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Inara had been on board for one week and she had already been to four sit down dinners with the rest of the crew. Kaylee had expected it the first time; Inara seemed like the kind of woman who wanted to ensure she made a good impression wherever she went, and she'd said she would come to dinner on her move-in day. The other three dinners were surprises, though. Pleasant ones, of course. It was a treat to share a meal with a woman so fascinating. Kaylee asked too many questions and maybe some of them were a little too forward, but Inara was gracious and answered all of them, sometimes dodging the more sensitive aspects, but always giving some answer. It was flattering, to have someone like that speak with her like they were long time friends and not a registered Companion indulging a ship's mechanic. Inara was so cordial and she was impeccably dressed and unwaveringly polite even in the face of the captain's jabs. Kaylee was starstruck and she knew it. There was no sense in lying to herself.
In private, Kaylee could indulge. She could daydream to her heart's content. Maybe Inara would invite her into the shuttle one day. She'd been in there to serve as an extra pair of hands for putting up all of the rich décor, but maybe if Inara invited her in without a task to be completed, she could sit on one of those silk couches for a moment, enjoy the soothing environment and listen to Inara tell her stories about parties on the Core or what it was like to grow up on Sihnon. Sometimes Kaylee fantasized about sharing a cup of tea with Inara, and when she was feeling brazen, she even daydreamed about sharing a kiss.
Kaylee may have been a romantic but she also knew how to handle herself, and she was confident that she wasn't acting a fool when she was around Inara. The last thing she wanted was to make the other woman uncomfortable; she probably got enough of that when she was working (and now from Mal, Kaylee remembered).
"How about that Companion, huh?" Wash asked one evening after dinner once Inara had said goodnight and the captain had started his shift at the helm, but he wasn't looking at his wife. He was looking at Kaylee and he had a knowing smirk on his face.
"Aah! Shut up!"
"I wasn't saying anything!" Wash insisted. "I just asked one question, didn't I? A perfectly innocent question." He now turned to Zoe. "Did I say something mean?" He asked her, opening his eyes as wide as they could go.
"Don't tease her too much," Zoe said sternly, although there was a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. "Kaylee has a big heart."
Zoe wasn't wrong; Kaylee knew that she had a habit of developing crushes quickly, and they often faded just as fast, but it was still mortifying that Wash had cottoned on to her infatuation. He seemed to notice that she was worried and immediately shifted gears.
"You're not being that obvious," he assured her. "I just know you. And it's probably something she encounters fairly regularly, right? So I don't think she'd mind all that much even if she did notice."
"But I don't want her to notice," Kaylee insisted. "She deserves to have some respite from being desired all the time at work, doesn't she? I don't want her to have to deal with it in her home, too."
Wash considered her for a moment.
"You really are something else, Kaylee Frye," he said finally, and Zoe nodded even though he wasn't looking to her for confirmation. "All this is to say, I think it's funny but that's because I've seen you have crushes before. But you've been nothing but friendly and civil to Inara and I do believe she appreciates it."
"I'm not going to push it," Kaylee assured both him and Zoe. "I would never overstep. And besides, once she settles in to her new life, I'm sure we'll see less and less of her. I probably won't interact with her all that much."