TITLE: Cycle of Violence

AUTHOR: DramaLexy

SUMMARY: What if Kara had been left behind in the second exodus? A lot of damage can be done to a person in three years. Spoilers up to Exodus, AU from there on. Kara/Lee eventually.

DISCLAIMER: Oh, if they were mine…but they're not, so don't sue.

DISTRIBUTION: Sure, just ask me first

A/N: This got started after pilotlover suggested that I take a look at a plot bunny that littlebit6271 put on Beyond Insane. So, I have to give credit to both of them. The basic idea was that Sam never found Kara on New Caprica, so she stays with Leoben and keeps thinking Kacey is hers. A few years later, they get back to Galactica and have to deal with the repercussions of their time away. It took me a long time to get this all worked out (sorry! End-of-the-semester sucks!!), but I finally did. Special thanks to my muse for getting me going when my mind was too tired from school to cooperate. This wound up being pretty dark, so you have been forewarned.

It was quiet when she awakened. That was the first thing she noticed. Usually Raiders were constantly patrolling the city from the air, engines screaming as they flew overhead. Now, there was nothing. New Caprica City was quiet.

Kara got up, gently prodding at the forming knot on the back of her head, and went back downstairs. The quiet was forgotten as she noticed that Kacey was quietly playing on the floor and hadn't gotten into any trouble. What the frak was he thinking, leaving her here with me unconscious? she wondered to herself.

"You okay?" she asked the little girl, who nodded, offering up the blocks that she'd been keeping busy with. Kara reached to take the toy – and then happened to glance out the window. She suddenly realized why it was so quiet.

Small fires were still burning in what was left of the shanty-town, but there wasn't really much left. Guard towers had been destroyed, Raiders had been shot down, and pieces of a few centurions were littered about. Bodies were lying in the streets as well, snow gently falling upon them. As Kara took in the whole scene, she slowly began to realize what had happened. The Colonial ships that had been parked at the south end of the city were gone; the second exodus had occurred, and just like her husband had been the first time, she'd been left behind. Abandoned on a worthless rock with no escape.

Kara gave Kacey her blocks back and went up the staircase two at a time. She wasn't accepting defeat that easily; there had to be some way to get off the planet. She'd gut another downed Raider if she had to, if that would get her away. She was NOT going to stay.

The door was unlocked, like it had been on a few occasions before. Leoben had never really worried about it because there was no way she was getting past the bars. However, he hadn't counted on the amount of damage that would be caused by the resistance. A large piece of Raider-shrapnel had put a decent-sized hole in the wall at the opposite end of the corridor. Freedom beckoned.

Kara ran back inside to see that Kacey was at the bottom of the stairs, waiting and watching. She scooped the little girl up and took her along as she made her way through the rubble. The air smelled burnt in the worst way. "Come on, honey," she told Kacey, climbing over a few slabs of wall in order to get to the ground. "We're going to get out of here."

Everything was eerily empty. It was odd to be walking through the city after being caged for four months, separated from it. They'd had so many hopes for that planet; the Cylons had taken all of that away from them.

Turning around a half-way collapsed tent, Kara stopped short when she came face to face with Leoben. He offered her a small smile. "Where are you going, Kara?"

She didn't answer, just turned around to go a different way. It creeped her out to no end to find a Simon model blocking her path. She could have done without ever seeing the doctor again. "We're not going to stay here!"

"You belong with me, Kara," Leoben explained, eternally patient as always. "We are a family." He nodded slightly to Simon, who reached for Kacey. The little girl shrieked with surprise.

"Stay the frak away from her," Kara warned him, her eyes fierce.

Leoben knew that all of his plans had worked perfectly. He now had the ideal piece of leverage. "This is where you belong," he told Kara. "Here with me and our little girl. You can't leave; I will find you. You can't kill me; I will come back. We're going home now, because you don't have any other options." He extended a hand and waited for her to take it. Apparently feeling she'd hesitated long enough, Simon once more reached for Kacey. The child burst into tears as he tried to pull her away. Kara was torn; there was no way in hell that she was leaving Kacey to Leoben or any other Cylon, but at the same time, they couldn't stay on this planet…

"Mommy!" Kacey whimpered, and she knew what she had to choose, at least for the time being.

"We'll stay!" she finally decided. Simon immediately stopped the human tug-o-war for Kacey.

Leoben smiled. "Let's go home," he said.

As she followed him back to her prison, Kara swore to herself that nothing on this planet would ever be home. Right now, home was out somewhere amid the stars.

TBC...