A/N: I have finally managed to finish this epilogue, and it's still not quite what I want, but we can't win them all. This final chapter is meant to set up the next in this series of stories which will be State of Pursuit. I'm not sure when exactly I'll be starting but it will be soon.

I want to thank all of you for your continuous support and reviews. It has been a pleasure and I continue to look forward to hearing from you.

Chapter 25: Epilogue

Kara Thrace stood on the deck of her newly finished beach house and watched the waves roll in. The mornings on Caterra I were unlike anything she had ever experienced. The air was so clean, so fresh that it almost hurt to breath in the untainted oxygen. She had so much to do this day, but she had allowed the sound of laughter and the bright morning air to draw her outside, and what she saw made her smile.

The two figures that romped through the shallow water were not aware that they had an audience. If they had been, they probably would have tried to find a way to coax her into playing with them, but she didn't want to intrude on their time together. It was rare for them to have uninterrupted time alone, and she didn't want to intrude, especially since she had all the time in the world with the smaller of the two.

When you looked at them together you couldn't help but notice how different they were; it was amazing that he hadn't questioned wether the boy was his or not. Lee was not a tall man, but what there was of him was finely developed. Lean muscles, sinewy tendons all wrapped in an enticing package with the face of an angel. Dark hair that he had allowed to grow out just a little, and eyes so blue, so clear that a woman could happily drown in them.

The little boy who happily played with him was still sporting a bit of baby fat, especially around his chubby little legs, and arms, yet he was already showing the same body lines that his father had. His hair was the exact opposite of the man who had sired him, in fact it wasn't even blonde like his mother's. It was white, pure white, like a polar bear, or the tundra. Kara thought that it would darken, turn blonde as he got older, but after two years it was still as white as when he had been born.

She smiled as she watched Lee toss him into the air, the sound of her son's laughter reaching her ears, warming her heart. She hoped he was doing the same for his father, she prayed that he could heal the damage that Lee still carried with him. She tried not to dwell on the fact that he had another nightmare last night, one that drove him from their bed, and that she had found him sitting by their son's bed. If that was the only place he could find solace, who was she to intrude.

"Looks like Apollo and Zeus are having a grand time," a voice said from behind her.

"I wish you wouldn't call him that," she snapped at her brother as he closed the door behind him.

She knew that he was coming out, that in fact several people would be coming out to the beach house to celebrate her son's second birthday; but she had hoped that Lee would have a little bit more alone time with his son. Since she couldn't fly, and Devon had wanted a more hands on role in the planning of Caterra I, Lee had been placed in charge of a combined air group. Unfortunately for them it meant he spent more time in space than planet side with his family; but she knew nothing would stand in the way of him spending this time with his son.

"As you wish, but you can't bury your head in the sand forever," Devon replied giving her a hug.

"I just want normal for him," she said exasperated.

"Then you should have picked Sam to be the father of your children," her brother replied with a straight face.

"Why are you here so early anyway?" She asked heading back into the kitchen annoyed.

"Well I brought the cake," he said gesturing to the huge pirate ship that sat on the kitchen counter.

"He's going to love that," she smiled.

"Yeah well, what good is being an uncle if you can't get your nephew everything he wants," he said with his own boyish grin. "Plus I need to get the last batch of maps from you, and drop off the newest of schematics."

"Work never ends," she muttered handing him two roll tubes.

It had been almost three years since they had found Caterra I and things were moving slowly. The first wave of people to inhabit the planet had been environmentalists, your basic garden variety of scientists. It had been decided that they wouldn't just settle on the planet and take what they needed with no regards for the resources they would be plundering. Everything was geared towards being environmentally friendly.

Like the beach house relying on solar power for electricity, heating and cooling. They had advances in place that helped them to recycle water and trash. And the funniest thing of all was the golf carts they used for transportation. For a fighter pilot use to going faster than the speed of light, golf carts were definitely a step down.

"No, our work is never done," he agreed. "You will be there to help tomorrow?"

"Oh yes, I'm looking forward to helping one thousand people move into new housing, make sure their vaccinations are up to date, explain to them the environmental rules, assign them a golf cart, and have them gawk at my kid. Yeah, I'm so looking forward to it."

"You can't tell me that when he pins that direct emerald stare on you, you don't feel as if he's looking directly into your soul," Devon said to her.

When Kara looked at her brother, it was to find him looking at her in almost the same way that her son could at times. As if the very sharpness of his gaze could take the measure of her as a person. It could be unnerving, especially if your intentions were not good, your motives not pure. She could admit that it might unsettle some one meeting either her son of her brother for the first time.

"He's just a kid," she reiterated.

"For now," she heard Devon mutter. "But that's not what's bothering you, spill it little sister."

Kara sometimes really hated her brother. He could read her better than anyone, and he didn't need the added help of prophecy to know when something was bothering her.

"Lee is still having nightmares," she said hoping to deflect him.

"Nice try," he said pinning her with that hard stare. "While I know the nightmares that Lee is still having bother you, that's not what has you twisted in knots. So let's try again."

"I can feel his presence getting closer," she whispered not wanting to put voice to her fears.

"You're afraid he's going to find you," Devon acknowledged.

"It's not me he's looking for," Kara replied giving her brother a pointed look. "I'm just the icing on the cake, if he can get me."

"What do you think he's after?" Devon asked not sure he was following.

"Not what, who," she answered.

"If not you, then Lee?"

"No," she said shaking her head. "We're of only minor importance now."

"Zeus," Devon said understanding finally dawning. "They want your son?"

"I don't know why," she affirmed. "And please stop calling him that."

"Fine," Devon huffed. "But maybe that's part of what you need to face. I can't see whatever it is you're sensing, whatever you know, but I know things about that boy."

"What do you know about my son that you won't tell me," Kara all but shouted at him.

They had been through this so many times. It caused arguments, shouting matches and at times they even came to blows. Devon knew things about Damien, things he refused to tell her and it had created a barrier that had never existed between them.

"I can't Kara," he said grabbing her by the shoulders and hugging her tightly. "You're his mother, you'd try to protect him from the things he needs, wants to do. Just like your mother tried to protect you."

"So I'm just suppose to sit back and wait while the cylons hunt down my son?" Kara asked feeling desperate.

"I don't know, but what I do know is that I'll be right here with you. We're in this together, have been since day one."

&&&&

Leoben watched as the blood dripped down his arm and pooled on the floor at his feet. He felt detached, almost as if he was watching someone else, as if all of this was happening to someone else.

He heard the whine of the engines, and above that the last sounds of battle. It was almost over, three years of trying to obliterate each other and they had almost succeeded. Now this last pocket of resistance was being forced to capitulate or die. It didn't matter to him which one they chose, as long as they were quick about it.

"Do you think you should get that tended?" He heard behind him.

"What would be they point?" He asked in return.

"Well at least you wouldn't leave a mess everywhere you went," the honeyed tones washed over him.

Leoben looked at Caprica, a cynical smile on his face. At the beginning of this confrontation they had both been firmly entrenched on opposite sides, but things had changed. They always did, and now they had the same goal and it had nothing to do with trying to kill each other.

"I do believe that is the least of our worries," he replied.

"You don't think we'll find them," she stated. From anyone else it would have been a question, but they had become close enough that she knew how he thought.

"I don't think we'll have to," he said looking out at the great expanse of stars. "He will find us."

The two of them looked at each other and then together they walked aboard the heavy raider, the door sealing shut behind them. The would leave the dying basestar and any of those who would not join them. Let them find what mercy or grace they could in death.