AN:The following ficlet was constructed from unused or deleted scenes from my completed story, Alpha Station: A Battlestar Galactica Fantasy Reboot.
I have a lot of extra little scenes or back story/ character building excercises that I did during the writing of Alpha station. I'm still trying to figure out what kind of story I want to do next and so this was helpful to put together for inspiration and practice.
If you did not read Alpha Station you will be a bit confused through some of this, but I would invite you to read the New Caprica scenes and check out my writing style and themes. If you like what you read maybe check out Alpha Station next. It is not an AU but a post series story which fits within canon.
Alpha Station readers, it came to my attention after the story was completed in spring that over half the story subscribers never got the Alert for the Epilogue. It is there if any of you missed it and want to read it because this might also be confusing to you without it. It does not have a chapter number and is just labled w/the title Epilogue. It's a swift read and might be helpful before this tiny ficlet.
Feedback is appreacited and encourgaed not just on my work but on any content you read, from any fanfic author. I would love to hear your thoughts.
Location: Planet Earth
Former United West Sector
Residence: Tigh/Roslin/Adama
Year: 2319
The door slowly creaked open with the slightest push of her hand. The noise was an ordinary one, so familiar to her ears, but in the wee hours of the morning it made Laura flinch. She peered inside the bedroom, worried that the sound might have disturbed the slumbering trio inside. Thankfully it hadn't. Not one of them so much as rolled over in their sleep. A bedside lamp had been left on illuminating the room hours before the sun would rise above the forestline and over the lake to make its way through the solitary window. Laura smiled to herself as she watched them. After a restless night Ellen was conked out; her mouth slightly open and her sandy curls haphazardly splayed all over the pillow that propped up her head. Sasha slept nestled under her arm so content that no one would guess that she and her brother had been up half the night frighted over a summer thunderstorm. Likewise Liam-Daniel lay with his head resting on his mother's stomach, sleep-drooling directly onto her nightshirt. Laura smirked knowing that when Ellen awoke she would actually be grateful to find that this time the damp spot was only spit.
Making her way to the edge of the bed she took a seat on its corner careful not to jostle the mattress.
Sasha had come to Laura and Bill's room in the middle of the night as the thunder rolled in over the lake. It was often the case that she would show up at their door during overnight storms. Usually they let the little girl crawl in between them to feel safe. Their third summer on Earth had been unusually hot and humid and they'd found that it made the thunder and lighting much worse. The menacing sounds cracked and rumbled through the valley and over the lake's usually placid water. Though Sasha could usually be comforted just by snuggling between her mother and father the intensified volume of the night's storm had frightened her to tears. When they couldn't get her back to sleep Laura decided to take her to the kitchen for a glass of water.
The drink had served to calm her for a moment and allow her a break from her tears to catch her breath.
"Feeling better, sweetheart?" Laura asked as the little girl lowered the cup from her pouting lips.
Before Sasha could answer the thunder clapped sending her to pieces all over again. With a huff Laura scooped the frightened child up into her arms and left the kitchen.
"Let's sleep down here for the rest of the night," She told Sasha who had her head buried within her mother's neck.
"But Daddy," The girl mumbled as they made their way down one of the cabin halls in the dark.
"Daddy and Uncle Saul have an early flight up to Alpha. He's not afraid of the thunder. Daddy's very brave. He'll be just fine. Lets let him get his sleep."
Laura headed for a guest room they often used for the children's naps. It was located in the common area of the cabin; close to the joint livingroom and kitchen. The bed was large and rather than squeeze on to Sasha's child sized mattress Laura sometimes took her to sleep there when they didn't want to disturb Bill.
As they made it to the room Laura squinted in the dark. The door was closed but a light was on inside. She couldn't be sure due to the sound of Sasha's constant sniffling in her ear, but she thought that she heard muffled voices.
Confident that she knew what she would find Laura knocked and opened the door without waiting for a response.
Inside just as she suspected she found Ellen sitting on the bed with a frightened Liam clinging to her side.
"Thunder?" Laura guessed as she leaned in and hiked Sasha up on her hip.
"Lightning," Ellen replied with a roll of her eyes.
"What if it comes through the roof!?" Liam cried.
"It's not gunna come through the roof, baby," Ellen assured her panicked son. "It can't come through. I told you."
"Yes it can!"
"No it can't, honey. I promise."
"It can come through the roof!?" Sasha cried, suddenly lifting her head up from Laura's neck in alarm.
"Oh good Lords," Laura huffed. "No," she reiterated. "It can't."
With a sigh she walked over to the bed and flopped down onto the fluff of the tousled quilt taking Sasha with her.
The thunder clapped yet again shaking the frame of their sturdy lakeside home as the sound reverberated through the valley.
"I don't like this storm," Sasha cried making her way to Ellen as Laura laid back and attempted to close her eyes for the briefest of moments.
"I know, rybka," Ellen said as she moved an errant lock of the child's russet hair behind her ear. "But I promise it can't hurt you."
"Is that for real, Aunt Laura?" Liam tested, as he crawled on top of her, ending her futile attempt to rest her eyes..
She stifled a grunt as his little knee pressed into her ribcage.
"Of course it is, Li. Why would Mommy lie to you?"
"Okay," He relented before grabbing her tightly as a flash of lightning flickered outside of the window.
"Okay?" Ellen repeated in mock frustration. "Okay? Liam-Daniel, I've been telling you that for an hour and you haven't believed me once. Now Aunt Laura says it and it's suddenly okay?"
"She's a teacher," Liam muttered into Laura chest.
Ellen smirked at the boy.
"How do you like that, Laura? I spent a lifetime studying, had a brilliant career in bioengineering, went on to create a whole race of sentient beings and yet these kids verify every answer I give them with you before they accept it because you're a teacher."
Laura chuckled and closed her eyes again while she gently rubbed at Liam's back.
"I have a trustworthy face," She shrugged and yawned.
"And what about me?" Ellen mused in return.
"You? You look like you're full of it," Laura teased.
A moment later a pillow playfully landed on her head.
Unphased she leaned up and tucked it behind her neck attempting to get comfortable.
"Mommy, how long is the thunder gunna last?" Sasha asked.
"I dunno, sweetheart."
"What if it never ever stops?" Liam added.
"That's not possible, Li," Laura said with a sigh.
"But what if?" The boy insisted.
"Then I guess we'll never-ever sleep again," She deadpanned. "Gods, aren't you two tired?" She said, unable to stop another yawn.
The twins plugged their ears as more thunder rumbled outside.
"You look awful, Laura," Ellen remarked.
"Right back at ya, Elle."
"No, I mean you can hardly keep your eyes open. Why don't you leave Sasha here with me and go back up and get some sleep?"
"Mommy, no," Sasha immediately whined.
"And leave you with the both of them?" Laura said as she leaned up and sat Liam in her lap. "I'll be fine. Besides you're just as tired as I am."
"No, I'm not," Ellen insisted. "I'm okay. I swear. Besides I think they're calming down. It's not as bad outside as it was before. Just go get an hour or so. The storm should pass by then and if not we'll switch when you wake up."
"Stay, Mommy," Sasha pleaded.
"C'mon, rybka," Ellen encouraged the little girl. "Mommy is so tired. Let's let her get a little sleep. "You know I'll protect you until she comes back."
Of that, Laura had no doubt.
Though she hesitated to leave at first her exhaustion had won out and she'd eventually taken Ellen up on her offer. Their relationship was one of give and take. It was a balance that worked inexplicably and without effort. They picked each other up when they fell. They supported one another when they were weakened. This time Ellen was stepping up but Laura knew that soon enough she would return the favor.
After a few hours of restful sleep Laura awoke just before dawn to find the sky grey. The storm had passed but the clouds still drizzled as she watched out of her bedroom window. Donning her robe and slippers she left Bill's slumbering side to check on Ellen and the kids.
Laura had been glad to find them soundly cuddled up together.
As she sat on the bed watching them she wondered if the lamp had been left on to make the children less afraid or if they had all simply passed out before Ellen could turn it off. As quietly as she could she leaned over to the end table and flipped its switch.
Sitting back up Laura looked to the window and watched the soft drizzling rain. Selfishly she hoped that the overcast would cause Bill and Saul's shuttle to be canceled. She didn't begrudge their standing monthly lunch with Commander Kaplan on Alpha Station but it was the type of grey day that made her want her family cozied up under their warm roof.
Gloomy days always tended to creep into her bones and affect her mood. It was much the same for Ellen and Saul. They all felt better when they were close together and out of the dreariness. Laura frowned as she craned her neck to see the garden that she and Saul worked so hard in. She hoped that the plants wouldn't be too waterlogged and that the ground would dry before they had to tend to it. Saul despised the mud. His distaste for it was almost irrational but Laura didn't blame him. She hated it too. Just the smell of it was sometimes enough to put them each in a sour mood. They usually worked well together in the garden, but one foot in a murky puddle and they would be bickering over something as silly as the ripeness of a tomato. They both hated when the twins would make mud pies in the yard. Though it merely made Laura uncomfortably annoyed Saul would always yell at them and demand that they stop at once. Bill never understood what the big deal was but Ellen would always rush out of the house, scoop the kids up and have them washed up and dressed before they were seen again. She knew why Saul and Laura hated to see the children covered in mud and dirt. She understood why they both abhorred when it would cake their gardening shoes or dirty their tools. She knew without a word. She always just knew.
Laura looked away from the rain and back at Ellen. She snored softly, her face cast in the blue grey light of the morning. Sometimes Laura still found herself in awe of Ellen Tigh. As fluid as their dyad had become every now and then she was taken back by the depths of their connection. She often thought of their first interactions; Ellen's drunken antics, her shameless behavior. She recalled how harshly she'd judged the Colonel's wife, how poorly she had considered her. She often thought of the shock of the cylon woman's return to the fleet, the utter distrust she had for her back then. It was lives and worlds behind them but it still gave Laura pause. She had many interactions with Ellen Tigh during their journey to Earth and for some reason it bothered her to know that through all of it, she'd never truly seen her. This woman who she trusted with her life, trusted with her damaged heart. This woman who loved her daughters just as deeply as Laura did herself.
Had the Gods failed to see it coming? Was their future too far ahead and so deep into another world that not even the deities could sense it? Why hadn't she been given some sense of it?
Perhaps she had.
Perhaps She'd failed to see it.
Laura had experienced so many signs, symbols and premonitions back then and she often wondered if she had missed something when it came to Ellen.
Laura listened to the rain on the rooftop and sighed. The ground would be soft and damp for quite a while. She could still remember the walks she'd taken to the New Caprican lake, trekking through the dirt and mud to get there just for a glimpse of the one spot on the wretched planet that made her smile.
One day when the overcast was light and the temperature mild she'd put on her boots, bundled up baby Hera and headed out to the lake.
Though carrying the infant had made the walk a bit awkward and slow Hera's sweet company had made the trip far more tolerable than usual. Instead of focusing on her boots sinking into the muck of the muddy trail Laura spoke to the little girl about the trees and the birds.
"They'll make a nest in the springtime," She told the child who was far too young to understand. "If spring ever comes."
She'd held the baby tight but made sure that she could peek over the layers of blankets she'd wrapped her in order to see her surroundings.
"This will be a nice change of scenery, Isis. Something to look at instead of rows of drab tents and that grimy camp. The lake is so pretty. It's so crystal clear it's like looking through glass. I wish it was warm enough to dip our feet in. If I could- if I had the means and the time...if things were different...I'd build a cabin nearby and live there. I think maybe I could be happy if I woke up and saw it every morning."
Soon the trail through the sparse woods ended and the lake at the base of the mountain came into view.
Laura pulled down some of the blankets to expose the little one's face a bit more.
"Take a deep breath, Isis. The air is so much fresher out here."
The New Caprican camp couldn't have been healthy for the baby's little lungs; constantly breathing in dust, campfire smoke and tilium exhaust from the generators that ran through the night.
"Isn't it pretty here, sweetheart? Can you see it? How 'bout a smile?" Laura cooed, encouraging the baby to grin back at her. "Big smile, sweetie. That's it! Give Aunt Laura a smile. That's my gorgeous girl."
"School's out?" A sudden voice came from behind causing Laura to nearly jump out of her skin.
She clutched the baby close to her chest and turned slowly, dreading that she'd find a skin-job there to reprimand her for going too far outside of camp.
What she found, strangely enough, was another woman, holding another baby.
"Ellen," Laura said in surprise.
Ellen Tigh didn't answer her. She was already focused on baby Hera, smiling at her with bright adoring eyes and reaching out for her mitten covered little hand.
"And who is this little angel?" Ellen asked.
She had her jacket open and under it, nestled inside of a Gemminon style baby wrap was a sleeping infant who looked to be a just few months younger than Hera.
"Uh, this is Isis…" Laura answered, still a little shaken over the surprise greeting.
"Hello, Isis," Ellen swooned, immediately getting Hera to smile in return. "You're beautiful. Do you know that?"
"You scared the hell out of me, Ellen."
"Sorry," Ellen said looking up with a shrug and a smirk that told Laura she was actually far more amused than apologetic. "We were just out for a walk. I wasn't expecting anyone else to be out here. I knew it was you as soon as I came off the trail," She explained. She could pick out the former president's hair from a mile away. Months of primitive living had it made long, healthy and wild. "I just didn't see that you had company. So, either you're babysitting or this is your youngest student ever," She teased, winking at Hera and gently patting the baby she carried on his sleeping back.
"She belongs to Maya, my-"
"Your teaching assistant," Ellen finished for her. "Yes. Now that you mention it I've seen them around the market. If you can even call it that right now. Hasn't been anything decent to take home to cook in days."
Food was running low and everyone was starting to feel it. Laura frowned and nodded before craning her neck for a peek inside of Ellen's wrap.
"Who-"
"This is Nicky Tyrol," Ellen abruptly answered again without letting Laura finish.
"The Chief's son," Laura said, doing her best to let her annoyance over Ellen's interrupting pass.
Ellen nodded and smiled. She appeared almost proud to be toting around the sleeping boy.
"Galen is running around with Sam, Saul and the rest of the resistance members doing gods know what. They needed Cally to work on the engine of a transport cart they managed to get a hold of."
"I told them not to use that thing," Laura grimaced, angry to find that the Colonel and Sam Anders had gone against her advice. "It makes way too much noise. They're bound to get caught. It isn't worth it."
"I try to stay out of it," Ellen answered, her smile starting to fade at the thought of her husband's perilous position.
Laura huffed and shook her head.
"Anyway, so they stuck you with the baby," She said trying to let the other woman continue with her explanation, but her mind was stuck on the resistance members risky decision.
"They did. Not that I mind," Ellen went on as she softly rocked the baby side to side. "I take him now and then when they need Cally's help. So how'd you get stuck with little Isis here?"
"She's been with me since last night," Laura said with a roll of her eyes. "Poor thing is starting to teethe. At least that's what Doc Cottle says. She's had Maya up for three nights straight. Their tent is right beside mine. Last night it got so bad that Maya was crying right along with her in frustration. I couldn't listen to it anymore. I went over and insisted that she get some sleep and let me take Isis back to my tent. I actually try and take her at least a night a week these days."
"Isn't that nice," Ellen smirked, more than a little surprised to picture their poised former president tending to a screaming infant.
"Well, Maya's no good to me if she's half asleep during school hours." Laura answered, attempting to sound as detached as possible.
She was almost ashamed of herself as she instinctively tried to downplay her relationship with the child. It was pointless, so why did she feel the need to sound so cold? No one knew. No one understood that the infant in her arms had been the one who saved her life. The Agathon baby, the hybrid. No one knew that the little girl's blood ran through her veins, that they shared something so precious. No one knew that she'd do anything to protect her, how she owed the child the very breath in her lungs. As far as Laura was concerned it wasn't Baltar who she had to thank for being alive, it was was Hera. Holding on to her through the night while keeping a cold rag to her sore little gums was just about the absolute minimum that she could do to show the child her gratitude. But no one knew. So why was her impulse to make sure that no one could see how deeply she loved are cared for the baby?
Guilt. Laura thought. So much guilt.
"Right," Ellen replied, rolling her eyes at Laura's over-practical reasoning.
They both looked to the lake as a bird flew in to skim the top for an insect. Animal life on the plant was so scarce that seeing the creature was a rare occurrence.
"That's a clever contraption you have there," Laura said after the bird departed and there was nothing left to comfortably fill the silence between them. "I didn't think Isis would get so heavy during the walk. I should have done something like that. Though, I wouldn't know how to tie it if I tried," She added with a short chuckle.
"Neither do I," Ellen laughed as she pulled back her jacket to further show off the traditional wrap. "I found the fabric in a pile of blankets I traded for last week. There's an old Gemmenies women a few tents down from Saul and I. I took Nicky to visit her this morning and she wrapped him to me snug as a bug in no time. It's actually pretty comfortable. He's a big boy for his age, so I'm told, and I hardly felt the weight on my shoulders on the way here."
"That's very…resourceful of you," Laura remarked, genuinely impressed with Ellen's foresight. She'd hardly expected it from a woman who was half in the bag almost every time she saw her. Ellen seemed quite comfortable with the child, even happy and Laura thought it strange to witness her so composed and put together. "He seems very content."
"I wanted to show him the lake but he fell asleep on the way," Ellen explained as she looked down at the soozing infant snuggled to her chest. His cheeks were to die for and she had to stop herself from kissing at them. "Such a precious sweet face," She said softly, watching him with a sort of sad wonder. "It's such a godsdamn shame. These poor things. They didn't ask to come here. They deserve so much more than this."
Laura watched on with a knitted brow as Ellen began to lightly bounce Nicky within his wrap. She did it as if he needed comforting and yet the boy was peacefully asleep. He was blissfully unaware of the tragic circumstance that he'd been born into and all of Ellen's gentle bouncing served as nothing but a temporary comfort for herself as her heart swelled with pity for the child.
"They absolutely do," Laura agreed.
"It's hard to imagine things getting better these days," Ellen sighed. "I'd like to think that they will. I'd like to look at Nicky and think he'll grow up to know something more than grey skies and frakking mud on his feet but...I dunno...I don't know if I really believe it," She said with a dismal frown. "Do you, Laura? Do you believe they'll actually have any kind of a future worth living?"
Laura bit at the inside of her lip, somewhat taken off guard over the genuine nature of Ellen's question. She was looking at her as if she actually wanted to know her opinion, as if it somehow mattered what she thought.
"I have to believe it," Laura answered after a moment. "It's my job to believe it."
"I sure hope you're right," Ellen said with a shake of her head. "Speaking of that," She went on, forcing her melancholy tone to lighten, "if your assistant is at home passed out cold and you're here then who's teaching the kids at the tent school?"
"No one," Laura answered as she shifted Hera's weight to her other arm. "There aren't any children there today. Some awful stomach virus has been going around. I swear it took out half my roster. High fevers and chills. It's dreadful. Cottle thought it was best to suspend classes so that we can stop it from spreading and give the sick ones a chance to get well."
Ellen shook her head at the awful explanation. She looked disheartened and dejected. It made Laura feel uneasy, as if Ellen didn't understand how she could watch half of her student's suffer from some alien planet's disgusting diseases and still claim that she believed they had a future to hope for.
"And so Auntie Laura's on baby duty until school's back in session?" Ellen posed, trying to move past the terrible news.
"Something like that," Laura answered. "And what about you? Are you taking care of the Tyrol's baby as long as the resistance needs Cally?"
"Saul says they shouldn't need her much longer. They just want to be able to transport some smuggled supplies quickly and quietly. I don't mind though. I'm glad to take Nicky whenever they need me to."
The mention of the resistance project immediately incensed Laura's concerns again.
"I really wish they wouldn't use that damn motorized cart." If Saul wouldn't listen to her then maybe his wife could get through to him. "If they get caught with it…"
"Don't, Laura," Ellen said closing her eyes tightly, as if to guard herself from the subject at hand. "Please. Don't talk about it."
"People are being taken into detention more and more, Ellen. The cylons won't hesitate to throw any one of them into those damn prisons they've constructed."
"I know. Gods! Believe me, I know, Laura," Ellen returned, not wanting to hear the reality of what might happen.
"Ignoring it won't stop it, Ellen. If I were you I'd do my best to convince them to abandon the idea."
"Godsdamn it, Laura, they just meet in my tent. It's not frakking up to me."
"Have you tried?" "I told you I stay out of it." "This is serious, Ellen."
"You think I don't know that?"
"They'll take Saul first."
"And they'll frakking take you next!" Ellen snapped.
Her sharp reminder had been meant to shut Laura up but she'd woken Nicky in the process. He began to fuss and squirm in the wrap hanging from her shoulders. She quickly began to shush him, rubbing his back in soothing apology.
"I'm sorry, honey, shh, I'm sorry, shhh. You go back to sleep. Shhh."
The two women stood together for a while longer until Nicky was calmed. They wordlessly looked over the crystal clear lake, the silence interrupted now and then with a coo or hiccup from the little ones they held.
Finally Ellen spoke again.
"Bye-bye Isis," She said as she reached out and ran a gentle knuckle down the baby's soft cheek. "Don't run Aunt Laura ragged the way you did your mommy."
"Well lucky for us, we have the ability to give them back to their parents before that happens," Laura attempted to joke.
"Yeah. I guess," Ellen replied as she squeezed Hera's hand once more. "See you around, Laura," She said as she turned to leave. "Be careful out there...Like it or not, people need you."
Laura swallowed hard and held on tighter to Hera.
"I'll try," She answered as Ellen walked away.
Sometimes Laura wondered how she'd missed it. How had she stood on that peaceful shore of that glassine lake by Ellen's side, each of them holding a precious young soul, and still failed to see the shape of things to come.
How could she have looked the other woman in the eyes and not have seen the compassion and love that existed. How was there not a moment of perception or a glimmer of the future as they stood on that beach and gazed into a body of water so like the one they'd come to raise their family beside, so like the one they'd painfully poured their beloved daughter's ashes into?
How was there never a spark, a clue, a hint?
"Are you watching me sleep?" Ellen muttered, with one eye barely cracked open.
"No," Laura answered.
Ellen yawned resisting the urge to stretch so that she wouldn't disturb Liam or Sasha.
"Mmmyou're such a shit liar," She drawled and smirked, squinting with sleep-heavy eyes. "Di'ja get any sleep?"
"Mmhm," Laura said with a nod.
"That's good," Ellen smiled through another yawn.
Laura looked at Sasha, her angelic face still serene and unaware. Somehow Ellen had managed to get both children through the storm on her own.
"How long did it take you to settle them down?"
"Uhh...shit, I don't remember." Ellen chuckled over her own inability to form a coherent sentence causing Laura to let out her own quiet giggle in return. "Izit' still raining?"
With a quick glance out of the window to see their usually crystalline lake still jostled by the inclement weather, Laura nodded.
"Yeah, it is."
"Hmmph," Ellen groaned, not yet ready to start the day. "D'ya wana get in and sleep til' they wake up?"
Laura smiled at Ellen and at the two little ones she had tucked at her sides.
"Yeah, Elle," She answered. "I do."
-end-