FIC: Alive Again

[embolalia]

Title: Alive Again (sequel to Alive)

Rating: PG-13
Characters: Caprica Six/Gaius
Words: 512
Summary: Caprica Six thinks of her children. Post-Daybreak.

AN: Written for a sequel promt from sunshine_queen at bsg_epics, and a little bit for the marriage&babies ship-swap prompt there yesterday.

Alive Again

The knowledge arrives suddenly, as she's walking from the garden to the house, and Caprica stops in her tracks. A dozen small changes in her body come to mind all at once and she knows. The basket of tomatoes falls to the ground unheeded as her hands press over her abdomen. Caprica stares down at her fingers, at her still-flat stomach. Someone's alive in there.

She returns the tomatoes to their carrier and leaves them, wanders down to the lake beside which she and Gaius have built their house. He's off in the east field today. For a little while at least, Caprica is alone.

She settles on the rocky shore, her feet in the water. It's summer on Earth and the breeze-driven waves that reach her on the bank are warm. Caprica watches the ripples, the perfect circles. That first time, that first baby, she didn't understand the fragility of life, the way a human being could be gone as quickly as the plucking of a flower. The way she could be, now. For seven years she has tried to put that child out of her mind, but now she wonders: what if she'd stopped everything? What if she and Gaius were still back on Caprica, sending their child off to school and tucking her in at night? She looks across the lake to the tent near the town center where the children spend their days. She laughs in delight. It's not too late.

Then she sobers. The second time, Saul's baby, taught her the price of hope. Little Liam, laying cold and blue outside of her body where she couldn't protect him anymore--Caprica is flooded by terror for just a moment. She can't do that again. There are already two children in her heart who have never drawn breath. Liam would be walking by now, struggling to speak. Sarah would coddle him, her little brother, their second miracle.

"Caprica?"

Turning, she sees Gaius approaching, his skin tanned and his hair cut short against the heat. She smiles.

Gaius settles himself beside her, his foot in the water touching hers. He lays a hand on the back of her neck, stroking her hair. "I love you," he says.

Tears flood her eyes; she pitches forward against him as Gaius catches her close.

"Well--I--Are you alright?" he stammers, eyes flashing in concern.

Caprica kisses him hard, sighing when Gaius pulls back to hold her face between his hands and study her seriously.

"Darling, what is it?" he asks.

She closes her eyes. "Back on Caprica," she says softly, and feels him stiffen. They both know their responsibility for everything that's happened to their races; they rarely discuss it. "Did you love me then?"

"Yes," he says, with such certainty that tears flood her eyes. “As much as I knew how.” Gaius wipes away the one that escapes her lashes, his voice pleading, "Tell me! What's wrong?"

Caprica opens her eyes, blinking the tears away, smiling at him in awe. "We're having a baby."

Comments

[korenap.livejournal.com]

Awww cute

[embolalia.livejournal.com]

Thanks!