It only took a few days after Lee gave his advice to Kara for everything to change between them

Kara still came to visit him every second she wasn't in the air or working on her Viper in the hangar bay. She had even taken to doing the paperwork necessary for her job as temporary CAG right next to him on the bed. But somehow, Lee had withdrawn from her. He didn't ask her any more questions about Caprica or about Anders. In fact, he barely asked her any questions at all. They still had their easy form of banter, but his usual concern wasn't there. Lee had begun to stare at her when he didn't think she would notice. Something seemed to be circling through his head, but Kara couldn't figure out what that could be.

Then, Doc Cottle cleared Lee and instead of asking her to take the CAG to his bunk, Kara was requested to take Lee to the mission planning level of the CIC. When she asked Lee what that was all about as they slowly made their way through Galactica's corridors, he simply told her his father had been to see him earlier that day when he heard Lee's release was at hand.

When they entered the room to see all the little model Vipers and Raptors set out on the table, Kara couldn't say she was surprised. She figured the choice of room wasn't by coincidence. A mission was being planned, and somehow Lee had already managed to make himself a part of it.

What surprised her were the people already in the room waiting for them.

There were the usual players, Colonel Tigh, Commander Adama, President Roslin, all standing shoulder to shoulder. In front of them was an odd trio to say the least. Helo was looking awkwardly at the two people standing on either side of him, the Cylon he had fallen in love with and the murderer of her other copy. Boomer and Cally did not looked pleased to be in the same room. Every inch of air was filled with uncomfortable silence.

"Something I should be privy to?" Kara whispered to Lee as they entered the CIC.

"You're not going to like this," Lee warned before walking slowly to stand beside his father. "Cottle just gave me the all clear, sir. We can get started."

Kara got into line beside Cally, guessing that her place was beside them rather than Lee. It seemed like this was the line for those that did not have one fraking clue what was about to happen.

The President stepped forward to begin. "Captain Adama has been asked to head a new mission that the Commander and I devised. The presence of survivors on Caprica has become common knowledge in the Fleet since Lieutenant Thrace ran the rescue mission back to her home planet. People have begun to question what right the Capricans had to be given such an honor. We risked time and important resources for that mission, and there is now buzz throughout the Fleet that the only reason for this was because of my own ties to the planet of my birth."

"That's fraking bullshit," Kara hissed.

"Lieutenant Thrace, need I remind you that this is an official meeting?" Tigh warned her.

Kara fought the urge to make an obscene gesture in his direction. Biting her tongue, she turned back to the President. "Sorry, Madam President."

"No, I share your sentiments, Lieutenant, which is the reason I went to your Commander with the gossip instead of just ignoring it."

Commander Adama stepped forward. "The President and I have asked Apollo to take a temporary leave of absence from his position as CAG in order to run covert missions to the other eleven colonies to search for survivors."

Kara heard Cally gasp beside her and could see both Helo and Boomer freeze up in fear. It looked like it was up to her to point out the truth. "Forgive me, sirs, but are you fraking insane?" Lee lost it, his whole body shaking as he fought to keep the laughter inside, and it was all Kara could do to keep her face straight.

"We've thought this through, Lieutenant," the President said seriously, even though a smile was flitting across her face. "We're at a time when the Fleet is running comfortable. Everyone had settled into this life, tough as it may be."

"Colonel Tigh has been working with Lieutenant Gaeta while I've been… incapacitated," Lee said, taking over the explanation. "They've plotted out a course of jump coordinates for us. My team will only be given the first set which will take us to one of the planets. We won't even known which one until we get there. Once there, we do our best to find out if there is anyone still alive. We have three days to search and then we jump to the return coordinates. The Fleet will meet us there a few hours after our jump. Upon completion of each phase, we will be dock with Galactica and receive our next coordinates."

"I still say it's crazy," Kara muttered, making Cally giggle.

"Crazy is normal mode of operations, isn't it?" Lee asked her.

Commander Adama stepped in before Kara could fire a comment back at his son. "Captain Adama has selected his team very carefully in the past twenty-four hours. The six of you will be the only people standing between us and the Cylons."

"Wait a moment!" Starbuck held up her hand. "Did you say six? Because I'm only counting five."

"That's because you haven't turned around since you stepped into this room, Kara."

Her body froze at the sound of Ander's voice, but instead of turning to look at where he stood just inside the closed hatchway, she looked over at Lee instead. He held her eyes from a moment before dropping his gaze.

"Captain Adama chose you six each for a specific reason," Roslin insisted. "He put a lot of thought into the selection before submitting your names for approval."

Adama stared at the five people standing in front of him until he saw each and every one nod their acceptance. "You'll be given a transport ship that's been loaded up with mid-range weapons and a highly capable FTL drive. You should be able to navigate it with just the six of you. It will be equipped with two Raptors and two Vipers. There should still be room enough to hold one hundred people, though the fit will be tight. The mission begins in five hours. Do what you have to do for now, but be in the hangar deck ready to go when that time is up."

Everyone snapped to attention as the President, the Commander, and the XO left the room. The hatch clicked shut and locked behind them. Lee let out a deep breath and turned back to look at the five people in front of him. "Everyone can relax now."

"Relax? I still have no fraking clue why I'm here!" Cally shrieked.

"Maybe it's because you're a good shot," Boomer growled.

"Yeah, I figured that might be a problem," Lee remarked. He walked over to the other side of the planning table and took a seat. "Too bad there's not time to have a therapy session where we all air our feelings. Unfortunately, the world as we knew it ended months ago, taking all those lovely comforts along with it. If I can't trust you to get the job done, then get out now."

Everyone stiffened as Lee's tone got across. He meant business with this one.

"I would have selected other people if I thought they could get the job done half as quick and effective as I know we can. Like the President and the Commander said, I chose you all for a reason. Anders, you obviously know the survivor mentality of someone who experienced the holocaust and came out alive. Boomer, you know the mentality of the other side. Helo, you're our connection to both. Cally, they're giving us five ships in total. I need to have them all up in the air." Lee turned back to his papers, searching for something.

Kara pushed herself off of the wall she was leaning on and walked over to stand in front of him. "What about me, Captain? What do I bring to this mission?"

She watched as Lee hesitated before answering, "You have intimate knowledge of the Cylon farms, Lieutenant. Should we encounter them, we'll need your expertise."

He saw Kara go pale and quickly shoved the papers back into the folder. "Look, I think this is enough for now. Like the Commander said, you have five hours before launch. Do with them what you will. Dismissed." His hand reached out for Kara's arm to hold her back as Helo, Cally, Boomer, and Anders all trickled out of the room. As soon as they were alone, he let out the breath he had been holding. "I'm sorry for that, Kara."

"Sorry for what?" she asked, playing dumb.

"Your experience with the farms isn't the main reason I put you on this mission."

"Let me guess. It's my out-of-the-box thinking?"

Lee shook his head. "Let's just say if I want to get this done, you're going to have to be by my side. I knew they were going to want me to take Anders along, and I don't know the guy well enough to understand if he has what it takes."

"He does," Kara replied.

"I'm not sure I can control him. For some reason, I get the hint that he doesn't really like me all that much." Lee paused to see if she would offer up an explanation. When she stayed silent, he continued explaining, "That was part of it, but there's so much more that I don't even have time to put into words. Basically, I told the President I would agree to this mission but only on one condition. No matter the risk, you had to be on my team. I can't do this without you, Kara."

Lee waited for Kara's reaction, sure she was going to start screaming at him about how selfish he was being. She stared at him a moment before reaching out to grasp his hand. "I would have insisted that I come with you if you hadn't chosen me," she whispered. "This only works if we're together."

Lee sighed and looked over at the stack of papers in the folder. "There's so much I have to do before this starts." He pushed himself up to his feet, taking a moment to pause as his vision blurred slightly.

Kara noticed his small falter. "Are you sure you're up to this, Lee?"

"There's no other option."

"I could run the mission. Everyone will listen to me."

"What I said before, Kara?" He waited for her to look up at him. "It goes the other way, too. I won't let you do this without me."

Kara narrowed his eyes at him before reaching out to grab the folder. She pushed herself up onto the mission planning table. "Okay, Mr. CAG. What needs to be done?"

"Don't you have something else to be doing with your last hours of freedom?" he joked as he took a seat next to her.

Her answer was nothing but honest. "Not really. The only person I'd have to say goodbye to is coming with me."

Lee tried not to let the massive grin spread beyond a small twitch in the corner of his mouth as they both buckled down to finish the mission planning.