Kara was at it again. Continuous sweeps in a borrowed Raptor. Well it wasn't really borrowed, she thought to herself. She had taken it – without permission. When she had gone missing and couldn't be found, the Adama's had searched for her. Lee had searched for her. Without food, without sleep, without anything but hopes that he would find her. They had gone through so much, and he wasn't about to let go of her, and now, Kara felt the same. This wasn't a Starbuck and Apollo thing. This was a Kara and Lee thing.

Tylium limits brought her back to Galactica. She was half expecting to find Adama waiting for her on the deck, but when she approached Chief Tyrol, it was Doc Cottle that was waiting for her.

"Chief, I want her back up in the air - " she started, but the Chief cut her off.

"As soon as possible, yes sir, I know…" This had been the routine, over and over and over again for the past 57 hours. The Chief knew she had no intention of stopping anytime soon, either, so he just accepted it and continued to help her.

"You're coming with me, now," said Doc Cottle, in his usual 'don't start with me' manner. Before she could even protest, his expression became more serious, "Now, Captain."

"I don't need a lecture about slowing down, or about how I - " but he cut her off as well.

"This is about your husband," Cottle declared. This caught her completely off guard, and she stopped dead in her tracks.

"What about him?" she was alarmed by the sudden mention of her husband. She hadn't really seen him much in the last two days, because of the search.

"He's taken another turn for the worse," he answered back. "We're trying some new treatments." Apparently nothing was going to go right for Kara. Lately everything that shouldn't be happening was happening. "I think you should go see him." Kara nodded. She did need to go see him.

She loved Anders, but something wasn't right in their relationship. She had been happy, she had a life on New Caprica, she had a family, or the start of one, and she had a peaceful existence where she was. Well that's stupid, she thought. I had a life on Galactica, I was happy enough with my friends, and I had a family – the Adama's. The Admiral and Lee. And who needs a frackin' peaceful existence when you're a born fighter blowing Cylons out of the frackin' sky? By the time she reach Anders bedside, she was more conflicted than ever. You always jump into things, Starbuck. Lee always told you that. You're a frackin' moron Kara Thrace, she thought.

"Hey," said a weak voice to her side, as she turned to look at him. "I didn't expect to see you unless..." but he stopped. As soon as he said it, he regretted his choice of words, but was glad he had stopped in time. Unless he's alive and well, or unless he's dead and you know it for sure, he finished the thought to himself.

"Doc Cottle caught me and told me that you relapsed, again." She had concern in her voice, and that seemed to surprise Anders.

"It's nothing really – I'll be back in the gym playing Pyramid before you know it." No doubt he would, she thought. Kara didn't know what else to say. Lately she realized that since they had been rescued from New Caprica she didn't have much to say. After a bottle or two of ambrosia she could wing it, but there was always an awkward silence that couldn't be fixed, and since she was flying round the clock now, ambrosia was out of the question until they had found Apollo.

"We'll have to keep you here for a couple of days," said Doc Cottle, as he glanced over at Kara almost daring her to stay with Anders while he recovered. "You need your rest, as does someone else..." his voice trailed off, and Anders looked over to Kara to see her reaction. She was starting to get angry, but she didn't say anything. Probably because she knew it was true. Anders knew she wouldn't stay though. He knew that it would be uncomfortable if she did. He was always playing second fiddle to Apollo, so he was used to it by now - why would this time be any different?

"When we leave this sector, I'll rest. But last time I checked, the Admiral wasn't ready to leave," Kara spit out, angry that this was even up for discussion with Doc Cottle.

"No, the Admiral isn't ready to leave, but he needs a word with the CAG."Adama had walked in unnoticed by everyone in the room, and that was hard for Admiral Adama to do. His presence was always made known on his ship.

"I'll be back by soon," Starbuck said glaring at Cottle, and offering a weak smile to Anders, as she turned to follow Adama out of the room. "Any news sir?" she asked, already knowing the answer.

"Not yet, Starbuck," he said quietly. The last 57 hours had been extremely hard on him. Punching the President of the Colonies had made everyone else realize that.

"Sir, you can't pull me from this SAR, you can't." She was going to do whatever it took.

"I can... but I won't," he replied. "Kara, I know that you and Lee are... close... very good friends, and I know that you need to be a part of this mission, but..." Kara wasn't sure what was going next, but she braced herself for the worst. "You need to be taking care of yourself too. It will not do this fleet any good to lose you, if..." but he couldn't finish. His voice cracked, but he cleared his throat and continued. "No more solo flying - take someone with you this time. The search will go better with an ECO."

Starbuck thought about what he said as he walked down the hallway. I know that you and Lee are... close... very good friends, replayed over and over in her mind. Hell, if she couldn't define what was between her and Lee, how could she expect Adama to? She started off for the hanger deck again, thinking of who she could pull to do ECO duty with her, when she smacked straight into Lt. Dualla. This walkway was the last place she expected to see Dualla - she was returning from the hanger deck.

"Sorry," Starbuck mumbled as she stepped back. There was a long pause that added to the uncomfortable silence already present. "I was just heading back to the deck to... you know..."

"Yeah," Dee nodded. "I was just checking com logs, and giving the other Raptor pilots their sector points to plot. "Kara could see the worry in her face.

"Yeah - the pilots are working hard," Kara declared, with an extra bit of attitude thrown in.

"I hope your husband is feeling better soon," Dee replied, throwing her own comment in Starbuck's face. Dee wasn't about to take her crap, and she made that perfectly clear. Starbuck's eyes widen in shock that Dee had thrown something back in her face. Now it was her turn to get into her face.

"Is there a problem Lieutenant?" yelled Starbuck, but before it could go any further, a woman stepped between them.

"Ladies, I think that we have other things we should be doing right now," she said calmly, gently pushing the two ladies apart. "This doesn't help anyone's situation, especially Commander Apollo's." No matter how many times she spoke to Lee Adama, his call sign was always part of his title. It had been Captain Apollo when they had first met, and now, it was Commander. In her mind, it was unacceptable to not declare his call sign when referring to him, and now he was missing, and that was also unacceptable.

Kara glanced over at Dee. She really cared about Lee, and Kara instantly regretted the negativity she had thrown at Lee in the past about his relationship with Dee. Lee might not have cared for her relationship with Anders, but he did respect it... at some level. Kara couldn't say the same, until that very moment. They were united under a common goal; both wanted him back - alive. The drama could wait until then.

"Right," said Kara, trying to think of something to say. The best she could come up with at that moment was a simple, "well, I better get back to it..." she trailed off, and turned back to the hanger deck.

Roslin turned to watch her walk away, and glanced back over to Dee.

"Good luck, Starbuck, "was all that Dee could say to the woman she knew had a hold on Apollo. This stopped Starbuck in her tracks, but she didn't turn back. She paused, then continued on, zipping up her flight suit and getting ready to go.

The chief had gotten her ship ready as promised.

"Who's not already out, chief? I need an ECO, "but as she started to climb in, she heard Racetrack shout her name.

"Starbuck!" she shouted, running over to her, trying to catch her before she left for another round of searching. "I've been trying to catch you. There's a package for you, highest priority." Racetrack was holding out a small box, contents unknown. The box had her name on it: Capt. K Thrace, New Caprica.

"What is it?" she asked.

"No clue, Captain," she said, "all I know is that it was put on the transport to New Caprica, but the Cylons arrived before I could run it down with the other supplies. "Chief Tyrol tossed Racetrack her helmet, and she turned to leave for her own Raptor, ready to help with the search.

Kara had no idea what it could be. Who was going to send her a package? Curiosity got the better of her as she opened the box. Inside was a small bottle of pills with a note that read, Ask Doc Cottle for prescription instructions.

Next: Chapter 12 - Particle's Choice