Five Times Helo and Sharon Have Kissed

Disclaimer: Battlestar Galactica belongs to a corporation, not me.

WARNING: SPOILER through 3x02

Written for the "Five Things" meme on livejournal. Five little snippets in time.

One

Number Eight cringed when Helo fell, and debris from the restaurant rained down on him. What if he was hurt? What if he was dead? "Stop!" she commanded, and the centurion's weapon immediately pointed upward, as it paused. She ran over to Helo and knelt to find his pulse. The beat of his heart felt strong under her fingertips. His skin was so warm and soft. He felt alive.

He called her 'Sharon'. He didn't know that she wasn't the one he had known. He didn't understand that he was the ball in a someone else's Pyramid game.

She traced his jaw and up his cheek, over his closed eyes, his lashes feathering her fingertips, feeling his breathing against her palm. So alive.

Mindful of the centurion behind her, she leaned over him and whispered, knowing he couldn't hear her, "I'm sorry, Helo."

She touched her lips to his, though she didn't quite know why. He wouldn't know, so it wasn't as though it was part of the plan. But she had wanted to try it since the rain, when he had almost kissed her then.

He didn't react, didn't move, and she was disappointed, even though this was not a good time for him to wake up.

She touched his lips with one finger, as if to press the kiss on her memory, and rose to her feet. Centurion at her heels, she left, breaking glass under her feet with each step.

Two

He was trying. He knew she and the Chief were together. Frak, everyone knew that. He'd even covered for them a few times. But he couldn't stop thinking about touching her, and kissing her, and --

No. It was wrong. Desperation. Fear. Being the only people alive on the planet. That was all. She was hurt, and the last thing she needed or wanted was her ECO groping her.

But he was too tired to keep the words in. "... I would've given anything to be him..."

And suddenly he was. He had Sharon in his arms, and her lips against his. She was clumsy in her haste, and he felt her flinch a little, as if surprised, when his tongue touched her open lips. But then she was moaning into him, her hands under his shirt, and all he could think about was the miracle that she was here and, at least for this moment, she was his.

Three

Kissing her should feel different now that he knew what she was, the vague thought flitted through his mind. She was a Cylon. But he wasn't kissing a machine. He was kissing a person. Sharon. His Sharon.

There was no hesitation in her, only relief as she held him tightly, running her good hand up and down his back. "It wasn't supposed to be this way," she whispered, confessing. "It wasn't supposed to be real. But it is real, Helo. It is. You, me, and our baby. That's all that matters now."

He looked into her beautiful dark eyes, and the not-quite-human thoughts behind them. But that slightly alien glimmer reassured him, because now she wasn't pretending. He saw only truth. He wrapped his arms around her, and laid his cheek against the smoothness of her hair.

"We're going to make it, Sharon," he murmured, remembering when he'd said it before, so innocent of the real struggle ahead.

"Of course. We're a part of God's plan, Helo," she answered, with her odd, and yet comforting simple faith in her Cylon God.

But he couldn't resist teasing her a little. "So say we all."

Four

She looked right at the Seven when he appeared in the Caprica light, on the top of the hill. She wanted to speak, to warn the Humans, since they didn't seem to know he was a Cylon. Or did Anders and his friends know and they thought he was like her? But he wasn't, she knew that. She opened her mouth but nothing came out. She tried again. But her voice refused to work. Something was going to happen, and she could do nothing about it.

Instead she pulled Helo's down to her, her hands framing his face. She kissed him, tasting him for what might be the very last time. She couldn't protect him from what was coming. She couldn't even warn him.

Some of her desperation came through, and he frowned at her, worried. "Sharon?"

But the group came under fire, and they were running, with no time to speak, even if she could.

Five

Adama gave the blessing, watching as the pair turned toward each other. They were both smiling, and there seemed to be tears in Sharon's eyes, as she reached for Agathon's hands. Adama found himself surprised by the joy in her face, even though he believed her emotions were real. That naked joy made him feel a little more confident of his decision. Keeping her locked in a box, away from Agathon, wasn't doing anything but proving the Cylons were right about humanity. But maybe -- just maybe -- if the Cylons could truly experience love and pain and grief... then they could feel compassion as well, but only if they experienced it for themselves.

She went up on tiptoe and twined her arms around Agathon's neck, and they kissed.

The Human and the Cylon. For a moment, he was disoriented, remembering Boomer in CIC, shooting him, and her corpse in the morgue. What he was watching didn't feel real, like it was a vision from the Gods, showing him how the war would end.

But this was true and real, and it had nothing to do with Gods or God, only the two brave people who were determined to do this, in spite of everything.

They were still kissing, lost in each other, and the way his hand was creeping down her hip was starting to be inappropriate for public. Adama cleared his throat.

They pulled apart, but didn't let go of each other. Adama doubted that they ever would.

fin