows furrowed again, and she looked up at Mal. Why did he have to say such things? She was there with her hands, shawl and now her clothing covered in his blood and he was talking about how it was funny not ever getting use to it

[am_alwaysfree]

Hm. Maybe he'd said the wrong thing. Mal shook his head slowly, thinking he knew what was bothering her. "You know what I meant. Didn't mean it was somethin' to laugh at, only that you shouldn't worry."

"I'll make this up for you later, once I've gotten this taken care of," Mal said, noting the blood on Inara's clothes. "And I will be gettin' you another shawl."

He fell silent then, as he continued walking with Inara's help. The blood loss was beginning to affect him, sapping his strength, but even so, he made himself keep up the banter so as not to worry her. "Can't be that much longer. I'll be fine, Inara."

Never mind the fact that he was starting to look pale, and he began stumbling occasionally as he walked.

[almostluver]

"You don't make it easy not to worry about you," she murmured. It was probably the closest she'd ever come to truly admitting to him that she did worry about him, and the minute she'd said it she'd wished she hadn't. Though it was possible he wouldn't remember her saying it later or if she had to she could simply make light of those words.

"Mal," she sighed, though knew this was an argument she wasn't likely to win. While she could be stubborn, he was probably more so. "If it'll make you feel better, very well. You can get me a new shawl." That was about as much as she was going to concede on that matter. She smiled though, she couldn't help it. At least he was being stubborn, it meant that he was likely to be alright, right?

She stumbled alongside him, trying to support his weight as much as she could. She wasn't the strongest woman, and Mal was obviously a lot bigger than she was. But she was somehow managing. "Perhaps it's time you start thinking about dieting," she teased lightly, her grip around his waist tightening a little

[am_alwaysfree]

He couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at that; even though he was acting like nothing was wrong so as to not worry her, he hadn't actually expected her to be worried. "Thought you'd be angry instead of worried," he admitted. "Wasn't like I got hit defendin' your honor." And that was as close as he'd come to admitting that maybe the reason he got shot was because of his own recklessness.

"But this..." Mal paused and nodded at the gunshot wound. "It comes with the job. That's what I meant when I said you get used to it." Though he understood that wasn't the case for everyone, just the people who actually live that way. "And I am gettin' you that shawl."

For whatever reason, the shawl was important, and he couldn't just drop the subject. "Dietin'? You think it's that bad?" He couldn't help smiling at that thought. "If this's gettin' too much for you, just say somethin'."

Blood loss or not, the last thing he wanted was to knock her over or otherwise hurt her because of their size differences.

[almostluver]

"Well I should be," Inara agreed, wondering why she wasn't. Maybe it was because she didn't know exactly what was going on or how he'd managed to get himself shot. This time there'd been no one around. So how was she suppose to get mad about that?

She swallowed and shook her head. While he might have gotten use to it - it wasn't something she thought she ever would. She had truly been terrified when she'd seen the blood begin to spread across his shoulder and then as he fell to the ground. She'd been scared that she'd lose him. But that wasn't something she could admit and it was probably something he didn't want to hear.

"Of course it's not getting to be too much," Inara insisted stubbornly. "And even if it was, I'd drag you to the medlab before I even thought of giving up." She looked up at him for a moment, a teasing smile forming on her lips. "We'll be there soon. Don't worry so much."

[am_alwaysfree]

Mal laughed then, more to take his mind off the throbbing coming from his shoulder than because he thought something was funny. Inara's continued pressure had helped slow the bleeding down a little, but it hadn't stopped completely.

Of course, Mal wasn't worried; he'd seen more serious injuries than this before, and had pulled through just fine. But just in case... He turned slightly to glance at Inara, his expression completely serious. "Don't go tellin' Kaylee about this. She seems to have enough on her mind, and I don't want to be addin' to that." Even if she didn't, he still really didn't want her knowing he'd gotten hurt again.

Then, just as he was wondering when in the world they were going to reach the med bays, he spotted them just ahead. Now if he could just hold off the slight feelings of dizziness and weakness that were threatening to send him crashing to the ground again. "Looks like we're almost there," he said, even though he figured she could see that for herself.

[almostluver]

"I won't," Inara agreed softly. She knew Kaylee would be mad if she didn't tell her about it, but it was something that Inara was willing to risk. Mal hardly asked anything of her, so she supposed she could give him that much. Besides, last thing either of them needed was an overly worried Kaylee - mainly because Mal was going to be fine.

Her gaze moved to Mal's face for a moment, and her heart just about sank to the pit of her stomach seeing how pale he was. Readjusting her grip on him once again, she tried to quicken their pace to get them to the medbay's doors even quicker. "Good, now keep walking," Inara instructed, her eyes narrowing a little as she focused on getting them to their goal.

"Don't you dare pass out on me, Malcolm Reynolds!"