Kara yawned as she felt herself slowly drift out of sleep. There was something cuddled up against her back, and she recognized the familiar warmth immediately. In the back of her still sleepy mind, she wondered how Lee had managed to get into bed with her without letting any of his pilots notice.

She felt his hand tighten around her as she twisted to face him. He had a habit of watching her sleep so she wasn't surprised to see him smiling at her once she had turned.

Gods. Lee always looked so perfect in the morning. Smiling she desperately wished that it could be like this everyday. She would give almost anything to wake up with this kind of comfort at hand.

Kara was about to give into the temptation of letting herself drift back to sleep in his arms when a spring in the mattress pushed on her side, sending pain howling through her body. She winced, and she could feel Lee's hold on her body tighten even more if that was possible.

"It hurts," she whispered even as the pain was softening.

"I know. It's going to hurt for a while. But I'm here."

Her eyes flew open as the reality of where the pain had come from suddenly hit her. She shouldn't be here. She shouldn't be letting him get so close. She had to get away.

"Lee," she said, panic beginning to set in as she shrugged against his hold.

"Stop it, Kara," he said firmly.

"No." She put her hands on his chest and pushed as hard as she could. When that failed, she started kicking. She connected with his shin and heard him grunt in pain. Lee's hold on her didn't weaken. "Let me go!" she screamed.

"You are going to hurt yourself even more if you don't stop," Lee said, pushing his body on top of hers while trying to be mindful of her fresh wound. The weight of his legs kept her feet from doing anymore damage, and her arms were effectively pinned together against his chest. "Good morning, sunshine," he said with a laugh.

"Please, Lee. Just get off of me."

She could feel his eyes on her face as his expression turned serious. Then, after a moment of hesitation, he seemed to accept defeat and pulled himself off of her. Much to her dismay, though, he simply shifted back down beside her and draped his arm around her stomach. "Did you get that all out of your system? Because I'm not going to wake up every morning for the rest of our lives to a fight like that."

"Then maybe you need to find a new sleeping companion," Kara said, staring up at the top of the bunk.

Lee's hand reached out to turn her face to look at him. "I am only going to say this once, and I hope it will be enough. I am not going anywhere. You can push and you can yell. Hell, you can even kick. I could use a few new bruises to add to my collection. The point is none of that matters. I am not going anywhere."

"Well, I don't want you here," she spit out in anger.

"Tough shit, Kara. Because I'm here and I'm staying." Her expression filled with even more anger, but Lee chose to ignore it. "I'm not going to lie to you to you, and I'm not going to censor my words."

"Please don't," she said, tongue in cheek. He was really pissing her off by putting up such a ridiculous, irrational fight.

"I've dreamt of being a father all my life. But sometimes dreams can't come true. It's a fact of life."

Lee watched her face soften at his candid words before she wet her lips and started talking. "It can still happen for you, Lee. That's what I've been trying to tell you. Just because I can't get pregnant doesn't mean you can't have kids."

Lee sighed. He really couldn't do this lying in bed beside her. It just wasn't possible. So he pushed himself up to sit on the edge of the bed. He patted the mattress softly next to him. "Come here."

Sighing, Kara admitted defeat for the moment. She wasn't going to be able to get him to leave her side at the moment, but she could still fight to make him see that he had to let go if he wanted to move on with his life. She tucked her legs beneath her body and moved down to the edge of the bed beside him. Without saying a word, he slipped his hand on top of hers, and they let the silence stretch between them.

"Do you remember that story you told me about your life ambition when you were twelve? You wanted to be the next pianist in the Caprica Grand Orchestra. You dreamed of being up on the stage and having the audience applaud your skill." Lee paused and turned to look at her. "And then you turned thirteen and you discovered what it felt like to fly. All dreams of being a professional musician went out the door because of the way you felt when your uncle took you into the cockpit of his rusted-out freighter."

Kara smiled at the memory. The forces of space had tugged at her insides and seemed to soothe all the wounds her mother had caused her. It was like flying was the key to healing her piece by piece. She still held tight to that notion to this day.

Even if she had to give up everything she loved, including the man currently holding her hand, she still had flying. That was the only comforting thought the Cylons had left her with.

"You see, you had this dream of being a musician since you were little, but then all of the sudden something rose up to take its place in your heart." Lee squeezed her hand gently. "That's what this is. I'll never deny how much I want to have children. It's been my dream. But you see, I have a bigger dream that's taken its place. I would rather spend one hundred years without children than have to spend one day without you, Kara."

He smiled at her. "There are times when you're going to make me so angry I'm really going to regret how much I love you. You annoy the frak out of me all the time, Kara. But that's what makes this so real. But it doesn't matter because the idea of living without you scares me to death. I don't know who I would be if I didn't have you."

Lee felt her head rest softly on his shoulder. She didn't say a word. She didn't really have to. "Besides, it's about time that you had someone in your life who isn't going to let you run away at the first sign of trouble. You deserve that."

After a moment, she sniffled softly and intertwined her fingers with his. "I don't deserve a man like you."

"You have me all the same," he said, reaching his free hand up to gently push the tears out of her eyes.

"I don't think I'm ever going to stop crying," she said with a small laugh.

"You will," Lee said firmly. He leaned down to brush his lips across the top of her head. "I know you've been through a lot, Kara, and I still wish there was some way for me to take away some of the pain."

"You already have," she whispered.

"Good. I want you to know that we're going to do everything in our power to try to fix whatever the Cylons did to you. But until then I want you to look on the bright side. You've loved flying since you were a little girl, and no matter what the Cylons did, they could not take that away from you." He felt her head nod slightly against his shoulder. "And now that you've come home, you have me, and I'm not going anywhere."

"So you've said numerous times."

Laughing, Lee stood up off the bunk and held out his hand. "What say you and I make our way down to the mess hall? You must be starving by now."

Kara could see the strength and determination in his eyes, and suddenly she realized he had been right. This burden wasn't hers to bear alone, and having him with her was going to help dull the pain. Together, they can grieve for the things they have lost and focus on the things they still have. Smiling, she took the hand he offered. Lee pushed open the hatchway door and led her out into the corridor.

"So what's happened on the Galactica since I've been gone?" she asked as they walked hand in hand.

"The XO's wife tried to seduce me again."

"No way," Kara said with a grin. "That woman doesn't take no for an answer. So what did she do?"

Lee was about to answer her question when Hot Dog came barreling around the corner towards them. "Apollo! Starbuck! The Commander wants to see you down in sickbay now."

"Do you know what this is about?" Lee asked the young pilot.

"I have no clue, sir. The Old Man wasn't specific. He just told me to find you as soon as I could." Hot Dog glanced down at where Kara was holding her side. "Are you all right, sir?"

"Just your normal battle wounds, kid," she said, showing her usual brash smile. "I'll be back on rotation to torment you in no time."

Hot Dog smiled and gave them a quick salute before running off in the direction he came.

"I guess we should get down to sickbay," Lee said. "Though I have no idea why my father wants to see us there."

"It probably has something to do with the tests Doc Cottle was running on me earlier. Or it has something to do with that damn repopulation program. Your father switched our test results, in case you didn't know."

"Oh, I knew," Lee said, shaking his head. "Ellen Tigh managed to tell me during her seduction attempt."

Kara didn't protest as Lee helped her slowly descend the stairs to sickbay. She had left her pain killers in the pocket of the pants Lee had stripped off her earlier, and the last dose was beginning to wear off. Since she was already going to be down in sickbay, maybe she could convince Doc Cottle to show her some sympathy.

"I'm going to have to do something about Ellen Tigh, you know," Kara said idly as they entered sickbay through the main doors. "I wonder if you could neuter a human being."

"Maybe she's a toaster," Lee suggested. "Then you could just shoot her and be done with it."

Their conversation died out as they took notice of William Adama. He was standing at the far end of sickbay surrounded by a herd of people. The President and Billy were there along with Colonel Tigh and the entire Quorum of Twelve. Doc Cottle was standing a few steps back, smoking one of his cigars.

"You wanted to see us, sir," Kara said, still holding tightly to Lee's hands as they stopped in front of the large group of people.

"President?" Adama said, indicating she should step in with the explanation.

"We wanted you two to be the first to know that our repopulation program was a success." She took a step back and gestured for them to take a look through the large glass window. "Meet the first soul of our next generation."

Together, Kara and Lee looked down at a small monitor attached to one of the growth pods the medical team on Galactica had created. Kara gasped as she saw movement on the screen. She was actually staring at a life developing in front of her. "This is amazing," she whispered. She looked up at Lee and was surprised to see tears forming in his eyes. "What is it?"

"Look, Kara," he said, pointing down.

It was at that moment that she noticed the small sticker attached to the growth pod. "I don't understand," she said, turning to look at the Commander and then at Doc Cottle.

Commander Adama stepped forward to place his hand on her shoulder. "There was only one successful pregnancy out of all the tests this first time, Kara." He turned to smile at his son. "And that was yours."

Kara turned to look back at the monitor. "That's our child?"

"Yes, it is, Lieutenant Thrace," President Roslin said with a light laugh.

Kara gave her a smile before turning to look at the man beside her. "Lee. That's our baby."

The weight of her words was only really felt by a few people in the room, but the significance of the one child was understood by all.

Lee pulled Kara in tightly against him and pressed his lips lightly to hers for a brief moment. "I told you everything would be fine."

"I love you," Kara whispered before turning back to stare at the lines on the monitor as they showed the small heartbeat of the growing child resting inside the pod.

Suddenly, deep inside her, she finally realized the truth that had eluded her for so long. The Cylons were never going to win. They had played their last card, and it didn't change a thing. The machines said that this was the last cycle they would be put through, and for the first time, that brought Kara relief instead of fear. Because she knew something the Cylons didn't know.

It was the end of the world, but she was sitting there with full colors in her hand.

END