BINGO!!
I made a BINGOOO!! :)
contact is inevitable, leading to information bleed
Prompt: "a rumor about Sharon"
Length: 150 words
Characters: Gaeta, Athena, Eight
Rating: PG-13
“Did you hear? Athena’s back from the dead. Resurrected.”
“What? I didn’t even know she died.”
“Saw the body myself.”
“Could’ve been another copy of the same Cylon model.”
“I saw Helo crying.”
“Oh. Holy shit.”
“The worst of it is, I hear that Cylons share memories when they die and come back. Lieutenant Gaeta had me change all the passwords and security protocols she had access to.”
“Frak.”
Felix sipped his drink. The conversation at the table behind him drifted to bitching about equipment glitches, so he stopped eavesdropping.
Felix knew they were true, these whisperings about resurrection exposing all of an individual Cylon’s secrets to her entire model. His Eight had disclosed that as a major risk inherent in the lists.
What Felix couldn’t figure out was why he was so terrified, not of what her sisters learned from Sharon, but of what Sharon learned from her sisters.
The Forsaken Ones
Prompt: "God loves you"
Length: ~300 words
Characters: Gaeta, Hoshi, Baltar
Rating: PG-13
“What dark thoughts have you harbored that condemn you? Condemned you to wander through the universe without hope? Without light? So you have to ask yourself, what kind of a father abandons his own children to despair and loneliness? Perhaps we are not the ones in need of forgiveness. Perhaps we're not. Perhaps we have been wronged! Perhaps it is God who should come down here, and beg for our forgiveness! Am I right? Well, shout it to God! What have you done for me?”
Felix jerked upright when someone turned off the wireless. It was Louis.
“Don’t listen to Baltar’s shit,” Louis said. The bunkroom was empty except for the two of them.
“Why not? He actually made a good point, for once.”
Louis sank down beside him on the bunk, as naturally as if Felix had never broken up with him. “Because I don’t want to hear it, then.”
They sat beside each other in silence for a long time. Of course Louis was the one to break it. “You got to say your piece this morning. You didn’t give me a chance to say mine.”
Felix steeled himself. “Fair enough.”
Louis took a deep breath. “I love you. I know that’s not enough to make things better-that it’s never been enough. But it’s all I’ve got to give.”
“I’m trying to protect you!” Felix said without thinking. He hastily added, “Protect you from...me, and how frakked up-”
“I talked to Racetrack and Skulls,” Louis said, his meaning clear. “I don’t want to be protected.”
Felix had wanted so badly to keep Louis safe, but a part of him was relieved that the decision had been taken out of his hands. Most of all, he was glad he wouldn’t have to go it alone. He wrapped his arms around Louis’s neck, and Louis held him close.
Maybe Baltar still hadn’t gotten things right, after all.
Fathers
Prompt: "the Passage”
Length: ~400 words
Characters: Gaeta, Helo, Athena, Eight
Rating: PG-13
Helo would have been drunk even if he hadn’t been drinking on an empty stomach. Felix had only drunk a third of what Helo had, and even he was starting to feel it. The pilots’ horde of liquor hadn’t been contaminated, and Felix was grateful that Helo would share with him. He knew it was probably just because there were no pilots to share it with, since the others were all out in their Raptors, navigating the ships through blinding radioactive soup. Helo’s blackened badge lay on the table between them.
“Everybody assumes that it’s Sharon that’s the problem,” Helo said. “But what if it’s me?”
“If it’s you what?” Felix asked, head swimming.
Helo looked almost guilty. “We’ve been trying for another baby. Everybody assumes that Hera...was because Sharon’s a Cylon. And every time we find out she’s not pregnant, I know she believes it. I know Cottle thinks it. But I’m not so sure. Think about it.” Helo picked up the badge and flipped it in his hands. “We conceived really early on when I was on Caprica. Delphi was so irradiated. All the area around it, too. You hear about men who have cancer and then can’t have kids after because of the radiation treatment.”
Helo laughed bitterly. Felix didn’t think he’d ever heard bitter laughter from Helo before. Helo said, “And Gods, after getting doused out there, I think I better count myself lucky if I don’t mutate and grow a third eye or something.”
Felix knew he was out of his depth, and would have been even if he was sober. “Even if that’s the case, it doesn’t mean you can’t have kids. Being a parent isn’t all about genetics.”
Helo’s shoulders caved in. “It is to Sharon. I don’t mean it like that. But Sharon’s got all these notions about love, and...frak it, I can’t explain it. But even on a practical level...nobody’d ever let us adopt. And I know that sperm donors don’t technically have a say in who they give it to, but I get that this isn’t normal. I know people don’t think I do, but I get that Sharon being a Cylon makes things different.”
“So you wouldn’t take that route?”
“Even if Sharon was okay with it, not without the donor’s informed consent. It wouldn’t feel right otherwise.” Helo sighed. “Gods, being a nice guy sucks sometimes, doesn’t it?”
Felix clinked glasses with him. “Indeed it does.”
It wasn’t until much later, after he’d helped Helo stumble back to his quarters and was crawling into his own rack, that Felix started to wonder whether Helo had actually been asking him a question. How much was it to ask of a friend?
“Felix, please,” his Eight said, hovering over him as he lay on his cot. “I want this more than anything. Can’t we at least try?”
Felix shivered and pulled his blanket tighter around his shoulders.
Mothers
Prompt: “all Cylons are liars”
Length: ~600 words
Characters: Gaeta, Hoshi, Nina, Hera, Helo, Athena
Rating: PG-13
Note: “Picture Perfect” ‘verse
It had taken two months, but Nina had finally learned how to match Felix’s pace when they walked together down Galactica’s corridors. Felix and Louis walked on either side of her, and she held on to their hands.
“You had fun playing with Hera last time, right?” Louis asked.
“Yeah. She doesn’t talk much, but she plays games good,” Nina answered.
“And you remember what we told you about playing in Hera’s quarters this time, about Hera’s mommy?” Felix asked.
“Uh huh.” Nina was grinning. Felix was fairly sure she wasn’t listening anymore, too caught up in the thrill of being the center of so much attention.
“We’ll be there the whole time, so there’s no need to be scared,” Felix said.
“Hera always wants to color. I don’t like coloring.” Felix was now certain she wasn’t listening.
They arrived outside Helo and Sharon’s quarters. Felix knocked on the hatch, and it swung open.
Helo smiled in greeting. Hera clung to his leg but eyed Nina with interest.
Before Felix or Louis could say hello, Nina blurted, “Do you have checkers? Daddy taught me how to play checkers.”
Hera nodded solemnly, and everyone else laughed. Felix saw the moment when Nina realized there was an extra voice laughing.
Helo stepped to the side, and Sharon came into view. Felix felt Nina tense as Sharon smiled at her. She squatted so she and Nina were at eye-level.
“Hi, Nina. I don’t think we’ve met. I’m Sharon, Hera’s mommy,” she said quietly.
Felix rubbed Nina’s back. “It’s okay. We talked about this, remember?”
Sharon shifted a few inches forward and said, “Don’t be afraid. Everything is okay.”
Nina shrieked, twisted away from Felix’s hand, and took off down the hall. Felix knew he couldn’t stoop to stop her even if he caught up with her, so he let Louis run after her. She didn’t get far before he scooped her up in his arms.
“Nina, it’s okay,” Louis said as Felix caught up with them. Helo, Sharon, and Hera watched from the hatchway. “It’s just like we talked about. Hera’s mommy looks like the bad Cylons from New Caprica, but she’s not one. It’s just like how Abby and Emmy Grant look the same because they’re twins, but they’re two completely different people.”
Big tears rolled down Nina’s cheeks and plopped onto Louis’s uniform. “No she’s not! She’s lying just like the Cylon who took Mommy away did!”
Louis’s eyes went wide. Amanda had told them the girls’ mother had died on New Caprica and had been involved in the Resistance. Felix knew she hadn’t been one of the people on his Eight’s lists, but that was it.
“What happened?” Felix asked, trying to wipe away Nina’s tears with his jacket cuff.
“They woke me up. Mommy yelled at Tabby to run. She picked me up, but she fell. I cried, and a Cylon like her picked me up. She said, ‘Don’t be afraid. Everything is okay.’ But it’s not, ‘cause she lied, and Mommy-”
Sobs wracked Nina’s little body so hard she couldn’t speak, but she didn’t need to. Louis hugged her tight and shook his head at Felix.
Felix nodded and took a few steps back toward the Agathon quarters to let them know the playdate was off, even though he was sure they’d heard everything.
Hera turned her face up to Sharon and asked, “What did you do, Mommy?”
Sharon looked pale and stricken. It wasn’t going to be an easy afternoon in either the Gaeta-Hoshi or Agathon quarters.
Poker Face
Prompt: “who knew he could bluff?”
Length: ~650 words
Characters: Gaeta, Hoshi, Hotdog, Racetrack
Rating: PG-13
Louis grinned as he set his cards down. “Four princes.”
Felix laughed. “Sorry, Louis, but I think I’ve got a green royal run.”
Hotdog shook his head sadly. “All I have is...full colors.”
“Godsdamn it!” both of them shouted at once.
“He bluffs his way through the whole game, and then on the last hand, he gets full colors,” Louis said, pounding his fist on the table crammed into the storage closet the bridge bunnies had converted into a tiny rec room.
Hotdog said, “Come on, guys. Pay up.”
Felix winced. Louis tried to look unhappy, too, but he doubted he was pulling off that lie. He at least managed to stop staring at Felix’s chest. They both stood up far enough to step out of their boxers, then tossed them onto the table along with the rest of their clothing. Not that Louis really wanted to see Hotdog naked-he never would’ve agreed to strip triad if Felix hadn’t been playing-but it was a little embarrassing that Hotdog had only lost his jacket and boots.
“I just realized something,” Hotdog said. “No offense, but this game isn’t all that fun unless chicks are playing.”
“I had fun,” Felix said, shrugging. Louis was sure he was imagining it, but for a moment, he thought Felix was surreptitiously checking him out.
“Well, that’s it, then,” Hotdog said. He stood up and gathered the pile of clothes into his arms.
“Hey, wait, where are you going with those?” Louis asked.
“I gotta get something for my win, don’t I?” Hotdog said as he walked toward the hatch.
Felix called after him, “But our uniforms don’t even fit you!”
Hotdog waved at them over his shoulder as he slipped through the hatch.
Felix and Louis sat staring at each other.
“So...” Felix said. “What do we do now?”
~~**~~**~~
Racetrack was waiting just outside the hatch like they’d planned. She stared at the pile of clothes Hotdog carried.
“You’re telling me your grand scheme was just to get them naked?” Racetrack asked incredulously.
“Yep,” Hotdog said. “Like you said, they’d figure it out on their own eventually, but if you’re going to win the Frak Pool bet on when they figured it out, they needed a little nudge.”
“It doesn’t sound like it worked,” Racetrack said, pointing her thumb at the closed hatch.
Hotdog raised his hand, four fingers extended, then three, then two, then one, then...
“Felix!”
Followed by a very loud crash of chairs toppling over.
“Oh gods, Louis! Oh gods...”
Hotdog grinned.
Racetrack rolled her eyes, but she couldn’t help smile, too. “All right. I’ll get you your twenty percent cut as soon as I collect.”
“Thirty percent,” Hotdog said without missing a beat.
“Twenty.”
“You don’t have any other witnesses to confirm the frakking, unless those two are willing to tell all the pilots they lost to me at strip triad and then frakked in a storage room like horny bunnies,” Hotdog pointed out.
Racetrack inwardly cursed herself for not realizing that if Hotdog could beat card-counting bridge bunnies so soundly at triad, he had a lot more on the ball than anybody gave him credit for. “Twenty-five.”
“Done.”
As they shook on it, they heard the activities inside the storage room picking up again.
“Please tell me you brought lube.”
“I honestly didn’t have much hope, but I-oh, frak, it was in my pants pocket!”
“Godsdamn it, find something now!”
Hotdog dug in the pile of clothes. “Gaeta’s kinda pushy, huh?” he said as he pulled a small tube out of a pocket. He opened the door a crack as quietly as he could, then slid the tube along the floor and pulled the hatch shut. After all, considering how much money Gaeta and Hoshi had just made them, it was the least they could do.
contact is inevitable, leading to information bleed
Prompt: "a rumor about Sharon"
Length: 150 words
Characters: Gaeta, Athena, Eight
Rating: PG-13
“Did you hear? Athena’s back from the dead. Resurrected.”
“What? I didn’t even know she died.”
“Saw the body myself.”
“Could’ve been another copy of the same Cylon model.”
“I saw Helo crying.”
“Oh. Holy shit.”
“The worst of it is, I hear that Cylons share memories when they die and come back. Lieutenant Gaeta had me change all the passwords and security protocols she had access to.”
“Frak.”
Felix sipped his drink. The conversation at the table behind him drifted to bitching about equipment glitches, so he stopped eavesdropping.
Felix knew they were true, these whisperings about resurrection exposing all of an individual Cylon’s secrets to her entire model. His Eight had disclosed that as a major risk inherent in the lists.
What Felix couldn’t figure out was why he was so terrified, not of what her sisters learned from Sharon, but of what Sharon learned from her sisters.
The Forsaken Ones
Prompt: "God loves you"
Length: ~300 words
Characters: Gaeta, Hoshi, Baltar
Rating: PG-13
“What dark thoughts have you harbored that condemn you? Condemned you to wander through the universe without hope? Without light? So you have to ask yourself, what kind of a father abandons his own children to despair and loneliness? Perhaps we are not the ones in need of forgiveness. Perhaps we're not. Perhaps we have been wronged! Perhaps it is God who should come down here, and beg for our forgiveness! Am I right? Well, shout it to God! What have you done for me?”
Felix jerked upright when someone turned off the wireless. It was Louis.
“Don’t listen to Baltar’s shit,” Louis said. The bunkroom was empty except for the two of them.
“Why not? He actually made a good point, for once.”
Louis sank down beside him on the bunk, as naturally as if Felix had never broken up with him. “Because I don’t want to hear it, then.”
They sat beside each other in silence for a long time. Of course Louis was the one to break it. “You got to say your piece this morning. You didn’t give me a chance to say mine.”
Felix steeled himself. “Fair enough.”
Louis took a deep breath. “I love you. I know that’s not enough to make things better-that it’s never been enough. But it’s all I’ve got to give.”
“I’m trying to protect you!” Felix said without thinking. He hastily added, “Protect you from...me, and how frakked up-”
“I talked to Racetrack and Skulls,” Louis said, his meaning clear. “I don’t want to be protected.”
Felix had wanted so badly to keep Louis safe, but a part of him was relieved that the decision had been taken out of his hands. Most of all, he was glad he wouldn’t have to go it alone. He wrapped his arms around Louis’s neck, and Louis held him close.
Maybe Baltar still hadn’t gotten things right, after all.
Fathers
Prompt: "the Passage”
Length: ~400 words
Characters: Gaeta, Helo, Athena, Eight
Rating: PG-13
Helo would have been drunk even if he hadn’t been drinking on an empty stomach. Felix had only drunk a third of what Helo had, and even he was starting to feel it. The pilots’ horde of liquor hadn’t been contaminated, and Felix was grateful that Helo would share with him. He knew it was probably just because there were no pilots to share it with, since the others were all out in their Raptors, navigating the ships through blinding radioactive soup. Helo’s blackened badge lay on the table between them.
“Everybody assumes that it’s Sharon that’s the problem,” Helo said. “But what if it’s me?”
“If it’s you what?” Felix asked, head swimming.
Helo looked almost guilty. “We’ve been trying for another baby. Everybody assumes that Hera...was because Sharon’s a Cylon. And every time we find out she’s not pregnant, I know she believes it. I know Cottle thinks it. But I’m not so sure. Think about it.” Helo picked up the badge and flipped it in his hands. “We conceived really early on when I was on Caprica. Delphi was so irradiated. All the area around it, too. You hear about men who have cancer and then can’t have kids after because of the radiation treatment.”
Helo laughed bitterly. Felix didn’t think he’d ever heard bitter laughter from Helo before. Helo said, “And Gods, after getting doused out there, I think I better count myself lucky if I don’t mutate and grow a third eye or something.”
Felix knew he was out of his depth, and would have been even if he was sober. “Even if that’s the case, it doesn’t mean you can’t have kids. Being a parent isn’t all about genetics.”
Helo’s shoulders caved in. “It is to Sharon. I don’t mean it like that. But Sharon’s got all these notions about love, and...frak it, I can’t explain it. But even on a practical level...nobody’d ever let us adopt. And I know that sperm donors don’t technically have a say in who they give it to, but I get that this isn’t normal. I know people don’t think I do, but I get that Sharon being a Cylon makes things different.”
“So you wouldn’t take that route?”
“Even if Sharon was okay with it, not without the donor’s informed consent. It wouldn’t feel right otherwise.” Helo sighed. “Gods, being a nice guy sucks sometimes, doesn’t it?”
Felix clinked glasses with him. “Indeed it does.”
It wasn’t until much later, after he’d helped Helo stumble back to his quarters and was crawling into his own rack, that Felix started to wonder whether Helo had actually been asking him a question. How much was it to ask of a friend?
“Felix, please,” his Eight said, hovering over him as he lay on his cot. “I want this more than anything. Can’t we at least try?”
Felix shivered and pulled his blanket tighter around his shoulders.
Mothers
Prompt: “all Cylons are liars”
Length: ~600 words
Characters: Gaeta, Hoshi, Nina, Hera, Helo, Athena
Rating: PG-13
Note: “Picture Perfect” ‘verse
It had taken two months, but Nina had finally learned how to match Felix’s pace when they walked together down Galactica’s corridors. Felix and Louis walked on either side of her, and she held on to their hands.
“You had fun playing with Hera last time, right?” Louis asked.
“Yeah. She doesn’t talk much, but she plays games good,” Nina answered.
“And you remember what we told you about playing in Hera’s quarters this time, about Hera’s mommy?” Felix asked.
“Uh huh.” Nina was grinning. Felix was fairly sure she wasn’t listening anymore, too caught up in the thrill of being the center of so much attention.
“We’ll be there the whole time, so there’s no need to be scared,” Felix said.
“Hera always wants to color. I don’t like coloring.” Felix was now certain she wasn’t listening.
They arrived outside Helo and Sharon’s quarters. Felix knocked on the hatch, and it swung open.
Helo smiled in greeting. Hera clung to his leg but eyed Nina with interest.
Before Felix or Louis could say hello, Nina blurted, “Do you have checkers? Daddy taught me how to play checkers.”
Hera nodded solemnly, and everyone else laughed. Felix saw the moment when Nina realized there was an extra voice laughing.
Helo stepped to the side, and Sharon came into view. Felix felt Nina tense as Sharon smiled at her. She squatted so she and Nina were at eye-level.
“Hi, Nina. I don’t think we’ve met. I’m Sharon, Hera’s mommy,” she said quietly.
Felix rubbed Nina’s back. “It’s okay. We talked about this, remember?”
Sharon shifted a few inches forward and said, “Don’t be afraid. Everything is okay.”
Nina shrieked, twisted away from Felix’s hand, and took off down the hall. Felix knew he couldn’t stoop to stop her even if he caught up with her, so he let Louis run after her. She didn’t get far before he scooped her up in his arms.
“Nina, it’s okay,” Louis said as Felix caught up with them. Helo, Sharon, and Hera watched from the hatchway. “It’s just like we talked about. Hera’s mommy looks like the bad Cylons from New Caprica, but she’s not one. It’s just like how Abby and Emmy Grant look the same because they’re twins, but they’re two completely different people.”
Big tears rolled down Nina’s cheeks and plopped onto Louis’s uniform. “No she’s not! She’s lying just like the Cylon who took Mommy away did!”
Louis’s eyes went wide. Amanda had told them the girls’ mother had died on New Caprica and had been involved in the Resistance. Felix knew she hadn’t been one of the people on his Eight’s lists, but that was it.
“What happened?” Felix asked, trying to wipe away Nina’s tears with his jacket cuff.
“They woke me up. Mommy yelled at Tabby to run. She picked me up, but she fell. I cried, and a Cylon like her picked me up. She said, ‘Don’t be afraid. Everything is okay.’ But it’s not, ‘cause she lied, and Mommy-”
Sobs wracked Nina’s little body so hard she couldn’t speak, but she didn’t need to. Louis hugged her tight and shook his head at Felix.
Felix nodded and took a few steps back toward the Agathon quarters to let them know the playdate was off, even though he was sure they’d heard everything.
Hera turned her face up to Sharon and asked, “What did you do, Mommy?”
Sharon looked pale and stricken. It wasn’t going to be an easy afternoon in either the Gaeta-Hoshi or Agathon quarters.
Poker Face
Prompt: “who knew he could bluff?”
Length: ~650 words
Characters: Gaeta, Hoshi, Hotdog, Racetrack
Rating: PG-13
Louis grinned as he set his cards down. “Four princes.”
Felix laughed. “Sorry, Louis, but I think I’ve got a green royal run.”
Hotdog shook his head sadly. “All I have is...full colors.”
“Godsdamn it!” both of them shouted at once.
“He bluffs his way through the whole game, and then on the last hand, he gets full colors,” Louis said, pounding his fist on the table crammed into the storage closet the bridge bunnies had converted into a tiny rec room.
Hotdog said, “Come on, guys. Pay up.”
Felix winced. Louis tried to look unhappy, too, but he doubted he was pulling off that lie. He at least managed to stop staring at Felix’s chest. They both stood up far enough to step out of their boxers, then tossed them onto the table along with the rest of their clothing. Not that Louis really wanted to see Hotdog naked-he never would’ve agreed to strip triad if Felix hadn’t been playing-but it was a little embarrassing that Hotdog had only lost his jacket and boots.
“I just realized something,” Hotdog said. “No offense, but this game isn’t all that fun unless chicks are playing.”
“I had fun,” Felix said, shrugging. Louis was sure he was imagining it, but for a moment, he thought Felix was surreptitiously checking him out.
“Well, that’s it, then,” Hotdog said. He stood up and gathered the pile of clothes into his arms.
“Hey, wait, where are you going with those?” Louis asked.
“I gotta get something for my win, don’t I?” Hotdog said as he walked toward the hatch.
Felix called after him, “But our uniforms don’t even fit you!”
Hotdog waved at them over his shoulder as he slipped through the hatch.
Felix and Louis sat staring at each other.
“So...” Felix said. “What do we do now?”
~~**~~**~~
Racetrack was waiting just outside the hatch like they’d planned. She stared at the pile of clothes Hotdog carried.
“You’re telling me your grand scheme was just to get them naked?” Racetrack asked incredulously.
“Yep,” Hotdog said. “Like you said, they’d figure it out on their own eventually, but if you’re going to win the Frak Pool bet on when they figured it out, they needed a little nudge.”
“It doesn’t sound like it worked,” Racetrack said, pointing her thumb at the closed hatch.
Hotdog raised his hand, four fingers extended, then three, then two, then one, then...
“Felix!”
Followed by a very loud crash of chairs toppling over.
“Oh gods, Louis! Oh gods...”
Hotdog grinned.
Racetrack rolled her eyes, but she couldn’t help smile, too. “All right. I’ll get you your twenty percent cut as soon as I collect.”
“Thirty percent,” Hotdog said without missing a beat.
“Twenty.”
“You don’t have any other witnesses to confirm the frakking, unless those two are willing to tell all the pilots they lost to me at strip triad and then frakked in a storage room like horny bunnies,” Hotdog pointed out.
Racetrack inwardly cursed herself for not realizing that if Hotdog could beat card-counting bridge bunnies so soundly at triad, he had a lot more on the ball than anybody gave him credit for. “Twenty-five.”
“Done.”
As they shook on it, they heard the activities inside the storage room picking up again.
“Please tell me you brought lube.”
“I honestly didn’t have much hope, but I-oh, frak, it was in my pants pocket!”
“Godsdamn it, find something now!”
Hotdog dug in the pile of clothes. “Gaeta’s kinda pushy, huh?” he said as he pulled a small tube out of a pocket. He opened the door a crack as quietly as he could, then slid the tube along the floor and pulled the hatch shut. After all, considering how much money Gaeta and Hoshi had just made them, it was the least they could do.