Finally. This was all Kara Thrace, a.k.a. Starbuck, could think. After four months stuck in cylon occupated New Caprica, she was back in Galactica, her real home.

She heard Chief Tyrol instructing the refugees in the back of her mind, but all she could think about was Kacey, that little girl who had already occupied one piece of her heart.

"Oh my gods," Tyrol murmured when he saw her. "Captain? I thought you were dead."

"Yeah, so did I," Kara answered, smiling.

"Oh, and who is this?" the Chief asked.

"Yeah, I also want that answer myself," Sam, her husband, said, coming from behind her.

"This is Kacey," Kara declared. "If you want further explanations about her, ask me later. Now, I need to find Cottle, so, excuse me."

Kara turned her back to them and walked through the people, leaving the two extremely confused men behind. Kacey was looking at all that people, Kara wondered if she had seen such a mob before.

"Starbuck!" someone yelled from behind her. It was Kat. "They said you were dead."

"Do I look dead to you, Katraine?" she asked.

"No, sir," Kat agreed. She looked at Kacey. "May I ask who this is?"

"Yes, you can, but you won't get an answer, at least not now. I need to find Doctor Cottle," Kara said.

"He left the Hangar Deck minutes ago, he went to the sickbay," Kat told her.

"To the sickbay? With all these people down here, he went to the sickbay?"

"The Rising Star sent a large team of doctors to take care of the injured civilians. Cottle is in charge of the military in the sickbay," she explained. "But if you need something urgent, you can see one of the civilian doctors."

"No, I only trust Cottle in this," Kara said and turned to leave to the sickbay.

"Just one more thing, Starbuck," Kat said. "Don't expect me to be nice to you just because you almost died."

Starbuck look at her former nugget over her shoulder. "I'd be disappointed if you did."

--

Kara had been waiting for Cottle to call her for almost two hours. Kacey was sleeping peacefully in her arms, wrapped in a blanket that Ishay, the Medic, had given her.

"Captain Thrace," Doctor Jack Cottle called. "Come with me."

Kara got up carefully, in order not to wake Kacey and followed Cottle to his office, she had specifically asked to talk to him in private. She laid Kacey in a couch and sit in a chair in front of his desk.

"What is it so important that no one beside me can hear?" he asked grumpily.

"It is about Kacey," she said.

"The kid?" Kara nodded. "What happened to her head?"

"She fell from the stairs when we were still being held in custody by the cylons. Maybe you should take a look," she stated. "But it is not about that that I needed to talk to you. Please, you have to assure me that this talk will not leave the room."

"I'm obliged to that. Doctor/Patient confidentiality," he told her.

"When I was held by the cylons, I was forced to live with Leoben. I think you already heard of him," she started and he nodded. "Before you ask, he didn't abuse me physically or sexually. He wanted me to love him and turn us into a perfect little family. One day, that frakking toaster showed up at home with Kacey, saying that she was our daughter, that they had used the ovary that they had stolen from me to make her."

"And you want to know if it is true," Cottle finished. "You do realize that if what he said is true, that kid will be a hybrid."

"I know," she asked. "But I also need to know if he was lying."

Cottle looked at her. He had never seen Starbuck that worried. He could see that she loved that little girl and was afraid that she turned out to be half-cylon, like the bastard said.

"Just let me take some blood from the two of you and I will do the tests right away. This matter is too important to wait," Cottle said, getting up. "Go outside and let Kim take a look in the girl's head."

Kara left the office and settled in one of the beds with Kacey. Cottle came in order to take a blood sample from them.

"It's alright, Kacey," Kara assured her. "Just don't look."

She snuggled closer to Kara and let the doctor take her blood after Kara did the same.

That was the longest wait of her life. There was a lot to decide, no matter what the results would turn out to be.

"Mommy wowied?" Kacey asked.

Mommy. How could Kara Thrace be a mother after all her own mother did? Hitting her, calling her names, saying she was worth nothing… How could she be a good mother to Kacey, when she did not have a good model to follow? But at the same time, she could not let Kacey down, abandon her. She could not be that selfish. You'll never learn if you don't try, she thought.

"Mommy will be fine," Kara assured Kacey. Minutes later, the little girl was once again asleep, in the bed.

After what seemed hours, Cottle called her again. She left Kacey under Ishay's care and once again entered the doctor's office.

"So, was he telling the truth?" she asked.

"Partially," he said.

"What do you mean?" Kara inquired.

"She's yours, but not his. The kid is human," he declared.

"Are you sure?" Kara asked. She was waiting for a mistake; fate had never been that generous with her.

"The results are clear, Captain. The DNA test proved she is yours," he stated.

"But what about the hybrid part?"

"You have to thank your friend Helo for that one. Due to his wife's past pregnancy, we found out that hybrids do not have a blood type. The girl is type AB. Your type is A, so her father's is B or AB," Cottle explained.

"So, she's actually mine?" Kara asked again, unable to believe.

"Yes, she seems to be about two years old. Probably, they found a way to speed up her surrogate mother's gestation. It was probably in one of those farms you mentioned when you came back from Caprica. Now get the hell out of my sickbay, I need to sleep," he demanded.

"Wait, but how will I explain this to everyone?" she asked.

"Talk to the admiral and Send them to him. Now, leave," he told her.

--

Kara was standing in front of Admiral Adama's quarters. When she left the sickbay, the first thing that occurred to her was not looking for her husband, it was to find the admiral, the closest thing to a father that she had.

She knocked on the hatch and seconds later, it opened.

"Kara," he murmured and signaled her to come in. He noticed the little girl in her arms. It was impossible not to.

As soon as she put Kacey on the floor, Kara was enveloped by a hug.

They stayed like that for a few moments. When they broke the hug, she looked at him. He shaved his mustache, she thought.

"I was worried about you," he told her.

"I'm fine," Starbuck declared. "I just wanted to check if the old man was still in command."

He smiled with that comment. "The old man will always be in command."He stared at the blond toddler sitting on the floor. "Who is she?"

"My daughter, Kacey," Kara told him.

She explained the whole story to the admiral, who listened attentively.

"I guess this little girl was the only good thing those toasters ever did," Adama said. "How did your husband react?"

"I didn't tell him," she confessed.

There was a silent pause. "You will need family quarters. I'll arrange that for you when we have things more worked out."

"Why are you being so nice?" Kara asked. "I abandoned you. I moved to the planet instead of staying by your side."

"There is always a time, Kara, when parents have to let their children go," he stated. "You are the closest thing to a daughter that I will ever have, so that also applies to you."

She smiled at him. "It is honor for me, sir."

Adama looked at Kacey, who was now sitting in Kara's lap. "What do you plan to do now that you are a mother, Kara?"

"I don't know. I'm new in this. Do you imagine how nervous I am?" she asked. "What if I mess up?"

"You will lift your head up and clean the mess, like you always do."

A/N: This is my first fiction. I hope you liked this beggining. I'll try to update soon, but I'd life some reviews.