Erica leans back against the gourney. She has been between these curtains for a couple hours at best. Her biological parents. It never occurred to her that they may still be alive. She thought, for sure, they would have perished in the initial attacks. Not that she was looking, or ever had the desire to look, for them. Maybe it wasn't both, maybe it was just one parent. Someone who was close to Adama to make him go out of his way to retrieve her. She closes her eyes.

The pale young girl sat at the dinner table, all of five. Their house wasn't large, but it was just big enough for their small family. There was a back yard, they even had a dog. Anything the little girl wanted, she received, without ever turning into a brat.

"How was school, little fish?" Her father, James Tejera, motioned toward her dinner plate, "Eat up those carrots. Your mother picked them from the garden this morning."

The girl had tears in her eyes, "They made fun of me." Her voice was small.

"Made fun of my sweet girl? Why?"

"Because I don't look like you." It was true. She knew it ever since she was much smaller. The skin of her parents was more on the darker side, but she never asked. She never needed to.

"Okay, little fish." James offered her his hand, palm up. "You do the same." When the little girl repeats his movements, he continues, "The palms of our hands will always be the same color. Just because we aren't the same color anywhere else, doesn't matter. I will always be your Da and Mama will always be your mother."

"But...how do I stop them from making fun of me?" Erica reached over, taking hold of her father's hand.

"Beat them up."

"You're not going to beat them up." Lynn stepped out from the kitchen area, having heard the entire conversation, "Use your words or tell the teacher. I mean it, Erica Hestia."

"Or beat them up." James playfully offered once more, receiving a playful hit with a kitchen towel from his wife.

The young woman opens her eyes, sniffing. She wipes a tear as it trickles down her cheek. "It's time." She whispers to no one in particular. Just speaking to the space around her. Speaking to herself.

"Time for what?" Bill Adama sits in a chair to the side, book in his hands.

Erica jumps slightly, sitting up more, "I apologize, Sir. I didn't know you were sitting there."

"I didn't tell you that I was, so we're even." He slightly smiles toward her as he slowly closes the book between his fingers, "I like to read ahead a little before I take it over to the President to read with her. That way, I can make myself sound more...enthusiastic when I need to. I want her to enjoy it."

The young woman smirks, "That's incredibly sweet, Sir."

"Yeah, don't tell anyone." Bill teases, "Listen, there's some...things I think you should know. The real reasons why I thought it best to bring you here." When he sees the young woman pay more attention, he continues, "The President doesn't have many more days left before crossing the fields of Elysium. There were some...open emotional wounds that I didn't think I could close, but then discovered I was able to. You being one of them."

"Me?" Gaia furrows her brow slightly, "How?"

"Before she became the Secretary of Education, while in college, Laura Roslin had a child. A daughter."

"You're the most beautiful creature I've ever seen in my entire existence." Danny leaned down, placing a kiss against the young woman's clavicle bone as he hovered next to her, "My muse."

Laura Roslin blushed, her nude body lit slightly by the street lights gleaming through the window, "You're my muse too." Her hand reached out, gently stroking the stubble along his jaw, "What's going to happen a year...two years down the line? Are we still going to be one another's muses?"

"I can only imagine." His hand absently stroked the skin at her hip, "I love you more than life itself, Laura Roslin. I plan to make you my wife someday."

She grinned, "Yeah?"

"After your studies are finished." Danny nodded, "That's always been my plan."

"I'd love that, Danny Epirus," Laura's eyes were focused intently on him, "What will our life be like?"

He hummed, lying down next to her more, "You will be a teacher. Coming home from work. I'll be there with our children-"

"More than one?"

"Oh, a whole slew of them." Danny continued when he heard her giggle, "And we'd have dinner together every single evening, Which, I can only assume I'll be making...which means I need to learn how to cook. I'll go off to work after that. Then I'll come home, we'll sleep, then frak like rabbits when the sun comes up."

Laura laughed harder, "You have it all planned out."

"Our perfect life." The young man's lips softly grazed her neck.

"The President." Erica stares at her superior, "Are you frakking kidding me?" She pauses, folding her arms, "I apologize." Her tone grows soft, "Sir, you think-"

"I know." Bill corrects.

"My mother is Laura Roslin."

He nods, "I know."

"Oh my gods." She absently licks her lips, "When I was on New Caprica, I...joined the Resistance. It was the only sensible thing for a person to do. I helped get people onto the raptors during the escape among other things. They tried to kill me a lot...a whole..." Erica uses her hand as she speaks, "A whole lifetime ago, it seems." She swallows, "My...commanding officer, of sorts, used to call me Roslin because they said I looked like her. I couldn't see it."

"It's a compliment." Bill smirks, "And it's true." He stands, the book tucked under his arm, "I would really like it if you came with me to see her."

Erica glances down to her clothing, pulling slightly at her hospital gown, "Like this?"

"Well, get changed, Gaia." He nods, "She..." The Admiral pauses, taking a moment, "She did what she did out of love. She wanted you, but knew she couldn't give you the best. That's not my story to tell though."

"Of course, Sir. It would be an honor to meet the President." The young woman waits until the man moves to stand outside the curtain, getting changed into her casual wear. The President of the colonies is her biological mother. Her biological father was still an unknown element, but this was at least something. Erica adjusts her tanks before pulling back the curtain, "Sir, is there anything else I should know?"

Bill sighs, "She's not going to look like she usually does. She doesn't wear the wig down here. Usually a scarf, but...when you're used to long flowing hair, it can be a shock."

"My husband called me insane when I cut mine off." Erica smirks a little, "It wasn't much. Just shaved the sides and cut a few inches, but...he was just beside himself. I thought of coloring it some crazy color, but I can only imagine how he'd be then."

It causes him to chuckle, thinking back to when Laura finally had him shave her head, "Doesn't matter how long the hair, it doesn't distract from the beauty of you Roslin women."

"Thank you, Sir."

"I like it, by the way." Bill nods toward her hair as they slowly stroll to the other side of the Sick Bay, "It fits you."

"Thank you, Sir. It's a lot easier to get ready in the mornings or if we're needed at short notice. It kind of has a mind of it's own, but I know it will be back within a month or so." Erica shrugs, "It's the good Caprican hair, I guess. My mother used to braid it when we'd visit the beaches. Because of it being the shade it is, and my skin being as fair as it is, I would burn every single year, especially on my scalp...between the braids. Sunscreen wasn't a thing most Cancerons were familiar with. It was like they were...immune to the sun. My parents never burned, never..." She huffs a soft chuckle, "My father would bring blankets and towels for me to cover up with. I think back to how ridiculous we must have seemed, but...it was my life. They were great parents."

"I'm glad they cared for you well. That will...be an ease on her mind. Just...humor the situation if you don't really want or care about finding out about your biological heritage. I beg of you. Find it in your heart." His voice seems almost nervous, a tone she didn't think it was possible to transmit.

"Of course, sir."