Sharon, by frolicndetour
Title: Sharon
remix author: frolicndetour
Summary: Athena’s life was full of moments she’d never lived
Characters: Athena, Boomer, others
Pairings: Athena/Helo
Rating: PG
Title, Author and URL of original story: A remix of Athena, by amathela.
They made her perfect.
Starbuck was actually the first to say so, though she didn’t know Sharon was listening. Sharon - she still wasn’t used to thinking of herself as Boomer - was supposed to be sneaking off for a tryst, but she’d ducked back into the locker room in time to hear Helo remark upon how downright pleasant the Chief was acting these days, almost like he was human.
“Must have found the perfect woman,” Kara quipped. “Though I guess her taste in men could stand an upgrade,” she added teasingly, with just enough sympathy to take the sting out of her words. Helo simply rolled his eyes, and Sharon slipped away, pretending not to understand the exchange. That Sharon never thought much of it. But when the Cylons created a new Sharon Valerii, they kept everything the same, except the person she loved. And the second Sharon remembered all too well.
Athena’s life was full of moments she’d never lived. Her first memory of Helo was not on Caprica, but on Galactica the night after she transferred onboard. Most of the crew had gone out for a rare shore leave while the new Lieutenant was put straight to work. Boomer awoke sometime in the small hours, just as the last arrivals were starting to straggle back. She met Helo and Starbuck in the junior officer’s head - though, she didn’t exactly “meet” Starbuck so much as catch a glimpse of her blond head behind the stall door, accompanied by the sounds of violent retching. Helo was in slightly better health, brushing his teeth with one hand on the wall for balance. He turned and gave Sharon a bleary-eyed but friendly wink.
“If anyone asks, she got some bad oysters,” he told her, nodding toward the stall.
Sharon winced in sympathy. “Oh gods, I had food poisoning when I was a kid. I didn’t go near a fish again until college.”
Helo raised his eyebrows and mumbled something vaguely sympathetic, as Sharon blushed furiously, his laughter following her as soon as she was out the door. Boomer had been mortified, but Athena understood - understood the way everyone treated Boomer a little differently, whether they were aware of it or not; she was just helpless enough to bring out their protective instincts. Years later, Starbuck would sit across from Athena in her jail cell and remind her of the rookie pilot who couldn’t land her bird. And Sharon would want to cry because even now, no one understood how fully she’d manipulated them. They never made a Cylon who couldn’t land a raptor.
Athena told herself that was Boomer, not her; Boomer who unknowingly manipulated everyone, who shot the Old Man, who had nearly ruined Galen’s life. Athena might have her memories, the better to maintain her cover, but Boomer had done those things. Athena might have manipulated everyone from Helo to the Old Man, but that was her choice, and unlike Boomer, she could choose to stop. But that distinction became harder to maintain once she resurrected. Now she had a new body that had never given birth to Hera, never tramped through the forests of Kobol with Helo, never died in his arms. This body had no more connection to those events than it did to Boomer’s years aboard Galactica before the war; both sets of memories were just as vivid. How could one of them be hers and not the other?
Before her daughter, Helo was the only thing that was truly hers. She looked at Chief and saw the man Boomer loved, looked at Kara and saw Boomer’s reluctant friend, looked at the Old Man and saw the Commander Boomer revered. The old feelings were there, but once removed, and Athena was torn between longing to reclaim them and a fierce desire to set herself apart. But Boomer never loved Helo, never saw in him the things that she saw. And Boomer couldn’t love Hera, couldn’t be her mother, and a deep quiet part of Athena was grateful for that failure though it nearly killed her daughter. She told Cally once that she was a person because her husband loved her, but that was only half the story. Her love for Helo was the first thing Athena could rightfully call her own, the first part of her that wasn’t a lie. Or perhaps it was the first lie to become truth. It was her love for him that made her an individual, a new person, and their daughter was living proof of that.
So in a way, Boomer stole them both from her. Sharon had a childhood memory of trying to rescue a baby bird fallen out of its nest, digging through the earth to find worms to feed it. She remembered how she’d screamed when she cut one in half and two worms crawled off in opposite directions. It had frightened her so much she’d had nightmares. Athena thought of it as one of Boomer’s memories, and was startled to realize that it had never really happened to either of them.
On Earth nearly all the Cylons began taking names, forming new identities. Athena waited a year to do the same. She remained Mommy to her daughter and Athena to those who knew her mainly by reputation, but one morning she turned to her husband and asked him to call her Sharon. “The war is over,” she told him, and he seemed to understand. Finally there was no one apart from her who could claim any part of her life. And she would have it, all of it.
remix author: frolicndetour
Summary: Athena’s life was full of moments she’d never lived
Characters: Athena, Boomer, others
Pairings: Athena/Helo
Rating: PG
Title, Author and URL of original story: A remix of Athena, by amathela.
They made her perfect.
Starbuck was actually the first to say so, though she didn’t know Sharon was listening. Sharon - she still wasn’t used to thinking of herself as Boomer - was supposed to be sneaking off for a tryst, but she’d ducked back into the locker room in time to hear Helo remark upon how downright pleasant the Chief was acting these days, almost like he was human.
“Must have found the perfect woman,” Kara quipped. “Though I guess her taste in men could stand an upgrade,” she added teasingly, with just enough sympathy to take the sting out of her words. Helo simply rolled his eyes, and Sharon slipped away, pretending not to understand the exchange. That Sharon never thought much of it. But when the Cylons created a new Sharon Valerii, they kept everything the same, except the person she loved. And the second Sharon remembered all too well.
Athena’s life was full of moments she’d never lived. Her first memory of Helo was not on Caprica, but on Galactica the night after she transferred onboard. Most of the crew had gone out for a rare shore leave while the new Lieutenant was put straight to work. Boomer awoke sometime in the small hours, just as the last arrivals were starting to straggle back. She met Helo and Starbuck in the junior officer’s head - though, she didn’t exactly “meet” Starbuck so much as catch a glimpse of her blond head behind the stall door, accompanied by the sounds of violent retching. Helo was in slightly better health, brushing his teeth with one hand on the wall for balance. He turned and gave Sharon a bleary-eyed but friendly wink.
“If anyone asks, she got some bad oysters,” he told her, nodding toward the stall.
Sharon winced in sympathy. “Oh gods, I had food poisoning when I was a kid. I didn’t go near a fish again until college.”
Helo raised his eyebrows and mumbled something vaguely sympathetic, as Sharon blushed furiously, his laughter following her as soon as she was out the door. Boomer had been mortified, but Athena understood - understood the way everyone treated Boomer a little differently, whether they were aware of it or not; she was just helpless enough to bring out their protective instincts. Years later, Starbuck would sit across from Athena in her jail cell and remind her of the rookie pilot who couldn’t land her bird. And Sharon would want to cry because even now, no one understood how fully she’d manipulated them. They never made a Cylon who couldn’t land a raptor.
Athena told herself that was Boomer, not her; Boomer who unknowingly manipulated everyone, who shot the Old Man, who had nearly ruined Galen’s life. Athena might have her memories, the better to maintain her cover, but Boomer had done those things. Athena might have manipulated everyone from Helo to the Old Man, but that was her choice, and unlike Boomer, she could choose to stop. But that distinction became harder to maintain once she resurrected. Now she had a new body that had never given birth to Hera, never tramped through the forests of Kobol with Helo, never died in his arms. This body had no more connection to those events than it did to Boomer’s years aboard Galactica before the war; both sets of memories were just as vivid. How could one of them be hers and not the other?
Before her daughter, Helo was the only thing that was truly hers. She looked at Chief and saw the man Boomer loved, looked at Kara and saw Boomer’s reluctant friend, looked at the Old Man and saw the Commander Boomer revered. The old feelings were there, but once removed, and Athena was torn between longing to reclaim them and a fierce desire to set herself apart. But Boomer never loved Helo, never saw in him the things that she saw. And Boomer couldn’t love Hera, couldn’t be her mother, and a deep quiet part of Athena was grateful for that failure though it nearly killed her daughter. She told Cally once that she was a person because her husband loved her, but that was only half the story. Her love for Helo was the first thing Athena could rightfully call her own, the first part of her that wasn’t a lie. Or perhaps it was the first lie to become truth. It was her love for him that made her an individual, a new person, and their daughter was living proof of that.
So in a way, Boomer stole them both from her. Sharon had a childhood memory of trying to rescue a baby bird fallen out of its nest, digging through the earth to find worms to feed it. She remembered how she’d screamed when she cut one in half and two worms crawled off in opposite directions. It had frightened her so much she’d had nightmares. Athena thought of it as one of Boomer’s memories, and was startled to realize that it had never really happened to either of them.
On Earth nearly all the Cylons began taking names, forming new identities. Athena waited a year to do the same. She remained Mommy to her daughter and Athena to those who knew her mainly by reputation, but one morning she turned to her husband and asked him to call her Sharon. “The war is over,” she told him, and he seemed to understand. Finally there was no one apart from her who could claim any part of her life. And she would have it, all of it.