Chapter 59

The Island

In a controversial book published early in the fourth year of Cylon occupation, the author Roland Daley claimed that a triangular area of space in the Helios Delta system between the planets of Aerilon, Canceron and Aquaria was the source of mysterious forces that had caused the disappearance of numerous ships since the founding of the Colonies. The area was dubbed the Kobiashi Triangle by the author to honor Maru Kobiashi, captain of the first ship Daley claimed to have been 'sucked into the void due to a suspension of the laws of physics.' The non-fiction book, which was to have been his comeback, was panned by critics and soon dropped entirely off the charts.

-Bartell, History of the Second Cylon War

.

Kara carefully repositioned Braedon's carrier on the beach towel and adjusted the blanket partially covering one side so that no sun reached him. He was sleeping soundly, the pacifier fallen to the side. Carefully she picked it up and turned it in her hand.

Lee was lying on his stomach on a beach towel beside her. With the sunglasses she couldn't tell if he had gone to sleep or not.

She leaned down on her elbow and poked him lightly on the arm. "Are you awake?"

He didn't move for a moment and then he stirred. "I am now." He rolled onto his back. "I thought Laura was never going to go to bed last night."

"I think things will be different tonight. My dad was really angry to do something like take her stuff."

"That surprised me, too," Lee said.

"He's trying to be a good husband, but Laura makes it so damned hard. She's really selfish."

"She's in a position of power. She's like my dad in some ways. They have to be selfish. It goes with the territory. You've got to remember that for years it was just her and her career. She invested her whole life in her work, just like my dad."

Kara rolled on her stomach and propped up on her elbows. "Sometimes I wish it was just me and my dad. And then I see how much he loves Braedon and I feel selfish."

"John loves Laura, too."

"For all the good it does him. She's totally wrapped up in running for President. She's not even breast-feeding Braedon anymore. My dad's the one who gets up with him at night now if Braedon wakes up. He said Laura needs her sleep. He takes care of Braedon the rest of the time, too, after Maya leaves. Laura's never there anymore. "

"Laura is an accomplished woman," Lee said diplomatically. "I have a great deal of admiration for her. After the treaty was negotiated, she put her career, probably even her life on the line to get food and medical supplies to the camps. It's one of the reasons she has the kind of support she has from the citizens of Caprica now. That and the way she's always stood up to Cavil and her stand on education. She really does care about the future of Caprica's children."

"A lot more than she cares about her own kid and her husband."

"I don't think you're being fair to her."

Kara shrugged. "She does love Braedon. And she's always been nice to me. She tries…it's just…I don't know. I just think my dad would have been happier with somebody else."

"This is really bugging you, isn't it?" Lee asked, mild surprise in his voice.

"I need to get over it. My dad can handle his own problems. At least they're not always yelling at each other the way my mom and Dreilide did."

Kara stopped talking, wondering why her father's relationship with Laura had gotten to her so badly. It really wasn't her problem.

"I used to tease John about Laura," Lee said. "I thought they would make a nice couple. They met at my Academy graduation so in a way I'm partly to blame for them being together. I never thought it would end up with them married and having a baby. Knowing how careful John always was and how he used to lecture me on it, I can't believe they got caught that way."

"It was Laura's fault."

"How do you know that?"

"She told me before the wedding. I guess she thought she owed me an explanation. It's a long story, but basically she didn't think she could get pregnant. That proves she can be wrong about something."

The last piece of the puzzle fell into place for Lee. It hadn't been John's carelessness after all.

Kara said, "Laura needs to be with somebody like your dad instead of mine."

"I wouldn't wish my dad on any woman, least of all Laura."

Kara snickered. "They're a good fit. Think about it. They're both so busy they could email or text each other a couple of times a day and meet for tea once a week. Oh, big surprise, They do that already."

"You're not trying to say they've got something going on, are you? Because if you are, you're wrong. My dad wasn't much of a father or a husband, but he would never have cheated on my mother and he would never do anything like that with Laura now. I don't care how he feels about her. Not to mention my dad and John are friends. I know my dad respects John or he wouldn't have asked for his help on this project."

"I believe you. And I don't think Laura would actually sleep with your father. My dad might put up with a lot from her, but that's one thing he wouldn't take."

Lee remembered the night John had come to his apartment after catching Lissa with Dr. Baltar. John might take a lot from Laura because he loved her, but he wouldn't stick around if she cheated on him.

"You're right," Lee said. "That's one thing John wouldn't take. But Laura has just as much integrity as my dad. She would never cheat on John. I just think you're way off base about her and my dad."

"Do you think somebody has to have sex to cheat?"

"Isn't that what cheating is all about? You meet somewhere, you have sex, you go back to your spouses or whatever. What are you trying to say?"

"I think what matters is where your heart is. I think Laura and your dad still have feelings for each other. They've just never crossed that one little line that makes it cheating in most people's eyes. You said your dad still loves her. I think she still loves him. I think she's got the best of both worlds. She's got a son, two men who love her, and next year this time she'll be President. What more could she want?"

"Kara…that may or may not be so. But it's not your concern. You need to stay out of it."

"I don't want to see my dad get hurt."

"John's been hurt before. He survived. You're worried about nothing. Next January when Laura is sworn in as President, John will be right by her side holding Braedon. You'll be there, too."

Kara looked up to see her father walking down the beach toward them. He was wearing shorts and a t-shirt and his hair was wet. She knew what that meant.

He walked over to the carrier and picked it up. "I'll take Braedon back up to the cottage. I appreciate you taking care of him."

Kara shaded her eyes and handed the pacifier up to her father. "Is everything all right?"

"I think Laura and I got this issue resolved…for now." He turned to walk away and then turned back around. "Don't stay down here too long and get burned. Laura said she had put sunscreen in the beach bag."

"We found it," Lee said. "Tell her thanks."

After John had walked back up the beach and started between the rocks to go up to the cottage, Kara said, "I guess we know how that discussion ended."

"When I met your dad on the Galactica all he wanted to do was get back to Caprica and the airport where he had left you. My dad was going to let him go after his story checked out, but then the Cylons attacked and he was stuck on board for four more days."

"I know. When I was staying with him in the hospital in Sovana, he told me about being on the Galactica and meeting you."

"I couldn't believe a man loved his kid so much that he would risk as much as he did to get you off Picon and then try to get back to you." Lee snorted. "Fatherly love was an unknown concept for me at the time."

"You don't still feel that way?"

"Not exactly. When I almost died in the deep space simulator, my dad stayed with me in the hospital for a couple of days. I was out of it most of that time so I don't remember a lot. I woke up on the third day and John was there. He'd made my dad go home to get some rest. John told me how my dad wouldn't leave until he knew I was going to be all right. Things changed with me and him after that. But it's hard to undo all those years of him not being there and him ignoring Mom's problems, especially considering what happened to her."

"Maybe you need to do like I did with my dad. We started from scratch. He wasn't there for me either when I was growing up. I didn't even know about him until that night leaving Picon, but later, after I visited the Oracle that first time, I remembered something. It was about being at the beach with him. I told him about it while he was in the hospital. He said that was during the summer before my third birthday. After that my mom quit taking me with her when she went to see him."

"You starting from scratch with John…and…me pretending my whole childhood didn't happen are two different things."

Kara shrugged. "Whatever, Lee. You'll never know because you're not even going to try."

"I didn't say that."

Kara got up and dragged her beach towel away from Lee before she began shaking the sand out of it. "I guess we'd better go back to the cottage. Dad's right. We don't want to get burned on our first day."

Lee got up and shook out his towel also. He picked up the beach bag. "It's almost time for lunch anyway."

...

When Kara and Lee got back to the cottage, the tension between John and Laura, so evident the night before, seemed to have disappeared.

Late in the afternoon Laura and Lee finished the game of chess they were playing. Laura got up and said she was going to start getting something ready for dinner that night. She asked Kara to help her. With a slight eye roll to Lee, Kara got up and followed her into the kitchen.

"Domestic time," she grinned.

John went into the kitchen, got two beers out of the refrigerator, and handed one to Lee. "Let's go for a walk. We get kitchen duty tomorrow night."

They didn't speak until they were down on the beach and walking toward the dark rocks that made up one end of the small bay.

"Who won the chess match?" John finally asked.

"Laura. She's good."

"She's had a lot of practice. Her father taught her when she was a girl. They played a lot while she was growing up. What do you think of the place?"

"It's great," Lee said.

"I did most of the work on it the year you were on the Triton. Lissa was working seven days a week by then. I didn't have anything else to do when I wasn't flying. I just finished it last year…right before I brought Laura down here. This is the first time we've been back."

"You should come down here more often," Lee said and took a sip of his beer.

"I thought we'd be doing that since Braedon is getting older, but then Laura decided to run for President."

"I'll always be glad to make a trip with you."

"Next year when Kara's on a battlestar and Laura's running the country, we might be able to do that. I'll probably start bringing Brae down here. I want him to love the sea the way I do."

"Kara wants to go to the Galactica."

"I know. It doesn't mean she'll get to go to the Galactica."

"She's good. She'll either be in the top spot or close to the top spot in her class in Flight School. The top three get their pick of the battlestars."

"Then she'll probably be on the Galactica."

"She really wants to fly that Raider, too."

"I know. I would have made a bigger deal of it if I thought for a minute Bill would consider her, but I'm like you, I think he'll go for an experienced pilot who has jumped a ship before. Kara doesn't qualify."

"Using that criteria, neither do I."

"You've still logged time in deep space. I know whoever flies it will have to jump that Raider here in Caprica's atmosphere, but the other end of the jump will be in deep space far enough from Nereid for a long-range sensor reading. In about a month Felix Gaeta will be back on Caprica. We'll all get together at the apartment and talk about the coordinates. Your dad is going to invite you if he hasn't already."

"Why? I won't be piloting the Raider."

"He didn't say why. He just said he wants you there. Your dad did pick you for the mission that shot down the Raiders."

"This one is different."

"I wish I could do it," John said. "I'd love to see Nereid, but there's no way."

"That doesn't mean you won't get to see Nereid someday especially if we have to mop up a Cylon base there."

"It won't happen while Laura is president. My place is here by her side."

"You've got her elected already."

John nodded. "It'll happen. I'd like to be part of an expedition to explore Nereid. I'd like to be the one to take my son there one day."

"Maybe we'll all go."

"That's a nice thought. What do you see in your future, Lee?"

"Short-term or long-term?"

"Both."

Lee held the neck of the bottle and sipped the beer again. "If I survive the fight that's coming and Kara does, too, one day I want to marry her. I want…a child, a family with her."

"Have you asked her?"

"Not yet. I should probably ask you how you feel about it first."

John sipped his beer. "Ask me again in a couple of years. Of course Kara's going to do what she wants to do, with or without my blessing. If you wait for a few years, you'll have my blessing. Are you going to stay in the military?"

"I haven't decided, yet. Major Parker has mentioned the possibility of law school and the Admiralty Judge Advocate's office. He thinks I have the potential to be a good attorney. I'm not ready to make a decision like that yet."

"So you're not bucking to command a battlestar one day?"

"I don't think so. I'm not trying to be my father. I guess with not knowing what will happen next winter when Dad puts his plan into effect and not knowing what we'll find on Nereid, it's not the best time to make long-range plans right now."

"You're right."

"What about you? What are you going to do for the next couple of years?"

"Assuming we survive whatever happens next winter, my first priority is being the husband of the President, but I also hope to keep teaching at the Academy. I guess the Presidential spouse is allowed to have a job. One thing I won't do is sit around Marble House. Laura knows that. And I won't take some political appointee job. She knows that, too. I'll either be teaching or flying. The rest of the time will be spent with my son or suited up in my dress grays or a tuxedo attending banquets and other functions with her. This summer when I'm not at the Academy, Laura wants us to take Braedon and go on the campaign trail. I can't tell you how much I'm dreading that, but…" he shrugged.

"It goes with the territory," Lee said.

"Kara is so young. She's so full of life for somebody who's been through so much. I love my wife and I love my son, but my daughter…she'll always own a big piece of my heart."

"She's you, John. And not just the green eyes. She's going to be a great pilot like you. You don't need to worry about her."

"I didn't want to sign the form for her to attend the Academy this year. I wanted her to wait a year. Maybe if we'd been back together longer, I would have waited. But that's what she wanted, and I was trying so hard not to turn her against me right at the beginning. I didn't sleep much on the night after I went out to the Academy and talked to Conrad Burgher and signed the form for her to attend. I spent it second-guessing myself as to whether I'd done the right thing or not. Now I've got to let her go to a battlestar and be ready to take on Cylon Raiders next winter, and after that, the gods only know what will happen if we find Cylons on Nereid."

"She'll be fine, John," Lee said with a lot more confidence than he felt. He didn't know if any of them would be fine. "How old were you when you took out your first Raider?"

"Nineteen."

"See there. Kara will be eighteen. She's going to be fine. She's going to beat your combat record."

"I fought the old-style Raiders just like your dad did. These newer ones are a lot more sophisticated. I've looked at hours of film footage taken from a lot of gun cameras four years ago. I'm putting every new move I can find into the sims for these nuggets. The Raiders are still making some of the same old moves, but they're definitely smarter and faster."

"But not as smart as a good human pilot."

"No, not that smart. I teach my students that all other factors being equal, a good human pilot will take out a Raider every single time, but they can't get cocky or complacent about it. They've got to stay on top of it out there or they're dead. If I can just get Kara to watch her instruments and stick with her wingman and leave those lone gunman antics in the Ready Room, she'll be fine."

"You never pulled any top gun, hot shot stunts?"

John grinned. "I was lucky. It nearly got me killed a couple of times."

"You've got more lives than a cat, John."

"My luck will run out someday. It does for all of us."

Lee drained the rest of his beer. "I'm getting hungry."

"Me too. Let's head back. And Lee, let's keep what was said today between the two of us."

"It'll be just like old times at McGee's."

John put his hand lightly on Lee's shoulder for a moment and squeezed. "I can't imagine her marrying anybody but you…in a few more years, that is."

Lee was so touched by his friend's remark that for a moment he couldn't speak. He finally asked, "Who else do you think will put up with her smart mouth and in-your-face attitude?"

John laughed. "If you've made it this far, I think you're going to do just fine."

...

"You're very quiet," Laura said as she stirred the sauce for the pasta.

"I don't guess I have anything to say," Kara said as she peeled a carrot for their salads.

"You know what your father did this morning, don't you?"

"You mean taking your stuff?"

Laura laughed. "Yes, taking my stuff."

"I know what he did."

"He was right. We didn't come down here so I could spend every minute working. How did exams go for you?"

"I guess I'll know when we get home on Sunday. My grades should be there."

"Any hints or clues?"

"I don't think I did as good this time as I did on midterms last semester, but I haven't studied as much either."

"How is Fiona's class going?"

Kara shrugged. "Okay, I guess. She picks dark, sad stories for us to read. I got Cadet Pike, her little pet, to ask her why. She said everything we're reading is considered classic Colonial literature. We just finished reading a long, love poem by Kataris and it was sad, too."

"Whisper the Rainbow," Laura said.

"How did you know?"

"I did an undergraduate paper on it when I was at the University. It appealed to my youthful, romantic ideas about unrequited love."

"Because you were in love with Admiral Adama and he was married to Lee's mother?"

Kara knew her question was cruel, but at the moment she didn't care.

Laura continued stirring the sauce. She clearly remembered sitting on her bed in the dorm weeping the first time she had read the poem by a man who loved a woman he could never have. She recalled the feeling that the poet was speaking directly to her. She had related completely to those deeply-felt and poignant words of longing. How could anyone really understand how that felt unless she had lived through it?

Laura sighed. "He wasn't an admiral, then. He was Captain Adama. But that was a very long time ago. Nearly twenty years. There have been a great many changes in my life since then."

Kara didn't say anything as she began grating the carrot with more force than was necessary.

Laura felt Kara's emotion. "I do love your father," she finally said and heard the defensiveness in her voice.

"You might try treating him a little better, then," Kara said.

"You've got to understand that I'm running for the top office in the Colonies. I can't do that by staying home all the time. John understands that. But I crossed the line with bringing so much work on our vacation. I've apologized to him."

Kara felt her anger beginning to dissipate and tried to hold onto it a little longer. She put down the carrot and the grater and turned to look at her stepmother.

"You know in some ways you remind me of my mother."

"I remind you of a Marine?" Laura asked incredulously.

"You don't look at all like her, but the first time I met you in the camp, I thought you were tough and brave because you followed me to Connelly's tent. Nobody else who came to the camp making pretty speeches had the guts to get out and see how we were living. And you did it in spike heels."

Laura made a small sound, almost a laugh. "Which were very expensive and which I ruined that day in the mud and the gravel, but it was very well worth it to meet Hugh Connelly. I'm not sure I ever thanked you for pointing out what I needed to do that day. I know it took a lot of courage for you to walk up to my Marine guard like that."

"My mom was tough and brave, too," Kara said.

"I'm sure she was."

"My dad really loved her."

As soon as the words were out of her mouth, Kara regretted her cruelty. She saw the look on Laura's face, almost like she had been slapped.

Laura felt an odd pain at Kara's words, perhaps because Kara could only have gotten that bit of information from John.

"I know he did," she finally said very quietly.

For the first time Kara became aware that she was taking deep breaths. She forced herself to continue because she still had something to say to Laura.

"Mom loved being a Marine more than she loved me. More than she loved my dad. Zak's right. She knew what staying behind meant. She did it anyway. The damned Corps was more important to her than…" She had to stop for a moment or choke.

"Oh, Kara," Laura said. She stepped forward, but Kara stepped back.

"No. Don't you understand? You're doing the same thing to Braedon. You're doing the same thing to your son. You'd rather be President than be a mother to him."

Laura turned and looked out the window over the sink as she assimilated Kara's words. Finally she turned back around. Her voice was a soft plea.

"Please at least be fair enough to me that you'll consider my motives. The reason I'm running for President is because I care. I want a better future for all the children of Caprica, including my son. John understands this. I have his support. He enjoys all the time he spends with your brother. He missed that part of your life. He…" she stopped, aware of the pain on Kara's face.

"Everybody missed that part of my life," Kara almost snarled. "Lee thinks he had such a rotten childhood because his father was gone all the time and his mother was having a love affair with a bottle of booze. My mom was there and Dreilide Thrace was there, but they didn't give a frak about me because if they weren't fighting, they were wrapped up in their own worlds. She was wrapped up in being a Marine and he was wrapped up in his music. He…he tried, though, sometimes, he tried to teach me to play the piano."

Kara stopped and took a deep breath. "Frak it. It's not important now. It's the past. I was just getting on Lee's case because he and his dad still have a lot of problems about the past and they won't talk about them. He says he tries but the Admiral always shuts him out. At least my dad will talk to me about anything, even stuff that hurts, like me going to see Dreilide again."

Kara turned back to the counter and picked up the carrot and grater again.

Laura put the pot for the pasta into the sink and ran the water.

"Bill does love Lee," she said to Kara as she put the pot on the stove and turned on the burner. "He loves both of his sons, but he is so very proud of Lee and everything Lee has accomplished."

"Then why won't he talk to him?"

"I think it's his pride. Bill has so much pride. It's what kept us apart over twenty years ago. Sometimes it's very difficult for a man like that to admit he's wrong…was ever wrong about anything. In order for him to have a meaningful conversation with his son, Bill would have to admit he'd made a serious mistake, a number of serious mistakes with regard to Lee's and Zak's childhoods. I'm not sure he can do that."

"But you think he knows?"

"Oh, yes. He knows. He has a number of regrets about the past."

"If he would just tell Lee sometimes how proud he is of him."

"I'll try to find a way to mention it to Bill without seeming like I'm trying to tell him what to do. A man in his position is used to giving orders, not taking them."

"If he'll listen to anybody, he'll listen to you."

"You're very concerned about Lee's relationship with his father. You must love Lee very much."

"I do."

"Do you envision a future with him?"

"The future for me right now is making it through Flight School and getting on the Galactica. There's a mission I want Admiral Adama to consider me for, and I need some experience flying in deep space. Now isn't the time to think about the future with Lee."

Laura watched the tiny bubbles start forming on the bottom of the pot for the pasta. "Kara, if you ever want to talk to me about anything, please don't hesitate. I'm never too busy that we can't sit down and…"

"You just treat my dad like he deserves to be treated and you and me will get along fine."

...

Kara had realized the first night that the northeast shore of the island was warm during the day that time of year and much cooler at night. They had built a fire in the fireplace earlier in the evening that had now burned down to glowing logs with small, dancing flames. John and Laura had gone to bed when Laura had put Braedon down after giving him a bottle at ten o'clock. Their door had been closed for thirty minutes. With any luck they were both now asleep.

Lee and Kara had the living room to themselves. Kara got up and turned off all the lamps.

"Calling it a night?" Lee asked in surprise.

"I like a fireplace in a dark room."

She joined him on the couch. He put his arm around her and she snuggled into him.

"When I was living in the little stone house with Karl, late in the winter an ice storm brought a tree down across the power lines. We had to use the woodstove in the kitchen to heat the house and cook and heat water to bathe. We took the cushions off the couch, and at night Karl and I would sit on the floor in front of the stove. All we could see was the orange flame through the slits in the door. Sometimes we'd talk, but a lot of times we didn't. We were both so tired. Karl was cutting firewood for hours every day and I was hauling it to the house and stacking it. It takes a lot of firewood to keep a woodstove going. The animals were hibernating and the fish weren't biting. We were living on the vegetables that the old woman had canned. Karl was getting really skinny. Every day I would tell him, we're one day closer to spring."

"Gods," Lee said. "How long did you live like that?"

"Not long. A little over three weeks." She snorted softly. "It just seemed like a lot longer. Then the soldiers came and took us to the big camp outside of Antioch. We'd been doing fine until we lost the power and everything in the freezer."

"Does John know about what happened?"

"I told him while he was in the hospital. I had to tell him bits at a time because it upset him so much. It was only those last three weeks that were bad."

"No wonder you and Karl are so close."

"I told you he's like my brother."

"What's he doing over midterm break?"

"He and Sharon are hanging out at her apartment so that answers the question of what they're doing."

"I guess that means they're back together now?"

"I think Shelley's short skirt did the trick. Sharon told me a couple of guys, including Cadet Pike, asked her to dance that night at McGee's. I think Karl almost got into a fight with one of them because he thought the cadet was putting his hands on Sharon's butt."

"I think Sharon can take care of herself."

"It made her feel good that Karl was jealous. You understand jealous, don't you?" Kara teased. "Isn't that what you were when Sam Anders had his hands on my shoulders at Crocodiles last Saturday night?"

"I didn't notice. Did Sam put his hands on your shoulders?"

"I saw you not noticing."

Lee grinned. "Breaking Sam's arms would not have been a smart move considering what it would have done to their chances in the finals coming up next weekend. Not to mention what his loyal fans at the table would have done to me."

"What did you and my dad talk about this afternoon while Laura and I were busy getting dinner?"

"Just guy stuff," Lee answered. "What did you and Laura talk about?"

"We talked about her and my dad and her running for President and my grades and my mom. Lots of stuff."

"That sounds like an interesting talk," Lee said as he shifted his hand to rub his index finger gently over the outer rim of Kara's ear.

"It was…very interesting."

He heard her breathing change as he slid his fingers down and gently pinched her earlobe. He continued tracing a path down to her collarbone. He leaned down to her other ear. "Did I tell you how good you looked in that red bathing suit…that little red bathing suit?"

"I believe you mentioned it before you fell asleep on the beach this morning. You look good, too. You've been working out."

"I've been trying to go by the gym after I get back from the Academy a couple of nights a week. I do a lot of pushups and crunches at the apartment."

"It shows." She rubbed her hand across the tight muscles of his abdomen.

He trailed a finger down the front of her t-shirt and brushed it over her nipple. "You've been working out, too." His lips grazed hers briefly. "It shows everywhere. How lucky are you feeling?"

"As in?" Kara asked.

"As in here on the couch or in your bedroom?"

"Let's stay here in front of the fire. We're going to have to be quiet either place."

"It's good training for when I visit you on the Galactica. Take off your shorts and t-shirt. We'll get under the blanket."

They lay in their underwear, their hands exploring, their lips pressed against throats and ears when they whispered. Lee found he couldn't take nearly as much of her hands on him as he wanted to be able to take. He had been thinking about this all day. He had to stop her as her mouth slid down his chest.

She bit his nipple lightly and heard the sharp intake of his breath. He slid his hand into her panties again and put his mouth over hers to muffle her moan. She pressed up against his hand, encouraging him, wanting the sensation to continue and intensify.

"Yes, oh, yes," she whispered. "Keep doing that."

They both knew a few minutes later that they were not going to stop and move to her bedroom. He lifted himself slightly as she wiggled out of her panties. Her hands grasped his underwear and pulled it down. The first seconds inside her were almost more than he could take. He stopped until he could gain some semblance of control.

He brought his mouth to her neck and then to her ear as he whispered. "I love you, Kara. I'll always love you."

They began the rhythmic dance that was at once so familiar to them and yet always so good, the feelings spiraling inward and tightening, the intensity increasing. Her leg was beside his hip, her hands gripping the muscles of his back. Her back arched. She choked the cry in her throat.

Lee's body shuddered in response as he finally let go, the sensations so intense that he pressed his mouth against her shoulder to suppress his own groan of pleasure.

A log broke into two pieces in the fireplace, sending a shower of sparks up the chimney and bathing them in a ruddy glow.

Lee bent his head and kissed Kara on the lips. He could tell she was already slipping into that contented state, almost, but not quite asleep. He eased himself down beside her and pulled her against him as he stared at the fireplace, the logs mostly glowing now instead of burning.

The red made him think of the Cylon Raider's eye, the malevolent presence that had been with them for the last four years. Maybe Kara was right. Maybe they weren't all bad, but Lee had not yet made that leap of faith. He didn't know if he ever could.

Kara adjusted her body against his.

"Don't go to sleep," he whispered. "You're going to have to get up and go to your bedroom."

"In a minute," she murmured sleepily. "It's so warm here."

He felt her body soften and relax. He heard her breathing slow as sleep dragged her under.

He pulled the blanket over them again. He would let her sleep for a while before he made her get up and go to her bed. He stared at the fire and drifted, trying to stay awake. Kara was right. The room was sleep-inducing warm. He closed his eyes.

Time shifted. A brown-haired young boy was playing with a group of children at the edge of the water. Kara was sitting on a beach towel and beside her a carrier like Braedon's. The teenage girl was gone, the lines and planes of her face were more mature, more beautiful. He walked toward her and she looked up and smiled. He could see inside the carrier now, a baby with a wisp of soft blond hair.

Another log fell in the fireplace, once again sending up a shower of sparks and Lee opened his eyes. The dream or the image vanished, but not before he had committed it to his memory. He knew in the days to come that he would recall that image again and again, especially when they went to war with the Cylons for the survival of the human race. For if they lost this time, Lee knew there would be no negotiations and no treaty. There would be no second chances.

Even though it was only a dream, or as the Oracle might say, only one possible future, it was the one that Lee Adama wanted with all of his heart.

...

The first thing Kara did when they got back to the apartment on Sunday afternoon and got all the luggage upstairs was to go down to the mailbox in the lobby and get their mail. She thumbed through it in the elevator and found the mailer with her grades. She put the rest on the table in the den before she sat down and tore the edges.

Braedon had been fretful for the last hour of the trip and all the way home in the car. Kara knew that Laura was having a difficult time coping with him today so she wasn't surprised to see her father take him into the kitchen and warm a bottle. He was on his way down the hall to the nursery with his finally quiet son when Kara slipped back out to get the mail.

Now Laura sat on the couch with a drink in one hand and her mobile phone in the other. Her head was back against the cushions and her eyes were closed. Kara knew she was listening to her messages because of the lengthy silence and the way Laura kept forwarding. Occasionally she took a sip of her drink. Often she put the drink down and jotted something in the spiral notepad on her lap.

Kara had to admit that Laura had been a good sport about what John had done at the beginning of their trip. Laura and her father had seemed to reconnect on the island. They were more the way she remembered them earlier, before Braedon's birth, but especially before Laura had decided to run for President. Kara hadn't seen her father look that happy or relaxed in a long time. Laura either…until they had started back.

After their talk in the kitchen on the second day at the cottage, she and Laura had gone back to their usual polite and almost impersonal interaction. Laura hadn't made another attempt to discuss their relationship and neither had Kara.

In many ways Laura was like her mother, involved in her own career...with her husband and child on the periphery of her life. The only thing that was missing was the drill sergeant mentality that her mother had always exhibited with her, although Kara knew Laura could give orders with the best of them when necessary. Kara had heard her before, the polite but clipped words with the unmistakable ring of authority.

But her father loved Laura. She was going to have to accept that fact and deal with it. What he chose to put up with in their marriage was his business. Lee had been the one who had pointed out in one of their conversations on the island that John seemed to be attracted to strong, independent and beautiful women. It was the first time that Kara had ever considered the fact that maybe Bill was not the only Adama who was a little bit under Laura Roslin's spell. His son was smitten as well.

Carefully Kara unfolded the mailer. She breathed a sigh of relief. A 3.2 overall grade point average, not nearly as bad as she thought it would have been. She had a perfect 4.0 in Basic Flight and a 2.2 in Colonial Lit. All her other averages had dropped, even her sim average, but not enough to cause her to be that upset. If she studied hard between now and the end of the term, she would do all right.

"Good news?" Laura asked finally closing her phone.

"Better than I thought," Kara answered.

"Are you going back to the Academy tonight?"

"No. I'm signed out until tomorrow morning. I'll ride with Dad."

"This was a nice vacation for all of us."

"I had a good time," Kara said.

"You'll be the envy of your dorm. You have a nice suntan."

Her father walked into the den and poured a small drink. "Brae's asleep, finally. He was just worn out and fighting it."

"Thank you," Laura said. "I just couldn't cope with his crying today."

John looked at Kara and must have noticed the mailer in her lap. "What's the verdict?"

She smiled. "A 3.2 overall. I'd have done better if I hadn't screwed up my sim exam."

"That might be the best 92 you ever made in your life. A 3.2 is good, baby. I'm proud of you. You had yourself worried for nothing." He looked at Laura's phone and the notepad. "Anything on your voice messages that couldn't wait?"

"No. I did have a voice message from Billy. The owners of the Talk Wireless radio network fired Elliott True this week. He's the man who has been libeling me on the air. It hasn't hit the news yet. The station's attorney contacted my attorney. They wanted us to know before the announcement was released to the press. I'm sure there will be another storm of controversy over that."

"What made them finally see the light…a lawyer?" Kara asked. She saw Laura and her father look at one another.

"Actually it was a strongly worded letter from my attorney," Laura said. "Mr. True left me no other choice. And his real name is Humphrey Browning."

"Good for you," Kara said.

"I doubt you've heard the last of him," her father said to Laura. "Self-righteous pricks like him don't give up that easily."

Laura sighed. "Probably not. He seems to have gotten it in for me. I'm not sure why. I'm having him…investigated. The attorney agreed to ask one of the private detectives they keep on retainer to take a look at him. I believe you know him…Romo Lampkin."

John said. "If this Elliott True aka Humphrey Browning has anything hidden in his life, Lampkin will find it. He's a master at uncovering the hidden. I've got every bit of faith he would eventually have found Kara even though she was using another name. If you see him tell him I said hello."

Laura smiled. "I'll do that. Maya left a message saying she had to leave an hour early tomorrow afternoon. Can you get home or do I need to?"

"I can make it. Maya's got a dental appointment. She's having problems with a molar."

Laura looked at John. "She never mentioned that to me."

"Probably because I'm the one she usually hands Braedon off to in the evening. I noticed last week that she looked like she was in pain. I asked. She told me she had a toothache. The next appointment at the free clinic was six weeks."

"Why in the world would she have to go to a free clinic?" Laura asked in a surprised tone of voice.

"She's not exactly earning a fortune being a nanny for us, and she's paying for college, going to school at night trying to get her teaching degree. She doesn't have a lot of cubits left at the end of the month. I called our dentist and he agreed to work her in. He put her on antibiotics and scheduled her for a root canal. She must be having it tomorrow afternoon."

Laura said. "I pay her very well for being a nanny. I checked around."

"I didn't say she was underpaid. I just said she has a lot of expenses right now. She can't afford health or dental insurance."

"I'm sure she was very grateful to you."

"She thanked me," John answered. "I'd have done the same for Jennet or Doug or anybody else who needed help."

"Even an Oracle?" Kara asked in a teasing tone.

Her father winked at her. "Even an Oracle."

Laura began scribbling on the notepad. She scribbled several whole sentences this time. When she looked up and saw Kara watching her, she said, "Just a note to myself if I'm elected. We need to investigate how to make cheap or free health and dental care available to our unemployed and underemployed."

"You'll never make Caprica into a utopia," John said.

"No, but if we're not squandering millions on making human-Cylon hybrids and some of Cavil's other foolish programs, I might be able to expand some of our currently existing free clinics."

Kara brightened. "More free clinics will help Jack's drug delivery business."

Laura smiled. "See there? Everyone will benefit."

...

Lee sat at Channing's on Thursday evening waiting for his father. Bill had surprised him the night before with a phone call asking to meet for dinner the next night.

Lee had already ordered a beer when his father walked through the door and sat down across from him in the booth.

"Hello, son. You look tan and rested."

"We haven't even been back a week and it seems like a month or more. You look tired."

"It's been a long week and it's only half over. Laura tells me you had a very nice trip."

"We did. John has really fixed up that little cottage."

"I remember when he was working on it a couple of years ago."

The waiter came to the table and Bill ordered a whiskey and then told the waiter to make it a double.

"So what's up?" Lee asked.

Bill smiled. "Does something have to be up for me to ask my son to have dinner with me?"

"Apparently not."

"How is War College going?"

"My team is holding its own. Do you remember the cadet I dated for a couple of months while I was at the Academy, Shelley Sydell?"

Bill shook his head. "I can't say that I do."

"She's on my team. There's only three other women in the class. I could tell at first that the rest of the guys didn't want Shelley on the team. Now I think they've changed their minds. She's had some good ideas."

Bill mused. "That's three more women than when I was attending War College. Helena Cain was the only woman in our class. In the beginning she was very thoroughly resented by most of the men. But she always had a solution for the most difficult scenarios we faced. Some of them were harsh, even by war standards. I'm certain she would have no trouble giving the toughest of orders."

"Is she still commanding the Galactica?" Lee asked.

"She is."

"Does she have any idea what you've got planned?"

"All of my battlestar commanders know they've got to keep their ships ready for anything. None of them know the details yet."

"But Colonel Tigh knows?"

"Saul Tigh has been my closest friend for over twenty years. I trust him with my life. He said Commander Cain is doing a good job of keeping the Galactica ready and the morale of the crew good."

"John said Felix Gaeta was going to be home soon."

"Two and a half weeks. We'll meet at Laura and John's apartment. I'd like for you to be there. You know Lieutenant Gaeta. And I want to keep you involved in this mission."

"Why? I'm not going to fly the Raider."

"I haven't made a decision yet on who my pilot will be."

"Please tell me that you're not considering Kara. She's too inexperienced. She'd just get herself killed."

"She climbed right up into that Raider. That kind of enthusiasm impresses me. Rick Rafferty told me the Raider fit her like a glove."

"She's never even flown a Viper before."

"She will have by the time we're ready for this mission."

Lee felt his temper begin to rise. "So you'd consider her before you would me?"

"I didn't say that."

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying I haven't made a decision yet. I'm saying I'm not nearly ready to make a decision. That mission is still seven or eight months away. A lot can happen in that amount of time."

They sat in silence until the waiter brought Bill's drink.

"Don't let this bother you, Lee. There's a lot of time between now and then. I want your input as we move forward. I respect your ideas."

"Wow," Lee said sarcastically. "What brought all this on? I'm not good enough to fly your Raider, but you respect my ideas."

Bill sipped his drink in silence for a moment. Finally he put it down and said, "I graduated thirty-third out of a class of three hundred ninety-two at the Academy. I finished fifth in my class of sixty-two in Flight School."

"Those are both respectable places," Lee said.

"You were first in both. You did it because you're smart and you worked hard. I value your input. I don't know any other way to say it. I'd like you with us when we talk to Gaeta."

"All right. You've made your point. I'll be there."

Bill toyed with his drink, moving the glass around the table in a small circle before he suddenly said. "You were right. Your mother killed herself."

Lee stared at his father and swallowed hard. He picked up his beer. "What made you change your mind?"

"I finally read the coroner's report. I've had it for months. I couldn't bring myself to look at it until last week."

"Why would seeing it on paper make any difference to you? We all know she died of an overdose. You insisted it was an accident."

"She had cancer. It was very advanced…in her lymph system and her brain. The coroner estimated she had less than three months to live. It wouldn't have been an easy three months. I spoke with her physician. She refused any kind of treatment. All she asked him for was something for the pain."

Lee felt the hurt wash over him again. "You didn't know?"

"No, I didn't, but I should have. Zak told me she'd gone to the doctor several times. I thought she was finally trying to get help for her drinking. I should have known something was wrong. I should have asked her, talked to her. That's just one more burden I'll carry about your mother."

Lee looked at his father and for the first time in a long time he felt something stir deep inside him. The little boy watching at the window for his father to come home on a Friday evening, watching and waiting for the transport to pull up in the driveway and the man in the uniform to step out, the man who had always seemed larger than life. For the first time in his life he felt the stirrings of sympathy for his father.

"Does Zak know?" Lee asked quietly.

"Not yet."

"Would you like for me to tell him?"

"You've shouldered enough of my responsibilities when it comes to Zak. I'll tell him."

They sat in silence for a long time. Bill signaled the waiter for another drink.

Lee finally said, "We're going to defeat the Cylons next winter, aren't we?"

"We have to."

"Have you thought about waiting?"

"If we're not ready by the Solstice next winter, we never will be. Our battlestars are getting older. Cavil has allowed only enough in the way of repairs to keep them space-worthy. Of the seventeen left, three of them aren't in good enough shape to make it through an FTL jump. The longer we delay, the more risk we run that another one or two will be in the same shape. We're hiding the extra fuel here on Caprica. We're hiding the munitions. Every day we delay is one more day the Cylons could find something. I would have already gone ahead with the plan, but we need the pilots we're training right now."

"They'll still be nuggets."

"Nuggets have killed Cylons before. I did it. John did it. I had twelve nuggets on the Galactica when we were attacked four years ago. I only lost two of them. We're going to have the element of surprise in our favor this time. We go in fast. We destroy everything quick. We take no prisoners. It's us or them."

"They could have destroyed us four years ago. They didn't." Lee could hardly believe he had just said something that sounded like he was defending the Cylons.

"That was their mistake. I won't make a similar one."

"What if we find they've got a base on Nereid?"

"I've already started working on that. I'll probably leave half my battlestars here to protect Caprica. Depending on what that Raider mission finds, I'll take the rest to Nereid and wipe them out there."

"It would be a shame to destroy a planet that might be rich in our own past, our own history."

"I agree. It would be a shame, but it might be necessary. Of course I've got to consider the possibility that the Cylons are holding prisoners on the planet."

"Prisoners?" Lee asked in surprise. "Why would you think they have prisoners?"

"It's a possibility that I've got to consider. I would hate to go in guns blazing and kill any humans that had the will to survive five years of Cylon captivity. But just like you're learning in War College, there are some situations that are not winnable for everyone, where you have to sacrifice the few for the good of the many."

"Why would the Cylons have wanted prisoners to keep up with?"

"I'll never forget that horror of a lab I found on the ice planet. Those poor souls that the Cylons were using as lab rats had come from a captured ship. Who's to say the Cylons didn't take at least some of the ships that disappeared four years ago? I had an aide of mine do some checking. Not counting the ships we know were destroyed, there are fifty-seven ships that we have no record of except for an initial distress call that they were surrounded by Raiders. My aide has determined that all of them had FTL drives. The Cylons don't surround a ship with Raiders in order to destroy it. They send in a couple of missiles from a distance. Something didn't add up for me. John and I have discussed the possibility that at least some of those ships were forced to jump to the Cylon homeworld."

"And the Cylons were smart enough to know that the Colonials would probably write them off as casualties of the war…destroyed in the fighting."

"Exactly."

"What if Baltar's lab here on Caprica wasn't the only place where the Cylons were experimenting on making a human-Cylon hybrid? Maybe they were hedging their bets all the way around. There were over thirty thousand humans on those eighty-seven missing ships. I'd say that's an ample number to experiment on."

"Does anybody else know this?"

"Just John so far. I dropped by the apartment last night. Laura was still at work which was good. John and I talked about it. He's finished Irina Hoshi's journals. He was updating me. He wants to go back and talk to her again soon. I'd like for you to go with him. I'd like for you to read those journals, too. I have a lot of faith in John, but a second set of eyes can't hurt."

"I'll go by and get the journals tomorrow before I leave the Academy."

"He's making an electronic copy for you. He said he'd have it ready."

As Lee got into a transport outside Channing's that night, he raised his hand and waved to his father as Bill began walking toward his apartment. Something shifted inside him again, the little boy waving goodbye to his father, but this time Lee knew there was a difference. This time he knew that he would see his father again soon.