Meme Ficlet: In Jilted Tongues
Title In Jilted Tongues
Characters/Pairing Baltar, Head!Six, mentions of Baltar/Six and Baltar/Gaeta
Rating PG
Summary I doubt very much that he has any desire to speak with me.
Author's Notes For the First Lines meme from tin_o_bicuits (Why yes, it is taking me this long to get around to writing these. Real life and all.) Title from Sarah McLachlan's Ice, which is my Felix and Gaius on New Caprica song, and it fits even better post-finale. Unbeta'd.
Felix’s crutches click and echo loudly in the corridors. It gives Gaius the warning he needs to duck down a different hallway to avoid coming face-to-face with him. But as the sound starts to fade, he finds himself turned back around and watching as Felix makes his difficult way away. He winces when the crutches come down unevenly and Felix nearly overbalances, swearing softly as he catches himself before he can fall.
Gaius can’t believe there is no one to help him. Felix has only been out of the sickbay for a few days, surely someone should be there to help him, even just to walk at his side in case… For a crazy moment Gaius considers offering, but Felix straightens as best he can and continues on his way, albeit at a slower pace. Felix rounds a corner and disappears from sight, and Gaius finds himself standing in the same spot, staring at the place he used to be.
“If you’re so worried about him, why don’t you say something to him?”
Gaius looks at Six, who has appeared at his side in that familiar red dress, and scoffs at her. “Why yes, what an excellent idea. Let’s just have a little chat with a man who’s tried to kill me three times. Brilliant. Why didn’t I think of that myself?”
“Four,” Six replies idly, and he blinks in confusion. She doesn’t give him a chance to question her meaning before she continues, a smirk playing at her lips. “And anyway, Gaius, he only has one leg. I think you can outrun him.”
Gaius bristles at her tone, as though there were something humorous about the situation. “That wasn’t what I meant. I was simply saying that the last few times I was in the same room with him, he actively sought my death. I doubt very much that he has any desire to speak with me.”
She tilts her head. “And yet, you want to talk to him.”
“That’s preposterous. What could I possibly have to say to him?”
“I don’t know. But why else would you stand outside his partition every day he was in the infirmary? Why did you watch him just now, when it would have been just as easy to walk away?”
Gaius has no answer for that. Telling her she’s wrong would be a lie, and lying to her never works. But he doesn’t want to admit she’s right either, so he turns away from her and heads toward Dogtown.
She follows him, of course, keeping in step uncomfortably close behind him, speaking right next to his ear. “Admit it, Gaius, you miss him.”
He doesn’t respond, but he can’t deny it. He misses Felix. He misses him as a lover, those nights on New Caprica before things all went to hell. He misses him as a companion, an intellectual equal capable of holding a stimulating conversation. He misses him as a friend, because God only knows he’s never had many of those in the first place, and now he has none.
Oh, the women of his following are good to him, but their constant adoration grates, as does their habit of answering any thoughtful question with, “It’s God’s will.” Even if he no longer considers himself an atheist, the idea that some supreme power in the universe takes it upon himself to micro-manage every aspect of all these lives seems tedious and pointless, not to mention cruel, once it is taken into account how much suffering the survivors of humanity have endured in the past four years. Felix alone…
“You’re thinking about him again.”
“So you can read my mind now?” Gaius snaps irritably.
“No. I can just tell. You get this look on your face.” She brushes some of his hair away from his forehead, studying him.
He doesn’t like it. Gaius turns his head away. “And what look would that be?”
“Sadness.”
They’ve come to a stop, right in the middle of the corridor, and Gaius is glad that very few people travel this way. He swallows, wishing she would stop looking at him like that. “What do you even care, anyway?”
“I don’t. I just find it interesting. You know that I, the real me, am locked in the brig, and you’ve made no effort to see me. Yet you purposefully put yourself places you know he has to frequent in the hopes of just getting a glimpse of him.”
Gaius huffs in annoyance, tired of this conversation. “We were coworkers.” At her sidelong glance, he adds, “Yes, fine, we were a good deal more than that. We spent the better part of two years together, in some capacity or another. I care for him, and yes, it saddens me to see him like this. Are you satisfied?” There is impatience in his voice; he put it there deliberately. Talking to Six about Felix isn’t what he wants to be doing, and he wishes she would just let it go.
Naturally, she is undeterred. “We were together for two years on Caprica. And yet he’s the one on your mind.”
“She says as she haunts my waking thoughts.” He rolls his eyes. “Honestly, what do you want from me? Is it possibly you are actually jealous of Felix Gaeta?”
He looks at her only to find she is gazing thoughtfully back in the direction Felix had gone, presumably on his way to the CIC. “God has a plan, Gaius,” she murmurs almost to herself. “Sometimes it’s hard to see, and sometimes… the answers are right in front of you.”
It’s unclear to Gaius what she’s talking about, but something about her expression makes him suddenly nervous. “And which of those times is this?”
Six smiles at him, and it’s that unnerving smile, the one she wore the day the Cylons found New Caprica. “Things will work out the way they’re meant to,” she says enigmatically, not answering his question. “And everyone will play their role.” Her eyes glance back once more the way they came, and Gaius shivers. “Everyone.”
Characters/Pairing Baltar, Head!Six, mentions of Baltar/Six and Baltar/Gaeta
Rating PG
Summary I doubt very much that he has any desire to speak with me.
Author's Notes For the First Lines meme from tin_o_bicuits (Why yes, it is taking me this long to get around to writing these. Real life and all.) Title from Sarah McLachlan's Ice, which is my Felix and Gaius on New Caprica song, and it fits even better post-finale. Unbeta'd.
Felix’s crutches click and echo loudly in the corridors. It gives Gaius the warning he needs to duck down a different hallway to avoid coming face-to-face with him. But as the sound starts to fade, he finds himself turned back around and watching as Felix makes his difficult way away. He winces when the crutches come down unevenly and Felix nearly overbalances, swearing softly as he catches himself before he can fall.
Gaius can’t believe there is no one to help him. Felix has only been out of the sickbay for a few days, surely someone should be there to help him, even just to walk at his side in case… For a crazy moment Gaius considers offering, but Felix straightens as best he can and continues on his way, albeit at a slower pace. Felix rounds a corner and disappears from sight, and Gaius finds himself standing in the same spot, staring at the place he used to be.
“If you’re so worried about him, why don’t you say something to him?”
Gaius looks at Six, who has appeared at his side in that familiar red dress, and scoffs at her. “Why yes, what an excellent idea. Let’s just have a little chat with a man who’s tried to kill me three times. Brilliant. Why didn’t I think of that myself?”
“Four,” Six replies idly, and he blinks in confusion. She doesn’t give him a chance to question her meaning before she continues, a smirk playing at her lips. “And anyway, Gaius, he only has one leg. I think you can outrun him.”
Gaius bristles at her tone, as though there were something humorous about the situation. “That wasn’t what I meant. I was simply saying that the last few times I was in the same room with him, he actively sought my death. I doubt very much that he has any desire to speak with me.”
She tilts her head. “And yet, you want to talk to him.”
“That’s preposterous. What could I possibly have to say to him?”
“I don’t know. But why else would you stand outside his partition every day he was in the infirmary? Why did you watch him just now, when it would have been just as easy to walk away?”
Gaius has no answer for that. Telling her she’s wrong would be a lie, and lying to her never works. But he doesn’t want to admit she’s right either, so he turns away from her and heads toward Dogtown.
She follows him, of course, keeping in step uncomfortably close behind him, speaking right next to his ear. “Admit it, Gaius, you miss him.”
He doesn’t respond, but he can’t deny it. He misses Felix. He misses him as a lover, those nights on New Caprica before things all went to hell. He misses him as a companion, an intellectual equal capable of holding a stimulating conversation. He misses him as a friend, because God only knows he’s never had many of those in the first place, and now he has none.
Oh, the women of his following are good to him, but their constant adoration grates, as does their habit of answering any thoughtful question with, “It’s God’s will.” Even if he no longer considers himself an atheist, the idea that some supreme power in the universe takes it upon himself to micro-manage every aspect of all these lives seems tedious and pointless, not to mention cruel, once it is taken into account how much suffering the survivors of humanity have endured in the past four years. Felix alone…
“You’re thinking about him again.”
“So you can read my mind now?” Gaius snaps irritably.
“No. I can just tell. You get this look on your face.” She brushes some of his hair away from his forehead, studying him.
He doesn’t like it. Gaius turns his head away. “And what look would that be?”
“Sadness.”
They’ve come to a stop, right in the middle of the corridor, and Gaius is glad that very few people travel this way. He swallows, wishing she would stop looking at him like that. “What do you even care, anyway?”
“I don’t. I just find it interesting. You know that I, the real me, am locked in the brig, and you’ve made no effort to see me. Yet you purposefully put yourself places you know he has to frequent in the hopes of just getting a glimpse of him.”
Gaius huffs in annoyance, tired of this conversation. “We were coworkers.” At her sidelong glance, he adds, “Yes, fine, we were a good deal more than that. We spent the better part of two years together, in some capacity or another. I care for him, and yes, it saddens me to see him like this. Are you satisfied?” There is impatience in his voice; he put it there deliberately. Talking to Six about Felix isn’t what he wants to be doing, and he wishes she would just let it go.
Naturally, she is undeterred. “We were together for two years on Caprica. And yet he’s the one on your mind.”
“She says as she haunts my waking thoughts.” He rolls his eyes. “Honestly, what do you want from me? Is it possibly you are actually jealous of Felix Gaeta?”
He looks at her only to find she is gazing thoughtfully back in the direction Felix had gone, presumably on his way to the CIC. “God has a plan, Gaius,” she murmurs almost to herself. “Sometimes it’s hard to see, and sometimes… the answers are right in front of you.”
It’s unclear to Gaius what she’s talking about, but something about her expression makes him suddenly nervous. “And which of those times is this?”
Six smiles at him, and it’s that unnerving smile, the one she wore the day the Cylons found New Caprica. “Things will work out the way they’re meant to,” she says enigmatically, not answering his question. “And everyone will play their role.” Her eyes glance back once more the way they came, and Gaius shivers. “Everyone.”