AN: So here is another chapter of this story. Sorry about the delay. Guess I'm actually getting in the mood to be social in real life so I haven't been writing as much. Hope I've still got readers out there!
Standing in his quarters, William Adama ran his fingers over the worn name engraved into the lighter that had belonged to his father. He was starting to think that Lee wasn't going to show. If that were the case, he knew the best thing to do was to let his son have some space, despite his desire to go searching for him.
Looking down at the silver lighter, William wondered how he could have failed so miserably at the job of being a father. He had idolized his own father. Joseph Adama had provided for his family financially while being around enough to guide and support them without ever dictating what they should do. He had taught his children young how to look out for themselves while letting them know he was always there for them.
William had learned those lessons from his father. What he apparently hadn't learned was how to pass those lessons on to his own kids.
The only thing William could claim to have learned from his father was how to raise independent sons, especially Lee. Somehow though, he didn't think he had gone about it the right way. He may have provided for them financially through his job, but Lee was right, he had never been there for them while they were growing up other than to give his two sons that the only way to make him proud was to follow in his footsteps.
"A man isn't a man, until he wears the wings of a Viper pilot."
William Adama recalled saying those words to his sons on more than one occasion. Was Lee right? Would Zak have never had the desire to be a pilot if it hadn't been for those words? If he hadn't been trying to make him proud?
William knew it was quite likely. He also knew that would have meant Zak would have survived only long enough by the Cylons in their attack on the colonies. It was also likely that Lee would've been killed as well. According to Carolanne, Lee had shown a huge interest in his grandfather's work as a teen. If it hadn't been for the words he had spoken, would Lee have gone to law school instead of joining the military?
Pouring himself a drink, William tried to push the thoughts aside? There was no point in continually going over what ifs as they couldn't change anything.
Replacing the stopper, William placed the bottle back on the shelf and picked up his glass. As Galactica's commanding officer lifted the glass to his lips, there was a knock on the hatch.
"Come in," William called, before taking a sip of the brandy he had just poured.
Having convinced himself that Lee wasn't going to show, William was surprised that it was his son who pushed open the hatch. Despite his surprised, the admiral managed to swallow the alcohol without it going down the wrong pipe.
"That was a long half hour," William commented, trying to sound casual and not start an argument during the first minute that he and Lee were in the same room.
"My errand took me a little longer than I expected," Lee replied, pushing the hatch shut behind him.
William gestured to Lee's left hand. "That have something to do with your errand?"
Lee looked down at the pictures he was holding briefly before looking back up at his father. "Yeah."
The one word answer told William that Lee wasn't ready to expand on that subject quite yet. Deciding to change the subject, he motioned toward the table which had already been set up for their dinner. "Why don't you have a seat? Would you care for a drink?"
"Yes, thank-you, sir," Lee said rather formally as he moved toward the table. ~Relax, ~ he told himself, pulling out the same chair that he had been sitting in the last time. He placed the pictures face down on the table as he sat down, listening to his father's movements behind him.
It wasn't long before William was placing a glass in front of his son and sitting down across from him. Deciding to start things out with an easy topic for the two of them, William brought up some inconsequential matters of ship business. He was hoping the shop talk would help put his son at ease some.
It seemed to help, as after awhile William noticed Lee's posture loosen up. Still, he wasn't quite sure if he should start fishing for the information that he really wanted. Not going backwards in his relationship with Lee was more important than sharing memories. As it was, William was carrying the conversation. Despite that fact though, Lee's plate was still half full.
"Everything okay with your meal?" William asked, finally deciding that he needed to move away from being safe.
"Yeah, it's fine," Lee replied, once again pushing food around it with his fork. "Why?"
"Because if you keep moving the food around on the plate like that, it's going to be mush when you finally do decide to eat."
The comment caused Lee to sigh as he put down his fork and leaned back in his chair."Is this small talk really what you wanted to have dinner to discuss?" he asked, looking across the table at his father.
"No," William replied honestly, meeting his son's gaze across the table. "However, I was hoping if I started with a safe topic, it might put you at ease. It doesn't look like that worked though."
"What do you want from me?" Lee asked. "Do you expect me to tell you everything that happened in my life since you walked out? I don't think we have the time for that."
William silently counted to ten, refusing to allow this to turn into just another argument with his son. Wether or not he got any more information about his granddaughter and her mother tonight wasn't as important to him as getting through this meal without an argument was.
"You're right, we probably don't and that's my fault," William finally replied calmly.
"I'm sorry," Lee said, looking away. He slowly got to his feet and took a few steps away from the table while he continued to talk. "I don't know why I said that."
"Because you were hurt by my leaving when you were a child, and we've never really dealt with that. However, hiding behind that anger is something familiar to you and probably part of the reason you didn't speak to me for two years."
"You think you know me so well?" Lee said, his back to his father. He could here the bitterness in his own words.
"No. If anything, these past six months have shown me how much I really don't know you. However, I recognize a defense method when I see one. I'm a bit of an expert at those myself, though I prefer running away from things I don't want to deal with rather than hiding behind my anger." William said, placing his fork on his plate. Intertwining his fingers, he rested his hands on the table in front of, staring at his son's back. "I'd like to change that however. I'd like to get to know you, and I think this situation offers an opportunity for us to begin that process because I think you need to talk about your wife and daughter before you're really able to grieve, and I'd really like to know about them."
Lee took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I'm not even sure where to begin," he replied quietly.
"A name might be nice," William said casually, smiling though his son couldn't see the expression. "You mentioned her first name, Rebecca, but that's not exactly a unique name."
Lee smiled at his father's comment. "You're right. Which was one of the reasons she tried so hard to get people to use her middle name with her first. She always said Rebecca Lynn was a little less common. It drove her crazy at first when I started calling her Becca," Lee said, still facing away from his father. He thought about the first time he had used the nickname toward the end of flight school, when they had decided to stay in touch with one another. "The nickname had just slipped out the first time, but after her reaction to it in flight school, I used it more just to get a rise out of her. If anyone had told me back then that I would end up marrying her I would have called them crazy."
"So, you met her during flight school," William commented, even as he ran through the names of the pilots who had graduated with Lee. There had only been three girls in the class, and though he couldn't remember all of their full names he did recall one - Rebecca Lynn Tyree. He had spoken with Admiral Tyree before the ceremony. The admiral had been quite proud of his daughter graduating second in the class. He had chosen at the time not to reveal that Lee was graduating first in the class, though he had been just as proud. "So, you ended up marrying Leonard's little girl then. If I recall correctly, you did quite a bit of complaining about her to your mother during flight school."
Lee turned and faced his father. "What can I say, we both wanted to finish on top," he replied with a shrug? It all seemed kind of childish looking back on it, but perhaps even then they were starting to fall in love with another. "After flight school we stayed in touch."
"She served on board Galactica," William commented, as Lee walked back to the table and slipped back into the chair he had vacated. Lee nodded, acknowledging that he knew about that. "Talented pilot, but I always go the feeling that the military wasn't where she really wanted to be. It was one of the reasons I didn't press for official charges to be pressed after she hit Saul on the flight deck. I always had a feeling she was just looking for a way out. Saul wasn't happy about it, but he saw the wisdom in not going up against Admiral Tyree on the matter. Neither one of us were in any hurry to return to running freight," he said, reaching out to pick up his glass of water, his brandy having already been finished.
"Colonel Tigh was the superior officer she hit?" Lee asked, surprised at the information.
"You didn't know?"
Lee shook his head. "No, I didn't. Becca told me what happened, even admitted to why she did it, but she wouldn't tell me exactly who it was she hit. I guess I always assumed it was the CAG as it seemed the most likely person."
"Yeah, well Saul has a knack for pissing people off," William commented, thinking of the incident between Kara and Saul back before this all began. "So, how close were the two of you at that point?"
"Just friends at the time, but we talked quite a bit following that incident. I even told her I'd find a way to show up if it went to trial, and offer whatever support I could. She was confident, whatever the outcome, that her father would keep it from going to trial."
"So what did she end up doing after her discharge?"
"Becca decided to follow her heart. She had joined the Colonial Fleet in a misguided attempt to keep her father and brother's dream alive following her brother's death shortly after he graduated high school. Her passion had always been computer programming. She got a degree in it while at college and after leaving the Fleet she decided to pursue it. She was much happier doing that line of work. Becca being a civilian also allowed us to be able to hang out during my time off. The more time I spent with her, the more I cared about her. I finally got up the nerve to ask her to marry me."
William leaned back in his chair. "Why do I have a feeling the answer wasn't a simple yes?"
"You're right, it wasn't," Lee replied, his mind recalling the incident even as he started to tell his father about that night.
The night had ended up turning out cooler than they had anticipated. Despite that thought, Rebecca Lynn hadn't said no to the suggestion of walking down the pier into the calm harbor. The cool breeze off the water had caused her to shiver. Without a word, he had shrugged out of his jacket and slipped it around her shoulders.
"Do you want to head back?"
Rebecca shook her head.
Even as he wrapped his arm around her shoulders, he was happy with the response. This was his last night of leave and he wanted to spend as much time as he could with her. Putting his hand into his pocket, he had felt the softness of the velvet that lined the box holding the ring that his mother had helped him pick out on his first day of leave. He had been carrying it around the last couple of days trying to get the courage up to pop the question. That time was quickly running out.
"How's the preparation for the proposal on Monday going?" Lee asked, trying to fill the silence with something in an attempt to buy more time.
"I think I'm as prepared as I'm ever going to be. I think I'm going to have a hard audience to convince though. The Fleet brass seemed quite skeptical of the idea. I get the feeling they're humoring me because I'm Admiral Tyree's little girl."
Lee could hear the frustration in her voice. A frustration he understood, given the times he'd had that feeling himself during his career.
"Well, then take the time to impress them. Your idea could save lives."
"If it works, right?"
"What can I say? I'm a pilot. I like to be in control. You flew before. You know how it is. I'll admit I'm a little leery at the idea of anyone, friendly or otherwise, being able to take control of my ship. I'm not even to keen on the auto-landing the Fleet ship's are equipped with."
"The idea is for it to only be used in an emergency."
"I know, but that doesn't mean it can't be exploited"
"Right, which is why the system is supposed to be protected from the other networked systems on the ship." Rebecca paused, even as she glanced over at him. "Guess I'm lucky you're not on the committee that gets to decide the fate of this project."
He smiled. "I don't know. You have a way of persuading me to do a lot of things," he told her.
She elbowed him playfully in the ribs for the comment as the reached the end of the pier. As the stopped at the rail, Lee saw an opportunity for him to bring up the topic he had been trying to talk about since arriving on Picon.
"In fact," He continued, turning sideways, one elbow resting on the rail as Rebecca folded both arms on the rail before her. She was looking out across the water of the harbor as he spoke, her beauty an equal match to the natural backdrop behind her. "You've managed to get me rethinking my stand on something else as well."
That comment drew her attention away from him and to her. He could see the curiosity in her hazel eyes as she looked at him.
Reaching into his pocket, he withdrew the small black box. "I know I've told you before that I didn't think the military and marriage mixed but just because my parents couldn't make it work, doesn't mean we couldn't. I mean, your parents did and who says this has to be my life. My contract is up in three years and there is nothing saying that I have to re-sign."
"What exactly are you asking, Lee?"
Holding up the black box he flipped it open. "I'm asking if you would do me the honor of becoming my wife?"
He heard the gasp but instead of seeing joy on her face, he watched as hazel eyes filled with tears.
"That's not the reaction I was hoping for," he commented, needing to break the silence that had fallen between them.
"There is something you don't know, Lee," Rebecca Lynn told him, pushing the hand holding the box away from her. "I think you need to know about it before I can give you an answer."
His mind immediately jumped to the thought of her seeing someone else while he was gone. He remained quiet however, waiting for her to continue. He wasn't ready for the bombshell she dropped on him.
"I'm pregnant," she said, looking up at him, tears still glistening her eyes. "The doctor confirmed it last week. So, if you ask me to marry you, you're not just getting a wife but a child as well. It's not exactly how most people start out a marriage, and I understand if it isn't what you want. So, I need you to think about what this would mean for us, and for our child, and then if you're still willing to make a go of it, ask me again. If it's not, then I think it's time for you to walk away before we get any deeper involved."
He had stood there, staring at her, trying to process what she was saying. He was a father. Apparently one of those times that they hadn't been as careful as they should have been had caused this result. He had just convinced himself that he was ready to take a chance on marriage and now he was going to be a father?
"Take some time and think things over," Rebecca finally said, slipping the jacket from her shoulders and handing it to him. "You know how to get a hold of me when you made your decision," she added before turning from the rail and walking back to shore.
He looked down at the jacket and the black box that he held still in shock as he tried to process everything. He wasn't sure he was ready to be a father. Wasn't sure that he knew how to be a good one, given the role model that he'd had growing up. Still, he had resented his father for walking out on them years ago, and if he walked away now, he was doing exactly what his father had done. He had been sure minutes ago that he wanted Rebecca Lynn in his life forever, and this information shouldn't do anything to change that. This was after all their child.
"How far did she get?" William asked, arms folded on the table in front of him as he listened to the memory his son was sharing with him.
"Not even halfway back down the pier," Lee told him. "I knew I didn't want to let her go so I followed her. I told her that I didn't need to think about it and that I still wanted her to be my wife. That I wanted us to be a family."
"Good for you," William said, leaning back in his chair again.
Lee smiled, happy with the praise that he always seemed to be wanting from his father no matter how hard he tried to deny it.
"The original plan had been for us to wait until after the baby was born to get married. We figured that would still give us enough time to find out how things would work out with me in the Fleet and her planet side before my contract was up. Then, not even two months later, Zak was killed. Suddenly, neither one of us wanted to wait even that long," Lee said, his voice wavering at the thought of his brother's death. His brother and mother had been the only two that had even known about his engagement at that time.
Lee reached for the photos still laying face down on the table. The wedding photo was on top, and Lee held it out ho his father.
William took the photo with one hand, and pulled his glasses out of his pocket with his other. He immediately recognized the young woman who had served on Galactica under him when he had first taken command. The loose-fitting white dress she wore hid the fact that she was pregnant. Beside her, Lee stood in his dress uniform, a genuine smile lighting up his face.
"It's easy to see the two of you were happy together," William commented, recognizing the two people flanking the happy couple. He had flown with Raymond Belmont during the first Cylon war. "So, Mr. Gaeta has known you were married this whole time. Anyone else keeping this secret from me?" he asked, looking up from the photo.
"No," Lee replied quickly, instantly knowing that his father would suspect Kara knowing as well. "Lonewolf, Felix, Becca's parents, and mom were the only ones at our wedding. Other than changing the information in my personnel file, I didn't exactly go broadcasting the information, as I meant to tell you. I just never seemed to be able to swallow my pride enough to do it."
Lee held out the other photo. "I actually got these two photos from Gaeta. He and Becca have been . . . had been . . . friends since they were kids, hence the reason he had these photos," Lee relied. "He said you could keep them."
"I'll have to thank him," William said, fighting to hold back the tears that were blurring his vision as he looked down at the photo taken on the porch of the house he had once lived in with his wife. "So tell me, had you made a decision about your future in the military before the attack happened?" he asked, curious as to how his son had chosen to handle the issue he had struggled with himself years ago.
"If the Cylons hadn't attacked, let's just say I would be making plans to settle on Caprica or Picon in a few months," Lee replied, without hesitation.