THE STAR CHILD'S HEIR

The Star Child's Heir

(being a Galactica 1980/Max Headroom link fic)

(Disclaimer: Neither Galactica 1980 nor Max Headroom belong to me.)

The hospital in Chertsey had suffered a lot of damage, but was still functioning.

"Looks like they could use some help," Troy said as he, Dillon, and Jaimie got out of their rental car. Jaimie had fast talked the rental agency into giving it to her after her original rental had been demolished by the Cylons.

Jaimie nodded in agreement and followed Troy inside to help with the casualties while Dillon met up with Janine and the ambulance and led everyone to the maternity ward for Dr. Zee's c-section.

Dr. Zee turned to Dillon as they reached the doors, a sad but hopeful expression on his face. It was a look neither Dillon nor Janine would ever forget.

Janine followed the doctors into the operating room, while Dillon turned his attention to a small girl who was standing next to her mother's stretcher with tears in her eyes. He wanted so desperately to help, but the Galactican fleet had sustained casualties of their own, and it was all their medical staff could do to keep the death toll to a minimum. He hoped the doctors here on Earth could save the woman's life. He hated to think that this child might lose her mother because of the Cylons that had followed them there.

The girl seemed to know what he was thinking. She looked up at him and frowned. "You're going to lose someone, too, aren't you?" she asked.

Dillon had no answer. To say yes would be to confirm the girl's fear that her mother would not survive. But to say no would be to perhaps give her false hope. Instead, he sighed and hoped that would be enough of a response for her.

Inside the operating room, Janine wanted to help more. But this was not her hospital, and all they would allow her to do was to comfort Dr. Zee. So she stood by him, holding his hand and speaking words of reassurance to him as they prepped him for surgery.

"Take care of my son," he whispered to her as his consciousness faded. "I'm counting on you, Miss Lynch."

Janine nodded. "I will," She promised. "Now, do you have a name picked out, or do you want me to chose one?"

"Bryce," Dr. Zee whispered. It was the last word he ever spoke.

Troy, Dillon, and Jaimie were waiting nervously for news of the baby when Janine stepped out of the operating room.

"A little small," she told them, "but healthy in every way."

"And Dr. Zee?"

"I'm sorry," Janine said, sadly. "He never even got to hold his son."

"We can't stay," Troy apologized to her. "We need to get back and help our people. But we will come back from time to time to check up on the baby. At least at first. I get the feeling he's going to be a handful."

"Thank you."

"Miss Lynch," a nurse said, coming out of the operating room with a small bundle in her arms, "he's perfectly healthy and you can take him home at any time. Assuming that is that you have a place to stay."

"I'm going to my aunt's house in Guildford," Janine told her as she took the baby. "At least for a little while. We'll be fine there."

"Well, then, I guess this is goodbye," Dillon said. "At least for now. Jaimie, are you ready to go?"

Jaimie, who had been smiling at the infant in Janine's arms, turned her attention back to the two men who had changed her life so much. "Yes."

As Janine stood in the crowd at the local bus station with her new infant son in her arms, she thought of those children who would now never be born. "You're very lucky," she told the sleeping baby. "Very lucky indeed, Bryce Lynch."

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