oOo

"You wanted to see us?" Athena walked into her father's ready room. It was the first time she'd been there since her return, just as it was the first time she'd been on the bridge. It felt strange, but not in a bad way, certainly not as bad as she'd feared it would. She found herself looking forward to getting back to work, at least once her son was a little older. Everyone needed to pull their own weight, but the need for the next generation to spend as much time as possible with either or both parents hadn't changed.

Adama was seated behind his desk, Tigh at his side. He gestured for Starbuck to close the door, then pressed a button on his desk. "Omega, please make sure we aren't interrupted for anything short of a Cylon attack."

That sounded ominous. Athena tensed, shaking her head as her father offered her a seat. Starbuck remained standing as well, and she slipped her hand into his. He gripped it tightly, and she stole a glance at his face. He looked pale, and she suspected she was just as bad. This conversation wasn't going to be some friendly discussion about their upcoming Sealing. "What's going on, Father?"

Adama looked up at Tigh. Who did not look back down, merely stared straight ahead. If warning bells had been ringing before, they were deafening now. Tigh only looked like that when he and her father disagreed about something. Disagreed violently.

"Dr. Salik wasn't entirely forthcoming about Hermes' surgery."

Athena's hand tightened on Starbuck's, and she could feel the answering tension in the increased strength of his own grip. "In what way?" she heard him ask. Her own voice was stuck, trapped behind the sudden movement of her heart from its customary place in her chest to her throat. She swallowed, then felt her way carefully to the seat her father had initially offered, still holding tightly to Starbuck's hand. He moved with her, but not to sit, only to stand at her side while he waited for Adama to answer.

"There were some nanoclusters too fully integrated into his nervous system to remove, now or ever. Barring any unforeseen scientific breakthroughs or possible future acquisition of alien tech." Tigh started at that statement, half-turned toward Adama, then seemed to think better of it and moved back into position. But the expression in his eyes was less guarded, more thoughtful.

Not that Athena could see the sudden change. Her eyes closed reflexively, and she felt her stomach surge. Squeezing her lips shut tightly, she fought the nausea back down, then opened her eyes when she felt she could control her body's reaction. "I thought his body was rejecting the Cylon implants."

"Almost all of them," her father replied gently. "All but these. The Cylons appear to have taken the greatest care with these particular implants, to ensure their permanence."

"Which means what, exactly?" That was Starbuck, voicing the obvious. The question Athena wasn't quite ready to ask herself.

"Which means I faced a decision that I wasn't prepared to burden you with until I made up my mind as to the course of action this information required." There it was, stated baldly. He wanted them to understand that they weren't to be part of that decision making process, and it was clear from the stunned, angry expressions on their faces that they did, indeed, understand. All too well.

"Quit dancing around the frakking kava-berry bush. Sir. What exactly do you think you're going to do to our son?" Starbuck was fairly quivering with restrained fury. His fingers loosened in Athena's hold, and she clutched him tighter, terrified he was about to do something they would all regret.

Not that she didn't understand his feelings; hadn't she just spent the better part of a week believing her son would come through this nightmare as a whole human being? That hope was now dashed, and if she was understanding her father correctly, his life was now in a different kind of danger. "Don't tell me," she said in a low voice, fighting the tears that threatened to choke it out entirely. "Don't tell me the son I love, the son you pushed me to accept, is going to be taken away from me."

"Nobody's taking him away from us," Starbuck said. "Not without a fight." His hand hovered near his holstered side-arm.

"Everyone needs to calm down," Adama said, rising to his feet. "This is exactly why I kept you out of the decision. You're too close to the matter."

"The 'matter' is our son's life!" Athena cried, surging out of her seat, eyes flashing. "He's your grandson, how can you possibly believe you're capable of making the right decision?" She didn't bother asking why she and Starbuck, the baby's parents, were kept out of that process. It was entirely clear that her father considered this a military matter. Not a personal one.

"A good point," Tigh responded, turning for the first time to face Adama. "Have you considered your own interest in the matter? If it has to be decided at all, shouldn't the full Council be involved?"

"I've already told you they won't want to even know such a decision was considered," Adama replied, his voice tired. "The only reason a decision has to be made at all is because of security considerations, and they've made it quite clear that all such decisions are on us. On me."

"So what decision have you reached, exactly?" That was Tigh again, but something in his voice gave Athena pause. When she and Starbuck had entered the room, Tigh seemed angry. But the question was asked gently, with nothing more than curiosity. As if he didn't fear its answer. Interesting.

Before Adama could speak, before Athena could do more than wonder at Tigh's apparent change in attitude, Starbuck stepped forward. "We'll take him away ourselves." Athena looked up at him, eyes wide with surprise. "If you believe he's some kind of threat to the fleet, then we'll take a ship and go off by ourselves. That way he can't hurt anyone but us, if it comes to that." It was quite clear he refused to believe such a thing possible.

"That won't be necessary. Nor will violence," Adama added, glancing at Starbuck's right hand. Slowly, reluctantly the lieutenant relaxed his fingers, lowering his arm in response to Adama's steady gaze. "It took me all night and the better part of this morning to come to a decision, and I had to decide on the side of humanity. If I allowed my grandson to be sacrificed just because he might become a danger at some unknown future time, then I would be no better than the Cylons."

With those words, the tension in the room eased. Athena took a deep breath, not bothering to stop the tears that were leaking from the corners of her eyes. Her death-grip on Starbuck's hand relaxed, but neither of them let go. "If you'd already decided to take a chance on him, then why did you put us through this?" she demanded, anger at her father suddenly overcoming the relief. She looked up at him. "Why?"

"Because you had to know what was at stake," he replied simply. "You had to understand exactly what we and your son are facing. The information I've shared with you is confidential, but others on Dr. Salik's staff know, and that means it could become common knowledge. Your son could face other dangers, dangers from people in the Fleet, because he's still a genetically-enhanced hybrid. And people fear the unknown."

"We've been living like refugees for two years now," Tigh said slowly. As if coming to a realization. "People have settled into this life as best they can, but we all know things are still emotionally volatile. This incident with the Bresch has people extremely unsettled and suspicious; only the fact that it seems to have turned out well has kept the situation from escalating into riots like the ones we faced when we first started running from the Cylons." He looked at Adama. "I was letting my own emotional response cloud my reactions. I'm sorry for doubting you." He held his hand out to the Commander.

"I'm sorry I wasn't able to communicate the situation better," Adama replied, accepting the hand and clasping it briefly before returning his attention to Athena and Starbuck.

It would be a while before either of them was willing to offer a hand in forgiveness, he could tell by the set expressions on their faces. "We can still just take him and leave," Starbuck said. "Once he's out of surgery and as fully recovered as he's going to get, we could just..go away. Problem solved." Athena nodded tightly, but offered no words as she continued to glare at her father.

Adama sighed inwardly. "That won't be necessary. I can't stop you if you decide to go, of course, but I urge you to stay. I know you're angry, I know I've said some frightening things, made you think about repercussions you didn't necessarily want to consider, but I truly believe you'll all be better here, with us. I weighed all the variables, including the fact that this was Baltar's plan and he's now dead; what if the experiment died with him? The Cylons aren't very tolerant of failure, and we destroyed their research as well as stole the results of that research from under their very noses. As I said, it took many hours, but I believe the possibility that Hermes is a threat is minimal at best."

"But you also pointed out that others might not agree," Starbuck reminded him. "So there's still a possibility that he could be in danger just because of who he is."

"And, like the possibility that the Cylons could use him against us, that danger is just that: a possibility. A remote one," Adama stressed. "Please, don't do anything rash. Dr. Salik says Hermes will have to be monitored as he grows and develops, not just because of any potential dangers, but for the sake of his health. We don't know if he'll need future surgeries," he reminded them.

Athena nodded reluctantly. "That's true; what if he has health issues and we've taken him off to the middle of nowhere? Then what would we do?" She said it to the room in general, but her eyes were on Starbuck. She waited a long moment until he finally turned to face her, then nodded. "We'll face whatever we have to, but not by running away."

"Not right now," he allowed, and she smiled grimly at him.

"Not right now," she agreed, turning back to her father and making sure he saw the steady resolve in her own face.

Adama nodded. "As far as I am concerned, this matter is resolved unless something happens to change things, for good or ill. This wasn't easy for me," he added, suddenly unwilling to just let it go. "Never believe that. It was one of the most difficult decisions I've ever had to face. And I hope to the Lords of Kobol that I never have to face it again."

"So say we all," Starbuck muttered fervently. He stood up, tugging impatiently on Athena's hand. "Come on, let's see how long the Doc thinks it'll take before he can be released." The two of them left without a backward glance.

Adama sank back into his seat with a tired sigh. "I'm getting too damned old for this."

"Aren't we all." Tigh turned to face him. "Why didn't you tell me you'd reached a decision?"

"Because I wanted to say it once, not over and over again," Adama replied, rubbing his eyes and stretching slightly in his seat. "I knew how hard this was going to be, and I knew I couldn't just make the announcement without making them aware of the process I'd gone through to reach it. That it wasn't just something I'd decided on the spur of the moment."

"They're angry at you."

Adama looked over at his old friend. "And you're not?"

Tigh smiled and sat on the edge of the desk. "I was. Even though I knew you were right. No, let's be honest; especially because I knew you were right. I just didn't want you to be, not this time. For once, I wanted Commander Adama to be mistaken, to be wrong."

"I've been wrong a great deal," came the weary reply. "Far too often. But not about this."

"No, not about this," Tigh agreed. "So now we just wait and see what the future holds, is that it?"

"That's all we can ever do. Hope for the best..."

"But prepare for the worst," Tigh finished the quote. "Do you think they'll ask you to officiate over their Sealing?"

"Once their tempers have cooled. I hope." Adama sounded doubtful. "I'm glad I kept Apollo out of this," he added. "Even if they're still angry at me and ask someone else to officiate, he'll be able to represent the family."

"They'll forgive you. Eventually. Athena loves you too much, and she's spent her entire life as a military brat. She understands, or she will once her emotions have calmed down. Just give them some time," Tigh counseled. "For now, I think we need to get back to work. After all," he added, "Earth won't find itself."

Adama smiled, a real smile, at Tigh's deliberately light tone. "Right you are, old friend, right you are."

Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst.

Words to live by.

Author's Note: Only the epilogue left. And possibly a sequel at some unknown time in the future. We'll see. :) R&R!