Chapter Ten

"Eeeeeeeboof!" Kaylee exclaimed as Lee played with her feet. She pressed them against his face, smacking her toes against his nose with a satisfying thud.

"Oh is that right?" Lee asked, 'conversing' with his daughter. Who knew gibberish could be so entertaining?

"Igggggg boooee da!"

"Can you say Daddy?"

Burp.

"No, Daddy. Daddy," Lee insisted biting her tiny big toe.

"Meeeeeeeeeeeeee! Oh dabeemooo,"

"I agree, sweetie. You're so smart."

"Ga!"

"You're gonna be a genius when you grow up, aren't you?"

"Maaaadeeee Do!" Kaylee said smiling up at her father from the mattress as she tried to reach for his dog tags.

Lee laughed and blew a raspberry on her chubby stomach.

Kaylee squealed in delight and grabbed Lee's hair. "Booooooooo ah!"

"Give daddy a kiss," Lee leaned in a pressed his lips to her moist tiny mouth.

"Bee!" Kaylee said smacking her lips together, her tiny pink tongue darting out.

"Okay. Bath time, baby girl. Let's go," Kara popped out of the bathroom, a red towel over her shoulder.

"We were just having a very intense conversation," Lee said with an amused smile as Kaylee grabbed his finger and sucked it into his mouth. "I think I'm feeling another tooth coming in. Pretty soon you'll be ready for roast chicken and burgers, won't you?"

"Mooooooo!" Kaylee pulled his finger away, whimpering at his pressure against her tender gums.

"That's right, baby. Cow's go moo. See? I told you. Genius," Lee pointed out lifting Kaylee into her mother's arms.

"Oh right, like Dr Freakweasel's a genius. Hmm, I don't know, Lee, maybe you should start wondering," Kara joked carrying Kaylee towards the small basin filled with warm soapy water she had set up in the bottom of the shower.

"That's not funny on so many levels, Mrs Adama."

"Oh come on, it's a little funny. You think it's funny, don't you, baby?" Kara asked Kaylee as she undid her diaper.

"Gibbbeshoooo," Kaylee exclaimed and began to squeal and writhe in delight when she noticed the bubbles.

"Yeah, she also thinks this is funny," Lee pointed out jiggling his dog tags.

"Here we go," Kara eased Kaylee into the warm water, holding her upright and soaping her gently. Kaylee was in her element, slapping the water exuberantly and sending tufts of bubbles up into the air.

"Paaa! Paaaa Meeee. Ashe dddomee gooo add loo."

"Say mommy, Kaylee. Mommy."

"No, Dadddy. Daddy," Lee moved towards the shower and leaned against the doorway.

"You shush, you've had your shot. Mommy, Kaylee Mom-my."

Kaylee looked at the both of them, reveling in the attention and smacked her hands in the bubbles violently. "Myyyyy. Myyyy."

"Mo-mmy"

"Meeee,"

"Ma-" Kara broke up the word

"Mmmmphaaa"

"Me,"

"Ado gimmmeee tooo loo nooooo,"

"Ah so close!" Kara lowered her head in defeat.

A knock on the door interrupted Lee before he could try again to get Kaylee to say 'Daddy'. He pulled it open to find his father on the other side.

"Can I come in?" At Lee's nod, William stepped in and handed Lee a sheet of paper. "I want you to take a look at this,"

"Sir," Kara called out from the shower.

"Kara, you're going to want to see this too."

"I'll be out in one minute," Kara told him. "Let's finish up and say hi to grandpa. Go like this, baby." Kara squeezed her eyes shut and watched as Kaylee followed suit as Kara gently rinsed the shampoo from her baby fine hair.

"Deeen," Kaylee exclaimed when Kara righted her again.

"That's right. All clean."

"Ah Deen"

Kara wrapped the red towel around the slippery little bundle and began to rub her dry. She gathered Kaylee in her arms and walked towards Lee and his dad. "So what's going on?"

"What is this?" Lee asked, studying the co-ordinates and their placement on the map of a star system.

"Geeeeee!" Kaylee said, bouncing in excitement when she saw her grandfather. William smiled at her and rubbed her back, lovingly.

"You don't remember, but this is the nebula you pointed out when we opened the Tomb Of Athena,"

Lee brought the paper closer and twisted it around. "Holy frak, you're right."

Kara stepped next to him and studied the paper."Okay, then what's this X all the way over here?" She asked. Kaylee reached her arm out trying to grab the paper.

"This is what I wanted to talk to you about. Hotdog and Newbie noticed a body here about an hour ago. Land and water were detected. We need to send a team down to see if it's habitable." William explained.

"But if the nebula is here, then this isn't earth," Lee pointed out.

"No it isn't. I want you to gather a team to investigate the surroundings. The President is reluctant to get our hopes up. She wants Earth to remain the goal but if this place is livable, we have to give people the choice."

"I want to join the team," Kara piped in.

It was on the tip of his tongue to say 'no' but Lee knew Kara was chomping at the bit to get back out into the action in some capacity. Losing her flight status still left her with a huge hole which she tried to fill with teaching and being a mom to Kaylee but he knew she missed being out there.

"We'll talk about it," Lee offered.

She rewarded him with a bright grin. "So when do we go down?" Kara asked her father-in-law.

"The plan is to get a team down there as soon as we can; the end of the week if you can manage it."

"I think so," Lee said absently as he mentally went through his roster of pilots picking pilots and discarding others.

"Fiiiii deee Fiiiii!" Kaylee piped in extending her arms towards her grandfather.

William picked her up out of Kara's arms and held her close. "So get your list to me at the end of the day,"

"Will do," Lee nodded.

"Here you go, honey. Back to mommy," William leaned next to Kara to give Kaylee back.

"Baaaaaaa!" Kaylee protested grabbing William's lapel.

"Come on, you. Let's get you dressed." Kara insisted pulling Kaylee back into her arms.

"Geeeeeeee! Ba Ba Geeeeee!" Kaylee wailed reaching towards William again.

"I'll see you later, honey." William kissed her cheek and Kaylee grabbed a fistful of his hair, refusing to let go.

"Geeeeeeeee!"

"No, you don't. Let's go. Leave Grandpa alone. He has to go do commander things."

"Iggggs. Baaa. Ooooh!" Kaylee started in surprise when Lee picked up the small mirror out of the night table and held it in front of her.

"Who's that? Who's that?" Lee asked waving the mirror in front of her and motioning his father towards the door. Kaylee pointed at her image in the mirror and smiled, entranced. William left blissfully unnoticed.

Lee brought the mirror closer to her face and Kaylee leaned back in surprise and then forward to investigate the face in the shiny object. She laughed out loud when she pointed at the mirror and saw the small finger pointing back at her.

"Meeeeeee!"

'That's right, that's you," Kara affirmed then she moved towards the bed, setting Kaylee down to dress her.

"So this place could be a planet?" She asked rubbing the towel softly on Kaylee's head, making the small fine hairs stand up in tiny blonde wispy spikes.

"Could be," Lee confirmed.

"What if it is? I mean. This could be someplace we could make a home. Settle down. Gods, Lee." Kara leaned down and pressed a kiss to Kaylee's cheek.

"Maybe. I don't know. Don't get your hopes up,"

"Why not? Lee, what's your problem?" Kara fastened a clean diaper around Kaylee's hips.

"I don't, well, we've been so set on Earth. Let's just be cautious about this."

"There's the Captain Adama I know."

Lee gave her tight smile. "It'll just take some getting used to. My instincts tell me not to jump in to this and disregard Earth as the better choice."

"Lee, come on. You're telling me if this place turns out to be livable you're still gonna want to forge ahead and look for Earth? Why?"

"I'm just saying, let's not throw Earth aside just yet."

"Well, I'm gonna think positive. We might be going outside for real soon, baby. How would you like that?" Kara asked Kaylee who kicked her legs up happily.

"Adiiied Goood Iieed."

"See? She's all for it," Kara pointed out.