The Woods (7/??); PG13; Boomer/Gaeta
Title: The Woods (7/??)
Rating: PG-13
Fandom: BSG
P/C: Boomer/Gaeta, Adama, Sharon/Helo, Starbuck
Summary: Seperation anxiety gets worse. We've fast-forwarded a bit from the last chapter to about the middle of S2.
A/N: OMG a new chapter?! Bet you weren't expecting that! ;)
“I hate that thing.”
Gaeta was sitting in the rec room, drinking with Starbuck. She was his most frequent partner. He was beginning to draw comparisons to Colonel Tigh. Most of the time Kara just sat with him to make sure he got back to his rack before he passed out or threw up on the floor. This evening however he had been more measured in his drinking. This statement was the first thing he’d said since she’d sat down.
“What thing is that Felix?” Kara asked, taking a long drag off of her cigar. “That thing in the brig. You know…”
She slit her eyes at him. He was staring at the last sip of his drink, watching it sit at the bottom of his glass. “You mean Sharon?”
“She isn’t.”
“She isn’t what?”
He tossed back the last of the drink. “She isn’t Sharon.” He got up from his chair, a little unsteady. “You know, that much whiskey used to be enough. I guess I’m not a light weight anymore, huh Starbuck?”
“Why don’t you think she’s Sharon, Felix?”
“Because she’s just not. There’s no way around it. She’s just some cheap knock-off. I can’t believe you can’t tell just by looking at her.” He was getting steadily angrier. “Everyone is just walking around acting like Boomer is back. But she isn’t. She isn’t even real.”
Kara let him carry on and said nothing. She knew better then to interrupt a drunk on a rant about his ex. Boomer was his ex wasn’t she? Now that she was…well, dead. Or as close to dead as a Cylon could get. She let him rave on, wavering in and out of what he was saying, preferring to think about Anders, the resistance fighter she had left on Caprica when she had run into Helo and his new Sharon. Truth be told, the new Sharon kind of freaked her out. She was Boomer, but at the same time she wasn’t. She could see how it would drive someone to drink. Even a guy as smart and straight-laced as Felix.
“- and everyday I have to see her and act like I think she’s really Sharon in some different outfit and she’s just FRAKKING NOT! I am NEVER going to see Sharon again, and that thing walking around acting like everything is the same just really makes me want to frakking hit somebody!”
Kara took another sip of her drink. “How do you know you’ll never see Boomer again? She probably downloaded or transmitted or whatever to another body, all shiny and new.” Gaeta looked at her wild eyed. “What?”
*****
“As you know, we had another…Sharon, on board the Galactica before you arrived here with Lieutenant Agathon.”
Sharon nodded serenely at the Commander. Ever since she had come
(back)
to Galactica she had felt at home. She did not miss the company of other Cylons; she had Helo and Tyrol and on occasion Kara. Lately Starbuck had been implying to her something about the previous Sharon to her. Sometimes it was extremely difficult for her to reconcile ‘Boomer’ and ‘Sharon’ and ‘Eight’. It made her sad too. No one had told her anything about the gap in her memory. Boomer had had a whole life on Galactica while Sharon had been busy gallivanting around Caprica with Helo. Not that she would trade those memories for anything in the universe. But she had to admit, she was curious.
“Would you be willing to examine her body?” Commander Adama looked at her seriously, never breaking his professional veneer. “Why would you need me to?”
Her calm bothered Adama. She unnerved him. She was Sharon Valerii, but at the same time she wasn’t. She didn’t know about Boomer and Gaeta or about Boomer’s confession or her illness. All of these details had been kept from her while Kara and Tyrol questioned her to see how much information the Cylons had access to, whether or not Boomer had been a surveillance agent, or if, perhaps, her placement on Galactica had been more sinister.
“We don’t know what killed her. It was some sort of swift and fatal disease. She died within three days of contracting it.” Sharon frowned. “Was it very violent?”
“Yes.”
“Did anything happen before she started showing symptoms? Did she say anything strange?”
Adama leaned across his desk towards her. He always felt like a high school principal when he sat behind that desk. “We’ve kept this from you until now, but before she died, Boomer confessed that she was a Cylon sleeper agent.” Sharon’s eyes widened slightly.
“Well, then I can tell you exactly what happened to her. Her programming released a virus into her system. It’s like a cyanide pill for a human. A sleeper agent, especially one in cover as deep as hers, could jeopardize not only themselves but potentially the entire Cylon race if interrogated properly. Her programming simply refused to let her live her life as a source of information to the enemy.”
She thought about this sadly. Boomer could have had a life here, if not for who she was.
****
That night, after Helo had left, Sharon lay in her small bed in the brig. She thought about Boomer’s death, one that had most assuredly been painful and horrible. She felt a twinge of compassion for her counterpart and she placed a hand on her belly for comfort. She could feel the new life swirling intricately inside of her.
The door to the brig opened. She sat up. Felix Gaeta entered. He stood outside her cell, completely silent. She didn’t say anything either. One of the things that both the Chief and Starbuck had implied was something to do with Boomer and Gaeta. She had been curious, especially after Tyrol’s angry looks and Kara’s naughty grins. But Gaeta had not come to see her, like so many of Boomer’s friends.
But now he stood and looked. She could see that he was angry. She didn’t really understand why he was angry with her, after all they had never
(really)
spoken.
“Gaeta?” she asked quietly. “Tell me why.”
“What?”
He continued to stare at her. “Tell me why she had to die. And tell me where she is.”
“I…I don’t know.”
And just as suddenly as he had entered, he left, giving her a curt nod. Sharon watched him leave and again, wondered after her counterpart, who was so very far away from home.
____
All Chapters
Rating: PG-13
Fandom: BSG
P/C: Boomer/Gaeta, Adama, Sharon/Helo, Starbuck
Summary: Seperation anxiety gets worse. We've fast-forwarded a bit from the last chapter to about the middle of S2.
A/N: OMG a new chapter?! Bet you weren't expecting that! ;)
“I hate that thing.”
Gaeta was sitting in the rec room, drinking with Starbuck. She was his most frequent partner. He was beginning to draw comparisons to Colonel Tigh. Most of the time Kara just sat with him to make sure he got back to his rack before he passed out or threw up on the floor. This evening however he had been more measured in his drinking. This statement was the first thing he’d said since she’d sat down.
“What thing is that Felix?” Kara asked, taking a long drag off of her cigar. “That thing in the brig. You know…”
She slit her eyes at him. He was staring at the last sip of his drink, watching it sit at the bottom of his glass. “You mean Sharon?”
“She isn’t.”
“She isn’t what?”
He tossed back the last of the drink. “She isn’t Sharon.” He got up from his chair, a little unsteady. “You know, that much whiskey used to be enough. I guess I’m not a light weight anymore, huh Starbuck?”
“Why don’t you think she’s Sharon, Felix?”
“Because she’s just not. There’s no way around it. She’s just some cheap knock-off. I can’t believe you can’t tell just by looking at her.” He was getting steadily angrier. “Everyone is just walking around acting like Boomer is back. But she isn’t. She isn’t even real.”
Kara let him carry on and said nothing. She knew better then to interrupt a drunk on a rant about his ex. Boomer was his ex wasn’t she? Now that she was…well, dead. Or as close to dead as a Cylon could get. She let him rave on, wavering in and out of what he was saying, preferring to think about Anders, the resistance fighter she had left on Caprica when she had run into Helo and his new Sharon. Truth be told, the new Sharon kind of freaked her out. She was Boomer, but at the same time she wasn’t. She could see how it would drive someone to drink. Even a guy as smart and straight-laced as Felix.
“- and everyday I have to see her and act like I think she’s really Sharon in some different outfit and she’s just FRAKKING NOT! I am NEVER going to see Sharon again, and that thing walking around acting like everything is the same just really makes me want to frakking hit somebody!”
Kara took another sip of her drink. “How do you know you’ll never see Boomer again? She probably downloaded or transmitted or whatever to another body, all shiny and new.” Gaeta looked at her wild eyed. “What?”
*****
“As you know, we had another…Sharon, on board the Galactica before you arrived here with Lieutenant Agathon.”
Sharon nodded serenely at the Commander. Ever since she had come
(back)
to Galactica she had felt at home. She did not miss the company of other Cylons; she had Helo and Tyrol and on occasion Kara. Lately Starbuck had been implying to her something about the previous Sharon to her. Sometimes it was extremely difficult for her to reconcile ‘Boomer’ and ‘Sharon’ and ‘Eight’. It made her sad too. No one had told her anything about the gap in her memory. Boomer had had a whole life on Galactica while Sharon had been busy gallivanting around Caprica with Helo. Not that she would trade those memories for anything in the universe. But she had to admit, she was curious.
“Would you be willing to examine her body?” Commander Adama looked at her seriously, never breaking his professional veneer. “Why would you need me to?”
Her calm bothered Adama. She unnerved him. She was Sharon Valerii, but at the same time she wasn’t. She didn’t know about Boomer and Gaeta or about Boomer’s confession or her illness. All of these details had been kept from her while Kara and Tyrol questioned her to see how much information the Cylons had access to, whether or not Boomer had been a surveillance agent, or if, perhaps, her placement on Galactica had been more sinister.
“We don’t know what killed her. It was some sort of swift and fatal disease. She died within three days of contracting it.” Sharon frowned. “Was it very violent?”
“Yes.”
“Did anything happen before she started showing symptoms? Did she say anything strange?”
Adama leaned across his desk towards her. He always felt like a high school principal when he sat behind that desk. “We’ve kept this from you until now, but before she died, Boomer confessed that she was a Cylon sleeper agent.” Sharon’s eyes widened slightly.
“Well, then I can tell you exactly what happened to her. Her programming released a virus into her system. It’s like a cyanide pill for a human. A sleeper agent, especially one in cover as deep as hers, could jeopardize not only themselves but potentially the entire Cylon race if interrogated properly. Her programming simply refused to let her live her life as a source of information to the enemy.”
She thought about this sadly. Boomer could have had a life here, if not for who she was.
****
That night, after Helo had left, Sharon lay in her small bed in the brig. She thought about Boomer’s death, one that had most assuredly been painful and horrible. She felt a twinge of compassion for her counterpart and she placed a hand on her belly for comfort. She could feel the new life swirling intricately inside of her.
The door to the brig opened. She sat up. Felix Gaeta entered. He stood outside her cell, completely silent. She didn’t say anything either. One of the things that both the Chief and Starbuck had implied was something to do with Boomer and Gaeta. She had been curious, especially after Tyrol’s angry looks and Kara’s naughty grins. But Gaeta had not come to see her, like so many of Boomer’s friends.
But now he stood and looked. She could see that he was angry. She didn’t really understand why he was angry with her, after all they had never
(really)
spoken.
“Gaeta?” she asked quietly. “Tell me why.”
“What?”
He continued to stare at her. “Tell me why she had to die. And tell me where she is.”
“I…I don’t know.”
And just as suddenly as he had entered, he left, giving her a curt nod. Sharon watched him leave and again, wondered after her counterpart, who was so very far away from home.
____
All Chapters