I'm sitting in the garden under the big oak, Lee's favorite place, and I watch his family who have become my own over the years. They are all here, every living member of the ever-growing Adama clan. There are Evan and Sophie who have started their own families by now. Sophie has married Nicholas Tyrol and they have two wonderful children, William and Laura. Evan has married a women, Sarah, who he met here on earth. Their marriage had been the first one between the colonials and the people from earth. They had a little boy, Joseph. Cally is here too, she had been part of the family long before her son had married Sophie ... everyone on the Galactica was a part of the family. Not all of them are still alive, but the ones who are have come here. They all look old and in a few years all that will be left of our lives on the colonies will be stories told to the children who had been born after the attacks. Our memories will die with us.

But I'm not dead yet and I still have my memory. And the older I get, the more I do remember. Everything is as clear as if it happened yesterday. I remember all the good and bad times, the happiness and the sorrow. I don't ever want to forget a single moment of the life we lived, no matter how painful it might have been at the time. It made me the person I am today.

When I look at Lee's children, I remember so many good times. They had been a happy family. Lee had learned from his parents mistakes and he had been a wonderful father. Of course he had made mistakes as well – all parents do that every now and then. But his children loved him. I can see that in their faces. And they miss him ... I can hear them tell stories about him, share their memories like they did the day their mother had died. I could tell some stories of my own ... but right now I want to keep my memories to myself. I close my eyes and lean back and I remember ...

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"Kara, wait."

When I turned around I saw Lee quickly walking towards me.

"What do you know about Michael Decarro?" He asked as soon as he had reached me.

"Good Morning, Lee. How are you? I'm fine, thanks for asking." I replied sarcastically. I had hardly seen Lee in days and this was the first thing he said to me?

Lee took a deep breath to calm down. "Sorry. How are you?" The tone of his voice made it clear that he couldn't care less how I was at the moment.

"Like I said, I'm fine." I replied.

"Good. What do you know about Michael Decarro?"

"Why?"

"Kara!" He looked at me threateningly.

"Fine." I rolled my eyes. "Michael Decarro is one of the new nuggets. He's good. Not a natural, but good."

His clenched jaw told me that he didn't like that answer. "Fail him."

"What?"

"Fail him." Lee repeated.

"Have you lost your mind? I just said he's a GOOD pilot. He can fly. He's going to be a viper pilot. A GOOD viper pilot!"

"He's dating my daughter."

I had to use all my willpower not to laugh out loud. "This is what this is about? He's dating your daughter?"

"Who is your goddaughter. And you know how pilots are. You are a pilot. You really want your goddaughter going on a date with one of them?"

I hated to admit it, but he had a point. "So, what do you want to do?"

"Me? Nothing. I can't do anything. She would hate me for the rest of her life." Lee replied dryly. "You fail him and kick him off Galactica. End of story."

"You really want me to fail all the pilots your daughter is dating?"

Lee thought about that for a moment. "Yes."

I couldn't help myself, I had to laugh out loud.

"That's not funny."

"Lee, Sophie is your daughter. She grew up with a father and an aunt who are the best pilots in the fleet. And even though you're not flying as often anymore now that you're running this ship, she still worships you and with that every pilot on the Galactica."

"I don't run this ship. My father does."

I had so smile. I loved Lee's loyalty to his father. The Old Man was officially still commanding the Galactica with Lee as his XO. But he was old. He celebrated his 78th birthday last month. He hardly worked anymore and Lee did his job. But he still refused to let anyone call him Commander of the Galactica. That was his father's title as long as he was alive. And I loved him for that.

"You can't stop Sophie from dating the pilots." I stated dryly, returning to the actual subject of this conversation.

"She's sixteen!"

"Exactly, it's a wonder she hasn't been on dates before. Especially with me as her aunt." I said the last part with a small hint of pride in my voice. "She'll probably start viper training herself soon. She's her father's girl."

Lee's shoulders sagged down in defeat. "I don't like it."

"You don't like your daughter becoming a viper pilot?"

"No, I'm fine with that. We haven't seen any Cylons in years, so I think that's safe for her. But being around pilots all day ..." His voice trailed off and he looked at me helplessly.

"I don't think you need to worry. Her grandfather is the Admiral of the fleet, her father is the XO and her godmother is the CAG. Not to forget Dee ... she would kill every man with her bare hands who would dare to hurt her children. No one is going to dare to treat Sophie in any bad way." I assured him.

"You better be right." Lee muttered cranky.

"So when's the date?"

"Tonight." He practically spat the word out.

"You wanna go for a drink tonight then? Getting drunk might turn this into a not so horrible night for you."

"No, I can't. I want to make sure she comes home at the right time."

I had to laugh again. "You're one of them now."

He looked at me questioningly and I explained. "One of the fathers you were afraid to meet every time you picked up a girl at her house."

Lee's face suddenly lighted up. "You're right." His lips turned into an evil grin. "This kid will be going through hell when he picks up my daughter."

Michael Decarro only went out that one time with Sophie. Lee had scared him away for good ... much to the delight of his daughter who found the date more than miserable. Michael wasn't the only one Lee managed to scare, but she had her share of boyfriends over the years. She never paid much attention to Nicholas Tyrol who was working as a deckhand as his parents did. She was only interested in the pilots. But she changed her mind eventually and when she fell in love with Nick everyone was convinced it would be forever. And they were right. So far they were still as happy as on their first day.

XXXXXXX

Evan was right. I was there on every special moment in Lee's life. I was there the day he got married, the day his children were born, when they became pilots, when they got married. And I was there when they got their own children. I was at his side the day we found earth and I was with him the day his father died. He had been sick for some time and eventually it had become so bad that he couldn't leave his quarters anymore. Dr. Ishay had arranged for a sickbay bed to be placed in his room to make it more comfortable for him. When he neared the end, Lee made sure that someone was always at his side ... it had been Sophie and Evan who had called everyone when his breathing had gotten uneven.

When William Adama died, his whole family was at his side. I remember that he once told me he was afraid to die as a lonely man. His son wasn't talking to him at the time, he was divorced and he was about to retire. Without the crew of Galactica he had no one. But when he died, he wasn't alone. His son and daughter-in-law were at his side as well as his grandchildren and I – the woman he had virtually adopted as his own daughter. He even woke up for a short moment and looked at all of us. And I could have sworn there was a small smile on his lips. He wasn't alone.

Lee hardly spoke to anyone on the day of his funeral. He held a warm and loving speech and thanked everyone politely for the condolences. But when we all came together afterwards, he withdrew himself. I found him in the chapel ... the one place he could have been sure no one would find him. But I knew him too well for that.

"That was a nice speech." I said quietly as I sat down next to him on the bench.

"Thanks." He replied in a hoarse voice. I could hear he had been crying.

"I already miss him." I took his hand in mine as I spoke.

"Yeah ..." He wiped a tear away with his free hand. "I wish he had lived long enough to see it. Earth, I mean ..."

"He knew we are on the right path. And he knew you will lead us there. He always had so much confidence in you."

"It meant so much to him ... finding earth. I can't believe he will never see it." His shoulders sagged down. "Maybe we won't either."

"We will." I said with as much determination as I could muster on a day like this.

"How can you be so sure?" He looked at me and all hope seemed to have left his eyes.

"Because you're his son. The Old Man promised us earth. It just turned out to be too far away for him to reach it. But he knew we were in good hands. You're his son, Lee, in every possible way. You'll bring us there for that reason alone."

He didn't say anything after that and after a moment I leaned my head on his shoulder. We stayed like that for a long time, just sitting in the dark, indulging ourselves in our own memories of him.

I was always at Lee's side. We found earth, settled down and we grew old. We didn't do any of it together ... but that was okay. I was content to watch him do all these things with Anastasia. I was happy as long as I knew that he was.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

As I'm sitting here under Lee's oak, watching his family and remembering all those moments in our life, I feel very old. I close my eyes and let myself fall back into the chair. I feel myself drifting away ... I'm so tired.

It seems like an eternity and only the split of the second at the same time. When I open my eyes again, I see them standing in front of me. The Old Man, Lee and Dee, Tigh, Helo, Tyrol ... all the people form the Galactica who have died before me. I see my family ... When I stand up and go to them I don't feel old anymore. I feel light ...

I'm home.

The end.

A.N.: Thanks to Laurie for beta reading :)