Disclaimer: I don't own BSG or any of the characters, I am just playing with them. I wish I owned Michael Trucco, but sadly slavery is illegal.
Author's note: My first BSG fanfiction, so hopefully I did OK. I was pleasantly surprised by the K/S shippiness in the finale, but I wanted a bit more, and I though K/L deserved a bit more closure. I know it's long but I didn't plan on this being split into chapters so I really don't want to break it up. Hopefully it won't ruin your eyes.
Kara's eyes were closed, a warm light embracing her, making her feel safe. She stayed that way for a moment, letting the feeling wash over her, letting it wrap her in peace and contentment. Slowly her senses came back to her and she became aware of the sounds and smells of wherever she was. Curiosity broke through the contentment and she opened her eyes.
It was the most beautiful place Kara had ever seen. She stood on a balcony overlooking a dreamlike landscape. Steep towers of rocks rose everywhere, covered in trees and other greenery. The sound of rushing water drew her gaze down to the wide waterfall that fed a brilliant turquoise pool at the bottom of the valley before her. A heavy mist hung over the distant mountain, clouding the horizon and creating an air of seclusion and mystery.
She turned to the house behind her. It wasn't particularly large, but it was just as beautiful as the valley below. It was made of wood and there were hand carved details along the banisters and trim. It fit into the hillside somehow, like it had always been there, like it belonged. She walked inside and looked around. It was well decorated, much nicer than anything she would have taken the time to put together herself, but it didn't feel fussy. As she looked around more closely she realized that scattered about were some of her actual possessions. Her dishes from Caprica, photographs of her friends and family, even her old jacket hung on a hook by the door.
"Do you like it?"
Kara spun around, startled, hand itching for a gun she no longer carried. She knew there hadn't been anyone standing by the balcony door before, but now Baltar and a Six both leaned casually in the doorway, Six looking at her expectantly, waiting for an answer to her question.
"What is this place?" Kara spoke out loud for the first time. "Why am I here? And why are you here?"
"We're not who you think we are Kara," Baltar spoke smoothly. They certainly weren't dressed like the Baltar and Six she had left on Earth. His fancy jacket and her red dress were hardly appropriate for a life of farming and hunting. "We've kept these forms because they suit our purposes, but we're not the people you knew as Gaius Balter and Number Six. Though you may certainly call us that if you wish, we have no other names to give you."
"If you're not them, then who are you? What are you?"
"I think you already know that Kara." Six moved closer to her as she spoke, and laid a hand on Kara's cheek. And Kara found that she did know.
"Angels. Like Baltar talked about in his broadcasts. The little jackass was telling the truth. He actually saw frakking angels."
"Well, that's one term," Baltar sniffed indignantly, as if he didn't care for the word.
"Ignore him," Six said while shooting an indignant look of her own his way. "He doesn't like labels." Kara looked back and forth between them then decided not to over think it.
"OK, great. That still doesn't explain why I'm here, or where here is."
"Why don't we wait for your husband, I'd hate to have to repeat myself." Kara pulled back from Six sharply. Understanding her reaction Six took her hand and led her down a hallway to what turned out to be a bedroom. Sam was stretched out on the bed, seemingly sleeping peacefully. Kara was at his side in a second.
"What's wrong with him? Why isn't he awake?" Kara placed a hand on his chest as she spoke, resuming a vigil she'd held for weeks.
"He'll wake soon enough. He has to finish his journey before he can join us. It won't be long."
"The sun," she realized, wincing slightly. It had hurt unbearably to let Sam go off on a suicide mission, but he hadn't really been Sam anymore, and it had been what he wanted. "He'll wake up here when he dies."
"When he's freed from a body that had become a prison" Six laid a gentle hand on Kara's shoulder. "He knows he's coming here Kara. That was one of the benefits of what happened to him. He was able to see far more than he could have ever seen otherwise. He knew, when you went to say goodbye to him, that your journey would soon be over and you would be together again. He's at peace with his fate."
"Why is it taking so long though, why can't he be here now?" Kara asked impatiently, standing to face them, Baltar still silent in the background while Six spoke imploringly to her.
"It's a long trip Kara, even as fast as your fleet moves it takes time to reach the center of a solar system. Besides, Sam doesn't just have to finish his physical journey, he has to find his way here. You already belonged, Kara. You've been here before."
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure I'd remember something like this." But even as she spoke Kara knew that wasn't true. There were months she couldn't remember. Six seemed to know what she was thinking, and Kara wondered if she could read her mind.
"You came here when you died. Yes," she said gently at Kara's look. "You died, Kara, when your viper crashed."
"This is where I was for two months?"
"Time doesn't move the same way here, but yes, this is where you came. To rest, and prepare for your final journey."
"What the hell am I?" Kara whispered, scared.
"You're an instrument of God. You were chosen to lead his people, Cylon and human alike, to their new home. When you went back to them after your death you were an extension of God, of his love for his children." Kara turned from them, her mind struggling to process what she'd been told.
"Everything that happened to me, everything I went through. That was all part of God's plan?" she asked bitterly.
"Everything you went through prepared you for your task," Baltar broke in at last. "It made you stronger, made you more resilient. It made you Starbuck. It's unfortunate that your path had to be so hard, but that's why we're here now." Kara looked at her two guiding angels.
"Why we're here?" she laughed humorlessly. "OK, tell me what you need to tell me."
"I already said I don't want to repea-"
"You won't," Kara cut Six off. "I'll tell him whatever he needs to know once he's here."
Baltar and Six exchanged looks, not sure if they should indulge her.
"Look," Kara snapped, "Sam's essentially been in a coma for weeks. And now you tell me that any minute he's going to wake up here and be whole, be Sam, the way he was before that frakking bullet hit. I've got plans for him, and they don't involve an audience. So say what needs to be said and get the frak out."
**********
The first thing Sam was aware of was feeling smaller. He no longer felt and saw everything at once, he was just Sam again. And Gods that was a relief.
The second thing he felt was a familiar hand running lightly along his arm. He opened his eyes and looked at Kara. She was sitting by his side, her hand stroking him absentmindedly, her gaze resting elsewhere. She looked towards a window, her face bathed in golden light. She is so beautiful, he thought.
He knew the moment she became aware he was awake. Her hand stilled and after a moment a slow smile graced her lips. He smiled too, he couldn't help it. Happiness seemed to flood every inch of his being, a sense of rightness infusing him with peace. He didn't care about anything else in that moment but her.
She looked down at him and he was startled to see tears in her eyes. He sat up and she shifted to help him. Settling his hands on her waist he pulled her a little closer, and her hands came up to cup his face. They still didn't speak, but Sam sent her a questioning look. Though she was still smiling, her face crumpled and a few small tears streaked down her cheek.
"Kara?" Sam asked, reaching up to brush her tears away. She looked down briefly before taking a deep breath and meeting his eyes again.
"I'm sorry Sam. I was wrong."
"Wrong about what?"
"I thought you were the safe choice. I cared about you, enjoyed being with you, but I thought you didn't matter enough to ever hurt me. I could leave you, or you could leave me, or something could happen to you, and I'd be alright. And then something did happen to you, and I was wrong. I was so wrong. I wasn't alright. I love you, so much. And I am so sorry it took me so long to realize just how much, I'm sorry that I treated you so horribly." More tears fell as Sam wrapped his arms around her.
"Kara, don't. Please don't, baby. It doesn't matter, none of it matters. I love you. I love you, and we're together, and nothing else matters." He kissed her cheeks, kissing her tears away lightly, and then lowered his mouth to hers. Kara twined her arms around his neck and held him tightly, her mouth gliding across his. They pulled back and looked at each other. He looked at her with love in his eyes, and the last of her guilt and pain melted away in Sam's arms. She smiled at him, hugely and brightly.
"Sammy," she giggled, rubbing her nose against his playfully. Sam rolled his eyes.
"Don't call me Sammy," he chastised good naturedly. He leaned forward and pressed his forehead to hers.
"We're dead, aren't we?" he asked.
"Yeah."
Sam thought for a moment.
"I'm not really upset by that. You?"
"Not as much as you'd think."
"Huh."
"Yeah."
And then they were done talking as she pulled him forward, her teeth sinking lightly into his lower lip, making him moan. He lay them down on the bed and ran his hands down her body, relishing the ability to do so. She, in turn, groped his ass and pulled him tighter to her, grinding their hips together.
"Not fast enough," she complained, pushing him back so that she could tug his shirt up. He obliged her, sitting up while straddling her so he could finish removing the offending garment. Kara occupied herself by attacking his pants, ripping off the button in her hast to get to him. Sam groaned when she fisted him, and Kara grinned up at him.
"You're not going to finish too soon on me, are you Sam?" He pulled her hand away and moved off of her. Before she could question him he yanked her to her knees.
"You're not naked enough," he complained. He pulled her tank and sports bra over her head and kissed her hard while his hands groped blindly at the front of her pants. They parted briefly so each could step out of their bottoms, but Kara had only gotten one leg free when Sam pulled her to him. He sat down on the bed and pulled her astride him, entering her quickly, neither in the mood for much foreplay.
"Gods," Kara gasped. They stopped moving, Kara once again taking his face in her hands. She stared at him for a moment, stroking a thumb across his cheek, far more tender than she'd ever been before. "I love you," she told him firmly, closing in for a gentle kiss.
"Love you too," he murmured into her lips. They started moving again, but neither had much leverage in their current position, so it was more rocking than thrusting. Kara arched her back against Sam's encircling arms to try and get a deeper angle, and Sam leaned down to lick and suck at her breasts.
It was over fast, but that was OK. They'd have more time later. For now Sam was more than happy to hold on to a limp and sated Kara as she buried her face in his neck, breathing him in deeply before letting out a contented sigh.
"So is this what they afterlife is?" Sam asked her lazily, trailing a hand up and down her back. "Nonstop sex with my insatiable wife? 'Cause that's not too shabby a deal." Kara laughed into his shoulder.
"Well the sex is certainly part of it," she pulled back, "but I suppose I should probably spell out the rest." She untangled herself from him and stood, unhooking the dangling pant leg from her foot and reaching out her hand. He took it, and naked they walked through the house.
Sam looked at everything as they went, taking it all in with relative ease. But he had to give a whistle of appreciation when he saw the view.
"Welcome to paradise," Kara grinned, giving an over exaggerated sweep of her arm, giggling just a little.
"You're not kidding."
"So here's the deal," she said as she turned back to him, grabbing his hand and swinging it slightly, like a child with too much energy. "As a reward for fulfilling our respective 'destinies', and having to suffer and die in the process, we've been given our very own oasis in which to spend eternity doing anything we want, including frakking each other blind."
"I like it so far."
"That's not all." Kara paused dramatically. "In addition, we are also guardians of Earth."
"Wait…what?"
"We can return to Earth whenever we want and 'walk amongst the people'. Now, as long as our friends, the people we knew, are still alive down there we're not supposed to reveal ourselves to them. Something about separating our current selves from our past selves, and also not giving all of them heart attacks."
"I can see that," Sam acknowledged.
"Anyway, there may come a time when humanity needs a little push in the right direction, in which case we're allowed to give it to them. Supposedly, we'll "just know" if and when that time comes."
"Huh," Sam grunted. "How do you know all of this?" Kara smiled at him.
"Remember how Baltar said he saw angels…?"
**********
"Is that the best you've got baby?" Kara taunted, shifting her weight quickly and feinting around Sam's side, pyramid ball in hand. Sam watched her calmly, every muscle tense and ready, but showing no outward sign of his concentration. Let her think she's winning, he thought. Let her think she's got it easy.
"Maybe I'm just worn out. You've been keeping me rather busy lately, in case you hadn't noticed."
"Yeah, but you love it," she grinned at him. She lunged suddenly, twisting around and taking aim. The ball went flying and found its mark easily.
"That makes us tied, Sam. Next one to score takes it all." There was fire in her eyes, a competitive streak even the peace of the beyond couldn't stamp out of her. Sam threw the ball back to her and they both crouched down, ready to spring.
Sam moved before Kara, but instead of going for the ball he went for her. He had time to see surprise register on her face, and then his lips were on hers, hard and demanding. He wrapped her in his arms and kissed the hell out of her, and he felt the moment she decided to just go with it, when she melted into his embrace and dropped the ball so she could wrap her arms around him.
Sam didn't waste a second. He pulled away from her sharply, bending down and grabbing the ball where it had rolled. He saw recognition dawn in Kara's eyes, and she rushed him, but it was too late. Sam had sunk the ball in the goal before she'd taken two steps.
"That's game, set, and match." He grinned at his fuming wife. Her jaw hung open in shock; for once she was speechless. After a moment her eyes narrowed dangerously, her hands went to her hips, and she started to close in on him.
"You cheated," she hissed.
"I don't recall any rule against kissing in the pyramid playbook," Sam said easily, only slightly intimidated but the tiny blond in front of him.
"Oh, you'll pay for that, Anders." Sam smirked at her.
"Go ahead, punish me. No, really. Spank me, I'll let you." Sam's glee in his victory was short lived. It didn't take him long to figure out Kara wasn't nearly as amused.
She closed the gap between them and shoved him roughly, sending him stumbling to the ground. Before he could question her or worry that he'd crossed some line, she was on him, her mouth on his, one hand twisting in his hair while the other found its way to the fly of his pants. He grabbed her hips and tried to pull her closer, but she held back, keeping their physical contact limited to hands and mouths. He settled for moving his hands around to grab her ass instead, hissing out a breath when her hand finally got inside his pants.
Abruptly she was gone. Sam groaned in frustration and sat up, watching her back away across the court.
"Count to fifty, then come find me." She ran off into the tree line, darting down a trail quickly, soon out of site. Sam lay back down, staring up at the deep blue sky as he complied, counting as fast as he dared. Reaching the appropriate number he got up and started cautiously after her. He wasn't exactly sure what to expect. He'd gone quite a ways before he saw the first sign of her. Her shirt was hung from a branch overhanging the path.
Grabbing it down he started off again, moving faster this time. The fatigue pants she'd been wearing were next, draped over a bush (she couldn't quite shake the habit of wearing the colonial garb she was so used to). He continued to follow the trail of clothing, gathering her various undergarments as he went. He was practically running now, wanting to get to his apparently naked wife as soon as possible.
He broke out of the trees and stood at the edge of a short drop off, overlooking the waterfall fed pool below. He glanced around but saw no Kara and no more clothing trail. He dropped Kara's clothes on a nearby log and stripped off his own. He still didn't know what Kara had planned, but he had a feeling he'd enjoy it more naked.
He walked along the edge of the drop off, enjoying the feel of the sun on his skin. Then suddenly he was airborne, sailing through the sky, the water rushing up to meet him. It didn't matter that he hadn't had time to take a deep breath; it appeared he didn't really need to breath anymore. He oriented himself underwater until he knew which way was up, pushing off towards the surface.
He broke through and squinted towards the ridge he had been shoved off of. Kara grinned down at him.
"Now who's playing dirty," he called up to her. Laughing with glee she jumped in after him. Her head had only just come up again when he dunked her back under. She managed to pull her under with him and then they were kissing again.
They made good use of their new ability to go without breathing.
**********
They couldn't reveal themselves to their friends, but they could look in on them, and they did quite often. Sam in particular liked visiting the Agathons to watch Hera play. If it hadn't been for him they never would have found her, and he seemed to take great personal pride in every new thing she learned.
Kara spent a lot of her time on Earth with the Admiral. She would watch him and call out encouragements and jokes he couldn't hear as he built his cabin, his pride and enjoyment in the task evident on his face. When he sat by Laura's tomb in the evening she would be next to him, wishing she could put a hand on his shoulder, to give him some kind of comfort. Sometimes Sam would come and sit too, and they'd hold hands, grateful that they were together and hoping that one day Bill could be with Laura again.
Sam was with her the first time she went to see Lee. She'd put it off for a long time, not sure what seeing him again would feel like, or what it would do to Sam. But it was his idea to go find him, and she'd agreed, somewhat grateful that she didn't have to feel guilty about going to him.
He wasn't alone. That surprised her a bit, but she realized it shouldn't have. Lee was a natural leader, and a small group, maybe a dozen or so, had joined him on his explorations. Six had been right about time moving differently in their oasis. Sometimes they would come to Earth and it would have been an hour since they'd last left, and sometimes it might have been years. She wasn't sure how old Lee was now. He still looked like Lee, but there was a wisdom about him now that made him seem decades older. The beginnings of a few wrinkles showed at the corners of his eyes, and Kara thought she even saw some grey around his temples. But he carried it well.
When she first laid eyes on him again a familiar warmth and longing spread throughout her. He was still Lee, no matter what he looked like now; he was still her friend and her lover. She looked over her shoulder at Sam, guilty and afraid of hurting him. But Sam just took her face in his hands and kissed her forehead lightly.
"The world isn't black and white," he said gently. "Especially now. It's OK to love us both. You don't have to choose." Kara was astounded by the love and acceptance in his voice. He kissed her again and then left, fading away, and Kara knew he had left Earth for now, so she wouldn't feel like she was being spied on.
She visited him often after that. From the moment they'd met she'd always felt a connection to Lee Adama. He was damn good looking, and that didn't hurt, but it was more than physical attraction. It wasn't even an understanding, because there were a lot of times when they hadn't understood each other at all. But that connection, that indefinable connection, had always tied them together. She had loved him, and he had loved her, but they'd never been able to be together, not in any lasting capacity.
And despite how much she loved Sam, and how much she loved being with him, when she watched Lee there was part of her that still regretted their inability to have that lasting relationship. So she watched him, watched him lead his people over mountains and rivers and endless fields of grass. And a small part of her longed for what might have been.
***********
She couldn't have pinpointed when it started, but somewhere along the way Kara started to feel restless. It was something she hadn't felt since entering the oasis for the first time and it was making her severely cranky.
She was sitting on a chair in their bedroom, watching Sam sleep. They didn't really have to do that anymore, sleep. Or eat, or any number of other human activities. But they enjoyed doing them anyway. Except for now, because now Kara couldn't sleep.
Tired of sitting, she got up to pace out in the living room. Expecting the room to be empty, she pulled up short when she saw a figure reclining on the couch.
"You feel it, don't you?" Six asked lazily. Kara was semi-used to having her pop up. She and Baltar had come around a few times, wanting to meet Sam and look in on the two of them.
"What is it?" she asked back, not bothering to act like she didn't know what the other woman was talking about.
"It's time Kara. We told you when you came here that you might be tasked with pointing someone on the right path, getting them where they need to go. You're needed now."
"Sam?"
"His time will come, but not yet. This is for you Kara. Just let yourself feel it, and you'll know what needs to be done." Closing her eyes, Kara did as Six said, letting the edginess she'd been feeling wash over her until it coalesced into one thought.
"Adama." She'd barely thought his name when she was at his side. Traveling between the two worlds had gotten easier, something for which she was profoundly grateful. The cabin was complete, small and rudimentary but sturdy and sound. Adama was truly an old man now, his hair gone completely gray, the lines in his face and hands sunk deep. He lay on a pallet on the floor and Kara knew he was dying. Whether he was sick or it was just age she didn't know. But his time on Earth was quickly coming to and end.
And just as sure as she'd known he was fading, she knew what she needed to do.
**********
Lee shifted uncomfortably on the hard ground, trying to find a decent position. Not for the first time he wished they'd saved a few more creature comforts from the ships. Like beds, or cots, or at least a rolled up mattress. He didn't consider himself old, but the hard life they'd been living was starting to take its toll on his joints, and sleeping on the ground every night wasn't doing him any favors.
Giving up, he sat and looked on at his small band of followers. He'd been reluctant, at first, to take them with him, wanting some quiet time for himself. But he'd felt a responsibility to help those who needed a guiding hand. And he'd found that it was quite handy to have help. Hunting was much easier with more than just himself, and their company had gone a long ways towards helping him cope with the loss of his family.
He knew his father had wanted to spend time with Laura before her death, and he probably wouldn't have been up for all the running around Lee did, but he still missed him and wished he knew where he was. And Kara. He thought part of him must have always known that her miraculous return from the dead couldn't last. Still, turning around one minute and having her gone with no warning had shocked him. But he had tried not to dwell. Nothing would ever undo what they'd had together, but she didn't belong to him and he had to let her go.
Some small sound had him looking up, and he smacked himself inwardly. Not only was he thinking about Kara again but now he was hallucinating her. He closed his eyes and shook his head. It honestly wasn't the first time he'd thought he saw her, but it had been a long time and he thought he'd gotten over it. But this time when he opened his eyes she was still there.
"Hello, Lee." He shot to his feet. His hallucinations had never spoken before.
"Kara?" Did I fall asleep after all, he thought. "Is this a dream?"
"Your father needs you Lee," she said, not answering him.
"My father?"
"He's dying." Lee felt like he'd been punched. "It's his time to move on, Lee. You can't stop it. But you should go to him. He needs you there." Lee's mind was racing, still not sure what the hell was going on.
"I don't even know where he is!"
"Not far. You were already going to him. You've been getting closer for days and you didn't know it. He has a cabin in those rocky hills over there, at the top of the ridge. You can get there in a day or less if you move quickly."
"Kara, I don't-"
"Go now Lee." She was gone just as suddenly as she had appeared, and Lee stood in a daze until one of the men stirred on the ground.
"Lee. Hey, Lee, man. You okay?" Lee looked around, slowly coming to his senses. A grey light was filling the sky, dawn was fast approaching and the group was beginning to wake. He looked down at the man who had spoken.
"Wake everyone up and break camp. We need to move."
**********
Kara watched them pack their limited gear. She watched them move across the flat land at the base of the hills. Watched them hike their way up the terrain. And she watched as they spotted the cabin, as Lee sprinted for it while the rest called out in confusion. Lee hadn't told them where they were going or why. They didn't have to ask once they saw who lived there.
Lee knelt by his father's side and held his hand, kissed his forehead. Adama opened his eyes and saw his son, and a smile split his face. They talked quietly, for hours. Spoke to each other about their adventures since they'd last seen each other.
And at sunset that evening Kara watched as Laura Roslin welcomed Bill Adama home with open arms and a kiss.
They all helped bury him, erecting a cairn next to Laura's. Everyone knew who Admiral Adama was, what he had done for them, and they treated him with the upmost respect possible under the circumstances. When they were finished they stood back, letting Lee have a moment alone. He looked down at his father and the woman he had loved like a mother, and smiled, as if knowing they were reunited.
"Thank you, Kara," he whispered so no one else could hear him.
The rules said she shouldn't reveal herself to him anymore, but Kara knew in that moment that she could if she wanted to. Whatever the consequences she could appear to Lee and tell him all the things that she'd been thinking, that she would miss the old man too and knew his grief, that she loved him and part of her still wished they could have made it work.
And what would that accomplish, she thought as she watched one of Lee's people come up to him and lay a hand on his shoulder. She'd never paid much attention to who followed Lee around, but this woman looked vaguely familiar, like maybe someone who had lived on Galactica though Kara was sure she hadn't been a pilot. Lee turned to look at her, and Kara saw something pass between them that made her stomach clench.
He's moving on, she realized sadly. He had a whole new life, one that included new people, maybe even new love. She had no right to intrude on that. She had a new life too, one with a man she loved desperately, who gave her everything and loved her no matter what. Whatever she and Lee had between them had never worked, but maybe he could find the same happiness she had with Sam with someone else.
Sam was right, she didn't have to choose. She could stay down on Earth, follow Lee around, even talk to him if she really wanted. But it would only hurt both of them. She didn't have to choose, but she was going to.
"Goodbye, Lee Adama. You won't be forgotten."
She left him standing over his father's grave, with his friends around him and the promise of hope and new beginnings starting to penetrate the grief. Taking one last look at the man who had once held her heart she turned towards home and her husband, and never looked back.
**********
Many years later
Kara and Sam walked hand in hand through New York, the people around them continuing on with their hurried lives, unaware of the celestial pair. It always surprised her how happy it made her to do this. To walk around and just look at people. She and Sam had both given so much so that they could be alive today. Seeing them going about their lives always gave her a sense of fulfillment. Not that it was always good. There had been more than a few times throughout the years when she'd preferred to stay in their oasis. Times when terrible things happened and they weren't allowed to intervene or help. But those terrible things would eventually run their course and civilization would have learned some valuable lesson, and Kara would be able to walk among the people again.
"You're quiet today," Sam said lightly. "Isn't that one of the signs of the apocalypse?" Kara smacked his chest with the back of her hand.
"Ha ha, very funny. Smartass. I'm just thinking about people, you know? All these people, they came from us, from our friends. They're our legacy, our children. Even if they don't know it, don't remember any of us. They're ours." Sam squeezed her hand and smiled down at her. He tucked her under his arm and Kara snuggled into his side. It wasn't the easiest way to walk, but she didn't really care about easy anymore. They continued on like that for several blocks, just enjoying being with each other. Kara continued to look around at all the people. Spotting a familiar red dress down the street she pulled herself away and tugged on Sam's hand, motioning with her head.
"Haven't seen them in awhile," she said lightly.
"You don't think they're here because anything's wrong, do you?"
"Do you feel anything's wrong?"
"No, I guess not. We might as well say hi." They headed towards Baltar and Six, approaching the pair unseen.
"At a scientific conference this week at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, a startling announcement was made that archeologists believe they have found fossilized remains of a young woman who may actually be Mitochondrial Eve. Mitochondrial Eve is the name scientists have given to the most recent common ancestor for all human beings living on Earth. She lived in what is now Tanzania, over 150,000 years ago."
"Along with her Cylon mother and human father."
"They're talking about Hera?" Kara spoke from behind. Just once she wished she could sneak up on those two, but both turned to her calmly without any apparent surprise, even though she knew they couldn't have heard them come up.
"Kara, Sam. It's good to see you. I trust you've been behaving yourselves since that…unfortunate unpleasantness during the Hundred Years War?" Sam's back immediately stiffened.
"That," he said defensively, "wasn't our fault. We told her exactly what she needed to hear. How were we supposed to know Joan would go off and tell anyone who would listen that God was speaking to her, even when we told her not to?" Kara laid a soothing hand on his back.
"It's alright baby, Six knows all that. She's just still prickly about that prank we played on her and Baltar a couple centuries ago." Sam laughed, remembering the water balloons, and Six huffed dismissively. Taking Baltar's arm she began walking down the street. Sam and Kara grinned at each other and followed.
"Commercialism, decadence, technology run amok; remind you of anything?" Six spoke to Baltar and ignored the pair of former humans following them.
"Take your pick. Kobol, Earth, the real Earth before this one, Caprica before the fall." As Baltar spoke Sam leaned down to whisper in Kara's ear.
"Did they really come down here to whine about the state of the world?" Kara shrugged and turned back in to Six.
"All of this has happened before."
"But the question remains, does all of this have to happen again?"
"This time I bet no." That stopped the four of them in their tracks. The other three looked at her curiously.
"You know, I've never known you to play the optimist, why the change of heart?" Kara wholeheartedly seconded Baltar's question.
"Mathematics. Law of averages. Let a complex system repeat itself long enough eventually something surprising might occur. That too is in God's plan." Kara rolled her eyes at Sam.
"Of course she sees the fate of humanity as an exercise in mathematics."
"You know it doesn't like that name." Six only gave her longtime partner a look. One look was all it took. "Silly me" he conceded. "Silly, silly me." As the two walked off, arm in arm once again, Sam guided Kara in the other direction.
"I can really only handle those two in small doses," he told her once they were out of ear shot. She grinned and swung their joined hands between them.
"So what do you want to do now?" she asked. "We could sneak into a movie. Something with killer robots maybe?" she grinned at him and Sam rolled his eyes at her poor humor.
"I'll pass thanks. Living and dying through the reality twice was more than enough, I don't need to relive the experience through the substandard, special effects showpieces that Hollywood seems intent on producing." Kara laughed.
"You're such a critic! Not all science fiction is bad. I still can't believe you didn't like Star Wars. Well, the original three anyway. I'm totally with you on the new ones."
"I liked parts of Star Wars; I just couldn't get past the space travel. It took them, what, an hour to get from planet to planet? Come on!"
"Suspension of disbelief Sammy! You need to stop thinking like a scientist; you haven't been one in a very long time."
"You were a pilot, more recently than I was a scientist. How did it not bother you?"
"I was a pilot who once died, woke up circling a mythical planet, somehow found my way back to my fleet without knowing how I did it, had visions of shooting stars, and now I roam the Earth as an invisible guiding hand along with my equally dead husband. There are certain things I'm willing to just go with at this point in my existence."
Kara stopped and yanked Sam back to her when he walked on. She grabbed a handful of his shirt and yanked his mouth down to hers for a toe curling kiss.
"What was that for?" Sam asked when she pulled back. "If Star Wars gets you that hot we can go watch Star Wars right now." She smiled up at him and wrinkled her nose playfully.
"I just realized I hadn't done that all day. Needed to catch up. We have a reputation to uphold after all." Sam snorted.
"I think our reputation is perfectly safe. Baltar and Six seem to walk in on us at least once a decade."
"We really need to teach them to knock."
"I thought that's what the water balloons were for."
"Clearly we're going to have to try harder." Taking Sam's arm again Kara steered them down the street towards one of their favorite parks. They walked hand in hand, two lovers who'd known the highest of highs and the lowest of lows, who'd held on to each other into the next life. The crowd swallowed them up, the pair lost in a sea of humanity and life.
End