WHTMT - chapter 26

A/N: I can't believe there are over 200 reviews for this story! I never expected it to be so long or go where it's going (at least not when I first started it five months ago)! Thanks so much to everyone who's been faithfully reading and reviewing. I really appreciate it. :)

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"I can't remember how this frakking thing works!" Kara grumbled in frustration, after several failed attempts to remember how the code worked. Her brain felt like it was in a fog and she was irritated that she couldn't do even this one thing, considering how hard Lee was working to pilot the craft.

"You're going to have to learn not to swear you know," he reminded her.

"Why?" she asked tersely.

"Do you want the first word that comes out of your child's mouth to be 'frak'?"

She chuckled. He did have a point. "That's going to be tough you know," she admitted.

"Then maybe we should start now."

"Okay, so ..." she prompted.

"Well, there has to be incentive for stopping or you won't."

"What were you thinking of?" she asked, cocking an eyebrow at him.

"Punishment every time you forget and say it?"

"Hmm. I was thinking more along the lines of a reward for good behaviour."

Lee grinned at her. "You really are terrible you know."

She smiled. "I've heard that."

"Maybe we can find a way to combine the two approaches," he suggested.

Kara studied him for a moment as he switched his concentration back to the controls. "You really are going to make a great father someday, you know that?"

"Someday is coming pretty soon you know," he said lightly, but inside his heart soared. Her approval had always meant much to him.

He became serious. "We're going to be jumping again soon."

"How long?"

"Three minutes."

"Are we nearly done jumping?" She held her stomach. "They're really making me feel ill."

Lee smiled sympathetically. "Last time. Unless of course ..." He didn't need to finish the statement. They'd already jumped three times because he was being overly careful that the cylons not follow them. If they should find them ... well, the consequences were too dire for either of them to say aloud.

Kara knew he was just doing it to be safe, and she appreciated that, but each time they jumped she felt worse. Her stomach was constantly fluttering too, as if the baby were just as unsettled as she was.

"Hold on."

They shared a brief look before Lee hit the controls.

The ship jumped and Kara suddenly felt as though she'd been ripped apart. She held her stomach and tried to fight the feeling of nausea that swept over her. She hadn't thrown up since those first few weeks of pregnancy.

"Are you okay?" Lee asked solicitously, relaxing now that the jump was over.

"No, I think I'm going to ..." She retched suddenly. "Sorry," she said weakly as it passed.

He reached over and stroked her clammy face. "It's okay. Can I get you anything?"

"I think I'll just go lie down for a while. These jumps are hell for me right now." She laughed shakily, getting up and making her way back to the passenger quarters of the ship.

Lee followed, not needed at the controls for a few moments. He helped her lie down and pulled a warm blanket over her, noticing she was shivering slightly.

"Will you be okay?" he asked. "I need to ..." He gestured towards the cockpit.

"Go, do what you have to do. I'll be okay." She smiled weakly. "Really. I just need to lay down a while."

"Okay." Lee didn't sound convinced but he really didn't have a choice. He was needed at the controls. Now he wished someone else had come with them. At the time, it had seemed rather romantic, just the two of them on their own ship roaming through space. If one forgot about the fact that they were running from the cylons who were bent on killing Kara and taking her child, that is ...

Now he wished there was someone here who could take care of her while he did what he had to do to keep her safe.

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"Nothing yet?" Adama's voice was terse though outwardly he appeared calm and unruffled.

Tigh shook his head, knowing from the look in Adama's eyes that he was worried about his children.

"Nothing but the usual background noise of space," he said. "No sign of the cylons though," he added, trying to give a bit of hope to an otherwise bleak situation.

"Thank you Saul. You go get some rest. I'll keep watch here," Adama said.

"How long has it been since you've slept?" Tigh threw back at him. "You should go grab some rack time."

Adama shook his head. "Maybe later."

Tigh nodded wordlessly. he knew it was a futile effort to try to get the old man to sleep while his children were in danger, but as XO it was his job to try. He gave Adama a comforting pat on the shoulder as he left CIC.

Adama headed to an unused corner of the room and began studying the logs of the previous four hours. If there was something there, anything at all, he didn't want to miss it.

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Kara's stomach clenched and unclenched as she lay in the unfamiliar bunk. It was far more opulent than anything she'd experienced in the past several years, and had she been feeling better, she'd have thoroughly enjoyed it.

As it was, she was fighting the constant urge to throw up and had closed her eyes, hoping sleep would claim her. Hopefully she'd feel better after a few hours rest. It's just the stress coupled with the jumps that are making me feel so bad. I'll be fine later on, she told herself.

As her body's adrenaline dropped, she fell into a restless sleep, filled with dreams.

They were laughing and joking like always when suddenly it hit her - the worst pain she'd ever experienced. She doubled over, the witty response she'd been about to hit Lee with dead on her tongue before it could ever be uttered.

"Oh my gods, Lee!" she said weakly.

"Is it time?"he asked nervously, all jocularity gone.

"Frak yes!"

She panted as he led her over to the other bunk in the room they'd been sleeping in. Their time had been idyllic - almost a week of just the two of them alone, no people, no cylons. Just days of fun and love-making. She'd wished it would never end - this was what life was supposed to be like, not endless struggles, fights and ... PAIN!

She clutched her stomach again and moaned. It was far worse than she'd been told to prepare for.

"Is it bad?" Lee asked, sitting beside her and putting an arm around her shoulders.

"Yeah," she said, turning a pale, sweaty face towards him. "It's bad."

Lee began to panic inwardly. He didn't have a doctor, nurse or even any painkillers to help her and heaven help him if he had any idea how to deliver a baby. Watching it on old movies just wasn't the same as doing. He fretted as Kara moaned through contraction after contraction, unable to do anything other than say comforting and encouraging words and hold a cold cloth on her forehead.

Suddenly she screamed and leaned backwards. Lee watched in horror as her stomach began to swell outwards, looking as though a limb were about to break through.

It did, spraying blood everywhere and Kara screamed again. "Lee! Help me! My gods ... what's happening?"

He didn't answer, frozen in terror as he watched another arm poke through the hole the first one had made. The hands each grabbed a side of the gash they'd ripped through and pulled it wider, splitting Kara's midsection completely apart.

Blood sprayed everywhere and pooled on the deck below, and Lee was reminded of something he'd seen somewhere before - the human body can be drained of blood in eight seconds flat given the right circumstances.

He tore his gaze away from the horrific thing happening to her body and looked into her eyes which were glazing over already. Her mouth was frozen in a plea that never made it past her lips, and her skin was paling as her body emptied of blood.

"Kara, I'm so sorry," he wept, tears streaming down his face. "There's nothing I can do ..."

"Please don't ..." she whispered, the words barely audible. "Noooo ..."

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"They've left Galactica - jumped away," he said with certainty.

"Are you sure?" the blonde one asked. "Maybe they just want us to think ..."

"I'm sure. I can feel the baby and it's moving away from the fleet."

"You can feel it?" the dark-haired one asked skeptically. "It isn't even born yet."

"It's my baby," he said firmly, turning on her.

"It's God's baby," the blonde one said. "You were just one of the creators."

"It carries my genes, and whether or not it's the child of the prophecy is irrelevant. I can feel it's whereabouts, and because of that, hers. We can find her without resorting to war with Galactica."

"Needless destruction of human life is to be frowned upon," the blonde one said thoughtfully. "If we can get the child without a fight so much the better." She smiled, lost in thought. "Too bad Gaius didn't live to see the child. I think he would have really liked to."

"If she's left Galactica, there must be people with her. She can't fly in that condition," the dark-haired one said, musing upon her own thoughts.

"He'll be with her. He always is. EVen when she was with me, away from him, he was still there in her thoughts and in her heart."

The dark-haired one nodded. She'd seen it too.

"The question is, will there be anyone else or is it just the two of them?"

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Lee's forehead crinkled. He was sure he was hearing things. No, there it was again - Kara moaning.

He quickly put the ship on autopilot and sped to the living quarters where she was resting. He'd left her alone for several hours, hoping that some sleep would help her feel better. Maybe he should have kept a closer eye on her ... or maybe she was just dreaming. He'd noticed in the nights they'd spent together that she dreamt, and was rather vocal about it.

Her eyes were still closed but she was tossing and turing incessantly. Her face was pale and sweaty and the pillow was soaking wet.

He pushed the sweaty strands of hair off her face. "Kara, are you okay?"

Her eyes opened and the first thing he saw in them was pain. The second, fear.

"Lee," she moaned. "It hurts so much ..." She put her hands over her stomach and rolled over onto her side.

Oh frak, he thought, suddenly beginning to panic. Not now, not yet, please!

But as she pulled the blanket off, he could see a large blood stain on the sheet beneath her. He took a deep breath. "I think it's time," he said shakily.

She moaned in pain as she rolled over to see what he was looking at.

"Oh shit."

TBC