This was written for the October Month of Love challenge on the adama_roslin community over at Livejournal. Mine was day 19 and my prompt was Sunlight.
Disclaimer: BSG doesn't belong to me *sobs*
Also, anybody reading Blood of the West, I'm hoping the next chapter will be up sometime this weekend, I've discovered that writing that one is actually really hard, not to mention University assignments keep getting in the way *sigh*. Anyhoo, enjoy :)
He was so used to seeing her under the artificial lights of Galactica and Colonial One that he had been dazed when she had sat beside him. Even on Kobol he hadn't been affected like that, on Kobol where the sun had been shining through the thicket of rain clouds, sending angel rays through the branches of the towering trees as they passed, creating entrancing patterns across her skin. She had had a certain etherealness about her that day, the green of the trees accentuating the jade of her eyes and bringing out the red copper tones of her hair.
If he were truly honest with himself, he would probably say that he had fallen for her that day. Sat beneath a tarp, trading non-apologies in a way they each knew the other would understand. He had said it before; it had always been between the two of them, and would continue to be. They had called each other by their names for the first time, a rite of passage of sorts, moving from the territory of grudging respect and mistrust to a tentative friendship, passing over the Book of Pythia as a peace offering to be gladly accepted.
He hadn't known what to say to her as she had sat beside him on New Caprica. She had teased him, the weight of a presidency she hadn't wanted lifted from her shoulders, revealing a freer spirit he hadn't known she'd had. While they'd both known that the peacefulness and freedom from the Cylons was only temporary at best, neither of them had wanted to waste a moment. She had been more playful, dragging him behind a tent and pulling two hand-rolled cigarettes from gods only knew where, and handing him one with a mischievous smile.
They had listened to the lively music and laughter of the groundbreaking ceremony on the other side of the row of tents while they had smoked, speaking of cabins by lakes and future plans. As darkness had crept in, she had shown him around her school tent, it had been a work in progress, absent of furniture or supplies that would make it possible for her to teach, but she had been proud of it, and he was glad that she would be able to return to what had made her happy.
As he had held her in his arms that night, limbs heavy and heads buzzing from a combination of alcohol and New Caprica weed, he had promised himself that he would make love to her in the sunlight, wanting to see the play of light across her features as he brought her to ecstasy. He hadn't taken the chance on New Caprica, his responsibilities to the remainder of the fleet conflicting with his personal desires until his sense of duty won out and the Cylons returned.
And now as he sat on the edge of the summit, his eyes turned to the horizon in the east, he realised he had missed his chance.