The Three model kneels in front of the altar devoted to the President and her child. She lifts her head, gazing upon the statue they've been able to assemble with pieces of scrap metal. She feels as if she's being watched, "Quite impressive...all of this."
"My husband...he's amazing with a blowtorch." A middle aged woman smiles softly, "Anything for our cause."
Standing slowly, she turns to face the other woman in the room, "And you don't fear me?"
"Why should I fear you? We may not believe in the same entities, but that doesn't make us different much." Moving closer to the known cylon, the woman glances up at the statue and the candles around it, "This woman came back from the brink of death, as if that wasn't enough, she bore a child. Yes, the loss of the human and cylon hybrid was a tragedy, but...who is to say this child isn't the true child that was meant to be? The one blessed by the gods."
D'Anna listens intently, "If the child was alive...still alive, what then? Would this one be as important?"
"More important." The older woman grins, "She and the Roslin child would be destined to be together. For the beginning and continuation of peace between our people." She kneels quickly, placing her fingers to her forehead as a way of blessing herself, "If the child is alive, and somewhere in the fleet, she and the Roslin child must be brought to a safe haven."
"Such as here." The cylon offers, amused, "Then they'd both be in human hands and where would that leave us?"
"I've yet to attack you or report you." She stands, making eye contact with the other being, "Your people are safe here...as long as the children are together, we're all safe."
D'Anna leans up from her resting position. She doesn't know what to make of the vision, of the dream. The child, she must go to the child. She'd give her life to this little person. Anyone would. Was that what the dream was about? Glancing over, she knows she isn't alone in the bed, Gaius Baltar and one of the Six models. She rises slowly, slipping on a silk robe before reaching the stark white room, holding the babe.
Hera sits up in her crib, tears puddle in her lower lid. The pain throughout her body was terrible. However, she's found projection to comfort her fears. This model, this Three, she could be trusted, she thinks. There weren't many here who could be.
"Hello, sweetheart. Sleep well?" She knows she'll receive no response. She sighs, "Doctor Baltar said he's going to find a way to aid your suffering." D'Anna lifts the girl into her arms, immediately being consumed in her projection.
The classroom on New Caprica. The soothing voice of the President in the background talking about ancient Canceron culture. The children's laughter, the clicking of chalk against a slate surface.
"Projection." She grins broadly, "Very good, Thirteen." It takes her a moment, a long moment, to realize that this ship wasn't the child's safe place. She wasn't comfortable here. New Caprica, with Laura Roslin. That's when she was happy. "You want to return to her...to the humans. You have to learn who your real family is now, little one. You will learn...and we'll get the boy to be with you as well."
Laura turned, seeing Isis in the arms of the cylon. Her classroom, and there's a cylon holding the only child she's sworn to protect at that time. Her son not yet being someone she's aware of. However, the girl is older than the last she's seen her. "Let her go." She says quietly, nervous.
"Everything will be fine, my sweet. They'll never know...you're ours now. Our Thirteen."
She picks her head up abruptly, glancing to her surroundings. Having been sitting on the sofa within Lee's private quarters on the Galactica, a file in front of her. What did it all mean? Sloane rests in his play area on a blanket. Tears well in her eyes. This is all becoming so much for her. Was Laura wrong to return to the Presidency so soon after the events of New Caprica?
Lee jogs into the room, a nervous energy about him, "Laura!" He finally catches sight of her, releasing a breath that he wasn't aware he was holding. "Gods...I've been calling you."
"I must have nodded off."
"I..." He shakes his head, noticing his son resting soundly, "I was worried."
"It happens, Lee. People nap." Laura looks to him, "And meeting with Cottle the other day, he instructed that I take it easy and not immediately get into the stressful circumstances."
"You're the President. That's what Presidents do, they get into stressful situations." Lee lifts her legs up so he can sit down, placing them over his lap. "You were screaming in your sleep last night again. It's making you tired during the day."
"I didn't keep you awake, did I?"
He shakes his head, "I just held onto you tighter."
She smiles softly, "I think this whole meeting has me stressed."
"Tomorrow, right? Once it's over, we'll have Baltar." Lee offers her a reassuring smile, "You can have fun with him for a while before trial."
"Have fun with him?" Laura teases.
He shrugs, "Talk to him, I guess."
"Do I have to?"
"I know you. You'll find something to say." Lee gently massages her legs as they sit on his lap, "Dad's been looking for you too."
She sighs softly, "Was he calling as well?"
He nods slowly, looking over to her, "But you're tired. It's fine. You've been busy with the needs of the people as well as being there for Sloane. We'll just take him to more so that an eye can be kept on him. Make him more of a public figure so that if, gods forbid, he's kidnapped-"
"Don't-"
"Laura, I'm saying, if it happens, it will be incredibly hard to hide him in the fleet. Make him famous."
Laura thinks about the idea for a moment, "I don't want to exploit-"
"It isn't exploiting him, or even us. It's protecting him." Lee grins, "Half the fleet doesn't even believe he exists. Let's make this public...very public. It will ease your fears, as well as mine, and make him the most protected kid in the fleet."
"It's okay. You're okay." Maya gently changed the baby's diaper, "Auntie Maya has you. Yes, she does. See? Nice and dry. Isn't that much better, Sloane?" She grinned to him, lifting him from the bed. She picks her head up when Laura enters, watching as she zips it up, "How was the marketplace?"
Laura glanced to her, shrugging, "I don't enjoy going out. So many people talking about their wishes that I was back in power. Then the Born Again cult thing." She sighs softly, "If anyone were to find out about Sloane, it could put him in great danger...mostly because of them."
"You can't hide him away forever, Laura. What will that do to him?" She sighed, watching her friend unload the things she acquired, "He needs sunlight, interaction with other people besides us-"
"There's the children in the classroom."
"They're the biggest gossips of all." Maya chuckled, "He's loving and beautiful...and you're hiding him away."
"For his father." Laura mumbled softly, it was the most she's ever been able to tell her. The most she's ever been willing. A part of her wishes she could force herself to be more loving toward her. Gods know she needed someone else to share her life with, someone that wasn't necessarily romantic in nature. A friend, a confidant, someone that meant she wasn't alone in this world.
"Which you won't tell anyone the identity of!" She's always thought it could possibly be the Admiral, but with the secretive nature of her friend, it was probably someone much more, "Trusting other people is good."
She paused, turning to face her, seeing Isis playing with her toys off to the side, "You must think I'm crazy."
Maya raises her eyebrows, shrugging, "Believe however you wish, but sooner or later...he's going to want to see the sun."