"It was a long time ago." Half his life ago by now, and while it's clearly been a defining factor in making him who he is, he's been independent for... for years.

Dinah's a lot younger than he is, and her wound is a lot more fresh. "It never goes away, but it gets more bearable, I can promise you that." It's no lie -- he remembers how acute the pain was when he got the word, how torn up he was, how much he had to figure out without their guidance -- but it was a long time ago. He still loves his parents, no question about it. They were great, and losing them was awful.

But by now it is what it is, or what it was.

"I used to talk to my dad all the time about playing pyramid. When I was little, I was such an armchair critic. He was originally from Caprica and he watched the C-Bucs, but I was born on Picon so I was a Panthers fan. I used to rag on the C-Bucs all the time, all the godsdamn time. One day he told me if I didn't like the way things were, it was up to me to change it. I told him I would."

Yeah. He nods, a little wistfully.

"I guess he'd be proud of me for living up to that promise."