Chapter 26

Humanity's Child

25. General Ulixes was captured and cast into prison and word spread throughout the land that the army of the Twelfth Tribe had fallen.

26. And the Lord sent to Azzura a vision that she should leave the valley of the farmers and journey to the city.

27. Azurra left her son with his six sisters and went to the city and ministered to her husband, bathing his wounds and caring for him.

28. And Ulixes tried to put her away from him saying unto her, I am captive of my enemy and whoever treats me with kindness shall also be judged as I am judged.

29. Azurra said, I am your wife and I belong by your side.

30. And she prayed to her God and He healed Ulixes' wounds and brought peace to his heart.

The Cylon Scriptures, Book of Azurra, Chapter 8:25-30

.

The guard at Marble House raised the gate arm and Lee pulled his car out of the parking lot. As he got to the street, Kara impulsively said, "Take me by your apartment. I'd like to change clothes before we go to see Dreilide."

"Are you sure? You look really good in that dress. Has he ever seen you in a dress before?"

"At my Academy graduation party."

"He'd probably like to see you in a dress again. Once a year isn't too often."

"I want to get out of these heels. Besides, if he's been smoking, my clothes will smell like cigarettes. I want to wear something I can wash, like jeans. This dress has to be dry-cleaned."

Lee turned left. They were uncharacteristically silent for several blocks. "Lunch was good today," he finally said. "It was nice of Laura to do that for us."

"I'm glad we left when we did. I could tell that she wanted to talk to me about Dad. I don't know anything to tell her that would make her feel better. It's going to be bad enough when she reads the report of our debriefing."

"It was nice of Maya to offer to give Hunter a tour of Marble House."

She snickered. "Aren't you glad you didn't have to put up with him and me both this afternoon?"

"Kara…I'm sorry about earlier today. What he said just hit me wrong."

"I don't understand. It seemed like you were getting along good and then…"

"I overreacted to something he said. Hunter must think I'm an idiot."

"No. He doesn't but if you keep on acting that way, he will. Treating him nice one minute and turning on him the next."

Lee turned left onto the street beside his apartment building and entered the underground parking garage. He pulled into his allotted space and started to get out of the car.

"No. Give me your key and wait here," Kara said.

He closed the door. "Why?"

"Because you know what will happen if you go upstairs with me."

"And that's a bad thing?" Even Lee heard the hurt in his voice.

"If we go up there and jump into bed, we'll just put off talking about what's wrong between us and you know it. I've had enough of this crap, Lee. I want it to end and the only way we're going to do that is talk."

Feeling the sting of her rejection even as he agreed with her, he took his key ring out of his trouser pocket and handed it to her.

"I won't be gone long," she said.

Lee leaned his head back against the headrest and felt a deep aching sadness settle over him. He remembered the time almost six years earlier when he was seventeen years old and had been visiting his father on the Galactica.

He'd been on the ship only a few days when the Cylons had attacked the Colonies. The Galactica was one of the battlestars that had been ordered to stay over Caprica. She was an older ship and the newest and finest had been sent into battle because no one had believed in those first days that they would lose, but one by one the colonies had fallen and the proud new battlestars had been destroyed. It looked like that was going to be the fate of all the colonies, all the battlestars, and then the Atlantia and several others had mounted a massive attack over Picon and had managed to destroy the giant Cylon nuclear killing machine. But many of the basestar's nukes had already been released and had sealed Picon's fate as the Penelope's mission members had so recently seen.

Lee vividly remembered the night he'd met John Gallagher, the night Tom Zarek and his men had hijacked John and his ship. John had left Kara and Karl behind on Caprica at a small private airfield rather than risk Zarek's men hurting them. That night John had described Kara to him as beautiful, blond, athletic and tough. He'd talked about her soccer skills and her fearlessness on a skateboard, the daredevil kid who was growing into a beautiful young woman. Something inside Lee had held on to that image which had fused in his mind with the green-eyed ocean nymph in his favorite painting, Posiden's Daughter.

Lee had fallen in love with Kara before he'd even met her. He'd fallen in love with an ideal that he'd conjured in his mind. He'd even seen her while he was hallucinating in the decompression chamber after his accident in the deep space simulator. But Kara wasn't the mythical daughter of the sea god. She was real. She was human. She had her faults. She wasn't perfect. Just like he wasn't. They both had issues. Many of his he knew stemmed from his childhood and the way he was raised, his alcoholic, emotionally-distant, occasionally-abusive mother and his mostly absent, career-obsessed father who had missed more of Lee's and Zak's birthdays than he had made it home for.

A lot of Kara's problems probably came from Dreilide Thrace's abandonment of her when she was eight and her mother's near-abandonment to a career in the Marines. He had never understood why Socrata Thrace wouldn't allow John to be a part of Kara's life but she hadn't, and Kara had missed out on knowing her real father's love until they'd found each other again two years ago. And John did love his daughter. In fact when he'd first met John, Lee couldn't wrap his thoughts around the idea that a parent would do for a child what John had done for Kara. The whole concept had been that foreign to him. But over the years since then, he'd come to a better understanding of it. John was the kind of father he wanted to be one day. He just didn't know if he had a clue where to begin. Parenting skills were learned and he'd had two very poor teachers.

Lee didn't even know right now if he and Kara stood a chance as a couple. They probably didn't if he couldn't get his act together. He was going to have to accept that she and Hunter had formed a bond the same way he had eventually accepted Kara's bond with Karl. He was going to have to deal with it.

His mobile phone vibrated. He unclipped it and looked at the caller ID. Kendra.

"What's going on?" she asked.

"Nothing right now. Waiting on Kara to change clothes so we can go visit her other father. What's up with you?"

"Dwight came over for lunch today so he had the big meet and greet with Mother."

"How'd it go?"

"Better than I ever dreamed it would. I'm not sure who's more impressed. Dwight and Mother are still sitting at the table talking. I came into the kitchen to call and let you know something she told us. You should get a registered letter in a day or two. The independent hearing starts next Monday, a week from tomorrow."

"So soon?" Lee asked shocked. "Dad said it would probably be a month or more."

"My mother tried to slow it down hoping Zarek would come to his senses and drop the whole thing but no luck."

"Not that we can do anything about it."

"Mother thinks we should have legal representation?"

"Why? We're not on trial. My father said we'd just have to tell our story the way it happened and then answer any questions the panel might have."

"It's those questions she's concerned about. She's afraid Zarek might try to get one of us to incriminate ourselves or one of the others."

"How could he do that?"

"I shot a man, Lee," she said with emotion. "Sarah Porter from Gemenon is on the inquiry panel. You know how deeply religious she is. She doesn't even believe women should serve in the military. I think my mother is afraid Porter will take a dim view of what I did. You know what the Sacred Scrolls say about killing."

"That passage refers to deliberate murder…like what August Bernard was going to do to me."

"The Gemenese interpret the scrolls literally. To them killing is killing."

"Kendra, you shot a man who was a second away from shooting me. Don't worry. I'll make the panel see that if you hadn't pulled that trigger, I'd have been killed. The man was with Cylon centurions for the gods sakes. They shot down our Raptor. It's all in Commander Cain's report. How the hell does Zarek think that's going to incriminate us?"

"I don't know. My mother still thinks we need legal counsel."

"If we go into that inquiry with a lawyer, I'm afraid it will look like we have something to hide. We don't."

"I know. So I'll tell her no on the legal representation."

"You and Saunders can do what you want. I'm going to decline."

"We will, too. We stick together."

"Okay, Kendra. Thanks for calling to tell me."

"How are things going, Lee? You sound like you're down."

"Things could be better. My CO and I are in the middle of debriefing Kara and the guy she brought back with her."

"What's he like?"

"You know I can't talk about it."

"Oh, come on. Just a hint." Her voice took on a teasing tone. "Tall, dark, handsome and mysterious?"

"Not over the phone, Kendra."

"Are you going to be debriefing them tonight?"

"No, we're taking the day off. My CO and his wife and Kara and I and…this other guy just had lunch at Marble House. My father gave Kara permission to visit Dreilide. Kara talked to him yesterday and she thinks he's gotten worse."

"Meet me at Zeno's tonight."

"Kara only got permission to go visit Dreilide. I've got to get her back afterward."

"And then what? Are you staying with her at the safe house?"

"No. One of Vladimir Darren's agents gets the babysitting honors."

"So meet me at Zeno's. We can talk."

"A little strategy session with you and Saunders before the inquiry next week?"

"No, just me. Dwight's got to fly up to Antioch tomorrow to take a couple of diplomatic couriers. They're leaving at 05:00. so he's going to bed early tonight. I'm on my own. So what about it? Zeno's tonight about eight? You sound like you need to talk to somebody. Who better than your wolf-fighting partner?"

"What about I call you if I can make it?"

"Sure. Call me."

"If not tonight then some other night this week."

"Okay, Lee. Don't let this thing get you down."

He ended the call and clipped the mobile phone back on his belt. Then he loosened his tie and unbuttoned his top shirt button before he leaned back against the headrest. He now had one more thing to think about, the upcoming independent inquiry. Maybe it was all about Zarek and the publicity it would get him like Bill thought. Then again maybe Zarek was ignorant of the extent to which August Bernard had gone to destroy whatever he thought Lee and Kendra had gotten at the courthouse. Lee didn't relish telling the story again. He didn't relish reliving the nightmare. He knew Kendra didn't either. But they were going to have to in front of a group of civilians who were sometimes very hard on the military.

…

Kara turned the key in the lock and opened the door of Lee's apartment. After the fighting last autumn her decision to move in with Lee had hurt Laura and had angered the admiral, but it was like she'd told them. She was eighteen. She could live where she wanted to.

Kara stepped into the living room and looked around. An empty beer bottle sat on the end table by the couch. She picked it up and walked into the kitchen. The recycle bin was full of beer bottles. It hadn't been emptied in a long time…or Lee was drinking a lot more than he used to. There were four or five unwashed cereal bowls in the sink and the garbage can was full. She sniffed. The garbage definitely needed taking out. She walked into the bathroom. The sink was grimy. The toilet seat was up. It didn't look like it had been cleaned in weeks. She didn't bother to open the shower door.

She walked into the bedroom and looked around. The bed wasn't made. The clothes Lee had worn yesterday were thrown across his desk chair instead of in the laundry hamper. None of this was like him. The Lee Adama she knew was not a slob.

Something had clearly changed, and whatever was wrong had started while she was on Nereid. She took off the dress and hung it in the closet. She put the heels on the floor next to Lee's dress shoes. She got a pair of jeans out of her dresser drawer and pulled them on. She found a clean t-shirt and her old pair of sneakers. As she left the bedroom, she looked at the clock on the nightstand. She'd been gone less than ten minutes. In the living room she checked their Top Gun trophies. She wasn't surprised to find that they were dusty. The letter from her father was still under hers. The letter she'd left under Lee's was gone.

She locked the door behind her and went to the elevator and felt for a moment like everything familiar to her was falling apart.

Then she took a deep breath. She had found her father because she loved him and because she wasn't a quitter. She loved Lee. She would find out what was going on with him. She wouldn't quit until she did.

...

Laura sat in her private den. Lee and Kara had left to go see Dreilide Thrace. The Parkers and Elosha were gone. Braedon was down for a nap and Maya had taken Hunter on a tour of Marble House. Laura had noticed how quickly Maya had volunteered to act as Hunter's guide when Lee and Kara had mentioned the visit to Dreilide. Hunter had quickly acquiesced. Only Bill stayed behind with her. He sat on the opposite end of the sofa. They were both enjoying cups of coffee.

"Today went extremely well," Laura said. "I'm glad I got to meet the Parkers."

"He's a very capable man, a good officer," Bill said. "I'm fortunate he agreed to take a position on my staff."

"His wife is very pretty. She teaches fourth grade by the way."

"I heard her say that."

"You mean Major Parker has never mentioned it?"

"He and I don't talk about our personal lives. I know he's married and has two young children. I've seen their pictures on his desk."

"I taught for two years at Thalassa College after I finished graduate school. If Richard Adar hadn't appointed me to his staff when he was elected Mayor of Delphi, I'd probably still be teaching."

Bill picked up his cup of coffee and took a sip. "Do you ever wish you'd turned him down?"

Laura smiled. "Some days. Of course my father wanted me to go into the diplomatic corps like he had done. I'm sure if he and my mother hadn't been killed on Tauron…" she didn't finish the sentence. She had no idea what would have happened to her career if her parents hadn't died when they did.

"You would have made a good diplomat. Do you have any regrets with where your career has taken you?"

"Not at the moment. What about you?"

"Not at the moment. Nereid is still ahead of us."

Laura sighed gently. "You'll handle that as well as you've done everything else."

She rubbed her thumb across the back of her wedding ring and thought about John.

She finally said, "I think Marshall Bagot is going to introduce a resolution in the Quorum to commission a statue of you."

"I don't want a statue," he said quickly. "I've told you that before."

"You're far too modest, Bill. Your plan freed us of Cylon control. You deserve the recognition."

"I did my job. If I deserve one, then so do the thousands of service men and women who did their jobs that night."

"A statue of you would honor them all."

Bill shook his head. "Just veto the resolution if it passes the Quorum."

She smiled again. "I could, but I'm not going to. Caprica needs heroes. We need to be able to look at someone and say, 'Well done'."

"Then commission a statue of John. He deserves it more than I do."

"You're missing the whole point, Bill. You made the plan. You made the decisions. You get the statue. If you regard that as punishment, then I'm sorry, but that's the way things work."

"Do you have anything stronger than this coffee?"

"Don't you think it's a little early in the day?

He smiled. "Somewhere on the planet it's after five o'clock."

She gestured toward the sideboard. "You know where I keep the whiskey." After he had poured some into his coffee and returned to the couch, she said, "Billy called me this morning. Data entry was completed on Friday in a database containing the names on Zarek's petition plus the names on the deceased list that Lee and Kendra got on Tauron. I know Zarek's pulled strings to convene the independent inquiry beginning next Monday. Billy volunteered to work yesterday doing some comparisons. The results are interesting to say the least."

"Any surprises?"

"Nothing we weren't expecting. Some of the people on Mateo Oraibi's unofficial list also signed Zarek's petition…apparently from beyond the grave."

Bill chuckled softly. "I wonder if Tom Zarek has got the guts to add raising the dead to his self-proclaimed list of accomplishments."

"I hope not although if I know him, he'll disavow any knowledge of those signatures and blame the fraud on the recently deceased August Bernard who can no longer defend himself. I've thought long and hard about this independent inquiry. I wouldn't put it past Zarek to have staged it all. He knows Lee and Kendra told the truth about what happened because he's the one who sent Mr. Bernard after them. Zarek just wants to elicit public sympathy as a leader who supports his men…and by extension the people he claims he was chosen to serve. Any way you look at it, I think he's going to come out the better for it."

"What's your next step?"

"I talked to Romo Lampkin as soon as I got off the phone with Billy. He's going to pay Zarek a visit tomorrow and ask for an explanation."

"Is he going to mention the independent hearing?"

Laura smiled. "You know how well Romo handles these things. I doubt he'll have to, but I also doubt it will sway Zarek."

"Then why tip your hand ahead of time. Spring it on Zarek during the inquiry. Let him see how well he can worm his way out of it in front of the panel. Make his duplicity public."

"That's a very good idea. I'll call Romo shortly and tell him to cancel tomorrow's meeting with Zarek. He can attend the inquiry as my representative."

Bill took another sip of his coffee. "Are you sure I can't talk you into rethinking the statue?"

Laura smiled. "Not a chance, Admiral Adama."

...

John awoke to someone pounding on his door. He rolled out of bed into a dim gray gloom wondering if he had dreamed it. It was either very early in the morning or it was still raining. The urgent knocking came again so it wasn't a dream. He quickly pulled on a pair of sweatpants and went to the door. Doolittle never knocked. A Cylon wouldn't have knocked either.

He opened the door to Petra who was holding Rika's crying infant.

"I've got to get back," she said breathlessly. "This little one needs feeding and I left Cassie asleep." She took a deep breath. "Rika's gone."

"Gone?" John said still not completely awake. "Where?"

A sob choked Petra. She cuddled the baby closer and rocked her back and forth. The little mouth sought her breast even through her blouse.

"I'm afraid…she…the top sheet from her bed is missing. Her clothes and shoes, too. Rika was sleeping when I fed the baby about two a.m. When she woke me up just now, I went to check on her again. She was gone."

John shook his head in bewilderment. "Why do you think she would have taken the sheet?" But even as he spoke the words, he realized what Petra feared. "Oh, gods, no. You don't think she would…" he couldn't bring himself to say it. "Has anybody searched the building for her?"

"Not yet. I came straight up here as soon as I found her bed empty. What should we do?"

"Go back to Cassie and feed the baby. I'll go down and wake Sonja and get her to start searching the building. Where outside would Rika…where do you think she would go?"

Petra was crying openly now. "She used to meet Yusef in the park…past the fountain. Where the paths fork take the left one. There's a thicket of rhododendrons near a big hemlock tree. That's where I found her two days ago."

"I'll find her," John said. "I'll bring her back."

Petra was still crying as she turned and started toward the elevator. John closed the door, went back to the bedroom and quickly dressed. He looked out the window. The dim gloom came from another day of pelting rain. He exited the apartment and rode down to Sonja's apartment where he knocked on the door and continued to knock until she opened it. Her hair was tousled, a sleep mask pushed up on her forehead, her eyes heavy with sleep. She was wearing a short blue nightgown. She looked even more surprised than the day before.

"What's wrong?"

"Rika is missing. I'm going out to look for her. Will you start searching the building?"

"Missing?"

"Missing. As in not in her bed when Petra got up to feed the baby. Rika was there at two a.m. She's gone now. Will you help?"

"Where do you want me to look?"

"Just search the building. Please. Start in the basement. I'm going to the park."

"Why the park?"

"Because that's where Petra thinks she might have gone. That's where Petra found her two days ago."

"It's pouring rain."

"I know. But if she…it might not have mattered."

Sonja still seemed confused. "If she what?"

"Petra and I are afraid she's done something to herself."

"Done something?"

"Gods damn it, Sonja. Do I have to spell it out? We're afraid she might have gone somewhere and taken her own life."

Sonja's eyes finally opened wide. "Suicide is a mortal sin."

"We can debate that some other time. Will you help?"

"I'll help." She put her hand on his arm.

"She's so young. She's like Kara. She's like my daughter."

"Then go to the park. Leave the building to me."

"Please don't involve Leoben in this. Not yet. If we find her and she's all right, he doesn't need to know."

Sonja nodded.

John turned and was almost to the elevator by the time she closed the door of her apartment.

...

Kara opened the car door. "I'm back."

"That was quick."

She shrugged. "It only took me two minutes to change clothes. The rest of the time I spent checking out the apartment. I'm gone a month and it looks like a pig sty. What's up with you, Lee? The first time I saw your apartment, it was spotless. It was nearly spotless when I left a month ago. What happened? Do you have an inner slob that I don't know about?"

Lee started the car and backed out of the parking place. "I've been busy lately. I haven't been home a lot."

"How long does it take to wash a cereal bowl or carry the recycle stuff downstairs? Or scrub a toilet for that matter? The toilet is gross, Lee."

"Leave it alone, Kara."

"No, I'm not going to leave it alone. Something's wrong. Is it my fault? Is it because of what I did?"

"Go see Dreilide. Then we'll talk."

"You won't tell me to leave it alone again?"

"We'll talk about anything you want to talk about."

They rode the rest of the way to Fifty-First Street in silence. Lee pulled into a parking place near Dreilide's apartment building, turned off the engine and leaned back against the seat.

"Aren't you coming with me?" Kara asked.

"I'm sure he doesn't want to see me today."

"That's not true and you know it. He likes you."

"Go see Dreilide, Kara. I wouldn't be very good company right now."

Knowing she wasn't going to change his mind, Kara closed the car door and walked up the steps to the apartment. Dreilide lived on the top floor. She wondered how he was still managed to climb three flights of stairs since walking across the room sometimes left him struggling to get his breath.

As she entered the dusty concrete stairwell she thought of the day a year and a half earlier when she had first come to see the man she had once thought of as her father, the man who had left her and her mother when she was eight years old and disappeared from her life. She still remembered the shock on Dreilide's face when he had seen her that first time. Her first visit had lasted less than ten minutes. Neither one of them had been able to handle it. But she'd gone back. She'd kept going back. She wasn't a quitter.

She reached his door and knocked. After nearly a minute he opened it. She stood there smiling.

"Hi," she said.

He reached out and squeezed her arm and then she stepped inside and hugged him. He smelled like cigarettes, like he always did. He was wearing one of his faded blue flannel shirts. They were all frayed at the cuffs and around the collar, but he liked them. The shirt emphasized the pale grayish tinge of his face. But then she'd been expecting it. The disease was taking its toll on him. He'd grown steadily worse during the last year and a half.

They went to sit on the couch.

"You look good," he said. "Been out in the sun?"

"My…mission lasted longer than I thought it would. I spent some time outdoors."

"Down on an island somewhere?"

She smiled. "I didn't get my tan laying on a beach. I was working. Okay?"

"I know you can't talk about it."

"How have you been doing?"

He shrugged. "I've been better."

"Still using the oxygen, I see."

"When I have to. Don't worry. I've still got some fight left in me. I'm not ready to give up yet."

"You're still smoking, aren't you?"

"A lot less than I used to. I had one early this morning and one after lunch. None since then because I knew you were coming by."

"Still playing the clubs?"

"One or two nights a week. It's about all I can manage now."

"How are you still getting up and down those stairs?"

He snorted. "Very, very slowly. There's an apartment coming vacant on the ground floor next month. I put my name in for it. I just won't be able to move the piano."

"Why not?"

"It was here when I rented this place. The piano belonged to a music teacher, an old man who died before I moved in eight years ago. His son remembered the piano being lifted up with some kind of hoist apparatus on the roof when he was a little boy. They had to remove the window from the frame. I don't have the kind of money to have that done."

"You need your piano," Kara said stubbornly.

"I need to be on the first floor a whole lot more. I never envisioned dying in a dirty stairwell."

"You're not going to die so quit talking about it."

"We're all going to die. Just some of us sooner than others."

Kara didn't say anything for a minute. "What about getting another piano?"

"I don't have that kind of money, either."

"A used piano?"

"I've got the electric keyboard. I'll make do."

"I'll help you move. Me and Lee. I'll get some others to help, too. A couple of pilots owe me a favor. We'll get you moved. It won't cost you a thing."

He looked at her and tears came to his eyes.

"I need to go," she said. "Lee and I have got to have a talk. I took off on my mission without telling him I was going. It's caused some big problems for us."

"I don't want to see you make the same mistake I made with your mother."

"What does that mean?"

"Don't rush into anything with Lee like I did with her. We got married too young. If we'd waited another year, we probably wouldn't have gotten married at all. She would have been free when she met your father. You'd have had a lot better life than you had."

"My life wasn't so bad."

"It wasn't so good either."

"Do you think Lee and I are wrong for each other like she was for you? Is that what you're trying to tell me?"

"Lee is a nice young man. I like him. He seems like he's deeply in love with you. When I was his age, I felt like that about your mother and she felt the same way about me. I'm just saying don't rush into anything. That's all I'm saying."

"Marriage isn't even on the table right now."

"What about that ring you wear?"

"It's a promise ring. It's not an engagement ring. It just means we're exclusive. It doesn't mean we've set a date."

"I'm glad to hear it. Your mom and I got married when we were eighteen years old, same age you are now."

"I'm almost nineteen."

"Point is you've got your whole life ahead of you. I'm not telling you Lee isn't the man for you. I'm just telling you not to rush into anything. Wait a couple of years before you stand in front of a priest. Make damned certain before you take those vows."

Kara snickered. "What? You're channeling my dad now? You sound exactly like him."

"We both love you, Kara. We both want you to be happy. Maybe he wouldn't mind me standing in and giving you some fatherly advice. After I'm gone, there won't be anyone to do it."

Kara stood. "Okay. Enough said. Do you need anything? Want me to go to the grocery store for you or something?"

"Paulla's still helping me out." He chuckled which triggered a coughing spell. Kara walked over to the piano and got his glass of whiskey, his cough medicine as he called it.

She waited for the coughing to subside. "Paulla? You mean Ms. Soup and Sermons?"

Still coughing, he nodded.

Kara smiled. "She converted you to monotheism yet?"

"Not yet. But she's still trying."

"I'll come back as soon as I can. Don't get up. I can let myself out."

"I'm glad you made it back, Kara. Lee came to see me after you left and told me you'd gone on a mission. And then a month went by with no word from either of you. I was worried."

She grinned. "I'm fine. Someday I'll tell you all about my mission. There were a couple of surprises. I just can't talk about it yet."

"I finished recording the new CD. It's in post production. I'm calling it Kara's Song after the title number. The piece I wrote for your dad is on it, too. It'll be released soon."

"You promised me a copy."

"The first one."

"Autographed?"

"You bet."

She left, closing the door behind her, and stood for a full minute leaning against the wall. What had he been trying to tell her about Lee? She finally decided that all he meant was to go slow, that he didn't want her and Lee to make a mistake and marry too young like he and Socrata had done. If she and Lee made it a few more years together, they stood a better chance if they decided to get married.

Kara walked slowly down the stairs and onto the street. When she opened the car door, she saw that Lee had fallen asleep. She sat for a minute looking at his handsome face, relaxed and free of stress. She suddenly wondered how much he had slept the night before. When he'd been recovering from his broken leg, after he'd stopped taking the painkillers, he'd had trouble sleeping. He'd had nightmares about that night he'd fallen into the ocean. They both had, but sometimes she thought his had been worse. Now she thought it was probably happening to him again.

Gently she touched his cheek and felt the love for him well up in her. He opened his eyes, those eyes as blue as the sky at twilight.

"Let's go for a walk," she said softly. "Down to the pier. We can sit on one of the benches and talk."

Without a word they got out of the car. Lee set the alarm. This wasn't the worst neighborhood in Caprica City, but it wasn't the best, either. They started down the sidewalk toward Fifty-Third Street. After they turned the corner, they passed the shoe repair shop with the sign shaped like a boot hanging over the door. Yolanda Brenn and Keshia, her caregiver and lover, had once lived in a little apartment over the shop. A strong wave of sadness washed over Kara. When she was finally allowed to leave the safe house on her own, she would go visit Keshia at the women's shelter where she was now working.

Lee took her hand. "Did you have a nice visit with Dreilide?"

"He's worse. His color is bad, but I guess that's to be expected when your lungs are in the shape his are in. Damned cigarettes. He told me last year that he used to smoke two packs a day…for years."

"It's a tough habit to break. It's a bad addiction."

"I know. And it's killing him. He's moving to an apartment on the first floor next month because he's having trouble climbing the stairs. I told him we'd move his stuff for him so he doesn't have to hire somebody. He's only working a night or two a week now."

"What about the piano? We can't move that by ourselves."

"He's leaving it. It's not his anyway. It was in the apartment when he moved in. I might check into getting him another one, maybe a second-hand one. He's got his electric keyboard but he needs his piano."

"One of your fathers needs a piano and you want to get him one. That's a reasonable and generous thing to do. The other one is in a basestar that explodes in front of your eyes and you decide he's alive on Nereid based on something Yolanda Brenn told you. Do you not see why I can understand one thing and not the other?"

"I understand," she said softly.

"That night in the hospital when Yolanda died, why didn't you tell me that she'd told you John was alive? Did you ever think about what it would do to me to realize you didn't trust me enough to even talk to me about it?"

"I thought about it. The reason I didn't talk to you right away is that I didn't understand what she meant then. I thought she was talking about you falling from the sky because you had to punch out of your Viper and you fell into the ocean. I didn't understand she was talking about my father until after his memorial service when I remembered she'd said, I saw a dazzle of light…a great distance…another ocean…and yet he survives. She was talking about an FTL jump. Somehow I just knew then that she had been telling me Dad was alive. That's when it fell into place for me. Not the night she told me."

"But you still didn't mention it to me," he said bitterly.

Kara took a deep breath. "For one thing I know how you feel about prophets and prophecies. You don't believe in them. What Yolanda told me defied logic. How many times in the weeks after that night did you tell me I was living in denial when I wouldn't give up hope that Dad's Raptor would be found and he'd still be alive? You already thought I was losing it because I wouldn't grieve. I wouldn't even open the letter Dad had left for me. Admit it. You thought I was going nuts. You just wouldn't say it. So say it now. Since we're telling each other the total truth. What did you think about my mental state before and after the memorial service?"

"Yes, I thought you were in denial. And I told you so. I said it to you, Kara. But I didn't think you were going crazy."

"So tell me what you would have thought if I'd sat down one night and told you that my father was still alive, that his Raptor had made it to Nereid, a jump thirty times farther than a Raptor can make. That I'd talked to Dr. Rafferty and he said there was a slim chance it could be true if about a dozen things had happened at just the right time and in just the right sequence. What would you have thought then?"

"I would probably have started worrying about you."

"Started worrying about me?" She barely managed to suppress a laugh. "You were already worrying about me. You'd have wanted to put me in a room with padded walls. Admit it."

"Okay, Kara, I was already worried about you, especially after the memorial service because you quit talking about John at all. But you weren't grieving. Instead you were obsessed with that laptop and Irina Hoshi's journals and John's maps of the planet. If you'd told me he was alive on Nereid, I probably would have tried to talk you into getting some help since nothing I said meant anything to you."

"In other words, see a shrink."

They were halfway down the pier. The sea gulls circled overhead and Kara thought of her father, of how much he loved the ocean, of how the Cylon city was almost dead center of the big continent, a thousand miles from either ocean. When they rescued him and brought him back to Caprica, she knew he would want to go to his cottage on the island. Maybe they could all go, her dad and Laura and Brae and her and Lee. She smiled at the thought. She would give anything to have that feeling of being a family again.

Lee didn't answer her about the shrink. They both knew he would have suggested it and then if she hadn't taken his suggestion, they would have fought about it.

"Okay," she said. "Supposing I had told you my dad was alive and you humored me by not telling me I was crazy. What if next I'd told you that I was going to borrow the Raider and jump to Nereid on an unauthorized mission and look for him? What would you have done then, Lee? Said, Great idea, Kara. Need some help stealing it? I'll be glad to volunteer."

Lee took a deep breath and blew it out. "To tell you the truth, Kara, I don't know what I would have done because it didn't happen that way."

"Yes, you do. Who would you have gone to first…your dad or Laura?"

"First I'd have tried to talk you out of it."

"And if I'd said, Sorry, Lee. I'm going anyway. What then? Would you have just sat back and let me do it?"

They reached the end of the pier. Kara let go of Lee's hand and propped her elbows on the railing. She looked out across the bay at the sailboats that dotted the water. They had gradually come back, these pleasure boats that had all but disappeared while the Cylons controlled Caprica.

Lee propped his arms beside her and followed her gaze out to sea. Since the night of the fighting when he'd punched out of his Viper and spent the next twelve hours floating in the ocean, the smell of seawater brought back very bad memories for him.

"I wouldn't have let you steal the Raider," he finally said. "I wouldn't have let you risk your career and your life to go off on a crazy mission based on the words of an Oracle even if Dr. Rafferty had said it was theoretically possible."

There. He had said it. He'd told her the truth. He would have stopped her.

"So you'd have ratted me out to your father?"

"I don't know what I would have done. I don't guess we'll ever know."

"Then how would you have stopped me, Lee? Locked me in a closet?"

"I'd probably have told Dr. Rafferty he needed stronger security at the boneyard."

"And I'd have tried it anyway and gotten caught which I almost did, and I'd have had you to thank for it."

"And you'd have broken up with me, wouldn't you? Be honest with me."

Below her the water slapped against the pilings. "Probably. Because then you would have betrayed my trust." She echoed his words, "So I guess we'll never know."

"Why? For keeping you from risking your life on a hostile planet on a mission that had almost zero chance of success? I love you, Kara. I couldn't stand by and let you commit suicide. Doesn't that mean anything to you?"

"It means everything to me. You mean everything to me."

"Except someone you can trust."

"What if I'd told you and you told me not to do it, but I did it anyway and succeeded. What would you have done if your father had asked you later did you know? Would you have admitted it or lied to him?"

"He did ask me. That night. He asked me a couple of times. He couldn't believe we'd been living together and I didn't know."

"And you were honestly able to tell him you didn't have any idea. You've still got a spotless service record. Admiral Adama is still proud of his oldest son. You made captain, didn't you? You think that would have happened if I'd involved you in my plan? How long do you think it will be before I make captain with what's on my record, or soon will be on my record?"

"Kara, that's not the point."

"What is the point, then, Lee? How could this have gone down any better? My father is alive. I didn't have anything to do with that, but we know it for sure now. And we know there's thousands of humans alive on Nereid. We have Hunter here on Caprica. He knows where the Cylons are on the planet and where the settlements are. Your father isn't going to nuke the planet and kill a bunch of innocent people. And we both know that before I went to Nereid, that's exactly what he planned to do no matter how many times I told him there were humans there. He wouldn't listen to me, but he'll listen to Hunter now. And Hunter's here because I stole the Raider."

"We didn't have the proof…"

"I don't care. We had enough to make anyone question it which he refused to do. If I'd told you my plan and you'd stopped me from going, your father would have destroyed that planet and everybody on it...including my father. Did you ever stop to think that maybe things happened the way they were supposed to happen? That maybe the gods had a hand in this? That maybe the gods gave Yolanda her vision and made sure I got to the hospital before she died? That maybe part of my destiny was to do exactly what I did?"

Lee didn't say anything. He couldn't argue with her on matters of religion. She believed in the gods. He didn't. They stood without talking for a long time until Kara bumped her shoulder against his.

"I still love you."

He felt emotion welling in him. "I love you, too."

She put her head on his shoulder. "I can't tell you I'm sorry I did it…except for hurting you. I'm really sorry for that. I didn't know any other way to do it and keep you from getting caught in the middle."

"Next time…" he started.

"There won't be a next time. I'm not going to steal another Raider."

"Next time you get a far-out idea like stealing a ship and jumping to a hostile planet, please trust me enough to tell me and let me make up my own mind how to handle it. We could have talked to my father and Laura. We could have done it together."

Kara laughed. "Right. Then we'd both have found ourselves sitting in little padded rooms. Don't you see? It went down the only way it could. You and me…we're different. We do things different. I'd do anything to save somebody I love. I wouldn't care if it was by the book or legal or even right. I'd do it."

In that moment Lee realized that was who she was. Part of the reason he loved her was her fierce loyalty to those she cared about. He put his arm around her and held her against him and hoped they had both learned something valuable. They couldn't change the past, but they could learn from it and not repeat it. They had to put this behind them and move on. He had to put it behind him. He had to forgive her for not telling him.

"Now we need to talk about you," she said softly. "Tell me about the wolves and getting shot down in the Raptor. Tell me what's wrong."

Lee looked out at the horizon where the water of the bay met the sky. Barely five months ago he had almost died in that ocean. Kara had come for him the same way she had gone to Nereid for her father. Had it not been for Kara and Karl and Sharon, he wouldn't have been rescued. He would have died alone a thousand miles from the spot where he now stood and his body would never have been found. His whole life would have become nothing but a footnote in history, nothing but a name on a list of those killed or missing on the night they had won their freedom from Cylon control. He took a deep breath and said aloud what he had thought hundreds of times since then and especially since he'd faced death again on Tauron.

"I keep wondering how many times I'm going to come close to dying before it actually happens."

...

The spring day in Cylon City felt like winter. Rain was falling hard and it was very cold. The sky was dark enough that the streetlights were still on. John was soaked by the time he got to the park. The centurion turned, its red eye scanning him as he ran past it and down toward the fountain. There he stopped. Several paths diverged from the circular brick area. Petra had said the left one would take him to the rhododendrons and the hemlock tree. The left path was the same one he'd helped Rika on two days ago. Those two days seemed like weeks to him now.

He started down the path shouting her name. The trees were dripping almost as hard as it was raining and he was constantly wiping the water from his eyes. He found the rhododendrons off to the right of the brick path and the hemlock tree off to the left. The branches were heavy and dripping. The dark green rhododendrons leaves were glistening. He was already shivering from the cold.

He stopped and shouted Rika's name as loud as he could and was answered only by the sound of rain in the trees. A dozen yards beyond where he was standing, the path ended at a small obelisk. The trees were thick and dark beyond it. A wrought iron and wood bench similar to the ones around the fountain stood on one side. He walked down to the obelisk and saw that there was space for another bench facing the first one although there was no bench there. Instead he could see furrowed leaf litter where the bench had been dragged into the trees.

He followed the drag marks. He didn't have to go far, maybe thirty feet into the gloom. Rika had torn strips from the sheet, braided them into a rope and tied one end over the limb of a big oak tree. She had knotted the other end around her neck, stood on the back of the bench and tipped it over.

Even as John righted the bench, stood on it and worked frantically to loosen the knot at her neck, he knew he was too late. She had been dead for several hours at least. Her skin was tinged blue and ice cold. He finally succeeded in freeing her although his own fingers were getting stiff from the cold rainwater that ran over them. He gently lifted her body and made it back to the path before he sat down on the other bench and held her, cradling her against his chest as he had cradled her infant the day before. She was like Kara, like his daughter and the grief that overwhelmed him was like nothing he had ever felt before.

He howled it to the gray weeping sky, to the gods whose tears for her fell the same way his did. He began rocking her in his arms, gently back and forth. She was his daughter. She was all the daughters who had died because of the Cylons. She was humanity's dead children, all of them, and he couldn't cope with the loss right now. He had been able to withstand everything they had done to him at the prison and everything that had happened to him since, but Rika's death broke something in him that the Cylons, until that moment, had not been able to touch.

By the time Sonja finally found him, he was shivering violently, but he was still holding Rika, still rocking her in his arms. Sonja was wearing a waterproof hooded poncho identical to the one Gianne had been wearing the day before. She didn't say a word, just pulled and pushed until she got him on his feet. He had a hard time walking. His muscles didn't want to cooperate, but he wouldn't let go of Rika, not even when they got back to the building's lobby. He sank to his knees on the tile, but still he held her. He wouldn't let go of her, his daughter, humanity's child.

A group of Cylons leaving the dining room gathered around him. His rage and pain surfaced in a rush and he shouted at them, "Look at her. All of you. See what you've done. You killed Yusef and now you've killed her. She was a beautiful, gentle girl. You let a monster abuse her and rape her and you blessed it to get one of your half-breed babies. You think you're so much better than we are. You think your God gave you souls. You dare to accuse humans of arrogance. Well take a good look at who paid the price for your arrogance. You've all killed her. Every…single…one of you."

He saw the shocked looks on their faces. He saw their mouths move, heard their voices but none of them made sense to him. Their words were jumbled. Nothing but heartless talking machines, no better than their metal predecessors who had dismembered living human beings in their attempt to create the first skinjob. He saw several Twos but had no idea if one of them was the monster who had started this whole tragic chain of events. None of them approached him, not even a One who stood off to the side observing it all. Maybe their creators had instilled in them a fear of the mentally deranged. And that's the way he felt right now as he held Rika tightly in his arms and rocked her and cried at the loss of her. Humanity's lost child.

He wouldn't let go of Rika until Sonja finally brought Petra, Rika's sister, not her blood kin, but her sister just the same. Petra knelt by him and he finally understood the words that she said to him.

"Let us have her, John. We'll take care of her. She's at peace now. Leoben can't hurt her anymore. Let go of her. Please. My Simon and I will take care of her."

He finally let Petra and Simon take Rika from his arms. He was no longer in the cold rain, but he was still shaking violently, his teeth chattering so hard it was painful. Petra said something to Sonja. He understood the word hypothermia, and Sonja pulled him to his feet. He let her pull him into the elevator and then down the hall to her apartment. She pulled him into the bathroom and unbuttoned his wet shirt and peeled it off. She wrapped a soft towel around his shoulders and then she knelt and untied his boots and pulled them off followed by his socks. She got his pants unzipped and down to the floor. She helped him step out of them. She took the towel and began to rub him vigorously, drying his cold, wet skin, rubbing the circulation back into it.

He didn't try to stop her. He was dry but still shivering when she pulled him into the bedroom and put him in her bed and covered him with a thick comforter. He rolled over on his side and instinctively pulled himself into a fetal position. Sonja quickly took off her own clothes and climbed into bed behind him. She wrapped her warm arms around him and nestled her warm body against him. She didn't speak. She seemed to understand that nothing she could say would reach him right now. She just held him and tried to put back into him not only the life-giving warmth that the cold rain had leeched from his body, but also his hope in a better future that Rika's death had sucked from his soul as well.

His shivering finally abated. His limbs eventually warmed and relaxed. A soft voice whispered in his ear, Go to sleep, my love. John closed his eyes and did what the voice said, slipping finally into the welcome oblivion as he had done so many times at the prison. It was the only place he could escape and leave the pain behind.

...

"We need to start walking back to the car," Lee said. "I have a feeling my father is going to hang around Marble House until we get back."

They turned and started back up the pier. He had just spent the last twenty minutes telling her about his mission to the surface of Tauron.

"All that for a voter registration list."

"Which we never got. We were lucky Kevin was able to retrieve the list of Quanniq's dead from the laptop's hard drive."

"So you went to Quanniq, got the list of dead people and then what?"

"We were on our way to the next town when Saunders picked up the incoming Heavy Raider on our dradis. I tried some evasive maneuvers. They stayed right on us. Saunders put out a distress call and was waiting for jump coordinates from the G when the Cylons fired a missile at us. He got countermeasures away but they launched another missile at us almost immediately. Saunders dropped countermeasures again but they had barely cleared the Raptor when the missile hit them. The Raptor took a lot of damage. I lost some of my hydraulics and stabilizers. I got it down in one piece but we spun in the snow and hit some trees. Next thing I remember Kendra's shaking me and screaming that we're on fire."

"Gods, Lee."

"Saunders got the worst of it. A broken nose and a concussion. His head hit the inside of his helmet when he was slammed to the floor during the crash. Some of the electronics shorted out and started burning. We had to abandon ship. Saunders was unconscious so Kendra and I dragged him out into the snow. I went back and got the laptop and our P-90s and our heavy jackets."

"But that wasn't the end of it."

"No. I took a P-90 and walked out into a clearing to see if I could see the Vipers responding to our distress signal. I couldn't see anything because it was still snowing. That's when Zarek's man and two centurions walked out from under the trees. He started shouting questions at me about what Kendra and I had gotten at the courthouse. Next thing I know he raised his assault pistol. Kendra shot him."

"Kendra Shaw shot a man?"

"Killed him with a shot to the head. You and her have something in common."

"What about the centurions?"

"Right after Kendra shot Auggie B, we took them out, too. It all happened so fast I barely remember it."

"How long were you down in the snow?"

"Thirty minutes. We got Saunders to Sick Bay. We answered a lot of questions for Commander Cain and then answered the same questions and a lot more for another investigator. We filed our reports. They filed their reports. We thought that was the end of it, but it wasn't."

"Why not?"

"Because the man Kendra shot was one of Tom Zarek's men. Zarek's got enough clout to request another inquiry, an independent one. It starts a week from tomorrow."

"What does that mean?"

"We have to go through the whole thing again for Zarek and some other Quorum members and non-military types."

"It sounds like a crock to me."

"It is. My dad thinks Zarek's trying to divert attention from any part he played in faking signatures on the petition that got him appointed to the Quorum as Tauron's representative. He thinks it's a preemptive strike on Zarek's part. It paves the way for Zarek to say the government is framing him in retaliation for his diligence in asking why we killed a civilian."

"That's a total crock," Kara said again. "He's bound to know something like that can be proved."

Lee said, "I think Zarek is going to blame the phony signatures on someone else. He's going to claim he didn't have a clue they were fake. He's going to come out of this smelling like a rose…again."

"I don't care as long as you're okay. You and Saunders and Kendra. That's what's wrong with you, isn't it? It's like you were after the night you punched out of your Viper and fell in the ocean."

"Probably."

They reached the car and got in. "Take me back to the apartment. I need to put the dress back on."

"Why?"

"Because if your dad is still at Marble House and I show up in jeans, he'll figure out we made a stop along the way. That might not be so good since we're doing everything by the book now. I don't want to get either one of us into trouble. You can come upstairs with me. We can't stay long, but…how clean are the sheets?"

"I'll change them for you."

She smiled. "I vote for the couch."

Her vote won. They were happy and laughing by the time they got off the elevator together. The tension and strife earlier in the day were momentarily forgotten as they stumbled through the door together and immediately began pulling off their clothes.

"Slow down, Kara," Lee said. "It's not a contest."

She laughed. "You're going slow enough for both of us."

"No fair. I've got buttons…and a tie."

She laughed again. "Quit complaining."

She pulled him onto the couch. They lay against one another, their hands exploring, their lips pressed against mouths and throats, tongues tasting and exploring. Lee welcomed her touch, the caress that he had dreamed about so many nights during the last month. He was alive. This was real.

"I've missed this so much," she whispered.

He brought his mouth to her ear and softly said. "I love you, Kara. I'll always love you."

They both knew a few minutes later that they were not going to wait any longer. They began the hot dance, the rhythm that they both loved, the intensity increasing quickly with their need. Her knees pressed against his hips. Her back arched, the cry of pleasure came from deep in her throat.

Lee's body shuddered in response, the sensations so intense that he groaned aloud in pleasure.

Gradually their breathing slowed. Kara bent her head and kissed Lee on the lips. He held her tightly and she nuzzled against his neck.

"If it had been you on Nereid, I'd have stolen the Raider and come for you, too. I don't want you to ever doubt that."

He stroked her back. "I know you would have. You found me when I was in the ocean."

They sat without speaking for a long time, his hands gently caressing her back until Kara said, "We've got to go. One of these days we'll be able to stay here afterward. I hope it's soon."

Forty minutes later they pulled into the parking lot at Marble House. They got out of the car and Kara smoothed the dress. Lee looked in the side mirror and straightened his tie. They clasped hands and walked inside.

Lee had been right. Bill was waiting for them. He and Laura were in her private sitting room. Hunter was on the floor playing with Braedon and his ships. His tie was nowhere in evidence. The blue shirt had the top button undone and the sleeves rolled up several times. Maya was in a nearby armchair watching them with a smile on her face.

Hunter seemed totally fascinated with Brae's toys. Kara realized that the children of the valley had never had anything like them. The few toys she had seen in the communal building had been homemade.

Laura looked up and smiled. "Did you have a nice visit with Dreilide?"

"I did. Lee and I walked down to the pier afterward."

"How is your stepfather?"

Kara shrugged. "No better. That's for sure. He's moving to the first floor next month because he can't climb the stairs anymore. I told him we'd help him move."

Laura asked, "Is he getting good medical treatment?"

"He has a doctor."

Kara walked over to Brae and knelt on the floor. He pointed to a small circular track with a little three-car train going round and round.

"Wide twain."

Hunter looked up and smiled at her. "We're going for a train ride. Maya's going to take us."

Kara said. "It looks like you're having as much fun with Brae's toys as he is."

"I'd like to get some toys to take back to the kids in the valley," Hunter said.

"There's a huge toy store downtown. Maybe one day we can all go there. Maybe we can even ride the train there."

Lee walked over to where his father sat on the end of the couch. "I talked to Kendra this afternoon. She said the inquiry is set for next Monday."

Bill and Laura exchanged glances. "I spoke to Romo Lampkin a short while ago," Laura said. "He's going to be there to represent the government's interests."

"I told Kendra we don't want to go in there with a lawyer. It will make it look like we're guilty."

"He's not representing you," Bill said. "He'll be there to ask Zarek how so many people managed to sign his petition after they were dead."

"Seriously?"

"Billy called me this morning," Laura said. "Almost thirty percent of the individuals on Mr. Oraibi's list of the dead also signed Zarek's petition, some of them as long as three years after they died. Romo is going to be at the hearing to make sure that fact gets entered into the evidence. Even if Zarek blames the fraud on one or more of his men, I think it will be ample proof that Mr. Bernard was willing to kill to prevent you and Kendra from getting that information to us."

Lee smiled. "Kendra will be glad to hear it. So will Saunders."

"I have a suggestion," Laura said. "Why don't I have a light dinner prepared? You can all stay and eat. It's a much better idea than cold pizza, isn't it?"

"Much better," Lee said.

The mood around the table in Laura's private dining room was different than lunch. Everyone was more relaxed. There was more laughter. The underlying tension that had been present at lunch was gone. Lee told his story about the wolves which garnered enough questions to take them to the end of the meal.

Kara hugged Laura and kissed Brae and told him she would be back soon, but it was Hunter's departure that caused Braedon to say, "No. Play."

"Let's go ride the elevator," Hunter said and picked him up. He motioned for Maya to accompany them and they rode down to the lower level. When they got there, Hunter handed Brae to Maya and told him Maya would let him push the button on the elevator.

"We'll see you soon," Kara said.

"I hope so," was Maya's quick reply.

"I enjoyed the tour," Hunter told her.

"My pleasure."

They walked into the parking lot. Dusk was settling over the city.

"Nice day," Hunter said. "I enjoyed it a lot."

Kara snickered. "I noticed that. You like her, don't you?"

He shrugged.

"Come on, admit it."

He finally smiled. "Okay, Wildcat. I like her."

At the car, Lee stopped and turned to Hunter. "I'm sorry I acted like a jerk this morning."

"I should have kept my mouth shut. You and Kara…it's none of my business."

Kara smiled at both of them. "Everybody's happy. Let's go get a beer somewhere before we go back to prison."

Lee said, "There's a place close to the safe house that looks like Zeno's. We could park the car and walk."

"Fine with me," Hunter said. "I'm up for another new experience."

"That's all you've had since I brought you here…new experiences."

He was still smiling. "Just think of all the stories I'll have to tell Targa and Beck and Emmalyn and Dessa when I get back."

"That's going to be a while...maybe six months."

They got into the car and Lee backed out of the parking place.

Kara said, "I'd like to take Hunter to visit Irina Hoshi. His grandfather met her before the last expedition left Libran."

"I'll run it by Major Parker," Lee said. "He'll probably have to clear it with my dad but I don't see why he would object."

Lee parked under the building where the safe house was located. They rode the elevator up to the ground floor and walked out into the spring twilight. The place was three blocks away and was called The Lamplighter. They all peered through the window.

"What do you think?" Lee asked.

"I see a bar so it gets my vote," Kara answered.

"I talked to Kendra while you were changing clothes," Lee said. "She called to tell me about the independent inquiry starting next Monday." He hesitated a moment and then said. "What if I give her a call and ask her to join us tonight. She wants to talk." He turned to Hunter. "And I'm not trying to fix you up with her. She's got a boyfriend, the pilot who was with us when the Cylons shot down our Raptor."

Hunter grinned. "Kara knows my feelings about personal relationships. She can explain it to you."

Kara rolled her eyes. "Guys like Hunter don't have girlfriends or wives. He's a Cylon hunter. He doesn't have much of a life expectancy. Did I get it right?"

"You've got a good memory, Wildcat."

"Call Kendra," Kara said and grinned.

"Lee unclipped his phone. "Why don't you go in and get us a booth or a table?"

Kara and Hunter walked inside and looked around. The décor was dark and the tables all had small imitation street lamps with lit candles inside. There was an old piano in the back with a young man sitting at it playing a popular tune. She liked the place already. She led Hunter to a booth about half-way back. He slid in on one side and she slid in across from him. He looked around taking it all in.

"Lee and I had a long talk," Kara said. "I think things are okay between us now."

"Good."

"He's had a rough time since I left. He really is sorry about the way he acted today."

"I should have stayed out of it. He was man enough to apologize. It's forgotten."

She grinned. "So you really like Maya even though you won't consider having a personal relationship with her?"

"I appreciate what you and Lee are trying to do, but I won't be staying here. You know that. When you go back to fight the Cylons, I'm going with you. My people are on Nereid. That's where I belong. Getting close to someone on Caprica would just be hard on both of us when I leave."

"I understand."

"But I do like Maya. If things were different…" he shrugged.

Lee came in and sat beside her. "Kendra will be here in about thirty minutes."

Hunter winked at Kara. She heard the humorous tone in his voice and knew he was kidding when he said, "Meeting two good-looking women in one day. How did Agent Burke put it…a guy should be so lucky."

TBC…