Fanfic Recommendation Challenge

Claim: Firefly: Inara Serra
Title: Downtime
Author: djinn
Characters: Mal, Simon, Zoe, River, Jayne, Book, Kaylee, Inara
Pairing: Mal/Inara
Prompt: 09. Hurt/Comfort
Rating: PG-13
Length: Long
Brief summary: Inara doesn't actually appear in this story til the very end, but it's a gorgeous look at Mal when he's injured and his desire for Inara to come visit, when everybody else comes instead of her. It makes it wonderfully sweet when she finally arrives, too.
Link to the story: Downtime

Claim: Firefly: Inara Serra
Title: The Pastry Caper
Author: Ana (ana_grrl)
Characters: Mal, Inara, Kaylee, Wash, Zoe, Jayne, Simon, River
Pairing: Jayne/Simon
Prompt: 15. Crack!Fic
Rating: PG-13
Length: Long
Brief summary: So I'm slightly pushing this here as an Inara rec, since it's not really involving her as the central character, but I was really pushing it to find something I could fit into this category! This fic is fantastic fun with perfect characterisation, and involves the crew having to go out on a job in order to save Inara from a client who's held her hostage...
Link to the story: The Pastry Caper

...and there's a sequel, too - Offer. Doesn't feature Inara at all, and its Jayne/Mal/Simon, but it's still top quality stuff and I thought it would be only fair to mention it! :D

Claim: Firefly: Inara Serra
Title: In Principle, In Practice
Author: bktheirregular
Characters: Inara
Prompt: 11. Character Study
Rating: PG
Length: Short
Brief summary: A gorgeous little fic that demonstrates how Inara often finds it hard to conform to the Guild's expectations of her now that she's out on Serenity, seeing more of the world.
Link to the story: In Principle, In Practice

Claim: Firefly: Inara Serra
Title: Moment of Weakness
Author: carrielh
Characters: Mal, Inara, Zoe
Prompt: 03. Angst
Rating: PG-13
Length: Medium
Brief summary: Huge spoilers for Serenity. Faboo Mal/Inara that captures Inara's way of dealing with Mal (and his inability to tell her how he feels) perfectly, and with bunches of emotion!
Link to the story: Moment of Weakness.

Claim: Firefly: Inara Serra
Title: "Bed & Breakfast"
Author: Bastet.
Characters: Inara, Kaylee
Prompt: 01. First Time.
Rating: NC-17/Adult
Length: Medium
Brief summary: I love the way this was written, as Bastet really gets inside Inara’s mind when it comes to the way she feels about Kaylee. I don’t often read femslash pairings, but when the author knows the characters as well as this, especially what makes them tick, then it makes a fantastic change!
Link to the story: Bed & Breakfast

Claim: Firefly: Inara Serra
Title: "Tea and Biscuits"
Author: Chanel19
Characters: Inara, Mal
Prompt: 05. Sex.
Rating: NC-17/Adult
Length: Long
Brief summary: A while back, I read this fic, and then much more recently I wanted to recommend it to a friend and couldn’t find it, or remember what it was called, but I could remember the plot vividly. It isn’t easy for a fic to get under my skin like that! I Googled like crazy trying to find it, using a variety of combinations of words like “chocolate sex drug” and all sorts. It fits perfectly into the timeline, and the characterisation is just wonderful, and manages to combine angst and sexiness with some wonderful humour, too!
Link to the story: Tea and Biscuits