Fanfiction: Homecoming - Part 1
Summary: Bill Adama comes home on leave and finds that life on the homefront is starting to change.
Characters: Bill and Lee
Setting: Takes place primarily about 20 years before the Colonial Holocaust, then jumps forward and finishes shortly after episode 5, “You Can’t Go Home Again.”
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Based upon characters and situations created by Glen Larson and Ron Moore, and the other staff writers of “Battlestar Galactica”, past and present. They are my heroes and I'm just playing in their sandbox.
This started as a short flashback contained within another story, but ended up taking on a bit of a life of its own -- one of those instances where the story led the way, and I just went along for the ride.
Note: This story was originally posted on Fanfiction.net several months ago, but now that I'm starting to get the hang of LJ, I've decided to re-post the story here where I can better control the appearance and formatting. I think I have it formatted to my satisfaction, but if anyone thinks something looks screwy, please let me know.
Chapter 1
Wizard’s career was in trouble. He had bounced yet another landing on the Galactica and the Commander wasn’t going to put up with it for much longer. The young pilot tried harder than anyone in the squadron, but he just couldn’t seem to get the hang of a hands-on landing. Husker had worked with him on numerous occasions, taking him step by step through the process, but the rookie just couldn’t get it right. It seemed to have become a mental block of some kind. He handled his viper just fine in flight, but he consistently choked on the landing, miscalculating his distance, altitude, or speed, or some combination of all three. It was a shame. Husker liked Wizard, and he was a very bright kid... but if he couldn’t manage to smooth out his landings, Husker knew the commander would insist on having Wizard transferred to another post where “lazy-ass auto-landings” were acceptable.
Unlike the newer line of battlestars coming out of Geminon’s ship works, the Galactica had no auto-landing system. The Galactica’s pilots still had to bring in their ships the “old-fashioned” way and Commander Mance insisted that they do it right. Hard landings were hard on both pilots and machinery alike. A pilot who couldn’t make a reliable landing was a danger to himself and his fellow pilots, not to mention a burden upon the deck crews who would have to repair the damage done to a multi-million credit fighter craft. Mance was annoyed to no end that new pilots were not even coached on hands-on landings in basic flight school anymore. That skill had recently been pushed off to advanced fighter training, a notion that Commander Mance found absurd. William “Husker” Adama, the Galactica’s Commander of Air Group, had to agree. What more basic skill did a pilot need than to be able to land safely? But someone, somewhere in the fleet hierarchy had decided that the technique was no longer so essential, given that all the new battlestars had the capability of taking over a viper’s controls and landing the craft neatly and safely without any intervention from the pilot. The older battlestars, including the Galactica, were slated to be retrofitted with the auto-landing systems, but it would likely be years before the entire fleet was completely updated.
Commander Mance and Captain Adama were of the “old school” of viper pilots, veterans of the worst days of the Cylon War. There had been no auto-landings in those days. The human brain was the only computing mechanism that the Cylons could not compromise; therefore ultimate control of all systems was left to humans, not to computers. The notion of installing a computer system designed to completely take control of a fighter craft away from its pilot would have been unthinkable. Now however, 17 years after the end of the Cylon War, it was considered the state of the art and the wave of the future.
“Fools,” William muttered, shaking his head. “They’re fraking fools, and one of these days it’s going to come back to bite us all on the ass.”
“Bill, the boys may be outside, but I’d still prefer not to have that kind of language in the house.”
“Sorry,” he said to his wife. “But it’s true. Mark my words, Caroline, it hasn’t even been 20 years, and we’re already surrendering control of vital systems to machines again. Didn’t we learn the first time? And we have so-called pilots coming out of flight school only half-trained. They’re sending them out in vipers - combat spacecraft - without even teaching them how to land! It’s insane! Lords forbid that we should end up facing another war any time soon, because none of these kids would last a week. A pilot who isn’t safe in the cockpit and fully in control should never be given his wings!”
William took a long drink from his ale mug and set it down with a frustrated thump on the side table. He looked up to see his wife sitting in the chair beside him with her arms and legs crossed, staring back at him. She didn’t look at all happy.
“What?” he asked.
She sighed and shook her head. “You haven’t been home yet for even half a day and already your mind is back on the ship. Or did you even leave it in the first place?”
William sat forward to explain, but tried to keep his voice as conciliatory as possible. “I have a pilot,” he said. “He’s a good pilot in every other respect, and a damn hard worker, but he just can’t control his landings. I’m going to have to recommend dismissing him from the squadron.” Without being aware of it, his voice gained in intensity. “I hate to do it, because I really don’t think it’s his fault. If he’d just been properly trained in the first place... But, he isn’t safe. Yet I know some other CAG on some other battlestar is going to take him and slot him full-time because on their ship he won’t have to know how to land... until the fraking auto-landing system fails and the kid ends up spattered across the flight deck!”
“Bill...” Caroline said in warning.
William suddenly became aware of somebody chuckling behind him. He turned around to see his youngest son, Zak, standing there, grinning broadly.
“You owe me a cubit, Daddy,” the boy laughed. At six years of age, Zak still had that little-boy chuckle that forced an instant smile onto the face of anyone who heard it.
“Excuse me?” William said, smiling now despite his recent near-tirade.
“You said a bad word,” Zak told him. “You owe me a cubit.” He held out his hand expectantly.
William looked back at his wife. “Is this something new?” he asked.
Caroline sat back in her chair and returned his gaze smugly. “You were warned to watch your language. Pay up, Husker.”
Amused, William turned back toward his son. He made a show of patting down his pockets. “I don’t have any money.”
“Check your wallet,” Zak said witha smirk, as if that conclusion should have been obvious.
“What makes you think I have money in my wallet?”
“That’s what wallets are for,” Zak said. “Or you could check the bowl on your desk. That’s where you always empty out your pockets.”
William spared an amused glance toward his wife. She just grinned. “You’re not going to get out of this. Kids see and hear everything, and they never forget.”
“They must get that from their mothers,” William commented, pushing up out of his chair, resigning himself to having to pay his son a cubit as penance for bad language.
“They certainly don’t get it from their fathers,” Caroline responded, glumly.
William realized from her statement that he was in some kind of trouble with his wife, but didn’t want to pursue the subject in front of Zak. Besides, the boy was already latching onto William’s sleeve and tugging him toward the study where he knew any money in William’s possession could be found. He let Zak lead him to the other room where he fished a cubit out of the bowl on the corner of his desk. He handed over the shiny coin.
“All right,” he told Zak, “you win. You and Lee ever catch Mommy swearing?”
Zak smiled. “Sure, but only when she’s driving. I usually sit up front, so I catch her a lot more than Lee does.”
William bit back a laugh. Caroline was usually a very easy-tempered, well-mannered person, but the traffic in Herald City could inspire a saint to curse the ears off a marine, especially during rush hour. It was just one of the things that Caroline did not like about living there, but it couldn’t be helped. This was where the fleet had assigned them housing, so this was where they had to live. Even advancing up the ranks to the position of CAG had not afforded William enough of a salary to purchase a home outside of military housing. Caroline would have to go to work for them to afford a place of their own, and William, old-fashioned though it might be, did not like the idea of his wife working, at least while the boys were still so young. Perhaps in a few more years, once Lee was older and could be entrusted to look after his little brother for a few hours in the afternoons, they could reconsider her employment status. But by then, William hoped to be promoted to the rank of Major, and the salary increase might be sufficient to buy a home in a nice quiet area, and Caroline wouldn’t have to work after all. Until then, Zak would continue to fill his piggybank with cubits from cursing parents.
Adama regarded Zak curiously. “You ever owe Mommy a cubit?”
“Almost,” he said.
“What do you mean, ‘almost’?”
“It didn’t count, cause I didn’t know it was a bad word. But Lee did, and he taught it to me, so he had to pay her instead.”
William did laugh at that, though he knew he shouldn’t. He didn’t want to give Zak the impression that cursing was funny, but Zak was just so gleefully innocent about it that William couldn’t help himself. “And where did Lee learn this bad word from?”
“From Peter, where else?” Zak said, pocketing the coin. “His dad curses a lot, especially when he comes home late and can’t walk straight.”
That raised alarm bells in William’s head. “Who is Peter?”
“The boy next door.”
“The one Lee is outside playing with right now?”
Zak nodded. “He’s one of them.”
William affectionately ruffled his son’s unruly dark hair. Zak’s hair was almost black, like his father’s, and had the tendency to stand straight on end, making it look almost comical if it wasn’t kept trimmed quite short. Lee’s hair was more like his mother’s: dark blonde and wavy. In the summer months, when Lee spent more time outdoors, his hair would turn very pale blonde, and his resemblance to his mother was striking. Caroline tended to let Lee’s hair grow longer than Zak’s since it lay down nicely and didn’t imitate a little porcupine. Zak’s shorter cut was more like military regulation, enhancing the impression that Zak was a miniature version of his father. But looks aside, William had always thought that in personality Zak was more like his mother, while Lee took after him. Zak was the bubbly, vivacious one, always smiling, but sometime impetuous. Lee was more reserved, focused, and dependable. If either of the boys was ever going to get into trouble, it would be Zak. Lee would be the one rescuing his brother from his latest misadventure. But this news about Lee’s playmate had William a bit concerned.
“Did you finish your homework?” William asked, leading Zak out of the study.
“Almost,” Zak said after a pause.
“Almost, huh? That’s another way of saying, ‘No’. Hop to it, Warrior. See if you can finish up before dinner.”
“Is that when you’re going to give Mommy her present?”
An alarm of a totally different sort sounded off in William’s head. “Present?”
“Yeah,” Zak said. “Her birthday present. Lee said you must have something pretty special to give her since you were waiting until you got home to give it to her instead of sending it through the mail last week.”
Frak!
William checked himself to make sure he hadn’t said that out loud. He nearly owed Zak another cubit. “Mommy’s birthday present... well Zak, I do have something special in mind,” he fibbed. “But I think I’ll wait until tomorrow, when we have the whole day to celebrate.”
The boy seemed satisfied with that explanation. “Should I keep it a secret then?” Zak asked.
“Yeah,” William said. “Let’s keep it a secret.” He gave the boy a pat on the rump to hustle him off to his room and finish his homework.
As soon as Zak’s door was closed, William swore quietly, “Oh frak.” No wonder Caroline had been so chilly towards him since he got home that afternoon. It hadn’t been just his imagination. She really was angry. No, not really angry so much. She was hurt. That was worse. Much worse. And rather than arriving with flowers, or a present, or even acting happy to be home, William had been moody and tired, showing up and asking for a cold ale while complaining about Wizard’s bad landings.
William was in it deep, and he knew it.
So now what?
“Think fast Husker,” he told himself. “I could slip out right now and get... what?” There wasn’t time before dinner to pick up anything more than a cheap bouquet of flowers at the market, which would be just the same as admitting he’d forgotten all about her birthday. Maybe he could duck out in the morning, before she woke up. Not likely. She’d notice. He had one chance. Maybe he could convince her, as he’d convinced Zak, that he planned all along to celebrate her birthday that weekend, after he got home. The odds were slim, but it was worth a shot. If that didn’t work, there was always the fallback plan: begging forgiveness.
William crept back to the living room, trying to eliminate all traces of guilt-riddled fear from his face, but Caroline wasn’t there. She hadn’t passed the study, so she must have gone into the kitchen to check on dinner. He approached the doorframe connecting the kitchen to the small dining area that was adjacent to the living room. He peeked inside the kitchen, scoping out the potential for hostilities in the territory. Caroline was crouched down, checking the temperature of a roast in the oven. She was humming a popular tune, which was a good sign. She wasn’t too angry... at the moment. Gathering his courage, William decided to engage his objective.
He strolled into the kitchen, and as casually as he could muster, he told her, “Smells great. You always have had a way with roasts. Beauty, brains, and great roasts. What more could a man want?”
Caroline winced, but looked amused. “You silver-tongued devil,” she said playfully. “How can a girl resist a line like that? He loves my roast.” She shut the oven door and reset the stove-top timer.
He offered a self-deprecating smile, then walked up behind her and wrapped his arms about her waist. “I have been a bit of a grump since I got home, haven’t I?” He placed a gentle kiss on her cheek.
She sighed. “It usually does take you a few hours to transition back to reality. I should be used to it by now.”
William thought that was a bit of an odd remark. Reality? Did she think life in the military was just a bunch of boys playing with big, loud, expensive toys? Better not pursue the subject. The last thing he wanted was to pick a fight, since he was already at a point loss.
He hugged her to him and told her, “I just don’t want you thinking that I’m not glad to be here, with you and the boys. It is nice to be home. And...,” he paused to give her a kiss on the side of her throat, “in spite of how preoccupied I was earlier with the job, I don’t want you to go on thinking that I must have forgotten your birthday. Sorry I didn’t mention it sooner. I thought we could spend the whole day tomorrow, celebrating.”
“The whole day?” she asked dubiously, but showing interest.
“Yep,” he said. “We’ll start early, eating breakfast out, so there won’t be any cooking or any dishes at all to worry about. Then we can take a drive up the coast, to the Riverwalk Market in Caprica City, where you... you get to pick out anything you want from that Highland jewelry dealer that caught your eye last Founder’s Day. I remember how much you liked those pearl earrings, but I couldn’t remember if you preferred yellow or white gold, so I figured I should let you choose. Then we can turn the kids loose on the beach, and catch an early dinner by the lighthouse. Then if we’re really lucky... by the time we drive home, the boys will be so tuckered out we can put them to bed early... and then the party can really begin.”
He waited for a response. He’d thought it came off pretty nicely.
Caroline let out a slow breath. “Zak reminded you, didn’t he?” When he didn’t abruptly deny it, she nodded and stepped out of his embrace. “Nice try, Bill. You should have kept the tale simpler and just settled for a family day out. I might have bought it. But the pearl earrings at Riverwalk Market? Too much embellishing, especially when I know perfectly well that we can’t afford them.”
She turned toward her husband with her arms crossed and a stern expression on her face. “You know, I should have just gone along with it, played dumb, and seen just how far you’d be willing to go to avoid apologizing to me, but I’m not in the mood to play games, and our bank account couldn’t support it.”
William Adama was a seasoned combat pilot. He’d flown into the fiercest battles of the Cylon War with no hesitation. He’d charged headlong into danger, outnumbered, against an enemy intent upon blowing him into cosmic dust. He’d been decorated for valorous service and bravery. He was a true warrior and a Colonial hero. But facing his wife now he felt like a coward standing about 2 centimeters tall.
He resigned himself to the backup plan. “I’m sorry Caroline. It’s not that I forgot your birthday... I just didn’t remember it in time.”
In spite of herself, Caroline couldn’t help laughing at that. Her expression softened and she shook her head with a weary smile. William knew he was still in trouble, but at least she didn’t hate him.
He approached her and laid his hands on her shoulders. “I really am sorry. I’m not going to try to make excuses. I screwed up. That’s a fact. All I can do about it now is to try to make it up to you.”
“By bribing your way back into favor?”
“I really would like to buy you those pearl earrings,” he said earnestly.
She looked thoughtful for a moment, almost tempted, but then shook her head. “No. We need the money for too many other things.”
“I didn’t think expenses were that tight,” he said. William had always known he would never get rich in the military, but he certainly expected to be able to provide for his family.
“The bills are getting paid,” she assured him. “And the boys certainly aren’t going hungry, though Lee seems to have a hollow leg these days. But...”
“What?”
“There’s not a lot left over, Bill. The boys are growing. Lee’s already outgrown every pair of pants that I bought him at the beginning of the school year. I try to save what I can, but at this rate... it’ll be a very long time before we have enough for a down payment. And I’d much rather have a house than a pair of pearl earrings.”
She stepped around him to get to the refrigerator. She took a large stock of broccoli out of the produce drawer and shut the refrigerator door. William noticed a new collection of drawings posted on the door with magnets, and walked over for a closer look. The artistic technique, if that was what it could be called, looked to be the same in all the drawings, indicating that only one of the boys had contributed to the family art gallery. There was one sketch of a dog, and another drawing of a large red flower underneath the words, “Happy Birthday Mommy.” The others were all drawings of Colonial Vipers in various stages of flight. One even had a nameplate under the cockpit that read, “Husker.”
“Who did these?” William asked.
“Zak,” Caroline answered, breaking the stock of broccoli into florets over a large bowl.
“All of them? None of them are Lee’s?”
She chuckled. “Lee’s too busy playing sports these days to bother with drawing pictures. I have to practically order him to slow down and come in for dinner most of the time. And I swear he can wear out a pair of sports shoes in the blink of an eye. He’s already on his third pair this year. I certainly don’t remember having that much energy as a kid.”
“Too bad we can’t bottle it somehow,” William commented. “We’d be moving into an ocean view mansion by next month.”
Caroline smiled, but only briefly. “We don’t need a mansion, but I’d certainly like the boys to have a real house to grow up in while they’re still young enough to enjoy it. And maybe we can’t do it by next month but... we might manage it by next year... if I go back to work.”
William turned toward his wife, but she was still intent on tearing apart the broccoli. “I thought we’d already decided this. The kids are too young to look after themselves and we don’t want them being raised by somebody else.”
Without altering her attention from preparing dinner, she told him, “I have an opportunity to work part time. I could see the boys off to school in the morning, put in six hours on the job, and be finished in time to meet them when they get home. They wouldn’t be handed over to anyone else and they wouldn’t be letting themselves into an empty house in the afternoon. With your paycheck we could keep covering the bills, and mine could go straight into savings for a down payment. We might still need a special loan program for first-time buyers, but I think... I think we could do it.”
William swallowed hard, trying to ignore the knot that was building in the pit of his stomach. “You’ve obviously given this a lot of serious consideration.”
“Yes, I have,” she confirmed.
“Where would this job be?”
“The university medical center. The day manager for the oncology staff is an old classmate of mine. Morning and midday are their busiest hours in the chemotherapy ward and some days they don’t have enough hands to get all the patients tended to in a timely manner. Some patients have to actually wait for a couple of hours before they get their treatment started.”
“Chemotherapy?” William grimaced. “You’d be dealing with cancer patients all day?”
She tossed the last floret into the bowl with a sharp flick of her wrist. “Cancer isn’t contagious Bill.”
“I know that, but...”
She finally turned to face him, with a hand on her hip. “But what?”
“Wouldn’t that get... horribly depressing? Is that the kind of thing you want to be doing right before coming home to your kids?”
Her face grew intensely angry. “Does combat tickle your funny bone? I’ve never once questioned your ability as a father based on your profession. Personally I find saving lives to be much more uplifting and positive for the kids to hear about than war!”
“I’m not questioning your ability as a mother,” he argued.
“Like hell you’re not!”
“Caroline... I know that you are a wonderful mother. I’m sorry if my comment made it sound otherwise... but I don’t think this is really the right time.”
“Why not? You’d prefer the boys to grow up in this cookie-cutter housing block in the middle of a huge concrete slab? I want them to have a real house, with a yard, and trees and grass... to live in a real neighborhood, where they don’t have to dodge military transports on the way to school.”
She hadn’t said the words, but what William heard was, “I’m not happy with the life you’ve provided Bill, for me or for your children.” What he said in response was, “I’d like all that too.”
“Then what are we really arguing about here? My potential job... or your pride?”
He couldn’t admit it, but she’d hit the target dead-on.
“That’s it, isn’t it? You think it shows some kind of failure on your part if your wife has to go to work.” She shook her head in exasperation. “Why can’t you understand that this really isn’t about you at all? It’s about me and the boys. We’re the ones who live here. You only visit.”
William flinched, but Caroline wasn’t done yet.
“You live on a battlestar, in a tiny cubicle, surrounded day and night by the military machine. You’re used to it. And if the boys want to choose that life for themselves when they grow up, that’s fine, but for now, we can do better by them than this. They don’t have to live like warriors yet... and neither do I.”
William couldn’t say a word. Her words had stung... hard... but he could find no logic to refute them. There was still one other point, but he almost hesitated to voice it. Finally he said, “I’ll be eligible for promotion to Major in just under two years. If I’m selected, my posting will undoubtedly change shortly after. That means...”
“We’ll have to move,” Caroline concluded for him.
“Yes,” he agreed. “So, would it really make much sense to buy a place a year from now if we’d only be moving again a year later? That’s assuming that I do get promoted, of course.”
“You will be,” she said quietly.
William did not overlook her quiet statement of support. “As a major, I’ll be making a lot more money. We should be able to afford a house and you won’t have to work.”
Caroline’s shoulders sagged. There was a glisten to her eyes that William knew were suppressed tears. She was trying hard not to cry. “Did it..,” she started to say, then had to clear her throat. “Did it ever occur to you that perhaps I want to work? I do want a house... I want to get out of military housing... I want the kids to get out of here... that’s all true. But I also want to work.”
William appeared flummoxed. “Why?”
“I’m an educated, highly-trained medic. I worked very hard to get my degree, but for almost 10 years now my skills have gone completely unused. I have to visit with the neighbors to have an adult conversation. And as much as I adore my children, the fact is that... I’m bored! The boys spend most of the day at school, and when they come home they do their homework and play with their friends. After dinner is family time, but until then I basically have nothing to do all day but laundry, and I hate laundry!
“Bill... make no mistake... I am very proud of you. I’m very proud of what you do. I am honored to be your wife, but there’s a lot more to me than just the fact that I’m married to you. I’m a person in my own right... separate, distinct, and independent from everyone else... at least I used to be. I need to feel that way again.”
When he just looked back at her, silent and solemn, she added, “There’s no need for you to feel threatened, you know. I’m not telling you that I want out. I don’t. But when you’re on duty, you lead a life all your own that does not include me. You can’t expect me to just put my life entirely on hold while you’re gone, just waiting for you to come home again. I need to have a life too... even if at times it doesn’t include you.”
William said nothing. What could he say? Me man. You woman. You stay home. You cook. Ugh. Yeah, that would go over really well.
She’d said he didn’t need to feel threatened. But in truth, he did. She wanted to live a part of her life without him. Why wouldn’t he find that frightening? Sure, he did have a life away from home. He couldn’t deny that. And he was away quite a bit. Maybe that was the problem. If Caroline started to experience a life elsewhere, she might decide that she liked it. And she was quite a beautiful woman. On base, she was known as Husker’s Lady. The other military men knew they could look, from afar, but they would instantly sacrifice their careers (if not body parts) if they so much as tried to touch. But off base, at a university, she would undoubtedly attract attention from men at every turn; men who were not restricted by military protocols... educated men... men who earned a great deal more money than William did... men who would be able to spend a great deal more time around his wife than William could.
She didn’t want out... yet. But was this the beginning of the end?
He wanted to find some reasonable, non-archaic argument for why she should not take the job, but any such reasons completely eluded him. What could he say? I don’t trust you to be faithful. I don’t trust you to properly look after our children. It’s too much responsibility for you to handle. None of those statements were true. And if they were... nothing would send her packing faster. William had to admit it. The only way to keep her was to stop keeping her. After that, all he could do was to be the best husband and father he could possibly be... and hope that that would be enough.
“So,” he said quietly, “how many times have you rehearsed this discussion?”
She seemed relieved by his non-combative tone and placid expression. “I have no idea,” she answered. “I lost count days ago. How’d I do?”
“Well if you didn’t have a job offer as a medic you could definitely find work as a lawyer.” He was heartened by the minute smile creeping back onto her face.
“Does that mean I won my case?”
“No,” he said. Her expression grew guarded for a moment before he added, “That would imply that I lost.” He stepped up close to his wife and peered sincerely into her vibrant blue eyes. “I haven’t lost anything here... have I?”
Caroline’s eyes grew misty. She shook her head, whispered, “No. You haven’t.” With only another moment’s pause, she wrapped her arms about his neck and hugged him tightly.
William pulled her body firmly against his and held her. He tried to rationalize away his concerns, but couldn’t quite banish the worrisome voice in his head that told him things were beginning to change, and perhaps not for the better... at least not for him. For now though, Caroline was still his, they had 2 beautiful, healthy sons, and his career was continuing to advance. Life was good.
They heard the front door open and close. Caroline gave William a quick kiss then stepped out his embrace to peer out the kitchen door. “Lee?” Their eldest son had just come indoors after hours of chasing around with his friends. His hair was wind-blown, clothes disheveled, and his face was flushed. She hadn’t thought it was growing cold outside, but Lee looked a little chilled. She checked her watch. “I’m actually not going to have to beg you to come in for dinner today?”
Lee’s eyes tracked from his mother’s face to looking over her shoulder, where he could see his father watching him. “I... I just remembered,” he said. “I have another homework assignment. I know I said earlier that I finished, but I forgot... I have to read another chapter in my history book. I’ll do it now Mom.”
“All right,” she told him. “Dinner will be ready in about 20 minutes.”
“Lee?” William called to his son.
Lee had just turned to head for his room. He stopped and almost hesitantly looked back at his father. “Yes Sir?”
“Check on your brother,” William said. “He’s supposed to be finishing his homework too. Make sure he’s not dawdling with something else.”
Lee nodded obediently. “Yes Sir.” He headed for his room.
William chuckled and shook his head. “Okay, that can’t be normal.”
“No, it isn’t,” Caroline agreed. “He usually doesn’t slow down for one minute before he has to come in and eat.”
“No, I mean... the boy wants to finish his homework instead of play? I know Lee has always been dependable with his schoolwork... but that’s just plain weird.”
Caroline punched William on the arm. “He may not look much like you, Bill, but right there was the definitive proof that he’s yours. If he has any lingering responsibilities, he just can’t allow himself to relax and have fun.”
William shrugged. “I may sometimes be a bit of a workaholic these days...”
“Sometimes?”
“...but not when I was only ten years old.”
“He’s still nine,” Caroline said dryly. “That birthday you haven’t missed... yet.”
William caught the barb and winced, but tried not to dwell on it.
“Besides,” Caroline went on, “you’re the one who’s been drumming into his head since the day he was born about duty... responsibility... study hard... excel... the military has high standards... you have to be ready, so you must start early. Now you’re griping about the fact that he’s doing what you’ve always demanded him to do?”
“I’m not griping,” he said defensively. “I’m... pleased to see that Lee takes his responsibilities seriously. It’s just not something I expected to see from a nine year-old. And I started drumming it into their heads early because I figured it would take a while to sink in. I didn’t bother to pay much attention to my grades until the latter half of secondary school, and by then it was almost too late. I don’t want the boys to make the same mistake. They’re both very bright and there’s no reason they shouldn’t be at the top of the class.”
“So because Lee isn’t making your mistakes, that makes him weird?”
“No,” William explained. “Okay, it was a bad choice of words, but you must admit, you’re not likely to see that kind of behavior from any of his friends.”
Caroline conceded the point. “True enough. But I would say that makes him special, not weird.”
William smiled at his wife’s protective nature toward their children. “Yes... it does.” He watched her as she returned to the task of making final preparations for dinner. “Speaking of Lee’s friends, I’m a little concerned about this boy that Zak told me about. Peter?”
Caroline set the broccoli into a steamer to cook. “What about Peter?”
“Well, it sounds to me like he’s a bit of a bad influence on Lee. And do we really want him to be playing with a boy whose father a foul-mouthed sot?”
“What?” Caroline turned around to face her husband, instantly assuming an irritated posture with hands on her hips. “I may not have heard the conversation but I know for a fact that Zak told you no such thing.”
“Not in those exact terms, no. But the man does drink, doesn’t he?”
“Sometimes,” she said. “But so do you. The first thing you wanted coming through the door this evening was a large, cold ale!”
“Having one drink and coming home staggering drunk are two completely different things. A man who loses control like that... is someone who can’t be trusted, and is not someone I want our children to be around.”
Caroline’s face grew stone serious. “One word... Saul.”
William blinked. “Saul? Saul Tigh? Saul isn’t a drunk, Caroline.”
“How many times have you dragged him home at the end of an over-indulged evening?”
“Those are very rare occasions,” William said in defense of his long-time friend.
“Our wedding being one of them,” she said pointedly. “How many grooms leave their bride alone on their wedding night so that they can put their Best Man to bed?”
William grimaced and rubbed his forehead. “Saul felt terrible about that.”
“Yes, I’m sure the hangover was a doozy.”
“And he has sincerely apologized to you a hundred times.”
“Which is part of the reason why I don’t mind that you still consider him a close friend. You can look the other way when it comes to Saul’s drinking. How can you be so judgmental about a person you don’t even know? Karl Mormont is a very decent man. Yes, he sometimes gets carried away with the crew on Friday nights, but that’s it. And Peter is a very nice boy who is certainly not a bad influence on Lee.”
“What about the foul language Lee was bringing home from him?”
Caroline rolled her eyes. “Zak just heard worse from you. Besides, they’re nine! Weren’t you and your friends fascinated by dirty words when you were that age? They know perfectly well it isn’t acceptable. I’m quite clear with the boys on that. But that’s why they find it interesting, and you know it. Admit it. You did the same.”
William had to admit she had a point there. Lee might be special, but he was still a nine year-old boy. He tried to think back to his own childhood, when he had been Lee’s age. That was before the Cylon War had begun. That was when it was still all right to play outside without having to listen for the alarms and sirens that told them it was necessary to move to shelters. Back when he could still be just a kid. Back before he had to become a survivor. It seemed so long ago... a totally different lifetime... almost like the memory of a movie that he’d seen rather than a life he had actually lived. He tried to remember what it had been like when he was just young and carefree... but it was very hard to do. The war had changed so many things. It had certainly changed him.
Not noticing the solemn memories playing out across her husband’s face, Caroline chuckled. “At least be grateful that Lee isn’t trying to sneak dirty magazines into the house yet.”
“What?” William said, coming rapidly back to the present.
“Oh, come on,” she teased. “All boys do it and he’s just about at that age you know.”
“What age?”
Caroline laughed. “You know... when girls start losing their cooties and boys start getting genuinely curious. I know he’ll be at the looking stage for a while before he starts really thinking about touching... but... have you thought about when you might want to sit down with him and have... The Talk.”
William froze. “The Talk?”
“Yes, Bill. The Talk. Boys... girls... babies...”
“Babies?” he nearly shouted. William’s head was spinning now. “He’s nine!”
“Almost ten. That puts puberty right around the corner.”
Puberty? “He’s nine!”
Caroline almost doubled over laughing at the expression of terror on William’s face. “You don’t have to sit down with him tonight. I’m just saying you should start thinking about it.”
“He’s nine!”
She threw up her hands, still laughing. “Fine. I’ll take care of it. Maybe you should sit down, Warrior. You look a little pale. I’ll let you know when dinner is ready.”
William nodded, feeling almost dazed. He walked back into the living room and dropped onto his chair. What was left of the ale in his mug was warm now, but he downed it anyway. He’d walked in the door that afternoon expecting to come home and find everything in its place, just as he remembered it. His beautiful wife. His loving children. A modest but comfortable home. No pressure. Relaxing. A vacation from responsibilities. Nothing to worry about.
Now he was worried about his wife running off with a brain surgeon and his nine year-old drinking with the neighbors and getting hooked on pornographic magazines.
Yes... things were definitely beginning to change.
Next -->
Characters: Bill and Lee
Setting: Takes place primarily about 20 years before the Colonial Holocaust, then jumps forward and finishes shortly after episode 5, “You Can’t Go Home Again.”
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Based upon characters and situations created by Glen Larson and Ron Moore, and the other staff writers of “Battlestar Galactica”, past and present. They are my heroes and I'm just playing in their sandbox.
This started as a short flashback contained within another story, but ended up taking on a bit of a life of its own -- one of those instances where the story led the way, and I just went along for the ride.
Note: This story was originally posted on Fanfiction.net several months ago, but now that I'm starting to get the hang of LJ, I've decided to re-post the story here where I can better control the appearance and formatting. I think I have it formatted to my satisfaction, but if anyone thinks something looks screwy, please let me know.
Chapter 1
Wizard’s career was in trouble. He had bounced yet another landing on the Galactica and the Commander wasn’t going to put up with it for much longer. The young pilot tried harder than anyone in the squadron, but he just couldn’t seem to get the hang of a hands-on landing. Husker had worked with him on numerous occasions, taking him step by step through the process, but the rookie just couldn’t get it right. It seemed to have become a mental block of some kind. He handled his viper just fine in flight, but he consistently choked on the landing, miscalculating his distance, altitude, or speed, or some combination of all three. It was a shame. Husker liked Wizard, and he was a very bright kid... but if he couldn’t manage to smooth out his landings, Husker knew the commander would insist on having Wizard transferred to another post where “lazy-ass auto-landings” were acceptable.
Unlike the newer line of battlestars coming out of Geminon’s ship works, the Galactica had no auto-landing system. The Galactica’s pilots still had to bring in their ships the “old-fashioned” way and Commander Mance insisted that they do it right. Hard landings were hard on both pilots and machinery alike. A pilot who couldn’t make a reliable landing was a danger to himself and his fellow pilots, not to mention a burden upon the deck crews who would have to repair the damage done to a multi-million credit fighter craft. Mance was annoyed to no end that new pilots were not even coached on hands-on landings in basic flight school anymore. That skill had recently been pushed off to advanced fighter training, a notion that Commander Mance found absurd. William “Husker” Adama, the Galactica’s Commander of Air Group, had to agree. What more basic skill did a pilot need than to be able to land safely? But someone, somewhere in the fleet hierarchy had decided that the technique was no longer so essential, given that all the new battlestars had the capability of taking over a viper’s controls and landing the craft neatly and safely without any intervention from the pilot. The older battlestars, including the Galactica, were slated to be retrofitted with the auto-landing systems, but it would likely be years before the entire fleet was completely updated.
Commander Mance and Captain Adama were of the “old school” of viper pilots, veterans of the worst days of the Cylon War. There had been no auto-landings in those days. The human brain was the only computing mechanism that the Cylons could not compromise; therefore ultimate control of all systems was left to humans, not to computers. The notion of installing a computer system designed to completely take control of a fighter craft away from its pilot would have been unthinkable. Now however, 17 years after the end of the Cylon War, it was considered the state of the art and the wave of the future.
“Fools,” William muttered, shaking his head. “They’re fraking fools, and one of these days it’s going to come back to bite us all on the ass.”
“Bill, the boys may be outside, but I’d still prefer not to have that kind of language in the house.”
“Sorry,” he said to his wife. “But it’s true. Mark my words, Caroline, it hasn’t even been 20 years, and we’re already surrendering control of vital systems to machines again. Didn’t we learn the first time? And we have so-called pilots coming out of flight school only half-trained. They’re sending them out in vipers - combat spacecraft - without even teaching them how to land! It’s insane! Lords forbid that we should end up facing another war any time soon, because none of these kids would last a week. A pilot who isn’t safe in the cockpit and fully in control should never be given his wings!”
William took a long drink from his ale mug and set it down with a frustrated thump on the side table. He looked up to see his wife sitting in the chair beside him with her arms and legs crossed, staring back at him. She didn’t look at all happy.
“What?” he asked.
She sighed and shook her head. “You haven’t been home yet for even half a day and already your mind is back on the ship. Or did you even leave it in the first place?”
William sat forward to explain, but tried to keep his voice as conciliatory as possible. “I have a pilot,” he said. “He’s a good pilot in every other respect, and a damn hard worker, but he just can’t control his landings. I’m going to have to recommend dismissing him from the squadron.” Without being aware of it, his voice gained in intensity. “I hate to do it, because I really don’t think it’s his fault. If he’d just been properly trained in the first place... But, he isn’t safe. Yet I know some other CAG on some other battlestar is going to take him and slot him full-time because on their ship he won’t have to know how to land... until the fraking auto-landing system fails and the kid ends up spattered across the flight deck!”
“Bill...” Caroline said in warning.
William suddenly became aware of somebody chuckling behind him. He turned around to see his youngest son, Zak, standing there, grinning broadly.
“You owe me a cubit, Daddy,” the boy laughed. At six years of age, Zak still had that little-boy chuckle that forced an instant smile onto the face of anyone who heard it.
“Excuse me?” William said, smiling now despite his recent near-tirade.
“You said a bad word,” Zak told him. “You owe me a cubit.” He held out his hand expectantly.
William looked back at his wife. “Is this something new?” he asked.
Caroline sat back in her chair and returned his gaze smugly. “You were warned to watch your language. Pay up, Husker.”
Amused, William turned back toward his son. He made a show of patting down his pockets. “I don’t have any money.”
“Check your wallet,” Zak said witha smirk, as if that conclusion should have been obvious.
“What makes you think I have money in my wallet?”
“That’s what wallets are for,” Zak said. “Or you could check the bowl on your desk. That’s where you always empty out your pockets.”
William spared an amused glance toward his wife. She just grinned. “You’re not going to get out of this. Kids see and hear everything, and they never forget.”
“They must get that from their mothers,” William commented, pushing up out of his chair, resigning himself to having to pay his son a cubit as penance for bad language.
“They certainly don’t get it from their fathers,” Caroline responded, glumly.
William realized from her statement that he was in some kind of trouble with his wife, but didn’t want to pursue the subject in front of Zak. Besides, the boy was already latching onto William’s sleeve and tugging him toward the study where he knew any money in William’s possession could be found. He let Zak lead him to the other room where he fished a cubit out of the bowl on the corner of his desk. He handed over the shiny coin.
“All right,” he told Zak, “you win. You and Lee ever catch Mommy swearing?”
Zak smiled. “Sure, but only when she’s driving. I usually sit up front, so I catch her a lot more than Lee does.”
William bit back a laugh. Caroline was usually a very easy-tempered, well-mannered person, but the traffic in Herald City could inspire a saint to curse the ears off a marine, especially during rush hour. It was just one of the things that Caroline did not like about living there, but it couldn’t be helped. This was where the fleet had assigned them housing, so this was where they had to live. Even advancing up the ranks to the position of CAG had not afforded William enough of a salary to purchase a home outside of military housing. Caroline would have to go to work for them to afford a place of their own, and William, old-fashioned though it might be, did not like the idea of his wife working, at least while the boys were still so young. Perhaps in a few more years, once Lee was older and could be entrusted to look after his little brother for a few hours in the afternoons, they could reconsider her employment status. But by then, William hoped to be promoted to the rank of Major, and the salary increase might be sufficient to buy a home in a nice quiet area, and Caroline wouldn’t have to work after all. Until then, Zak would continue to fill his piggybank with cubits from cursing parents.
Adama regarded Zak curiously. “You ever owe Mommy a cubit?”
“Almost,” he said.
“What do you mean, ‘almost’?”
“It didn’t count, cause I didn’t know it was a bad word. But Lee did, and he taught it to me, so he had to pay her instead.”
William did laugh at that, though he knew he shouldn’t. He didn’t want to give Zak the impression that cursing was funny, but Zak was just so gleefully innocent about it that William couldn’t help himself. “And where did Lee learn this bad word from?”
“From Peter, where else?” Zak said, pocketing the coin. “His dad curses a lot, especially when he comes home late and can’t walk straight.”
That raised alarm bells in William’s head. “Who is Peter?”
“The boy next door.”
“The one Lee is outside playing with right now?”
Zak nodded. “He’s one of them.”
William affectionately ruffled his son’s unruly dark hair. Zak’s hair was almost black, like his father’s, and had the tendency to stand straight on end, making it look almost comical if it wasn’t kept trimmed quite short. Lee’s hair was more like his mother’s: dark blonde and wavy. In the summer months, when Lee spent more time outdoors, his hair would turn very pale blonde, and his resemblance to his mother was striking. Caroline tended to let Lee’s hair grow longer than Zak’s since it lay down nicely and didn’t imitate a little porcupine. Zak’s shorter cut was more like military regulation, enhancing the impression that Zak was a miniature version of his father. But looks aside, William had always thought that in personality Zak was more like his mother, while Lee took after him. Zak was the bubbly, vivacious one, always smiling, but sometime impetuous. Lee was more reserved, focused, and dependable. If either of the boys was ever going to get into trouble, it would be Zak. Lee would be the one rescuing his brother from his latest misadventure. But this news about Lee’s playmate had William a bit concerned.
“Did you finish your homework?” William asked, leading Zak out of the study.
“Almost,” Zak said after a pause.
“Almost, huh? That’s another way of saying, ‘No’. Hop to it, Warrior. See if you can finish up before dinner.”
“Is that when you’re going to give Mommy her present?”
An alarm of a totally different sort sounded off in William’s head. “Present?”
“Yeah,” Zak said. “Her birthday present. Lee said you must have something pretty special to give her since you were waiting until you got home to give it to her instead of sending it through the mail last week.”
Frak!
William checked himself to make sure he hadn’t said that out loud. He nearly owed Zak another cubit. “Mommy’s birthday present... well Zak, I do have something special in mind,” he fibbed. “But I think I’ll wait until tomorrow, when we have the whole day to celebrate.”
The boy seemed satisfied with that explanation. “Should I keep it a secret then?” Zak asked.
“Yeah,” William said. “Let’s keep it a secret.” He gave the boy a pat on the rump to hustle him off to his room and finish his homework.
As soon as Zak’s door was closed, William swore quietly, “Oh frak.” No wonder Caroline had been so chilly towards him since he got home that afternoon. It hadn’t been just his imagination. She really was angry. No, not really angry so much. She was hurt. That was worse. Much worse. And rather than arriving with flowers, or a present, or even acting happy to be home, William had been moody and tired, showing up and asking for a cold ale while complaining about Wizard’s bad landings.
William was in it deep, and he knew it.
So now what?
“Think fast Husker,” he told himself. “I could slip out right now and get... what?” There wasn’t time before dinner to pick up anything more than a cheap bouquet of flowers at the market, which would be just the same as admitting he’d forgotten all about her birthday. Maybe he could duck out in the morning, before she woke up. Not likely. She’d notice. He had one chance. Maybe he could convince her, as he’d convinced Zak, that he planned all along to celebrate her birthday that weekend, after he got home. The odds were slim, but it was worth a shot. If that didn’t work, there was always the fallback plan: begging forgiveness.
William crept back to the living room, trying to eliminate all traces of guilt-riddled fear from his face, but Caroline wasn’t there. She hadn’t passed the study, so she must have gone into the kitchen to check on dinner. He approached the doorframe connecting the kitchen to the small dining area that was adjacent to the living room. He peeked inside the kitchen, scoping out the potential for hostilities in the territory. Caroline was crouched down, checking the temperature of a roast in the oven. She was humming a popular tune, which was a good sign. She wasn’t too angry... at the moment. Gathering his courage, William decided to engage his objective.
He strolled into the kitchen, and as casually as he could muster, he told her, “Smells great. You always have had a way with roasts. Beauty, brains, and great roasts. What more could a man want?”
Caroline winced, but looked amused. “You silver-tongued devil,” she said playfully. “How can a girl resist a line like that? He loves my roast.” She shut the oven door and reset the stove-top timer.
He offered a self-deprecating smile, then walked up behind her and wrapped his arms about her waist. “I have been a bit of a grump since I got home, haven’t I?” He placed a gentle kiss on her cheek.
She sighed. “It usually does take you a few hours to transition back to reality. I should be used to it by now.”
William thought that was a bit of an odd remark. Reality? Did she think life in the military was just a bunch of boys playing with big, loud, expensive toys? Better not pursue the subject. The last thing he wanted was to pick a fight, since he was already at a point loss.
He hugged her to him and told her, “I just don’t want you thinking that I’m not glad to be here, with you and the boys. It is nice to be home. And...,” he paused to give her a kiss on the side of her throat, “in spite of how preoccupied I was earlier with the job, I don’t want you to go on thinking that I must have forgotten your birthday. Sorry I didn’t mention it sooner. I thought we could spend the whole day tomorrow, celebrating.”
“The whole day?” she asked dubiously, but showing interest.
“Yep,” he said. “We’ll start early, eating breakfast out, so there won’t be any cooking or any dishes at all to worry about. Then we can take a drive up the coast, to the Riverwalk Market in Caprica City, where you... you get to pick out anything you want from that Highland jewelry dealer that caught your eye last Founder’s Day. I remember how much you liked those pearl earrings, but I couldn’t remember if you preferred yellow or white gold, so I figured I should let you choose. Then we can turn the kids loose on the beach, and catch an early dinner by the lighthouse. Then if we’re really lucky... by the time we drive home, the boys will be so tuckered out we can put them to bed early... and then the party can really begin.”
He waited for a response. He’d thought it came off pretty nicely.
Caroline let out a slow breath. “Zak reminded you, didn’t he?” When he didn’t abruptly deny it, she nodded and stepped out of his embrace. “Nice try, Bill. You should have kept the tale simpler and just settled for a family day out. I might have bought it. But the pearl earrings at Riverwalk Market? Too much embellishing, especially when I know perfectly well that we can’t afford them.”
She turned toward her husband with her arms crossed and a stern expression on her face. “You know, I should have just gone along with it, played dumb, and seen just how far you’d be willing to go to avoid apologizing to me, but I’m not in the mood to play games, and our bank account couldn’t support it.”
William Adama was a seasoned combat pilot. He’d flown into the fiercest battles of the Cylon War with no hesitation. He’d charged headlong into danger, outnumbered, against an enemy intent upon blowing him into cosmic dust. He’d been decorated for valorous service and bravery. He was a true warrior and a Colonial hero. But facing his wife now he felt like a coward standing about 2 centimeters tall.
He resigned himself to the backup plan. “I’m sorry Caroline. It’s not that I forgot your birthday... I just didn’t remember it in time.”
In spite of herself, Caroline couldn’t help laughing at that. Her expression softened and she shook her head with a weary smile. William knew he was still in trouble, but at least she didn’t hate him.
He approached her and laid his hands on her shoulders. “I really am sorry. I’m not going to try to make excuses. I screwed up. That’s a fact. All I can do about it now is to try to make it up to you.”
“By bribing your way back into favor?”
“I really would like to buy you those pearl earrings,” he said earnestly.
She looked thoughtful for a moment, almost tempted, but then shook her head. “No. We need the money for too many other things.”
“I didn’t think expenses were that tight,” he said. William had always known he would never get rich in the military, but he certainly expected to be able to provide for his family.
“The bills are getting paid,” she assured him. “And the boys certainly aren’t going hungry, though Lee seems to have a hollow leg these days. But...”
“What?”
“There’s not a lot left over, Bill. The boys are growing. Lee’s already outgrown every pair of pants that I bought him at the beginning of the school year. I try to save what I can, but at this rate... it’ll be a very long time before we have enough for a down payment. And I’d much rather have a house than a pair of pearl earrings.”
She stepped around him to get to the refrigerator. She took a large stock of broccoli out of the produce drawer and shut the refrigerator door. William noticed a new collection of drawings posted on the door with magnets, and walked over for a closer look. The artistic technique, if that was what it could be called, looked to be the same in all the drawings, indicating that only one of the boys had contributed to the family art gallery. There was one sketch of a dog, and another drawing of a large red flower underneath the words, “Happy Birthday Mommy.” The others were all drawings of Colonial Vipers in various stages of flight. One even had a nameplate under the cockpit that read, “Husker.”
“Who did these?” William asked.
“Zak,” Caroline answered, breaking the stock of broccoli into florets over a large bowl.
“All of them? None of them are Lee’s?”
She chuckled. “Lee’s too busy playing sports these days to bother with drawing pictures. I have to practically order him to slow down and come in for dinner most of the time. And I swear he can wear out a pair of sports shoes in the blink of an eye. He’s already on his third pair this year. I certainly don’t remember having that much energy as a kid.”
“Too bad we can’t bottle it somehow,” William commented. “We’d be moving into an ocean view mansion by next month.”
Caroline smiled, but only briefly. “We don’t need a mansion, but I’d certainly like the boys to have a real house to grow up in while they’re still young enough to enjoy it. And maybe we can’t do it by next month but... we might manage it by next year... if I go back to work.”
William turned toward his wife, but she was still intent on tearing apart the broccoli. “I thought we’d already decided this. The kids are too young to look after themselves and we don’t want them being raised by somebody else.”
Without altering her attention from preparing dinner, she told him, “I have an opportunity to work part time. I could see the boys off to school in the morning, put in six hours on the job, and be finished in time to meet them when they get home. They wouldn’t be handed over to anyone else and they wouldn’t be letting themselves into an empty house in the afternoon. With your paycheck we could keep covering the bills, and mine could go straight into savings for a down payment. We might still need a special loan program for first-time buyers, but I think... I think we could do it.”
William swallowed hard, trying to ignore the knot that was building in the pit of his stomach. “You’ve obviously given this a lot of serious consideration.”
“Yes, I have,” she confirmed.
“Where would this job be?”
“The university medical center. The day manager for the oncology staff is an old classmate of mine. Morning and midday are their busiest hours in the chemotherapy ward and some days they don’t have enough hands to get all the patients tended to in a timely manner. Some patients have to actually wait for a couple of hours before they get their treatment started.”
“Chemotherapy?” William grimaced. “You’d be dealing with cancer patients all day?”
She tossed the last floret into the bowl with a sharp flick of her wrist. “Cancer isn’t contagious Bill.”
“I know that, but...”
She finally turned to face him, with a hand on her hip. “But what?”
“Wouldn’t that get... horribly depressing? Is that the kind of thing you want to be doing right before coming home to your kids?”
Her face grew intensely angry. “Does combat tickle your funny bone? I’ve never once questioned your ability as a father based on your profession. Personally I find saving lives to be much more uplifting and positive for the kids to hear about than war!”
“I’m not questioning your ability as a mother,” he argued.
“Like hell you’re not!”
“Caroline... I know that you are a wonderful mother. I’m sorry if my comment made it sound otherwise... but I don’t think this is really the right time.”
“Why not? You’d prefer the boys to grow up in this cookie-cutter housing block in the middle of a huge concrete slab? I want them to have a real house, with a yard, and trees and grass... to live in a real neighborhood, where they don’t have to dodge military transports on the way to school.”
She hadn’t said the words, but what William heard was, “I’m not happy with the life you’ve provided Bill, for me or for your children.” What he said in response was, “I’d like all that too.”
“Then what are we really arguing about here? My potential job... or your pride?”
He couldn’t admit it, but she’d hit the target dead-on.
“That’s it, isn’t it? You think it shows some kind of failure on your part if your wife has to go to work.” She shook her head in exasperation. “Why can’t you understand that this really isn’t about you at all? It’s about me and the boys. We’re the ones who live here. You only visit.”
William flinched, but Caroline wasn’t done yet.
“You live on a battlestar, in a tiny cubicle, surrounded day and night by the military machine. You’re used to it. And if the boys want to choose that life for themselves when they grow up, that’s fine, but for now, we can do better by them than this. They don’t have to live like warriors yet... and neither do I.”
William couldn’t say a word. Her words had stung... hard... but he could find no logic to refute them. There was still one other point, but he almost hesitated to voice it. Finally he said, “I’ll be eligible for promotion to Major in just under two years. If I’m selected, my posting will undoubtedly change shortly after. That means...”
“We’ll have to move,” Caroline concluded for him.
“Yes,” he agreed. “So, would it really make much sense to buy a place a year from now if we’d only be moving again a year later? That’s assuming that I do get promoted, of course.”
“You will be,” she said quietly.
William did not overlook her quiet statement of support. “As a major, I’ll be making a lot more money. We should be able to afford a house and you won’t have to work.”
Caroline’s shoulders sagged. There was a glisten to her eyes that William knew were suppressed tears. She was trying hard not to cry. “Did it..,” she started to say, then had to clear her throat. “Did it ever occur to you that perhaps I want to work? I do want a house... I want to get out of military housing... I want the kids to get out of here... that’s all true. But I also want to work.”
William appeared flummoxed. “Why?”
“I’m an educated, highly-trained medic. I worked very hard to get my degree, but for almost 10 years now my skills have gone completely unused. I have to visit with the neighbors to have an adult conversation. And as much as I adore my children, the fact is that... I’m bored! The boys spend most of the day at school, and when they come home they do their homework and play with their friends. After dinner is family time, but until then I basically have nothing to do all day but laundry, and I hate laundry!
“Bill... make no mistake... I am very proud of you. I’m very proud of what you do. I am honored to be your wife, but there’s a lot more to me than just the fact that I’m married to you. I’m a person in my own right... separate, distinct, and independent from everyone else... at least I used to be. I need to feel that way again.”
When he just looked back at her, silent and solemn, she added, “There’s no need for you to feel threatened, you know. I’m not telling you that I want out. I don’t. But when you’re on duty, you lead a life all your own that does not include me. You can’t expect me to just put my life entirely on hold while you’re gone, just waiting for you to come home again. I need to have a life too... even if at times it doesn’t include you.”
William said nothing. What could he say? Me man. You woman. You stay home. You cook. Ugh. Yeah, that would go over really well.
She’d said he didn’t need to feel threatened. But in truth, he did. She wanted to live a part of her life without him. Why wouldn’t he find that frightening? Sure, he did have a life away from home. He couldn’t deny that. And he was away quite a bit. Maybe that was the problem. If Caroline started to experience a life elsewhere, she might decide that she liked it. And she was quite a beautiful woman. On base, she was known as Husker’s Lady. The other military men knew they could look, from afar, but they would instantly sacrifice their careers (if not body parts) if they so much as tried to touch. But off base, at a university, she would undoubtedly attract attention from men at every turn; men who were not restricted by military protocols... educated men... men who earned a great deal more money than William did... men who would be able to spend a great deal more time around his wife than William could.
She didn’t want out... yet. But was this the beginning of the end?
He wanted to find some reasonable, non-archaic argument for why she should not take the job, but any such reasons completely eluded him. What could he say? I don’t trust you to be faithful. I don’t trust you to properly look after our children. It’s too much responsibility for you to handle. None of those statements were true. And if they were... nothing would send her packing faster. William had to admit it. The only way to keep her was to stop keeping her. After that, all he could do was to be the best husband and father he could possibly be... and hope that that would be enough.
“So,” he said quietly, “how many times have you rehearsed this discussion?”
She seemed relieved by his non-combative tone and placid expression. “I have no idea,” she answered. “I lost count days ago. How’d I do?”
“Well if you didn’t have a job offer as a medic you could definitely find work as a lawyer.” He was heartened by the minute smile creeping back onto her face.
“Does that mean I won my case?”
“No,” he said. Her expression grew guarded for a moment before he added, “That would imply that I lost.” He stepped up close to his wife and peered sincerely into her vibrant blue eyes. “I haven’t lost anything here... have I?”
Caroline’s eyes grew misty. She shook her head, whispered, “No. You haven’t.” With only another moment’s pause, she wrapped her arms about his neck and hugged him tightly.
William pulled her body firmly against his and held her. He tried to rationalize away his concerns, but couldn’t quite banish the worrisome voice in his head that told him things were beginning to change, and perhaps not for the better... at least not for him. For now though, Caroline was still his, they had 2 beautiful, healthy sons, and his career was continuing to advance. Life was good.
They heard the front door open and close. Caroline gave William a quick kiss then stepped out his embrace to peer out the kitchen door. “Lee?” Their eldest son had just come indoors after hours of chasing around with his friends. His hair was wind-blown, clothes disheveled, and his face was flushed. She hadn’t thought it was growing cold outside, but Lee looked a little chilled. She checked her watch. “I’m actually not going to have to beg you to come in for dinner today?”
Lee’s eyes tracked from his mother’s face to looking over her shoulder, where he could see his father watching him. “I... I just remembered,” he said. “I have another homework assignment. I know I said earlier that I finished, but I forgot... I have to read another chapter in my history book. I’ll do it now Mom.”
“All right,” she told him. “Dinner will be ready in about 20 minutes.”
“Lee?” William called to his son.
Lee had just turned to head for his room. He stopped and almost hesitantly looked back at his father. “Yes Sir?”
“Check on your brother,” William said. “He’s supposed to be finishing his homework too. Make sure he’s not dawdling with something else.”
Lee nodded obediently. “Yes Sir.” He headed for his room.
William chuckled and shook his head. “Okay, that can’t be normal.”
“No, it isn’t,” Caroline agreed. “He usually doesn’t slow down for one minute before he has to come in and eat.”
“No, I mean... the boy wants to finish his homework instead of play? I know Lee has always been dependable with his schoolwork... but that’s just plain weird.”
Caroline punched William on the arm. “He may not look much like you, Bill, but right there was the definitive proof that he’s yours. If he has any lingering responsibilities, he just can’t allow himself to relax and have fun.”
William shrugged. “I may sometimes be a bit of a workaholic these days...”
“Sometimes?”
“...but not when I was only ten years old.”
“He’s still nine,” Caroline said dryly. “That birthday you haven’t missed... yet.”
William caught the barb and winced, but tried not to dwell on it.
“Besides,” Caroline went on, “you’re the one who’s been drumming into his head since the day he was born about duty... responsibility... study hard... excel... the military has high standards... you have to be ready, so you must start early. Now you’re griping about the fact that he’s doing what you’ve always demanded him to do?”
“I’m not griping,” he said defensively. “I’m... pleased to see that Lee takes his responsibilities seriously. It’s just not something I expected to see from a nine year-old. And I started drumming it into their heads early because I figured it would take a while to sink in. I didn’t bother to pay much attention to my grades until the latter half of secondary school, and by then it was almost too late. I don’t want the boys to make the same mistake. They’re both very bright and there’s no reason they shouldn’t be at the top of the class.”
“So because Lee isn’t making your mistakes, that makes him weird?”
“No,” William explained. “Okay, it was a bad choice of words, but you must admit, you’re not likely to see that kind of behavior from any of his friends.”
Caroline conceded the point. “True enough. But I would say that makes him special, not weird.”
William smiled at his wife’s protective nature toward their children. “Yes... it does.” He watched her as she returned to the task of making final preparations for dinner. “Speaking of Lee’s friends, I’m a little concerned about this boy that Zak told me about. Peter?”
Caroline set the broccoli into a steamer to cook. “What about Peter?”
“Well, it sounds to me like he’s a bit of a bad influence on Lee. And do we really want him to be playing with a boy whose father a foul-mouthed sot?”
“What?” Caroline turned around to face her husband, instantly assuming an irritated posture with hands on her hips. “I may not have heard the conversation but I know for a fact that Zak told you no such thing.”
“Not in those exact terms, no. But the man does drink, doesn’t he?”
“Sometimes,” she said. “But so do you. The first thing you wanted coming through the door this evening was a large, cold ale!”
“Having one drink and coming home staggering drunk are two completely different things. A man who loses control like that... is someone who can’t be trusted, and is not someone I want our children to be around.”
Caroline’s face grew stone serious. “One word... Saul.”
William blinked. “Saul? Saul Tigh? Saul isn’t a drunk, Caroline.”
“How many times have you dragged him home at the end of an over-indulged evening?”
“Those are very rare occasions,” William said in defense of his long-time friend.
“Our wedding being one of them,” she said pointedly. “How many grooms leave their bride alone on their wedding night so that they can put their Best Man to bed?”
William grimaced and rubbed his forehead. “Saul felt terrible about that.”
“Yes, I’m sure the hangover was a doozy.”
“And he has sincerely apologized to you a hundred times.”
“Which is part of the reason why I don’t mind that you still consider him a close friend. You can look the other way when it comes to Saul’s drinking. How can you be so judgmental about a person you don’t even know? Karl Mormont is a very decent man. Yes, he sometimes gets carried away with the crew on Friday nights, but that’s it. And Peter is a very nice boy who is certainly not a bad influence on Lee.”
“What about the foul language Lee was bringing home from him?”
Caroline rolled her eyes. “Zak just heard worse from you. Besides, they’re nine! Weren’t you and your friends fascinated by dirty words when you were that age? They know perfectly well it isn’t acceptable. I’m quite clear with the boys on that. But that’s why they find it interesting, and you know it. Admit it. You did the same.”
William had to admit she had a point there. Lee might be special, but he was still a nine year-old boy. He tried to think back to his own childhood, when he had been Lee’s age. That was before the Cylon War had begun. That was when it was still all right to play outside without having to listen for the alarms and sirens that told them it was necessary to move to shelters. Back when he could still be just a kid. Back before he had to become a survivor. It seemed so long ago... a totally different lifetime... almost like the memory of a movie that he’d seen rather than a life he had actually lived. He tried to remember what it had been like when he was just young and carefree... but it was very hard to do. The war had changed so many things. It had certainly changed him.
Not noticing the solemn memories playing out across her husband’s face, Caroline chuckled. “At least be grateful that Lee isn’t trying to sneak dirty magazines into the house yet.”
“What?” William said, coming rapidly back to the present.
“Oh, come on,” she teased. “All boys do it and he’s just about at that age you know.”
“What age?”
Caroline laughed. “You know... when girls start losing their cooties and boys start getting genuinely curious. I know he’ll be at the looking stage for a while before he starts really thinking about touching... but... have you thought about when you might want to sit down with him and have... The Talk.”
William froze. “The Talk?”
“Yes, Bill. The Talk. Boys... girls... babies...”
“Babies?” he nearly shouted. William’s head was spinning now. “He’s nine!”
“Almost ten. That puts puberty right around the corner.”
Puberty? “He’s nine!”
Caroline almost doubled over laughing at the expression of terror on William’s face. “You don’t have to sit down with him tonight. I’m just saying you should start thinking about it.”
“He’s nine!”
She threw up her hands, still laughing. “Fine. I’ll take care of it. Maybe you should sit down, Warrior. You look a little pale. I’ll let you know when dinner is ready.”
William nodded, feeling almost dazed. He walked back into the living room and dropped onto his chair. What was left of the ale in his mug was warm now, but he downed it anyway. He’d walked in the door that afternoon expecting to come home and find everything in its place, just as he remembered it. His beautiful wife. His loving children. A modest but comfortable home. No pressure. Relaxing. A vacation from responsibilities. Nothing to worry about.
Now he was worried about his wife running off with a brain surgeon and his nine year-old drinking with the neighbors and getting hooked on pornographic magazines.
Yes... things were definitely beginning to change.
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