Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me, just writing for fun.

A/N: Reposted because I accidentily deleted it when I was going through my manage your stuff place (it's really early in the morning!!!!) This is something a little different hope you like it!!!:D

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Inara sat on her couch in her shuttle and stared at nothing. Nothing, that's what all her finery and training amounted to, nothing. She was still all alone in her life and these thoughts scared her to death. After Miranda, she had waited but nothing came to fruition. Mal was still distant, they still couldn't connect, so she returned to what she knew, her clients and her shuttle, distancing them even further than before she left Serenity. She learned that she couldn't go back to the Training House, her heart wouldn't let her. She had felt stifled and trapped, though she loved the girls she had been training, the rules of decorum bridled against the freedom she had experienced in the black. She was not the same girl that had emerged from training, poised for greatness in the folds of Core society. She had had dreams of grandeur, a life of great opulence and import. All that seemed empty now and it was all Kaylee’s fault.

Inara had never felt such resentment for anyone as she did for her dear friend and it tore her up inside. Her pride kept her from initiating anything with Mal but envy had been ruling her life as of late. The joy of Kaylee’s budding family, her happiness, was a like a venom that ran through Inara’s veins. It was making her cold inside, permeating into all aspects of her life. Food tasted like ash, laughter was just white noise, and even though she threw herself into her work, it left no satisfaction in her soul as it had once did. She had become a lifeless shell wandering through the days as they passed.

She hid her envy well, taking great pains as to not letting it show when she dined with the crew or spent time with Kaylee. She listened politely as K