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The first time Inara invited Kaylee for a sleepover after they'd shared a kiss over drinks at a bar on Santo, Kaylee wasn't sure exactly what the situation would be for the evening.
“We’ll be in the black for maybe five more days, right?” Inara asked after dinner, while Kaylee was relaxing in the lounge with River.
“Sure will be!”
“Would you like to have a sleep over in the shuttle tonight?”
And just what did that mean? Aside from the literal invitation, Kaylee couldn’t tell. Would there be more kissing? The usual soothing hairbrushing and conversation? Would there be a little bit of late night cuddling like there had been in the past? Or would there be no cuddling at all now that they'd kissed and it was weird? Was it weird? Or was Kaylee making that up?
Kaylee tried hard to read Inara, but she must have been using her Companion training. Kaylee wished sometimes that she had River's ability to read people and this was one of those times.
She realized she'd not answered yet and Inara was starting to look worried.
"Oh, sure! Uh…" Kaylee looked to River, who was still laying out the mahjong tiles. "River, would you like to come too?" Kaylee figured it was best to ask; it felt rude not to.
"No thank you," River said immediately, eyes still fixed on the tiles as she stacked them delicately. "I have things to do."
Kaylee managed to relax throughout the game, and for once, she won. It took her by surprise and when she looked up across the table at River, she looked equally surprised.
"How'd that happen?" Kaylee wondered. She loved playing with River, but it had long since become something more akin to meditation and practice rather than anything competitive. River was fixated on winning…everything, and she pulled out all her tricks to ensure it happened. River frowned at her.
"You're all muddled up," she said eventually, and then narrowed her eyes. "It won't happen again."
Kaylee made a move to start collecting the tiles to get them all back in their ancient worn carrying case but River smacked her hand.
"Let me help clean up," she said with a laugh, and River shook her head.
"No. I get to clean up and put things away because I lost," she explained, and Kaylee noticed that River was trying very hard not to laugh. "You have an overnight bag to pack. Go, go, go."
So Kaylee did, and she went back to her bunk (and the engine room) and collected all the things that she usually brought to any of the numerous sleepovers she'd had in the shuttle, and then she washed up a little and tucked her last half bottle of chamomile wine into her bag before she walked across the ship to Inara's shuttle.
"Hi," Kaylee said as she slipped inside.
"Hey, there," Inara said, grinning at her. "You brought your things?"
"Sure did! And I brought some of the chamomile wine, because I know you didn't get any."
"I didn't even know you made a chamomile wine!"
"Yeah, Jayne drank most of it," Kaylee explained, taking the bottle out and putting it gently on Inara's vanity. "It tastes mostly like the tea does, and it's twice as good at puttin' you to sleep."
She put the bag down on Inara's luxurious patterned rug and swallowed, studying the design for a moment.
"Kaylee?" Inara stood from her couch and stepped closer to her. Kaylee could smell her perfume.
"I just wanna know…about what happened on Santo…when we were in the bar and… the kiss…"
"Did it make you uncomfortable?" Inara asked, a look of concerned etched onto her face. "If it did, I can't tell you how sorry—"
"No! No, no, no. It didn't make me uncomfortable, not at all."
"Oh. Okay." Inara sagged in obvious relief. "I thought…since you asked River if she—"
"Right, no, of course. I just…it felt a little rude not to include her," Kaylee said, and was surprised to see Inara blush.
"I hadn't even thought…oh, I'm so glad you said something to her."
"But I wanna know," Kaylee insisted, trying to keep focused. "Was the kiss supposed to be serious, or for fun?"
"Do you want it to be serious?" Inara asked.
"I don't know," Kaylee admitted. "I ah…I never thought we'd…I never thought I'd get a chance."
"We don't have to decide right now," Inara assured her. "And it doesn't have to be anything more if you don't want; we can be friends who kissed once at a bar on Santo, too."
Kaylee couldn't help the laughter.
"Well, I'd like more," she admitted. "So you'd be willin' to…have some fun? With me?"
"We can have fun," Inara agreed. "Come here." She pulled Kaylee along with her as she walked backwards and sat down on her bed, and Kaylee climbed into her lap and kissed her.
They'd hadn't quite been drunk on Santo; just a little buzzed. Inara liked that bar, because for all the barfights that the Captain and Jayne got into whenever they went there, the bartender knew what he was doing, even by Inara's standards. She'd ordered tart little berry drinks for the both of them and by the time Kaylee's tongue had found its way into Inara's mouth, they'd both tasted like the drink and everything had been ever so slightly blurry. It had been delightful, but there was something so much more comforting and easy about being able to kiss Inara while completely sober in a familiar and cozy room without worrying if anyone they knew were going to see them.
Inara's hands slid up Kaylee's arms and then to the collar of her coveralls, where she started tugging at the zipper. Once it was down, Kaylee maneuvered her arms out of the top, keeping her mouth pressed to Inara's the whole time, and then Inara's hands were slipping up under her shirt to rub soothing little circles on her skin. Kaylee took Inara's face in her hands and gently tilted her head just a little. Inara arched into the kiss and hooked her fingers into Kaylee's bra, right at the clasp. She paused for a moment, like she was asking, and so Kaylee hummed a little, making what she hoped sounded like an agreement so she wouldn't have to stop kissing Inara.
"You didn't want to have a sleepover with the girls?" Simon asked River. She rolled her eyes.
"It's a sleepover for Kaylee and Inara."
"You've joined them before for slumber parties. Don't you like spending time with them? They invited you, right?"
"They did, but they didn't really want me there tonight," River said matter-of-factly.
"Of course they would—"
"They're having sex," River interrupted.
"Right now?"
"Yeah."
"…Really?"
"Yeah."
"Then why does Kaylee…why keep flirting—"
"For fun. You snooze you lose."
"Don't be rude."