Epilogue
"So Kacey, how did you find your little brother?" The little girl looked up at her grandfather, she had been doing some coloring quietly on the couch for the past hour, focused on the task at hand. She was usually an inquisitive four year old, full of questions and always in movement witch was why her present stillness intrigued the Admiral.
"He is small, red and quite wrinkled." Was her only answer.
"Well, it's normal, every newborn baby looks like that."
"Do they? Because he is not very beautiful and Nicholas' little sister was much prettier." She said already sounding a lot more like herself.
"Every baby is different Kace. But the next time you'll see him he won't be as red or wrinkled."
"He is too small to play with me and he made mummy scream. She had a very bad tummy ache because of him, you know?" Oh, so that was the real problem. Kacey had been with Kara when she had gone into labor and she had refused to leave her side up until the moment Cottle had had her forcefully removed from the room. The poor thing must have been traumatized by that experience. He sat next to her and lifted her in his lap. She snuggled against his chest and started sucking her thumb. "You know Kace for a baby to be born the muscle in the mommy's tummy have to contract and that hurts a lot, but it's normal. When you were born the same thing happened to your mother."
"Really?" She did not seem convinced.
"Yes, really. If you don't believe me you can ask mommy and daddy about that, they'll explain it much better than me." She nodded into his chest but did not answer. He sight, he would have to tell Lee about it. Kara's pregnancy had not been planed but Kacey had been overjoyed with the prospect of a little brother, thus her parents had not been too much worried about her reaction to the birth. This would be an unforeseen complication but Lee and Kara were great with her and they would find the words to reassure her. He rubbed her back for a while, soothing her to sleep and thinking of his new grandson.
°°°°°°°
Kara studied her son as he nursed, running her hands up and down his small body memorizing its shape and details from the black as ink cap of hair to the wide opened blue eyes, small dimpled hands and plump legs. She had fallen in love with him the moment he had entered the world howling blue murder at being pulled away from the warm cocoon of his mother's womb. Lee had been there next to her, holding her hand and supporting her throughout the whole horrendous process of labor and birth, a calm reassuring presence. He had been the one to put their son in her arms, a wide grin on his face and slightly misty eyes. Then he had slide behind her, engulfing the both of them in his protecting embrace. They had stayed this way a long time enjoying this rare moment of pure bliss. She had now been back to their quarters a whole week but her fascination with her new son had not abated. She could spend hours just staring at him as he slept or did any little thing babies did.
"Mama?!" Kacey screamed running into the room closely followed by Lee.
"Hey Kace! How was your day at school?" She let Lee take the baby and picked up the little girl, kissing her brow.
"I did a drawing for you!" She gave her a sheet of paper where four figures were drawn. "There is me, daddy, you and Raphael. I made him bigger than he really is obviously, but he'll be that big one day so it's ok I think." Kara glanced at Lee over Kacey's shoulder and smiled before answering the child. "Yes Kace, it's ok. I don't think he'll mind it too much." The talk they had had with her had obviously worked and she had taken the role of big sister in stride, wanting to help them with everything or talking with the baby trying to teach him about something or another. It was rather cute.
Lee sat next to her and reached out to take her hand in his. The baby had fallen asleep and Kacey had started sucking her thumb an indication that she would soon follow her little brother in dream land. The past two years had not been easy, they had had to adapt to the life as husband and wife as well as parents: to say that it had been a bumpy ride would be putting it mildly. They had fought, scream and hurt one another but their relationship had become stronger with each fight and nowadays they were sparse and distant. Beside those battles of wiles had always leaded to fabulous bouts of make up sex, Raphael was the result of one of those passionate moments.
They were happy, the world she had dreamt for her children was no longer a dream, they had reached earth a few weeks ago and people had started going down to settle themselves on this new planet so different from what they had imagined. The people were not technologically advanced. They would be unable to understand the concept of other planets with life and even much less the one of space travels since they still believed that the Earth was not round but flat. They lived in small farming communities called villages, were wary of strangers and believed in one god. The teams that had been sent down to evaluate the situation had returned advising the admiral and the president to establish the fleet in a deserted area where the colonials would not come in contact with the autochthones at least for the moment. That's where Lee had spent the day, trying to find a spot to build a house.
She had been lost in her reminiscences and had not seen Lee put the baby in his bassinet, so she was a little bit startled when the silent was broken.
"Let me put her in bed and then we can talk, ok?" He already had Kacey in his arms before she could respond. She stood up and straightened the bed covers and nestled in their pillows. When Lee walked back to her she gave him a coy smile and extended her hand toward him.
"Are you going to join me flight boy?"
"You bet I will." He took her hand, kissed it and then molded his body against hers resting his head on her chest. "I really love those new curves of yours you know." He teased. She playfully hit him on the shoulder.
"Well, they're for your son, not you, so if you want to enjoy them you'd better be nice."
"How much longer do we have to wait?" She was slowly massaging his scalp and this simple caress was already arousing him. They were not used to long periods of abstinence but the birth of Raphael was forcing them to behave at least for a while.
"You know what the Doc said: a month to six weeks. But there are plenty other things we could do to help with the frustration."
"Gods Kara, you're going to be the death of me."
"But you love me anyway, don't you?" He rested his head on his elbow and studied her for a while then he caressed her check with his knuckles.
"Yes, Lee Adama loves Kara Adama, always will." He said softly.
"And Kara Thrace loves Lee Adama, always will." He did not miss the Thrace part; it was a recurring battle between them. But it did not matter, it was one of the reason why he loved her, she never gave up a thing, therein lay the challenge, to make her change her mind. One of the best ways to do that was to kiss her into oblivion, and that was exactly what he intended to do.
The End