Author's note: I do not own Battlestar Galactica or its characters. This is AU after the middle of Season Two and set on present day Earth.

Auld Lang Syne

It was a familiar routine as Lee unlocked the bar. He opened up the place most days, so he had the evenings off. Of course, tonight the bar wouldn't be open to the general public. The night of the winter solstice might not be that significant to most of the humans on Earth, but for the Colonials that had settled here, it had become something of a major holiday, a combining of old traditions and new. And he was hosting the party tonight.

When they'd arrived on Earth almost five years ago now, they really hadn't known what to expect. And they certainly hadn't expected to find humans on Earth. Not really. It had been rather tense and trying to start with, and actually getting the Colonials settled on Earth had turned out to be almost as stressful as getting them there. It was a different sort of stress, but some of the arguments and fights had been just as intense. Once everyone had settled in their new home though, many of the Fleet had drifted apart. However, many of the close knit ties also remained, and Lee was looking forward to this evening.

Lee slipped behind the bar to check his inventory. The bar had been Kara's idea, though owning a place like this had been idea floating around his head for awhile. They'd ended up naming the place Galactica, and there were plenty of reminders of the Twelve Colonies decorating the walls. It had taken him nearly two years to get the place off the ground, but Lee liked his bar, and he enjoyed running it. Kara was perfectly happy to work at a local air force base, training pilots, and they both felt at home in this small town in Canada.

It had been a fluke that the pair had stumbled upon the key to the map from the Tomb of Athena. But what had supposed to have been a routine scouting mission had set them on the path to their new home. It had turned out to be a hellish trip for multiple reasons. There had been everything from conspiracies, political intrigue, rescue missions, and the birth of cylon-human hybrids. And it had finally seen Kara and himself on the same page at the same time, though that could have had something to with the other pilots locking them in a storage closet for nearly thirty-six hours.

Inventory complete, Lee set about pulling out a few things he had reserved for tonight. He was back in the storage room when the front door opened.

"Apollo?"

"I'm in the back."

Athena Agathon appeared in the doorway. "Hey. Kara suggested that you could probably use a hand today, and since Helo's watching the brood, I figured I'd come over. What can I do?"

He smiled. "Grab a case of the scotch and bring it out front. The caterers should be making deliveries soon, and you can deal with them."

Helo's Sharon had started using the name Athena after the pilots had tagged it as her call sign. It had taken time for any of them to trust her, but by the time they'd reached Earth, she'd been an accepted part of Galactica's crew. If there had been people in the fleet who had their doubts about her, they had kept them to themselves. Of course, that might have something to do with the way some pilots responded to nasty comments towards Athena once she'd been adopted. Hera, Helo and Athena's oldest daughter, had been born on the trip to Earth. And once they'd arrived here, the pair had proceeded increase the size of their family just about every year. Athena's last pregnancy had even ended up being twins.

It wasn't common knowledge that Athena was a cylon. Both the Commander and the President had decided that it was one fact about the Colonials that didn't need to known by the general public of Earth. Given all the help that Athena had provided them with since Kara had brought her back from Caprica, Lee figured she'd earned the peace. She and Helo lived here in town, and they were perfectly content to run a charter flight business and raise their pack of hellions.

Actually, Lee was rather amazed by just how many Colonials lived in the general area of Vancouver Island. Cally and Galen Tyrol were in Victoria with their family where the chief taught engineering courses at the university, and there was a sizable community of Colonials living there. Even his dad had a cabin here on the island. Canada in general had the highest population of former Colonials in truth. Dee and Billy lived in Ottawa when they weren't traveling around the world while Gaeta and Hoshi were in Toronto.

He and Athena chatted as they set up the bar for the evening. By mid-afternoon things were mostly set up, and they were just waiting for the last of the caterers. However, before they arrived Helo came trooping in with his entire brood.

"Figured I'd drop off the munchkins before I started pick duty. The Old Man supposed to be getting in soon."

Hera hopped up onto one of the bar stools with a bright smile. "Uncle Apollo, I made you something at school."

The addition of four rather rambunctious children to the bar was not that big of a problem. It was one of the things that Lee had planned for. There would be any number of children running around this evening, and he had learned the hard way just how chaotic that could be. Of course, he was also probably never again going to volunteer to babysit both Helo and Athena's brood as well as Cally and the Chief's kids at the same time. Hera insisted on helping him behind the bar while her mom kept an eye the mini-hurricane of siblings running around.

Kara arrived about the same time Helo dropped off his dad and Laura. She was laughing with his dad as they entered the bar, and Lee grinned at the sight. But it was the little girl in her arms that had Lee's full attention. Aurora's face lit up and she held out her arms, demanding, "Daddy!"

With practiced ease, Kara transferred their daughter over to him. "Someone told her that she could help them with bartending tonight. She's been insisting on playing bartender all day."

Lee smiled at his daughter. "Is that so?"

Aurora just wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face in his shoulder.

"I take it she needs a nap?"

Kara nodded. "She wouldn't go to sleep for me. You always had that knack. I can handle the rest of the set-up."

"We're mostly done. I'm just waiting on the rest of the staff to get here. Just make sure no one burns down the place."

Kara laughed. "Go get our daughter to take a nap, Apollo. I'll make sure your bar doesn't get singed."

Lee did not have much trouble getting Aurora take her nap. Kara was right about the fact that he had always had a knack to get Aurora to sleep. Their daughter had been something of a surprise. She'd been born nearly a year after they had arrived on Earth. Aurora Cariad Adama looked almost exactly like her mother, save for the fact that she had Lee's dark hair. Personality wise, Aurora turned out to be a mix of both of them, though Kara swore she had inherited the Adama glare from her grandfather. Aurora was a handful at times and easy going at others. In Lee's mind, Aurora was also one of the best things about their life on Earth.

By the time that Lee rejoined Kara, several more guests had joined the group. Billy and Dee were chatting with Laura. Lee did a double take when he realized that Dee was quite clearly pregnant. That was an announcement that Lee had clearly missed. Athena and Cally were keeping an eye on the small herd of children. Cally and the Chief had two: Nicholas who was only six months younger than Hera, and Victoria who had just turned two last month. Cally and Athena might not be the best of friends, but these days they got along fairly well. Kara and his father were laughing about something together, and given the glances his wife kept shooting him, Lee was not entirely sure he wanted to know.

He'd barely managed to say hello to his dad before the next throng of guests arrived along with most of his staff. But Lee finally managed to make his way over to where his wife stood laughing with their friends. Kara smiled at him, wrapping an arm around his waist and leaning on him slightly. It feels good to be surrounded by old friends and colleagues again. They might not be risking their lives on a regular basis any more, but some how making new lives for themselves here on Earth was challenge enough for most of them.

It was not long at all before the bar filled up with former Colonials. Most of them had been crew members on Galactica, but there were civilians sprinkled amidst them as well. Everywhere Lee turned he found people remembering their shared past and sharing their plans for their new future. It was probably the most full his bar had ever been, and Lee found himself with his hands full. Then Aurora chose to wake up, and decided she did not want to be separated from her parents at all. So Lee mixed and served drinks with his daughter and her favorite stuffed animal while his wife made fun of him. Though eventually her grandfather managed to convince Aurora to sit with him. She eventually fell asleep in his lap. Lee caught Laura snapping a photo of the two of them and made a mental note to get a copy.

As the evening wore on, speeches were made both by the former President of the Twelve Colonies and the former Admiral of the Fleet. William Adama's speech wasn't even spoiled by the fact that he had a four year old clutching a stuffed bunny rabbit in his lap while he made it. A toast was offered to both absent friends and those present here. Lee raised his glass with everyone else before clinking it against Kara's, Helo's, and Athena's. Kara leaned against him, and Lee stole a quick kiss.

Everywhere Lee looked he saw the reasons they had fought so hard for this present they now had. Friends and former colleagues laughing and remembering together as well as trading stories of the new lives they were building. The gaggle of children playing together in one corner of the room with Hera Agathon and Nicholas Tyrol as clear ringleaders. His father and Laura talking quietly while Aurora slept in her grandfather's lap (though it was still a little weird to think of Laura Roslin as his stepmother). Kara beside him, her fingers twined with his. Home was not a city or a planet or even a ship. Home was where his family was, and Lee knew he was already there.