Good point. Adama's not exactly the forgiving type. Although he's also the self-blaming type. I can see him in future brooding over Gaeta and making it all about his failures, etc., emo, emo.

But...it's interesting that you identify Gaeta as one of Adama's surrogate sons. It's not something I had really considered before because I never saw their relationship as that familial, but I do see where you're coming from.

I don't know if Adama could have forgiven Gaeta. On the one hand, as you say, he forgave Sharon (or at least a version of her). On the other hand, he's the kind of guy who can forgive incompetance and mass-murder as long as you don't personally betray him, and he justifies the forgiveness of a lot of his surrogate children who "betrayed him" by rationalising that they thought they were doing the right thing, or that they didn't really know what they were doing and that really, they never doubted Daddy, they just got their judgement clouded.

I don't know if that rationalisation would work with Gaeta because of the obviousness with which is, well, mutinied.

Then again, this is Adama who wants to deal with all problems by glaring, muttering something about having a "pair", making a nonsensical speech about not giving his family breaks, and then having a manhug/fistfight/manhugfistfight and pretending the whole thing never happened. So you might be right.

But either way. Gaeta, man. I never particularly identified with him, but yeah. There was a line crossed there, when Adama had him executed. A line I don't think can ever get uncrossed.