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firefly_fanfic2006-07-05 11:46 am
druinsanity.livejournal.com) wrote in firefly_fanfic2006-07-05 11:46 am
Legacy - Mal/Inara - Ch.14/14
Title: Legacy
Authors:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
druinsanity and bashipforever
Summary: AU Takes place two and a half years after the end of the series. The movie never happened, but if you’ve read the comic book Those Left Behind, it did. Everything Inara has worked for in her life is finally happening but an old friend shows up, making her doubt everything she’s wanted.
Pairing: Mal/Inara
Rating: PG-13 - R
A/N: The title comes from an Emily Dickenson poem. This is a WIP but it is being updated daily so you shouldn’t have to wait for too long for updates.
You left me, sweet, two legacies,-
A legacy of love
A Heavenly Father would content,
Had He the offer of;
You left me boundaries of pain
Capacious as the sea,
Between eternity and time,
Your consciousness and me.
Previous Chapters:
Ch.1 Ch.2 Ch.3 Ch.4 Ch.5 Ch.6 Ch.7 Ch.8 Ch.9 Ch.10 Ch.11 Ch.12 Ch.13
Note from authors: So sad! This is the last chapter in this fanfic. But it’s happy too! We had a great time writing it. Such a great time that a sequel is already in the works. So if you enjoyed this fic, keep an eye out for more that will be written in our LegacyVerse. Thank you for all of the comments along the way that let us know how much you all enjoyed this. It fed our muses like crazywoah! *hugs to you all* - Kristi & Lisa
Inara gracefully collapsed on the couch in the shuttle, leaning her head back with a lazy smile. "It's nice to be home." She'd spent all day directing Jayne and Mal in the placement of furniture and fabric hangings and the shuttle finally looked like home. The walls were covered in a dark crimson silk. Fans and other ornamentations were hanging on the walls. The couch was in one corner where it belonged with the low table in front of it. The bed had been re-arranged slightly from the way it had been before to make room for other things. The trunks and wardrobes were snug against the walls and the luxurious rugs were scattered about the floor.
It was a little different and Inara liked the differences. They'd squeezed Mal's desk from his bunk in across from the couch. His clothes hung in the wardrobe next to her dresses and his toothbrush and other toiletries sat next to hers at the wash station. She opened her eyes and looked at Mal. "How are you feeling?" She knew all the moving had exhausted him even if he wouldn't admit it.
Mal's gaze swept over the shuttle from where he leaned against the wall by the door. It was an odd feeling, his things mixed in with Inara's. But it was also a good one and something he could get used to. It felt right. "Feelin' alright. Tired." His voice carried every bit of contentment mixed with exhaustion that he felt.
His gaze landed on Inara and a corner of his lips lifted in a half smile. "How 'bout you?"
"I feel..." Inara paused, trying to come up with the right word. "Whole...it's like there was a part of me missing and it made me always want more. I kept trying to fill it up. Thinking if I had prettier dresses or I made more money or had friends, prayed more...I don't feel like I have to do anything more. I'm good...right here, right now. I'm whole," she smiled and dipped her head then looked back up at Mal. She patted the couch beside her, inviting him to sit down.
Mal pushed away from the wall and made his way to the couch to sit down next to Inara. "Good answer." He said simply, and then turned to look at Inara, eyes wide with amusement. "Much better than mine.”
"I can be quite verbose when I'm in the mood," Inara smiled at Mal. She leaned into him, one arm on his shoulder, her fingers flitting through his hair. "You were great with my girls today. They adored you."
Mal shrugged lightly. "Just liked me cause I was with you."
Inara shook her head. "Are you kidding? At that moment I think they would have overthrown me and kidnapped you. You had them eating out of your hand. They'll all go to bed tonight with dreams of their own 'pirate' sweeping in to their 'rescue'," she teased him.
Mal smirked lightly. "I did give 'em somethin' to think about 'sides companionin', didn't I?" He raised an eyebrow. "Guess I shouldn't have said so much. Like kids good enough... just don't like preset expectations of what they oughtta be. Gotta have room for thinkin' and dreamin' and the like."
“Yes and I suspect that was your plan all along," Inara teased as she traced his smirk with her fingertips. She leaned in and pressed a kiss to his shoulder then rested her forehead against it. "One of these days, you'll make a great father." She'd been thinking it from the moment she'd seen Mal with the girls even though the idea of her being a mother hadn't actually occurred to her yet.
Mal was quiet for a moment trying to picture the image Inara's words presented, then shook his head. "Hard to see me with little rug rats runnin' about. Fatherin' ain't been on my list of things to do for a long time now." Not since the war.
"That’s a shame," Inara answered, her fingers unconsciously straying to the buttons on his shirt. "You'd be so much better than my father was." Not that her father had been a great example but the truth remained that Mal would be a wonderful one.
"How do you figure that?" Mal asked, so intrigued by the conversation that he was almost oblivious to Inara's movements at the buttons of his shirt.
"Today you made those girls feel special," Inara answered. "You made them feel like more than..." she furrowed her brow trying to come up with the proper words. "…more than pretty decorations. My father has never been terribly...affectionate or happy that he had a girl instead of a boy."
Mal shook his head at Inara, instantly protective. He lifted a hand to brush her hair back behind her ears. "His loss, way I'm seein' it."
Inara smiled at Mal and leaned in, kissing him softly. "I don't want to talk about him anymore," she whispered. . "Why don't I go down to the galley, get us something to eat and bring it back up here? I think we've got powdered eggs. I can scramble eggs and make slices of tofu ham. It's a delectable menu I know, but you've become involved with a woman of limited domestic skills."
Mal's gaze scanned over Inara as he shook his head. "Ain't hungry. Just wanna stay here with you... make sure everything's gonna stick." Part of him was still so unsure that she would stay with him. He looked back over the shuttle. "Looks okay with both our things... ain't too crowded or nothin'."
Inara glanced around the shuttle and nodded. "Yeah...it does. It feels like home." She glanced back at Mal. "It's not too...girly?" she asked. Her insecurities were always close to the surface lately. She’d stripped away the companion title and it seemed the mask she’d been able to hide behind had come with it. There were times she felt very much the little girl looking for her father’s approval. Only now she wanted Mal’s approval rather than her father’s.
“Ain’t really carin' if it is, long as it's just ours." Mal said lightly, looking back to Inara. He reached over to rest his palm against her cheek and then leaned in to place a tender kiss against her lips. "Still ain't quite believin' you're here."
"I'm not going anywhere," Inara turned her face and placed a kiss against the palm of Mal's hand. "I keep waiting for it to fall apart," she admitted. When things were so perfect, just hovering on that bubble of happiness there was always this panic twitching in the pit of her stomach that it was going to fall apart, that this couldn’t last here anymore than it had on Sihnon.
"It'll only fall apart if we let it." Mal said quietly, his thumb tracing over Inara's lips. "We won't let it... dong ma?"
"We won't let it," Inara whispered, summoning up conviction for him. She leaned in and kissed him softly. Her fingers tangled in his hair, drawing him deeper into the kiss. His touch could chase away all her insecurities and leave the little girl inside of her in awe.
Mal guided Inara back against the sofa until he was mostly on top of her. The kiss never broke and only grew with passion. He smirked against her lips before whispering. "'Nara... conjure everyone's asleep. Wanna try it on the bridge?"
Her laugh was low, deep and sexy. "Are you kidding? It's on my check list of places on Serenity to make love to you," Inara teased.
Mal couldn't help the small grin that spread on his lips as he continued to trail a line of kisses down her jaw line to her neck. "Got a list huh? Any chance of me seein' it?"
“Mmmm," Inara moaned softly as she arched up into the kisses. "Yes...the galley table...uhm...your old bunk...the...oh God Mal," she broke off as he nipped at her skin. "Uhm...th-the cargo bay...engine room...empty shuttle. If you're planning on wearing clothes on our dash to the bridge, we should probably go now," she told him, her hands toying with the top button on his shirt.
"Well, now I'm figurin' since you got all these plans might be best to just break in this here couch first." Mal whispered his breath warm against her skin as he toyed with the material to her dress. "What do you think of that?"
“I've got no problems with that, Captain Reynolds," Inara said breathlessly while she started unbuttoning his shirt, her hands working their way down his bare skin. "We've got plenty of time for the bridge, the galley, the engine room; the cargo bay...couch seems like a good place logistically to start."
"Well you know how logical I can be. Some might even call me a thinker." Mal teased, his own hands running over Inara's skin as he helped where he needed to in disrobing himself. "Course now that you're here, any place is a good start, long as there ain't a finish."
"Absolutely no end in sight," Inara murmured against his skin as she nibbled at his collarbone. "We're kind of like the black that way."
"Best place to be... in the black with you." Mal said quietly. "And here I was thinkin' the black couldn't get any better."
“Well I do strive to please," Inara teased as she pulled Mal's shirt off and discarded it. She took one of his hands and slid it around to the small of her back. "Since we're planning on making this 'stick', I think it's time you learned about taking clothes off me without ripping them," she smiled as she dipped her head and started kissing his neck. "Feel that knot right there?" she asked, guiding his hand. "Pull on the end of it."
Mal raised an eyebrow. "This knot right here? Know I wouldn't have any trouble with the clothes if you'd just stop wearin' 'em." He said, tugging at the knot until it came undone
"And now it just all comes off," Inara said as she slipped out of the dress. "I do like the no clothes concept," she told him as she started to unbutton his pants. "But you have to participate in the nudity," she grinned.
“Captain can't be runnin' about without clothes on all the time. No one would take me seriously." Mal's gaze raked over Inara, amused. "You on the other hand..."
Inara laughed at Mal's comment as she trailed her hand down his spine. "I'm not entirely sure how well the rest of the crew will handle my new 'wardrobe'," she teased. "And Captain...I always take you seriously, but particularly when you're naked." She bit down lightly on the curve of his neck, sucking at the skin until she'd made a dark purple mark there.
Mal guided Inara back onto the cushions of the couch. He crawled on top of her and simply looked at her for a moment. Things weren't perfect, but they were better. Parts of him still expected for it all to dissolve as if it were another dream. It was hard to believe that Inara was his and that he even deserved her. Growing up on a ranch as a young boy he never would have expected to crave and need someone like Inara. She was everything that he wasn't, and yet so many things about them were the same.
He saw her quirk a curious eyebrow at him and he just shook his head. "Just happy is all... feelin' I ain't felt in a long time. Feels a little weird." It also felt right. Inara was his. She was here with him... and that was enough. "Been a good day..." He said as he leaned down to take her lips in his. It was a very good day.
Authors:
druinsanity and bashipforeverSummary: AU Takes place two and a half years after the end of the series. The movie never happened, but if you’ve read the comic book Those Left Behind, it did. Everything Inara has worked for in her life is finally happening but an old friend shows up, making her doubt everything she’s wanted.
Pairing: Mal/Inara
Rating: PG-13 - R
A/N: The title comes from an Emily Dickenson poem. This is a WIP but it is being updated daily so you shouldn’t have to wait for too long for updates.
You left me, sweet, two legacies,-
A legacy of love
A Heavenly Father would content,
Had He the offer of;
You left me boundaries of pain
Capacious as the sea,
Between eternity and time,
Your consciousness and me.
Previous Chapters:
Ch.1 Ch.2 Ch.3 Ch.4 Ch.5 Ch.6 Ch.7 Ch.8 Ch.9 Ch.10 Ch.11 Ch.12 Ch.13
Note from authors: So sad! This is the last chapter in this fanfic. But it’s happy too! We had a great time writing it. Such a great time that a sequel is already in the works. So if you enjoyed this fic, keep an eye out for more that will be written in our LegacyVerse. Thank you for all of the comments along the way that let us know how much you all enjoyed this. It fed our muses like crazywoah! *hugs to you all* - Kristi & Lisa
Inara gracefully collapsed on the couch in the shuttle, leaning her head back with a lazy smile. "It's nice to be home." She'd spent all day directing Jayne and Mal in the placement of furniture and fabric hangings and the shuttle finally looked like home. The walls were covered in a dark crimson silk. Fans and other ornamentations were hanging on the walls. The couch was in one corner where it belonged with the low table in front of it. The bed had been re-arranged slightly from the way it had been before to make room for other things. The trunks and wardrobes were snug against the walls and the luxurious rugs were scattered about the floor.
It was a little different and Inara liked the differences. They'd squeezed Mal's desk from his bunk in across from the couch. His clothes hung in the wardrobe next to her dresses and his toothbrush and other toiletries sat next to hers at the wash station. She opened her eyes and looked at Mal. "How are you feeling?" She knew all the moving had exhausted him even if he wouldn't admit it.
Mal's gaze swept over the shuttle from where he leaned against the wall by the door. It was an odd feeling, his things mixed in with Inara's. But it was also a good one and something he could get used to. It felt right. "Feelin' alright. Tired." His voice carried every bit of contentment mixed with exhaustion that he felt.
His gaze landed on Inara and a corner of his lips lifted in a half smile. "How 'bout you?"
"I feel..." Inara paused, trying to come up with the right word. "Whole...it's like there was a part of me missing and it made me always want more. I kept trying to fill it up. Thinking if I had prettier dresses or I made more money or had friends, prayed more...I don't feel like I have to do anything more. I'm good...right here, right now. I'm whole," she smiled and dipped her head then looked back up at Mal. She patted the couch beside her, inviting him to sit down.
Mal pushed away from the wall and made his way to the couch to sit down next to Inara. "Good answer." He said simply, and then turned to look at Inara, eyes wide with amusement. "Much better than mine.”
"I can be quite verbose when I'm in the mood," Inara smiled at Mal. She leaned into him, one arm on his shoulder, her fingers flitting through his hair. "You were great with my girls today. They adored you."
Mal shrugged lightly. "Just liked me cause I was with you."
Inara shook her head. "Are you kidding? At that moment I think they would have overthrown me and kidnapped you. You had them eating out of your hand. They'll all go to bed tonight with dreams of their own 'pirate' sweeping in to their 'rescue'," she teased him.
Mal smirked lightly. "I did give 'em somethin' to think about 'sides companionin', didn't I?" He raised an eyebrow. "Guess I shouldn't have said so much. Like kids good enough... just don't like preset expectations of what they oughtta be. Gotta have room for thinkin' and dreamin' and the like."
“Yes and I suspect that was your plan all along," Inara teased as she traced his smirk with her fingertips. She leaned in and pressed a kiss to his shoulder then rested her forehead against it. "One of these days, you'll make a great father." She'd been thinking it from the moment she'd seen Mal with the girls even though the idea of her being a mother hadn't actually occurred to her yet.
Mal was quiet for a moment trying to picture the image Inara's words presented, then shook his head. "Hard to see me with little rug rats runnin' about. Fatherin' ain't been on my list of things to do for a long time now." Not since the war.
"That’s a shame," Inara answered, her fingers unconsciously straying to the buttons on his shirt. "You'd be so much better than my father was." Not that her father had been a great example but the truth remained that Mal would be a wonderful one.
"How do you figure that?" Mal asked, so intrigued by the conversation that he was almost oblivious to Inara's movements at the buttons of his shirt.
"Today you made those girls feel special," Inara answered. "You made them feel like more than..." she furrowed her brow trying to come up with the proper words. "…more than pretty decorations. My father has never been terribly...affectionate or happy that he had a girl instead of a boy."
Mal shook his head at Inara, instantly protective. He lifted a hand to brush her hair back behind her ears. "His loss, way I'm seein' it."
Inara smiled at Mal and leaned in, kissing him softly. "I don't want to talk about him anymore," she whispered. . "Why don't I go down to the galley, get us something to eat and bring it back up here? I think we've got powdered eggs. I can scramble eggs and make slices of tofu ham. It's a delectable menu I know, but you've become involved with a woman of limited domestic skills."
Mal's gaze scanned over Inara as he shook his head. "Ain't hungry. Just wanna stay here with you... make sure everything's gonna stick." Part of him was still so unsure that she would stay with him. He looked back over the shuttle. "Looks okay with both our things... ain't too crowded or nothin'."
Inara glanced around the shuttle and nodded. "Yeah...it does. It feels like home." She glanced back at Mal. "It's not too...girly?" she asked. Her insecurities were always close to the surface lately. She’d stripped away the companion title and it seemed the mask she’d been able to hide behind had come with it. There were times she felt very much the little girl looking for her father’s approval. Only now she wanted Mal’s approval rather than her father’s.
“Ain’t really carin' if it is, long as it's just ours." Mal said lightly, looking back to Inara. He reached over to rest his palm against her cheek and then leaned in to place a tender kiss against her lips. "Still ain't quite believin' you're here."
"I'm not going anywhere," Inara turned her face and placed a kiss against the palm of Mal's hand. "I keep waiting for it to fall apart," she admitted. When things were so perfect, just hovering on that bubble of happiness there was always this panic twitching in the pit of her stomach that it was going to fall apart, that this couldn’t last here anymore than it had on Sihnon.
"It'll only fall apart if we let it." Mal said quietly, his thumb tracing over Inara's lips. "We won't let it... dong ma?"
"We won't let it," Inara whispered, summoning up conviction for him. She leaned in and kissed him softly. Her fingers tangled in his hair, drawing him deeper into the kiss. His touch could chase away all her insecurities and leave the little girl inside of her in awe.
Mal guided Inara back against the sofa until he was mostly on top of her. The kiss never broke and only grew with passion. He smirked against her lips before whispering. "'Nara... conjure everyone's asleep. Wanna try it on the bridge?"
Her laugh was low, deep and sexy. "Are you kidding? It's on my check list of places on Serenity to make love to you," Inara teased.
Mal couldn't help the small grin that spread on his lips as he continued to trail a line of kisses down her jaw line to her neck. "Got a list huh? Any chance of me seein' it?"
“Mmmm," Inara moaned softly as she arched up into the kisses. "Yes...the galley table...uhm...your old bunk...the...oh God Mal," she broke off as he nipped at her skin. "Uhm...th-the cargo bay...engine room...empty shuttle. If you're planning on wearing clothes on our dash to the bridge, we should probably go now," she told him, her hands toying with the top button on his shirt.
"Well, now I'm figurin' since you got all these plans might be best to just break in this here couch first." Mal whispered his breath warm against her skin as he toyed with the material to her dress. "What do you think of that?"
“I've got no problems with that, Captain Reynolds," Inara said breathlessly while she started unbuttoning his shirt, her hands working their way down his bare skin. "We've got plenty of time for the bridge, the galley, the engine room; the cargo bay...couch seems like a good place logistically to start."
"Well you know how logical I can be. Some might even call me a thinker." Mal teased, his own hands running over Inara's skin as he helped where he needed to in disrobing himself. "Course now that you're here, any place is a good start, long as there ain't a finish."
"Absolutely no end in sight," Inara murmured against his skin as she nibbled at his collarbone. "We're kind of like the black that way."
"Best place to be... in the black with you." Mal said quietly. "And here I was thinkin' the black couldn't get any better."
“Well I do strive to please," Inara teased as she pulled Mal's shirt off and discarded it. She took one of his hands and slid it around to the small of her back. "Since we're planning on making this 'stick', I think it's time you learned about taking clothes off me without ripping them," she smiled as she dipped her head and started kissing his neck. "Feel that knot right there?" she asked, guiding his hand. "Pull on the end of it."
Mal raised an eyebrow. "This knot right here? Know I wouldn't have any trouble with the clothes if you'd just stop wearin' 'em." He said, tugging at the knot until it came undone
"And now it just all comes off," Inara said as she slipped out of the dress. "I do like the no clothes concept," she told him as she started to unbutton his pants. "But you have to participate in the nudity," she grinned.
“Captain can't be runnin' about without clothes on all the time. No one would take me seriously." Mal's gaze raked over Inara, amused. "You on the other hand..."
Inara laughed at Mal's comment as she trailed her hand down his spine. "I'm not entirely sure how well the rest of the crew will handle my new 'wardrobe'," she teased. "And Captain...I always take you seriously, but particularly when you're naked." She bit down lightly on the curve of his neck, sucking at the skin until she'd made a dark purple mark there.
Mal guided Inara back onto the cushions of the couch. He crawled on top of her and simply looked at her for a moment. Things weren't perfect, but they were better. Parts of him still expected for it all to dissolve as if it were another dream. It was hard to believe that Inara was his and that he even deserved her. Growing up on a ranch as a young boy he never would have expected to crave and need someone like Inara. She was everything that he wasn't, and yet so many things about them were the same.
He saw her quirk a curious eyebrow at him and he just shook his head. "Just happy is all... feelin' I ain't felt in a long time. Feels a little weird." It also felt right. Inara was his. She was here with him... and that was enough. "Been a good day..." He said as he leaned down to take her lips in his. It was a very good day.