Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Author’s note: This is an AU take on Battlestar Galactica where Dualla is allowed to be angry and at times petty. If that’s not for you or if you’re a fan of Kara and/or Lee, then I advise you to slowly back away from my story.

The two sweaty boxers locked in a desperate embrace swaying from side to side barely managing to stay upright as the crowd cheered them along.

"I'm out of here." Sam murmured in disgust.

Dee gave the man a cursory glance as he left, but morbid fascination rooted her to ringside with the rest of the crowd unable to turn away from the spectacle. Watching Lee and Kara beat the ever-living shit out of each other was truly an enlightening experience. The man she married packed more passion in a single punch thrown at Kara Thrace's face than he did in Dee's bed.

Now wasn't that some bullshit? Gods, where was her spine? What happened to the nervy young woman who told her father back on Sagittaron, in no uncertain terms, she was joining the colonial military with or without his blessing?

She died when the gods-damned Cylons annihilated the Colonies.

In the ring, the pair broke apart each surveying the other with caution. Kara's jab and right cross failed to connect but Lee's punch knocked the blonde to the mat. She got back on her feet quickly and landed a blow to Lee's stomach. She moved to press the advantage but Lee encircled her arms with his own pulling her close once more. They began whispering to one another; their aching desperation apparent for the all the worlds to see. Dee certainly saw enough. Taking a cue from Sam the young woman walked out.

The lieutenant didn't know if her husband was frakking Kara, but it really didn't matter at this point. Dee was tired of pretending the rumors didn't hurt, sick of the pitying looks, and through with supporting Lee through his nineteen and counting emotional and ethical crises. ‘Til death do us part' was a joke and Lee's vows were the biggest laugh of all. Dee was just a placeholder; a distraction to busy himself with until Kara dropped Sam. No amount of patience and love would be enough for a man who believed he walked away from the finish line with the consolation prize. The naïve girl who wedded Leland Adama with stars in her eyes did not understand that at the time, but she did now. Anastasia Dualla called it a lesson learned.

**

"Frak," Dee swore. Consternation and disbelief twisted her lovely visage as she glared down at her bare flat belly. "Frakity frak frak frak."

She looked to Doc Cottle who watched her intently.

"Are you sure?"

The doctor, cantankerous as ever, took a slow drag off his cigarette and exhaled.

"What do you think?"

"Frak."

**

The trek back to Dee's bunk was a surreal experience where she calmly nodded and smiled and interacted with others as if life hadn't just kicked her in the back of the head. As if she hadn't learned she was pregnant two and a half months after serving Lee with divorce papers. As if she hadn't been in the process of healing her wounds and moving on.

This wasn't fair. Dee was a good person. She tried her best to do what was right and to treat others like she wanted to be treated. So why did it feel like the gods were punishing her when certain people—Starbuck—treated others like shit under her heel and committed adultery like there was no tomorrow? Why did Kara Thrace get to walk around consequence-free while a cluster of cells lodged in Dee's uterus weighed her down like a ball and chain?

Frak!

An abortion was out of the question. The Quorum's passage of the Preservation of Human Life Act (POHLA) put an end to that with its ham-fisted attempt to boost humanity's fertility rates. It didn't end the practice of course just pushed it underground. Back alley abortions, though dangerous, were still available for the right price, but Dee knew better than to try. As the former Mrs. Lee Adama, Dee was a very public figure. No abortionist in his or her right mind would risk the certain wrath that would come from aborting Commander Bill Adama's grandchild.

As things stood POHLA was a noose steadily tightening around her neck from the moment she strode into Cottle's sickbay complaining of a stomach virus. The doctor had a mandate to disregard doctor/patient confidentiality in certain circumstances. Pregnancy qualified as one of those cases.  Where the averaged colonial was reviewed and monitored by the medical council per procedure Dee knew her report would get fast-tracked to the President who would then inform her good friend,  Commander Bill Adama, of the wonderful news. Barring a state of emergency, Dee bet she had twenty-four hours at most before Lee found out.

 The big question, of course, was how Lee would take it. Would he storm up to her full of righteous indignation about finding out from third parties or would he avoid her and wallow in pity over this latest setback in his hopes of wooing Starbuck away from her husband. With Lee, one was just as likely as the other.

Dee wasn't there for either option. She was tired of the whole rigmarole and refused to passively linger while Lee made decisions affecting her life. No more waiting. No more sidelines. This was her body and Lee was just going to have to deal.

With a resolute little nod, Dee put one foot in front of the other until she completed that shaky walk back to her living quarters. She heaved a sigh of relief thankful for the small mercy of having her bunkmates on duty so she could dive under the bed covers, curled into a ball, and weep her bitter tears in peace.  A baby was supposed to make things better not leave her cornered and trapped. This was not how she envisioned life after "I do."

Fermented Algae burned as it slid down Lee's throat but after years of knocking back the stuff Lee barely noticed its bite. The bitter flavor didn't matter so long as the drink got the job done and the slight buzz Lee had going on told him that he was well on his way to getting smashed good and proper. It made sitting alone in a nondescript corner of the noisy bar bearable as he absent-mindedly shuffled through pages of a report. Amidst the din, Kara Thrace's full-bodied laughter carried loudest. She sat across the way, in Lee's direct line of sight, playing cards with her husband and a couple of crewmates. 

Lee looked away when Kara's fingers raked through Sam's hair with an affectionate smile tugging at her lips. Radiating bitterness clogged his chest smothered him at times like these. It hurt. When Lee looked back the view of his favorite tormentor was obscured by a delicate figure in the chair across from his. Dee. She was soft and pliant where Kara was hard and unyielding. His former wife was dark to Kara's fair and reserved while the other woman was brash.  They were a study in opposites.

"Dee, what can I do for you?" Lee asked after a few moments of her staring at him with those steady catlike eyes of hers. 

It was so impersonal. He wondered if their interactions would ever stop being awkward. Once upon a time she and he had taken vows before the gods to love each other in this life and the next. For a sliver of time they had been happy, but the foundation of their marriage was built on sand that shifted underfoot and crumbled once he realized Dee could never replace Kara in his heart. To be honest he breathed a sigh of relief the day Dee served divorce papers with her typical stoic grace. He pretended not to see the hurt on her face as she noted the speed with which he signed the documents.

"I'm pregnant," Dee said sounding tired and slightly resentful.

There was an infinitesimal narrowing of Lee's eyes as he registered the statement. After the divorce, Dee hadn't been one to suffer his presence willingly outside of a professional capacity, but she was meeting with him now...in public. He did the math thinking back to the very last time they were together. That was about two or three days before the match with Kara leaving Lee well within the possibility of having sired a child with his former wife.

Holy frak. 

"Are you sure its mine?" 

Dee expelled a short disbelieving bark of a laughter marveling at his gall. Lee flushed. Her fidelity had never been in question.

"You caught me off guard. I didn't mean to imply anything untoward on your part. It's just that things were rocky between us towards the end and then we divorced. I wouldn't be surprised if you had relationships with other men after we separated."

The woman raised an eyebrow.

"Relationships." She parroted. "Hmmm, how diplomatic. Unfortunately, there haven't been any post-marriage post-Lee flings for me to hang my hat on, alright? This child is yours, Lee. Do with that what you will."

Lee nodded. He believed her. If Anastasia Dualla said the child in her womb belonged to him then that was all there was to it. Dee wasn't the sort of woman to pass off another man's child as his own to trap him in a relationship.  

"To be honest I considered not telling you about the baby. I very nearly pinned the wrap on the guy your dad air-locked last week." Dee said nailing him with a steady impassive gaze.

Lee flinched. 

"Don't look at me like that. I didn't do it obviously." 

Post-divorce Dee was surprisingly mean. After separating Lee had expected his ex to plaster a bland smile on her face and wish him well, but she did nothing of the sort. She avoided him as much as possible and settled for cool cordiality when she couldn't in public. Private interactions between him and the ex, rare as they were, did not usually go very well. 

Though slow to anger and forgiving to a fault even Dee had a line and Lee evidently demolished it. While Kara burned hot and struck with the blunt force of a meat cleaver Lee was learning that Dee's anger was a whole other animal. It was soft-spoken, icy, and wielded with the artful precision of a scalpel.

"What about my dad? Dee, you're like a daughter to him. You almost deprived him of a grandchild because you are pissed off at me?" Lee hissed.

She nodded calmly conceding the point. "I didn't forget about Bill. He tipped the scales in your favor. Be grateful." 

Lee raked a hand through his short brown hair and breathed. This was neither the time nor place to lose his temper. Not with so many eyes and ears about.

"Anastasia."

Dee cocked her head ever so slightly to mock him with his own full name.

"Leland."

"Very mature."

"I do try."

Lee never knew how sarcastic Dee could be until she set her mind to it. 

"Okay. Dee. Let's just take it back to the top. You are pregnant, I'm the father, and I can see that you are happy with neither of these developments." Lee said as evenly as he could. "It's not a situation I expected so I can only imagine how you must be feeling right now. What can I do to make this easier for you?"

A spark of surprise lit up Dees' eyes. It bothered Lee. It was as if Dee never expected him to bear her any consideration. Their marriage had fallen apart but surely it hadn't been so terrible?

Dee looked down, thinking of her request, and when she was ready the young woman quietly stated,  "I want to maintain the status quo."

"What?"

"You stay out of my way, I stay out of yours."

"Dee, you just told me we're having a child together. I don't think that's feasible."

"Sure it is Lee. Just pretend we're still married."

He sighed.

"Can we at least try to be constructive?"

For a moment Dee seemed strongly disinclined to acquiesce but ultimately succumbed to her better angels. 

"The pregnancy has me off my game. I don't mean to be so harsh."

Lee nodded knowing the words were the closest he'd ever get to an apology. 

"I meant what I said though. I don't want you around---"

"You can't possibly think this is a good idea. This is your first pregnancy. You are going to need as much help as you can get and I also think it goes without saying that I'm not going to let you cut me out of my child's life." There was a surprising amount of vehemence in Lee's voice. 

The idea of children had always been a nebulous notion best put off for someday but that was then and this was now. Even though he was scared shitless Lee knew that this child might very well be his only chance to be a father. Only a fool would throw something like that away. 

"I didn't say I was going to do that."

"That's certainly not how it sounded on my end."

"Well, you didn't let me finish."

"By all means please do."

She shot Lee an icy glare.

"This baby is a big deal, Lee. I need time to get my head together without you hovering around suffocating me with your drama and self-indulgent pathos. Only Gaia knows how much I don't need the stress." She sighed. "Look I'm not completely heartless, okay? You can be a part of the kid's life as soon as it's born, but for now, I need space. I'll let you have access to Cottle's progress notes on my pregnancy. A couple of months down the line, prior to the birth, we'll meet to discuss custody. Am wrong to assume you want to share custody?"

"You are not wrong. I do want to share custody with you."

She studied him intently for a moment, perhaps gauging his sincerity, before granting him a curt nod. 

"I'm glad we can be civil about this," Lee said.

She got up to leave.

"Dee?"

The lieutenant slanted a glance his way.

"Do you ever think we'll be amicable?"

His ex-wife left without another word. 

Lee knocked back another drink in Dee's wake, and ignored the burn of Kara's concern boring into the back of his skull. 

Several months ago banging on the door viciously tore Kara Thrace from much-deserved slumber. Imagine Kara's surprise to find Dualla of all people darkening her doorstep. Neither woman said a word at first each surveying the other until Dualla shoved papers in Kara's face.

"I'm done. That shipwreck is all yours. Have fun."  Dualla declared smiling as she pushed her way into Kara's room.

Ah, so divorce papers then.

That...was not what Kara was expecting. She thought the smaller woman finally worked up the nerve to confront her about her presence in Lee’s life. Kara had been prepared for the ‘stay the frak away from my man' speech. She heard it often enough and would have laughed in Dualla's face if the lieutenant brought that trite garbage to her doorstep, but divorce? That was out of left field.

"You're leaving? Just like that?" Kara asked. She was genuinely surprised but disguised the emotion with unimpressed deadpan sarcasm. "This is your formal declaration of independence I take it."

The smile broadened.

Kara never thought she'd see the day Dualla pried her claws from Lee's hide. It seemed to go against her nature. Dualla was quiet. She was nice. She was the good little wife men choose to settle down with after they got girls like Kara out of their system. So what if Dualla joined the military? She was from Sagittaron. Sagittarian girls were indoctrinated with that stand-by-your-man/follow-Hera's-golden-example crap from birth. They didn't just leave a marriage after a few stumbles. Everyone knew that.

Except Dualla apparently.

"Is there a reason for telling me this?" Kara inquired with a hint of amusement in her tone. For Lee’s sake Kara generally left Dualla alone, but, well, little Miss Priss came looking for her now didn’t she? So gloves off.

"Who best to share it with than the woman presently fraking my former husband?"

The ace Viper pilot smirked. Innocent little Dee was looking for a fight now that she and Lee were history. How precious. It was like watching a yapping puppy nip at her heels.

"Oh. My. Gods. The mouse finally roars. You were never his vocal about me before. Lee would have told me. In fact, I brought you up more than he ever did. If memory serves me right the only time your ex-husband expelled your name from his lips was when he was telling me how he'd drop you in a second if I only gave the word."

It was true too. That was what made Dualla's flinch all the sweeter. It was gone in a flash but Kara spied it nonetheless. The girl should have stayed in her lane.

"I spent a great deal of time in my marriage worrying over just that," Dualla conceded. The heat from mere seconds ago cooled to something almost conversational in tone with only the faintest bit of venom around the edges. She moved closer peering into the taller woman's deep blue eyes, "but then I started to wonder why would you ever say the word? You drink and fight and frak whoever you like whenever you like all while having two grown men battling for the right to fix poor broken Kara. You are living the dream."

Kara's grin was now little more than a bearing of teeth.

"Sounds like someone is jealous."

Dualla circled Kara in a slow leisurely manner never once breaking eye contact.

"For a time I was,” She admitted. “But now I have perspective. Now I get to sit back and watch this bad Caprican soap opera with the rest of the peanut gallery. It's a shame popcorn doesn't exist anymore. I suppose I'll just have to console myself with the pleasure of knowing that a happy ending will never be in the cards you, Kara. You're not going to end up with Lee or Sam because you are an irredeemable self-destructive piece of trash and knowing that your downfall will be entirely your own doing makes me feel like the gods aren't entirely unjust."

The pair was practically nose-to-nose and Kara was vibrating with fury. Dualla might walk around Galactica like she was Persephone personified, but contrary to popular opinion the woman was a stone-cold bitch. A fact the lieutenant reinforced as she looked Kara up and down in a manner suggesting the blonde had been weighed, measured, and found wanting.

Kara's hand balled into a fist eager to knock that smug expression off the lieutenant's face. Dee must have recognized the intent because she lifted her chin defiantly daring Kara to strike out. Well, Kara Thrace was never one to back away from a challenge. She wasn't about to start now.

Unfortunately, Kara never got a chance to take a swing because Sam walked in. Dualla's presence in their quarters and the obvious tension between her and his wife made the man stop short. "Kara, what's going on?" he asked glancing at the women warily.

The sudden spark in Dualla's eyes, the ever so slight curve of a smile to those lips, shot a bolt of realization into Kara.  The timing of this unpleasant visit wasn't coincidental. She wanted Sam here for this. Her relationship with Lee went down in flames and now she wants to return the favor.

"Little Dee here decided to stop by and inform me personally of her divorce," Kara said in a flippant tone to undercut her former rival.

"Divorced?" Sam's eyes briefly flickered to Dualla. "You and Lee are divorced?"

Wielding her words like a shiv between the ribs Dee said, "Yeah, I got tired of being in a relationship with someone I couldn't trust."

Bitch.

Kara had had enough. The urge to throttle Lee's bitter ex-wife was strong but Kara fought her anger and managed to keep her temper in check. Getting into a fight with Dualla over Lee in front of Sam would do Kara very little good. Catching Dualla's eye the blonde jutted her chin towards the door. "Thanks for the update. Get out."

Dualla, who had plenty to say minutes ago, made no reply to Kara's rude dismissal. Instead, she shot the blonde a knowing looking and parted with a kind smile and suggestion for Sam.  "I'm always around if you ever want to talk."

Sam didn't respond. His silence spoke volumes. He was staring at Kara like the final betrayal was on the horizon and that tore her apart. She refused to let Dualla ruin her relationship with Sam. While what Kara had with Lee was messy and complicated, Sam was her husband. She loved him and would never walk away from their marriage. She wasn't like Dee. Kara took her vows seriously and once she explained Sam would understand.