The door locked behind her with a snap that echoed through the empty house, and Kara rested her back against the wall. It had been another long day of collecting paperwork on the new transfers. She definitely wasn't looking forward to entering all that information into the books. It would take her the better part of two weeks.
Still, in the end, she felt lucky to have this job.
The military had given her a quiet, honorary discharge over ten months ago for endangering the lives of her crewmates. It was about as big of a black mark as one could get, and Kara wasn't surprised when she found herself unemployed and two days away from being homeless. She would have thought the nice little lady who collected her rent every month for two years would have sympathy, but no, she was pounding down her door with that eviction notice the first second she could.
Finding a colonial outpost that would take a woman like her was hard to do, and in the end, she was pretty sure someone had pulled strings for her. The salary turned out to be not that bad, and Kara was able to put most of it towards her little hole of a home on Delphi. It helped her get through the day knowing that place was still out there if she needed it.
Sighing, Kara pushed off the wall and made her way to her desk. She had work to do. Her chair creaked as she sank into it, and she shut her eyes. She had known the outpost would be a hard place to live, but she really hadn't thought it would be this bad. The loneliness was eating her up inside. It was her own fault, though.
The only request she had had when she left Galactica was that it be fast. Commander Adama gave his farewell speech to the crew, and then Major Lake had her transferred to Columbia. She barely had time to grab her things out of her locker. Even if she had had more time, goodbyes wouldn't have been an option for her. There was really no one to say goodbye to. Helo had been on the first shuttle to Gemenon to see the latest pyramid playoff game. Her wingman, Fireball, only really spoke to her when they were in the air. Dee and Gaeta were the only people in the CIC she could relate to, but they were busy with all that ship retiring business. Then there was the Old Man. William Adama hadn't really spoken to her since Zak was killed and she found out he blamed her for his son's death.
The only person she had to say goodbye to was Lee, and she knew that was the last thing she could do. He couldn't know what she had done, and within two seconds of being around him, she would have burst into tears. She figured that probably would kind of give it away.
Kara reached out to grab the photo she had tacked to the wall above her desk. She ran her finger along the faces of the two Adama brothers before silently folding the picture to hide Zak from view. When her thoughts went down the road they were currently going, she couldn't bear to see his face.
It was ridiculous how much she missed Lee.
When she let herself stop moving for even a few seconds, she swore she could feel his hands on her face, his arms holding her tight. That day in her apartment on Delphi when they had come so close to letting down their defenses was constantly on her mind. If Zak hadn't interrupted, Kara had an idea of where she and Lee would have ended up.
Kara felt her eyes well up and swore. She shouldn't be this attached to a man she barely knew. Then again, a man she barely knew shouldn't be able to pick her up every single time she fell like Lee did. She felt safe during those few moments she spent with him in the past three years, and something like that was incredibly rare for a woman like her. Kara had probably shared more with Lee in one hour than anyone else in her life, including Zak, but that didn't mean she should feel as if she had some claim on him. She tacked the picture back onto the wall and let out a deep sigh. Familiar thoughts were creeping up.
The latest way she had been filling her downtime involved a game in which she imagined just how wonderful Lee's life was because of the sacrifices she had made. It was the only artistic outlet she had considering this planet was too damn cold for any sort of painting. Kara leaned in to stare at Lee's face in the photo and narrowed her eyes. "I think I'm going to make you CAG of Atlantia today, Lee. They transferred you right back when they realized what a mistake it was to let such a good pilot go. On your last shore leave, you met a wonderful girl in the marketplace of Caprica City. It was like a fairytale. She looked up to meet your eyes, and you were head over heels in love." Kara smirked. "I always had a feeling you were a die-hard romantic, Lee, so you probably popped the question to her after a romantic candlelight dinner on one of the Fleet's luxury liners. The timing was perfect, and when she said yes, you had to fight the urge to cry. Now you're counting down the days until she can be yours in the eyes of the gods."
Kara leaned back in her chair. That was a relatively good one. She'd have to remember it for later use.
Kara shut her eyes to replay the little proposal scene she had just concocted. This little game of hers was entertaining, but it did have a couple, small problems. One, she always seemed to dwell on the romantic moments she created for Lee. She would imagine them over and over again until it hurt her heart. Even worse than that was the small fact that, no matter how hard she tried, the face of the woman Lee loved was always her own.
"If I can't have him in my fantasies, when can I have him?" she whispered. She hated how defensive she sounded. It made her feel weak.
After the full scene had played through in her mind, Kara forced her eyes open. There was a mound of paperwork in front of her, just begging to be filled in and filed. It seemed the Twelve Colonies never ran out of insane thieves and murderers to send her way, not that she ever got to see any of them. That would be way too much fun.
She made it a quarter of the way through the stacks before exhaustion set in. "It's not like you're going anywhere," she rationalized to the papers.
Kara pushed herself out of the chair and walked over to her bed. She looked briefly at the small bathroom to her right before shaking her head. She was too tired to even shower. She got this way every few weeks or so. The mistakes of the past would surface to haunt her every thought, and her body just shut down. Then, there were the nights she woke up. and she could swear she felt Lee beside her. She finally understood why people got space dementia. This place could drive the sanity out of even the most stable of people. Kara Thrace was anything but stable.
She slipped her cargo pants past her waist and kneeled on the bed, wasting a few precious seconds to throw her tanks onto the floor. It had been at least twenty hours since she had been able to sleep, what with the new prisoners and all. She had actually gotten used to the inconsistent schedule of no sleep and then too much sleep. Most nights, she couldn't sleep anyway so it didn't matter if she was lying in bed, staring up at the ceiling or working at her desk, growling as the stack of paperwork that never seemed to get smaller.
A wave of sadness washed over her as the loneliness began to creep back in. Kara shifted her body to grab the sealed envelope on her nightstand. It had been sitting in that same place every night since she came to PX-29, and every night it was the last thing she saw before she shut her eyes. For three hundred and two days, she had never had the urge to open it.
Her eyes traced the jagged scrawl of her name, and she smiled. He must have written this fast, probably right before he was summoned to Admiral Nagala's office to hear about his intended part in the decommissioning.
Kara had a feeling this letter was going to be different than all the others before it. It wasn't just going to be a distanced exchange of facts and polite inquiries into her life. Lee's letters had been getting more frantic each time he realized she wasn't going to write him back. How could she even think of telling him what was happening inside her when all this guilt lay between them?
That was one of the things Kara regretted most. She should have written Lee. She should have taken the time to tell him what she had done to him and hoped that he would forgive her for being the reason he lost his slot on Atlantia. She should have let him know where she was and begged for him to come see her. Instead, she had kept herself silent and locked away on this rock in space. This was all her fault. She deserved whatever punishment the gods saw fit to give her.
The sadness inside her was replaced by the anger of possibilities not achieved, and Kara set the letter back down on the nightstand for a time when she really needed it. She had a lifetime of living on this rock.
Kara was about to let herself relax into sleep when a loud knock boomed through her small house. "Frak," she hissed, pulling herself to her feet. The prison transport pilot must have forgotten something. She reached into her closet to blindly pull out a fresh t-shirt and shorts. Her guest probably wouldn't want to have her answering the door topless with only skivvies on her bottom. Then, again, she vaguely recalled the pilot of this last transport being male. Maybe he wouldn't really mind.
Kara paused in front of the mirror on her way to the door and couldn't help but smile at her choice of clothing. The t-shirt she picked proudly declared her to be a member of the Caprica High pyramid team. Lee had left it behind in her apartment the day they had been caught together by Zak. She had always meant to throw it out but, for some reason, never did. Now it was her favorite shirt to sleep in. Most nights, she swore she could still smell his scent on the worn cotton material.
The knocking grew more persistent. "I'm fraking coming," she yelled, taking a spare moment to grab her gun out of the desk of her drawer. She didn't want to assume this was the transport pilot. It wouldn't be the first time an inmate had found his way to her doorstep. Over a month ago, some guy had come knocking on her doorstep screaming about the spine of his wife, Shelley and how it glowed whenever they had sex and she had to help him prove it. Kara had no idea where they found these nutcases. All she knew was she was prepared to do what she had to in order to stay safe.
She unlocked the door's locks and pulled it open, ready to either shoot or yell depending on who it was.
"Hi, Kara."
Kara felt the gun slide out of her hand at the sound of Lee's voice. "You're a hard woman to track down," he reported, pushing past her shell-shocked body in order to step into the house.
She blindly shut the door, reached down to pick up her gun and then leaned against the wooden doorframe for the second time that night. "What are you doing here, Lee?"
He ignored her question as he made a quick circle of the main room. "Interesting place you have here, Thrace." He looked over at her and smiled before falling back onto the couch. "I'd ask you how you've been, but I figured you don't want me to know. I mean, you did disappear on me for a year without even one word that you were all right."
"Lee…" she started, pushing off the wall. "I-"
"-was only doing what's best?" He shook his head. "You know, I'm getting tired of hearing that excuse from you."
She could feel a temper she had thought long gone begin to burn its way through her body. She couldn't figure out how Lee managed to piss her off so quickly. Slamming her gun down onto the nearest table, she glared at him. "What the frak are you doing here?"
Lee reached down to pull a book from his bag. Silently, he held it out for her to take. "I wanted to give this back to you."
The worn-copy of the Book of Pythia was a familiar weight in her hands. She flipped it open to see the little doodles of Vipers on the inside cover. She had made those when she was ten. "So you did find it," she said, smiling over at him.
"It didn't really repair my faith."
"It wasn't meant to."
Lee stared at her a moment. There was a small hesitation before a decision was made. "I'm not sure why you forgot it, Kara, but I'm glad you did. It let me know something was not right with your little disappearance. A woman getting assigned to a new Battlestar wouldn't leave her prized possession behind."
"I didn't leave it behind. I left it for you," she corrected without thinking.
"Even worse," Lee insisted. "What the hell was I supposed to think, Kara? I went to your bunkroom to talk to you before I had to go back to Atlantia. Your locker and bunk were cleaned out. There was no note, no apology for running out. All I found was that damn book."
"It was the only way I could say goodbye," Kara whispered. It was the truth, but she figured he wouldn't understand. That day, she couldn't have looked him in the eye. Leaving behind something that meant the world to her seemed like the only thing to do.
Lee pulled himself to his feet and closed the distance between them. "I remember the first time I saw it as if it was yesterday." When she gave him a confused look, he smiled. She remembered that day, too. She just didn't know it yet. "You came to get your things from Zak's apartment, and I was there on medical leave?"
"You burned your eggs," she smirked.
"That's right." Lee watched the way the smile lit up her whole face, and something tugged at his heart. He reached out to push a stray lock of hair behind her ear. It had gotten so long since the last time he had seen her. "I wish you hadn't run from me, Kara."
"I had to," she said, looking up at him. "You wouldn't understand."
"I could have helped," he insisted.
"You would have tried, but it wouldn't have been enough. I'm really fraked up, Lee." Kara expected him to agree with her, and when he stayed silent, she felt her skin heat up. He was staring at her so intently. A voice in the back of head suddenly wondered if this was all a dream. Had her stupid little game finally blurred the lines between fantasy and reality?
"Why are you here?" she asked for a third time. She wished he would move his hand away from her cheek. It was getting harder to focus.
"I was on leave from Solaria." Lee paused, wondering if maybe this was news to her. "That's where I've been for the past year."
"I know," Kara admitted. "I've kept track of you and your father. I guess my life isn't complete unless I have an Adama to worry about."
Her words were meant to be a low blow. Subtle reminders of Zak had always served them well when it came to keeping their hormones in check. This time it didn't seem to work. In fact, Lee took a step closer so that she could feel the warmth of his body only inches from hers.
"So I went to see a few of my friends on Atlantia during my time off." His voice was husky and low, and Kara fought the urge to run away again. "I ran into Admiral Nagala. We had a rather interesting chat."
Kara felt her stomach drop as she suddenly realized where he was going with this. She prayed to the gods that a prisoner would chose this moment to try to make a break for freedom. She needed a distraction and she needed it now.
The gods heard her prayer and chose not to listen. It was the story of her life.
"So, Kara, tell me why you were so desperate to be a pilot on Atlantia?"
The smirk on his mouth told her that he already knew the answer but he was enough of a bastard to make her say it out loud. For some reason, she found that to be an incredible turn-on which was exactly what she didn't need right now. She figured she could lie to him, tell him it was only because Atlantia was the place where the best of the best flew, or she could tell him the truth and probably end up watching him laugh in her face. The lie was about to come out of her mouth when his fingers started rubbing the sensitive skin beneath her ear.
The truth came flying off her lips. "My flight instructor at Academy always said when you found a pilot good enough to watch your back in the sky, you did everything you could to hang on to him." She smirked. "I guess I didn't fancy dying at the time."
Lee nodded, finally dropping his hand away from her, and took a step back. He had been losing control over his body by the second, and he really didn't want to frak this up. This was the first chance he had ever gotten to make Kara tell him the truth without worrying the world would cave in. "Admiral Nagala was saying how odd he found it that you worked so hard to be under his command and then you just turned around and went to another Battlestar. I told him you must have had a damn good reason."
"I always do," she insisted.
"It got me thinking about some things so I did some research into where your transfer took you. It surprised me to find you only served a few weeks on Columbia before being discharged. I know you can be kind of hot-headed when it comes to piloting, but I never would have imagined you would get yourself kicked out of the Fleet. Flying was your life." Lee fought the urge to touch her again. He really needed to figure out why he had this insane need to protect and comfort her. "It didn't make sense to me until I saw who was behind your disciplinary trial. I recalled a story Zak told me once about you and a Major Lake which ended up with you almost getting kicked out of the Academy."
"Zak never knew when to keep his mouth shut," Kara grumbled.
"Even after I had pieced everything together, the transfer request, the discharge, the sudden disappearance, I still couldn't believe it. Why would you do something like that?"
"What exactly do you mean? I've done a lot of stupid things in my day."
"Don't play dumb with me. I think I've earned a little more than that." Kara dropped her head, and Lee could punch himself for losing control of the situation. This wasn't supposed to be about him taking her down a peg. This was about his decision to put what he wanted first. For once in his life, he wasn't going to be the sensible one. "You gave up your flying career for me, Kara."
"It seemed like a smart decision at the time." Kara sighed, turning away from him to set her book down on the coffee table. She took a deep breath and wondered if maybe this was more of a nightmare than a dream. "I'm still not sure why you're here, Lee."
"You gave up your flying career for me and then left behind your most prized possession for me to find. How was I supposed to interpret that as anything other than a desperate plea for me to fix whatever mess you had gotten yourself into?"
"I meant it as a way of saying goodbye."
"I'm not ready for that," Lee declared.
Silence filled the air between them for what felt like an eternity before Lee sighed and took a few steps to bring himself in close to her again. His hands came up to rest on her shoulders, and he turned her around to face him again. "I came here to yell at you for being so stupid, but now I feel like I should thank you."
Kara let out a nervous laugh. "What do you have to thank me for?"
"Making me see how stupid I've been to let you get this far away from me."
Kara barely had time to react to his words before he had pulled her into a kiss. She was surprised at first that this was actually happening, but then she decided she didn't care. She was so damn lonely that even if this wasn't Lee, she would have given in.
Their lips touched gently with a lingering hesitation that told Kara he was just as scared about this as she was. They were crossing a line that had been between them for years, and a tiny voice in the back of Kara's mind urged her to push him away. Then, Lee nibbled lightly on her lip and she forgot all the reasons why she was supposed to not want this. She opened herself to him and felt his arms come around her body to hold her tight.
It was hard to believe it had taken over three years to get to this moment.
She felt his smile against his lips as he pulled back to shower soft, gentle kisses along her face. "Nice shirt, by the way," he whispered, nudging her back against the desk.
The feeling of his breath against the side of her neck made the reality of what was happening hit home. This was Lee, the brother of the man she had once wanted to spend her life with, one of the most important pilots the Colonial Fleet had, the son of the one man who had good reason to want her dead. Most importantly, this was the man she couldn't get out of her thoughts from the moment she first laid eyes on him. Kara pushed away from his hold to look into his eyes. "Nothing can come of this, Lee."
He watched her for a moment before nodding. They both knew the consequences of what they were about to give in to. No one would accept the idea that a man would knowingly become involved with the ex-fiancée of his dead brother. There would be a fall out if they let this get out of hand.
That was what had held him back from Kara for years. He would never knowingly bring that type of attention or pain onto Kara. As strong as she tried to have everyone believe, Lee could see right through her façade. He knew that one more bad turn in her life could destroy her. He had spent three years caring about how other people treated this cocky fighter pilot. From the moment he met her up until the day before, his focus had always been on how much his little brother loved her. Never once had he considered how Kara might feel about him.
Now, the only thing he cared about was the fact that Kara wasn't pushing him away. Until this exact moment, he hadn't had the courage to hope that she would still feel for him the way he felt for her. Frak, half the time he thought it was all in his head. Seeing her smiling up at him in his old shirt was more than enough to tell him he wasn't crazy. There was something unspoken between them, and gods be damned, he wasn't going to let it slip through his fingers again.
"We're really doing this, aren't we?" she whispered.
Lee watched her lips turn up in a mischievous smile as she pulled her body up against his. "Gods, I missed you, Kara," he whispered, pulling her off the ground. Her arms wrapped around his neck as he held her body against his and carried her towards the bed.
"I missed you, too, Lee," she sighed, resting her head against his chest.
All thoughts of loneliness faded away.
Kara stared at the closed door. She could make out years of use in its scratches and digs. This was the office of a man who had seen his share of hard times. "He knows we're coming?" she asked.
"He knows I'm coming," Lee corrected. "I asked him to clear a bit of time for me in the afternoon."
"So he doesn't know about me?"
"Would you have told him in my position?"
Kara looked over her shoulder and shook her head. "He would never have showed up."
"He still might not," Lee said, resting his hand on her shoulders. "I haven't exactly talked to him in three years."
Kara twisted her body to look at him. "What did you just say?"
"I haven't spoken to my father in over three years."
"Please explain."
"I… oh gods. This is just going to make it worse."
"Lee," she said, her voice giving him a not-so-subtle warning that if he didn't get to the point now, he was probably going to be punched.
"I couldn't look him in the face after you told me what he had done to you. The things he said to you at the funeral were completely untruthful not to mention just plain cruel. He couldn't handle his part in Zak's death so he chose to blame you. That is not the action of a man I want to be associated with."
"He's your father, Lee."
"Which is why I've only ignored him so far. There are some things I can't overlook."
Kara leaned in to gently kiss his lips. "I never asked you to take a stand for me."
"You never had to," Lee whispered. He watched Kara's eyes shift away from his to eventually settle on the small, brass band on her left hand. "I wish I had the money to get you a proper ring."
She shook her head and smiled. "This is perfect, Lee. What this ring is made out of and what it stands for is a testament to what we are. We make more sense together than apart."
Lee's lips slid into a wide grin. "Lords, I don't know how we ended up like this."
"Me, either," Kara admitted. She pulled herself from his arms to stare at the door again. "Let me do the talking, Lee."
"Are you sure that's wise?"
"I don't want to hurt your relationship with your father any more than I already have. Let him think that this was my doing. Let him hate me."
"No," Lee said forcefully. What she was asking was beyond him to give.
"This time will be different, Lee," she insisted. She slipped her hand into his, their rings clicking against one another softly. "I gave up the last of my guilt when I took this ring from you. I gave up the last of my fear when I promised to be yours before the presence of the gods. Your father cannot change that."
Lee looked down at his wife. She was the strongest person he had ever known, and she had earned the right to do this. "Lead the way, Kara."
Kara knocked forcefully on the door and managed to keep herself from tensing up at the familiar brisk voice that beckoned them to come in. She dropped Lee's hand the second she stepped over the threshold into the office.
William Adama's face showed barely any change when he realized who had come to see him, but Kara knew there was something brewing under the surface. "Sir," she said, slipping back into the old military protocol of rank.
"What are you doing here?" Adama looked over at his son. "You didn't leave me with the impression that you were bringing a guest to this conversation."
Kara glanced at Lee and saw he was fighting to hold his tongue. She didn't have much time before his protective side came out. "When I was under your command, I respected the way you laid things out for your men, sir. You never fed us bullshit. It was always this is what you have to do and this is what you have to risk. That's why I'm going to be frank with you."
Adama nodded, leaning back in his chair.
"I love your son, sir."
"You killed him."
Kara reached out to grab Lee before he could do something stupid. "I wasn't talking about Zak." She watched Adama try to process what she was saying. When he looked reasonably mad, she figured he had gotten her point and maybe it was time to start explaining. "I did love Zak once, but I was never the right fit for him. My love faded."
"I thought you said you were going to be upfront with me," Adama pointed out.
Kara wanted to laugh. He wanted her to be upfront? Then she would be upfront. "Lee and I are married, sir. We got married by a visiting priestess in the outer territories three weeks ago." She was pleased to finally see a reaction. William Adama looked absolutely furious.
"How long has this been going on?"
"Four years," Lee said proudly.
Adama turned to look at his son, and Kara was surprised to see disappointment in his eyes. "How can you do this to your brother, Lee? Does his memory mean nothing to you?"
"With all due respect, sir, the appropriate mourning period for a Caprican widow is one year. Kara and I waited two, and she wasn't even bound to Zak. Hell, if we lived on Geminon, I would be legally obligated to marry her."
"We don't expect you to be happy about this," Kara interrupted. "We just wanted to let you know."
Adama looked back and forth at each of their faces before sighing. "Are you sure you two were only carrying on like this after Zak died?"
Lee could see Kara stiffen out of the corner of his eyes and decided enough was enough. "You will not speak to my wife, your daughter-in-law, that way," he growled. "Kara is not some piece of trash you can just shove aside. She is a part of your family now, and in reality, she has been for over seven years now. You were just too blind to see it."
"My son seems to be rather enamored with you," Adama said to Kara. "Can you tell me why that might be?"
Lee desperately wanted to scream at his father about every little thing Kara had given up for him over the years, starting with Zak, going through her flight career, and ending with her last stubborn wish to suffer for her mistakes. In the end, though, none of that would help. Adama needed to accept Kara on his own terms.
"I have no clue why Lee loves me so much," Kara said quietly. Lee could practically see her retreating back into her shell of self-doubt, but all he could was reach out to grasp her hand and hope it was enough. This part was her fight. Kara gave him a weak smile before looking back at her father-in-law. "I don't know why he loves me, but I'm not going to fight it. I don't have the strength, and frankly it's the last thing I'd want to do. Lee pulled me out of a dark place four years ago."
"We fought hard to do this right," Lee affirmed. "We came here hoping you could understand that."
"We've all made mistakes, sir. Each one of us have done something for which we need forgiveness."
"We all played a part in why Zak died," Lee added, "but it's time to move on. It's time to let Zak go and live our lives. That's what he would want of us."
Kara saw Adama give a small nod before leaning forward in his chair. He stayed silent for a few moments before glancing at her with a look of resignation on his face. This had been easier than she thought.
Then it all changed. "Forgive me for being the only one that has some common sense left," Adama hissed through clenched teeth, "but if I'm not mistaken, you're still stuck on a colonial outpost, Kara, and you've got your job as CAG on Atlantia, son. How ever can you make this thing work?"
Kara flinched. She should have known this wasn't over. William Adama was strong in his convictions. "I don't know how we're going to make this work. All I know is it will work."
"How can a marriage work when there are million of miles between you?"
Kara was about to respond when Lee placed his hand on her shoulder. "I will give up my place on Atlantia in a second for Kara. I love the work I do there, but I love her more. No sacrifice is too big."
Adama looked just as shocked by Lee's words as Kara did. Lee had always been a natural at flying Vipers, but he had never loved the job like many pilots did. However, something had shifted since Lee became CAG of Atlantia three years earlier. He had found his place in the world, and Kara knew that it would kill him to give up flying just like it had almost killed her.
Lee turned to Kara. "We came here to tell him about our marriage, and that's done now. I think we should leave before this gets even worse."
Kara knew that Lee was just trying to protect her from the next round of harsh words from his father. She also knew there were things still left to be said. It was the point of no return for her relationship with William Adama. In about a minute, they were either going to be family or they were never going to speak again. "Can I be blunt with you?"
"You shouldn't stop now," Adama hissed.
"I still respect you despite you're never having earned it," Kara started. "I don't want to be a wedge between you and your family, but I also refuse to stand here and keep quiet because I'm afraid of what you'll say. There is something you need to realize in order to get on with your life. Zak was not the perfect child you want him to be, sir. He had flaws, ones that kept him from flying Vipers and ones that kept him from grabbing me by the hair and dragging me down the aisle that day. He was young, and he made mistakes just like we all did."
"Kara, you don't owe him this," Lee insisted.
Kara ignored him and pressed on. "I know Lee thinks it would be better if I didn't do this. He doesn't understand that I have to fix what I broke."
"You can't bring Zak back," Adama growled.
"No, I can't, but I can help ease the pain. You see, Zak left one important mistake behind when he died. You have a grandson, sir. His name is Tyler Edmonson, and he lives with his mother, one of your former Raptor ECOs, on Galactica. You need to get your head out of the past and start focusing on what you still have left. I've been following you for the past five years. I know that Anne left you, and I have a feeling I know why. You need to get your priorities back in gear, sir. You might not have a Battlestar to command, but you still have a family to look after. That family includes me whether you like it or not."
William Adama looked taken aback for a moment as the words sunk in. Then slowly, Kara and Lee watched a weight return to his face and shoulders. For the first time, they both remembered how much their father and Commander had gone through in his life.
"Let's go," Lee whispered, putting his arms around Kara's shoulders.
She let him turn her around and lead her halfway out the door before she turned back to look at her former Commander. He looked broken. "Please, sir. Don't push your family any farther than you already have. They can't take much more. They're not as strong and stubborn as we are."
She waited until she saw a look of understanding cross Adama's face before stepping out into the hall. "I want to go home, Lee," she whispered.
Neither one of them needed to point out that they had no clue where home was.