"This is insane." Kara stated as she looked down at the baby lying on the sickbay bed looking up at her and Lee.
"Actually, it's beyond insane." Lee amended, looking away from the child long enough to look at Kara. "Isn't it great?" He smiled.
She laughed heartily and then took in a deep breath. "We're really gonna do this, aren't we?"
"Yeah." He said looking back to the bed.
She lowered her head. "A lot of people will be afraid of this. A lot of people won't understand it." She whispered as she placed a light hand on the baby's stomach.
"I know." Lee said as he stroked her tiny cheek. "I was one of those people."
"What changed, Lee?" Kara asked. "An hour ago, you were dead set against this. What happened?"
"I don't know." He answered truthfully. "I just, you just put her in my arms and I knew that she was my daughter. It was like she always had been, and I had just been waiting my whole life to finally meet her. My mind knows all the reasons that this shouldn't happen, but I can't bring myself to care. I believe that she's mine…………even though I have no practical reason for believing that. I know it sounds strange."
"It doesn't sound strange." Kara added, gleaming at him. "But only because I know exactly what you're talking about."
"I want to raise her." Lee said looking right into Kara's eyes.
Kara nodded soberly and then looked through the still-open door to where President Roslin and Commander Adama sat, deep in conversation. "Your father is going to set up a private room. You know, for me and the baby." She looked back to him and exhaled loudly. "I just want you to know that you can…….. you can always…………." He could see the sadness in her eyes. "You can always come see her, is what I'm trying to say. You're her father and I will never try to keep her from you."
Lee's face became blanketed in confusion. "What are you talking about?"
Her face mimicked his. "I'm talking about visitation." She stated in an agonized voice as she lowered her head. "We should set up a schedule, some kind of routine that she can get used to, but you don't have to follow it. You can come see her at anytime."
"I don't want visitation." He said simply.
She raised her head to give him a look that was a perfect mixture of rejection and puzzlement. She gestured to the bed. "But you just said that you wanted to raise her."
"Yeah." He nodded as he took Kara's hand in his. "With you."
Her expression remained blank for about five seconds before it was overwhelmed with the shine of ecstatic awe. "With me?"
"What did you think I wanted, Kara? Sharon saw it pretty easily. Why can't you?" He looked back to the baby as he let Kara's hand drop away again. "In the cell, with Sharon, when she asked me if I knew what it was like to lose the love of my life, I didn't look away. I looked at you." He paused and let the baby wrap her hand around his finger. "And I said no because I hadn't lost you. You were standing right in front of me."
Kara nodded and glanced at him apprehensively. "You understand that—."
"Yeah, I do." He looked over at her subtly. "Do you?"
"Uh-huh." She confirmed. "I understand completely."
"We can't pick and choose, Kara. We're not doing this half way." He turned to her and his hand cupped the side of her neck. "It's all or nothing."
She smiled. "All or nothing." She repeated.
He then let his hand fall and turned again to his daughter. "I always knew, somewhere in the back of my mind, that you'd be the mother of my child." Out of the corner of her eye, she saw his face split in a wide grin. "I just didn't know that it would happen in such a totally frakked up way."
After a few seconds, Kara smiled and tickled her child's little foot. "Oh, by the way, not that it matters, but do you know how to take care of a baby?"
"No." He said frankly. "No idea."
Baltar watched as the gurney that held Sharon's body was wheeled out on its way to the morgue, followed by Roslin and the Commander. He stayed behind and looked over to the room where Starbuck and Apollo were conversing over their child, and he was filled with confusion.
"So it has begun." Six sighed in irritation as she looked at the same scene.
Baltar spun to face her with anger in his eyes. "I am so sick of your manipulation and lies that I could vomit." He rasped out in a low voice.
Six reached up to caress his head, but he pulled away. "Gaius, what's wrong?"
"Have you ever told me anything that was true?"
"Truth is relative, darling." She smiled as she tried to calm him.
"You told me the child would be ours." He sneered.
"She will be." Six said simply.
"Then why is it that Starbuck and Apollo have just signed legal documents to make the child theirs?" He whispered as he pointed to the next room.
"Documents from a dead legal system and a dead society?" Six laughed. "They don't make her their daughter." She turned to look at the new family. "It was a necessary evil."
Baltar blanched. "So you knew? You knew that this would happen?"
"Yes." Six turned back to him. "It is all according to plan. She is, after all, half-human. In order for her to grow to be the face of the shape of things to come, she must first understand and then overcome that side of her." She traced his mouth with her finger. "She has to crawl before she can walk. Humanity has strong, amazing, and miraculous aspects to it. But ultimately it is flawed." She shifted her eyes to Kara and Lee. "God has chosen two people that epitomize that truth to look after her through her formative years."
"So you knew this as well; that Captains Thrace and Adama would………….?"
"You didn't think my dislike for her was purely about her dalliance with you, did you?" Her face grew amused as she saw that he had indeed thought that. "Oh, Gaius. Your ego never ceases to amaze me."
"So…………….." He stared at Kara, Lee and the baby.
She studied them as well. "They are very interesting specimens, aren't they? Wholly unworthy of the task, but one does not question the will of God."
"You told me that I would be her father!" Baltar hissed in rejection.
"You will be, in the only way that truly matters." Six smiled. "Your relationship with our daughter was never meant to be about giving her baths and wiping her snotty nose. Ours will be advanced parenthood. When she is ready to become what she was created to become, she will abandon this mediocre realm and turn to you. And then you will bring her to me, and we will help her rise to her true purpose. That is what parents do."
"And what is her true purpose?" He asked, showing the beginnings of acceptance of the situation.
"She will cure." Six said in worship as she ran a hand over his heart. "Humanity is a cancer infecting the universe. It had wasted and deteriorated the body that had held it for millennia; and God saw fit to treat the illness." She looked around the room at the medical equipment. "But you know the tricky thing about cancer, Gaius? You have to eradicate it completely. You leave any malignant cells left in the body and there is always a chance it can return to spread again. Our daughter is the x-ray that will show us where those cells are hiding. And the Cylons will make the universe healthy again."
"By doing what?" He asked innocently.
She chuckled slightly at his obliviousness and then leaned up to whisper in his ear. "By eliminating the last outpost of the human race."
"The room is set up?" The President questioned as she sat in Commander Adama's quarters later that night.
"Yes. They should have most of what they need. Or more truthfully, what we were able to get for them on such short notice." He looked up from the paper he was signing and peered at her over his glasses. "I've also assigned a detachment of marines to guard the room and to follow the baby wherever she is taken."
Roslin sat back in her chair and let out a loud breath. "For what purpose? She's a child. I already told you, she won't cause us any harm."
"I'm not worried about her harming people; I'm worried about people harming her. Sharon was…….. both Sharons were spit on as they were led down corridors, pictures of their face were used as targets in the shooting range. People were afraid, angry. I'm worried about those emotions spinning out of control when they find out that her daughter has been taken in as a part of my family."
"I understand." She replied "But that precaution will only be necessary for a while. They'll soon grow to understand that the child is nothing to fear, and they'll accept her. I know they will."
"How?" He asked apprehensively.
"I saw it." She answered simply, and then watched as he dropped his eyes to the desk. "You really don't believe that, do you?"
"I believe that you believe it." He said, trying to appease her. "But no, I don't think that we can just trust that she'll be safe because you claim that the gods have told you that something more is going on here."
She took off her glasses and folded them in her hands. "How else do you explain it? One moment you are roaring about how Captain Thrace has lost her mind by wanting to care for the child and the next you're singing to her."
"You heard that?" He smiled minutely. "I thought I was alone with her while Kara and Lee signed the papers."
"You have a decent voice, Commander." Roslin smiled back.
"But I'm a better dancer, right?"
Roslin shrugged. "Well, you're not exactly 'singing in the Starlight Lounge on Cloud Nine' caliber, but I think you can handle a few lullabies." She giggled slightly before growing serious again. "But really, how do you explain it? What's your answer?"
He took off his glasses too, and placed them on the desk. "My answer is that she's my granddaughter, and grandparents are suckers when it comes to their grandchildren. There is nothing other-worldly about that." He smiled wistfully. "Loving them is not really a choice."
"And that's what this is really about, isn't it?" Roslin whispered. "Hermes himself could come down and tell you that nothing will harm her and you would still worry, wouldn't you? Because you do love her."
"If any harm is going to befall the child, it will be from something equally as strong as the feelings that I have for her. And a few marine guards won't be able to do anything to stop something that big." He paused. "But let an old grandpa do what little he can."
Roslin placed her hand on his desk. "Nothing is going to happen to her, Bill. I won't allow it."
The Commander reached towards her hand, but did not touch it. "Laura, I hate to have to bring this up, but you won't be around for much longer. You can't be sure—."
She bridged the gap and laid her hand over his. "Then I'll use my last breath to make sure."
"Well then," He chuckled lightly, grasping it firmly. "I believe it now. I may not have much faith in the gods. But I know first hand that Laura Roslin is a force to be reckoned with."
"This is scary." Hotdog said bluntly as he sat in the mess hall.
"Yeah." Racetrack answered, sitting next to him.
"No, I mean this is really scary." He repeated.
"I know."
"You don't think that this is an exceptionally frightening thought?" He asked, looking right at her.
"Yeah, I do." She replied in irritation. "Which is why I've been agreeing with you for the last five minutes while you've been rattling on about it like an idiot."
"This is terrifying." Hotdog shook his head.
"Hotdog, for frak's sake!"
"I'm just saying—." He shrugged. "Starbuck's a mother."
"I know." Racetrack exhaled. "May the gods help us all."
"Just tell us." Kara said the next afternoon as she sat in Cottle's office. "If something is wrong with her, we want to know."
Cottle looked down to the test results in front of him and sighed. "There's nothing wrong with her per se. She has no structural abnormalities, no jaundice, and her bloodwork shows no neo-natal infections. Her brain function is good………….more than good actually, her synapses are firing at an exceptional level, her response to stimuli is off the charts, and she is absorbing her environment faster than anything I've ever seen." He looked up. "Which is part of what I wanted to talk to you about."
"She's part Cylon." Lee said softly, as way of finishing for Cottle. "We knew that when we signed on for this."
"It's not just that, Captain." He corrected. "We've never come in contact with a Cylon that was born in the traditional sense before. Hell, we don't even know if there has been a Cylon that was born in the traditional sense before." Cottle paused. "The autopsy results on both Sharons show us that neither was technically older than three years of age. And given the fact that the first Lt. Valerii had been on this ship for over two years, and given what we now know about the Resurrection ship, I think it's safe to assume that Cylons do not grow, but are created fully formed. Seeing as how the baby is a Cylon, I have every reason to believe that she will not develop at a normal human rate."
"But the baby's only half Cylon, the other half of her is human." Lee pointed out.
"That's why we'll split the difference." Cottle responded.
"Split the difference?" Kara asked nervously.
"Your daughter is growing at an incomparable rate. Sharon was only pregnant for half the time that a human would have been."
"So she'll grow twice as fast?" Kara asked and then watched as Cottle dropped his gaze from her. "Doctor?"
"We took tissue samples from her." Cottle answered, looking at both of them again. "The cells divided and multiplied at ten times the normal rate."
"Ten times?" Kara repeated in shock.
"Wait a minute." Lee lifted his hand to halt Cottle's response. "You're telling me my daughter is going to grow ten times faster than other children?"
"It's an estimate. Like I said, we've never encountered this before." Cottle amended. "But she now weighs 10 pounds, and is 20 inches long. Given that when she was born, twenty seven hours ago, she weighed 7 pounds and was only 18 inches in length, the ten times faster estimate is not an unsubstantiated one."
"Why is this happening?" Kara whispered, not looking at him.
"I don't know." He answered truthfully. "There are many things about this that I can't explain."
"Will she be okay?" Lee questioned hesitantly, worry rising in his voice. "I mean, because of the whole rapid………thing? Will she be in pain?" Beside him, Kara covered her eyes in concern. "Will there be side effects?"
Cottle began cautiously. "You need to be prepared. I can't guarantee that there will never be, but there aren't any now. She seems fine." He let a small smirk form on his face."She is a very bright, curious, and………….humorous little girl."
"Humorous?" Lee echoed.
"Yes." Cottle said. "She's been cracking my nurses up all morning. Smiling, laughing."
Kara looked to her hands as they rested in her lap. "Do newborns usually laugh?" She asked softly.
"No." He answered as the smirk dropped. "But like I was telling you, she's special."
"Special." She repeated as she looked to the door of Cottle's office, on the other side of which her daughter was giggling as a nurse changed her. She then looked to Lee and gave a small, sad, but proud smile. "Yes, she is that."
A day later, Gaius Baltar sat in a chair on the Rising Star in a state of shocked disbelief, watching the other Quorum delegates gather their things and leave the conference room.
"Was this according to God's plan?" He sneered at the sexy blonde next to him that only he saw.
"No." Six answered defeatedly. "But when you're dealing with such a grand design, it is not unheard of for there to be a few deviations." She paused as she continued firmly. "It doesn't matter."
"It matters to me, darling!" He seethed through clenched teeth.
"You are unbelievable, Gaius." She hissed back. "Can't you stop being such a status whore long enough to stop caring about your political career and look to the bigger picture? You not being Vice-President will not make one iota of difference in the influence you will have over our child."
"Of course it will." He answered back. "My political career would have ensured that I would have had final say over matters that concern her. Now I'll have to cow-tow and plead and manipulate just to have the slightest access to our daughter."
"You'll still have access to her." Six purred.
"You are so unbelievably deluded. You really think that as anything other than leader of the fleet, the Adama family will let me go near her?"
"Trust me, Gaius." She smiled menacingly. "Towards the end of their time with her, they'll be begging you to."
Lee and Commander Adama sat outside the conference room, waiting to find out what had happened inside.
"This is taking a long time." Lee croaked nervously.
"Not really." The Commander said simply.
"You don't think that this is taking a long time?" Lee asked, adjusting his collar in agitation. "I mean, how long have they been in there?"
Adama looked to his watch. "Twenty minutes."
"Oh." Lee sighed as he stopped his worried movements. "That really isn't a long time."
"No." Adama replied. "Not when you take into account what we're asking them to do."
The door to the conference room opened and Billy walked through, stopping right in front of the two men.
"Well?" Lee questioned.
Billy nodded. "10 to 2, in favor of removal."
Adama lowered his head. "Thank the gods." He sighed.
"Who were the two holdouts?" Lee asked inquisitively.
"The vote was secret." Billy responded. "But one can safely assume that one was Baltar. The other one we're not sure of."
"Zarek?" Adama inquired.
"No, that we're almost positive about." Billy said. "The President made a deal with Zarek to ensure that he'd be in favor of the motion."
Adama smiled as he saw Roslin walk up to them. "Making deals with Zarek?" He asked her directly. "This really must be important to you."
She smiled back. "Can't think of anything more important, Commander."
"So who's gonna be the President when you……………" Lee began, only to rethink the initial direction his question had taken.
"Die?" Roslin finished for him. Just then, Baltar came up behind her.
"Madam President?" He said firmly as she turned to face him. "You really think that Mr. Keikeya will be more fitting a president than I would?"
Lee grinned widely. "Billy!" He said as he patted him on the back with one hand and shook his hand with the other. "Congratulations."
"Thank you, Captain Apollo." Billy answered sheepishly.
Roslin spoke to Baltar. "Billy is well liked throughout the fleet. A staunch supporter of the President who stayed behind when the fleet was divided solely to ensure that re-unification might be possible? I can't think of anybody better to embody what we're trying to do here."
Baltar took on an arrogant tone as he added. "The fleet will not tolerate you removing me from office."
"Probably not." Roslin replied truthfully. "Which is why you're going to resign."
Baltar chuckled. "Why would I resign?"
"You could tell the press that you don't like the sallow tint that the lighting on Colonial One gives your skin, for all I care." She said bluntly. "But we feel the most believable reason would be that your work on Cylon study and detection is too time-consuming and important for you to be distracted by the mundane world of politics. We've worded a press release that calls you a 'true patriot willing to put the needs of the people above his own ambition'. The part about your work is fundamentally true, and the general population will believe it. They'll think you're a hero." Her eyes narrowed as she gestured to the now empty conference room. "The general population doesn't know you like the people who were in that room do."
"Give me one good reason why I should make this easy for you."
Roslin removed her glasses. "I can give you two. Number one: We have the votes to remove you forcibly, and your ego that is the size of the Caprican Sea will not allow you to suffer the humiliation of that occurring. And number two: It's the smart thing to do. And you're a genius." She smiled sarcastically. "It's just…………you're an unstable genius. And I cannot allow you to have control over the lives of our people."
Baltar gestured to Billy. "And you really think the people will be better off being led by this teenager?" He said mockingly.
"Hey!" Billy almost shouted, in humorous response to the insult. "I'm 24, thank you very much."
Lee laughed soundly. The President grinned. "You know the old saying, Dr. Baltar: 'And a little child shall lead them.'"
Baltar crossed his arms over his chest. "I've never heard that saying before." He replied in disgust.
"Really?" The President asked in bafflement, looking to the other men as they all shook their heads in a negative response. "I could have sworn I'd heard that somewhere before." She muttered as she started to walk away. "But for the life of me, I can't remember where."
Baltar watched her leave and then turned around to give the three men a disparaging look before exiting as well.
"One question:" The Commander said to Billy. "If Baltar is out, and you're in; who will be your Vice-President?"
At that moment, Tom Zarek pulled away from the conversation he had been having with another delegate and reached to shake Billy's hand. "Mr. Keikeya." He said in a knowing greeting.
"Mr. Zarek." Billy responded coldly as he took Zarek's outstretched hand.
"I'll look forward to working with you."
"I'm sure you will." Billy stated unfeelingly.
They stood there for a few more seconds before Zarek nodded to Lee. "Apollo." He said in greeting and then turned and smiled at the Commander. "Zeus." He then left.
Lee sighed as he departed. "That's the deal you made with Zarek?"
"I'm not too thrilled with that development." Adama added.
"None of us are." Billy told them. "But he had an almost equal amount of delegates to what the President had. And he could have made this difficult for us if we hadn't given him an incentive not to."
"Why would Zarek want you in office anymore than he would want Baltar?" Lee questioned.
"Probably because he thinks it will be easier to manipulate me than it would be to manipulate Baltar." Billy smiled slyly. "But I've learned a thing or two. And if he thinks that, he's mistaken." He nodded to the two men and then left.
"Dad, what's that they say about a wolf in sheep's clothing?" Lee grinned, staring after Billy.
The Commander chuckled slightly. "Now, that saying I've heard of."
TBC
The saying that President Roslin quoted is from Isaiah 11: 6. Just FYI.
