Kara Thrace walked silently behind her mother as they shuffled through the streets of Caprica City. It was the middle of the workday so the streets were packed with vendors and businessmen. The flashes of movement were soothing and gave Kara something else to think about besides where she and her mother were heading.

A man smiled over at her from across the street as they stopped to wait for the traffic to allow them to cross. Kara averted her eyes, but it wasn't quick enough. She felt her mother's icy grip on her arm as she was yanked over into an alley.

"What do you think you're doing? Haven't you learned your lesson?" Julia Thrace hissed as she slammed her daughter up against the bricks of the building. "But then I guess a little whore like you never really stops, do you?"

Kara flinched at the words as they cut into her. Her mother had been calling her that and many other things since she was old enough to understand what they meant. It was just another part of her day. But that didn't mean they no longer hurt.

"Keep your eyes to yourself or you're going to end up in this same damn situation again," Julia said, letting go of her grip on her daughter. "And next time I won't bring you to Caprica City. I'll just beat you until it's gone."

Kara nodded and began to follow her mom silently through the streets again. She could not wait until she was old enough to apply for a place at the Academy on Picon. Then she would be free.

Her hand unconsciously held her stomach. It was almost as if she could feel the change inside her already. It was holding her back, and she knew it. Regardless of how much Kara knew she should be fighting her mother on this, a little piece of her was glad that the decision had been taken out of her hands. She couldn't be held back. She had to get off this planet.

A few minutes of shuffling to keep up with her mother later, Kara found herself standing in front of the tall skyscraper that was Caprica's prime medical facility. People were shuffling all around her and bumping her slightly as she suddenly found it hard to move. Julia Thrace stopped halfway up the stairs of the building when she realized her daughter was no longer with her. "Come on, Kara," she hissed.

"I don't want to do this," Kara said, shaking her head and taking a small step back.

Her mother gave her a sweet smile, and that was when Kara knew she was really in trouble. Julia went back down the steps and stood beside her daughter. "You are not going to disgrace me by having a child when you are only sixteen. I've tried for years to fix whatever was wrong with you. I tried to beat out that ridiculous notion you had of following in your father's footsteps."

Kara's hands unconsciously closed together at the mention of her father. Her mother didn't know it, but sometimes when she wasn't home, Kara still sat down at the old piano to play. Julia would be surprised if she ever found out. She had thought slamming the piano key cover down on Kara's fingers when she was six would fix any silly notion Kara might have had at playing.

She didn't know how strong-willed a daughter she had created, though.

Kara was ripped back to the current moment when her mother reached back and slapped her across the face. "You pay attention to me when I'm speaking, you little shit. This is all your fault. You were enough of a slut to get yourself into this trouble, and I am not going to let you frak up my life. We are going inside and you are having this done."

Kara ducked her head and did her best to bite her tongue. It wouldn't be right to correct her mom's blind assumptions. To tell her that it hadn't been some boy from school who had gotten her in trouble. That instead it had been Julia's latest boyfriend who had forced himself on Kara during the middle of the night. To explain that it wasn't her desire to ever go through that again. To go through the pain of having your mouth covered by a stranger's hand in order to muffle the screams. To feel the discomfort of someone forcing their way into your body.

The one thing Kara and Julia Thrace both seemed to correctly understand about the situation was Kara did not want this baby.

She hadn't asked for it. There wasn't room in her life for it.

Kara let her mother tug her into the building as her mind shifted to the one hope she had out of what was to come. In the bottom of her heart, she had a hope that maybe something would go wrong with the abortion. Maybe a tool would slip and it would end up ruining her chances of ever conceiving again. Then she wouldn't have to worry about the possibility that she might one day turn into her mother. That was her worst fear, the one that crept into her head when she was in bed at night and the world was silent.

As the elevator rose to the clinic on the fifty-third floor, Kara allowed herself to touch her stomach one last time. There was a life inside of her. She would be lying if she said she didn't feel a little bit excited by that idea despite the way it had gotten there. No matter how it was conceived or how much pain she went through, it was still a life. Inside of her.

And as much as she wanted to deny it, it felt right.