Disclaimer: Battlestar Galactica belongs to Ronald D. Moore and the Sci-Fi channel.

"Treat every day of your life like it's the only day that matters." – Col. Louis Acton

Chapter 8: The rest of our lives

Lee was heading toward his father's quarters to talk with him about the some of the new mining sites that the team had scanned. He knocked and waited for a response. After not receiving one, he let himself in and decided to wait on the couch.

After a few minutes, he heard the distinct sounds of someone trying to break into the room. Lee stood and noiselessly crept over to stand by the wall near the hatch's opening. A short, mousy man with oily oak-brown hair wandered into the room, setting a small cylindrical device with multicolored wires protruding from it on the coffee table, activating it.

The other man did not give the intruder a chance to turn and exit. Lee tackled him, forcing him to the ground. "I want to know who the frak you are, who sent you, and what you were sent to do!" he demanded.

Lee held the man's arms behind his back as the man struggled to get up. "Why should I tell you anything?" he retorted.

"Because I can see that you put a bomb in here and if you don't wanna get blown up, you should tell me who you," Lee pursued.

The man moved his head enough to glance over at the ticking bomb. "Alright, alright, my name is Marley. I work for Zarek. If I'm gonna get blown up, he's coming down with me," Marley stated.

At that moment, Adama marched through the hatch, expecting to meet Zarek and find a way to get his wife back. He looked to the right and noticed the man pinned under Lee. "Who's he?" Adama questioned.

"Marley, and he set a bomb," Lee explained as he stood the man up.

The admiral walked over to the bomb and picked it up. "We've got eight minutes to shut this thing off," he paused and turned toward Marley. "Do you know how to disarm this?"

"Oh frak no! I was supposed to leave before it went off!" Marley stated, looking back at the door frantically.

"Looks like we're going to have to use plan B then," Adama remarked. He sauntered out of his quarters, carrying the bomb. Lee followed him, dragging Marley along. The admiral turned to face his son as they hurried through the corridors. "You need to get him to the brig. Dragging him with us isn't going to help."

"But what if you can't-" the admiral interrupted him.

"There is no 'if.' I'm taking this to an airlock," Adama explained. He glanced the bomb and noticed that he had four minutes and thirty seconds left. "Go, and promise me that if this doesn't work, you'll take care of Laura and the baby," he requested gruffly.

"Dad, that's-"

"Promise me."

"I promise," Lee replied. Then he took Marley and headed toward the brig.

Adama moved faster, his heart pounding in his head. I'm sorry, Laura, he thought. He looked down at it again: two minutes left. And then he was there, thirty seconds left and he had found an airlock. Quickly he opened the first door and set the bomb down. Then he stepped back. Please let this work. After closing the first door, he opened the airlock and the bomb was sucked out into space. It exploded and he breathed a sigh of relief.

He met Lee in the brig. His son had been watching Marley and was leaving him with a guard when the door opened. Lee smiled at his father, glad to see him alive. "Now we need to find Laura," Adama remarked.

"We don't even know where she is," Lee pointed out.

Don't you think I know that? "We'll find her; it just means we'll have to look harder," Adama said with a fortitude that would not be argued.

After her captor had left, Roslin tried to find the walls of wherever she was. Her hands hand been tied behind her back and as she found the wall with her shoulder, she rubbed her head against it so that she could loosen the blindfold. A few tries later, it became loose and fell to rest around her neck. She glanced at her new surroundings and sighed heavily.

The austere, Spartan room looked as though it had not been used in a few years. The room only contained a small narrow bed and a wooden chair. How am I going to get out of here? If only I could figure out how to get the rope off my wrists, she reasoned. As she continued to walk around the room, her thoughts returned to the admiral. Bill, please be alright.

Adama and Lee rounded a corner and spotted Sharon crouched by the mouth of another corridor, looking down the hallway. They approached her, not seeing anything suspicious. "Lieutenant, what is it?" the admiral asked.

Sharon stood and gestured for the other two to move out of sight. "I overheard a few guards talking this morning about Zarek breaking out. I think I saw the guy go into the bathroom. He's dressed like a priest. I was gonna follow him and then call security," she told the men in front of her.

"Following him might lead us to Laura," the admiral told his son.

"What happened to the president?" Sharon asked with concern.

"Zarek kidnapped her and tried to kill the admiral," Lee answered.

Just then they all noticed a man with brown hair wearing priest robes pull a hood over his head and as he walked down the corridor. "There he goes," Sharon whispered.

The three of them quietly followed the hooded man, moving whenever he turned to look behind him. They wandered through the ship for what felt like hours. Finally he turned down a rarely frequented corridor and unlocked a door. Sharon looked back at the admiral. "Sir, I think I should be the one to stop him first. I'll say I'm looking for a priest," she suggested.

Adama thought the idea over for a moment. "Sounds like a good plan."

Inside the room, Roslin glanced at the door as it opened. She raised an eyebrow, seeing a priest enter. "Excuse me, I need to get out of here and-"

Zarek pulled down the hood and eyed her with amusement. "Madame President, thank goodness I found you here! I got a tip that a man and a woman went this way. I see you've managed to bypass the blindfold. Too bad it won't do you any good. I just came by to tell you that they have apprehended your captor. I'm here to rescue you, but I'm in disguise in case there are more people involved. That, and I really need my name cleared."

She glared at him vehemently. "I know you were behind all this. You didn't supposedly find me. If you expect the Quorum to believe that farce over what I could tell them, you're sorely mistaken."

"I've been supporting half of them with funds and supplies that you've been rationing, and the other half I've made powerful allies with. They hear you, but they listen to me," he told her.

"When the admiral finds out about this-" the Sagittarian interrupted her.

"I forgot to tell you. He met with an accident, something to do with a bomb," he said mockingly. Thin he flashed an arrogant sinister grin. "Don't worry, I'll take good care of you."

Anger reflected in her eyes. "You're lying."

"I'm afraid not. You see, it would have been nearly impossible to disarm the bomb, and therefore it would have to explode," he stated.

She continued to glare at him and took a deep breath before speaking in a quiet tone. "You're a vile parasite of a man," she seethed.

He shook his head. "No, the parasite is you, for having regained your life from Cylon DNA. You're a hypocrite. One day you're throwing them out an airlock, and then you use them to save your own life. You and the late admiral have also let a Cylon stay onboard. You two are more like collaborators than you'd like to admit. The Cylons on the inside are just as dangerous as the Cylons on the outside."

Her eyes narrowed. "You frakking scum. If I had my hands free-"

A knock at the door broke the conversation. Zarek pulled the hood back over and answered the door.

Sharon stood at the door as the hooded man opened it only a crack so that Roslin was well-concealed. "I need a priest," Sharon requested.

"I'm sorry, but I can't help you right now," Zarek stated, trying to disguise his voice.

"I don't think you understand," Sharon commented, suddenly grabbing him by the collar and using her extra strength to pull him out of the room.

The hood fell back and he noticed the others standing behind the door, just before Adama's fist contacted with his jaw. "I think we've got all the proof we need," the admiral growled.

Lee looked at Sharon. "Thanks for your help, lieutenant."

She gave him a half-smile. "No problem, sir. Are we returning him to the brig?" Lee nodded in response.

Adama opened the door wide and spotted his wife. Overjoyed, he rushed over to her and pulled her into a hug. Then he took the rope off her hands. "Laura, are you alright?" he questioned.

The president nodded and grinned. "I'm fine," she paused before drawing him into an affectionate kiss. "Zarek said you were dead, and I heard about a bomb-"

Hearing the worry in her voice, he interrupted her by kissing her. "I threw the bomb out an airlock," he paused to run his fingers through her hair. "I thought I wouldn't be able to find you."

They stood, holding each other in a warm embrace for a while. Then they left the room, walking back to their quarters. He told her how Sharon had helped them. Zarek would be standing trial for treason, having been convicted of organizing sabotage, attempting to assassinate the chief of the military, kidnapping the president, and purposefully using the press as a weapon against her, attacking the current government.

A week after her kidnapping, Roslin knew that there were a few things that she needed to tell the fleet. Adama joined her and they stood with arms linked at the brief, but important press conference. She glanced over at him before it was to begin. "I don't know how all this will affect my presidency," she whispered.

He smiled at her and kissed her forehead, not caring who took a picture. "Whatever happens, we're in this together. I think they'll even want you for another term."

"Which means that we might have to find a babysitter," she added just before she was announced.

"Now, the President of the Twelve Colonies," a man said.

Roslin took a deep breath, looking composed and prepared. Adama tried not to smirk as he remembered how never she had been an hour ago, tearing speech cards, breaking pencils, and giggling again. "Ladies and gentlemen, I will begin by informing you of what will become of Mr. Zarek, as well as Mr. Marley. Both are currently standing trial, facing accusations of assassination and treason among other things."

"Madame President, what would you say to the many people who have trusted and supported Zarek?" a blonde reporter in a red dress suite asked.

"People have been sadly mislead and I hope to remedy that. This administration will continue to serve them in the survival of humanity," Roslin responded.

"Will you continue the mining, Ma'am?" a man with short cropped wearing a gray suit inquired.

"We will continue to mine asteroids as we move in order to keep up our supplies for repairs," the president answered. "Now I must bring up another matter," she paused to exchange a smile with Adama. "The admiral and I are expecting a baby."

The crowd's reactions varied from gasps of surprise, to squeals, applause, cameras flashing, and congratulatory shouts. One brown-haired woman in an indigo blue business dress asked the last question. "Ma'am, will you still continue to be president after the baby's born?"

"I will be president as long as the people will have me," Roslin replied.

The president and the admiral walked through the still-clapping crowd and eventually made their way back to their quarters. "That wasn't so bad," Adama remarked when they were both sitting on the couch.

She leaned him and he draped an arm over her shoulders. "I wonder if Tory would mind babysitting. She seems to be managing everything else well," Roslin added.

"Would be safer than working undercover," he mentioned.

"Dee would probably be another good choice. We might even switch off," she remarked.

He grinned. "Watching Lee chasing a toddler around is going to be fun. If he thinks the pilots are disorganized, I can't wait to see what he thinks of children."

She glanced around the room and faced him with a smirk. "Watching you chase a toddler around is going to be just as amusing because you have so many breakable things on low shelves," she pointed out, teasing him slightly.

Except for the usual encounters with the Cylons, the next four months stayed quiet. Zarek and Marley were confined to the brig for a month and then sentenced to maintenance jobs, fixing the damage caused by the sabotage. They were monitored by officers to ensure that nothing clandestine occurred. The Quorum was surprised at Roslin's pregnancy, but remembered that it was their fault and that she could not be removed from office for it. She and the admiral decided to have Dee and Lee over for dinner one evening.

The younger couple arrived early, while the others were still cooking. Roslin was boiling the noodles, fighting the white foam with a long wooden spoon. Adama shook his head and chuckled. "Just turn down the heat and you won't have to fight with the food."

She looked over to glare at him from where he stood, preparing garlic bread and salad, but ended up laughing. He walked over to her and put one arm around her growing waist, leaving his hand there. After turning down the heat with his other hand, he brought it back to meet with the other one. Both hands lovingly pressed against her, he could feel the baby kick.

"I don't think I'll ever get tired of holding you like this," he whispered into her ear before kissing her neck. She giggled and leaned her head to give him better access.

Still standing in the living room, Dee looked toward the kitchen. "Since we know they're over there, I'm going to go say hi to them," she mentioned.

"I wouldn't go in there if I were you," Lee warned his wife. She smiled and rolled her eyes as she headed into the kitchen.

She was just in time to hear Roslin say, "Neither would I." The president turned and kissed her husband soundly. He ran his hands up her back and kissed her back passionately, both of them being too busy to hear Dee.

"I see what you mean," Dee told Lee after hurrying out of the kitchen.

They would have continued kissing, except for the interrupting hiss of the pot threatening to boil over again. She turned back to it and stirred it until the mess of noodles was under control again. "We really should be more careful when we cook together. We're lucky we haven't burned anything yet," she pointed out with a grin.

"So far we also haven't made much of a mess either. We haven't cooked anything with flour yet," he reminded. She laughed and nodded.

Later they were all seated around the dinner table with noodles, red sauce, salad, and garlic bread. The four began by talking about books. "Laura, of what you've read, who do you think has the most interesting things to say?" Lee asked.

She swirled her noodles onto her fork and thought for a moment. "Colonel Acton is definitely interesting. Not only does he have good theories about ethics, but he also has some very amusing quotes," she replied.

"So you've been telling her about Uncle Louis?" Lee commented, looking at his father.

Roslin smirked and raised an eyebrow, turning toward her husband. "Uncle?"

Adama sighed, knowing he had been caught. "Louis Acton was my mother's brother," he admitted.

"'Required reading,' huh?" Roslin remarked chuckling.

"It was required reading. I just happened to be related to him," Adama responded, trying to defend himself.

Lee grinned. "It gets better too. Have you told her about Aunt Maggie?" the younger man probed.

"She wasn't in the quote book," the admiral replied evasively.

"That's because she submitted her husband's quotes after he died," Lee announced, turning back to Roslin. "Maggie Acton was a congresswoman, a real challenge from what I've heard."

Roslin kissed Adama on the cheek. "It seems like you're following a family tradition of military men who marry a politicians," she teased.

"That's because the men in my family have good taste once in a while," he told her with a wry grin before kissing her on the cheek.

"I've got a quote from Aunt Maggie: 'The measure of a man matters most when life gives him trials,'" Lee relayed.

"Very true," Dee added.

"And with the Cylons, we all get to prove that on a regular basis," Adama mentioned.

The president lifted her glass of water in a toasting gesture. "As we all know, it's important to remember in the interim the people that matter in our lives." The others smiled and toasted with her.

Roslin could see the chaos from the window of their quarters. Cylons and Vipers continued to battle in a flurry of range shots. Because Tory had cut her schedule into quarters as the due date for the baby approached, she was bored and had spend the last few days rearranging furniture and cleaning. I feel so useless in here, she thought as she stared out of the window, watching the battle.

She sighed and headed over to the bookshelf to find something. Another twinge at her abdomen caused her to pause. Dee's son Matthew had been born two days ago. She remembered the look of wonder and happiness in her husband's eyes when he had held his grandson. Roslin had been experiencing minor pains since she had awakened, but had not mentioned the matter to her husband, though they had steadily become sharper. As she read the first few pages of the book, a sharp pain distracted her. After breathing through it, she read a few more pages.

When the pain persisted, she decided that a walk to Life Station would be prudent. Having to pause every once in a while, she made the slow trek, not seeing many people pass by until she neared Life Station. People were wandering in with injuries, some not so bad, others had burns and bloody gashes.

Dr. Cottle had just left a patient with a broken arm when he turned and nearly bumped into Roslin. He took one look at her strained face and sighed, "Dammit, it's time, isn't it?"

She nodded. "I think so. Horrible timing, isn't it?"

"I'll try to set you up and give you as much privacy as I can. You wanna call your husband?" he asked.

After pausing for what she now was sure had been a contraction, she shook her head. "Bill's got enough on his mind with out having to worry about this," she rationalized. Cottle left her with one of the other medics and told her that he would be back to check on her. Let us please get out of this Cylon mess soon, she hoped.

The battle continued with Adama and Tigh orchestrating strategies in CIC. "Why won't they just let us have the frakking planet? There's nothing on it they want and we only need it for food," Tigh complained.

"They're only fighting us over it because it's something we want," Adama relayed.

The battle raged on for most of the day, with civilian ships jumping elsewhere for safety. A sharp hit to Galactica caused the admiral to hit his left hand on the same console that he had during the New Caprica rescue. "Not again," he growled in pain.

Finally a few of the Vipers were able to fire on a vulnerable spot on the Cylon's main ship and the enemy retreated, having lost most of its smaller ships. The crew in CIC cheered and everyone breathed a sigh of relief. A phone call interrupted the cheers and Adam answered it.

"Bill, your wife's here and she wants to talk to you," Cottle relayed.

Adama's eyes widened with worry. "Is she alright?"

Cottle smiled on his end. "She can tell you herself," he commented before handing the phone to Roslin.

"Bill," she said. To Adama, she sounded tired.

"Laura, what's wrong?" he questioned, the worry evident in his voice.

"Everything is fine. I have someone who wants to say hello to you," she conveyed. He raised an eyebrow and stared at the phone. Then he heard the cooing of a newborn baby and a grin broke through his stony reserve. "That was your daughter," Roslin told him. "Congratulations, Papa."

The admiral glanced at his bloody hand. "I'll be over there shortly." They said brief goodbyes and she gave him one more bit of information before they hung up.

Adama looked around at his officers in CIC with a proud smile. "It's a girl," he informed them.

They all cheered. Tigh clapped him on the back and handed him a small cigar. "You don't need to tell me. I'll keep an eye on things up here. Go see your family, Bill."

"Thanks, Saul," he said before leaving.

Roslin looked up from the infant in her arms, hearing a familiar voice asking Cottle where his wife was hiding. She smiled broadly as the admiral found her. He touched her cheek with his right hand and kissed her soundly. "I love you."

She kissed him back. "I love you too," she paused and noticed his hand. "Bill, your hand-"

"It'll be taken care of," he said simply, stepping aside for a minute as Cottle had a look at it and bandaged it.

"Sit with us," Roslin instructed. Adama sat down on the bed next to her. Then she handed him their daughter so that he did not need his left hand to support the infant.

"Why didn't you tell me you were here?" he questioned, his eyes not leaving the baby. She's so small. This is why we fight, for hope and for the children.

"Bill, you were in the middle of a battle and the last thing you needed to do was worry about me. She needs a name, you know," Roslin responded.

He thought for a moment. "We didn't really discuss that, did we?"

"I was thinking of 'Corrine' for a first name," she mentioned.

"That's fine. Hmm, now for a middle name," he stated.

She took the baby back and watched as the infant fell asleep. "'Maggie' is short for Margaret, right?" she asked him.

"It is in the case of Maggie Action," he replied.

"Then how about 'Corrine Margaret Adama?'" Roslin suggested.

He kissed his wife gently on the lips, then kissed is daughter on the head. "I think it's perfect."

They were still searching for earth two years later. Corrine was a precocious toddler, fingering anything at her level, with auburn hair like her mother and dark blue eyes like her father. Roslin was still president due to everyone's confidence in her as a leader. It had been Tory's turn to baby-sit and Roslin picked up her daughter when her day's work with the Quorum was finished.

She was sitting on the floor with Corrine, trying to show the toddler how to color when Adama walked into their quarters. The toddler waddled over to him and hugged his leg. He grinned and picked her up. Roslin stood shortly and walked over as well, kissing him affectionately. "How are the stars looking lately?" she asked him.

"We're closer to Earth than we've ever been before. We were definitely on the right track looking for the lion's head. I don't know how soon we'll reach Earth, but it looks more like a reality," he conveyed. "When we get there I'll build us a house and we can have a somewhat normal life," he suggested.

She chuckled and sighed with contentment. "We don't need a house for that. Everything I've ever needed has been here, with you, and now Corrine. This is our home," she remarked.

"It is, isn't it?" the three of them sat on the couch together. "I just remembered something the colonel used to say."

"Do you mean Uncle Louis?" she teased.

Adama nodded. "That's the one. He said, 'A soldier's home is where the people he loves are, even if it's in a war zone, at the bottom of a gully, or on the wrong side of a mountain. He has a home as long as he has someone to go home to.' My home is with the two of you," he conveyed before setting his squirming daughter down on the floor. As the toddler played with a few toys, her parents shared a few passionate kisses and the warm feeling that they had come home.

Fin……………………………………………………………………………………………………

(I'm sorry this last chapter took so long. I had several projects that needed to be finished by about the same time. I have enjoyed writing this story and I hope that you have had fun reading it. My thanks to carolann and divadarling, Jim Ohki, and jacky () for reviewing :D)