4. the reunion

He'd only just left, but back down the stairs he came, she saw, looking for her. 'Does he miss torturing me that much? Yeah, no doubt.' She'd begun having conversations in her head with herself a few months ago as a way to stay sane, to pretend like there really was another human being for her to talk to rather than a creepy, walking, talking refrigerator. Even now, having Kacey with her, Kacey had hardly spoke but a few words, so truth be told she wasn't much help in any way to her in the sanity department.

"Kara, are you okay?"

Although kind of a strange question considering the circumstance, she pretended not to hear, instead sitting on a chair at the table with arms crossed leaning over, taking in the view of the bright outdoors through the windows.

"I saw him leave a few minutes ago. I'm not sure how long he'll be gone though.", he supplied.

'Oh, we're going to play this game now. Funtimes.' "Alrighty.", she replied flippantly.

He paused at the base of the stairs, understanding she had no reason at all to trust he wasn't the one who had been playing mind games with her. "It's me. I understand, but it's me, not him." His hand squeezed the end of the railing. "Remember our last conversation four months ago?", he asked, hoping discussing the subject again would convince her of who he was, or, perhaps more importantly, who he wasn't.

Still at the table, she turned her head to eye him. Even if it wasn't the same Leoben all along, he could have been in on all the conversations too.

"You've had another vision - one of a mandala?" he began, hoping she would add to it.

She stared at him, wondering if she should bother. But how could he haved guessed something that specific? Save for her mother, no one had ever believed her visions were real, let alone ask about them. She went ahead. If nothing else, it would be a way to pass the time, and she would consider it a bonus if, during, he didn't directly come on to her. "Circles.", she gave him, which she was well aware wasn't much.

"Yellow in the middle.", he continued without missing a beat.

She tried to keep her eyes from widening. Almost wishing it could be blind luck on his part, she decided to throw him off. "Then green."

He furrowed his brow and did a half shake of his head, still looking at her. "There is no green. Blue is next." Noticing her nearly gapy look, he curiously asked, "Is it green for you?"

"No.", she said simply. Could she believe him? "Red is next."

"And then the whoosh of fire around to the left."

"Fire..." she repeated out loud, thinking. She had never known what the 'whoosh' as he called it was supposed to be. Maybe that is what it was? After a moment, she wondered, what about "My other vision?"

'Only one...', he mulled. He slowly approached her, not wanting a repeat of the beetle incident in any way. "Have you seen the boy yet?"

"No.", she replied again, not taking her eyes from him.

He had had more visions than her... Of her, the mandala, the burning, the boy, the comet... She wouldn't have visions of seeing herself, then, so that mostly just left today and "The comet?". He would have thought she would be more on edge today if she had envisioned the burning like he had last night.

"What do you know about the comet?"

"Very little - I've only dreamed of it once." He paused and took a last step to her, hoping she believed it was him now, and softly placed his hand on the table by her. She didn't flinch or move away. "Are you okay?" he asked her again, still serious.

"Well, let's see.", she couldn't help but revert to sarcasm. "I've been here, away from everyone I know, for four months. I've 'killed' him five times now. I'm tired of talking to myself when he's gone, and when he's here, he won't keep his mouth shut for five frakking minutes at any given stretch. To sum it all up, he says he won't leave me alone until I tell him I love him and until I frak him." Hearing this, his hand squeezed hers. "So this may well be cylon Hell for a human. But other than that, I'm grand." She did smile at the end, leading him to believe she really was okay, despite what she'd been through since he had last seen her.

"I am sorry.", he shook his head. "I wish I could have done something, but I'm glad you're alright."

Her eyes narrowed. 'Well why the frak didn't he... it... do something? Why hadn't he or it done anything about anything? This... this whole thing is one huge clusterfrak. And he couldn't've done anything?'

He observed her inner turmoil bubbling once again to the surface, but a small figure at the end of the sofa quickly caught his attention, and she followed his gaze to the sleeping toddler.

"Her name is Kacey." She looked back at him and then back at Kacey. "I think, anyway. Leoben showed up here with her two weeks ago and", as she spoke, her lips rounded and opened around her mouth to show her teeth, clearly indicating her repulsion at the idea, "told me she's our daughter."

"Sonofabitch.", he sighed, thinking not only of Kara but of the child who had obviously been taken away from her mother.

That wasn't exactly what she had expected to her, and she arched an eyebrow at him.

He only somewhat explained, knowing time was going to soon be of the essence. "That isn't possible. It doesn't work like that. I don't know whose she is, but she's not yours. He's been frakking with you."

"Sonofabitch.", she hmphed in agreement, arms still crossed, now leaning back in the chair. 'But what's new.'

His thoughts returned to the present. "We need to go."