Lee woke up to the sound of giggling, both from Laura and from Kara. The second sound made him smile, Kara didn't usually giggle. Cackle, yes. Guffaw, yes. Snort in raucous laughter, absolutely. But this was gentle, sweet. A part of him still thought that it was frakking weird to hear anything gentle come from Kara, but everything that had happened in the last three weeks had turned his perception of things upside down, so it was just a tiny part.
He had his arm draped across his face, hiding from them that he was now awake. He laid on the couch and listened to his daughter and his…………….whatever the hell Kara was. He peeked over at the other side of the living area to look at them. Laura was sitting in her high-chair and Kara was attempting to feed her. From the looks of the splatters of food everywhere, it wasn't going too well.
"Laura, Laaauuurrraa? Will you eat this for me like a good girl, please?"
Laura just babbled and clapped her hands together as she moved her head around to avoid the spoon that Kara moved in her direction.
"Laura?" Kara gave her a pointed look of warning and Laura obediently opened her mouth to let the food in. "Good girl. That was very good of you to do what I asked. You're an excellent toaster baby." She looked over to the small lamp that sat on the nearby desk. "If I put that plug in your mouth, would you make that lamp turn on?" Kara laughed too as Laura giggled and babbled incoherently in response. "I'm not gonna do it for obvious safety reasons, but I bet you would. I bet you'd light up this whole room for Mommy."
Lee's eyes got wide at the remark and he spoke with his arm still across his face. "Kara."
"You're the cutest little toaster baby ever, aren't you? I think you are." Kara spoke as Laura squealed happily and slapped her hands down on the tray of her high-chair.
"Kara." Lee spoke again in an admonishing tone. She continued to ignore that he was even awake.
"Mommy loves her little toaster baby. Yes I do, I love her very much."
"KARA!" He shouted as he finally dropped his arm and looked over at them fully.
They both looked at him in surprise of his raised voice. "What?"
"Do you really think you should be doing that?" He asked her seriously.
She smiled cleverly. "I'm feeding her. Do you not want me to feed our daughter?"
He sat up and rubbed his eyes. "You know what I'm talking about."
She laughed as she wiped some food off Laura's face. "Exactly what bothered you?"
"Well," He started. "First of all, you woke me up. Second, calling her that is inappropriate."
"Okay," She responded. "First of all, you needed to get up anyway; your shift starts in twenty minutes. And second, it was a joke."
"Do you really think that's something that you should joke about?"
She smiled faintly and looked over at him. "I have to, Lee." She sighed a little. "I love her, you know I love her, and she knows I love her. But this is what I do. If I didn't joke about this, it would just be too weird and tragic for me to deal with. So I wouldn't deal with it, I'd just go crazy and totally shut myself off. And I can't let that happen, this is too important." Her smile widened. "So let me joke about this, so that I can be the person that she needs me to be."
He nodded and exhaled loudly. "Well, when you put it that way." He rose from the couch and came over to kiss Laura on the forehead, ruffling her brown hair. "I can't really argue with it." He then shook his finger at Kara. "Just make sure that you don't use that nickname very often, or in public. And that you stop before she knows what it means."
Kara gave him a salute and picked up the spoon again. But before she could get the spoon into Laura's mouth, Laura grabbed it from her and threw it on the floor, giggling loudly and grinning up at Lee.
"Yeah, that was cute, little Laura." He laughed as he picked up Kara's cup of coffee from the table and drank some. Kara rose from her chair in irritation and went over to wash off the spoon that she had picked up from the floor. "Don't think Mommy liked it though."
Kara sat down and began to try again, but Laura wouldn't even open her mouth. "Laura, come on, please? What exactly is the problem, little girl? It can't taste that bad." She put the spoon in her own mouth to taste some and her face contorted in disgust. "Okay, I was wrong." She grabbed the cloth and wiped off her tongue. "What the hell is this crap that we're feeding our child?"
"Something that the President had to call in a lot of favors to get for us." He took another sip of coffee. "So let's just appreciate it, shall we?" He watched with a mixture of amusement and a little horror as Kara moved the spoon towards Laura's mouth and the child moved her head away again. "Kara, you can't just shovel the food into her mouth."
"I'm not." She shot back.
"You also can't just come at her with the spoon. That will give her time to devise a strategy of avoidance. You gotta go at it like a diversionary op. Here, give it to me." He gestured for her to hand him the spoon, and she complied as he sat down next to her. He put the spoon in the jar and then grabbed his dogtags out from under his tanks. When he jangled them in front of Laura, her eyes got wide and she reached out to try and grab them. Her mouth dropped open as well, and that's when he snuck the spoon inside. "See? Easy as pie. She always eats like a good girl for me."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. All hail the father of the year." Kara laughed as she saw how Laura was now eating away.
"I'll finish up here." He told her.
"Uh-huh, that's a nice thought." Kara told him, sitting back in her chair and crossing her arms. "But it takes about thirty minutes for her to eat, and you now have…………. seventeen minutes to get on deck before CAP."
"Actually," He corrected as he continued to feed Laura. "I don't have to be anywhere for a while. I got someone to take over my shift."
"Oh, yeah? Who?"
"You." He answered simply.
"Me?" She whispered in shock.
"Uh-huh. Since we got Laura, you've done maintenance shifts, which I know is not your favorite thing. And you've done shifts in CIC, which I know you hate with a passion." He looked at her in admiration. "But what you haven't done yet is fly, which I know you love to do."
"Lee…….I don't really think—."
Lee turned back to Laura and grinned at her. "Maybe Mommy hasn't flown yet because she thinks that she'll be a bad mother if she's a kick-ass pilot, or because she thinks she'll be a bad pilot if she's a really good Mommy. And she doesn't want to be bad at either. But you know what Daddy thinks?" He then looked Kara straight in the eye. "I don't think it's possible for her to be bad at either."
Kara looked back at him in excitement, but she also looked at Laura with slight guilt. "You don't think she'll mind?"
Lee looked back to Laura as well. "She'll be with me; you leave her alone with me all the time. We have lots of fun. She likes me. Don't ya?" He leaned in to where he was inches from Laura's face and she gently slapped his cheeks as she smiled at him. "Now get the hell outta here, would ya?" He was speaking to Kara, but still looking right at Laura. "You're domesticity is annoying the crap out of me, go be Starbuck for a while."
"Yeah?" She smirked.
"Yeah." He answered as he turned to her. "I mean, you better make damn sure you come back, but yeah. You've got fifteen and a half minutes to get to the deck, and I've heard that the tightass CAG hates it when his pilots are late."
She rose from the chair with barely restrained jubilation. "She'll need to be—."
"She will be." He answered.
"And you'll need to—." She pushed the chair back to the table.
"I will." He answered again.
She froze and then looked around nervously. "I don't know, Lee. Maybe I should—."
"Maybe you should get the hell outta here before I shove you out the door." He said to her as he picked up Laura from her high-chair. "Say bye to Mommy. Tell her to have fun with the birdies." He waved at Kara as Laura laughed and then laid her head down on his shoulder.
"I'm gonna go now." Kara told him as she walked to the door.
"Good."
"I mean it." She warned him as her hand was on the knob.
"I know."
"Last chance." She warned him again.
"Kara, in about two seconds we're gonna start picking stuff up and throwing it at you." He kissed the side of Laura's head. "And then we'll laugh as it bounces off your head."
Kara smiled one last time and stepped through the door, closing it behind her. Then about two seconds later it opened a sliver and she poked her head through. "And Lee?"
"Yeah?"
"Thanks." And she closed the door for good this time.
Lee looked at the child in his arms, she looked back at him and giggled. "She's weird, isn't she?" He asked as Laura nodded and pointed to the door. "That's okay, I like weird."
"Yeah, you're gonna have to stop doing that." Lee told Kingston four days later as they stood in the ready room with a bunch of other pilots.
"Why?" Kingston asked innocently.
"Because I don't like it."
"Anything more specific?" Kingston chuckled.
"Does there need to be?" Lee asked as he tried to rub away the knot in his neck.
"Guess not." Kingston gulped.
"Hey CAG, you okay?" Hotdog asked nervously. "You seem a little tense."
"I'm fine." Lee answered in annoyance. "I just haven't slept much lately."
Stinger spoke up. "Is the baby keeping you up, or is Starbuck?" He teased.
Lee's eyes got wide. "Excuse me?"
"Oh, come on." Stinger laughed. "I mean everybody knew that you were frakking before, but now that you two have got your own room, you must be goin' at it non-stop."
"Stinger………" Hotdog groaned under his breath in warning.
"I'd love to know what she's like. Starbuck is such a hellcat; at the card table, in the cockpit………….she must wear you out in the sack."
"Oh, man." Kingston covered his eyes. "Stinger, you are so far past the line that you can't even see it anymore."
But Stinger was oblivious to the warnings as he continued to laugh.
"LT. MICHAELS!" Lee shouted in Stinger's face as he jerked in shock and came to attention. "Be glad that it was me and not Captain Thrace that you said that to. Not only was it disrespectful and inappropriate, it was also idiotic. It is not possible to do anything non-stop when you have a child. And the room isn't just ours, Laura lives there too." He sighed and stepped back from Stinger. "Stand at ease……..and think things through a little more before you speak."
"Sorry, sir." Stinger croaked out.
Lee walked to the hatch and then smirked deviously as he turned back around to face them. "And by the way, your perception of Starbuck is dead on. But Starbuck's with me now, so you'll never, ever, ever know what she's like."
Lee walked down the hallway slightly disgusted with himself. Not only had he lost his cool while speaking to the other pilots, he'd also lied to them. And that was what he was most disgusted with. Not for the actual lying, those idiots had no right to know the truth, but because he had to lie.
Because he didn't know what Kara was like in the sack, he didn't even know what side of the bed she slept on. In the nearly four weeks that they had been living in that room, he and Kara had not ever really been alone in it together.
They alternated nights. One night Kara would be on the couch next to Laura's crib and Lee would be in the tiny bedroom, the next it would be reversed. And often since Kara went back to work, they had opposite shifts so that one of them could be with Laura at all times.
They were a family in spirit, but not really in practice. And oh, how he longed to practice with Kara.
Lee had to shake away the dirty thoughts and images that were running through his head. 'You can't do that with a baby in the next room.' He thought. 'Okay, you can if you cover each others mouths to muffle the moaning.'
Again he had to shake his head. It was wrong of him to think of her that way, she was the mother of his child. Just this morning Kara and Laura had done something so sweet, the mere memory of it brought a smile to his face.
But as he was remembering it, he was blindsided with another memory of something that had happened not five minutes after. He had walked into the bedroom without knocking and saw Kara getting dressed. The sight of her naked body had made him freeze in place in the doorway, sweating nervously as a loud gulp escaped from his throat.
It was the sound of the gulp that had made her turn around and notice him. But she just put on her bra and tanks in no big rush and smiled at him as she asked him a question that he didn't even really hear because of the ringing in his ears. It seemed as if it really hadn't bothered her that he had seen her naked.
'Well, why the hell should it? You've only seen her naked a hundred times before.'
But it was different now, she was……………..again, he couldn't really put a description on what she was. He knew what he wanted her to be, he knew what they had planned on being, but somehow, putting the plan into effect was not as easy as he thought it would be.
It was almost as if the huge leap they had taken in becoming Laura's parents had exhausted them so much that they didn't feel that they could do the other thing justice. So they didn't even try.
And now all he could think was that they were both total frakking cowards. He would have to fix that. He was heading back to their quarters now. She had to be on shift in twenty minutes, so he couldn't really do anything then, but he could at least let her know that he needed to talk to her.
Lee heard a distant voice calling to him. "Son?"
Lee looked up to see that the owner of the voice was walking right to him, and he had just been too involved in his internal discussion to notice. "Hey, Dad."
"Going home?" Adama asked.
"Yep, right now."
"How are things going with Laura?" Adama asked as he looked down the hall in the direction that Lee was heading.
Lee smiled widely. "I'm still trying to feel my way through it, but I think I'm getting the hang of it."
"And with Kara?" Adama inquired with caution.
Lee's smile dropped and he looked to the floor as he scratched the bridge of his nose. "I'm still trying to feel my way through it," He exhaled loudly. "And I think I keep running into brick walls."
"Kara's causing problems?" Adama asked in surprised worry.
Lee realized that talking to his father about anything remotely involving his sex life (or lack thereof) was not an option. "Um, noooo." He answered semi-dishonestly. "She's not; you wouldn't believe how great she is with Laura."
"I see how great she is with Laura, and I see how great you are with Laura. What I don't see is how great you are with each other. You're a team………….when it comes to your daughter. In every other aspect, you might as well be living back in the officer's bunk."
'Is he actually advocating that I frak Kara?' Lee thought. 'No, you motherfrakking idiot, he's advocating that you be a man and do what you want to do.'
"Families don't really work if you do them halfway." Adama told him. "You have to be there." He added regretfully. "For every single member."
"We just, we're just still trying to figure things out, Dad." Lee sighed. "We still don't know what our boundaries are yet."
Adama's face took on a bemused appearance and his mouth almost quirked up in a smile. "I think with Kara, the best thing is not to have any boundaries."
"Yeah." Lee grinned self-deprecatingly. "Well, I don't know if you've noticed this, but I've never really been good at relationships."
Adama stood in front of him, his face expressionless while Lee waited for him to respond to the statement. He just kept on waiting.
After about 5 seconds, Lee spoke first. "Now would be the time for you to say 'No, son, I don't think that's true. You're just fine with relationships.'"
Adama just cocked his eyebrows and patted Lee on the arm. "Have a good night, son."
As his father walked away, Lee called after him. "Hey, Dad? I wanted to ask you something."
Adama turned back around. "What's that?"
"You've been in the military, what? Over forty years?" Lee paused as Adama nodded in the affirmative. "Do you ever remember an op that had the code name Mercury?"
Adama thought for a moment. "No. There was never an op that I knew of by that name. As a matter of fact, I've never even heard that word before."
"Yeah, I know. It's just……… that word's been running through my head for a while now and it seems familiar to me." Lee rubbed his forehead. "But I can't think of how I know it."
"Can't help you, Lee."
"Yeah, thanks Dad." Lee nodded as he started to walk away, but he turned back. "Did you just come from seeing Laura?"
Adama turned back as well. "I just tried, but I only saw Kara instead. Laura's not at home."
Lee turned around and started to walk back to his quarters, but in midstride, a wave of fear came over him at his father's last words. "What the hell?" He hissed to himself, right before he took off in a dead run.
"KARA!" He screamed as he ran through their hatch, his fear growing since he had noticed that the ever-present marines were not standing guard in the hallway.She came out from the bedroom. "Lee? What's wrong?"
"Where is she?"
Kara looked around the room in surprise. "Laura?"
He exhaled loudly in irritation. "Yes, Laura. Who the hell did you think I was talking about? Dad just told me that you were in here, but that she wasn't."
"Your father was right." She shrugged.
"Is she in sickbay?"
"No, she's fine." She went over to the sink and got a glass of water. "Dee's got her."
He walked over and stood a few feet behind her, his nervousness reaching new heights. "You say that so simply, like it's no big deal."
She chuckled slightly. "That's because it isn't a big deal. Dee's got her, Billy's with Dee, and then there's the added bonus that she has a marine guard following her wherever she goes."
"Which marine?"
"Corporal Venner." Kara replied, taking a sip from her glass.
Lee calmed noticeably. She had just named three people that he trusted implicitly. But still, this was the first time since they got her that Laura hadn't been with at least one of them. "Okay, well that's good. Where'd Dee take her anyway, the observation deck to look at the stars?"
"Yeah, Lee, because I figured it would be a good idea to let Dee and her boyfriend take my infant daughter to make-out central." She said sarcastically as she turned from the sink to face him. "The President wanted to see her, so they took her to Colonial One."
His eyes got wide. "What the frak is wrong with you?" He snapped at her, his calm quickly disintegrating again.
"What the frak is wrong with you?" She snapped back without the slightest hesitation.
"You let someone take her off the ship?" He rubbed his forehead. "I can't believe you let someone take her off the ship!"
"Do I need to call Cottle to come give you a tranquilizer?" She threatened. "You need to calm the frak down. She's with Dee, she's with Billy, she's with Venner, and she's on Colonial One. It's not like I shipped her off to the Astral Queen. And I don't know if you've noticed this, since you're only on that ship every other day, but Colonial One is not exactly without security." Kara softened considerably. "The President wanted to spend some time with Laura, but it's towards the end of the day and she's exhausted. And I knew that Dee wanted an excuse to spend some time with Billy, so when the President called to suggest that Dee and Billy bring her over, I really didn't see any harm."
"Kara, it's just—." He turned away and walked a few paces from her.
"I know, Lee." She attempted to soothe him as she followed after him. "But this is a fleet for frak's sake. We can't keep her off other ships for the rest of her life. And do you really have any doubts about the people that she's with?"
"No." He whispered honestly.
"Good."
"I'm sorry I got so freaked out. Maybe I'm just afraid of the quiet." He chuckled slightly. "I was expecting her to be here tonight. And I haven't been alone in these quarters since we moved in."
She walked back over to the sink and put down her glass. "You won't be alone. I'll be here."
"You will?" He asked in surprise.
She kept her back to him as she replied hesitantly. "Yeah, I got someone to switch shifts with me. I'm free until 1500 tomorrow. I thought it would be nice if we could spend some time, you know, together."
"Gods, I'm sorry your plans got ruined." He said sympathetically. "You change your shift all around and then you find out that Laura won't even be here."
She finally turned around to face him, looking him straight in the eye. "I switched shifts after the President called."
"Oh." He choked out as his heart began to beat a little faster.
"I got some food from the mess." She pointed to the counter and he noticed the trays. She then turned back to take off the lids. "Things have been so crazy lately, what with the different shifts and getting settled in. I feel like I haven't spoken more than two words to you that weren't baby-related in weeks."
"When will Laura be back?" He asked, trying to sound non-chalant. But even he could hear the anticipation in his voice as he walked over to stand next to her.
"Probably not till late. I even told them that if it was too late, they could stay on Colonial One in one of the converted cargo holds." She laughed slightly. "That might be a better idea than attempting to bring an over-tired infant back in a Raptor in the middle of the night. Anyway, they have all of the stuff that she needs, just in case they need to stay."
His finger traced a circle on the countertop. "I see." He leaned in slightly, but she hadn't noticed that he was coming toward her, so as she moved away to get another glass from the cabinet, he nearly fell over. He caught himself and looked away, stuttering as he picked up the trays. "I'll, um, I'll set the table."
They sat for nearly an hour, talking, laughing, and trading stories. Not only stories about ops and maneuvers and past transgressions, but also about things that their daughter had done."
"You taught her that!" Kara pointed her finger at him accusingly and chuckled. "I'm gonna kill you for teaching her that!"
"I didn't teach it to her intentionally." Lee defended. "Besides, would you rather she cry and scream for hours on end?"
"Well, yeah, actually." She laughed. "She's a baby. If something is upsetting her, I'd rather she just cry about it for a while and get it out of her system………… instead of holding onto it and pouting for the rest of the day like her father does." She grinned widely. "You keep this up and she's gonna be in therapy for the rest of her life."
Lee laughed heartily. "She's gonna be in therapy no matter what."
"Because she's half-Cylon?" She teased. "Or because she has us as parents?"
He nodded resolutely. "The second thing." He smirked and then looked over to the crib. "Gods, she's getting so big. How long do you think she'll still sleep in her crib?"
"A month, maybe two." Kara answered quietly; lowering her head as she nervously tapped her fork against the table. "But she's sleeping through the night now. Soon she won't need us watching over her every second of the day."
Lee looked over at her longingly, hoping that she was suggesting what he thought she was suggesting. "Maybe soon she'll even want some privacy when she sleeps."
"Maybe." Kara answered softly as she looked back up at him, stretching her arms behind her head like a cat. Lee's eyes glazed over at the sexy movement.
'Gods, you're such a wuss. Just tell her. You promised yourself that you'd tell her and now that she's giving you a golden opportunity, you're gonna let it slip by. You don't even have to TELL her, just throw her on top of the table and start goin' at it. Just do whatev—.'
"I'm tired." She stated simply, pulling him away from his self-admonishment. "I'm gonna go to bed."
"It's only 19:45." He pointed out, afraid that his opportunity to express his feelings was slipping away.
"Yeah." She breathed out as she bit her lip and narrowed her eyes at him in wonder. "Well, it's been a long day."
"Oh, okay." He said in a slight, defeated tone. He looked over to the couch. "Well, I know that it's my turn to sleep in the bed, but since you're so tired and since Laura's not here to keep an eye on, you can have it. I'll sleep on the couch."
She chuckled softly in disbelief and rolled her eyes to the ceiling. "Lee?" She purred as she rose from her chair and sauntered over to him.
"Ye-ea-ah?" He stuttered as he looked up at her from his seat, his eyes lighting up with hope and desire.
She reached down and took his hand, entwining it with hers. "I'm not really tired, and you're not really sleeping on the couch anymore."
The air stopped in his lungs for a second and he swallowed his heart back down into his chest. "Thank gods." He moaned as he rose from his chair and took her in his arms, melding her mouth with his. He pressed against her until she was perched on the edge of the table. "Oh gods, Kara." He rasped as his fingers found the edge of her tanks.
"I love you." She whispered as if she'd been saying it for years, instead of for the first time.
He pulled back to look at her, his whole face frozen in happy surprise.
"What?" She smiled deviously as she let her fingers drift up his neck. "You didn't think I did?"
"No, I knew you did." He answered truthfully. "I guess I just thought it would harder to finally drag it out of you."
She chuckled softly. "It's the truth. And I'm trying to grow as a person." She teased as she undid his belt buckle. "So let's not make a big issue out of the fact that I finally told you the truth."
"I'll let it drop completely………………" He teased back. "If you say it again."
"No." She told him firmly, pouting playfully. "I've already said it. You need to say it before I do again, just to make things even."
"But we're already grossly uneven." He laughed as he lifted her tanks over her head, dropping them to the floor. "You've only said it once. I've said it three times."
"Twice." She corrected as she leaned in, her lips brushing a path over his neck. "You've only said it twice."
"Three times." He shot back. "On the Astral Queen, in sickbay our first day with Laura, and then again last week." He managed to get those words out pretty coherently, considering that his brain was on fire at the feel of her lips on his skin.
She leaned back and thought for a moment. "Last week?" She then began to laugh softly as she realized what he was talking about. "You only said it in gratitude because I managed to get Laura to sleep after you'd been trying for over an hour. That doesn't count."
"Did the words 'I love you' come out of my mouth?"
"Yes, but—."
"Then it counts." He told her, loving the banter between them. "Which means that you owe me two more."
"Fine." She planted a hard kiss on his lips. "I love you. You happy?"
"Very. Now you just need to say it once more." He chuckled, the sound dripping with seduction as he pushed her bra strap aside to kiss her shoulder. "And after that, I have a feeling I'll be saying it all night long."
"How 'bout I show you that I love you?" She grinned lasciviously as she ran her foot up his leg. "Would that count?"
"You do it right, and it'll count as more than once." He groaned as his hands danced up her rapidly-heating skin.
She disentangled herself from him with a needy groan and started to lead him to the small bedroom, but she didn't make it halfway there before she pulled him to her again. He buried his hands in her hair as she started to unbutton his jacket. "I'm so glad you kept this on." She mumbled between scorching kisses as she took it off and threw it across the room. "I never would've been able to last until after dinner if I'd had to look at your arms the whole time."
Three days later, Lee greeted the guards outside his quarters and walked through the hatch. When he came into the room, he saw Kara giving Laura a bath in the sink and heard Kara's newly-found, sweet voice singing in his ears. Kara gently wiped the cloth over Laura's skin, smiling at her the whole time. And he too couldn't help but smile at that image.
Then he heard the words that Kara was saying, and the smile quickly fell from his face.
"I will make your life miserable, do you understand me? I will hunt you down and do something so viscous to you that they've been afraid to actually give it a name."
She was saying it like a poem, like a lullaby: gentle and soothing.
"You pathetic little frak." She singed again.
"KARA!" He shouted as he walked over to her.
But when she turned to him in surprise, he noticed that she had the phone pressed to her ear. "What's wrong?" She asked.
"Nothing." He said as he calmed considerably. "I just didn't realize that you were on the phone."
She went back to her conversation as she tickled Laura's stomach. "Yeah, why don't you go find that out and I'll stay here on the phone. Just a word of advice though, if you come back with an answer I don't like, you better be prepared to jettison yourself out an airlock, because that is the only thing that will save you from a life of pain."
Lee had to chuckle to himself. The tone of her voice was sugary, disguising that she was speaking words of anger.
She heard him laughing and smiled over at him. "What's so funny?"
"Who are you talking to?"
"I'm on a ship-to-ship with Captain Taylor over on the Pegasus. Stupid frak's been trying to jerk us around for weeks, actually believing that we're so stupid that we wouldn't notice. Well, I noticed and now he's gonna pay." She tapped Laura's tiny nose and grinned at her. "Mommy's gonna decimate him."
"So if you're so angry, why aren't you yelling at him?" He smiled down at the sink as he saw Laura splash the water around with her little hands.
"Because Laura gets upset when I yell. And it already took me twenty minutes to get her settled down enough to take her bath, because she was so worked up after spending the afternoon with your dad. You know he let's her do anything she wants, right?"
"Yes, I do. But I let her do anything she wants too, so it would be hypocritical of me to say anything to him about it." He turned and leaned against the counter. "Still, Kara, I don't think Taylor will be all that intimidated if you threaten him in baby-talk instead of shouting at him."
"If anything, he's more intimidated. I could practically hear him pee his pants over the phone." She smiled cunningly as she bent down so that she was face to face with Laura. "The tone may be sweet, but the words are very, very sour." She stood up again when she heard Taylor get back on the phone. "Yeah, I don't really care." She sung melodically to him. "You fix it or I'll strangle you with my bare hands right after I cut off certain parts of your anatomy that you'd rather not be separated from." Kara hung up the phone as Laura cooed at her. She saw Lee staring at her wide-eyed. "What?" She chuckled.
He pulled her against him, boxing himself in between the sink and her body. "I'm so turned on right now, you have no idea." He then quickly jerked away from the sink when he felt his lower back get soaked with water. He turned around to see Laura laughing and slapping the water playfully. "Hey!"
"Good girl, little Laura." Kara purred as she ran her hands over Lee's shirt. "I've been looking for an excuse to get Daddy outta these clothes."
"Put her to bed and give me ten minutes." He kissed Kara below her ear. "I've gotta call the President and tell her that everything is set."
"You spoke to them? And they agreed?" She asked softly, pulling away from him.
He nodded. "Yeah, I spoke to them just now."
"And they were both okay with it?" She asked again as she lifted Laura from the sink.
"They were both more than okay with it." He smiled as he grabbed a towel and wrapped the child in it, taking her in his arms. "It's set up for tomorrow at 10:30."
Kara froze with surprise. "That soon?"
"Well, ever since Laura came back from Colonial One, the President's been pretty insistent with her suggestion that she be confirmed." He paused for a moment when he saw Laura yawn loudly. "Father Monseau, you remember him? He's coming over here to do the ceremony."
"Where's it gonna be?"
"Dad and the President have been talking, and she wants a place of worship set up here on Galactica. He thinks it's a pretty good idea too, you know, for morale reasons. So they converted that empty maintenance bay into a chapel. They were gonna use it as a theater for educational films when they were planning on making the ship a museum, so the room's already set up with pews and things like that." He rubbed Laura's hair with the towel and they could both tell that she was already starting to get sleepy. She laid her head down on Lee's shoulder as he dried her off. "We'll do the ceremony there."
Kara reached up to stroke a finger over Laura's chubby cheek. "Okay."
Lee waited for a moment, getting up his nerve. "The priest will be there by 09:45. If we went a little early, we could take care of the other thing too."
Kara snorted softly, but the smile on her face was genuine. "You know, I should have no idea what you're referring to, considering that that was the vaguest proposal of marriage in all of human history." She eased Laura from Lee's arms when she saw that her eyes were closed and she was snoring softly. "But somehow I do know what you're talking about."
"And?" He smirked, his heart full of hope as he watched Kara put her down on the table to get her ready for bed.
Kara gazed up at him as she put the sleeping child in her night clothes, not looking at what she was doing because she had already become so skilled at it. "Meet me in the chapel at 10:00 tomorrow, and you'll get your answer." She grinned.
"…………..and we ask that you, Lords of Kobol, look over this new family." Father Monseau said as he stood in the middle of the group at the front of the chapel. "Families are not always created by birth or by blood. Some times they are formed when strangers are thrown together in situations of danger and desperation. Clinging to each other because of shared pain and uncertainty, they find a common bond that melds them together. And that bond is stronger than steel."
Commander Adama looked at the many people standing in the group with him and lowered his head as the truth of the priest's words echoed in his ears.
"Laura Karla Adama," Monseau continued as he laid his hand on Laura's forehead, the child resting in her godsmother's arms. "We pray to the gods that all of us together will be able to give you the love and strength that you will need to serve your righteous purpose. We pray that every second of the day, you will feel the power of faith running through your special body. And we pray that you will see that the gift you will give to us is the ultimate, and most precious of all expressions of humanity."
Kara looked over at Lee nervously as Monseau turned to them. "And we pray thatyou whom the gods entrusted with the child's life can see that the difficulties you will face as a family will only intensify your devotion to each other and the fidelity with which she will carry out her destiny. And we pray that when the time comes, you will be able to let her go as all parents must; secure in the knowledge that she is loved. Now, then and always thereafter."
Lee looked over at President Roslin. She was standing next to his father, smiling a sad but understanding smile. She noticed him looking at her with concern etched on his face and her expression quickly changed to one of intense pride.
Father Monseau finally turned to the two people standing at the forefront. "As this child's godsfather, will you promise to love and encourage her? Not only her physical and emotional being, but her spiritual one as well?"
Chief Tyrol nodded. "I will." He answered.
"And as this child's godsmother," Monseau asked the woman holding Laura. "Will you promise to give yourself over fully to your mission to protect and honor her soul?"
The young woman looked around the room tentatively, then smiled down to the child in her arms. "I will." Dualla answered.
"Then Laura," Monseau said as he let her tiny hand grasp his finger. "This is your family. It is an unusual one, but it is a noble one nonetheless. And it is entirely worthy of carrying out the will of the gods. And you have now been confirmed in the faith of the thirteen tribes of Kobol. Something stronger than time and distance will be looking after you throughout all eternity." He looked up at the group and smiled. "So say we all."
"So say we all." The entire group repeated.
As the ceremony ended, people began breaking off into groups to speak to each other.
"That was a very cruel thing that we just did to Laura." Lee whispered to Kara as he kissed her cheek. "Naming her what we did."
"What's so cruel about it? Laura is the President's name, Karl was Helo's name, and Adama is your name."
He laughed. "It's just... that's just way too many vowels for a kid to have in her name."
"Kara Adama is just as bad." Kara pointed out.
"Yeah, but you weren't given that name intentionally." He teased. "You were tricked into taking it by marriage." He smirked as she dissolved into laughter. "I'm gonna go talk to Cally and the Chief."
Kara let him go and came over to check on Laura as Dee held her. "Thank you for doing this, Dee."
"Of course." Dee smiled down at the child before looking up at Kara nervously. "I'm just a little surprised. Because of what happened, or what almost happened, between Captain Adama and me. I thought it might be a little awkward for you."
Kara's eyes widened and she grinned mischievously. "I wasn't aware that you knew that I knew about that."
"I work in communications, all info goes through me." Deejoked in return. "I know everything." She got serious again. "Still, I'm a little surprised that Lee even suggested me as godsmother."
"I suggested you." Kara corrected.
"You did?" Dee asked in shock. "Why?"
Kara looked away. "Because I wasn't there, when the Old Man was hurt. I was somewhere else. And I realize now that it was a good thing that I was where I was, because of what I brought back with me. But I still feel guilty that I wasn't there." She then turned back to look at them. "But I feel better knowing that you were, because I know that he was taken care of. Because that's what you do, Dee; you take care of people." She gently rubbed Laura's arm she babbled away, pointing at random things in the room. "And I want that for my daughter."
"Well, then." Dee spoke softly, glancing knowingly over at the President and Father Monseau before smiling at Laura again. "I hope that I'm worthy of the task."
Lee saw that the President and the priest were finishing up their conversation, so he left Tyrol and hesitantly walked over to them. "Father Monseau," He said as he held out his hand. "Thank you. That was very nice, um, religious talking."
Monseau laughed at the awkward phrasing of the gratitude and shook Lee's outstretched hand. "Thank you, Captain. At the President's request, I'll be coming to Galactica a couple times a week. There's no pressure, of course, but maybe someday you'd like to come hear some more religious talking." He then nodded to Roslin and then moved away to give them privacy.
Lee smiled at the President. "You seem to be doing well today, Madam President. I wasn't sure that you'd be able to come. The last time I saw you, you didn't seem to be doing all that great."
She chuckled. "It's very fickle, my illness. Some days are better than others. This was a very good day."
"I'm glad."
"Thank you for allowing this, Captain Apollo." Roslin said. "I know that you've never been the most religious person. But I greatly appreciate that you were willing to do this because I wanted it to happen."
"Well, Kara wanted it too. So, it really wasn't a big deal." He replied as he looked over at Father Monseau, now standing at the other side of the room. "I wanted to ask you, I know that I haven't been well-versed in spiritual incantations, but……………didn't he ad-lib a bit?"
Roslin nodded, but smiled calmly. "There is no set phrase book, Captain. The priest can say whatever he feels is fitting to the situation."
"And he thought that all that talk about destiny and purpose and unusual families was fitting to our situation?"
The President raised her eyebrows. "Well, yes. And so do I. Yours is an unusual family, and I believe that all of us have a destiny and a purpose." She saw his concern grow and spoke to soothe him. "But it's just religious talk, Captain Apollo. It doesn't really mean anything."
Lee nodded. A small part of him thought that it was a lie that the priest's words hadn't meant anything. But the part of him that just wanted this to be as normal as it possibly could, given the circumstances, greatly overwhelmed the other part. So he chose to believe that it was true.
The President placed a gentle hand on his shoulder and then turned away to speak to the rest of the group. "Thank you all for coming today. And thank you for believing, despite what logic and conventionality tells us, that this is a good thing that we're doing." She smiled widely. "And I come bearing gifts. Donald, will you bring them to me, please?"
The President's new aide stayed where he was, and Billy moved forward instead.
"Donald doesn't have them, Madam President. I do." Billy told her as he handed her the two items. He then leaned in to whisper to her. "And just so you know, before, when people used to call me 'Roslin's little errand boy'……..I never took it as an insult."
Roslin pulled back to look at him with a grateful, heartbreaking smile reaching up to her moistening eyes. "Thank you." She whispered to him. She then looked to Adama. "The first gift is for you, Admiral." She said proudly as she held out a small box for him. Lee and Kara smiled widely, and Colonel Tigh patted him on the back.
Adama came forward humbly and took the box. "I told you, Madam President. This was not necessary."
"Actually, it is necessary. It's also long overdue. You've had both battlestars under your command for months now. It was time for me to give you the promotion that you have so rightfully earned." She smiled as she took the box away from him again and opened it up. "So, Admiral Adama, stop being so humble and just accept your damn gift." She then pinned the insignia to his collar.
"Thank you, President Roslin." He smiled back in gratitude.
"Now, my knowledge of military ritual is not vast, but I do believe that when a man gets promoted, he is usually granted a kiss from the most beautiful girl in the room." Roslin said as she looked back to Kara, Lee and Laura.
Lee leaned over to whisper something in Laura's ear, she then started to laugh and clap her hands as Kara brought her forward to the Admiral.
Adama took the child in his arms and she kissed him on the chin. She then mouthed unintelligible words at him and began to play with his new Admiral's stars. He just chuckled lovingly back at her.
"Laura, those are Grandpa's new toys." Lee warned playfully. "Leave them alone."
"Actually," Roslin said as she held up the next gift. "She gets a toy too."
The President came up to the two of them and held out a small toy bear that was wearing a miniature jersey for the Aerilon Chiefs pyramid team. "The Quorum representative from Aerilon gave this to me, I hope you like it." Laura's blue eyes lit up and she reached for the toy, she then held out her arms for the President to hold her. The Admiral transferred her over to Roslin and she held up the bear for Laura to examine. She smiled and giggled happily in the President's arms as she took her gift.
Roslin gleamed at the child who was now quite oblivious to the fact that there was anyone else in the room besides her and her new Aerilon Chiefs bear.
Just then, everyone was shocked out of the trance of watching the precious scene by a small flash of light. Roslin and Laura both looked up at the same time to see an unfamiliar man holding a small, concealed camera.
Lee rushed forward to stop the man, but Colonel Tigh got there first and grabbed the camera.
"Hey!" The man shouted in indignation as he tried to grab it back.
"Who the hell are you and how did you get in here?" Tigh sneered.
"I'm a member of the press." The camera guy replied snottily as he took out his press pass from his pocket. "And this is news that the fleet deserves to know about."
"This isn't news." Lee yelled as he pushed him. "This is a private family gathering and you're not welcome."
"This isn't a restricted area, but fine, whatever." The man hissed. "Give me back my camera and I'll leave."
"Sounds good." Tigh responded as he opened the camera and pulled out the memory stick. He then pushed the empty camera against the man's chest. "Take your camera and get the hell off this ship."
"That memory stick is my personal property."
"Be glad that we're not throwing you in Galactica's brig for coming onto the ship under false pretenses." Roslin added, still holding Laura, who was now frightened by all the commotion. "You're also going to find out tomorrow that your press credentials have been revoked."
One of the two corporals in the room escorted the man to the exit. Corporal Venner then came up to Lee. "I'm sorry, Captain. He said he was with the President's group, and we thought the camera was a pager."
"It's fine, Corporal." Lee said as Tigh handed him the memory stick. "No harm done."
"I couldn't get a clear shot." The camera guy said as he stood with two other men on another ship later that day. "Or more accurately, I got it, but Apollo and the lush colonel got in the way."
Another man spoke up in disbelief. "You actually tried to take down Roslin and the kid while you were on Galactica? With the Adamas in the room?"
The camera guy started to laugh. Then the third man spoke up in his defense. "A photo shot, York." Tom Zarek corrected. "We were trying to get a shot of the Cylon child in the loving embrace of both the governmental and military leaders of the fleet." He chuckled.
"But what good would that do, I mean, isn't it just a picture?" York asked naively.
Zarek patted him on the back condescendingly. "To the people of this fleet who lost everything to the Cylons, that image would be more than 'just a picture'." He smiled sinisterly. "It'd be a catalyst for revolution."
TBC
