"All right," Galen said, standing in their house of dreams for a moment. "You're clear on how this is going to go?"

Sharon nodded. "I am."

"We'll meet you at the hangar deck. Hoshi will be your ECO, and I'll make sure you guys get away. You really need to pick up that equipment?"

"They'll let me take it as long as they think I'm Athena," Sharon said. "They aren't going to let you in, and they'd ask Hoshi too many questions first."

"Right." Galen looked around the house, trying to memorize every part of it. In the corner, Dione smiled at him, and his heart melted. "Sharon, I-"

The front door opened, and Hoshi walked in. It was strange that he was actually in the house, but just from his posture and his expression Galen could tell he couldn't see it. He was holding a Colonial flight suit, and he was white and shaking, wiping his mouth on a rag. Sharon dropped her hand, and the house disappeared. They were back in the gray surroundings of the brig, and Hoshi glanced at the Marine on duty.

"You ready?" he asked them.

The Marine nodded, and braced himself. Hoshi looked at Galen. "All right. Do it."

It wasn't a part of Hoshi's plan that Galen particularly liked, but it cast all suspicion off the Marine. "Sorry about this," he said, then punched him across the face. The Marine slumped to the floor, unconscious.

Hoshi stepped over his body and quickly keyed in a code. They heard the locking mechanism click, and Sharon opened the door. Hoshi handed her the clothing and then turned away. "I'll meet you on the hangar deck," he said as Sharon hitched the pants over her hips. "I've got to get a flight suit for myself."

"Right. I'll get what I need and meet you there. We've got," Sharon checked her watch, "fifteen minutes at most. Let's go." She pulled up the suit and zipped it up, and then hurried out.

"Hey," Galen said, as they gave her a head start, "are you going to be okay to do this? You look like shit."

"I'll be fine once I get out of here," Hoshi said. He pulled the door shut and began tapping numbers into the pad. "Okay. That should cover us for long enough. Once we're gone-"

"I'll tell the Admiral I couldn't stop you. Who's hitting me, you or her?"

"Any requests?"

"Yeah. No offense, Hoshi, but you aren't the one that's going to split my head open."

Hoshi grinned humorlessly. "Good point. Let's go."

***

Louis was pulling on his flight suit when Boomer found him. "I'll get the ammo you need after this," he told her. "And I was able to get us some rations. I figured we don't need much."

"No." She knelt down, readjusting her boot. "Do you fly much?"

"Raptors, you mean? No. Don't even have my wings. I have to admit it's been years since my ECO training."

"Great," Boomer drawled. She looked up at him appraisingly. "It's a long trip. I know this sounds silly, but did you drink enough water? The recirculated air in a Raptor can really dehydrate you, and you looked like you were sick earlier."

"I should be all right," he said tentatively.

She gave him an exasperated glare. "Here," she said, tossing him a bottle. "Drink this."

He opened the bottle and took a long sip. "Thanks." The water helped the sour taste in his mouth. "I can't believe we're really going," he told her. "It doesn't seem real."

"It will seem real soon enough," she said.

"Yeah. I guess." He turned around. "Could you help me…" he had to stop and steady himself, because the world began to spin. "Could you help…" he tried again, but the spinning accelerated and he pitched forward.

He was unconscious before he even hit the floor.

***

"Daddy!" Hera shouted, running to Helo.

"Captain Agathon," Lloyd said, stepping up behind Hera. "You're early."

"I am," Helo agreed, scooping up Hera into his arms. "I thought Hera might like to watch what's going on in the secondary storage airlock."

"Oh?" Lloyd asked, raising his eyebrows. "More Raptors?"

"The biggest knock down, drag-out pyramid tournament you've ever seen. It's pretty exciting." He shifted Hera on his hip. "You ready?" he asked.

Hera made a face. "I have to go potty."

To Helo's mild surprise, Sharon appeared. "I'll take her," she said, smiling that smile he loved. Her eyes twinkled. "I know I wasn't supposed to pick her up right now, but I heard about this pyramid tournament…"

"Great minds," Helo said. He handed Hera over, but Hera clung to him until Sharon extended her cup.

"I assume you're playing," she said, taking Hera into her arms and urging her to drink.

"What gave it away?" Helo teased, indicating his sweat-soaked clothing. "Should I wait for you?"

"No, go ahead," Sharon said. "I also want to stop back at our quarters and pick up a sweater for her. I'll meet you down there."

"All right." Helo leaned over and kissed her again.

"Eww, yuck," Sharon laughed, pushing him away teasingly. "You really need a shower."

"We can always get one later," he said suggestively.

She rolled her eyes, but her smile said yes loud and clear. Helo smiled back, and then headed back down to the pyramid tournament.

***

"Where is he?" Galen demanded, as Sharon helped him heft the chest of rations, spare parts, and ammunition onto the Raptor.

"I couldn't take him," Sharon said. "Galen… you know how this could go. And as I thought about it…"

"I know," Galen sighed. The last thing any of them needed was more blood on their hands. "I just wish…"

"I wish, too." She smiled sadly. "Are you sure you won't come with me?"

"I… I can't," he said, looking around Galactica. "But you are going to do it, and you'll do great. I know it." He took in her face. "There's something I want you to remember. I mean this, with all my heart." He leaned down and kissed her, and their house sprang into being once more. It couldn't last long enough, and he had to break away.

The hatch shut on her Raptor and it began to taxi away. A part of Galen wished he could go with her, but he kept telling himself that this was for the best.

But he sure as hell didn't know exactly why.

***

"He's got one!" Kara said, holding up her hand to stop the others. She bent over, gasping for breath, sweat dripping down her chin. Helo took advantage of the downtime to scan the spectators again.

"Anything good, Sam?"

Anders made a face. "Flying a class M5 Greybook for the first time," he said, shaking his head. "Powerful. Euphoric. But not remotely a help for anything else." HotDog tossed the ball over, and Anders tossed it from hand to hand. "I think we need a water break."

"And maybe a roster change," Twofer agreed.

Helo wiped his brow on his arm, still searching through the spectators. "What's wrong?" Kara asked him.

"Nothing big," he said, shaking his head. "It's just that Sharon said she'd be down with Hera, and that was four or five points ago."

"Maybe she needed a nap," Kara suggested with a shrug. Her smirk mocked his concern, and she clapped him on the shoulder. "Keep your head in the game."

He did just that, and played for another hour. Truthfully, if he really admitted it, it was nice just to play pyramid for a while. He didn't have to think, he didn't have to plan, he didn't have to worry he was sending pilots to their deaths or that he wouldn't come back. Just jump and catch, throw and run, tackle and block and score. The motion of bodies, every once in a while finding that perfection that Anders was searching for.

Then he saw Sharon standing in the entry to the landing bay, and a cold feeling blossomed in the pit of his stomach, even though he didn't quite know why.

He jogged over to her. "Hey," he said, leaning in to kiss her. She smiled and didn't push him away this time. "Where's Hera? Did you get Kayla to watch her while she slept?"

"Hera? You picked her up from daycare," Sharon said.

"Yes, and then I gave her to…" Helo looked around. Here and there in the spectators there were Cylons; Twos and Sixes and Eights watching, some even laughing and cheering. The cold feeling bloomed fully and he shivered. "You took her," he said through numb lips.

Sharon glared at him. "No," she said, "I didn't."

Panic. Absolute panic, because this couldn't be happening again. "Let's keep our heads," he said, trying to convince himself. "I'll try the day care, you try Kayla. We'll just keep looking every place she could be. It's a big ship. She's got to be somewhere on it."

But as he searched place after place, talked to person after person… it began becoming increasingly clear that she was not.

***

"She did what?" Galen's mouth hung open, and Hoshi was sheet white. They'd finally found him sitting on the floor in the ready room, still groggy from whatever Boomer had given him. Adama was glowering at them both, and Galen shook his head. "No. No, she couldn't have. We saw her off and Hera wasn't with her. She wasn't." He looked frantically at Hoshi, but Hoshi's head was bowed and he wouldn't meet Galen's eyes.

And then he remembered the trunk. The trunk that was supposedly filled with equipment and supplies, but just the right size to hold a little girl… if you were sick enough to put one in there.

The Admiral glared at them both, thunder in his face. "Don't give me any frakking alibis," he said. "You two let that thing out. Between sworn statements from the guards, entry codes that only a few soldiers know, and both of you being seen by her Raptor, you both had better give me a very good reason why I shouldn't be putting you in the brig for the rest of your lives."

Neither of them answered. There was nothing to say.

"Take them to the brig," Adama ordered the Marines. "The one on C deck."

Hoshi's head shot up. "Sir, no," he said, if possible going paler. "Please, don't. Not there. Please don't put me back in there." Adama glared at him and turned away, and two Marines stepped in, grabbing his arms. "Please, Admiral!" Hoshi called after him as he retreated. "Put me anywhere else. That's fine. Just not there."

The Admiral kept walking.

"DON'T DO THIS TO ME!" The scream ripped out of the man's throat, and Galen cringed. It finally dawned on him exactly why Hoshi was fighting this particular punishment so hard.

"Sir," he shouted at Adama's back. "Come on. You've got to be-"

But Adama was already gone.

***

"How could you?" Sharon shouted, pushing Helo back against the wall. "How could you just hand her over to someone else?!"

"I thought she was you!" Helo protested, although he felt like throwing up. "What do you want me to do, Sharon? She was wearing a Colonial flight suit. Here didn't even seem to know…" and he stopped, remembering that Hera hadn't stretched her arms out to that Sharon, that she'd clung to him until Sharon had offered the cup.

Sharon saw his hesitation. "She knows me," she told him furiously. "She knows me, and you should, too."

The guilt and shame swept over him, and all he could do was stand still, fists clenched as he thought about how he'd betrayed his own daughter, and his wife.

Sharon was crying. He tried to reach out and hold her, but she yanked away. "We'll get her back," he told her. "I'll go to Adama and he'll see reason. We'll get her back.

She shook her head angrily. "Boomer's taking her to Cavil," she spat. "There won't be anything left to get back. You know that's what he wants her for- he wants to figure out how she works. What makes her so special."

Helo wanted sit down and cry with her, wanted to scream and rage, wanted to punch things. But none of that would help Hera, and for Hera he had to be strong. "No, he won't. Because we're going to get there before he can. I promise, Sharon, we're going to get her back. Or I'm going to die trying."

***

"No."

"Sir, please. Just one Raptor. Sharon will pilot, I can be the ECO. We won't risk anyone else."

"Just two of my best pilots, and a Raptor I can't spare. And that puts the Fleet at risk. No."

Helo grabbed Adama's arm. It was a huge breach of military protocol, but he couldn't bring himself to care. "You don't understand," he ground out through gritted teeth. "She's my daughter."

"And she's gone. I've lost a son, and you've lost a daughter. But I can't condone a suicide mission. So let it go." Adama stepped away.

"She's not gone!" Helo insisted. "And neither are Brooks or Sarah or Gaeta!"

Adama froze, and turned back to Helo. "Go to the brig and ask Lieutenant Hoshi how likely I am to change my mind. Let it go."

"She's just a child!" Helo snapped. "A child, and I'm supposed to protect her! Let it go? Now is the one time I should be doing anything but letting it go! My child is out there, alive and at the mercy of Cavil. You talk about how this ship is your home and this crew is your family, but that's not true, is it? This ship is your family, and we're just convenient passengers."

Adama's face darkened. "I understand your pain, Captain, but don't lecture me. You're here to take orders. Do you understand?"

Helo wanted to take the man by the arms and shake him until he saw reason, but all that would do would be to land him in the brig with Tyrol and Hoshi, and that would be no help to Hera at all. So for Hera, he controlled himself, reined in his rage and anger and pain.

"Yes, sir," he managed to say.

Adama softened. Not much, but a little. Enough to squeeze Helo's shoulder in sympathy before he walked away, leaving Helo standing in the hall, bereft of anything but empty hope.