HELLO! Long time, no see - again. Life got crazy again.

Honestly, since I last updated this, I haven't done much by way of creative writing. This story still holds a very special place in my heart - especially given how long it's been since chapter one. So here I am again, trying to finish it off.

As a typical Virgo, part of me wants to go back and rewrite the earlier chapters. My writing style has changed drastically since the early days of this story. But I know that's not realistic and would delay the ending of this story even more.

Losing that original outline was a massive setback. I had an episode-by-episode plan that just disappeared between exams and real-life stuff. So - before I finished this chapter, I wrote out most of the new outline. Thankfully, I've always had the ending clearly in my mind (and it's been hinted at through the chapters I've already written!).

Hopefully this new outline makes it easier for me to stay somewhat regular with posting - especially as I'm trying to get more back into writing for fun versus writing for work. Thank you so much to everyone who has stuck with this story and our little trio - especially everyone who has asked me to continue this over the years.

We have about 13-15 chapters left (including a potential epilogue). We'll get there! I promise. Anyway, back to your very long delayed update. This episode has a lot happening. It focuses very heavily on Laura but for good reason! Sorry for the unnecessarily long author's note at the beginning of a pretty length chapter.

CHAPTER 23 | GUESS WHAT'S COMING TO DINNER

Laura's day was going from bad to worse.

Gaius Baltar had decided to broadcast the fact of her shared visions to the fleet. So far, the former President had yet to declare what those visions actually pertained to. Laura silently wondered how the man would react to knowing his role in those visions.

She had already dealt with Lee breathing down her neck about whether the visions were true. While she had told them they were, she had decided it was best to skip over their contents. Bill was the only one who needed to know about Pandora's role in them.

Plus, Lee was far from being on her Christmas card list.

He might be her stepson, but he had humiliated her during Baltar's trial.

Sipping on her coffee, Laura curled her fingers around her mug as though trying to draw some courage from its warmth. Colonial One's journey back to Galactica that morning had been interpreted by the appearance of the cylon baseship.

What was meant to be a quiet day of laying low in Bill's quarters had turned into a circus. Kara had arrived back on Galactica with a baseship of cylon models looking to 'negotiate'. They had already questioned the Six about their plans regarding the Final Five. Now they were expected to find a way to destroy the resurrection hub?

Laura suspected her day was only going to get worse from here.

After all, she was still processing the fact the Final Five were amongst the fleet.

Feeling a tug on her arm, Laura looked down at her feet where Pandora sat, scribbling away in her colouring book. Reaching over, Laura took a cracker from the tray and handed it down to the girl. Thankfully, Pandora was more than used to sitting in on informal meetings. The girl wrapped the bottom of Laura's blanket around her feet as the adults above her head discussed their newest visitors.

"If we go in on our own horse, we won't last five minutes - but we go in with that baseship parked out there. Nobody's going to notice us for a while," Helo suggested.

"What do we fight with? Their raiders are fraked," Saul insisted, watching as Helo shook his head. Clearly, he had come prepared with a plan. "We take theirs. Take half the viper wing." Helo suggested, earning a raised eyebrow from Bill. "Half the wing?" He asked, unsure about the junior officer's plan.

"Yeah, we'll sneak them in on the rebel baseship. Hoshi did some calculations from Racetrack's photos. We take out the FTL and the hub's stranded," Helo explained, as Saul nodded his head in agreement. 'We blow the hub and billions of skin jobs lose their bath privileges," he said, suspecting that it all sounded a little too straightforward.

Laura looked off into the distance as she absentmindedly stroked the top of Pandora's hair. "Imagine," She said, pausing for a moment, "Once they're gone, they can't come back. Mortal enemies," Laura reminded them, knowing that destroying the resurrection hub was what they needed to do to balance the playing field.

"Before we blow the hub, we need to get a team in to unbox D'Anna," Helo added, keen to remind his superiors about the other side of the bargain. "Well, now, maybe we just don't," Saul suggested, turning his head to look at Bill, "Maybe we just forget the gods damn boxing facility." He said, knowing that he - and the others - couldn't afford for D'Anna to be unboxed and brought to the fleet.

Bill wasn't so sure. "Lie to the rebels?" He asked, before Saul quickly rebuked him.

"Well, they're lying to us. The skin jobs said their raiders won't fight because the Final Five is here. We've been dealing with them for three years now and they haven't turned back before! Why now?" The XO questioned, but Bill's attention was fixed on Laura as he took in her pale complexion.

This situation was the last thing she needed to be dealing with. Her morning treatment had already been cancelled after the emergency jump.

"What if they're telling the truth? What if the Final Five are here" Helo asked, sensing that he might be able to win over the Admiral. "The Five could know the way to Earth," Bill said, though speaking directly to Laura.

He was more committed now than ever before to finding Earth.

All he wanted was to see Pandora lift that first fistful of Earth.

"If they knew, they're not going to lead us there after we've just destroyed their resurrection capacity," Laura countered, doubting any of this was going to be as easy as Helo was making it sound. "Maybe they're different? Like the rebels?" Bill suggested, walking over to the sofa to sit down beside his wife. "What if they're not? What if their sole purpose is to destroy us?' Laura asked, turning to face the man as he sat down next to her.

"I say we blow the whole gods damn thing to dust - lock, stock, and barrel - and trust the President's vision - her scriptures, her way to Earth," Saul said, making Laura inadvertently flinch as she thought about the recurring vision of the opera house. It haunted her like a living nightmare.

Bill found himself raising his eyebrow. Since when had Saul been such a supporter of Laura's visions? There was something there that Bill couldn't quite put his finger on.

"Why don't we split the difference?" Laura suggested pragmatically, "Unbox D'Anna and find the five. Keep the five till we get to Earth, turn them over to the rebels. They've waited this long. It'll be on our terms," she said, knowing that they couldn't afford to play this strictly by the cylon's gameplan.

Laura wouldn't allow herself to get her hopes up yet. Living through New Caprica had killed almost any hope left in her. "It's all pie in the sky, gentlemen, until we know what's true and what's not," She insisted, pursing her lips.

"And we put a lid on it - the real plan stays in this room," Bill announced. "If the plan gets leaked to the cylons, all bets are off," he said, sending Helo on his way to escort the cylon leader back to her baseship.

As the door closed behind Helo, Laura groaned as she leaned back against the sofa, taking the final sip of her coffee.

Today was going to be a long day.

After getting Pandora off for her nap, Laura had managed to make her way through most of her outstanding paperwork. That was until Tori walked into her makeshift office on Galactica. In reality, it was a room just down the corridor from Bill's quarters but virtually no one knew she had repurposed the space as her own.

Seeing Tori reminded Laura of the other reason why today wasn't about to get any easier.

Her assistant smiled as she walked into the room, paperwork in hand as she sat herself down in the visitor's seat, while digging around for her legal pad. "What is it about the Galactica that gives you such a glow?" Laura asked, raising her eyebrow as she leaned back on the seat, already knowing the answer.

Gaius fraking Baltar. Literally.

"I come over here and it's like I'm going from one dungeon to the next," Laura confessed, although Galactica felt like far less of a dungeon than Colonial One ever did.

"Oh, I hadn't noticed, but thank you," Tori said, barely able to spare her blushes.

"You ready?" Laura asked, waiting for Tori to reply before continuing. "I want you to find out who's behind the shared vision rumours. Who's talking to him?" She said, her eyes fixed on the younger woman as she looked up from her notebook.

"With Baltar?" Tori asked as Laura nodded her head before going in to strike. "You're sleeping with him, right?' Laura asked, as though inquiring about the weather. Her voice was monotonous. She had dealt with enough betrayal already that Tori's relationship with Baltar was disappointing - but Laura had come to realise that she could trust no one.

No one except Bill, of course.

Laura could almost see Tori's heart stop as the colour drained from the woman's face. Tori's lips moved - perhaps about to blurt out some half-rehearsed monologue - but she couldn't bring herself to make a sound.

"Don't…" Laura stopped her, not breaking eye contact as she stared the younger woman down.

"I've been informed that you've been spotted down there enough times to be a charter member of his nymph squad," Laura revealed, as Tori struggled to meet her eyes, shifting her shoulders as she shuffled on her seat.

Tori felt like a schoolgirl that had been sent to the principal's office. Only a thousand times worse than that. While she wouldn't say that she looked at Laura as a maternal figure, she respected the woman immensely.

"Already…I have come to believe in Baltar's spiritual message. I don't know how or why. It just happened. I wish you knew how many times I wanted to tell you," Tori paused, doubting that any of this was helping her cause, "Your friendship and your trust mean…" She stopped as Laura cut her off.

Laura resisted the urge to roll her eyes.

"Frak," She said, folding her arms as she leaned against her desk, "Clearly my friendship and trust mean frak. And I don't really care if you have to spend the night on your knees praying or just on your knees. I want a name. I want to know who's responsible for these lies," Laura paused, her eyes momentarily darting to the side of the room to where Pandora was fast asleep in the makeshift bunk.

"I trust you with my child, and you're sleeping with my enemy," she said, her voice dropping as she picked up her glasses. "I want a name," Laura finished, before turning around in her chair to put her back to the other woman.

Tori took a deep breath as she stared at the woman's back, as though willing her to turn around. "Madame President," she said, before trying another tactic. "Laura, I'm so sorry," She added, but it was clear that any goodwill Laura had towards her was gone.

"You have a job to do," Laura reminded her, focusing on the papers in front of her as she brought an end to the conversation.

Tori lifted her papers, her eyes glancing over to the sleeping bundle in the makeshift bed. These days, Pandora was never too far from her mother. One was an emotional crutch for the other - only Tori couldn't tell which was which.

She couldn't deny that she felt sorry for the child - she felt sorry for them all.

By the time Laura made it to Sick Bay, she was ready to pass out with exhaustion. They just needed to catch a break.

A day. That's all she wanted to rest and recover.

Gaeta's singing floated through the Sick Bay like a haunting lullaby - a beacon from a time that felt like a lifetime ago. Cottle was finishing attaching her IV drip, while Laura was content to listen to the man's soothing voice.

It was then that Lee appeared. He didn't look at her at first, instead focusing on the singing.

"What a way to discover such a beautiful voice, huh?" Laura asked, leaning her elbow on the table that held her paperwork and Bill's book. "How did you find me?" She inquired as Lee turned around to face her.

"Your Chief of Staff," Lee confessed, watching as his stepmother rolled her eyes. "Needs to be horsewhipped," Laura said, although she was all too aware that she couldn't manage her current workload without Tori.

"Where's my sister?" Lee asked, putting his hands in his pockets as he tried to delay the inevitable. "With Hera in day-care, I don't want her spending everyday here." Laura explained, resting her forehead down on her hand as she looked at her stepson. "If you came down here to kiss my ass to get information, save your breath," She insisted, feeling her eyelids start to feel heavy under the weight of your lashes.

Well, no time like the present.

Lee fidgeted with his suit as he straightened his back, "The Quorum is considering a vote of no confidence against you," He explained, watching as another metaphorical weight added itself to his stepmother's shoulders. Lee could practically see it puling her down as the woman closed her eyes.

Laura thought Lee was becoming more and more like a harbinger of doom.

She took a moment to pull herself together before speaking, "I won't compromise the success of this operation or the safety of this fleet - of my family - to indulge the neediness of 12 perpetually unhappy representatives," Laura insisted, nodding her head as she added, "I can't".

Lee nodded his head, not surprised that the woman had proved his suspicions right. Laura was never going to cave to the Quorum's demands. Her stubbornness was perhaps one of her greatest - if not at sometimes self-inflicting - qualities.

"I was with them on the emergency jump, and I saw something on the faces of the delegates. It wasn't the anxiety from waiting. It went beyond that," Lee revealed, thinking of the expressionless faces of his colleagues as they sat there - as though waiting for life to disappear around them.

"I was anxious. It was my first time, but they - they were empty. The quorum had given up and then it struck me. After going through the same routine so many times, it was the only way that they could cope with the uncertainty - to presume the worst" He continued, knowing that it had felt like an out of body experience. It was the opposite of the adrenaline rush that would pulse through his veins as a pilot.

He'd take being a pilot over being a political representative any day of the week.

Laura shook her head. Lee was too much of a romanticist. He saw life through rose tinted glasses - even now, after everything they had been through.

Bill was like that, even if he wouldn't admit it.

"You felt their suffering. Now try holding their lives in balance every day - and try to do that when managing a child and an illness that's trying to kill you from the inside," Laura said, her voice soft as she tried to make the man step into her shoes for once - just once - to see everything from her side of the table.

Lee looked down at his feet. He knew how difficult everything was right now. The dark circles under his father's eyes - and the sadness in Pandora's - told him that much.

It was then that the singing stopped, bringing with it an eery silence.

"Talk to them. You don't have to tell them everything. I know how this works. Let them put a face to this joint mission. Let them hear from this cylon leader - anything to put their fears to rest," Lee said, his hand rubbing the back of his neck as he took his leave from the Sick Bay.

Before Laura knew it, she was standing in front of the Quorum. The treatment had gone to her head, making her nauseous enough to have to lean on the table for support. She forced herself to look at each of the Quorum representatives - to make them see how serious she was.

"I didn't come here to beg or plead or apologise - or to keep my job. You know me better than that," Laura insisted, though she knew how cynical some of the Quorum members could be - her Vice President being no exception.

"And I didn't come here to create sympathy by parading my illness in front of you. On the contrary, there are some of you that probably believe that along with my cancer and drugs, I have inoculated myself against compassion" She revealed, knowing the sort of rumours that were going around the ship.

A President drunk on power, placing herself in a gilded cage - far above the rest of the fleet.

"That is a joke. You've all seen my daughter," Laura said, pulling her lips up into a Mona Lisa smile as she thought of the little girl. She had decided against fetching Pandora from the day-care, content in the knowledge that she would be fine as long as Hera was there with her.

"I am here because I want to tell you face to face that I believe in this mission and what it means for our future." She said, her tone turning sober as she pushed herself up, standing to her full height as the mood in the room shifted.

"I'm here to profess my trust in our new allies. I'm here to ask you to listen. I'm here to ask for your support. Bring her in," she said, catching Bill's eye across the room, while everyone else was distracted by the guards leading the Six into the Quorum room.

Bill found himself instinctively stepping closer to Laura, taking his place behind her as the Six stopped in front of them. The tension in the room could be cut with a butter knife as the cylon began to speak. He reached his hand out to rest on Laura's back, feeling her shift towards him.

Meanwhile, Laura found her attention fixed on Kara. They had yet to fully speak to each other after the chaos that followed in the wake of Kara's return from apparent death. Part of her would never be able to forgive the girl for the pain she had caused Bill - and Pandora.

"Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak," The Six said, finishing her speech before the guards escorted her to the same door that she had appeared through.

It took only a few moments before the Quorum members began to collect their things to leave. Out of the corner of his eye, Bill could see Tori walking towards Laura with another stack of paperwork.

"Let's get you home," Bill said, knowing that his wife had already gone through more than enough for one day. Laura nodded her head as she slipped her hand through his arm, practically leaning on his shoulder as they headed out the other exit.

Her hope for a peaceful slumber went ungranted. No sooner had Laura's body relaxed and her mind slipped to slumber before she appeared in a familiar surroundings.

The Opera House.

Her heart started to beat a hundred miles a second. There it was again. That impending feeling of doom. As though something was stepping forward to take all the light from her life.

"Pandora! Hera!" She called, her feet moving before her mind could catch up. Laura was always close enough to see them, but always too far to reach them.

Both holding hands clasped together as they walked down the stairs. Hera in angelic white. Pandora in her favourite red dress. She could feel her heart beating in her ears as her eyes struggled to keep up with the girls.

Their shadows and the sound of their giggle were the only thing she had to guide her now.

As she reached the end of the staircase, Sharon Agathon stood across the way. The two mothers moved virtually in unison, taking the steps two at a time as they rushed to the double doors that were engulfed in golden light.

Just like before, Caprica Six reached down and lifted Hera, while Baltar took Pandora by the hand.

Laura gasped as she pulled herself out of her nightmare, her chest panting as she struggled to catch her breath.

"Mama"

Pandora's voice almost made her jump out of her skin. Her eyes widened as it took her a moment to adjust to the darkness of the cabin before she reached out to pull Pandora into her arms, lifting her up into the bunk.

"Mama, I'm okay, Mama," Pandora said, her small hand curling around the fabric of Laura's nightdress as the woman clutched her to her chest. It took every bone in Laura's body to stop her from sobbing into Pandora's hair.

While Pandora eventually fell back to sleep in her arms, Laura stayed away - watching the girl as though someone might snatch her away at any moment.

The next morning, Laura dropped Pandora off at day-care before heading to her next round of treatment. She had almost considered bringing the girl with her but she knew it would do Pandora some good to see Hera and the other children. Hopefully her treatment would make her tired enough to at least catch a quick nap in the sick bay.

But that nap wasn't to be.

Just like Lee had done the day before, Kara found her way to the bottom of Laura's cubicle.

"I gotta hand it to you. If you are a cylon, that was a great plan. Dangle yet another way to work - throw in the hub, the final five, and the real kicker - put the final five on the fleet. Even I couldn't pass that one up," Laura confessed, her mind slipping back to the last time she had been alone in a room with Kara.

Kara took one step closer to Laura's bed. "You are having those visions, aren't you?" She asked, her voice as low as a whisper. So low that Laura would have missed it if the rest of sick bay hadn't been so quiet.

Laura shook her head before looking back down at her book. There was no point playing whatever game Kara was up to.

"Thus shall it come to pass the dying leader shall know the truth of the Opera House," Kara whispered, moving around the bed as though trying to transfix the woman in front of her.

Laura froze as her blood ran cold.

How in the Lord of Kobol's name did Kara know about the Opera House?

She blinked as her breath finally came back to her. "What did you say?" Laura asked, wondering if this was another one of her doloxan induced hallucinations.

"Thus shall it come to pass…." Kara started, before being stopped by Laura.

"...the Opera House," The older woman said, cutting to the point.

"The dying leader shall know the truth of the Opera House," Kara repeated, watching as Laura struggled to form her words. Her eyes blinked as her lips witched.

"Where did – where did you hear that?" Laura paused, her breath catching in her throat, "Who told you that?" She exclaimed, her heart starting to race as her vision became blurry.

Kara kept eye contact with her. "The hybrid from the baseship before they unplugged it," She explained.

"The hybrid. How does the hybrid know what's in my dream?" Laura asked, her voice becoming breathy as her heart rate started to soar. Did that mean that the hybrid knew about Pandora? Did the hybrid have an answer to what the Opera House meant?

Kara unclenched her jaw, "I wish I knew" She replied after a pregnant pause.

Laura shook her head repeatedly, as though unsure whether to pinch herself or say a silent prayer for redemption, "This has got to stop. I can't lose her," she said, twirling her wedding ring on her finger as she tried to block out flashes of her vision.

"These visions. I've got to find out about these visions. I've got to know" Laura pressed, knowing that for now, Kara was the best chance she had of getting answers. "Will you help me?" She asked, looking up at the woman with pleading eyes. The same woman whom only months before she had pointed a gun at.

"Yes," Kara said, not skipping a beat. "Find Captain Agathon," Laura ordered, watching as Kara nodded her head before disappearing out of the Sick Bay.

She hadn't told Bill where she was going.

Laura knew her husband well enough to know he would have insisted on her not going. But this was too important. She had to figure out what these visions meant - what they meant for their daughter.

As she sat in the raptor, Laura found herself playing with the bracelet that Pandora had made her. This was only meant to be a short visit - in and out. She would speak to the hybrid and come straight back. Pandora wouldn't even know that she was gone.

But there was something lingering in the back of her mind. Like her subconscious was trying to warn her.

There were so many questions that needed to be answered. Pandora would always be her daughter but what was she? What was her connection to Hera and why was she in this vision?

Laura looked up as Baltar stepped into the raptor, taking the seat across from her. He didn't seem all that surprised to have found her there waiting for him.

"We're going to settle this now" Laura announced, clutching her copy of Searider Falcon on her lap.

"What's to settle?" Baltar asked, a smirk dancing on his lips as he couldn't pass up the opportunity to tease his former political opponent, "Your Chief of Staff is incomparably talented," he said, taking pride in having one up on the President when it came to her most trusted staff member.

Laura decided it was time to cut out the bullshit. Baltar would know sooner or later.

"I've been sharing visions with Sharon Agathon and the Six," She revealed, watching as a sense of realisation washed over the man in front of her. "So, I was only speaking the truth," Baltar said, as though he was being vindicated in the process. "Yes," Laura confirmed, nodding her head before getting down to business.

"The hybrid on the baseship spoke of an opera house and a dying leader. We're going to talk to the hybrid," She explained, deciding that it was only necessary to tell Baltar the bare minimum about this mission - only the things he would likely gather from her conversation with the hybrid.

"And why would you require my presence?" He asked, doubting that he was suddenly in the President's good graces. Laura resisted the urge to tut. "Because you're in my visions - with my daughter," Laura revealed, dropping that particular bombshell as the door of the raptor shut beside them.

Sharon Agathon was exhausted.

She had spent the rest of the night awake after her dream of the Opera House. Although she knew she was being paranoid, Sharon couldn't help but slip away to the day-care during her break. She needed to see Hera with her own eyes.

Stepping into the room, she quickly spotted Hera and Pandora, their two heads close together as they scribbled into a colouring book.

"Hey girls," Sharon said, dropping a kiss on Hera's forehead before shrugging herself out of her space jacket. "What are you doing baby?" She asked Hera, but the child seemed fixated on her work of art. "Can I see what you two were drawing?" Sharon inquired, bending down between Hera and Pandora to take the colouring book we were both drawing in.

What she found inside was worse than any vision of the Opera House.

Scribbled across the pages was the number '6' and different drawings of a woman with blonde hair and red lipstick. The childish scribbles in thick crayon only seemed to add an even more haunting feel to them.

"Oh, no! No!" Sharon muttered, flicking between the pages - only to be met by the same images on each one. Turning back to face her daughter, Sharon was met by two empty seats.

"Hera? Pandora? Hera!" She called, her eyes scanning the empty day-care before she set out through the main door.

It was then that the vision of the opera house started to blur with reality.

Sharon set off down the hallway at the same time as Laura Roslin was disembarking onto the cylon baseship, just as the Six was arriving on Galactica.

By now, Sharon was starting to get desperate. She shouted out Hera's name, then Pandora's, and then Hera's again. One right after the other.

This felt eerily similar to chasing the girls through the coordinates of the Opera House.

"Have you seen my daughter? And Pandora?" She asked, grabbing onto Dualla's arm as she came across the Communicators Officer.

"No, I haven't" Dualla replied, before Sharon darted off down the hallway. "Are they missing?" Dualla called after her, jogging to keep up with the woman but Sharon had already sprinted down the hallway.

As she turned the corner, Sharon caught sight of the pair up ahead. Hera giggled as she reached out for Pandora's hand, guiding her down the steps.

Just like in the opera house.

As quickly as she found them, Sharon lost them again.

Just like the vision - she was chasing their shadows.

"Hera!" She cried, heading down another flight of steps until she came across a series of construction workers. "I can't find the girls," Sharon said, stopping beside Tyrol, her eyes wide with fear as she clutched his arm. "I can't find Hera and Pandora!" She exclaimed, but the man simply stared back at her.

Realising she wasn't going to get any help, Sharon kept moving. Tyrol took a moment before looking over his shoulder and following the woman. Perhaps they had just wandered off? Kids did that.

On the next corridor, Hera and Pandora stopped as footsteps sounded. Hera put her finger on her lips as Pandora chuckled to herself. As though this was some elaborate game of hide and seek.

The Six came to a stop as she turned the corner and caught sight of the two girls - as though they had been standing there waiting for her. Holding each other's hands, while carrying their plush toys in the other.

Saul raised an eyebrow as he stood behind the Six. How had Pandora - of all the children - gotten out of day-care?

The Six bent down until she was at eye level with the girls. She reached out to cup their cheeks, smiling up at them. "Hello," The cylon breathed, gently brushing back Pandora's curls with one finger as she stroked Hera's cheek. The Six seemed to marvel at the pair, as though she was looking at a living deity.

As Sharon turned the corner, she could see it all clearly then.

It was just like the opera house. All that was missing was Laura.

This was when the Six took Hera. Just like the vision foretold.

"Get away from my child!" Sharon cried, already pulling her sidearm out of its holster as she walked down the corridor.

The Six looked startled as she found herself at the end of Sharon's gun, the whites of her eyes shining like a cat caught in headlights. "Get your hands off of my child!" Sharon shouted again, her gun locked and loaded as the Six took her hands away from the children, holding them outstretched as she stood back up.

"Athena!" Saul snapped as the guards behind them raised their weapons at the pilot. Of all the children that had to be caught up in the fire - it would have to be Pandora.

"Stay back!" Sharon shouted, moving her gun momentarily towards the guards before pointing it back at the Six. She had no problem unloading every bullet in her pistol to protect Hera.

"Stand down!" Saul ordered, knowing how quickly the situation could get out of hand.

At the same time, Laura found herself kneeling next to the hybrid with no idea of what was unfolding on Galactica. "Plug it in," she said, nodding her head to Boomer. "I need to talk to it," she said, crossing her hands on her lap as she said a silent prayer that the creature might be able to give her the answers she sought. That she might be able to answer her questions about Pandora.

Athena stepped forward with her gun, holding it pointed at the cylon in front of her. The girls were too close. Each of them having wrapped their arms around the woman's legs. As though they knew her - but how?

"Tyrol, will you come in here and take the girls, please?" She asked, not looking over her shoulder.

"Just do it Tyrol," Saul ordered, seeing one of the guards dart off in the direction of the CIC. No doubt in search of Bill. He had to get Pandora and Hera as far away from these guns as possible.

Tyrol stepped forward, his eyes fixed on the children as he reached down to pick them up, placing one on each hip as he walked away. Sharon never broke eye contact with the cylon in front of her, as though daring her to put a foot out of line.

The Six stood as still as possible, but her eyes told another story. She knew if she turned, the woman would shoot. The Six didn't trust the Galactica guards to be willing to take a bullet for her.

"Are the girls gone?" Athena asked, waiting for Tyrol to reply. "Yes," he said, having moved both girls down the hallway and towards Dualla, who had finally made it to the corridor.

It was happening again. The vision of the opera house blurring with reality. The Six picking up Hera and walking away - walking into the light.

Pandora. Hera. Baltar. The Six.

Walking into the golden light.

The doors closing behind them.

"You are never going to take my child," Sharon said, her finger hovering over the trigger as she straightened her shoulders. "We didn't come here to." The Six insisted, but her words were quickly drowned out.

One shot.

Two shots.

Bang.

As the second bullet found its target, the hybrid came to life.

"Jump!"