A/N: There's a little shout-out to Nytel in this chapter for all the help she's given me with it. Oh, and I don't care what the astronomers say, Pluto is still a frakking planet!
President William Keikeya stepped off his shuttle and walked to Galactica's sickbay with no other thought in his head except for reminding himself to put one foot in front of the other. Everyone in the hallway stepped to the side when they saw him coming and it wasn't until he heard Corporal Venner's voice that he realized he had tuned out all other noise.
"Mr. President?"
Billy stopped in front of him right outside sickbay. "Did we bring our people home?"
Venner nodded somberly and opened the hatch for the President to step through.
Laura and Kara sat beside each other on a bed while Lee stood next to Kara and the Admiral stood next to Laura. Kara had shrugged out of the top of her flightsuit so that Cottle could work on her shoulder and a medic was taping a bandage to Laura's forehead.
"You got lucky, Captain. A few more inches and it would have hit an artery." Cottle told her gruffly, examining the site. "But when your adrenaline wears off, you're gonna be in a lot of pain."
"It's not so bad." Kara whispered numbly, staring at a random spot on the other side of the room.
"Don't try to be brave." Cottle poured more antiseptic on her wound. "You were shot in the shoulder."
Kara looked at him in annoyance, the sting not even registering. "So what?" Her eyes moistened, remembering how Lee had caught Dualla when she slid down the wall and took her last breath. "It's not like I got skewered clean through with a rebar."
Her mind flashed to the memory of the Cylon she had fought on Caprica, who had died in the same way. Only with Dee, Kara felt the exact opposite of relief that the errant piece of metal had been where it was. This time, that piece of metal had killed her friend.
Laura must've been thinking the same thought. "I know the story too, Mom." She looked down at Boy, who was sitting in her lap. "All of this has happened before, all of this will happen again."
Her lip began to tremble, so Kara grabbed her hand and squeezed it. Adama leaned in and kissed the top of Laura's head. "I'm just so glad you're all right."
She looked up at him, then at her mother's shoulder and the deep purple bruises that were forming on her father's neck, then to the large window that looked into the room holding Corporal Townsend's body. "Oh yeah." She replied, wracked with guilt. "Best shape out of anyone here."
The Admiral heard Billy clear his throat and left the bed to talk to him over on the other side of sickbay. "What's the situation?" Billy asked.
"We should be okay for awhile………….but not for long. We obviously have a Cylon in our midst." Adama replied reluctantly. "The transmission that jammed communication and dradis was emitted from Galactica. I cleared Laura's Raptor to the Greenleaf earlier than expected because CIC received a message that they were halting traffic to and from the ship because of a massive delivery of supplies—but there was no delivery scheduled, and the Greenleaf never sent out any such message." Adama lowered his head and sighed. "Racetrack was supposed to stay docked on the Greenleaf for Laura's entire visit, but a priority-one call with Galactica's recognition codes ordered her to the Zephyr right before everything went wrong, and when she got there, she discovered that the Zephyr never requested a Raptor."
"All of this has been verified?"
"It has." The Admiral confirmed. "Someone went to a lot of trouble to bring this about."
Billy nodded, taking in the information. "We should jump again, get out of harm's way."
"But where exactly is 'out of harm's way', Mr. President? If we have a Cylon onboard, wherever we go, we won't be safe for very long."
"Something will show you the way to safety, Admiral." Father Monseau's voice called from the door. "Just like before."
Adama looked over at the priest, whose eyes conspicuously moved over to where Laura was sitting.
"Where is Dualla?" Monseau asked after a moment, joining Adama and Billy in the middle of the room.
Corporal Venner joined them too. "We've already put her in the chapel."
"At her request." Cottle spoke up brusquely as he continued to treat Kara. "It seems that a year and a half before her death, Petty Officer Dualla put a signed letter in her medical file stating that if anything were to happen to her, she should be placed in the chapel immediately." He looked over to them accusingly. "Know anything about that, Father?"
"I only know it was her decision." Monseau replied reverently, determinedly staring back at the doctor.
"But MY fault." Laura whispered, almost to herself.
"Hey, NO, little girl." Lee moved to her and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "None of this is your fault."
Laura shoved Boy into her father's arms and jumped off the bed. "How can you say that? You and Mom are hurt, Corporal Townsend's dead, Dee's dead, but I barely have a scratch on me." She choked on her words, looking around at the wounded and grieving people in sickbay. "And for what? All of this was done for me." She covered her eyes as the tears fell. "Why am I worth it?"
"Because you're Laura." Billy told her softly, slowly walking to her and taking her hand. "No other reason than that was necessary."
Father Monseau continued the sentiment. "There is only one thing in this existence that is strong enough to warrant that kind of sacrifice, Laura. And it's not heroism, or loyalty, or even faith." He held up the book that he always carried with him, and threw it into the nearest trash bin. "What's going to happen next has nothing to do with the gods. It's only between you and us. Dualla wasn't thinking of the fulfillment of some prophecy when she died. She was only thinking of you."
"But if I don't fulfill that prophecy," Laura countered, wiping the tears from her cheeks. "Then she died for nothing."
"She died to keep you safe. That wasn't nothing in her eyes, that was everything." Billy corrected. "That's what godsmothers are supposed to do."
"And given the chance, she'd do it again." Monseau added. "Regardless of what you now choose to do."
"And the choice is still yours, Laura." Billy squeezed her hand a little tighter. "You say the word, and this ends now."
"But if I say the word to end this, everything else will end. It would only be a matter of time, and then there would be nothing left." Laura shook her head and dropped her gaze down to her feet. "It's an easy choice……. but I'm still a little afraid."
"That's good." Monseau smiled slightly. "The fear lets you know that it's working. It's what's letting you know that your human side has won."
Laura lifted her head and smiled back at him. "It really has." She then met Billy's eyes. "I've already made my choice."
Billy nodded and looked back to the priest. Father Monseau nodded as well, and held out his hand for Laura. "Then you'll need to come with me."
Kara and Lee had been silently watching the scene, not knowing what to make of it, but upon hearing the last statement, Kara practically leapt off the bed and Lee stepped forward with fierce protectiveness. "You're not taking her anywhere!" They both shouted.
"I'm not taking her, she's choosing to go." Monseau defended. "That's the only way this will work."
"No frakking way." Kara seethed, panic hitching in her voice. "She's our child, and she stays with us."
Laura calmly turned to her. "That's why you have to come with me, Mom." She then looked at her father. "You too, Dad."
"Where?" Lee whispered in fear, placing a hand on Laura's shoulder. "Where in the hell do you think you're going?"
"To where I was always destined to go." She answered simply, her blue eyes shining back at him."I'm assuming we don't have much time?" Laura asked, turning back to Billy and the priest.
"That would be a fair assumption." Billy answered.
"Then let's not waste anymore more." She looked to Cottle and pointed to her injured and disheveled mother. "She okay to leave sickbay?"
"Not really." Cottle snorted, dropping the used bandages onto a tray. "But something tells me she's gonna leave anyway."
Laura chuckled lightly. "We'll be back in sickbay as soon as we can."
"Laura?" Lee began in a panic. "For frak's sake, this is ridiculous. Tell me what's going on!"
Laura touched his face, calming him. "You once told me that loving someone meant that you'd follow them into hell." She gave him a cheeky grin. "I'm not asking you to go quite that far, but you'll need to follow me."
Lee and Kara looked at each other nervously, but finally nodded in reluctant agreement.
Laura picked Boy up from the bed and walked to her grandfather, staying silent for a moment. "I wish you could go." She told him softly.
The Admiral shook his head. "I don't think I'd go even if I was allowed." He reached out and rubbed the cat's head. "The Old Man's seen too much already, Laura."
Laura lowered her head. "The President wasn't supposed to tell you, she wasn't supposed to show you the entire picture."
"She didn't tell me, but I knew." He lifted her chin back up, and touched the bandage on her forehead. "The minute I felt that water lapping against my legs……… I knew what it meant."
"And?" She asked hesitantly.
It was his turn to lower his head, and his voice was breaking when he answered. "Go do what you gotta do, little girl."
Laura moved the cat into his waiting arms. "Take care of Boy."
He secured the cat and leaned forward to kiss her cheek. "I will."
Laura turned from him and took a deep breath. "I'm ready." She walked out of sickbay.
Laura and Father Monseau walked down the corridor side by side, with Lee and Kara a few feet behind them, slower since Kara was leaning on him slightly in her weakened state.
They walked in silence until they came to the turn of the hallway that led to the chapel. Laura stopped for a moment and looked back at her parents longingly, but then turned around again and continued until she reached the hatch.
She reached up and gently touched the sign identifying the place of worship. "Everything's set up? And Dee's inside?"
"Yes." Monseau told her. "Corporal Venner has already taken care of her."
Laura nodded, without turning around to look at him. "Then I guess all that's left is for me to go inside."
He came up behind her and rested his hand on her back. "They created this room for you, you know."
She smiled softly. "I know." She turned the handle and opened the hatch.
Laura stepped in, leaving her parents to move forward into the hatchway, and she exhaled loudly as they looked inside.
The only light in the chapel was cast by the candles that were always lit, but enough were burning so that they could clearly see the eleven banners that hung from the wall behind the altar. Only one—the banner of Sagitarron—was missing.
Lee noticed this right away and began to look for where it could be. He didn't have to look far. The banner was draped over a figure that laid on top of the altar.
Laura spoke softly, going further inside. "It really does look like a tomb."
"Kara?" Lee whispered, stepping in as well. "On Kobol, the statue where we placed the arrow that opened the tomb……..that was the archer, right?"
"Yeah, the symbol of Sagitarron." She answered simply, not knowing what he was getting at. It was only when she saw the banner-draped figure on the altar that she began to understand. "And Dee was from Sagitarron."
Father Monseau spoke from behind them, still in the corridor. "…….in the final battle for the child's soul, the wise one was struck down…………."
Lee shuddered as he remembered the passage. "……… the oracle took the child to mourn the goddess………"
Kara continued where he had left off. "……….there, she opened the tomb and showed her family the way of the true path……."
"………the one that led to Earth." Monseau finished, closing his eyes and folding his hands. "The prophecy says she shows her family the way to Earth—not her friendly neighborhood priest—so I'll stay right here in the hallway." He slowly shut the hatch, leaving them alone inside.
Kara and Lee stared at the now-closed door, as Laura made her way to the front of the chapel. She stopped and gazed at the metal Arrow of Apollo resting in its glass case. "People won't find what they're looking for in iron statues or rusted arrows, they'll only find it in other people. Isn't that what you once told me, Mom?"
"Well, I don't remember it being that profound when I said it, and I think you paraphrased a bit," Kara came closer to her. "But that sounds about right."
Laura then walked to the altar and stood in front of it. "Living……" The tears caused her to choke on her words as she gently touched the fabric of the banner hanging off the side. "……breathing…… proof that the gods exist."
She reached over and pulled the cloth back, revealing Dualla lying motionless in her gauzy white funeral gown. She hung her head and started to cry, running a hand through Dee's hair. "I wish you hadn't had to do this." Laura told her, a sad smile on her lips. "But thank you for doing it just the same."
Kara's heart broke at the scene. She suddenly felt weak and faltered where she stood, taking a step back. Lee grabbed her hand and steadied her, calling for Laura to help him. Laura ran back over to them and they made their way to the nearest pew.
"I'm okay," Kara began, sitting down. "I'm just feeling a little—."
"Tired." Laura finished, kneeling in front of her. "We all are. It's been a weird day."
"I'm sorry." Kara cradled her forehead in her palm as Lee sat down next to her and rubbed her back.
"No worries." Laura smirked. "You'll feel a lot better in a minute…………just close your eyes."
"Lee?"
"Yeah, Kara?"
"Where are we?"
Lee opened his eyes to find that he was still sitting next to Kara. But the chapel had been replaced by a warm and sun-lit room, and the pew had been replaced by two chairs surrounding a table.
He looked around the room and catalogued the items in it. "Let's see….stove, oven, refrigerator……I'm not sure, but I think we're in a kitchen."
Kara hauled her hand back and punched him hard in the arm. "Does this seem like the right time for you to be getting smart with me?"
He grimaced and rubbed his arm, but then chuckled. "I thought the bullet wound in your shoulder would give me a reprieve from being hit by you."
Kara looked down at her shoulder. "There isn't one."
Lee looked at it too and found that her shoulder no longer had any hint of injury; no wound, no blood. He touched the skin gingerly.
At the same time, she reached up and touched his neck. "Your bruises are gone too."
He rolled his neck and felt no pain. "How do you feel?"
She shrugged. "I feel fine. No worries." She looked around the kitchen. "You never did answer me. Where are we?"
"At the risk of getting hit some more," He rose from his chair. "My answer remains the same."
"A kitchen." Kara stated, rising as well. "Okay, but whose kitchen? Your mother's again?"
Lee walked to the sink, which was full of dishes, and then to the stove which held a pot of cold oatmeal. "I don't think so. My mother's kitchen was blue, this one's yellow." He looked into the dirty pot. "And my mother's kitchen was……. a lot cleaner."
"Lee?" She walked to the edge of the counter and looked down. "I think……I think this is our kitchen."
"Our kitchen?" He repeated doubtfully. "Kara, we've never even seen this place before." He paused when she looked up at him in irritation. "Okay, fine. What makes you think that this is our kitchen?"
She looked down again as she answered him. "Because this is Boy's dish." Her foot nudged the balloon-shaped dish of cat food on the floor.
Lee was about to disagree with her when he felt something rub up against his leg. Smiling, he leaned down and took the furry creature in his arms, earning a small meow in response. "And this is Boy."
Kara came over and rubbed the cat behind his ears. "He's gotten fat."
Lee chuckled and glanced around the room. "You know, I think you're right, this must be our kitchen. I can't think of anybody else who'd let it get this messy."
She smiled and walked to the refrigerator. "I'd hit you again, but I'm afraid you'd drop the cat." She examined some artwork that was taped up on the door. "These are Laura's drawings."
Lee came up beside her and saw them. "The one she drew for Duck, the one she drew for Nurse Coaker." He stopped when he looked at a third picture. It was of a white sand beach with blue-green water and palm trees. "This is a different than the other two, and it says 'Laura's Ocean'on the bottom…….I don't remember her drawing this one."
"Or this one." Kara said, pointing to the fourth, which showed two stick figures on top of a large mountain range surrounded by a purple sky.
Lee deposited the cat on the counter and took the drawing off the refrigerator, not recognizing the landscape. "Are those the Atlas mountains? On Picon?"
"I don't think so." Kara shook her head. "The mountains in this picture are a lot rockier."
"Maybe that's why they're called the Rockies." Laura said simply from the doorway behind them.
Kara turned around, not surprised to see her. "Hi, baby."
"Hi, Mom."
"I've never heard of the Rockies." Lee told her as he looked closer at the drawing.
Laura walked over to the counter to pick up Boy and nuzzled him in her arms. "No reason you should have…...yet."
Lee turned around, smiling in relief at her presence. "Do you know where we are?"
A mischievous gleam flashed in her eyes. "I'm not sure, but I think we're in a kitchen."
Kara snorted in laughter and crinkled her nose up at Lee. "She's more like you than you will ever know."
He leaned against the refrigerator. "You were supposed to lead us to Earth…..are we on Earth?"
Laura furrowed her eyebrows. "No, Dad. We're in the chapel. The one that's holding Dee's body? On Galactica?" She walked to him and snapped her fingers in front of his eyes. "Do you know who I am? Do you know who you are?"
He chuckled and grabbed her hand. "Was your divine, ultimate purpose to be a smartass? Because if so, you're definitely fulfilling it."
"We're not really here?" Kara asked hesitantly, trying to understand.
Laura shook her head.. "No, we're not really here, but that doesn't matter, because we will be………soon." She then gleamed at Lee. "And yeah, it is Earth. This is our home………this will be our home."
"Our home?" Kara laughed in amazement, looking around. "We have a home."
Laura put Boy back on the counter. "You want a tour?"
She led them out of the kitchen and into a room at the front of the house with doors on opposite sides. One of the doors was large, made of heavy wood and in between two windows. Lee and Kara looked through the windows out onto a front yard and saw a mailbox and a cobblestone path leading up to the house.
Lee and Kara hestitated at the door, causing Laura to stop and turn around. "What are you doing?"
Lee pointed at the door. "Aren't we going outside?"
"Why would we?" Laura opened the door on the other side of the room and went through it, calling after them. "The important stuff is inside."
They followed her without question down a long hallway, until something Kara saw on the wall caused her to stop in her tracks. "My gods."
Lee stopped too. "What is it?"
Kara pointed to what had gotten her attention: a photo of the Admiral that hung on the wall. He was standing knee-deep in an emerald ocean, with the sun shining high behind him in a cloudless blue sky. He was wearing a t-shirt and shorts, and he had a serene smile on his face.
"I don't think I've ever seen your dad wear anything other than a uniform." Kara laughed.
"It helps that he's not in the military anymore." Laura chuckled too. "He retired a few months after we got here."
Lee looked around at the other photos that lined the wall.
Some he recognized: he saw the worn and bent photo of him and Kara at the academy with Zak. And the double frame that held the picture of Helo and Boomer at the decommissioning ceremony along with the picture of Laura and President Roslin that was taken at the confirmation of faith.
But some photos were new: there was one of him and Kara embracing each other as they stood at the crest of a mountain, the purple sky their only background. He pointed to it and turned to Laura. "Are these the—?"
"Rockies." She confirmed. "The two of you go to Colorado twice a year to teach seminars on Advancements in Aeronautics and Combat Training at the Air Force Academy." She winked at Kara. "And yes, Mom, even on this planet you're the best pilot anyone's ever seen."
"Naturally." Kara winked back before returning her attention to the photos on the wall. She was surprised to find one of the Chief and Cally—also dressed in civilian clothes—kneeling in the grass as Tyrol showed a small girl a butterfly that he held in his hands. The girl was strikingly beautiful; she had a light coffee-skinned complexion, green eyes and a head full of black curls.
"Who's the little girl with Tyrol and Cally?" Kara asked. "She's absolutely gorgeous."
"That's Cassie." Laura replied. "She's your godsdaughter. She's Dee's daughter."
Both Lee and Kara turned to Laura at the same time, eyes wide in shock.
"Dee can't have a daughter." Lee informed her carefully. "Dee's dead, sweetheart"
Laura just grinned knowingly. "Yeah, there are ways around that."
"You mean she's not—?"
"It was the willingness to make the sacrifice that was required, not the actual sacrifice. So it didn't have to be permanent." Laura shook her head in amusement. "It would have been nice if they'd told us that beforehand, but I guess it wouldn't have seemed like much of a selfless act if we'd known she'd just wake up in the chapel good-as-new."
Lee smiled and Kara laughed in relief. "Dee's alive……and she and Billy have a daughter."
"No." Laura corrected. "Dee has a daughter, Billy has a son."
Confusion masked Lee and Kara's faces at the correction.
Laura gestured to her parents. "Not everyone is lucky enough to have a love so meant-to-be that was prophesized in scripture three thousand years before it happened."
"Dee and Billy aren't together?"
"No, they aren't. They're still friends and they're both really happy, but Billy married a woman who'd been living on the Virgon Express, and Dee……." Laura paused, chuckling. "Dee actually married an Earthling. She met him about a year after we got here."
Lee shook his head. "I just can't believe it."
"Why, Dad? Nothing stays the same." Laura told him softly. "We're living in a whole new world, literally. You hold on to what you had before, and you carry it with you forever, but you have to embrace what comes next." She laughed and moved further down the hallway. "Don't even get me started on the Tighs."
Kara laughed too, walking after her. "It's not surprising that they got a divorce."
"Actually, they just renewed their vows." Laura snorted. "Apparently they really do love each other. Although, I think their love is better when it comes in small doses. She lives on the twelfth floor of their apartment building……….. he lives on the eighth."
They followed her to the end of the hallway and entered a bright and airy living room. There was a white-brick fireplace in the center of one wall, and the whole other side of the room was lined with tall windows.
The walls were painted a light blue and dotted with framed oil paintings. Overstuffed sofas and armchairs were covered with pillows and blankets and carelessly flung items of clothing. Laura's often-used children's book of scripture was left open on one of the cushions.
One corner of the room held a table that had been set with many candles and prayer beads and the cast iron statues of the gods that Kara had given to Laura.
The other corner, closer to the back door by the windows, had been set up with an easel and a side table that held cans of paint and many brushes. A splattered tarp was laid out on the floor beneath it.
"I'm painting again." Kara whispered, walking to the easel and gently touching the canvas. "I never thought I'd paint again."
Laura came beside her and examined the work of art before them. "Not as morose as some of the stuff you painted before."
Kara looked around the room that radiated safety and comfort, and she smiled. "Something tells me that I'm much happier now." She looked back to the painting again—it was a mass of brightly colored swirls—and her smile grew wider at what she'd created. "This is a painting of you, Laura."
Lee scratched his head in confusion. "I know I'm not an expert in abstract art, but how exactly is that a painting of our daughter? It's just a big bright blob."
Laura answered for her, smiling at them both. "That's how she's always seen me, Dad. Ever since that first day, she's seen me for what I really am: a big bright blob of energy."
Kara felt her eyes well up. "That's right."
Lee had moved away from the painting and was looking through the large picture windows to the open land outside. The scene before him was a simple one: a large green field of tall grass that was untouched by anything but the sky for what seemed like miles.
Laura moved behind him and whispered in his ear. "Like the view?"
"Yeah, it's beautiful." He nodded. "Although, I gotta say, I never imagined myself as the type who would live in the middle of nowhere."
"Trust me, Dad, it's not the middle of nowhere."
"Yeah, I know, I know." His eyes took in the wild and pristine expanse that lay outside. "It's just that I'm more of a city boy. This isn't where I would picture buying a house."
"You didn't buy this house. You built it. There was nothing here but the field when you bought the land, which is why you bought it." She stared at him in amazement for a long moment. "You really don't recognize it, do you?" She looked out the window again and shrugged. "Well…..I guess it does look different in the daylight."
Her words sunk in and realization came down on him softly. He touched the windowpane. "Holy mother of the gods."
"You can still see the stars at night, though." Laura continued, smiling at him. "Just as clear as the first time you stood out there."
Kara came to the window too. "On Kobol. This is the field we saw when we were in the tomb."
"What you saw in the tomb was real; you just needed to look a little further. This is where we were always destined to end up." Laura told them, gesturing around the room. "Not this house, not this field, not even Earth. But this life that we created together in this house, in this field…….on Earth. This is our salvation. And it's what I was supposed to show you."
Lee took her hand, his eyes pleading. "So show us how we can get here."
She shook her head. "I have to show you something else first." She gestured across the room. "There's something we have to take care of before we can start our journey."
Lee turned to face what she was gesturing to. A fire was burning in the fireplace on the other side of the room and he made his way over to it. Kara gasped as she stood next to him and saw what he saw.
Twelve framed photographs sat on the mantle.
"Twelve little Cylons, all in a row." Laura hummed, moving to stand beside the fireplace.
Lee stared in disbelief at what was in front of him. "It would have taken us years to weed all of them out."
"But we don't have that kind of time." Laura chuckled. "So things have been expedited a bit."
"Every human-model Cylon?" He asked. "This is all of them?"
"Every single one." Laura confirmed. "Some you know about." She pointed to the photo of Sharon, Leoben, Doral, Six and Simon. Then she moved on to some of the others. "Some you don't."
"I know this one, he's a priest on the Ethereal Dawn." Kara said, referring to the first picture of the unknown Cylons. "He was there with Father Monseau at your confirmation of faith."
"Brother Cavil is his name." Laura told her. "In all fairness, he is a man of faith. He's just faithful to the Cylon God, is all."
"D'anna Biers." Lee stated, moving on to the next frame, holding a photograph of the fleet reporter.
"Son of a bitch." Kara hissed, looking at it, then at Lee. "I should've known something was up with her. No human woman could've kept her journalistic professionalism in tact when faced with you wearing nothing but a towel."
Lee chuckled at the remark and then pointed to the next photo of a dark-haired beauty in a business suit. "I've seen that woman at Quorum meetings. She's the special assistant to the representative from Aerilon." He paused and glanced at Laura. "But I can't remember her name."
"Her name's Tory Foster, and she's advanced quickly in the political world through some less-than-scrupulous means." Laura said sarcastically. "You'll need to tell the Aerilon delegate that he shouldn't frak his assistant, it tends to give her undue influence over the decisions that he makes."
"Like being the only other person who voted to keep Baltar in office." Lee nodded. "Aerilon must've been the other holdout."
"She told him how to vote, and then she gave him a little present to give to the President, which the President in turn gave to a little Cylon-human hybrid baby as a confirmation gift."
"Your Aerilon Chiefs bear." Kara said, remembering where the toy had come from.
"The one that had a transponder in it." Laura added. "A microscopic chip inside one of the glass eyes that relayed our position."
Lee crossed his arms in front of his chest. "So the eye didn't fall off and accidentally shatter."
Laura chuckled. "It fell off when I ripped it off, and it accidentally shattered after I smashed it with a hammer a few times."
Kara had moved on to the next two photos. "Nurse Coaker and Maya Knowlton." She whispered sadly. "I liked them both; they seemed like such nice women."
"Nurse Coaker was a nice woman. She took her own life rather than betray us further, and because of that, she's in a good place now." Laura smiled sweetly at the nurse's photo. But her expression soured when she looked at the other photo. "This other one was a manipulative shrew who pretended to be a nice woman so she could lead me into a trap."
"Trying to steal my child..." Kara replied without heistation. "I'm glad I shot her."
Laura motioned for them to continue. "There's just two left."
Lee felt his hand clench into an angry fist when he looked at the photo that she pointed to next. "The traitor on Galactica." He seethed, the face of an old friend grinning back at him. "We all trusted him…..and now I'm gonna kill him with my bare hands."
"You won't have to, Lee." Kara laid a soothing hand on his shoulder, staring at the familiar face. "When your father finds out who it is, he'll do it for you."
"This copy of Model Number Four was particularly devious," Laura agreed. "He gained everyone's trust, became everyone's friend, and used it against us every chance he got. He always took immense pleasure in causing us pain." She paused as the anger inside her took over for a moment. "And the motherfrakker poisoned my cat……………so don't think twice about tossing him out the airlock."
"We won't." Lee moved on to the last photo of a man that seemed fairly familiar to him. His heart dropped in his chest when he finally recognized who it was and he quickly took the frame off the mantle, trying to hide it from view.
Kara noticed this odd gesture and stared at him questioningly. "Who is it, Lee? Who is the last Cylon?"
Lee took a deep breath and then began softly, carefully. "I've seen the face before, I recognize it." He exhaled and continued. "From magazines………sports magazines."
Kara slowly reached out to take the frame from him and closed her eyes. "Oh my gods." When she opened them, she saw the handsome man in the photo and sobbed. "Sam." She walked a few steps away and braced herself against the wall, crying quietly with the photo in her hand.
"Kara, it's okay." Lee told her sympathetically. "They all frakked with our heads. It's okay to feel hurt that you were deceived, and it's okay to feel angry that he deceived you."
"She doesn't feel hurt or angry, Dad." Laura informed him, knowing what was happening with her mother. "Because she knows that he didn't deceive her."
"He was a sleeper agent, he had to have been." Kara nodded to herself, looking at the photo. "He didn't know what he was."
"So no one else would have ever known, either. At least not until he had been activated." Laura turned to her father so that she could explain. "She's crying out of relief, Dad."
"Why?" He whispered, staring at his wife.
Kara walked to him and touched his chest. "I've been so happy with you, happier than I ever thought I deserved to be. And I love you more than any other man I've ever known." She then looked to the picture again. "But I've carried this guilt with me, because I have loved other men. And I broke a promise to one of them."
"She's relieved because she doesn't have to feel that guilt anymore." Laura explained further. "She can let it go."
"I don't have to feel guilty for loving you, for choosing to have a life with you instead of trying to go back for him." Kara said tenderly, staring deep into his eyes. "Because if I had gone back for him—"
"—she just would've brought another Cylon time bomb into the fleet." Laura finished for her. "And you don't have to feel bad for leaving him there, either." She informed Kara. "He was programmed to make sure that you got off Caprica, to make sure that you made it back to the fleet with me in tow, so that we could find our way to Earth."
Kara and Lee both suddenly turned to her at the last statement.
"You mean the Cylons want us to find Earth?" Lee asked in bewilderment. "Why?"
Laura took the picture of Anders from her mother and then began picking up the other frames on the mantle, removing the backs of them. "Certainly not so they could settle there and exist harmoniously with the last remaining tribe of humans." She snorted, gathering the photos out of the frames. "The Cylons see humanity as a cancer infecting the universe, and they want to cure the disease."
"The Cylons wanted us to find Earth so that they could follow us there and destroy it?" Kara rasped.
"Yes. The Cylons have a plan." Laura threw the photos of the Cylons into the blazing fireplace and watched them burn. "But they underestimated the human variable. And we've never had much use for plans, have we? So we're gonna alter it. A lot."
"How will we do that?" Lee questioned, uncertainty and fear in his voice.
Laura picked up a piece of paper that had been resting on the edge of the mantle and handed it to her father. "Give this to CIC. The signal that was disrupting communication and dradis before didn't stop, we just paused it for a while. And the Cylons are still tapped into it, but this time, when you use the instructions that I just gave you to resume it for a split second, something else will be transmitted back to them through the signal."
"Like a virus?" Lee asked, looking at a long string of code that had been written out on the paper.
Laura nodded. "Every Cylon vessel within a fifty light year radius will self destruct when you upload it."
Kara looked at the paper in Lee's hand and pointed to a long list of names at the bottom. "These are names of ships in the fleet……and directions to specific locations inside those ships."
"The locations of all remaining Cylon transponders and Cylon agents." Laura explained. "The virus should take care of things, but we like to cover our bases." She winked at them. "Without the resurrection ship, when you execute all the human-model Cylons left in the fleet, they won't download. And when you remove all the transponders, even the Cylon vessels that were further away and survived the virus will have no hope of tracking us, because they'll have no agents to tell them anything, and no devices left to give our position."
"We'll be safe?" Kara asked hopefully. "And Earth will be too?"
"The Cylons can't destroy Earth if they can't find it." Laura smiled widely. "The fleet won't lead them anywhere, because we'll be long gone and the Cylons will have absolutely no idea how to get to where we're going."
Lee smiled back. "Because only you know that."
Laura stopped smiling, pursed her lips and shook her head. "Actually, I don't."
Lee gulped, sure that he must have heard her wrong. "Of course you know the way to Earth."
"No. I don't."
Kara stepped in, equally as confused as her husband. "But Laura, the scriptures said…………"
"The scriptures said I would open the door and show my family the way of the true path," Laura informed her. "And that's what I did, that's what I'm doing. I'm showing you the true path, but now you have to follow it to its end."
Lee dropped his head and sighed dejectedly, so she took his hand.
"I couldn't know the way to Earth, Dad." She explained. "I'm part Cylon. If I would've known Earth's location, the Cylons might have been able to access it. And billions of lives were at stake, so that could never happen. That was made sure of long ago. The vital piece of information missing from the Cylon's plan……… is that I don't have the knowledge to lead anyone to Earth."
"Then who does?" Kara questioned.
Laura turned to her and smiled. "It's funny you should ask that, but I think you already know."
"Laura, sweetheart, I know you're scripturally bound to talk to us in riddles." Lee groaned and rubbed his temples. "But you know how that makes me crazy."
"It'd actually be quite obvious to you both if you would just believe in yourselves long enough to clear the fog." Laura chuckled. "Come on, guys! There's been something running through your minds since that first day in sickbay. You tell me what it is and I can help you."
Kara shook her head, instinctively knowing what she was talking about as the list of nonsense words that had been repeatedly popping up in her life echoed in her ears. She knew, but she couldn't bring herself to believe. "It's nothing."
"It's not nothing."
"Laura, its just gibberish." Lee told her, his voice getting louder as he grew exasperated. "They're just words that I've never heard before, that nobody's ever heard before! They don't mean anything."
"Stop being so frakking stubborn," She stated firmly, exasperated as well. "Because trust me, they mean something."
Lee shook his head. "No, Laura. This is not—."
"Tell me the words, Dad!" She shouted.
"Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn…………" He shouted back at her.
"Neptune, Uranus and Pluto." Kara softly finished for him, sinking into the arm of the nearby sofa in awed understanding.
Lee's mouth gaped open as he looked at his wife. "You've been hearing them too?"
"Ever since the day she was born." Kara answered, tracing the lines on her forehead. "I thought I was crazy, because I didn't know what they were, and nothing else could tell me." She finally looked up at her daughter. "What are they, Laura?"
Laura smiled reverently. "They're the gods, Mom."
Kara narrowed her eyes. "Those aren't the names of the gods, sweetheart."
"Yes, they are." Laura nodded. "Long ago, some people used to call our gods by different names."
"What people?" Lee asked.
Laura smiled again. "People that lived on Earth."
"So how does knowing that help us get to Earth?"
"Because they're not just the names of the gods, Lee." Kara told him, all the pieces falling together. "They're also the names of planets. The people who lived on Earth named the planets in their solar system after the gods."
Lee walked to her, the knowledge that had been hiding in the back of their minds suddenly flooding to the front of it. "There are nine planets surrounding one large yellow dwarf sun—."
Kara nodded and grinned. "And Earth is the third planet."
"But……" Laura started. "If you're going to find one particular spot in our incredibly big galaxy, a planetarium exhibit and an arcane book of scripture is not enough. You need coordinates, vectors, points of reference." She winked at Lee. "Don't you, Dad?"
"Earth is located 2,823 light years from the position Galactica is in now." Lee informed Laura, grinning back at her as he took Kara's hand and pulled her off the couch.
Kara continued, not missing a beat as she put her hand on his chest. "Direction heading 974 carom 2635."
Lee cupped her face in his hands, laughing softly. "And it will take 1,178 interstellar FTL jumps to get there."
Kara kissed him gently, giggling with relief.
"It took the Thirteenth tribe forty years of wandering the galaxy to find their new home," Laura told them, doing the math. "But the fleet might be able to do it in eight or nine months."
Lee turned to her, pride lighting up his face. "How do we thank you for doing this?"
"You don't, I really didn't do all that much." She stated humbly. "You always had it in you, I just opened the door and you finally saw the way."
"We couldn't have done it without you." Kara gratefully assured her.
"Well, there are a lot of things I could never have done without you. So I guess we're even." Laura's eyes shone with tears. "You'll be able to get there without any trouble now." She paused for a moment, then took a deep breath and nodded to herself. "So that means it's time for me to go."
The happiness fell from Lee and Kara's faces at hearing her words. Kara's hand clenched the fabric of Lee's shirt and he shook his head in denial. "What do you mean it's time for you to go?"
"I have to go now." Laura explained gently, grasping her hands together. "It was the unspoken truth that we never wanted to face……..but we all knew this wasn't gonna last." She paused when both her parents screwed their eyes shut in denial. "It was a temporary miracle, but now it's time for me to move on."
Kara looked at Lee, her whole body pleading with him to make this stop. When she faced her daughter again, her words were firm, but her voice was a breathless croak. "Like hell you are, you're going with us."
"I won't be going with you, that's not why I was created." Laura responded softly. "Some people are only meant for the journey, and I'm fine with being one of them." She bit her bottom lip. "I've always known that my life was never about the destination."
Lee's breath escaped in sharp bursts and his eyes filled with tears. "You said this would be our home. How is this place ever gonna be our home if you're not here with us?"
Laura stood in front of him and laughed out loud, tracing the insignia on his collar. "It will be our home because you're gonna hang a dorky sign above the front door that says 'The Adamas Live Here'," Her breath hitched, and she steadied herself. "And no matter what plane of existence I'm on, I'm always gonna be an Adama. You've both spent my whole life making sure that everyone knew that."
Kara couldn't even look at her. "We were told that if we fought for you, you'd be safe, and you'd stay with us forever."
Laura reached out to guide Kara's face back to hers. "I am safe. And someday soon you'll understand that just because you can't see someone, it doesn't mean that they aren't there with you."
Kara started to cry outright and held onto Lee's hand like it was the only thing keeping her upright. "Do something." She whispered to him.
Lee squeezed Kara's hand and pointed at Laura. "You're not going, that's all there is to it. I won't allow it."
Laura didn't move, or change expression. "Then it's a good thing it's not up to you."
"No, we don't want this……take it all back." Kara almost shouted, gesturing around the room. "I don't care about this place. I don't care about finding Earth!"
"Yes, you do."
Kara let out a harsh sob. "Not if we have to give you up to get it."
Laura narrowed her eyes and shook her head. "That's not what this is about and you know it. You're not giving me up, and my going on to the next place is not about them wanting something in return. I'm not a sacrificial offering and this is not a trade ………….it's just the way it is."
"Please don't go." Lee pleaded with her like a devastated child. "I'm your father, and I'm begging you not to go."
Laura's resolve faltered for a moment and a tear fell from her eye. "I have to. There isn't any reason for me to stay now." She took a deep breath and continued on determinedly. "Everyone in this room has become what they were always meant to become, and that was my purpose. Finding Earth was just a by-product."
"But I never wanted this for you." Kara cried softly, taking Laura in her arms and holding her tight. "I never wanted your life to just be about serving a purpose. I wanted you to be whatever you wanted to be."
"I am what I want to be." Laura responded, comforting her by stroking her hair. "I wanted to do this. I may be a child of destiny, but it was one that I chose with a willing heart." She pulled back and smiled appreciatively. "I've had a good life, and serving my purpose was my way of thanking you for giving it to me."
Kara cupped Laura's face. "How could you have had a good life if you haven't even been alive for two years?"
"Because what you told President Roslin was true, Mom: It's not the length of time that matters." She put her hand over her mother's. "In everyone's life, you take what you can get, and you pray that it's enough. But it some people's lives, what you get turns out to be—."
"—more than you ever expected." Lee finished for her, finally accepting what would come next.
Laura looked out the window to a sun that was slowly dropping in the sky and she began to move away. "It's getting to be that time, I have to go meet them now."
Lee reached out and gently grabbed her arm, stopping her. "You make them take good care of you." He spoke, barely able to get the words out.
She wiped the wetness from his face. "They will. They know you and Mom will somehow find a way to kick their asses if they don't." She kissed both of their cheeks. "Now wish me a safe trip and tell me you love me."
………..we pray that when the time comes, you will be able to let her go as all parents must……secure in the knowledge that she is loved…….now, then and always thereafter……….
"We do." Lee whispered, smiling sadly. "You know we do."
"I don't know how two frak-ups like us managed to raise someone as amazing as you." Kara told her in adoration. "But I want you to know that the best thing to ever happen to me was the chance to be your mother."
"Well….. if you liked that." Laura said cryptically, but practically bursting with pride. "You'll definitely like what we've given you as a reward for your faithful service."
Kara quirked her eyebrows. "Oh yeah, what's my reward?"
"Mommy? Daddy?" A little voice cried out from another room. "I'm up from my nap now."
Kara stopped breathing at the gentle sound and gave Laura a questioning look.
But Laura just smiled back at her. "You better go get him; he's up from his nap now." She began to walk to the door that led outside to the field.
Lee hadn't heard the voice since his mind was still reeling as he tried to force himself to let Laura walk away. His gaze followed her and he turned toward the back door, but his attention was drawn to the floor when he noticed that he had stepped on something. "Sweetheart?" He reached down to pick up the heavily-worn toy bear with one eye, wearing a small Aerilon Chiefs jersey. "This is yours." Lee said, looking back at Laura.
"Actually, it was mine." She turned with her hand on the doorknob and pointed toward the other room. "But it's his now. You gave it to him so that he could have something of his sister's."
Again the little voice called out. "Mommy?"
Kara had been looking over to the other side of the room, to a closed door that the voice had come through. She startled when it opened and a little blond-haired, blue-eyed boy came out, looking at them curiously.
"Whya guys wearing your old uniforms?" He asked, sleepily rubbing his eyes. "Is it Halloween?"
Lee turned at the sound of the questioning voice, to the little person that the voice belonged to, and then looked to Kara for confirmation that she saw him too. Their eyes were wide and their mouths were hanging open, not believing that any of this could be happening, that any of this could be real, when the little boy trotted over to Lee and took the bear from him, squeezing it in his arms.
He noticed Laura and gave her a toothy grin. "Hi, Laura."
"Hey, sweetheart." She smiled back, leaning against the door.
"Am I still asleep?" The little boy asked her, confusion drawn on his innocent face. "Grandpa and Father Monseau said that I could only see you when I was dreaming."
"Well, it is a dream." Laura laughed heartily, winking at him and pointing to their parents. "But it's Mom and Dad who are asleep."
"Really?" He looked over at Kara, then back at Lee, and giggled. "Cool."
Lee knelt down so that they were face to face, tentatively reaching out to see if the child was an illusion, and was met with warmth coming off the boy's skin.
At his father's touch on his shoulder, the boy smiled back at him. "Hi, Daddy."
He looked like Laura, only not really—he was pale and fair-haired while Laura had been darker—but he had the same blue eyes, and the same killer grin.
Lee dropped his hand down to touch something hanging from the boy's neck: a chain with a set of dogtags on it. He smiled when he read the inscription, and looked back up into the little boy's blue eyes. "Hi……….Zak."
"Yeah." Laura whispered to herself, looking at the father and son. She smiled at them before she opened the door and then spoke one last time. "That sure is one lucky kid."
Lee stood back up and watched the daughter that he loved more than anything walk through the door and into her new life. He stared after her until she faded in the distance, and then turned back to Kara.
She was standing there, smiling with tears running down her face and a protective hand covering her belly. She looked up at him and caught his gaze.
And in that instant, Lee knew. Kara had become a mother.
"Starbuck? Apollo? Guys, can you hear me?"
The voice kept getting louder as the white light in their eyes began to recede.
"Starbuck?"
"Don't call me Starbuck, Laura." Kara mumbled as she came to partial lucidity. "My name is Mama."
"Charge to 220, CLEAR!" She heard another voice shout.
When Kara opened her eyes, the first thing she saw was Lee. She was lying on a bed in sickbay, and he was on the bed next to it. His eyes opened and met hers at the same moment. "What's going on?"
They heard Dee's voice. "I found the three of you when I woke up in the chapel."
Kara and Lee sat up and turned to her in amazement; she stood between their beds, still dressed in her funeral gown. "Dee, my gods."
"I can't explain it, but I'm alive." Dee stuttered, touching her healed abdomen. "I don't think it was ever part of the plan for me to stay dead very long." She then set a tortured gaze over to another part of sickbay. "You were both just knocked out, but Laura wasn't breathing, so I shouted for help."
"Where is she?" Lee looked around until he saw two medics and Doc Cottle standing over a table, a pair of bare feet dangling off the end. He got off the bed and ran over to them with Kara close behind. He thought his whole body was going to shatter when he saw Laura unmoving on the table. "What's going on? What's happening with her?"
Cottle sighed in frenzied frustration. "We're working on her, but her heart's not beating."
"How long?" Kara asked desperately. "How long has she been like this?"
"Twenty-five minutes since we found her." Cottle answered. "Charge it again." He told one of the medics that was holding the paddles of the crash cart.
"Charging to 250." The medic said. "CLEAR!" Everyone stood away as he shocked her again.
"DAMN IT!" Cottle shouted, looking at the flatline that remained on the heart monitor. "She's not responding to anything, hasn't been since we found her."
"She looks cold, Lee." Kara whispered softly, looking down at her daughter. "Her body looks cold."
"She has no vitals, Doctor." Another medic told Cottle as he continued to give her CPR. "No respiration, no brain activity, no……." The medic looked up at Kara and Lee, who had not moved their eyes from Laura's body, and decided not to finish his statement.
Lee came up and touched Laura's foot. Touched it as though it were a religious artifact, completely worthy of worship.
"Nothing seems to be working." Cottle frantically turned to Lee and Kara. "I need to crack open her chest." Not even waiting for them to respond, he turned back to the medic. "Sterilize her as much as you can and get me a scalpel and rib spreader. I've got to massage her heart back to where it's pumping again."
I won't be going with you…………. I've always known that my life was never about the destination.
It was the hardest thing Kara had ever done, but she accepted her daughter's words as the truth.
"No." She whispered, her response being hindered by an agonized but resigned sob. "You can stop."
Cottle stilled at her command. "Captain," He pleaded with her. "We could still—."
Kara touched her previously wounded shoulder, still without injury, and looked up at Laura's now unbandaged forehead. "Don't you see it? She's healed all of us. She's even healed herself." She replied numbly, staring down at Laura's perfect form. "She's as perfect as the day she came to us. There's nothing wrong with her body…………. she's just not in it anymore. And I don't want you opening up my child—desecrating her—just to do something that isn't going to bring her back." She began to cry. "She's gone. We know she's gone…… you can let her go."
Cottle face fell and he waited for Lee, who stood there frozen in pain, to argue. But Lee closed his eyes and nodded in agreement. "We've already said our goodbyes, we just……we just want to touch her one last time."
The medics looked at each other and then to Cottle, whose whole body slumped in defeat, but he gestured for them to stop. They all set aside their equipment and moved away to make room for the grieving parents.
Kara moved over to one side of Laura as Lee moved to the other, gazing down at her face.
Lee heard Father Monseau's voice from the corner of the room. "Lords of Kobol, hear our prayer. Take the soul of your dearly beloved servant, Laura Adama, into your hands."
He glanced back to see that Cottle was now attending to a freshly-revived Corporal Townsend, and then his line of sight moved to the corner of the room where the priest was praying. Dee was sitting in a chair next to the Admiral, softly crying with her head on his shoulder.
Adama looked up and locked eyes with his son. He was crying too, but his eyes were clear and full of understanding. He gave Lee a heartbreaking smile and just nodded in acceptance, then went back to gently petting the cat that laid in his lap.
Lee opened his hand to find the instructions that Laura had given him clasped inside, and he heard the coordinates and now-meaningful planet names repeating in his head.
He turned his attention back to his wife and child. Kara held Laura's lifeless hand in hers and was stroking it gently, but she still had the other hand placed on her belly. Lee reached over and placed his hand over hers and Laura's.
He looked to Kara's belly and then up to her eyes. "Yeah?" He questioned, asking after his other child.
Kara nodded and a tear fell down her cheek. "Yeah." She answered with a bittersweet smile.
Lee leaned down and placed one last kiss on Laura's forehead.
Lee looked across the desk to where his father sat. The last time Lee had seen him this anguished was at his brother's funeral, and all he could feel then was anger and blame. But the slate was wiped clean now, because they both knew what it was like to lose a child. And all he felt now was the exact same heartbreak he saw in his father's eyes.
"What do you want do with her?" Adama asked softly. "Memorial service? State funeral?"
"No." Kara answered simply, sitting next to Lee. "People don't need to say out loud all the things that they felt for her. It was enough that they felt them."
"So what should we do?" Lee exhaled, looking between them. "How should we put her to rest?"
"Cremate her body. We'll keep the ashes until………..until we get home." Kara closed her eyes. "She deserves to be put to rest on Earth."
Lee nodded in agreement. "We'll find a good place for her."
"Like an ocean?" Kara suggested. "She always said she'd like to go to an ocean."
Adama laughed to himself. "Her grandmother loved the ocean."
"Mom was terrified of the water." Lee pointed out.
"I wasn't talking about your mother." Adama stared at the book on his desk that he had retrieved from Laura's collection; the book that he had once given the other Laura.
"So we'll find her an ocean." Lee said.
Adama looked up at him, remembering how the warm sun and gentle breeze had touched his face, and smiled knowingly. "I'll know the right place when I see it."
"Okay." Kara sighed. "So what now?"
"Now we have some other things to take care of." Adama admitted as he stood up. "We've already given the instructions that you had with you to our people, and we have marines being deployed to take care of the remaining Cylons and their hidden tracking devices. But leave all of that to us." He paused as he came around the desk and pointed to Kara's belly. "You are to report to Cottle for an exam." He then pointed to Lee. "You go with her."
"I want to go with you to take care of Model Number Four." Lee said firmly, rising from the chair.
Adama put a calming hand on his son's shoulder. "No. Your job is to take care of your family. And my job is to take care of mine." He felt the fury boil inside of him. "And trust me; I'll take care of Model Number Four personally."
The Admiral marched to CIC with President Keikeya striding beside him. When he entered, he looked to confirm that the guards he had assigned were in place, but off to the side until he needed them.
"Attention, Admiral on deck!" Tigh shouted, and walked over to Adama, whispering quietly. "I made sure the Cylon stayed at its post."
Adama nodded in gratitude and then went without hesitation over to where Cylon Model Number Four stood. "Well, Number Four, I have to ask……..was it easy for you? To betray people who put their trust in you? Did you feel any regret at all, doing what you were doing?" He then gestured for the marines to come over and take their places before turning back to the traitor. "Or can an evil machine like you feel anything at all?"
"I was in awe of you." The Cylon they once knew as Felix Gaeta replied coldly. "But I was in awe of your unrighteousness, and the arrogance that allowed you to believe you were worth saving." He smiled creepily. "So no, I felt no regret."
Adama nodded. "You'll feel it now."
"Do you feel any regret?" Gaeta mocked. "Regret that you never noticed it before? I mean, leading the Cylons to you at Ragnar? Not sending the right coordinates to the fleet after Boomer shot you—I was the one that activated her, by the way—and causing the other ships to get lost? Then 'saving the day' with the networking that allowed the virus to get in?" He chuckled arrogantly. "So many little things that you never noticed—but so many big things too. That's awfully bad leadership, isn't it……….Old Man?" He said the last with derision. "I did everything short of wear a sign across my chest that said 'CYLON' and you never saw it. It's amazing how blind you humans can be when what's right under your nose is something that you don't want to see."
"I won't allow you to make me regret putting my trust in others." Adama told him firmly. "Trust is something that your kind will never understand. You may have blinded me before, but I see what you really are now. And what I see is a thing that is about to die. Really die."
"I don't care. It was enough to play my part in the plan to destroy you." Gaeta stood up straight and looked down at everyone in CIC. "You can send my soul to God."
"Oh, don't you know?" Adama smirked. "You'll never find your way back to your God now. He's been defeated—maybe not as a whole, but certainly in regards to this fleet." He paused as the marines cuffed Gaeta's hands behind his back. "We're leaving and you will never find us. Our story hasn't come to an end; the Cylons just aren't main characters anymore. You've been written out."
Tigh walked up beside the Admiral. "What should we do with him?"
"Use his computer terminal to upload the virus that will destroy his metal friends," Adama commanded and gestured to Billy. "Then after that, I defer to the orders of the President."
Billy just stood there glaring at Gaeta. "In the now immortal words of Laura Roslin: Put that thing out the airlock."
To Be Ended…………….Go to the last chapter.
