A/N1: Like I promised (and I alway try to keep my promises) here is chapter 20. Hope ypu like it.
The tactical table in the CIC was covered with miniatures of vipers, raptors and battlestars. Lee tried to find a plan, but it was too early… The pilots weren't even training yet and they needed more information about the cylon fleet that had invaded New Caprica.
His father had suggested two weeks before starting to plot, so they'd be aware of how quick the trainings were progressing and found a way to establish contact with the people on the planet.
"Captain," Lee heard Hoshi tell Helo on the background. "There's a call for you. It's Sharon Velerii."
He ignored the talking between Helo and his girlfriend and continued studying the star charts until the XO interrupted him.
"Apollo," Helo said in a serious tone. "It's Kara. Sharon just took her to the life station."
Lee's breath caught. "The baby?" he managed to choke out.
"I'm not sure. She felt some pain, had a bleeding…" he explained nervously. Kara was his best friend – he just wanted to go check if she was okay, but things were too complicated.
"It's too early," Lee interrupted.
Helo nodded in agreement. "Go to your wife, Apollo. She needs you. I'll take care of things around here."
Before the XO could even finish the sentence, Lee was already running outside the CIC. He had never felt so terrified before, not even when Kara was lost on that moon and ended up screwing her knee. Flashed of her filled his mind: the first time he had seen her when Zak introduced her to him as his girlfriend; the look she had given to him after the New Year's party; the day of the holocaust when she was locked in the brig; their kiss in the Astral Queen; the first night on New Caprica; their wedding; and the day they had found out about the baby. She was always so passionate, so impulsive and, with time, so marveled about having a child…
He wasn't sure how he had gotten there, but when Lee stopped running, he was in front of the life station. Entering, he noticed it was almost empty – like most of the ship. Erin Decker was on the phone, looking worried.
"…yes, Doctor, but I'm just an intern! Look, I'm pretty sure that if you explain everything to the Admiral, he'll get you transportation in no time." She was silent for a moment, hearing what Talbot was saying. "Yes. Thank you. Please, hurry." She all but broke the handset of the phone when she threw it to the table. Then, she saw him standing in there. "Commander."
"What happened? Is she okay? The baby?" Lee asked her.
"She's stable for now," Decker told him. "As it seems, she is in premature labor, which caused a bleeding that is already controlled. Now, we're trying to stop the contractions."
"She's in labor?" he asked in disbelief. They were supposed to have six more weeks, having a premature in a battlestar could be risky. The gods knew what kind of problems they could have…
"For now…" Decker said. She pointed to a curtain surrounded area. Corporal Venner sat on a chair next to the entrance. "She's in there with Valerii and her daughter."
Lee nodded and took a step further, opening the curtain in order to step in. There was a fetal monitor in there. He only noticed the stable beeping at that moment – he had been too distracted earlier.
Kara was lying on the bed, very pale with her blond hair pulled behind in a ponytail. Her arm had an IV connected, which sent a translucent liquid to her blood stream. Her hands were compressed against her stomach. By her side, Sharon sat on a sofa with her daughter sleeping on her lap.
"Oh, you're here," Kara said in faint voice. She tried to give him a smile, but Lee immediately realized that she was just trying to play the strong part.
"I'll get going," Sharon murmured as she got up, holding her daughter steady. "It's past Hera's bedtime."
"Thank you for staying here," Kara told the other woman, who nodded before leaving the two of the alone.
Lee moved around the bed and sat on the edge of her bed. Then, he reached for his wife's hand, grasping it. "How are you feeling?"
She shrugged her shoulders. "Alright," she lied. It was stronger than her, the need to act tough.
"Kara… it's me. How do you really feel?" he insisted. He knew his wife better than that. Her mouth might say that, but eyes screamed the opposite.
She gave up pretending. There was no use with Lee, anyway. "Freaked out," she murmured. The truth was that when she had seen the blood, the fear was paralyzing. Like she couldn't breathe or think. "Gods, I can't believe this is happening," she said exasperated. "I guess this is the first time in my life I'm early for something…"
"That's not true. Helo says you developed early," Lee tried to keep his usual relaxed tone around her. She didn't more nervous wrecks around her.
"That's true." She laughed but stopped immediately. "Oh, there comes one!"
Her voice trembled. Kara started to breath slowly in order to get past the contraction. In an instinctive reaction, Lee grasped her hand, letting her know that she could do the same. It didn't take long for the contraction to be over.
"They're not very strong," she said, referring to the contractions. "Decker put in the IV something to weaken them. She was expecting to be able to interrupt them completely, but I guess the kid wants to be out. Six weeks before it is supposed to." She swallowed hard, a terrified look covering her face. "Oh, gods."
She closed her eyes and sighed. The fear always came back no matter how she tried to repeal it. "I should have rested more like you said. I should have spent less time on my feet. I should have…"
"Hey, stop that!" Lee told her, using a hard tone. "This is not time to feel guilty. You took care of yourself and the baby very well. You did the best you could. Do you remember how many times you made me give you breakfast in bed because you were pregnant and I wasn't?"
She nodded, wanting to cry. Gods, how she wanted to cry… But she fought hard not to, promising herself to do it later when there wasn't so much at stake.
Lee got up from the edge of the bed. "Can you move over?" he asked, receiving a nod in return. She moved a bit, leaving a little more space by her side. Then, he lay next to her, pulling her close.
Being in that position relaxed her immediately. She sighed against his shoulder and took a deep breath, telling herself that everything was going to be alright. She would make it right.
Lee was nervous himself – who wouldn't be in that situation? But he believed Kara could do it. And she needed to know it. "You'll do great, Kara. Nobody can define an objective and reach it like you do." That wasn't the Starbuck who never needed anyone to reassure her. That was just Kara, the vulnerable person who feared for her baby's well-being. And he needed that Kara to know that he would never leave.
He felt her nod. "I want this baby," she said. "I was so confused in the beginning, but I know that I want it now. And I thought I could be in control when the time arrived, but it seems like the baby is the one to occupy that position. I'm sure it is going to be today, but the baby is so small…"
"And strong," Lee added. It was their baby. It had to be a fighter, like his parents.
"Exactly," Kara agreed with a genuine smile on her face. "Strong and determined. The baby wants to be born today and no matter how they try, nobody will be able to stop it…"
---
Kara was right; nobody would be able to stop the baby from coming. Hours passed and the contractions grew stronger, more painful. Eventually, Talbot arrived and confirmed that the baby would be born in a matter of hours.
Lee was always there by his wife's side, ignoring his own terror and encouraging her through the contractions or when she succumbed to the fear.
The trip to the OR, where Talbot had everything prepared for the delivery, was about seven hours (pretty quick, considering the average) after Kara had first arrived to the sickbay.
Kara could barely register anything but the pain, being told to push and Lee's hand never leaving hers, no matter how hard she grasped it. She was so terrified that she hadn't even cursed her husband's existence or threaten never let him touch her again, like she had planned before.
Then, seemingly out of nowhere, the baby was out, screaming like there was no tomorrow, causing Kara to laugh with the relief. She looked up and saw Lee smiling at her. He kissed her forehead. "You did great," he told her.
"Well, the vocal cords seem to be working pretty well," Talbot pointed out, passing the shrinking baby to his intern before cutting the cord.
Erin approached the proud parents in order to give them a little time with their offspring before having to take it away in order to do the examinations. "Meet your daughter," she told Kara as she carefully put the little girl on her arms.
Daughter. That was when the waterworks started for Kara, unlike the baby, who stopped crying a few seconds after being put on her mother's arms. She looked ready and finished. The only thing that gave away her premature nature was how small she was. Kara touched the baby's cheek. Her skin was so soft… like satin. Little hands, little feet… everything so small and delicate. "She's perfect," Kara choked out. "She's so perfect."
Lee also stared at his daughter in awe. Beyond imagination, was the closest expression to reality. "Beautiful," he said. He used to picture babies as wrinkly little things but, under the risk of being biased, his little girl was the most beautiful baby in the universe. He wanted to protect her from anything. She was his and Kara's.
Decker showed up by their side again. "I'm sorry to interrupt the moment, but we need to take her to be weighed and examined."
Kara sighed, now with a sad expression on her face, but didn't hesitate in letting the intern take the baby. It was the best for her; after all, the little girl was premature…
"I promise you'll have her back in less than half hour," Decker told her.
"Just make sure she's alright," Kara agreed.
---
A while later, Kara Thrace Adama had her daughter back on her arms and studied her little features. She had her daddy's nose, all perfect and god-like. But the rosy lips had come from her. The baby's eyes were still newborn's usual blue tone, but she hoped they'd grow to look like Lee's.
She had given birth to a child – a perfectly healthy bundle of joy with six pounds (pretty good, for her gestational age).
"She's real," Lee murmured, touching hesitantly the baby's cheek. He smiled. "She's ours."
"And she needs to be named," Kara pointed out, letting the baby grasp her finger. "I guess we can't call her James."
"Yeah, we can't," he agreed. But then, he had an idea. "We could call her Jamie, instead."
"Jamie…" Kara repeated, looking down at the baby. It sounded nice… no, it sounded great. She looked like a Jamie. "I like it."
"So, it's settled. Jamie Adama… I thought of a middle name. I don't know if you'll like it…" Lee said. It was something he had thought of earlier. Something part of him needed to do. "I thought of Caroline."
A simpler form of his mother's name. She didn't need him to tell her that it was his way of making amends with his dead mother. Lee had told her that Carolanne had changed in her later years: became more mothering and less depressive. Unlike Kara's mother, she had tried to make up for her past mistakes. "Sounds good to me," she told her husband with a nod. Jamie Caroline Adama, her very own daughter…
"Thank you," Lee said, kissing her forehead, "for being my wife, for giving us this beautiful daughter, for everything, Kara."
She smiled. I should be the one thanking, Kara thought. She was the one who won in that bargain. But let's not get too modest… "You're welcome," she simply said.
"I'm gonna call my dad," he told her, getting up and leaving.
Then, when she was completely alone with her daughter, Kara shifted the baby, so she was resting her head on her mother's shoulder. "I promise I'll do all I can to be the best mom you could ever have," she murmured to Jamie's ear. "And your daddy will chase boys away with a gun."
She breathed the baby smell... so inocent, so pure. And for a while, she pretended that everything was alright, that there were no cylons out there and that the war was just a myth.
A/N2: I'll let you know that you were not the only ones who would kill me is you killed the baby. I have three readers in my own house who would probably choke me in my sleep. And next chapter will come as usually: 10 reviews, one preview. So, who do you think of the name? Too cute?