All the ships they'd retrieved the launch keys for had jumped away to a rendezvous point, but Galactica had remained as a safe port for all of the Raptors and shuttles that had been dispatched to the surface of New Caprica. Once Galactica safely reached the rendezvous point as well, those ships cluttered the Battlestar's hangar bays as they unloaded their cargo.

Kara was pretty sure shock had set in by the time the hatch was opened. She'd gotten out of the way while a medical team collected Sam, and he'd held her hand for a brief moment before they whisked him off to the Life Station, but then she'd shrunk back and became a simple observer of everything else going on around her. The whole fleet was euphoric with their success, but Kara felt completely detached from it all. At least until a little voice broke through.

"Mommy?" She looked down at Kacey, almost as though she hadn't realized that the child was still in her arms. "Where are we?"

It still felt like her brain was running in slow motion. As smart as Kacey was, how could she explain that they'd just escaped from a prison the little girl hadn't even known existed? "We're home." Kara finally said. "This ship is where I lived for a long time before you were born."

"Where Daddy?"

"He…you're probably not going to see him again." At least I can pray that's true.

"Ever?"

Kara sighed. "You know how it took a while before you and he found me?" Kacey nodded. "Well now you and I are going to live here, and I know he's going to look for us, but it might take a long while before he can find us. But you're safe here. You're safe with me."

Kacey looked down, playing with the strings on Kara's shirt. "Promise?"

She kissed the little girl's forehead. "I do. We're going to be okay."

Kara looked up at the sound of footsteps approaching her place at the back of the Raptor. Tears started to well once more as her eyes locked with Adama's. Neither one of them could say anything for a long moment before he finally pulled her into his arms. "You've got to stop doing this to an old man," he whispered to her.

"Yes, Sir."

His smile faltered for a moment as he stepped back, looking for the first time at what she was holding, and she wondered how much he knew without her having to say it. "Who is this?" Adama simply asked. It wasn't hard to see the resemblance.

"This is Kacey," she answered, smiling encouragingly at the little girl. "Kacey, this is your grandfather – if you agree, Sir."

The little girl looked a fair bit like her mother, but there was something else in her features, something Adama almost recognized from someone years earlier. He knew there would be much to talk about later, but wasn't going to turn away the gift that Kara was offering him. "I always wanted to be one of those," he accepted with a smile.

"Can you say hi?" Kara whispered to Kacey. She watched Adama for a moment before she pulled her fingers out of her mouth and lived up to the meaning of her name.

"Hi," the toddler bravely whispered.

Representatives of three races stood together on that Battlestar's hangar deck. Life would never be the same for any of them.


There was a long line through the Life Station as New Caprica's evacuees were checked out by any members of the medical staff that weren't in the middle of critical surgery on the more badly injured survivors, like Anders. There was no word on his condition yet; Kara just hoped the Gods were still listening to her prayers.

She smiled to herself as she watched Kacey's undeniable adorableness crack through Cottle's gruff shell. The doctor kindly kept her amused while he checked her out.

"All right, you're next," he told Kara as he turned to her, eyebrow raised as he dared her to complain. Much to his surprise, she didn't say a word as she sat down on the bed. "Anything that I should know about?"

"Nope."

Cottle scoffed. "So I get to find the scars myself again?" Kara didn't reply. "How's the knee?"

"It's been fine since I haven't been on a pyramid court lately."

The doctor nodded, and then looked her straight in the eye. "Do I need to get someone to do a GYN exam?" That got her attention.

"No. He didn't – They didn't do anything like that to me. I'm fine, really."

He finally nodded. "I'm going to have to get some blood samples from both of you. Just to check for any illnesses…" He paused, looking to Kacey for a moment. "I can run a DNA scan while I'm at it, if you'd like me to."

Kara looked down at the little girl, wondering if she knew what they were talking about. "Yeah, go ahead," she finally told the doctor. It wasn't that she doubted, not anymore, but still…she just needed something else to verify what she already knew.

"All right," Cottle said as he finished, "I've got far sicker people around here than you, so I need the bed. Go get some food in you or something; I'll let you know how that boy of yours is doing as soon as I've got something to tell you."

She shook her head. "I want to wait."

"I don't care. I don't need you cluttering up my sickbay, and this little one certainly doesn't need to be here. I'll get word to you, now go on."


Kara wasn't exactly sure where she was supposed to go. She didn't have a bunk on the ship anymore, and even if she did, the pilots' barracks were no place for Kacey. She and Sam had lived there for a few months when she'd first brought him back from Caprica, before they went down to the surface, but she had someone else to worry about now.

"Are you hungry?" she asked Kacey as they made their way to the mess hall. The little girl shook her head, sleepily sucking her fingers. It was the middle of the night on New Caprica, and Kara had pulled her from bed in order to escape. "Sorry, honey," she told her. "I know you've got to be tired. I'm going to get you somewhere to sleep, okay? I'm going to take care of everything."


TBC...