Title: Pomegranate Trails
Author: Trinity Everett
Rating: PG
Summary: "Even little girls have crushes, Bill. Don't you remember pulling a girl's hair because you liked her?"
Spoilers: Season 3 – Nothing past 'Taking A Break From All Your Worries.' This takes on a much, much more AU turn.
Pairings: Mom/Dad, smidgens of Lee/Kara, even smaller smidgens of Lee/Dee, and Kara/Anders.
Category: Fluff that sorta isn't all that fluffy. There is a child, or two, in this story.
Disclaimer: I do not claim any ownership to Battlestar Galactica, Bill Adama, Laura Roslin or any other characters mentioned on the show. Persephone is my creation, though. I mean no disrespect to these characters, and no copyright infringement. Please take no legal action against me.
He never had been one to drink in front of his children, save for the occasional glass of wine or ambrosia with his dinner, but tonight Admiral Adama was going to rethink that policy. He already needed a drink and was certain that that desire would only intensify as the day went on. Despite serving close to half a century in the Colonial Fleet, somehow today, he felt far older than ever before.
He loved his son; he loved Kara, and he – just like their respective spouses – could forgive the transgressions that led to them sharing a child, but not a life. His only grandchild was healthy, whole, perfect, and he couldn't help but dote on her from the moment she was born. Right now though, he wished his granddaughter had just a little less of her mother in her.
At not even four years old, Persephone was rambunctious, precocious, bright and witty, and completely able to run circles around most people, including him. Usually he could handle her, but it was mostly when it was Persephone alone. Somehow, today he had been tricked into watching both Persephone and Nicholas Tyrol at the same time.
Persephone's parents were both on duty – Lee doing a rotation on CAP while Kara ran nugget-training scenarios – and it was his usual day to watch her. Four days out of the weekly rotation, Persephone went to school and on the others someone, whether it was Lee, Kara, or him was decided by a coin toss, watched her for the day.
When he opened the hatch for his son, Lee smiled softly, greeting him with what passed for downcast eyes at 0500. Lee always sported the same resigned, almost shamed look whenever he owed his father for watching Persephone; a duty which might have been taken by Dee, if not for the anger, however masked, the young woman still felt. They both knew that Sam Anders felt much the same. Their moods were brightened slightly by the young child standing between them, especially when Lee kissed his golden-haired child on the head and warned her about the consequences of touching things in CIC should Bill take her there.
Thirty minutes later, Galen Tyrol, harried and unshaven, knocked. He was holding Nicky's hand even though the five-year-old didn't appear to be going anywhere. More than anything else, the poor child looked terrified to be standing in front of the admiral.
"Sir, I know this is a completely inappropriate thing to ask, but everyone else who he's ever stayed with is on duty. Is there any way you can watch Nick? Just until one of us gets off duty, of course."
He agreed, taking pity on his over-worked deck chief. They both knew he never would have asked had it not been a necessity. Nicholas, too, went to school most of the week, however, today was one of his age group's vacation days. His mother was ill, Chief was busy pulling double-duty between caring for Cally and handling his work on deck, and he couldn't spend the day keeping Nick out of the way. It would just be an invitation for an accident.
Thus, he became the only source of entertainment for two children under the age of ten.
At first, the children remained on opposite sides of the couch. Given the early hour, he was relieved to see them both slip back into sleep, even for just a little while. It gave him a few more minutes to take care of command related information before putting that to the side for a while.
He didn't even realize that they had woken until Persephone's distinctive yawn filled the room. He waited for her to come to him, lift her arms and beg to be held until the sleepiness had faded, but she remained where she was, regarding Nicholas silently. Perhaps it was because she was still too tired to make trouble, or because Nick had not yet decided that girls didn't carry boy-killing germs, but neither child moved. Gradually, though, Seph slid over to Nicholas's side, nudging him with the heel of her hand.
Bill sighed, reaching for his coffee.
Having officially decided that the day should start already, Persephone jumped down from the couch, grabbing Nick's pant leg and ordering him to follow her. Nick did, thankfully, because Bill couldn't deal with one of Persephone's fits this early.
Keeping a watchful eye on the kids, who had contented themselves to drawing on scrap sheets of paper, Bill turned to his reports. The new quorum demanded more attention to paperwork and bureaucracy than ever before, and that made his job more time consuming than before, if that was even possible.
Three supply-mission reports later, he heard the smack and a yelp and sighed. Nicholas began to cry soon after. Standing, Bill crossed the cabin to where the youngest members of his fleet were sprawled. Upon seeing him, Nicholas did his best to wipe his tears and stop crying. Bill squatted, touching the child's head.
"What happened, Nicky?"
"No-Nothing, sir."
He shook his head. "Tell me the truth, Nicholas."
"Sh-She hit me," he stuttered, pointing at Persephone as if there was any doubt as to who 'she' was.
"Persephone, did you hit Nicholas?"
"Yep. He was hogging the green," she said matter-of-factly, still coloring.
Bill touched her chin. "What've your parents said about hitting, Seph?"
"Smack 'em good if they really deserve it?"
He rolled his eyes at Starbuck's motto, and shook his head.
"You don't hit, Persephone. If you can't share, then you'll have to play one game while Nicholas plays another."
"But you and Daddy hit all the time."
True as that might have been, he shook his head. "Put down the pencil, you're going to sit with me for a little while."
Persephone looked as if she was about to argue, but relinquished the offending green pencil and stood. He led her over to the large chair beside his desk and plopped her on her bottom in the middle of it.
Nodding at Nicholas to continue coloring, Bill returned to his work.
Forty minutes later, Nicholas appeared at his desk, shuffling his feet and wringing his hands nervously. He was the spitting image of his father when he was about to ask for something the admiral wouldn't like.
"Um, sir? Could Persephone comes back and play please?"
Glancing over at Persephone, who was doing her best to appear disinterested, he nodded.
"If she's willing to be nice."
Persephone hopped down, running into the other part of the room. Nicholas smiled.
"Thank you, sir."
Sitting on the floor with the rambunctious younger girl, Nick handed her the green pencil.
Sometime later, snippets of their conversation wafted to his ear.
"You don't have to call my grampa 'sir' all the time," she told Nicholas almost-haughtily.
"My daddy said I did."
"I don't."
"You should."
"He's my grampa, dummy. I don't have to."
"He's the admiral!"
"He's my grampa, I don't have to!" Seph insisted, raising her voice.
"Persephone," he called. "Let Nicholas call me whatever he wants to, it's not your business."
With that fistfight averted, he unbuttoned his jacket and collapsed against his chair; gods, it was going to be a long day.
Making it through lunch without incident gave him hope. He had gotten the children out of his quarters and taken them to the mess, where they were able to watch the bustling members of the crew as they ate. Once they were fed, the three of them stopped into CIC. They only stayed long enough for him to get an update from those on deck, and remind them where he'd be if needed. It was just as well, really, since Persephone's eyes began to droop closed and he ended up carrying her back to his quarters.
While she napped, Bill tugged a chair for Nicholas over to the table, and handed him a paintbrush, entreating his help on a model ship. As they worked, the shy little boy opened up, and soon his fear of the admiral had been pushed to the background. In fact, he couldn't stop chattering, to the point that Bill had to cast glances in Persephone's direction to be assured that they wouldn't wake her. He found out a great deal about the child, though, from his love of watching the hustle and bustle in the hanger, to the fact that unlike most boys his age, Nick did not want to be a fighter jock like Apollo, he just wanted to work on the deck like his dad.
Persephone was awake before they finished working on the ship. Instead of inciting more mayhem, she simply curled up in Adama's lap, resting her cheek against his shoulder. Bill brushed a palm over her back and dropped a kiss on her baby-fine hair.
"Tired, Seph?"
She shook her head vigorously, but the yawn she couldn't contain betrayed that action.
"Can we play now, Grampa?"
"Play what?" he replied patiently, nodding in approval at Nick's broad sweeps with the paintbrush.
"Cards?" she asked, smiling up at him hopefully.
"We can try. But only if you let Nick and me win once or twice."
Persephone giggled, throwing her arms around his neck briefly before nodding and squirming down to the floor. She disappeared into the only drawer of his desk she was allowed to access and returned, holding out a deck of cards to him. Taking them, he pointed her into the living room area while he and Nicholas cleaned up their supplies.
The three of them sat down around the table, Persephone and Nick kneeling on the floor on one side, him on the couch. Taking off his jacket and laying it to one side, Bill watched Persephone give Nicholas half the deck to shuffle. At least they were playing nice for the next few minutes.
The children only knew how to play a couple card games, and Triad was one, so that was what they played. He could have easily won, but he allowed the children to trump him anyway. Seeing Persephone dance with glee made him happy enough that losing didn't seem so bad.
Persephone's biggest problem, though, was not with winning. It was with losing. Usually she was fine, but she was also used to getting her way with him. Additional players meant that he should prepare for the impending temper tantrum.
Sure enough, Nick's winning hand led to the beginnings of a pout. Warning the little girl with a look, Bill dealt the next hand. Ten minutes later, Nicholas spoke up.
"She's cheating."
"Am not."
"Yes you are, you're looking at my cards."
"Am not."
"Stop cheating!" Nick moved his hand away.
Persephone growled, slapping Nicholas's arm. Instead of crying, he pushed her back. Before Persephone could escalate the fight, Bill reached over to stop her, lifting her up and over their card game by the arms. Setting her on the couch beside him, he gave Nicholas a warning glance that should have quieted the boy. Turning back to Persephone, he made sure he had her eyes before speaking.
"Persephone, you know that hitting someone just because you're angry is the wrong thing to do. You also know that cheating is the wrong thing to do. If you can't play right, and play nicely, then you're not going to play at all. That's not what you want, is it?"
Persephone crossed her arms. "I don't wanna play no more. He's stupid."
Nick stuck his tongue out at her. "You're stupid, and a baby."
"Nicholas," Bill warned again, but this attempt was no more heeded than the first.
"I'm not a baby! You're a tattler. A big, dumb, stupid, tattler."
"Am not."
Persephone darted over the surface of the tabletop to grab at Nicholas's hair and jerk it violently. "I hate you," she spat.
"Persephone!" he berated, grabbing her by the waist and sitting her back down. Part of him wondered when he had lost control of the situation between two. Looking up, he realized why his shout had had such a feminine echo to it. Shooting Laura a relieved smile, he waited for the woman who was much better at discipline than he was to continue.
"Persephone Iian Thrace Adama, get yourself over here this instant. You know how to treat others, and what I just saw was no-"
"Gramma!" Persephone ignored the lecture she was being given in favor of vaulting off the couch and rushing over to Laura, hopping into her arms without reservations.
"Gramma, Nick said I was cheating, but I wasn't and he's just being mean because I'm better than him."
Laura raised an eyebrow, effectively managing to stop her excuses. "Persephone, whether you were cheating or not, you hurt Nicholas's feelings and you hurt him. You know that that is wrong. We don't settle our differences by hurting one another, just as we don't punish little girls who can't behave by hurting them. How would you feel if Nicholas hit you every time you did something he didn't like. How would you feel if Grampa spanked you whenever you were bad?"
Bill raised an eyebrow. They both knew that he would never lay a hand on Persephone that way. A firm grip on the arm was generally the sternest he could muster, soft touch that he was.
Laura nodded when Persephone's eyes went wide.
"Now, I want you to apologize to Nicholas, and then you are going to sit with me while he and your grandfather finish playing."
"But-" Persephone began, looking plaintively back at him, as if he would make mean old Gramma stop. A sharp shake of the head from him and a bounce from Laura to get her attention was enough to quiet her protests.
"But nothing. You know how I feel when you act this way, Persephone. When I put you down, apologize to Nicholas – and mean it – and come sit with me at Grampa's desk. Am I clear?"
"Yes, Gramma," Persephone replied softly.
Sharing a smile with him, Bill watched as Laura carried Persephone to the table. She touched Nicholas's head.
"Hello, Nicholas."
"Hi, Ms. Laura," Nicholas greeted, looking more than slightly unnerved by the fact that his teacher was standing somewhere other than at the blackboard. Bill remembered Lee having the same reaction to meeting a teacher on a beach somewhere on Picon during a family vacation.
"Persephone has something she'd like to say." Laura lowered Persephone onto her feet and gave the girl a stern look, daring her to disobey.
He watched Persephone pout and shuffle her feet, but ultimately apologize with enough sincerity that he thought she might actually mean it. Satisfied Laura took her hand and led her away, leaving the two males alone once again. Twenty minutes later, a look in their direction revealed Laura comforting a still teary-eyed child. They shared a glance and a shrug.
Yes, he definitely deserved a drink.
Thankfully, with Laura there to run interference, dinner and the rest of the evening passed without too much conflict. Persephone did her best to behave, as she was wont to do when the sterner of her grandparents attended a meal, and Nicholas didn't intentionally antagonize her. Apparently, sharing a dinner table with one's teacher – the former president of the Colonies, no less – was enough to keep him from fighting.
They decided to go ahead and put the kids to bed as if they would be staying the night when it appeared that, despite the late hour, neither child would be leaving any time soon. Nicholas was the first one to fall asleep, and so he got to claim the pillow and was placed under the covers in the admiral's rack while Laura stayed on the couch with Persephone, trying to coax her to sleep. When his granddaughter finally drifted off, Bill scooped her still mumbling form up and made room for her at the opposite end of his bed. After kissing her on the forehead and murmuring a goodnight, he returned to find Laura holding out a drink.
"I can see in your eyes that you need this."
"Thank you," he replied gratefully, taking the glass and resisting the urge to show her his true appreciation. Lowering himself down onto the couch, he drained half the glass before even noticing that she had poured one for herself and joined him, tugging her legs into the space between them. He started, feeling the light touch of her index finger along his ear.
"You know, I didn't get to say a proper hello earlier."
"So you didn't," he observed, cocking his head and smirking. "You were otherwise occupied with your terror of a grandchild. Thank you, by the way."
Laura snorted, "So now she's just mine."
"Only on days like this."
"How convenient," she teased, wrinkling her nose in amusement. "Maybe I should ask for a better behaved grandchild next family I'm adopted into."
"That's funny."
"I'm not exactly sure when, but she will grow out of this. I know, because she doesn't act this way at school."
"She wants our undivided attention."
"She doesn't have my undivided attention in class. Above all else, I think today was something different."
Taking another savoring sip of his scotch, he closed his eyes and contemplated her words.
"She's not even four, Laura."
"Even little girls have crushes, Bill. Don't you remember pulling a girl's hair because you liked her?"
"Not at four years old."
Laura chuffed slightly. "Maybe not, but she is her mother's child."
"I should move them, then."
"They're fine. Persephone doesn't have that big a crush."
He scowled, making her laugh again.
"You had to bring this up, didn't you? Now I'm going to have to worry about her, too."
Chuckling, she set her drink down, and reached for his as well. Returning to their former position, she repeated her finger's earlier path along his ear. Smiling slightly, he felt her hand slide down his cheek to cup his chin.
"C'mere, I'll make up for it."
Her smile was contagious, and he met her halfway, soothing a day's worth of frazzled nerves with her kisses.
End.