Disclaimer: Battlestar Galactica and its characters are the property of Ronald D. Moore, David Eick, Sci-fi Network and NBC. No copyright infringement is intended.

As Lee is walking towards his father's quarters, he is getting angrier and angrier with every step. 'How could he do this?' Lee thinks, 'My father is not this person.' Lee arrives at his father's quarters and knocks on the hatch and waits. After five minutes, there is still no answer. 'I'm not letting him get away with this,' Lee thinks. He turns to his father's guards and tells them to open the hatch, they don't move. "I'm his son, open the frakkin hatch," Lee practically growls.

The guards give each other a look and then silently obey. One turns toward the hatch and unlocks it. Lee walks in and his eyes have to adjust to the low lighting, as he hears the hatch close with a thunk behind him. He barely makes out a light in his dad's more private area. He quietly walks into his dad's room and sees him sitting at his desk with a bottle of liquor in his hand.

Bill looks up and notices his son walking into the room and says, "How did you get in here? I told them not to let anyone in."

"Dad, we need to talk." Lee slowly walks closer to him and yanks the bottle out of his father's hand. He strolls over to the head and dumps the contents of the bottle down the sink. Once the liquor is all gone, he throws the bottle in the trash. He walks back over to his father and sits down in front of him.

"Dad, I know this is hard on you, but you need to stop drinking. It's going to kill you before the cancer kills Laura. She cares about you Dad and she needs you right now. She needs the real you, not the drunk you that I'm staring at now. She needs the man who loves her, even if he never tells her that."

"What did you just say?"

"You heard me Dad. I can't believe you've never told her. That's sad. Did you know that she thinks you hate her? She is afraid that she will never get to hear that you love her because all you do is drink. How could you do that to her, Dad? I thought she made you happy," Lee says, anger rising in his voice.

This sobers Bill right up and he says, "She does make me happy. I'm just so scared that I am going to lose her and I can't do anything about it. I don't want to watch her die."

"Then why don't you show her, Dad. Show her that you make her happy; tell her that you love her. Act upon the things that you have control over, don't worry about the things you don't have control over. Do you really want her to think that you hate her?"

"No, I don't. I would never hate her, I love her."

"Why can you tell me this, but you can't tell her? It's not like she's going to be mad at you for telling her, she wants you to tell her, she needs you to tell her. She wants to know that someone loves her as Laura. She wants to know that the man she fell in love with also fell in love with her."

"You're right, Lee. I should go talk to her," Bill says, with his head down because he is disappointed in himself.

"Yes, you should. But first, you should go get cleaned up."

Lee walks out of his dad's quarters with a smile on his face. For once, he did something good with his anger.

Bill staggers into the head and pulls his uniform off. He lazily turns the shower on and climbs into it. The pounding of water on his head helps to relieve some of the pressure that the drinking caused. The shower washes away the scent of alcohol on his body and replaces it with the scent of Bill's musky soap that Laura loves so dearly. He steps out of the shower feeling as refreshed as he can from his old age and tiredness. He shaves off his stubble and clothes himself in a clean uniform. He brushes his teeth which washes away the last scent of alcohol on him, though it is not enough. He looks at himself in the mirror and all he sees is a tired, old, defeated man looking back at him. He has no idea how a woman as wonderful as Laura fell in love with him.

He walks out of the head and pours himself a glass of water because his throat feels like sandpaper from all the alcohol. He guzzles the glass of water and puts the glass down on his desk. He slips his shoes on and walks behind his desk. He regards his wedding ring with a thoughtful look and then shakes his head. Slowly, as if removing part of his soul, he takes his wedding ring off and lays it on top of the wedding picture in the desk drawer.

"Goodbye, Carolanne," he says to the silent room, as he closes the drawer.

He then steps out of his quarters and makes his way to Laura in sickbay.

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