New Chapter: Earth Rain - Book III, 29/?, BSG, K/L, NC-17
Title: Earth Rain
Author: Alice J. Foster (a.k.a. shipperfey)
Book III
| For Books I, II, and previous chapters, go here |
| Chapter 28 | Chapter 29 | Chapter 30 | Chapter 31 | Chapter 32 |
| Chapter 33 | Chapter 34 | Chapter 35 | Chapter 36 |
| Chapter 37 | Chapter 38 | Chapter 39 | Chapter 40 | Epilogue |
Summary: In the present, Kara, Lee and Aria spend the holidays with Bill, Laura and the Agathons. In the future, we get to see the Adama children struggle with their legacies.
Spoilers: Anything up to Season 3 is fair game.
Category/Warnings:Smut. Angst. Romance. Fluff.
Pairing/Characters: Kara/Lee, Helo/Athena, Hera, Bill Adama/Laura Roslin, OC.
Rating: NC-17/M for overall angsty smut, mature themes, and bad language.
♥
Chapter 29
Kara’s stomach was doing flips as they exited the government-issued Sedan with diplomat plates that had picked them up from the airport.
Mary had been extremely considerate, even offered to have their Christmas dinner a few days early so Kara and Aria wouldn’t miss out on spending the holidays with their Montana family. Kara had thanked her, with a hug and an antique mantle clock she knew Mary would love, and she tried to spend her early Christmas celebration not freaking out. She would’ve probably tried to back out of this arrangement, except for the promise of seeing Helo and the old man…
…and Lee, her lonely heart and intermittent libido reminded her; phone calls weren’t enough. There were news you couldn’t break to someone over the phone…
…or in a busy airport…
…or in a government car…
…or in the presence of family and friends.
There was a small possibility that Kara was lacking the courage to tell him the truth; then again, Lee Adama tended to be the only person who could ever cause Starbuck to lose courage. Maybe she would just keep quiet and let him find out once she got to be the size of a house. Of course, she reminded herself, Lee could be a little dense sometimes, and she didn’t want him finding out when her water broke.
Watching the stick’s second line appear had been as scary as the first time; however the aftermath had been completely opposite. With Aria, Kara had been just a shell of her old self, stranded on a strange planet and just starting to befriend Mary; as lonely as it had been, being pregnant then had meant there were no expectations, and there was no one to disappoint - at least until she looked into Aria’s eyes and realized this was the one person in the universe she could never let down.
It would make sense that finding out she was pregnant a second time would be much easier; any doubts about Kara’s maternal instincts had been erased by Aria, and Kara was completely established on Earth this time. Not to mention the fact that things were going better than she could’ve ever hoped for with Lee. And yet she had been in complete denial about her symptoms, and it wasn’t until Mary had once again thrust the box with the unused test in her hand that Kara had been forced to face the truth.
A quick visit to Dr. Ericson had confirmed the diagnosis and estimated she was about twelve to fourteen weeks along; he’d explained if she’d waited another week or two to take the home pregnancy tests, her hormone levels would’ve started to drop and she could’ve gotten false negatives, which would’ve meant she’d have continued to miss out on important prenatal care. Feeling properly chastised, Kara had gone home with a request slip for an ultrasound that would confirm date of conception and give her estimated due date.
That had been five days before and she still hadn’t worked up the courage to tell Lee.
Mary had jokingly said she wouldn’t be able to hide it much longer, and that women started to show much earlier with a second pregnancy; it wasn’t until Kara had struggled to zip up her jeans before her flight that she’d realized it was true. She was still a couple of weeks, maybe a month, away from having to buy a new wardrobe, but she could definitely tell there was a weight shift in her midsection.
Kara suddenly couldn’t think about courage or Lee or expanding waists, because the door to the fancy condo opened, and Kara was graced with the vision of her hero. He moved pretty fast for an old man, and she met him halfway, wrapping her arms around him to make sure he wasn’t just an illusion.
Stupid hormone-induced tears were threatening to spill so she pulled back, looking into the wise blue eyes of her former commanding officer.
“It’s good to see you, Starbuck.”
She grinned up at him. “Good to see you too, sir.”
He returned her smile before his gaze dropped to a bundled up Aria in Lee’s arms, her face barely visible under the hood of her jacket.
Lee walked up to his father and Aria’s face lit up as she recognized the older man in front of her. The look of adoration at finally meeting him in person was heartwarming - and, at the same time, painful to Kara. It reminded her of how much of a frak-up she was for keeping Aria away from this part of her life. Kara could only vow not to make the same mistake with the child now growing inside of her.
“Pops!” Aria yelled excitedly, eyes darting back and forth between Kara and Lee as if she hadn’t believed them when they’d told her she was going to meet her grandfather.
The older man was speechless.
Just when Kara thought her heart couldn’t swell more in her chest, she watched as her daughter’s grandfather reached out with both arms and picked up Aria.
If the look on the young girl’s face was any indication, the amount of admiration for Bill Adama reached worrisome levels when you combined the Thrace and Adama genes.
♥
[Fifteen Years and Eight Months Later]
“Hey, Dad, do you have a minute?”
Lee turned from his work desk to see his son standing at the entrance to the home office. “Sure, Herm… what’s up?”
“Uh,” Hermes looked uncomfortable, clearly changing his mind. “Actually, nevermind…”
“Son, just tell me,” Lee said as he got up and closed the door to the office, blocking the exit in the same way he usually had to do with Kara.
Apparently the urge to flee was a genetic trait and Hermes had certainly inherited it. Other than that, their younger child had grown up to be an exemplary teen and a welcome relief from Aria’s constant antics.
Hermes sat down on his armchair; Lee had spent countless nights rocking his infant son to sleep there, and after Hermes started to walk, the boy would always end up in the office, on that armchair, silently watching Lee work.
Lee kicked himself when he realized it had to have been at least three years since Hermes had last sat down on the armchair. His son was growing up, and he was always so quiet it was easy to mistake the silence for placidity.
“Dad, am I a good son?”
Lee was taken aback by the question; he hadn’t been sure what this conversation would be about, but this was definitely a curve ball. “Of course-- of course you are, Hermes. You’re the best son I could’ve ever asked for.”
“But I’m not like you or mom or Pops. Remember how Pops always said that there’s no feeling for an Adama like flying a Viper?”
Lee nodded strainedly; his father’s continued boosting of flying to the kids had been the cause of problems for Kara and Lee. They struggled with the consequences on a daily basis, but it was usually with Aria, not Hermes. “Son, you know better than that,” Lee added softly. “Your grandfather was right: it takes courage to fly a Viper. But it takes even more courage to be yourself, and you shouldn’t let anyone ever make you believe otherwise.”
Hermes took all of it in, before he shrugged and brought his legs up on the armchair. He was almost too big for it, now that he was as tall as Lee and still growing. While Aria was a miniature of Kara, Hermes looked more like his uncle and his grandfather than he looked like his father. It should be painful to Kara and Lee to have a continuous reminder of Zak, but it never felt painful.
“Aria would be a good pilot… I don’t think I would,” Hermes added after some quiet consideration.
“I wouldn’t love you any less or more if you were the best pilot on Earth or the worst in the whole galaxy. And you know how I feel about you or your sister risking your lives out there,” Lee added, hoping Hermes would see sense where his sister seemed unable or unwilling.
“Do you think she’ll enlist like she’s been threatening, Dad?”
Lee finally understood what was going on with Hermes; he wasn’t worried for himself, but for his sister. “Your sister can be unpredictable sometimes,” Lee tried to say with as much reassurance as he could.
The truth was that Aria was very predictable; whatever Kara and Lee least wanted her to do was always what she ended up doing.
“I’ll keep her safe, Dad,” Hermes promised.
“I know you will, son,” Lee replied, allowing a silence to fall between them as his son continued to watch him from his old spot.
♥
Chapter 30
Note: This flash-forward isn't betaed, so any mistakes are mine and not karie22's :D