The baby was still asleep, and Roslin thanked the gods for that. Isis was a good baby, but she was also just over a year old and that often made things difficult. She personally had never wanted children. As near as she could tell, neither had either of her male companions. Cottle had never married and was a military doctor. He had spent a lifetime avoiding children. Gaeta was a tougher read. Judging by how awkwardly he picked up the baby and how much instruction he had needed in basic baby care, he certainly hadn't had any younger brothers or sisters. He tended to busy himself with other tasks rather than deal with Isis

And there was plenty of other things to do, things she didn't find easy. They were on the run, in an unknown wilderness and she hadn't been camping since she was a young girl. Gaeta spent his time in camp foraging and standing guard and it was hard to remain hostile to someone that was keeping her alive. The food was going to run out eventually, and while she was starting to get an idea of what was edible, Gaeta clearly had been paying attention to the scientific reports on New Caprica. He was attempting to cook the fish like things he'd caught the night before. The science reports said they were edible as real fish if cooked and visually they were pretty similar. Taste wise… she had never been fond of seafood but a meal caught in the woods meant that the packaged rations they had could be stretched that much farther. Food was going to be an issue soon enough.

So she took the proffered fish from Gaeta with a pleasant smile. He was trying to be nice and therefore she had to be gracious. " Thank you, Mr. Gaeta." With luck she would be able to choke it down.

He carefully divided the remaining fish into two portions and set both on the edge of the fire. " I'll go get Dr. Cottle."

She watched as he walked away and then looked at the fish. Well cooked, as well as possible over a very tiny fire. For a change there was a lot. She hoped they found other people soon. Not because it would improve the dining situation, because she knew that wasn't likely to improve at all. More people meant more food supplies needed and New Caprica had never been fruitful. She just missed conversation, real conversation. She had a sort of cheerless détente with Gaeta, she wasn't exactly fond of him but she couldn't fault his devotion to the task of keeping all of them alive. He simply didn't talk very much outside of the daily routine and then it was warnings and suggestions. Never anything else, and her more compassionate side was concerned but not enough to stop him from working so hard.

Because Cottle had been right, in one of their quiet talks while Gaeta had been standing guard. She wasn't a young woman, and Cottle wasn't a young man and there was a good chance that the only people who survived their jaunt in the woods would be Gaeta and Isis. Jack Cottle was a smart man, and he was fairly convinced that her only chance, and the baby's only chance, was to stick with Gaeta at least until they found the resistance. Jack didn't say it out loud, but he was trying to prepare her for the idea that he might die. She suspected he had a similar conversation with Gaeta. She didn't doubt the man's assessment, but it was the last thing she wanted. She had never understood how Cottle had ended up in the military until their run from the Cylons and then it had become clear. Underneath that gruff exterior was a tactical thinker, and he was right. He was too old to haul a baby around the wilderness and so was she.

So Gaeta had to be cultivated, if not as a friend then at least as a respected member of the group. Because he could simply walk away one night while on guard duty and leave them to die. It wasn't likely, in fact Cottle had laughed when she had suggested the possibility, but she wasn't willing to ignore the fact that Gaeta might make a decision in favor of his own survival. He could go at any time, she was no fool on that point, but she had a feeling that he was too methodical to leave every bit of survival gear. She almost agreed with Cottle anyway. Gaeta seemed too conscientious to run off and leave them.

That didn't stop her from feeling nervous when he walked out of sight. That was what had happened to Maya. She regretted her harsh words to Gaeta about the death. She knew it had impacted him, he cringed every time she looked at him with less than a smile on her face. Of course, he had also spent a year working with Baltar, and before that with Colonel Tigh. He was treating her the same way he would them, as a potentially irrational person who would, if pushed, strike him for perceived errors. And isn't that nice, she thought darkly as she started to pack up the baby's things, he sees me as potentially violent. The real problem was that she had no idea whether that was normal for him or not, whether she had somehow set herself up in his mind as a shrieking harpy. She didn't know him, even after five days she didn't even know where he was from and while she tried to recall him from the Galactica, it was like recalling a cipher. He was a face in the CIC, someone who almost always was quiet. Even on New Caprica, he had been barely discernable. A smart person put their request to the government to Gaeta, not Baltar.

He reminded her of Billy, except that something was wrong and she couldn't put her finger on what it was.

And it wasn't as though there weren't enough things wrong. They were running out of diapers. The baby was constantly crying when she wasn't asleep and they had nothing for her in the way of toys or anything really. The baby food was half gone, and she didn't know where more of that was going to come from. It wasn't like she could just whip out a breast. " It'll get better," she told herself quietly. It simply couldn't get worse.

And then it did. She heard a shot, and then another. Shots fired meant trouble, a lot of trouble. She ducked down over the baby and then took the child in one arm. With the other hand she drew the pistol she carried. Please just be a wild animal, she thought as she carefully walked down to the riverbank.

But it wasn't, just like she knew it wasn't. Cottle was standing, pointing a gun at a tall blonde woman. Gaeta was on the ground, one hand holding his gun, and the other pressing against his calf. Blood was seeping through his fingers and Roslin hated herself for first thinking about a complete problem that was going to be.

Because that was only a problem if they survived the next few minutes. The Cylon was wounded, Roslin could see red blood dripping down its white leather overcoat. It didn't appear to be in pain, it even smiled at her, taking in the gun she held with barely a nod. Roslin would have known it was a Cylon just on appearance, it looked just like Shelly Godfrey and the Cylon the Pegasus had kept in the brig, but the slight smile it gave her as it looked at her… it made her skin crawl.

" So I was right," it said after a long moment. " You three are together. That makes things easier."

"Shut up!" Roslin said, keeping the gun pointed directly at it. " What happened?"

" I spotted her," Cottle said, a little breathlessly. She was no doctor, but she didn't like how he looked, not at all. He was paler than she liked too. He kept his own gun carefully pointed at the Cylon. " She was coming for me when Lt. Gaeta shot her, and then she shot him. Are you all right, son?"

Gaeta nodded as he carefully got up. " I'm bleeding but nothing's broken." He also looked unnaturally pale and nervous and that only ratcheted up Roslin's concern.

The Cylon looked at the three of them and then laughed. " If I wanted any of you dead, you would be already. As it happens, I came here for a reason." It gestured to Roslin, and she fought the urge to flinch backward. " Your people need you, Ms. Roslin. We all know that Dr. Baltar is a drunken figurehead of a president, and was for sometime before our arrival here. I've read through the records of his presidency… While he still is quite useful, we obviously would prefer a president that more of the people trusted."

It was galling to hear a Cylon say the things that she had been thinking since the invasion. Because Baltar was a drunk, and useless, and if she wanted, she could easily take the presidency. It would mean being the Cylons lackey however, and that was the last thing she wanted. " Considering that accepting your… offer means that I will need to betray my entire species, the answer is no."

The Cylon merely cocked her head. " Pity… you would really make this easier if you agreed. No? Then lets move on." It's eyes flicked onto Cottle. " Unfortunately for you, Dr. Cottle, you have nothing to offer. There are many of us trained in human physiology. You're not needed and frankly I doubt you'll live long enough to be of any real use." With that it dismissed him and turned it's gaze onto Gaeta, who was looking even more nervous.

" You surprise me on many levels," it said quietly. " I expected you to run, but running with the ex-president… You must have taken my warning seriously, that you wouldn't be welcome."

Gaeta nodded after a tense moment, and Roslin wondered about that. Cottle was convinced that something bigger than a mere Cylon invasion had prompted Gaeta to action that night. " It was my choice," he said softly, " and I've chosen my side."

It laughed. " Of course this is how you chose… If you only knew… Well, Mr. Gaeta, I'm going to explain something that might surprise you. You're not much of a liar and that's a design flaw, because you've never been good at it, or at realizing when people lie to you. So allow me to confess. I lied to you. You're not in trouble, you're not considered a risk, and if you come back with me, you'll be welcomed. More so if that baby is what I suspect."

Son of a bitch, Roslin thought as she shifted the baby slightly, she knows about the baby. Or suspects. It took a few more seconds for the implications of the Cylon's words to reach past her fear, and when it clicked it was brutal. She spun suddenly, and pointed her gun at Gaeta. " What the hell does she mean?"

Gaeta swiftly pointed his gun at her. " Don't shoot!"

No longer in her vision, the Cylon laughed again. " See how quickly they turn on you. I can imagine just how much they've relied on you to keep them alive and in seconds, you're nothing."

" You're a frakking Cylon!" Roslin snarled. She held the gun steady, and he did the same.

" I didn't know…" Gaeta said softly, " until five days ago and I have done nothing wrong…" Oddly his hands were shaking, and he was sweating like he had run a marathon.

" I'd believe him, if I were you," the Cylon said pleasantly, " I activated him myself. Mostly out of curiosity… Two won't be pleased but with only two human witnesses, the model is safe enough. But only if you come back to us, Felix. They'll never accept you now, they'll never trust you, and eventually they'll kill you out of fear no matter how much you do for them." Roslin heard the shot rather than saw, she didn't move her eyes off of Gaeta, who likewise didn't look. She heard a thump.

Cottle stepped into their peripheral vision, still holding his own gun. " I think we all heard enough of that. And I don't think we have time to have a fight so I want both of you to put the guns down." He waited.

" She'll kill me," Gaeta said.

" I will." Roslin said coldly. The problem was that she knew how fast Cylons could move so firing the gun meant dying herself. And the baby…which he knew about.

Unexpectedly, Cottle stepped between them, ruining her line of fire. " We may only have minutes until the Cylons are alerted to our location. We need to run." He looked at Gaeta. " I don't think these last five days have been one giant play to get Laura to go back, which means you might be a Cylon… but you're not with them. Am I right?"

Gaeta wavered. " Yes."

" He's a Cylon, they lie," Roslin snarled.

Cottle turned and frowned balefully at her. " For the love of all the gods, Laura, shut up. Felix, give me the gun. Laura can't shoot you unless she kills me to do it. Once he does that, Laura, you're going to hand me your gun. Then we're all going to grab our gear and move away from the dead Cylon as fast as we can, so we all don't get caught. Once we have put some distance away from here….. then we all will sit down and have a long talk about how things are going to go from here."

Gaeta handed him the gun. Roslin almost fired, but she knew Cottle was right. Still, she couldn't give up the gun.

Cottle took a step closer to her. " Listen to me, Laura," he whispered. " We can't kill him now and get out of this alive. As soon as that Cylon downloads what she knows, they will be all over here. If we kill him now, he reincarnates, and we get killed. We can kill him later when we're safe, understand?"

And that cut through her panic. Reluctantly, she gave Cottle the gun. "Only until we're safe and then we take care of it."