Title: Commencement 
Author: Athena13 (Athena13@ixpres.com)

Rated PG

See Chapter 1 for disclaimers and copyright information
See End of Story for lyric and poetry credits


<><><><><><><>
It's all about
Growing up and growing out
Decisions and places
Paths taken
Unpredictable results we always expected
Consequences
<><><><><><><>
Chapter 2 

"Where are we going and what do you two have planned?" Athena asked for 
the hundredth time.

"I’m not telling and if you don’t stop asking I’m going to tickle you!" 
Zac grabbed his sister’s waist, her long hair getting twisted around 
his arm.

Athena pulled away from his grasp with a yelp. "Ow! I give, I give.  
I’ll keep quiet. Give me my hair back!" Athena untangled her hair from 
her brother's arms and let it fall back down around her waist. Then she 
turned and stuck her tongue out at her brother.

"Is that how it’s done? I’ve been trying to figure out how to shut her 
up for yahrens," Cole said from her other side.

Athena elbowed him and then reached to put her arms around both Cole’s 
and Zac’s waists. "This is so nice. Here, with my two favorite men.  
This is so cool. I’m so glad you got to come home and spend the last 
few days with me Zac."

"I thought she was supposed to be quiet now?" Cole said in a theatrical 
whisper.

"I said I wouldn’t ask where we were going, I certainly never said I 
would stop talking," Athena lifted her chin defiantly.

"I knew there was no way to keep her quiet. Oh, where has the peace 
gone?" Cole called up to the stars. Athena just rolled her eyes.

"We’re here!" Zac stopped, pulling them all to a halt.

"Where? This is the big deal secret? We come to this liquistation all 
the time," Athena said.

"Just follow me," Zac opened the door and walked in. 

Athena looked at Cole who just shrugged and led her in behind Zac.  

Upon entering, Athena spied a large group of young people milling 
around the spirits counter. Athena pulled away from Cole and headed for 
her friends. "This is great! Hi!" she greeted everyone.

"We couldn’t let you academy people leave without a send off," an 
attractive small girl came forward and explained. "So, here we are to 
say goodbye to you Athena and Prion, Delar, Mikos, well, you get the 
idea," Leila shrugged. "Zac arranged most of it, actually," she looked 
at the Academy student from beneath her lashes.

"Any excuse for a party," Zac waggled his eyebrows. 

Leila walked over to him and put her arm around his waist. Then she 
looked up at him and gave a smile that plainly indicated that she 
wasn’t fooled by his modesty, but was definitely taken in by everything 
else about him.

"I think Zac is channeling Starbuck again, did you see that eyebrow 
thing?" Cole whispered to Athena.

"At least he's stopped trying to be like Apollo and tell me what to do 
all the time," Athena handed Cole a glass of grog. 

"Just wait until he's your superior officer on the Galactica," Cole 
murmured in her ear.

"Very funny, ha ha," she grimaced as she took a sip of her drink. 
"There is no way that's going to happen."

Cole looked at his best friend meditatively. Somehow he just knew that 
in four or five yahrens she would change her mind and want to serve 
with her family. 

"Don't look at me like that!" Athena laughed, long used to him trying 
to read her mind or predicting her behavior. "I'm _not_ going to change 
my mind. I've enjoyed Apollo being away from home too much to 
voluntarily submit myself to his authority on an official basis!"

"Does that include me?" Zac pinched her waist as he came up behind her.

Athena almost spilled her drink when her brother startled her. "Hardly, 
_you_ don't try to run my life. I thought we were here to have fun?"

Zac draped his arm over his sister's shoulder. "We are here to have 
fun, so stop talking about Apollo. You know you miss him anyway. 
Besides, Starbuck's on the Galactica," he teased her.

"All right, enough teasing of your poor sister. I'm not going to have 
her around for much longer," Cole put down his drink and pulled Athena 
into his arms, not wanting to hear once again about her old crush on 
her brother's friend. "Let's go dance."

Zac leaned back against the bar and watched his sister and her 
boyfriend on the dance floor. His heart ached for what she was going to 
have to go through over the next few sectars. Leaving Cole behind 
wasn't going to be easy and she would soon realize that once she got 
busy with school and he left Caprica that their relationship was 
doomed. 

"I've never seen you looking so melancholy at a party before," a male 
voice broke into his reverie.

"Orion!" Zac greeted his old friend and fellow cadet. "Hi Zara," he 
greeted Orion's girlfriend, another person they had grown up with. 
"Glad you both could make it."

Zara shrugged and looked away. 

Zac kept his smile on as he contemplated how much he would like to toss 
the stuck-up girl into the Lake. He couldn't understand how a nice guy 
like Orion got involved with her. And stayed with her after he had left 
for Academy. He noted with satisfaction that Orion seemed to finally 
recognize her standoffishness wasn't attractive, as Orion shot her a 
frustrated look. Obviously, Orion had to force her to come and mingle 
with the "common folk."

"I think I need a drink," Orion mumbled and followed Zac to the bar, 
not bothering to check if his girlfriend was following. 

Zac refrained from commenting on his friend's mood. They would all be 
leaving in a few days to go back to school anyway. Maybe this year 
Orion would cut her loose. 

"I know you don't like her much," Orion acknowledged.

"You love her, that's good enough for me," Zac handed his friend a cup.

Orion looked back to where Zara had perched herself on a stool and was 
observing the crowd. "Love is a rather strong word," he commented as he 
studied her attractive profile.

Zac's eyebrows raised in shock. Just a few sectons ago Orion had been 
at school mooning over the woman. Apparently a few days in her company 
had reminded him just what she was like. "Are you saying you don't love 
her?" he asked curiously.

Orion shrugged. "No more than she loves me. Truthfully, I'm thinking of 
breaking up with her before we go back."

"Well, if you do, we could both have some real fun this yahren," Zac 
said meaningfully.

"That we could, that we could," Orion grinned at his friend, his green 
eyes sparkling. 

"Could what?" Leila asked as she walked over and put her arm around Zac 
again.

"Just discussing boring Academy stuff," Zac prevaricated as he smiled 
down at the petite woman, putting his arm around her shoulder.

"I'll bet," she commented wryly, snuggling up against Zac's side.

Orion and Zac looked at each other and laughed. 

<><><><><><><>

"I can't believe you still want to play around and get grubby with the 
boys," a voice interrupted her fun. She couldn't identify the voice 
over the din of the crowd, but the words were enough of a clue.

Zara.

Luckily Athena had already drank a couple of cups of grog before 
meeting up with her. "Hi Zara, how are you? How's journalism school?"

"It's great. It's everything I had always dreamed. I can’t believe 
you're going to the Academy!" Zara shook her head, as if she was 
disappointed in Athena's career choice. "You don't have to just because 
everyone else in your family does you know."

"I'm not doing it because everyone in my family is, I'm doing it 
because I want to," Athena bit back a smirk.

Zara shrugged and looked around, losing interest in the conversation. 
"So you're here with Cole?" she turned back to Athena and asked.

"Yes," Athena nodded, wondering if the woman was suffering from brain 
damage.

"So are you two breaking up before you leave?" Zara sipped her drink.

"No!" Athena said in surprise. "Why would we?"

"Because he won't even be on this planet," Zara explained as if she 
thought Athena was the slow one.

"Whether he's on Caprica or not, we'll both be busy at school, we'll 
just have to travel further during breaks," Athena shrugged, fighting 
back a wave of anger and fear at Zara's observations. The upcoming 
separation scared the frak out of her and she was desperately trying 
not to think about it and let it ruin the next few days. She _knew_ 
they would make it work, she just couldn't imagine not seeing him 
everyday. 

"I'll see you later, enjoy yourself," Athena walked away.

<><><><><><><>

Zac sighed with relief when Leila decided he wasn't "fun enough 
tonight" and wandered off to find someone else who was. Zac liked the 
girl well enough and they had dated and stuff from time to time, but he 
just wasn't in the mood tonight for her brand of fun. It was a mood he 
couldn't understand and definitely wasn't used to. 

He idly wondered if he was beginning to suffer from his brother's 
moodiness.

When he had left for the Academy last yahren at this time, he had been 
excited and living it up. He knew he would miss his mother and his 
sister, but he was glad to be starting a new life. Now, he was well 
entrenched in Academy life and looking forward to having his sister 
close by. Somehow, though, having Athena join him seemed more momentous 
than his own departure. 

'It's more real, more permanent,' Zac admitted. A yahren away from home 
seemed like a fun interlude. Now that Athena would be there too he 
couldn't pretend, as he did in the deepest recesses of his mind, that 
it was all just a temporary hiatus. He found that reality a bit 
disturbing. It wasn't that Zac didn't want to be a warrior like his 
father and brother. He did. But he also knew that if it wasn't for the 
war with the Cylons he might have made some other choices for his life. 

Not his sister though. 

Zac looked over to where Athena was slow dancing with Cole. She was 
giving up the man she loved and the life they could have together in 
order to be a warrior. She might not yet admit it, but she was choosing 
that life over Cole. He might be the sibling with the overdeveloped 
desire to impress their older brother, but Athena was the one who was 
most like Apollo.

Being a warrior was her one and only choice, war or not. It's not that 
she didn't have any other interests or talents, but flying a viper was 
her overarching passion. Well, right beneath commanding a battlestar.

Maybe if Cole were going into standard military service rather than 
engineering they would have a chance. But a man with his talents would 
probably remain planetside or in some civilian station designing 
weapons and ships. After tomorrow, they will likely be separated for 
the rest of their lives. He could only imagine what she would be going 
through. And he was glad he was going to be there to help her pick up 
the pieces and keep it together. 

Zac himself hadn't experienced that kind of love, any love for that 
matter. 

'Maybe that's my problem tonight?' he wondered as he looked around at 
his friends, all of whom seemed to be paired off or otherwise enjoying 
themselves.

But there was no way Zac was ever going to let himself love any woman 
that much. In their world, all it brought was pain.

<><><><><><><>

"Hi, I didn’t think anyone was still up.  What are you doing sitting 
here in the dark?" Athena asked as the door closed behind her and she 
walked further into the house.

"Just resting before I tackled the stairs," Zac answered sleepily. And 
a bit drunkenly.

"Do I have to carry you up those stairs, again?" Athena put her hands 
on her hips and smirked.

Zac snorted. "Whatever. Sit down for a centon," he patted the seat next 
to him on the couch.

Athena flopped down on the couch next to her brother.  She leaned over 
and rested her head on his shoulder. "What’s up? Where's Leila? I feel 
like you have something you want to say to me."

Zac slipped his arm out from beneath Athena’s head and put his arm 
around her. "I feel like I should be giving you some sort of pep talk 
before we leave for school. Sort of like you gave me before I went. You 
don’t need it do you? You’ve always wanted this, even more than me."

"A music career might have been fun for a while, but face it, you would 
have been bored to tears and felt pretty useless. Do _you_ need another 
pep talk?" Athena leaned her head onto her brother's shoulder.  

"Nah, school is fine. I really do like it. I just don't think it would 
have been my first choice if it weren't for this war," Zac sighed. 
"It's going to be tough leaving Cole," Zac changed the subject.

Athena nodded.

Zac leaned over and kissed the top of his sister's hair. "It will all 
work out, I promise."

"And Zac promises always come true," Athena said in a sing-song voice.

"Gee, took you enough yahrens to learn that," Zac yanked a hank of her 
hair.

"I miss Apollo," Athena sighed, beginning to fall asleep.

"Me too," Zac yawned. "Let's get to bed," Zac pushed his sister off the 
couch.

Athena just about fell on her butt. "What a gentleman," Athena groused 
as she balanced herself and turned towards the stairs.

"Oh believe me, I am," Zac said suggestively.

"So I've heard," Athena teased as they headed to their bedrooms.

END CHAPTER 2
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