Keepin&#39; her flyin&#39;

She nodded a little, and then she focused on buttoning up her blouse so she didn't have to think that it very likely could be his girl.

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He just sat on the bunk, waited for her. Watching her.

Maybe memorizing her to take with him. Homesickness versus heartache. Not much to choose from between the two.

It was a little bit startling to realize he was putting things in terms of heartache already, but not much. These things happened. Granted, they had never happened to him before.

He wasn't even sure how he felt, although how she was acting was a good ...

Stop thinking. Just. Stop thinking so much.

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She looked over at him, eyes just a little bit bleak, worried, sad. She wasn't very good at hiding her feelings.

"We should...Inara's bound to be here soon."

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He nodded slightly and held out his hand to her, even knowing that it was a little impractical for going up hatch stairs.

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She smiled a little and took it, somehow managing to maneuver the ladder without letting go, her fingers clinging to his.

"Inara's shuttle docks off of the cargo bay.."

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"Okay." His voice was a hoarse whisper. Maybe it was better not to speak till they got there.

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She looked at him, then nodded a little and led the way in silence.

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sevenvirtues.livejournal.com

Inara was doing her best to sooth the young woman, but it wasn't working too well. Then again if she had been a girl (and she judged the girl's age no more than sixteen, if that) in a ship full of people she didn't know, taking it on faith that her missing brother was there...

Well, she probably wouldn't be all that at ease, herself.

But the girl, Layla, she'd said her name was, seemed to be holding herself together well despite the nervousness. She was sitting on one of Inara's stools with her hands clasped between her knees, looking up whenever it sounded as though someone was coming in, but not moving off her perch.

Inara had given up most efforts of conversation when they had been met with mumbling and downcast eyes. She could do silence, as well.

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Mal was there when the shuttle docked, and while he knocked, he didn't wait for an answer before coming in.

He gave Layla an assessing glance. "What do you do?" She was on his ship now, after all.

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Layla blinked at him. "Do?" That was a new way of greeting people. And it didn't sound right, with what she'd been hearing in town. They seemed to still be using how do you do.

And anyway, he didn't seem as though he was standing on politeness.

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"You're on my ship, an' if you can do things like your brother, you are possibly puttin' my crew in danger."

There. See. He knew something. It would also go a fair way toward proving the boy's story.

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"Oh..." Her brother? Oh, Warren. Oh. OH. "Oh god, he hasn't blown anything up, has he?"

She still remembered the cafeteria incident.

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"No." He was still waiting. "Are you going to blow things up?"

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"Oh, no, no. I don't blow things up. I make things grow."

The pretty woman, Inara, had some flowers in her shuttle that looked like they were from some admirer or another. Layla glanced at them and frowned in concentration.

The roses lifted, buds that had been closed sprang into blossom. The air filled with scent.

And pollen.

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Mal's eyes widened just a bit. "Ah. You're the one Shepherd said he wanted to meet. Layla."

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Layla blinked, dragging her eyes to his. "Shepherd?" Was that good or bad. "Is he with Warren?"

No getting off track, Layla.

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"No. Warren's with Kaylee, my mechanic. They'll be along shortly."

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"Oh." Well, at least, shortly.

Why shortly? Was there something wrong? "Is something wrong?"

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"Not that I know of, 'cept the two of you somehow findin' your way here from someplace that no one's been in well over two hundred years. They was gettin' dressed last I saw 'em."

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Layla felt herself turn bright red, thoughts of Warren flashing through her mind in ways they never had before.

Maybe once or twice before.

But not with any kind of practical application or more than a moment's consideration! "Getting... dressed."

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Mal might possibly have felt amused and just slightly back on his feet. Weren't like he needed to embarrass a teenaged girl, but she was from the past and Earth-that-was and that made him mighty unsettled.

"Yes."

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"Oh," she said faintly.

Better not interrupt them then. Warren wouldn't ... Yeah. Warren would glare. And she...

Yeah.

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By the time they got to the shuttle, Kaylee was clinging to Warren's hand almost desperately.

She took a deep breath and slipped inside, still holding on, and eyes immediately going to Layla. She felt her heart sink. She was really pretty.

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Warren did blink, even though he wasn't surprised. Too surprised. Okay, he was surprised, but it didn't surprise him that Layla was the one going around up to people and calling him her brother.

"Warren!" Layla shot to her feet, starting towards him with clear intent to hug. Stopped, when she saw the older girl holding his hand.

Not that he minded too, too much, letting go of Kaylee's hand and hugging Layla a bit. "Hey. You made it here too."

Layla nodded. "We figured out what went wrong, it ..." Warren had stepped back, moving back to Kaylee's side.

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