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"Doesn't it seem like a trick? Like it's too good to be true?"
Zoe was glad that Simon was feeling comfortable enough on the crew these days to ask questions like that, and to his credit, there was a part of her that agreed with him. The fact that Inara just happened to be invited to the inauguration of a new opera hall on Newhall and would be the guest of the exact mark that the crew was looking to target felt a little suspicious.
"Could be," the captain agreed. "Or it could just be luck."
"Your luck?" Simon pushed, and got the full force of Mal's harshest glare for his trouble.
They were looking for the blueprints to a freshly installed bank safe on Lazarus, which meant it would be a quiet little operation mostly masterminded by Kaylee with Mal flying himself in on the shuttle and posing as a technician for the security system.
"It's a Frozenware Professional System," Kaylee told them, two minutes into watching a home tour video the target had recorded for a popular Cortex channel not three months earlier.
"What does it mean, Kaylee?" Zoe asked.
"They're notoriously easy to tap into. Captain and I can handle this, no issue, as long as no one's paying too much attention to us and we know the layout of the ground floor areas that weren't shown in the video."
It was a given that if Inara was anywhere, no one would be paying attention to anything at all. The man inviting Inara to the opera hall inauguration was not even contracting her as a client, seeing as he had a new wife who would be on his arm, but he'd hired her in the past and certainly knew what sort of impression she would make.
They decided on Zoe being the one to accompany Inara and figure out the ground floor layout including the host's office, mostly because Zoe was better at keeping a poker face and could pass muster at being the sort of elite bodyguard that Inara would contract. Jayne was happy to sit this one out, grumbling about rich folk and their odd behavior until it dawned on him that this meant he'd be left behind on the boat with the Tams. River gave him an eerie little smile, his grumbling intensified, and Kaylee started loudly talking about the logistical details of her hacking plan before the galley could descend into chaos.
Zoe and Inara were the first to leave, zipping off in the shuttle to Inara's host's estate. Zoe let most of the details of their introduction slip past her, seeing as it was a lot of what a lovely home and what a pleasure to meet you directed towards the new wife. Zoe kept her eyes scanning her surroundings and gave one sharp nod when Inara introduced her. Inara was whisked into a sitting room for welcome drinks, and Zoe slipped away to figure out where exactly Mal should be heading once he arrived. Apparently the host trusted Inara far more than he should have and therefore also trusted Zoe, because absolutely no one made any move to stop her. Poor oversight from someone whose job was in security design, but Zoe was certainly not going to complain about it.
Dinner was a crowded formal affair at the estate that saw the shuttle landing area full of crafts. Zoe stationed herself in an alcove where she could see the door and kept track of who was coming and going. It was highly unlikely that she'd actually have to act as a bodyguard—Newhall was a border planet, sure, but there was a very low risk of day to day danger—but she needed to keep up the appearance and it was soothing to fall into a familiar sentry position. She noticed Mal slip into the building via a service entrance and gave him a nod but no other acknowledgement. Sure, I saw someone, but the staff let him in and he was in uniform, so I figured he was supposed to be there. My focus was on Miss Serra.
Once everyone sat down to the meal, Zoe joined the staff and other assorted visiting guards in the servants' dining room. No one really spoke except the house staff—it was likely that the rest of the guards were former military as well and knew better than to engage in small talk about their employers.
Zoe did not accompany Inara to the opera hall itself. Instead, she paced the corridors long enough until everyone else who also stayed behind figured she was just restless, then checked in the office and ensured that Mal was finding what they were supposed to find. He had Kaylee in his ear, so he was doing frankly fine. In fact, he was doing so well that Zoe wondered briefly why the crew had even decided to send her in with Inara to do recon.
The opera took far less time than Zoe had expected, but when she voiced this, one of the maids told her that it was a one act show, since not everyone who wanted to be seen at the opening of the hall truly cared all that much about opera.
"Where does your employer fall on the opera appreciation scale?" Zoe asked. The maid laughed.
"He really does like it. He told Mr. Tendal that when he was going to university on Londinium, he would pack a cooler full of snacks and go to operas that lasted four hours."
"Seems like a lot of time to sit in a theater," Zoe commented.
There was a brief pause in the sitting room as the guests commented on their favorite performance moments and sipped tiny glasses of herbal cordial for a nightcap. Inara took her leave eventually and Zoe met her out in the hallway.
Inara's suitcase and Zoe's duffle had been taken to the room by staff as soon as they'd arrived, so all they had to do was slot the doorknob into its spot and head inside. The room housed one opulent bed that was covered with pillows in shades of cream and an odd wavy-shaped couch that was probably very artistically lauded and wildly expensive, but didn't look too comfortable.
Zoe wasn't sure what the assumption was. Maybe all the other bodyguards who'd stayed here were five foot three and fit on that couch without an issue. Maybe the hosts expected her to sleep on the floor like a dog. Maybe they assumed she'd trust them enough to leave Inara there alone and find a room for rent in town. Maybe every rich person on Newhall was fucking their bodyguard.
"We'll share," Inara said immediately. "Frankly I don't understand why they aren't putting us in a two bed suite or at least something with a couch that a normal sized human can sleep on."
"They certainly have the money to buy bigger couches," Zoe commented lightly.
"No kidding! Did you see the marble wine chillers? With the tiny jeweled beetles on them? I saw those in a department store on Londinium a while back and just one of them is the price of two entry couplings," Inara told her. She sounded genuinely offended, and Zoe supposed that she was right to be.
"Could be you're spending too much time with us riff raff, if you're counting things in the cost of ship parts."
Inara had an entire bag packed into her suitcase that was just for her evening routine. Soft black pajamas that Zoe thought looked a little plain for a Companion until Inara told her they were moisturizing, a multi-step skincare routine of little dropper bottles and glass jars, a scalp massager and a little silk cap to protect her hair. That last one Zoe could understand; she had one of her own, but she didn't bring it on overnight jobs because she had the feeling she looked more intimidating without it in case she had to leap into action in the middle of the night.
While Inara finished up with her rituals and took a moment for meditation, Zoe did a meditation of her own: walking the corridors outside their room and making sure she knew where exits were and which route she would prefer if they had to leave in a hurry. She returned as Inara was settling into bed and went through her own washing up before joining her friend.
Inara snored. It was a soft little hum that was just loud enough to be endearing and just quiet enough to become white noise after a few moments. Zoe wondered very briefly if snoring prettily was a class at Companion Training Houses before she fell asleep.
—
Morning came quickly and Zoe was awake and alert as soon as the sunlight came filtering in through the linen curtains. She hadn't moved much in her sleep—she rarely did, considering how many years she'd spent sleeping in narrow cots or divots in trenches. Inara, on the other hand, had moved. Very few folks in the 'Verse could ever dream of scrounging up enough cash to be in the position that Zoe was currently in, with Inara curled around her, seeking warmth and comfort in her sleep. Zoe shifted them gently so she was cradling Inara rather than just letting the younger woman be smushed against her.
Inara opened her eyes slowly, waking in a way that reminded Zoe of a cat. She blinked at Zoe a few times but there was no surprise, no sudden move to leave their little bubble. Before she could stop herself, Zoe inched her head to the right and dropped a soft kiss to Inara's forehead. Inara gave a sleepy little hum, turned her own head, and pressed a kiss into Zoe's collarbone in return before falling right back asleep.
They weren't expected to leave until the late morning, so Zoe let her rest.
Eventually they made their way out of bed, packed up their things and left the bags by the door to be taken to the shuttle, and Inara made one last round of pleasantries at light buffet brunch while Zoe was given an incredibly thick sandwich wrapped in paper.
"I trust the accommodations were adequate?" The host asked. Inara smiled serenely and continued to pick at the smoked salmon.
"Well, they weren't adequate at all," Inara said loftily. "But luckily I choose my staff with a great deal of care, so I was able to adapt." She put her plate down, turned to Zoe, who offered her elbow, and they swept out of the villa and to Inara's shuttle.
Kaylee was buzzing with excitement when they returned, chattering on about how easy it had been and how they'd not only gotten their hands on the safe blueprints but also on more information on how the safe design company worked in general. Jayne and both of the Tams were still alive which was a great bonus, although from what Zoe could parse from their frantic arguing, there had been some sort of incident with the vidscreen in the medbay and a missing skin mag from Jayne's bunk.
"Thank you for keeping me safe during that outing," Inara told Zoe as everyone else continued conversations around them.
"You weren't really in any danger," Zoe assured her.
"Still. Thank you for…well, being with me. If you…if you ever feel generous, let's say, I don't think I've slept so well in years as I did last night."
Zoe reached out and squeezed her hand.
"I'd be happy to help out."