Z-minus 0: Part One
"What are you working on, Captain?"
Lee looked up at the sound of Tyrol's voice and saw the Chief walking across the hangar deck to the corner the CAG was sitting in. He held up the metal ring and small stone that he was working on. "Anniversary present," he told the CPO. "Or at least it's supposed to be."
"Are you trying to set that?" Tyrol inquired, pointing to the stone.
"Yeah. I got a friend to make the prongs, but the stone was something I just happened to acquire, and the two aren't exactly the same size." Tyrol smiled.
"Happened to acquire?"
"I've got my sources. Rank hath its privileges."
"Mmm." Lee opened his mouth as though he were about to say something, but stopped before any words came out. Tyrol noticed. "What?"
"Nothing. I just…forgot."
"You mean forgot that I didn't have my anniversary two months ago? Yeah, sometimes I wish I could, too."
"Have you seen her lately?"
"No. Not often…It's been getting harder. It takes a lot out of her to keep control and I just…I really don't need to see her when she's not in control."
"I understand that. She's due any day now, isn't she?"
"Yeah. And that doesn't help any…I've spent so much time trying to convince myself that this child, it's not what we'd thought about, what we'd dreamed of. It was a science experiment for the machine in my wife's head. And if it's a Cylon as well…I don't even want to think about that. Everything's turned upside down."
"How's Boxey doing?"
"He's gotten quiet…angry. At me, mostly. I just…I want him to be able to keep his memories of Sharon the way she was. I don't want the thing inside her to take them away from him."
"You're trying to protect him; he's got to understand that."
"I think he does. But it doesn't make it any easier…He wants to go live on the orphan ship."
"What?"
"Yeah. And I know that's the last thing Sharon would want, but…I'm out of ideas. I love Boxey, but Sharon was always so good with him, from day one. I don't know what to do for him anymore."
"What about letting Kara talk with him? I mean, he trusts her, and I think a friend that's not also a parent might be good for him." Tyrol shrugged.
"It's worth a shot. I'm willing to try anything at this point. How's Kara doing? Isn't she due this week, too?"
"And she hasn't let anyone forget it. She's doing okay now, though. Getting antsy, I think. But then again, I guess we all are, huh?"
Tyrol nodded. "Yeah."
Kara was more than happy to spend an afternoon with Boxey. She'd known for the past few months how miserable he was, and had been trying to help. He didn't really want to go live on the orphan ship, and still loved Tyrol, but the pain of losing his family for the second time in two years was cutting deep. And Kara finally thought it was about time to take his issues to the source; while Lee was on duty, she went down to the brig to see Sharon.
She didn't know quite what she was expecting to find when she got to the brig; she hadn't seen the woman she'd once thought of as a friend in several months. Kara took a minute to steel herself before going inside. Tyrol had given her a few clues as far as what to expect, but it was still a shock to see Sharon. She was wearing a set of off-duty clothes, although they hadn't given her shoes. Her hair had grown out much longer in the months she'd been confined, and no one had bothered to cut it. Kara knew how concerned Cottle had been at her last few appointments that she wasn't gaining much weight, so she knew that the doctors had to be a lot more worried about how positively gaunt Sharon looked.
Two dark, glassy eyes were aimed in Kara's direction as soon as she entered the room. "Well, well, well. Long time no see, huh?"
"Yeah, I'd imagine you don't get many visitors down here."
A wicked, knowing smile appeared on Sharon's face. "Gay drops in every now and then, pathetic as ever."
"From where I'm standing, it's highly amusing that you're calling someone else pathetic."
"So what brings you down to my corner of the ship? Come to see if all your worst fears were true?"
"No, I came to talk."
"That right?"
"Yeah."
"Weren't you just a little bit curious, though, Kara? Wondering how you were all deceived so easily and for so long. I mean, your best friend, your gal pal, was actually one of the very things she spent every day trying to destroy. Now that's irony for you, huh?"
"My 'gal pal,' as you put it, never existed. She was a very elaborate lie. I know a thing or two about lies; I've told more than a few in my lifetime. I know how much damage they can do. And I see the damage you've done every time I look at your thirteen-year-old son and try to make him believe that somehow – somehow – everything's going to be okay."
Sharon's eyes were suddenly softer, and her posture showed the exhaustion that one might expect her to be feeling. "I never wanted to hurt Boxey," she said, her voice quiet. "I never wanted to hurt anyone. I'm sorry, Kara; I tried to get control sooner, but it's getting harder…It knows it's almost time."
Kara shook her head in surprise. "It really is like you've got a split personality. Tyrol said, but…I didn't believe him."
"How bad is Boxey doing? Galen won't tell me anything…he doesn't even come anymore."
"Can you honestly blame him?"
"No…I didn't ask for this, Kara. All I want is to be normal again, to have the life I thought I was living."
"You really think that's possible?"
Sharon looked away. "Do you remember all our afternoons in the mess hall, just talking about the future, our kids growing up together? They're only going to be a couple days apart in age; we were so sure they'd grow up being friends."
Kara's eyes narrowed as something finally dawned on her. "It was you, wasn't it? It wasn't an accident that the injections got contaminated. It was you."
"I didn't know I'd done it until after…and then, what did it matter? Wouldn't change anything. You'd already made your choice, and I…I couldn't have changed anything." Sharon closed her eyes, putting a hand to her head as though she'd suddenly gotten a migraine. "You should go; I won't be able to stay in control much longer."
"Boxey's always wondering if you ever really loved him."
A tear escaped from Sharon's eye. "Yes. Very much. Don't let him doubt that, please. Whatever happens…"
Kara nodded. "I won't."
Sharon sat up, opening her eyes, and the look in them was completely different. "You actually believed her, didn't you?" she asked with a laugh. "Okay, here's million cubit question: can the master con artist tell when she's being conned?" Kara didn't answer. "What's the matter, Kara? Don't like games anymore?"
"Every good player knows when to fold." That got another laugh.
"Oh, if only you could," Sharon said as she turned away from the bars. She lay down on the cot that was in the little cell, one hand gently rubbing the naked skin of her protruding stomach as she hummed a lullaby to herself. Kara felt a chill go down her spine.
"You're frakking insane," she shot before turning and walking out of the brig. She just hoped it wouldn't be taken as a compliment.
Sharon had been right; the Cylon in her head did know that she was close to giving birth, Sharon just didn't know how close. Tyrol was home with Boxey that evening when there was a knock on their hatch. The Chief wasn't expecting Tigh to be his visitor.
"I need to speak with you," the Colonel told him, then spared Boxey a glance. "It's confidential," he added.
"Boxey, go work on finishing the next chapter in your book." The boy nodded.
"Yes, Sir," he told Tyrol as he headed for his bedroom. The CPO turned to the XO once the door closed.
"What's going on?"
"When was the last time you saw Sharon?"
"It's been a few weeks." Tigh nodded. "Why?"
"She's gone into labor. The Doc thought you'd like to be notified." Tyrol nodded.
"Thank you, Sir. She's at the Life Station?"
"No. It's a matter of security. Cottle's with her; she'll get whatever she needs. The rest of the ship cannot be put at risk, though."
"The many over the few."
"Something like that…Our kind over theirs."
"Thank you for the information, Sir." Tigh nodded and left. Tyrol sat in the chair by the desk, trying to make sense of the mess of thoughts and emotions in his head.
"Can I come out now?" a little voice interrupted a few minutes later, and he turned to see Boxey.
"Yeah, buddy."
"He was here about Sharon, wasn't he?"
"Yes, he was."
"Are they going to do something to her?"
"No…the baby's going to be born soon."
"Soon like tonight or soon like in a day or two?"
"Soon like tonight, probably. At least for her sake, I hope so."
"So…why are you still here?"
"It's complicated."
"I'll go."
"No, you won't." Boxey sighed.
"Didn't you say that sometimes when you talk to her about me or the baby she'll act like herself again?"
"Yeah."
"Well…if she is acting like herself, then I don't want her to be alone right now."
"Yeah," Tyrol finally said. "Me, either."
"So you're going to go?"
He nodded, putting his shoes back on. "Be in bed by 2200, all right?"
"Yes, Sir."
Tyrol didn't know what he'd expected to find when he arrived in the brig, but everything he'd imagined didn't do justice to reality. It had been far too many weeks since he'd seen his wife; she had probably lost about twenty pounds, and she'd been pretty small to start with. She looked utterly exhausted as she paced back and forth in her cell, obviously hurting, wearing one of the gowns from the Life Station. Tyrol tried not to let his eyes linger on the bit of blood that had stained the blanket on her cot. As difficult as she was to see, they would have done something if there was a problem. They would have allowed her to be taken to the Life Station. Right?
Sharon grabbed the bars with a cry, barely able to stay on her feet as the pain peaked. Cottle was just standing there, watching, along with a couple nurses. "Galen," she managed to gasp when she saw him, reaching a hand out to grab his.
"Stop," the Major told him before their fingers could make contact. "XO's orders: no one gets within arm's reach. She's been flipping back and forth without warning."
"Why haven't you given her something for the pain?" Tyrol asked.
"Don't want it," Sharon told him as she tried to force her breathing back to a normal pace. "I can't get control if I'm drugged up; my head needs to be clear."
"How much longer?" Tyrol asked Cottle.
"I'd say she's advanced first stage, and she'd been progressing pretty quickly. The Colonel wants her tranquilized for the second stage."
"What?"
"No one's been in that cell with her being conscious since we put her in there," Cottle told him. "Don't expect that to change anytime soon."
"I can understand the risk, but she's not an animal!"
"Really, Gay?" He turned back to Sharon to see her eyes were hard, a grin on her face like the cat that ate the canary, despite the pain she had to still be in. "'Cause that's not what you said that time in the storage room by the deck." His uneasiness only served to make her laugh more, an eerie sound that had the same effect as fingernails on a chalkboard.
But then the pain returned, and, unprepared, she wound up falling to her knees with a scream from the intensity. Wild, tear-filled brown eyes told him that Sharon had control again. Apparently the 'toaster' in her head was a smart one, and it wasn't sticking around for the not-so-fun parts of being in a human body. Tyrol couldn't stand hearing her cries. Ignoring Cottle's protests, he crouched next to Sharon's cell.
"Shar," he quietly said to get her attention, offering his hand to her. She gripped it tight, and for that one moment, things were they way they always should have been: the two of them together. It had been eight months since he'd touched her, and that was eight months too many.
Her contractions seemed to become a never-ending wave, just dropping down before building back up again. Cottle heard her breath catch, heard her moans and cries get deeper. She was close. "Contact the Colonel," he quietly told one of the marines that was standing guard.
"Yes, Sir."
"Can you hold her still?" the doctor asked Tyrol as he prepared the injection he was going to give her.
He nodded. "I think so." He'd underestimated how much strength it would take, though, forgetting who he was actually fighting against. Once Sharon's body had gone limp, a marine came and unlocked the door to her cell.
"Help me get her on the cot," Cottle said, and Tyrol obeyed. "She just had her hard part in all of this. Now we have ours."
Tigh showed up about a half hour later. Sharon was still unconscious, and Tyrol was practically standing guard along with the marines while the doctor and nurses took care of her.
"How's she doing, Major?" the Colonel asked.
"It won't be much longer."
Tigh looked to Tyrol. "You sure you want to be here?" he asked.
"There's no way you're going to get me to go, Sir."
He sighed. "You understand that if…"
"I understand."
A pause. "And Sharon."
Tyrol slowly nodded. "I understand, Sir."
They both looked up at the sound of a tiny, mewling cry, which was then quickly followed by a louder one, then another and another. Cottle stood and turned around to face them, holding a little bundle of moving limbs and noise. "It's a girl," he announced.
"Do you have what you need in order to scan her?" Tigh asked. The doctor nodded.
"But I would prefer to do this at the Life Station."
"It would be all over the ship in about a nanosecond, and this is already complicated enough. Can you safely do it here?"
"Yes, Sir." He handed the baby, who was slowly starting to calm down, to one of the nurses, and they got everything ready. Blood from her umbilical cord could be used to do the scan instead of having to stick her with a needle. They had decided against bringing the scanner's thermo-nuclear warhead anywhere near Sharon, so the other nurse took the sample to one of the science labs in order to analyze it. They'd then have to wait an hour or so for the result. Sharon received another tranquilizer, just to be on the safe side.
Tyrol watched as Cottle and a nurse checked out his daughter. There was no other way for him to think of her; from the moment he'd seen her, she was his. He didn't know what he was going to do if her test was positive. He had tried to detach himself, but that was proving to be near impossible.
"I-is she healthy?" he couldn't help but ask. Cottle offered him a smile.
"Yes. Remarkably so, considering her mother's physical condition. She's a little small, but otherwise…" They all looked up as the other nurse returned, holding a file for the doctor. The tension in the room was palpable as Cottle read through the information inside.
"There wasn't any sign of the Cylon characteristics," he finally said.
"You're sure?" Tigh asked. The doctor looked through the data once more, and nodded.
"Yes. She's completely human."
"Do you have any idea how that's possible?" the Colonel inquired. Cottle shrugged.
"Perhaps we are the dominant trait. There are a few more scans I want to run," he told Tyrol, "But since she doesn't seem to pose any danger to the fleet, once she has a clean bill of health, she's all yours."
Tigh offered him an expression that could only be described as smile – a small one, but still. "You want to hold her, Chief?"
"Yeah, more than anything." Cottle wrapped the baby a bit more snugly in a blanket, and then handed her over to her father. Everyone was so preoccupied with the little life that they didn't notice two dark eyes watching them – eyes that should have been closed due to heavy sedation.
Tyrol was in awe as he held his daughter; she looked just like Sharon, and he wondered if that would come back to haunt him in the end. He knew what was going to happen to his wife; it was just a matter of time, now.
"Let's get her to the Life Station," Cottle kindly told him, and Tyrol snuck one glance in Sharon's direction before turning to leave. The fact that she was looking back made him stop dead in his tracks.
Tight noticed the expression on the CPO's face and turned around, but it wasn't fast enough. Before the marine by her cell could react, Sharon had pulled his weapon from its holster, rendered him unconscious with one strike, and was aiming for her husband and/or daughter.
"Sharon, don't!" Tyrol automatically shouted. She faltered, eyes closed, her grip relaxing slightly and her aim lowering. "Don't," he repeated, quieter. "You've gotta get control. This is everything you wanted, Shar: she's healthy and human. The Cylons' plan didn't work." Tigh was deciding whether or not an attempt to disarm her would work at that point. As it turned out, he wouldn't need to.
Sharon's eyes opened, the tears in them about to spill. "Gay, I'm sorry," she whispered. He nodded.
"I know."
The gun clattered to the floor outside the cell, and Tigh kicked it away. Sharon fell as well a moment later, her body convulsing. The seizure lasted a good minute, and Cottle checked her pulse once the tremors began to fade.
"She's still alive," he told Tigh, "But if you want her to stay that way, I need to get her to the Life Station."
TBC...
