FIC: FNL/BSG: Eyes Clear to See
Title: Eyes Clear to See
Author: fryadvocate
Summary: It was an away game that saved them.
A/N: Thanks to annavtree for her help.
*****
It was an away game that saved them.
From the windows, they saw the Cylons jump into orbit, they saw the explosions on the surface, a ripple of red and yellow across the surface like ripples in a pond. In the moments before they all jumped they all realized it was cities being burned to the ground. Everyone was still staring out the windows, even though it was just empty space.
The team looked up to Coach when they heard the first transmission from the fleet.
There was a moment, like the one before his first game, when his eyes were wide, and half the team looked down at the back of the seats in front of them. They were embarrassed for him and the blue and white upholstery of their school's ship didn't help.
But then he said, "We're going." It was firm, authoritative, and someone began praying.
Smash said, soft, "Clear eyes. Strong heart."
The team paused, on the brink of something, and Riggins said, "Can't lose."
Coach had ducked his head, but looked up at that, and his eyes were fierce.
"Clear eyes. Strong heart," Smash and Riggins spoke as one and the coach's lips didn't move, but Saracen let the thunder, "Can't lose."
*****
Space wasn't a big deal, half of their games were away and they were all used to living for a couple of days out of a suitcase, but that was all they had: pyramid gear and a few changes of clothing.
During the first breather, the first thirty three minutes, they managed to communicate with enough ships to figure out that everyone who'd bought their ships from Buddy was still alive. Buddy only sold hyperdrive level ships because it was always a pretty small adjustment that added a hefty sum to the price.
The coach had pressed both hands over his eyes when he heard his wife's voice, but when he pulled his hands off his face, they were dry, and he asked about all of the other families.
It took a few days, but they got a full listing of who had survived.
They were writing on the back of the playbook, trying to organize when they heard about the ship that Galactica blew up. Coach had looked around and said, "Let's finish this."
If anything could be said about Dillon, it was loyal to the fleet. Bleeding hearts could wait until they were safe.
*****
Buddy and the mayor visited the team's shuttle, and no one at all was surprised that as central as the team had been to life before the Cylon attack, it was even more central after.
Decisions were made as democratically as they'd been made before. Some things the mayor decided, some things Buddy corralled the coach into saying 'yes' to, and some things the coach decided. He shook his head when they suggested selling one of the shuttles and when they suggested that the team go to another ship and 'requisition' supplies he slapped his hand down.
"This is not something the boys are doing."
Space was darker than anything, and they slept in cots in the hanger, away from the windows, in an enclosed metal coffin. They slept in shifts, and when Riggins turned his head into the pillow, he could smell the last guy who'd crashed in the bed. After a while, they all smelled like sweat.
The school's ship hadn't been meant for long term habitation, and so they used the bathroom as little as possible and wasted as little water as they could.
*****
Shaving became secondary to the other things that they had to do. Coach was still against using them to steal, but they were rented out, now, like any set of workers. They were strong enough to install beds on the Atlantis, they helped shuttle supplies around the fleet, and when there was a riot on the Advantage, the Panthers were enough force to calm it before Galactica even arrived.
It helped the town.
That's what they still called it - the town. Riggins was the only one who snorted when he heard that. His brother had been working planetside when the attack happened, and no one pushed him about it.
*****
Cloud Nine had a Pyramid court. Coach bartered something dear to get them time off there and if anyone had ever told Riggins that running sprints would make him feel more relaxed then he had since the whole thing started he would have laughed at them.
Now, he just shoved past Saracen and moved faster, pushed harder.
Half of the cheerleaders had survived and he could see a hint of underwear when Lyla did a cartwheel.
*****
There wasn't anything to do but work out, so Riggins did another set of abs. Saracen talked into the phone, trying to reassure Landry and failing.
"No. Look my grandma isn't a," his voice lowered to a whisper, "Cylon."
Landry said something on the other end of the line and Saracen looked around at the rest of them, guilty. "Landry, come on."
Later, after he'd hung up and sat staring down at his playbook, Saracen stood up and Riggins heard him ask coach if he could go to the ship where he'd situated Landry and his grandmother.
The team was all still together, even after the few weeks of travel. They were a team and if Mac had blown a whistle they would have all started to run together. It was automatic: they were the Panthers. And where there were Panthers, there was Dillon.
"Just until I can calm her down," Saracen said and Riggins lay back on the cool deck, his muscles burning.
Riggins wondered what would happen when the Pathers lost all their players to their families and all that was left was him and the handful of others who didn't have any family but the Panthers.
"Go on," Coach said, looking down at the papers in front of him, Riggins could hear the odd echo. If Coach had been speaking directly to Saracen and not to the desk, it would have sounded more authoritative. "But come back as soon as you're done."
Coach said that directly to Saracen and Riggins relaxed a little more.
*****
It had been a mistake. Everyone knew it was a mistake. That didn't make it any better, with Lyla crying in a seat, covering herself in someone's letterman jacket.
Riggins crossed the room in three steps and picked her up, settling her into his lap like he'd seen Jason hold her once, when she'd twisted her knee coming off a pyramid. Lyla didn't even protest, just kept sobbing against his chest, her nails biting his skin through his shirt.
His knuckles still had the guy's blood on them, and he imagined that they'd be getting some social calls soon. From Zarek maybe, or a representative of the President's. But, Dillon protected Dillon and they'd close ranks.
Lyla had said, 'no' and maybe she shouldn't have been on the ship anyway, but they'd found it easier to make trades with a pretty face along and Riggins wanted to kill the guy again for even thinking about what he almost did to her.
Someone would have to get her a new skirt, new underwear.
Right now, Saracen put a clean pair of sweat pants onto the seat next to them and then tugged closed the curtains.
His eyes looked down the whole while.
*****
It wasn't quite a trial, it was a meeting with the President, though. He was there, with the Coach sitting to his left, Lyla on his right. She was still wearing the varsity jacket.
It was Rodriguez's jacket, and he was a linebacker, so it engulfed her. She kept picking at her nails, pushing at her cuticles until they bled. The captain of the other ship was there, as the only one who wanted to press the issue. He wanted something in exchange for the death.
Laura Roslin wasn't what he expected. Riggins kind of expected that she'd be like one of the Caprica white collar bosses that used to show up and run the fuel mines when the town had mines. She wasn't.
She reminded Riggins of Mrs. Taylor, smart and knowing. If she hadn't been speaking in a Caprican accent, he would have expected to hear Gemenon in her vowels.
Lyla tightened her fingers around his hand when President Roslin asked her about the attack. She talked down to their hands until Roslin asked if she had been raped.
"No," she said. "But he was... he was going to. He told me what he..."
Her grip was desperate.
*****
After that, Lyla stayed on the team's ship. It was weird that she'd feel safer there, Riggins thought, but then the Coach's wife and kid were on the ship and he could sleep in the cot next to hers.
None of the other guys would think about touching Buddy Garrity's daughter after the trial.
*****
Lyla stitched up ripped clothing and helped make dinner. She was the type of girl that any guy on Gemenon would have wanted to come home to. When they finally got a school up and running on one of the ships, she helped teach scripture.
She always came home, though, her steps quiet so that she didn't wake anyone but Riggins when she sat down on the edge of the bed and shivered.
Sometimes, he would sit up, too, and bring her some water that he'd saved from his own portion, something she could rinse out her mouth with. Most of the time, though, he just pretended to be asleep. It was easier that way.
*****
They all survived. It's the only thing that they could do.
When the news about New Caprica came, Lyla looked at him, wearing his shirt and her hair chopped off shorter than a Raptor pilot's.
"You want to go?" she asked.
He thought about waking up next to her on a planet with real gravity and with real sunlight. He thought about losing the desperate metal life they were all living together.
Riggins shrugged.
*****
End
Author: fryadvocate
Summary: It was an away game that saved them.
A/N: Thanks to annavtree for her help.
*****
It was an away game that saved them.
From the windows, they saw the Cylons jump into orbit, they saw the explosions on the surface, a ripple of red and yellow across the surface like ripples in a pond. In the moments before they all jumped they all realized it was cities being burned to the ground. Everyone was still staring out the windows, even though it was just empty space.
The team looked up to Coach when they heard the first transmission from the fleet.
There was a moment, like the one before his first game, when his eyes were wide, and half the team looked down at the back of the seats in front of them. They were embarrassed for him and the blue and white upholstery of their school's ship didn't help.
But then he said, "We're going." It was firm, authoritative, and someone began praying.
Smash said, soft, "Clear eyes. Strong heart."
The team paused, on the brink of something, and Riggins said, "Can't lose."
Coach had ducked his head, but looked up at that, and his eyes were fierce.
"Clear eyes. Strong heart," Smash and Riggins spoke as one and the coach's lips didn't move, but Saracen let the thunder, "Can't lose."
*****
Space wasn't a big deal, half of their games were away and they were all used to living for a couple of days out of a suitcase, but that was all they had: pyramid gear and a few changes of clothing.
During the first breather, the first thirty three minutes, they managed to communicate with enough ships to figure out that everyone who'd bought their ships from Buddy was still alive. Buddy only sold hyperdrive level ships because it was always a pretty small adjustment that added a hefty sum to the price.
The coach had pressed both hands over his eyes when he heard his wife's voice, but when he pulled his hands off his face, they were dry, and he asked about all of the other families.
It took a few days, but they got a full listing of who had survived.
They were writing on the back of the playbook, trying to organize when they heard about the ship that Galactica blew up. Coach had looked around and said, "Let's finish this."
If anything could be said about Dillon, it was loyal to the fleet. Bleeding hearts could wait until they were safe.
*****
Buddy and the mayor visited the team's shuttle, and no one at all was surprised that as central as the team had been to life before the Cylon attack, it was even more central after.
Decisions were made as democratically as they'd been made before. Some things the mayor decided, some things Buddy corralled the coach into saying 'yes' to, and some things the coach decided. He shook his head when they suggested selling one of the shuttles and when they suggested that the team go to another ship and 'requisition' supplies he slapped his hand down.
"This is not something the boys are doing."
Space was darker than anything, and they slept in cots in the hanger, away from the windows, in an enclosed metal coffin. They slept in shifts, and when Riggins turned his head into the pillow, he could smell the last guy who'd crashed in the bed. After a while, they all smelled like sweat.
The school's ship hadn't been meant for long term habitation, and so they used the bathroom as little as possible and wasted as little water as they could.
*****
Shaving became secondary to the other things that they had to do. Coach was still against using them to steal, but they were rented out, now, like any set of workers. They were strong enough to install beds on the Atlantis, they helped shuttle supplies around the fleet, and when there was a riot on the Advantage, the Panthers were enough force to calm it before Galactica even arrived.
It helped the town.
That's what they still called it - the town. Riggins was the only one who snorted when he heard that. His brother had been working planetside when the attack happened, and no one pushed him about it.
*****
Cloud Nine had a Pyramid court. Coach bartered something dear to get them time off there and if anyone had ever told Riggins that running sprints would make him feel more relaxed then he had since the whole thing started he would have laughed at them.
Now, he just shoved past Saracen and moved faster, pushed harder.
Half of the cheerleaders had survived and he could see a hint of underwear when Lyla did a cartwheel.
*****
There wasn't anything to do but work out, so Riggins did another set of abs. Saracen talked into the phone, trying to reassure Landry and failing.
"No. Look my grandma isn't a," his voice lowered to a whisper, "Cylon."
Landry said something on the other end of the line and Saracen looked around at the rest of them, guilty. "Landry, come on."
Later, after he'd hung up and sat staring down at his playbook, Saracen stood up and Riggins heard him ask coach if he could go to the ship where he'd situated Landry and his grandmother.
The team was all still together, even after the few weeks of travel. They were a team and if Mac had blown a whistle they would have all started to run together. It was automatic: they were the Panthers. And where there were Panthers, there was Dillon.
"Just until I can calm her down," Saracen said and Riggins lay back on the cool deck, his muscles burning.
Riggins wondered what would happen when the Pathers lost all their players to their families and all that was left was him and the handful of others who didn't have any family but the Panthers.
"Go on," Coach said, looking down at the papers in front of him, Riggins could hear the odd echo. If Coach had been speaking directly to Saracen and not to the desk, it would have sounded more authoritative. "But come back as soon as you're done."
Coach said that directly to Saracen and Riggins relaxed a little more.
*****
It had been a mistake. Everyone knew it was a mistake. That didn't make it any better, with Lyla crying in a seat, covering herself in someone's letterman jacket.
Riggins crossed the room in three steps and picked her up, settling her into his lap like he'd seen Jason hold her once, when she'd twisted her knee coming off a pyramid. Lyla didn't even protest, just kept sobbing against his chest, her nails biting his skin through his shirt.
His knuckles still had the guy's blood on them, and he imagined that they'd be getting some social calls soon. From Zarek maybe, or a representative of the President's. But, Dillon protected Dillon and they'd close ranks.
Lyla had said, 'no' and maybe she shouldn't have been on the ship anyway, but they'd found it easier to make trades with a pretty face along and Riggins wanted to kill the guy again for even thinking about what he almost did to her.
Someone would have to get her a new skirt, new underwear.
Right now, Saracen put a clean pair of sweat pants onto the seat next to them and then tugged closed the curtains.
His eyes looked down the whole while.
*****
It wasn't quite a trial, it was a meeting with the President, though. He was there, with the Coach sitting to his left, Lyla on his right. She was still wearing the varsity jacket.
It was Rodriguez's jacket, and he was a linebacker, so it engulfed her. She kept picking at her nails, pushing at her cuticles until they bled. The captain of the other ship was there, as the only one who wanted to press the issue. He wanted something in exchange for the death.
Laura Roslin wasn't what he expected. Riggins kind of expected that she'd be like one of the Caprica white collar bosses that used to show up and run the fuel mines when the town had mines. She wasn't.
She reminded Riggins of Mrs. Taylor, smart and knowing. If she hadn't been speaking in a Caprican accent, he would have expected to hear Gemenon in her vowels.
Lyla tightened her fingers around his hand when President Roslin asked her about the attack. She talked down to their hands until Roslin asked if she had been raped.
"No," she said. "But he was... he was going to. He told me what he..."
Her grip was desperate.
*****
After that, Lyla stayed on the team's ship. It was weird that she'd feel safer there, Riggins thought, but then the Coach's wife and kid were on the ship and he could sleep in the cot next to hers.
None of the other guys would think about touching Buddy Garrity's daughter after the trial.
*****
Lyla stitched up ripped clothing and helped make dinner. She was the type of girl that any guy on Gemenon would have wanted to come home to. When they finally got a school up and running on one of the ships, she helped teach scripture.
She always came home, though, her steps quiet so that she didn't wake anyone but Riggins when she sat down on the edge of the bed and shivered.
Sometimes, he would sit up, too, and bring her some water that he'd saved from his own portion, something she could rinse out her mouth with. Most of the time, though, he just pretended to be asleep. It was easier that way.
*****
They all survived. It's the only thing that they could do.
When the news about New Caprica came, Lyla looked at him, wearing his shirt and her hair chopped off shorter than a Raptor pilot's.
"You want to go?" she asked.
He thought about waking up next to her on a planet with real gravity and with real sunlight. He thought about losing the desperate metal life they were all living together.
Riggins shrugged.
*****
End