Coming home ((rp for callsign_helo))

[number_eight]

After being in hack along with Cally and Dee, Sharon was very happy to get back to life with Hera and Helo. It wasn't much, but it was all hers.

She did feel bad for Caprica, though, who was still in the cell they had set up for Sharon over a year ago. Idly, she wondered if the reason she hadn't been placed into that cell was because they didn't trust two Cylons together, or if because she had earned enough trust and respect that a "normal" cell in the brig would do.

"Hey, baby. I'm home."

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[callsign-helo.livejournal.com]

To say that Helo was watching the clock as the longest 72 hours of his life ticked away would be an understatement. In fact, he was willing it to tick faster, hoping he could speed up time through sheer willpower.

Not that he minded taking care of Hera. He loved spending alone time with his daughter, and to no one's surprise, Major Adama had found ways to ease up his duty cycles so that Hera wouldn't spend every waking moment at day care. But when the wheel on the hatch started to turn, he shared the excitement his daughter expressed through happy squeak.

Picking Hera up, he held her near the widening entrance to their quarters as Sharon stepped inside. "Welcome back, baby," said Helo, leaning in to place a kiss on his wife's lips. "Look who's home," he told Hera, "it's Mama!"

[number-eight.livejournal.com]

Sharon managed a smile as she picked up Hera and kissed her, running her fingers through her seemingly-always tousled hair. "Thanks for bringing her by to see me."

Sighing, she placed Hera in her crib and hugged her husband tightly. "So, tell the truth. Are you disappointed in me?"

[callsign-helo.livejournal.com]

Helo laughed quietly. "I couldn't have kept her away if I tried. She was pointing and babbling so much out the hatch that if I didn't take her, I bet she'd learn to walk just so she could do it herself."

And there would have been a part of him that would not have been that surprised. Every day, he saw a little more of Sharon in their daughter. Hera was quiet, but determined, and once the baby had her mind set, there was little that would change it.

He watched as his wife put the baby down. Helo wrapped his arms around Sharon and returned the embrace, kissing her on the top of the head.

"Why do you think I'd be disappointed in you?"

[number-eight.livejournal.com]

She snuggled into his arms a little bit more, glad that he was so much taller and bigger than her. Even if he wasn't stronger than her, it felt like he was at that moment.

"Because I caused trouble."

She rolled her eyes at that. "Okay, I always cause trouble. I meant... because of how I went about the whole thing. And now it's on my record and you had to switch your schedule around for me because of Hera..."

She looked up at him. "Because I let my emotions get the better of me and I didn't talk to you first about it."

[callsign-helo.livejournal.com]

He couldn't help but laugh at Sharon's insistence that her troublemaking would cost her points with him.

"Causing trouble? You do remember who you're married to, right? Causing trouble was practically in our wedding vows, Sharon. I can't possibly hold that against you." Helo ran a hand over her back. "Scheduling wasn't a problem. You'd be surprised how many people are willing to help under the threat of bringing a toddler into the briefing room or up to CIC."

Helo leaned down and kissed her forehead. "Now you might have a point. It's not that I don't understand your motive, though."

[number-eight.livejournal.com]

She frowned a little at his laugh, then settled into his arms again as she finally began to relax and smile.

"What, you're saying that I caused trouble for you the entire time you've known me and that's the only reason we're married?" She tsked him. "Going to have to do better than that, sir." Although the thought of Felix Gaeta volunteering for babysitting duties amused her.

"I know, I know," she grumbled before holding his face and kissing him back. "How do you do it? How do you manage to always be so in control?"

[callsign-helo.livejournal.com]

"One," he said, still smirking, "it hasn't been the entire time. And two, that's not the only reason." Helo punctuated the statement by pulling Sharon just a little more tightly against him. If he could ever have said something good about living in a duty locker, there wasn't enough room in the racks to miss having another body in there with you. Even after just a couple of nights, their current quarters felt pretty empty with just him in the bed.

Helo shook his head. "Control? All I'm doing is trying to keep it together. Otherwise, I'd freak out."

[number-eight.livejournal.com]

She looked dubiously at her husband before shaking her head at him. "So, what are the other reasons, then?" Sharon allowed his smirk to infect her. Thank God he had a sense of humor and somehow managed to put up with her, fight for her, fight with her.

Hera was falling asleep, and she tugged Helo over to their bed. "I can't imagine you freaking out. I think you've only ever freaked out a few times, ever, and all of those times were events caused by me." She looked at the floor, studying it.

"How do you keep it together?" She meant it as advice, since apparently, she was terrible at doing so herself.

[callsign-helo.livejournal.com]

"Hmmm," he said, furrowing his brow in a show of deep concentration. "You know, come to think of it, maybe you should remind me of a couple." Helo put another kiss on his wife's lips before he felt her leading him across the room.

He watched Sharon retreat a little inside herself, the way she did after most of her bad days. Normally, his wife was a good soldier and a good pilot, liked hanging out at Joe's with her friends and being a mom to Hera. That was his favorite Sharon. And when she was furious at the world or frantic to protect their daughter, he understood that one, too. But the quiet, withdrawn Sharon was the one he hated to see.

Helo sat down on the edge of their bed and pulled Sharon to him until she stood between his knees, Helo's arms around the back of her legs. He looked up at her-- about as rare an occasion as it could get-- and fixed her with his most earnest gaze. "I do it because I have to... and because I want to. I'm not very complicated, when you get to know me."

[number-eight.livejournal.com]

"Maybe I will, then." Their daughter was asleep, after all.

She felt safe standing there like that, with Helo's arms around her as she looked down at him. Sharon reached out to muss his hair playfully for a moment before leaving a lingering touch on his cheek and lips.

"Are you saying that I don't know you?" She smiled slightly. "I know you. You're brave and you love me and you will do whatever you have to do for us." She sat on his lap, shaking her head at her husband. "Trust me, that's plenty complicated."

[callsign-helo.livejournal.com]

"Doing all that is complicated," Helo answered, smirking. "Wanting it isn't." He pulled Sharon closer, putting his hands on her waist.

"And yeah, you're right. You know me. Better than anybody." It was the truth, too. Helo had read plenty about how sharing intense experiences can bond two people in a way that could feel like love. That had been the popular theory, he knew, when they'd gotten back to the fleet two years ago. But Helo knew, especially in the quiet, un-intense moments like this, that it was real, and that Sharon really understood him. It was a good feeling.

He tilted his chin up until he was staring into her face. "So are we going to celebrate you getting out of hack?"

[number-eight.livejournal.com]

"You better believe it, baby," she smirked as she pushed him down on the bed and moved from his lap to laying on top of him.

"I hate being quiet because of Hera, but I'm willing to take my chances if you are." She lowered her lips to his and sighed into his mouth, happy and content for the first time since the whole business had started up.

Sharon might not have really learned a lesson from it, but she did enjoy the "making up" part...