Bed and Wine: Part 17

By Kaynara

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Let’s just call this chapter, “I remember a time when I didn’t dream about Firefly every night...or think in Chinese...or say ‘gorramn.’ ”

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AN: Silee scene co-created by Grimlock.

AN2: Thanks to Stacy P. for the inspiration.

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Her bedroom dipped and swayed as soon as she opened her eyes.  Inara flung back silk sheets of a deep ruby-red and hastened across the room.  She fell to her knees on the hardwood floor and was sick in the trash receptacle.  After, drained, she collapsed back against the wall, tears and sweat mingling, dripping down her cheeks.  The panic was palpable, just like the sickness in her belly each morning of the past two weeks.  Still shaking, she rose, bent over the sink to rinse her mouth.  She had to shower and dress before her luncheon with the colonel.  She must stay in control, keep her appointments if nothing else.  She knew the other women would notice her absence from the recreation facility this morning, miss her after when they lounged and gossiped in the sauna.  She wanted a bath.  She wanted to disappear.

“Inara?”  She started at the sound of knuckles on wood.  “Are you there, mei mei?”

“I—just a moment, Nique.”  She grabbed a robe from her closet, wrapped it hastily around herself.  She risked a quick glance in the mirror, noting the paleness of her cheek, the dark half moons beneath either eye.  It couldn’t be helped.

“Dominique.  Good morning.”  She smiled, stepped back so her mentor could enter.

“Darling.”  Nique kissed her on both cheeks, a common Companion greeting.  She hesitated, pressed a hand to the younger girl’s temple.  “Inara?  You don’t seem well.”

  “Silly me, sleeping through my morning bell.”  She slipped out from Dominique’s hold, sat down at her dressing table to brush her hair. “Perhaps I’m coming down with something.”

In the mirror, she watched Nique lower her lovely form to the bed, smooth a single, graceful hand over the spread. 

“How unfortunate!  Should I send for the doctor?”

“Oh, Nique,