Second Winter (on Earth) by rose_griffes (PG)

[shah-of-blah.livejournal.com]

Fandom: BATTLESTAR GALACTICA (NEW)
Pairing: Karl/Sharon, Hera, Kara, Tyrol
Length: 2900
Author on LJ: rose_griffes 
Author Website: fic index
Why this must be read: This is another not-so-happily-ever-after take on Earth. Helo is raising Hera by himself (Sharon has died) while taking English classes and job training. The whole thing is so painfully real. It also has a companion piece about Kara and Leoben called Prophecy, which I also love. But the stark realism of Helo’s world is what always gets me.

Excerpt:
The good days: When he comes home to the small apartment the government is helping him rent he smiles at the beautiful mess. Hera's dirty socks always clutter the floor and her drawings are taped haphazardly to the formerly blank walls. Schoolbooks litter the kitchen table; they have to shove them aside to eat breakfast and dinner. He thinks about all that Sharon has missed--Hera talking in complete sentences, finding Earth, looking for clean socks for Hera to wear to school and all the everyday stuff that now fills his life. He misses her.

Second Winter (on Earth)