Laura quietly shut the bedroom door behind her as she stepped into the living room, Bill's robe pulled tightly around her. Wandering to the couch, she reached out and pulled her new blanket over her legs as she settled down and picked up one of the essays she'd left there the night before. She'd just started to read it when the outside door opened, causing her to look up, her startled expression relaxing at the familiar figure easing inside, leaning wearily against the closed door.

"Hey." Kara blinked, not expecting to see her. "You're up early."

"Likewise." Laura smiled. "I need to look over these, and got…well, distracted last night."

Kara grinned slowly. "I bet you did."

"Hush." Laura shook her head as Kara gingerly dropped down on the couch next to her. "And where have you been all night?"

She shook her head with a snort, "nowhere exciting. We were at your mom's house, talking about the party, well, trying to without her input…"

"That's a relief." Shifting her weight, she guided Kara's head to her lap. "Here you go…"

"'M okay." Kara sighed and turned so her legs were dangling over the arm of the couch, her eyes closing as Laura gently stroked through her hair. "Feels good. Uh, at your mom's. She decided to have us taste test the food for the wedding. Suffice it to say none of us could move after being force fed for about three hours, so we crashed there."

"Poor baby." Laura giggled softly. "Feeling okay?"

"Yeah. I'm at the school this morning, so I wanted to come home and shower and change." Kara sighed again and shifted her weight slightly. "Your mom can cook. I escaped before breakfast, though. She told us about it last night, it sounded good, but I was afraid...if I ate any more..."

"She does good breakfasts." Realizing Kara was dropping back into sleep, Laura kept up the gentle stroking as she picked the papers up with her other hand and started to read again. When she finished the reports, she bent over Kara. "Kara? Wake up."

"Hmm?" Kara blinked. "Hey. Wha…I fell asleep?"

"Mmm hmm." Laura smiled down at her. "Feel better?"

"Yeah. Didn't sleep real well. Too full." She slowly sat up and yawned again. "What time is it?"

Laura craned her neck to look at the clock on the far side of the room. "Six fortyish, I need to get Bill up soon. He's supposed to be at the school with you this morning, wanted to be up by seven thirty or so."

"Field trip morning." Kara stretched. "We're taking some of the kids to see a viper."

"Please note how many the two of you take, make sure you bring the same number, and preferably the same children back." Leaning forward, Laura placed the essays into her satchel before facing Kara again. "All right?"

"Semantics. I'll get the old man to keep track of them." She grinned sleepily and mirrored Laura's position on the couch. "Hey, your party's gonna be great."

"They told you my restrictions, right?" Laura raised an eyebrow as she tucked her legs up underneath her. "And you listened?"

"Yeah. Don't worry; we came up with a great plan." Kara's grin widened. "It'll be cool."

"I've no doubt of that." She answered dryly. "I just want to be able to remember it, and to remember it without being embarrassed. Or in trouble."

"No problems there." Resting her head on the back of the couch, Kara shrugged. "And we'll end up back here. Like you wanted."

"Thank you." Laura reached out and traced Kara's cheek gently. "You'll be okay here after the wedding, right?"

"Yeah. Remember, Tam's thinking about staying here for a while." She relaxed into Laura's touch, her eyes closing. "And Zak will be around some. I appreciate you letting me."

"I'd like it." Laura glanced around the room. "I have a lot of memories here, I like knowing you're here. If you want to add anything, let me know we'll see if we can find it."

"Really?" Blinking, Kara opened her eyes and bit her lip. "I was…it's nothing."

"Tell me." Laura gazed at her. "What?"

"Um…" Her eyes dropped to her hands as she started to fidget absently. "I was wondering if you'd mind if I added something out here, I mean you've been great about letting me add stuff in my room, the simulator thing, and all the other stuff…"

"Kara?" Laura caught her hands and held them still. "What do you want to add out here?"

Looking back up at Laura, Kara took a breath. "It wouldn't be a big thing or anything, I was thinking we…I could fit it in over there, but, just an upright piano? I mean, just in case I want to fool around with it or anything…"

Laura's lips curved upward. "Of course. I never played, which is why I don't have one, but…you did when you were a child, didn't you. Your father…"

"How did you know about my father?" Her eyes widened as she tried to pull her hands from Laura's grip.

"Calm down." Shaking her head, Laura refused to let go of her hands. "Kara, you told me."

"I didn't." Kara shook her head. "I know I didn't…" her voice trailed off. "Frak…"

"Just because I was out of it, doesn't mean I wasn't listening." Laura eased her grip on Kara's hands, gently rubbing them. "I know Bill wanted to be with me, but that sometimes, when I was in Sickbay, he had to go take care of something. And he had you or Lee sit with me. One time you were sitting with me and just talking through things. I remember you telling me that you were supposed to tell me things that wouldn't upset me, good things. Sometimes you'd sit between Sam and me, and talk to both of us…you know, later."

"You remember that?" Kara blinked. "The Old Man said to stay with you, and if you got restless to just talk to you about anything, but nothing bad, things that were good for me, that wouldn't upset you…."

"I do." Shifting, Laura eased Kara against her, wrapping her arms around her as Kara absently curled against her, Laura's hand moving to stroke through Kara's hair as her other held Kara's hands. "I remember you telling me about your first viper flight, your first landing…and how you missed music. That you'd had recordings of your father playing, that you'd found in a shop, and you'd play them and just think. You didn't have anything else of him, but you remembered him sitting with you at a piano…"

"I didn't think you'd hear me." Kara whispered. "I mean, it was just stuff…I was rambling."

"Kara, I was semi-conscious and unable to react. It didn't mean I couldn't listen." Laura smiled slightly. "I thank you for using me to talk your thoughts out to, even if you believed I couldn't hear you or respond. Your father was Dreilide Thrace, right?" When Kara took a deep breath and nodded, tears threatening in her eyes, Laura continued. "If you'd bothered to look close enough, you'd see that I actually have some of his recordings. I'll make sure you have copies of them if Bill and I take them."

"You have my father's music?" Kara shook her head. "How? I mean, you never said anything about him, even after..."

"I got them years ago." Absently continuing to stroke through Kara's hair, she laughed softly, "well, I suppose I would have had to, right? Be that as it may, I heard one of his recordings, and…well, it was when Mama was dying, I hadn't been able to cry or feel anything it seemed like. Sort of like everything was grey, all I was doing was taking care of her, doing some private tutoring, not a whole lot of anything else. Daddy kept trying to get me to do less, but Cheryl and Sandy…they were in school, Mama didn't want anyone to see her the way she was…Daddy, she wouldn't let Daddy…she didn't want me, but finally she relented, and I was the only one she'd let take care of her, not that she had a lot of choice…" as her voice trailed off, Kara sat up and stared at her. "I'm fine…"

"No you're not." Leaning out, she grabbed a box of tissues from the table and held it so Laura could take one. "You took care of her…is that why…"

"I saw what it had done, and yes, I know what Bill was going to go through. I didn't regret for one moment what I'd done for her, didn't then, don't now, never have. But she didn't want Daddy..." Laura took a shuddering breath as she wiped her eyes. "I also know what Mama told me at the end…which is why, as much as I wanted to fight, we had limited resources, I knew what our time would be like, Bill and I…if we'd had a lifetime together of good times and difficult times instead of cramming all we could into a matter of months, maybe it would have been different. I sat there one day, staring at the stacks of pills I was going to have to take that morning, at the number of bottles and how much was left in each one…and I decided, I knew what being off of them would do, how I'd feel and what I could do at the beginning, and what would happen to me without them, sooner rather than later." Reaching up, she touched Kara's face tenderly, "don't look at me like that, Bill knows all this, we've talked it out, mostly. But, this wasn't about me; it's about you, and your father. I've digressed."

"It's okay." Kara whispered, afraid to move and break the moment. "I guess, I just didn't know, didn't realize…I didn't know you weren't taking the medicine, and I just figured when you were in Sick Bay…"

"I'd collapsed. Not in for treatments, but out of exhaustion. And the cancer. Bill and Sherman didn't want me left alone, so it was Sick Bay." She sighed and gazed blindly across the room, her thoughts wandering. "But, when I was taking care of Mama…I was out one day, shopping for groceries, and I went by a store and heard music, I'd walked by the same store hundreds of times before, and heard all sorts of music there before, but this time, something was different," as Laura paused, remembering, Kara carefully settled against her, eyes focused on Laura's face. "The next thing I knew, I was sitting on the ledge of this fountain across from the store, the music washing over me, it felt like something inside was releasing, something I hadn't even known was knotted, and just…released. Me. Laura Roslin. I was sitting on the ledge of a fountain in an open air mall, just sobbing as this music played. I almost never cried, and absolutely never in public, and I was sitting there…just listening and crying. I guess people formed their own opinions as to why I was there, left me alone. When whatever it was finally passed, I took a breath and went inside, and bought that album. It was your father's music." Blinking, she looked down, refocusing her gaze on Kara. "It...pulled things out of me that I didn't think could be pulled. I'd heard the same music before, but he had a way of playing it so that it...encompassed you, surrounded you...I never heard him live, but the recordings...Mama would recognize some of them, some of his lighter things, I played for her, to get her mind off of things when I couldn't be there to read to her, or talk with her."

"I had some of his albums." Kara murmured softly. "When I went back for the arrow…"

"You listened to it?" Laura smiled slightly. "Of course you did. Bet you smoked a cigar too, didn't you."

"Yeah." Kara settled down again as Laura absently rubbed her back. "I did."

"Thought so." Nodding, Laura continued. "I haven't listened to your father's music in years…it helped me through Mama…and then when Daddy, Cheryl, and Sandy were killed…when they came and told me, I didn't know what to do. I started putting things away from the shower we'd had the night before, and I had to go outside…the next thing I knew, I was sitting…well, never mind that. But, when I got back here, all I could do was sit here, letting his music wash over me. After I picked myself up, and got back to life…I'd listen to his lighter things, mixed in with other musicians, except for two days a year, then, I'd listen to the…more emotional works. And then one year, I was traveling on one of those days. Didn't have anything else on my mind but getting home, and away from all the happy families I saw around me. I had one stop to make…and the next thing I knew, I was sleeping with the President." She sighed softly. "I'm not making excuses. I've gotten past that, it was a different me. A me that I'd become, not the me I'd planned on being. If that makes sense."

"It does." Kara nodded slightly, nestling closer to Laura. "Life frakking happens."

"Mmm. Something like that." She smiled slightly, still absently toying with Kara's hair. "Anyway, after that…I just couldn't let my guard down, couldn't afford to let the emotions take over any more. So, I put his albums away. Compartmentalized."

"Hid." Kara murmured.

"Yes." Laura pressed a soft kiss to the top of her head. "I did. I hid from the emotions I knew your father's music could elicit from me. I wouldn't…couldn't let them overwhelm me. I needed to be able to…"

"Yeah." Tightening her grip on Laura, Kara sighed. "Will you listen to them sometime, maybe? Just you and me?"

"I'd like that." Closing her eyes, Laura sighed. "Just you and me."

"Thanks." Kara mumbled softly, nestling into her.

"Thank you." Reaching out blindly, Laura pulled the blanket from her legs so it covered both of them as they settled back down. Bill could wake them up later, she decided, slipping back into sleep.