By the time Kara landed an hour later, there was still no trace of Kacey. Everyone was extremely worried that she would wind up getting hurt on the deck because somebody wouldn't see her in time. They'd warned all of the deckhands to be extra cautious as they worked, but the hangar was no place for a toddler to be wandering alone.

"Did anyone see her?" Kara asked Sharon as they checked the inside of the fighters that were on the deck.

"Everyone was a little preoccupied…Kara, I'm sorry."

She nodded. "I know."

Lee had been rather irritated to hear WHY his pilots wouldn't be able to fly him back over to Pegasus. He agreed with the decision to throw them in the brig for the day, but that meant that for the moment, since he wasn't cleared to fly, he was stuck on the Galactica. He'd seen the others looking around for Kacey, and considered joining in, but instead decided to just wait in the pilots' ready room until someone was able to take him back to his ship.

He'd just sat down in one of the front row seats when he heard a noise behind him. After a moment, he heard it again, a little sniffle. Standing up, Lee looked between the rows of seats and behind the table. Only once he'd bent over did he notice the little bit of color underneath one of the seats.

"Kacey?" She slid backwards to another row of seats, futilely trying to get out of sight. "Hey, it's okay, I'm not going to hurt you." She still didn't move. "Frak," he muttered. "Come out, Kacey. Your – Kara's been looking for you everywhere."

"Are they still yelling?"

"Yelling? You mean those pilots? No, they're gone."

"Promise?"

"Yeah, I promise. Get out from under there." She finally obeyed, still sniffling and rubbing at her red eyes. "We should go find your – your mom." Her little tear-stained face affected him more than he would have liked; he found himself pulling out a handkerchief for her. "Those guys scared you a little bit, huh?" he asked as he wiped her face.

"They were 'fraid, too. Of me."

Lee sighed. "Yeah, I guess they were…One thing you're going to have to understand is that most people around here don't like Cylons."

"Sharon?"

"Yeah, the vote's still out on that one…Some people like her more than others."

"Why?"

"It…it's harder for some people to try and trust her."

"Like you?"

"Yeah, like me."

"You 'fraid?"

Lee stared at her for a long moment. What was so scary about something so small? Kacey wasn't going to pull out a gun and shoot anyone. She'd captured Kara's heart, and he knew that couldn't have been an accident. But there was still so much about her that they didn't know. What was she capable of?

"A little," he finally answered. "Right now, we don't really know if somebody had some special purpose when they decided that you needed to be born. That purpose could be a good thing or a bad thing. Do you understand?"

Kacey nodded. "Love."

"What?"

She pointed to her chest. "Love," she repeated. "It can do anything, because of me."

"How do you know what love is, Kacey? How does any Cylon?"

"Daddy said I would know because of Mommy." And in that moment, Lee thought he understood. Love – real love – was something that didn't always make sense, like the ability to be a mother despite never having had one yourself, or the ability to love a toaster not in spite of the fact that they were a Cylon, but because of it, accepting it.

"You know what?" he asked Kacey. She raised an eyebrow, looking like a carbon copy of her mother. "I'm going to try not to be so afraid of you anymore." She smiled.

"Anything?" Kara called to Hotdog as the little search party gathered together in the middle of the hangar. He shook his head.

"She couldn't have just disappeared into thin air, right?" he asked. "Is that a Cylon thing?" Sharon shot him a glare. "Nevermind. Foot in mouth…"

"Kara!" Sam called to her, having noticed Lee coming out of the pilot's briefing room. She was pretty sure her mouth fell open when she noticed that he was actually holding Kacey.

"We have been looking everywhere for you!" she told the little girl. "I was worried you got hurt."

"Just needed to talk a little bit," Lee said, handing her over.

"Thank you," Kara told him. He shrugged.

"No problem. Think you could find me a pilot or two, considering mine are in your brig?"

Kara smiled. 'Yeah, I think that can be arranged. Hey, Racetrack?"

She was still suited up from being out earlier and nodded. "Yes, Sir." Lee stepped forward to follow her to her waiting Raptor.

"Bye," Kacey called after him. Lee gave her a wave before climbing up into the Raptor.

Kara hugged her. "I think you must be magic, kiddo."

TBC...