Chapter Fifteen

Lee knew where Boomer lived. Dee had found out early on that one of the Cylon leaders was none other than the same model of Sharon Valerii that had served on the Galactica, and the resistance had kept an eye on her ever since.

Oddly she chose not to live in the Cylon government building, as most of the other Cylons did. She had a small tent pitched out on its own, at the edge of the town, away from both humans and Cylons.

Isolated enough to make it easy for Lee and Cally to make their way to the tent unobserved, even in daytime.

Boomer was definitely there. Lee could hear her humming a tune to herself, a song he remembered hearing on the radio everywhere last time he was on Caprica, so long ago.

He caught Cally's eye and held up his hand to tell her to wait. He wanted to make sure no-one else was there before they moved in.

In the silence, a baby started crying.

Cally moved so fast Lee had no time to stop her. He swore and rushed after her into the tent, gun at the ready.

With relief he discovered that the tent was empty except for Boomer. She was standing at the far end, holding a baby in her arms, eyes wide.

"Cally," she said, and half smiled. "I knew I'd be seeing you someday."

Cally didn't return the smile. Her whole being seemed to be focused on the child Boomer held.

"Give me my daughter back."

Boomer's arms tightened round the child. "She's quite happy where she is."

Cally finally tore her eyes away from the baby to look at Boomer. Lee had never seen her face so hard. "You stole her from me."

Boomer's face hardened in return. "No, I didn't. I saved her."

"Saved her." Cally laughed jerkily. "From what?"

"They were going to kill her, Cally. They thought it would be kinder. But I couldn't let that happen to her, so I took her instead."

"So you saved her out of the kindness of your heart?" asked Cally contemptuously.

"Hardly." Boomer's mouth twisted bitterly. "I'm a Cylon. We don't have hearts, do we? I saved her because she belonged to Galen."

"And to me." Cally said thickly. "I'm her mother. Give her to me."

"Why? So you can take her back to the resistance? She's doomed there," said Boomer gently. "You have no hope of success, don't you see that? We're crushing you, slowly but surely. If you take her back she'll die in an attack, or slowly from hunger when you're all dead around her." She stroked the baby's head gently. "She's better off here with me. At least she has a future. I'll take good care of her."

"I'm her mother." Cally fired each word with rising force. "Give her to me."

"No."

"Then I'll make you." Cally raised her gun, and Lee stepped forward.

"Cally – be careful-"

"Are you going to shoot me, Cally?" Boomer laughed unevenly. "Wasn't once enough for you?"

"Obviously I didn't do it right," Cally spat.

Lee jumped forward, grabbing her shoulder. "Cally, calm down. If you fire you might hit the baby, it's too dangerous-"

She looked up at him, tears glittering in her eyes. "I won't let her keep my baby, Lee. I won't."

Lee looked over at Boomer. He pushed down the surge of anger the sight of her automatically aroused, the memory of her shooting his father.

"Boomer, please." He tried to make his voice as pleasant as possible. "Give Cally the baby. She belongs with her mother."

"A mother who's pointing a gun at her." Boomer's voice was thick with disgust.

"She's putting the weapon down." Lee held Cally's eyes, trying to get her agreement. "Aren't you, Cally?"

For a moment Cally glared at him. Then she sighed, and lowered the gun.

"Give her the baby, Boomer," said Lee. "Please."

For a moment Boomer wavered. Her face softened, but then the child in her arms moved and gurgled and her face hardened again.

"No, I won't."

Cally brought the gun back up.

"Cally, no-"

"I won't let this happen." Cally's face was white and desperate. "She'd be better off dead than with that machine-"

"Cally!" The look on her face chilled Lee to the bone. "Cally, listen to me-"

"Sharon?"

The new voice froze them all into silence. Lee turned to see Tyrol entering the tent, closely followed by Kara. What were they doing here?

Tyrol smiled at Cally briefly, then looked past her to the end of the tent.

"Sharon, is that you?"

"Yes." Boomer looked as if she could hardly believe her eyes. "Yes, Galen. It's me."

Tyrol looked pale as he walked forward. "And is that my daughter?"

"Yes." Boomer looked at him pleadingly. "I saved her for you, Galen. They were going to kill her."

"Were they?" Tyrol's voice trembled. "Thank you for doing that, Sharon." His voice was gentle. "But you have to give her to us now."

Boomer's face hardened. "You won't take care of her."

"Yes, we will. We're her parents, Sharon. She belongs with us."

"She belongs with me."

"No she doesn't!" Cally screamed.

Tyrol turned to look at her. "Cally, go outside with Starbuck."

Cally stared at him incredulously. "I'm not leaving without her, Galen."

"I'm not asking you to. But I think it's best if I talk to Sharon without you here." He stepped forward and stroked Cally's cheek with one hand. "Trust me, Cally. Please."

Cally closed her eyes and sighed, leaning into his hand. "All right."

She walked to the flap and Kara gently drew her outside.

Tyrol turned back to Boomer. "Sharon-"

"How could you marry her, Galen?" Her voice was full of anguish. "Her, of all people? She killed me!"

Pain flickered across Tyrol's face. "She was there for me when you weren't. I love her, Sharon."

Lee retreated towards the flap. He felt uncomfortable listening to this.

"You loved me once." Boomer stared at him fiercely, daring him to deny it.

"I did," said Tyrol without hesitation. "Part of me always will, I think. But you're a Cylon, Sharon, and I'm not. There's no future for us."

Boomer looked down at the floor, face crumpling.

"Give me my daughter, Sharon," said Tyrol quietly. "Please. I can't thank you enough for taking care of her, but she needs to be with her mother now."

Boomer didn't answer.

"Please. I'm begging you, Sharon."

Boomer stared down at the baby. Then with a choked sob, she moved towards Tyrol and pushed the baby into his arms.

Tyrol stared down at the baby, face glowing. "It's all right, now," he said quietly. "Your father's here." He looked up at Boomer. "Thank you, Sharon."

Boomer turned abruptly away. "Don't thank me, Galen. Just go."

----

They broke a gap in the stake fence to get out of the town. Speed was important than concealment now; there were only a few hours left before the evacuation was due to begin. No-one spoke until they were safely under cover of the trees.

Lee looked at Cally. She was staring down at her baby tenderly, all the bitterness gone from her face. Something warmed within him. At least he'd done one good thing on New Caprica, whatever else had happened.

Kara looked at her watch. "We'll have to split up. Four hours now until the op starts, we have to get into position."

"What about Cally and the baby?" Tyrol asked.

"They can go with Lee to the co-ordination point. It'll be the safest place for them, they can get straight on a raptor."

Tyrol nodded. He went slowly over to his wife.

"I have to go now, Cally." He reached out and stroked a finger over the baby's head. "Take care of her, okay?"

Cally looked up in dismay. "Do you have to go?"

"You know I do. I have to meet Racetrack-"

Lee knew what he had to do.

"No you don't," he said.

Tyrol turned to look at him. "What?"

"You need to stay with your family," said Lee firmly. He wasn't going to let Tyrol do this. "We'll swap places. You're an experienced soldier, you can advise Laura just as well as I can. I'll meet Racetrack and lead the strike team in your place."

"Thank you." It was all Tyrol said, but the look in his eyes told Lee just how much this meant to him.

Lee nodded. He stepped forward and put a hand on Tyrol's shoulder, then kissed Cally's cheek. "Take care."

They disappeared into the trees, and Lee turned to Kara. She was watching him with a smile.

"You have your moments, Apollo, you know that? Not many, but you do have them."

He smiled back. "So do you. If you hadn't brought the Chief along-"

"Just be glad he'd put a tracker on Cally." Kara sighed. "I have to go."

"I know." Lee stared at her, not knowing what to say. There was so much he wanted to say to her, and no time to say it in. "Kara-"

"Don't." She stepped forward and put a finger on his lips. "I'll see you on Galactica, Lee. We can talk then."

He opened his mouth and she shook her head.

"I'll see you on Galactica, Lee."

Lee met her eyes, bright with unshed tears, and understood. He nodded slowly.

"All right, Kara. I'll see you on Galactica."

She bit her lip and nodded, and Lee found himself moving instinctively, pulling her into a hug. For a moment her body was rigid against his, and then she relaxed and hugged him back.

Lee buried his face in her hair, breathing her in, and realised suddenly that she was right. They didn't need words. They were telling each other everything they needed to with this one gesture.

It ended all too soon. Kara gave him one last smile and then turned to leave.

Lee watched her until she disappeared from sight.

Just in case this was the last time he ever saw her.