XI
The parents of one of Kacey's classmates had been asked by Chief Tyrol if they could look after the little girl for a few hours. The family was close to both Kara and Kacey, and they readily agreed. It was a weekend, so school was not in session. Laura Roslin had asked the Chief for his help in arranging this, so that she and Kara could talk.
Laura arrived at Kara's tent, shortly after Kacey had left. She didn't even knock. When she entered the home, Kara was sitting on her couch. One look at Laura, and she sprang up across the room, grabbing Roslin in a fierce hug, followed by a long searing kiss.
"Laura", Kara breathed shakily, "I'm so scared!" It was now only two days until she was handed over to The Cylons. Kacey hadn't been in school, and Laura hadn't been teaching, just so Kara could spend as much time with both as she could.
Right now, she needed some time with her lover.
"I know you are, baby", Laura said, never wanting to let the younger woman go. "I am too, but we gotta stay strong for Kacey."
The hug and the kissing continued, until Kara broke it. "Take a walk with me, babe?"
Laura gave Kara a sideways smirk. "I thought we were gonna get naked?"
Kara laughed, kissing the former President again. "We will, but I want to take you to a place I go to when I need to think. It's not very far from here, and I just want to be with you there for a while."
"Lead the way, Kara", Laura said with her own wry grin.
They still weren't at the point where they showed affection in public. Their relationship was still too new to let New Caprica in on their secret. The only ones who knew were the leadership, and they had sworn to secrecy.
It took the two women about twenty minutes to get to Kara's "quite place". They had grasped each others' hand when they were out of sight of the settlement, not talking at all. When they approached the spot, Kara smiled over at Laura.
"I found this spot shortly after I got back from the Doll House", Kara explained. "I come here sometimes, when Kacey is in school, just to gather my thoughts. It may be the only scenic place on this whole, stinking planet."
She led Laura to the edge of the hill they were on, and when Laura looked over into the valley below, she gasped. Kara was right. It was a beautiful area.
"Gods, Kara", Laura said with a whisper, "this is absolutely breath-taking!" She turned to her young lover, kissing her sweetly. "I can see why you come here."
"It's great for thinking, Laura", Kara said honestly. "I've never been the introspective kind-not before all of this-but I just try to empty my mind, and just kind of retreat into myself, you know?"
"Kind of like meditation?"
Kara nodded. "Yeah, kind of. It's just a great place to relax. No city bustle. No Cylons watching you. Just me and the land." She snickered at that thought. "Who would have thought that someone who flies fighters in space would connect with terra Firma?"
Laura laughed sweetly. "It is not your normal look, Thrace", she said, the snicker continuing. Laura looked around. "Is there any place we can sit?"
Kara nodded. "Come over to that big boulder with me", she said, pointing to the right. "It has a nice flat face, facing the valley." She pulled Laura into her arms, looking up at the taller woman. "I want you to hold me over there for a while."
Laura could only nod, again giving Kara a passionate kiss.
Kara grabbed her hand, and led her the few steps over, Laura sitting down, her back against the rock. She put her arms out, raised her knees and opened her legs, inviting Kara to snuggle into her. Kara did so, giving an audible sigh as she leaned back against Laura, Roslin putting her arms around her troubled lover.
For a few minutes they simply soaked in the silence, their love for each other simply radiating between their connected bodies, Kara laying her head back on Laura's shoulder, feeling as loved and as content as she had ever felt.
After a good ten minutes, Kara spoke up. "Can I confess something to you, Laura?"
"Honey, you can tell me anything, you know that." She kissed Starbuck on top of the head.
"When I opened up to you a while back, about my childhood, and the Doll House? And then we kissed that first time when you were comforting me? It scared the hell out of me." She took a shuddering breath, trying to move back further into Laura's chest. "Me and love have never co-existed very well, and the realization of the feelings I had developed for you...it frightened me."
Laura gave a small chuckle. "I got scared, too. We both kind of freaked out from that kiss. Maybe that time apart was a good thing? It gave us time to think about each other. I don't know."
"You could be right", Kara agreed. "I'm glad we got over it, I must say." They both laughed. Suddenly, Kara had a thought. Her eyes went wide.
For a moment, Laura was worried. "Honey, is something wrong?"
She turned to face Roslin, her face mere inches from the older woman's. "Laura-marry me?"
Laura was speechless.
"Marry me, Laura Roslin." She moved beside Laura, becoming animated. "Maybe we've only been...in love a short while, but I've never been sure of anything in my life. That first night we made love? I found my heart. I found who I really was. I look at you, and into your eye, and you accept me for who I am, with all my faults and shortcomings."
Kara now was in front of Laura, holding both her hands. "I'm gonna get through this, Laura, and when I'm free again, I'm coming home to you, and to Kacey. You two are all I'll ever need to be whole."
Laura looked deep into the hazel eyes that were looking back at her-that were looking through her, into her very soul. What she saw on the other side took her breath away. It was a love so deep that nothing could break it. Laura had never considered being married before-she just hadn't wanted that life, but with the life of humanity hanging on by a thread, one needed to find love and devotion where one could, for as long as they could. It could all be gone in a moment.
"Yes."
It's all she needed to say. It's about all she could say.
Kara's face broke into an incandescent smile, that rivaled so many suns, even as tears came cascading down Starbuck's cheeks.
"You'll marry me?"
"Yes", Laura said, the reality of what she had said, and what it mean, sinking in. "Yes, Kara Thrace, I'll marry you. Living here, on New Caprica, has been a living hell for all of us. I was certain what was left of my heart was gone forever. But I've rediscovered it with you. I'm not known for rushing into things", she said with a blush, making Kara laugh, "but I want this. I'm sure of this. I love you, so very much, Kara."
Kara hugged Laura tightly, and captured her lips in a beautiful kiss. "I love you, Laura Roslin. More than anything in the world.
For a good twenty minutes, they hugged, and kissed through closed eyes, the joy in their hearts could have filled the valley below. They laughed, and they cried.
After that time, Kara moved her face away from Laura's. What Laura saw were dark, smoldering eyes from the younger woman-eyes that would not be denied. Kara stood up, her eyes never leaving Laura's, and slowly unbuttoned her blouse.
Laura's pulse quickened as she realized that Starbuck was not wearing a bra, as the shirt was tossed aside.
Roslin needed no further invitation. She rose, and moved toward Kara, turning the younger lady away from her until Laura's back was against the rock face. Kara moved back into Laura's body, and leaning into her again. Laura knew what to do.
Gently, firmly, she raised Kara's arms, then moving her own arms around Starbuck, began to massage perfect breasts from behind, making Kara groan Laura's name. "I love when you massage my breasts, baby. Yes, feels so good..."
Laura continued to do so, squeezing the firm orbs, then running her fingers lightly across Kara's nipples, resulting in another sexy groan. After a few minutes, Kara broke the embrace, turning to Laura.
She gave the redhead a captivating kiss, claiming Laura as here's, then broke it. "Make love to me, right here, Laura. I need you to love me."
"Yes", is all Laura could say. Kara immediately began unbuttoning Laura's blouse, and doing so quickly. Laura was wearing a bra.
"You cheated", Kara laughed. "I have an extra layer to get through."
"If I had known you wanted to frak up here, Thrace, I'd have left the bra behind." They laughed loudly, a light moment in their building passion.
Laura rectified that problem, quickly reaching behind her, unclasping her bra, and flinging it away. Kara, as she always did, stared at Roslin's large, full breasts. Even with part of the left one cut away, they were stunning. Kara had learned fast that Laura's very pink nipples were something she couldn't get enough of.
They stared at each other for a moment, then came together in a long, hard, lustful kiss, both of them moaning in want and desire, their breasts melding together, eliciting another moan from both of them.
Kara rose after a few minutes, stripping off the rest of her clothes, her eyes never leaving Laura's. For her part, when Kara was revealed to her, she licked her lips, and felt a gush of wetness on her panties, desire overwhelming her. Laura removed her clothes quickly.
For the next two hours, the two women made love to each other, over and over, each having loud, lusty, multiple orgasms until they were spent. When the last orgasm enveloped them simultaneously, and the spasms of the climax ebbed, they collapsed into each other's arms, sobbing at the thought of what lay ahead.
That evening, the leadership was assembled below Saul Tigh's home. Everyone was there early, except for two people. One of them they weren't even sure would show up. The other usually was the first to arrive.
"Any idea if Starbuck is coming?" Tom Zarek was no fan of the pilot, but even he had wanted to rip a Leoben apart for what he had done to the pilot.
Tigh shook his head. "I told her she didn't have to be here, but on this, I couldn't tell her she couldn't come."
A new member of the inner circle had been added. Jean Barolay had been a lieutenant of Sam Anders and their guerrilla movement on Caprica, and had been working her way into the leadership. She had been an unknown quantity, but had proved her worth. She was tough, no-nonsense, and very reliable.
She had been filled in on what was happening with Starbuck the night before. She didn't like it. "I know a decision has been made", she said, unconvinced, "and I won't rock the boat-I'm the new kid on the block-but I don't like accommodating those bastards for anything."
"Normally, I would agree, Jean", Galen said sympathetically, "but unless we get that medicine, New Caprica could be wiped out. This thing is really serious."
"I know", she said, trying to mollify the Chief. "I just don't like it. Starbuck deserves better, after everything she's gone through."
As if on cue, Kara came down the ladder. Behind her, everyone was surprised to see Kacey gingerly making her way down as well. When the two were on solid ground again, Laura Roslin followed. A silence came over the room.
I'm sorry we're late, everyone", Kara said with a small smile. "We were making our arrangements for Kacey to move in with Laura."
Barolay, being the newbie, hadn't heard the news about Kara and Laura, and she looked confused. "Kacey is gonna stay with Roslin when Kara is handed over", Charlie Connor spoke with a rare quietness for him. "It only makes sense."
Jean didn't get it. "How does it make sense?"
Tigh finally got it. "That's right, you don't know, do you?" He looked at Laura and Kara, who had pulled up three chairs and were sitting close. "These two are joined at the hip, Barolay. We only found out earlier this week, but they're a couple."
Barolay shook her head, as if trying to comprehend what she had just heard. "Uh...well..." Seelix snickered seeing her friend so flustered. "Son of a bitch, I certainly wasn't expecting that."
Everyone laughed briefly. It broke some of the tension.
Laura took control of the meeting. Before beginning to talk, she gently grabbed Starbuck's hand. "Kara is to be delivered at 0600 the day after tomorrow. Kacey is all but moved in to my..." She looked over at Kara, and sadly smiled, "...our home. Chief Tyrol has agreed to take Kacey early that morning, there's no way I want our daughter to be there for the hand-over."
No one commented on the "our" part, but they didn't have to. All of them could see the bond that had grown between the former President, and the former fighter jock. Both of them were strong-willed women. Together, everyone thought, they carried a different, fuller kind of strength that awed them.
"When the hand-over happens", Tigh added, "we've told those skin jobs that we get the medicine before they get Kara. I'm not having those bastards take Kara and then the medicine disappears before our eyes."
"You're not going back to that fraking Doll House, as you call it", Tom Zarek asked, with a rare concern.
Kara shook her head. "No, at least from what I understand. I'll be in a standard prison cell, but in a wing all by myself." She actually gave a wry smile. "Laura tells me she heard that Leoben has been told in no uncertain terms that he doesn't get to play Happy Husband again for me."
Again, there was a brief laugh.
"Of course", Kara continued, "they could always change their mind."
No one wanted to venture there, so they dropped that subject.
They went over several other items about the exchange, and then Saul invited Kara to say a fe words.
She didn't stand-she didn't want to let go of Laura's hand, and with Kacey now on her lap, which felt right. She needed the closeness of her daughter and her lover.
"As I said when this news broke about the swap, I don't hold anyone personally responsible or to blame for this decision. I understand it. I understand that we cannot put the needs of one person above the needs of everyone else. This is a no-brainer."
Kara paused, organizing her thoughts. "I can't say I like it, and I know none of you would, but this will help us get through this epidemic. I just ask one thing of all of you." Now, her voice began to crack, Laura moving even closer to her, and putting her arm around Kara. "I need you all to help Laura look after Kacey. This is my family now. I've never been part of a real family, and it's important to me that they're taken care of."
"I give you my word, Kara", Galen said solemnly, "we will take care of them."
Everyone nodded, looking at her with quiet support.
Now Laura spoke. "One more thing", she said, with pride in her voice. "I've asked one of the priestess's to be over here in about fifteen minutes." She looked over at Kara with a loving smile.
Tom Zarek, surprisingly, got it first. He could be charming if he wanted to be, and he had a smile to match it. "Are we going to be witnessing a wedding?"
Everyone looked over at Tom, then over at Kara and Laura, the looks on their faces making Zarek laugh loudly.
"You two?" A large smile began to dawn over Diana Seelix's visage.
"Yep", Kara said, now with a lightness that she didn't think she would have. "We're tying the proverbial knot. We would have eloped, but we don't really have anywhere to go for that."
There was applause, and words of encouragement for the soon-to-be-wed couple.
Tigh looked at the two women, both had been a royal pain-in-the-ass to him for it seemed like forever, but he had come to respect both of them and knew how important they are, and how courageous they both were.
When the merriment died down, Tigh looked directly at Kara. "Starbuck, I know if the Old Man were here, he'd want to give you away. Permit me to take his place?"
Kara laughed, thinking of the incongruity of the offer, but happy that it had been made. "I'd be honored, Colonel."
Tigh shook his head. "No, Thrace, the honor is all mine."
A half hour later, the priestess had performed a short ceremony, followed by everyone having one glass of ambrosia-except for Kacey, who had fruit juice.
When Kara, Laura and Kacey left, they were now Laura, Kara, and Kacey Roslin.