Lee Adama stood outside the main doors to one of the side hangar bays. It was out of the way and only used when the majority of the ship's smaller crafts had to make combat landings. On that note, the only ships that took off from it were those that did not want to be seen.

Like the Cylon Raider that had been moved to the hangar bay earlier that night without anyone's knowledge but for a select few.

Lee knew once he had stepped inside the doorway, there was no backing out of it. But then there was really no choice when it all came down to it. His father and President Roslin had asked him to put his life on the line for the good of all humanity. He couldn't turn them down.

With that said, this was not how he had envisioned returning home. In his dreams, he had imagined defeating the Cylons and returning to his home planet of Caprica to see that it had barely been touched. The bombs would have caused damage, but it would be nothing that they could not repair in time. Things… home… life… could be fixed if he tried hard enough.

Sighing, he looked down at his watch. In about ten minutes, there would be a small window of time in which Lieutenant Gaeta and his father kept the CIC's attentions away from the launch screens. Dee would ignore his comm traffic as he acknowledged he was away. And then he would be dropping in behind the CAP to jump to Caprica. Quite a lot had been sacrificed in planning this little flight.

"Better get started then, Adama," he whispered to himself as he pushed the hangar door open. A quick glance around told him that there was no one there. He absentmindedly checked to make sure he had his two guns holstered tightly to his side and moved to zip the lightly camouflage jacket he had donned for this mission.

His hands paused in their zipping as he turned the corner near the Raider and realized that the hangar bay was not as deserted as he had been told it would be. He took in the sight of the best combat pilot he had ever seen as she sat delicately perched on top of a cargo box, her knees pulled up for her chin to rest on. She was wearing similar clothing to his and looked rather nervous about something.

"What are you doing here, Kara?" he asked as he pulled to a stop in front of where she sat.

Kara gave him a small smile as she let her feet stretch out to touch the ground. "Waiting for you actually."

"Come to give me one hell of a goodbye kiss, then?"

"Not likely," she said with a laugh, standing up. "I'm coming with you."

That was what he was afraid she would say. "You're not."

"I am."

"Kara, there is no way that my father and President Roslin approved both of us to go on this mission."

"They didn't."

"Then you're not going."

"I am." She looked down at her wrist. "And if my watch is correct, we have about seven minutes to get in that Raider and get it powered up. You know, Lee, I didn't realize you even knew how to fly this thing."

"I learned," he said shortly. When she made a move to start walking over to the Raider, he grabbed her shoulder roughly and hauled her back to look him in the eye. His fingers dug into her arm as he pulled her over to the side of the hangar bay, and she did her best not to wince when the back of her head hit the wall. "What are you playing at, Kara?"

"I'm trying to be that stable person you can count on, Lee," she whispered, only half mocking. "You're taking an enemy ship into enemy territory and hoping that you can make it back alive. The odds aren't in your favor. You need me with you, so here I am."

"I can do this on my own."

"Six minutes," she said, glancing down at where his hand still held her arm before looking back up at him. "And counting."

"This is desertion, Kara. You will be brought up on charges when we get back."

"See? That's exactly what I'm talking about. You can't tell me that about five minutes ago you weren't having doubts that you would ever see Galactica again. But now the focus is on what things will be like when we get back. Don't you understand? If I'm with you, you know that we're coming back. That is the reason why I have to come with you."

"I can't let you get inside that Raider."

"I'm not going to let you get inside by yourself, so it looks like we have a slight problem. Though, what you should be focusing on right now isn't that. The simple fact of the matter is if you keep refusing to let me in that ship, you won't be able to leave on your secret mission. And it won't be secret anymore if you don't leave soon. So you need to decide. Either go on the mission with me or don't go on the mission at all." She saw Lee's eyes briefly dart to the phone on the wall next to them. "You don't have time to call anyone, Lee. This decision is all on your shoulders. So what's it going to be? Do you feel like being a hero today?"

He let go of her arm and stepped back to glare at her. "I can't take you with me."

Kara gave him a weak smile and reached up to touch his cheek lightly. She hoped that her words weren't too harsh for him. Really she was only staying strong on this because she knew he needed her there. "You have no choice. I know what's going on inside that brain of yours. There's no way you are going to let this mission fail. People are counting on you."

Lee stared at her as she walked back to where the Raider stood and slid underneath its belly. She could be so damn frustrating when she set her mind to doing something. He felt the corners of his mouth quirk up in a slight smile. That had always been one of the things he liked most about her.

Sighing, he accepted his fate and moved to kneel down beside her. "So, how do you think two of us are going to fit in that thing?"

"I've been in there before. There's room. It's just going to be a tight fit." She turned to look him up and down with a smirk on her face before settling back to looking him in the eyes. "But I think you and I have been in spaces just as small before. We'll manage."

Lee nodded and pulled himself up into the underbelly of the Raider. The Chief had done all he could, but the thing still smelled like a latrine that hadn't been cleaned in years. He settled himself in to one side of the ship before reaching his hand down to help pull Kara in beside him.

She had been right. It was a tight fit, but they managed after a few seconds of struggle. Her right side snuggled in next to him, and he only found himself resting over her a little. All in all, it was almost like another night in the bunkroom when Kara had a nightmare and couldn't make herself stop shaking in fear.

Lee reached his arm over her shoulder to type a few commands into the newly installed hard drive of the Raider. It shuddered a little as the power kicked on and picked it up a few feet off the flight deck.

Almost on cue, the piece of decking the Raider was parked on began to retract down into the ship. Within seconds, the two pilots found themselves staring down the long tunnel of a flight tube that was conveniently vacant at this time of night.

"You're going to have to do most of the flying," he said. "I'm not in the right position."

"Not a problem," Kara replied with a hint of glee. She had missed piloting this piece of machinery.

The determination in her voice soothed Lee slightly. Reaching down, he pulled the comm earpiece into his ear and shifted so that Kara could move her feet back into position. Her hair briefly brushed across his face, and he felt a small moan fall from his lips.

"What was that?" Kara asked, turning to narrow her eyes at him.

"Nothing."

"Nothing?"

"Your hair smells good."

Her face lit up in a smile. "Oh."

Lee tried to ignore how he was suddenly tuned it to the closeness of their bodies in this extremely small space as Kara shifted her body in order to do her job. The ship bucked as she dug her heels into the sides with a squish, and a look of repulsion crossed her face. She punched a button on the console, and the ship picked up a maddening amount of speed

"Galactica, Apollo…" His voice faded off as he looked over at his unintentional co-pilot. "…and Starbuck away."

Lee could hear the sound of Dee choking back her surprise reverberate over the comm and prayed that his father would not be too angry at the woman currently lying halfway beneath him. "Take us home," he whispered in Kara's ear.

Smiling, she punched a few keys and the familiar sensation of the FTL drive engaging hit Lee's stomach like a gentle nagging. Lee heard the sounds of the CAP as they realized that the Raider had been launched from the belly of Galactica. And then the world dropped out and they were gone.