Kara heard a light Caprican wedding march begin and took a deep breath. She could do this. She could walk down this aisle and let Zak Adama make an honest woman out of her. She just had to keep looking straight and not pause.

The first steps were taken on her own. The only man she would ever let escort her down the aisle would be her father, and he had been missing for over twenty years now. At least that's what she told Zak. It was a lot easier to say instead of the truth, which was her father had gotten restless and left his wife and young daughter behind at a military outpost on Virgon.

She was glad for the light yellow veil that hid her eyes from each person she walked past. They were all members of Zak's family. He had been the one to want a big wedding in the temple of Delphi where his mother and father had been married twenty-five years earlier. She had just wanted a small civil ceremony with maybe a few guests like Zak's parents and his much idolized older brother. She wasn't the type of girl who wanted to make a big fuss about these kinds of things. Zak insisted, though.

The music faded out as she came to a stop in front of her future husband. Zak was beaming down at her as he slid the veil up over her face, and Kara knew that the smile on her face was genuine. She loved Zak. From the second he stepped into her classroom, he had given her a reason to hope. She had thought she would be stuck teaching Academy students for the rest of her career because of her bum knee and her bad habit of opening her mouth. He had calmed down her wild ways, and she had actually received a field assignment starting in a month. Her superiors hadn't told her much more. It seems they didn't want to jinx it, either.

She heard the priestess speaking and felt Zak slip the ring off her thumb finger. It was already time to slip Aphrodite's Band, the ring that pledged her eternal faith, onto her ring finger. She regretted begging Zak to have the ceremony be quick. She needed more time to get her head back together.

Zak's voice echoed through the church. "I call upon everyone here to witness that I take you, Kara, to be my wife from this day forward. I promise before the gods and these witnesses to be your faithful husband…" His voice faded out as Kara's eyes focused on the man over his shoulder. She had originally loved the idea that Zak wanted his brother to be his best man. It had sounded cute at the time, but now it only seemed like the gods' way of taunting her. "…to be loyal to you with my whole life and with all my being. I will love you as your husband, your lover and your friend, so help me, Hera, one day at a time."

The priestess turned to smile at Kara. "It is your turn, my child."

Kara nodded and turned to look at Zak. "I call upon everyone here to witness that I-" Kara's voice caught in her throat, and she coughed lightly. "I-" Her voice dropped out again, and her eyes drifted over Zak's shoulder to look at Lee. The smile of encouragement he had given her only a few seconds before was gone. In its place was that same look of sadness she had seen earlier. The church was silent as she held his gaze.

"Kara?" Zak said tentatively. She watched Lee for a second more before turning to look at his younger brother. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," she whispered, clearing her throat. Third time had to be a charm. "I call upon everyone here to witness that I-" Kara felt something rise up inside of her, and for a second, she thought she was going to be sick. Then she realized the reason why she felt nauseous. When she was young, her mother told her she had the uncanny knack of figuring out how to screw up a good thing every time it came along.

It was with a small twinge of sadness and regret that Kara realized her mother had been right.

"I… I can't do this," she whispered. She saw Lee's eyes go wide as Zak's whole face dropped. "I'm so sorry."

Before anyone could even realize what was happening, Kara was running down the aisle and out of the church. The sky had filled with dark clouds while she had been in the church, and thunder rumbled in the distance. She could feel the dirt kick up off the road to mar her dress, and she had to fight back the tears.

The gods had forsaken her this day, and she wondered if she could ever forgive them.

Kara stepped out of the shuttle onto the cold Battlestar. Distant memories flooded her, and she found herself unable to suppress a smile. Most days, she missed the Galactica like crazy even if her time there had been marred by her own shortcomings.

Unable to help herself, Kara drifted over to one of the Vipers. It was a Mark VIII. She had thought she'd never see one of these things in person. They were what her dreams were made of. Vipers and a life of peace, just her and Lee, that was what she saw when she closed her eyes and imagined a perfect world.

"Can I help you?"

Kara turned to see a rather small looking specialist. She swore they were recruiting younger these days. She pulled her hands away from the wing of the Viper and smiled. "I'm here to see Major Lee Adama."

"Apollo's out on the last leg of the CAP."

Kara swore. "I told that pilot to fraking slow down," she grumbled.

"Excuse me?"

"I'm here a little early. Is there somewhere I can wait for him that's out of the way?"

"The pilot's break room by the senior quarters is usually a good place to keep out of the official business on this ship, but it can get a little rowdy. I wouldn't want you to feel out of place."

Kara smirked. "Kid, you don't have to worry about that. I could eat half the pilots on this hunk of junk for breakfast." The girl's eyes went wide, and Kara threw a salute out of habit. "Thanks for the information."

"Don't you want directions?" the young specialist called.

"I can figure it out," Kara replied. "All these ships are the same."

She did her best to blend in with the corridor walls. The Colonial Military had cast her out five years before. She doubted any of the commanding officers would be happy to hear she had found a way back in. Most of the pilots she passed ignored her. It seems she no longer had her Starbuck aura that made people stand up and take notice.

The pilot's break room was filled with the normal commotion. There was a rather interesting play by play description of the last pyramid game on Picon in which the Aerelon Rams cleaned house. Kara felt the urge to join in. She had actually listened to that game over the wireless while waiting for Lee to show up the last time he visited. Any urge to talk pyramid went away the second she saw the triad table.

Triad was probably the one thing she missed most about being a pilot. She had figured out the hard way that solitary triad could get boring rather quickly when you lived on a military outpost. The prospect of having opponents to test her bluffing skills again made her want to cry. Not to mention that most of these people had no clue who she was. They wouldn't know what hit them.

Kara fought the urge to ask to be dealt in. She wanted to just savor the game being played for a few minutes. She leaned against the wall just inside the hatchway and tried to stay out of sight. It wouldn't do to have people asking her if she was lost.

After a few minutes, the man with his back to her slapped down twenty cubits and called. Kara smiled as he laid down full colors and began to taunt his fellow players. She would be taunting, too, if it had been her hand to play.

"Civilians aren't allowed in here," a pilot growled as he pushed past her to enter the room. Everyone turned to look at her.

Kara was about to growl something right back at the pilot when she recognized who the triad winner was. She hadn't seen him since the day she got thrown out of the Fleet.

"Hi, Kara," Helo said, leaning back in his seat.