Siren's Kiss

by JaneAus10

This AU story begins when a young Kara Thrace is rescued from a nuked and dying Picon along with her best friend Karl Agathon. It follows them to Caprica and her eventual meeting with Lee Adama and relates the ways in which their lives are changed forever when her destiny crosses his. Image Credit: Detail of The Kiss by Gustav Klimt. COMPLETE.

58. Sadie the Cylon

Chapter 58

Sadie the Cylon

In a move that many considered long overdue, the owners of the Talk Wireless radio network fired controversial commentator Elliott True, real name Humphrey Browning, for his virulent attacks on Presidential candidate Laura Roslin. Browning continued his smear campaign on an internet blogging site until a report was published in a Caprican tabloid, replete with photographs, of the fifty-three-year old, married father of four's frequent visits to a Caprican massage parlor that was a known front for prostitution.

-Bartell, History of the Second Cylon War

.

"I had lunch with my dad today," Lee said. "I think you made a real impression on him when you had your chat. I don't think he realized some of the things you'd been through until he talked to you. You impressed him with your maturity and your courage. I'm quoting him."

"You sound like that bothers you."

"Why would it?"

"I don't know. Something about the way you said it. I told your father how I feel. I was honest with him. If that made an impression on him, I'm glad. I know he wanted me to change my mind and give him Sharon and Leoben's names, but I'm not going to."

"But you understand why he wants to know, don't you? It's his job to know who the Cylons are."

"What I understand," Kara started angrily and then took a deep breath. Lee had made a valid point. She softened her tone. "What I understand it that he would have Sharon and Leoben taken to some secret place…and that they would be questioned, probably tortured. He'd be careful not to kill them, though, because they'd download and the other Cylons would know. What I couldn't tell him is Cavil will know if Sharon disappears anyway. He's expecting her to be his eyes and ears on whatever battlestar she gets assigned to."

Lee started to deny that his father would sanction the torturing of Sharon or Leoben even if they were Cylons, but he also realized that it might happen even if his father didn't sanction it. Instead he said to her. "Laura and John were afraid he was going to order you to give him the names."

"I wouldn't have."

"You would have gone to the brig…given up your chance for a career as a Viper pilot to protect two Cylons? That is just wrong on so many levels."

"Sometime you have to make a decision and stick to it. It's like my mother used to say. Don't ever draw a line in the sand unless you fully intend not to cross it. Sharon and Leoben are going to help us."

"I hope so…considering what their brothers and sisters did to us."

"I know what the Cylons did was horrible. My dad and I have gotten into it over this a couple of times. I know they destroyed eleven of the twelve Colonies and killed billions of people. I know most of them are bad. I'm not even saying all the copies of Sharon and Leoben are good. Boomer isn't. She didn't mind killing humans. She killed Captain Reider and she killed all those people on Troy. There was a copy of Leoben in the camp. He creeped me out. It wasn't anything he did or even said. It was just him. There was something creepy about him. But the copy who runs the bookstore is different just like this copy of Sharon is different from Boomer. Sharon said they made a lot of copies of each original model and that each copy had its own experiences. Maybe that's what made them like they are."

Lee thought about what she had just said. In a convoluted way it did make sense.

Kara continued. "Sharon and Karl are dating tonight. I think they're getting back together."

"I hope he knows what he's doing. I hope this Sharon doesn't start remembering stuff and kill somebody like the other one did."

"She won't. She's got everything under control. You don't trust any of them, do you?"

"I guess it's that little tried to destroy humanity thing that makes me cautious. I guess it's what they've done with the virus and the human-Cylon hybrids. I think they're still trying to destroy humanity. They're just doing it slower, using us to make more of their hybrids."

"Then why didn't you give Sharon and Leoben up? You could have told your father who they were."

"Because I knew that would have been the end of us. You trusted me with your secret and I knew if I betrayed you, it would be over with us."

Kara said, "I knew my dad wouldn't give them up. He promised me. But I'm surprised Laura didn't. I thought she would have told your dad whatever he wanted to know."

"You thought Laura would betray you?" Lee asked in surprise.

"I guess I was thinking about it more like…because it was your father who wanted to know."

"She backed my dad down the other night about ordering you to give them up. Not many people can do that. Of course I think he let her because…" Lee stopped, aware that he probably shouldn't say anymore.

"Why? Because you think he and Laura still have feelings for each other? You think she only married my dad because she couldn't be the pregnant and unwed Secretary of Education and your mother was still alive at the time?"

"No. I don't think that."

"It sounds like you and your dad need to get your own feelings out in the open and talk about them."

Lee started laughing. "You're funny sometimes. Every time I bring up the past he clams up. If I push it, he tells me, That's enough, Lee. My dad and I do not have the same kind of relationship that you have with John."

Kara shrugged. "I know. But it's still not easy all the time. We still get into it over things like me visiting Leoben and putting so much faith in what Yolanda Brenn tells me. I guess what I'm saying is that Dad and I keep trying."

Lee sipped his beer again and glanced at his watch. How could he expect Kara to understand his relationship with Bill Adama? He was still trying to understand it. He'd spent most of his life trying to understand it.

"Isn't it about time for you to tell me that someone just came into Zeno's and you don't want him to see you?"

Kara looked around for Frogman and then realized that Lee was talking about the previous year. "We should probably get out of here. I have to go back to the Academy tonight."

"But not yet."

Kara smiled. "No, not yet."

They left with his arm around her like they had done a year ago and started walking back to his apartment.

On the street Kara asked, "Have you talked to Zak this week?"

"No."

"I think he and Maggie broke up. She was crying to Karl because she said Zak cheated on her."

"Zak can't cheat on Maggie because they're not exclusive. The word monogamy is not in his dictionary."

"I'm glad you're not like that."

"I never could handle but one relationship at a time."

"What about Shelley and Blaire?" Kara asked teasingly.

"Shelley dumped me when I started dating Blaire. She solved the problem for me."

They got back to his apartment and rode the elevator up to the eighth floor.

When they were inside, Lee threw his coat on a chair. "I think you asked for ambrosia last year."

Kara dropped her coat on top of his. "Probably. I thought it would make me seem more grownup."

They walked into the kitchen. Lee got the bottle from the cabinet over the refrigerator and poured two small glasses.

"Were you nervous last year?" Kara asked.

"Not until you told me that you had…waited for me."

"I wasn't expecting the first time to be great. But every time since then has been…great, that is."

Lee put his glass of ambrosia on the kitchen counter and then put hers beside it. He took her face in his hands and kissed her the way he always liked to start, gently, their lips barely parted, letting the hunger build as the kiss deepened.

Kara put her arms around his neck, and he found the button on her jeans. He eased the zipper down and slipped his hand beneath the waistband of her panties. She was already wet.

Kara moaned softly against his mouth. "See? See how hot you get me?"

He pulled her down the hall to his bedroom. She stopped just inside the door to finish taking off her jeans and panties. The sweater came over her head next and then the sports bra.

Kara helped him unbutton his shirt. She sat down on the side of the bed and scooted backward. He nearly tripped getting his left leg out of his jeans and they both laughed. He couldn't wait to feel her body against his, to get his hands on her, his mouth on hers again.

Great just didn't do it justice.

"Better than last year?" He asked, knowing what her answer had to be.

She kissed his shoulder. "Happy anniversary." They drifted wordlessly for a long time.

Kara finally said, "I've got to go back to the Academy tonight. I'm only signed out until midnight. I've got to spend all day tomorrow cramming. Exams start on Monday."

"You'll do fine."

"I haven't studied nearly as much this term as I did last term. I've been coming home almost every weekend. I'd have all the good intentions to study and then I'd never seem to get around to it."

"You'll still do fine. Don't worry."

"That's easy for you to say, Mr. Top-of-Your-Class. Everything is harder this term. Basic Flight is harder, the sims are harder. We've covered so much."

"Kara, listen to me. It's not going to matter when you get to Flight School if you didn't graduate at the top of your class. What matters is that you can fly a Viper. And you're going to be a great Viper pilot. I know it. John knows it. Your flight instructors are going to be looking at your Basic Flight grades and your sim scores. They're not going to care what you made in Colonial Lit."

"My dad told me the same thing. Some of the cadets think he's just giving me good scores."

"When I was at the Academy, I got some of that, too. There're still some cadets who graduated with me who think I was in the top spot because of my dad's position as the President's senior military advisor."

"I've got to get up and get dressed now or I'll be late getting back," Kara said as she began gathering her clothes. She had a brief memory of how she had done that the year before when she had thought she would never see him again, and then that moment just a distant memory.

This time Lee got up and began gathering his clothes, too.

...

On his way home from taking Kara back to the Academy that night, Lee tried to sort out the jumble of feelings their earlier conversation had unleashed in him. Why did something always happen when he thought he was finally making progress getting over the emotional train wreck of his childhood?

He followed the exit ramp to the stoplight. As he waited for it to change, he realized that maybe his father hadn't known how serious his mother's drinking problem was. Maybe she had managed to hide the worst of it from him.

But Bill knew the truth about Lee's and Zak's childhoods now. He knew because Lee had told him. Maybe that's what his father was having a problem with. Maybe Lee had shattered his father's long-held fantasy of the dutiful wife and good mother. Maybe he'd made his father confront his own demons and Bill was not going to either thank him or forgive him for it.

He pulled into his parking garage and rode the elevator up to his apartment. Kara didn't have a clue, not a frakking clue what the admiral was really like. But if she was around his father long enough, she'd find out.

The untouched glasses of ambrosia still sat on the kitchen counter.

Lee finished both of them.

...

Laura had a headache, the worst one she'd had in a long time. She took off her reading glasses and pinched the bridge of her nose as she tried to concentrate on what Billy was saying to her.

"…as of this morning you had slipped half a point in the polls. Two people who were asked said that…uh...I'm quoting; a woman who had a child out of wedlock should not be elected President. When asked their source of the information, they both said a show on Talk Wireless. I think we know the one they're referring to."

"Oh, dear gods," Laura looked at Billy. "Do some people never read anything? We were just on the cover of The Caprican View. The caption clearly identified John as my husband. The article inside mentioned him several times. There was even a photograph of our wedding reception and the date. Anyone who can do simple math will know that I was pregnant when I married John, but my son was not born out of wedlock. Tory, you worked for a law firm. We've got to do something about this."

"You could threaten to sue the station and the talk show commentator for libel since you were married when Braedon was born. The commentator's remarks are clearly not true and are being used in a defamatory manner. A letter from a lawyer might do the trick. If it doesn't, you need to be prepared to follow through and sue them."

"You still have contacts in your former law firm, don't you?"

"Yes."

"Handle it. I don't want to get government attorneys involved because that will just give this…man the ammunition to say I'm using the resources at my disposal to harass him."

"The attorney I'm thinking of contacting will probably ask me if you want this commentator investigated to see if he has any…skeletons in his closet. What should I tell him?"

"Yes, of course. Not that I'll necessarily use anything he might discover, but it would be helpful to have for future reference. Now do either of you have anything for a headache? I let my prescription medicine run out."

They were seated in the small conference room off her office and Tory got up to go to get something from her desk.

Billy said, "Maybe you should lie down for a while. Or go home. How long has it been since you've taken a single day off?"

Laura tried to smile but that made the pain worse. "I'll be away next week for a few days. We're going down to the island. I'm going to take the rough drafts of the speeches you've written and work on them."

"That doesn't sound like a vacation to me," Billy said.

"Maybe I'll leave early this afternoon. I can take a few of those education proposals with me."

Tory walked back into the room with a glass of water. She handed a bottle of over-the-counter pain killers to Laura who shook two out and then shook a third into her palm. She swallowed them and looked at her watch. She was meeting Bill in the Tea Room for lunch in an hour and a half. She was determined not to miss it.

"I'm going to my desk and put my head down," she said. "Hold all my calls unless it's an emergency."

She saw Tory glance at Billy.

"Call the law firm right now," Laura said. "Before I go home this afternoon I want to approve a copy of the letter they're going to send our…misinformed Talk Wireless commentator and his employer. Have them fax or email a copy to me. I want it in the mail tomorrow morning."

"I'm not sure I can get anything done that fast," Tory said hesitantly.

Laura smiled tightly. Her head throbbed. "I believe you can."

An hour later, her headache almost gone, she left for the Tea Room. Tory didn't glance up from her computer screen as Laura walked by. Laura looked at Billy and smiled. "I'll be back in about an hour…or so."

Bill was waiting for her.

He greeted her warmly, but they had become very conscious of touching because of the way something like that could be misinterpreted. She imagined what her Talk Wireless nemesis would do with the rumor of an affair with the President's senior military advisor.

Laura smiled. "You said you had some news."

"Several things. You can pass them on to John if you don't mind. Felix Gaeta will be back on Caprica next month. Saul is going to make sure Gaeta knows how to contact me. We would like to meet him one evening in your apartment. That makes it look social instead of business. I'll ask Lee since he wants to be part of the mission. I haven't decided who will fly the Raider yet, but I want him there."

The waiter brought her cup of tea and refilled Bill's coffee before he took their orders for lunch.

Bill was silent until the waiter had walked away. "I finally got the report back from the virologist who I'd asked to take a look at Dr. Baltar's work. It's his opinion that Baltar is on the right track. He's just working very slowly. The length of time between his experimental steps is outside the norm."

"Is he drawing out the work for monetary gain or do you think he has other motives?"

"Probably both."

"You should let Baltar know that if I get elected, he might not fare so well under me as he's done under President Adar. He and Richard are friends. I don't consider Gaius Baltar a friend. I think the good doctor is enjoying his research-assistant harem far too much. I think he could work faster."

Bill chuckled. "You're probably right."

"Gaius will earn his keep, or he'll be off the project and I'll hire your virologist. I'd like for him to be able to test the anti-virus within the next year."

"I'm sure Baltar will be happy to hear that."

Laura sipped her tea. "I hope it inspires him to put more effort into his work. Dreilide Thrace told Kara that the heartbroken Natasi has started conducting worship services down at an old warehouse in the commercial district. She's preaching her monotheistic beliefs and appears to have gotten some followers."

"Something to take up her time since she's no longer seeing Baltar."

"She considers her classes at the university a failure last term because she doesn't think anyone took her seriously. I spoke with Chancellor Enwright several weeks ago. He was still laughing about how many male students were disappointed that she cancelled her classes for spring term. She had quite a few followers at the University as well…just not for the reasons she wanted."

Bill chuckled again. "College boys, the gods love them. We are in their debt. The Cylon picked the wrong audience to preach her message to."

"She's apparently found a more receptive audience now." Laura took a sip of tea. "Can we expect to see you at the President's birthday party Saturday night?"

"Yes. I asked Fiona."

Laura knew her surprise showed. "I thought you two were…over."

"We stepped back for a couple of weeks. She understands my priorities now. There's no reason not to see each other on occasion."

Laura mulled his information. "Not to mention that she's very beautiful. She will grace your arm admirably, Admiral." She smiled at her choice of words.

Her remark almost got an answering smile. "I'm not the only man in her life."

"She never mentioned anyone else to me."

"She never mentioned him to me, either, but when a person's in the kind of position I'm in right now with my access to the President, everyone who comes in contact with me on a regular basis is checked out. I don't like it, but I understand why it has to be done."

"You mean she was investigated?"

Bill shrugged. "A routine check was done. The other man turned up. He's married though he and his wife are currently separated. That's why she never mentioned him."

"Dear gods," Laura said.

"That's all I can say, all I will say. I enjoy her company. She's a beautiful...and interesting woman. I see no reason not to continue seeing her…occasionally."

Laura sipped her tea in silence for a moment and wondered once again why the heart sometimes made the choices it did.

Finally she said, "I understand your chat with Kara went well last week."

"I kept my word to you. No orders, no threats. Kara convinced me that we have nothing to worry about at the current time so for now I'll let it go, but before the attack begins, I'll have those names from her. Then I'll make a decision how to handle the situation."

"I think you would do well to continue to build a relationship with her. Given some time and effort on your part, she may trust you enough that you don't have to make it an order. She has a tremendous amount of faith in your plan." Laura smiled. "She even chastised me once for my lack of faith. Kara has a great deal of respect for you, Bill. "

"And I have a great deal of respect for her. Anyone who has endured what she went through and is still functioning, let alone attending the Academy, has my respect."

"When she first moved into the apartment with us, she barely interacted with me at all. It was almost like we had a boarder who got up early, went to her job, and ate dinner with us on the days she wasn't riding the motorcycle. She and John were trying very hard to find their way with each other, so I didn't push her. They had to form a bond before she could even consider me. The few times she did talk to me, I listened. I tried to be open with her. She's usually very cordial and polite, but emotionally she still keeps her distance from me. There was only once when she was arguing with John about something and it expanded to include me. She raised her voice in a way that John considered disrespectful and he stopped her. I wish he'd let us continue. If I'd been her…real mother, I doubt he'd have stepped in."

"John's never talked about Kara's mother to me. He said she was a Marine and that she had stayed on Picon. I know they weren't married. That's about it."

"She was apparently a rather hands-off mother. I don't think she and Kara ever formed a close bond. Kara probably doesn't want another mother or think she needs one so we may never be close. She is bonding with her brother, though. She does appear to love Braedon. She calls him her little star-mapper and can always get him to smile."

At the mention of her son, Laura saw a look come into Bill's eyes that she didn't know how to interpret.

"You've taken well to motherhood," he finally said.

Their food arrived. Laura smiled. "By some small miracle, you mean?"

"No miracle. Just your ability to handle whatever comes your way and handle it well, like everything else you've done in your life."

"Is that a compliment, Bill?"

"You can treat it as one if you'd like."

"I've made my share of mistakes."

She saw the faraway look in his eyes. "Not nearly as many as some of us have."

...

"Cadet Thrace, the sim exam will last thirty minutes," her father said to her as she sat in the cockpit. "The first sixteen minutes are atmospheric. There will be a one-minute break during which your screen will count down from sixty. The last thirteen minutes will begin when you launch from a battlestar. There are a number of scenarios. If you make a mistake, keep going unless it's a fatal one. If that happens, then the computer will log it and move on to the next part of the exam. Follow the instructions in your headset. Watch your instruments."

Kara said, "Yes, sir." She was nervous, but she was also excited.

"Are you ready?"

"Yes, sir."

"Good hunting…Starbuck."

The canopy closed.

The first part of the sim was boringly simple. A routine takeoff and some turns and altitude adjustments. It was almost too simple and she kept wondering if she were missing something. A Cylon Raider pulled into formation beside her. She stifled the urge to open fire on it. She had better get used to seeing a Raider beside her. Still the sight of it made her trigger finger itch.

They flew into heavy cloud cover. Raindrops pelted the canopy. She was flying blind. She watched her instruments and stayed on course. She emerged from the clouds. The Raider was no longer beside her. She looked at her dradis. It was still there only it was behind her now. That bothered her.

She followed the instructions in her headset and plotted a course across the simulation of the bay. She stayed at the instructed altitude of 8,500 feet. When she reached the Penny Point Lighthouse, she banked right and continued out over the ocean. The Cylon was still behind her. She was instructed to plot a course to the smallest of three islands forty miles out. The island, not much more than volcanic rock, came into view on the horizon. She followed the instructions again, descended to 5,000 feet and circled the island. The Raider appeared off her wingtip again.

She was eleven minutes into the sim when her fuel gauge began flashing and chiming a warning. She was low on fuel. She quickly did the calculations in her head. Even with the reserve, she didn't have enough to make it back to the base. The sim wasn't so simple anymore. The voice in her headset had gone silent. She was going to have to try to get herself out of this one. She slowed her airspeed to conserve fuel. There was a small civilian airport just up the coast, much nearer than the base. She used her computer to get the coordinates and locked them in. She radioed the airport and declared an emergency. She managed to get the Viper on the ground before her fuel was completely gone.

The sim ended and the screen in front of her began counting backward from sixty. She wondered how much the mistake was going to cost her on her score. She was sweating, her hands shaking slightly. By the time the screen flashed zero and she was in the simulation of a battlestar launch tube, she had gotten herself under control. There was nothing to do but keep going.

The sim began as a routine CAP with six other Vipers flying with her, but four minutes in, Raiders jumped into space ahead of them and behind them. The headset instructed her to take them out. It took her only seconds to arm her missiles. She fired and glimpsed two of the Raiders explode before she jammed the rudder pedals and pulled her Viper into a tight over-the-top turn. She barrel-rolled out of the turn and prepared to take on the Raiders to their rear.

There were six of them on her dradis, not much bigger than large dots on visual, but at the speed they were approaching each other, it would be a matter of ten seconds before they met. She slowed for another Viper to catch up to her before they rocketed forward to take on the Raiders. She flew well for the four minutes it took her to take out five of the six Raiders. Her simulated wingman had taken out the one Raider that could have gotten her. The voice in her headset instructed her to return to the battlestar and land normally. She did it. The canopy slid back. The cockpit of the simulator was always kept cool. The warmer air of the room washed over her and kept her from shivering in her sweat-soaked tanks. She climbed down, picked up her fatigue jacket and put it on.

Her father was at the computer as she picked up the energy drink she had left on the steps. She walked over to him.

"How did I do?"

"The computer is calculating your score now. You made a 92. Running out of fuel is a big mistake. That cost you 30 points, but you got 12 of them back by diverting to the civilian field and landing your Viper safely. You picked up 2 additional points for each Raider you took out."

"What should I have done about the fuel?"

"You tell me."

"Before I followed the instructions to go to the island I should have checked my fuel level."

"That's exactly right."

"I let the Raider distract me."

"Which could have been a fatal mistake."

"Did anybody else make the same mistake?"

"Kara, you know I can't talk about other cadets' scores. All I can tell you is that you did very well."

"I've got my math exam in the morning. It's my last one. Will you be ready to leave at lunch?"

"I'll come over to the dorm and pick you up when I finish here. How do you think you did on your other exams?"

"Basic Flight, I did good. The others I don't know. I thought they were harder than midterms first semester, but I haven't studied as much either."

She put her arms around him to get her hug.

"You've got to watch those instruments, baby. If you don't take one other thing away from what I'm teaching you here, remember to watch your instruments and trust them."

She grinned. "Did you dream up this sim just to teach me a lesson?"

"You and all the other nuggets. It appears to have worked fairly well. Better it happens here than when you're in Flight School."

"I'll bet Lee would have noticed the fuel levels."

Her father smiled. "Probably so. But I doubt he'd have taken out five Raiders the way you did either."

...

Kara didn't know how long she would have slept on Sunday morning if Braedon's fretting hadn't awakened her. Slowly she opened her eyes. She smelled coffee, heard hushed voices. She rolled over, a mistake she soon realized, and looked at the clock. Nearly eight. A hundred tiny hammers began pounding in her head.

The night before she and Lee had gone to the pyramid semi-finals and used the free third-row seat tickets that Zak had given Lee for his birthday. The Buccaneers had beat the favored Dominos, coming from behind in the last twenty seconds on a score and then a penalty shot by Sam Anders. She and Lee had gone with Zak and one of the blond cheerleaders, whose name Kara finally learned was Missy, to celebrate afterward at Crocodiles, one of the in sports bars in the entertainment district. Sam had come in later with a woman on each arm. Kara never did learn their names. She hadn't mentioned Maggie to Zak and Zak hadn't mentioned Maggie to her. The mood had been wildly festive.

Someone had kept buying pitchers of beer and sometime during the evening they had switched to shots. Sam had come by their table later that night and had put his hands on her shoulders while he had talked to everyone at the table. Lee didn't like it, but Sam had moved on in a few minutes so nothing had happened. She had thought of her curfew almost two hours after midnight. Getting into the transport had been a hysterically funny experience as had Doug's look when they had gotten back to the apartment building.

Now as her headache got worse she had a vague memory of schussing Doug and telling him not to wake Laura and John. Lee had gotten her to her bedroom, had helped her off with her jeans and then…what? She didn't remember.

She got up and went across the hall to her bathroom. She stood under the shower for a long time, finally gave up on easing the pounding head, and dressed in sweats before she went into the kitchen. She found a fresh pot of coffee and a bottle of aspirin sitting on the counter…gifts from her father.

She was sitting at the table drinking coffee and waiting for the aspirin to take effect when he came in without Braedon. He poured a cup of coffee and sat down.

"Do you feel like eating anything yet?"

Kara shook her head. The motion made her feel nauseous.

"Was it a good game?"

"Great game," she managed to get out.

"Even better party afterward?"

"I know I'm probably grounded or something."

"Do you want to be grounded? I'll be glad to do it if it will make you feel better."

"Nothing will make me feel better right now except unconciousness."

He smiled. "I think nature is taking care of your punishment. I don't need to do anything."

"How was the President's birthday party last night?"

"Nice. We didn't stay but two hours. Laura was tired and we wanted to get back so Maya could go home. Bill was there with Fiona. Laura told me a few weeks ago that they weren't seeing each other anymore, but I guess that changed. The biggest surprise of the evening was Dr. Baltar coming in with D'Anna Biers. Laura said she'd seen them together last year. I never quite understood if it was really a date or if Biers just needed an invitation so she could troll for a story. She spent a lot of time talking to me and Laura. You know how reporters are…always sniffing around for a lead. D'Anna asked me twice if she could come out to the Academy and interview me in the sim room. I turned her down since it's against Academy policy. Then later she asked to come here one weekend and interview me to get some background on my interesting career. I put her off and told her to call later. Laura thinks I should do it. I'm still thinking about it. D'Anna worked the whole room, not just us. Baltar spent his time at the bar chatting up some politician's wives who don't know he's ninety-eight percent bullshit. That about covered our evening."

"Is Laura gone or is she with Braedon?"

"Braedon's asleep. I just got him down. Laura left before you got up this morning. She said she'll be back for lunch. She wants all of us to go to Channing's."

"Does she know?"

"That you came in very intoxicated last night? No."

"Can we keep this to ourselves, then?"

"Sure, baby. I don't think you're going to repeat this experience for a while."

"How did you know?"

"You and Lee weren't nearly as quiet getting you to your room as you probably thought you were. I was waiting for him in the hall."

"Oh, gods," Kara moaned.

Her father laughed. "I didn't hurt him. I walked with him to the door and asked him if he was going to make it home all right. He said he had a transport waiting downstairs. He's going to have a headache today, too, maybe not as bad as yours, but he'll have one."

"We didn't buy a single drink last night. Somebody else kept buying for the whole table."

John laughed again. "Kara, free booze will get you just as drunk as booze you pay for. Maybe drunker since you tend to drink more of it."

"I don't think I've ever felt this bad."

"I have two pieces of news that might make you feel better. Tomorrow morning we go look at the Raider and early Wednesday morning we're leaving to fly down to the island. We're not coming back until Sunday. Lee's going with us."

In her hung-over state, Kara couldn't quite wrap her thoughts around the fact that she and Lee were going to be together at the beach for five days.

All she could think of to say was, "I don't own a bathing suit."

"I've got a credit card. We'll take Braedon and go shopping tomorrow afternoon or Tuesday."

"Do I get to do any of the flying?"

He smiled. "If your hangover is gone by then, you'll get to do most of the flying."

"I think I feel like eating a piece of toast now."

"Is that a hint for me to make you one?"

"No. I'm just moving slow this morning."

Her father got up. "Keep your seat. I'll fix it for you. I was a little younger than you when I got really drunk for the first time. I was working on a fishing trawler and we put into port. There was a hole-in-the-wall dive where everybody went. The Barnacle, a corny name for a den of iniquity. Over the next two years I did a lot of drinking…and other assorted sinning…in that place. It's just karmic justice."

"Whose?" Kara asked, massaging her temples. "Mine or yours?"

"Probably both. How can I come down hard on you for something I did myself? I don't think you're going to make a habit of doing this, are you?"

Kara felt like smiling for the first time that morning. "Gods, no, not the way I feel right now. I'm really glad you didn't spend your Sundays attending worship service at the temple. I'd be grounded for life."

She heard him press the lever on the toaster. "No worries there. I lost my faith after my parents and my brothers died."

"But you got it back now?"

"I'm still working on it."

...

The inside of the hangar at the military salvage yard or the boneyard as her father called it, was huge. In the front, as they went in, were old engines, massive CO2 scrubbers and other pieces and parts of ships. If anyone looked inside the hangar, the first impression was of a building crammed to the rafters with junk. Dusty fluorescent light fixtures hung on long pipes from the tin roof. Many of them had just one bulb burning. The place smelled of grime and oil and metal.

The massive doors at the rear had been welded shut. The outside of the building was surrounded by more junk parts and pieces of ships. When the time came to bring the Raiders out, the junk would be cleared from the outside of the doors and the welds would be cut.

Getting to the back of the hangar where the really important work was being done meant navigating a maze of eight-foot high stacks of more parts and assorted boxes and crates. Bill Adama had done it enough times he had memorized the path. John and Kara and Lee followed him.

They emerged from the maze into an area that resembled an operating room more than it did an aircraft hangar. Low interior walls had been built that were hidden by the tall stacks of parts and junk at the front part of the hangar. Everything was painted white including the floor. At the very back was a section partitioned off from the rest by plastic walls and ceiling. Through the translucent walls Kara could see what looked like a stainless steel table with some microscopes and other lab equipment. She could make out several humans in white clothes moving around inside. The rest of the people working in the hangar were mostly at various stainless steel tables around the walls. She saw all kinds of computers and engineering equipment. A few people looked in their direction as they entered the room and then went back to work.

Bill pointed to the plastic-walled room. "That's where the neuroscientist worked on the first Raider's brain after she determined that it was dead. She was able to determine that the conductive pathways are made of silica. It seems to be a distinguishing Cylon characteristic."

What now had Kara's attention, though, were the two Raiders themselves, one on either side of the hangar, suspended from the ceiling by heavy chains and straps that encircled each of the scythe-shaped wings. Other straps and chains anchored the wingtips and kept them even.

"Which one did the neuroscientist remove the brain from?" Lee asked.

Bill Adama gestured to the Raider on the left of the hangar.

Lee and Kara walked over to it. The wingtips were slightly higher than their heads. Kara ran her hand over the underside of the wing. It felt like any other metal, hard and cold. The fuselage was lower than the wingtips. She crouched down and walked under it.

Lee said, "Kara, I'm not sure we should…"

"How do you get in this thing, sir?" Kara called to the admiral.

"On the other side, but you can't get into it unless you're suited up."

"Where do I get suited up?"

"Hold on a minute, Kara," her father said.

A heavy-set man wearing glasses and a lab coat had just walked up to Bill and her father. The men all shook hands.

"We need to go over there," Lee hissed. "That's Dad's chief scientist and engineer. He wants us to meet him."

Reluctantly Kara left the underside of the Raider and joined them.

The man's name was Richard Rafferty and he had one of the limpest handshakes Kara had ever felt. By his third or fourth sentence, though, she had decided that he was probably the smartest man she had ever met.

He walked them around the other Raider, rattling off its dimension and other characteristics in rapid-fire sentences. He talked of aerodynamics and other things related to physics that Lee seemed to comprehend but she didn't. As they neared the front of the Raider, the horizontal slot suddenly glowed red as its eye moved back and forth across the opening.

Kara, who was the closest one behind Rafferty, jumped. "Frak me."

"I should have warned you about that," Rafferty said. "It's similar to a motion detector. It comes on when anyone gets within ten feet of the head. There's some autonomous part of its brain that's still functioning. It's harmless."

She saw her father and Bill glance at one another.

"If you say so," Kara said.

Lee said, "The armaments and missiles have been removed, haven't they?"

"That's the first thing we did," Rafferty said. "As well as remove the remaining tylium fuel. It wouldn't do to have this thing come to its senses and try to fly out of here now would it?"

Kara grinned. "Just think, Lee. You're the one who neutered this thing."

Rafferty laughed. "I'd never thought of it like that."

"It looked a lot bigger when I was head-to-head with it in my Viper," Lee said. "It looked twice this big."

"Anything that can blow you out of the sky looks big," John said.

"It still gives me the creeps," Lee said.

Kara said to Rafferty. "How do I get inside the other one?"

Rafferty looked at Bill. "Is that all right with you?"

Bill made a gesture of approval. "Have at it."

She followed Rafferty to a small area beside the plastic-covered room. There were stacks of white coveralls in cubicles. The one they found for her was large, even over her jeans and turtleneck. He had her to put paper booties over her shoes and a paper shower cap over her hair. Then he led her to the far side of the Raider. A three-step ladder was under a small opening in the side of the fuselage.

"Be careful, Kara," John said.

"Don't worry." She looked at Lee. "Don't you want to have a look?"

"Not right now. I stuck my head inside. It smells pretty bad in there."

"I'll get one of those air-fresheners. You know the kind the transport drivers hang on the rearview mirror."

"I think it will take more than one," Lee said.

By the time she was half-way inside, she knew what he meant. It smelled like a mixture of oil and rotting meat. Her eyes began to water and she nearly gagged, but she kept going and wriggled completely inside.

Rafferty poked his head through the opening. "The space behind the eye slot is where the brain was located. We removed everything organic that we could, but we had to leave the organic parts that hold the mechanical parts together. They function like muscles and tendons. Until we work out something to replace them with, I'm afraid it will continue to smell funky in here. You eventually get used to it."

Over the next fifteen minutes he explained what they thought each of the internal parts did. "In three to four months we'll have a computer ready that will control the interior of the fuselage. My chief computer tech who is working on the programming for me has named it Sadie."

"Sadie the Cylon," Kara said. "I like it. So how would I fly this thing?"

"Part hand and foot controls like you fly any other ship. The rest will be done by the computer."

"Where's the FTL drive?"

"The cylindrical device near your left foot."

"Wow, it is small. Okay, I think Sadie and I will have to get better acquainted later. I've had about all of her perfume that I can take."

She carefully wiggled back out of the opening.

She could tell that Lee was trying not to make a face. "You smell like you went for a swim in a port-o-potty."

Kara unzipped the coverall and peeled it off. Rafferty indicated a plastic bin on the other side of the room. "Our laundry bill is our biggest expense," he joked as she walked off holding the coverall at arms' length. She threw the coverall into the laundry bin and the paper booties and shower cap into the trash.

When she got back, Bill asked her, "What do you think of it?"

"Like I imagine a cocoon would feel. It's doable though, I think."

"We were just talking about the cameras," Bill said. "Rick thinks they can use the missile housing under the wings to mount cameras. Somebody's already working on it. I've given him six months."

"Who needs sleep?" Rafferty asked with a grin.

When they left the boneyard, Bill's driver was waiting to take him back into the city. Lee and Kara had ridden out with John.

"What did you really think?" Lee asked.

"I could do it," Kara said. "I thought you wanted to fly it. Why didn't you want to get up in it and see what it looked like?"

"There will be plenty of time for that if my dad green-lights me to fly the mission. Personally I don't think either one of us stands a chance. He's going to want a really experienced pilot."

Kara looked at her father. He drove along silently. Finally she said, "I think Lee was hinting about someone."

"Don't look at me," John said. "I'm out for a couple of reasons. The leg, for one, and I'm about five inches too tall. Rick has already said the pilot needs to be a few inches under six feet at the max. I'm six three. He said five foot six was ideal."

Kara grinned. "My height."

"I don't want to burst your bubble, but Lee is right. Bill 's probably going to look for an experienced Raptor pilot who has jumped a small ship before."

"Why wouldn't he even give me a chance?" Kara asked.

John answered her. "Well, for one thing he knows I'm not in favor of it."

Kara's chin came up stubbornly. "That won't be your decision. I'll be eighteen by then. You won't be able to stop me."

"I know that, but this is not only a very dangerous mission, it's also a very important one. He'll go for the experience. You'll still be a nugget next winter."

Kara realized her father was right, but she refused to let go of the hope she would get to fly the mission. The inside of the Raider had smelled about as bad as the inside of a sewer, but Kara had sensed something while she was in there, like Sadie knew she was there and was okay with it.

...

Kara was not prepared for what travelling with a baby was like. On Tuesday she and her father took Braedon's new portable crib as well as a big box of diapers and a bag with assorted toys, quilts and blankets out to the airport and stowed them in the small cargo compartment of the ship. They inspected the ship, inside and out, and got the flight plan ready to file. But the time they spent paid off early Wednesday as they were ready to leave in a lot less time.

Lee met them at the airport and helped them carry the rest of their luggage.

He watched with envy as John settled into the pilot's seat and Kara into the copilot's seat. Lee sat behind them at one small window. Braedon was in his carrier strapped backward into the seat beside Laura and Laura was at the other window. Before they had even taxied for takeoff, Laura had taken a thick document out of her briefcase, put on her reading glasses and immersed herself in it.

He looked at Braedon sucking on the pacifier. The serious blue-green eyes watched him. Lee picked up a small stuffed toy from beside Braedon's leg and held it out. Braedon reached for it.

He studied the child, the baby that Laura and John had made and wondered again how it had happened. He never had asked John what had made him break his own number one rule about being careful, but maybe on this island, with a little bit of ambrosia between them, he would get an answer.

"Two hours," Laura said without looking up from the document she was reading. "You were wondering how long we'd be in the air, weren't you?"

"Actually, no," Lee answered her as Kara began to taxi the plane toward the runway. "I was looking at your son."

Laura finally looked up from her reading. "It's not just a mother's pride, is it? He really is a beautiful baby."

"Yes, he is, but he's got a beautiful mother and a good-looking father."

"He's going to look like John, tall, handsome and green-eyed."

"As long as he's got your brains."

Laura laughed as they began to roll down the runway, the ship quickly picking up speed. "Of course he'll have my brains. He'll have the best of both of us. He's going to map the stars on the way to Earth. The Oracle said so."

Lee felt the ship leave the ground.

...

They reached the cottage in mid-afternoon. They had to rent two jeeps to carry the luggage and Braedon's crib and the groceries bought in the little town near the airport.

Lee was impressed with the cottage.

"This is a nice little place," he told Kara as they were unloading one of the jeeps.

"My dad said he'd been working on it for a couple of years. He and Laura came down here about a year ago. It's where he knocked…where she got pregnant."

Lee didn't say anything. One little piece of the puzzle fell into place.

They finished unloading the jeeps. John opened windows and in a short time the closed, slightly musty odor disappeared. Lee and Kara put up the groceries while John checked the inside and outside of the cottage.

"You did a good job flying us down here," Lee said. "That was a really good takeoff. The landing was okay, too."

"It was only my second landing."

"You'd only landed once before. I'm glad I didn't know that."

Kara grinned. "You'd have put bigger claw marks on the armrest. I saw those white knuckles."

"So what are the sleeping arrangements?"

"You get the couch. It looks nice and comfortable. You can put your stuff in my room. Dad said as long as you were on the couch when he went to bed and on the couch when he got up, he wouldn't say a word."

Lee smiled. "Let's go walk on the beach."

"I'm going to put on some shorts."

They walked down to the beach and took off their shoes. Lee was surprised at the chill of the water yet the breeze was mild. They walked to some large rocks, scrambled up and sat down.

"This is a beautiful place," Kara said. "My dad said it reminds him of where he grew up on Virgon."

Lee felt the late afternoon sun on his back and the warm breeze on his face.

"Everybody should be able to get away from school and jobs and Cylons once in a while."

Kara reached out and took his hand and they sat in contented silence for a long time.

That night after Braedon was asleep, Lee, Kara and John sat at the table and played triad. Laura chose to work on her campaign speeches. John looked at her several times. The expression on his face was not a happy one.

Laura was still reading by the light of one lamp, curled in an armchair when Lee rolled over on the couch and went to sleep that night.

...

Kara was awake but still in bed when she heard a soft knock the next morning. She got up in her pajamas and opened the door. Her father stood outside holding Braedon.

"I've changed his diaper, but he's hungry. Will you warm a bottle and feed him?"

"Sure. What's up?"

"I've got to make a trip into town."

He handed Braedon to her. She followed him out into the living room. Her father gathered the documents that Laura had left on her chair the night before and put them in her briefcase. He closed her laptop, quickly disconnected it and put everything into the carrying case.

"If Laura gets up and notices all this is missing, tell her I'll be back in about an hour and we'll discuss it."

Kara rocked Braedon back and forth on her hip. "She's not going to be happy."

Frustration was evident in her father's voice. "She was still up until two o'clock working. That is not why we came down here. We came down here so she could get away from all this stuff for a couple of days."

Without another word he gathered the laptop case and her briefcase and walked out the door.

Kara carried Braedon into the kitchen and got a bottle from the refrigerator. She put it in the warmer. She kissed his chubby cheek.

"Something tells me there's going to be some fireworks a little later this morning."

Lee walked into the kitchen. "What's going on? I heard a jeep start."

The timer on the bottle warmer chimed. "How about starting some coffee?"

He yawned and ran water in the pot. "Did somebody leave?"

"My dad. He had to go into town."

Kara shook the bottle, sat down in a chair and began feeding her brother.

"Gods, this is so domestic it scares me," she said.

Lee turned and leaned back against the edge of the sink. "Are you saying you don't ever want this?"

She shrugged. "Maybe someday. I've got to kill a load of toasters and have a lot of fun before I'll be ready for this."

He didn't say anything.

"What?" Kara asked with surprise in her voice. "Are you saying you want a kid?"

Lee turned and looked out the window over the sink. "Our kid. After we get rid of the Cylons and…have a few years to have some fun and…I need to shut up, don't I?"

"You need to shut up." He was still looking out the window. "Look, if I ever have a kid, it'll be yours. Does that make you happy?"

He turned around and smiled. "I'm a patient man."

Kara stood up. "Sit down." When Lee sat in the chair, she put Braedon in his arms and handed him the bottle. "Take him for a test drive. I'll fix us some breakfast."

After a few minutes Lee looked up. "It's not all that hard."

Kara grinned. "Wait until you get to change his diaper."

...

Laura was still asleep when John got back. He came in and threw the keys to the jeep on the table before he went to the coffee pot. He returned to the living room with a mug.

"All hell's going to break loose when she gets up. You might want to take Braedon and go to the beach. Just keep him covered up and out of the sun."

"What did you do with Laura's stuff?" Kara asked.

"It's locked in the ship. Her mobile phone too. There's security at the airport twenty-four seven. Everything will be safe."

Kara glanced at Lee. There were definitely some fireworks coming.

The bedroom door opened. Laura walked out dressed in a fluffy robe. "Good morning, everyone. Did you all sleep well?"

"Fine," said Kara quickly. "We fed Braedon. He's getting sleepy. Lee and I are going to take him to the beach."

"Keep him out of the sun," Laura said. She turned and went into the kitchen. Kara was already scrambling to her feet. Lee grabbed the beach bag.

"Good luck," Kara said to her father. "Send up a flare if you need help."

...

Laura took her cup of tea to the kitchen table and fixed a bowl of cereal. "Have you eaten?" She called to John.

"Not yet."

"Do you want to keep me company?"

He walked into the kitchen. "I took your briefcase and your laptop this morning and put them in a safe place."

Laura looked up, not sure she had understood him. "You did what?"

"It's gone from the cottage. All of the work you brought down here. Gone."

"My phone, too?"

He walked over, stood at the sink and looked out the window. "Your phone, too."

Laura felt a wave of anger sweep her. "What makes you think you have the right to...do something like that?"

"I called Billy and told him you were out of the loop for a few days. In fact I told him and Tory to take a few days off. You're not the only one who has been working seven days a week. They need a break, too."

"And what if someone needs to get in touch with me?"

"I called Scott Mickelson. He and Billy have both got my number. So does Bill. If there's any kind of an emergency, they'll get hold of me."

Laura's fury increased. "How dare you."

"I didn't know any other way to get through to you. The main reason we're down here is for you to take a break from killing yourself."

Laura tried to control her temper and failed. The fact that he was right did not make it any easier. She stood and clenched her fists.

"You will go get my briefcase and my laptop and phone right now."

John turned around at the sink. He crossed his arms and looked at her. "No, I won't."

What did you do with everything?"

"It's all locked in the ship," he said evenly.

"You had no right to do that!" she said as she started toward him.

They stared at one another, the heat of her anger crackling around them.

"Calm down, Laura. This isn't like you. If nothing else this should tell you how badly you need a break."

"I will leave here and I will go back to Caprica City today!"

"It's sixteen miles into town. Another four to the airport. I've got the keys to the jeep. Are you going to walk?"

"If…I…have…to," she said through clenched teeth.

"It's always about you, isn't it? It's always about what you want. You don't really give a godsdamn about what I want, do you?"

For the first time his voice betrayed the emotion she now saw that was driving him.

She was breathing hard as she walked toward the back door. He stepped in front of it. "If you're going to walk into town, you need to get dressed first."

"Let me past," she said coldly.

He looked at her and shook his head. When she tried to push past him he grasped both wrists. She saw the glitter in his green eyes, primal and hot. Slowly he grinned and pulled her wrists down into the small of her back. He pulled her against him.

"Let's not fight about this. I'm not in the mood to fight with you."

"No!" she said. "You cannot charm your way out of this."

He leaned down to kiss her and she turned her head, realizing too late that she had left him another target, another spot that was just as vulnerable, maybe more so. His mouth fastened on her neck, on the sweet, sensitive spot that sent chills throughout her body. She tried to resist, tried to maintain her indignation and anger, but she was powerless against the rising tide of desire. She moaned softly and struggled to free her wrists. He let go of them.

She put her arms around his neck and sought his mouth. The tight knot of desire was too strong to ignore. His hand was under the robe, under the gown she wore. His touch was sure, almost rough.

His breathing was quicker now, too. "We can't, not here. The kids might come back." He pulled her into the bedroom and kicked the door shut behind him.

His kisses never quite crossed the line into bites, his touch, rougher than it had been before, never became painful, but together they pushed her quickly beyond her endurance.

Her body was trembling, her surrender complete. No one had ever been able to make her feel like this before. Ever.

Afterward she lay in his arms, too stunned at what had just happened to think. She felt something shift in her like the ocean breeze changes after a storm. It wasn't the physical release they had just shared. It was something deeper and more profound, something she was almost afraid of.

She felt the past slipping farther away, that comfortable place she had clung to for years.

She loved John. But the balance in their relationship had now shifted closer to being equal. He was right. For the year they had been together, it had always been about her...her schedule, her needs, her career. He had stayed patiently in the background, always there for her, taking only what she had found the time or willingness to give him, and she had let him, but gradually, oh so gradually, she had come to rely on his presence in her life, had drawn strength from his love even as she had taken it for granted.

She opened her eyes. He was propped on one elbow looking down at her. She knew he was waiting for her reaction, and yet he hadn't apologized for anything.

He touched the side of her throat with the tip of his finger. "I'm afraid I...marked you a little bit."

"Yes," she smiled at him. "Yes, I think you have."