Chapter 28

Earlier that morning

The raptor made its way slowly out of Galactica's docking bay, piloted by Racetrack who was sharing an intense conversation with Skulls over which ship was better, the bucket or the beast? Kara enjoyed the spectacle as it was getting quite animated, with Racetrack believing the Galactica to be the more impressive ship, mainly due to the better crew. Skulls on the other hand chose the beast as it was newer and shinier.

"Which do you think is the best Starbuck?" called Racetrack over her shoulder.

"The bucket, hands down," replied Kara as she struggled to keep the twins still on her lap. It was their first time flying in a raptor and the only word to describe them was "hyperactive." They were squirming around in Kara's lap and kicking away excitedly. "Hey calm down."

"Your kiddies getting excited about flying?" asked Racetrack.

"Yeah, and they won't stay still."

"You can tell they're your kids, born to fly."

Kara hadn't thought of that, she looked down at her children and smiled. She usually saw very little of herself in them, which she had considered to be a blessing, but at least they seemed to share her love for flying. Their happiness was working to make her trip to the beast slightly more bearable. As they neared her, Kara couldn't help but feel apprehensive. Cain had not come across as being the conscientious leader of a Battlestar and there was something that unnerved her about its crew.

Joseph and Lena kept wriggling about and flapping their arms happily until the raptor finally landed with a gentle bump. They then looked up at their mother with wide blue eyes as if they were asking "is that it?"

Kara kissed the top of their heads before walking to the opening hatchway, which revealed Cain standing just outside with her hands on her hips. As she stepped out of the raptor, Kara could read the displeasure on the Admirals' face straight away. She handed the twins to Racetrack so she could jump down from the wing, but a stern voice stopped her from turning and collecting them, thinking that due to what was going to happen next, it was best to keep them away from the angry looking Admiral.

"What are they?" repeated Cain. The rest of the deck seemed to have come to a standstill, eager to see the impending argument.

"They're babies, Sir," replied Kara, stating the obvious to such a stupid question.

"I know what they are Captain, I mean, what are they doing on my Battlestar?"

"They're my babies, and seen as you saw fit to reassign me here, they come with me."

"Well you can turn around and put them back on the raptor. I will not have children on this ship."

"Then I go with them."

Cain walked up to Kara until she was close as she could be without coming into contact. "I've read your file Captain. It seems you have a problem with following orders, so I should warn you that I am not to be messed with."

Kara had guessed by the disapproving looks in the conference room that Cain had read her file. Guessing that she would kick up a storm about her babies, Kara had spent ages trying to find a copy of the Colonial Fleet manual in order to look up her rights, after much cussing she had finally found a part that could help.

"Fleet rules state that they have to stay with me."

"Actually they state that children are entitled to stay with at least one parent, so you can send them back to their father."

"Well he's already on the Pegasus," Kara blurted out before she had a chance to think about what she was saying.

Cain raised her eyebrow slightly, making Kara step back slightly looking contrite, but finally out of the Admiral's face. "MajorAdama I presume?"

Kara tried to keep her expression as neutral as possible, "so my children are staying with me here or on the Galactica."

"What did I say about questioning my orders Captain?"

"I really don't give a frak, sir," replied Kara, knowing straight away that she had gone too far and that she had messed with the wrong person.

Cain quickly turned to her marines and ordered them to escort Kara to the brig and then ordered Racetrack to take the twins to her quarters.

"What!?" shouted out Kara in protest. "You can't do that!"

"I am the Admiral of this fleet pilot; I can do whatever I want."

Kara pushed away as the marines came up and grabbed her arm, she knew she shouldn't struggle and had no chance against several gunnies but the cries of her children as they were taken away spurred her into violent action. She kicked and punched out until she felt a sharp knock to the side of her head, her knees giving out from the shock of the blow. The marines, seizing the chance, grabbed her arms and lifted her by the legs sweeping her off the floor.

Kara continued to struggle violently and shout out despite her dizziness, only stopping when she knew it was useless to continue, which was after being carried down many corridors.

"Come on, put me the frak down, I can walk."

The four marines look down and, seeing that she had finally stopped struggling, dropped her on her ass. They then pulled her up by her arms and guided her to the brig. She was resolutely silent as she entered the modern looking brig, which was completely different from the drab cells on board the Galactica. As they walked her through, Kara suddenly gasped, and walked up to the glass before she could be pulled back. Lying on the floor she saw the emaciated frame of the woman identical to one of her previous tormentors. The woman looked broken and obviously abused.

"What do you think of our little pet?" asked one of the marines before grabbing Kara's arm violently and spinning her around.

"I'm thinking that you might have to drag my ass into my cell after all," replied Kara before pulling her free arm back and swinging a strong punch to the side of his face, sending him flying to the floor.

The marine laughed as his three friends launched forward and wrestled Kara to the ground; she didn't put up much resistance as they dragged her into a cell and left her slumped on the floor.


It had been hours since Cain had ordered her removal to the brig and Kara was now bored, choosing to fill the time by doing some press-ups. The anger was resonating through her body at how stupid she had been to push the Admiral to the limit. The guilt was also overwhelming, guilt and worry at where her children were now. She knew that no harm would come to them, but she was worried about who was taking care of them.

Half of her expected Lee to be standing outside her cell when she heard the shuffle of feet. She expected him to look at her with his usual disapproving look. Kara lowered herself to the floor, remembering fondly the moment Lee had come to see her just hours before the annihilation of the Twelve Colonies. Her heart had been racing as his perfect arms leaned against the bars.

"This looks familiar."

Kara had had to suppress the urge to reach out through those bars, grab his tanks and pull him into a deep kiss.

A loud banging sound brought Kara rudely out of her reverie and she saw a familiar group of marines outside her cell. Rolling her eyes she got to her feet and stood alert. She had seen enough of the Pegasus crew to know that she had to be ready for anything as they opened the door.

"Well, aren't I popular," she said sarcastically.

"The Galactica's crew seem to have an attitude problem, don't you think Chalmers?" said the marine, who had a bruise on his cheek, to his companion.

"I agree."

"Think we may need to teach her lesson, don't you?"

Kara stood her ground fearlessly, her arms folded in front of her chest, as the marines walked closer. She knew that she was impossibly outnumbered, but backing down without first putting up a fight was not in Kara's vocabulary. Her first threw out the first punch, suddenly striking the nearest marine who happened to be the man she had hit earlier, but he didn't recoil as much this time. The other marines were on her in seconds, soon pinning her arms behind her back. Then she felt the first blow, which set her cheek on fire, followed by a sharp hit to her stomach that knocked the wind out of her. Kara doubled over from the pain, the marines holding her arms stopping her from collapsing to the floor.

The marine dealing out the blows was the same person who Kara had already hit twice herself. He leaned down and pulled her head back by her hair. "You know guys, she's actually pretty cute."

Kara struggled as she was pulled backwards violently, "hey!" Sudden panic was now overcoming her, dread at what the marines were intending for her.

"What the frak is going on here!?" shouted out a voice that Kara was learning to recognise. The marines immediately loosened their grip sending her once again crashing to the deck. They stood to attention. "I don't remember giving you any orders to mistreat a superior officer."

"No, Sir."

"Then I suggest you leave before I have you all thrown in the brig."

The marines swiftly left leaving Kara alone in her cell with Cain. Kara held her stomach as she pushed herself off the floor, her cheek and head were throbbing, her dislike for the Pegasus cemented.

"Lovely crew you have, Sir," said Kara with spite, but Cain seemed to ignore the jibe. "Where are my children?"

"With their father."

Kara felt as if she had been punched in the gut again, "you son-of-bitch," she said walking right up to Cain who seemed undeterred.

"You'd be wise to step away Captain."

"And you'd better step out of this cell before I do something I really won't regret."

Cain smiled, "I see you don't disappoint Captain."

"What?" asked Kara, slightly confused.

"I've read your file. I'm glad to see having children hasn't softened you up."

"What do you want?"

"I need a CAG with guts, who will get things done, seeing as my current CAG holds the rank of Major I believe your rank has to reflect the same."

"You're promoting me?"

"Effective immediately," said Cain as she walked out of the cell leaving the door open.

Kara followed her tentatively, "fine, I'll be your CAG, but first tell me where my children are."

"Family quarters, follow the marine Major Adama has running around for him."

Kara watched as Cain left the brig. She was completely in shock, but the hard part was yet to come. Part of her was relieved that she didn't have to be the one to tell Lee about their children, which she knew was cowardly, but she had spent months unsuccessfully trying to work out the words to say. At least with Cain stepping in it had been quick.

But now Kara was walking down the corridors with her head down, trying to find the words to explain what had happened, she was still clueless.


Cain had been right; Kara only had to follow a flustered looking marine as he ran down the corridor with what looked like powdered milk in his hand. She grimaced, knowing that her kids would immediately show their displeasure at being fed that crap. Pausing around the corner she could hear Lee's cussing and the cries of her disgruntled babies, she bit back the anger, knowing that they could be a handful and Lee was probably trying his best, as usual.

When she stepped into the open hatchway, she had not been prepared for the scene of utter destruction before her. There were items of clothing, diapers, bottles, blankets and powdered milk strewn everywhere, making her understand what the swearing was about. Kara felt the guilt overpowering her anger. Lee had not been prepared for this, he was obviously completely overwhelmed.

This was a really frakked up way to find out you're a father.

Suddenly Lee spun around and his eyes locked with Kara across the room, entranced. The room silenced as Joseph and Lena gazed up upon seeing their parents in the same room for the first time in their young lives, probably in awe of wondering what was going to happen next. For what seemed like an eternity their parents just stared at each other until they remembered why they had been crying in the first place, they were hungry. Kara broke off her gaze to look down at her son who was now sobbing away loudly, she leant down and lifted him up into her arms and then started searching around the room for the right blanket.

"Frak Lee, do you think you could've trashed the room more?" she said as she threw various items aside with her free hand until finally she found what she was looking for.

"That's rich, coming from the woman who had one of the most untidy apartments I've ever seen."

"Yeah, well, I wasn't really living in it then was I?" replied Kara, not knowing why she was rehashing an old argument between them. She stormed towards the adjoining room with Joseph still wailing against her shoulder.

"Where the frak are you going?" asked Lee following her.

"They need feeding, and unless you've developed certain "assets" then it's up to me," replied Kara shortly.

Lee kept watching as Kara sat in a chair with her back to him and lifted her tank. Joseph stopped crying as he obviously started feeding from his mother, making Lee feel completely inadequate. He went and picked up his daughter as she too had begun wailing. He bounced her gently but was getting nowhere. After what seemed like ages Kara finally emerged carrying a now content looking baby. They silently swapped children and Kara disappeared back into the adjoining room to feed their daughter.

After a little while Joseph started struggling in Lee's arms until he sat him on the floor and he crawled away to play with some of the blankets strewn on the floor. Lee couldn't help but feel like a complete failure as a parent. He slouched down to the floor and leaned against the side of the bed, his arms resting on his outstretched legs. His feelings of failure were compounded when Kara re-entered the room carrying another quiet and content baby. She set the little girl down on the floor before sitting in front of Lee.

The babies crawled to her immediately and grabbed at her outstretched legs, playing happily together on the floor between them, Lee found it was magnetic to watch them. After several minutes he realised that neither he nor Kara had said anything to each other for far too long. He looked up at her and found that she was staring intently towards him. How long has she been watching me?

But still the silence continued, except this time their attention was focused on each other.

Kara was the one to break first, "guess it's too late for the "I'm pregnant" speech huh?"

Lee couldn't help but laugh briefly at Kara's blatantly obvious statement, but then turned serious again. "Were you ever going to tell me?"

"Of course I would, do you think I wanted you to find out like this?"

"I really don't know Kara, I don't know much about anything anymore. How...how did this happen?"

"Would you like me to draw you a diagram?" Kara said in a deadpan voice.

"You know what I mean."

"It's pretty simple Lee, we frakked...a lot. I got pregnant."

"Weren't you on that patch or injection?" asked Lee, ignoring Kara's jibe.

"Apparently it wasn't compatible with cylon drugs," said Kara and then added. "When I was shot, the toasters must've given me some drugs that counter-acted my patch's effectiveness."

"And you didn't notice?"

"Why the frak would I?"

"It's your body Kara, didn't you have a...you know, it was over a month later that we..."

Kara rolled her eyes at Lee's inability to say the actual words, "With the patch you're supposed to have a regular cycle, anyway it's not as if I ever kept track of the stupid thing. Why are we even arguing about this?"

"I just want to know everything."

"Why?"

"Why?" asked Lee exasperated. "Kara, I finally find you after searching for over a year and I come home to find I'm the father of two children and you've turned all domesticated, forgive me for being a little bit shocked."

"You think that you're shocked Lee? Try waking up from a coma, all alone in a strange place, not knowing if the cylons still have you, and then looking down to find out you're heavily pregnant. I thought I was in one of those frakking farms!"

Lee didn't have a response to that; he couldn't imagine how terrified she must have been, how she must have found out that she had been the only one to be rescued from the cylons. The more he thought about what Kara had gone through, the more he found his anger ebbing away.

"I don't even know their names," he said at last.

Kara smiled and looked down at their children tenderly. "This little guy is Joseph and this is Selena," she said, stroking their heads.

"Hey," said Lee looking down at his children, but their attention was firmly on their mother. "Frak."

"They're shy Lee, they'll get used to you. They used to hide from your dad too."

"My dad knows that I'm...?"

"Erm, yeah, it's a long story, but basically I kinda blurted it out."

"Everyone knows, don't they? That's why everyone's been looking at me strangely? At first I thought it was because I had come back from the dead, but evidently they were all wondering if I had found out yet."

"A lot happened when you were away Lee, it's hard to explain."

The silence between them crept back again, the only noises that could be heard was the gentle humming from the Pegasus and the playful squeals in front of them. Suddenly Lena scrambled around on all fours, noticing that her mother was preventing any escape bids with her legs she crawled towards the figure that was unknown to her. Lee felt his heart race as his daughter suddenly crawled right up to him and started pulling on his tank. He lifted her up placing her on his leg, and she grabbed straight for his dogtags.

"Why do they love these things? They can't taste too good and they're dirty."

"They're teething Lee, they love anything they can get in there mouth. Its fine, they can't swallow them and the tags go through the showers as much as you do."

"True," replied Lee and watched as his daughter pulled and sucked at the tags with glee. "Well, at least they're easy to entertain."

Kara smiled, "they'll get used to you, I mean, I've already told them all about you, shown them pictures. Lena even sleeps with one of your old tanks, screams the ship down if I forget it."

"Hey Lena, I'm your dad," said Lee directly to his daughter who was looking up at him with big blue attentive eyes. "I'm the guy who's going to chase all your future boyfriends away with a big stick,"

Kara laughed, "Only if I don't get there first." She leant down and pulled Joseph into her arms, who promptly curled up into a little ball. "Frak, another few months and they'll be answering us back."

"If they're anything like you then we're doomed."

"Luckily they're nothing like me."

"Their smiles and cunning adventurousness are definitely from you."

Kara smiled, relief washing over her that for now things seemed to be going as well as could be expected. Lee was obviously still stunned about finding out he was a father, but now that the twins had calmed down he was starting to bond with them. Joseph soon wriggled out of her lap, and also crawled over to Lee with curiosity.

Kara sat happily watching her little family reunite as they climbed all over his legs and pulled at his tanks.

She was under no illusions, she knew that things would not be easy and that they could not go back to the way they were, everything had changed. But for now, he was here, she was here, and they had their children in front of them, and that was all that mattered.


Lee awoke suddenly the following morning. At first he thought that the last two days had been a wonderful dream and he was waking up to the reality of being stuck on the Pegasus without Kara and their beautiful babies didn't really exist. Then he realised that he wasn't in his rack, but had woken up on a sofa in one of the family quarters.

He looked over quickly to the other side of the room and smiled as he saw Kara lying on her side on the bed, her back to him, still in her tanks and underwear. Lee had to resist the temptation to stare at her ass that peaked out of her military issue briefs. He stood up and walked over towards the bed. Lee was still unprepared to see his children, their children sleeping next to Kara. She was guarding them protectively with a pillow up against her to stop them rolling over. His little family were sleeping soundly.

It was truly like a dream.

They had barely spoken that evening, the words not needing to be said yet. They had just sat there in silence, watching their children before exhaustion had set in. Lee had watched in awe as Kara with seeming ease got the twins bathed and ready for bed. They had fallen asleep immediately, closely followed by their parents.

Lee knew that he and Kara had a long way to go, but right now she was lying in front of him, protecting their children. They looked so angelic as they slept soundly, blissfully unaware of the horrors that their civilization had gone through.

The babies started to stir whilst Lee was in the shower, their small cries of attention awakening Kara in an instant. The quiet was now broken by the wonderful sound of wailing babies who wanted to start their day, regardless of their tired parents. They were especially hyperactive due to their new surroundings and wanted to explore.

Kara set them down on the floor with their toys just as Lee came out of the shower. He noticed that a bruise, which had been merely red the night before, had now formed into a nice bruise on her cheek. He had wanted to ask her about it last night, but had been a little incapable of finding the words.

"Hey," they both said to each casually, still at a bit of a loss for words.

"You've got a nice shiner there; care to tell me what happened?"

Kara lifted her hand to her cheek and winced, "you should see the bump on my head. I had a little visit in the brig from some lovely marines."

"What? And they beat you up?"

"I think they wanted a bit more than that," said Kara matter-of-factly.

"I'm going to frakking kill them."

"In case you'd forgotten Lee, I can fight my own battles. It wasn't a big deal, I got a bit knocked about and then Cain ordered them away."

Lee was silent as he paced around the room obviously irate.

"Can you watch them while I take a shower?" asked Kara, trying to break through his mood.

"Err sure," said Lee a little tentatively. "How did you used to get a shower, before I came back?"

"I've got a nanny who comes in the mornings, Megan, she's good with them."

"Oh right."

I can cope for ten minutes whilst Kara gets ready, were Lee's fateful thoughts as Kara entered the bathroom. Inevitably, Joseph then decided that he needed a diaper change and started screaming out his demands. Lee grabbed up his son and started bouncing him on his hip to try and calm him down.

"Hey, what's up? Mum hasn't gone far," said Lee, still not used to referring to Kara as "mum." The smell that reached Lee's nostrils told him exactly what was wrong. "You couldn't wait ten minutes huh?" Joseph's grin told him that he couldn't have waited.

Ten minutes later when Kara exited the shower, Lee was still struggling with the diaper.

"How much crap do babies produce?" asked Lee scrunching up his nose as Kara threw on her clothes.

"You'll want to tuck it in there," said Kara pointing to the diaper.

"I didn't do that yesterday and it was fine, won't that make it too tight?"

"No," replied Kara exasperated. "You're just folding it wrong."

"Fine, whatever," said Lee, pausing a moment before laughing out loud.

"What's so funny?"

"Just never thought I would ever have an argument with you about how to fold a diaper," replied Lee as he tickled Joseph slightly. "All done," he said with a smile, which was soon wiped from his face when he lifted Joseph and it promptly fell off on to the floor.

Kara stood looking at him, her hands on her hips. "Do I really need to say anything?" she said biting back the urge to laugh out loud.

"Not one frakking word Kara," he said. He was about to start again when he felt something wet hitting his chest.

"I was going to say that baby boys can aim."

Lee couldn't believe that he had already been defeated by a six month old baby; he definitely was his mother's son. Kara held out her arms and Lee promptly handed over Joseph. He took off his tanks revealing his strong abs underneath, which Kara couldn't help but admire, even though he had lost a considerable amount of weight.

"I'm going to, ah, change my tanks."

"Okay, we're going to go in search of mush."

Lee walked over to Kara and placed a soft kiss on top of his son's head and then bent down to where Lena was playing and did the same before exiting the quarters.


Kara had missed Lee's presence immediately, the sudden loss dulling the hilarity of seeing him attempting unsuccessfully to change the diaper. She had no idea what was going to happen in the days to come, but she knew instinctively that it wasn't going to be easy. She also had no idea what Cain's true intentions were in making her the CAG, which she hadn't gotten round to telling Lee about yet.

As she took her babies to get some food, she had been approached by a young officer who informed her that she was expected to take over for the afternoon briefing at 1600 hours.

Kara had finally found the mess hall and fed her babies, ignoring the stares from the Pegasus crew. It was attention that she was getting annoyingly used to. On the way back to her quarters, Kara turned the corner, with Joseph and Lena wrapped close to her chest in a sling, receiving another shock that was completely unexpected.

"Sam?"

The man she had left for dead on Caprica had somehow made it to the Pegasus. Anders bounded over in his military garb, slinging his gun towards his back. They were in two minds whether or not to hug, but Kara stepped back.

"How, I don't understand?"

"Long story short?"

"Please."

"The Pegasus went back to Caprica and rescued us," he said briefly before adding. "I understand most of it was Apollo's plan."

Kara was speechless; Lee had gone back to Caprica to rescue Sam?

"I see you've got your hands full, so I'll..." Anders turned to walk away, looking obviously hurt.

"Sam, wait," said Kara, the guilt wrenching through her.

"I never stopped thinking about you, but then back on Caprica all I was doing each day was surviving."

"I wanted to come back."

"I know, your Apollo told me," said Anders calmly. "I could guess, you know, when I met you that there was someone else in your life. As soon as met him, I knew. He loves you."

"Sam..."

"It's okay, really. We didn't make any promises to each other, so it's okay."

"It just happened, we're..."

"He didn't tell me about you two, but we did talk about this." Kara watched as Anders removed her tag from around his neck. He had obviously been planning this meeting for a while. "Apollo said it was up to you to decide. So you can either take this back and we're over. I'll walk away, no anger or resentment. Or I keep it and we still have a chance, maybe not today or tomorrow but sometime in the future."


After changing out of his soiled tank, Lee had been ordered to Cain's quarters. He had sighed in frustration but reported there straight away. Fortunately the Admiral had been in one of her more generous moods, stating that she was transferring Megan the nanny to the Pegasus. When she was not needed for the children she was to report to the kitchens. Cain had then told him about Kara's promotion to CAG. Lee had been expecting such a move as Kara was the kind of officer that she liked. He was also secretly glad as it meant he would have more time for covertly moving the hidden refugees on board the Tylium ship. It had only been two days since they had found the Galactica, but he need to make a move in the next couple of days before the rations started to run low. He would need to liaise with Anders in order to formulate the plan.

Frak! Anders, I forgot to tell Kara...

Lee couldn't believe that he'd forgotten to tell her Anders was on the Pegasus. He had been too wrapped up in his new family to remember.

He saw Kara again at the afternoon briefing and stood by her side as she gave the first debriefing to her pilots. Thoughts of how he was going to broach the subject spun through his head, part of him also didn't want to say anything.

"Okay everyone, dismissed," said Kara bringing the briefing to an end. The pilots in turn each unenthusiastically rose from their chairs and slumped out of the room, obviously unimpressed with their new CAG. "Well they're fun," she said turning to Lee. They were now alone in the Ready Room, which was nearly double the size of the one on the Galactica.

"Kara, there's something..." Lee began when suddenly he saw a glint of light shining off Kara's chest. He looked down at the normal chain that hung from her neck. An extra tag had appeared along with a ring, which he recognised as being the one that Zak had given to her. Kara was silent as Lee took the items into his hand and then looked into her deep green eyes. "What does this mean?"

Kara wished she knew all of the answers, she really did. She wished that they could be a happy family and forget all the pain and suffering the cylons had inflicted, but it was not that simple. They were both still healing. They needed time to have each other in their lives again. If they pushed too soon, it would ruin them forever.

The only thing Kara was certain of for the future was that Anders was not going to be part of it. She hoped they could still be friends, after all he had done nothing wrong, but Lee had always been the one that owned her soul, and it was time she stopped denying this inevitability. The guilt had ripped through her as she held out her hand and asked for her tag back. He had not been resentful, just turned and walked away, only turning back to say she suited being a mum.

And now she was standing in front of Lee, feeling his gentle breath against her face, his piercing blue eyes, her children's eyes, boring through her. Kara felt her heart start to race and the tears pooling in her eyes.

"It means I've made a choice, Lee."