Caprica Six had been waiting for the Eight the humans called Sharon Agathon for several hours, spending most of the time on her knees praying. Somewhere deep beyond what one might think of as her programming, she knew that once baby Hera's mother knew where she was, she would come for her. Love was a factor beyond logical understanding and those who had never experienced it could never understand it. She supposed that was why she was the only one who was waiting for Sharon.
With Baltar gone off with D'Anna she was the only Cylon who had loved as deeply as Sharon had.
She wanted to help the child. That had been always part of her intention, at the forefront of her mind as she sat praying for Sharon's consciousness to download into the fresh body. But there was another motivation in Caprica's mind, one that scared her more than she could articulate; Caprica wanted to go back to Galactica with Sharon. She wanted to go to the humans.
She loved the Cylon. She loved her God. But love was not always about attraction, and it certainly wasn't always without pain. In fact, she reflected, love always seemed to be entirely about pain. Part and parcel. She had loved Baltar. She had loved him so deeply that for a time she thought it would drive her insane. She had loved him so deeply that she was willing to share him with D'Anna when he had formed a bond that she didn't understand. She had even tried to love her the way he loved her.
In the end it only led to pain. Gaius Baltar hurt everything he touched.
And the Cylon had hurt her too. Or more accurately they had disappointed her. Disappointment was not a word of indifference. You had to love something deeply to be disappointed in it. The Cylon had proven themselves just as flawed as their creators. But unlike the Cylons, she had started to believe the humans were redeemed by their flaws. Perhaps that was what she had loved so deeply in Gaius. His flaws. Humanity struggled through its limited life while the Cylon walked unchallenged.
Laura Roslin had once told her that humanity had worth in the struggle.
The Cylon was proving itself unworthy at the same time that humanity was proving itself the most noble. She needed to understand. She needed to understood what Sharon Agathon understood, and to do that she needed to go to Galactica.
That hadn't changed how terrified she was as she sat in co-pilot seat of the Raptor next to Sharon as the Colonial officer flew towards Galactica.
The regrets had started immediately. They had come on the waves of fear and hatred she could feel all around her as the humans pointed weapons at her. The regrets came as she sat alone in the cage they had set out for her.
The only time she didn't feel regret was on her knees, praying to God. It was than that she knew that she was in the right place, for the right reasons, even if they had yet to be revealed to her.
That was where she was when she heard the door open, and two guards come in with Laura Roslin. She had a certain confidence as President that she didn't carry with her on New Caprica, a cloak of righteousness—Caprica wasn't sure it suited her. She almost wanted to smile, as if this was a visit from an old friend, but she knew very well that this woman was no friend of hers.
"Do you have a name?" Roslin asked with a soft reassuring voice.
"They call me Caprica Six."
"Caprica." Six knew immediately that that wasn't a good thing. As she recalled, Roslin was from Caprica, and it suddenly occurred to her that the moniker might be offensive to her. The President seemed to be trying it on, repeating it a few times softly. "I'd like to help you, Caprica Six, but you will have to help me as well."
The Cylon's smile turned into a sneer. "Why? So you can throw me out an airlock? Do you really expect me to trust you? You of all people?"
Roslin walked a few paces in the cell, and then sat down in a chair and crossed her legs and took off her glasses to watch her. "No, not really. But I do expect that you won't have any other choice but to deal with me."
"Has Adama left Cylon prisoners to you now? Or have the two of you finally started frakking yet? Or are you frakking your Vice President? Or both?"
The slap that came from Roslin was harder than Caprica expected, and she might have returned it except for the marines who raised their weapons to point them at her head. Roslin the slut wasn't really how post people pictured her, that was for certain, and though there was speculation among the Seven, it really had been a low blow. Part of Six wondered if she has assumed that Roslin used sexual manipulation because that was what she would have done if their positions were reversed.
Of course not everything was about sex, and part of Six wondered if this monastic woman had more power for denying her sexuality than Six had for using it. There was something to be said in stringing men along.
"You want me to help you execute Baltar."
"I want your help in proving his guilt."
"Why would I help you?"
"You came here for a reason, Caprica Six."
"God sends us where we can serve best."
"God, or the choices we make?"
"A bit of both," the Cylon conceded.
"You are my toaster philosopher…" It suddenly seemed to occur to Roslin that they might have had this conversation before. "What about us draws you?"
"I want to understand why God loves you, when you worship false prophets and corrupt everything you touch." Caprica wondered if she was going to slap her again, but Roslin simply put on her glasses. "I want understand how you love without it hurting so much."
The other woman watched her. "You loved Baltar?"
Caprica nodded, and Roslin sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose, "Give him a trial. A fair trial, and I will help you prove his crimes."
Roslin seemed surprised, and Caprica shrugged. "I am hardly one to judge a traitor, but I would like to hear his defense as much as you. I want to know what makes someone betray their people."
I want to understand why I have betrayed mine.
Author's Note: The concept of this chapter was taken in part from a deleted scene posted at . I have not treated it like canon, but appropriate credit should be given for the writer of that scene, and for Mary McDonnell and Tricia Helfer, whose superb acting inspired the journey of this story.