There were many kinds of laughter, Inara knew.
There was the genuine, uncontrollable laughter when the crew was eating a meal together, telling stories and jokes and enjoying each others' company.
There was the half faked way she laughed at her clients' jokes, doing her job, making them believe that she thought they were the funniest man in the 'verse, even when they weren't.
There was the way she laughed in disbelief at some of Jayne's... utterances.
The way she scoffed at some of Mal's more ridiculous suggestions.
But she had never before experienced the kind of nervous, yet happy and relieved laughter, almost like crying, that was coming from her mouth now. Now that, after hours of cowering in fear with River in one of Serenity's many hidden spaces, Mal was helping them out, grinning from ear to ear.
Now she was hugging him tightly, still laughing that strange, happy laugh, unable to help herself.
He was hugging her back, and she knew that she would have to push him away soon. But for the moment she was laughing, hugging, happy, ignoring, forgetting...
And she decided that this was her favorite kind of laughter.