A/N: A second mini-ficlet I did for this past week's FFFriday challenge. See -- I can do brief! Thanks again to my beta, Neroli.

He'd let himself have the fantasy. He'd known all along that it was useless, was the reason he'd always let her push him back a comfortable distance. It worked for them. It was the only way it could work.

But no. He'd indulged in a night of being someone else, of forgetting all he'd learned and all the Alliance had taught him. After Nandi died, he'd thought she'd taught him something real. Life was too short, but that fantasy was shot dead sooner than he managed to utter it. Shoulda known it was only a fantasy that Inara could have cared for someone like him. He had nothing to give her and he knew it. He just let himself believe otherwise for a few brief minutes.

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End.