Disclaimer: Battlestar Galactica: 2003 is property of its copyright holders worldwide.

Author's Note: Written for the Out of the Box compilation by the Reviews Lounge, Too. Based on the opening miniseries and on the final episode, "Daybreak: Part 3." May be a slight AU, as I did not have the opportunity to watch the miniseries again before completing the story. This is my first venture into the BSG fandom, but I will be back.

Remembrance

Gleaming with dark blood, the blade dropped from her hand and clattered into the dust. Killing was nothing new to Caprica Six. The number of lives she had ended numbered into the billions. A creature she herself had raised, had drawn bleating from its mother's trembling haunches: this was a first. Six felt her breathing grow ragged, and a flush of nausea ran up from her abdomen. Sweat dripped from her forehead.

"Six?" Gaius stepped forward. "Are you ready?"

Once, Gaius Baltar was given to her for slaughter as surely as the lamb: her would-be victim, and then the heart she lost, shaped as she was herself by forces she did not understand. Six looked hopelessly over her shoulder, and Gaius's expression softened. "Are you all right?"

"It was a few weeks before the attack on the Colonies." Gaius knelt beside her in the dusty paddock and covered her hand with his, silently encouraging her to speak. "Before I came to you that day, I walked in the city." Six stared into the distance, across their tidy farmstead and into the stony mountains, but she saw only the bustling river walk, crowded with shoppers. The wounded planet's name was affixed to hers for the convenience of the Fleet, since they could not tell her apart from her sisters: a constant reminder of her sins. "Gaius, I killed a child on Caprica."

Gaius's hand tightened on hers, and the kind lines around his eyes strained at the corners. "What?"

"I reached into a carriage. It broke so easily. I thought to spare it from fear and pain, but its mother… Oh, God, Gaius, its mother. She might have been evacuated. She might have made it to Galactica. She might be with us somewhere."

Gaius opened his arms. Six buried her dirty face against Gaius's shoulder. He smelled of sweat and chickens. "All these years," he said quietly, "You've worried about her, haven't you?"

Six pulled back and wiped her eyes, sitting back on her haunches in the dirt. Blood on her hands mixed with tears and grime. "Not always, Gaius. Not until I truly understood…"

"That human and Cylon are one?" Gaius asked gently. He helped Six to her feet, and her swollen abdomen made a tent of the rough coverall.

Six rested one hand on the child and smiled at him through her tears. A hard lump moved smoothly under her palm, recognizing its mother's touch. A harder jolt signaled the child's kick.

"Do you want to try to find her?" Six nodded, unable to speak.

"Caprica Baltar?" A woman's voice called. She stood near the house, holding two large burlap sacks. "I'm here for the lamb."

"We'll have it ready in just a moment. I'm sorry." Gaius squeezed Six's hand and gathered the lamb gently from the ground, carrying it into the shed.

After the farm chores were done, and their hands and clothing cleaned, it was early evening. The chickens made contented sounds as they settled for the night. Later, Gaius would light torches to ward against wild animals.

"Caprica Baltar," Gaius chuckled and ran a work-hardened palm across her forehead. Six closed her eyes with pleasure. "Somehow, I never quite liked the sound of that name. You're Six to me, always."

"You never even bothered to find out what my real name was supposed to be," she said slyly, one finger tracing the length of his thigh.

Gaius laughed and caught her hand, bringing it to his lips. "I'm sorry, darling."

"That's all right. I've forgotten it myself."