They at least left him in the isolation ward until Rene was out of surgery. He had sighed in relief when he'd laid eyes on her. She was still asleep and should have looked young and peaceful while recovering from the sedation, but she didn't. She looked like she was concentrating on something difficult and he hoped it was her trying to hang on to life.

Cassie had convinced Dr. Salik that it might be easier to care for them and the other patients if they moved their lifepods to the main portion of the ward. He hadn't wanted to be sealed up in that pod cut off from Rene, but he didn't get much choice in the matter and Cassie had thrown in the enticement that he could have visitors to keep him company. Once sealed up and wheeled out to the ward, he regretted the decision.

His cockpit had never made him feel claustrophobic, but this was different. The life pod was quieter than a cockpit and his inability to move his arms despite the assurances that feeling and movement would return, had him concerned about his future. The pod was almost a vacuum keeping out the hectic activity of the life center. He just got quick glimpses out of his range of sight that made little sense. He thought he saw the teens who had taken to calling him dad, Jason and Cain, but it was across the room, and then he didn't see them again. He had seen that Jake was in a bio bed as well, but Nik had explained that the young man was just worn out not ill. Starbuck suspected that Jake's ability to finally stand down was not just from exhaustion, but also facilitated by those he counted as family coming in to help. Starbuck had noted that while most of the other pilots had fled the life center in typical pilot aversion, several of the Copper squadron remained. Crius seemed to be on guard duty, taking a chair near where Jake slept, watching over the young man. Starbuck had wanted to wave him over, but his arms still weren't working. He noticed Alex had a chair near Max, while Gage was conversing with Apollo and Boomer. That meant that Starbuck was left with the quietest of the family, as Nik had taken up residence between his and Rene's pod.

Nik tried to do a good job of keeping him updated on Rene, but there wasn't much to report other than she was still out. Cassie had assured him Rene was just sleeping and would wake in time, but she hadn't as of yet. He didn't have anything better to do in the pod than to think or to worry. Thinking hurt his head and worrying was making it hard to breathe, so he tried to sleep hoping that it would make the time pass quicker and aid the medications that he was being pumped full of to chase out the cylon engineered bugs.

He had finally drifted off, when he woke to a soft voice that was different from the others. He thought he recognized it, but it seemed out of place.

"He is going to be alright? He will regain movement?"

He heard Cassie answer Chameleon. "We think so, but it's going to take time. I thought you might be able to keep him distracted while he heals."

"Well yes, whatever I can do to help."

Starbuck opened his eyes, scanning the small view he had out of the pod, smiling when Chameleon's face came into view. "What are you doing here?" He tried not to sound ungrateful, but he worried that if the med techs wanted him distracted, it meant something important was going on they didn't want him to know about.

"Well, uh…son…Cassiopeia contacted me. She let me know that…well…they were worried that you might…but I'm glad to see you are doing much better."

He closed his eyes at that bit of information. No one had conveyed to him that he might die, and he was doing far better than Rene. Was Chameleon called so he could be there to help Starbuck when he received the news of his wife's death? It made more sense than Cassie calling him to keep him entertained. He craned his head to look at Rene's pod again, willing her to wake, closing his eyes to put all his effort into the wish.

"Starbuck? I can go if you aren't up to talking."

"No." He suddenly did not want to be alone and helplessly trapped in that pod. At least with Chameleon there, he had someone who could tell him what was going on beyond what now felt like his coffin. He forced his eyes open. "It seems my schedule is really free right now."

Chameleon leaned over his pod, seeming to be slightly uncomfortable in the Life Center. "Cassiopeia told me there have been some changes in your life. She said you were sealed, but when I congratulated her she…she shook her head no and seemed, well…"

Chameleon hesitated, and Starbuck felt a stab of guilt for the man's misunderstanding. He didn't quite know how he was going to explain everything that had happened in his life. He settled for a simple answer.

"Uh yeah, I am but Cassie and I…we broke up."

The old man's face went from concerned to one of understanding, a knowing smile tugging at his lips. "Oh…well surely you two can work it out. I'm sure it was just a misunderstanding. You are good for each other. Marriage isn't always a smooth road. Why your mother…I mean my wife and I, we had a tough time at first too."

He sighed as fatigue pulled at him, but Starbuck knew it was probably just his old instincts to run from the consequences of his actions. He should have probably found Chameleon sooner, but he'd been busy in the last sectars and frankly, Chameleon hadn't even crossed his mind.

"Starbuck? It will work out, you will see."

Chameleon's confident grin made it even harder to breath, but he pushed away from the desire to avoid a tough situation, and faced his…friend? He'd never quite figured out where to put Chameleon in his life and perhaps that was why he hadn't thought to contact him before he was sealed.

"No, Chameleon. I think I should explain. I didn't seal with Cassie. I met someone and…her name is Rene and we are sealed. She's…she's a warrior and…she's sick too." He nodded his head to the life pod on the other side of him.

"Oh," Chameleon's intake of surprise as he looked to Cassie instead of to Rene let Starbuck know which side Chameleon had wanted to win. It also left him truly wondering why Cassie had contacted the old conman. Was she still angry with him? Maybe she was, but she wouldn't take it out on him while he was in her life center. She didn't play games like other women. It was what he had loved about her when they were together. She shot straight. So why was Chameleon here now? Had he really almost died on them?

"Sorry," Starbuck uttered softly wondering if he should claim he didn't feel well and end the visit and let Cassie or Adama fill in the gaps in the story. No, that was the coward's way out and he wasn't embarrassed he chose Rene. It was Cassie that had turned him down and, well, if he was dying or worse, Rene was, then he wanted his friend to know the score.

"I should have told you. I've just been busy with the baby on the way and helping her family find their footing in the fleet. It was a small sealing and pretty impromptu, and then we were off on the mission and…" he knew they were excuses, but he wasn't sure if should admit to the man he had hoped once was his father that Starbuck had simply forgotten about him.

"Baby on the way?" Chameleon looked away from him back to Cassiopeia, then to the life pod that held Rene, before turning back to Starbuck. "You're having a baby?"

"Yeah, I'm going to be a father. I hope…if she makes it."

"Oh," Chameleon looked up to Cassie again before turning back. "A father. That is…big news. You have had some changes in your life."

"Yeah. I guess I have." At the moment, lying in a life pod trying to recover from the repairs made to his body due to Cylon torture and radium poisoning after having spent too much time on his destroyed home world rescuing more refugees, the baby on the way seemed the smallest of the changes he had faced. He hoped he'd be meeting his child someday soon and not facing the harsh fact that he was single and alone once again.

"I guess I should have told you. It just happened really fast and…" Starbuck realized he didn't know what day it was, nor could he even remember how many days it had been since he'd sealed with Rene, or for that matter when exactly he had met her. His days had become so focused on the family that he had lost count. He felt his heart swell at the knowledge. In the past he'd counted down his days to his next furlon, or since the last one. He'd always seemed to be waiting for something to happen, looking ahead or counting the distance from the bad times in his past. Since meeting Rene, he'd stopped counting and calculating. He just lived.

"It's alright, son. Sometimes that's how things happen. Why when I met your mother, I was not looking to be sealed and then, it was a whirlwind romance and I was sealed before I knew it."

He didn't point out this time that Chameleon hadn't corrected himself that Starbuck wasn't his son. For a moment it was enjoyable to pretend that maybe the man was his father and his child would have an extended family beyond the Gutter Snipes.

Chameleon interrupted his thoughts. "What is she like?"

"Stubborn," he said laughing, hoping the trait would be what kept her alive right now. His laughter turned into a wet, wracking cough that left him breathless. Alarms went off and one of the med techs came over, reading data on the pod. Briefly he looked at him before adjusting something on the bio pod's data screen. Then he was gone.

Starbuck was pretty sure Chameleon was asking about Rene just asked to be polite and to keep the conversation going, but he didn't have anything else he could do but talk and sleep. He didn't want to be asleep if and when Rene left him.

"Stubborn, eh?" Chameleon looked uncharacteristically concerned. "She would need to be to keep in you line, am I right?"

"Yeah, I suppose." It was reminiscent of the type of ribbing he'd been taking since announcing he was going to seal with Rene, but truth be told, she had not once acted like the wives his friends complained about. She'd not told him no to anything he wanted to do. Drinking, smoking, gambling, triad, she had encouraged some of it and even joined in. He'd never be able to find another girl like her.

"Tell me more about her, son?" He pulled Starbuck away from his dark thoughts of the worst-case scenario.

"She's caring. She's helped a lot of kids out since the destruction. I think she would adopt the whole orphan ship if I let her."

"Oh, she does sound like your mother." Chameleon looked over to Rene's pod for a moment and Starbuck wished he could get a better view himself. No, he wanted more than that. He wanted to crack the seal and climb in with her. He perked up a bit at the thought. Why couldn't he? They were suffering from the same contamination. It's not like it would harm them more than they already were hurting. It might actually help. Nik had been right, you had to have something to live for and Starbuck could do that for Rene, or at the very least, be able to hold her one more time before she slipped away.

"She looks like your mother too," Chameleon said trying yet again to distract Starbuck. "I was older than your mother too in yahrens, but oh she was so much wiser, especially when it came to you. I was so frightened to even hold you at first, not that she gave me much of a chance. She rarely put you down. You didn't even have a chance to cry."

The old man had to be confused. Age was clouding his mind, or was it Starbuck that was a bit lost in the haze of the medications pumping through him? "You mean your wife and your son," Starbuck clarified for the man.

Chameleon took a deep breath, looking up toward the medtech station before focusing back on him and sighing. "No, son. There's something I should have told you long ago. I guess I thought a better time would come in the future, and you were talking about packing in your whole career for one worthless old man who wasn't deserving of your loyalty since I had shown so little." Chameleon's sad smile was disconcerting.

"What are you talking about? I don't understand."

"No, I don't suppose you do. I thought Cassie would eventually tell you, but she has held my secret. I'm not sure if it was the right thing for her to do but…"

Starbuck shook his head, hoping to chase away the fog of confusion.

"But with a child on the way and what you have been through. Can you forgive an old man?"

Chameleon truly looked distressed, and he couldn't figure out what could have him upset. The man hadn't known what was going on in his life and it wasn't like Starbuck had tried to keep in touch. "Yeah, I guess so. Not sure why but, yeah. I mean it's not like I've tried too hard to check up on you either."

"That was my responsibility, not yours. You are busy saving the fleet and I am so proud of you, son."

There was that word again, a little over emphasized or so Starbuck thought. Was Chameleon wishing for the same thing Starbuck wanted, an extended family he could call his own? No, he could have had that all those yahrens ago when they found out he wasn't really his father. It had been fun to think it was true for a short while, but it wasn't fact. Chameleon had said it would be okay if they pretended, but in the end, Starbuck hadn't wanted a fake father. The few times they had tried to meet, something usually came up for one of the other of them and neither seemed eager to reschedule. He'd let go of the fantasy of having a father. The old professional gambler read the emotions on his face.

"Starbuck, I should have told you when I first found out, but I was worried you would give up your whole life for me. I guess now I realize, I should have let you make that decision for yourself."

Chameleon hesitated, and Starbuck was truly puzzled as to what the man was talking about. "Son, I am your father."

"Yeah, you are the closest thing I have to it, that's for sure."

Chameleon reached out his hand to the view port of the pod, trying to touch him but too much was in the way. "No son, I am your father. The tests were conclusive."

"But, Cassie said…"

"I asked her to lie…for you. It was the right thing to do…for you."

Understanding began to dawn on him. He knew he should feel joy at the revelation, but instead he felt bewildered and angry. He clenched and unclenched his jaw wishing he could do that with his hands. He wanted to punch the pod. He couldn't understand why the man couldn't have told him, nor why Cassie would go along with it. So what if he'd been talking about quitting the service? He had that thought every other day and didn't act on it. Why would that be what kept him from knowing he had a family?

"Why would she do that? Why would you do that?" He contemplated trying to use all his strength to push his way out of this pod, everybody's safety including his own be damned.

"Because I am an old fool, son, and Cassiopeia humored me, but only on the condition that I would tell you when the time was right. She wasn't about to let me lie to you indefinitely."

Starbuck felt a flush of heat that made him shake. He could have had a family all this time, but everyone had convinced him it wasn't real, it wasn't what he wanted. Who had the right to make those decisions for him? The sting of Cassie's rejection of his proposal felt nearly as bad as the electricity jolts the Cylons had used to torture him. Were Chameleon and Cassie that worried about the fleet that it was important he remain a pilot? Or did they think he couldn't make his own decisions? It didn't make sense. All he'd ever wanted was a family, and the two had kept that from him. Well he had a family now, one he was going to hang on to with everything he had.

"What the frak?" he shouted, the words burned his throat like he'd swallowed lasers. He choked on the anger, coughing out again, "Frak. Why?" He couldn't find the air to say more as it caught in his chest. He felt his heart skip a beat as another alarm went off on his pod. Cassie was there in only a micron, pushing buttons to stop the sound as a cool mist of something soothing filled his pod. He felt his shoulders and chest loosen and he was able to draw air into his lungs. He used it to shout at who was probably saving his life, but right now he just didn't care.

"Is that why you turned me down? So I'd stay in the service and do my duty? That it?"

"Starbuck, you need to calm down," she ordered him, her finger hovering over buttons, but he could still draw air.

"Why can't I have a family? Nobody thinks I can handle it? Well Frak you. Frak you all. I have a family and I'm hanging on to it! Now get me out of this thing!" He choked again, wanting to clutch at his chest but his arms only moved a fraction. He found himself cursing again, long and loud, and then he couldn't remember why he was cursing as he felt something pleasant and warm course through the intravenous line in his arm.

"Starbuck, you need to calm down. I've given you a sedative. I didn't ask him here to upset you," Cassie's face hovered over the opening of the pod, and he wanted to chase her away. He wanted to see Rene, or Nik, or anyone from his family. He wondered why Jake hadn't been cleared. Where was he? Jake would help him out of this pod. He'd get him to Rene and to the kids. He wanted to see Kalea and to hold little Leia.

"Starbuck?" Cassie's voice drew him back to the present. "I'm sorry. I should not have kept it from you, but he asked me to. It is not why I turned down your proposal, and we can talk about that another time. I thought you deserved to know, now that you are going to be a father, that you have a father. You are loved Starbuck, not just by your new and wonderful family, but by your father."

He didn't need her to tell him that. He knew he was loved. His family showed him often how they felt about him. Kiff lit up when he entered the room, and Crius's kids called him uncle. Nik's kids listened to him better than they did Nik, and Rene was having his child. They'd even talked about having more. He closed his eyes and sighed. The man had been right all those yahrens ago, it had been too late in his life. Starbuck wasn't a child who needed parents anymore. He was now the parent to several children who needed him to get out of this pod alive. He had a responsibility to get out of this life pod. He needed to get well. He took a deep breath and felt like closing his eyes.

"Don't you remember, Starbuck, you told me you wanted to give up everything and come help me reunite orphans with their families?" Chameleon asked. "That was all a lie. I couldn't have you abandon your career ….all you had built ….your friends …even Cassiopeia … for an old reprobate who had never done anything good or honest in his life. You were the only thing good that had come from me, son …" Tears shone in the old man's eyes. "Now, looking back, maybe it was wrong of me and all I can do is hope that you have many days ahead of us where you can finally forgive me, but I understand if you can't. I shouldn't have kept the truth from you, which is why I'm here now. But considering that you wouldn't have found your wife and adopted her family if you'd given up your career in the service, then maybe I did the right thing at the time. I'm happy for you Starbuck, that you finally found your family … and I hope you introduce them to me one day."

It was the only thing that could penetrate the fog of anger and disbelief that Starbuck existed in. What if he had never met Rene?

"I should let you rest and …and take some time to…to heal," Chameleon stuttered starting to move away.

"Wait!" Starbuck called to him. "Don't…I just…" he sighed again as Chameleon's face moved back into his field of vision, a hopeful gleam in the old man's eyes. "I just need some time to think, to understand. You won't leave the Galactica will you?"

"Oh no son, not until you are…are well. There's a young man outside, Jason I think he said his name was, and he's offered to find me a place to stay once he heard who I was coming to see. He called you Dad, but he must have thought I meant your friend Apollo."

Starbuck chuckled as he realized Chameleon might be a bit overwhelmed himself with what he was getting himself into. Starbuck had become a father to a large family in the blink of an eye. He tried to find the words to explain in the fog that was creeping into his mind.

"No, he's mine, well, Rene's son…our son, adopted. It's complicated. Tell him to let you into my quarters. He has the code."

"Oh, if you are sure, son?"

Movement off to his side near Rene's pod drew his attention away. Nik was on his feet leaning over her pod, calling her name, while waving for the med techs to come.

"What's happening?" Nik's shouting Rene's name made Starbuck's heart race and he had to shout again to be heard, "What's going on?!"

Nik came around Rene's pod to get closer to Starbuck, but he essentially blocked Starbuck's view at the same time. "She's waking up. Heart rate is dropping though. She just won't keep the damn beat."

"Make her!" he shouted and Nik acknowledged his words by placing his hand over the glass on his pod while turning away. His hand flashed signs at him, trying to tell him to calm down. Starbuck looked to Chameleon, but the old man was gone. He gritted his teeth and focused his hearing on the heart beat monitor on her pod, willing the erratic beat to find something resembling a rhythm.

Cassie had come to Chameleon's rescue, guiding him towards the far side of the Life Center, uttering a quick, "Thank you. That took courage," before she rushed to the aid of her patients.

Chameleon was bewildered by the activity in the Life Center. He wanted to be there for his son, but one of the young man he had met outside the life center came to pull him away. The youngster was flanked by a tall blond boy who looked concerned. The darker haired boy, the one named Jason, spoke to him quietly.

"She won't die. They won't let her."

Chameleon assumed the lad was talking about Cassiopeia and the other workers in the Life Center. The taller blond did not look as confident.

"Cain," the blond offered to him, a hand outstretched. "You know Dad?"

Chameleon looked to the pod the boy indicated, the one that contained Starbuck.

"You mean Starbuck?" he asked wondering at how much had truly changed for his son in a very short time.

"Yeah, Dad. Well, not really, but, well, he is now. It's complicated." He shrugged.

The shorter lad explained. "They're all dad, Starbuck's just the one who lets us call him that. How do you know him?"

Chameleon held out his hand taking a liking to the duo. "I guess I'm grandpa. He's my son."

Jason shook his hand first, then the tall blond spoke, "Well now we have two of those, or is it three?"

Jason replied, "No, the Commander is God now, at least he will be when you get in the academy." The boy turned to Chameleon, "God has some quarters he can loan you until Dad is out of this place."

"Dad?" Chameleon tried the word on his own tongue again, remembering back to a time when a blonde haired boy called him Papa. "I have missed out on a lot."

"Well, never a dull moment with this family," Cain answered, his eyes focused on the activity surrounding Rene's Life Pod. "I sure would like it if things calmed down for a while."