A/N: This is the last chapter, although there will be an epilogue. I plan to do an sequel because there is still a lot left unanswered. It has been a real pleasure writing this and all of your reviews have been greatly appreciated and greatly inspired. I hope you guys have enjoyed this as much as I've enjoyed writing this.

Chapter 24: Keep Holdin On

"I don't blame you Kara," Lee said looking at her with tortured eyes. "At least I don't want to, but Gods you looked so happy with him."

"With who Lee?" Kara asked in a soothing voice. She wanted to rush him, get him to tell her whatever had happened quickly so that they could move past it.

"They made me watch," he said in an agonized voice. "I tried to keep my eyes shut, but I could feel your hands on me as you touched him, caressed him. You accepted him into your body, you accepted his seed and all I could do was watch, every single time."

"You still haven't told me who Lee," Kara said trying to draw it out of him. She needed him to say it so that he could begin to face what they'd done to him. If he tried to hide or deny any part of it then the bitch could still count this as a victory.

"Leoben," he chocked out. Kara had to make a quick grab for his arms to keep him upright.

"I can't ask you to get rid of it, I don't have that right; but I want us to be together. Please forgive me, I want you, yet I can't raise that monster's child."

Kara stopped his flow of words by settling her lips gently against his. Her mind is reeling from what they've put him through, what they made him believe. Her heart ached with the pain she knew he had endured, was probably still enduring. She felt him tremble in her arms, his lips warm and plaint against her own. She heard him sigh, then pull back to look at her with sad blue eyes.

"Gods, I love you Kara," he whispered. "But I'd never be able to look at his child with anything but hate, even if it is a part of you."

"I'm not carrying Leoben's child," she said to him. Kara watched as his eyes registered first relief, then were quickly overshadowed by self loathing and something she hesitated to put a name to.

"You must really hate me," she heard him say as he dropped his eyes to stare at the floor. "I never meant to hurt you Kara, and I'm sorry if I caused this loss by what happened in the tent."

"Lee, I didn't lose the baby. I'm still pregnant," she says trying to soothe him.

Lee looked at her flabbergasted; he couldn't understand why she would be so happy to still be carrying a cylon's child. He knew she didn't hate the cylons like he did, but it was still a machine, an abomination. That would make its baby something people would fear and hate. He knew this because he was already beginning to hate it and what it was doing to them.

"Kara, are you happy to be having that..,"

"Apollo," she interrupted him before he could continue. "I really would like for you to stop calling my child's father a monster, I'm rather fond of him myself."

Kara watched as all the blood drained from Lee's face, and she realized that it was time to end this, any more and the great Apollo was liable to faint dead away. But she knew she couldn't just come out and tell him, he had to piece it together for himself. He had to see what they had done to him and know it for the lie that it was; if anyone just told him what he had seen was not true, he may not have believed them.

She grabbed his hand and placed it on her stomach. She saw him flinch, try to pull away, but she held onto him, firmly keeping his hand pressed to her. She could see the utter revolution in his eyes and she prayed that she could get through this with out breaking completely apart.

"Apollo," she said his name like a caress, gently beginning to close the gaping wounds in his psyche. "The cylons held us for 10 weeks according to your father and Admiral Thrace. After several exams by both UAG doctors and your own Doc Cottle, it has been determined that I am almost 14 weeks pregnant."

Lee's brows furrowed in concentration as he tried to puzzle this out. Kara was further along than their time in cylon hands could account for, that meant she had to have been pregnant before they had been captured. But how was that possible, he wondered in frustration. How had the cylons gotten to her without having been detected?

"I'm not carrying Leoben's child." Her words raced through his mind and he felt all the air leave his body. There was nothing Kara could do to keep him from crashing to the floor, stunned and feeling more than a little light headed. If it wasn't the cylon's child, then whose baby was it?

"Kara," he said slowly, forcing air into his lungs. "Is that…is the baby…"

He couldn't get the words out, no matter how badly he wanted to know they just would fall from his lips. If she was carrying his child, then what he had done was even more heinous in retrospect. He wanted to back away as she came to kneel down next to him; he had no right to touch her ever again.

"I want this Lee," she said to him once again taking his hand and placing it against her stomach. "But I want you as well."

"But Kara, I saw you with him," Lee said trying to understand the images that still played in his mind. "And I tried to kill you and the…" Once again the words failed him; if he didn't put voice to them then he could continue to deny it.

"Say it Lee," Kara prompted him. She knew that he was in shock and denial was a way for him to hide from the pain.

"I can't," he replied looking bereft.

"You have to," she said more firmly. "If you don't, if you choose to pretend like it's not real, you'll regret it for the rest of your life."

Lee knew she was right, and yet he still had a hard time even thinking about the baby she was carrying, his mind shied away from what his acknowledgement would mean. Not only did he almost kill the woman he loved, but he could have destroyed something that they had created, together.

"You're carrying my child," he said in a voice still shadowed with grief and pain. "I could have not only killed you, but our child as well."

"Yes Lee, but it didn't happen that way," she replied tears running unheeded down her face.

"I don't know what they made you see, or how they made it real, but it wasn't me Lee," Kara said pulling him close. "What I am belongs only to you, and I'd never give that to anyone else ever."

"I can't make the things I've seen stop going through my head," Lee said pulling back to look into her eyes. "I see you loving him, enjoying him and you're happy. It kills me that he made you happy. I felt so betrayed, so angry that you would let him have any part of you."

"All I can tell you is that it wasn't me, that I'd never betray you in such a fashion," she replied. "You may never be able to forget what they have done to you, the things they made you believe, the rage it made you feel, but we will move beyond it. I'll be here Lee, I'm not going anywhere and I need you to be with me."

"Kara, I could snap again at any time," Lee said pushing to his feet. "I had no control over what happened in that tent. I didn't care that I was hurting you, beating you, strangling you. I can't put you in that position again, especially now."

"Lee, this baby changes nothing," she said vehemently. "Without you, I am nothing. I know what I felt like when I thought you were dead; I won't go back to that, I won't let you or your high morals condemn either of us to that. You're stuck with me whether you like it or not Adama."

He watched as she got to her feet and made her way over to him. She stood toe to toe with him, looking into his eyes. He could feel the heat from her body and his own wanted nothing more than to be wrapped around her. He could also feel her anger as it battered against him, weakening his desire to keep her at arms length.

"We will deal with the fall out Lee," Kara said taking his hand. "It will be a long road for both of us, but they didn't break either of us. Lords know they tried, and yet here we still stand the two of us against the world."

Kara saw the still troubled expression on his face and knew that nothing else she said would make little difference to him. He was determined to protect her, even from him self; it would condemn them to a life spent apart, a life without the other. She couldn't live that way, she wouldn't let him do that to her, to them.

She had said all she was going to say. She reached into her pocket, pulled out her holovid and pressed it into his hands. Reaching up she put the buds gently into his ears, cupped his cheek, kissed him gently on the lips and walked out of the cell. The tears blurred her vision, but she chocked them back, held her head high and kept on walking.

&&&&

Lee watched stunned as Kara walked out of his cell, leaving the door open and leaving him standing there alone. He had needed her to go, wanted her to go, but now that she had he felt bereft, as if his sole reason to live had simply vanished.

He looked down at her small beat up music player. He knew that it had been a gift to her from her grandfather, a special remembrance and she had left it with him. He pushed play and the sound of her voice filled his ears.

"I love you Lee, I want you and I need you." The statement was simple, honest and punched him right in the solar plexus. Just as he caught his breath the music started.

You're not alone, together we stand

I'll be by your side, you know I'll take your hand.

When it gets cold and it feels like the end

There's no place to go, you know I won't give in.

She was letting him know through their song that she'd never give up on him, she'd always be there when he was in need. He was never alone, even when he had been in that awful room, she'd been right there beside him, and she always would be.

Keep holdin' on, cause you know we'll make it through

Just stay strong, cause you know I'm here for you

There's nothing you can say, nothing you can do

There's no other way when it comes to the truth

So keep holding on, cause you know we'll make it through

She had forgiven him, even when he couldn't forgive himself. He could run, he could hide but she would never allow any of that come between them. As long as one of the stayed strong they could pull the other through.

So far away, I wish you were here

Before its too late this could all disappear

Before the doors close and it comes to an end

With you by my side I will fight and defend

Without realizing it he had started walking, leaving behind his forced exile and following the woman he loved. He didn't need anyone to tell him where she had gone to, he already knew; he would always know.

Hear me when I say, when I say, I believe

Nothing going to change, nothing going to change destiny

Whatever's meant to be will work out perfectly

Keep holdin' on, cause you know we'll make it through.

He walked through the hatch to his office and found her on his couch. At first he thought she was sleep, but when he got down on his knees beside her, she opened her eyes. What he saw in those green depths almost brought tears to his own eyes.

"I can't promise you this will be easy," he said.

"I never asked for easy," she replied.

"I can't even say that I won't try to kill you again," he said to her trying to be as honest as he could.

"I'll give you plenty of reasons that will have nothing to do with the cylons," she said with a smirk. "We'll deal with whatever they throw our way, as long as we stand together."

Lee pulled her off the couch and into his lap. She titled her head back to look at him and she smiled when he lowered his mouth to hers.

"Just can't resist me can you?" She murmured against his lips.

"Don't want to," he replied trailing kisses down her neck. Kara couldn't help arching into him as his hands trailed down her ribcage. She felt him stiffen when he reached the bruises on her neck, but after taking a deep breath he kissed each one in turn.

"I'll never leave another mark on you in anger," he rasped against her skin.

"That's fine with me," Kara replied. "Although I'm really enjoying this, we have somewhere we need to be."

"We do?" He asked lifting his head to look at her quizzically.

"You can't be part of the team that discovers a human friendly planet, and not expect to be there when it's officially named," she said getting up off his lap and pulling him up from the floor.

"Do I even get to change," he all but whined as she dragged him out of the office.

"That's ok, I still love you no matter what you look like."

"So by the way, what DID we name this planet?" Lee asked as she dragged him through the corridors of Galactica like she knew exactly where she was going.

"After some careful deliberation, and many submitted ideas; I settled on the name Caterra I," she said watching for his reaction.

"Caterra?" He asked settling next to her on the shuttle she had arrived on. They were alone, everyone else having caught earlier transports down to the planet surface.

"A blend of Caprica and another name for Earth, terra firma. We've been divided through time and space for so long; I thought we could start the next chapter as a unified force."

She looked at him, hoping for validation, needing some one else to understand where she was coming from. He reached over entwining their fingers and brought the joined hands up to his lips. Together they watched as their new home came slowly into view, peeking out at them from between its two moons, beckoning them to a new life together.

Please let me know what you guys think and what you would like to be answered in the sequel. Thank you all for your continued support and your many reviews!!!