oOo

Two days later Athena was ready to leave. More than ready.

She'd even gotten dressed, was wearing one of the dresses Sheba had brought her. It was the first time she'd changed out of the Life Center gowns, had taken her a day to work up the nerve to try on the maternity clothes. But once on, she had to admit it did make her feel better. Human. Even better than the dress had been a quick visit from her new sister-in-law and Boxey that morning, before the former headed out on patrol and the latter, reluctantly, joined the other children in school.

The dress was lovely, she had to admit, with flowing sleeves and hem in a vibrant blue that brought out the color of her eyes. Or so Starbuck had tried to tell her before leaving, just as reluctantly as Boxey, for duty right before Sheba and her nephew had put in their brief appearance. She still wasn't ready to hear anyone tell her she was beautiful. Even someone who insisted on sleeping in an uncomfortable chair next to her bed in case she woke up and needed something.

Especially someone for whom she thought her feelings had long since been resolved, and his for her.

If nothing else, the past three months had taught her that life was full of surprises. Starbuck apparently still having feelings for her was definitely one of the good kind. Confusing, but good. And how exactly did she feel about him? That she refused to speculate on. Not yet. It was still too soon for her to muster any sort of interior contemplation for anything other than what the Cylons had forced on her.

The baby. She made herself think the word. Baby.

Her baby. Starbuck's baby. Scowling, she shook her head, then thumped it back on the pillow in frustration. It still didn't feel right; she still couldn't separate the idea of the baby from the ordeal the Cylons had forced her to undergo in order to bring it into existence.

She still couldn't find it in herself to feel anything like love for the creature that had been implanted in her body. She didn't hate it, not exactly, not like she hated the Cylons, with a hatred so intense she could hardly believe it was her own emotion and not something imposed on her from outside. She thought she'd hated them before, for killing her brother and mother, for destroying her world and so many millions of her people and sending them fleeing into the void, but it was nothing compared to how she felt now. If a Cylon suddenly appeared before her, she felt as if she could destroy it simply with the force of her hatred, no other weapon wanted or needed.

She was ruminating on these less than comfortable thoughts when her father put in his appearance for the morning. "How did you rest?" he asked, carefully avoiding asking her how she was feeling. Apollo had made that mistake yesterday; her blistering reply had been short and to the point and Adama had actually been encouraged by it. Athena offering her brother scathing sarcasm to a stupid question was better than Athena listless and shell-shocked.

"I slept just fine, thank you," she replied politely. "But I'd sleep better if I wasn't in the Life Center."

"You might not have to stay here much longer," her father replied, giving her the news she was hoping for. "I spoke to Dr. Salik before I came here, and he says, pending the results of your latest tests, you should be able to leave this afternoon." The other women had already done so, moving into joint quarters just the night before. The doctor had cleared them medically after their procedures had been completed.

Procedures. Adama winced inwardly at the term. Their forcibly implanted fetuses had been aborted after each had given her permission. Salik had requested permission to study them, which Adama had reluctantly given. Under ordinary circumstances he would have absolutely forbidden it, but these circumstances were far from ordinary.

"Really?" Athena's eyes lit up and a smile curved her lips. Then she frowned. "Do I still have a place to go to?" Adama had already explained how the Bresch had caused them to destroy all computer and physical evidence of her existence, so she knew her meager belongings were gone.

"Of course," her father reassured her. "Sheba and Starbuck have been getting your old quarters ready for you." He hesitated. "Athena, the doctor wants you to wear the fetal monitor continuously."

Her smile vanished, but she nodded as she automatically placed her fingertips on the small bump protruding under her dress. The discreet black device fed a constant stream of telemetry to the computers, monitoring the baby's health and her own. Mapping out the genetic and technological modifications and any obvious bioengineering done to the fetus. A fetus that appeared to be developing normally, in spite of its artificially enhanced development.

That disturbed her more than her original imaginings of a horror with electronics festooning its skull, metallic skin, glowing red eyes. All the changes appeared to be internal, or not yet developed to the point of showing outwardly. But that didn't change how she felt about the baby; as soon as it was out, she was done with it. The doctor and her father could decide its fate after the surgery to remove it in a month was complete. She wanted nothing to do with it once it was out of her body.

But all she said to her father was, "That's fine."