She let him guide her from their quarters and down to the Council chamber where dinner was in full Copper Squadron swing with the kids running around and Crius trying to rock his baby to sleep. Starbuck had her take a seat beside Crius before Kalea and Kiff tackled her demanding her attention and to be held.

"I'll get us some food," he said before he headed into the food prep area, greeting Jason with a high five and a slap on the back for Cain.

Kalea gave her a quick tight hug then climbed down to run off and play with Lara, but Kiff was uncharacteristically subdued, snuggling in beside her. The Commander coming out of the food prep area was a surprise to Rene and she understood why her boisterous boy was so quiet. Adama was still in uniform and looked intimidating in the dark blue. She felt little Kiff shiver beside her as she felt her own fatigue shake her shoulders. A memory bubbled up of how that blue felt on her bare skin. She swallowed down the sensation of that fabric, not as soft as it looked, but crisp and crusty from drying in the air of Dilmun. It was rough and scraped and suddenly she wasn't hungry anymore.

She turned to Crius. "Is he going to be here every night? I need him to go."

"I don't think that's something I can do," Crius answered shifting his son to his shoulder.

She wanted to growl, but she should have known. Crius was a Colonial and was so slappy happy thrilled to be accepted by the Galactica crew he wasn't going to make any waves. She looked around the room. Nik was close so she called him over making him lean down so she could whisper. "Get him out of here," as she tilted her head in the Commander's direction.

Nik gave her a funny look and she flashed him a hand sign that said basically the same thing. The commander needed to go home and leave them be, at least for tonight.

"Rene, he's not doing any harm," Crius said to her as Nik flashed that he couldn't do it.

"Why? When did you two become the Commander's lackeys?"

"Rene," Crius hissed.

"He's not like Dante. You know that," Nik added. "He's trying to help."

"He can help himself out the door," she whispered as the commander patted Jason on the shoulder. Before she could say anything more, Jake took the seat beside her, perching on the edge and pointing to Kiff. "He tell you yet?"

"Tell me what?" She looked to Kiff who tried to snuggle in, hiding in the cushions of the chair.

"He got in trouble today at the child care center. Hit another kid. Left a pretty good bruise. Want to know why? Did you know he's been carrying a rock around since Dilmun?"

She looked down to her son who looked on the verge of tears. "A rock? Did you hit another kid with a rock?"

"No, my hand," Kiff said in a soft wail. "He wanted my rock and it's MY rock!"

Rene sighed, prepared to have the lecture again about sharing, something that was a challenge for Kiff, when Jake interrupted, "Tell her what you named your rock."

Rene was puzzled why that would be the important part of this story instead of the fact that Kiff hit another kid, or that for four sectares Kiff had held onto the same rock and no one noticed. She looked to Jake, but his eyes creased with worry wouldn't meet hers. Jake asked again, "Go on Kiff, tell her."

Kiff looked embarrassed as pushed even farther back in the cushions and mumbled, "Uncari."

"What?" Rene asked, not sure if she heard what she thought she heard, a cold chill traveling down her spine.

"Uncle Ari."

She froze and before she could process the implications of her son walking around with a rock he'd named after her brother, Jake spoke again, "I need a night off. Now." This time he met her eyes, so full of emotion it nearly knocked her back like an explosion.

"What? No. NO!" The insinuations of his words meant more than being relieved of childcare duties or doing the dishes. A "night off" for Jake often turned into a secton where she had to track him down, dry him out, detox the drugs from his system, hold him while he kicked and screamed, and then try to rectify whatever damage he had done to himself or others. Often it meant working out deals to keep him off report or out of trouble. Those deals were harder to honor in the "real" Colonial Service.

She lowered her voice and leaned in closer, "No Jake, they are watching and checking us. They will know!"

"Or…" he held up a hand, "They will just think it is something that was left over from before."

"No they won't! You think I d…don't know how this w…works? They will kick you out. You d…don't want to be civ..civilian in this fleet. They won't let you stay on the Ga…ga…." Rene said to him.

"They won't kick me out for one night. I'm a decent enough pilot. It's just one night."

"One n..night…It's never just one n…night for you. D..don't f..f..feed me..f…felger…c…c…FRAK!" With the return of her stutter, Jake's face fell, revealing for just a moment the anguish that was brewing like a thunderstorm inside him.

The shouted curse brought Starbuck out of the food prep area, a concerned look on his face as he headed their way.

"What's the briefing about? We have a new mission? Are we going to a resort on Piscera this time?" he asked, trying to joke, but his tone and his arrival seemed to be all the impetus that Jake needed to shoot to his feet and head for the door.

"Jake?" Rene called to him, but he kept walking even as Nik and Crius called out for him to come back.

"What's going on?" Starbuck asked, registering the distress on their faces.

Rene nodded her head in the Commander's direction as the man took a seat farther down the table. Bypassing Starbuck, she raised her voice, "Sir, are you here as family or as the Commander?"

Adama paused, sliding his eyes towards Starbuck for a moment in confusion before turning back to Rene, "I am both, but in this room, I would like to be more family than Comm…"

She didn't let him finish as she drew her laser. She swivelled the council chair to face the door, pushed Nik out of the way with one hand and shot Jake in the back as he crossed the threshold to the corridor. Her friend crumpled to the ground.

Starbuck's shout cut through the room, "Rene! What the frak!"

Simultaneously, Adama barked, "Lieutenant, holster that weapon!"

Crius came to his feet, a baby thrown over his shoulder with one hand as he strode across the room, reaching for Jake's neck, checking a pulse before dragging him back into the room so the door to the chamber could close. He reached up a hand to activate the lock.

"What in Sagan's name are you doing? Have you lost your mind?" Starbuck reached for the weapon in her hand, yanking it away, double checking for himself that it was just on a light stun. "What the frak is going on?"

It was Crius that answered from the door, "She had her reasons. He's fine."

"Fine? He's fine?" Starbuck looked from Crius to the Commander who shared his look of alarm before looking back to Rene. "You shot him!"

"He had it coming," Nik said quietly and Starbuck spun on him.

"Has everyone gone crazy? Rene's had her brains scrambled sure, but you two?" Starbuck stared in bewilderment from Nik to Crius, then back to Nik. "You didn't go to Caprica. You didn't deal with the Cylons. He's your friend and you're defending this? We don't shoot each other!"

"Lieutenants,"the Commander interjected having come to his feet at the discharge of the laser, he crossed the room quickly, "I think we need an explanation. Now."

The bite of authority was in his voice and Rene felt Kiff shiver beside her in response. She tried to hug her son closer, but he pushed away, climbing down from her lap, and marching up to the Commander.

"You need to go home now!" The boy's voice quavered as he puffed up his little chest and said the words again stronger and louder. "You need to go! We don't like you!"

"Kiff! You don't talk that way to the Commander," Starbuck scolded, reaching out for him.

Rene leaned forward, reaching out to pull Kiff back to her. "Don't touch my son," she snarled, wrapping an arm protectively around the boy.

"Rene? Seriously? What the frak is going on?" Starbuck took a step towards her, but the Commander placed a restraining hand on Starbuck's arm.

"Son," Adama's voice was low, the bass tones of his displeasure blurring in a confusing mix with his comforting fatherly figure. "Everyone needs to calm down."

"But sir?" Starbuck began, but Adama used the term of endearment that Rene knew worked almost as well as the switch the IL used to control his nerves and muscles.

"Son, it's alright. Kiff can speak his mind. I suspect he's tired, as is Rene. The excitement of the sealing is a bit much. Tempers have run high. We seem to have a family issue to deal with and I suggest we do it calmly, without threats of violence or any more weapons firing."

Adama looked to Rene for a moment before surveying the other adults in the room. She shivered as she was unable to read his thoughts in the stony calm features of his face. She looked away to evaluate Starbuck. His face was as clear as an alert klaxon, the shock and outrage mixed with humiliation as he looked at the Commander. The fear bloomed like a wildfire, and she fell back on old habits, calling out to Crius, imitating his country slang, "About that?"

After having rolled Jake over so he was resting on his side, Crius stood up and stepped forward, bobbing his child in his arms who had begun to fuss. "Sir, it was justified. She was doing a good thing." He moved to put himself in front of the commander, blocking Rene and Nik from harm, but the child in his arms caused him to hesitate.

"I'm sure it could have been done without a stun to the back," Adama said sternly.

"I'm not so sure of that. There would have been some marks and bruising with our other options," Nik said before adding a flippant, "sir."

"I give up!" Starbuck threw his hands up in the air, turning towards the commander. "Sir, I apologize. I have no idea why they've all gone insane."

Adama was silent as he surveyed the three, before casting his gaze like a scanner around the room, noting the absence of Boomer, Giles or Gage. Rene followed his eyes, as they settled on Crius before he nodded to Starbuck. Rene realized that in Adama's eyes, after himself, Starbuck truly was the superior in the room, then came Crius and the rest did not matter. Despite Starbuck's constant reassurance, the Rats really weren't seen as Lieutenants and officers. The lack of academy training meant a lifetime of judgement.

"Sir, it really isn't what you think," Crius said as he awkwardly bounced his son in his arms.

"She stunned him, in the back, in a room full of kids!" Starbuck exclaimed throwing his arms wide. "She could have hit one of them? Did you think of that?"

He shifted his rant to Rene. "You're not even cleared for duty, what in hades are you doing with a laser? The Commander can give you a dishonorable discharge just for drawing it without reason in a room of civilians. Did you think of that?" Starbuck was red in the face and she wasn't sure if it was from anger or embarrassment.

"Well Jake won't disgrace you in front of the c…commander if he's stunned for the evening. Your precious Warrior code won't be dis…dishonoured," Rene said.

Starbuck shook his head cursing, "For Frak's sake Rene! He just wanted a night off! Are you going to stun me when I want to go the Officer's Club? Or will it be a solenite charge if I mention the Rising Star?"

Adama reached out a hand to his arm speaking softly, "Starbuck."

"She could have killed someone," he continued, but with a little less anger than before.

Adama squeezed his arm in reassurance. The commander's eyes rested on the child in Crius's arms before he spoke. "But she didn't. No one was harmed permanently and it seems the others feel her actions were appropriate. Kiff may be right, my presence is not helping the situation so I will bid you all a good evening. If you need me, you can find me in my quarters, but I trust this will be resolved calmly and without further violence on anyone's part."

"You don't have to go, sir. Dinner has just started," Starbuck said, looking quickly to Rene almost pleading her to fall in line or at least apologize. She looked away from him to the Commander.

"Good night, sir." The sir would register at least a six on her surliness scale and she didn't care. She just wanted an evening without having to utter another sir in her own family home.

"Good night, Rene. I would like to request you come speak with me tomorrow about the sealing and my part." He headed for the door with Starbuck following apologizing.

"Sir? I'm sorry. I will work it out."

Adama looked like he was about to say something in reply, but instead settled for nodding before heading for the door. He checked Jake's limp body himself before unlocking the chambers and stepping over the young man and out the door.

"Alright, you got what you wanted! The Commander's gone and I doubt he'll come back even when invited. So, what's your angle here, Rene, because the sealing was your idea, the informal family one as well as this big fraking production. Your lie about us all being family is a huge pile of mong everyone can smell."

Rene looked to Nik for some backup, but he looked away. She turned to Crius, but he raised an eyebrow. "It's a good question don't you think?" Crius asked. "You don't get to pick and choose who is family. That's really how family works. You get what you get."

"I know," she answered, "That's not what I wanted," Rene said softly.

"So, what did you want, a training on how to properly use your laser, because that's what you are getting! So cut the felgercarb! Why the frak did you stun your ex-boyfriend?" Starbuck layered the sarcasm thick as he directed his anger with a laser focus.

"He didn't give her a choice," Crius defended her but Starbuck held up a hand.

"I don't believe I'm having to defend him, but Jake didn't deserve a stun to the back!"

"He was asking for more than a night off. He was telling us he needed help," Rene added.

Starbuck closed his eyes shaking his head in frustration, "Where is Boomer when I need him?" He sucked in a deep breath, but it failed to calm him. "So let me see if I got this straight. He asked for help and your idea of help is to shoot him?"

Rene huffed in frustration before looking up to Crius. "You tell him. He won't listen to me when he gets like this."

"I listen!" Starbuck shouted, but Crius held up a hand as the baby across his shoulder began to cry in earnest.

Crius patted the baby and began bouncing him up and down. "Can ya keep it down? Look, when Jake takes a night off, he's not talking about heading to the OC to watch a triad game and slug back an ale. He drugs himself to the gills and wallows in the mud to forget the world. He disappears for days. The stress got a little too high today, and lo and behold, look he got what he wanted, a night off."

Despite his protests, Starbuck listened to Crius's words, actually heard them as he dropped his head, a hand to his chin as he thought. Rene watched his eyes as if they were a vid screen and she could see the story of Starbuck's own tendencies to wallow in drink up to his gills when things got rough. When he looked up, he locked on to her eyes and she nodded to him, knowing they both had nights in the past that were similar in a world that didn't give a frak for orphans with complicated lives.

Starbuck sighed and focused back on Crius. "What set him off? He was doing fine. I didn't see any shakes or anything."

"He had a run in with Brody today, who was looking for Rene by the way and then Kiff got in trouble at the child care center." Crius was able to get his son quieted down and was swaying side to side as he spoke.

"Why would Kiff set him off? How much trouble can a four yahren old get into?"

Crius continued the story, "He hit another kid over a rock he's been carrying since Dilmun."

Starbuck shook his head in confusion, "So Kiff doesn't share well, why would…"

Rene interrupted him, her words heavy as rocks in her own mouth. "He calls the rock Ari."

Starbuck's eyes went wide and he looked down to Kiff still held protectively in Rene's arms. Slowly he leaned down so he was eye to eye with the child. "Does your rock glow sometimes?"

Kiff nodded. "At night sometimes, when I say my prayers."

Rene watched a flame bloom in Starbuck's eyes for just a moment before he reigned in the emotion and she watched the fire grow dim.

"Rocks don't glow," Rene stated wondering at the flash of hope in her husband's eyes.

He looked up to her, his eyes still glowing with a light of hope. "Yours did."

"Mine?" She shook her head at him, completely lost, yet feeling like she should know something important. A memory scratched at the back of her brain like sand between toes, then waves were crashing and the ground was shaking beneath her, then it was gone and a cold chill settled in the base of her skull.

Starbuck gazed intently in her eyes and once again she wondered how much time had passed while she tried to dredge up memories still locked in a cylon cell. He slowly stood up.

"You gave me a rock on the beach of the planet where we filled tankers with water. I kept it and…" he paused scanning the room before he lowered his voice. "Sometimes it glowed. Its what brought you back after Iblis…" he paused again before sucking in a breath. "He killed you and I put the rock in your hand. You woke up. I know it sounds crazy, but it's what happened."

The room was silent for a moment before Nik stated the obvious, "Ari's not here. We left him back on Dilmun."

Starbuck nodded to the statement accepting the truth, but it didn't stop him from looking down and asking Kiff, "Where's your rock?"

Kiff shook his head. "Teacher took it. She put it in a drawer."

"Then we need to get it back." He reached out a hand to Kiff, holding it up open palmed. "Let's eat some dinner and then we'll go see the teacher, okay? Is that okay Rene?"

She cringed crinkling her nose, ashamed at her instinct to protect Kiff, and old habit ingrained so deep that in a moment of crisis, she didn't even trust the kindest man she had ever known. She eased up her hold on her son and Kiff didn't hesitate to take her husband's hand, but Starbuck didn't move until Rene nodded.

The two headed to the chair at the head of the table where Starbuck took a seat and pulled Kiff into his lap. He flashed a look and a hand sign to Rene that said clearly, they were not done with their conversation. She acknowledged by mimicking the same sign. He nodded, ending the standoff before looking to the others in the room who seemed to be holding their breath.

"I would never hurt him. Never. You know that don't you?" Again he scanned the room as one by one they nodded to him. He ended by meeting Rene's eyes again.

She choked on the words, "I know. I'm…I'm sorry." She swallowed hard as she wished the cold shards of ice in his eyes would melt, but he held her gaze.

"Neither would the Commander. You need to start trusting us Colonials. Had you asked, Adama would have put Jake in the brig or he would have found some other solution. All you had to do was ask and he would have trusted your reasons."

She sighed, "I do trust him. I'm trying. I agreed to w…what he w…wanted, the sealing I mean."

Finally, Starbuck reached out a hand to her, the same open palm he had offered Kiff. She leaned forward and squeezed his hand. He squeezed back and she felt the tension leave the room in a collective exhale of the breath they had been holding.

Crius placed a hand on her shoulder and she looked up to him. "You're going to have to apologize to the Commander, you know that right?"

She let go of Starbuck's hand and looked up to the friend who had trying to protect the rats for yahrens. "Yeah, I know. I will."

"Good. I'll put Zac down and then I'll get the boys to move Jake."

"He's sleeping with me tonight," Nik interjected before waving Jason and Cain over to help him haul Jake's limp body to his quarters.

Rene watched feeling useless. She understood best what Jake might need when he woke up, and what he didn't need. She'd just have to trust Nik knew his friend well enough too.

"I'm not sure this sealing is worth all the trouble it's causing. Dante's gang isn't happy with the attention you're getting now," Crius said taking his seat again beside her, gently rocking back and forth to keep the baby in his arms happy. The scene of him coaxing his baby to sleep was a harsh contrast to his words. "This could make things worse for us in the fleet. We'll have to watch out for each other."

She kept an eye on her husband and son sharing a meal. "You might have a point, but I promise, this party is going to be worthy of the famous Starbuck."

"As long as we all get to get drunk, then I will count it as an amazing party."

"Everyone but me that is," she grumbled wondering if while Starbuck was occupied, she could slip back to their quarters for another drink, but that's not what she really wanted. Her hand shook as she heard the voice echo in her head, "Come on Sis, you don't want that."

She turned to look at Crius. "What do you think happened to Ari's body? Where do you think those who stayed behind buried him?"

Her friend recoiled before catching himself. "About that, in the dust where all we all wind up," he drawled before asking, "You okay?"

She nodded hastily. "Yeah, just tired."

"Then we put you to bed." Crius motioned for Starbuck to come over. "I think you two need some time alone now."