Part 2

When he opened his eyes again, it took a few moments for Lee to remember where he was. Then the horror of being called a cylon hit him and he looked anxiously around the bed once more. Kara was still not there and Lee's next emotion was a flood of anxiety in case something bad had happened to her as well. But there was his father, sitting by his bedside, holding his hand, and with a near imperceptible smile formed on his lips.

"Hello son." The Commander spoke softly. "How are you feeling?"

It took Lee a few moments for his words to sink in. "Son." he whispered. "You called me son."

His father nodded slowly. "Dr. Baltar's test results came back an hour ago. They confirmed that we have a cylon imposter of you in the brig. And they confirmed that you are my son." Lee could have sworn he saw tears in his eyes.

Lee closed his own eyes and took deep breaths as the initial relief hit him. Then, as it faded, he became painfully aware of his weakness once more. He was tired, so tired, and he could not understand why.

"Dad," he croaked. "What's happened to me?"

William looked at his son sadly. "I was hoping you could tell me that." he sighed. "The cylon's still not talking. Says it will only cooperate if it gets to talk to you or Starbuck." The Commander's voice hardened at these last words.

Starbuck. Lee's earlier panic returned. "Kara, is she okay Dad? Has she been here?" he asked urgently. "The cylon, he told me to tell her he was sorry for something. What's happened? Is she alright?"

"Kara's okay son. She asked me to pass on her apologies for not visiting you in person." William uncharacteristically fidgeted with his left hand as he spoke, and Lee noticed a silver ring pressed in his palm.

"There's something you're not telling me."

"A lot has happened, Lee." his father replied and Lee noticed for the first time how exhausted his old man looked. But the Commander continued, "First, I'd like you to tell me what's the last thing you remember?"

Lee squeezed his eyes shut in concentration. "Cloud Nine." he answered finally. "The last thing I remember is being on Cloud Nine. You'd signed me off for twenty-four hours R&R. I remember I was drinking at the bar there. And after that it's all hazy. The bartender wouldn't serve me any more, said I was too drunk. And I remember arguing that I couldn't have been drunk because I'd only just arrived there. I'd only had a couple of drinks." he paused, trying to conjure up more memories, then continued. "There was someone else there too, said they'd help me to my room 'cos I couldn't walk properly." he looked slightly embarrassed at his father at this admission, and shook his head as if to clear the fog.

"I don't remember who it was. I don't remember anything after that." Lee finally admitted, staring hard at the bed sheets, not wanting to meet his father's gaze. "Just images," he continued. "Nightmares. It was dark. And I was cold. And I couldn't move. I couldn't." his voice trailed off and he buried his face in his hands. He'd been helpless. He'd not been strong enough. He had let his father down. "I'm sorry." he whispered.

Strong arms enveloped his now wasted frame as his father held him close. "You have nothing to be sorry for son." the Commander whispered into his hair. "You have nothing to be sorry for."

They remained like that for some minutes before the Commander gently lay Lee down on the bed again. Then he stared at Lee, as if trying to decide how best to proceed.

"Son," he spoke finally, "your visit to Cloud City was just over 3 months ago."

"Three months!" Lee cried. "But," he couldn't continue. Thoughts raced through his mind as the implications of this sank in. He had been gone three months. And a cylon imposter had taken his place all that time. And none of them had realized! They hadn't even known he was gone! Nobody had worried about him, nobody had missed him. Nobody had even cared. Because they'd had a cylon with them instead. And nobody had been able to tell the frakking difference!

Lee threw his head back on the pillow. He felt consumed with betrayal. How could they not have known.

"Lee," the Commander said gently and tried to stroke his son's hair only to have his hand swiped away. "Son," he continued. " I know this must be difficult."

"Difficult!" Lee interrupted. "You've just told me that a cylon has been walking around in my place for the past 3 months and you didn't even know. Some father! You couldn't even tell the difference between your own son and a frakking cylon!"

"I'm sorry son." William's eyes brimmed with emotion once more. "I'm very sorry. I know this must be hard for you to hear. But he didn't do anything suspicious. I couldn't have known."

"He! You're calling it a 'he' now are you? It's a machine! A frakking toaster!" Lee lay back, too exhausted to continue shouting. "Kara" he murmured weakly, "she'd have known. I know she'd have known. Where is she?"

The Commander looked down at his hands, at the ring that lay in his palm, and sighed deeply once more. "I didn't want to have to tell you this Lee. Not yet."

The muscles in Lee's jaw clenched tighter as he glared at his father. "Tell me what." he asked tightly, fighting down the rising panic about Kara again.

"Son," William began, seeking the right words. "You and Kara. Lee, I don't know how to tell you this, but you and Kara, you were engaged. You proposed to her just last week. Or at least the cylon did."

Lee paused as he let this new revelation sink in. "And she said yes?" he asked quietly.

"Yes." The Commander handed Lee the ring he'd been holding, now warm from his palm. "It's your ring." he continued. "He had it made smaller so it would fit her as an engagement ring. When Kara found out what had happened earlier she asked me to give it back to you, make up some excuse so you wouldn't have to find out just yet."

"Oh, so she's happy to be engaged to a cylon but not to me?" Lee exploded bitterly.

"Son, it wasn't like that."

But Lee wasn't listening. It bad enough that his own father couldn't tell the difference between him and a cylon. But Kara! However screwed up their relationship may be, she was the one person that he needed to survive in this frakked up universe. She was the one person he had to count on. He remembered how certain he'd been during his captivity that Kara was out there looking for him. When all along she was frakking some cylon instead. He groaned at the thought of her in bed with that monster. Jealousy consumed him. It didn't matter that the cylon looked like him. All that mattered was that, once again, Kara Thrace had chosen someone else above him. He was a fool.

He closed his eyes again as the pain of it hit him, the ring pressed so hard in his hand that it cut the flesh.

"Son," the Commander tried to get through to him once more. "Please."

"Get out." Lee answered coldly, not meeting his father's eye.

The Commander walked slowly to the curtain before turning back to his son. "I know you can't hear this now Lee. But I'm sorry you think I let you down. I'm sorry I didn't know the difference. But you, the two of you, you just looked so happy. And I was just so pleased to see you finally happy."

"Get out!" Lee screamed, hurling the ring after his father, who with one last look, turned and left.

Lee lay back down on the bed. Closing his eyes once more he prayed to be unconscious again.