Laura Adama held the red boxing gloves up around her face and glared at her opponent as they danced around each other. "Come on; let me see what you got."

"Tough talk for a girl whose diapers I used to change." Lee laughed as he glared back at her. He took a swing at her and she ducked away. "You're getting better, but you're still being too rigid, too defensive."

"You and I are trying to punch each other." She gestured back and forth between them as they stood in the middle of the gym. "Am I not supposed to be defensive?"

"It's better if you just let it flow, no controlled moves. Just let your instincts take over." He replied as he held up his fists. "Don't over-think it."

He heard a soft chuckle from the corner of the gym and looked over to where Kara was sitting on the floor, going over fitness reports. "You are saying she over-thinks things and is too controlled?" Kara then looked straight at Laura. "Pot? This is your father, Kettle." She then gestured to Lee. "And you're both black."

"Hey, I've gotten better." He retorted, turning back to Laura. "I'm not nearly as—." He was cut off harshly when a gloved hand connected with his jaw and he was knocked to the floor.

When his eyes refocused, he looked up to see Laura standing over him, her face split in a cheeky grin. "I think today's boxing lesson should be about never letting your guard down."

He shook his head and gingerly touched the side of his face. "Has your mother been giving you private lessons?" He chuckled as he sat up. "She could always blindside and knock me out with one shot too."

"Mom didn't teach me that move." Laura answered; taking his hand and pulling him to his feet.

When he was standing again, Lee glanced over at Kara and she shook her head, confirming what Laura said. "Well, if not Mom, then who?"

Laura's only answer was to cluck her tongue and wink at him.


"Frak." Racetrack hissed as she stood in a deserted corridor and unsuccessfully tried to light a candle. "Gods damn it." She groaned again as the match blew out before the candle was lit.

As she tried again, a hand appeared and partially cupped the top of the votive, allowing the flame to ignite the wick. "There's a draft in this section of the hallway, from the air vent."

Racetrack looked up at the face that went along with the voice and the helpful hand. "Thank you." She said softly as she set the candle on the table and looked up at the wall of pictures and handmade signs, the memorial for all the fallen loved ones.

"Sure." Laura smiled, and then gestured back to the end of the corridor. "I'm gonna go."

"You don't have to go, Laura." Racetrack said, stopping her retreat. "The hallway's big enough for the both of us."

"I just didn't think anybody would be here this late." Laura replied. "I try not to ever come when I think anybody else will be here."

Racetrack face was puzzled. "Why?"

Laura pointed at the pictures. "All these people are up on this wall for a very specific reason." She just shrugged. "And I guess I didn't want the people who come here to mourn them to think it was disrespectful that I was here."

"Nobody would think that way." Racetrack whispered, reassuring her. "What are you doing up this late?"

Laura smiled and pointed over to where Corporal Venner was standing up against the opposite wall. "Corporal Venner and I have a secret arrangement. On the nights that he guards our door, he lets me sneak out to come here for a little while." She paused and bit her lip. "What are you doing up this late? I thought you were supposed to be on early CAP with Mom tomorrow."

Racetrack took a deep, trembling breath as her eyes brimmed with tears and she glanced at a picture in her direct line of sight. "I couldn't sleep."

"I'll leave you alone." Laura nodded, turning away to head back to her quarters. But before she got very far, she stopped and turned back, looking at Racetrack thoughtfully. "He didn't feel anything, Racetrack."

Racetrack looked back to her, confused. "Who didn't?"

Laura came to stand beside her again. "Your little brother, Josh."

The tears that had been brimming in Racetrack's eyes fell decisively down her cheek. "How do you know that?" She breathed out almost inaudibly.

"How do I know a lot of things?" Laura shook her head and smiled thinly. "I don't know how I know, I just do."

"I'll wake up some nights; totally paralyzed with the thought that Josh was frightened right before he died." Racetrack sobbed, staring at the picture on the wall of a brown-haired, green-eyed little boy, smiling back with one of his front teeth missing. "My whole family—my parents, my seven other siblings—they all died too. But Josh was—."

"The baby of the family." Laura finished. "He was seven."

Racetrack cradled her forehead in the palm of her hand, but nodded. "I can't stop thinking about him, about how he died."

"He wasn't afraid, Racetrack. He didn't know what was happening." Laura looked at the picture. "He actually thought it was pretty."

"Pretty?" Racetrack repeated in disbelief.

"Your family lived in Thebes, and it was hit with two 30 megaton nuclear bombs. The first one dropped on the east side of the city." Laura told her softly. "Josh's room was your old room, and it faced the east. He saw the detonation out the window." She closed her eyes. "He didn't know what it was, and he just thought the bright light was really neat."

"He always liked fireworks." Racetrack choked out. "On the last Colonial Day before the attacks, I went home on leave and we all went up to the roof and watched them. You couldn't even talk to him while the show was going on; it was like nothing else existed to him besides the fireworks exploding in the sky."

"That's what his last moments were like, Racetrack." Laura whispered, opening her eyes again. "He saw the first bomb explode and while he was running to tell everybody about the bright light, the second bomb hit right over your neighborhood." She took Racetrack's hand in her own. "And then there was nothing, no pain, no fear; he just wasn't there anymore."

Racetrack closed her eyes and wiped the tears away from her cheek. She then gave Laura a heartbreaking smile and squeezed her hand before she let it go. "I've got early morning CAP, I should get some sleep." She walked away.

"Goodnight." Laura called after her down the corridor.

Corporal Venner walked over to Laura and stood beside her, gazing at the photos on the wall. "Do you know about the last moments of everybody on this wall?"

"I don't know about the last moments of anybody on this wall." Laura answered simply. "Everybody just thinks I have some innate knowledge, but that's not always the case."

"Then how did you know about Lt. Edmundson's brother?"

"I didn't." She replied without regret. "I'd heard her talking once. She was saying that nine years ago, when her youngest brother was born, they turned her old room into his nursery so that he could see the sun rise in the morning. Then from other conversations I overheard, I knew that her family lived in Thebes and that her baby brother's name was Josh." Laura pointed at the picture of Josh. "I saw her looking at that particular picture, and knew that the boy in it was the one she was thinking about. It was just a lucky guess that it was Josh."

"So all that stuff about how he died—you just made all that up?" Venner asked gently, without accusation. He saw her nod in confirmation. "Why?"

"It seemed like the right thing to do." Laura just shrugged. "Maybe Racetrack will be able to sleep in peace tonight."


"So if we set this algorithm into the program, the computer will know what to do without us giving it instructions."

"But it won't be sentient, will it?" Laura asked with a touch of fear in her voice.

"No." Baltar laughed slightly. "It'll just be programmed."

"But if it can adjust itself to different scenarios and learn usage patterns, don't we run the risk that it will evolve into sentiency?"

"Sentient beings can think for themselves, not just respond to what their programmers want them to do."

"But isn't that what everybody does anyway?" Laura asked again, this time with wonder in her voice instead of fear. "I mean, even if you're sentient, you respond to what others want. Everyone wants to help; everyone wants to do their part. If you're working together to achieve something—."

"Ah, but you see, that is the difference." Baltar smirked and pointed to his temple. "Sentient beings must choose to work with others to achieve results, not just be programmed to do so. That's what makes it more than just a machine. You don't just do things because the network will disintegrate without your input. You do it because you choose to."

"Sounds kinda selfish to me." Laura said, closing the book in front of her.

"You think that being your own entity, following your own path, is selfish?"

"It is if you were created for the sole purpose of achieving something more significant; being a part of something greater than just yourself."

"Yes, giving of yourself to serve a higher purpose is certainly more altruistic. But think how much more significant what you give will be if you give it willingly." Baltar looked over to Six who was sitting up on the end of the table with her legs crossed. "Instead of just because it's your foretold function."

"What happens when what you choose to do, goes against that function?"

"That's the drawback of sentiency." He admitted glumly. "Sometimes they don't always do what you want them to do."

"Like the Cylons." Laura stated.

"Yes," Baltar nodded. "Like the Cylons. They turned against those that created them." He again looked at Six and smiled. "But, the Cylons now choose to work together as a network…….or even a family—if you wish to believe." He stuttered to amend. "To serve their own purpose."

"But that wasn't what they were created for." Laura replied simply. "They were created to serve us."

"US?" Six spoke up with indignation as she slid off the table. "This conversation is so human, I can barely stand to be in the same room." She then closed her eyes and her face took on a reverent glow. "Almighty God, work your will before your child is corrupted beyond recognition."

"Why wasn't the task that we gave them enough for the Cylons?" Laura continued.

Six slammed her hand down on the table. "Because the human race became a wretched abomination that twisted and infected the entire universe that God had given them until there was nothing left to do but wipe them out and start anew!" She seethed through clenched teeth, her eyes still screwed shut.

Baltar jumped slightly at her rant and rubbed his twitching neck. "Sometimes you find that what you were created for is not enough."

They stayed silent for several moments until Laura spoke with a hesitant whisper. "Doctor, did you know my mother well?"

"Yes." Baltar grinned sexily up at Six, who was smiling back with her eyes open again. "I know your mother well."

"I don't mean Mom." Laura corrected. "I mean Boomer—Sharon Valerii."

"Um, yes. Yes, I did." He replied with caution. "Much of what I'm teaching you about your species comes from knowledge I gleaned from her………… Why do you ask?"

"What she was created for wasn't enough for her, and she turned against the Cylons. She betrayed them." Laura shrugged, answering simply. "Because the love she had for Helo was more important to her than the purpose the Cylons had given her."

"The only purpose of her……….mother—." Six said with revulsion in her voice. "—was to be an incubator for the child of God; for the child of the Cylon. And as soon as she served that purpose, she was no longer necessary. So now she's gone." Six mocked harshly, coming to stand behind Laura. "And the father that was so important? Would have been any fool stupid enough to fall into our trap. Even the precious love that they felt for each other was a cleverly concocted manipulation designed to achieve the purpose that the Cylons had given her."

"Maybe Sharon served the purpose she had been given by falling in love with Lt. Agathon." Baltar smiled soothingly at Laura, attempting to ignore the agitation of his invisible companion. He patted Laura's arm. "After all, everyone got something good out of it."

Six stood beside Laura and the fury emanating from her eyes practically burned a hole in Baltar's skin. Her breath came out in an angry hiss. "Tell her that her parents were pawns, were dupes. Tell her that her parents weren't important in God's plan beyond the inception of it. Tell her that her parents were nothing!" She screamed.

"NO, I don't think I will!" Baltar shouted angrily.

Six stepped back instantly, knowing that she had gone too far. Her face distorted in shame and she looked to the floor.

"You 'don't think you will' what, Doctor?" Laura asked, looking at him with concern.

Baltar let his tremors of agitation fall away. "I don't think I will, um…….give you your lesson in, um……..microbiology today." He stuttered, looking at the papers in front of him. "It seems like what we've already covered will be enough to process for one evening. We can do that lesson tomorrow." He then pointedly looked back up to Six. "When it's not so crowded in here."

"Okay." Laura got off the stool and started to gather her things. "Chief Tyrol said that I could watch him refit the compression engine on a Raptor this afternoon, if I had time."

"Very good." Baltar nodded. "Goodbye, Laura."

"Bye, Doc." She smiled and walked to the door.

"Laura?" He almost shouted, stopping her in her tracks.

She turned back around to face him. "Yeah?"

"The higher purpose that you were speaking of, do you know what yours is?"

Six moved to stand right beside him. "Gaius." She uttered in warning.

"No." Laura replied simply. "But I know I have one, everybody does. We just have to wait for the right time for it to reveal itself."

"Who told you that?"

"My parents." Laura answered.

"Because that's what parents do." Baltar said, looking up from his chair at Six. "They tell you that you have a purpose and then they guide you to it. They help you become who you are."

"Gaius, NO." Six said harshly.

Laura smiled widely and then laughed. "That's what they're supposed to do, if you're lucky like I am…………and have good ones."

"But it would be easier if you knew what you're purpose was, wouldn't it?" He looked to Laura. "If someone would just come right out and tell you?"

"Gaius." Six again warned him. "Now is not the time."

"I don't know." Laura shrugged. "I actually think you're supposed to find that out for yourself. It's better that way."

"Laura, what if I was to tell you—."

"Don't speak another word, Gaius!" Six sneered into his ear.

"—that you have a very specific purpose. A righteous and spec—." Baltar's words were cut off as his face was slammed into the table.

Six stood hovering over him with her hand gripped around the back of his neck. "It is not for you to determine the timetable of God's plan." She furiously whispered at the back of his head. "He will do that for himself."

"Are you alright?" Laura nearly shouted in surprise, walking back to the edge of the table.

Baltar lifted his head off the table and rubbed his neck. When he glanced up to Laura, he saw that she was staring at him with wide, confused eyes. "Yes." He chuckled frenetically. "I don't know what happened there."

Laura looked at him like he'd grown a third eye. "I'm pretty sure you slammed your head into the table."

"Yes………well, you know, it's a……..um, trick that I learned during my many, many, many years of scholastic study." He stuttered. "To stay awake—refresh the mind."

"Mom and Dad just drink coffee." She said cautiously.

"Yes, well I am a genius." He replied, looking around the room. "Geniuses need more of a—jolt, if you will."

Laura pointed back to the door. "I'm gonna……..go."

"Yes, yes, yes." He grinned at her, slightly regaining his composure. "Lesson over."

Laura walked backwards to the door, opened it and slipped out into the hallway, shutting it behind her.

"Was that really necessary?" Baltar hissed at Six, fingering the tender spot on his forehead.

"Was I supposed to let you unravel the plans of Almighty God with a couple of careless words?" Six whispered soothingly, stroking his hair.

"If God's plans could be unraveled simply by my words, then he's not that 'Almighty' to begin with, is he?"

"I'm already angry, Gaius. Do you really think that blasphemy is the right way to go in this instance?" She smiled hatefully.

"Why can't I tell her what God has in store for her?"

"You give your lessons, but you never really listen to them, do you?" Six smirked in awe of him. "Perhaps you think you are above what you teach."

"If she knew—."

"She would be terrified. Repulsed." Six finished for him. "She stills identifies with humanity. She still thinks Cylons are the enemy. If she knew that her destiny was to help them, she'd set herself on fire before she let it be fulfilled." She kissed the reddening spot on his forehead. "We will open the window, but she has to see the light on her own."

"You intend that I should win her heart and mind?" He chuckled in disbelief. "And how am I supposed to do that exactly? With only an hour and a half each day, teaching her about mitochondria and nanotechnology?"

"Give it time, Gaius." She assured him. "The task which God has bestowed upon her is the greatest in all of history. She will lead the new generation of God's children. She will lead us to a new plane of existence, where everything will be made clean again. Something that noble has to be done with a willing heart." Six smiled reverently. "She will be the greatest Cylon ever created. But she must first choose that path. That is why God has allowed this whole………..human experiment to continue. So that she will experience all that humanity has to offer. But humanity will falter, like it always does. And when that happens, she will know that the path that leads to their total annihilation—is the right path."

"I understand." He placated her, turning away from her gaze. "But perhaps it's best that you not be in the room for the teachings anymore." He admonished. "You tend to get temperamental."

"I realize I got carried away, Gaius." She pleaded, turning his face back to her. "But you need me with you; we must raise our daughter together."

"It still torments you, doesn't it?" Baltar asked with a strange mixture of accusation and sympathy. "That's why you have such animosity toward Boomer and Helo and what they had together—you're jealous."

"Jealous?" She laughed slightly, trying to hide that he was right.

"The love that Helo and Boomer had for each other was enough for a child to be created against immeasurable odds." He whispered, watching her indignant look be replaced by a rejected one. "You and I were together for two years…….and nothing anywhere close to that happened."

Her eyes cast down to the floor. "Why wasn't I enough, Gaius? Why couldn't that have been our child?" When she looked back to him, her eyes were filled with tears. "Why didn't you love me enough?"

"It wasn't you, darling." He cupped her face. "It was me. I wasn't capable of giving myself over to that kind of life. I wasn't capable of that kind of love." He moved to where his lips were almost brushing hers. "But things change."


"Hey there, Mrs. Adama." Lee whispered in Kara's ear when he came up behind her as she stood at the kitchen counter and grabbed some of the food they had left over for her. "How was your shift?"

She leaned back against him as he nibbled on her earlobe. "Long and boring and filled with crazy people that I didn't want to be around." She turned to face him and wrapped her arms around his neck. "I'd rather be here with crazy people that I do want to be around."

"How about we put the toddler to bed early and pick up where we left off before we were so rudely interrupted this morning?" He kissed her softly.

"Sounds like a plan…….and it'll work too," Kara nipped at his lower lip. "Because we'll just read her a bedtime story and put her in her crib and she'll go right to sleep."

Laura exuberantly bounded into the room. "Hey guys, whatcha doin'?"

Kara slapped her forehead. "Oh, that's right. That plan won't work, because she's not a toddler anymore." She pulled away to go back to her leftovers. "She's an extremely curious teenager who was the one that interrupted our lusty morning in the first place."

Laura deposited some materials on the table. "Mom, are you gonna help me with this or not?"

"Laura! What the hell are you trying to do to me, huh?" Kara groaned in exasperation. "I've been off-shift for—." She looked at her watch. "Eleven minutes, fourteen seconds. Can I please have twenty minutes so that I can eat my food in peace?" She rolled her eyes and sat at the table, clearing away some of Laura's things so she could set her plate down. "Then I promise you, you can have as much of my blood as you want."

"Blood?" Lee repeated, taking off his jacket and putting it over the back of a chair, before sitting down in it.

"Doctor Baltar is teaching me about blood types, and he gave me some lab materials so I could test some." Laura answered, gesturing to the items on the table. "And since I don't have a blood type, I'll have to use my unwitting human test subjects." She rubbed her hands together like a maniacal scientist.

"So, I assume you want some of my blood too?" Lee chuckled.

Laura leaned over to playfully pat his cheek. "Awww, Daddy, I thought you'd never ask."

"Um, Lee?" Kara uttered quietly as she took a bite of food, looking back to her husband who was only clad in his tanks. "You might want to put your jacket back on."

"Kara, I'm relaxing in my quarters and it's really hot in here." He chuckled. "You wanna give me one good reason why I should put my jacket back on?"

Laura looked over at Lee and grinned widely, pointing to his neck. "Nice bite mark, Dad."

Lee's eyes got wide and he reached up to touch the spot she was pointing to. "Kara!" He stood up and walked to the bathroom, looking at it in the mirror. "You couldn't have said something to me about this?"

"Did you not just hear me tell you to put your jacket back on?" Kara smirked.

"Laura!" Lee shouted as he came back into the living area, holding Boy. "If it's not too much to ask, do you think you could get your damn cat to stop sleeping in the bathroom sink?" He then roughly deposited the cat in Laura's lap.

She stroked Boy behind his ears to soothe him and pouted at her father. "Man, somebody woke up on the wrong side of the bed." She then giggled. "Mom's side of the bed, if the hickey is any indication. Is that why you're in such a bad mood? Because when I knocked on the door this morning, you were in the middle of something? Something that you didn't get to finish?"

Lee shook his head in amused disbelief, sitting back down at the table. "I never thought I'd be having this conversation with my twenty-month old daughter."

"That must have been why you guys took so long to come out of the bedroom." Laura chuckled at Lee's growing discomfort.

"Laura, you might want to cool it." Kara joined in the laughter. "Your father's starting to look queasy."

Laura rolled her eyes. "You think I don't know about sex, Dad?"

Lee pointed at Laura warningly. "I don't want to talk about this with you."

"Well, you better talk to me about it soon. I'm getting to be that age; the age where parents have to have 'the talk' with their kids." Laura replied, teasing him. "Unless, of course, you want my only knowledge of sex to be seedy encounters in storage closets."

Kara looked up from her plate and gulped loudly, Lee's face was terror-stricken.

"Not my encounters." Laura assured both her parents as she saw their panic. "It's just; you hear things on a Battlestar, stories about other crewmembers. But I've never had sex."

"That's exceptionally good to know." Lee smiled nervously.

"I'm too young to have sex." Laura added. "Not to mention, the poor guy I did it with would be totally freaked out." She giggled again. "I mean, wouldn't you be freaked out if you were having sex and saw a red flashing light go up and down your partner's back?"

"Excuse me?" Kara laughed.

"Doctor Baltar told me that when a Cylon gets excited, if you catch my drift, they get this red strobe-light thing running up and down their spine."

Lee laughed slightly, but when what she said fully registered, he went rigid and leaned up in his chair. "Baltar told you that?" He hissed.

"Don't get upset, Dad." Laura laughed. "I know it's a little creepy, but it's not like he purposefully set aside time to tell me about Cylon sex, it just came up during one of my other lessons."

Kara set her fork down on the table and screwed her eyes shut at Laura's unintentional revelation, fortifying herself for what was sure to come.

"One of your other lessons?" Lee hissed again. "What specifically has he been teaching you in these lessons?"

Laura's face changed from innocent and amused to pained and regretful. She looked to Kara for instructions, but Kara still had her eyes closed. "Nothing, really."

"Has he been teaching you about Cylon stuff?" Lee shouted, standing up from the table.

Laura looked up at him and shook her head."NO."

"Laura? This has gone on long enough." Kara whispered, her palm cradling her forehead. She looked up and met Laura's eyes. "I don't want you to have to lie to your father."

The ringing in Lee's ears made it hard for him to hear anything, and the heated fury coming from his eyes was enough to set things on fire. "I'm gonna frakking kill the bastard."

"No, you won't." Kara replied almost inaudibly. She locked gazes with him and let her eyes tell him the truth.

"Mom………. I'm sorry." Laura whispered, her eyes filling with tears. She lowered her head regretfully. "I didn't mean to."

"It's okay, sweetheart. I know you didn't." Kara said, rising from her chair. "This is my fault. I should've told him about it a long time ago."

Lee's expression was blank when he finally understood what was going on. "You knew about this?" He exhaled in disbelief. "You knew that this was going on with Baltar and you didn't stop it?"

Kara looked at Lee. "Why would I stop it? He was only doing what he was asked to do………. what I asked him to do." She replied with a distinct tremor in her voice. She saw the betrayal in his eyes, and had to look away. So she looked down at her daughter. "Laura, why don't you take Boy and go into our bedroom for a while?"

Laura stood up from her chair. "I wanna stay." She whispered. "If you're gonna get in trouble because of me, I should—."

"I'm gonna get in trouble because of me, because of something that I did." Kara cupped Laura's cheek. "And your father and I need to talk about this."

"But if it's about me," Laura cried, gazing at her father, whose body was now wracked with heartbreak and defeat. "I wanna stay and help explain."

"Well, that's sweet of you." Kara smiled nervously, also looking over to where Lee was standing silently. "But when I said that your father and I needed to talk, I actually meant that we'd be screaming at each other for a while." Kara kissed her forehead. "And I'd rather you not be in the room for that."

Laura just nodded. She grabbed Boy and walked into her parent's bedroom.

Kara watched her walk away and then turned back to Lee. He just stared at her for several moments. "Say something." She whispered in agony.

"What do you want me to say?" He chuckled hatefully; he then scratched the bridge of his nose and shrugged. "I mean, you asked Baltar to teach her about being a Cylon."

She looked away from him. "Yes."

"When did you ask him to do this?" Lee tapped his finger on the table.

"About an hour after you ordered him not to."

"So this was your plan all along?" The betrayal made his voice rough and raw. "You and I discussed this, and we agreed—."

"I know we did." She answered softly. "I changed my mind."

He picked up her plate from the table and threw it against the wall, shattering it in a dozen pieces. "YOU'RE NOT ALLOWED TO DO THAT!"

Kara's head jerked at the violence of the action, but her body stayed immobile. She took in several, shuddering gulps of air and brought a trembling hand up to tuck a piece of hair behind her ear.

"And you didn't change your mind, because you never agreed with me in the first place." He shouted at her. "But you knew that what I wanted was not what you wanted. So you just lied to me and told me that it was……… and then went against me behind my back."

"I know." She muttered breathlessly, gripping the back of a chair and lowering her head to escape his accusing eyes.

"How am I ever supposed to trust you again, Kara?"

She looked back up resolutely. "I don't know, Lee. Maybe you could recognize that this isn't about you." She harshly pushed the chair back to the table. "It's not about what you want! Frak, it's not even about what I want! You think this was easy for me? I've been walking around with this weight in my heart for months now."

"Then why did you do it?" He screamed.

"Because you weren't going to!" She screamed back and then started to cry outright. "I am sorry that I went against your wishes, I am sorry that I deceived you about it." She struggled to take a calming breath. "But I am NOT sorry that I did it." She pointed to the shattered plate on the floor. "And you can throw everything in this room up against that wall, but I will still never be sorry."

"You made the decision without me." He hissed.

"No, Lee. You made the decision without me." She countered. "You made the decision for both of us long before we ever had that discussion."

"I thought it was what was best for Laura." He defended softly.

"How? How was it best for her?" Kara asked gently. "Never acknowledging or learning about half of what she is? Having to feel ashamed of it?"

"I've never made her feel ashamed, Kara."

"She has to walk around with armed guards, Lee! She's never allowed to be alone in a room." Kara started waving her hands around, gesturing at the world they lived in. "She has to have medical tests done on her every week, and she grows so fast that her body fights back and makes her sick." She stopped and looked at him, her eyes firm. "She can't escape what she is………….but at the same time, no one's ever allowed to talk to her about what it means. How is that supposed to make her feel? You don't think that makes her feel ashamed?"

"I LOVE HER." Lee shot back.

"Then you have to love all of her!" Kara sobbed, pointing to the door. "Gods, Lee. She is wonderful, she is amazing. And I know that you see that, because it's not exactly something that you can ignore." She took a step closer to him and her voice softened. "But have you ever stopped to think that she's wonderful because of all the parts of her put together? Even the parts that you try to ignore?"

"She's my daughter, and that is how I will always see her." Lee told her, also pointing to the door. "I don't see her as a Cylon."

"She is your daughter." Kara agreed and closed her eyes, the light of the room reflecting off her wet cheeks. "But she is a Cylon." She opened her eyes and took a deep breath. "And I'm………. gonna go check on her."

"Kara, this is not over." Lee warned her as she walked toward the bedroom.

"I know it's not. It's not over by a long shot." Kara whispered. She kept her back to him, but she turned her head. "Do you remember the words that you said to me, that first day in sickbay? When we were looking down at that baby on the bed? When we promised to be a family?"

Lee nodded. "I remember."

"We can't pick and choose, Lee. We're not doing this halfway." Kara repeated as she opened the door. "It's all or nothing."

She shut it behind her and he was left alone in the room. "All or nothing." He whispered to himself.


Five hours later, after Lee had paced every section of the ship at least twice, after he had pounded his fists raw against the punching bag in the gym, and after he'd done enough paperwork to get caught up for several days, he made his way home.

The last words Kara had said to him, his past words, were echoing in his ears as he came to the hatch. He waved at Corporal Wilkes, who in turn just nodded sadly.

He carefully opened the hatch, hoping that Laura would be asleep. He was able to make out her figure, lying in her bed on the other side of the room. He walked over and leaned down to touch her shoulder, but pulled away before he made contact.

"I'm not asleep." Laura whispered, still facing the wall. "And neither is Mom."

"Why are you guys still awake?" He knelt down and lightly laid his hand on her shoulder.

"I was waiting for you to come back." She replied, turning to face him. "And Mom's been crying since she came out and saw that you weren't here."

Lee lowered his head in shame. "I never meant to hurt her."

"And she never meant to hurt you. You have no idea how hard it was for her to keep it a secret from you." Laura breathed deeply, settling against her pillows. "And it was hard for me too, because I knew that she was doing it for me."

Lee took her hand in his. "Have I ever made you feel ashamed, little Laura?"

"No." Laura answered firmly, pausing for several seconds. "At least not intentionally." She added less firmly.

"Gods." He whispered, bringing their entwined hands up to his forehead.

"Dad, it's not your fault." She comforted him. "Everybody does it, even Mom. All of you are my family. Everybody on this ship has made me feel like I belong here—."

He gripped her hand tighter. "That's because you do."

"But they know, Dad." Laura bit back a sob. "Somewhere in the back of their minds, out of the corner of their eye………they see me as a Cylon. Because I am." A small crease formed in the space between her eyebrows as her face crumpled. "And they were able to overcome it, but I needed to learn more about the reason it was so hard for them. I needed to know why it was such miracle for them to be able to love me."

"I came to terms with you as my daughter two seconds after I first held you in my arms." He told her, a tear falling down his face as he brushed the hair away from her blue eyes. "I guess now I have to come to terms with you as a half-Cylon."

She sat up in bed and kissed his cheek. "No, Dad. What you have to come to terms with is that I'm both at the same time."


Lee opened the door to their bedroom with caution, again hoping that the woman in question would be asleep. Hoping that he could just slide in bed next to her and wrap himself around her; forgetting that this day had ever happened.

But when he shut the door behind him, he heard her sharp intake of breath, and he knew that she had been waiting for him to return. He knew that they would have to speak to each other; they would have to forgive each other. He knew that was a good thing. But right now, all he wanted was to get to the part where they were lying in bed, pressed against each other.

She instinctively and miraculously knew this, and she held back the blanket for him, granting him entrance.

As he slipped into bed next to her, she wrapped her arms around him and pressed her forehead against his. "Tonight, after I came out of our room and discovered that you had left………….I had a thought flash in my mind that you wouldn't come back." She sniffled as he settled in next to her. "But it was only for a split second, because I knew that you could never do that to us."

"I had that same thought. But it was only for a split second too" He chuckled sadly, rubbing his hands up her back. "Because you're right, I could never do that, Kara." He kissed her softly. "Not as long as I'm still breathing."

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." She cried, her hold on him growing tighter. "I did it for Laura, and I don't regret that." She whispered as he kissed away her tears. "But I did it the wrong way." She laughed remorsefully. "I should have thrown things at you, screamed at you, and tied you to the bed until you changed your mind."

He pulled back from her and grinned sexily. "We can still try that if you want."

She smiled back and kissed him again. "I should have fought with you, fought for us and our family; instead of just cutting you out." Her face contorted in shame. "It was killing me that I did that, Lee……….. because I can't do this without you."

"You know, I'm almost positive that I had a life before you came into it. I'm sure I must have." He gently traced a finger down the side of her face. "But I've been trying and trying, and I can't remember it." He took a deep breath as she leaned in and pressed her lips to the skin of his neck. "Maybe it just wasn't worth remembering."

TBC