Fic: In a Burst of Light
Title: In a Burst of Light
Pairing: Gina/Cain
Rating: R for themes, but nothing graphic
Words: 720
Summary: ‘If she’d ever had a sister to show her what love felt like, she still might not have recognized it.”
A/N: Written for a prompt from 13th_tribe
In a Burst of Light
It turned out to be easy. Cavil had said it would be, that they could walk right in and take everything from the humans and no one would even notice until it was too late. Gina had disagreed, though she hadn’t said so. If you loved your people, she thought, you had to be vigilant, you’d see right away if someone was preparing to destroy you. But they didn’t. They hired her, and they set her to work on one battlestar after another, and every time she grew less surprised that they didn’t even care enough to pay attention.
The Commander of the Pegasus was different. She was hard edges and sharp eyes, eyes that followed everything Gina did. It made her feel cautious, and anxious, and something new. Noticed. Seen. The Commander hoarded her words, her attention. She spent them on Gina.
Gina watched back, saw the Commander’s efficiency and control, her purpose, her grace. She watched until their eyes met and held.
Their first meal, they ate without speaking, studying each other, parsing the silence.
Gina finally broke it. “Is that your sister?” She nodded to a small framed picture on the side table.
The Commander looked at it sharply and didn’t answer. “Did you ever have a sister?”
Gina thought of the Eight whom she’d been closest to, before Cavil assigned the Eight memories and sent her to infiltrate a Battlestar. She felt a twist of fondness and longing go through her chest as she met Helena’s eyes. For a moment they were exactly the same.
Helena kissed her first, and Gina marvelled at it: the excitement, the pleasure. It was different when it was your own lips doing the kissing, not someone else’s memory. Helena smiled at her and it felt wonderful. The sex that followed was like a revelation.
In the morning, Gina went back to work. It didn’t occur to her that she’d fallen in love. If anyone had told her it was that easy, she would have disagreed. Committing to someone required careful forethought. You’d see it coming.
If she’d ever had a sister to show her what love felt like, she still might not have recognized it. Everything felt new and bright and special -- laying in Helena’s arms, bringing her little stories and jokes to make her smile, building a private little life -- but surely there was a border between all those things and love. It wasn’t as if they’d ever said the words.
On the day before the end of the worlds, Gina laid in their bed for a long time. The sheets smelled like their skin, like her perfume and Helena’s soap. She tried to imagine waking up on the baseship, knowing Helena was gone forever. She tried to imagine anything else, but there was nothing else. She pretended not to understand why she was crying, and when Helena asked her, she lied. It was the only lie she’d ever told that felt wrong.
Gina had thought it would end in a flash, an explosion of light and then her sisters and brothers around her. When the first blast hit, she closed her eyes and waited.
The ship shook, and settled, and the worlds went on.
Then Cain called her a thing, staring with eyes that seemed always to have been sharp and cold, and Gina knew how easy it had been. She had loved as blindly as any of the humans, so blindly she hadn’t seen the danger coming. Her Helena was gone, turned to steel by the end of the worlds. Destroyed at her hand, easier than she’d dared to dream.
They wanted answers, and secrets, and information. Gina had nothing to give them. She had only one secret, and she told it only to the woman from her memories, who would sit with her and stroke her hair when they were alone.
She had learned so easily, but she didn’t understand until too late. The Cylons destroyed as the humans destroyed; they loved as the humans loved. They were the same. So in the end, she was right and Cavil was wrong. What had to be done wasn’t easy. And none of them deserved to survive.
Gina closed her eyes, and thought of that first kiss, and waited for the burst of light.
Pairing: Gina/Cain
Rating: R for themes, but nothing graphic
Words: 720
Summary: ‘If she’d ever had a sister to show her what love felt like, she still might not have recognized it.”
A/N: Written for a prompt from 13th_tribe
In a Burst of Light
It turned out to be easy. Cavil had said it would be, that they could walk right in and take everything from the humans and no one would even notice until it was too late. Gina had disagreed, though she hadn’t said so. If you loved your people, she thought, you had to be vigilant, you’d see right away if someone was preparing to destroy you. But they didn’t. They hired her, and they set her to work on one battlestar after another, and every time she grew less surprised that they didn’t even care enough to pay attention.
The Commander of the Pegasus was different. She was hard edges and sharp eyes, eyes that followed everything Gina did. It made her feel cautious, and anxious, and something new. Noticed. Seen. The Commander hoarded her words, her attention. She spent them on Gina.
Gina watched back, saw the Commander’s efficiency and control, her purpose, her grace. She watched until their eyes met and held.
Their first meal, they ate without speaking, studying each other, parsing the silence.
Gina finally broke it. “Is that your sister?” She nodded to a small framed picture on the side table.
The Commander looked at it sharply and didn’t answer. “Did you ever have a sister?”
Gina thought of the Eight whom she’d been closest to, before Cavil assigned the Eight memories and sent her to infiltrate a Battlestar. She felt a twist of fondness and longing go through her chest as she met Helena’s eyes. For a moment they were exactly the same.
Helena kissed her first, and Gina marvelled at it: the excitement, the pleasure. It was different when it was your own lips doing the kissing, not someone else’s memory. Helena smiled at her and it felt wonderful. The sex that followed was like a revelation.
In the morning, Gina went back to work. It didn’t occur to her that she’d fallen in love. If anyone had told her it was that easy, she would have disagreed. Committing to someone required careful forethought. You’d see it coming.
If she’d ever had a sister to show her what love felt like, she still might not have recognized it. Everything felt new and bright and special -- laying in Helena’s arms, bringing her little stories and jokes to make her smile, building a private little life -- but surely there was a border between all those things and love. It wasn’t as if they’d ever said the words.
On the day before the end of the worlds, Gina laid in their bed for a long time. The sheets smelled like their skin, like her perfume and Helena’s soap. She tried to imagine waking up on the baseship, knowing Helena was gone forever. She tried to imagine anything else, but there was nothing else. She pretended not to understand why she was crying, and when Helena asked her, she lied. It was the only lie she’d ever told that felt wrong.
Gina had thought it would end in a flash, an explosion of light and then her sisters and brothers around her. When the first blast hit, she closed her eyes and waited.
The ship shook, and settled, and the worlds went on.
Then Cain called her a thing, staring with eyes that seemed always to have been sharp and cold, and Gina knew how easy it had been. She had loved as blindly as any of the humans, so blindly she hadn’t seen the danger coming. Her Helena was gone, turned to steel by the end of the worlds. Destroyed at her hand, easier than she’d dared to dream.
They wanted answers, and secrets, and information. Gina had nothing to give them. She had only one secret, and she told it only to the woman from her memories, who would sit with her and stroke her hair when they were alone.
She had learned so easily, but she didn’t understand until too late. The Cylons destroyed as the humans destroyed; they loved as the humans loved. They were the same. So in the end, she was right and Cavil was wrong. What had to be done wasn’t easy. And none of them deserved to survive.
Gina closed her eyes, and thought of that first kiss, and waited for the burst of light.