~ Bright, Shiny Futures - Chapter Forty-Five ~

Nicky met his mother's eyes and the look in them unnerved him. "Mom, is there something wrong?" he asked in a little voice.

Cally shook her head and tried to smile. "No, nothing's wrong honey."

He knew she was lying. "Are you sure?"

"I'm fine. Just had a busy day, you know, getting back into the routine of working here again. I was looking forward to living on Earth. Making a new life and doing something different than what I do here." And looking forward to a nice, happily ever-after life with people, not robots. "It's hard for me to live with the fact that we're going to be stuck on Galactica until we find another suitable planet ... which might be never."

"It's not that bad," Nicky said defensively. "I like it here."

"I know you do."

They ate the rest of their meal in an uncomfortable silence.

"Take care of yourself, okay?" Cally said when they'd finished and were getting ready to part ways.

"You're not going to come back and live with me and dad?"

His sad eyes caused a pain in her heart. She shook her head. "I can't."

"Yes you can. Please?"

"I can't. I'm sorry."

"Why?"

"You wouldn't understand"

He sighed. It seemed adults always used that excuse when they didn't want to tell you something. "I love you mom," he said softly, walking over to her and putting his arms around her.

She put her arms around him and laid her cheek down on his head briefly. "Love you too," she whispered. "Take care of yourself and your father." She let go of him and had left their quarters before he could even blink.

"Goodbye," he whispered, eyes filling with tears. "I'll always love you mom."

* * * * * * * * * *

"I want you to tell me the truth."

Lee struggled. He'd told Kara the bare minimum and had left out most of the detail of the past weeks' events. It was funny how even after all this time apart she could still see through his lies.

"Kara, I ... "

"Don't baby me, Lee Adama. I know there's something you're not telling me. Why?"

"I don't want to upset you," he said gently.

"Well score one against you because I'm already upset. I want to know what's going on."

"And it's not that I don't want to tell you, it's ... "

"Then tell me," she interrupted.

"I don't want to hurt you and quite frankly, I'm not sure you'll believe me."

"Isn't 'not believing me' sort of your purview rather than mine?"

Lee's cheeks grew warm. "We need to leave all of that behind us. You have to trust me Kara. Things have changed and we're not like that anymore."

"So what are we like then?"

He swallowed hard. "We're together. You and me. Well sort of."

She gave a derisive laugh. "Well that sounds about how we used to be. Clear as mud. Tell me something I don't know."

"Your husband was a Cylon." Kara shrank back as though he'd punched her and Lee regretted his words. As always, he'd allowed her to anger him and had lashed out in return. Way to go Lee. Way to show her things have changed. "I'm sorry," he added. "I didn't mean to tell you like that."

She shook her head, face pale. "No. It isn't true. It couldn't be."

"I'm sorry."

She drew in several long, slow breaths. "You said he was a Cylon. Was. Is he ... ?"

Lee nodded, not trusting himself to speak over the lump in his throat.

"This can't be happening. I can't believe it. I won't."

Lee took her hand in his. "That's why your mind is blocking it out. Too much has happened in too short a time and you just can't process it. You'll have to give it time."

She looked up into his eyes. There were no tears but he could see the pain written clearly there.

"So Michael was a Cylon. He's dead. Somehow Galactica found Earth and I'm here now," she said. "How am I supposed to believe all that? Can't I just go home? Maybe this is all just some awful nightmare." She swallowed and a little sound something like a sob came out. "I've had so many dreams of Galactica finding me," she said softly, "but it was always a happy reunion."

Lee's heart began to crack. "Gods Kara, if only I could spare you all this, I would."

She pulled her hand back and tucked it into the covers. "I want to be alone now."

The crack widened. "Kara ... "

"Please," she begged, the unfamiliar word feeling strange on her tongue. "I need to be alone for a while."

He backed away, heaving a great big silent sigh. "I'll bring Zach and Sara back a little later, okay?"

"Thank you."

He blinked hard as he turned and left. Kara Thrace never cried but he was sure he'd seen her eyes glistening.

* * * * * * * * * *

The sound of footsteps came sooner than she'd expected. Or wanted. She'd barely gotten herself together and wiped her eyes before the curtain was pushed aside.

"Kara?"

The gravelly voice startled her. She'd been sure it was Lee.

"Come in."

Adama had such a goofy, doting fatherly look about him as he came in and sat down that she nearly laughed out loud. The look of pure, uncomplicated love in his eyes caught her her off-guard though. It was something she'd rarely experienced - love without strings.

"How are you feeling Kara?" he asked kindly.

"Okay, I guess."

"Is this a bad time? If you're not ready to see anyone ... "

"It's okay," she interjected but he kept going.

" ... I can come back later."

Kara opened her mouth to answer but instead let out a large sigh. "I don't honestly know if any time will be a good time."

He studied her for a minute. "You want to talk about it?"

She gave a frustrated snort. "I'm not even sure there's anything to talk about."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean I've lost things. Part of my memory. I remember some things but not others. Almost as if someone erased them."

He reached for her hand and took it, squeezing gently. "It's not uncommon for people to lose memories after experiencing the kind of trauma you did. These last weeks have been very hard on you."

"So I gather," she said dryly, licking her lips.

"Did Lee ... tell you the details?"

"Yes. I suppose so. But he might not have told me everything and I'd never know, would I?"

He squeezed again. "I have faith that it will all come back to you in time."

Kara smiled weakly. "I wish I had that faith."

"Have faith in the here and now. The life you had on Earth is over but you're here, you're alive, and so are your children. Focus on making a life here for yourselves. There's always a place for you, whether you choose to rejoin the pilot's ranks or try something different. I'll be here for you and so will Lee. He may not have always been in the past and you've certainly had your differences, but he's a changed man. One who's been given something he never thought it was possible to have, though it was the only thing he truly wanted."

"Me," she whispered wonderingly.

He nodded. "After you ... disappeared, we had our differences. I couldn't understand why he was acting in such an erratic, uncharacteristic-like way. It wasn't till much later that I was able to see objectively and understand that when he lost you, he lost the most important part of himself." At her confused look he carried on. "It may not have always been that way for him but something changed when he came to Galactica. I saw it after he'd been here a few months but I didn't understand. It was you - you'd become a part of him. Somehow the two of you had grown together and though you weren't a couple intimately, each of you needed the other in order to function."

She stared at him in disbelief.

"It's true. I think everyone else could see it too though no one really understood. It wasn't till you were gone from his life for good that I began to see. It was as if Lee was living without a limb. He was crippled but not completely dysfunctional, which is why I missed it. He tried to carry on but he couldn't, not without the missing piece. Eventually he learned to keep going but he was never the same man." He stopped to draw in a long breath and exhale. "Lee loves you and I know you love him. Things are going to be difficult now though, as you work through this. I know he wants to be there for you and your children. Let him. It's as much for him as for you."

Kara felt completely overwhelmed by it all and a strange, warm feeling stole over her. She nodded, not quite sure what to say. Their eyes met and they smiled at one another.

"It's hard," she whispered, blinking rapidly.

"I know. Just remember you're not alone." He rose and leaned over her, pressing warm lips to her forehead.

After he left, the tears came again.

* * * * * * * * * *

Sam's eyes widened when the entered the main chamber. It was full of people - male and female, light skinned and dark, hundreds in every shape, size and colour. It was as diverse a group as he'd ever seen.

"You have got to be kidding me."

"It's not joke, I can assure you of that."

He turned and looked down at the woman beside him. "What's going on? These people can't all be Cylons."

"Oh but they are. Every last one."

"I thought there were only twelve models."

"That is what we wanted you to think. We have kept the others' identity a secret."

"Why?"

"It's a long story. Come, let us gather the newly-reborn and I shall recount it. Soon you will know everything."

His eyes scanned the room, searching for Tory. There were many dark-skinned, dark-haired women but at last he spotted the one he was looking for. He glanced questioningly at his companion and took off at a run when she gave a slight nod.

"Tory!"

At the sound of her name she turned and walked into his arms. "Sammy."

He held her for a long moment, keeping close the only familiar thing he had left.

"This is crazy," she said eventually.

"I know," he said soothingly, stroking her hair. "But I've been promised we'll find out the truth right away."

"The truth?" She laughed hollowly. "I don't think I'd recognize the truth if it bit me in the face."

The elderly woman who called herself Zero laid a gentle hand on each of their shoulders. "I'm sorry it's all coming as such a shock to you. We needed to keep it a secret from as many as possible ... "

"Why? Why not tell us what we were and what we were to do?" Tory interrupted angrily.

"It might have spoiled the experiment."

Sam's eyes narrowed. "Which was what?"

Her eyes widened in surprise, as if he should have been able to figure it out with just the small bit of information she'd given him. "Why, to see if humans and humaniform Cylons could live together peacefully and procreate, of course."

"But how did you get here?" Sam frowned.

"We brought the Thirteenth Tribe here ourselves, many generations ago."

* * * * * * * * * *

Kara eyed the quarters she'd been assigned with growing appreciation. "It looks a lot different than it did when I left."

Helo smiled. "Didn't really have much choice, did we? On short missions it was possible to enforce the frat regs but once we were all stuck here indefinitely people started eyeing each other. Being the only gene pool to draw from and all."

She chuckled. "You have such a great way of describing things."

"People paired off and eventually the birth control supplies ran out ... and we had to create some family-sized quarters. You have no idea how happy Sharon and I were to move to a room where we weren't always stepping on each other's toes."

"I can imagine, particularly with two children. My home on Earth was often not big enough to prevent us from being in each other's way and it was a massively huge palace compared to this."

"Well this is the best Galactica can do for you."

She sighed theatrically. "Well, I suppose it'll have to do."

He punched her in the arm playfully. "I'll go get Lee and the kids. You settle in."

"Sure, me and what luggage?"

He winked as he stepped out and shut the hatch behind him.

A pang of happiness made her smile wistfully. She'd missed this in the years she'd been gone. Not that life hadn't been good in it's own way, but she hadn't had anyone quite like Helo.

The bunkroom looked much different than she remembered. They hadn't had paint to cover up the divots where the bunks had been removed, but even still, the room seemed much more spacious and friendly with four rather than twelve beds. A table and chairs stood in the middle of the room with a few spare chairs in a corner. She wondered where it had all come from, but then her fingers, running along the back of one of the chairs, encountered something familiar and she knew immediately that they'd once been in the pilot's rec. A design was etched into the metal. No one finding it by accident would have known what it was but she did. An intricately carved set of letters - a K and an L, put there by herself years ago. She'd loved Lee Adama more than life itself but had known they could never be together. Still, she'd had a need to put it down somewhere - somewhere permanent and public, affirming the feelings within her that had been so strong but that she'd never been able to express any other way. Her fingers traced over it, smiling at the unbroken line she'd used to weave both letters together in a pattern as intricate and complex as their relationship had always been. Some things never change, she thought, realizing that Lee was still in her heart, despite the turmoil layered over top of those feelings.

The hatch opened, startling her.

"Mommy!" The children bounded into her arms and they were a tangled mess for several minutes. She was acutely aware of Lee watching her and she felt a flush rising on her cheeks.

Eventually they separated as Zach caught sight of the bunkbeds. "I want this one!" he yelled excitedly, climbing the ladder to the nearest pair of bunks. Sara climbed onto the lower one and smiled to show her approval.

"Guess I get these two," Kara said, winking at Helo.

"I hardly think you'll be needing two beds," he returned. Kara flushed deeply as the meaning behind the innocent-sounding words hit her. She glanced at Lee to see his face was red as well.

She turned away and closed her eyes for a moment, trying to collect herself. "I guess it's just about dinner time," she said, turning back and smiling.

" 'Nother half hour," Helo answered. "C'mon, let's head to the mess anyway. Hera and Kiera are there ... "

The kids scrambled off their beds and ran for the door. The three of them walked out without waiting for Kara and Lee.

"Are you coming too?" Kara asked, feeling a little tongue-tied. She wanted him to be there but at the same time a part of her didn't.

Lee shook his head. "I've a meeting with the President and quorum tonight. We need to determine what our next course of action will be now that Earth is no longer an option."

"Oh." Her face fell. "I guess that makes sense."

"I'll see you tomorrow?" It was as much a question as a statement.

"Can you come back later, after the meeting?" Kara's flush deepened as she realized she was sounding desperate. "I mean, it would be nice to talk some more ... "

"I will if you want me to."

She smiled at his eagerness and nodded. "I do."

* * * * * * * * * *

Adama's head snapped around as a warning klaxxon suddenly filled the CIC with sound.

"What the ... "

"It's coming from airlock three sir," Gaeta said efficiently, anticipating Adama's request.

"Airlock three?"

Gaeta's eyes lifted from his computer screen to meet his superior's. "There's been an unauthorized depressurization."

"Who the hell would have airlocked something without my permission?" he demanded angrily, neither expecting nor receiving an answer to his rhetorical question. "And what was it they were getting rid of?" His brows drew together suspiciously.

Gaeta shrugged.

"Get a Raptor out there now. I want to know what's out there."

"Yes sir," Gaeta answered, already keying in the code to the launch bay.

Adama folded his arms across his chest and growled almost silently to himself. He had a bad feeling about this. A very bad feeling.

~ TBC ~

A/N: I'm sorry for the long delay over the holidays. Life was really busy with the family and most of December disappeared somewhere ... I'm still looking for it. :) Thank you to everyone who's still reading this and to all of you who've discovered it lately and made it a favourite. I know not many of you leave comments but I wanted to thank you all for reading. I can hardly believe I started writing it a full year ago. Wow! I'm not quite sure how long it will end up being but I'm anticipating it won't be too much longer and I will definitely be finishing it so stick with it!