Chapter 41
Frak or Fight
During a highly secretive and dangerous mission undertaken by the deep sea research vessel the Nautilus to recover three nuclear warheads from a downed military transport ship, a shift in the deep ocean current caused a collision of the small, remotely controlled submersible with the side of the ship during its second dive. There were no casualties, however the remote submersible was lost as was the chance to recover the two remaining warheads. The Nautilus returned to port with only one.
-Bartell, History of the Second Cylon War
.
Lee drove Kara, John and Laura back to their apartment. Laura asked him to come in and showed him where to enter the parking garage. Once inside Kara went to take off the dress and put on her jeans. Laura took Lee's jacket and hung it in the hall closet before she and John went to change clothes also. Lee took off the tie, unbuttoned the top button of his shirt and rolled up the sleeves several times.
When Kara came back barefoot in jeans and a t-shirt, the makeup was washed off and her hair was brushed out and in the ponytail. They sat on the couch.
"Do you really want to room with Sharon at the Academy?" Lee asked.
Kara shrugged. "I've got to room with somebody. I've already tried it with Maggie. That didn't work out. She has a problem with me and Karl…or she used to."
"A problem?"
Kara snorted. "She thinks me and Karl had something going on. They used to have a thing. It started while we were still in the refugee camp. The night they broke up, Karl told her I was his best friend and always would be."
Lee didn't say anything.
"What?" Kara asked. "You're not going to be like Maggie, are you? You know Karl and I never had that kind of relationship. You were the first and you know it."
"Are you're suddenly having trouble saying the word virgin?"
She laughed, straddled him, and kissed him.
He kept his hands on the cushions of the couch. "Don't start, Kara. Don't. We can't. Your dad…"
She put her mouth close to his ear. "Do you remember what we did on this couch after the wedding reception? And in my bedroom? And in the shower?"
"Don't, Kara, please. I'm already…"
"I noticed," she whispered and kissed him again. She heard a sound and glanced to her right.
Her father dressed in his usual khaki slacks and white shirt stood in the doorway. No, he mouthed and motioned for her to get off of Lee.
"You're saved by my father," she whispered as she complied. And then aloud she said, "How about a drink?"
John said. "I think I've still got a little Siren's Kiss, although not as much as I thought I had. Would you like some?"
Kara grinned at Lee. They had shared Siren's Kiss the night of the wedding reception.
"That's too strong for me since I'm driving," Lee answered. "Maybe ambrosia if you've got some."
Without a word John poured two shot glasses half full and one a fourth full.
"Wow," Kara said. "I get a tiny little drink with the big boys tonight."
"Don't push your luck," her father told her as he handed her the small glass. "We're still celebrating. I'll be glad to go get you a glass of milk."
"I love ambrosia," Kara grinned. "It always makes me think about having a bullet cut out of my leg…only I drank about a third of a bottle that night instead of two spoonfuls."
John shook his head. "Why you think that's funny I'll never know."
"It wasn't funny at the time. It hurt like hell. Why do you think I wanted the ambrosia?"
Laura walked into the room. Her favorite outfit when she was at the apartment now was a pair of baggy jeans and one of John's white shirts. "I wish I could join you."
"Would you like some ginger ale?"
"No, thank you. I'm sick of ginger ale." She sat down in the chair Kara had come to think of as Laura's chair. "So you think you'll room with Sharon?"
Kara smiled. "Lee and I were just talking about it. I'll ask Karl to ask her if she's already got a roommate, and if she says no, I'm going to ask her."
"Are you going to tell Karl what Lissa said about Sharon?"
"Gods, no," Kara answered. "Karl hates the Cylons. If we're wrong, he'll never forgive me. I'm sure she would never forgive me, either. I wish…I just wish there was some sure and certain way to tell."
John mused. "You'd think with all the brainpower on Caprica that some scientist could come up with a blood test or tissue test or something."
"What about that lab where Lissa works?" Kara asked.
John answered her. "They aren't working with blood or tissue out there. They're working with…wait a minute, they've got all kinds of information on Cylon DNA. They're working with the cells necessary to create a life. You don't get much more basic than that."
"Then how do you suggest we gain access to their research?" Laura asked. "I doubt the Cylons would let anyone have their documentation any more than they would give us blood or tissue samples."
Lee said, "It sounds like we need Gaius Baltar. It's his research."
"He isn't at the lab anymore," Laura said. "Bill told me over a month ago that Simon fired him. Dr. Baltar is busy studying the drug-addicted women who have applied for Colonial Medical Aid. Our physicians are drawing blood and conducting some other tests as part of devising treatment plans for them. Baltar is trying to determine why the birth rate has dropped so drastically among this small segment of the population without a corresponding change in behavior patterns. I think Simon is proceeding with the hybrid baby project on his own."
John said, "I'm surprised Simon is letting Baltar participate in this other thing."
"Bill thinks the Cylons were disappointed in Baltar's lack of results in the last three and a half years. He thinks they've lost faith in Baltar and essentially cut him loose…that perhaps the day I saw him going in to speak to the President that Baltar was asking Adar for a job instead of the other way around. I can see Gaius doing something like that…being too proud to look for a job on the open market…asking the President in private to give him another research appointment. He's not without a substantial ego."
"Bottom line," Lee said, "is that we need to know if it would be possible to determine who is a Cylon from a blood or tissue test."
"Who's going to be the one to ask him that?" Kara said.
"He certainly wouldn't tell me," Laura answered her. "Gaius Baltar dislikes me intensely because of what I did to keep my education budget last year."
"He dislikes me even more," John said.
"Lee and I don't know him so we're out," Kara said. "What about Lee's dad? Do you think Baltar would talk to him?"
"Why don't we start with Lissa?" John said. "I could pose the question to her theoretically. She's not quite the genius Baltar is, but she knows her stuff. I could ask her and see if this is worth pursuing…if she thinks such a test is even possible."
Kara looked at her father. "How are you going to do that? Ask her for a date?"
"I was thinking more along the lines of meeting her for lunch…with Laura along, of course."
Laura said, "No, I doubt Lissa would talk in front of me. John, you can meet her alone. I trust you."
"I'll go with him," Kara said. "I'll act dumb. My dad can tell her how I haven't been in school since I was thirteen."
"That sounds like a plan," Lee said. "Then what?"
"If Lissa thinks such a test is possible, then Bill can approach Dr. Baltar," Laura said. "Do you think your father would do it, Lee?"
Lee snorted. "You know him a lot better than I do."
"I'll ask Bill," John said. "All he can say is yes or no. If he says no, then we try something else."
Kara laughed. "Hey, maybe in a couple of years you'll be able to go into the drug store and buy a handy home Cylon detector test just like you buy those home pregnancy tests now. I understand they work pretty good."
Laura felt a blush suffuse her cheeks.
Lee said. "Right now we only need to know about one possible Cylon."
Laura asked him, "Did you get a chance to ask your father about his plan…about the part of it that he can't work out?"
"I'm not sure we should be talking about the plan?" Lee answered.
"In front of me, you mean?" Kara said. "You think you can't trust me?"
"It's a military plan."
"And since Laura and I aren't in the military, we won't understand…or you don't trust us?"
John grinned. "Let's see you talk your way out of that one, counselor."
"I'm not trying to imply…it's not that I don't think… All right, here's part of what he can't figure out…how to get explosives on the big basestar and get it far enough away from Caprica that when they explode, the basestar won't fragment and crash onto the planet."
They all sat silently for a long time.
"That's a tough one," Kara finally said.
"I've been thinking about it for three weeks, ever since Dad mentioned it. I haven't come up with anything."
"We'll know when the time is right," Kara said confidently. "We'll know. There is a way and we'll find it."
Laura smiled at Kara. "I love your enthusiasm."
"Somebody's got to have it," Kara said.
A little after midnight Laura stood up. "I hate to be a poor hostess, but I need to go to bed. You three stay and talk as long as you want."
Lee also stood. "I need to be going."
"You're all right to drive?" John asked.
"I think so."
Kara walked with him to the door. "A DWI will ground you. You won't fly your Viper for a while."
"Maybe I'd better call a transport."
"Good idea. You want me to bring the car over tomorrow night after I get off work or do you want to come get it earlier?"
He took the keys out of his pocket and handed them to her before he kissed her. "I'll see you tomorrow night."
...
Laura waited for Bill in the little tea room in the Capitol building. A month had passed since Carolanne's death, nearly a week since Lee had told them of one of the gaps in his father's plan. She hadn't seen Bill since the funeral. She had called him several times but he had always been unable to meet her for lunch or tea. Laura slowly and contemplatively pushed the spoon around in her cup. She hoped Bill had truly been busy instead of withdrawing from his friends like she feared he had done in this time of personal sorrow.
She was just about to give up and leave when she saw him at the door. She waved and found herself standing to hug him as he walked up to the table. They both sat self-consciously. Laura knew Bill had felt her much rounder abdomen as they had embraced. At four and a half months pregnant, there was no hiding her ever growing bump even under a longer, loose-fitting suit jacket. The positive was that the nausea that had plagued her for the first few months was gone.
"You look beautiful," Bill said warmly.
She felt herself blush. "Please, please don't tell me I'm glowing. I've heard that far too much."
"How are you feeling?"
"Wonderful. I go to the doctor this afternoon. According to him, I'm doing very well."
"Boy or girl?" Bill asked.
"I don't know yet. I think this is the visit where the doctor will schedule my ultrasound. Kara has maintained all along that it will be a boy. John was adamant it would be a girl until several weeks ago. Apparently Kara has won him over. He now says our son instead of our daughter."
Bill's face clouded. "I wonder what my life would have been like if I'd had daughters instead of sons. You should probably hope John was right the first time, and it will be a girl."
"Bill, don't. You have two fine sons."
"Who now despise their father."
"That's not true. Both of them will come to terms with losing their mother. It takes time. We all grieve differently. Don't give up on them yet. How are you doing?"
"Keeping busy."
"You've lost weight."
He grunted. "The uniform fits better now."
The waitress came over and brought another small pot of hot water and a cup with teabag inside for Bill.
"I'm selling the house," he said suddenly. "I've talked to a real estate agent. She thinks it will sell quickly. The location is good. I'm going to price it reasonably."
"Selling the house and moving where?"
"I don't know. I'd like to go back to the Galactica. But I can't…not yet."
She tried to imagine a day when Bill Adama would not be a phone call away in an office in a nearby building. She tried to imagine severing the close bond they had developed over the last three and a half years. She couldn't.
"John has an apartment he's still paying rent on. He signed a year's lease so he's obligated. He thought he had something worked out with another pilot to sublet, but apparently that fell through. You should talk to him. Maybe you could take over the lease."
"Where is it?"
"Not too far from us, actually. You wouldn't even need to bring furniture."
"I've been cleaning out the house…doing a little each night. Zak's already got his things out. I called Lee last night and told him he needed to do the same. He doesn't have much left in his room…just some books, a few model ships, several pictures…things like that."
"You've talked to Lee?"
"Left him a message. He didn't pick up. He has caller ID on that phone of his."
"He was probably with Kara."
"They're serious, aren't they?"
"She's not quite seventeen yet, and Lee is still young, but yes, I think they're very serious."
"Sleeping together?" Bill asked without looking at her.
"I feel like I would be betraying Kara's trust to talk about that. What I will say is that she's very motivated to attend the Academy and become a Viper pilot. I don't think she'll let anything stand in her way of accomplishing that goal…not even her feelings for Lee."
"Conrad Burgher told me she was good…an uncanny natural ability was the way he put it."
"In so many ways she's John made over. You should hear them go at it sometimes. She's very verbal…quite the smart-mouth as he puts it, and of course he won't let her get away with it. It's almost comical. She also has a strong belief that she's destined to be part of," Laura lowered her voice, "getting rid of the you-know-who."
Bill looked surprised. "She knows about the plan?"
Laura realized she had probably said too much and hopefully covered her mistake. "She told us one evening that she's believed for several years she has a destiny to be part of…something bigger. She has no idea yet what that will be. She just knows that she needs to attend the Academy and go on to Flight School."
Bill grunted again. "How does John feel about it?"
"He's resigned himself to it. He's more at peace with it now that he knows he'll be training her in the simulator. I'm sure he's going to be hard on her."
"If she's as good as Burgher thinks she is, she'll make it."
"How are things going on your end?"
"I've had good news in the last week. Tom Zarek's men found something on Tauron that's going to help us. He'll get it to me on the next tylium barge. I'm still working on a few other details."
"Is there anything that we can do to help you, Bill…anything?"
"Maybe later."
"I realize I was very outspoken the day after Carolanne's death. I hope you don't think I over-stepped the bounds of our friendship…that I said anything I shouldn't have."
"No."
They sat staring at each other for a few moments. She tried to imagine what he was thinking.
"I need to go," he finally said and stood.
"I need to think about getting back as well." She put her hand on his arm. "Please keep in touch."
He put his hand over hers as they walked to the door. "I will. Tell John I'm probably going to give him a call about that apartment."
...
Kara sat at a table in Zeno's waiting for Lee and Sharon and Karl to meet her. She thought she would be the last one there since she didn't get off work until 7:00, but she was the first one to arrive. She had already ordered a beer when she saw Sharon walk in and spot her immediately. Kara didn't even have to wave at her. Did Sharon zero in on her so quickly because she was a Cylon? Maybe Sharon just had good eyesight, the kind of eyesight a pilot needed.
"Hi," Sharon said as she sat down.
"Want a beer?" Kara asked.
"I'll wait for Karl."
"The only reason I get away with ordering beer is the bartender remembers the fake ID I used. He hasn't carded me in a long time."
"You don't have it any more?"
"I gave it to my dad. I want him to trust me."
"But you order beer anyway?"
Kara shrugged. "I usually drink just one. It's not as big a deal as he makes it." She laughed. "He acts like I'm on my way to being a hard-drinking, hot-tempered pilot with a frak-em and forget-em attitude. I think he's afraid I'm too much like he was years ago. What were your parents like?"
"Do you know anything about the mining colony of Troy?"
Kara shook her head.
"It's a small planet in the Helios Beta system. The atmosphere was too thin for humans so for years the Cylons worked the mines there. After the First War when the Cylons left and took all the worker drones with them…a huge dome was built so human miners and their families could live on Troy. Eight years ago something happened to the dome and everyone died, my parents, too."
"Where were you?"
"I was visiting my grandmother here on Caprica. I stayed with her."
"Are you still living with her?"
"No, she died two years ago. I still live in her apartment."
"Are you moving onto campus at the Academy?"
"I think so."
Kara took a deep breath. "Would you like to room with me?"
"I thought you'd be rooming with Maggie."
Kara smiled. "Been there, done that. We're getting along okay now, but I don't know if I want to do the roommate thing with her again. I don't think she'd want to room with me either."
Sharon suddenly smiled. "Okay, sure. We can be roommates. Look, Karl just walked in."
"Meet my new roommate," Kara said.
"Cool," Karl said. "Where's Lee?"
"He called about an hour ago and said he had to do something before he could meet us. He didn't say what."
Karl ordered beer for him and Sharon. "I got my Academy entrance packet in the mail today. My class schedule is in there and about a million forms that have to be filled out and sent back. We'll be filling out paperwork for the next week. What about you two?"
"I haven't been back to Laura's yet. I came straight here from work. Can't you tell?" Kara answered as she pointed to the black t-shirt and jeans.
"Me too," Sharon said.
"Where do you work?" Kara asked her.
"For a travel agency. I do clerical work."
Karl said. "She gets discounts on trips. A week before we start at the Academy, I'm going to quit my job and Sharon and I are going to take a trip somewhere."
Kara glanced up and saw Lee come in. She could tell before he got to the table that he was in a bad mood.
She gave him a questioning look.
"Later," was all he said.
They spent the next hour talking mostly about the Academy. Lee ranked his teachers in order from hardest to easiest, from best to worst. It didn't surprise her at all that he thought his best teacher was also his hardest. It also came as no surprise to her that it was Colonel Burgher.
He had some advice for them, too. "One thing you need to do is start working out and getting in good shape before you get there. There's two PE teachers and both of them are former drill instructors. They will work your butt hard. The better shape you're in, the easier it will be."
"I've been running on my days off," Kara said.
"You need to start working out with weights. Your legs need to be really strong to fly a Viper. Get John to add you onto his health club membership. He said his doctor had cleared him to work out again."
"He did. He takes his flight physical in two days."
"I thought he was going to teach at the Academy this fall." Karl said.
"He is, but he still wants to keep his pilot's license up to date."
They all left shortly after 9:00. Karl and Sharon walked toward the subway.
"Do you want to go back to my apartment?" Lee asked.
"I'm working tomorrow. I can't stay long."
Lee shrugged. "Whatever."
They began walking in that direction. "What's wrong with you?"
"Nothing."
"Does it have to do with your dad?"
"It's not open to discussion."
Kara saw the boxes of books sitting on the floor as soon as Lee unlocked the door of his apartment.
"Laura said he's selling the house."
Instead of answering, Lee pulled her to him and kissed her hard instead of the gentle, almost hesitant way he usually started. Before she had gotten over the shock, he jerked the t-shirt out of the waistband of her jeans and slid his hands around her, against her bare skin.
She twisted her mouth away from his. "What's going on…"
He was breathing hard as he tugged the t-shirt over her head and threw it on the couch. He reached for the zipper of her jeans.
"Lee…slow down…wait a minute." She grabbed his hand.
"Are you saying you don't want to?"
"Not like this. What is the matter with you?"
"Just forget it… just frakking forget it." He grabbed her t-shirt from the couch and shoved it toward her before he walked into the kitchen and stood with his hands on the counter, his back turned to her.
She followed him. Gently she put her arms around him from behind and held him.
"He's just wiping it out…like their life together never existed…like our life there never existed…like it means nothing to him. Most of the furniture is already gone...even my room..."
"Maybe it's just too painful for him to stay there. He's the one living with all the memories. You need to cut your dad some slack, Lee."
"Your dad offered to let him move into his apartment, the one he was living in before he and Laura got together."
"What's wrong with that?"
"I just didn't think John would…I don't know."
"Didn't think John would what?"
"Nothing. Forget it." Lee wiped his eyes with his hand.
"No, I'm not going to forget it. Why are you mad at my father for offering your father a place to stay?"
Lee turned around. "I thought John was my friend."
"He is. Lee, what is wrong with you? Do you think he can't be friends with you and your father both?"
"Never mind. I said forget it. I'll call a transport for you."
"No, I'm not walking out of here tonight with you thinking bad of my father. You mean a lot to him. My dad thinks of you as his best friend. Who did he ask to be in his wedding? Huh? Who did he ask to stand up with him?"
"You're right. I'm not arguing with you."
"So what was that all about…when we first got into the apartment? You've never been like that with me before."
"I don't know, Kara. I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking…I just wanted…"
"Wanted what? Some sex to take your mind off your dad selling the house?"
He couldn't look at her. "I don't know."
"So we're not going to talk about it."
"I don't know what you want me to say."
Kara put her t-shirt back on. "What I want is for you to be honest with me about your feelings."
Lee shook his head. "I don't know what I'm feeling."
"Then maybe you need to think about it some more. That's what you're best at…thinking about things. It's late. I've got to work tomorrow. Call the transport." She walked toward the door and he followed her.
"You're not walking out on me, are you?" He asked.
"No, I'm not breaking up with you. I'm just going home. You need to talk to my dad, but more important you need to talk to your dad."
"He and I don't have anything left to say to each other."
"Yes, you do. And one day you'll look back and realize how dumb this whole thing was. You know, just forget about calling a transport. I'll do it myself."
Kara rode the elevator down to the ground floor and went out onto the street. She didn't have to call a transport. One was letting someone out on the corner and she caught it before the driver pulled away. She gave him Laura's address and settled back in the seat, letting her hurt and anger smolder for the entire ride home.
She quietly let herself into the apartment. John was sitting on one end of the couch. Laura was stretched out asleep on her side with her head on the top of his leg. He had one hand on her shoulder and was holding a book in the other. He put the book down.
"Waiting up on me?" Kara asked softly.
He nodded. "I was getting worried. I was just about to call you."
"I was at Zeno's. Then Lee and I went back to his place."
"That explains it," John said.
"No." Kara felt tears start to form. "Lee acted like a real jerk tonight."
"What happened?"
"He got some books and stuff from his father's house after work, and now's he's mad about his dad selling the place. We had a fight."
"Is he upset about me offering my apartment to Bill?"
"Yeah."
"I thought he might be."
"I walked out."
"You broke up?"
"No, I just walked out tonight. I told him he needed to talk to you and to his dad, too."
Laura opened her eyes and stretched. When she saw Kara she said, "You got a big packet from the Academy in the mail today. I put it on your dresser."
Kara looked at her father. "We can talk later. You need to add me to your health club membership so I can start working out with weights. Lee said I would do better at the Academy if I was in good shape."
"I'll do it tomorrow."
Laura sat up. "Did John tell you what we found out from the ultrasound today?"
She shook her head.
"You're going to have a brother."
Two pairs of green eyes met and shared the memory of the Oracle's words.
Then Kara grinned. "Haven't I said that all along?"
...
Lee lay in bed in the dark unable to sleep. In the distance he heard several sirens and a few minutes later the thumping of a helicopter's rotors as it passed overhead. Somewhere there was probably an accident. Somewhere a life might be hanging in the balance, and here he was angry, still aroused, and feeling sorry for himself.
He had frakked up badly with Kara and he knew it. If there was one thing he should never have done, it was to say anything about being angry that John had offered Bill a place to stay. He should never have implied to Kara that it had upset him, that he felt like John should have let his father find his own place. Lee knew he was wrong to take it as a personal betrayal of their friendship. He had known, even as he had spoken the words, how unfair they were to John. John was his friend. He knew that. But John was Bill's friend, too. Lee knew how childish it was to think John should now exclude Bill from his life the way Lee had done. How silly it was to think…if you're my friend, you can't be his friend.
He rolled over and looked at the clock. 1:53. He groaned. He had to get up in less than five hours. The day would be hell to get through on very little sleep. There had been no terrorist suspects to question in Caprica City for the last month. Major Parker had them all doing data analysis now, sifting through thousands of phone records of suspects looking for patterns, reading page after page of surveillance notes looking for anomalies, looking for connections to other suspected terrorists. It had to be the most boring and sleep-inducing work he had ever done in his life.
What had caused him to act the way he did tonight? Why was he doing this to himself? Why was he playing mind games with himself? Torturing himself this way?
Finally he got up and logged onto his computer. He went to the web site called TheEverymanJournal and to the page for a person who called himself Martin Spiller but who Lee knew was really Neil Speigel. Lee checked for an updated blog and found that the most recent one was posted three days earlier, one he had already read. Sometimes Speigel went for a week, sometimes two weeks without updating. He imagined Neil sitting in a cyber café somewhere in Sovana, using someone else's computer, his fingers moving, sending the words in a steady stream of bits and bytes, of binary ones and zeros out over the web, telling his story to anyone on Caprica who was interested enough to read it.
Lee scanned the dated entries that Neil had placed since he had escaped months before from the military prison in Sovana. He finally found the one he wanted, placed a month after the prisoners had escaped, not Neil's first blog, but his seventh. Lee had read it before. He had read if officially, analytically following Parker's orders, as he had read all of Neil's entries, looking for something, anything about the resistance. Tonight he read part of this particular entry once again.
The eel came to the bars of the cage… to the boy in the cage and showed him the way…to reach out as a human…the only warm one in a pit of razor-talking cold bloods…and the eel said… If you got another chance, what would you do with your life?…what would you do with your life? The question torments the boy who is to die in front of a wall…die from hot metal bullets fired from cold metal hands…with no more chances…so the boy does something that night…the boy decides…if he gets away from the razors to do something else with his life.
Lee knew as soon as he had read the blog the first time who the eel was. He recognized the anagram for his name. He read again…the only warm one in a pit of razor-talking cold bloods. Lee had been the main one to question Neil. He had actually been the one who had broken him, and yet Neil saw him as the only warm one at the prison. Neil must have sensed Lee's concern for a fifteen-year-old boy who had been on his own since he was twelve, selling himself to survive in the harsh and unforgiving world of a refugee camp.
Now Lee wondered how he could feel that much care and concern about Neil Speigel, about a boy he had met and questioned for less than a week, and feel such anger and bitterness toward the father he had known all of his life.
Had his father been telling the truth? Had it really come down to a choice of saving his marriage and his wife or saving the planet? Or was his anger at his father deeper-rooted than that? Was he repaying Bill Adama for years of neglect by cutting his father out of his life, punishing him now for the sins of the past?
Lee put his head down on the little table in his bedroom that held his laptop computer. He shut his eyes and wondered what his father would say if he posed the same question to him that he had posed to Neil Speigel…If you got another chance, what would you do with your life? He wondered if he should give their relationship another chance. The question was still on his mind as sleep finally claimed him.
...
Kara knocked on the door of her former apartment and waited for Karl to open it. He was barefoot, wearing jeans and a white t-shirt and carrying a towel. He had obviously just gotten out of the shower.
"Come in. I haven't been home long." He rubbed his hair with the towel as Kara followed him into the kitchen.
She put her packet from the Academy down on one end of the kitchen table. Karl's forms were spread out over the other end. She had been gone from there barely five months and already much of her life there was fading in her memory. She looked at the table and remembered the night that Jack had cut the bullet out of her leg. Another lifetime. One she would not go back to.
"Are you still working 5:00 until 1:30?"
"That's a schedule I won't mind giving up in a few months. Are you excited?"
"A little scared, too."
"Me too. Maggs has already filled everything out and mailed it. She did it the same day the packet came."
"Typical. Speaking of Maggie, what do you think about her and Zak?"
Karl shrugged. "I guess she likes him okay. She's dated him a couple of times. You know she's not going to talk to me about it. I overheard her telling Jared they were going out."
"You think they're sleeping together?"
"I don't know. It's none of my business. From what you've told me about Zak, she'd be stupid to, but that's her decision."
"Let me see your schedule." Kara took hers out and compared it to Karl's. "Yes! We've got Basic Flight together under Colonel Burgher. And of course my dad will be teaching me the simulator. You get somebody else because you're going to fly a Raptor."
"That's all…just one class together?"
"Math with a Major Lewellan and, uh-oh, Colonial History with Connelly. We might have to get that changed since we have some…history," Kara snickered.
"We can't," Karl said. "I've already checked. He's the only one teaching it."
"Have you talked to Sharon?" Kara asked nonchalantly.
"About?"
"Her schedule?"
"We're not in any of the same classes which is probably better for my concentration."
"So how do you feel about her?"
Karl shrugged.
"Are you in love?" She asked in a teasing voice and prayed his answer was no.
"I can't afford to get serious about anybody yet. We've got a year at the Academy, twelve weeks of Flight School and then a year on a battlestar before we could even think about…being together."
"Being together…as in settling down and getting married?"
"Don't say the M-word. It's not in my vocabulary yet."
"How does she feel about you?"
Karl shrugged again. "She likes me."
"Right. Just likes you?"
"She likes me."
"I guess you two are frakking each other."
"Probably not near as often as you and Lee."
"We had a fight. I haven't talked to him for a couple of days."
"Frak or fight, huh? What happened?"
"In a nutshell he won't talk to his dad because Lee blames him for letting his mother overdose. The whole thing is really frakked up now. I'm giving myself a chance to cool off before I try to talk to him again. If I don't we'll only end up in another fight."
"He's lucky he still has a father."
Kara felt his emotion. Karl had been particularly close to his father.
"Exactly," she said.
"So how is it going with you and your dad?"
"We've had our differences, but we keep working at it." She grinned. "I'm going to have a little brother. They went earlier this week and Laura had an ultrasound. She showed me the picture. It's this really cool 3-D image. It's definitely a boy." She laughed. "Yeah, definitely a boy…just like the Oracle said."
"Don't tell me you've wasted your cubits on her again?"
"Me and my dad both. He doesn't believe…or he didn't."
"I guess you're glad you're finally getting a brother."
"What do you mean finally? I've had a brother ever since I met you. You're my best friend and big brother. You always will be."
"I've missed having you here. I've missed talking to you."
"We'll be together at the Academy soon. Just think, a couple more months."
"So let's get busy and get these forms filled out."
"Right. I'd like to be gone before Jared gets home from work. Even if he is dating somebody else, I don't want to see him."
...
Kara and her father sat in a restaurant in the northern part of the city waiting for Lissa.
John said. "Something about this doesn't feel right."
"What do you mean?" Kara asked apprehensively. "Like something is going to happen?"
"No. I feel like I'm cheating on Laura. It doesn't feel right."
"Just think about it like you're taking one for the team."
He gave her one of what she had come to think of as his dad looks. "Lissa will probably be late. I know it's a Saturday, but she's probably working. She may even stand us up."
"We'll give her fifteen more minutes. Then we're going to order. I'm hungry."
Her father picked up his cup of coffee. "Lee called me yesterday. He apologized for getting upset about me offering my apartment to his dad. I told him he needed to apologize to you, too."
"I haven't talked to him."
"He hasn't called?"
"He's called. I just let it go to voice mail. I'm not sure I'm ready to talk to him."
"What's it been now…a week?"
"Eight days."
"Aren't you doing the same thing to him that he's doing to his father?"
"I'll call him later. I just didn't want to get into another fight with him. We've always been…I don't know…one way or the other."
"Frak or fight like me and your mother?" Her father asked.
She couldn't look at him. Karl had said the same thing.
"Do you believe Lee is the one you're destined to be with?" He asked
Kara nodded.
"Then you can't let this go on any longer. Laura and I had some problems. In the beginning I wasn't sure we were going to make it as a couple. I was ready to back away and let her…well, I was ready to back away, and you know who told me to talk to her? You know who told me to tell Laura that I love her?"
"Who?"
"Lee. So talk to him, Kara."
"I can't believe you're telling me this. I thought you'd be glad if we broke up."
"Why do you think that?"
Kara shrugged. "Because you think I'm too young to be with somebody."
"I was wrong. Lee loves you. I've seen it in his eyes when he looks at you. He loves you as much as he'll ever be capable of loving anybody, and there's nobody who can love him the way that I think you can. But it's never going to be perfect or easy…not with me and Laura…not with you and Lee. We've all got flaws and we've all got problems. We've all been damaged by what life has done to us, Lee maybe most of all. I don't want to see you give up and let this thing with him go before you give it a chance. If my daughter has to be with somebody, I want it to be my best friend."
"Wow," Kara sat for a moment. "That was some speech, Dad."
He looked sheepish. "I guess even I have my moments."
Kara looked up. Lissa had just walked in. "Well put on your team jersey. Your old girlfriend is here. She looks awfully fixed up and sexy to have been at work."
She got the dad look again.
...
That night Kara knocked on the door of Lee's apartment and waited. When he opened it, he had a dishtowel in his hand. They looked at one another for a moment before he stepped back and let her walk past him.
"I was just doing some cleaning and…putting things away."
She looked around. The boxes of books were gone. There was a new bookcase against one wall. On the top of it were several model ships…a Raptor and a smaller Viper…and a big battlestar... and a trophy with a Viper on top. She walked over to the battlestar and looked at the tiny lettering. The Galactica.
Lee walked up beside her. "The landing bays slide out. I used to have six little Vipers that could be fired out of the launch tubes by pulling back a little spring. Over the years I lost all of them. Zak launched a couple of them into the fireplace one winter…when we had a fire burning in it. He thought it was funny to see them melt."
She picked up the Viper, a Mark II almost a foot long. "You put this together?"
"When I was twelve or thirteen. I guess I take after my dad in that way. He's always had a thing about models, too. He likes old sailing ships."
Kara looked at the perfectly crafted little ship, at the precise placement of the decals, at the tiny pilot seated so accurately inside.
"What's this?" She asked picking up the trophy.
"My Top Gun trophy from Flight School."
Carefully she put the trophy back on the bookcase and turned. Without saying another word they were in each other's arms.
"I was afraid you weren't coming back," he finally said, with raw emotion in his voice.
"I've missed you," she choked back her tears and barely managed to get the words out.
He kissed her, the gentle start that she loved, the way their mouths came together, the way he tilted her head. She felt herself melting, melting into him as he hardened against her and the kiss deepened. Yes, this was what she wanted, this was what she needed, to be in his arms like this.
"I've missed you, too," he said. "You can't know how much I've missed you."
"Show me," she whispered.
He took her hand and led her to his bedroom where he slowly and gently undressed her and then took his time showing her just how much he had missed her and wanted her and loved her.
A long time later he got up and went into the kitchen. When he returned he had a soft drink. They lay side by side on the bed and shared it, sipping carefully to avoid spilling it.
"My dad and I met Lissa for lunch today."
"And?"
"She was surprised to see me. I think she thought my dad would be alone. I think she thought he might have wanted to see her again. Like he would cheat on Laura. He had to be careful what he said to her over the phone when he asked her. He's not supposed to know anything about her work."
"I saw her interview. After somebody blew up the lab, all the people who worked out there were interviewed. Based on the interview, I think she really cared about your dad. Maybe she still does. That's why I don't understand why she was frakking Dr. Baltar."
"Lissa was frakking him? Gross."
"John caught them in bed together."
"Eww…gross. I'm glad I didn't know that today while I was sitting there trying to act dumb. I didn't have to act much. Most of what she was talking about went way over my head anyway."
"What was the answer? Does she think Cylons could be detected with a blood or tissue test?"
"She thinks they probably could. But that's where she lost me as to what you would have to look for. I think she lost my dad, too."
"So it's not a simple test."
"No. It doesn't sound like it."
"Could she do it?"
"She won't. She said if she got caught she would be fired, maybe even prosecuted, maybe even killed. She doesn't think it's any big deal anyway to know who the Cylons are. I could tell she doesn't care. That made my dad really angry."
"I guess my dad is going to have to ask Gaius Baltar to help us."
"Wouldn't the same thing happen to Baltar if he got caught?"
"Probably, but he's not working for a Cylon right now. Maybe he's even angry at the Cylons for throwing him off the hybrid baby project even though I think he's still frakking Natasi."
"Baltar's frakking a Cylon, too?"
"I don't think Baltar knows how to keep it in his pants."
"Eww. Super gross. Lissa said the hybrid baby is due in a couple of weeks. It's going to be a boy. She also said that Simon had found whatever chemical or something they were looking for and there would be more hybrid babies soon. After we left the restaurant, Dad took me out to a private airfield and showed me his ship. He passed his flight physical. If we'd had more time he would have taken me up, but we had to get back because him and Laura were going out to eat with somebody named Scott and his wife tonight."
"Probably Scott Mickelson, the Secretary of Transportation."
"My dad's going to take me up soon and start teaching me to fly."
"When I was a kid, maybe seven or eight, my dad took us out to the base airfield. He was home for a while, maybe a month or more. I don't remember, but he took me and Zak out to the airfield and let us sit in his Viper. I was so excited I almost…I almost wet my pants. Zak just wanted us to get through at the airfield so we could go to Kings Bay Park and ride the roller coaster and the other rides. Somebody took a picture of us that day at the airfield. My mom always kept it by her bed. She had another picture, too. The day she and my dad got married. Their wedding picture. My mom was beautiful then. She looked so happy."
All those hopes and dreams," Kara asked. "Where do they go?"
"Killed by neglect…by my dad's neglect."
"I don't believe another person can kill your dreams unless you let them. She should have told him a long time ago to either try harder of she was going to find somebody who would treat her like she wanted to be treated."
"That's the difference between you and her, Kara. If somebody did you the way my dad did her all those years go, you would have said frak you and moved on. My mom couldn't seem do that so she escaped into the bottom of a bottle."
"Zak said she was fragile."
"She was."
They lay in silence for a long time. Finally he asked, "Are we okay? You and me…are we okay?"
Kara squeezed his arm. "We're okay. Did my dad tell you they're having a little boy?"
"No, we didn't talk long. I just apologized for acting like a jerk. I think I caught him off guard. So it's a boy."
"Just like the Oracle said. She told my father his son would map the stars on the way to Earth."
"That's…interesting."
"You think?"
"What else did she say?"
"That she sees wings in my future and that my destiny doesn't lie always in this place and…the rest will probably make you angry. Somehow the Cylon I know will be part of the plan…part of your dad's plan to get rid of the Cylons."
"Oh, that's a good one. A Cylon is going to help us get rid of his fellow skinjobs? And then what? He tells us to off him and no more Cylons?"
"I don't know, Lee. I'm not the Oracle. I should never have mentioned this to you. I should have known you wouldn't understand."
"You haven't given me much to go on."
"That's because I don't know yet. But I will. I'll know when the time is right."
"Maybe that's your destiny. Maybe that's what your part in this plan is…convincing the Cylon to help us. Did you say his name is Leo?"
"That's close enough."
Lee mused. "I think I'll call him Cyleon. Leo the Cyleon."
Kara rolled over on him. "You're almost as funny as my father."
"And a hundred times funnier than mine," he said before he pulled her down and kissed her.
...
Laura sat in her doctor's office as he reviewed her chart. He smiled and looked up. "Everything looks good…good heartbeat and good ultrasound for the baby. You could afford to gain a few more pounds, but overall you're doing fine. Your blood pressure is good, insulin levels are good. Right now you're on schedule to deliver a healthy baby in mid-November."
Laura smiled back at him. "The baby is very active. I feel him moving a great deal. He's moving right now."
The doctor looked at her chart again. "Your triple-screen blood work showed no abnormalities. Based on your age if we'd seen anything abnormal, I would have recommended an amniocentis. When will you be forty?"
"September," Laura answered him.
"And your husband?"
"He's forty-two...forty-three in December. He was born on the Solstice."
"You're both older than most first-time parents."
"He has a daughter who will be seventeen in several weeks so he's had this experience before."
"Healthy?"
Laura smiled. "Extremely so."
"If you don't mind the question, how long had you been trying before you got pregnant?"
Laura blushed. "We weren't trying. I didn't think I could get pregnant. We took a vacation…a long weekend together. I'm almost certain it happened then. We'd only been seeing each a few months."
"So this pregnancy wasn't planned?"
"No. But I'm happy about it now. I'm more than happy."
"I have a number of patients who would be very envious at the ease with which you conceived…especially given your age."
"Why?"
"I'm seeing more and more women much younger than you with primary infertility…primary meaning they've never conceived a child before. Almost as many with secondary infertility…meaning they've had a child or children and can't get pregnant again."
"Really?" Laura asked. "What seems to be the problem?"
"That I can't say. After I've gone the standard route, the blood tests, ovulation test, sperm motility and viability on the husband or partner, I refer them to a colleague of mine…a fertility specialist. I saw him at a medical association dinner recently. He said business is booming. They've added two new physicians to the practice and still can't keep up with requests for appointments."
"Could you give me his name and how I can reach him?"
"I hardly think you need his services."
"It's not his services I'm interested in. I would like some information from him."
"You would be wasting your time and his. Certainly you understand he's bound by strict patient confidentiality standards."
"Oh, yes. I understand that. Let me tell you a disturbing statistic. For the last fifteen or twenty years the birth rate among a certain group of young women who use a particular government service has remained in the fifty to sixty percent range. Last year that percent dropped to twelve. This year it will go even lower."
For a long time the doctor didn't say anything. "You're sure about that?"
"I got it directly from the Secretary of Health and Human Services."
He opened his drawer and took out one of his business cards. On the back he scribbled a name and phone number before he pushed it across the desk to her. "My colleague. I'll tell him to expect your call."
"Thank you." She stood. "I'll see you in two weeks then."
"One other thing I just thought of. I don't know if it's statistically significant or not. A large number are my patients with this problem are on Colonial Medical Assistance. I don't refer them because CMA won't pay for fertility treatments so my colleague may not have a comprehensive picture of everything that's happening. He's dealing with privately insured patients or couples who can afford the high cost of the treatments. Another interesting fact I've noticed. A disproportionate number of my infertile patients also spent time in one of the refugee camps."
"Oh, dear gods," Laura said. "My husband's daughter was in one of those camps for nearly three years."
"You might encourage her to come see me."
"She's not quite seventeen. She certainly doesn't want to get pregnant."
"It wouldn't hurt to let us check her, get some baseline blood work."
"I'll…talk to her. But I'd like to talk to your friend and colleague first. I don't want to alarm her unnecessarily."
"I understand."
Laura walked out of the medical plaza into the warm summer afternoon and found, as she walked toward her waiting car and driver, that there was a prayer on her lips…a prayer for Kara that nothing had happened to her in the camp that would prevent her from ever having children however far in the future that might be. She prayed to Aphrodite, goddess of love and fertility and to Demeter, goddess of the harvest and of the cycles of nature that Kara had been spared whatever unknown horror had been visited on at least some of the women in the refugee camps. She prayed that one day Kara would feel a child grow and move within her the way she now felt her own child move.
And she prayed that however far in the future that day might be, Lee would have the chance to become a better father than his own had been.