"When exactly did you know?"

Kara was panting furiously as she took their daughter from her father's arms. She thought her heart was going to burst from her chest.

"I still don't."

Lee brought his sidearm up once again, putting it flush against Lieutenant Elijah Taylor's forehead. His demeanor was calm, but Kara, Eli, and even HotDog could feel the anger emanating from him. Kara was frantic; she had to stop him before he did something stupid. Setting Lydia down for a second, she jumped up and put her hands on both of his arms to try to force him to put down his weapon.

"Lee, no!"

He spat the words out between gritted teeth. Costanza picked up Lydia, who was trembling with fear at her father's actions.

"Give me one good reason Kara! Don't you think it's a little suspicious, this kid showing up on our ship, telling us after he's been here for three years that he's our son? If he was really our son, wouldn't he have told us the second he was here? Huh Kara?"

She looked up into Elijah's face. There was no fear there. He understood why his father felt this way. And he knew that the only people who could have proven him right were now dead. His shoulders slumped. There was nothing he could say in his own defense.

Kara saw this, and knew somewhere deep inside; she couldn't give a good reason either. There was just this gut feeling she couldn't deny.

"Um, guys, I hate to interrupt you…but…we-we've got company."

HotDog's voice was trembling. In the reflection of Eli's eyes, Kara saw what had frightened Costanza. Behind them, some more of the intruders that had boarded them had found them. But she would die before she would let them take either one of her children.

One of the Six copies, the one in front of the others, crossed her arms in front of her and smiled. She spoke in a gentle, mocking voice, while the others moved to surround them.

"Oh, look at the lovely little family. You can't win this one, Starbuck. There are more of us than there are of you."

From the rear came the Cylon that Kara knew as Leoben. He came in quietly with a little smile on his lips, saying nothing. As he nodded, the first Six moved toward HotDog, who still had Lydia in his arms. Lee moved his weapon from Elijah's head and pointed it directly at her.

"Go ahead, Apollo. You'll have enough time to get off one round at me, and maybe take out another few. But you'll be dead before you can get us all. Give us the girl and no one gets hurt."

Kara knew the Cylon was right. But she didn't want to lose another child. Eli, meanwhile, had moved up to Lee's side. He spoke in a low and surprisingly calm voice.

"It's okay. Nothing will happen to her."

Lee looked at the kid, noticing for once how much he looked like him. Maybe he was his son, or at least a damned good replica of him. But he was wondering why the frak that Taylor was telling him to give up his only daughter.

"Why the frak should we do that?"

Eli nodded toward Leoben as Lee hissed the words, trying not to be too loud. He didn't know how or why he knew it, but he knew that they would let her go.

"Just trust me."

Once again, Lee dealt with the fear that he'd felt, finding out that his only son had been missing. He didn't fathom why he should trust this kid, but he found himself wanting to with every passing minute. His thoughts were interrupted by Six's voice, which had become a little shriller.

"Give us the child!"

"Costanza, go ahead. Hand her over."

Kara's mouth dropped open. She could not believe that Lee Adama just said that. She looked between Taylor and her lover again, and wondered what had just passed between them. Elijah nodded at Kara, who then nodded her acceptance to HotDog. The poor Lieutenant wouldn't let the girl go. Kara let go her best Starbuck voice.

"Lieutenant, that's an order. And if you don't comply, you'll find out what it's like to be an ensign again. Don't make me think that you're even more of a screw-up than I was."

HotDog gulped, nodding, and passed the little girl over to the Cylons. His hands trembled as he let his goddaughter go.

Six held the girl slightly elevated above her. She was looking at Lydia curiously, turning her around…almost like she was inspecting her. She passed the girl over to Leoben, who had been waiting patiently. He began to smile even more. It was a reaction completely contrary to what the female Cylon then said.

"She's not the one! God will be very angry with us…she is not the one!"

Leoben laughed and tickled Lydia in the stomach. He smiled and put her back down on the floor, pushing her back in the direction of Kara and her family.

"Go back to your mother, child."

Tentatively, Lydia began walking to her mommy, who swept her up quickly into grateful arms. Starbuck looked curiously at Leoben, understanding that he would not always be her enemy. Life couldn't be that easy for her. Leoben then turned and looked at Six, who, seething with anger, reached up to strike the little girl. He caught her hand in an iron grip as it fell.

"NO! She is not the one! And you will not harm an innocent. It is not God's plan."

Six began to turn, ready to hurt her counterpart. Before she could finish the turn, the Leoben copy snapped her pretty little Cylon neck. The other copies, experiencing true fear for the first time in their lives, backed off. An unspoken order moved between them, and they left the room, empty-handed.

Before exiting the room, Leoben turned and looked at Kara, who could not believe what was happening before her very eyes. He had just saved them. A frakking Cylon had just saved her family.

"She is not the one we were looking for, Kara Thrace. But we will be watching."

And with a smile, he left the room. Trembling, Kara held onto her daughter for dear life, realizing the gods had just given her a break. HotDog fell into the nearest chair, clearly traumatized. Elijah stood calmly, waiting to see what they would do next, while Lee threw his hands up in the air as he exclaimed.

"What the frak is going on here!"

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For the fourth time, Eli found himself answering the same round of questions from Colonel Adama. And each time he had answered the same.

"Who are you?"

"Lieutenant Elijah Taylor."

"What are you?"

"A human being, sir."

"What is your purpose here?"

"To defend the fleet, sir."

"What is your real purpose here?"

"To defend the fleet, sir."

Lee was frustrated. The kid never faltered. But he just couldn't be telling the truth. Or could he? Suddenly, he had a wild idea. He nodded in the direction of the nearest marine guard they had stationed outside the brig while he was questioning his prisoner.

"Marine, go and bring the doctor."

"Sir, yes sir."

He paced back and forth in front of Elijah, half expecting him to jump up and attack him. But no such attack ever came. It took several minutes for the ship's doctor to come, in which time Lee was beginning to resemble a caged tiger.

"What do you need, Colonel?"

Doctor Agathon did not look surprised in the least she had been called to the brig. She'd heard about what had happened from Kara. She was only surprised that it had taken Lee this long.

"I need you to examine him, Lieutenant. I need you to tell me if he is a Cylon…or not."

Sharon walked around to where Elijah was sitting, patiently trying to comply with the Colonel's questions and orders. She smiled as she stood in front of him.

"Don't worry Lieutenant. I won't hurt you. Could you stand up for a moment? I need to look at your face and your arms."

Eli stood there, looking at Tamara's mom. He knew from Megan that she was a Cylon; that she wasn't a twin to Megan's mother like she had said when he'd met them three years before. But he wondered why it was that she was the one doing the inspecting.

Sharon lifted his arms, pushing back the sleeves of his uniform shirt. Her mouth pursed as she examined his wrists, then she turned them over, looking at his hands. She moved to look at his face, but as he was visibly taller, she had to make an adjustment.

"I'm sorry, would you mind bending down a little?"

For quite a few minutes, Sharon looked deep into the youth's eyes. She then asked him a couple of questions.

"Who are you?"

Not again. I'm so tired of this already. But he obliged, answering the questions again.

"Lieutenant Elijah Taylor."

"What is your purpose here?"

"To defend the fleet."

"Are you in fact Kara Thrace and Lee Adama's only son?"

Without flinching, Elijah answered her, while she was still looking deep into those liquid blue eyes.

"Yes."

Satisfied, Sharon nodded.

"You may sit down, Lieutenant Taylor."

Lee looked at Sharon, wondering what it was that she was thinking. Mrs. Agathon had become the ship's doctor due to the extensive database of human anatomy that once upon a time had been uploaded into her Cylon brain. She was the best damned doctor he had ever seen, and he had often pondered why Boomer had become a pilot in the first place.

"Well?"

Sharon shook her head. There was nothing more that she needed to see.

"He's human. He's not a Cylon. There's no wetware present, no automatic programming responses. He's also most definitely your son."

Confused, Lee blinked a few times before asking her another question. He knew that Sharon could not lie to him, but there were just too many missing pieces.

"But if he's my son, Sharon…where has he been for sixteen years?"

She smiled, waving goodbye to Eli, who had just sat down again. Sharon turned to Lee, knowing that the next couple of days would probably be rough for him. It wasn't everyday that you held a gun to your long lost son and almost pulled the trigger.

"I don't know, but I suggest that you ask him yourself. I think you've got a lot of catching up to do."

Lee felt helpless as he watched her walk out of the room. Now what am I going to do? Kara is going to kill me. I almost killed our son.

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They were back in the XO's quarters, but Lee still had a thousand and one questions for his son. My son. He had resigned himself to the fact. There was no denying it. And then he began to ask himself why, in the name of the Lords of Kobol, would he even want to deny his own flesh and blood? But he had to have answers to those questions that were eating him up inside.

Kara sat on the couch, while she watched Elijah play with his little sister. His little sister. The unspoken thought brought tears to her eyes and a smile to her lips. She had often thought that the young lieutenant would make a great son. He had her spirit, and his father's gentleness. She, too, wanted to ask so many questions. But she still reveled in the fact that the gods had returned him to her, after so long.

Eli felt their stares upon him. There was an unspoken tension present in the room. He could feel it in every pore. But he was enjoying the fact that the little girl in front of him held no fear of him. She was showing him the little metal figurines that her 'uncle' Galen had made for her. He smiled at the thought that Meg's father would be so meticulous in making such a tiny little thing. But he frowned again, knowing that his parents still wanted answers. And so he would try to give them all the ones that he could.

Turning to face his mother first, he took her hand in his. She smiled, patting him on his head. It was something that you would do to a small child; not a grown man. But then again, he hadn't been around her as a child, so it was one favor he could allow.

"Mother…I'm sorry I didn't let you know when I first came. I only knew that the time wasn't right. Not for you, not for me…not for anybody."

She sighed, and Lee came and sat down beside her. Eli knew that his father would probably voice more of his questions than his mother would hers. That was just his father's way. Lee began at once.

"Eli…Chris…. Sorry. I have to keep remembering that this is real."

Chuckling, he understood the confusion that his father felt. It was tough for him when he understood that Rebecca and Gaius had not been his real parents…but they had never released the fact that he had ever had a different name.

"It's okay, Dad. You can call me Chris. I never really liked Elijah, anyway. I mean, I believe in God and everything, but Elijah just always seemed a little too religious-sounding."

Lee's classic Adama eyebrow cocked up at the sound of his son using the word God, singular. So he doesn't believe in the gods. This is going to be interesting. He lost the thought as he began his question again.

"Christopher…where have you been for the first sixteen years of your life? Why did you just come back now?"

It was a perfectly good question. He knew it would hurt his parents to know that he had been amongst them, this whole time. They would feel like they hadn't searched hard enough; like maybe they had given up too soon. But he would reassure them that it wasn't their fault.

"I've been living on the Rising Star."

Kara's mouth dropped open with an audible gasp. She and Lee made the connection almost instantaneously. Three years ago was when the security on the Rising Star had found Gina and Doctor Gaius Baltar. It was also the first time that they had seen Christopher onboard Galactica. He answered as if he'd known exactly what the two were thinking.

"I told you once, Mom, that my adoptive parents were dead. That was true. How, or why, they abducted me, I don't know. I had a pretty good childhood. No abuse. I was always fed, clothed, educated well. The only thing I wasn't allowed to do was go outside. I could never leave that ship. I think it's why I like to fly…why I like being a pilot so much."

Lee chuckled at the statement. He rolled his eyes and looked blatantly over at Kara.

"No, son. I think that's your mother's fault."

She punched him in the shoulder and protested.

"It's just as much your fault! It's in your genes, too."

The playfulness between them warmed him on the inside. He thought of how Rebecca and Gaius had been like that in the beginning…when he was very young. But as he grew older, he saw how lonely that Rebecca had become. Gaius Baltar had stopped coming to see them, except on the weekends; and he knew that it had torn her heart out. He must have had a sad look on his face, because his dad reached out and touched his shoulder, speaking with concern in his voice.

"Son, are you okay?"

Chris nodded, smiling.

"Yes. I'm okay. I-I was just remembering. Rebecca…that was the name she went by…. Rebecca loved me, I think. She was trying to protect me. Before she died, she told me that it had been her mission to take me to her people…but that she couldn't go through with it. But she also didn't bring me back; and why, I don't know…."

Kara leaned over and touched her son as well.

"I think it may have something to do with what that blonde copy said to us before your father toasted her. No pun intended. Come on. I think it's time we had a good meal of military rations…or at least go and try to find what's left of the snacks from the dance."

With a twinkle in her eyes, she picked up Lydia and handed her to Lee. She knew that there were many things still left unsaid, but they would have to wait for another day. She had been patient enough for this long for her son to return. She thought they could wait a little bit longer to find out why.

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And just as Starbuck and family will have to wait a little longer, so will you, folks. Happy Holidays to all peoples of all races, creeds and religions. It's that time of year again, so be thankful for all things you have received; even the little ones. The story will have some new parts next week.

The little purple button at the bottom of the page is still very appreciative when you press it and type a few words…and so is the author. Thanks!