AN: This chapter is rated M.

"Commander." Bill nurses a glass tumbler of scotch in his hand. He nods toward his hatch when his son enters, motioning to the large sofa with his other hand, "Have a seat." He hasn't been able to tell him. He hasn't been able to say a word for two months now. He hates himself for it.

"I'll stand, thank you." Lee nods, taking the glass from his father. Taking a sip, slowly glancing around his father's quarters, "Your halls are dark...empty."

"That's what happens when everyone gets wind of solid ground." He shakes his head, "Saul said Baltar let it go to shit down there."

"Where is the Colonel?"

Bill takes a deep breath, releasing it slowly, "I told him to go down. Ellen had been living there for a few weeks by that time...he tried to tell her that he would visit every weekend. That's not a marriage." The man takes a sip of his drink, "He just moved off here...just the night before." He stares a moment toward the floor before picking his head up to meet the eyes of his son.

Lee watches him, "I'm sorry."

"About what?"

"They're...Dad, they aren't going to let them all survive. We should leave while we can. Salvage what we have." Apollo shakes his head slowly, "They're going to kill everyone. Nuke the planet."

"No, they won't." Bill shakes his head, "It's been two months. They're waiting for us."

"I had a chance to think. Time in a raptor does that...time without anyone around does that." Lee takes a seat on the sofa anyway. His feet firmly planted on the floor, he rests his elbows on his knees, "We have a little over twenty thousand...I don't think we should risk a fight where we are guaranteed not to win. We need to cut our losses. We need to run."

The elder Adama looks to his son, "You know I'd been visiting the surface...more often than you had."

"Someone has to stay with the fleet." He sighs, "Dee probably wouldn't have let me anyway. She'd think I was going to see Kara." Lee smirks when his father starts to chuckle.

"You wouldn't though, would you..." It isn't a question. Bill studies his son, standing near him, but not blocking the light to create a shadow.

Lee picks his head up, looking to his father. The question unspoken lingers in the air. Did his father find out about he and Kara or worse, did he find out about Laura? He believes his father to have feelings for the woman he's in love with. That woman isn't Dee. It has never been Dee, it will never be Dee. She is the embodiment of a knee jerk reaction. His desire to shelter himself from the pain of love lost has always far outweighed anything else.

"I know about Laura, Lee." His raspy voice punches his son in the chest.

"Dad-"

"And there's something you should know about too...someone." Bill places his glass on the coffee table before reaching a hand inside his jacket, accessing the chest pocket. He stares at the picture in his hand, "I promised her that I wouldn't tell you. I promised her that I would leave this up to her."

Lee raises an eyebrow, smirking, "There's photo labs on New Caprica?" Able to see through the back of the paper, nothing specific, the young man shakes his head.

"I guess so. Just chemicals. Readily available. Have them up here as well." Bill nods, offering his son the photograph, watching as he takes the paper slowly.

The young man slowly takes the paper. Laura with a smiling infant resting his head against her shoulder. It instantly brings tears to his eyes, "She looks happy."

He smiles softly, taking a seat opposite his son, "Lee, I know the two of you were together...because that's your son."

Lee shakes his head slowly, "No, I...I didn't see her at all while..."

"Only takes once, Lee. The two of you were close for a time." Bill watches his son.

He swallows, "How long have you known?"

The older man shakes his head, "Few months. He was having a tough time when he was born...ten weeks early." Bill takes a deep breath, the room slowly seems as if it is closing in around them. He leans forward, "I went to visit Cottle...as a friend, not a patient. Heard an infant crying. He said Laura was running late to tend to her son."

"My son." Lee whispers, "You've known for...months and you couldn't say a word to me?" He's more hurt than anything else, he begins bouncing his knee with his toes against the ground.

"It wasn't my call. She wanted to tell you when you were scheduled to visit next, but the cylons showed up instead."

The young man sighs, "What do I tell Dee?"

Bill stands, retrieving his glass and pouring more of the amber liquid inside of it, "Tell her, don't tell her, that is entirely up to you. He will still be my grandson and I'm not treating him any differently, regardless of your decision. I just want you to know that you have someone to fight for...If you cut and run, it shows that their lives mean nothing to you. So, knowing what you know now, what do you suppose we do, Commander?"

His blue shirt opened, his tanks raised, showing the lower half of his abdomen. His navy trousers crumbled at his feet as his boxer briefs float somewhere atop his knees. They're edged against her desk, his brow damp with perspiration. Lee pushed her skirt up higher, letting it rest around her waist. He knew it would wrinkle and give others a taste of what she was doing with him, unlike his pants. His cock buried deep within her as he kissed the hollow of her neck.

"Gods...Captain Apollo." Laura moaned into the air, her head tilted back as she panted.

Lee slowed, moving leisurely now. His hands held onto the desk, inhaling her smell deeply. There's something about her that turns him on more than any other woman had. Her tenacity, her ability to laugh in the face of death, the way her pussy was tight around his cock, "I love you, Madam President." His words were quick as he attempted to catch his breath. He remembered to a time weeks before when she was on her deathbed and how he could barely keep his composure in her presence and now this.

"I...I love you too." She gently ran her fingers through his hair as she lowered her head, capturing his lips with her own in a fierce kiss.

He slowly raised his hand, sliding it beneath her now untucked silk blouse, feeling the lacy bra underneath. Lee used his other her to pull her closer to the edge of the desk, as to gain better access to her womanly parts.

Laura knew he would want her chest. She reached down, trying her best to hurriedly unbutton her blouse. She had to be careful though, this was one of her favorites, one of the last remaining within her collection. Not long ago, she wouldn't let him look at her breasts much less touch them. They were painful, filled with poison that was slowly killing her, the same poison that killed her mother before her. When she unfinished unbuttoning the shirt, she reached behind herself, unclasping her bra. It almost brought tears to her eyes, having not shown them to anyone except medical personnel since her diagnosis and cure.

Lee paused again, looking to her. He could tell she was terrified. He reached a hand against her cheek, leaning in and kissing her softly, "They're as beautiful as the woman they belong to." He nods, "If you don't want me to touch them, it's okay." He wanted all of her to be his.

"I want it to be you, Captain Apollo." Laura whispered, lifting his hand that was resting against her thigh, and placing it onto her breast. The one that had hurt her most when she was sick, but now caused her nothing but pleasure. Laura pulled his face to her own again, "Keep frakking me, Captain Apollo." She hummed against his lips.

He grinned, he couldn't help it. "I love when you order me around." Lee hummed against her mouth, his hand gently massaged her breast, his thumb rubbing over hard nipple. His hips moved quickly again, he loved to hear her moan.

"Yes." Laura felt the tingling feeling rippling from the attention his hand was giving her, "Yes, Lee...I'm almost..." Her words held little weight as she said them into his ear, breathlessly.

Finally, he came, emptying himself into her. Lee felt her pussy spasm around him, milking his cock for everything it was worth. He slowly came to a stop, just wrapping his arms around her as they caught their breath. He felt her legs wrap around him more. Neither of them wanted to move, but their position against her desk was less than professional and if Billy walked in on them, he knew the young man wouldn't be able to view his boss in the same way. Though, in all truthfulness, neither could Lee Adama.

Laura sits in her cell within the detention center. The cement gray walls are cool to the touch and almost insulate the chaos of the other cells. Almost being the key word. She can hear the screaming during the sound of drills and the other torture devices. It has been a few days. Every few hours, a tray of food is shoved under her door. She doesn't eat the meat they always try to serve, choosing instead whatever fruit is there. Carefully inspecting each portion for injection holes or other signs of tampering. She can't be so careful with the water considering it is served in an open tin cup. Her mind wanders slightly to Sloane, even Maya and Isis. As odd as her family unit is, that's all she feels is needed right now. She rocks ever so slightly, curled into a ball and facing away from the door. Laura can't stand watching the door. Various cylon models would be there, peering through any of the windows, as if they were studying her. Laura doesn't like being watched. She shields her eyes from the bright sunlight illuminating the room from above, though she isn't sure it actually is sunlight. Nothing but gray skies since they arrived on this godsforsaken planet. Gray to match these walls. This place causes a person to think, but thinking so much can only drive a person to go mad. She hums ever so softly to herself as she rocks, a song her mother used to sing to her when she was a girl, a song Laura now sings to her son.

The door opens, Gaius Baltar enters. She has never despised a person before like she does this man. She continues to shield her eyes as he carries in one of the metal chairs, setting it near her, a man in a mask carries one in for himself. One of the men from the New Caprican Police. He glances down towards her, the light irises of her eyes haunt him. They always have though. She's childlike in a sort of way to him.

Laura pulls the chair closer with her foot, watching him as she uses it for leverage to stand. Sitting courteously as she smiles ever so softly in his direction.

Baltar hates feeling this way, he hates seeing her imprisoned. A woman whose mere presence is the personification of his life's work. "Everyone of importance is being looked at right now. You're no exception." He offers her glasses to her which were confiscated when she was dragged in, his hand trembles. "I can help you, Laura, in ways that I cannot help myself."

She slowly accepts her glasses from his hand, sliding them onto her face as she peers around the room, able to finally see the details and the cracks in the walls. Laura continues not to say anything, tilting her head to the side ever so slightly as she listens to the man in front of her.

"I can protect you, but the situation has changed now. The insurgency has crossed the line with suicide bombings." His face shows true disgust, a doubt in humanity. Baltar's voice wavers ever so slightly, "So you...you and I...we will publicly condemn these tactics."

Laura folds her arms, smirking, doing her best not to laugh in his face, "So there is something that scares the cylons after all."

"I should think using humans as bombers would scares us all."

"Yes, but desperate people take desperate measures."

Gaius nods, "Alright. Look me in the eye...look me in the eye and tell me you approve of sending young men and women into crowded places with explosives strapped to their chests." His voice grows quiet towards the end of his statement, noticing the tears that have formed in the woman's eyes as she looks down. The room grows quiet with the sound of their breathing, "I'm waiting for you to look me in the eye and tell me you approve." When she returns her look to him, he notices that she shakes her head ever so slightly, "Thirty-three people killed and their only crime was putting on a police uniform, trying to bring some order to the chaos out there."

"Order?" Laura can't believe this man thought there was anything of the sort, "By arresting people in the dead of night, detaining them indefinitely without charge, torturing them for information."

"Now wait a minute, no one has been tortured for information!"

"Tell that to Colonel Tigh."

"No one has been tortured." He stands, stepping around the room. He knows she wouldn't lie. Not about this. Not about the welfare of her own people. "I know about the boy. The cylons...they told me about him."

"What boy?" Laura watches him, a shell of the man he once was.

"Don't play dumb with me." Gaius shakes his head, looking to her, "Don't do that. It has never been your strong suit. You're too intelligent...as am I." He glances around, letting the room grow quiet once more, "They're interested in him. Seem to think that he may possibly carry cylon DNA within his cells."

"His father isn't a cylon." Her eyes slowly roam to the buttons of his shirt and the details of his tie.

"I didn't think he would be, however, he would have had to have been conceived after you received treatment with the blood of the hybrid fetus. Remember that? Remember when I saved your life?" His hands lax at his sides, watching her as she appears to grow ever so slightly afraid, "I can protect you, Laura, but I fear that if I offer your son any protection via guard, it will appear as if his life has more meaning than it actually does."

"He does have meaning." Laura snaps.

"Have some flexibility," Baltar shakes his head, retorting, "You know what I am referring to." He walks over toward the door, pounding his hand against it, "We're done here."

She stands, turning away from him as she hears the door open once more, except no footsteps. Laura faces him once more.

"I hope you understand the severity of the situation and I ask you to obey the dictates of your conscience, which is what I've always done."

A smirk creeps across Laura's face, "Of that I have no doubt."

"Please, give this lovely lady her shoes back, then get her out of here." The President orders the masked guard, giving her one last glance before stepping through the doorway.

Maya excitedly opens the tent flap, grinning to Laura as she slowly steps inside, "He looks great."

Laura nodded, her son in her arms, "Welcome home, Sloane." She looked around the tent, seeing an extra one, "Where's that from?"

"Oh, well, you aren't going to believe this." The young woman continued to smile as she stepped over to it, "Apparently, there is an old man in the marketplace who makes them by hand, without the use of any sort of power tools. The Vice President brought it over last night. You had already gone to Cottle's." Maya smirked, "He was so excited too. I think he likes you."

"Tom Zarek does not like me." She slowly lowered herself onto her bed, needing to continue holding the boy for the time being, needing him close now that he was finally able to live at home, "He merely tolerates me."

"You keep telling yourself that." Maya nodded, "Isis is so excited. So much so that she wore herself out." She motions to the girl's cradle.

Laura smiled softly, "She doesn't understand. She may not keep that same point of view when she really understands what changes this means for her." She sighed softly, glancing down to her son, whose head rested against her chest. "He smiles in his sleep...laughs too."

The young woman watched the infant, "He really is beautiful, Laura." She nodded, "Reminds me of my own son."

Laura glanced to her, knowing it wasn't often that she spoke of her life before the fall of the colonies, "If this is too hard for you to-"

"No, I didn't say it was a bad thing that he reminded me of Caleb." Maya smiled warmly, "It's a good thing...I've...Isis responds to you more than she does to me, but I still love her more than life itself. I'd give anything to ensure she's taken care of, including my own life...same for Sloane." The young woman swallowed, "It's something I could never do for Caleb..."

"Maya," Laura whispered, "I feel the same way, but you have to be positive. I'd certainly die for these children, but I'd much rather live for them." She smirked softly, reaching a hand over to take hold of the other woman's, "If anything happens to me, I trust that you will take care of him."

Maya nodded, "I will." She knew that Laura was referring to her cancer. She knew that's all Laura ever thought about since she knew of Sloane's existence, "You know I will."

Lee continues to stare at the photograph, glancing up to his father again, "How could you do this to me?"

"Do what, Commander?" Bill murmured, taking another sip from his glass tumbler.

"You are my father. First and foremost, how could you keep your knowledge of my son from me?" He begins to glare, "My son, father."

He turns, looking to the younger man, "What would you have done?"

Lee stands, "I would have..." Falling silent, his mind deeply thinking about what he could have done differently.

"Exactly." Bill answers gruffly.

"I would have been there for him. You said he had a rough time when he was born. I could have been there."

"What about the Pegasus?" He shakes his head, "What about Dee?"

"I'd give it up for my son." Lee's voice is just above a whisper, knowing it is something his father could never do, "I would. I'd give this all up in a heartbeat if it meant I could be with them. If I could just..." He shakes his head, "You could have told me. This could have all been prevented."

"Prevented? Lee, what the hell would you have done differently? They'd probably kill you first. Gods know what they've done to Saul down there." Bill shakes his head, "You're married, Lee."

"Because you didn't-"

"Laura didn't even know then." He watches his son, his composure remaining calm. He knows his son would do the right thing, but would he do the smart thing? That's another question entirely, "Didn't find out until two months after settlement. After the groundbreaking, Lee. After you were married. Besides, you were barely speaking to Laura at the time."

Lee slowly paces, "You're on a first name basis now?"

"I've been down to see them." Bill nods, "Of course." He doesn't read into the statement, knowing full well what his son is referring to, "I've sought to it they are cared for and protected."

"You don't know what is going on down there. Neither do I." The young Commander swallows, gazing once more to the photograph held in his hands, "If they're already dead, I will never forgive you." He begins walking, needing to get away from his father, pausing when he places a hand on the turning wheel of the hatch, "His name..."

Admiral Adama picks his head up, "What?"

"What is his name?" A simple question. Simple enough that Lee feels like a failure just saying it.

Bill swirls the liquid around in his glass, watching as it moves around the octagonal glass, "Sloane...apparently it's of ancient Arelon origin. Means 'little warrior'. It's fitting...he's been nothing except that." He doesn't look to his son, he cannot possibly. He knows what it's like to be told your son is dead, but he does not know how it could possibly feel knowing not only do you have a son, but he could be dead without even meeting him.

"Sloane." Lee whispers to himself, nodding before he opens the hatch, leaving as quickly as he possibly can without walking. He knows the decisions he needs to make...the most important being, What does he tell Dee?