AN: This is why my summer job was bad. I was stuck under ground with limited music.
Spoilers: er...Out of Gas?
Pairing: Exceptionally vague Mal/Inara
Rating: Kid friendly
Disclaimer: Neither the characters nor the song is mine. And if the back story is, then I have screwed up the canon and I am sorry.
Summary:
Cowboy take me away
Fly this girl as high as you can
Into the wild blue
Set me free oh I pray
Closer to heaven above and
Closer to you closer to you
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Into the Wild Blue
Inara Serra was born for a Companion's life. She took to everything; the talk, the poise, the traditions, and certainly the sex, as naturally as a fish to water. Clients from all over the world, and sometimes even further away, sought her time, her conversation and her body.
And for a time, all was well. She became wealthy. She knew everyone of importance, attended their parties and sat next to them at plays. And they knew her.
She didn't realize how well they knew her until the rumours began. Falsehoods all, of course, but nevertheless they made living uncomfortable. Those with whom she shared her time leered at her when they thought she was not looking, and all manner of unpleasant packages found their way into her rooms at the training house.
She felt trapped in the world she had chosen for the first time in her entire life. She began taking her evenings alone, and sitting on the balcony or in the terrace gardens looking up at the stars. She'd heard all her life what it was like out there in the black; that it was hard and cold.
The docks are not a place for women of her caste, but she goes there anyway. Here, life is real, even if it somewhat less than civilized.
One day she passes a ship. It is not so different from the others, save maybe that it looks even more likely to fall apart as soon as it breaks atmo, but there is something about it she cannot get out of her head. The next day the ship is still there, and a man stands out front of it. She overhears him speaking to a man and his wife, of passage offworld, and an idea begins to grow in her head.
As Serenity takes off with Inara aboard for the first time, she reflects that while space may be black, the sky is always blue.
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finis
Er...the alternative would be to destroy Mel's Dixie Chicks CDs.