A day or so had turned into five, and he was still here. Kara had a feeling he planned on staying for the last two days of her leave, too. She found she didn't mind.

She heard the water shut off in her tiny bathroom. She knew she should grab some fresh clothes and take her own shower. Lee had promised to take her to the park by his old house, the one he kept telling her she needed to paint. She looked back down at the incomplete painting in front of her as the bathroom door opened. She still hadn't been able to figure out what it was missing, and it seemed the canvas wasn't going to let her out of its sight until she came to a conclusion.

"Maybe a little yellow at the top?" Lee suggested. Kara squinted her eyes at the painting and dabbed the color on. She felt Lee sigh and wondered when he had gotten that close. "That didn't work," he said, and she could tell he was concentrating. The painting seemed to be bugging him as much as it was her.

"I'm about to throw this thing aw-" Her words cut off as she turned to look at him. "Frak, Lee! Would you put some clothes on?" she yelled.

"I left my bag out here," he explained, clutching the towel a little tighter around his waist. "I didn't know it was going to freak you out."

"It's not freaking me out," she lied. "I just wasn't expecting to have a half-naked man in my apartment this morning. Couldn't you have found a bigger towel?"

"The big towels are all dirty."

Kara nodded and turned back to her painting. "I hate doing laundry," she said, like that explained everything.

"Well, then you have to suffer the consequences."

Kara wished she was brave enough to let him know she wasn't suffering, at least not in the way that caused you pain unless it was the pain of feeling too good. She dabbed a little more blue paint onto the canvas and frowned. "Why isn't this working?" When Lee didn't respond, she twisted to look at him.

Lee was still standing next to her, but now he was openly staring at her. She fought the urge to shiver. "What are you staring at?"

"There's some paint on your chin." Kara moved to rub it away, but Lee's hand stopped her. She watched helplessly as something shifted in his face and he smiled. "Let me."

His fingers reached out to rub gently at her chin. She couldn't help but feel her skin heat up under his touch. He lingered on the side of her jaw a minute before his hand moved to slowly trace a path down the crook of her neck.

"I think the paint's gone," Kara whispered, her eyes wide, her whole body raked with nerves.

"Just a little more," Lee insisted.

She could feel his head begin to lower towards her neck when a loud knock sounded on the front door. "I should get that," she said, pulling back.

Lee shook his head. "They'll go away." Another knock sounded to prove him wrong. "We can just ignore it," he suggested.

Kara was debating on whether or not it was smart to ignore what was probably the gods' way of giving her a way out when she heard the door knob turn. Frak! She must have forgotten to lock it when she came back from the grocery that morning.

"Kara?"

The pained voice made her suddenly aware that Lee was a little too close to her for comfort. She pushed him away and ran over to the stairs. "What are you doing here, Zak?" she asked.

Zak looked down at her. "You forgot to sign a few of the papers before you left Galactica. Things have been slow so I volunteered to bring them down to you. If I had known you were busy…"

Kara could tell the exact moment that Zak realized who she was with. His voice had been hiding the pain she knew he must be feeling at finding her with another man, and it faded out completely as he pieced it together. "Zak, I can explain," she insisted.

Zak shook her off. "I knew it. Oh gods, I knew it."

"There's nothing to know," Lee whispered. He clutched the towel tightly around his waist, causing Zak's eyes to dwell on the fact that his brother was half-naked.

Something shifted inside of Zak and he started yelling. "You fraking bitch!" Kara took a step back. "I should have known you weren't done torturing my family."

"Zak, that's completely inappropriate," Lee said, taking a few steps forward.

Kara winced. Didn't Lee know he should stay out of this? "Zak, your brother and I are friends."

"We used to be friends, too, Kara," Zak pointed out. "Remember? We used to go for drinks every Thursday. Then you got too drunk, we fraked, and we weren't friends anymore." He looked over at his brother. "Is that how it happened, Lee? Did you loosen her up with some ambrosia and then convince her to show you her new apartment?"

Kara could see the temper flaring in Lee's eyes, and a million and a half scenarios played through her mind, none of them good. "Please, just listen to me for a second," Kara pleaded.

Zak shook his head. He dropped the papers he had in his hand, and they hit the ground with a soft thump. "Make sure you sign those before you come back to Galactica. You wouldn't want to make my father angry."

"Zak, wait," Kara yelled as he flew up the stairs. "We need to talk."

"I wanted to talk that day you were supposed to marry me, but that didn't stop you from walking out on me. I guess now it's my turn," he spit back at her.

Kara stared at the empty space in the doorway long after Zak had left. She had thought her frak-up days were finally over. She had a job she loved, flying a beautiful machine in the skies above her home colony. She had the best friend a girl could ask for in Helo, a man who loved her for her faults. She had a satisfying knowledge that she was making the right choice by keeping her distance from all things Adama. At least that's what she had been doing before this week.

"Kara?" Lee said tentatively, moving to stand beside her.

She turned to glare at him. "Put some clothes on and get out of my fraking home, Lee. I'm going out, and I don't want to see you here when I get back."

Kara slammed the door behind herself and immediately reached out to the wall for support. Her knees were shaking as she lowered herself to the ground. She was so tired of having to make these ridiculously hard choices in order to lessen the pain for those she loved. As she sat in the empty hall, tears springing to her eyes, she figured everything would be all right. Rejecting Lee meant she would have to deal with a few extra months of aching guilt and regret, but it was actually starting to feel familiar.

She had no idea that the pain was just beginning.

Lee thought about trying to gauge his mother's mood before he brought Kara into her house, but he figured that would be a childish trick. He was a grown man, and he needed to face up to the decision he had made. He loved Kara Thrace from practically the moment he first set eyes on her. It had taken him years to own up to that fact, and he wasn't going to let himself forget it.

"What's our plan?" Kara asked as they walked hand in hand up the front path. She could remember the first and only time she had been to this house, and frankly, it only made it that much harder to come back.

"I'm not sure. All I know is my mother might take it better if we don't act like everything's normal."

"You and I showing up on her doorstep married is far from normal," Kara agreed.

Lee gave her hand a small squeeze before reaching out to ring the doorbell. "She knows I'm coming," Lee said as they waited. "I planned this visit a couple months ago."

They heard someone move inside the house, and Kara's face erupted in terror. "Lee." The shaky tone of her voice said everything she couldn't find words for. She was terrified. She didn't think she could do this. She felt guilty for finding happiness after all these years.

"I'm glad you chose me," Lee whispered as the lock clicked open. "There's no one else I'd want by my side."

Kara had time to flash him a look of gratitude before the door opened.

Caroline Adama's face erupted into a huge smile at the sight of her oldest boy, but the happiness quickly fell away when she saw the woman standing next to him. "What brings you two to Caprica?" she asked coldly.

Lee dropped Kara's hand to step forward and give his mother's cheek a kiss. "We have a few things we need to talk with you about, Mom. Can we come in?"

Caroline looked at him and then shifted her gaze to Kara. The girl looked terrified. "Sure. Come in. I'm not going to bite."

"I'm not too sure about that," Lee joked. He reached down to grasp Kara's hand again and pulled her past his mother into the house. He could feel his mother's eyes bearing into where their hands touched, and he just hoped she was distracted enough not to notice the rings.

A few tense minutes later, they were all sitting in the living room, cups of coffee in hand. "So, why don't you lay it on me, son?" Caroline asked. "I know that you wouldn't have brought Kara here unless it was important."

Lee stared down at his hands and sighed. "I don't know how to explain this to you in a way it won't hurt and confuse you. You know I love you, Mom, and that I would never do anything to harm that."

"Lee, you're scaring her," Kara interrupted. "Caroline, you've always been good to me even after what I did to your family seven years ago. I'm grateful for that. If you had tried to kill me for what I did to Zak, I would have understood. I think you were wise leaving well enough alone. My own guilt and regret was a better punishment than anything you could have done, so be grateful for that." Kara looked over at Lee and saw he was smiling at her with pride in his eyes. Gods, she loved him. "I loved Zak with all my heart, and I left him that day for a very good reason. It was the best thing I probably could have done."

"Kara's explained it to me, Mom. She made the right choice." Lee smiled. "You should have seen Zak when he was on Galactica. He was happy being on Dad's ship. He didn't have to push himself to break out from anyone's shadow."

"He was a fraking beautiful Raptor pilot," Kara added and then blushed at her swearing. She really was the antithesis of the kind of girl Lee should be bring home to his mother.

"You're sorry about what happened to Zak. I've known that for quite a while, Kara, but it changes nothing."

Kara nodded. "I know. I just figured if you knew a little bit about why I did it, it would soften the blow."

"There's a blow?" Caroline said, her eyebrows raised in curiosity.

"Kara and I have been trying to figure out how to say this gently, and we-"

"I didn't even know you were in touch with one another," Caroline interrupted. "Frak, I didn't even know you were friends."

"Since the day we met," Kara said, trying to stifle a giggle at hearing Caroline Adama swear. She got up from beside Lee and took a seat next to her mother-in-law. "I love your son very much, Caroline."

"I know that. I saw you and Zak together. You were very much in love."

Kara's eyes looked over at Lee, and he gave her a small nod. "No, Caroline, I love your son."

Caroline followed Kara's eyes to see they rested on her oldest son. Confusion washed over her. "I don't understand."

Lee stood up in order to sit on the coffee table in front of his mother and his wife. He reached out to grasp Kara's hand and held it out for his mother to see. It was time to lay it all on the line. "I've loved Kara for six years, and I've made her my wife, Mom."

Caroline looked at Lee and then Kara before bursting into tears. They had expected a multitude of reactions to come from Caroline Adama, but much to their surprise, this was not one of them. It took them a moment to realize she wasn't angry or upset. She wasn't even sad.

"It's about damn time," Caroline laughed through her tears.

"Excuse me?" Lee asked.

Caroline wiped the bottom of her eyes and smiled at her son. "I'm your mother, Lee. I know things about you that no one else does, including yourself. Mothers see everything." She looked over at Kara and smiled before turning back to Lee. "I saw the way you looked at her the day you two first met. I saw the way you slipped off to see her right before the ceremony. I saw the way you were more devastated than even your brother when she ran away."

"You never said anything," Lee cried out.

"I was too mad at the gods for doing this to my boys." Caroline turned to look at Kara. "I hated the fact that they were testing a girl who had so much promise. You've been through a lot, Kara. Anyone can see that just by looking at you. If this is what you had to do to be happy, I'm not going to protest."

Kara tried her best to smile through the tears. Having Caroline's blessing was such a relief.

"So when did this whole thing start?" Caroline asked.

"He's been visiting me for four years now."

"You waited that long?" Caroline asked.

"She wouldn't have had me before then," Lee insisted. "Plus I know a few things about having to work through your demons before you can be happy."

Caroline gave him a small nod before her smile turned into a frown. She was staring at him so intently that Lee couldn't help but brace himself for what looked like a classic Caroline Adama dressing down. "Lee Joseph Adama, would you get yourself off my coffee table this instant? Didn't I teach you more manners than that?" Lee's eyes went wide, and she chuckled softly. "Why don't you take a seat next to your wife and you can explain how long you're going to be here?"

The rest of the day felt like any other abnormally normal day to Kara. Caroline offered to make them dinner, and Kara helped her clean up the kitchen afterwards. They had both laughed about how foolishly cliché that was.

Lee and Kara had done their best to explain what had happened between them to her, but they left quite a few things out in order to spare her some of the pain. They didn't mention what happened the day that Zak walked in on them in Kara's apartment. It would just hurt Caroline too much.

Caroline insisted they spend the night. Kara's face immediately lit up at seeing the childhood bedroom of her husband again. Lee had to drag her away from his old toy Viper collection in order to go to bed. She put up a fight at first, but when she realized where his intentions were, she dropped the toy ships like they were on fire.

When the sun rose to bring light to the Caprican sky, Lee told his mother they had to be going.

Caroline kissed her son goodbye and pulled Kara into a hug. "You're a good girl, Kara. Try your best to take care of my boy."

Kara felt herself begin to cry which was strange because she was fairly sure she had used up all her tears the night before. "I'll guard him with my life," she promised.

Caroline stepped back to look at the two children. "Are you going to tell Zak?" she asked after a minute's hesitation.

"He's the next on our list," Kara said firmly.

"Don't let it torture you too much," Caroline advised. "You two are happy, and that is nothing but a gift from the gods."