Epilogue

Six Weeks Later

"Chief, I'm gonna need you to develop my gun camera footage ASAP. I got a helluva set of vacation pictures." She climbed off the brilliant white Viper, smeared with the blood from a Cylon Raider. "I'll take my post-flight checklist. I want to sign off so I can get in the shower."

Chief Galen Tyrol felt like he was looking at a ghost. "I don't have one for you."

All the jocks, and the mechanics, and everyone else that was in the area had converged on that hangar, and all of them looking at the blonde who had stepped out of the fighter.

"What's up?" She gave a nervous laugh.

Before anyone could respond, Lee Adama was upon her, and hugged her with all his might.

"Okay", Kara Thrace said, wondering what this was about. "OK. Me, too, it's okay, it's okay."

On Lee's heels, Sam Anders walked up to her. "I told everyone you were to fracking mean for anyone to kill you." He tried to laugh, but his voice cracked with joy.

"Okay", she repeated, "I'm okay, I'm okay." Then she looked at what her husband was wearing. "What the hell are you doing in a jock smock."

Sam Anders, Call Sign Longshot, didn't delay in answering. "I just finished Viper Transition a week ago, and I started ACM."

Kara was thoroughly confused now. "How the..."

"Starbuck!"

Kara looked up on the catwalk to her right, hearing the Old Man's voice.

She turned to face him, a confident smile on her face. "I did it, Boss", she said with pride. "I found Earth." She gave a satisfied laugh.

"Everybody move back", the Admiral ordered, those below him obeying, except for the Marine guards who advance closer, weapons trained on the pilot. "I need you in Sickbay. Doc Cottle's gonna give you a complete physical examination."

"OK, what the hell's going on?" Kara's demeanor had turned from joy, to consternation, to outright anger. "I'm off this ship for a few hours, and everybody's acting..."

Sam cut her off. "A few hours?" The confusion was universal now. "Kara, you were gone for over two months.

"That's impossible", she countered, even before Sam had stopped talking. "My ship's clock reads six hours and change."

"Then your clock's wrong, Kara", Lee said, seeing the look on his friend's face. "Sam's telling the truth. We thought you were dead."

After the physical, Cottle debunked what everyone was thinking-Kara Thrace was not a Cylon, and everything matched up to her being...well, her.

The Old Man, Lee, and Tigh were in the room with she and Cottle. "I don't understand any of this", she kept repeating over and over.

"I'll show you the video tapes, Starbuck", Lee offered. "Video from my Viper, from Galactica, and from two other ships in The Fleet."

"We held a service for you in the hangar", Tigh added. "Five thousand strong said goodbye to you, Thrace."

"You all thought I was dead..." It still hadn't sunk in. Yet in an instant, panic swept over Starbuck. "Dead..." She noticed someone missing that she thought would have been at the meeting. "Where is the President?" She stood up as if prodded by an electric shock.

No one wanted to speak, least of all Bill Adama, but Lee was the logical choice, and they looked at him. "I'm...the President, Kara", he said. "Yeah, I flew this mission because I was needed but..."

Bill Adama looked at his son, who stopped in his tracks. "The three of you", he commanded, looking at Tigh, Lee, and Cottle, "clear the room."

The three were gone in a matter of moments.

"Sir, where is Laura?"

Bill walked over to Kara, and put a gentle hand on her shoulders. "You need to take a seat, Starbuck. We have things to discuss."

Kara Thrace sat, alone for the moment, in Admiral Adama's quarters. Before President Roslin had died, she had informed Bill of the legal details that were with Romo Lampkin. Adama had summoned the man to confirm with Kara that her last wishes had been carried out. Lampkin left quickly after that.

Bill was alone with Kara now. "I can't believe she's gone. Did the cancer return? I just don't understand..."

Bill studied her for a moment.

"Starbuck, no, the cancer didn't return. Shortly after your ship...blew up...Laura's health started to worsen. Cottle, other doctors-hell, even Gaius, tried to find a reason for her deterioration, but they couldn't find anything."

"So, what was it, sir?"

Bill sighed. "Starbuck...Kara", he amended, a sad smile coming over his visage, "about two days before she died, Laura told me about the interactions between the two of you since we left The Colonies. She told me how she had come to trust you implicitly, and how much she respected you." He sighed again, almost not continuing. "She also told me about the intimate times you shared."

Kara gasped, her hands going to her face in shame. "Gods, what you must think of me, sir. I'm so..."

Bill touched her shoulder, Kara looking at him suddenly. "I think nothing less of you, Kara. Nothing at all. So the two of you found some brief moments of love and passion in this hellish existence of ours. So what? Love is never a bad thing, Starbuck."

"Still", Kara began, "I know that you two...that..."

"It's Okay, Starbuck", Bill assured her. "Again, I can't blame anyone for grasping at such moments. As we've seen, life out here is precarious. We never know when our moment will arrive. And you have my word that, unless you tell anyone else, this is known only to you and me. It's safe in my silence. Sam doesn't need to know, neither does Lee, or anyone else."

"I didn't..." Like had transpired with Laura just before she died, Kara broke down in tears in front of her Admiral, who was as close to a father as she had ever had. "I didn't...get to say goodbye to her, sir. I didn't get to tell her that I did love her, very much."

"She knew that, Starbuck", he assured her with a tender smile. "You need to find your own way to honor her memory, and to keep her spirit in your heart for the rest of your days, just as I will-just as most of the people in The Fleet will."

"I don't know how to do that, sir", Kara confessed. "I've never been one to show my feelings, or to even know what they mean."

"How about this: you start with going and visit Laura's photograph on the Memorial wall, and spending some time talking to her?"

"And after that? What can I do keep her memory alive."

Bill stood up, grabbing Kara's hand, and raising her up as well. He looked into her eyes, and gave her a warm smile. "You can lead us to Earth. I know that's what she would have wanted."

Kara made her way to the Memorial wall, where pictures of hundreds, if not thousands, of those who had been lost during or after the attack, were displayed, contemplating the Old Man's words. There was a special spot adorning the wall, just for President Roslin. Kara stopped at it, thinking about the faith and the trust Laura had put into her, so that they could find a new home.

After a while, she stepped up to the photo, looking around to make sure no one was nearby. "I'm so sorry, Laura, I wasn't hear for you. But I will carry on your work, and your dream of finding us a new home. Just know that you're always in my heart and my soul. I'll carry you forever." She put two fingers to her lips, kissed them, then pressed the fingers to the photo of Laura Roslin. "I will always love you, Madam President. Rest easy."

Kara turned to walk away, and wasn't planning to look back. But she did, certain she could hear Laura's voice, hear her infectious laughter, feel Laura lips on her own, and her arms around here. Suddenly, she didn't feel so weighed down by grief. Instead a new spirit of joy and purpose washed over her.

She smiled at the photo, blew one more kissed, then turned and walked away.

And, in the end, Kara Thrace led her people to Earth. She had fulfilled Laura's dream.

The End