"Two days after the entire fleet mourned the passing of President Laura Roslin at the massive memorial service heldin the garden of Cloud Nine—democracy showed us that it does not stand still, as her recently instated Vice President William Keikeya was sworn in as President under the 18th amendment of the Articles of Colonization, which guarantees the Presidential line of succession."

Cally listened half-heartedly as Playa Palacio's voice came in over the wireless radio that she had on as she double-checked the post-flight lists of the Vipers in the bay.

She hadn't known President Roslin well, few people did. Nice lady; dedicated and with a good sense of humor. She took a deep, centering breath as she remembered the President's little joke about smashing one of the few remaining bottles of champagne over the wing of the newly constructed Blackbird.

Since the President's death, Cally had been overcome by sadness. But the sadness she felt was not about her personal loss. It was about the lost feeling she had in the pit of her stomach, the feeling that told her that Laura Roslin had given them more than water rations; she had given them hope. And the sadness she felt was also about the pain she saw on the faces of the few people that had known the President well.

"Tom Zarek was also instated this afternoon as the Vice President. His brief statement was heralded by some as a call for détente between his faction that wants aggressive overhaul of the status quo, and those who seek to preserve at all costs the government and civilization that existed before the holocaust."

The lost feeling in the pit of Cally's stomach was eclipsed by a truly nauseated one when she heard Tom Zarek's voice come over the airwaves.

"I see this day as the dawn of a new beginning for our people. Hopefully, two days ago we said goodbye not only to our beloved leader, but also to the stagnant way in which we believed we must carry over the values that were enforced on us by the society of the Twelve Colonies. It is no secret that President Roslin and I did not have similar views…………….."

Cally laughed out loud at the huge understatement.

"………………but our diverging beliefs on the direction that we felt the fleet must take to ensure survival were not greater than the belief that the fleet must, at all costs, survive. In that same vein, I am willing to put aside my differences with the brave guardians of the fleet. And I hope to one day become great friends with those most identified as our protectors. Indeed, my respect for Admiral Adama grows; much like his family has grown ……………..bigger and bigger everyday."

"Uh-oh." Cally muttered to herself as she turned off the radio. "Cat's outta the bag now."

She couldn't find it in her to care that Zarek's words would be enough for the as-yet-to-be-verified truth of Laura's existence to finally be confirmed. But she did make a mental note to catch the video feed of Zarek's speech. She could only imagine the scalding look the Admiral must have given Zarek as he sat behind the podium.

Cally had seen that look before. 'The Adama Death Glare' they called it. She was surprised Zarek hadn't burst into flames.

The long chuckle that she allowed herself was interrupted by the sound of a plane being powered up.

"What the—?" She turned around and ran to the other side of the bay, but stopped when she saw an armed marine standing close by. "I didn't think anyone was—."

She then looked up at the cockpit of the plane in question and saw Captain Adama's head sticking out of it.

"Sorry, Cally." He told her. "My fault, button got pushed by mistake."

Cally started up the ladder. "Captain, sir, you've never pushed a button by mistake for as long as I've kn—." She stopped and smiled as she saw that he was not alone. A brown-haired, blue-eyed little girl was sitting in his lap.

"Hi, Cally." Laura grinned up at her.

Cally was floored by how much the grin resembled the famous Starbuck grin. "Hello, Laura." She smiled back.

"Okay, new rule:" Lee said looking down at his daughter. "You don't touch the button unless I tell you to."

"Okay, Daddy." Laura then pointed to another knob. "What's this do?"

"That's for the auto-pilot, that's what we push when we want the plane to fly itself."

"Why would you want a machine to do what a person can do?" Laura asked innocently.

"I'll leave you two alone." Cally said as she turned around to head back down the ladder. When she got to the bottom, she saw Starbuck and Dee walking onto the flight deck. Cally met them in the middle.

"I've been looking for those two." Kara laughed as she gestured to the plane. "Shoulda known they'd be here." Kara walked up and climbed the ladder. "Hey." She smiled at them.

"Hi, Mama." Laura smiled back. "Daddy's teaching me to fly."

Kara snorted. "Yeah, uh-huh, over my dead body."

"Did you come to fly too?" Laura asked her mother.

"No." Lee answered in response. "Mama's here because it's way past your bedtime."

"Not sleepy." Laura said simply as she tapped the O2 sensor.

"I'm sorry." Kara chuckled. "Were you under the impression that little girls only had to go to bed when they were sleepy?"

Laura thought for a moment. "If I go now and don't cause any trouble, can I get a bedtime story?"

"I can do you one better." Kara smiled. "If you go now, I think you can even finagle Grandpa into reading it to you."

"Okay." Laura said as she climbed out of the cockpit.

Kara hoisted her out and down the ladder. "Dee will take you to Grandpa, I'm gonna stay and talk to Daddy."

Laura reached the floor and Dee held out her hand. "Come on, sweetheart."

Laura took it and they started to walk away. "Can we stop by my house and get the book that Father Monseau gave me?"

"Sure." Dee smiled as they went through the door followed by the guard. "I think we can do that."

Kara watched them leave and climbed back up the ladder to gaze at her husband. "We didn't know where the two of you were." She stated softly.

"I'm sorry." He whispered, looking at her lovingly. "I just wanted to spend some time with her."

"I'm glad." Kara replied as she broke his gaze sadly. "I was afraid that you'd be scared of her. Since, you know……………….she isn't the same as before you left."

"Were you scared of her?" He asked, also not looking at her as he traced the O2 sensor that Laura had just touched.

"No." She answered firmly, looking back to him.

"Then you know better than that." He said, locking gazes with her again. "You're my other half. I don't feel anything that you don't feel."

"Then you should know that it runs both ways." She replied as she laid a hand on his arm. "I'm feeling what you're feeling right now." She closed her eyes. "And I'm feeling what your father is feeling right now too. I feel how much the President's absence is affecting you both."

Lee bit his lip and let his chin fall to his chest. "Do you know what he said to me when I told him that we named our daughter Laura?"

"No."

"He said: Laura Adama. I've always liked the way that sounds."

"Gods." Kara muttered under her breath.

"Why didn't I realize that about them?" He let his head fall back on the headrest. "Why didn't I realize that they felt that way about each other?"

"Well." She shrugged. "They did have some monumental disagreements."

He looked at her mischievously. "So did you and I."

Kara smiled in return. "In all fairness, Lee, I don't think they realized that about them." She added. "But just because you don't realize something, that doesn't mean that it's not there. That doesn't mean that you don't feel it on some level."

"We would know about that." He smirked.

She gently traced his collar with her fingertips. "You were squeezing my hand so tight at the memorial service." She teased him. "I'm glad I decided not to go to the swearing-ins. The bones in my fingers would have been crushed during Zarek's speech."

"Stupid frakker." Lee rasped out. "Billy's just waiting for the fallout. Things are gonna be rough for a while."

Kara grinned the grin that had just been on Laura's face minutes before. "We've been through worse." She then got serious again. "What are we gonna say when the people in the fleet start asking about her?"

He shrugged. "Don't know."

She took his hand. "We'll just have to feel our way through it."

He entwined their fingers and looked to his lap. "I'm sorry I was so distant during and after the memorial. It's just Father Monseau and his frakking—."

"You need to get over this resentment that you feel toward him, Lee." She warned as she let out a rough breath. "He didn't cause any of this."

"Kara, it was just—. All the things he said." Lee sighed as he began to quote the priest. "Laura Roslin is now at peace. She had done all she needed to do, and the gods saw fit to bring her home."

"What was he supposed to say?"

"The truth." He replied. "How's a leader supposed to rest in peace when she didn't lead her people anywhere?"

"Maybe the truth is that she did lead us somewhere." Kara countered. "Look at where she led you and me. We wouldn't have what we have if she hadn't pushed us in that direction." Kara breathed deep. "And maybe she's at peace because she knew that what she did was all part of something bigger. I think she knew that the universe had a plan. Maybe she's at peace because she did her part, and she trusts that the people she loved will see the rest through."

Lee stared at Kara in adoring awe for several moments. "Can I just say that I love you?" He chuckled softly when he could find the words to accurately express what he felt. "And can you just remember that no matter what………….that's never gonna change?"

"Understood, Captain." She saluted as her eyes reflected the same adoration. "Get outta that cockpit and let's go home. Your dad will have someone bring Laura back when she's fallen asleep."


"And a curse was set which stated that the twins of Zeus could never be brought forth on any firm land that had been touched by the sun. To circumvent the curse, the king of the gods raised a floating island from the dark depths of the ocean, so that he might see his children. Artemis came to the island first, and seeing as how she was born fully grown, helped Apollo be born. She then carried her brother to their father and laid him at Zeus's feet."

"That's a good story." Dee grinned, looking over to the couch where the Admiral was lying with Laura tucked in the crook of his arm.

Adama looked up from the book that he had been reading and rolled his eyes at Dee over the rim of his glasses. "She was supposed to have been asleep by now."

"Keep reading, Grandpa." Laura yawned.

"Story's over, little girl." Adama told her as he closed the book.

"So read me another one." Laura replied as she opened it back up.

"He's already read you three." Dee pointed out as she straightened the papers on the Admiral's desk.

"Yeah." Laura giggled. "But he kept saying all the names wrong."

"Did not." Adama pouted in mock-insult.

"Uh-huh, did too." Laura said as she pointed to certain passages. "Here, you said that it was Heffius that built Artemis and Apollo their chariots, but it was actually Hephaestus." She turned the page and showed him another. "And the Aloadae were the angry giants that Apollo shot with flaming arrows when they tried to storm Mt. Olympus…………..you called them the BOB's, Grandpa. That's not their names."

"Forgive me." He smiled as Dee laughed from across the room. "You are, of course, right. Grandpa's tired and he didn't quite know how to pronounce the names. I thought I could just squeak by, but thank you for correcting me."

"S'okay." Laura yawned again as she shut her eyes. "Keep reading."

"Any particular story?" Adama replied as he moved a strand of hair from the sleepy child's forehead.

"Read the first one again; about the chariots." Laura mumbled sleepily as she laid her head down on the Admiral's chest. "And say the names right this time."

Adama turned back to the appropriate page and began reading. "Seeing as how they were celestial beings, the twins of Zeus were given the task of navigating the heavens. So Hephaestus, the god of craftsman, constructed magical chariots in which Apollo and Artemis could travel the stars. The king and queen of the gods were most pleased, and Hephaestus was released from the exile imposed upon him because of betrayal."

"Admiral?" Dee whispered and pointed to Laura, who was now sound asleep, snoring on the Admiral's chest.

Adama stood up carefully and slowly, easing the child onto the couch and covering her with a blanket. He then turned to Dualla. "Why don't you call it a night, Dee?"

Dualla again pointed to Laura. "Do you want me to take her to her quarters for you?"

"She's dead asleep." He replied as he came to his desk. "She can stay here tonight. Let Lee and Kara have a quiet night, so that they can rest."

She looked at him, the concern etched on her face. "What about you?"

The Admiral lowered his eyes sadly. "Haven't slept much in the last few days, don't know why that'd change now." He took off his glasses. "I just kind of feel, after everything that's happened……………..I need to be able to keep an eye on her; make sure that she's okay."

Dualla looked down to the papers in her hands and then placed them on the desk in front of him. "Do you need me to do anything?"

"I need you to take care of yourself, Petty Officer." Adama replied seriously. "You've been going non-stop ever since—." His head dropped. "It didn't go unnoticed that you never left our sides during the funeral or the swearing-ins. Not mine or Lee's or Billy's—excuse me, President Keikeya's."

She never looked up at him as she went about straightening the papers on his desk until they were in neat, perpendicular piles. "I had to do something. I mean, I barely knew the woman. But you just named three people that I care about deeply, and they all loved her like she was family. So she was my family by extension, I guess you could say."

Adama stopped the nervous ministrations of her hands and gently touched her forearm. "You're a good woman, Dee. Your father would be proud of you."

She laughed wearily. "I'm not sure that he would be, actually." She paused and then lowered her head before lifting it back up to look into the Admiral's eyes. "Are you proud of me?"

Adama smiled genuinely. "Always."

She smiled back. "Then that's enough." She laid her hand on top of his and squeezed it before walking to the door, she then looked affectionately over to the sleeping child. "I'll go find Captains Thrace and Adama; let them know that Laura's here tonight."


Lee's tired eyes adjusted to the scene before him as he opened the hatch to his quarters. Kara was sitting in a chair at the table, brush in hand, and Laura was sitting directly in front of her.

"Ow, Mama, it hurts."

"I know it does, sweetheart." Kara replied as she ran the brush through Laura's hair. "You had zero tangles when you went to sleep eight hours ago. How is it possible that you now have one so twisted, I can't get the brush through it?" She ran it through again.

"Owwwwww." Laura squirmed in her seat. "Stop, Mama."

"Good morning." Lee finally spoke up from the hatch.

Kara and Laura looked over at him and grinned as he closed the door and walked to the table.

"Hey." Kara gleamed as he kissed her on the lips. "How was the graveyard shift?"

"Dead." He replied as he then kissed Laura on the forehead.

Laura giggled. "That's funny, Daddy."

Kara took the opportunity to use the distraction to resume brushing Laura's hair.

"Oww, Mama. I'm serious, that hurts."

"Okay." Kara stated as she turned Laura's shoulders around to face her. "One more time, and if the tangle's not out after that, I'll stop."

Laura nodded. "Okay."

Kara swiped the brush through.

"Is the tangle out?" Laura asked hopefully.

Kara frowned. "No." But she ran the brush through, hard, one extra time. That got the tangle out.

"Owwww." Laura shouted as she rubbed her head.

Kara showed her the brush. "See? It's all out now."

"You said you'd stop." Laura pouted. "You lied, Mama."

"I know, baby. I'm an awful Mama." Kara kissed the crown of her head and rose from her chair, walking into the kitchen area."But it was just a little lie. And I couldn't have you walking around like some kinda street urchin. It would reflect poorly on the Adama name."

Lee smirked at Kara from behind her back. "Like the Adama name wasn't sullied beyond repair the day you took it."

"Hey!" Kara laughed as she turned around and threw the brush in his direction.

He watched it narrowly fly past his head and winked at her as he popped a mint in his mouth. "Nice aim."

"Thank you." She smirked as she picked up her coffee cup and put it in the sink. "I somehow knew when I married you; I'd get lots of practice throwing things at your head."

Lee looked down at his daughter who was still pouting and rubbing her head. "Does it still hurt?"

"Uh-huh." She whined.

"Yeah?" He picked her up and sat her on the table as he pulled out another mint. "Want some candy?"

"Uh-huh." She said as she took it from him.

Kara turned around and glared at him. "Don't give her candy. She hasn't finished her breakfast yet." She pointed at Laura and then at the half-full bowl on the table. "Finish your cereal."

"I don't like cereal." Laura said simply.

"Tough." Kara replied. "Little girls need their breakfast if they're gonna grow up to be big and strong."

"I think she's already got that part more than covered." Lee joked.

"Lee!" She glared at him with her hands on her hips.

"Kara! The only thing that's gonna give her enough nutrition to help her grow at the rate she's been growing is the supplemental shots that Cottle gives her every week. So don't keep shoving the cereal down her throat if she doesn't want to eat it." Lee gestured to Laura, who was loudly chewing her mint. "She wanted some candy. I gave her some candy."

"So we're just letting her do whatever she wants now?" Kara grinned shrewdly at him. "We gonna let her play with matches now too?"

"Like what, for our entertainment?" He deadpanned and then saw her double over in laughter. "Giving her candy and not making her finish her breakfast isn't going to turn her into an unruly, disobedient brat………………like you." His eyes lit up as she walked to him and swatted him on the shoulder. He just wrapped his arms around her and leaned in to kiss her neck. "Give her a break, Starbuck."

"Yeah, Starbuck." Laura giggled from her seat on the table.

Kara pulled back from Lee and gave him an eye-twinkle that was only partially disguised by a dirty look. "See what you did? You're in the room less than five minutes and look at the trouble you cause." She walked over to Laura and tickled her under her arms. "My name is not Starbuck, my name is Mama."

Laura giggled and then hopped off the table. "Mama, where's my book?"

"The last place I remember having it was in our bed when I read you your story last night. So check there." Kara pointed to the room. "And hurry, or else we're gonna be late."

"Where are you going?" Lee asked Kara in slight concern as Laura went off.

"I have a shift, and I got somebody to watch Laura so that you could have some uninterrupted sleep." She said as she gathered Laura's things together and put them in her bag.

"I thought everybody was busy." Lee added.

"They are." Kara corrected. "So I got Helo to watch her."

Lee felt his heart drop low in his chest as he heard the verbal slip. He heard her suck in a sharp breath and she stopped her movements instantly, so obviously she realized what she had said as well.

"Duck. I meant to say Duck." Kara croaked out as she resumed gathering Laura's things. "Duck's gonna watch her."

Lee looked at his wife sadly, but decided to let the slip go. "Are you sure that's a good idea? I mean, the last time I checked, Duck wasn't exactly fond of the whole reason that Laura exists in the first place."

Kara looked up at him and smiled widely. "You should have seen the two of them last night when I took her to the mess for dinner. Duck mentioned that he was from Heran Island on Virgon, and Laura kept him talking about the ocean for forty-five minutes." Kara chuckled softly. "The grin on his face was so big as he described it to her. I've never seen him so animated about anything."

"Mama?" Laura called out from the other room. "I can't find my book."

"Check under the covers, baby." Kara called back. "It's probably under there."

Lee smiled before he decided he needed to get serious again. "How long is your shift?"

"Eight hours." Kara answered. "But then I have to meet with Kat for a few hours about a new training idea that she had." She rolled her eyes. "As much as it pains me to admit it, it's actually a pretty good idea. Duck's gonna watch Laura for the morning, then your dad's gonna get her in the afternoon."

Lee began reluctantly. "I need to talk to you about something. Something about Zar—."

"Found it!" Laura said triumphantly as she came out of the bedroom holding her book.

Kara walked to Lee and pressed herself against him. "I'm free for an hour after my shift but before I meet Kat. We can talk then." She then put her face in the hollow of his neck and he could feel her breath against his skin. "And if you're still asleep, I'll just have to find an extra inventive way to wake you up."

Lee moaned low in his throat as he ran his hands up and down her sides.

"Hmm-hmph." Laura coughed pointedly. "Little child standing right here."

"Okay, okay." Kara pulled away from Lee and he reluctantly disentangled their hands. "We're leaving."

"Bye." Lee grinned as they both moved to the door. "Play nice."

"I always do, Daddy." Laura smiled as she put her bag over her shoulder.

"Talking about Mama, sweetheart." He replied as Laura started to giggle. "Hey, little Laura, since Mama's gonna be busy this evening, you wanna go to the Greenleaf and see Boy?"

Laura started to hop up and down. "Yeah!"

"Alright then." Lee laughed. "We'll go tonight."

Kara opened the door and Laura was quickly behind her. "You got the picture that you drew that you wanted to show Duck?"

"Hold on." Laura stopped and ran back to the table to pick up the drawing. She showed it to Lee. "It's of the ocean, Daddy."

"It's beautiful." He smiled at her.

"Come on." Kara said as Laura ran back to the door. "You wanted to show your picture to Corporal Venner too." Laura walked back to the door and just before Kara closed it, she spoke. "Sleep well, Lee. Love you."

Lee watched the hatch close and despite what he knew was coming; he couldn't help but smile at the wholly crazy but satisfying direction his life had taken.

He got into bed and dreamed sweetly. Trying hard not to think about the conversation he would soon have to have with Kara.


Eight hours and forty-five minutes later, he sat on their bed, looking at the numb and confused look on Kara's face.

She bit the tip of her thumb and took a deep breath. "When you say 'excessive calls'... exactly how many are we talking about?"

He closed his eyes. "I honestly don't know the exact number."

"Ballpark it." She pleaded desperately.

"Okay." He said, looking straight at her. "In the two months that Zarek's been Vice President …………….about twenty five."

She bolted up from the bed. "Twenty five." She laughed in nervous hysteria. "Twenty five? And those are just the ones that you know about?"

"We know about all of them." He tried to calm her. "We've been tracking his movements. And we've been monitoring his calls from the Astral Queen, Cloud Nine, Colonial One—."

"He could be talking to people in person, or he could be making calls from any ship in the fleet-- and you frakking know it." She screamed as she pointed her finger at him. "We have given this man total access to any ship."

"He doesn't have access to any ship." Lee shot back. "He's a terrorist—."

"He's the gods damn Vice President!" She answered harshly. "We made him Vice President, Lee!"

Lee lowered his head in defeat as he stayed seated on the bed. "We unscrambled the calls, but Zarek was speaking in code in all the transmissions."

"Yeah, well, sociopaths are usually quite smart." She hissed through clenched teeth.

"He was asking them to do something for him. But he could just be asking for damaging info that he can use against us, another picture—."

"Oh gods, you are so deluded. This isn't about a frakking picture." She rubbed her temple. "Zarek will do whatever he has to do. The fleet already knows about Laura, Lee. And the only thing that we had going for us was that, for some inexplicable reason, nobody seemed to care. Zarek is not making these calls so that he can manipulate the public, he's already tried that and it didn't work. And we already know that he has no problem manipulating his friends into trying to kill Adamas. If he's calling in favors, it is NOT for a picture." She turned away from him and braced the wall. "Tell me exactly what he said in the calls." She ordered as she faced him again, the low volume of her voice not disguising her fear.

He reached out and gently took her hand. "He was asking for help in fixing a broken appliance."

She laughed softly, sorrowfully. "An appliance? Like a toaster?"

He nodded. "He said he was looking for a trusted repairman to take care of the problem."

She roughly pulled her hand away. "So why is he frakking still breathing?"

"We can't just go in with guns blazing, Kara!" He shouted in exasperation. "Because you're right, he is the Vice President." He stood and took her arm. She tried to pull away, but he pulled her to him with all the force he had and wrapped himself around her. "It will be soon. But it can't look like an assassination. And it can't be traced back to us-- or anybody else in the military."

She surrendered to his embrace and buried her face in his shoulder. "This pisses me off, Adama."

"I know it does." He stroked her hair. "But I promise you, we will take care of Zarek."

She pulled back and smiled slightly at him. "I know you will. That isn't what's pissing me off. I'm pissed off because this son of a bitch is trying to hurt my child and I wanna be the one to put a bullet in his head." She rolled her eyes. "But I can't, because we have to be frakking discreet about it."

He looked deep in her eyes. "You wanna hear some good news?"

"Sure." She whispered as she put her head on his shoulder again. "After this, I could use some."

"They've been saying no." He whispered back.

"Who's been saying no?"

"The people that Zarek's been calling. That's why he's had to call so many. He's getting desperate, because nobody wants to do it."

She pulled back and looked into his eyes. "The Vice President of the Colonies has been calling around asking patriots to 'do the honorable thing' and execute an 'enemy of the people' and they've been saying NO?"

"Yeah." He nodded as he tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "Strange isn't it?"

"Are they just afraid of your father, or the wrath of the military, or the government, or—?"

His eyes shone. "There are a million reasons that I can think of why they're refusing, but I think the real reason is the one that we've never been able to articulate."

"What the frak is going on here, Lee?" She asked with child-like wonder in her voice.

"Don't know." He replied honestly. "Don't care either. As long as Laura is kept safe, I'm not gonna question any of it."

She nodded in understanding. "I have to go meet Kat."

"So go meet Kat." He leaned in a kissed her. "I'll go get Laura from Dad's. We'll probably be back from the Greenleaf by the time you get back."

Her eyes got extremely wide. "You're still going to let her go see Boy?"

"Yeah." He said simply. "I told her we would."

"But with—."

"It's a totally unscheduled visit. Zarek doesn't know that we're gonna be there." He put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "I'll get Racetrack to take us over in a Raptor and Corporal Venner is with her today. You trust them, right?"

"Yeah." She replied as she traced his collar. "When does your shift start?"

"It's supposed to start at 20:00, but it's just an office rotation; some paperwork, reports I needed to do." He exhaled. "But I wanna be with you tonight. I'll just get up extremely early tomorrow and do them then."

"I couldn't do any of this if you weren't right here with me, Lee." She looked up at him through lowered eyelashes.

"Then it's probably a good thing I'm not going anywhere."


Admiral Adama looked up from the book he was reading and gazed at his family as the three of them sat on the floor of his quarters, playing a board game. He listened to the sound of his granddaughter and daughter-in-law laughing, and for the first time in quite a while, he felt the hole in his heart begin to heal.

"This is actually quite funny, Admiral. You have an extensive literary collection and yet you're reading a children's book."

Adama looked over at the amused face of President Roslin as she sat next to him on the couch. "What's so funny about it?"

Roslin smiled widely and took Laura's favorite book from his hands--the mythology book that Father Monseau had given her. "I thought you didn't believe in the gods."

"They're just stories." He smiled back.

"Really?" She asked cleverly as she traced the octagonal edges with care. "Is that all they are?"

They were interrupted by a loud burst of laughter and clapping from the floor as Laura won the current round. The others in the room were oblivious to Roslin's sudden presence.

"She's beautiful, Bill." Roslin whispered as she looked at her namesake.

"I know." He answered with pride. "She is one of the most amazing people I've ever had come into my life."

"Captain Apollo doesn't look so good though." Roslin laughed as she saw Lee sitting on the floor, sneezing and rubbing his watery eyes.

"Allergies." Adama replied, also laughing slightly. "He took her to see her cat tonight before they came here, and I guess it affected him. I don't know why he continues to go with her if it's just going to make him sick."

"Because she loves that cat, and he loves her." Roslin nodded firmly. "And yeah, he knows she's half machine. He doesn't care, he loves her anyway."

"It's been two months since you died." He said sadly as he looked to his lap. "Billy's doing well, really well. People like him. And yet, I still feel like I'm totally lost without you here to guide me."

"I'm still here." She answered simply as she looked at the three younger Adamas. "I've never left. And I never will."

He looked back up to her. "So much is happening, and sometimes I'm so………..afraid." He saw a surprised look grace her face at that revelation. "You'll watch over us?"

"Yes." She laughed slightly. "But watching is all I'll really be able to do, I'm afraid. However, something much bigger than me will take care of everything else."

"I'd like to believe that, Laura." He said hopefully.

"Then believe it." She whispered affectionately as she held out her hand. "You have my word."

He gently took her hand and then leaned over to place a small kiss on her lips, still feeling their warmth against his own.

The Admiral awoke slowly to the same feeling.

"Grandpa? Grandpa!"

His eyes adjusted and he saw his granddaughter giving him a pecking kiss as she sat on his lap.

"You fell asleep." Laura giggled at him."And give me back my book."

"It's late, Dad. We're going home." Lee said, rubbing his reddened eyes as he finished putting the game that they had been playing back init's box.

"Quit touching your eyes." Kara told Lee. "That'll just make it worse."

"They itch, Kara!" He replied in annoyance.

"Well, then you're just gonna have to be a big Captain in the Colonial Fleet and deal with it!" She shot back.

"Children." Adama warned them. He then saw them smile and chuckle at each other because of his admonishment. He kissed Laura on the head and gave her back her book. "Go to bed, little girl."

"You too, Grandpa." She said as she got off the couch and walked to the door.

"Goodnight, Dad." Lee said as he picked Laura up.

"Goodnight, Admiral." Kara added as they walked through the door.

When it had shut behind them, the Admiral looked around the totally empty room and sighed. But it was not a tortured or anguished sigh; just a tired one.

He walked to his bed, and for the first time in months,he felt that he'd be able to sleep without demons, past or present, coming to him in his dreams.

TBC