Dani had left Seth's house after the midday meal, allowing the priest to get his rest and for Nathan and Alice to resume their work in the village at large. It was a cool afternoon compared to the summer heat a few weeks earlier, but still very comfortable as the young woman walked in a slow waddling gait down the main street of Antium toward the marketplace.

She wanted to look at some of the wares she'd noticed the last time she'd been in the village, something to add a softer and more natural look to the quarters Rhys and she would be occupying soon. Since she was staying in Antium anyway it made sense to check it out now instead of when the quarters were ready and she was even larger and more awkward than she already was.

Jill had come inside the large village to drop off a few extra blue uniforms to be adjusted by a local seamstress. The uniforms would be converted to a maternity uniform with the extra room for the midsection. Colonel O'Conner was not too open minded about her wearing local clothing while she was on duty. She carried her bundle of uniforms under her arm when she saw the Dani walking toward her from the opposite direction.

"Lieutenant Kypros, its nice to see you again," she greeted with a smile.

Dani smiled and waved in greeting as she saw the other woman. She wore one of the dresses she'd had made several weeks ago in the Caladan fashion, it was more comfortable than any of her Colonial style outfits and easier to get into at this point in her pregnancy. To a casual observer Dani would look for all the world like one of the Caladans, there was nothing visible that would identify her as Colonial.

"Jill, how are you? I saw the new barracks is up, it looks very nice." She'd been put on maternity leave the week before, and expected to go on inactive status after the babies were born so there was no reason to be formal with the other woman.

"I am fine, thank you," she replied. Jill had known that Dani had gone on medical leave, not that she could blame the poor woman carrying two babies inside. She too could have asked for an extended leave herself but her position was not that physically demanding. She would stay active as long as she could for her own personal reasons. Work kept her busy enough to occupy her sometimes troubled mind.

"Do you really think the barracks look nice? I sure don't. You would think the great Caprican Architect would be more imaginative, but I'm sure it serves a purpose." She smirked.

"The great Caprican Architect is doing what he was told," Dani shrugged with a smirk as well. "It looks nice because it has solid walls and a roof, something I experienced for the first time in over four months last night when I stayed at Seth's. I'm really looking forward to the permanent quarters being finished in the next few weeks."

She looked the other woman over, a bit envious at Jill's smaller size. "You look good, the seamstress did good work letting out your uniforms." She gestured down the road, "Are you going to the market? I was on my way there myself."

Jill kept her eyes on Dani and noticed how more relaxed she seem to be compared to the last time they had a chat in the village. "Why yes," she answered. "I have another pair of uniforms for the seamstress. Shall we," she gestured to the direction of the market area.

As they walked. "So you have really become attached to that holy man and his family, huh?" She asked out of curiosity. Antinum was limited to a manageable number of Colonials at one time. Soon that might change, once Admiral Burk and Tobias had a talk about the future of Caladan and Colonial relations.

"I have," Dani acknowledged with a wry smile. "Alice and Nathan are what I guess having siblings would be like, in a way, and Seth is very wise. Even if they don't have the same level of technology we do it doesn't mean there is nothing to learn from them."

"They're good people. Alice is going to be staying with me to help out with the babies for a little while once I move into permanent quarters."

She put her hands on her stomach for a moment and slowed her walk a little. "Sorry, I just got a kick to the kidney. Gods I'll be happy when they're out!" Not that she wanted them out just yet, despite her complaint. It was far too early for the twins to come into the outside world and she wanted to do everything she could to make sure they came out healthy and strong.

As she listened to Dani, Jill thought about her own parents and siblings for a brief moment. When she was very young, when her brother and sister still lived at home, they had gone on a weekend holiday to a retreat up in the mountains one summer. The cabin they had stayed at had no electricity or any modern comforts. It was so basic, but it was a great bonding experience that brought them all close together. What she remembered most was that they sang songs together around the fire pit outside.

Jill slowed with Dani, "Yeah sometimes you want to kick back." She laughed for a moment. "Do you know if they are boys or girls?" asked Jill.

"Oh it would be so nice to kick them back!" Dani agreed in amusement, laughing with the other woman.

She could tell the earlier words had struck a cord in Jill, but didn't want to pry. Everyone among the Colonials had lost their families when the attacks came, they'd had to create new ones as they went but none could replace entirely what was lost.

"I don't know, I want it to be a surprise," Dani shrugged a little sheepishly and looked over at Jill. "I suppose that might sound silly when I could know at any time, but I'd rather find out the old fashioned way, when they come out. Rhys and I tease each other about it, I think they're boys and he's hoping for girls. Maybe we'll both be surprised and we'll get one of each." She chuckled as they finally approached the marketplace.

"You know, I had a talk about that with Doctor Mars on my last check up. He told me a very interesting fact about twins," she paused when they came to a good stopping point on their walk. "You have a higher chance that they could be fraternal twins. It was a study he once read about the birth of twins on other colonies and during great times of stress. I never knew this but Aerilon has the second greatest percentage of fraternal twins of all the colonies."

Dani gratefully sat down on a nearby bench when they reached a stopping point. She was supposed to get exercise but didn't want to overdo it and tried to take frequent breaks, she was tiring out more quickly these days. "I didn't know that either, but it makes sense I guess. "

"Something about population stress. Generations of large families to take care of the farms ... suppose their is never enough people on Aerilon. We had such a small population compared to the others. Then Sagittaron, well they are stressed all the time." Jill awkwardly tried to explain. She felt a little off her game today.

"I can't imagine a more stressful effect on population than the last few years," Dani said thoughtfully, rubbing the back of her head in thought. Near annihilation would have a powerful effect on the fertility rate, she imagined. "Now that people are settling down for a while I bet the pregnancy rate is going to go through the roof."

"Speaking of settling down, what are you going to do with yourself for the next few months while on leave till your babies are born?" Asked Jill of the grounded pilot.

"I'm supposed to get just enough exercise to stay healthy, but otherwise stay off my feet as much as possible." Dani replied, giving her belly a pat. "I intend to do that, its getting tiring already and I can't imagine what its going to be like once I'm full term. Today I want to get some decorations for the new quarters Rhys and I will be moving into, so I don't have to do it later when its even more awkward than it is now."

"Daniella, that's a good idea. I should try to find some stuff to decorate my own quarters. You know its very strange to have a room all to myself again." As the ranking officer at Antinum Barracks, Jill had her own private apartment inside one of the new shelters. "Its very spartan at the moment."

"It would be strange for me to have a room to myself at all," Dani replied, getting back on her feet and standing still for a moment afterwards to let herself adjust. "I can't ever remember having a room completely to myself aside from one or two nights now and then."

Jill waited on Dani till she got her footing. She hoped she would not have that much difficulty when she got larger when the time came. "F. Y. I, since your staying with Alice's family you might want to give them a heads up. Command has a new requirement for Caladans that takes effect tomorrow if they wish to visit the air base in the future. They are going to be issued an identification card, after a short orientation." She left out the part about an evacuation number. Jill was not too comfortable about issuing such numbers after her own experience in the Colonies, but she understood the need for one.

"An ID card?" Dani looked at the other woman in disbelief as they entered the marketplace itself. "We've been in contact with them for over four months and Command decided to issue ID cards now?" She shook her head in amusement and then nodded to show she understood. "I'll pass the word along and make sure Alice attends, she's going to be staying with Rhys and I to help out in the last few months before the babies come and a little while after." The young Caladan woman was also a skilled midwife, something Dani took as a source of comfort in her decision to take Alice up on her offer.

"Its a new directive from above. I think they are finally going to take the Caladans serious, now that the refit program is fully underway." She paused. "Tell your friends that I'll make sure to personally see to it that their case is expedited. You might also want to consider paying her, as an officer, indentured servitude might be frown upon." She teased.

"Indentured servitude!" Dani's jaw dropped and she turned to stare at the other woman for a heartbeat until she realized Jill was teasing and relaxed. Still...the idea that anyone would consider Alice a servant, that was the last thing she wanted.

"I'll make sure she and Nathan attend the first course, thank you Jill." The idea of an identification card was stupid and unnecessary in her opinion, but she wasn't in high command.

"No problem," she then smiled. "Do you mind if I drop off these uniforms first at the seamstress. You could rest at here, while I go. I'll make it quick, it only up this alley way."

"Not at all, go right ahead." Dani didn't mind taking another opportunity to get off her feet. She'd be standing quite a bit today, so it was better to rest up when she got the chance ahead of time.

She'd have to start telling people soon that her petition to join the inactive reserve had been granted and that she'd rejoined the Order. The seamstress already knew, Niobe had paid for three new robes Dani would wear as a priestess. Rhys knew of course, along with Captain Tarix, but she still needed to tell Cait and her other friends in the service.

Jill returned. "Alright then, all freed up now." She offered her hand to Dani to help her back up on her feet again. "Its ironic that I am the one more along in this pregnancy than you are, but you look as if you would burst at any time." It may be awful of her, but she always felt better that she was not in Dani's condition with twins. Seeing Dani suffer made her feel a bit better about her own condition.

Dani smirked as she allowed Jill to help her back on her feet. "I've been measuring a little large even for twins, according to Doctor Mars. I blame it on Rhys for being a giant. It's getting annoying having strangers ask me if I'm ready to pop."

They started down one of the aisles and Dani gestured at Jill's smaller bump. "I'm a little jealous, you'll only look my size for the last few weeks and I've got four and a bit months to go."

"Well," Jill placed her hand on her waist, tilted her head and then wagged a finger at Dani. "Young lady, you should have been more careful in your choice in men." She placed her hand on her forehead, "Whew, that's not really funny." She then laughed at her own situation.

Dani smiled sympathetically at the other woman, not quite sure what to say. She'd been lucky in her own situation, Rhys was crazy about her and excited about the babies, but Dani also knew that Jill hadn't had the same response. "I should have picked someone really short, like Lt. Nichols," she told Jill, referring to the communications officer at Tigh Field. "Too bad he's gay...he actually is pretty cute, not that I'd want to trade Rhys for him."

Jill raised an eyebrow. "Lieutenant Nichols is gay?" Colonial Forces had a policy against homosexuals serving in the military, but did not pursue them or seek them out if they were in the military, the "Don't ask, Don't Tell" policy. Unless such persons were open about it or caught in the act, then they would immediately at a minimum be discharged from the forces.

"I'm going to pretend to not know that," she said. Jill had no reason to end someone's career for what they did in private as long as it did not interfere with the mission or unit cohesion. "He seem so manly." It was a bit of information she was going to lock away till she might need it.

"I don't know for sure," Dani clarified, "but he does seem to spend a lot of time with one of the supply officers and they seem more than just friends."

Dani looked at the other woman, changing the subject. "When are you supposed to go on leave? Have you decided what you're going to do after the baby comes?"

One of the supply officers too! Jill thought.

"I'm allowed to begin leave next month, but I'm going to try to stay on duty as long as I am capable. I'll probably delegate more responsibilities to others to lighten my work load, but I got to keep myself busy." She feared having too much free time might tempt her back to using again. It still was not easy keeping her self clean, there had been a few times already that she had though about going back on Emerald.

"Then as soon as the baby is born, my plan is to get right back to work." She sighed, "We see how that would work." Her eyes looked at Dani. "So what are your plans? Are you anxious to get back in the seat of the viper once again?"

The younger woman took a deep breath and shook her head. "No...my future lies along a different path. I loved being a Viper pilot, and part of me will always miss it." Dani's eyes came back up to meet Jill's. "I'm transitioning to the inactive reserves and returning to the Order. It's something I'd been contemplating ever since I found out I was pregnant, trying to understand what it was Lady Aphrodite wanted me to do. The Reverend Mother wants me to be her personal assistant and also Liaison to the Military, sort of like a chaplain I guess."

She laughed and looked down at her stomach, "I think she wants to use me as a recruiting tool, gods know why."

"Does Aphrodite feel she is not getting enough attention anymore?" Jill added with a laugh as well.

The Gods have always been a part of Jill's life and she had gone to worship them in the temples in her life time. Her faith in them was not so strong as it use to be when she was younger. Events in her life have caused her to question her faith many times, but she had always believed in them. Even thought her faith in them had left her empty at times. It was very hard for her to understand why the Gods allowed the Cylons to do what they did to her home. She was like many after the attack she suppose, conflicted and lost.

"I'm part of the rebuilding process, I suppose." Dani shrugged and stopped at a weaver's stall. "The Order is less than sixty souls in number, over half are middle aged or older. By having someone so 'high profile' rejoin the order it raises interest, has people talking. At least that's what I think the Reverend Mother was getting at."

Jill did not know a whole lot about all the many different sects that worshiped the Gods, but she had heard that sexual intercourse with a priestess of Aphrodite was considered just one of the methods of worship. "Recruitment huh? I can understand why they would want young attractive women."

A dirty look was sent in Jill's direction. Dani had run into that misconception several times from people who hadn't had much exposure to Virgonese society or the Order in particular. "We aren't prostitutes, Jill, and we don't have random orgies with common strangers at the drop of the hat. There are some more obscure rituals involving sex as a way of helping ensure the fertility of the fields, the animals, and people in general. They used to be performed on the spring solstice, but it hadn't been done for decades before the attacks."

"Daniella, I did not mean to imply that you were going to be a prostitute. Its things that I have heard about. As long as no one is made into a blood sacrifice on some candle lit altar, then I am mostly fine with how people worship their god of choice." She did not want to hurt Dani's feelings. "You don't have to be so defensive."

"Sorry," Dani apologized. "I have had some bad experiences in the past with non-Virgonese thinking that anyone who had been a member of the order or followed the Virgonese practice of worship were whores who'd give it up to anybody. It made me a little defensive automatically."

She calmed down and resumed shopping. "You're not entirely wrong, though. There aren't enough young women in the order any more, too many died during the attacks and then in everything that's happened since. If we're going to rebuild, we need the younger crowd to be a major part of that."

"Well, I am sorry too. I'm ignorant of most practices of worship outside of Aerilon and Tauron. I don't get most of the Sagittarius or Gemenese practices...and truthfully I do not care for most of them. I use to thought some of the ceremonies were lovely, that the people were kind." Jill had unconsciously switched to another subject. "They were suppose to have been all about peace. Its why we went there. We thought...it would be a good start." She stopped, her eyes moisten as she recalled that part of the her life. "We wanted the Gods to bless us." she said in a whisper.

Jill wiped her eyes. "I'm sorry," she apologized. "I do that sometimes." She sniffed and then forced a smile. After so many years it still hurt inside. Also being pregnant has caused her to be more emotional than normal.

"Oh Jill," Dani couldn't help herself and the young woman reached over and hugged Jill from the side, trying to offer a little comfort. "I wish things had gone the way you'd planned back then. A few of the Gemonese practices are really quite lovely, though it doesn't seem any of those believers made it out of the Colonies." She had dark thoughts about the more prominent Gemonese politicians and religious leaders, who seemed hell bent on making Calada a fundamentalist version of Geminon the way they thought it should have been.

"Daniella, I was once married...for a very short time till he was taken from me on Gemenon. I have no regrets, I'm glad to have been his wife." Jill pulled back slowly from Dani and looked into the woman's eyes. "Time is short. You should marry your farm boy as quickly possible, if...you love him."

Dani nodded, a bit dumbstruck by Jill's declaration. "I do, and I will." She was touched that Jill shared what was obviously a deeply personal memory. She hesitated at her next impulse, but felt she had to ask. "What happened to your husband on Geminon? Was he killed in some kind of accident?"

Jill's eyes looked past Dani as that question stabbed at her. It had always been difficult to face the truth of what happen that night in Royal Oaks. "He was murdered. Shot dead." The memory of her holding his lifeless body in her arms in the alleyway filled her mind. "I...I don't want to talk about it." She wiped at her eyes and looked away for a second.

"Of course you don't," Dani murmured quietly, giving the other woman's shoulder a gentle squeeze before letting go and putting a bit of distance between them. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked."

She wished she knew what to say to Jill about it. What could she say? Sorry your husband was murdered on Geminon? Somehow she didn't think that would go over very well. The Reverend Mother would know what to say in this sort of situation, Dani was sure.

"If you ever need someone else to talk to, about anything, you can confide in me. I promise it will stay between us unless you don't want it to." The two women were both going through similar stages in their lives, and had that in common. Dani was also leaving the military, and would be a civilian. She imagined that could be something important in the future.

Jill nodded and wanted to drop the subject entirely.

After they walked for a bit in silence, Jill stopped. "So when is this wedding then?" She smirked.

"Soon," Dani replied, making a selection and discussing payment options with a vendor. "We haven't actually set a firm date yet," she told the other woman when she finished. "It doesn't take long to say the vows before the gods, but we want our friends to be able to join us." She looked at Jill a little shyly, "You'd be welcome to attend if you wanted, Jill."

"Yes, I would like that very much." Jill said with a smile and then looked at the items offered for sale on a table. The table of full of many things, many things that Jill did not need, but for the first time in a long time, it actually felt like shopping. There was nothing here that she 'needed', but the option was there to buy something absolutely worthless for the sake of it. In the marketplace at Antinum there was no shortage or rationing, like there had been on the ships. This new luxury was not yet, open to the mass of civilians from the ships. Not yet.

A smile was given in return and Dani turned her attention to another weaving. She'd made another friend today, and one could never have enough of those. Things had been dark the last few years, but since their arrival on Calada life had become about living again instead of just going through the motions. The young woman put her hands on her stomach and patted it gently.

Since arriving on Calada, she'd had reason to look forward to the future.