OOC: Dream 2
Screaming fills the air as a young girl, barely older than Lucy, writhes in the throes of a contraction on a sparse bed. Companion glances at Simon, reaching out to grip the girl's hand as she leans in to give her a soft look.
"You're stronger than this thing, honey. I can feel it in your grip..." she smiles, one hand brushing the girls' hair out of her face. "Petaline, look at me--"
Petaline looks up at Companion, who catches her eyes in an intense, almost hypnotic stare. "This is just a moment in time... Step out of it and let it happen..."
A gorgeous red-headed woman makes her way into the room, compassion and concern clear on her face. "How is she, Doctor?"
Simon speaks from a counter a short distance away, as he fits a vial of medicine into a strange gun-like needle. "She's at ten centimeters. Not long."
The woman, Nandi, turns to Companion. They share a subtle exchange of looks, Companions wordlessly reading each other. Smiling sadly, Nandi rests her hand on Companion's shoulder.
"Inara... I thought it was just him that..."
Companion, no, Inara, turns to Simon, sees he's still engaged, then speaks quietly. "Nandi, believe me. I'll be fine."
They share a look and Nandi exits. A little while later, Simon lifts up a newborn baby. Puple and screaming, he looks proud as he swaddles the child. "It's--"
Another girl, darker-haired but similar in appearance to Simon peeks out from behind him. "It's a boy. Healthy." Inara smiles softly as the door behind her opens, a man is there, Rance Burgess, his laser gun pointed at them.
"Mornin' Petaline..."
Petaline's screams fill the house as she struggles, reaching for her child. "Rance! NO!"
Burgess backs out of back room, where Petaline screams. He's got the baby boy in one arm, laser pistol in the other. Nandi appears behind him, entering from the lobby, confronts him.
"Most of your men are dead, dyin', or run off, Rance."
He smirks, "Don't matter none. Got what I came here for."
Nandi stares him down, giving him no quarter. "Ain't leaving here with it."
Burgess snickers, gesturing towards the baby with his pistol as he speaks. "This is my blood, woman."
Suddenly a slim arm snakes a nasty curved razor in under Burgess' chin from behind, digging its tip into the side of his throat, drawing blood. Inara, looking cold dead serious as she practically coos her next words, seems almost pleased to have pulled off this coup. "No. This is your blood, now you give over that child nice and slow, or I'll spill more than you can spare."
Burgess complies, wincing at the wound, handing the baby over to a whore, who backs out of the scene to safety. As this happens, Burgess takes the pause to elbow her hard in the stomach. As she staggers backwards, he takes aim and fires his laser from the hip, searing straight through Nandi's chest.
Rushing to her side, Inara looks up as Mal gets to the lobby end of the hall, just in time to see Nandi drop, dead. Their eyes lock, the tension practically palpable as her mouth opens slightly. She seems unsure of what to say, as her vision goes black.
(The scene is from Firefly episode Heart of Gold.)