~ Bright, Shiny Futures - Chapter Fifty-Two ~

Lee hopped on the Raptor, totally exhausted. The quorum hadn't been quite as cooperative as he would have liked but after enough explaning and cajoling he'd gotten the majority to side with him and agree to go ahead with the plan, reserving judgment until there were results. The other few however, had judged and found the plan guilty of being a travesty. They'd neither agreed nor disagreed and Lee had a feeling that might spell trouble if it didn't work out well. And soon. He sat back and heaved a great big sigh.

"Long day?" Hotdog's bare head poked through the division between the cockpit and passenger area.

Lee raised his eyebrows. "You have no idea."

"You're right, I don't," Hotdog said cheerfully. "I leave the politics to you guys for a very good reason. It would kill me."

"Being a pilot can kill you too." Lee's mouth began to pull up into a smile despite his tiredness and foul mood.

Hotdog held out his arms. "I'm still here."

"That's because you're stuck doing doughnuts runs." The almost-smile became a full-out grin.

The other man returned it and grabbed his helmet. "Better than being a politician Apollo. It may not be the most exciting part of the job but at least I'm still flying. Don't you ever miss it?"

Lee opened his mouth but paused as the words inside jumbled and turned into something completely different. "Yeah, I do miss it sometimes. More often lately," he added.

"Why don't you come back then? We could always use you."

Lee smirked. "I'd be putting you out of a job Costanza."

"Huh. You think you're better than me? You've been out of it for a long, long time." Hotdog grinned mischeviously.

"I may not have flown much in the last eight years but I can still kick your ass."

The other man nodded proudly. "I'd like to see you try."

They smiled at one another and Lee's heart felt light. He'd missed this kind of fun. Banter and sarcasm had no place in a life of politics.

Another pilot, one Lee didn't recognize, climbed in and sat down beside Hotdog, who nodded at Lee and disappeared. "Ready for takeoff in two minutes," he called back.

Lee sat back and strapped himself in. He was thankful to be going home.

* * * * * * * * * *

Kara put down her knife and fork. "The food tastes a little different than I remember," she said. "Is it something new or have my tastebuds just been corrupted by Earth food?"

Adama smiled as he finished chewing his mouthful. "It's different. We had to stretch the seaweed out for a long time and rations were running low ... "

"So low in fact that we were beginning to have riots," Laura cut in. "There wasn't enough for everyone and we had to make sure essential personnel were fed first. The refugees here on Galactica and a couple of the other ships took issue with us feeding ourselves before them."

"That must have been hard."

"It was a tense time," Adama admitted. "But we found a planet with vegetation soon after and with only a little modification, managed to turn the Aerilon Express into a food manufacturing plant."

"You've done pretty well then. This isn't bad." Kara smiled. Zach wrinkled his nose. "I know this isn't what you're used to honey, but it's better than what we were eating when I lived here before."

"Really?" HIs eyebrows both raised high. "Yuck."

Adama laughed. "I suppose if you're used to better then this tastes pretty funny. But it's made from crops we harvested from yet another planet. They're similar to what we had back home and we've been able to create much more variety than we had for years before that."

"Was the planet not habitable? It sounds like it would have been ideal."

Roslin shook her head. "Too much carbon dioxide and not enough oxygen. We were able to be on the planet's surface for short periods of time but anything longer and we'd have suffocated."

"Well, the human race is nothing if not resilient. You managed to find a way to make it work for you."

"And that," Laura said proudly, "is why we're going to triumph, no matter what the odds."

* * * * * * * * * *

"Steady." Adama watched the dradis with a practiced eye.

"The planet is exactly where it should be," Gaeta said.

"Good." Adama took a deep breath, trying to stop his heart from pounding. He needed to stay grounded, to not allow his hopes to soar, partly because he didn't think he could take another crushing disappointment, but partly because he needed to keep up his stoic exterior so his crew didn't get their hopes up. He also knew his brusqueness was often misunderstood so he walked over and patted Gaeta on the shoulder. "Good work. Keep me informed."

Gaeta smiled over his shoulder. "Yes sir."

Immersing himself in the star charts again, Adama marveled at how and where they'd come up with the information that they were using. If only we'd had a map to Earth. Maybe we'd have taken less time to get there.

"Sir." Gaeta's voice, tight and strained, broke into his thoughts. "Three ships have spun up their FTL drives."

"Which ones?"

"The Geminon Traveler, Jupiter's Moon and the Hazy Dawn."

"Open a channel."

Gaeta nodded at him to go ahead.

"This is the Admiral speaking. We are not, I repeat not jumping. Please spool down your FTL drives and wait for instructions."

Absolute silence came from the other end.

"I repeat, this is the Admiral ... "

"We heard you Admiral," a voice finally said. Adama didn't recognize it but he bristled at the arrogance in the speaker's tone.

"Who is this?" he demanded.

"Leo Havelka, representative from Geminon."

"Let me speak to your captain."

"No can do Admiral. He's on our side."

"Our side? I thought we were all on the same side."

"Not anymore."

"Why are you doing this? What do you hope to accomplish?" Adama's eyes scanned the room, seeing the same surprise and anger he was feeling in everyone's eyes.

"We no longer wish to be associated with you Admiral." He went heavy on the sarcasm on the last word. "We don't trust you, we don't believe in you. We want to go our own way."

Adama thought quickly on his feet. "We? Who is we?"

"The people I represent."

"Do all the people on your three ships feel the same way?" A long pause at the other end told him what he needed to know. "I want to make a deal with you," he offered.

"We don't want any part of your deal."

"Just hear me out. You don't have faith in me. You don't trust me. Fine, you're free to take your ships and go but at least let those who want to stay, stay. Stick around long enough for us to get them off your ships and then you can leave."

"Just how stupid do you think I am?" Leo demanded, shouting. "You want us to dock our ships on Galactica so we can "let the people who want to stay with the fleet" off? It's just a ruse to lockdown our ships so we can't leave."

"I promise you that will not happen."

"Your promises are worthless Adama. And the other Adama too - doesn't anyone else feel uncomfortable that we're now stuck in the Adama Dynasty? It isn't democratic rule when father and son make all the decisions together."

Adama's face suffused with red and he struggled to hold his temper. "Fine. We'll remove the people by Raptor but you'll have to be patient. That will take longer."

"I don't have to do anything," Leo responded belligerently, "but I'm feeling generous so go ahead and send your Raptor. We'll be waiting."

Adama hung up the phone and wiped the sweat from his forehead. "Frak."

* * * * * * * * * *

"Thanks for the ride," Lee said, poking his head through the division to speak to Hotdog. "Take it easy."

"You too Apollo." Hotdog smiled, pulling off his helmet and wiping his too-long bangs from his forehead. "Give your boy a hug from me. He's a real cutie."

Lee blushed. "You've met him?"

"Talked with Starbuck after the memorial service when we were picking up our kids from babysitting. He's a nice kid and a real looker. Gonna be a ladykiller one day." He winked. "You guys did good. You should try again."

Lee's blush deepened and he punched Hotdog's arm. "Go on, get out of here," he half-laughed, but as he headed down the corridor towards the crew quarters, he couldn't help but think of how wonderful that would be. Kara and I married - a family with more children. He imagined how she must have looked pregnant and his heart swelled with pride and pain. He'd missed seeing his son grow within her, had missed seeing his birth and had missed holding the tiny baby their love had created in his arms. He knew now that this was what his heart desired more than anything - a second chance to experience it with her, by her side. He didn't believe in the Gods or even the one God the Cylons had professed to believe in but he offered up a quick prayer nonetheless. Please let it happen. Please.

* * * * * * * * * *

"Lee Adama please report to CIC immediately. Pass the word - Lee Adama report to CIC immediately."

"Frak" Lee swore, sighing and turning around. "As if my day hasn't been bad enough ... "

The disquiet in the large room was palpable as he opened the door and stepped in. He walked over and joined his father. Adama stood ramrod straight, his lips a thin white line.

"What happened?"

"I was hoping you could help me figure that out," Adama ground out. Lee's eyebrows drew together in a frown. "Three ships are breaking from the fleet, led by one Leo Havelka."

"Frakking bastard!" Lee pounded the table. For a moment he felt as though he might well be a foot taller and wearing an eyepatch. Tigh had been the only officer unafraid to swear in front of his superior officer.

"I take it the talk didn't go well this afternoon."

Lee growled. "No. I managed to get most of the delegates to either agree or be neutral but Havelka and a couple of others refused to give up their hard line against you."

Adama shrugged. "Well, they're off."

"Can't you stop them? This isn't a popularity contest that you can just walk away from when your favourite doesn't win."

"Short of destroying those ships with all the civilians aboard, there's nothing we can do. No, I'm willing to let them go." He met his son's eyes and recoiled at the pain still visible there after all these years. "I have two Raptors evacuating the civilians who want to stay with us. The rebels ... are free to leave," he said through gritted teeth.

"Who have you got on it?"

"Hotdog and Twister, Athena and Jumper."

Lee nodded. "They'll get the job done."

"Sir," Gaeta's urgent voice interrupted them. "They're spooling up their FTL drives again."

"Dammit!" Adama picked up the phone but Athena forestalled him.

"Galactica, Athena. The Geminon Traveler has attached a grappling hook to us and they're preparing to jump."

"Galactica, Twister. Ditto what Athena just said."

"Mr Havelka, if you jump now and take our Raptors with you ... "

"You'll what?" Havelka interrupted with a chuckle. Then as the room watched, five ships winked off the dradis screen.

* * * * * * * * * *

Helo ran the last stretch, already hearing the words he knew Adama was going to bark at him. His sudden summons to CIC had come precisely twenty-two minutes before his shift there was to have begun. Normally this wouldn't be a problem but Sharon was on duty as well tonight and he had to round up the babysitter before leaving.

"How exactly is that immediately?" Adama barked as predicted, when Helo burst through the door, mouthing the words along with him.

Lee smirked. Maybe this was as normal to them as, "whaddaya hear starbuck?" "nothin' but the rain sir," had been for his father and Kara once upon a time.

"Sorry sir, Sharon's on duty ... "

"I know. We have a situation."

The smirk dropped from Lee's face. Helo braced himself. His face darkened quickly as Lee and Adama took turns explaining.

"What's the plan?"

"Haven't made it there yet." Adama's words were crisp and cutting and Helo knew he was taking this one very personally.

Lee touched his arm. "Athena was piloting one of the Raptors," he said quietly.

"Frak. We have to get them back."

"How are we going to do that? We can't track FTL jumps - they could have gone in any direction."

"I think we can safely assume they didn't go back to Earth," Adama said dryly.

"Well that only cuts off ... " Lee did the math mentally, "maybe twenty percent of trajectories. We don't have enough manpower to search the other eighty percent even if we did know how far they've jumped."

"We're going to have to make a guess," Helo said dully, mind already digesting the implications.

"Or not bother at all."

Two heads snapped to face Adama. "What?"

"Those ships may have fuel, though not a lot since we haven't done a fleet-wide refill in several weeks, but they don't have supplies. They're going to run out of food and water and the likelihood of them finding anything edible and drinkable that doesn't require refining first is slim to none."

"So we wait for them to come back to us."

"Assuming they can find their way back," Helo said doubtfully.

"I'm sure they're smart enough to keep their coordinates and calculations so they have a way to retreat if necessary."

"Count on it," Lee added. "Havelka isn't stupid. The fact that he pulled this stunt directly after our meeting proposing the new route isn't a coincidence. He's obviously been planning this for some time." Lee growled audibly. "I should have seen it coming and stopped it."

Helo shook his head. "That's not how democracy works my friend. That's why you don't do things like that even though you want to."

Lee sighed and ran a hand through his hair, causing it to spike.

"Go home Apollo. You've had a long day and you've got a family waiting for you. We'll hold down the fort here."

Adama echoed Helo's words. "Go on son. I'll get Laura here and bring her up to speed on the situation." He touched his son's shoulder briefly. "I'll let you know the minute something happens."

Lee flashed them both a tired smile and left without arguing. He knew when he was beat and in this case losing the argument was what he wanted anyway. He couldn't wait to get back and see Kara and the kids.

* * * * * * * * * *

Kara's tired but smiling face greeted hims as he shut the hatch gingerly behind him. He flashed a sad look at the children, already tucked into bed and sleeping. "I'm sorry I'm so late."

"It's okay. Life happens," she said, smiling to try to ease his guilt.

"Boy does it ever." Lee pulled off his suit jacket and tie and loosened his shirt as he told her about the meeting and subsequent emergency.

Kara's frown grew deeper as he spoke but she couldn't stop her eyes from watching his fingers working deftly as he removed clothing and revealed bare skin. They fluttered up to his eyes and back down to his exposed neck. She flushed as she realized he'd stopped speaking and his eyes were following hers up and down.

"That's awful," she said, voice husky. "Poor Helo and Racetrack and their children." She swallowed hard. "I guess that's why it's best that pilots don't get married and have families."

Lee heard the regret in her voice. He moved a step closer. "You've been thinking about getting back into it, haven't you?" he asked softly.

Her mouth worked a little, then she bit her lip and nodded shyly.

He took another small step. She could feel his breath on her mouth. "Me too." His mouth quirked into a little smile. "I've missed it."

"Me too," she echoed.

Lee put his hands on her upper arms and squeezed gently. "You know, if you really want to, I'll be behind you and help you out as much as I can. I want you to be happy."

"I know. " She blinked several times. "But I couldn't do it without you."

"Together then?"

Her eyes darted down to his lips and her body responded instinctively. She leaned in and kissed him.

His fingers tightened on her arms and he kissed her back, but pulled away when his better judgment kicked in. "Kara, maybe we shouldn't," he whispered.

She leaned her forehead against his and her hands against his chest. His heart beat wildly and she could feel the heat through the thin cotton shirt. "Maybe we should. Haven't we fought it long enough?"

"Are you sure now is the right time? I mean, with pieces of your memory gone, your husband's death and all of the confusion about where we're going ... "

She shushed him with her lips. "Our bright shiny future isn't somewhere off in the future when things are picture perfect and we have no conflict in our lives. That may never happen - likely never will happen. Our bright shiny future is right here, right now Lee. You're here, I'm here and that's all that matters. Every moment is part of the future and it's our job to make it happen the way we want it to."

"You know it's not going to be easy." His one arm curled around her waist while the other slid up to cup her head.

"Nothing worth having ever is," she whispered, arms sliding up around his neck so her fingers could twine themselves in the curly hair at the nape of his neck.

Lee shivered and pulled her tight against him, feeling like anything was possible now that they were together.

~ TBC ~

A/N: Thank you all for reading and for adding this story to your alert list and favourites. I'm thrilled that so many people are enjoying it! Please feel free to drop in and leave some feedback - especially those of you I haven't heard from. I'd love to hear what you think and which parts you like/don't like.

Keep hanging in there, this story shouldn't be too much longer. :)