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"Lee?"

Not completely playing attention, Lee found himself staring at the glass of whiskey his Dad had poured for him. He muttered an "Oh" before he shook his head and started to pay attention again.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah... Yeah, I'm fine... Sorry, I'm just exhausted" he quickly took a sip out of his glass.

"Understandable, I hope you're feeling better after what happened. Just make sure you're back on top shape for duty soon"

"What happened?" Lee frowned at his father.

Bill stared at his son's eyes, within seconds, Lee knew he was referring to his quarrel with Dee.

"This is still my ship, Son. I know what's going on... Plus, half the ship probably heard your argument whether they wanted to or not" he answered before Lee had the chance to ask. Lee's face turned red as he took another sip from his glass, no, make that a gulp.

"Sorry"

"Word of advice, next time, make sure you're in somewhere private" Bill paused as he studied his son's expression.

"Now... about the other matter..."

"What other matter?"

"Darius Harmon" Bill sighed as he opened his record in his hands. Such young soul, lost... angry... wasted... Bill's heart wept at the reality of it.

"We need to make sure this doesn't happen again" he added, Lee nodded in agreement.

"Noted" Lee understood the gravity of the situation, if words got out of control, they'd be dealing with more than just a single man on rage. He had started running through pilots' histories and psychological records, hoping to catch them early and avoid it in the future.

"One more thing, Lee" the fact that it wasn't a formal conversation made Lee nervous, especially when his father used that tone with him.

"What?"

"Kara"

"She's doing fine, Dad. I went to see her a few days ago"

"I did too, and that's not what I wanted to talk to you about"

Here we go. Lee knew where his father was going with this. The frat reg had been changed only a few weeks back, allowing relationships between officers, but the Commander and his XO clearly showed how they felt about the matter. Just because it was approved, didn't mean that he had to like the change.

"Nothing happened between Kara and I" he cut him off.

"I didn't say anything did, but whatever it is, it was enough to cause the quarrel"

Lee gulped the rest of his drink and put his glass on the table before he stood. He couldn't stand this anymore, he just split with one woman, and already he was at the receiving end of a lecture about another. He needed a break, a time for himself, time to figure out what he really wanted and how he was going to move on.

"She was Zak's..."

"Look Dad... You don't have to worry. I won't jump another man's woman. She's with Anders now. So if you'll excuse me, I have some errands to run. Thank you for the drink" he really didn't want to get into the Zak topic.

Bill sighed and watched his son left the quarter.

"Well... she gave Anders the boot" Bill whispered to himself. Sometimes ignorance is bliss. His fingers went to massage his temples as he tried to take it all in. He didn't have to like the frat reg change to agree to it. The crew needed it, it was a piece of freedom they had left. Most of them had lost their loved ones, and to that Bill felt lucky that he still had Lee and Kara. As much as he was against the change, he knew he'd have to move forward. Zak was another matter, Bill loved Kara like his own daughter, but to have Lee taking Zak's place in Kara's life was something he would need a lot of time adjusting to.

"Good news, my lady... You're out of here" Karl added a wide smile.

"Did you hit your head? Since when did you consider me a lady?" Kara cringed as she tried to put her tanks back on. Karl moved to lend a hand straight away.

"Never too late to start, don't you think?"

"You're in an awfully good mood this morning. What happened?" she gave him a suspicious look. Karl tugged her second layer of tank down and got closer to her ear.

"We're having a girl" he whispered, his eyes gleamed as he pulled back and faced Kara again, and a wide smile seemed to be plastered permanently on his face since the second she saw him that day.

Seeing how happy he was, Kara couldn't help but to be excited. She had not seen her bestfriend in such a happy mood since the end of the worlds, then she got shot, she was afraid that he'd spiral down to depression, so seeing him happy was a real blessing.

"Gods! That's amazing! Congratulations!" she moved to give him a hug, carefully, while making sure she didn't hurt her shoulder. The man hugged her back, savoring the rare moment of joy for awhile.

"So let's get you back to your bunk" he helped her put on her sling.

"Have you seen Lee?" she asked as she pocketed the vial of pain killers from the Doc. It would be her bestfriend for awhile.

"Not since yesterday evening, he looked rather distracted. Has he come to see you?"

"He did a few days ago, didn't talk much though, I thought he may have said something to you"

"Nope. I only saw him yesterday just as I was turning in, I didn't have a chance for a talk"

The two made their way out of life station when another man almost bump head to head with Karl.

"Hey... ah... I heard you're discharged today..." Sam stopped them in their tracks, "Well... I... was... I thought I'd come to see you if need any help at all" he added. Karl turned to Kara before turning back to Sam, while Kara just stared at him.

"Well... I see that you have everything under control..." he turned away, a little disappointed, but relieved at the same time. He wouldn't deny that he still loved her despite what happened, but he genuinely wanted to help her.

"Thank you... Sam" Kara quickly said before he walked away. She waited until he was far enough away before she turned to Karl with a question,

"What is he doing in uniform?"

"He enlisted yesterday apparently... something about making himself useful. I was going to tell you this later, but since we're on the topic, you'll have the joy of training him to be a pilot"

"Oh gods... good thing I'd be stuck with paperwork..." she paused for a moment, "On second thought, I'd take him as my nugget than the paperwork"

Kara had twenty four hours off before she had to report back to duty, and take over some paperwork from Lee while she was grounded. She never thought she'd miss her little bunk, but she did. The life station reminded her a little too much of the farm. Karl dropped her and her belongings off and kept her company before he had to be on duty. She learned more about their mission on Caprica then, and found that how Sam had lost many men that morning, which Kara regretted for not coming sooner.

After all day of walking around and doing a bunch of nothings, she retreated to her quarter, thinking she'd catch some quiet time. The metal clanking sound startled her as she was deep in her thoughts. She was about to draw her curtain closed, but her hand stopped at the sight of the person entering the quarter. She didn't expect to see him just yet, somehow a part of her screaming for her to run before she frakked it up, but as he walked in, his blue eyes traced her from her toes to her eyes, where he finally rested. The urge of running dissipated as soon as their eyes connected, she no longer wanted to run away from him, she wanted to run to him.

"Are you coming in?" Kara asked, noticing that Lee had been standing with the hatch still opened, and staring at her.

"Huh? Oh... Yeah..." Lee sheepishly closed the hatch and walked towards his bunk, across from Kara's.

"You're looking better" he commented.

"Thanks, pain killer helps... a lot"

Kara looked at the man, he was exhausted, dark under eye circles were more visible since the last time she saw him, she could tell with one look that he had been stressed.

"Are you okay?" Kara hated to see him like that.

"Just tired" he lied. He was beyond tired. After his breakup with Dee he had been working non-stop, trying to keep his mind off things, mainly from Kara and the reminder of how much of a jerk he was to Dee. On any other day he may push Kara away, but that day he could use her company.

Kara went towards his bunk and plopped herself on his bed, sitting at the edge of it. Still standing, he looked down at her, and a little smile formed on his face. Lee dropped and sat in his bunk, legs stretched behind her. She moved and pulled her legs in, stretching them next to him, and let his arm dropped over them.

"I'm bored" she chirped.

"I can give you my paperwork" he answered with a smug.

"No thanks. That's tomorrow's problem" she stood and walked towards her locker. Lee watched peacefully as she rummaged through her things. He was simply happy she was there with him.

"Aren't you on painkillers?" Lee commented at the bottle of Chief's brew and the couple of glasses she cradled, having a sling made it a little more challenging, but she managed.

"And? It didn't stop me before" she casually sat back down where she was before and handed him the glass. Karl would have a fit if he saw her with the bottle in hand. Lee sighed as she opened the bottle.

"If we're going to do this, at least do it with the good stuff" he took the bottle of her hand and replaced the cap. Helo is so going to kill me for this.

"My locker, top shelf, under my clothes" he said. Kara stood and went to his locker as he instructed. Her hand reached under his clothes, but didn't find anything, she just shot Lee a questioning look.

"Towards the back of it" he added.

Kara reached further until her hand came in contact with something cool, a bottle of something. She pulled it out and this time she shot Le an amazed look as she closed the locker door.

"Lee Adama! You have a secret stash!" she took the bottle of whiskey to his bunk and sat back down. Lee grabbed hold of the two glasses as she poured.

"Cheers to you for surviving the shot. Please do not repeat that again" he leaned forward and brought his glass up. Kara smiled and leaned towards him, bringing her glass up close to his, but not touching it.

"Cheers to you for your successful rescue mission" she tapped her glass on his. Lee twitched at it, the rescue mission. And to make matters worse, Anders was in the pilot training program, but he didn't care then, she was there with him at that moment, no Anders, just Kara.

"Oh that's good stuff" Kara savored the taste.

"Indeed"

The two sat quietly again, he had been doing that lately, just enjoying her company without saying a word. Perhaps he was afraid that if they talked, the conversation would drift to Anders.

There was another metal clanking sound again as the hatch opened, a few pilots came into the room having just finished their CAPs. Lee leaned further and grabbed the side of the curtain and pulled it towards him, encasing them in the small confined of his bunk, lit by only a single lightbulb. Kara bit back a smile as he looked at her with that possessive look. Didn't matter, if he had not pulled the curtain, she would have. She just wanted to be with him, perhaps not necessarily to talk, but just to have his presence.

"Thank you… Lee…" she whispered, "For going ahead… and for being here" she added.

He twitched again, he didn't deserve that. If it wasn't for her, he wouldn't have found the courage to save Anders. He grabbed Kara's hand instead, and gave a light squeeze.

"I'm glad you're here, Kara" he whispered back to her.

As the two drank quietly, enjoying the peaceful environment the curtain provided them, Kara started to remember why she shouldn't drink while on medications. Damn it! Already? She cursed silently as she started to feel tipsy.

She sat still for awhile, then with some effort she secured the empty glass on the ledge above Lee's bed and went to give him a bone crushing hug to Lee's surprise. He stared blankly as the woman cradled in his arms. He put his glass aside and hugged her back, one hand went to her head, caressing her blonde hair.

"Are you okay?" he asked, whispering to her ears. Kara nodded slowly, nuzzling into his neck. Maybe it was the alcohol and medication reacting, or perhaps it was just the comfort of Lee's arms that made her felt so secure and relaxed.

The pilots rampant soon became somewhat a blur as they listened to each other's breathing pattern, feeling each other's heartbeats against their skin.

Tomorrow she'll go back to Sam. It hurt him like a million needles piercing his heart even just to think about it, but he needed to face it.

Let me have just this one night, tomorrow he'll be back with Dee. Kara cried in the inside as the thought came.

For now, we could just stay like this. No Sam, no Dee… just Lee and Kara, needing each other's comfort for a moment.

To be continued

Thank you for reading, guys. I hope you enjoy it :) This chapter was quite challenging for me to write.