Kara wanted to dance in glee around the bunkroom the day she woke up to realize the pain in her stomach was finally gone. She held herself back in case someone chose that moment to return to the bunkroom. She really didn't feel like being embarrassed when things were going so well.

This day had been her goal since she stumbled to the bunkroom seventy-two hours earlier. She had told herself once she could move freely without pain, she would hunt Lee down and force him to tell her what she had done wrong.

She lifted up the hems of her shirt to look at the scar. Today was the first day she could take the bandage off the wound without the thin material of her tanks causing it pain. She fingered the scar and snickered at the sense of order the Cylons obviously had. She had been shot by them twice and been under their knife once. The evidence was lined up in three neat scars running parallel across her abdomen.

"Lieutenant Thrace!"

Kara shoved her tanks down and looked up to see a rather winded young man bursting into the bunkroom. He tried to speak again and choked, his lungs too out of breath to produce the words. Kara reached out to rest her hands on his shoulder. "Bartlett, right?" The exhausted man nodded. "All right. You need to calm down, Bartlett. Take a deep breath. Try again."

"There's been an accident, sir, in the hangar bay," he wheezed.

"How bad?"

"I'm not sure. It happened so quickly. All I know was someone screamed at me that I needed to come get you. They need your help."

"What happened exactly?"

"There was an accident when the CAP was landing. I would have gotten the CAG-"

That was all Bartlett managed to get out before Kara took off in a sprint. She didn't have to wait to hear him tell her that Lee had been on CAP. She already knew.

The Marines tried to hold her back from the scene in the hangar bay, but she wasn't going to let a bunch of flunkies slow her down. She kicked the first in the shin and shoved him hard into the other two officers. It took her barely a second and would probably get her thrown in the brig when this was all over, but at the moment, she couldn't care less.

The hangar was complete chaos. The deck crew were trying their best to put out the flames shooting up from the accident. There were two metal columns bent down around the shell of Viper. Large sections of metal that had once been the overhang were covering another Viper, and several pilots and crew were working to move the rubble. There was screaming and yelling from every corner imaginable.

It only took Kara a heartbeat to piece together what happened. One of the pilots must have forgotten to power down his ship completely before being raised from the landing tube. When the elevator lift took his ship up to the hangar bay, it engaged the engines, accelerating the ship and pilot out of control. The ship must have knocked into another one of the Vipers, sending it careening into the base of the overhang. That was at least two people who were probably too far gone to save. Kara didn't even want to think about all the people who had been standing in the hangar bay when this happened.

Kara knew she should probably be trying to find something she could do to help, but she found she couldn't move. Her eyes scanned the hangar bay, and there was no amount of lying she could do to hide what she was looking for. If she saw Lee's Viper sitting intact, she could relax and know that he was in the hangar bay somewhere trying to help.

She began to panic as ship after ship revealed the decals of other pilots' names. Lee's Viper was not there. Her attention drifted back to the two crushed ships. She couldn't bring herself to look at them closely. She wouldn't be able to handle it if she saw Lee's name amidst the flames and rubble.

"Thrace! Get your head out of your ass and help us."

Kara turned to glare at the Chief, but instead of meeting his gaze, her eyes locked with the man behind him, currently pulling rubble off of the downed Viper. He was standing there, his flight suit pulled down around his waist with not a scratch on his body. Her heart stopped beating.

"Lee."

Lee dropped the chunk of metal without a word and made his way to her side. There was no awkward moment where they both realized this was the first moment they've seen each other in weeks. There was no pause to wonder how this should be done. He simply opened himself to her and she collapsed in his arms.

Lee held on tight while her whole body shook with emotion. This woman in his arms had been the first person he thought of as he watched the nugget he had taken as his wingman make a stupid mistake. Shifty should have known to power down his ship completely, and Lee couldn't help but be a little thankful that the kid probably wasn't going to be around to feel the fallout of his mistake. It would have been too tough for the rookie.

His eyes drifted to the ship the crew was still desperately trying to unearth. Hyper hadn't done anything to call this kind of thing upon himself. The pilot had been with them since the first attacks. He didn't deserve to go out because of a rookie's mistake. A voice in the back of Lee's head had nagged at him while he worked to free the ship. Hyper was gone. No amount of digging could change that, and yet not one person could stop what they were doing. Hyper deserved to see them follow this through until the end.

As much as Lee knew his duty as CAG was to work alongside the crew until the whole situation was resolved, he couldn't have moved from this spot even if the whole world crashed down around him. Kara had been the only thing in his thoughts as he realized it could easily have been his Viper taken out in the backlash. When he saw her standing there amidst the chaos, looking so beautiful and so lost, something finally clicked inside of him. He couldn't fight it any longer. He loved this woman, and he was not going to let any guilt or sense of duty stand in the way anymore.

Lee pulled Kara up off the ground and felt her legs come up around his waist. Still holding her tight, he walked away from the rubble and away from his duties. He ignored the strange looks he received along the way as he carried her to the first empty room he could find. The conference room seemed cold compared to the flurry of activity they had just left, but Lee knew he didn't have time to find somewhere else that felt right to him. This had to happen now.

"I thought you were dead," she whispered as he set her down onto the table. She unhooked her legs, letting them dangle off the table, and moved her hands from behind his neck to rest on his arms.

Lee waited for Kara to pull away further and was surprised when he felt her grip on his arms tighten. "You really were scared, weren't you?" She nodded, not sure if she could keep forming words while her heart was beating out of control. Lee reached out to brush a wayward hair from her face and placed a light kiss on her forehead. "It wouldn't have mattered."

Kara looked up at him, and her eyes were so wide and innocent that it took all his might not to let his hormones take over. Her innocence had always been the thing that drove him crazy with desire. This moment was no different than the rest.

"Your death would have mattered to me," she assured him.

"That's not what I meant, though I appreciate the sentiment." She gave him a small pout that tore him up on the inside. He couldn't imagine not being alive to see that face. His hand reached out to trace the contours of those miraculous pouting lips. "My father always told me to treat everyone you meet with respect because they all have value and wisdom to them. Every person in this world has something they can teach you." He tugged at her bottom lip before moving his hand back. "Would you like to know what you've taught me, Kara?"

Kara bit down hard on her lip and gave him a small nod. She wasn't surprised to feel a sort of fear about what his answer would be. This whole morning seemed so surreal, like she had never really woken up and this was all just another product of her imagination. She wasn't sure she could survive if she found out this wasn't actually happening.

"You've taught me probably the most important lesson I've ever learned, something I've always used to keep myself going when life got to be too much." He leaned in to brush his lips against hers before whispering, "After all the world has thrown at us, you've taught me that soulmates never die."

He heard her gasp at his words and managed to keep himself in control for a few seconds longer. He wanted her to understand exactly what he was saying before he lost the battle with his desire and leaned in to taste her for real this time.

They both hesitated as they stood on the precipice of the moment, taking the time to memorize what was about to happen. Then Kara shifted forward and her lips gently touched his, lingering until she felt him respond. He tilted his head to nibble lightly on her bottom lip, and she sighed over the rightness of what they were doing.

Lee's hands came up her body to cradle her head as he pushed her back against the table. His lips sought hers as a hint of desperation came over them. It was as if this might be the only time they would ever be allowed to touch each other so freely, so fully, and he was not going to waste it.

Kara felt her heart begin to race as soon as Lee's weight pressed her flush against the table, and she hooked her leg around his body to keep herself grounded. Her hands grasped his back tightly as he softly begged for her to open herself up to him. She could feel his hands pressing the table on both sides of her head, and there was a tightness to his muscles that showed her how hard he was fighting to keep control. She hoped he could feel this as clearly as she could. It was driving her insane and making her completely whole at the exact same time.

Lee knew if the world ended again, it wouldn't mean anything. He had what he had always wanted right here. The warmth of Kara's mouth against his told Lee that she loved him as fiercely as he loved her. There was no need to exchange words when it radiated from every ounce of her being. Time was erased as she opened her mouth to him, pulling him in even deeper.

He felt the electric touch of just barely the tip of her tongue. His senses exploded as she lightly traced the outline of his lips, and the burn inside of him was slow and sensual. She was playing with him, and he found he didn't mind. He could feel his heart melt as he let his passion pour out with the simple touching of lips.

Kara opened her eyes to meet his, and something ignited. She lost herself in his kiss, raging and uncontrolled. No words were spoken between them, but still there was a promise being made. Her hands reached up to run themselves through his hair, and she let out a moan, softened by the touch of their lips.

When the need to take a breath became too much, Lee pulled himself back. Their foreheads rested together while they both fought to still their beating hearts.

"I take it the pain's not bothering you anymore," Lee whispered.

"I wanted to tell you-" His hand came up to silence her, and she stared in awe as his face broke out in a playful smile. She could feel his fingers dancing along the bottom of her tank before he pulled it up inch by excruciating inch. Lee met her eyes for only a second before he slipped his body down the length of hers. She felt the soft touch of his lips against the healing wound and knew that no matter what, she would never feel pain again if she had this in her life.

"We're really not normal," Lee whispered against her skin. At her inquisitive look, he continued, "Most people get matching rings. You and I have to have matching scars."

Kara laughed as she grabbed Lee and pulled him up. Their lips met in a brief kiss, a small reflection of what they now knew was brewing between them. "I told you I was holding out for the extraordinary, Lee," she reminded him.

"I think you found it." He ducked his head to spread kisses across the delicate skin of her neck and was rewarded as she shivered against him.

"There are things we need to talk about," she said, scrunching her face up as she tried to concentrate on anything but what Lee was currently doing.

"Like what?"

Kara hesitated before answering. She hated to break whatever bubble of happiness she had stumbled onto, but for once in her life, she felt the pull to be responsible. This was too important to let her hormones frak it up. "We need to talk about what happened with Anders."

Lee's feather-light kisses ended abruptly as he shifted his head up to look at her. "I solved that problem earlier."

Kara's eyes went wide. "What did you do?"

"I tried to behave," he said, a guilty smile spread across his lips.

"What did you do?" she repeated.

"I broke his jaw."

Kara slapped his chest lightly. "Lee!"

Lee rested his chin on her chest and shrugged. "I couldn't help it. The way that bastard was talking about you, he's lucky that it was only his jaw that I broke."

"My hero," she joked with a roll of her eyes.

The room filled up with silence as the weight of what had just happened finally registered. "This is surreal," Lee mumbled as Kara's hands came up to play with the short hairs at the nape of his neck.

"I know."

"We should probably move before someone stumbles in on us."

"Probably."

"I really don't want to."

"Me, either," Kara said, closing her eyes. She tried to figure out why lying on a table in the middle of a conference room with this man felt so right. They were so tangled up in one another that she was finding it hard to figure out where she ended and he began. The fit was just too perfect. "Lee?"

"Hmmm?" he said, picking up his head to look at her.

"What we're doing is still very much illegal according to military fraternization rules. You're my superior officer."

He pulled himself away from her and was delighted to hear her groan in protest. "So I'll resign."

"They'll just make me the CAG," she pointed out as she took the hand he offered.

"Good point." Lee grabbed her waist and pulled her to her feet. She watched as he carefully tidied her appearance, even taking the time to brush her hair back behind her ears. "We'll just have to figure something out." Kara nodded. "Until then, I'm pretty sure the pilots won't say anything if I start sleeping in your bunk."

"That's very presumptive of you, Captain," she exclaimed.

"Fine. We'll sleep in my bunk."

Kara laughed, and it was music to Lee's ears. He had been stupid to let himself give up one second with this amazing woman. He slipped his hand into hers and stepped back out into the chaos of the corridor. Their life would always be chaos, but it didn't really matter anymore. By having Kara by his side, he finally felt like he belonged even if it was only to her.

"We haven't actually said it," she stated, knowing he would understand what she was referring to.

He thought it over for a moment. She was right. Neither one of them had actually said the words that they seemed to be living. "I know. I kind of like that."

"Me, too," she sighed, tilting in to lean on him. She had been a fool to think that she could ever be happy with anyone other than Lee. He had always been the one for her, but she had been too stubborn to let herself accept that. That didn't matter anymore. As long as she had Lee in her life, she knew that she would be fine.

It only took her two trips to Caprica, one coma, two Cylon bullets, one adulterous boyfriend, and a hangar bay accident to come to terms with that.

"We are so frakked up," she groaned.

Lee smiled down at her. "I kind of like that, too."

Hand in hand, the two pilots made their way back to the hangar bay to figure out where their help was still needed. Things might change, but in a way, they always stay the same. The Fleet needed them just as much as they needed each other.

"I'm sure we can find you a nice corner to bark orders from," Lee said as they entered the hangar bay. The situation had calmed considerably.

"Frak you," Kara hissed.

Lee pulled her hand up and kissed her fingertips before letting her go. "I'm a little fuzzy on the decision we made. Would that be my bunk or yours?"

Kara narrowed her eyes at him before shaking her head. "Haven't you learned anything from me?"

Lee bit his lip as he thought of what her answer would be to his question. After a moment, he chuckled. "Both."

Kara winked at him before walking over to ask the Chief where she could help.

"What the frak was that?" Helo asked as he came to stand beside Lee.

Lee turned to the Raptor ECO and smiled. "That is the sight of Kara Thrace when she finally decides to stop running away."

"About time," Helo chuckled. "Come on with me. We could use another hand clearing the metal from the overhang."

Lee gave himself another second to watch Kara as the Chief handed her the phone in his hand before following Helo back into the eye of the storm. It was just another day on Galactica.

Normal to the point of being extraordinary.

END