Kara walked to Admiral Adama's office and smiled as she greeted the guard outside the door. "Hi. They inside?"
Corporal Townsend nodded and Kara entered the room. "Madam President?" She asked in surprise when she saw Roslin sitting on the couch.
"Oh, hello, Captain Thrace." She replied as she looked up at Kara.
"What are you doing here? The Admiral was supposed to be watching Laura."
"He was, but there was an issue in CIC that he needed to take care of. I had just dropped by to speak to him, so he asked if I would watch her for a minute."
"How long ago was that?" Kara asked.
"About half an hour ago." Roslin laughed as she stood up gingerly. "I know as well as anyone that the problems leaders face don't usually take only 'a minute' to resolve."
"Madam President, I'm so sorry. If I had known that, I would have left my shift early. Babysitting is certainly not on the list of presidential duties."
"I don't mind really." Roslin smiled sincerely, but weakly. "We've actually been having a lovely time."
"Where's Laura?"
"She's right over there." Roslin pointed to an empty spot in the room. "Was over there, I seem to have lost her again. She certainly does keep you on your toes, doesn't she? I don't know how you slow her down enough to get her to go to sleep."
Kara chuckled. "Usually by the end of the day, she's exhausted from all the running around she does. But even when she's not, she can't go anywhere because of the bars on her crib."
"I see." Roslin laughed in response.
"Except…………… she's learned how to climb out of it now."
Just then, Kara saw a little body run out from under the Admiral's desk and hide behind the sofa.
"I see you." Kara teased as she walked over to Laura and looked down at the giggling child. "You think you can hide from me?"
Laura let out a happy shriek of surprise and clapped her hands when the President came up behind her and lifted her into her arms.
But suddenly, Roslin's face got very white. "Oh lords." She exhaled as her stance began to falter.
Kara saw her losing her hold on the child. She grabbed Laura and put her down on the floor next to the sofa, then took the President's arm and led her to sit. She went to the console to pour a glass of water, then walked back and handed it to Roslin.
"Thank you." The President rasped softly when she took the water and drank some as Kara sat down next to her. "Sometimes I forget that I can't do the things I used to do."
Laura had wandered over to the desk again and was climbing up into her grandpa's chair.
"I'm sorry if she was too much for you." Kara sighed apologetically.
"No, she wasn't." Roslin corrected firmly. "Truthfully, she only started to get rambunctious the last five minutes. The rest of the time, she was content drawing on the Admiral's paperwork and playing with the stapler."
"The stapler?" Kara asked in sudden concern.
"Don't worry." Roslin calmed her. "I took the staples out."
Laura must have heard them say the word 'stapler', because she picked up the item and brought it over, presenting it to her mother. "Thank you." Kara laughed as she took it from her. "You really are easily amused, aren't you, T.B?"
Roslin laughed too as Laura pouted and then quickly grabbed it back. "By the way, Captain Thrace, I know what those initials stand for." She said with teasing disapproval. "And let me add my displeasure to the chorus at you using that particular nickname."
Kara smiled as she hung her head. "Yeah, it started out as a joke. But I'll have to stop using it soon; before she's old enough to know what it means and doesn't realize that it's a term of endearment." Kara's smile dropped when she looked up and saw how the glass shook in Roslin's hand as she took another sip. "I'm sorry that you had to look after her. None of us meant for you to be this exhausted."
"No. It's not her." Roslin told her. "I just haven't been having a good day today."
"You haven't been having a lot of those lately." Kara whispered. "You hide it pretty well, but we're all beginning to notice."
Roslin set down the glass on the coffee table. "It won't be long now." Roslin said sadly as Kara turned her head away. She then looked down to Laura who was opening and closing the stapler over and over again. "Will you do something for me?"
"I can try." Kara answered as she took Laura in her lap.
"I know you'll take care of Laura, that isn't even a concern of mine." Roslin began. "But will you take care of Captain Apollo and the Admiral too? Not only because I worry about them, but because—." She looked right at Kara. "This whole thing only works if you're a family."
Kara took a deep breath and smiled slightly. "I can do that." She then looked down to the top of Laura's head. "In return, can I ask you a question?"
"Of course." The President nodded.
"The day Laura was born; you said that she would save us, that she would help us. And then at the confirmation, Father Monseau said some things that got me wondering…………" She took a deep breath to try and quell her anxiety. "Is she gonna do something?"
"Of course she is." Roslin said simply as Laura left Kara's lap and moved onto hers. "Look at what she's already done for all of us."
"No, I know that." Kara corrected. "I know that she's brought us together, made it possible for us to feel this way again. Trust me; nobody knows that she's done that more than me."
"But…………?" Roslin questioned cautiously as she wrapped her arms around the child.
"But there isn't anything more to it, is there?" Kara reached over and took Laura's hand as the child let her head fall back on the President's shoulder. "She doesn't have superpowers, does she? It's not like she'll save the world with a flick of the wrist or the wink of an eye? I mean, she doesn't have some divine, ultimate purpose, right?"
Roslin smiled serenely. "Love is your daughter's only purpose, Kara. And no, there isn't anything more to it."
Kara's eyes widened. "Do you realize that's the first time you've ever called me Kara, Madam President?"
Roslin laughed as her hand brushed over Laura's brown hair. "It seemed like a first name moment."
"I agree." Kara smiled back. "I doubt it would've had the same emotional impact if you had called me Captain Thrace."
Roslin looked her right in the eye. "Do you think you could ever call me anything other than Madam President?"
"No, ma'am, I don't think so." She said simply. Then watching the President's face take on a mask of mock offense, she amended her reply. "Trust me, Madam President; it has nothing to do with my amount of respect."
Roslin smiled as her eyes gleamed with unshed, proud tears. "And trust me, Kara. It has everything to do with your amount of respect."
Laura turned around to face the President and put a tiny hand on her chest. "Ow." The little girl said.
And the President nodded sadly.
"Do you really think it was a good idea to bring her here?" Tyrol asked Kara two days later as they checked out a malfunctioning nav system in one of the Vipers.
"You're gonna give me a lecture on bringing Laura to the flight deck?" Kara answered as she shot him a dirty look. "Really, Chief?"
"Point taken."
"We just gotta make sure that she doesn't get into anything dangerous." Kara added.
"Don't worry." Cally said as she knelt down to check the undercarriage. "I got rid of everything dangerous from the area."
"Um, yeah." Corporal Wilkes spoke up as she pointed to an object in Laura's hand. "I know I'm not familiar with all the equipment, but isn't that a detonator?"
Kara looked over to where Laura was sitting on top of a maintenance cart and her eyes got wide in shock. "Cally!"
"Relax. There are no explosives attached to it. It's harmless." Cally chuckled. "She just picked it up because it's shiny."
"Still," Kara hissed as she grabbed the object from Laura's fingers. "I'd rather she not grow up thinking she can play with things that make stuff explode."
Laura started to cry as she reached for the lost toy. "Ahhhhhhhh."
"Oh, I know. I know, sweetheart." Kara pouted at Laura in mock sympathy. "It's so hard to be a baby. It's so awful when mean old Mama takes away your explosive devices."
Laura began to scream and started kicking the sides of the cart. Her face was red and wet, and she rubbed her eyes in displeasure.
"What is this, huh? What is with the hissy fit?" Kara laughed as she looked Laura over. "You think if you cry and scream long enough that I'll give this back to you? Well, keep dreaming, little girl. You can throw the biggest temper tantrum ever and you're still not gettin' it back."
Laura whined as she pointed to the detonator. "Ahhhhh………mmmmmMama………mmmmmine, Mama."
"No, it's not yours. Because you see this?" Kara raised the item for Laura to examine. "This makes things go boom. And I don't just mean little Laura go boom. I mean Mama go boom, Chief and Cally go boom, whole flight deck go boom. And then no more birdies." Kara pointed to the planes. "You don't want anything to happen to the birdies, do you?"
Laura pointed to the planes as well and shook her head. Her crying then ceased.
"Okay, just sit there and be a good girl." Kara kissed the top of her head. "I'll be done in five minutes." Kara held up her hand and spread her fingers to show Laura the number. Laura nodded and held up her hand too. "Cally, will you find something for her to play with? Preferably something that doesn't electrocute her, or have sharp edges……… or blow her up."
"Like what?" Cally asked.
"Frak, Cally. I don't know. The girl finds doorknobs entertaining; just give her a frakking flashlight."
"FRAK."
The small voice was instantly recognizable, but nobody really wanted to believe that it came from where it did.
Until they heard it again.
"FRAK."
Kara's whole body froze and her eyes got wide as saucers. "Did she just—?"
"Uh-huh." Cally answered as she stared at the child.
Kara came over to Laura and leaned down to look her square in the eye. "No, baby, don't say that. That's a bad word. And Mama's a bad lady for teaching it to you, so don—."
"FRAK."
Kara groaned and Laura giggled at her mother's obvious frustration. Tyrol, Cally and Corporal Wilkes stood behind them and tried mightily (and unsuccessfully) to stifle their laughter.
Kara turned to them in irritation. "You think this is funny? This is not funny! The kid is gonna rat me out, and I'm gonna be in deep trouble. Not to mention that she'll be a toddler with the dirty mouth of a Picon whore."
"FRAK."
"Laura, stop saying frak! No more frak, frak is a bad word."
Tyrol rolled his eyes in annoyance. "Maybe it would be better if you didn't keep saying the word."
"And how exactly am I supposed to teach her to not say frak if I can't say the word frak?"
"FRAK." Laura giggled delightedly and clapped her hands. "Frakfrakfrak."
"Nice, Starbuck." Tyrol hissed. "Real nice."
"Will you cut me some slack? I haven't had time to adjust to the fact that I can't cuss in front of her anymore!" Kara groaned loudly as she rubbed her eyes. "What am I gonna do? She's gonna keep saying it over and over again. It's what she does; every time she learns a new word she just keeps repeating it until you wanna rip your ears off. And when people hear her say it, they're gonna know she learned it from me! And then I might as well have 'Bad Mother' branded on my forehead."
"Soooooooooo." Cally interjected. "Teach her a new word."
"Hey!" Lee said happily from where he stood writing on the whiteboard when he saw Kara bring Laura into the briefing room. "There are my girls."
Kara walked to the front of the room holding Laura's hand, helping her up the two steps that lead to the child's father. "We wanted to come see you."
"I'm glad." Lee leaned down to kiss Laura's forehead and then stood up to wrap his arm around Kara. "Where were you this morning? I woke up and you weren't there."
"The idiot CAG scheduled me for early morning CAP." She purred as she kissed the underside of his jaw.
"Well, I made sure that that doesn't happen for the rest of the week." He assured her. "I like waking up with you there." He then leaned in to whisper in her ear. "I especially like it when you wake me up in the special way that you did yesterday."
She chuckled lowly in her throat and traced his collar. "Make it two weeks without early CAP and I'll do it every morning."
He shook his head playfully. "As absolutely wonderful as that sounds, I can't. You'd be getting special treatment."
She kissed him and nibbled on his bottom lip. "You'd be getting it too."
"Yeah, but my special treatment wouldn't take place in front of other people." He muttered against her mouth as his hands snuck under her tank.
Kara turned her head and looked at Laura. "Speaking of 'in front of other people', she's watching us."
Lee pulled back from kissing her neck and noticed Laura watching them while she sucked her thumb. "Yeah, but she doesn't know what we're doing."
Kara laughed. "I wouldn't be so sure, she's very smart." Kara leaned down and picked Laura up. "We came to see you because I taught her to say your name."
"She already says my name." Lee said as he took Laura from her and into his arms. "She's been saying Dada all week, can't get her to stop."
"Uh-huh." Kara looked to Laura and pointed at Lee. "Who's that?"
Laura laughed and kissed Lee on the nose. "Apppollllloooo."
"Hey! She said Apollo, she said Apollo!" He almost shouted in excitement as his eyes lit up and he kissed Laura back. "That is really good, little Laura."
"That's three syllables right there, baby." Kara said as she stroked Laura's hair.
"Now I'll just have to teach her to say Starbuck." Lee laughed.
"No, you won't. And I'll hurt you if you do." She pointed at Lee. She then reached in to tickle Laura's stomach. "My name is Mama."
Laura giggled and Lee and Kara joined in too.
"Son?"
They all turned to see the Admiral standing in the hatchway.
"Hey, Dad, you gotta hear this." Lee grinned as Adama walked to them. "Kara taught Laura to say my callsign."
Adama smiled sadly and caressed Laura's cheek. "You're a good girl, Laura."
"Admiral, what's wrong?" Kara whispered, seeing the agonized look on his face.
Adama looked up from the child's face. "It's happening." He told them. "Kara, you need to stay here with Laura." He then turned to face Lee fully. "But you and I need to go to Colonial One, right away."
Lee's happiness disintegrated when he realized what his father was talking about and he took in a shuddering breath. "Colonial One? Why isn't she coming to Galactica?"
"Because she wants to stay on her own ship."
"But if she's here, Cottle can—." Lee began.
"There'd be nothing Cottle could do anyway. This is happening, Lee. We can't stop it." Adama sighed. "Cottle's gonna go over with us, but it'll just be so that he can set her up to where she'll be comfortable. She wouldn't even listen when we suggested that she leave Colonial One."
"So she's conscious?" Kara asked softly.
"Yes." The Admiral answered as he stroked Laura's cheek again. "But according to Cottle, she'll only last a few more hours."
Two days later, Lee Adama stepped off the shuttle in Galactica's hangar with the intense desire to go home. Not to the quarters that he shared with two other people, but to the two other people. They were his real home.
Corporal Venner nodded somberly to Lee when he saw him walking down the corridor. "Captain Adama, it's good to see you."
"Thank you, Corporal." Lee nodded back. He then gestured to the door that Venner had been guarding. "They've been okay?"
"Yeah, they've been just fine."
Lee opened the hatch and stepped through. He paused for a second as his eyes adjusted to the only light in the room: the small lamp on the desk. He put his bag down on the floor,then heard the door to their bedroom open.
"Lee?"
Lee turned around and took her in his arms. She let her hands drift up to cup his face.
"Kara." He breathed her name reverently as she softly kissed his lips.
She pulled back from him reluctantly. "Is she—?"
Lee sighed as he shut his eyes in pain. "No. Not yet."
"Gods." She whispered back sadly. "I thought Cottle said she'd only last a few hours; it's been two days."
"She's been holding on." He replied as he touched her cheek. "I have to go back, but I had to see you; you and Laura."
"Laura's taking her nap." Kara gestured to the couch.
"Why didn't you put her in her—?" But he stopped when his gaze fell on the couch and he saw why Laura wasn't in her crib.
She didn't fit in it anymore. The toddler that he had left two days ago had been replaced by a little girl that looked to be about three and a half years old. Her body had lost its chubbiness and her brown hair was now down to her mid-neck.
"Gods, Kara." He said as he knelt beside the couch, looking at his daughter. "When the hell did this happen?"
"Yesterday morning. She came into our room and got in bed with me. I just thought she'd climbed out of her crib and came in there because she missed you. I was half-asleep so I didn't really notice." Kara sighed as her fingers traced over the worry line that had formed on her forehead. "She doesn't fit in her crib anymore, so we donated it back to the fleet. Tigh's requisitioned another bed for her. It should be here by tomorrow."
"It's still her." He whispered to himself in affirmation.
Kara smiled slightly. "Yeah, Lee. It's still her." She came up to stand behind him and rubbed his shoulders. "Wake her up."
"No." He said gently. "I don't wanna bother her."
"She'll go right back to sleep. But she's been asking about you." Kara leaned down and touched Laura's check. "Laura?"
Laura's eyes came open slowly, and instantly Lee was calmed as he saw the familiar, amazing blue of them. "Why you woke me up, Mama?"
"Hey, baby." Lee answered for Kara.
"Daddy." She yawned as she realized that he was there with her. She sat up and wrapped her arms around him.
"How's my girl, huh?" He asked as he kissed her hair.
"Missed you lots." She lay back on the couch and rubbed her eyes. "Home now, Daddy?"
Lee smiled. "Just for a little while." He put the blanket back over her. "But go back to sleep. I promise I'll still be here when you wake up."
"Promise?" Laura sighed sleepily.
"I promise. And then we can—." He stopped when he heard her gentle, subdued breathing and new that she had resumed her nap. He stood up and walked over to Kara, who was at the sink, rinsing out a glass. "She's talking now too?"
Kara didn't look at him. "She was talking before you left."
"She was saying Mama and Dada and Boy and down and mine—."
"And boat. Don't forget boat." Kara added.
"And boat for some reason that I've never been able to figure out." He pressed himself against Kara's back and she relaxed into him. "She wasn't speaking in complete sentences."
"Well, she had quite a growth spurt while you were gone." She replied with a hint of sadness as she rubbed the arm that he had wrapped around her. "And not just physically. But don't worry, Cottle said she's fine."
Lee exhaled guiltily. "I shouldn't have stayed away so long."
She turned around in his arms and traced his hairline. "Don't do that, Lee. Laura and I know why you had to go there. And we both love you for doing it."
He released her and walked a few steps to where he could glimpse Laura again.
"When do you have to go back?" Kara asked him.
"I should head back in a few hours." He answered not looking at her.
"Laura will be asleep for at least another hour." She said as she walked to him. "So……….what do you wanna do until she wakes up?"
He had her thrown against the wall of their bedroom faster than she thought was humanly possible. He pulled her shirt over her head and devoured her mouth with his own.
"Oh gods, Lee." She moaned between kisses. "I love it when……..mmm…..you answer my……..mmmmm…….questions this way." She tore open his uniform jacket and saw a button fly across the room. She groaned. "Sorry."
"Screw it." He rasped as he worked on the zipper of her pants, looking at her with hungry eyes."So, how's my other girl?"
Kara bit into the skin of his shoulder. "She missed you lots too."
"Yeah?" He whispered as he licked a path up her neck to her ear. "Show me."
She pushed back from the wall and the sudden movement caused Lee to stagger backwards a few steps. When he recovered, he grinned lustfully and playfully fell onto the bed. She grinned back and joined him there.
An hour later, when her breathing somewhat returned to normal, Kara spoke as she rolled off her back to kiss Lee's chest. "Gods, I can't believe we wasted a whole hour doing that."
He laughed breathily at her obvious joke. "I know, we could've been playing cards or going over flight rosters."
"Or knitting."
"And now we'll never……….ever…………" He teased as he kissed her neck and moved down to her collarbone. "Get that lost time back."
Kara chuckled and ran her fingers through his hair, lightly scraping her nails across his scalp. He moaned sleepily at the relaxing ministration and closed his eyes as he let out a comforted sigh.
"Are you okay?" She asked softly.
His eyes opened again and he nodded silently.
"I know it must've been hard, seeing the President like that."
"It was fine at first." He told her. "She was the same as she has always been, just…….weaker. Smaller even. She talked to Dad and Billy and me for a while, about things that we needed to know, things that needed to be taken care of. And that was hard, but I was okay with it."
"Until?" Kara whispered.
"She lost lucidity around the thirteenth hour. And when that happened, even though I knew that I couldn't bring myself to leave, I could barely stand to be in the same room with her."
"Why?" Kara questioned as she traced his bottom lip.
"Because she started talking nonsense: prophecies, scripture, destiny. That godsdamn priest was there, making it worse." He pulled her finger away from his lip so that he could bite it in agony. "And she started rambling about the Arrow of Apollo again."
"Gods, Lee." Kara whispered as she kissed him soothingly. "I'm so sorry."
"It made my heart hurt, Kara. She put so much faith into that stupid motherfrakking piece of metal, and it let her down. That was supposed to be the reason that she was dying, so that she could lead us to Earth. That was the reason that you put your life on the line, going to Caprica. So that you could bring us the frakking thing. And it was all for nothing. Because even if we could get to the Lagoon Nebula, there's no guarantee that it would lead us to Earth. But we can't even find the Lagoon Nebula from where we are. And it was our only frakking clue."
"We'll keep looking." Kara assured him.
"But we won't find it." He stated firmly. "Do you have any idea how big the galaxy is? If you want to find something, a planetarium exhibit and an arcane book of scripture is not enough. You need coordinates, vectors, points of reference."
"So we won't find Earth." She said simply as she wrapped her arms around him. "That doesn't mean that we'll be lost forever. We'll find some other planet, settle there. Roslin promised us salvation, Lee. And everyone assumed that meant Earth, but what if it just meant somewhere safe that we could start over again?" She took a cleansing breath. "I don't know, Lee. I just have this feeling that we're gonna be okay. And it's been a long time, even before the end of the world, since I've felt that way."
He felt the soft strands of her hair in his fingers. "You're the only thing that makes me feel that way." He told her. She raised her head to look in his eyes. "I wish I had your faith."
She smiled slightly. "That's okay. I have enough for all of us." She laid her head back down on his chest. "And so does the President. She has faith; she trusts that something will show us the way."
"Mama?" They heard Laura's voice call from outside the door. "I'm up from my nap now."
"Okay, baby." Kara called back. "We'll be right out." She turned to Lee as she got out of bed and tossed him his sweatpants. "Get dressed. I don't want her to be scarred for life because she saw her naked, and clearly post-coital, parents tangled up in the bed sheets in the middle of the afternoon."
"Can I have some water, Mama?" Laura called out again.
"Yeah, Laura." Lee answered back as he finished putting on his clothes and opened the door to walk out. "I'll get it for you."
Kara finished getting dressed and then made sure that the bed was made before she went back out into the living area. She saw Lee sitting on the floor with Laura in his lap. The child was holding her Aerilon Chiefs bear and laughing as Lee picked up the toy learning shapes that Gaeta had gotten for her from the nursery on the Rising Star.
"What's this color?" He asked her as he picked up a blue circle.
"Blue." Laura answered.
"Are you sure it's blue?" He teased. "Are you sure it's not yellow, or red, or purple?"
"Yeah, it's blue." Laura laughed as she reached up and pulled on his eyelids. "Just like that's blue."
"That's right. My eyes are blue, same as yours." He chuckled. He then picked up the green square and held it against the circle. "Does this fit into this?"
"No, Daddy." Laura giggled. "You can't make a square fit into a circle."
"Wow. That's really good, little Laura." He looked up at Kara and smirked. "I've been trying to teach Mama that for years."
"Ha Ha." Kara rolled her eyes. "Very funny."
They were then interrupted by the ringing phone, and Kara and Lee locked gazes.
It must have rung for a good ten seconds. Neither one wanted to move to get it, but finally they realized that they had to. Kara was still standing, so she went to answer it, and Lee went back to playing with Laura.
Kara held the phone to her ear. "This is Captain Thrace……….I see………..Yes, he's here………Sure…………I'll let him know………..Thank you." She hung up the phone and stayed with her back to him for several moments. But then she finally turned around.
Lee looked at her, and he knew. "Yeah?" He whispered.
She nodded and walked over, kneeling beside them on the floor. "Twenty minutes ago. You're father was with her."
"She'd lost consciousness about five hours before I left, did she ever—?"
"She never woke up, Lee." Kara stroked his hair. "She didn't feel anything."
"The President's gone away." Laura said as she clutched her bear tighter. "Hasn't she, Daddy?"
"Yeah, baby." Lee looked down at the blue and green shapes in his hands. "The President's gone away."
TBC
I know, I killed Roslin. I'm a bastard. Please don't hurt me.
