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It took longer than Inara would have liked, but eventually her position was solidified and validated, and she was successfully employed as a contracted civilian on Herc's Shatterdome. She officially retired as a Companion and received a lump sum 'pension' from the Guild for her efforts, and her four sisters that came with her remained, which maintained the 'Domes status.

She's coming back from one of her trips planetside, piloting a small shuttle with a very precious package on board. Once she's docked, she made her way straight to Herc's quarters, tapping once to see if he was busy.

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Life in the Shatterdome carries on regardless of what gossip turns the wheel, which is why Hercules has just clung to normalcy and waited out the storm that Inara's retirement caused.

It didn't take as long as he'd thought it would, honestly. He's more than a little relieved that people seemed to take her change in position with such good grace, even if he had to endure endless teasing because of it. It was more than worth it, though. She's been more than worth it.

His life has taken a confusing, but not unwelcome, turn for the better these past few months.

Maybe that's why he's already smiling when he calls out for her to enter, knowing her knock anywhere.

She nudges the door open, a carrier in her hands, then comes on in. She's smiling at him as she leans over to set the carrier down and open it, then moves to go straight into his arms.

"Hello, handsome."

He's standing when she comes through his doors, and while the carrier gets an odd look, he gets distracted quickly by pulling her into his arms and giving her a quick kiss hello.

"Hello, love," he murmurs in return, smiling down at her. The Marshal looks at her like she's hung the moon, it's almost embarrassing. Except it's also incredibly sweet, if you ask anyone around the 'dome, so he doesn't care that much. Whatever. He's happy.

"Did you have a good trip?"

"Mhm. It was as uneventful as it could be."

She's sliding her arms around him, because he feels so nice against her like that. His little hello kiss is returned, and she gives him a gentle squeeze.

"Nothing went wrong in my absence, did it?"

"Well that's good, I suppose."

There's noises coming from the carrier, and Herc has a weird moment of wondering if she got a cat or something.

"No, everything was incredibly boring and people left me completely alone. I didn't even have to pretend to be in a meeting to avoid answering questions from anyone."

"Well, that sounds terribly monotonous. It's a good thing I'm back so that I can break that up for you."

She's casually nibbling at his neck a little bit, palms running up and down his back.

She's just waiting for him to ask about the carrier.

"I am so very relieved."

She's being incredibly distracting. He doesn't know how to multitask with her in his arms.

Eventually, though, he manages to wrench his attention away from the feel of her lips on his neck when Max lumbers into the room and makes a beeline for the carrier, poking his head in the hole and making inquisitive noises.

"Gonna tell me what you brought home?"

That's sort of the point. She enjoys doing this to him -- it's a little mean when they can't do anything about it, but still. Teasing him is fun all the same.

"Mhm. Go take a look."

Before Max takes it upon himself to do it.

He reluctantly lets her go from his arms and pads over in stocking feet to see what the hell it is that has Max so interested.

He needs to haul his dog out of the way — Max is not happy with this turn of events — and get down on his knees to poke his head into the rather large carrier, and what he sees there has him making a surprised noise of his own.

"You got another dog?"

She follows after him with a smile, kneeling down beside him and resting a hand on his back.

"Yes. Her name is Priscilla."

Inara didn't name her, for the record.

"She's Max's breed."

It's a nice name.

He sits back on his heels, looking at her even as his hand is still trying to coax Priscilla out of her carrier.

"What, our current dog isn't enough for you?"

He's teasing.

She's relieved that he doesn't seem angry with her, and she rests her hand on his shoulder, smiling gently.

"I thought he might like some company."

Fertile company.

"Oh, so we're not enough for him, I get it."

He couldn't be angry with her. Not over something like this, objectively not a big deal to anyone with any kind of common sense.

He's very careful to keep his attention on her and not on the scared dog creeping slowly out of her crate, even when he feels a wet nose pressed to his fingers.

His shoulder gets a gentle squeeze at that.

"You never know." She's got her eyes locked on him, and she leans over to give him a kiss, pointedly keeping both his and her attention off of Priscilla, who seems to be interested in licking Herc's fingers.

He leans into the kiss, humming a little against her lips.

The kiss gets a little sloppy as he smiles when he feels a warm tongue against his fingers, and he carefully twists his hand so he can scratch Priscilla's jowls.

That's okay, she can do sloppy. Just means she'll slide her teeth over his lower lip and nibble.

"I think she likes you."

No, stop that, it makes him want all kinds of things he can't have right now, not with a skittish dog on their hands.

"What can I say," he murmurs, pulling back just enough that he can wink at her.

"I have a way with women."

She can feel her lips pulling into a smile against his.

"You certainly do."

She cups the back of his head gently, fingers smoothing through his hair, before she chances a glance over at the dog that's now sitting at their feet.

He chuckles quietly, stealing one last quick kiss before turning his attention to Priscilla.

"Hello, sweetheart," he coos, using both hands to stroke her massive head as Max tries to muscle past him and investigate.

Watching him with animals is one of Inara's favorite things; he immediately turns into this cooing, adorable man that makes her love him oh so very much. She's content to watch him here with the two dogs, hands still on him, amused as Priscilla seems to bask in his attention, pushing her head into his hands.

Hercules has always been better at communicating with animals than he has with people. There's a reason he and Chuck used Max as a sort of conduit for their relationship. He's not the best when it comes to human interaction. Not always.

But he's very good at interacting with animals. He gets down on the ground, scratches Priscilla around the collar, down her spine, across her belly, until the big dog is panting and wiggling, all her earlier apprehension gone. Max, the jealous creature he is, muscles in under one of Herc's hands, and then he's busy spoiling two huge bulldogs instead of just one.

He's not, but that's alright. Inara enjoys Herc as he is, because watching him do this?

Is one of the sweetest things that she's ever seen in her life. Her new lifestyle may not be as glamorous or rich as it was before, but it's full of love and beauty, and she wouldn't have it any other way.

"I take it you like her.

"She's beautiful," he murmurs, looking up at Inara. Whether he's still talking about the dog or his girlfriend is up in the air.

Hercules has a habit of talking around things, thinking it makes him sound clever.

It doesn't, but there's no need to point that out to him.

Inara smiles -- she doesn't know who he is talking about, but she can assume that it's both her and the dog. She leans over, drops a kiss to the top of his head, and gets to her feet.

"I'll leave you three to bond then. I'm going to get something from the kitchens, see if there's anything left from dinner. Are you hungry?"

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