1. Epilogue

Fog covered the deadly silent hills of New Caprica like a shroud. Only the wind swept in the treetops of the forest and cut the silence like a knife that cut the flesh of the enemy. Raindrops caused dull sounds whenever they touched the already soaked earth.

It had rained for days now, the priestresses called it the cold tears of the Gods, but Abby knew it better.

The Gods didn't exist anymore.

Not here.

Her clothes were completely soaked and sticked to her body like a second, icey skin, that let every inch of her body ache in frostiness. Everything was caked with mud what was even colder than the rain and mixed with it brought a disease causing mixture.

She was freezing.

She was in pain.

She was still alive.

Nothing moved in her vicinity, while she watched out, hidden in her trench, surrounded by death and rottenness.

For days she lay here.

Waiting.

For an order, for anything that would have implied that she was allowed to leave the dugout. Of course she could just have gone, taking the smokey path over the hills on which the battle had taken place only a few days ago, but when she looked into the broken eyes of the man who had shared the dugout with her, she stayed.

Abby didn't want to die.

Not like that.

No one would ever come back to that forest to burry the corpses because it was to dangerous, the Cylons had already occupied this area. All these people, her friends, would be burried in oblivion, they would end as nameless pictures on the memorial wall, nobody would ever lay roses upon their graves or grief for them. Abby didn't want to end like that, she just wanted to go back to New Caprica, find her siblings and just live. Months ago she had subscribed to the resistance to fight for the survival of humanity but what they had achieved was the exact opposite.

Due to their actions, the people were guarded a lot more on the streets of New Caprica, women disappeared constantly from the surface of the planet and woke up on the Basestars of the Cylons, being abused as surrogated mothers for they hybrid children. Of all the ideals she left home to fight for only one remained.

She wanted tu survive.

With stiff fingers she clenched the handhold of her gun and the only intact walkie-talkie that was left. At least she hoped that it was still intact.

"They forgot me", she mumbled angrily and slid back on the gound of the trench. Her weapon had no amunition anymore, she was insulated, no human lived in her vicinity anymore and she had no strength to go on like that anymore.

Her eyes burned, for days she had kept herself awake so she wouldn't be killed in her sleep but she knew how stupid her fear was, the Cylons had pulled back long ago in the knowledge that every resistance fighter within a radius of 10 km was dead.

Abby didn't know if she was alive because of the mercy of the Gods or if the Gods just tortured her, let her believe that she was save to kill her in the end.

Suddenly she heard noises.

Noises like motors caused that seemed to come closer. Scared she climbed up again to look over the edge of the dugout, ready, to kill the umcoming Cylons, no matter how. But did the Cylons go by cars? She doubted it but nevertheless she was careful.

A trek of cross-country vehicles came over the hills, soldiers of the resistance on the cargo area who looked for their buddies. As fast as possible, Abby crawled out of the trench but her boots slid down the muddy earth over and over again. Finally she lay on her stomache, exhausted but happy because the cars came towards her.

"Over there!!", she heard the familiar voice of her best friend Aaron Fitzgerald who stood on the cargo area of one vehicle and pointed at her.

Absolutely exhausted but revived by the adrenalin of happiness, Abby got up and let him drag her up on the car.

"Abby, I though they'd killed you", Aaron shouted and embraced her. "Don't be afraid, it needs a lot more to kill me", she breathed and was relieved to see her best friend again. All thos day in which she had fought she had been afraid that her family, her friends were dead but now, as she saw Aaron alive her drained body filled with strength again so she sat up against one of the sides and lay the gun she had clinged on for so long next to her.

She looked Aaron up and down, who smiled happily because he had found her alive. "The others are dead", she told him and pointed at the dugouts.

Aaron nodded sadly.

"We're going back to New Caprica City, for vehicles will stay here to burry the bodies, " he explained and looked into her eyes as if he was searching for something in them. For the Abby she had once been.

This war had changed everything.

Abby felt cold and numb inside, not much made her feel something these days, not even the death of so many men she had known.

Thy were only many among thousands, somewhen you blunted emotionally.

She had never known deep human feelings nor had she understood them. In her live there had never been space for love, faith, grief or fear.

However – once when she was younger, she had known fear. Fear of her father who had tyrannized the family but whith the years she had numbened to that too.

When they finally reached New Caprica City, hundreds of people already awaited them. Abby felt something like joy inside her heart.

She was save, she was home.

The car stopped and when Abby's feet touched the ground, her knees immediately buckled under her weight and Aaron had to catch her so she didn't fall on the ground. Another man Abby knew as Samuel T. Anders, came towards them and helped Aaron. "Hey little lady, don't be that wild", he said and smiled while Abby blushed a little. "I'm sorry", she mumbled and let them take her over to a sick bay where they helped her upon one of the empty beds.

Dr. Cottle, a man with the charme of a butcher, looked at Abby and sighed. "Wait for a moment", he said grumpily and turned back to a patient with a bleeding shot wound.

"You think you'll get along, Abbs?", Aaron asked. "I could help the guys burrying some of the bodies then, if it's ok for you", he added and Abby nodded.

She preffered to be alone now.

She didn't want to have people around her, at least no one who would drown her in sympathy.

It took over an hour till Cottle finally found the time to check on Abby. The girl who had nearly fallen asleep several times was about to say something, when SHE entered the tent. Effervescent with life, she immediately filled the whole sick bay with her presence as she let her gaze wander over the patients. She smiled at Abby, who bowed her head in fear that the blushig of her cheeks would give her away what was rather stupid because SHE didn't even knew Abby existed.

"What can I do for you, Captain Thrace?", Cottle asked and turned to her.

"I need new antibiotics for Sam", she answered and grinned at Cottle who sighed and walked away to get the medicine.

Abby felt shakey because now she was alone with HER.

"Abby Moore, right?", Kara asked and looked at the girl of maybe 19 years who seemed not to be willing to talk because she merely nodded.

"Sam told me about you, about your activities in the resistance. You impressed him with your skill to shoot, he always calls you little sniper. Plus you are the girlfriend of Laura Roslins nephew what makes you a little VIP around here", she joked not sure why the girl gave such a deranged impression.

"Mrs. Roslin sure is happy about having found out her nephew is healthy and alive even though her sister died during the attacks", Abby finally said and sighed because she hadn't come up with a smarter comment. Nevertheless Kara smiled cheery and nodded.

"Yeah, Laura is pretty happy to have him with her, I barely saw her that happy before. Nevertheless – you counted great losses. 100 went out, only 4 fighters came back!"

Abby nodded and wanted to say something but Cottle came back and gave Kara the medicine. "Now, get out of here", he demanded and Kara smiled one last time at the strange girl before she left.

"So, what's the matter with you kid?", Cottle asked and looked her up and down.

"Nothing, I just need some sleep", Abby answered but had to cough at the same time.

"Sounds like pneumonia", Cottle said and let her cough three more time.

"Take this antibiotics three times a day, don't forget it or the pneumonia gets worse. Now get out of here and put some dry clothes on", he grumbled and kicked the girl out.


	2. Chapter 2

thx tracey23 for you kind review! i got a beta now, hope this chappi is better than the first one ;)! Hugs Kathy

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Abby stepped out of the tent and slowly walked through the crowded streets, which were closely watched by the Cylon guards. As she made her way back home, she had a tough time finding her old tent because every street and every tent looked identical.

"Abby!!!!"

The voice of a little boy distracted her from her gloomy thoughts and she turned around just in time to catch her little brother Caleb, who stumbled over a root as ran towards her. Since he had lost his mother and father on Libra, he was absolutely devoted to Abby and was ecstatic to have her back.

Abby knew that he missed his nanny, Celia, more than his parents because she had raised him, but recently Caleb had been asking about his mother. Unfortunately Abby didn't have much to tell about Alisha except that she was a cold hearted stepmother. Abby had moved to Libra after her mother's death and had only spent 7 years with Caleb and his family.

"Abby, you're back! What took you so long? I almost started to think you'd never come back!" Caleb exclaimed as he hugged her tightly yet again. Denosh, Abby's 16 year old stepsister approached behind him and nodded at Abby, refusing to give her the same warm welcome. Caleb was the only thing that connected the girls – despite the fact that they had ignored each other for years now. They had never liked each other because they were completely different and even now Abby didn't feel happy at all to see her.

"I missed you so much! Denosh kept saying that you would never come back again, I was really worried about you!" Caleb added and wrapped his small arms around Abby's neck. This prompted Abby to pick him up, even though she felt as if she would collapse under his weight at any moment.

Laura Roslin stepped out of the school tent and waved towards Abby and Caleb. She called, "Caleb, school starts in 5 minutes," as she walked over to them. Abby let go off of Caleb, who immediately ran to the other kids that were waiting in front of the tent. Their teacher hugged Abby and smiled brightly at her. "We didn't expect you to come back alive. It's good to see you, Abby. Don't worry, I'll keep Caleb busy today so you can get some rest. Just take your time. Come pick him up whenever you'd like to," she said kindly. Abby nodded and went into her tent. She sank down onto her cot and laid there. She was too tired to undress and rid herself of the wet clothes, even though she knew that it could worsen her pneumonia. Her weariness overwhelmed her and she fell asleep.

Luckily she didn't dream…

Hours later, she startled awake when she saw the shadow of a person in the darkness of her tent. "Don't be afraid, it's me, Kara Thrace! Dr. Cottle sent me to give you these pills. He gave you the wrong ones…I hope you didn't take them, the ones he gave you are for flatulence," the woman in front of Abby joked and laid a little box with blue pills on the blanket. She eyed the younger girl for a second and added, "You really should put on some dry clothes, that won't help you get any better. Oh – Laura Roslin also wanted me to tell you that Caleb was going to spend the night in her tent so you could have more time to recover."

Abby yawned and silently looked at her nightime visitor. She looked for any resemblance between them but they seemed to be complete opposites. Absent-mindedly, Abby touched her light brown curls. Oh, how good would it have been to have Kara's blond, straight hair instead of her wild, long curls and freckles that covered her cheeks as soon as some rays of sunlight touched her skin!

The kids at Elementary School had called her a witch, due to her ice blue eyes that seemed to radiate a certain coldness all of the time, even when Abby was laughing. But she never gave a damn about the things the other kids used to say.

She was better off on her own anyway, at least that's what she kept telling herself.

Abby had never been interested in kids her own age.

While they had played outside, Abby spent most of her time in her room, reading one book after another to find answers for all the questions that ran through her mind.

She had already graduated from school when she was 15 but her father had never been interested in the abilities of his daughter. He refused to let her continue her studies and instead kept her at home and trained her to play the piano professionally, even though Abby never had his passion.

Abby became absolutely lost in her own thoughts and barely saw the look on Kara's face, who wondered about the silence between them.

"Well…I'll go now," she finally said and turned to head out because she didn't expect Abby to respond. Abby was pulled back into reality and managed to say something. "I'm sorry, I was …distracted. Thank you for the pills, luckily I forgot to take one tonight. As you can see I forgot to undress as well. I guess I just got used to the feeling of wet clothes on my skin." Abby stood up to lead Kara out of the tent and to feel some fresh air on her hot face. "It stopped raining," Kara stated and looked up to the dark clouds that they could see even in the darkness.

Something fascinated her about Abby, she just didn't know what it was…

"Yeah it's awesome. Now that I have a roof over my head again, it stops raining. The Gods sure seem to like me a lot," Abby muttered grumpily. Kara laughed and nodded her head in agreement.

"I know the feeling. Luck never seems to be on my side either. Well, I'm going to go and get some sleep now. I'll see you in the next few days. Get well soon." Kara smiled as she left Abby standing in the moonlight.

Abby watched Kara till her shadow was swallowed by the darkness. For a few more moments she stood in front of her tent, not wanting to go in and sleep again. The fever made her feel so hot and only the cold air seemed to ease the heat a little. She looked around and let her gaze slide over the tents till she saw someone sitting in the middle of the Pyramid field. His white hair seemed to shimmer in the moonlight and whenever he raised the bottle of Ambrosia, it sparkled in the lights of the street lamps.

Abby walked over to the older man and sat down next to him on the ground.

"Hey Saul," she said softly. She smiled at him but he didn't seem to notice her. His gaze was empty while he wiped some Ambroisa off the corner of his mouth. He hadn't been himself since his wife had been killed.

"Abby…didn't think to see you alive again. Your group was slaughtered out there. How many of you guys came back?" He asked slowly because his tongue was heavy from the alcohol.

"Four…four came back but they say Ryan won't make it much longer. He was shot in the stomach and lost a lot of blood…The Cylons outnumbered us. It was really horrible," Abby replied and lowered her gaze.  
Tigh sighed.

"Their blood is on my hands, I sent them to fight in this war. It's my fault they're all dead," he whispered and shook his head.

"Everyone who fights in the resistance is aware of the danger, Saul. You're not responsible for their deaths. War always counts losses," she said, trying to comfort him but all she got was an angry look from him.

"That sounds terribly hard-nosed for a 19 year old," he mumbled and placed the empty bottle next to him.

"Well…I've always been…different from people my age," Abby responded and rose to her feet. She was too tired to have an argument with a drunken Tigh now.

"You should get to bed and get some sleep," she said while she walked away but he just ignored her.

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Reviews still would be very appretiated, writers live from Feedback ;)!


	3. Chapter 3

Rain, forming in the clouds high above New Caprica, poured down on the roofs of the unstable tents and gathered on the muddy streets, making the landscape more bleak and uninviting than ever. One week had passed since Abby had come back and again the circumstances on the planet cast a cloud over the last survivors of humanity. The night before, women had disappeared again, ten of them, vanished out of their beds without a trace. Now, the remaining members of the resistance sat together inside the temple.

They remained silent.

Nobody knew what to say to the disappearances - there was no comfort possible. Friends and family they might never see again because no one the Cylons took ever came back, either dead or alive.

Abby stared at one of the tin gods that were placed on an altar in one corner of the tent. It was a statue of the godmother Hera and for the first time in her life, she prayed. _'Lords of Kobol, hear my prayers, let Kara Thrace come back to us. Or show mercy to her mortal soul in case she already left this world behind. Take her into the heavens above where she may live in peace until we see her again. _As she thought the words she hoped the gods would hear her, but somewhere inside she knew they wouldn't. They never had before, why start now?

Her gaze slid over to Saul Tigh, unknowingly biting his cigarette as his mind was lost in thought, and over to Sam, who sat pale and apathetic next to him. She knew what was on his mind right now. He felt guilty because he hadn't been able to protect his wife. No matter that she'd been taken during his night shift, he couldn't seem to lose the guilt that he should have been able to keep her safe. It cemented Abby's belief that there was a traitor among them. How else would the cylons know so much?

Laura Roslin entered the tent, surprised at finding it so quiet. She guessed everyone had the events of the night before on their minds, and from the bleak looks she was seeing she was beginning to fear people were losing hope that there was anything they could do. She too was shocked to the core of the events of the previous night – losing Kara Thrace was a blow indeed, but she was more strongly convinced than ever that they had to redouble their efforts in order to get their people back and strike back at their enemies.

Only Tyrol realized her presence and nodded in her direction. His movement caught other's eyes, some looking up as well to greet her silently as the former president knelt down in front of the altar and whispered some quick words to the gods before she sat down on a bunk next to Abby. The girl smiled at her hastily and then was the first one to finally speak up.

"We can't sit around here, doing nothing, waiting for something to happen. We have to act, we have to look for them!"

Some of the attendees nodded but others shook their heads. "It's far too dangerous to enter the Cylon territory to look for them," Galen Tyrol answered, but Sam disagreed.

"We owe it to our wives! We have to at least_ look_ for them, we can't just leave them behind to die. I won't sit around here and tell myself that Kara is dead when she might be out there waiting for me to come and get her. I'd rather die trying to save her than admitting to myself that I gave up," he exclaimed.

"You're not objective right now," Tigh mumbled grumpily.

Laura weighed in in support of Sam's point of view. " I agree with Sam that we owe it to them to do everything possible to save them. Our missing objectivity may distract us from logical actions but our emotions will help us in this mission - they'll give us the necessary drive to do what we have to do!" Laura crossed her arms in front of her chest.

Sullenly, Sam stared at the floor, ready to defend his opinion against the rest of humanity. He felt left alone by his friends who were against him now. He would have done the same for their wives too. But at least he had Roslin's support.

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Kara blinked in the absolute darkness, finally figuring out that she'd been blindfolded. Her hands were sore from heavy, metal handcuffs and it took her a few moments to figure out if she was lying or sitting. Her head hurt as if someone had hit her hard with a push stick and she felt weak, exhausted as if a hundred sedatives had been given to her.

She was freezing. She shivered as the utter cold of the concrete wall behind her back stole right through her flimsy nightdress. Next to her she felt the warmth of another body that was shaking heavily as well, from fear or cold.

"Hello?" Kara carefully asked, her voice raspy.

The person next to her stopped shaking for a moment and relaxed a little bit. "Hello…who are you?"

Kara was glad to hear a female voice talking and figured that it was a young girl next to her and not a Cylon. "My name is Kara. Do you know where we are?" she asked and dragged a little at the handcuffs.

The girl hestitated for a second. "I'm…Emily Lane and I don't know where we are, I just woke up. I guess the Cylons have taken us. They'll kill us or let us bear their hybrid kids," Emily cried and Kara could hear her sob. She wanted to say something positive to cheer the kid a little but before she could open her mouth and say something, she heard noises near them. Someone ripped the bandage off her eyes and dragged her up violently but Kara was viciously pulled backwards again as her chains weren't long enough to allow for much movement.

"Follow me," a man demanded and unlocked the handcuffs so Kara could get up

Totally shocked, she stared at him in disbelief. "Aaron?" she whispered and let him drag her next door where he hustled her onto a chair. "What are you doing Aaron? Why are you doing this to us?" she screamed, her heart pounding furiously in her chest.

"Aaron Roslin never existed at least not on this planet. Looks like the Cylons have actually fooled you," he laughed.

They had spied on them. For 501 days.

"How is that possible? Laura Roslin is your aunt, she_ must_ have realized she'd been fooled," Kara stated, trying to sound secure and calm.

"We are intelligent, Ms. Thrace. We chose Aaron Roslin because we knew that the President hadn't had any contact with her sister and nephew in over ten years. Laura stopped speaking to her sister Myra years ago They argued and Laura decided to turn her back on her family so she had no idea her nephew died at the age of eleven. Myra died in the attack on the colonies so there's no chance of Laura finding out the truth." He stepped back a pace to enjoy the look of surprise on Kara's face.

She tried to be calm and not show her surprise and fear. "Why are you telling me this? I could give you away," she said but Aaron just smiled at her again.

"No you can't because you will never see the sunlight again. It's such a pleasure for me to see the shock in your eyes! I've got a sense for drama and love to see people suffer! But now I'll leave you alone so Leoben can care for you. I will take care of Ms. Lane in the meantime, giving her a good time, if you understand what I mean, " he said, and smirked evilly before he left the room, locking the door behind him.

Kara stayed on the chair, staring at the door. Somehow she had to escape. Somehow she had to inform her friends that a sleeper was among them.

She knew that she mighty never get the chance to do so.

TBC

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thx to tracy for the beta! Plz review, i'm longing for reviews 


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