Challenge #1 Prompt #55
Title: Family (titles are not my strong point - I'll change it if I think of a better one)
Author: Bookwormsarah
Rating: U
Genre:
Character/Pairing: Cally/Tyrol
Warnings: none
Spoilers: "Crossroads, Part 2"
Prompt: Cally, family
Summary: Cally has some thinking to do
The first time Cally lost her family was when the Cylons bombed the colonies. Her parents, grandparents, her sisters and their kids, her aunts and uncles and cousins and so many more people she couldn’t begin to count, all gone. Sometimes she would wake in the night thinking of someone previously forgotten, an old school friend or a neighbour, the woman who filled the family truck at the gas station on the corner, the man who interviewed her for dental school back when she thought she might be able to scrape up the funding, the little girl who had had a screaming fit at the temple last time she’d been home.
The second time she lost her family was when they arrived at New Caprica. People started moving to the planet and the deck family began to break up. This hurt, but less than before because Cally was forming a new family. Moving on was never easy, but she was so caught up in joyous new hopes and dreams that she forgot to miss them as much as she might have.
The third time Cally lost her family was when they fled New Caprica. The Union was gone, along with their home and so many of the people she cared about. But she and Galen and Nicky were safe, and they were back on Galactica and they were home.
Something had nearly broken in Cally the day that the Admiral had imprisoned Galen and then briefly herself as a ringleader of the strike, although she reasoned that if she could survive being blown into open space without a suit, she could cope with a little more time in the brig. A very little time as it turned out. She was still sure that more had gone on than she had been told, but she trusted her husband and she trusted the good hearts of the Old Man and of the President.
Now Cally looked across to the baby chewing his fist, his other chubby hand beating the table in front of him as he sat in his high chair. She looked at her husband as he sat on the side of the bed they had shared, his head in his hands.
She had killed their kind. She had killed the Boomer-cylon. A small part of her wondered if it was because the Boomer-cylon had loved Galen and betrayed him. Had part of him known that they were the same? She had killed a cylon who had lived among them, who had loved the man that she loved. Now she was married to a cylon, had loved and been loved by a cylon, had carried a cylon child.
And he had almost killed her. He had been dreaming that he was a cylon, and when he woke he had beaten her until she could barely breathe. She had known it wasn’t him, it was the nightmares, and she had let her love smudge out the pain and the fear. She had won through, and he had loved her and married her and she had never seen the white rage again. But what if that was the true and buried cylon self. What if with the knowledge, that hidden side of him won through and the storm of fury turned on her once more. What if it turned on Nicky?
Her baby. Half her, and half machine. Her husband. One of many. One of the creatures that had destroyed the worlds. Who had murdered billions of souls. Who had attacked them time and time again. She turned away and leaned against the wall. The baby, picking up on the atmosphere, started to fret a little.
She thought of the man and the child. Cylons. Monsters. Her family. She swallowed the scream that had been bubbling up inside her since Galen had broken the news. Nicky started to wail in earnest and instinctively she started to reach for him, hesitated, and then picked him up, hushing and comforting.
He said he hadn’t known. She believed him. He would not have looked so devastated, so broken, if he had known. She had been at his side since before the war started. She had heard him talk about his parents, his childhood. Yet they had named Nicky after her grandfather. She had tentatively suggested using a name from his family and he had brushed it away. “We’ll call the next one after one of mine. Nicholas Tyrol.” He had looked at the baby with so much love and so much wonder. So much love. Then he had let out a whoop and, so very carefully, gathered them both in his arms. “Our son!”
For better or for worse.
With their child in her arms she sat on the bed beside her husband. Slowly she reached out and touched his arm. He turned to look at her, hope and incredulity in his face. She looked steadily back at him. He saw fear in her eyes, and uncertainty. Then, for a split second, her eyes wavered away, but she let him cover her hand with his, and then pull her and their son closer.
There were many questions, many decisions to make, and so many people to face, but for now she sat there.
With her family.
Author: Bookwormsarah
Rating: U
Genre:
Character/Pairing: Cally/Tyrol
Warnings: none
Spoilers: "Crossroads, Part 2"
Prompt: Cally, family
Summary: Cally has some thinking to do
The first time Cally lost her family was when the Cylons bombed the colonies. Her parents, grandparents, her sisters and their kids, her aunts and uncles and cousins and so many more people she couldn’t begin to count, all gone. Sometimes she would wake in the night thinking of someone previously forgotten, an old school friend or a neighbour, the woman who filled the family truck at the gas station on the corner, the man who interviewed her for dental school back when she thought she might be able to scrape up the funding, the little girl who had had a screaming fit at the temple last time she’d been home.
The second time she lost her family was when they arrived at New Caprica. People started moving to the planet and the deck family began to break up. This hurt, but less than before because Cally was forming a new family. Moving on was never easy, but she was so caught up in joyous new hopes and dreams that she forgot to miss them as much as she might have.
The third time Cally lost her family was when they fled New Caprica. The Union was gone, along with their home and so many of the people she cared about. But she and Galen and Nicky were safe, and they were back on Galactica and they were home.
Something had nearly broken in Cally the day that the Admiral had imprisoned Galen and then briefly herself as a ringleader of the strike, although she reasoned that if she could survive being blown into open space without a suit, she could cope with a little more time in the brig. A very little time as it turned out. She was still sure that more had gone on than she had been told, but she trusted her husband and she trusted the good hearts of the Old Man and of the President.
Now Cally looked across to the baby chewing his fist, his other chubby hand beating the table in front of him as he sat in his high chair. She looked at her husband as he sat on the side of the bed they had shared, his head in his hands.
She had killed their kind. She had killed the Boomer-cylon. A small part of her wondered if it was because the Boomer-cylon had loved Galen and betrayed him. Had part of him known that they were the same? She had killed a cylon who had lived among them, who had loved the man that she loved. Now she was married to a cylon, had loved and been loved by a cylon, had carried a cylon child.
And he had almost killed her. He had been dreaming that he was a cylon, and when he woke he had beaten her until she could barely breathe. She had known it wasn’t him, it was the nightmares, and she had let her love smudge out the pain and the fear. She had won through, and he had loved her and married her and she had never seen the white rage again. But what if that was the true and buried cylon self. What if with the knowledge, that hidden side of him won through and the storm of fury turned on her once more. What if it turned on Nicky?
Her baby. Half her, and half machine. Her husband. One of many. One of the creatures that had destroyed the worlds. Who had murdered billions of souls. Who had attacked them time and time again. She turned away and leaned against the wall. The baby, picking up on the atmosphere, started to fret a little.
She thought of the man and the child. Cylons. Monsters. Her family. She swallowed the scream that had been bubbling up inside her since Galen had broken the news. Nicky started to wail in earnest and instinctively she started to reach for him, hesitated, and then picked him up, hushing and comforting.
He said he hadn’t known. She believed him. He would not have looked so devastated, so broken, if he had known. She had been at his side since before the war started. She had heard him talk about his parents, his childhood. Yet they had named Nicky after her grandfather. She had tentatively suggested using a name from his family and he had brushed it away. “We’ll call the next one after one of mine. Nicholas Tyrol.” He had looked at the baby with so much love and so much wonder. So much love. Then he had let out a whoop and, so very carefully, gathered them both in his arms. “Our son!”
For better or for worse.
With their child in her arms she sat on the bed beside her husband. Slowly she reached out and touched his arm. He turned to look at her, hope and incredulity in his face. She looked steadily back at him. He saw fear in her eyes, and uncertainty. Then, for a split second, her eyes wavered away, but she let him cover her hand with his, and then pull her and their son closer.
There were many questions, many decisions to make, and so many people to face, but for now she sat there.
With her family.