Written in September 2005.

Title: Teatime
Author: Settiai
Rating: PG
Firefly Characters: Inara
Jossverse Characters: Faith
Pairing: Faith/Inara
Word Count: ~500 words
Summary: It's only tea.

"I'd still like to know how B managed to talk you into this," Faith said, raising an eyebrow as she leaned against Inara's bed. "It's not like we have any of your money or anything, seeing as we didn't exactly plan on being yanked into the future by one of Willow's spells-gone-wrong."

Inara let out a soft laugh as she gently pressed a delicate cup into Faith's hands. "She made Mal look ridiculous when he tried to be his usual chauvinistic self," she said lightly.

Faith brought the cup up to her lips and sipped some of the light-colored liquid in it. "That really doesn't answer my question, you know," she said, ruffling her nose a bit. "And what exactly is this stuff?"

"When she asked me to help make you feel more at ease here, I felt that I owed her," Inara explained patiently. "I'm quite certain that I will never forget the look on Mal's face when she picked up that metal bar and twisted it in half."

"Ah," Faith said. Then she gestured down to the cup in her hand with her eyes.

Inara shook her head, her mouth twitching as she struggled not to smile. "Tea," she said, bringing her own cup up to her lips. "It's only tea."

Faith grinned. "Special tea?" she asked mischievously. "The kind that you usually serve your clients?"

Inara barely restrained from rolling her eyes, an action she usually reserved only for dealings with Malcolm Reynolds. "I'm not interested in sleeping with you."

"So?" Faith replied, an impish look in her eyes. She suddenly leaned in and pressed her lips hungrily against Inara's.

Inara let her kiss her for a moment, but she never kissed back. Instead, she waited several seconds before pulling away and shaking her head gently. "Not now, Faith," she repeated.

Faith raised an eyebrow. "Damn, you're good," she said admirably.

Inara smiled as she pulled herself to her feet. "I have to admit, you do have some talent," she said gently. "I've spent most of my life studying the art of seduction, though. It takes more than a wink to convince me to bed someone."

Faith couldn't help but chuckle. "Especially when that someone is a vampire slayer from the past who materialized in the middle of the cargo bay two weeks ago?"

"Not quite," Inara said lightly, gently reaching down to brush the younger girl's hair out of her face. "I was thinking more along the lines of 'especially when that someone is at least three months pregnant.'"

Faith glanced up at her and blinked in surprise. "I didn't think anyone had noticed."

Inara smiled before leaned known and gently pressing her lips against Faith's forehead. "He's a lucky man," she said lightly.

"Yeah he's a lucky man," Faith agreed after a moment's pause. Then she glanced up at Inara, her eyes twinkling. "You could be a lucky woman though."

"Go on back to your quarters," Inara said, barely holding back a laugh.

Faith grinned.

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