Disclaimer: Joss Whedon owns all. I am a mere object in his space.

Ratings & Warnings: PG - nothing untoward or unwarranted.

Summary: Inara and Mal try to come to an understanding. Based on something Zoe said in "Heart of Gold".

My first Serenity fic. I'm scared. Everything I've read by the writers on this board it above and beyond talented, and I only hope I can measure up.

CAUTION!!!!!!!! SERENITY SPOILERS!!!!!!!!!!!

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:: Not Afraid of Having ::

Inara sat on the side cot in her barren shuttle. She'd escaped the temple with nearly nothing, the clothes on her back and not much else. She'd asked to have her things sent on to Persephone, and ordered a few new things to have waiting for her there as well, but until they made landfall in a week or so, her home was a rather cold and barren place.

Kaylee had loaned her a few clothes and Zoe had offered some warm, brightly coloured blankets that had belonged to Wash. Inara liked sleeping in them, feeling close to his warmth and humour. It soothed her.

Now, cuddled in one of them, she was already decorating the shuttle in her mind. Brighter colors than last time, but still warm reds and blues. Perhaps she could use the corner where her clothing chest had been for a meditation corner. There was a knock on her door and she tilted her head, waiting a moment before answering.

Not Kaylee's hesitant tapping, or Zoe's closed-fisted rap followed by her brisk hollor,"Inara? You up?". It certainly wasn't Jayne's raucous pounding. It was a man's knock, firm but considerate. It could almost have been Shepherd Book, knocking with a supper tray in his hand.

At the thought, she bit back the tears that threatened. Book would never visit her shuttle again. More than just the decor of Serenity had changed. She tossed off the blanket. "Cheeng jeen!"

"Am I interrupting?" Mal tucked his head in and Inara stared at him in surprise.

"Since when do you knock?" She masked her joy at seeing him with a bruskness designed to put him on the