Title: Tangible Illusions (2?)

Author: oregonblondie

Contact Info: PG

Characters/Pairing: Caprica!Sharon, Helo, Boomer (see summary)

Summary: Takes place through You Can't Go Home Again. In the same vein as the first part but set directly in the episodes. I would recommend watching the episodes either before or after reading this because it makes much more sense (as well as flows better) if you can imagine these events taking place in the same time frame as the events in the episode.

And just for clarification, I've decided to call the invisible EightEight and Caprica!Eight Sharon.

xoxoxo

Helo sat in the bunker, twiddling the knob of the radio they had found. Everything was static and he sighed, letting his eyes stray to where Sharon was sprawled out asleep on the hammock. He could feel hot breath against his ear and turned to see another Sharon, dressed in gorgeous emerald and hair curled soft.

"She's beautiful isn't she," she breathed.

Helo nodded and was about to respond when the sleeping woman in front of him stirred and awoke. He shifted his eyes away from her and to the radio asEight walked away from him and over to the walls of the shelter.

"Anything?" she asked, voice heavily coated with sleep.

He shook his head, "No. I don't think anyone's left out there."

"All alone," commented Eight. Her voice was layered, somewhere between light-hearted sing song and ethereal tones.

"There must be somewhere. We can't be the only two people left in the world," Sharon said asEight let out a small laugh and shook her head.

"Well, good news is my leg's much better. And we've got anti-radiation meds to last three months. I say we load up as much food as we can and"

"…move out." She finished. "Try to find a transport or something we can fly off Caprica. Unless you can find a reason to stay."

AgainEight moved close to Helo, each word hitting him with tremendous force. "Ah, Helo. The question. Do you tell her you'd like nothing better than to stay holed up, safe and alone with your true love?"

"I'm not really looking forward to going back out there. I've almost started to think of this place as..."

"Home," each one of them said, Sharon and Helo in agreement with each other,Eight with a sense of scorn toward her visible copy.

"Enjoy it while you can,"Eight sniveled before drifting up the stairs and out of the bunker.

Sharon started to rise up off the hammock, but Helo touched her shoulders, "No, sleep a little longer. Who knows when we'll find clean sheets again." His eyes turned to whereEight had just left. "I'm gonna go topside and make some breakfast." Sharon smiled gratefully and fell back onto the hammock, thankful for even a minute's more rest.

Helo made his way around the kitchen withEight sitting on the countertop, watching him thoughtfully.

"You really do love her don't you?" she finally said, head tilted.

He was slient for antoher second, pulling bread out of the package before nodding, "Yeah, I guess I do. I don't know what would've happened to me if she hadn't come when she did." he finished the thought by slipping the bread into the toaster and pulling the lever to start it.

Abruptly, the sound of glass breaking could be heard coming from outside the restaurant.Eight slid down from the counter and started heading for the exit as Helo grabbed his side arm.

"I guess you'll find out," he barely heard her say as the metallic sound of Centurions filled his mind.

xxxx

Helo woke slowly, head pounding, every muscle in his body sore. His eyes drew over the debris of the half-destroyed resteraunt, no machine or human in visible range.

"Sharon! Sharon, where are you," he yelled. "Damn it Sharon, where are you?" For a brief moment he thought he saw a flash of green in the reflection of an appliance, but when he turned everything was deathly still.

He limped out to the street and looked around, turning in every direction.

"Sharon! Sharon...!" But all he could hear was his own voice echoing back to him, taunting his misery and confusion.

"Boomer? Where are you?"

xoxo

Next part will take place during Litmus. I was going to join this along with Litmus and Six Degrees but I have issues right now with writing anything very long. So let me know what you think of this and stay tuned for part 3.