When Zak entered his bunkroom that night, Evan was lying in his bed, playing solitary pyramid. "Your sister says hi," Zak told his friend.

"You talked to her?"

"Yeah. Apparently an outbreak of the sniffles on the Traveler kept her from visiting last week."

"Gotcha. Is she supposed to be rescheduling?"

"Who knows? I told her you'd go over to pick her up if she didn't come soon."

Evan nodded. "I'd do it. Maybe it would get Mom and Dad off my case if they got their good child back."

Zak laughed. "Yeah, my parents knew from the start that they didn't have one of those."


"Admiral, so good of you to find the time to get down here, what with your busy schedule and all."

Adama didn't like doctors much to start with, so he definitely wasn't thrilled with one that was making wise-cracks. He shot the man a glare as he carefully made his way over to the examination table that the doctor pointed to. "Let's just get this over with," he said. Spending his morning in the Life Station was not his idea of a good time.

Checking his temperature came first, then blood pressure. "It's still high," Major Hayes told him. "Are you taking the medication I gave you?"

The doctor received a pointed look. "You've got me on so many different ones. If it was included in the last box you gave me, then yes, I'm still taking it."

"Just trying to keep you alive, Sir," the doctor shot back. "I want to do a few blood tests – "

"Of course you do."

"Have the latest round of drugs helped your breathing any?"

"Not noticeably."

The doctor nodded, getting the things together that he needed for drawing a couple vials of blood. "We'll do another chest scan as well, then."

"I'm supposed to meet my granddaughter in a couple hours. If this nonsense is going to take longer than that, then I'll come back later."

Major Hayes looked up from the needle that was in his hands. "With all due respect, Admiral – no, you won't. We've lost enough time in your treatment already." That took a moment to sink in, but Adama finally nodded and rolled up his sleeve.


When he left the Life Station a few hours later, he was not in the best of moods. This was the other reason he hadn't been going to his appointments as of late – all he ever received was bad news.

Carrie was inside Adama's quarters when he arrived, seated on his bed and reading through another chapter of 'Foreverland.' He hadn't been sure if she would like the book or not, since she wasn't a large fan of fantasy stories. Within its pages, though, was a refuge where being an adult was no longer so important. One child's creativity had allowed him to go on a quest to a most magical place, where the trees touched the sky and flowers bloomed all year long, the water was always crystal blue, and the Lords gave gifts to those who managed the journey, like the ability to fly. If only real life could be so enchanted…

Carrie looked up when she heard the door open, and smiled at her grandfather. "Couldn't help myself," she told him, indicating the book. "I was afraid I was going to have to leave for training before you got here; was there a long wait at the Life Station?"

"Mmm. How much farther did you get?"

"Another two chapters. I think flying without a Viper would be absolutely perfect. Then you wouldn't need flight training." Adama chuckled. Her smile had managed to chase away a few of the dark clouds that were hanging over him, if only for a little while.

"I think that's undoubtedly the more dangerous way to go," he replied as he sat beside her, resting his cane against the wall. "I can just picture needing to put cattle-catchers on the front of the Vipers so that they can move aside all these hundreds of children that are out floating around." Carrie laughed as well.

"I'm kind of glad you were late," she said. "That let me get finished with a surprise."

Adama raised an eyebrow. "You know how much I like surprises."

"You'll like this one." She walked across the room and flipped a switch that was on the wall behind his desk. Instantly, the sound of voices filled the room. Two of them belonged to the pilots that were currently out on CAP, and the third was the officer up in the CIC that was in contact with them. "Tada! I rewired your overhead connection," she explained. "So now you can hear the wireless chatter when you get bored."

"Who's out there now?"

"Um…Midnight, Ice, and somebody's got the Raptor but I forget who."

"Bunch of cocky little bastards," Adama quietly muttered to himself as he listened to the group banter back and forth. Carrie grinned.

"You should hear them when Zak's out there."

"With that kind of warning, I'm not sure I really want to."

"I figured you've gotta feel kinda cut off in here, since you don't get daily reports and all anymore."

"I have my sources," he said with a smile.

"Well, in any case…Now you're back in the loop, at least when it comes to patrols."

"Galactica, relief group is in the tubes," a voice came across the system.

"Copy, that; you are clear to launch." The repartee now included the four new pilots that were heading out to patrol for the second half of early shift.

"I know this part by heart," Carrie told her grandfather, and spoke along with the LSO word for word, "Patrol squadron, approach port landing bay, hands on, checkers red, call the ball." She continued as one of the pilots answered back, "Copy that, Galactica. Port landing bay…I have the ball."

Adama just smiled. "How old were you when you memorized launch and landing protocol?"

"I don't know. Eleven? They're good things for a pilot to know."

"Yes. And I'm sure you'll be one hell of a pilot…" He said something else, which Carrie didn't quite hear, but it sounded suspiciously like, "I wish I could see it." She frowned.

"Don't worry; Mom and Dad have gotta let me get my wings eventually. I figure if I bug them enough, they'll probably do it a little early. I mean, it worked with training, right?"

"Yes, it did," he quietly replied. The mood in the room had changed, and as Carrie looked to her grandfather, she realized that she didn't quite recognize the man she was sitting across from. Somewhere along the line, when she hadn't been paying attention, he'd gotten old. And that was quite disconcerting.

"You'll watch my first flight, right?" she asked. "Come down to the deck?" She didn't like the hesitation before he spoke again.

"I'll be watching from somewhere…Don't you still need to get lunch before your training this afternoon?"

"Yeah."

"Then, you get going, and I'll see you tomorrow, all right? Same time, same place." Carrie nodded a bit reluctantly, going to give him a hug.

"Yes, Sir."

Out in the hall, she replayed their conversation in her mind. All the little comments her parents had made in the past few weeks started replaying themselves – Carrie didn't like the big picture that she was seeing. In an instant, the concept of time had gone from being endless to being very limited. There had been hints and signs, but she'd ignored them, wrapped in a cocoon of naivety and denial. She really was still a child.


Instead of going and getting food, Carrie pulled on her flight jumpsuit very quickly and then made her way to her mother's office. "Are you busy?" she quietly asked after she knocked on the door.

"Don't you have training soon?" Kara asked, glancing at the clock.

"Yeah. I won't be late."

"All right. What's going on? Did your grandfather like your surprise?"

"Yeah. Thanks for the wiring schematics."

"No problem."

"Mom? Is Grandpa all right?" Kara looked up.

"What do you mean?"

"Just…he's okay, right? With the doctors and all? It's not serious?" A very tense silence followed.

"He's had a long life, Carrie," she finally replied.

"But…it might not be much longer?"

There was a long pause before, "No. No, probably not."

She slowly nodded. "I…I should get going."

"Carrie – "

"I'll talk to you later, Mom, okay?" she said, her voice a bit higher than normal. She knew running off wasn't going to fix anything, but if she didn't get out of that office in the next few seconds, there was no telling what she would do. 'Cry' was at the top of the list of possibilities at the moment, and she certainly couldn't allow that to happen. But Kara understood, because she was the exact same way.

"You know where to find me," was all she finally told her daughter. Carrie nodded, and shut the hatch behind her as she left.


Her mind was elsewhere during her training session, but she tried not to let her instructor notice. Carrie had what the woman would call a natural 'gift' for flying, and that meant that her brain could be removed from the process as long as her instincts were still working. So she let her mind drift back to her conversation with her grandfather that morning. Back to his wish about seeing her fly…

After she finished training for the day, Carrie walked over to the hangar deck. She was glad to see that the CPO she reported to more-often-than-not for maintenance shifts was there.

"Sir?" she asked him.

"What's up, Carrie?"

"I was wondering if you had any Raptor manuals lying around that I could borrow."

He raised an eyebrow. "You already know how to fix almost everything on one."

"Just because I can fix it doesn't mean I've memorized how it works."

He shrugged. "Check the storage room. There should be some in there."

"Thank you, Sir."

Several of the books that she found were just parts listings with specifications to be given to the foundry ship when they needed replacements. An additional guide laid out all the electronics in numerous diagrams – none of these were of any interest to her. There was one book, though, that detailed how all the controls systems worked, and another covered the sensors platforms. She took those two back with her to her bunk and stayed up half the night studying them.

She had an idea. It would take some work – a lot of work – but it would be worth it in the end. It had to be.


TBC...