Chapter 8

"Enter" the Commander responded to the knock at the door of his quarters. "Hello son, come on in and sit down, I'm just about finished with this damned paperwork," he greeted Lee with a slight smile. Lee came in and sat down on the couch, sitting stiffly upright whilst he waited for his father to finish his work. He hadn't been this uncomfortable in this room since the day he first returned to Galactica.

At last the Commander turned to his son. He could tell Lee was rather nervous about something which was unusual. He thought that their relationship had progressed to a point where Lee didn't need to be nervous about anything he had to talk to his father about.

"I need to talk to you about an important matter sir," were Lee's first words, confirming Adama's suspicions.

"Is this a father-son conversation or a commander-CAG one?" Lee laughed slightly at the question. He thanked the Lords that his father seemed to be in a good mood this evening.

"I'd really like it to be a father-son one, but I think it probably has to be of the Commander-CAG kind."

"Fire away then CAG," replied the commander, intrigued about what was coming.

"Sir, I have to confess to having contravened the fraternisation regs with one of my subordinates."

Whatever the commander had been expecting it hadn't been that. He couldn't help his first reaction to Lee's simple statement being a fatherly one: he was actually very pleased at this sign of normal male behaviour in his son; he was beginning to think that Lee was made of stone. However, he knew that he had to treat this like a CO and not a father.

"You should really be discussing this with the XO, not me. Given our personal relationship I shouldn't be involved in matters of military discipline where you are involved."

Lee winced; if they had to go and confess to the XO, Kara would kill him.

"I understand that sir, but I'd still rather discuss it with you in the first instance" The commander nodded his acceptance.

"All right. So are you going to tell me who it is?" Lee could feel his whole face turning redder.

"Kara, er, Lieutenant Thrace, sir." Now it became all too clear why Lee didn't want to go to Tigh! Adama felt some relief that they seemed to have finally sorted things out between them. He knew that if he could have chosen any woman in the fleet for his son to be with then it would have been Kara.

"I can't say I'm that surprised; I've seen the way you look at each other and the way you fly together. I am aware, Captain, that the fraternisation regs as they stand are completely inappropriate given the current pitiful state of the human race. I gave up worrying about trying to seriously enforce them sometime ago after the incident with Valerii and Chief Tyrol. Although I'm not very happy about it, and shouldn't be encouraging you, I suggest that you join half of the rest of the ship and just carry on ignoring them. Just keep it discrete." Lee squared his shoulders and looked his father straight in the eye.

"It's the discretion part that's going to be the problem, sir. You see, Kara's pregnant."

"Pregnant? Oh Gods damnit, Lee! Why in the Lords name couldn't the pair of you be more careful? It's not like you're a pair of youngsters who don't know any better."

"I know sir, its unforgivable and entirely my fault. I didn't give the Lieutenant any chance to, er, plan in advance and didn't take any precautions myself." Lee was at squirming point. It was bad enough discussing your sex life with your commanding officer, but when that CO also happened to be your father it was excruciating. He wasn't sure whether they had slipped into the father-son part of the conversation or were halfway between; he just hoped that it would be over soon.

"So she's grounded?"

"Yes, sir, but only from vipers. Major Cottle is going to let her keep flying other craft for the time being and she can still keep up with the theory classes for the trainees. I just need to find someone else to take the nuggets out on training flights. We managed without her in vipers when her knee was busted, this will just be a bit longer."

"Yes, but then we weren't under constant Cylon attack. I think you'll miss her substantially more this time. Allow me to tell you that your timing is truly crap, Captain." Lee just set his jaw and decided silence was the best option at this point.

His father let out an exasperated sigh.

"Gods you're a pain in the ass, Lee. Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kick your ass straight in the brig?" Lee started to speak but his father held up a hand to stop him. "No, don't bother. You know very well that we can't afford to loose you from active duty, especially when you've made sure that your only viable replacement isn't available! I was hoping just to be able to quietly introduce changes to the fraternisation regs over time. Now I'm going to do have to do it asap. I suppose I'll have to sort things out with the XO as well or we'll have Kara in the brig instead."

"Thank you sir," his son said, with heart-felt relief.

Adama changed tack slightly.

"We've not talked about other options with regards to this matter, Lee." Knowing he was referring to terminating the pregnancy Lee didn't beat around the bush.

"No sir, but we'd rather not consider that at the moment. Although there is a possibility that the doc might recommend it because of Kara's radiation exposure on Caprica. We'll know in a couple of weeks. That's one of the reasons why I just wanted to talk to you: the fewer people who know, the easier it will be to deal with if the baby…..if we have to take that option."

The commander nodded, his expression grim. He sat silently looking at his son for several minutes. Lee was used to this thought process in his father; being used to it didn't make it any easier to sit through. Eventually he said,

"So when are you getting married? If I'm going to have a grandchild it had better be a proper Adama!" Lee smiled properly for the first time since the beginning of the conversation, knowing he was talking to his father rather than his CO.

"Well she won't have me at the moment, dad, but I'm working on it."

"She won't have you? What's wrong with the woman?"

"Yeah, hard to fathom isn't it!" replied Lee with a wry grin,

"Especially when I have it on very good authority that practically every woman in the fleet would like to be in her position. Send her to me and I'll sort it out." Startled, Lee looked very worried for a moment.

"I'd rather sort it out myself, sir!"

"Relax Lee, I'm only teasing you, but I would like to talk with her."

"Seriously dad, please don't push on this. We can't really think about that right now until we know whether the baby is going to be healthy or not. Kara's a mess; I think she's torn between the part of her which thinks that if there is a real medical reason to terminate the pregnancy then that will be a way out of something that she doesn't really want to do right now. The other part of her feels guilty for even thinking in that way."

"She's a strong woman son, she'll get through it."

"But that's just the problem, dad; she isn't that strong. On the surface yes; bold, brash Starbuck, the shit-hot viper pilot who can beat anyone in a fight in the air or out of it, but you scratch just beneath the surface and she's a mass of vulnerability."

His father regarded him in silence for a few moments.

"You really love her don't you, Lee?" Lee raised his gaze to his father's.

"Yes I do," he said simply,

Kara sheepishly stuck her head around the door of the commander's office.

"Come in, Kara, I won't bite."

"No sir, Lee said you wouldn't."

She sat down in front of him and he took her hand. They sat in thoughtful silence for a moment of two.

"I'm not going to pretend that I'm not as mad as hell with the pair of you. The commander in me knows I should demote you both and incarcerate Lee in the brig as an example to the rest of the crew. But things are different now and I need the pair of you too badly in whatever military capacity you're capable of right now to take that kind of action." He paused and smiled slightly "the father in me is so damned pleased that you've finally sorted things out between you that he's winning the head versus heart war at the moment. Although it would have pleased me even more if you could have done it without putting you out of a viper cockpit for 9 months."

"You and me both, sir. I'm still trying to get used to the idea."

"Not that I don't like the idea of having a grandchild. It's pretty much all an old man has to look forward to at my age." She snorted in reply

"Yeah, right! Do you want me to go back to my quarters and get you my cane, sir?"

"No, I'm not really ready for that just yet! But if you and the baby can make Lee laugh a bit more it'll be worth it. I worry that he takes everything so damned seriously."

"Yeah he does, doesn't he? Although I don't think I'd choose this a way of getting him to lighten up: I'm not too sure whether me and motherhood are going to mix."

"I bet you'll take it in your stride." She returned the pressure of his hand on hers and then bravely went on with the question that she really needed to ask him.

"Are you really OK with this, Lee and I, I mean?" She cleared her throat and went on "a part of me will always love Zac, but I realised after the destruction of the colonies that continuing to mourn him would just be selfish and self-indulgent; I need to move forward. I just didn't think it would happen so soon or that it would be with Lee."

"Zac wouldn't have expected you to mourn him forever and neither do I. I also suspect that if he had to choose who you would be with then it would be his big brother, and I have to agree with him. I'm happy for you, for you both."

"Thanks, it's really important to me that you approve."

"I do, on the condition that you let my son make an honest woman of you. I hear he's quite a catch!" He winked at her and she laughed.

"Yeah, so he tells me."

"He didn't want me to talk to you about this, but I want to encourage you to think about it."

"I know you do," she said in a small voice.

"He's a good man, Kara. I know I'm probably a bit biased, but you know you're like a daughter to me already and I wouldn't entrust you to just anyone, son or no son, if I didn't think they would look after you in the way you need to be looked after." He held up his hand as she started to protest, "Yes I know that you can look after yourself, but take it from someone who knows, that gets very lonely after a while. Take this chance while you have it."

She nodded, the tears that had been threatening to fall finally spilling over.

"Oh Lords, I'm such a frakking watering pot at the moment," she snivelled. He just laughed at her.

"You'd better get used it; welcome to the wonderful world of hormone swings!"

After Kara had left, the commander sat back and sighed. He had gotten all that what he wanted, or just about all, but once again his children hadn't made it easy. He pulled out his battered copy of the military code, took up his pen and started to strike through various paragraphs before picking up the phone.

"Dee, please send the XO to my quarters."