Again, thanks to RJ Steamboat for his sounding board and plot bunny abilities.

Rebellion, Chapter 7

Lee sat at the table in the school's shelter with his head in his hands, studying the maps, studying the reports, finding nothing and getting more frustrated by the minute. Finally, he'd had enough and swept the papers off the table. As they scattered to the floor, he rested his head on his arms.

Laura walked up behind him, carrying Thea, and placed a hand on his shoulder. "We'll find her." She said, confidently.

Lee raised his head and looked at her with uncertainty clear in his eyes. "It's been two months." Lee said. "Two months, and we've got nothing. How could she just disappear?"

"I've been checking the prisoner manifests," Felix offered, "and cross-referencing them to the census. She's not showing up on any of them. Not even under a false name."

Lee looked questioningly at Sam, who just shook his head. "I'm sorry, man. I've got people looking, but it all has to be under the table now since the toasters set up their own police force."

"It has to be Leoben." Lee said. "He's sought her out before - keeps telling her she has a special destiny."

"Well, it's not like we can go around questioning every Leoben model. They don't like it when we get nosy." Sam replied.

"Kara said they wanted Thea." Lee continued. "Why haven't they come for her yet?"

"Why would they want Thea?" Laura asked, instinctively hugging the child closer to her.

"Leoben tried to convince Kara that Thea's some kind of a cylon-human hybrid." Lee replied. "He told her they removed her ovaries and replaced them with a cylon's."

"Is that even possible?" Felix asked.

"The farm." Sam replied. "Back on Caprica. They had her for a few days before we found her and she had that scar she refused to talk about…."

Lee shook his head. "It's ridiculous."

"They were experimenting on human women." Sam continued. "It seems they can't reproduce on their own."

"So they need Kara?" Lee retorted sarcastically.

"As far as I know, she's the only one that survived the farms."

Lee scrubbed his hand across his face as Thea began to stir in Laura's arms.

"I think it's past this little one's bed time." She whispered.

Lee stood up and reached out his hands. "Here, let me take her."

Thea wrapped her little arms around her father's neck and rested her cheek against his shoulder.

"Come on, sweetheart." Lee said, placing a kiss on his daughter's head. "Let's get you to bed."

Lee placed her gently on the cot and pulled the blanket over her.

"Meee?" Thea cried sleepily as she looked at him with big blue eyes. She had eyes like his, but the rest of her was pure Kara - all wild blonde hair and saucy attitude. Lee had to swallow back the lump in his throat that the memory of his wife created as he rubbed small circles on his daughter's stomach to soothe her to sleep.

"Soon, baby. Mommy will be here soon." He watched as she lost her struggle to keep her eyes open, then waited until her breathing evened out and slowed before he stood up to continue the search for Kara.

As he gave Thea one last look, gunfire erupted behind him and he turned quickly. Centurions were coming through the back entrance. The escape tunnel dug specifically to have a second exit, should the entrance through the school become compromised - and only the people who created the shelter knew about it. The cylons were firing freely, killing as many people as possible. It was a massacre - and they had never seen it coming.

Lee caught Laura's eye over a panicking crowd. "Get them out the front." He shouted, picking up his now awake and screaming daughter. Laura nodded and turned to usher a handful of people towards the entrance to the school.

As he moved to pass Thea off to safety, something slammed into his chest, and he felt the air being ripped from his lungs. Laura and Tyrol were the closest, but their backs were to him as they directed people through the melee. He attempted to call to them, but he couldn't draw the breath to speak above a whisper. He took a step forward but it was like trying to move through quicksand. Ringing in his ears drowned out the gunfire and screaming and his vision blurred.

He had to protect Thea. Get her to safety.

He managed another step forward before the room went black.

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Those who had made it out, had scattered. Some of Sam's 'team' had stayed behind as well as some of Galactica's former crew until things fell under control and the centurions retreated.

Sam ushered Laura and Cally with baby Nicholas out of the middle of the street and watched as the centurions left and the skin jobs entered the tent.

"What do they want?" Cally asked, trying to quiet her fidgeting child.

"Information most likely." Tyrol said, walking up behind them. "They're just gonna find a bunch of maps and stuff. Nothing too condemning, but I'm sure they know who we are. It's only a matter of time before they start rounding us up for questioning."

"How did they know?" Laura asked. "How did they know about the shelter under the school?"

"Somebody had to tell them." Tyrol replied. "Great. Now we have to figure out who's leaking information to the toasters."

"Lee." Sam mumbled.

Laura turned to him angrily. "I don't believe that for a minute."

Her response took him off guard. He had been concentrating on watching the activity around the school and hadn't been paying full attention to their conversation. "What? No." He sputtered. "I mean, he's not here. Where is he?"

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Thea whimpered as she crawled closer to her father and sat next to him. When he didn't move, she tugged at his sleeve. "Da?" she cried sadly.

She reached over and touched his face, leaving streaks of blood on his cheek. "Deee." She said in a more commanding tone.

Lee turned his head painfully and looked at his daughter. She was covered in blood, and he reached weakly up to touch her, running his hand systematically over her body to check for any sign of injury. When he got to her belly, he tickled her and she giggled and grabbed his finger. Lee let out a sigh of relief that she was unharmed.

"Lucky, just like your mother." He croaked, but speaking irritated his dry throat and he broke into a fit of coughing which sent a blinding pain through his body. Lee's eyes rolled back into his head as his body went limp.

Thea grabbed her father's finger again and shook it, banging Lee's hand against her leg, wanting him to play with her again. "Da Da Da Da Da." she repeated, but Lee never stirred. Finally she gave up and pressed her body against his, laid her head on his shoulder and waited for him to wake up again.

As she began to doze off, hands grabbed her and lifted her up. She reached out for her father with a squeal of protest.

"It's alright, sweetie." Leoben said soothingly, giving the child a quick once over. Lee Adama had done his job well and Leoben almost felt sorry for him.

Almost. He knelt down and felt for a pulse, shook his head, then signaled to a nearby Five model.

"Come on, Thea." He said. "Let's get you home. Your mother is anxious to see you."

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Sam entered the tent just as the cylons were carrying Lee out. He didn't look good. In fact he looked…

Sam ran his hands through his hair as he looked around the room in shock. This wasn't supposed to happen. Kara and Thea for his wife and child. A fair trade. Innocent people were not supposed to die. "My gods."

"What are you doing here?" Leoben asked. Sam hadn't even noticed him walking up to him.

"I.." Sam glanced at Thea in the cylon's arms and began to reach out to her. Leoben moved her out of his reach and began to walk away, but Sam grabbed his arm and stopped him.

"My wife." Sam said. "I gave you what you asked for, now I want my wife back."

"Of course." Leoben said calmly. "But unfortunately, she was caught trying to escape our holding facility and was executed."

"What?" Sam felt as if the ground had opened up beneath him. Had the cylon just told him that Jean was dead?

"The guards were acting on standing orders to execute any prisoner who attempted to escape. I am sorry." Leoben said as he began to walk away.

Sam started after him, but strong hands held him back. Men in uniforms and black ski masks. New Caprica Police. "I'm sorry Sam," One of the said as they cuffed his hands behind his back, "you're under arrest."

TBC