Other than the Epilogue, this is the last chapter.

To everyone who has read and reviewed and giant thank you; I didn't expect this good a reception to a story that I am pretty sure I'm insane for writing.

Begin Chapter 7

Despite the three days that had past Laura and Kara had not yet spoken about the events that occurred while they had been missing, they were more interested in hearing about the fleet and how the Cylons had been defeated (they were very impressed when told that Bill had managed to goad them into an all out shooting war with the Goa'uld, they hadn't been seen or heard from since Anubis destroyed most of their Basestars and two resurrection ships). Carson was expecting to release them late that afternoon and Bill was hoping that when they were finally alone he would get to hear the whole story. He knew that both of them were un-comfortable in the infirmary and were still having trouble accepting their new circumstances.

When they insisted on leaving Atlantis as soon as Carson cleared them he was not surprised and simply promised Elizabeth that he would send her a report as soon as he could, both of them knowing that the two women concerned would not talk until they were ready. Kara would buck any attempt to force her to do something she didn't want to by either getting extremely violent or running away, while Laura would simply withdraw, enveloping herself in silence and darkness, so they left them knowing that they would speak when ready, they always did.

So the Colonials left Atlantis as quietly and as mysteriously as they arrived.

To the population at large no explanation was given as to who the two runners really were and the additional three that were allowed into Atlantis once their true identities were discovered, but those in senior commend had a better idea. They were allies of Earth, two of their most important citizens, but to Ronan they were friends who knew exactly what he had been through. The pain and the struggle to simply survive, and the slap in that face when you were told it was over and you could start living again. Elizabeth knew where they had come from and where they had been; she worried over their future after the struggle Ronan had gone through while trying to settle into Atlantis, she had informed Bill as much. There had been no expectations on Ronan, none of them had known him before but on New Kobol there would be people who expected Kara and Laura to walk back into their lives. Those who would not understand the fundamental changes that had taken place, therefore both women had left with the knowledge that they would always be welcome in Atlantis.

It comforted Bill to know that should they find it to hard too live on New Kobol they would have a place to come, to be free in a way that they may never be afforded while living among the Colonies. He could only pray that the offer would never need to be taken up on.

Stepping through the gate and onto Earth was a surreal experience for them, Laura and Kara had never been there before and were extremely surprised to be surrounded by concrete and glass and told that they were several hundred feet underground. Standing at the bottom of the ramp waiting for them were four very familiar faces, along with three not so familiar.

When he had heard the news that they were alive Jack O'Neill's first thought was Daniel had been sharing his lucky survival pills with them, but when he got his first glance at them he swore under his breath, gone were the two women he had gotten to know quite well and considered friends, women he had mourned when their Raptor disappeared.

The two women walking down the ramp towards him were husks. He could still see bits and pieces of the women he knew, Starbucks confident swagger and the way Laura could still appraise an entire room and it's intentions with a mere glance but something had been stripped away from them and he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

Cutting through any official BS that Hank or Daniel might put out he strode towards them grinning.

"Laura, Kara, welcome to Earth."

Smirk firmly in place Kara looked around the room "It's smaller than I expected, but you know a splash of paint, some curtains, it'll feel like home soon enough."

Jack barked out a short laugh, there was the irrepressible Starbuck he knew and loved, and in the background someone muttered.

"Well damn, it's a female General O'Neill." Jack didn't even bother to turn and glare at Cameron Mitchell.

"General?" Laura asked surprised, as muffled sniggers erupted from several of the others throughout the gate room "Should I offer my condolences or congratulations?"

"Depends on the day really, today I think congratulations are in order."

There was the glint he was looking for, the smile that said you're sitting on my last nerve but I'll never let you see how much you're getting to me and I honestly do give a damn about what you're saying.

"I relayed your message to New Kobol Admiral." Jack turned to Bill "Athena is going to meet you at your beta sight with a Raptor. She'll dial up and let us know when she's ready for you, President Zarek isn't too happy about being left in the dark about all of this. Good luck"

Kara and Laura both turned to Bill with questioning looks on their faces.

"Our Gate is guarded constantly and we also have our own version of an iris, I thought it would be better if we snuck you through in a Raptor and give a few select people, including the President, a chance too find out before the population at large. Also a Raptor won't fit into the Gate Room here on Earth."

Neither of them had been in a Raptor for a very long time, and neither of them was looking forward to getting back into one.

Laura was well aware that everyone wanted to know what had happened to them and they were all walking eggshells around herself and Kara, so when they ended up in Stargate Commands briefing room, after a mandatory check up in the infirmary, by unspoken agreement they started at the beginning.

"Just before we jumped out Raptor was hit, the FTL drive malfunctioned" Kara started.

DRADIS was not showing anything at all, no Colonial or Cylon transponders and Starbuck had no idea where they had ended up. To top is all off their FTL drive was completely blown; it wasn't even hiccupping let alone spinning up.

DRADIS beeped.

A gasp escaped Starbucks mouth as a strange looking ship loomed into their view.

"Buckle in!" Starbuck yelled as smaller fighters started to head towards them.

This was not good.

It became apparent very quickly that speed wise there was no way she could keep running from them her only hope was to out manoeuvre them and find somewhere to hide.

Damn she wished that she was in her Viper right now, at least then she would be able to shoot them.

Finally something else appeared on DRADIS turning towards it Kara saw a planet in the distance. That she could use. Manoeuvring just enough to keep from being hit by whatever they were being shot at with she headed directly for the planet.

If she could get them there they might be able to hide in the lower atmosphere long enough to work out a real plan.

If the planet had breathable air they could conceivably land and hide.

If they didn't get shot out of the sky in the meantime.

Lady luck seemed to be on their side for the first time all day, they made it to the planet in one piece and the planet had breathable air.

"I'm going to take us down to the surface" she yelled at Laura over her shoulder "hopefully we can find somewhere to hide."

Flying as low as she dared, Starbuck searched for somewhere they could hide when something impacted their rear left thrusters.

"Frak"

With all her piloting skills Starbuck managed to keep them from hitting the ground without exploding and before Laura even had a chance to fully comprehend what was happening Kara had hauled her and the barely conscious security guard and dragged them out of the Raptor and they ran for the tree line.

Then the world disappeared in a flash of white light.

"We never managed to work out exactly how much time past before we woke up cocooned on the Hive ship. We think it was somewhere around a week and we never found out what happened to Michaels, we assume he was cocooned and fed on."

'Don't panic, don't panic, don't panic' the mantra Kara had been repeating to herself since waking and finding she couldn't move wasn't really working but there was nothing else she could do. A startled gasp from her left drew her attention away from trying not to panic, craning her neck to the side trying to catch a glimpse of whoever it was but it was useless she couldn't quite get her head around enough.

"Starbuck?" a slightly hysterical whisper reached her ears.

"Ma… Pythia?" really as code names went it wasn't the best and she just hoped that The President would play along.

"Thank the Gods."

Further talk was cut off by the ominous sounds of booted feet heading towards them.

What came into sight was like nothing she had ever seen before. Pale greenish white skin, ugly as all hell and from what she could deduce three males and one female, that is if they even had male and female.

There was an odd kind of slurping sound from the same direction that Laura's voice had come from and then the sound of a body hitting the floor. Two of the males moved just out of her line of sight momentarily and when they returned Laura was propped up in between them.

What she assumed was the female reached up and ripped Laura's shirt open.

"How do you work your ships?" it's sibilant hissing speech chilled Kara to the bone. She looked at Laura whose clear attentive gaze told her one thing.

'Don't tell them anything. Protect the Fleet, that's an order.'

"Don't know what you're talking about." Kara regretted her flippant words immediately as a clawed hand slammed into Laura's chest and Kara was forced to watch her President age before her very eyes.

"It went on for days like that." Laura could not raise her eyes to meet anyone else's, so she studied the calluses on her palms and Kara had been unable to even speak during this part of their tale.

"They would ask questions they knew we wouldn't answer and feed on me, they wanted to know how our ships worked, where we came from etcetera. Once I got close enough to death they would drop me to the floor and just leave me lying there dying in front of Kara trying to break one of us. The time they waited would vary but they always came back and gave back the life they took. The last time they gave back more I don't know how much but from what Dr Beckett said it was somewhere around the 15 to 20 year mark."

She closed her eyes and leaned back in the comfortable leather chair, distantly she wondered if they would let her take it with her.

"After a while I guess they just got tired of it, they inserted the trackers, dumped us on a planet with a hand held stunner each and we ran."

"Starbuck don't you dare even think about it, you are not playing bait. We both live or we both die, simple as that."

"When we finally found the Stargate the first address we tried was Earths, Daniel had showed me the symbols, but it would never connect. We tried from every gate we found, it was the first thing we did. No matter how many planets we went to or how much distance we managed to put between us and them they always found us and there were times we nearly didn't get away."

"Come on we're nearly at the gate. Wake up Pythia, that's an order! You will not die, that's an order too."

"We'd been on the run for just over a year when we met Ronan."

"I'm Starbuck, she's Pythia. Whatever you want, you don't want to be around us. The Wraith will find us they always do, we move fast and we don't stop. Wherever home is for you we'll get you there and then be on our way."

"I don't have a home. I'm a Runner, just like you two."

"The one day we'd just arrived at a planet and were about to try and get some rest when the gate activated"

"Frak, they shouldn't have found us yet."

"It was Ronan and his team, and well you know the rest."

The silence that descended over the room was brought to an abrupt halt as the incoming wormhole klaxons sounded throughout the base.

Several minutes later the wormhole shut down and Walter Harriman entered the room.

"Sorry to interrupt, but Athena is on P6C873, ready whenever you are."

"Thank you Sergeant" Jack dismissed him. Most of those in the room got to their feet, knowing that they were not going to get anything else out of Laura and Kara today, even if Athena hadn't turned up when she did, they were done talking.

The only person to remain seated was Laura who was still leaning back with her eyes closed. To the untrained eye she looked almost asleep but most of the room were not untrained. She was tense and highly uncomfortable being in a room with this many people but she really did like this chair.

"You can keep the chair if you're really that attached to it" Jack said hoping to get a reaction from her. Most of the room gaped at him.

Laura cracked an eye open, and glared half-heartedly at Jack, but with a non-committal grunt she pushed herself out of the chair and left the room.

"Thankyou for your hospitality Jack, you should come for a visit in a couple of weeks. Hopefully…" Bill trailed off, his eyes fixed on the doorway Laura and Kara had left through.

"Yeah." Jack clapped him on the shoulder and tried to grin reassuringly but he was well aware that Bill wasn't buying it.

Down in the gate room Kara looked at Laura,

"Are you feeling…? I don't know, buzzed?"

"Like I really need to do something?" Laura agreed.

She looked at Lee "Captain Apollo, would you mind carrying my pack through the gate for me?" She smiled sweetly.

"Of course Mad… Laura." He was still having trouble calling her by her given name but she refused to answer to anything else.

"Run?" Kara's face lit up at the thought of finally expending the energy that had been coursing through her for the past few days. She wasn't used to being still for so long.

"Run" Laura agreed.

The second the whoosh of the gate settled back into the event horizon Laura and Kara bolted through the gate.

---a---a---

When the gate opened Athena was expecting the Admiral, Lee and Tory to step through, they would get on the Raptor and go home. Although she still wasn't sure why she was here, and why they didn't just gate directly from Earth.

What she wasn't expecting was for two figures to come though the gate at a dead run. As soon as they cleared the even horizon the two figures split and headed for the tree line on slightly different vectors.

If she didn't know better, Athena would swear that one of them was Starbuck.

Just as she was drawing her weapon Commander Adama appeared through the gate and she relaxed slightly but didn't put her weapon away. There was a look on his face that she hadn't seen in years, not since Starbuck and President Roslin disappeared, that mixture of utter frustration and true affection that only Starbuck managed to bring out in him.

She watched intrigued as he shook his head in defeat and walked towards her. A minute later The Admiral and Tory stepped through, their worry immediately evident as the gate snapped shut behind them.

"They headed for the tree line." Lee called over to them "I'm not exactly sure why but…" he hesitated, not sure if the other two had noticed how keyed up Laura and Kara had been.

Bill nodded wondering if this was going to be the norm from now on. "From what Elizabeth told me about Ronan, they're going to have trouble for a while. I don't think that this will be the last time they do this."

"We wait?" Tory asked.

"We wait" Bill confirmed and the turned his attention to Athena who was looking more and more confused. "Thank you for coming to meet us Lieutenant. As you can see we're bringing some friends home with us." Bill paused, still not knowing how to explain the miraculous return of Laura and Kara; luckily Tory stepped in for him.

"Starbuck and President Roslin are alive." She stated without preamble. "They've been stuck in the Pegasus Galaxy trying to find a way back; Elizabeth Weir found them and called us."

Lee wondered if the look Athena had on her face was anything like the one he had sported when Elizabeth had told him the exact same thing.

Several minuted past with the four of them watching the tree line waiting for Laura and Kara to return from their impromptu run. They waited in silence each lost deep in their own thoughts especially Athena who despite her hatred for Laura Roslin had always had a grudging respect for how far she had been willing to go to protect the fleet. Surprisingly it had been a conversation with Saul Tigh that had given her pause.

"Think of it this way. A decision had to be made; the Cylons wanted Hera, in fact they were willing to do anything to get her. They had already destroyed our homes and chased us halfway across the galaxy, she did what had to be done to protect the fleet and don't think she didn't pay for it or that she wouldn't do it again. Laura Roslin would've done anything for this fleet, to ensure its survival. There is nothing that you could've said or done to her that would be worse than New Caprica."

It had been one of the few times she had witnessed Tigh perfectly sober, that and she knew that there was no love lost between Roslin and Tigh so for him to defend her made her stop and think.

Now Laura Roslin had been found again, Athena found herself feeling truly apathetic towards the woman. To much time had passed and too much had happened for her to care what happened to her, but Starbuck she had missed and Athena would be glad to have her friend back with them. Helo would be even gladder still.

Ten minutes after the Stargate closed down there was a disturbance in the forest where Laura and Kara had disappeared, causing the four others to immediately focus all their attention on it.

Lee had to stop himself from screaming when a low voice whispered, "Boo" right next to his ear.

Turning fast he drew his gun and pointed it directly at Kara who was somehow standing right next to him. About two feet from them Laura burst out laughing.

"You should see the looks on your faces." She managed to get out through the giggles.

"So, we ready to go?" Kara asked trying to keep her face straight.

Lee had never had anyone able to sneak up on him like that in the field, but then again from the stories he had been told about the Wraith you would have to be good to stay alive while on the run from them.

---a---a---

Tom Zarek was not happy.

He hated being in the dark, Admiral Adama was up to something and Tom wanted to know what it was. First there was the whole disappearing and kidnapping act he had pulled and the he didn't even bother to contact them himself but sent a message through Jack O'Neill. On top of that the Admiral had demanded, not asked, but demanded that when his Raptor landed the only ones to be present in the hanger were Saul Tigh and himself.

To top it all off Colonel Tigh was just as confused by all of this as Tom was, both of them had been hoping that the other knew something and were rather put out when they realised that they were as clueless as the other.

So here he was waiting in an empty hanger, the Raptor had just landed and Tom was nearly vibrating with anticipation over what the Admiral was about to reveal.

The Raptor door opened, inside there were two more people than he expected, although he couldn't make out whom they were he could just see their legs. Someone said something to the Admiral causing him to scowl and shake his head quite forcefully.

"Mr President" Bill started "My apologies for all the secrecy, I hope you'll understand once I explain."

Tom nodded, but remained silent. He was well used to Bill Adama and knew the older man would speak without Tom prompting him.

"We… I…" Was all he could stammer out before he was interrupted.

"For Fraks sake Bill," Tom and Saul both went pale as Laura Roslin pushed her way out of the Raptor.

"What Bill is trying to say is that Starbuck and I are alive."

"Subtle Laura, real subtle." Starbuck stood up next to her in the door of the Raptor.

"I thought we were going to let them down gently?" Lee quirked and eyebrow at Tory who shrugged in resignation, the changes in her former boss scared her. She'd never seen Laura Roslin so abrupt and tactless before, but then again Tory doubted anyone would come through something like this unchanged.

"What?" Laura and Kara continued talking over him "Bill was never going to get to the point; I thought I'd speed things up a bit. You know get out of this hanger bay before I hit 50… again"

This wasn't Laura Roslin, well not the Laura Roslin Tom knew, but it was. All he could do was stare at them, Tom opened and closed his mouth a few times, made the occasional vowel sound but other than that he stood there staring at them.

"Ten cubits says he passes out?" Starbuck raised her eyebrows at Laura.

"No bet," Laura scoffed "Although I'm hoping Colonel Tigh has enough to share with the whole class in that flask he's reaching for."

Saul bought the flask up to his lips and took a quick gulp before passing it over to Tom who took it without looking away from the two women standing at the door of the Raptor. Taking his own shot of the now patented 'Chiefs Brew', Tom then stepped forward and held the flask out to Laura, who smirked at him and took the offered drink.

"Ever the gentlemen aren't we Tom." Laura flashed him a grin as she passed the flask to Starbuck.

"Damn" the younger woman swore after swallowing "this stuffs nearly as good that drink we got on Leinia."

"I suppose" Tom finally found his voice "That I need to hold a press conference announcing that our President has returned."

"Not the President anymore Tom, that's your job now. I'm just Laura."

---a---a---

"Will Laura Roslin be retaking office?"

"No, Ms Roslin has said that she would prefer to retire quietly."

"Why?"

"Given their ordeal, Ms Roslin and Captain Thrace feel that at this time they are not ready to step back into public life. They wish to have time to recover and reconnect with family and friends."

"Has there been any explanation of the physical changes in Laura Roslin."

"Yes."

"And that is?"

"I will not be commenting on that at this time, suffice it to say I have been informed of the circumstances surrounding the change and do not feel it is necessary for the population at large to know the entirety of the details."

---a---a---

Bill and Lee were smothering them, and it was really grating on their nerves. Laura and Kara had become so used to relying on each other and being on their own that they had forgotten just how protective the Adama men were.

Not that Kara blamed them, but she just wished they would back off a bit and she could see it was getting on Laura's nerves. Laura had nowhere near the restraint that she'd had at her command four years ago. Now if something pissed her off everyone knew about it and Bill Adama was going to get shot if he didn't back off very soon.

So after a week of being kept practically prisoner by Bill and Lee the two of them decided they'd had enough.

Morning came and there was simply a note

Gone camping, be back soon.

Laura and Kara.

While Bill was having a mild panic attack Laura and Kara had slipped out of the city and into the surrounding mountains where there was no one staring at them, no one hovering over them and no one expecting them to be the exact same women as they had been when they went missing.

Halfway through the first day they came across a river and followed it further away from the city and higher into the mountains. Eventually the river split into two and they took the smaller of the forks, going deeper and deeper into the mountain range, some three days after leaving the city they found the source of the river in a small lake. Crystal clear and untouched by any human, most likely fed by the snow they could see still capping the higher mountain peaks.

They set their packs on the eastern bank, and went about exploring the surrounding area keeping an eye out for anything that looked like it could be dangerous but found nothing.

Late into the night they talked, of life, of death, of the changes both good and bad in their people and in themselves.

They talked of prophecies.

"And the dying leader shall not see earth." Kara quoted quietly.

"I guess that means I'm not their prophet after all. I'm not actually Pythia."

Kara mumbled something unintelligible and they dropped into silence which Laura broke a few minutes later when she started to chuckle.

"What?" Kara queried.

"Just remembering something Jack said to me when we first met them," she continued chuckling quietly "he said 'prophesies schmophesies, apparently they always come true but the bitch is in the details. Who know's what's gonna happen in the future, we're not the Earth you were looking forward so maybe there doesn't need to be a dying leader anymore.' He's smarter than most people think." Laura turned and looked at Kara.

"Just like someone else I know."

Kara snorted in amusement at the comparison.

They spent the night by the lake and as they watched the sunrise Kara pulled out two of the cigars Sam Carter had slipped her while on earth. Sitting there in the silence puffing away Laura whispered to herself.

"I'm gonna build a cabin right here."