AN: Okay, so everyone twisted my arm enough, and as per request, I've decided to try to continue the story. Hopefully I'll have another part done before Friday's episode, but life might get in the way of that plan. We'll see. In any case, hope you enjoy.

Kara had never expected that she'd get the Raider to work again. Considering all the difficulties everyone else had had, she was just humoring them when she climbed up inside the bio-mechanoid ship. The jolt when the engines had lit had not been appreciated by her knee, and she'd had a few obscene gestures for Tyrol when he warned her not to shoot anything, but considering the fact that messing around with that Cylon fighter was the closest she was going to get to flying for the next several weeks, it had been a good day.

"You're getting pretty good at those," Lee told her as they walked down the hallway towards the offices outside the CIC.

"Shut up, Lee."

"No, seriously, we should have a race or something."

"Lee, quit while you're…actually, considering you're not ahead of the game, you definitely should just quit." He smirked, knocking on the door to Adama's office as they came to it.

"Come in," they heard him call from inside. He looked surprised to see the two officers before him. They were both in off-duty clothes, since they'd needed showers after their day with the Raider, and it was always nice to see people who'd found something to smile about. He didn't see a lot of those these days. "To what do I owe…"

"We were wondering if you wanted to come down to the mess with us, Sir," Lee told his father. "Eat something other than just a cup of coffee." Adama smiled.

"Dinner, hmm? I think an old man may be persuaded away from his paperwork." They headed back out into the corridor. "How are you holding up?" he asked Kara.

"My leg's still attached," she replied. "That's about all I can say for it."

"From what I hear, it wasn't hampering your flight performance any." Kara smirked.

"When was I flying, Sir? I don't recall ever getting off the deck."

"You still got a lot closer than I've been in years, Starbuck." She nodded.

"If it was up to me, Sir, I'd put you on the rotation, but the CAG's way too uptight for that."

"I am not uptight!" Lee shot. Adama just smiled, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Son, you have no room to argue that point." Kara snickered.

Dinner conversation had touched on a variety of subjects from Kara's Raider, to the rumors of newly brewed ambrosia on the ship, to the more frequent card games that had been held over the past few days since the infamous Starbuck was out of commission. The mood was light, the company was good, and the real world could almost be forgotten, if only for an hour or so.

Adama finally had to return to the CIC, and Lee wasn't going to let Kara sucker him into a card game. He'd planned on walking her back to the bunks (she'd gotten tossed out of the Life Station – the doctor said they needed the beds for people who were actually hurt) but some situation came up on the flight deck that required his presence, and so Kara got herself back to the squad room. She only realized how tired the day had made her when she finally crawled into her rack. After a single game of solitary pyramid, she fell sleep.

Things easily fell into a routine, even if flying wasn't part of it. She got up with the early shift pilots and instead of her usual run around the ship, headed to the training room to get some time in with the weights. After a shower and a quick breakfast, she would head back down to the flight deck to get more work done on her Raider. The first few days were spent trying to map out the schematics for the fighters controls, and since Kara was still the only one who had gotten it to work, Tyrol definitely needed her help.

"That's weapons," Kara told him as she stood at a console.

"You know that for sure?" Tyrol wasn't taking any chances. He'd had enough holes blown in the side of his deck for a lifetime. He wasn't surprised, though, when Kara shot him a look that could freeze a sun.

"Yeah, I think I'd remember."

Cally and one of the other crewmen were working on resealing the fatal hole in the Raider's 'head,' as well as cleaning up the blood that had run from it. Tyrol and Kara were trying to figure out how much biological stuff could be removed from the fighter and still allow it to fly. Lee wanted the thing to be space-worthy as soon as possible – there was no telling when having their own Raider would come in handy. Kara wasn't sure who would get the honor of taking her newest toy out on the first test flight, but she was damn sure going to be the one to train them. One scratch on her Raider, and there'd be hell to pay.

"This is the power-up sequence," she told Tyrol as they went over a collection of notes together. He had a layout of the Raider's innards. One of the pilots that had come in way too hot the previous week had been in charge of making that layout. Kara wished she'd been there to see it.

"Okay, so we need all this," he replied, indicating an area on the clipboard he was holding.

"Yeah, but this can go." Kara made a mark on the page.

The rest of the morning was spent going through each system – power, life support, weapons, and flight controls – and determining what was expendable. Even after Kara's shift ended, she stuck around to see with which crewmen Tryol would stick the task of 'surgery' on the Raider. Everyone on deck was trying to make sure they stayed on the CPO's good side. It was highly comical.

It's probably a good thing that I'm not in his shoes, Kara thought to herself at one point. I would have WAY too much fun with this.

She found Lee in the training room when she headed down there for another workout after leaving the deck. She'd ditched one of her crutches, finding that she could balance herself better without it.

"Hey, Lee?" He looked up just before he felt the back of her hand touch his face, smearing something from the Raider that he didn't even want to think about across his cheek.

"Thanks, Kara," he sarcastically replied as he reached for a towel. She laughed, taking a seat at one of the other machines. "So I take it you guys are making progress down there?"

"Yeah. You figure out who's going to be taking my toy out for a test drive yet?"

"Well, on the risk of making your head swell to the point of not fitting through the door, I'll tell you that you're the best pilot in the fleet."

"Flattery will get you nowhere." Lee grinned.

"Since when?" Kara threw a towel at him. "In any case, trying to figure out who comes in number two hasn't been easy."

"You know that's you. No question."

"I doubt it would go over well with the rest of the squad if I wound up assigning myself to the flight."

"Why not? In case you haven't noticed, Lee, there haven't been a lot of people lining up to go crawling around in the guts of a Raider."

"True. So far, maintenance on the thing has been a punishment."

"See? I'm sure everyone would be glad to have our fearless CAG volunteer for the assignment."

"You're a brat, you know that?"

"Oh, you haven't seen anything yet."

"I haven't?"

"No, because before you even think about starting up the engines on that thing, you're gonna have to learn how to fly it. I want her back in perfect condition after this test, you understand me?" Lee smirked.

"Glad you're so concerned with my well-being, Lieutenant."

TBC...