by Athena13 (Athena13@mitiori.com)
Classification: A, R, Slash
Summary: Post Hand of God, Athena finds a way to fill the empty places in her life and discovers more love and fulfillment than she could have ever imagined.
Author's Notes: This story is inspired by Rick "Zac" Springfield's song "Act of Faith" from his 1999 CD "Karma. It's a song about love and letting go and finding love again. This story also deals with something very close to my heart, adoption. It is my personal belief that a true "pro-life" advocate is one who believes in nurturing the lives that already exist. There are many children out there in need of the love and nurturing we have to give. I also firmly believe that blood does not make family and does not make a child more or less your own. My personal goal in life is to adopt older children who have been forsaken by society in favor of infants and give these children, my children, a home. And that, too, is truly "pro-choice."
This story is unrelated to any of my other "universes."
Dedications: To Wayne who inspired a character twist, hope you enjoy! And to Melissa, my biggest fan and inspiration as a writer and my tireless beta reader on this effort.
Disclaimers: This is a fiction story based on the series Battlestar Galactica and its characters created and owned by Glen A. Larson. This story is not being sold for profit and no infringement of any copyright rights are intended. All unrecognized characters and plot lines are mine and any resemblance to any person living or dead is purely coincidental.
Copyright 1999
"Act of Faith" is written by Rick Springfield and copyrights belong to various ASCAP artists.
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I tell you honestly, don't you go and throw your heart away
I know it's hard to do,
you've got to let go when you want to hold on.
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Prologue - Seven Sectars Earlier
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"No Starbuck, we can't do this anymore. No, actually__I_ can't do this anymore," Athena kept her eyes firmly on the ground in front of her feet. Despite her resolve, she couldn't bring herself to look him in the eyes.
"Can't do what?" Starbuck crossed his arms, a devilish gleam in his eyes as he anticipated the challenge he was certain she was throwing out.
"Date you," Athena finally looked him in the face. "It's done, over. She's won. I give up," she finished in an extremely serious tone.
"Huh?" Starbuck's arms dropped to his sides as the seriousness of her statement began to sink in. "What are you talking about? Don't tell me you're still mad about what happened on the Rising Star? How was I supposed to know you were going to change your duty schedule. You said no so I invited Cassiopeia to join me," he defended himself for the umpteenth time. "I've already apologized, more than once."
"And you didn't bother to tell me when I did show up. Not Starbuck the stud. Instead you decided to make a cycle of it with _both_ of us. You can't apologize for that, not when you keep doing the same things over and over again," Athena said in exasperation as he made her explain yet again why she found his actions wrong.
"Aurora I could handle. I could even handle all those other women because what we shared was special and I didn't want to pressure either of us to commit before we were ready. Quite frankly Starbuck, it's just not special anymore and it hasn't been for a long time. In fact, it's about as far from special as we could possibly get without bloodshed. We're family Starbuck and if I continue to let you treat me this way it's going to cause problems for a lot more people than just the two of us. So it's over. Don't ask me to do things with you and just stop lying to me before I really do hate you."
The placid expression on Starbuck's face didn't change throughout her tirade. "If that's what you want," he shrugged and walked away without another word.
"It's always that simple for you isn't it?" Athena said as she stood in the corridor watching him walk away from her.