Chapter 36
Karmic Justice Part II
The fuel shortage on Caprica that had kept air travel between cities to a minimum for almost a year was resolved by a steady and increasing number of tylium barges coming from the former Colony of Tauron and its ore-rich polar regions. Few knew in the beginning that the mining operation was run by the former prisoner Tom Zarek with volunteer prisoner labor, but upon that fact being published, the general populace was in agreement that the only important fact was the supply of ore now reaching the refineries on Caprica.
-Bartell, History of the Second Cylon War
.
Laura called the hospital on Sunday evening and was put through to John's room.
Kara answered the phone. As soon as she realized who it was, her voice became soft and contrite. "I'm so sorry. I thought he knew. I told him."
"Told him?" Laura asked, puzzled at first and then she understood. "How did he take it?"
"He's happy. He's got his hand out right now. I'm going to have to give the phone to him."
"Hi," John said. "I'm glad you called."
"You sound much better."
"I'm doing better. How are you? Kara said you had morning sickness."
Laura smiled. "Your daughter was very kind and helpful to me yesterday morning. She'd seen it in the camp. She knew exactly what was wrong with me."
"About that…"
"John, I know you think I lied to you…"
"Laura. I'm happy. I've got a question I'm going to ask you, but I'm not going to do it over the phone. I want to be looking at you when I ask it. You can probably guess what it is, so be thinking about how you're going to answer me."
"I want to explain to you how…"
"Laura, it doesn't matter. Don't you understand I love you? I couldn't be happier about this."
"Are you sure?"
"Positive. Sometime when I'm back in Caprica City and we're sitting by the fire, you can tell me, but not now. It doesn't matter to me how it happened. It did, and I'm happy. I just hope you're okay with it."
"Why do you think I wouldn't be?"
"Your career."
"I going to give the President my letter of resignation on Tuesday."
"Do you want to resign?"
"Not really, but I can hardly keep my position…considering."
"Please do me a favor and wait. Wait until we see each other again and we have a chance to talk about this face to face. Will you do that for me?"
"I suppose I could since you saved my life."
"You don't hate me for what happened, do you?"
"Oh, gods, no, John. I don't hate you. I love you."
There was a long silence. "You do?"
"Is that so hard to believe?"
"You aren't just saying that because I saved your life, are you?"
"I'm saying it because I mean it. Now, how are things going with Kara?"
"She's giving me hell."
In the background Laura heard, "He's giving me hell, too."
Laura laughed. "It sounds like there's some real father-daughter bonding going on."
"You might say that."
"I'm glad you're getting along so well. When do you think I can come get you?"
"I think the doctor is going to let me go on the weekend. If he can take the chest tube out tomorrow or Wednesday, then he'll release me to the care of a doctor in Caprica City on Saturday or Sunday."
"I'm making all the arrangements on this end. As soon as you know, let me know."
"I will. I love you, Laura."
"I love you, too, John. I'll call you tomorrow and I'll see you this weekend."
She hung up and sighed. She was sure John was going to ask her to marry him. She wasn't going to tear up her letter of resignation yet, but she wasn't going to give it to the President, either.
…
Layne Ishay, the ICU nurse who had asked Kara to go to the cafeteria with her on Saturday night, came by on Monday morning. She called Kara into the hall and handed her a bag.
"I brought you something. My sister is about your size. I had bought this t-shirt and pair of jeans for her, but I can get her something else. I know you'd like a change of clothes. I'll be glad to take yours home and wash them."
Kara was touched by her thoughtfulness. "Really?"
"Sure. There's a new package of knickers in there, too. And a couple of paperback romances. I don't know if you read romances. I do."
Kara smiled. "That's even better. Thank you…a lot."
"Don't mention it. I'm going on shift in the ICU, but if I can do anything for you, let me know. We can go to lunch together if you'd like. I'm working seven a to seven p today."
"That's my shift when I work. Three days on and three days off. Seven a to seven p."
She went back into her father's room. The IMC room had its own bathroom. John was asleep, so she went in and locked the door. She took a shower and washed her hair. She could only towel-dry it, but she didn't care. She felt so much better. She put on the jeans and t-shirt. It had the logo of a rock band on the front. The jeans were a little big, but that didn't matter. Everything was clean.
She left her father sleeping and rode the elevator down to the cafeteria and ate breakfast. Then she followed the signs and walked outside. She turned on the mobile phone. She didn't care if Frogman saw this call. She punched in Jack's direct number at MediFirst. When he answered she said, "Hi, it's Carrie."
"What's up?"
"I know I'm supposed to be back at work tomorrow morning, but I need to take this week off."
"The whole week?"
"The whole week. I'm out of town. I'm okay and it has nothing to do with…my…other friends so don't worry. When I get back this weekend I'll come see you. I've got something to talk to you about."
"You're not getting ready to quit, are you?"
"No, but you're going to fire me."
"Why would I do that? You're my best rider."
"I'll tell you all about it this weekend."
"You're sure this has nothing to do with your…other friends? This isn't a phone call from jail, is it?"
"No, Jack, nothing like that. I swear. I'll call you when I get back into Caprica City. We'll talk."
She hung up. She was sad that she was going to lose her job. She really did love riding that bike.
…
Later that morning Kara watched as a big male nurse helped her father walk down the hall and back. She could see the determination on his face, but the short journey took a tremendous amount of effort on his part. When he got back to the room, he used the morpha pump for the first time that morning.
"I can't believe I can only walk twenty feet without needing to stop and rest. I've been walking for miles around Caprica City."
"This is only the third day after you got shot and nearly died. You shouldn't get discouraged."
"I just want to go home, baby."
After lunch when he was sitting in the comfortable chair, he noticed the chain around her neck for the first time. The ring was under her t-shirt.
"I see you're still wearing your mother's dog tags."
"No, I took them off. This is a ring. I shouldn't have done it but I took the dead Viper pilot's wedding ring. I put it on the chain with the dog tags."
"Why?"
"Because…at the time the dog tags and the ring meant you and my mom to me. I started thinking of you as married."
"Why did you take the dog tags off the chain?"
"I knew that…I could be identified by those tags," she finished lamely.
Telling the truth was going to get her in so much trouble with her father. Lee had no idea what he'd asked her to do.
"Kara, I don't understand what you're saying. Why would you worry about being identified?"
"Okay, Dad, the truth. I've been going by another name. I've been using the ID of a girl who died in the camp from the flu. She was a couple of years older. You've got to understand what it was like when we first got to the city. Jared, a friend of mine and Karl's, paid the rent for the apartment, but I couldn't expect him to keep all of us up and feed us and pay for the utilities and everything. When I went to apply for a job they asked me for ID so I used hers and…"
"Whoa. Slow down. You used hers? How could you do that? Did you look like twins?"
"Jared had made another ID with my picture on it. The first job I had was waitressing in a bar and grill. I was still fifteen. Nobody would have hired me to work in a bar at fifteen."
"How old does this fake ID say you are?"
"I just turned twenty."
"Twenty!"
"Look, I had to be eighteen to get the job riding the motorcycle."
"What happened to the waitressing job?"
"I got fired after five weeks."
"Why?"
"Some drunk guy put his hand under my skirt. I almost broke his wrist. He was a regular and threatened to sue the place. So the manager fired me that night."
Her father smiled. "You did the right thing. You don't need to be working somewhere like that anyway. So how did you get the job riding the motorcycle?"
She told him about rescuing Galen Tyrol from the knife-wielding drug addict and meeting Jack Fisk and about him taking a chance and giving her the job. She told him how much she loved delivering meds on the bike and how she was going to lose her job when she had to tell Fisk that she was only sixteen.
She also found out that Lee had been right because the next thing her father said was, "You won't need to work anymore. I'm going to take care of you."
"I want to work. I love riding that bike."
"Kara, if you love riding a motorcycle that much, then I'll buy you one."
"Lee was right about that, too."
"Lee was right about what?"
"He said you would take care of me when I lost my job and that you'd buy me a bike if I wanted one."
"When did Lee tell you that?"
"Saturday morning in the cafeteria before he took Laura back to Caprica City."
"You never did tell me how you and Lee met. Since we're talking about Lee, you can tell me now?"
"After that lab burned, I got called in for questioning along with about a thousand other motorcycle riders."
"Lee questioned you?"
"No, another guy questioned me, a guy named Ackerman. He got rough with me and Lee helped me out."
"Got rough? What did he do?"
"He slammed my head into the table and knocked me out. It cut me over the eye and it was bleeding…see, I still have this little tiny scar…and I pulled the switchblade on him and I ran into Lee in the hall and he helped me and…"
"Whoa. Stop a minute." Kara could tell something was wrong just by the way her father was looking at her. Finally he said, "Gods damn it. I don't believe it. I don't frakking believe it."
His green eyes had taken on a look that scared her.
"What?" Kara asked fearfully.
"Which leg did you take the bullet in?" He asked in a voice rough with emotion.
Kara gasped. Lee had told him about her getting shot that night at the lab.
"The left one," she said meekly. "It wasn't that bad…really…I did okay." She got out of her chair and knelt beside his. She took his hand. "Daddy, I'm okay."
His hand tightened almost painfully on hers. "You could have died that night."
"I didn't."
"That's why you took off your mother's dog tags, isn't it? You're in the resistance."
She couldn't look at him. She kept her head lowered and nodded. "I'm going to get out. I'm going to get out and I'm going to the Academy."
"Kara, look at me." Slowly she raised her eyes to his. "Do you have any idea how dangerous a mission you were on that night?"
He was massaging her hand just like the tall guy had done that night and suddenly Kara knew. She knew. Her eyes opened wide. "You…that was you…that night…you…"
"That was me, baby. You saved my life. We were together that night and I didn't know it."
There had to have been a hundred things she wanted to say to him at that moment, but she couldn't think of a single one. They simply stared at each other…father and daughter…letting this new knowledge sink in until she leaned over and put her cheek against his hand. Very slowly and painfully he moved his right arm until his hand was on her head. He smoothed back her hair.
"I thought you were dead," she said softly. "I thought when the lab blew and you went over the handrail of the fire escape, I thought you were dead."
"I was knocked out for a minute."
"I know. I kept the guards from coming back there until you and the other guy were up. I shot out the lights along the back fence. If I'd known it was you, I could never have stayed up on that hill. I'd have been down there with you."
"And all three of us would have died."
"Was that you flying the little helicopter?"
"No, that was the other guy. I maybe could have, but not as well as he did. He's been flying choppers almost as long as I've been flying ships."
She lifted her head and looked at him. "You're not still doing dangerous stuff like that, are you?"
"I'm getting out. I've mostly gotten out. And you're getting out, too."
Kara's eyes opened wide again. "You're the second in command in the resistance in Caprica City, aren't you? I carried a message about you to my contact. He moved up to number five."
"From Mrs. Peele. That would mean your contact is Frogman."
"That's right. You know him?"
"Just his nickname. We've never met, but I'll let you set up a meeting with him after I get better. I'll let him know you're out of it. They're not asking you to do anything but carry messages now anyway."
"How do you know that?"
"Who do you think sent word down to keep you out of harm's way?"
"You?"
"Me and the person above me agreed. After hearing from Lee how you got shot and that you were just nineteen, I felt like you'd done enough. And now we've got something else we need to talk about…Lee Adama."
"Lee's not in the resistance."
Her father took a deep breath. "I know, baby, but you've slept with him."
So Lee had run his mouth about more than her part in the resistance.
"Dad, you can't blame him for that. He did not know it was me. He thought I was nineteen and it was just as much my doing as it was his and I'm not going to talk about it."
"I don't want you to talk about it. He's already talked about it, and it's hard enough for me just knowing it happened, just knowing that until you met Lee you were…innocent."
"I was a virgin until I met Lee, but I wouldn't exactly say I was innocent."
"He said you weren't going to see him again. Has it happened more than once?"
Kara looked away and shrugged.
John took a deep breath and looked at the ceiling. "Man, this is hard for me. Talk about karmic justice. It wasn't Bill and Laura after all. It was you and Lee. So what is it with you and him…what kind of relationship do you have?"
"We've kind of got a thing for each other."
"A thing? What does that mean?"
"It means…you know what it means. You and Laura have a thing for each other."
"Are you telling me you and Lee are in love?"
Kara shrugged. "Neither one of us has said the L-word yet. We just have a thing for each other."
"Are you telling me that it's just a physical thing, a sexual thing? You and Lee are just hooking up with each other?"
She thought about Lee, about that last time they had been together and how good it had been. She could feel the hot blood rising in her cheeks just remembering the unbelievably good sex they'd had that night. Twice. Gods, she hoped her father couldn't read her mind, couldn't look in there and see the way it was with her and Lee. She looked down.
"I wouldn't call it just hooking up. I don't know exactly what we've got. After that first night I wasn't going to see him again, but he kept…showing up. Lee's good-looking and he's hot. I mean we definitely…we do connect…but I think it's more than that. I said I wasn't going to talk about this to you and I'm not."
"Well, whatever you've got with him is going to stop. You're sixteen years old. You're too young to be having a…thing with any guy. If you and Lee try to keep this up, he and I will tangle. I can promise you that, Kara. He's my best friend, but I'm not going to let him…keep having a thing with my sixteen-year-old daughter."
"I'll be seventeen in August."
"What difference does that make?"
"I've been on my own for three years now. I feel like I'm nineteen or twenty."
"Well, you're not."
"I can't suddenly go back to living like a kid. I've been living like I was nineteen or twenty for the last year. I go into a bar like Zeno's and order a beer…"
"You do what?"
"I go into Zeno's and order a beer. I go to the deli near where I used to live and order a beer. I don't get drunk. I don't do stupid stuff. I don't drink and ride the bike, but I like to go out sometimes and sit down with friends and have a beer or two. It's no big deal."
"Yes, it is a big deal. That's going to stop, too. You're going to move in with me and start behaving like you're sixteen. You're going to quit riding that motorcycle and you're going back to school. And you're going to give me that fake ID."
"Why don't you just lock me in my room and throw away the key?" Kara said hotly. "Why don't you just take me to a temple and tell them to make a priest out of me? I would say make a Vestal Virgin out of me but it's a little late for that, don't you think?"
"That's enough of your smart mouth."
"I'll talk to Laura. She'll tell you what you're doing is stupid."
"You leave Laura out of this. You're my daughter."
"She's going to be my step-mother, isn't she? You are going to marry her, aren't you?"
"If she'll have me."
"Better make that have us. We're a package deal. She gets you, she gets me."
"Kara, I only want what's best for you. You lived through hell in that refugee camp. That was my fault for not continuing to look for you. I want to make it up to you. I want you to be happy."
"That was not your fault. And I didn't live through hell. There were times when it was rough, but I survived it, so quit beating yourself up over it. I did fine. And you need to quit thinking of me like I'm thirteen. I'm not a little girl anymore. I'm not the girl you left at Singer's airfield that night. I'm more like sixteen going on thirty. I grew up, Dad. While we were apart, I grew up because I had to. You're going to have a new baby soon and you can watch him grow up."
"I thought we'd settled that," her father finally smiled. "Her. I can watch her grow up."
"I'm not going to quit seeing Lee."
The smile disappeared. "You won't have to. He's going to give you up."
"You think so? You really think so?"
"I know so. I'm going to ask him and he'll do it."
"You'd do that to your best friend? You'd make him choose between you and me?"
"I'm going to ask him to do the right thing. You're sixteen. Lee Adama is an honorable man just like his father, and the right thing will be to give up the thing that you and him have got going on until you're older."
"How much older?"
"Eighteen. If you still want to see him when you're eighteen then I won't try to stop you."
"I could do a hell of a lot worse than Lee. You know that, don't you?"
"I do. And I won't try to stop you and Lee once you're eighteen, but right now you've got your whole life ahead of you and you won't be spending the next year and a half of it in bed with Lee."
Kara got up from where she had been kneeling by her father's chair. "I'm going for a walk. I need to get out of here for a few minutes."
"I'm sorry you're upset, baby, but that's just the way it's going to be."
"Quit calling me baby," she tossed angrily over her shoulder as she exited the room. "My name is Kara and I'm not a baby."
She left her father's room and walked to the other end of the hall to the ICU. She found Layne Ishay at the central nurses' station. "Hi," Layne said as she walked up. "Is everything all right? You look upset."
"I need to make a phone call, a long-distance phone call."
"You can use the phone in your father's room. The call will be put on his bill. His insurance probably won't pay for it, though."
"I don't want him listening to me."
"Oh," Layne said, catching on. "You want to call your boyfriend."
"And I don't want my dad listening to me."
"You can take your mobile phone outside and make a call."
"This is a business phone. My boss is really strict about personal calls. I'd get in trouble if he sees I used it to call my boyfriend."
"He sounds like an ogre."
"It's complicated," Kara said thinking of Frogman and not wanting him to see Lee's number. "Is there a pay phone somewhere close by?"
"Come with me." Layne got up from the desk and Kara followed her. They went to the staff locker room and Layne used a code to open her locker. She took out her mobile phone. "I've got unlimited minutes. Talk all you want."
Kara took the phone. "Thanks. Thanks a lot. I'll bring it back soon."
She went to the elevator, rode it down to the ground floor and walked outside. She was glad she had memorized Lee's number. She knew it was Monday and he flew his Viper on Monday, but it was the middle of the afternoon so she hoped he was back on the ground. He answered on the second ring.
"Hi, Lee, it's Kara."
"My caller ID said Layne Ishay."
"I borrowed her mobile phone. I'm outside the hospital. Where are you?"
"I just got home from my weekly Viper training flight. I was getting ready to hit the shower. I was going to call tonight. How's John?"
"He's doing much better. He walked down the hall this morning with some big guy helping him. He's still in pain, but nothing like that first day. He's worried about his right arm. He told the doctor this morning that it still feels like it's asleep all the time. The doctor told him that the bullet had passed through right below his collar bone on that side and that there was a lot of swelling in there right now and it was probably pressing on the main nerve that runs down his arm."
"It's temporary, though, right? When the swelling goes down his arm will be all right?"
"The doctor said it may be a while before he knows. I could tell that freaked my dad out. The first thing he said was something about not being able to pass a flight physical. The doctor told him it was way too soon to start getting concerned over that. But I can tell it's really bothering him."
"Flying is your dad's job."
"I called about something else, though. I just wanted to warn you that he knows about us. He knows about me being in the resistance and how we met and that we slept together."
"You've been a real little chatterbox, haven't you?"
"Somebody else was the chatterbox first," Kara said angrily. "If you hadn't run your mouth about questioning Carrie Warner then he would never have connected us. What did you do, tell him you'd questioned Carrie and then slept with her? I did not tell him that, but as soon as he figured out I was the girl you'd helped out in the interrogation room, he knew."
Lee cursed silently. He had been the one who'd told John. "Look, Kara, John is my best friend. He's older and he's had a lot more experience than I have when it comes to…something like we did. I needed somebody to talk to. That first time after you said we couldn't see each other again, I didn't handle it too well. I talked to John because it was bothering me. I'm sorry, but yeah, I'm the one who told him. It's my fault."
Kara took a deep breath. "But what we did is not your fault. I told him he couldn't blame you. I wouldn't let him blame you."
"He's probably still ready to kick my ass. I knew this was going to happen. As soon as you told me who you were, I knew this was going to happen."
"I told him I wasn't going to stop seeing you, and he told me that you would do the right thing because I was sixteen and that you would give me up. Is he right?"
Lee could hardly bring himself to say the words. "He's right."
"So you're going to dump me and move on to somebody else just because of my age?"
"I'm not going to dump you. And I'm not moving on to somebody else. I still want to see you. I still want to go out with you. We're just not going to have sex."
"Oh, great. You and my dad…you both think you know what's right for me."
"I know what's right for me, Kara. John understands that. He knows me."
Kara felt tears of frustration sting her eyes. In some ways life in the camp had been simple compared to what she was going through now. Even after she'd first gotten to Caprica City and had gotten the job riding the bike, life had been simple compared to this. Was growing up this hard for everybody? She kicked a pebble on the sidewalk and sent it ricocheting off a trash can.
"Are you all right?" Lee asked.
"No, I'm not all right. You and my dad are treating me like I'm still thirteen. I'm not thirteen anymore."
"I know you're not. Do you think this is going to be easy for me? Huh? Do you? Do you know what it does to me every time I think about what we did that last time we were together? You think you're the only one who's going to have a rough time?"
She took a deep breath and blew it out.
"Kara, let's just…we've got to just put this thing between us aside for a while. John needs to concentrate on getting well. He's not going to do that if he's worrying about you and me. I want you to promise me you'll quit giving him a hard time about us. Give him a break, Kara. He really loves you. He told me about some of the stuff he did while he was trying to find you. Believe me, he loves you."
"I know," Kara said softly.
"Give him a break, please. Let him get well, let him marry Laura, let them get settled. Then we'll talk about this again. If whatever is between us is real, it will survive not having sex for a while. Will you give your father a break? Will you do that…for me…for us…but especially for him? Please."
"Okay. Okay. I'll quit fighting with him about us. You like my smart mouth, though, don't you? You remember what I did to you with my smart mouth the last time we were together, don't you?"
"Kara, don't. That's cruel."
"You think about that every time you start feeling proud of yourself for doing the right thing and agreeing with my dad about what's best for me. You think about what I did to you with my smart mouth."
She ended the call and turned to go back inside with a smug smile on her face. She was sure Lee Adama's shower was going to take longer today thanks to her.
…
Laura left President Adar's office on Tuesday morning. She had told him nothing of her personal situation. She had discussed only the incident in Sovana with him. He had told her they had some leads on who was responsible and that he would keep her informed. The meeting accomplished nothing except to show him that she was all right and had obeyed his directive to return to Caprica City.
She exited through his secretary's office. Gaius Baltar was waiting to enter.
"Dr. Baltar," she said in a cool tone of voice.
"Madame Secretary," he answered, equally as cool. "How is your…pilot?"
"Doing well…all things considered."
"Wonderful," Baltar said although the insincerity in his voice was clear. "I have an appointment with the President. I'm sure he's waiting for me." He started toward the door to the Octagon Office.
"Just a moment," the President's secretary said. "He's taken a phone call. You'll have to wait."
Laura smiled as she left the room. Gaius obviously had a much higher opinion of his importance than the President did.
Bill was waiting for her in the hall. "Let's go get a cup of coffee."
He had a car and driver parked outside. They were driven back to the complex that housed Laura's office. Five minutes later they were seated in the little tearoom.
"I don't do well with the smell of coffee," she smiled at him.
"I'd order a whiskey if I could, but I'll have a hot tea like you."
They gave their orders to the waitress. "You look good," Bill said. "How are you feeling?"
"Other than morning nausea, I feel remarkably well."
"No aftermath from last Friday? No nightmares…no other…psychological problems?"
"No nightmares but I'm having trouble sleeping. That's nothing new, though."
"There are medicines for that."
"Not with the baby. I'll tough it out. I'm sure I'll be better once John is back here."
"Have you told him yet?"
"We talked about it Sunday night. I think he's going to ask me to marry him."
"Good. I'm glad," Bill said, but the blue eyes belied his spoken sentiment. "You're going to accept?"
"Yes. If we get married I won't have to resign."
"Does that mean you might think about the presidency in a couple of years?"
"That's too far in the future to make that kind of decision now."
Bill toyed with the teabag in his cup. "Is that the only reason you're going to marry John…to keep your job?" He asked without looking at her.
"No, my feelings for John are genuine. I do care for him."
Bill nodded without looking at her.
"Why did you warn me about him? Why did you tell me that he was a good man, but you didn't think he was the right man for me? Was it because of the resistance or is there some other reason? I'd like for you to be honest with me. I'm talking about the man who is going to help me raise our child. I think I deserve to know what prompted you to warn me about him."
"You know about his part in the resistance?"
"Yes, he told me."
"When?"
"Friday on our way to Sovana. No details, but he did confess. Is that what caused you to warn me?"
"Yes. I was afraid his activities would be linked to you. That's all Cavil needs to have you arrested for treason. He's determined to get you, Laura. Call it an old warrior's intuition. That's why I'd be happy if you wouldn't consider running for president. I don't think Cavil would ever let that happen."
"Do you think Cavil had something to do with what happened in Sovana? The President was rather evasive in saying anything about the investigation into the attempt to assassinate me. I'm sure you know as much as he does, maybe more. And please don't lie and think you're protecting me."
"This information is top secret. We may never release it. The shooter was Aaron Doral…or rather a copy of him. He's a Cylon."
"Oh, dear gods. You're sure?"
"Positive. Agent Darren recognized him and sent the autopsy photos to Major Parker on Saturday afternoon. It was Aaron Doral. The autopsy proved he was a Cylon."
"Then it wasn't the resistance like everyone thinks?"
"No, we're sure it wasn't the resistance. We think that the attempt was made in Sovana because the resistance is so strong and radical up there and the immediate conclusion would be to blame them. We believe Cavil is behind this."
"Based only on Doral being the shooter?"
"Think about it, Laura. He didn't get you at the University six weeks ago. He's had ample time to plan another attempt. I've talked to the President. We think you should have permanent protection."
"More Marines?"
"A bodyguard team."
"The answer is no. If Cavil is that determined to get me, then it won't make any difference how many men are guarding me. Remember what happened to my parents and my brother. They had a superb team of bodyguards and someone still got them. Cavil will eventually get me if he's that determined. I refuse to live my life like that. I'm putting my faith in your plan to get rid of the Cylons."
"You should at least talk it over with John. You've got him…and the baby…to consider."
"I will. If he's going to be my husband, then he should have a part in making the decision, but knowing him, he's going to say the same thing. John won't want to live our lives under constant guard, watched every minute."
"I'm only thinking of you, Laura. When I got that phone call last Friday, before I understood that you hadn't been shot…" he didn't say any more, but Laura read in his eyes what he had been through.
She put her hand across the table and squeezed his wrist. Her look conveyed what she couldn't say in words. You're still in my heart just like I'm still in yours.
"It's going to be hard getting used to calling you Laura Gallagher."
"I'm not taking John's name. I'm going to remain Laura Roslin. The baby will have his name, of course. But I'm going to keep my name. It's who I am."
Bill smiled. "How do you think John will feel about that?"
"He'll understand. He knows I didn't take my first husband's name."
"Where are you going to live?"
"We haven't had a chance to talk about that, yet. I'm going to bring him back to my apartment until he's better. I'm going to take at least a week off work, maybe longer if he needs me. Bill, he took two bullets that were meant for me. I owe him that much."
"And his daughter?"
"I have two nice guest rooms if she'll consider it. Where is she living now?"
"I have no idea. You'll have to ask her. Or ask Lee. I'm sure he knows. In fact I'm surprised Lee hasn't called you. He wants you to ask Colonel Winters if someone can attend the Academy before he or she is eighteen."
"No, I haven't heard from Lee, but I'll be glad to call Chuck and ask. Is this for Kara?"
"Of course."
"I'll do it later today. How are your…plans coming along?"
"We got our first report from Zarek on Tauron late last week. They got enough of the equipment functioning to begin production in one mine. It's a start. I'm encouraged."
"Good. Do you have any idea why Gaius Baltar might have been waiting to see the President?"
"No, I don't, but I can probably find out."
"Do that if you would, please."
"One last question, Laura and then I'll let you get back to your office. Do you think Doral could be the Cylon mentioned in that letter you got?"
She thought about his question. "Gut feeling…no. I think there's still another one out there."
Bill took her hand. "That's my feeling, too. Be careful, Laura. Please."
…
Kara returned the mobile phone to Layne Ishay. "Thanks. I really appreciate it."
"Don't mention it. Come get it anytime you need to talk to the boyfriend."
When Kara returned to her father's room, the mail cart was outside. The volunteer who pushed the cart handed her a stack of mail. Her father was propped up in bed but he wasn't asleep. She handed him the stack.
"More love letters and marriage proposals and maybe a few get-well cards."
He grasped her arm. "Kara, I'm sorry. I over-reacted. We'll talk more when I'm better. I feel like I'm getting started on the wrong foot with you when all I really want is what's best for you. I know you're not a little girl anymore, and I'm having trouble with that. I just want you to know that I love you, baby. There I go again calling you baby. I'm sorry. It's just that the last time I spent any real time with you, you were a baby. You weren't even three years old."
"Nobody has told me what to do for the last three years. And even before that, mom…mom wasn't the most hands-on mother. I was mostly raising myself even then. I'm not handling this too well, either. I'll try to do better and quit giving you such a hard time. I'll do what you want about Lee. I want you to get well."
"We'll get through this. I promise you we will." He handed the stack of mail back to her. "Open them and read them to me, would you please, like you did yesterday." He lay back against the pillows and closed his eyes.
Kara opened each card and read it to him. Ninety-five percent of the cards were from women. "Man," she finally said. "You've had a lot of girlfriends."
He kept his eyes closed. "Out of all those cards I've only recognized one name. She worked for the same air cargo company I used to work for. And she wasn't exactly a girlfriend."
Kara grinned. "What? You were just hooking up with her?"
He smiled. "Don't start."
Kara opened the last card. There was a letter folded inside. "Who is Lissa?"
Her father opened his eyes. "She was a girlfriend. I lived with her for a couple of years."
Kara handed the letter to him and watched him read it. When he finished, he leaned back, closed his eyes and said, "Damn."
"What?"
"Read it…just the middle paragraph. The rest is personal."
Kara took the letter and read.
As for the job, I'm still working the long hours. I haven't been with you-know-who since that night you caught us together. When he sees me at work, he treats me like he barely knows me so I guess I found out what an asshole he really is. One of the girls who works here told me that he's frakking the Cylon so I guess I was just stupid to think he ever saw anything in me. The important thing I want to tell you since you seemed really interested is that we've succeeded in what we were trying to accomplish. Not exactly like planned, but a success of sorts. One of the human surrogates has made it past the first trimester and that's never happened before. We lost all of the paper records in the fire, but the computer backups were stored in another building so they were fine. Also S had taken some of the charts home to study and hers was one of them. S and GB spent weeks going over her chart and all my computer records once we got everything restored. They were looking for some anomaly that would have made her different but it was one of the lab techs who came up with what they think may have made the difference. The woman told her she had just fallen in love with a guy and had almost backed out on the surrogacy but didn't because she needed the money. She's got two more little mouths at home to feed and no husband. Now GB has come up with the hypothesis that it's some endorphin or some other chemical that the brain secretes when you're falling in love that overcame the inherent genetic problems we'd dealt with in the past. Who knows? It makes as much sense as some of the other theories they've come up with. Now the big questions are-which endorphins or chemicals and can they be synthesized? So we've still got our work cut out for us but it looks like in about five and a half months we may have our first h/c hybrid birth. I don't know if the father is S or C or some other Cylon we don't know about. S doesn't act like he's going to be a dad, but then he's a Cylon and what do they know about being parents?
I still think about you a lot and wonder if you'd consider…
Kara stopped reading, folded the letter and handed it back to her father. "So that risk we took was for nothing."
"It looks that way, doesn't it?"
"Who is C?
"Cavil. GB is Gaius Baltar and S is Simon."
"So when we blew up that place in January, that woman was already pregnant?"
"So it would seem."
No wonder her father was depressed. She was depressed, too. "So what can we do now?"
"Nothing. The only good thing is that it doesn't look like they've been able to repeat that one success."
"Does Laura know about the lab?"
"She knows what was going on out there. I just told her I was in the resistance on Friday. I didn't tell her I was one of the ones who blew it up. It would be better if we don't mention that to her."
"Are you going to tell her about the hybrid baby?"
"I don't know, yet. I'm going to have to think about that. There's another Cylon in Caprica City. I wonder if he's the father."
Without thinking Kara said, "I doubt it. He doesn't know what he is."
"So you were the one who wrote the letter to Laura. We really need to know who he is."
"Why, so you can tell your resistance buddies and they can go kill him? I wouldn't tell Lee for the same reason. He's nice. He thinks he's a human."
"He needs to be watched."
"I'm watching him."
"Not like he should be watched. You're absolutely sure he's a Cylon?"
"I killed him that night at the lab along with Simon."
"And then you saw him again?"
"I was riding my motorcycle and I saw him on the sidewalk outside a shop. Later I went in there. It was him. No doubts at all. The one I killed was the one from the refugee camp in Antioch. That's where I first saw him."
"So this Cylon runs a shop in Caprica City?"
"He said he'd run it for six years. He said he'd lived there all his life and that he grew up in an orphanage."
"Cylons get implanted memories, Kara. Don't you understand that they could implant him with any memories they wanted to."
"We're going to get rid of them," she said smugly. "We're going to get rid of all the Cylons."
Her father smiled. "Just how did you come by that information? Lee?"
"Not Lee. I just know it. And I'm going to play a part in it. It's my destiny."
"Your destiny?"
"Now that I'm not Carrie any more, I can go back to the Oracle and she can tell me what it is I'm going to do."
"Oracle? I'm afraid to ask," her father said like he was amused.
"She told me that I was living a lie and that she couldn't talk to me while my life was about deception. She knew a lot of stuff. She told me about six men in my life. She said one was seeking me. Now I know that was you. She knew about us, about you and me. She's blind. She couldn't see me and she still told me I was Posiden's green-eyed daughter."
"She told you what?" He didn't seem amused any longer.
"That I was Posiden's green-eyed daughter. After that I remembered how you took me into the waves at the beach when I was just a little girl. That's what she was talking about. She knew."
"That's just plain spooky."
"She knew that you were like the sea god Posiden."
"It's spookier than that, Kara. My nickname with the resistance is Posiden. It's a tribute to my father. He earned his living from the sea."
Kara thought about what her father had just said. Her respect for the Oracle went up.
"You'll have to go with me when I go back to see her."
"I don't believe in that stuff, Kara. It's a scam to get your cubits. She made a lucky guess. What does she have, neon lights in a storefront, a hand and an all-seeing eye?"
"No. I had to ask to even find her. She's got a little place down by the waterfront, near the Fifty-Third Street pier."
"You didn't go down around the Fifty-Third Street pier by yourself, did you?
"I rode the subway and then walked. I was fine."
"Well if you think you have to go back, I'll go with you. You have no business in that section of town. It's not safe."
"Damn," Kara said. "Here we go again."
…
Laura walked back into her office after having tea with Bill. Adele handed her several forms indicating missed calls.
"Scott Mickelson was particularly anxious for you to call him back."
Laura took the forms, went to her office, sat at her desk and thumbed through them…Scott Mickelson, several educators wanting to talk budget no doubt, and Hugh Connelly.
She returned Mickelson's call first. "Laura, I hope you're doing well. I nearly had a heart attack when I first heard the news on Friday."
"I'm fine Scott. How are you?"
"Good. Have they caught anyone yet?"
"I don't think so. I'm not being kept in that loop. What's on your mind?"
"I heard through the grapevine that your secretary is retiring. Is that true?"
"Yes it is, much to my heartbreak. She's wonderful and efficient. I am really going to miss her."
"Have you hired anyone yet?"
"Not yet. I've barely had time to start interviewing. Why?"
"I've got a candidate for you…and a huge favor to ask."
"Oh, Scott, this is not another one of your little indiscretions who needs to be hushed up with a job, is she?"
"No, Laura, I swear to you she's not mine."
"But she is someone's?"
"One of our biggest campaign contributors. She's working as an administrative assistant in his law firm right now. She and a senior partner have been involved for the last year and since they've been in Kinsdale, I think they've been less than discreet. His wife found out and he had to fire her. He called me yesterday and asked me to find a job for her. When someone contributes as much to our party's campaign as he does, a request like that translates into an order. Since I'd heard Adele was leaving, I immediately thought of you."
"Oh, Scott, I don't want some little hot-to-trot skirt working for me. I need someone competent and professional."
"She's got several years of good experience. Her job skills have nothing to do with why he had to let her go. He made that very clear. Will you at least interview her? If you don't want to hire her, I'll try to find a place for her on my staff."
"As a favor to you I'll talk to her, but I'm making no promises. Have her email a copy of her resumé to Adele and schedule an interview. What's her name?"
"Tory Foster. She'll be back in the city before the weekend."
"You owe me, Scott."
"As always. Take care of yourself, Laura."
They hung up and she called the number Adele had written for Hugh Connelly.
"Laura, hello. I saw the news last week. I've called several times but you weren't in. How are you and how is Captain Gallagher?"
"I'm fine. John's still in the hospital in Sovana, but he's going to pull through. I'm going to bring him back here this weekend, I hope."
"Good. I've thought about both of you a great deal since it happened."
"Thank you. I appreciate that."
"I have some good news. I got the teaching position at the Academy. I want to thank you again for the reference you gave me. I know it played a big part in me getting the job."
"Congratulations. And you got that job because of your own skills and abilities, not because of me."
"Well whatever the reason, I got it and I'm ecstatic. So is Stacey. I'm coming to Caprica City in the next few weeks to look for an apartment and to make arrangements for us to move as soon as school is out this spring."
"Hugh, that's wonderful. I have some news, too. We found Kara or rather she found us. She saw the news about her father getting shot. It turns out that she knows John's best friend and he got her to Sovana. Kara and her father have been reunited."
"That's wonderful news. I imagine it was some reunion."
"It had all of us in tears."
"I hope I get to see both of you when I get to Caprica City in several weeks. I'd really like to see Kara again."
"Call me closer to time. I'm sure we'll be able to arrange something."
They hung up. Before she returned any other calls, she buzzed Adele and asked her to get Colonel Winters at the Academy.
"Charles Winters," he said when Adele connected her.
"Hello Chuck. It's Laura."
"Laura, how are you and how is John?"
"I'm fine and John is improving."
"Good. What can I do for you?"
"I have a question about the Academy entrance requirements regarding age. Could someone enter the Academy at seventeen?"
"It happens all the time. We have any number of students who don't reach their eighteenth birthday until right after classes start."
"I'm specifically asking about John's daughter. She will have just turned seventeen when the semester starts in the fall."
"John Gallagher has a daughter? I didn't know he'd ever been married."
"He hasn't. Kara is his child from a long-term relationship he had with a woman on Picon. He got Kara off the planet the night after the base star exploded, but her mother refused to leave. She was a Marine and stayed behind with her unit. It's a very long story, but John and Kara were separated right after he landed on Caprica. They were just reunited. She wants to attend the Academy and become a Viper pilot like John. Would that even be possible this year?"
Colonel Winters was silent for a moment. "Have her take the entrance test in either April or May. We're doing something special for young people who were in the refugee camps and may not have finished school. Let's see how she does on the test. If her scores are high enough, we'll talk about the possibility of admitting her this year. I know Bill wants all the pilots he can get."
"Oh, thank you, Chuck. I really appreciate this. Kara will thank you, too."
"A daughter. I can't believe John ever got caught that way."
Laura felt herself begin to blush. "Accidents do happen."
"Apparently they do. I guess you and John are still an item?"
"Yes."
"Let me know when you get tired of him. I'm a phone call away."
Laura laughed. "I've got your number, Chuck."
She hung up and wondered how he would feel when she invited him to her wedding.
…
The following Sunday just before noon Laura arrived at the hospital in Sovana. She had not had to charter a private medical transport to bring John back to Caprica City after all. The President had told Bill to arrange a military medical transport. There were only two extra seats on the ship and since the other seat would be needed for Kara on the return trip, Lee had not been able to go with her. He told her he would drop by the next day. He didn't say anything more to her, but Laura got the feeling that he wasn't looking forward to his next meeting with John.
She had gone by John's apartment and had his landlady's housekeeper let her in. She had gotten a pair of slacks and a shirt like John had asked her to do. He was adamant that he was not going to make the trip home in a hospital gown.
The door to his hospital room was partially open when she arrived. John and Kara were playing cards on his tray-table. From the looks of it, John was winning.
"No fair…no fair," she heard Kara say before John looked up. She watched the smile suffuse his face.
"Hi," he said.
Kara turned. "Oh, hey, come in. I'm going down the hall for about…however long you need. I'll be in the waiting room."
Laura grasped Kara's arm and squeezed it as they passed. Kara smiled and raised her eyebrows before continuing out and closing the door behind her.
Laura walked over to John and put the small bag with his clothes on the bed. John was still smiling. He reached for her hand, took it and drew her nearer to him. Then he put his hand on her belly.
"It's really true? We've got a little girl in there?"
Laura smiled. "I can't promise you it's a girl. But my doctor confirmed it's definitely a baby."
He took a deep breath. "Okay, here's what we're going to do. We've got something to talk about, but I'm going to be wearing pants when we talk. So instead of asking you to undress me like I usually want you to do, I'm going to ask you to help me get my clothes on. I think I can do most of it, but I'm still having a little trouble with my right arm.
A little trouble was an understatement. He did almost everything with his left hand, but between the two of them they got the khaki slacks and blue shirt on him. Laura buttoned it for him. He took her hand and slowly led her to the elevator.
"Where are we going?"
"Down a couple of floors…a place Kara and I found yesterday when she was walking with me."
They got off on the third floor and he led her down the hall and into a small conservatory that was filled with green and flowering plants and had a small fountain in the center. He had her sit down on a bench. She thought he was going to sit beside her, but he knelt on one knee instead. He took her hand.
"Laura Roslin, will you marry me?"
Even though she was prepared for his question, tears still came to her eyes. She struggled until she could speak and even then she barely managed to get her answer out.
"Yes." The tears spilled over. "Yes, I will."
"I'm sorry I don't have a ring. I wanted to have a ring, but…"
"John, that's not important. We'll talk rings and plans when you're feeling better. Just sit here beside me for a minute."
She patted the bench and he got up and sat on her right side so he could put his left arm around her. The gods had answered her prayers. They were going to marry and raise their child together. What more could she want right now?
Kara was the one who found them ten minutes later. "Sorry to break up this romantic scene, but the doctor is looking for you. He's got your discharge papers and he wants to talk to you."
They got up. With John in the middle holding both Laura's and Kara's hands they rode the elevator back up to the seventh floor.
"So when's the wedding?" Kara asked as soon as the elevator door closed.
"I'm going to let Laura plan that whenever and however she wants," John smiled.
"I'm going to need some help," Laura looked around John at Kara. "Are you available?"
"Me? I don't know anything about planning weddings."
"She skipped that part and went straight to the honeymoon," John said, but his voice was light and teasing.
"Just like you did," Kara shot back, but her voice was teasing, too.
Laura smiled. "Like father, like daughter?"
Kara laughed. "See there. Laura understands."
"It's karmic justice. That's what it is."
"Kara will be my maid of honor, of course."
"Does that mean I have to wear a dress?"
"Is that going to be a problem?"
"I don't guess so. Who's going to be your best man, Dad?"
"I was thinking of asking Bill."
"Bill?" Laura and Kara said together.
John was grinning. "Do either of you have a problem with Bill?"
"What about Lee? I thought Lee was your best friend. Why aren't you going to ask Lee? Is it because of me? Is it my fault?" Kara was nearly stammering.
The elevator door opened on the seventh floor. They started down the hall toward her father's room. "Lee?" John asked. "Would that be the same Lee that you have a thing with?"
Kara said to Laura, "You see what I've had to put up with?"
"Am I going to have to referee my first fight between my fiancé and his daughter?"
John grinned again. "Don't worry, Kara. I'm going to ask Lee to stand up with me when I marry this beautiful woman."
Kara grinned, too. "You didn't fool me. I knew you were going to ask Lee."
John started laughing, "Right after I kick his ass for touching my beautiful daughter before she's eighteen."