Chapter 38
Kangaroo Love
12. The rich merchant who was named Nimrod, bargained with Simon and Sharon for the stone.
13. My father paid a great price to bring this stone from our homeworld of Kobol.
14. He deserves something for his trouble, jewels or gold.
15. We have nothing to offer, Sharon said. The stone is commanded by God.
16. Then Nimrod said to Sharon, In return for the stone, you must remain and become my third wife
17. For he was smitten with lust for the young and beautiful virgin.
18. Simon argued. My sister is not to be bargained for like a sack of gold or a handful of jewels.
19. But Sharon calmed his anger and said, Have faith my brother. It is the will of God.
20. For He will guide the footsteps of His obedient servant and His prophet.
The Cylon Scriptures, Book of Xander, Chapter 9:12-20
.
Kara sat in the classroom absently looking over the test on the Mark VII Viper that she had just completed. She was fairly certain she had gotten all the answers correct, and Major Valinski had told everyone that they could leave when they finished. The problem was that it was only 14:00 and Kara couldn't decide how she wanted to spend the afternoon.
The idea of going back to Marble House and taking a nap appealed to her. She and Maya had sat up talking very late the previous night, but she knew that if Braedon saw her, he'd want her to spend the time with him. Much to Maya's chagrin, he had given up his afternoon nap. She smiled when she thought of how he'd reverse that when he reached his teens.
Then she thought of Karl and Sharon. Their days and nights would offer limited opportunity for sleep during the next few months. Kara remembered how sleep deprived both her father and Laura had been in the months after Braedon's birth. She'd been at the Academy for much of that time, but when she was home, she saw it. She remembered one time in particular when her father had almost gone to sleep while she was in the simulator. She'd jokingly called to him. Hey, wake up, zombie, you just let me crash and burn. He'd told her Brae was teething and had been fretful the night before. Then he'd grinned and told her that her turn would come…someday in the distant future. She tried to imagine holding her own child, hers and Lee's. For a few moments she imagined a flaxen-haired little girl with Lee's blue eyes reaching up for him the way Brae always reached up for her father. If that didn't melt Lee Adama's heart, nothing would.
"Problems, Lieutenant Thrace?" Valinski asked.
Kara roused from her reverie and realized that the room was empty.
"No, sir. I finished the test. I'm sitting here trying to decide how to spend the rest of the afternoon."
Valinski appeared amused. "I would have thought your choices would be almost infinite on a beautiful Friday afternoon. The rest of my students left vapor trails they got out of here so fast."
She grinned. "I think that's the problem. Too many choices."
"Would you like to ride out to hangar Bravo-9 with me? We've got a Mark VII out there. Delivered yesterday. Major Jessups is taking it up this afternoon. I believe you know him."
"Yes, sir. That would be great. Is he going to be one of the flight instructors?"
Valinski nodded. Kara walked to his desk at the front of the room and added her test to the top of the stack.
"Did you get all the answers correct?" He asked.
"I think so. You and Colonel Burgher are two of the best teachers I've ever had…along with my dad."
"I appreciate the compliment, Lieutenant. That's something a teacher always wants to hear."
Valinski put the stack of tests in his briefcase and they left the classroom. Bravo-9 was the most remote hangar on the airbase and was several miles from the main complex of buildings so Valinski drove, promising to return her to the parking lot when they were through.
"When did Jessups get his promotion?"
"About a month ago."
"He was a captain the last time I saw him. That was at my…at my father's memorial service. I still get choked up thinking about his eulogy."
Even as she said the words, she wondered what Jessups and Valinski and all the other officers were going to think when they brought her father back to Caprica.
"I was at your father's service, Lieutenant Thrace. I heard the eulogy. I'd always thought of Jessups as a man of few words. I didn't know he could string that many together in such an eloquent fashion until he stood in front of that temple and talked about your dad."
"He and my dad flew together off the Solaria during the First War."
"So I heard. Buzz and I have shared a few beers lately while we've talked about the new ships. His oldest daughter is at the Academy right now. She wants to be a pilot like her dad."
Kara smiled. "I know the feeling."
Valinski pulled his car into a space beside the hangar. They got out and walked around to the front. The big doors were standing open. The Mark VII was sitting on the tarmac just outside. Jessups was standing beside the ladder wearing his flight suit. He was talking to a technician who snapped to attention as they approached.
"Hello, sir," Kara said. "It's been a long time."
"Lieutenant Thrace." He nodded at Valinski. "Dizzy."
"Buzz," Valinski said, returning the greeting. "Getting ready to take her up?"
"Yep." He looked at Kara. "What do you think?"
Kara looked at the pristine new ship, a silvery gray with no red markings like her old Mark II. While retaining the same basic Viper shape, it was bigger and sleeker. It also didn't have hundreds of dents and dings like her old ship. She bet the seat hadn't been patched either.
"I'm impressed with its looks. I'll reserve my final judgment until I've taken one up."
"Climb up and take a look inside."
Kara climbed the ladder. The cockpit of the Mark VII was slightly larger than the Mark II, but then it was a bigger ship all the way around, heavier, longer, taller and with a slightly wider wingspan. It had more weaponry…three kinetic energy weapons with more firepower as opposed to just two. Bigger guns as some of her fellow pilots liked to say. The instrumentation was different as well and there was more of it. She sniffed and then smiled. It still had the new ship smell. That would be a novelty. She didn't even want to think about what most Mark II cockpits smelled like. Thank the gods she was never in one of those for long without her helmet. She descended the ladder and addressed Jessups.
"Major Valinski has already pointed out to us that it's a lot more computerized. Now I see why."
"It's a sweet ride," Jessups said. "It does some of the basics for you so you can concentrate on your mission."
"Bells and whistles don't necessarily make a better ship."
"You're like your father. He was the best seat-of-the-pants aviator I ever knew. Up on the Solaria, he'd get in his Mark II and I swear he did some kind of meld with the ship. He was always a second or two ahead of the rest of us. He developed a really uncanny knack for knowing what those old Raiders were going to do in combat. He said he'd just memorized their programmed moves, but we still gave him a ton of grief."
Valinski said, "Admit it, Buzz. You and the others just couldn't handle a nugget taking out more Raiders than you did."
Buzz Jessups laughed. "That's not the only thing some of us couldn't handle."
"We don't want to hold you up," Valinski said to Jessups. "I know you've got another test flight. Where are you taking it?"
"Out to Atlas Island to the gunnery range. Testing the KEWs one last time. If they check out then I think we can turn a few of these ships over to our best pilots. Is Lieutenant Thrace still at the top of the class?"
Valinski gave them one of his rare smiles. "She is. I thought she'd like a sneak preview of what she'll be flying week after next."
Suddenly Kara realized why all the senior officers were being so nice to her…Colonel Spencer and Valinski and Jessups. It had as much to do with her father as with her. Once again she wondered how these men would react when he came home. Would they view him as a prisoner of war or as a collaborator?
Kara looked at Jessups. "I never did get a chance to thank you for the things you said about Dad at his memorial service. I just want you to know how much it meant to me. It helped me…a lot."
Jessups nodded and Kara hoped she hadn't embarrassed him.
As Valinski drove her back to the main building, he said, "I sense some reluctance on your part about the Mark VII."
"I'm sure I'll get over it. Lee says the Mark II is my security blanket, my comfort zone, whatever. He's probably right. You can drop me near the locker rooms. I need to go in and get my motorcycle helmet. And thank you, sir, for taking me to see the ship."
"It was my pleasure, Lieutenant."
Once inside Kara sat down on the bench and called Karl's mobile number. He finally answered on the fifth ring. He sounded out of breath.
"I caught you at a bad time," Kara said.
"Just trying to answer the phone, open the door and get four bags of groceries inside without dropping anything."
"Call me back when you get your groceries put up. I'd like to drop by if Sharon is up to it."
"Give me a minute. I'll call you right back."
Right back turned out to be almost fifteen minutes. Kara stretched out on the narrow bench. It wouldn't be the first time a pilot had caught a cat nap in the locker room. She had just dozed off when her phone buzzed.
"Hey," Karl said. "Sorry it took so long. I had to put the groceries up and pick up some stuff."
"How's Sharon?"
"She's sore from the incision and she still can't do much. Dr. Delos said no lifting until it heals."
"How's Hera?"
"We spent most of the morning at the hospital. She's doing okay. Dr. Junius and his team wanted to do some tests this afternoon so we took a break. Sharon's resting. I went to the grocery store."
"So can I come over?"
"Sure."
Twenty-five minutes later she had parked the motorcycle in Lee's parking space and ridden the elevator up to his apartment. When Karl opened the door, her first thought was that he looked tired or older or maybe both. They hugged. She missed him, this man she'd thought of as a brother since they were children.
"Can I get you something to drink?"
"What you got?"
"Soft drinks, water. I think Lee's got some beer in the fridge."
"A soft drink. It doesn't matter what kind." They walked into the kitchen and Karl got two drinks from the refrigerator.
"Where's Sharon?" Kara asked after she had taken a long swallow.
"Lying down. I'll go tell her you're here."
"No, let her rest while she can. I guess you've been spending a lot of time at the hospital with Hera."
Karl nodded. "As much time as they'll let us. I think Sharon would stay all night, every night, but Dr. Delos has ordered her to rest. Sharon can't get comfortable. She's still not sleeping good because of the incision. She's pumping her breast milk so they can use it to feed Hera so she won't take anything to help her sleep or for the pain even though Dr. Delos gave her something."
"You mean they're not letting her nurse Hera?" Kara asked in surprise.
"Not yet. Hera still has the feeding tube. I asked Dr. Junius when they were going see if she could nurse. He said they were evaluating her every day. He told us that most babies born before about thirty-four weeks can't suck hard enough to get any milk. He called it too immature to feed, but that's what he meant. Hera was thirty-two weeks so maybe in another week. We're just taking it one day at a time."
"So basically he can't tell you much of anything."
"No. Dr. Junius says she's doing about like any baby born six weeks early. He told us we're damned lucky she's breathing on her own as well as she is."
"I guess he knows she's half Cylon."
"I sometimes wonder if that's what some of the tests they're doing are all about. Sharon lost it last night on the way home. I'm surprised she's held up as good as she has…with everything she's been through."
Kara searched his eyes, looking for any indication that he wasn't telling her something. Karl dropped his eyes and Kara wondered if he was thinking about what had happened to the Cylons in the bunker.
"You're worried about her, too, aren't you?"
He nodded again. "Sharon will be okay. She's tough. I'm more worried about Hera. Dr. Junius won't say anything negative, but Hera's weight is down to just over four pounds, but he says it's normal for a newborn to lose a little weight at first. I asked him if maybe Sharon's milk isn't…I don't know…rich enough. He said they'd already started supplementing it with calcium or something which is routine. He told us this morning that Hera's gained back a couple of ounces so I guess…all we can do is pray."
Kara put her hand on Karl's arm. "She's going to be okay."
"I keep remembering what you said about all the preemies in the refugee camp dying."
"I should never have said that. Karl, the camp did not have a fully-equipped NICU like Kings Bay Medical Center. The camp didn't have a NICU at all. It didn't have anything so it's no wonder those babies died. The Cylons approved the bare minimum of medical care in the camps. You know how it was. The doctors and nurses taking care of Hera are the best on the planet. They know what they're doing."
"She's so tiny. I could almost hold her in one hand."
"Have you gotten to hold her yet?" Kara asked gently.
"Not yet. If she gains a few more ounces, they're going to let us hold her outside the incubator. One of the nurses on Dr. Junius' team said we'd do something they call kangaroo love. We'll hold her against our bare skin sort of like a kangaroo keeps its baby in a pouch. She'll feel our hearts beat. It's supposed to help the parent-child bonding process."
"Kangaroo love," Kara mused. "I like it."
"Hera already recognizes Sharon's voice. Sharon coos to her and Hera turns toward her."
From the doorway of the kitchen Sharon said. "All babies know their mother's voice."
Kara turned. Sharon was wearing an oversized t-shirt that came to mid-thigh…and nothing else. She looked as tired as Karl.
"Hi," Kara said because she couldn't think of anything else to say at the moment.
Karl pulled out a chair from the kitchen table. "Sit. You were on your feet most of the morning."
Sharon managed a smile that looked more like a grimace as she put her hands on the table for support and lowered herself into the chair. "Do you have any idea how many times a day you use the muscles of your abdomen?"
"No."
"If you ever have a c-section, you'll find out."
Karl said, "Her incision is longer than normal because of…the problems."
"Dr. Delos saved my life but I won't look so hot in a bikini anymore."
"Hey, I've seen some smoking one-piece suits," Kara said. "We'll go shopping for one in a couple of months."
"Did Karl show you the pictures of Hera?" Sharon asked.
"No. I just got here."
"We're not supposed have our mobile phones on in the NICU because of all the equipment that uses telemetry," Karl said. "But there's a really sweet nurse there who looked the other way while I got a couple of quick pictures. I guess our next purchase will have to be a camera. I still have a few bucks available on the credit card. Most of it went toward a few pieces of furniture."
He took out his mobile phone, found the first picture and handed the phone to Kara.
She saw something that looked like a clear plastic box with a tiny baby wearing only a diaper inside. There was a small white tube going in her mouth that was taped to her chin. The next picture was closer up. Kara could clearly see the dark fuzz on Hera's head. Her eyes were closed but her mouth was open. The last photo was of Sharon's hands inside the box cupping her daughter's head and feet. Even Sharon's small hands looked large beside the tiny baby.
Kara handed the phone back to Karl. Finally she said, "I guess she's warm even with nothing on but a diaper."
"They've got her under special lights to keep her warm and help her liver function," Karl said. "Dr. Junius has been really good about explaining everything they're doing for her."
Sharon added, "Hera isn't even the smallest baby in the NICU. The nurse told us they have another one who weighed just 2 pounds when she was born. She's not doing so good."
Karl put his hands on Sharon's shoulders. "Our little girl is going to be fine."
Sharon put her hand over his.
Karl said, "You can tell Lee that we'll be moving into an apartment on the second floor of this building next week. He'll get his apartment back."
"He's not in a hurry. He likes staying at Laura's apartment with Hunter. They look at a lot of late night movies. I think Lee enjoys talking about them with him."
"So they're getting along okay?" Sharon asked.
"You know how hard it is for Lee to make new friends. It took a while, but I think he's beginning to warm up to Hunter."
Sharon said, "Hunter is hot. Wasn't Lee even a little jealous?"
Kara shrugged. "Maybe…at first. Hunter and Maya are an item now."
She could hear the surprise in Karl's voice. "Hunter's got a thing going on with Braedon's nanny? That was quick."
"It's not serious…yet. One night earlier this week he and Lee hung around for a while after dinner. When Lee went to Maya's sitting room to get him, Maya and Hunter were making out on the couch but there were no clothes on the floor."
"What happened to her and Sam Anders? Last I heard he was ready to pop the question."
"Maya didn't want to be married to such a high profile guy. There was also the little problem of Sam's wandering eye. Maya found out that he's still seeing Tory Foster. They've been hooking up for a couple of years. He can't seem to give her up."
Sharon glanced up at Karl. "Thank God I don't have to worry about anything like that."
Karl was still standing behind her. He leaned over and kissed the top of her head.
"Not in a million years, babe."
"Where's Lee this afternoon?"
Kara took a deep breath. "He went to Tucker's funeral." Neither Karl nor Sharon said anything so she continued. "Lee and Tucker were good friends at the Academy. Shelley called him Monday night. She made all the arrangements…her and Troy Minos. They're engaged now. Troy and Tucker were roommates at the Academy."
Neither Karl nor Sharon said anything.
"I guess the big silence means you don't approve," Kara said.
"It's not that," Karl finally said.
"Then what is it?"
"It makes it look like Lee agrees with what Tucker did."
"No!" Kara said stubbornly. "It means Lee was Tucker's friend. That's all it means."
"Why aren't you there?" Sharon asked.
"Well for starters Tucker wasn't a close friend of mine. And I wasn't invited. Can you see Shelley Sydell inviting me to anything? You know how she felt about me at the Academy. Nothing's changed."
"Since when do you have to have an invitation to go to a funeral?"
Kara said, "Those Cylons should have been put on trial and then executed. I know I'm talking about your people, Sharon, but we were always honest with each other at the Academy. They killed billions of innocent humans. Cavil and the rest deserved to die and that's the way I feel."
"I understand," she said softly.
Kara stood. "You need to rest…and I'm wearing out my welcome."
Karl walked with her to the door and stepped into the hall. "Sharon's okay with what happened. She hasn't considered herself a Cylon like the rest of them in a long time."
"You don't need to try to explain, Karl. I'm sorry I upset her. I did volunteer to take your place on the burial detail going to Gemenon, but Laura and Admiral Adama both thought it would have reflected badly on Laura. Sometimes I feel like I can't frakking sneeze without somebody looking at how it reflects on my stepmother."
"Sharon's just worried about Hera. We both are."
Kara's voice softened. "Call me and let me know how she's doing…or I'll call you."
He nodded and she hugged him again. The held each other for a long time. Down in the parking garage, she sat on the motorcycle trying to decide where to go next. It was a few minutes after four. She had gone by to visit Dreilide the day before. The next weekend he was moving to an apartment on the first floor of his building and she was going to help him. Lee and Hunter had both said they'd help, too.
Suddenly she knew where she wanted to go. She exited the garage and turned right. Afternoon traffic was already getting heavy and it took her nearly fifteen minutes to get to the University area. She was in luck, though, since a car was pulling out of a space three doors down from Leoben's bookstore. Kara got off the bike, took off her helmet, shook out her hair and redid her ponytail. She'd gotten Sharon's reaction to the fate of the imprisoned Cylons. Sharon might not consider herself one of them, but their deaths had still upset her. Now Kara would get the opinion of the other remaining Cylon who was free on Caprica.
She glanced at the sign over the door as she went in and wondered if she should tell this gentle bookseller about the brutal copy of him she had met on Nereid.
…
John knew the minute he walked into the kitchen that Doolittle was too busy to make him a sandwich. The entire staff was busy preparing dinner. Several centurions stood around observing everything, ready to return a kitchen knife to the knife block if someone put it down.
"What can I do for you, sir?" Doolittle asked.
"Nothing. I'm hungry and thought I might talk you into making me a sandwich, but you're busy. I'll wait for dinner."
"I put your lunch in the refrigerator up in your apartment."
"Thanks. Before I forget, Josh said to tell you hello."
Understanding passed over Doolittle's face. "How is he?"
"He's been through a lot for a kid. We sat in the square and talked for a while. I know you're busy. I'll talk to you later."
John went up to his apartment, took his lunch from the refrigerator and ate it cold. The craving for warm chocolate chip cookies subsided slightly.
He was sitting at the table still feeling mildly stoned when Doolittle brought his dinner.
"Would you like this now, sir, or should I wrap it up for later?"
"Now is good. I don't guess it includes any chocolate chip cookies, does it?"
Doolittle smiled. "No, sir. That's about the only thing Josh could make from start to finish and not burn."
John could tell that Doolittle wanted to ask him some questions, but he was also on a much tighter schedule now.
"Josh is okay," John said in an attempt to reassure Doolittle. "Indulging in his second-favorite pastime too much, but given his circumstances, what the hell could be expected of a kid who was brought here and made a slave when he was nineteen?"
"Tell him I'm glad to hear he's doing all right. I wanted to keep him on my kitchen staff but I was getting too many complaints. He was scared to death Sonja was going to send him back to the Delta Settlement. I had to do something."
John smiled. "I think he's doing much better as a farmer."
Doolittle took the tray of empty lunch dishes and left. John ate part of the dinner and wrapped the rest for later. He cleaned up and began to pace the apartment. They hadn't reached the summer solstice yet on Nereid. Several months earlier when he had been brought to the city, twilight would have fallen by now. Instead the sun was still above the horizon. He left the apartment and walked to the park, stopping at the entrance.
The centurion with the bullet scar was on duty this evening as it was all the time. The red eye scanned him.
"So how was your day?" John asked. "Anything exciting happen? The squirrels have a major acorn fight or anything else to break the monotony of standing here twenty-four seven?"
Again he got the slight head-tilt from the robot, the tilt that reminded him of a dog.
"I'm stoned. I was smoking some of your ceremonial weed from the field near the old temple. A young guy helps a couple of Twos and Threes grow it." John chuckled to himself. "You don't have any idea what the hell I'm talking about, do you? Well, that's okay. I'm just rambling. You're lucky in a way. No vices. No temptations. You've never looked at a woman you didn't love and wanted to frak her anyway, have you? You've never felt like a real bastard for feeling that way, either. I'm sure you've never imagined what it'd be like to stand in front of your wife and admit it. Laura is such a good person. She deserves a whole hell of a lot better man than me. She deserves a man like she was in love with years ago, a man who would have died before he'd done the things I've done on this planet. The only problem is that I don't want him raising my son since he was such a lousy father to his own boys. Well, that's not the only problem, but it's a big one…and it's not your problem. It's mine so feel free to continue ignoring me. Like I said, I'm under the influence and rambling. I just couldn't stay in the apartment. The walls were closing in on me."
John sat down on the curb and listened to the birds for a long time. The thought of Bill Adama making love to Laura was like a dagger in his heart. The thought of him raising Brae was another. The centurion was still looking at him with its head cocked to one side.
Finally John pointed to his chest and said, "I told you how I got my bullet scar. How'd you get yours?"
He hadn't expected anything to happen. He was just trying to get his mind off Bill and Laura, but much to his surprise, the centurion walked several paces into the park, knelt, and after unfurling one of its long steel talons, scratched something into the dirt beside the brick path. He finally realized that the centurion seemed to be waiting on him. He stood and walked over to it. There in the dirt one word was written with clear precision.
War
John was so stunned that he stood for a moment wondering if he was having some kind of weed-induced hallucination. He walked up the path for a few minutes and then turned back. The word was still there and the centurion was still kneeling beside it.
"Which war?" He finally asked.
The centurion extended the talon straight up.
"The First War? No way. You guys didn't even exist until after the First War which was fought by 0005s and U-87s." He chuckled. "Either somebody has seriously frakked with your programming or you're acquainted with that ceremonial weed."
The centurion bent over and scratched in the dirt again.
Me U-87
"You're really mixed up, pal. I've had a chance to study a few U-87s close up in the square. You're not a U-87. You're clearly a new centurion."
The centurion added several more words. The inscription in the dirt now read,
Me have U-87 programming & parts
"They used U-87 parts on you? That's how you got the scarred chest plate?"
It nodded in a barely perceptible motion, erased the words and wrote again.
Avatar
"You got U-87 parts and an avatar. What does that mean?"
Lucy
John was sure now that he was hallucinating. He asked in amazement, "Lucy Cain?"
Another nod and more writing.
Copy for safekeeping
"Okay. So Lucy Cain put a U-87's brain inside a new centurion's body and loaded a copy of her avatar inside for safekeeping. Is that what you're telling me?"
He got another barely perceptible nod.
"Why?"
Again the centurion erased the words and scratched new ones.
Didn't trust Number One.
"So Lucy had enough sense to want to protect herself against him. Smart girl. How old is the copy of her avatar?"
Nine
"She created the avatar when she was nine years old?"
A small side to side movement of the centurion's head.
"What then? I don't understand what you're trying to tell me."
Me & avatar-nine
"You were created nine years ago? Lucy Cain built you?"
Lucy & Zoe modified new centurion
John was stunned. Lucy had died between six and seven years ago. That meant her avatar was created about two years before her death which was after she had helped create the Sevens. This machine knew about Daniel.
"You know what Cavil did at the lab?"
A nod and another few words scratched into the dirt.
Lucy told me afterward. Cavil killed creators. All Sevens but one.
"You weren't there when it happened but Lucy told you."
A nod.
"Where were you?"
Sent to city for safekeeping. Blend in. Scar on chest to identify.
"So Lucy sent you to the city to get you away from the Cavil at the lab. Another smart move. She put the scarred chest plate on you so she could identify you because you would be one among many in the city. Are you the only one?"
Sent six of us. Me only one with avatar.
"Do you know what happened to Lucy?"
Lucy and five brothers escaped through tunnel into mountains with only copy of Seven.
"I hate to tell you this, big guy, but they didn't make it. So that brings me to the question of how you escaped."
Lucy said to stay behind in city and wait. Protect avatar.
"Okay. Who am I talking to…Lucy or the U-87?"
Lucy avatar in stasis to avoid detection.
John stood and debated whether or not to tell the centurion with Lucy's avatar in it that the copy of Daniel had survived and was now in the valley. He decided that now was not the right time.
"Do any of the other U-87s know what happened at the lab?"
No. Waiting to tell them.
"Waiting for what?"
Wait for leader with plan
"You're waiting for a leader who has a plan before you tell them. Then what?"
Freedom
John nodded. Freedom. The dream of every slave. "Who knows about you?"
The centurion unfurled its thumb talon and using it and the index talon formed what looked like a circle. Then he realized that it was the number zero. No one knew. Not Cavil or Sonja or D'Anna. Not the council or anyone else in Cylon City. No one. Not even its U-87 brothers. Except maybe the Daniel in the valley. Did Lucy confide in him about hiding her avatar in a new centurion's body?
Suddenly John's suspicion got the better of him. "Why did you just tell me all of this? Is it some kind of trap?"
The thumb talon was retracted and it wrote in the dirt.
Father of peacemaker. Help you.
Natalie and Sonja had both told him that the old U-87s were deeply religious. They knew and believed the scriptures. They were also sentient to some degree. He didn't have a clue how Lucy's avatar and the U-87's programming existed along with new centurion programming inside this robot's body. Yet it obviously functioned well enough that the other new centurions and the skinjobs couldn't tell the difference.
The centurion stood and John took his foot and carefully wiped out the words in the dirt before he looked up at the big robot that towered above him.
"I'll be back tomorrow and we'll talk some more. I've got a lot of thinking to do. Some praying, too. I've got some decisions to make."
The centurion gave him the slight nod, went back to the park entrance and resumed its lonely duty as a sentinel. John tried to imagine the mind-numbing boredom for the sentient U-87 as it stood there day and night for the last who knows how many years. At least Lucy's avatar was in stasis. He couldn't imagine a mind as brilliant and agile as Lucy's being relegated to standing guard at the entrance to a park for that long. If she weren't in stasis, she would probably have been stark raving mad by now.
As he walked back to his apartment, his path became clearer to him. Whether he would have seen it if he hadn't gotten stoned that afternoon on some strong weed and come out here and had the weird conversation with the centurion, he would never know, but as John walked through the twilight back to his apartment, he knew what he had to do. He had to get this centurion to Natalie. She was the leader it was waiting for. It was the U-87 she needed to take to the valley with her. This one was a wolf in sheep's clothing. Or rather it was a sheep in wolf's clothing. The others would think she was taking a new centurion. It was perfect.
He would figure out a way to take this centurion to Natalie and let her decide what to do with it. In addition he needed to make a permanent move to the settlement and ask Natalie for her protection. She outranked Sonja in the Cylon hierarchy plus he'd be ready immediately when Natalie found a way to get them to the valley. He'd also get to spend time with D'Anna and with the doctors and with his new acquaintance Yoshimo and maybe even Jade. He thought about the pain of leaving Petra and Rachel and Cassie, but in order to gain a better future for them, he had to go. And he would leave the temptation of Sonja behind. Maybe that was taking the coward's way out, but he'd compromised so much of himself in the last months that he no longer cared. What was going to happen on Nereid was far bigger than his opinion of himself. He didn't have a plan yet, but he knew now without a doubt that his future on this planet did not lie here in the city.
…
The bell above the door of the bookshop tinkled as Kara entered. She was glad some things never changed. It sounded exactly like it had the first day she had come here, several days after she'd been wounded escaping the Cylon lab.
When she'd first walked through the door that day and had seen the man inside, a man she'd shot and killed four nights earlier, she'd known without a doubt that Leoben was a Cylon.
The store was empty of customers. Leoben sat at the tall counter halfway back. He glanced up at the sound of the bell. Kara walked over to the counter.
"How's business?" She asked.
"Slow. I haven't seen you in a while."
"I haven't been in Caprica City."
"I figured as much. You look good. Better than the last time I saw you."
"I was torn up about my dad then. You got any Rick Spade books published in the last sixty-five years?"
Leoben tapped some keys on his old computer.
"I've only got one that fits the bill. The author died sixty years ago."
"I'll take it."
Leoben went to the shelf, got the book and rang it up. Kara paid him.
He said, "I didn't take you for a Rick Spade fan."
"It's not for me. It's for a friend."
"Lee?"
"No." She grinned. "Lee's not my only friend. You remember what you told me about how copies of the same Cylon model can be really different?"
"I remember."
"I believe you now."
Leoben gave her a wry smile. "You didn't believe me before?"
She shrugged. "Let's just say I didn't realize how different."
"I'd ask you what that means but I have a feeling you can't tell me."
"No."
"How does your stepmother really feel about what happened to the…others? I saw her news conference about sending their ashes to Gemenon. She said all the politically correct stuff, but I know why she did it. She wanted to get them off Caprica so she wouldn't have to worry about people desecrating their graves or the monotheist radicals using them as a rallying point."
"She didn't want them killed like some people are saying on the internet. She wanted to put them on trial."
"And then executed."
Kara looked him in the eyes. "Don't you want to ask me how I feel about it?"
"You're not wearing black so I don't think you're mourning."
"No."
"Neither am I."
Kara took a deep breath. "It doesn't bother you that they died with no chance of downloading?"
"They followed Cavil. That copy was as bad as they come. What happened to him and the rest was justice. He convinced thousands of us to follow him to the Colonies to destroy humanity. And yes, I was one of those at first, but I came to believe he was wrong. He perverted our scriptures. You know how that ended."
"You remember your homeworld, don't you?"
"No, I don't. I swear to you Kara. I don't. Just those few odd memories I told you about. The white room. People in white lab coats. The windows and trees. Natasi remembers, but I don't. When Cavil killed me on that basestar, he wiped out my memories and replaced them with the ones about growing up on Caprica and running this bookstore. I've tried to remember. I even took chamalla and all I had were crazy nightmare visions of people in white robes and a child, a boy, I think. None of it meant anything to me. It's no good. Any memories I had of the homeworld are gone."
"Would you ever want to go back there one day?"
A faraway look came into his eyes for a few moments. Then he said, "This is my home now. Why do you ask?"
"No reason. Just curious. I'd better go. I've got another stop to make. I need to buy a camera. Sharon had her baby, a little girl. It was six weeks early so she's still at the hospital. They need a good camera to get some pictures. If Karl won't accept it as a gift, I'll tell him it's a loaner until he can afford one."
"You mean a sister has actually had a child that lived?"
"They named her Hera."
Leoben smiled. "A sign from God."
"How about a testament to how good neonatal care is here on Caprica?"
"Do the doctors know the baby is half-Cylon?"
"Of course."
"Maybe that's the greater miracle. That they'd treat her like they would a human child."
"They're doctors. Doctors don't pick and choose who to treat. They take an oath. All life is sacred to them. Your Simon should have taken a lesson."
"I'm not arguing with you."
"I got to go. It's going to be a bitch getting through all the traffic, buy a camera, take it to Karl and still make it home in time for dinner. I'm glad you had the book."
"Don't be such a stranger."
"I'll be back and maybe bring my friend. He came from the country. He loves to read but he's never been in a bookstore."
"Is he the Rick Spade fan?"
"Yeah."
"Then bring him. I'd like to meet him. He might become another customer. I need as many as I can get. Seems like everybody is going to electronic books now."
…
Lee unlocked the door to Laura and John's apartment and turned off the alarm. Hunter followed him inside.
"You set a speed record for getting away from Marble House tonight. Is anything wrong?"
Lee went straight to the liquor cabinet and poured a large glass of ambrosia.
"No. Nothing's wrong. I just wasn't up to socializing after going to Tucker's funeral this afternoon. I'm sorry to tear you away from Maya."
Hunter shrugged. "I'll live."
The truth was that Lee knew if he had stayed and he and Kara had gone to her bedroom, she would have either guessed what was wrong with him or he would have wound up telling her. She already thought Shelley was involved in what Tucker had done. He needed tonight to get himself together.
Hunter went to the refrigerator in the kitchen and got a beer. When he came back Lee had kicked off his shoes and put his feet on the coffee table.
"I hope my feet don't smell too bad," he said.
Hunter laughed. "I need to introduce you to my uncles. They can produce smells that will make you shed tears. You should be stuck inside with them during the dead of winter when they start trying to outdo each other. They're worse than kids."
Lee found the remote control and turned on the television, going to the guide channel and scrolling through the night's choices.
"Slim pickings tonight for movies," he finally said.
"We don't have to look at a movie every night," Hunter said. "I've got a new Rick Spade book thanks to Kara."
"I heard her tell you she'd gone to see the Leoben who runs the book store."
Hunter snorted. "She told me Leoben wants to meet me. I've already met a couple dozen of him on Nereid and killed them all. Meeting a wimpy Two would be a treat."
"He's not that wimpy," Lee said. "The reason he's still free is because he helped us even knowing he might go to prison."
Hunter took a drink of his beer and finally said, "The only thing the Twos on Nereid will help you with is your funeral."
Lee turned off the television and took a big sip of the ambrosia. For the hundredth time since that afternoon he saw Shelley's grief-stricken face and Tucker's casket with the single white rose on top.
Hunter opened the book and then closed it.
"It's tough losing a friend," he said. "I know. I've lost a lot of friends…and family. It's tough standing at a grave and saying goodbye."
"It's more than that," Lee said suddenly. The silence stretched. Finally he asked, "Did Kara ever tell you how we met?"
"Yes."
"After the resistance destroyed that Cylon lab, she and everybody who rode a certain type motorcycle in the city were notified to come in so we could question them. We had a witness who said one of them got away was on that make of motorcycle. We just naturally assumed it was a guy."
"I'd have thought the same thing."
"I met her and I was just blown away by…by everything about her starting with how she looked sitting on the motorcycle, so I asked her out even though she was part of an investigation and I should have stayed a hundred miles away from her. On our first date I made a fool of myself telling her I wanted her to meet my parents. She had enough sense to know that would never work. She confessed everything about her part in the resistance and what she'd done at that lab. Then she told me we couldn't see each other again because of being on opposite sides. I should have turned her in. I didn't."
"Maybe because underneath it all, you agreed with what she did."
"Then a couple of weeks after that I got sent to Sovana to help question some guys who'd killed a government official's wife and child with a car bomb meant for the official. One of those caught was a kid. I got his real name from him and I finally broke him…and it made me sick. He'd started selling himself in one of the refugee camps when he was twelve years old in order to survive. He was fifteen years old when he was arrested."
"Life's a bitch during war. I was fighting the Cylons in the forest when I was fourteen. If I'd been caught…forget it. No point in getting into that. Go on with your story."
"Later that night I got…intel that a group of resistance fighters was going to break into the prison and free the five guys who'd been caught before they could be taken to Caprica City and turned over to the Cylons. I knew the only thing that was waiting for all of them was torture and then execution by a centurion firing squad. The kid was at the bottom of the hierarchy when it came to information. He didn't know much of anything but he'd have been tortured and killed just the same. In fact the Cylons would probably have been rougher with him because he didn't have anything to tell them."
Lee took another drink of the ambrosia.
"So you kept quiet. Did they get out?"
"A couple of them did. All of them except the kid were later hunted down and killed. He just vanished. Early last fall he turned up here in the city. He found me because he had some information for me about how some terrorists were going to blow up voting places. He'd been living on the street. He was a mess. I took him to my apartment, let him take a hot shower, gave him some clean clothes, fed him. I wrote down all the information he had. I could have called Agent Darren while he was in the shower. I didn't."
"Something happened at that funeral that churned all this up. Right?" Hunter asked.
Lee took a sip of the drink and leaned his head back against the cushions of the couch.
"Yeah."
"I guess you're now in possession of some information that you've decided to keep to yourself."
"Yeah."
"And you're wondering if you're doing the right thing?"
"You're a mind-reader, Hunter."
"Is anybody going to be hurt by you keeping quiet?"
"The only ones who could have been hurt by it are already dead."
"Then my advice since you seem to be asking for it is to let it go. Keep your knowledge to yourself."
"Is that what you'd do?"
"If we were on Nereid, that guy Tucker…he'd have been given a hero's funeral. In my opinion that's what he deserved. He killed Cylons for the gods sakes. He killed the murderers of most of humanity. He killed the same kind who have enslaved the humans on Neried and who killed my father and hundreds of my people. Why is this even causing you a problem, Lee? Anybody who had anything to do with exterminating those freaks is a hero to me. I'll bet you could go out on the street and ask anybody here on Caprica and they'd all say the same thing. The only ones sorry to see them dead are those crazy monotheists."
Hunter opened the book again and Lee closed his eyes. He would never understand the emotions that had driven Tucker to think killing the Cylon prisoners was worth the sacrifice of his own life and he would never completely understand why Shelley had helped him knowing the outcome. He didn't know if Tucker believed in an afterlife or not. They had lived on the same hall at the Academy, they'd eaten together and played sports together and sat in classrooms together and studied together, and yet Lee didn't recall a single time they'd talked about their religious beliefs or lack thereof. If Tucker believed in the gods and the rewards of an afterlife, he'd been very quiet about it.
The ambrosia began to dull his senses and he finally decided that there were many things about the nature of love and friendship and the complexities of the human heart that he would never fully understand.
His world had evolved steadily from the one he'd inhabited at seventeen when right was clearly right to him and wrong was clearly wrong, when choices were so easy to make because everything seemed black or white, good or evil. There were no shades of gray like there were now, and in keeping Shelley's secret, he'd just added another shade of gray to his world.
…
Kara sat cross-legged on the foot of Maya's bed while Maya finished getting ready. She was running late since Braedon had not wanted Mrs. Blythe to read to him after Maya had given him his bath. His tears had escalated into a full scale tantrum. Laura, who had been invited to dinner with the Vice-President and his wife, had called the Mickelsons and told them that she would be a little late. She was now in Braedon's bedroom rocking him and reading him a story. His wails had subsided quickly as they always did when his mother put him to bed.
"I would have stayed with him," Maya said.
"I know you would have. Laura knows it, too. You need to get out sometimes. You can't call what you and Hunter do while you're babysitting Brae as getting out."
"He's not a bad child," Maya said and Kara heard an edge of defensiveness in her voice.
"Nobody thinks he's a bad child. He's a little kid. All little kids have tantrums and meltdowns from time to time. You told me that Sarah Porter's kids were little monsters."
Maya smiled. "I don't think I called them monsters. They were a handful, though. I was glad when the youngest one went to school and she didn't need my services any longer."
Kara heard voices out in the sitting room.
"Lee and Hunter are here."
"I'm almost ready. You can go talk to them."
"Did you think Lee was acting weird last night? He didn't have anything to say at dinner and he wanted to go back to the apartment right after we ate."
"He'd just buried a friend, Kara. Lee's a deeper person than I think you give him credit for being. He was probably just sad and trying to deal with it without bringing the rest of us down."
"I guess you're right. It just bothers me when he shuts me out like that."
She got up and walked out of the bedroom. Hunter had already flopped down on the sofa. Lee was walking around picking up Brae's toys.
"Hi."
He looked up and a smile lit his face. She walked over to him and he kissed her lightly on the lips. He seemed to be himself once more. Maya was right. Tucker's funeral was the reason he was so quiet and withdrawn the night before.
"Maya's almost ready. Tell me again where we're going?"
"Coretta Howliss who is the head of the Tauron delegation here on Caprica asked us to have dinner with her and some of her people. I checked the address she gave me. It's a meeting hall or something."
"Where?" Kara asked.
"On Attica Street."
"That's not in a very good section of town."
Lee grinned. "I would have a girlfriend who knows Caprica City like the back of her hand."
Hunter said, "You told me that women's shelter where Sharon was staying was in a bad section of town. It wasn't so bad."
"That was during the daytime," Kara said. "And I'm not worried about us. I'm thinking about Lee's car."
Lee thought about what she had just said. The car had belonged to his mother, a gift from his father that Lee always thought was an attempt to make up for how little time he spent with her. Bill had given it to Lee after her death. Kara was right. It was an expensive vehicle. He'd hate for anything to happen to it.
"What do you suggest?"
"Let's take a transport."
"What about the subway?" Hunter asked.
"There's not a stop anywhere near Attica Street."
"Okay. A transport it is," Lee said. "I told Kendra we'd pick her and Dwight up at Zeno's. We'll have to go by there and get them."
Maya walked into the room and Hunter stood. Maya looked gorgeous in a red wrap blouse and black jeans.
Kara grinned. "Maybe we could get one of Laura's guards to take us."
She got a look from Lee. "I'll call Greenlight Transport and have them pick us up out back."
Ten minutes later they got into the transport. Ten minutes after that they were at Zeno's. Kendra and Dwight squeezed into the front. Fifteen minutes after that they got out at the address on Attica Street.
The first thing Lee noticed was the bushy black and white dog lying on the small porch. As they approached, the dog's tail began to thump on the brick.
"Hey, boy," Lee said and bent to pet the dog. The tail thumped harder and faster.
"How you know it's a boy?" Kendra asked.
"He looks like a boy." Lee slid the dog's collar around. There was a rabies vaccination tag and a name tag. "Jake. Sounds like a boy to me."
Maya said, "He must belong to someone who's inside."
Through the glass in the door Lee could see several long tables and people moving around inside. He tried the door. It was unlocked. They walked in and looked around before he spotted Coretta talking to a taller man who reminded him of Mateo Oraibi. His long black hair was streaked with silver and was pulled back into a ponytail at the nape of his neck. He was wearing a brown shirt and jeans and had some beads hanging around his neck. Many of the women were wearing colorful blouses and long skirts.
Kara immediately thought of Keshia and Yolanda. Neither was from Tauron and yet they had both favored this same type of dress, especially Keshia. She would fit right in here among these people.
Coretta saw them and hurried over. She greeted Kendra, Dwight and Lee. Lee introduced Kara, Hunter and Maya. Coretta welcomed them warmly and ushered them around the room introducing them to the Taurons who had gathered. Like Coretta some had the distinctive features of the northern tribes and some did not. There were at least seventy-five people there of all ages from infants to the elderly.
Finally they came to the tall man with the ponytail.
"This is Ogala," Coretta said, "our priest and shaman. He's also my brother."
"I like your…necklace or whatever," Kara said looking at the multicolored oddly shaped stones strung on a length of rawhide.
"It's a prayer amulet," Hunter told her. "Jasper is a sacred stone to many Taurons. The different colored beads tell the story of creation. The larger golden stone in the center is the sun, the sustainer of all life."
Ogala smiled. "Hunter's knowledge is impressive."
Hunter said, "Where I grew up we had a priest who was also an oracle. She and her brother were originally from Tauron. He had one of those. He explained it to me when I was a kid. I thought it was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen."
Ogala's eyes locked on Hunter and then moved to Kara. "That was a long way from here, was it not?"
"A long way," Hunter said.
"We will talk again. Now we should eat. My sister has gone to a lot of trouble to make tonight's meal special for you. We rarely get guests of your importance."
Kara looked at him. "Importance?"
Coretta said, "The information Lee and Kendra and Dwight brought back from Tauron will prove the duplicity of Tom Zarek and his men."
"You should run against him for the Tauron seat on the Quorum," Kendra said.
Coretta smiled. "Did my brother ask you to say that?"
"Of course not. Although I did discuss it with my mother. She'd like to see you give Zarek a run for his money. She despises him."
"We'll see. Now let's eat."
Coretta asked her brother to bless the meal and then she ushered them to a buffet table where a large number of dishes of food were placed. She went first so she could explain what some of the dishes were. Hunter was behind Kara and nudged her when they got to a big pot of rabbit stew. She smiled.
After they were seated and Kara was eating the stew which was delicious, she asked Coretta, "Where do you get your rabbits?"
"There's a market down near the waterfront on Fifty-Second Street that sells most kinds of meat and fish."
"I know the area," Kara said. "My stepfather lives on Fifty-First Street four blocks from the waterfront. I used to visit an Oracle who lived on Fifty-Third above a shoe repair shop."
"Yolanda Brenn," Ogala said.
"You knew her?" Kara asked in surprise.
"I visited her many times and often took her food. We had some lengthy discussions about our religion and the gift of prophecy. She was not born with her gift. It only came to her after she was blinded in the Cylon attack on her temple in Delphi, but her gift was very real."
"Keshia and I were with her when she died."
Ogala sat digesting the information and then said, "Yolanda knew she would not live to be an old woman. She had seen it. She was very worried about Keshia. Is she doing well?"
"I saw her a few weeks ago. She's working at a women's shelter on Acropolis Street. The Sisters of Hera. She seems to be doing better. She looks more like she did when she and Yolanda were together. That son of a bitch Cavil…if he hadn't kidnapped them and locked them in a basement and starved them…Yolanda would still be alive."
"Her death has been avenged if you believe in that sort of thing."
"You don't?" Kara asked in surprise.
"No. Neither did Yolanda."
"Yolanda was a saint. I'm not."
They ate in silence for a while. Lee seemed preoccupied again like he had been the night before.
Kara asked Ogala. "Do you have the gift of sight?"
"Since I was a boy but not to the extent Yolanda had it. My visions are more abstract, more difficult to interpret. Often I don't understand them myself."
"The first time I went to see Yolanda, she called me Posiden's green-eyed daughter. She knew my eyes were green even though she was blind."
"As I've said, her gift was real." He slowly chewed a mouthful of food before he said, "Your friend Lee does not believe in the powers of an oracle as you do. And yet your friend Hunter does."
"That's right."
"Is it only oracles that Lee has problems with or is it our religion in general?"
"Lee's not a believer."
"That is sad. Where does he turn for strength when life becomes difficult for him?"
Kara shrugged. "Himself, I guess. Me, sometimes. He used to talk things over with my dad."
Ogala lowered his eyes. "Forgive me. I overstep my bounds. It's not my business."
"How much do you know about monotheism?"
"I've studied our two major religions and many sects under each. There are those who would call us a sect."
"I'd like to talk to you about something that's been bothering me. Where can I find you?"
"My sister and I live next door, but I'm here much of the time. This place is our meeting hall and our place of worship. If I'm here the black and white dog will be outside on the porch as he is tonight."
Kara smiled. "So Jake's yours."
"I found him nearly dead in an alley near here when he was a few weeks old. Somebody had put out a box of puppies. He was the only one still alive. Coretta and I bottle fed him until he could eat on his own."
"He looks happy and healthy now."
Ogala smiled, "He's very well fed now…like me. He doesn't understand that he's a dog. He thinks he's one of the family."
"I wonder why."
Ogala stood and picked up his clean plate. "Seconds?"
"Not yet."
When he had walked away, Kara leaned over and said to Lee, "Are you getting ready to pull inside yourself like you did last night?"
"No."
"You're too quiet."
"You seem like you're hitting it off with the shaman."
Kara grinned. "I just want to see if he'll tell me the same thing Yolanda did about you and me.
"Which was what?"
She poked him. "You don't remember?"
"Hmmm. Did it have something to do with true love?"
"It did."
"If I go to your room with you tonight will you let me strive to show you one of my interpretations of Yolanda's prophecy about us?"
Kara leaned over and whispered to him, "Is that a long-winded way of saying you want to make love to me?"
"I always want to make love to you."
"Except when you don't."
Lee pulled back. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Last night."
"Kara, I…"
"No, it's okay. I understand. You weren't in the mood. If I'd been to a good friend's funeral, I probably wouldn't be in the mood either."
"I feel better tonight."
She grinned. "I'll expect you to prove it."
"Kendra's said something about going to Zeno's for a beer. Last Saturday night got interrupted."
It had only been a week since Sharon had been rushed to the medical center but it seemed like a month.
Half an hour later they all bid goodnight to Coretta and her brother and squeezed into another transport. They found a round table at Zeno's near the back and ordered several pitchers of beer. The jukebox was playing and several couples were dancing. Maya took Hunter's hand and pulled him out onto the floor.
Kendra leaned over to Kara. "I think they really like each other."
Kara smiled. "What gave it away?"
"Maybe the fact that they're dancing so close you couldn't get a piece of paper between them."
"I just hope Maya knows what she's doing because Hunter's…not going to be around…"
"I know what you mean. He's going back to where he's from. Why couldn't she go with him?"
"Maybe she will."
"Would you get angry if I asked Lee to dance? I want to talk to him about my mother."
Kara gestured. "Be my guest."
Kara watched them start dancing and smiled. You could get a ream of paper between Lee and Kendra.
"You going to let them show us up?" Saunders asked. "I haven't danced with you since…what? The graduation party your dad and Laura threw for you."
Kara smirked. "We've danced together since then. You were just too drunk to remember."
"The Shark Rider?"
She snickered softly. "It breaks my heart that you forgot."
He stood and pulled her to her feet. "I'll remember tonight."
They began dancing with the other couples.
"Is Crash dating Maggie tonight?" Kara asked him.
"Nope. He asked her. She shot him down. I told him to give her time. Crash isn't real…sensitive to things like that. I know Maggie really cares for Zak."
"I talked to her. Zak's got some frakked up idea that he's going to die in Sovana. He doesn't want her waiting for him. I think she's going to wait anyway so tell Crash not to get his hopes up."
"How long do you think it'll be before we go to Hunter's homeworld to liberate it from the Cylons?"
"Who says we're going to do that?"
"Nobody has to say it. I'm not stupid."
Kara grinned. "You really think Admiral Adama has taken me into his confidence like that? After the stunt I pulled?"
"I'm sure Lee knows."
"They're working on a plan. That's all we know."
"Flown that Mark VII yet?"
"Not yet. Maybe in a week or two. My court-martial hearing is next Friday. If all goes well, I'll get to fly the following Monday."
"And if all doesn't go well?"
"Then I guess I'm frakked," Kara said testily.
"I was just asking. Don't take my head off."
"Sorry. This has been a weird week. We've all felt the strain."
"You can say that again. Chin up, Starbuck. You eventually made it over that wall on the obstacle course. You'll get to keep your wings."
She smiled. "I thought about you on Nereid a couple of times."
"Oh, yeah?"
"When Hunter and I were crawling through a very small tunnel. I thought about how much trouble you had getting through those pipes on the obstacle course. Ask Hunter about it sometimes. He's more claustrophobic than you are."
The song ended and another one started.
"What say we swap partners," Dwight said. "That way Lee will quit looking daggers in my direction."
When Kara was in Lee's arms, she sighed. It felt so right. Kendra had her arms around Dwight's neck and they were dancing as close as Maya and Hunter.
"What'd Kendra want?" Kara asked.
Lee said in an exasperated tone, "Something I do not want to get involved in."
"What?"
"Her mother wants to date my father. She wants me to find out if he'd do it."
Kara starting laughing. "Why can't Mrs. Shaw just ask him herself? They're not in the eighth grade."
"Apparently she's sensitive about the relationship he and Laura have. She doesn't know your dad is still alive. You can't blame her. She doesn't want to offend the President of the Colonies. It's a political thing."
"So are you going to ask him?"
"I don't know. I told Kendra I'd think about it."
"You want me to get Laura to ask him?"
Lee smiled. "Now that is like eighth grade. What did Dwight have to say?"
"Not much. Crash asked Maggie out for tonight and she said no. I told you she just wanted to go to the game last weekend."
Lee shrugged and pulled Kara closer to him. "Have I told you lately how much I love you?"
Kara put her mouth against his ear and said softly, "You missed yesterday."
Once again he saw the casket and the single white rose and Shelley's tear-stained face.
"Let's go back to Marble House."
"We just got here and you're ready to leave?"
"I need you, Kara."
She looked at his eyes and saw the twin pools of dark blue filled with pain.
"Call a transport. I'll make our excuses."
Maya and Hunter weren't ready to leave so Kara and Lee were alone in the back seat of the transport. When Lee gave the driver their destination, the driver looked skeptical. "You sure you want to go to Marble House?"
"I left my car there," Lee said.
Lee and Kara shared a quick smile. It wasn't every day a transport cab was asked to take someone to the President's dwelling.
At the back gate they got out and Lee paid the driver. The guards recognized them both by now and let them through the gate. They held hands walking across the parking lot. In the elevator he slid his hand behind her head and kissed her hard and passionately, not caring who might be watching the security monitors.
In her room they were torn between struggling to get their clothes off as fast as they could and the need not to break contact with the other. For the first time in a long time Lee felt like he had no control. The touch of her hands stroking him even gently was almost enough to push him over the edge. He moaned long and low. She pushed him over onto his back, kissing him. His hands were busy working their magic. At last she slid over him. They made love fiercely, almost roughly, and at the end, Lee struggled and just managed to hold back until Kara's body tensed and she came, her fingers digging so deeply into his shoulders that he later found several bruises.
She lay on top of him for a long time, until her breathing returned to normal and then she slipped down into his arms and put her head on his shoulder.
"Kangaroo love," she said softly.
"What?"
"Karl told me that's what the nurses call it when parents hold a baby against their bare skin. It helps the parent-child bonding process."
Lee smiled. "It helps me when you hold your naked body against mine. It always has."
Kara snuggled into him. She already felt sleepy. "Someday…" her voice trailed off.
"Someday what?"
"Someday when all this is over and we've got my dad home and Hunter's people are free, we'll do it right. I'll put on a white dress and we'll stand at the front of Elosha's temple together and say our vows and then we'll make our own baby. She'll be a little blue-eyed blond and she'll be a daddy's girl and you'll love her the way my father loves me. She will own your heart and you'll never be the same again."
Lee held her tightly as her body relaxed into sleep and thought of the enormous responsibility of bringing a child into the world, of the demands and rewards and the thousand other things of which he would one day learn.
He'd dealt with death in the last few days and now Kara had reminded him so clearly that a new life had come into their world, a tiny miracle named Hera, just like the light of day always followed the dark of night.
He gently stroked her hair. In her own way and perhaps without even realizing it, Kara had brought him a feeling of peace.
He leaned over and kissed her forehead. "In case you haven't figured it out, Kara Thrace, somebody already owns my heart."
TBC…