He kept telling Crius he didn't need back up, that the man should go home and see to his own wife, but his wing mate insisted.

"You're new at this. You might need a navigator."

Starbuck didn't think this time his mouthy friend with his fake country drawl was going to be of any help. Besides, he hadn't done anything wrong, not anything that should make Rene that angry. And if she was, at least she wasn't armed. After all, last night he had Crius take her weapon to the duty office, so he didn't have to worry about getting shot. It had just been a simple question, an innocent one. He had a few more for her and if he couldn't ask questions about her past, then how was he supposed to get to know her the way he really wanted to? Based on her performance this evening, he had some catching up to do with a few of her personalities. Question one was going to be, "What the frak?" Question two might be "Where the hades did she learn to sing like that and why don't you do it more often?" He'd leave the option open to reconsider the order.

They didn't find the Rats in the main council chambers, so they headed down to his quarters. There they found them sprawled around the room, laughing and joking like nothing had happened that night or the night before. The ambrosia bottle on the table was open and already half gone. Lizbet was the first one to cast an angry glare her husband's way.

"I told you to find somewhere else to sleep."

"I did darlin'. Buckaroo offered me a bunk," Crius answered, "ain't that right Bucko?"

Starbuck merely grunted at him before pulling away, striding across the room and reaching for the glass in Rene's hand. He pulled it away from her and sniffed the contents.

"Juice. I promised," she said looking up to him defensively.

"Not what I found in the glass last time," he grumbled.

"You've had more than a few," Jake shot at him accusingly from across the room.

"You of all people are going to comment on my alcohol consumption? Really? How many batches have you gone through on that homemade still of yours?" Starbuck shot back with a glare. "Besides, I'm not on the duty roster nor am I pregnant so…"

He was cut off by Nik snapping, "When were you going to tell us about moving to the Zakar?"

The room went silent for a moment until Crius dragged a chair loudly across the floor, straddling it before asking, "What this about the Zakar? Who's moving to the Zakar, Buckaroo?"

Crius looked to him in confusion that quickly turned to a guarded expression as Starbuck shook his head at him hoping his wing mate read the signal that he should stay quiet. Crius held his tongue but he looked away from Starbuck to his wife Lizbet, the two communicating something between them that made Lizbet huff angrily.

"So, when were you going to tell us?" Nik asked again accusingly.

Starbuck groaned inwardly comprehension dawning as to why the sudden shift in the evening's good mood. Rene must have said something. Her eyes were dark and wary as she looked up to him. It was obvious they could have their secrets, but he was exempt from that privilege. She had already told her friends. He squared his shoulders and faced the rest of the Rats.

"So that's what has you guys as tetchy as a Gemonese between sun cycles?" He looked to Rene for confirmation. She didn't nod her head, just slid her chin down and her eyes away.

He would have to deal with her later, as a different realization slammed into his ambrosia fogged brain. Nik was the one who had posed the question in the midst of the snide comments. Nik rarely spoke, and when he did it was never interrupt someone. Starbuck didn't know much about the young man, no one on the Galactica really did. He'd just learned yesterday half the crew called him the phantom as Nik seemed to just appear and disappear without a sound. From what Rene had told him about her friend, it was completely opposite from what the man had been like predestruction. Now he was nearly as silent as a dead man, his new nickname an accurate moniker. Speaking up was progress for the kid even if ill-timed for Starbuck.

He took in a deep breath and addressed the sullen young man.

"Well Nik, first of all, I was going to ask you, not tell you. I don't outrank you, and yeah, Apollo had asked if we would be willing to move over. He needs some help and I"

"When were you going to ask us?" Nik cut him off again, and Starbuck tried not to show his annoyance with the interruption.

Starbuck looked to Crius for some back up, but his wing mate's narrowed eyes and closed mouth let him know the man did not support this reassignment. Starbuck looked to Rene next as she had agreed with the idea, hadn't she? Well she hadn't said the words exactly, but she did nod at him this time to go on with his proposal even if she did look peeved with him. He turned back to Nik, laying out his arguments.

"I know you guys aren't comfortable here on the Galactica with the Commander and all, and we all know the council is going to want their chambers back eventually. You guys seem to like Apollo and…" he paused waiting for the objection but it didn't come, so he went on, "He needs a strike wing Captain who can work with people, not just order them around. Plus, the Zakar has the room for us and Apollo was hoping we could reutilize some of that space, do what we have done here on the Galactica. I figured that no one is using the Commander's quarters and there's a dining room there big enough for us to have family meals. We could renovate the whole quarters, rip out walls if we want, or put some in. Destroy that carpet and paint the walls, make it ours." He paused again trying to gauge what the Rats were thinking. The room was quiet for a moment as all eyes looked to him. They weren't friendly eyes, but the Rats at least seemed to be listening.

"It would be a promotion for me, which means more for all of us and more control of our future. Crius could have a squadron and…"

"I'm in," Nik answered interrupting him once more.

He blinked at Nik, stunned at the kid's reply. "Really?" He almost took a physical step back, wondering if he was drunker than he thought he was. He had to be hearing things. "You're in?"

"Yes." Nik nodded to him before the kid looked to Lizbet.

"What about schooling for the kids?" she asked.

Rene joined the conversation "There are regular shuttle runs to the Galactica. Or we could shift the school over to the orphan ship and add a stop. It's already pulled closer to the Zakar for protection."

Starbuck's head spun back to Rene so fast he felt dizzy. She had thought about his idea and it sounded like she'd even worked out some of the problems in the plan.

"Really?" he said again, feeling the decking shift under his feet. She reached out for his hand, pulling him down to the sofa beside her. "You're in?" he asked, but before she could answer Lizbet spoke up again.

"Or the other way around. We could make a new school on the Zakar. It would be good for the kids to get off the Orphan ship and see other parts of the fleet, maybe integrate them into homes. I'm in."

"When are we talking about doing this?" Crius asked.

Starbuck shrugged astonished that Crius might support the proposal, "I…I didn't think you'd agree so, I hadn't thought that far. After the sealing I guess."

"Boomer and I can go over now, get things started," Max said as Boomer nodded his approval.

Starbuck looked around the room in shock before settling his gaze on Jake who had not joined the conversation. The wary look on the young man's face let him know that the kid probably knew the truth, that originally Starbuck had not meant for all of them to be moving over. The plan had been for he and Rene to finally be a family, just him and her and the kids. But Jake was the father to Rene's kid and a sealing wasn't going to change that. Starbuck understood that on some level, but still he had hoped that he and Rene could create their own bonds.

But things weren't ever going to be that simple with Rene or the rats. Starbuck was figuring out a little late that if he really wanted this plan to work, he should have approached Jake first. Rene followed whatever Jake decided, and that was the real problem he'd been trying to solve with the move. Would that ever change? Maybe after the public sealing or when the baby arrived? Or when their first child became a Viper pilot . . . or when Starbuck died. Yeah, probably when Starbuck died.

The stony look on Jake's face told him that it would take either Starbuck's or the young man's death to severe that connection, especially after what they had just been through on Caprica almost losing Rene more than once.

Starbuck sighed again as he heard Apollo's voice in his head, "Beating your head against a bulkhead isn't the way to get it to give way. You'll have to try a different approach."

He nodded to Jake. "We'll need a decent medic and it's closer to the Eaglebash. What do you say, little brother? We can't do this without you."

The use of the word brother earned him a raised eyebrow. Jake surveyed the others in the room, a silent summit before he spoke. "You had me at destroying the Commander's quarters and calling it ours."

Starbuck couldn't suppress the grin of victory. "Let's limit our use of solenite. I'd like them to be liveable when we are done."

"Whatever you say big brother."

Jake didn't look happy about the decision, but Starbuck was beginning to think that Jake was only happy when he was playing his guitar or was drunk on the concoctions from his homemade still. But the young man wasn't as silent as Nik when he disagreed. He could be quite voracious with his words when unhappy. Starbuck waited for Jake to poke a hole in his plan like he had done to every plan on Caprica, but Jake remained quiet, just nodding slowly. Starbuck hazarded a look to Crius, the last holdout. His wing mate nodded to him.

Starbuck felt Rene's hand squeeze his tightly as he sat back, stunned for a moment at the agreement from the family. He turned to her, feeling his stomach flip with the shift in the emotions this evening. The cycles since their sealing had been more intense than the Nova Madagon, with more mines to blast away than the cylon field around Carillon.

Was that adoration he was seeing there? At least some bit of respect maybe? The light radiating from Rene's eyes was as bright as a nova and just as warm. It melted through his shields. He was going to have to wear his jump suit every centaur of every cycle to deal with these G forces. It had to be the ambrosia that was making his chest feel so warm. He let it fill him and didn't fight the dive he was making. At that moment he desperately needed to kiss Rene. He gave in to the impulse, reaching for her, softly stroking her cheek before leaning in. Her warm lips responded in kind, and he felt a soft hand touch the back of his neck pulling him closer.

Crius cleared his throat, "Well, about that. We'd best let the newlyweds get on with their fussing and fighting and the making up, which is going to be a little awkward with me sleeping here tonight. I guess I'll just have to join in." Crius got up from his seat coming to Starbuck rather than Rene, "Where's my kiss, lover boy?"

"Crius, shut up and get home," Lizbet ordered as Starbuck broke off his kiss with Rene and jokingly puckered up and smacked his lips like he was going to actually kiss Crius.

"But things were just getting' good. Another time Bucko. Maybe at the send-off. I'll wear that perfume you like." Crius reached his hand out for his wife pulling her to him.

Jake got to his feet, taking a step towards Rene, placing a hand briefly on her shoulder before moving for the door.

"Not if I wear that lingerie he likes me in," Nik joked shocking Starbuck as Nik winked at him. Like an apparition, Starbuck caught a glimpse of the charismatic young man Rene had described, and then it was gone, his face back to solemn and serious. "You'll have to convince Dara. She served on the Zakar before the destruction. She didn't like it then. She really didn't like it after."

"Apollo's in charge. He's not like that. If he was, his sister would have killed him by now," Starbuck replied.

Nik cocked a finger at him giving him an evil grin, "Same sister you dated, right?" Then he chuckled, "Enjoy your fighting." He followed Boomer, Max, Crius, Lizbet and Jake out the door.

The door closed and he couldn't believe it, but they were finally alone. Starbuck wanted to pick up where they had left off, but the twists and turns of the last few centaurs also left him with the desire to ask Rene a few more questions.

"Do you think it's a good idea? The Zakar I mean."

The light in her eyes faded just a little before she shook her head, "No, but you do and I…" she paused and the golden flecks in her eyes glowed bright for a moment, almost pulsing like the star around Kobol, "I trust you."

The breath caught in his chest, his heart feeling twice the size and getting in the way of breathing.

"Good enough?" she asked and it deflated his heart enough for the air to escape.

"What do you want? I'm serious, what do you want? I'll make it happen."

A soft smile tugged at her lips and he wanted to desperately to kiss them, to hades with her answer. Whatever it was she wanted, to stay on the Galactica and fight to keep the council chambers or fly off to any world she could reach, he'd find a way. Her soft words took him by surprise.

"Earth and you."

It was what he wanted to hear, he knew that. It was her specialty, just making him think he was having his way while she did what she wanted under the scanner. But the glow of a new dawn shining in her eyes seemed sincere and made him believe her even against the voice of his better judgement that told him maybe she was just playing him for a fool.

Shut up," he mumbled to the voice as he reached for Rene again. "I have been a fool for lesser things," he thought as she welcomed him in behind her walls.

He moved their discussion to their bed where he was more confident about what he wanted to know and how best he could read her answers. After their conversation under the covers where the only questions he asked were, "Is that what you want or do you want more?" and her only answers were "Yes," he fell asleep hard.

It had been a tumultuous couple of days and his waning energy let him know that his body was still recovering. His hands weren't as numb as before, but the ache in his back sapped his strength. He'd felt a moment of remorse when he announced he was bone tired, but the regret was brief as sleep stole him away. He vaguely remembered Rene curling up on his chest, before he passed out.

The chime to the quarters rudely woke him, ringing incessantly. He was fumbling for the chrono on the end table thinking at first it was Rene's alarm, but he sensed they had not been asleep for long.

"I've got it Starbuck," Rene said as she crawled over him, pulling on a robe she had tossed on the floor near the end table. She answered the door to find Dara there with Kalea and Kiff.

"He had a nightmare and I can't get him to calm down. He insisted that she come with him," Dara explained as he handed a sleepy Kalea to her as Kiff began talking fast.

"It was a big bear and he was scratching at the door and then he was biting me and his hair was white and he was big and…"

"Okay Kiff, okay. Give me a centon to get Kalea to bed. Thanks Dara."

Starbuck was about to ask if she needed some help, but she came over to the bed, handing him a sleepy bundle of blonde curls.

"Stahbuck," Kalea mumbled as she nestled into his chest and he breathed in the fresh scent of her wondering if all little girls smelled as sweet. It only took a centon before she was fast asleep. He wrapped his arms around her protectively as he watched Rene head for the turbo guiding Kiff, then returned to the main room, but instead of coming back to bed, she settled on the sofa with the boy in her arms. Kiff was talking fast, still telling her about his dream of a bear that as the boy continued, Starbuck recognized the bear in his nightmare resembled Dante before it turned into Adama.

"Shhh," Rene cooed to the boy as he began to work himself up as he retold his dream. "It's really late Kiff. Mama needs sleep. There are no bears on the Galactica."

"When can we go back outside?"

The boy's innocent question tugged at Starbuck's heart and made him wonder when the last time was that any of the children of the fleet had seen sunshine and soil.

"Soon baby," Rene lied to the child.

"I want to go home," the boy rubbed at his eyes.

"We are home baby."

Starbuck sighed at the words as Rene lied to the child again. He shifted so he could look to her and Kiff, watching as she sleepily rocked the boy.

"Mama Rene?"

"Hmm," she answered.

"When the baby in your tummy comes out, Starbuck is its daddy, right?"

"That's right."

"But the baby doesn't have to share," Kiff whined, "Starbuck is its only daddy and I have to share my daddy with Kalea and Zac shares his daddy with Neri and Daniel. It's not fair that the baby gets a daddy to himself."

"Starbuck is Leia's daddy, remember?" Rene said then yawned.

"Not really," Kiff persisted, "Uncle Ari is her daddy and she didn't have to share."

Rene's tired sigh almost drew Starbuck from the bed. He began to fumble for the chrono, but her voice stayed his hand, "Well it won't be for long and then the baby will have to share."

"Why?" It was a common lament from Kiff and Starbuck found he was just as curious as the child to know the answer.

"Because I'm sure there will be another baby, and maybe more."

"Why?" Kiff asked again.

"Because that's what people who love each other do when they are sealed."

"Oh, then the baby has to share like everyone else," Kiff said finally yawning.

Rene yawned again, "That's right, everyone has to share. Starbuck has to share you and Kalea with daddy Jake."

"Oh," Kiff accepted the explanation, finally settling down to sleep.

Starbuck sighed. He and Kiff did have much in common. Neither enjoyed sharing, but it seemed to be a reality of their situation. He looked to Rene and her son, seeing that both had drifted off. He considered moving them to the bed, but he didn't want either to wake. He carefully shifted Kalea so he could crawl from the bed, grabbing a blanket and draping it over Rene and her son, before placing a soft kiss on his wife's brow.

More. She had said there would be more. He crawled back into bed, careful not to wake Kalea, as he settled down to dream of a future with more. He found himself praying, something he had surprisingly found himself doing since Caprica, only this time it wasn't the fevered desperate prayers begging for salvation from the enemy or the ruinous planet. Instead, he prayed that someday soon, his child would walk on the soil of earth.

The start of the cycle came far too soon, Rene's chrono beeping more incessantly than the door chime in the middle of the night. He was surprised when Rene came over to the end table shutting off the alarm. She had a java mug in her hand half full and was dressed for the day.

"Did I oversleep?" he asked, scrubbing at his face wondering how bad his headache was going to be today.

"No, I couldn't sleep. No point fighting it."

He opened his mouth to chastise her, but she held up a hand forestalling his words. "I don't have much I have to do today. I have the IFB busy getting the things we need for the sealing. Once I get the kids off I'll call out sick and snag a nap."

"I'm not leaving you alone, remember?" he said crawling from the bed, and stretching, not liking the old man sound of joints cracking. He stifled the groan that would really age him.

"Then you'd better get moving. I can't deal with you and with Kiff." She stretched up to give him a soft kiss to let him know she was just teasing. Neither of them was morning people, at least one thing they had in common.

She started to move away, but he reached for her pulling her into his arms hugging her, liking the feeling of having her close.

"Thank you," he whispered.

"For what?" she asked before turning her head to kiss his chest.

"Not shooting down my idea to move to the Zakar and not shooting me."

"You took my weapon, remember?" she teased, "and you had stunned yourself with all the ambrosia. Didn't seem fair to wound you more."

"You were the one buying. I blame you." He pulled back checking the weather in her eyes. She looked tired, but while the skies were a little dark, they were still calm with the promise of sunshine.

"I only bought two rounds, one at the beginning and one at the end. I have no idea who got you the dozen or so in between."

"Huh," he pulled away looking for and finding the truth in her eyes.

"You might want to head for the turbo before I wake Kiff. He's going to be grumpy and loud," Rene warned him.

Starbuck nodded, appreciating that she understood he couldn't handle the harsh decibels of the children today. He planted a kiss on her head before heading for the turbo. He had just assumed it was Rene who paid for all the drinks, now he had to wonder. The bright lights of the turbo had him wincing and he debated washing in the dark. Instead he reached for the cabinet knowing there were pain meds in there. He popped two, then felt the twinge in his back and took a survey of the bruises and marks still bold against his pale skin. He opted for two more pills.

He climbed into the turbo knowing that he wouldn't be leaving Rene alone today, even if that meant he had to deal with the IFB. Once this circus of a sealing was over, he'd be moving them to the Zakar right away and banning all reporters from setting foot on the battle cruiser.

He dressed wondering if he should put on his jumpsuit just in case today had as many high G turns as yesterday. He opted for it, if nothing else to feel like just maybe he might be able to take a flight and clear his head. That would mean leaving Rene alone and he wondered if he could actually lock Rene in the brig for the day. Might not be a bad idea, he thought. At least she'd get some sleep and the IFB couldn't get at her. Of course, he'd have to watch his back. Guaranteed Rene or one of the Rats would shoot him eventually. He'd have to disarm all of the Copper squadron or maybe just lock them all up.

"Come to think of it, the brig was pretty spacious when I was there, and for the most part unoccupied. A complete waste of space. Take off the clear doors that lock you in, add ones to lock people out." He chuckled at the irony of he and the Rats turning the brig into their own personal living quarters.