When she finally woke up, it took Kara all of five minutes to realize something wasn't right. She questioned every single person who came in to check her vitals or to make sure she could still see through all the pain, but they all just avoided answering her. For Kara Thrace, there was only one thing left to do. She regrettably turned up the annoying factor. It was a talent she had perfected for months on Lee.

Finally, Kara got to be too much for Ishay. She was in the middle of checking Kara's wound when she slammed down the gauze. "Cottle owes me big for taking over your care." She sighed lightly, trying to get her cool back, before looking up at Kara. "I'm not supposed to tell you anything per instruction by the Commander. He doesn't want to put unnecessary stress in your life."

"But…" Kara prodded.

Ishay finished bandaging the wound and stood up. "Do you remember what it was like when you took on that Cylon all by yourself, Lieutenant Thrace?"

Something Anders had said to her the last time they spoke suddenly made her heart drop out. He had told her Lee went back to Cloud Nine to find the Cylon that had shot her. She had just assumed that Hughes had been found and thrown out an airlock, but maybe it hadn't been that simple.

Ishay waited patiently until she saw Kara make the connection before nodding briefly at the closed curtain area at the end of sickbay, and then the medic took her leave.

Kara was forced to sit in her bed while images flashed through her head every few seconds of how hurt Lee must have been in order to force his father to keep the whole affair silent. She had to wait one long hour before the medics finally left her to have a moment of peace. The second the room was clear, Kara pushed herself out of bed, ignoring the pain in her stomach. She drew her sweatshirt around her body, suddenly glad that Helo had brought her some normal clothes to put on earlier that morning, and shuffled to the other side of the room.

She tried to prepare herself for what was waiting for her behind that curtain, remembering the bruises and broken ribs the blonde Cylon had given her on Caprica, but thinking of Lee in the same condition caused her to falter in her steps too much. So she just decided to ignore everything but getting to him. She had saved him once from his injuries. She could do it again.

Her hand was shaking when she pulled the curtain back, and her bottom lip started to tremble as she saw Lee lying in the bed, his eyes shut and the machines steadily beeping around him. She did her best to ignore her own pain in order to shuffle the final steps so she could be near him.

If she was the type of girl to read into things, she would say that Lee had just given her a hell of a sign that he loved her. Too bad she wasn't that girl. Instead she was the type of girl that wanted to slap him silly for doing something as stupid as taking on a Cylon with no back-up. "Fraking idiot," she choked out through the tears as she sat down on the bed next to him. "Fraking, fraking idiot."

Her hands reached out to trace the bruises that marked his face. She couldn't help but feel responsible for each and every mark that took away from what Cally had always claimed was the finest piece of ass she had ever seen. Kara chuckled softly. Even with everything that had happened, the memory of hearing Cally say that could still make her laugh.

Kara tore her gaze away from Lee's face to look down at his hands. She had never seen so many cuts and bruises, and considering she had been in plenty of bar fights and spent many hours at the punching bag, that was saying a lot. Lee had obviously taken out some frustration on the Cylon. Bruises that bad didn't come from defensive fighting.

She couldn't believe she had been about to give up this incredible man.

Kara leaned down to brush a kiss across Lee's forehead, doing the best to avoid the bruised parts. She felt the warmth of his skin against her lips and found she couldn't stop herself. She trailed a line of kisses down his face until her lips lightly caressed his. So much had happened to her in the past few days and finally giving in to her need for Lee pushed her over the edge. She pulled back and buried her face in his chest as the sobs took over.

The thin sound of Lee's voice was the only thing that kept her from losing it completely. "I killed him for you, Kara."

Kara looked up at him, eyes still brimming with tears. "What?"

Lee smiled at her through the pain. "I made sure he could never hurt you again."

It took biting her lip almost to the point of breaking the skin to keep herself from crying again. "I'll never figure out why you're so good to me, Lee," she whispered.

"You're my world," Lee whispered so softly she almost couldn't make it out.

Kara watched Lee slip back to sleep and decided she would just have to wait to tell him that he was her world, too. She watched in awe as Lee was at peace for the first time in far too long.

"I heard you had broken out of your cell. It wasn't too hard to imagine where you would end up," William Adama said as he pushed back the curtain.

Kara looked over at her Commander and knew she should feel embarrassed for being caught holding his son so tightly. The smile on his face told her there was no need. He really hadn't expected to find her in any other position. "You kept them from telling me," she acknowledged as she sat up.

"I figured as soon as you were strong enough to know, you'd pick up on it. It was my own way of protecting you, I guess."

Kara nodded. She wasn't mad because what the Old Man said was true. Before that morning, she probably couldn't have handled knowing what Lee had done for her sake. It might have pushed her over the edge. "Your son woke up a few moments ago," she said, not sure if this news was supposed to be monumental or not.

"He's been in and out since they brought him in. The doctor said he was going to keep him here until Lee's body healed enough to get him back onto a normal schedule."

"Was he really hurt that badly?"

"Most of the wounds were superficial. It seems he just tired his body out."

Trying to sound brave, Kara looked down at Lee's quiet face and asked, "What exactly did he do, sir?"

Adama sighed. "I debated whether you should know the exact details, but I figured it was your right. Beside you probably wouldn't rest until someone told you." He felt validated in his assumption when Kara's face broke out in a wide grin. "You've become very predictable."

"Someone has to annoy everyone," she said shrugging her shoulders. "Now how about you stop stalling and tell me what put him in here?"

"He waited until you were out of surgery and then he simply turned to me and said he had something to do. I figured he was going to the bunkroom to get you clothes or something. Then I get this call from Dee saying Apollo took one of the Raptors to Cloud Nine. I knew I couldn't stop him, so I simply told her to let Lee know I wanted both him and the ship back in one piece."

"Well, he doesn't look like he broke any bones so as long as he brought the ship back, I guess he didn't break his promise."

"It only took Lee an hour to hunt down Hughes. When he found him, he didn't hold anything back. From what the Marines tell me, it appeared like Lee finally let go of some of the anger he kept bottled up inside of him."

"How many times did he shoot that fraking toaster?" she asked.

"He didn't. Lee killed it with his bare hands."

Kara found it hard to wrap her head around the idea that Lee could do something as brutal as beating something to death, even if that something was a machine. It wasn't in his nature.

"Don't," Adama said. The look on her face was starting to scare him. "Don't think what he did was anything but what he wanted. It was his way of dealing with what happened to you, Kara."

"I know," she whispered, reaching her hand out to take Lee's. "It still kills me inside to know that this is the effect I have on his life. I cause him to lose control."

"You cause him to not care about being in control," Adama corrected. "There's a big difference. Now you look tired, Kara."

"Don't make me leave," she pleaded.

"I wasn't going to. I was just going to tell you to get comfortable. I'll let Cottle know your room has changed."

Kara gave him a childlike smile before she laid back down next to Lee. "Thank you, sir."

"Watch over him for me, will you?" Adama asked before stepping out of the room.

She stared at the closed curtain and whispered, "I always do."

Lee shifted slightly as she nestled against him, and Kara couldn't help but smile. Maybe now, after all that had happened, they might find themselves in the same place at the same time.