Part One

Kara sat at the bar and watched her fiance. Her fiance. She never thought she would have one of those. She laughed to herself as she watched Zak and his friends. They were going to be married in two days, and everyone was throwing them one last party. She felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. That meant only one thing.

"Hello, Lee."

Lee laughed behind her and sat down. "How do you do that? Do you have eyes in the back of your head or something?"

"Yeah, something," she replied.

Lee followed her gaze. "He certainly seems happy."

Kara shrugged. "Shouldn't he be? I mean we are getting married in a couple of days. Or do you think I'm good enough to make him happy?"

Lee sighed. "Come on, Kara. You know I don't feel that way."

"Well you didn't want me, so I guess why would your brother," she said quietly as she stood.

However, Lee heard every word. He reached out and tugged on her hand before she could walk away. "Kara, you know that's not how it was. Please, don't run away from me."

Kara was torn. Half of her wanted to run. Run as fast as her legs could carry her. The dreams were still fresh in her mind. But the other part wanted to stay as close to Lee as she could. She knew that in two days, she wouldn't be able to have these feelings without massive amounts of guilt and self-hatred. She took the vows of marriage very seriously, and knew she would only be married once in her life.

The second half won, and she sat back down in her chair. "What do you want Lee?"

"I want to make sure you are doing what you want. I want to make sure that my brother and my best friend are sure about this huge decision."

Kara finally turned and looked into his eyes. "Why wouldn't it be what I want? Zak loves me. He wants me. When I am with him he makes me feel like there is no one else on this colony or any other for him. To him, I am beautiful."

"And you love him. I mean...um..."

"Lee spit it out. You want to know if I am marrying your brother to get back at you."

Lee shook his head. "No, of course not. I would never think you would be so selfish. I just don't want you to wake up one morning and realize you made a mistake."

Kara closed her eyes and leaned her head back. There were so many things she wanted to say. Of course she loved Zak. She wouldn't be marrying him if she didn't love him. But Lee didn't ask the right question. He didn't ask if there was anyone else she loved more.

Lee began again. "Kara, I know what we had is over. And I know that I was the one that ended it. But I still care about you, and of course I don't want to see either you or my brother get hurt."

Kara stood again. "Don't worry about it lieutenant, I won't hurt your brother. I know what it's like to be hurt by people who are supposed to love you. I have known that feeling my entire life. So why don't you go back to War College, and live the life you were destined for," she said and walked over to Zak.

Lee watched her walk away. He felt as though his heart went with her. He watched with a simmering jealousy as his little brother put his arm around Kara and kissed her forehead before whispering into her ear, making her laugh. He remembered a time when she would laugh like that only for him. When her secret smiles only showed when he was around. But he ended the relationship. It was the hardest thing he'd ever had to do. But it was the right thing to do. At least, that's what he had to keep telling himself.

Kara was in her apartment, sitting on her bed, staring at her dress hanging on the back of the closet door. Tommorrow was the big day. She could feel the butterflies starting to dance in her stomach. She placed her hands on her abdomen and took a deep breath in a vain attempt to calm them. She looked at the clock. Zak would be home from his test flights anytime now. She had wanted him to take the day off, to help finalize the plans, but he insisted that he needed to get the evaluations out of the way.

Kara walked out into the kitchen to see about throwing together something for dinner. She pulled a ready made meal out of the refrigerator and popped it into the oven. She was lucky that Zak knew she couldn't cook, and didn't expect her too. As long as they could survive on ready made meals, they were ok. He told her there was usually only one or two things that any one person was really good at. And lucky for him, they were flying and, of course, frakking. She laughed when he told her that, since they had just been doing the latter right before.

Kara heard a knock and checked the clock again. "You forget your keys, Zak? I swear you would probably lose your frakking head if it wasn't attached," she laughed as she mounted the stairs and opened the door. Though it wasn't her fiance that stood on her doorstep.

"What do you want, Lee? I thought we said everything we needed to last night."

"Kara, um, can I come in. I need to talk to you."

She noticed the catch in his voice. Suddenly her stomach dropped. "What is it? What's wrong?"

"Kara please, let me come in," he asked as he started forward.

She effectively blocked his way. "No, tell me now. What is it?" She was beginning to panic. She thought maybe something had happened to his father or his mother. Both of whom had been more like parents to her than her own mother and father. "Is it your parents?"

"Kara there was an accident. Zak, um, Zak..."

Kara started to shake her head. "No, don't finish that sentence. Unless it's to tell me that he's fine, and will just be a little late for dinner."

Lee reached out and tried to grasp her upper arms, but she danced out of his reach. "Kara, I think you need to sit down." He could feel the tears threatening to fall. But he had to be strong.

"No! No, I wont sit down. You're wrong. Zak's fine. He should be home any minute." At this point she began to pace back and forth in front of the door, not really hearing or listening to Lee trying to soothe her. He could see he was losing her.

"Kara!" he yelled. She stopped and looked him in the eye. "Zak's dead, Kara. He's not coming home."

Kara could feel her world spinning. The bottom was dropping and she could hardly breathe. Lee caught her as she collapsed. "NO!" she screamed before her world went black.

TBC