Legacy-Betrayal Ch.10 - Mal/Inara

[druinsanity.livejournal.com]

Title: Legacy - Betrayal
Authors: 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.
A/N2: This is the sequel to a trilogy in this series. Please read Legacy before this to fill in any blanks. This second part is a month after the ending to the first.

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.

Ch.1 Ch.2 Ch.3 Ch.4 Ch.5 Ch.6 Ch.7 Ch.8 Ch.9


CHAPTER TEN

After asking Simon to make a list of where to find the medicines they needed, Mal headed up to the bridge where he found Wash and Kaylee eyeing the comm. screen and whispering quietly to each other. “Gonna be able to get an ambulance?” He asked around a yawn. He briefly wondered how he could still be so sleepy since he’d slept through the night last night.

“We’ll have to scrounge the dump sites again but I’m thinking it’ll be easy maybe at a dump lot.” Wash answered him without looking up from the screen he and Kaylee were huddled over.

“Think you could get busy on that?” Mal asked dryly, after a moment of silence passed. “Sooner would be better than later.”

“Capt’n you might wanna look at this.” Kaylee stood up, her unusually blank gaze going to Mal. “Wash an’ me been workin’ on those files you wanted us to. Unscrambled some of ‘em.”

Mal hesitated only a moment before taking the spot Kaylee had been at to look onto the screen. A young boy peered back at him from a photo and he began reading the file beneath the picture, barely believing what he was reading. “They killed this little boy?” He asked quietly.

“An experiment gone wrong.” Wash nodded. “Kidnapped him, gave him some kind of operation to enhance his mind. It didn’t work so they killed him. There’s another.” He flipped through the files to another one they’d decoded. “This woman… they kidnapped her and programmed her brain somehow. They were trying to make her an assassin. Kill those who they want gone. The experiment failed. See here?” He pointed to the screen.

“Terminated…” Mal bowed his head if only to try to get the wide green eyes of the little boy out of his head. It didn’t work. “Like what they did to River.”

“We told Simon… he’s goin’ through the files too to see if there’s answers on how to help River.” Kaylee said.

“But like Simon said, River wasn’t kidnapped. We don’t think she was a part of this program. Maybe something else.” Wash commented. “Do you want us to keep working on this or the ambulance?”

Mal drew a quick breath. “Ambulance.” He said after a moment, decision made. Fuel and food had to come first and they needed coin for both. “Job won’t take long. Then we got time to figure out what to do ‘bout them files.” He stood up and started out of the bridge.

“Capt’n are you okay?” Kaylee asked, knowing that this new information would make him angry. But there was something else too… His voice lacked the luster it normally had. His eyes looked tired and sleepy. It worried her.

Mal bit back a bitter remark and simply called back behind him. “Shiny.”

He stopped at the door to his bunk. Inara and he hadn’t spoken since that morning and it had been a fight. He felt the verse closing in, dark and cold. The fighting could wait until tomorrow. He needed to hold her.

He made his way to the shuttle and walked in to find the room cleaned and Inara in bed with some show on the cortex screen. “’Nara…” He said quietly, the darkness he felt conveyed through his voice and eyes. “M’tired and… been a long day. Thought maybe I could be holdin’ you and we could save the fightin’ for another time.”

Relief washed over Inara when Mal stepped into the room. Some part of her was always surprised and extremely grateful when he came back to her. A smile softened her face as she turned off the comm. Screen then she nodded, pulling the blankets back on his side of the bed.

Mal sat on the couch across the room and took off his boots and socks, before tugging his suspenders off of his shoulders. He quietly moved about the shuttle as he prepared for bed, stopping at the washing station to splash water on his face and wash his hands.

He wore only his pants when he slipped into the bed and closed his eyes. His arms automatically went around Inara, pulling her as close as possible and holding her a little more tightly than necessary.

Inara placed a kiss on Mal's shoulder and took a deep breath of him. "I'm sorry I'm obsessive with the neatness. I'm sorry we fought. I hate fighting with you. I'm always scared you won't come back," she whispered against his skin. "I don't want to fight another day. I just want you to hold me."

"Can't be sorry for bein' who you are. But I am sorry we fought." Mal said quietly, keeping his eyes closed. "I'll always come for you long as you're wantin' me... and even times when you don't." He drew a deep breath and snuggled in closer to the pillows and Inara.

"Mal… There isn't a time or a place where I wouldn't want you," Inara whispered. "Even when I wasn't supposed to want you, I did." She tangled her fingers in his hair and kissed the curve of his neck.

Mal nodded against Inara's neck. "Want me even when I'm drivin' you crazy with my things everywhere?"

"Especially then," Inara couldn't help smiling against his skin. "Because that means your things are mixed in with my things. No matter how crazy it makes me, I like having you and all your things here."

"Good answer." Mal said quietly. "Just remember how much you love it next time my clothes are on the floor." He realized just then that the shirt he'd just taken off was in a heap on the couch.

"I do. Just because I'm angry at you doesn't mean I love you any less or that I want you any less. All it means is I'm mad at you," Inara whispered. She slid one hand down his ribs, bringing it to rest over the scar there.

"Hmmm, that's funny. Same thing goes for me. So you can stop worryin' that I won't come back." Mal said.

"I'll try," Inara promised. "We're okay, right?"

"We're fine, 'Nara." Mal whispered. "Think I'm gettin' sick though. Ain't feelin' all that good. Tired and my head is foggy."

Inara's brow furrowed with concern and she swept one hand over his forehead just now noticing the circles under his eyes. "You don't feel hot. Let me make you some tea."

"Don’t need tea. Just you and sleep." Mal said tiredly, his arms tightening around Inara to keep her against him. "Stay..." He whispered.

That one word from his lips was more powerful than anything else he could have said. It made her breath catch in her throat and her heart skip a beat. If he'd said that one word so long ago on Serenity before she'd left for the guild house, she didn't think she could have left. "As long as you want me," Inara whispered against his mouth before kissing him, her fingers tunneling in his hair, pulling him closer.

Mal let Inara kiss him for a few moments before returning the kiss with a few of his own. He loved feeling her kiss him and sometimes it was nice to feel it with no interference of anything else. "Don't wanna get you sick..." He whispered, leaning back slightly.

"I'll take my chances," she whispered against his lips then began stringing kisses along his jaw to that spot right below his ear. "It's worth it and look at it this way, I'll have an excuse to stay in bed with you all day."

"Can't be stayin' in bed all day. Got work to do." He tilted his head back as she kissed his skin, granting her more access. "Get the doc to give me some medicine if it gets too bad. Maybe adrenaline... somethin'."

"Mal, you could have a heart attack speeding your heart up that much," Inara told him between wet, open mouthed kisses on his neck. She nipped at the skin on the curve of his neck then placed a light kiss there. "I like your heart beating exactly the way it does." She slid one hand down his chest to rest over his heart. "Thump-thump thump-thump," she whispered against his neck while her fingers drummed on his chest in time with his heart.

Mal put his hand over Inara's at his chest and drew a deep breath of her flower-scented hair. "Gotta be on my toes if I'm gonna be workin'. Makes it easier to come back to you."

Inara went still at Mal's comment. She bowed her head slightly and took a deep, trembling breath. "You're going to come back to me. You promised. You don't break your promises," she whispered and kissed the scar on his shoulder. "You said you'd always come back to me."

"I'll always try, 'Nara. Just hope I ain't gettin' sick is all. Can't afford it right now." Mal rolled onto his back and rested his forearm over his forehead. "Gotta get this job done for Badger. Knockin’ off another hospital. Persephone’s ain’t half as guarded as the last one was. Good cause it’ll get us coin we need. Takin’ River so she isn’t left here. Girl needs out for a spell anyway."

Inara nodded. "Talk to Simon in the morning. Maybe he can give you a shot of something that'll help keep you from getting sick," she said as she rolled onto her stomach, her chin resting on Mal's shoulder, one leg between his. "Maybe we'll make enough from this job that we can stay out in the black for a little while, let you rest a little." She placed a kiss on the scar on his shoulder and then laid her head on his chest. "I love you, Mal," she whispered, knowing how much he needed to hear the words after it'd taken her so long to be able to say them.

"Love you too darlin'..." Mal's voice was already slurred and sleep heavy. He squeezed her shoulders, pulling her closer to him and drew a deep breath. "If I ain't up in five hours wake me up."

A smile spread across Inara's face at Mal's words. She knew he was already half asleep but the fact remained that he'd said the words. They were still so rare from his lips that every time he said them she wanted to shout from the top of somewhere very high 'Malcolm Reynolds loves me'

"I will," she promised in a whisper, kissed his jaw quickly and closed her eyes.

**

Inara blankly heard the woosh of the drugs going into Mal’s system where she put them into his arm. She hid the hypo in the top drawer of the bedside table and went to sit at the comm. screen on the bridge.

Peresphone Allied Hospital. River Tam will be there.

I.S.

Once the message had been sent she signed out of the comm screen and powered it down then went still.

Inara shook her head and blinked, glancing around her. Her brow furrowed and her features were marked with confusion. Sleep walking...she hadn't done that since she was a very small child. She sighed and glanced at the clock. It was 10pm; the time Mal had wanted her to wake him up. She watched him from where she sat at the comm screen. He looked so peaceful and vulnerable; she didn't want to wake him. She crawled into the bed with him and automatically he pulled her close without ever even waking. She smiled and traced his features with her fingers. She placed a kiss at his temple and on his nose then finally on his mouth.

"Mal, Bao Bei wake up," she whispered, kissing the curve of his neck.

Mal was in a foggy place when he finally heard Inara's voice and felt her lips against his neck. He woke up to a splitting headache and sat up, his hand to his forehead. "Time is it?" He asked tiredly, feeling as if he'd only slept a few minutes.

"10 o'clock," Inara answered as she sat up beside him. She ran her fingers through his hair and then ran her hand down his back, tracing over scars. "How are you feeling?" To be truthful, she was concerned. He looked like he was getting sick.

Mal shook his head and drew a deep breath. "Don’t matter. Got things to do. Need the money." He sat there for a few moments, letting Inara rub his back before finally he got out of bed and went to the closet to pull a maroon shirt off of a hanger. "Get this caper done then gotta get out to the black and see what's to be done about other things."

Inara watched Mal get dressed, concern marking her features. She'd spend the time he was on Peresphone saying extra prayers for him. "Please be extra careful, Mal. I'd like for my husband to be whole when I marry him," she smiled at him.

"M'Always careful darlin'." Mal tucked his shirt into his pants then buttoned the pants and clicked his belt into place.

She hated that pat, nonchalant answer. She always had but it was Mal and it was his answer every time she told him to be careful. "I know. Just be particularly careful this time. I don’t like you going out when you’re sick," she told him as she got out of bed, walked over to him and placed a kiss in the hollow of his throat. She nodded after a moment. "Okay. Go be a pirate." The smile she gave him was the sort of smile she used when she was hiding fear, pain or nerves beneath it.

Mal paused in clipping his holster about his waist and looked to Inara. "Never did like that name... pirate. Guess it's what we do though... Just that pirate's normally don't make the good kind of people. I ain't all bad."

Inara smiled softly and shook her head. She placed a soft kiss to his lips and then leaned back to look at him. "Mal, you are a good man...all of the time. Now go be a good man." You could hear the words be careful in the tone of her voice. She bit her bottom lip and looked up at him from underneath her lashes.

Mal reached out, his fingers digging into the curls at the side of Inara's head. He leaned down and kissed her forehead, then her lips. "Gonna get some medicines and then we'll have good enough coin to get away from everything for awhile." He grabbed his brown coat and pulled it on even as he stifled a yawn. "River girl will be with us so you can move about the ship without worry."

"Getting away for awhile sounds good," Inara told Mal, frowning slightly at the stifled yawn. "I'll probably just stay here, maybe have some tea," she told him as she walked out of the shuttle with him. She bit off the words be careful. She was going to have to trust that he knew how it would devastate her if something happened and she had to trust that he wouldn't do that to her if at all possible.

Mal lifted a corner of his lips in a half grin. "Tea sounds right nice. Don't be cleanin' or doin' so much that you work yourself tired. Still got healin’ to be done."

"I won't," Inara tried to assure him. "I'll save you some tea. We'll have it when you get back." She knew she'd spend a lot of the time he was gone praying for all of them. She'd use tea and chess or perhaps a book or calligraphy to try and distract herself for the remainder of the time until they got back.

Mal glanced to Inara one more time and nodded before heading down the metal grated stairs to the cargo bay. River, Zoe, and Jayne already waited for him there.

Simon walked into the cargo bay. "Captain, are you sure about this?"

"About what?" Mal asked.

"River."

Mal shrugged, opening the hatch to the ambulance Kaylee and Wash had designed. "Ain't leavin' her without me here, Doc. End of discussion."

"Not the end..." Simon said exasperatedly. "Her instability could get you all killed, not to mention her. I risked my life to keep her alive, not let her be-"

"Captain said end of discussion." Zoe interjected.

Mal looked to Simon. "We'll bring her back. No worryin'."

"Mal don't leave anyone behind." Jayne said gruffly, getting into the small ambulance. "Went back for you when we all thought it better to leave you."

Simon knew Jayne was right, but still... he worried about his sister more and more lately. Since she’d shot Inara her mind had been all over the place and he was sure she was instable.

"S'go!" Mal guided River onto the ambulance after Zoe and Jayne and let Zoe pilot the ship out of Serenity.

**

The job went as planned, just as it had the last time except that this time there was no looking inside River’s head. Jayne was with Mal the entire time and he knew that the man would never double cross him while he was looking straight at him. Zoe waited at the ambulance.

Mal piled medical supplies into insulated crates, first what Badger wanted and then the list of things that Simon had given him.

“Once we get all this sold, gonna buy one of them new laser rifles we seen them Alliance boys carryin’ with my share of the coin.” Jayne said piling everything he could get his hands on into the crates.

Mal smirked lightly, glancing at where River guarded the door every few seconds. “Nothin’ good ever came from Alliance, Jayne. Best be stickin’ with Vera or any of them other weapons you got.”

“I’m full up. An’ yeah I mean the rim’s got better weapons and the like. But the Alliance ones look all shiny and…” Jayne paused. He caught sight of River slipping out the door. “River? Where’s that gorram girl goin’?”

Mal cursed under his breath and walked out into the hallway. He grabbed River’s arm. “You gotta be stayin’ with us, lil one. Tell us when anyone’s comin’.” When she simply looked back at him with those wide eyes, he shook his head. “’Bout to get out of here, dong ma?”

“This isn’t where I’m supposed to be,” River told him in a hushed voice.

“Sure it is, part of my crew. Stayin’ with us,” Mal told her as he held onto her arm.

“We gonna git or what?” Jayne asked, pushing his full crate on a dolly past Mal and River into the hallway.

Mal nodded and turned around to get the medicine he’d gathered. He wheeled it behind Jayne, glancing back at River following them a foot or so behind. “Come on River girl. Goin’ back to Serenity and your brother.”

Zoe ran forward when Mal, Jayne, and River appeared on the roof. “Everything shiny?”

“Oh I think we best be getting’ River out of here. ‘Bout to go crazy again.” Mal helped Jayne load both of the crates.

“Get right on that, Sir.” Zoe got into the ambulance and started her up again.

Mal turned to River and held a hand out to her. “Come on little one, let’s get back home.”

River looked at Mal's hand then looked up at Mal, a mournful look on her face. "Can't...it isn't safe," she said in a little girl lost voice.

"There's nothin' completely safe. Safer with us." Mal answered, suddenly very worried about what was going on with River. Concern laced his features. "What's goin' on in that head of yours?"

"Ain't got time for chit chattin'." Jayne said angrily. "S'git this boat in the air."

Mal cast Jayne a look that sent the man back into the ambulance and then looked back to River. He lowered his hand, trying to figure out if he could get her into the spacecraft by force.

River leaned forward on the tips of her toes until her cheek was very close to Mal's. "I don't want to hurt you," she whispered in his ear, pressed a quick kiss to his cheek then turned on the balls of her feet and took off running back into the hospital.

"Tianna..." Mal whispered then hurried after her back into the hospital.

Jayne poked his head out of the ambulance, grabbed one of his guns and hurried after Mal. "That feng le girl's gonna get us killed,” he grumbled.

Mal hurried through the corridors after River, stopping short when he found her. She was in an open atrium of the hospital, her body in a heap on the floor. He saw the dart sticking out of one of her arms and knew she'd been drugged.

"Don’t be a bend an,." Jayne said as he grabbed Mal's arm, stopping him from rounding the corner to get River just as the room filled with Alliance officers. "Can't be goin' in there. We're outnumbered."

"Been outnumbered before." Mal could feel his heart pounding in his chest. He wasn't afraid, but Jayne was right. They were outnumbered.

"Well yeah, but not like this. We need a ruttin’ plan." Jayne argued.

"Gotta say Jayne's right, Sir." Zoe had snuck up quietly, rifle in hand and had surveyed the situation. "Need to get back to Serenity."

"Ain't leavin' her behind." Mal shook his head and looked back to Jayne and Zoe. "Bring me a gun?"

"Gonna shoot at a platoon of Alliance soldiers?" Jayne asked, shaking his head. "Didn't sign up to do that kind of time, Mal. You might be likin' them prison cells but I don't fancy bein' in one."

"Get me a gun. Give me yours, Jayne." Mal insisted a hint of urgency in his voice. He could never bring himself to leave River behind... not with the Alliance. He knew what they were capable of... what they'd done to him... no.

"Sir, let it go," Zoe told Mal in the cold, business like tone she had. "Gonna be easier to launch a rescue mission if we're not in an Alliance prison. We get caught, only ones left to rescue us is the doc, Inara and Wash." She looked sidelong at Mal as she spoke, watching as a platoon of soldiers filed in, surrounding River warily.

Inara... Mal knew that Inara wasn't in any shape to be rescuing. All of the muscle in this outfit was right here. He watched the officers bind River and lift her like she was a sack of potatoes before turning his hardened gaze back to Zoe and Jayne. Without a word, he started back through the hallways toward the roof.

Zoe followed Mal back to the makeshift ambulance. She knew he was furious and going against what he thought was right in order to try and do something else right. She got into the ambulance, Jayne and Mal following suit.

"We'll get back to the ship, have Kaylee find out where they're taking River and plan a rescue," she said as she fired up the ambulance and steered it toward Serenity.

"Ain't right, treatin' a girl like that," Jayne muttered as they headed toward Serenity.

"No it ain't..." Mal said darkly. He was quiet the rest of the way, completely shut off from any conversation that would be had with either Zoe or Jayne.

The moment they were back on Serenity, he got out of the ambulance. "Kaylee, hack into any frequency that's got Alliance or any kind of law enforcement on it. They got River." He spared a glance up to the catwalk where Inara stood looking down at them.

"What? Who got River?" Simon asked his eyes wide.

"Alliance." Mal glanced at Simon and started for the corridor only pausing for a moment when the room seemed to get blurry and then come back in focus.

Simon watched Jayne begin unloading the loot from the ambulance and then looked back to Mal his eyes alight with ire. "What? You could make it back with the stolen goods but not my sister?" He asked angrily at the captain's back. "Well at least we'll have a good payday then won't we, Captain?"

Mal stopped short, his hands clenched into fists at his sides so tight that the knuckles were white. He kept his back to Simon unwilling to turn around and look him in the eye at the moment.

“Gonna want to hush up, Doctor.” Zoe’s voice was cold and low when she spoke.

"Quite a payoff." Simon added. "What I'm wondering is how much was enough for you to finally give in and turn her in. You know your bounty would have been higher if you'd turned me in also. Possibly even yourself."

The room filled with an eerie silence until finally Mal made his way towards the bridge.

Inara gaped at Simon's attack on Mal. She gave him a hard look from the catwalk and started down the stairs toward him. "Simon," she said sharply. "You know better than that and if you think about it for a moment you'll realize that," she said more softly. She stopped at the foot of the stairs, her hand tightly gripping the stair rail. Relief washed over her, relief that it hadn't been Mal and in some dark part of her, relief that she no longer had to worry about River. She swallowed hard and shook her head. "We'll get her back," she said, slightly breathless as she started toward the bridge after Mal.

"Jayne, you and I need to take inventory of what we've got weapon wise. Gonna have to make an assault on where ever they've got her holed up," Zoe said as she opened up the crate in the cargo bay that held their spare weapons.

Simon drew a deep breath and bowed his head. Inara was right. He watched her leave after Mal and immediately felt bad. He looked to Zoe. "What can I do? He does plan to go get her, correct?"

“Only way we could get him to leave her behind without walkin’ into a platoon of soldiers.” Zoe explained.

**

Mal leaned over Wash, eyeing the consol of the cortex screen. "Sihnon?" He asked, looking from Wash up to Kaylee who stood on the other side of him.

"Yeah, looks like an Alliance prison. They plan to hold her there for transport to a medical facility." Wash explained. "I hate to say it but they were waiting for you."

Mal raised an eyebrow. "Knew we were gonna be there?" He rested a hand on the back of the chair Wash sat in, another wave of dizziness hitting him.

"You okay Capt'n?" Kaylee asked, her hand going to Mal's forearm.

Mal shook his head. He really wasn’t okay. "Takin' a shuttle into the prison. Need you to work on gettin' electric power off. I'm goin' in."

"Capt'n there's more... decrypted the rest of them files. You'll wanna be lookin' at 'em." Kaylee said. "Simon's got 'em now."

"I'll look at them when we got River back." He turned to see Inara standing in the doorway and put a hand on her arm as he started down the corridor. "You should be gettin' back to rest 'Nara. Things didn't go as smooth as I was hopin'."

Inara put her hand over Mal's on her arm and nodded. "I know...they took River. What does Kaylee mean? They knew you were going be there? Do you think Badger..." she trailed off, letting the implication lie there as she struggled to keep up with Mal's pace as he walked down the corridor.

"Ain't really carin' at this moment. Can't think that far ahead. Just gotta get River back." Mal said blankly. He had only one mission right now: to fix everything that had gone wrong. It was what he did... he fixed things. The problem was everything was breaking faster than he could keep up.

Inara nodded at Mal's assessment of the situation. "Alright. I'll see if any of my contacts are still good. Maybe someone..." she trailed off. She knew there was nothing any of her contacts could do, even if they were still good. Yes, she'd had clients who happened to be high-ranking members of parliament and she would contact them but she seriously doubted there was anything any of them could do to help River right now. "Is there anything else I can do?" she asked. The fatigue hit her like a wall, washing over her, making her words breathy. It was a reminder that she was still recovering from River shooting her. Mal wanted River back on the ship and Inara, while scared of the girl, didn't want her in Alliance hands. She'd do anything she could to help make sure the girl was safe.

Mal shook his head, stopping in the galley and pulling a chair out for Inara. He didn’t miss the lack of air behind her voice. "Just need you to get better. Gonna get River back and then I'm gonna sleep for a few days... maybe more." He rested his hands on the edge of the table to lean on it and bowed his head.

Inara sat down in the chair, knowing she'd never get Mal to go back to the shuttle with her. "Alright. At least rest against the edge of the table," she told him and she brushed a kiss on his forearm then reached up to put a hand at the back of his neck. "Once we get River back you can sleep as long as you want. I'll sleep with you."

Mal nodded. "I know you will, 'Nara. Just gotta get her back. Wouldn't have left her behind, there was just... I just... too many officers." He explained. Part of him needed her to know that the decision hadn't been made lightly as Simon had just insinuated. "Never leave anyone behind... we'll get her." He nodded and pulled back from Inara.

He'd come back to her. He'd thought about rushing into something and he'd chosen the more careful option so that he could come back to her. It was good, knowing that pat, easy answer wasn't just to ease her worry.

"I know," Inara whispered, letting her fingers slide away from Mal's neck as he pulled away from her and along his cheek. "I'm glad you came back to me. We'll get her back too."

Mal looked to Inara, just taking her in for the moment. "We will." He nodded, then placed a finger under her chin and leaned down to give her a small kiss. "You rest up, 'Nara. Be back soon enough an' I'll hold you to that sleepin' matter." He stood back upright and started out of the galley.

Inara sighed softly and watched Mal disappear out of the galley. She pushed herself up from the table and headed toward the shuttle. She needed to go through her contacts, see which were valid and which weren't. While it might not do any good, it was possible it would and besides it made her feel like she was doing something productive.