Kara sat in sickbay, absent-mindedly playing with the silver ring on her left hand. It had been there for as long as she could remember. She could still remember the words Zak had said to her that day so long ago when he reached over her body in bed to pull it out of the nightstand drawer. She had balked at the idea of marrying him, but in the end, she couldn't deny him what he wanted so greatly.

She also couldn't forget the look of hurt on his face when she told him she didn't want children. He had been holding her in his arms when he had started lightly running his fingers across her belly. And she had abruptly told him that she was never going to be a mother. By choice.

Zak had tried to be understanding and accept her decision. He had told her that she might change her mind someday and even if she didn't, he would respect the choice she had made. He had been hurt, but typical to his Adama nature, he pushed that to the side in order to make her happy. He would have contently loved her for his whole life if things had gone differently. And maybe she would have changed her mind in time.

Memories of things that had never had time to happen faded away as her mind turned to things that were still possible. She had found out that Lee was taking his turn at flying CAP during the hours she was waiting for her test results to come back. He had no idea what was going on. If he knew, he would be here beside her side regardless of if she wanted him to be or not.

It was that damned Adama nature again.

That was why she knew the results of the tests Doc Cottle was running would be so important.

Because Lee had picked up on the things her mother had done to her throughout her childhood. He knew how emphatically she did not want to have children. She did not want to give herself the opportunity to turn into her mother.

And that's also where Lee differed from Zak. That's where the problem began.

Somehow, without her having to say it, Lee knew that she wanted to be a mother. He would fight her tooth and nail until she would admit to, too.

The irony wasn't lost on her. It was the brother of the man she thought she was going to spend the rest of her life with who was the one who really understood her.

"Lieutenant Thrace."

She looked up at where Doc Cottle stood in front of her. Smiling bravely, she stood up. "Lay it on me, Doc."

"Maybe you should sit back down."

"That bad?" she joked, even though she did lower herself back down onto the hospital bed.

"Who did this to you, Lieutenant?"

"I told you I don't know. I was knocked out. I woke up and it was done."

"But you seem to have some idea of what they did to you. How?"

Kara's eyes shifted away from the doctor and rested once more on her hands. "They talked of reproduction and its importance if the human race was going to survive. They spoke to me of my past. Of things I have told no one. And then they told me how my future had shifted. How it had changed." The frustration that had been on the brink of erupting for hours finally got the better of her. "You know what. Frak this, Doc. I'm tired of waxing the touchy feely crap. Tell me what you know."

"All right, Starbuck. The Cylons operated on you. They took out at least one of your ovaries and the other has been damaged. I can't promise that you that your body will fix the damage that has been done to it naturally. And I can only assure you that right now the Fleet has none of the supplies I would need to fix it myself."

She turned to look at the doctor. "What does that mean?"

"It means there's a high chance you will never have children."

Kara bit her lip and nodded. "That's what I figured."

"There's more."

She shook her head as she felt the tears begin to fall down. "I don't want to hear it."

"What?"

"I said I don't want to hear it."

Doc Cottle ignored her and kept talking. "The samples I took from your blood and the ones from your exam indicated that you were pre-"

"I told you to only do the scans of my abdomen," she screamed loudly, standing up and bringing her face close to his. "I told you not dig around."

"Lieutenant. Calm yourself." When she didn't move, he tried again. "Kara. Avoidance is not the way to deal with this."

His words hit her hard. She stumbled back until the back of her thighs hit the bed. Doc Cottle stepped forward to lightly place his hands on her shoulders and push her into a seated position. "You obviously already knew about the baby."

The tears began to fall rapidly down her cheek as she looked up at him. "You cannot tell Lee about this. You can't." He went to object, but the way she grasped his wrists roughly made him pause. "You can't."

Slowly, he nodded. "I won't. You made me promise to not reveal anything I found unless it posed a threat to someone's safety. I made that promise, and if you still want me to keep it, I will."

"Thank you," she said, letting go of his wrists to wipe the tears away. "I assume that I am cleared to fly my Viper, sir?"

"Yes. Whatever was done to you has healed over. The pain was simply resulting from the stress in your body combined with the fact that you had no downtime to recover. Pain killers should keep the sting at bay. They might make it worse at firs, but in a few days, you shouldn't even need them."

"Thank you." She stood up and walked to the door before pausing to look back at him. "Doc?"

"I won't tell the Captain."

She gave him a small nod and stepped out the door. There were a few things she had to do. The grief would just have to wait.