The day couldn't have been better if he'd worked at it. Lee Adama was practically bouncing down the street, the small velvet box burning a hole in the pocket of his uniform. He'd been waiting for months to be able to afford the ring for Lauren and now he had it in his grasp and he was on his way home. He planned to make her dinner and propose to her.
He'd loved Lauren from the night he met her and he'd put this off for too long now. Lee was ready for the next step, and he knew Lauren was as well. They'd been talking about getting married and starting a family for a while and Lauren had backed his idea to muster out and start up a bar. He loved her even more for going along with his crazy plans and he'd begun to actually think it may work. Lee had been listening to his CO talk about promoting him for a few weeks and if it actually happened, he and Lauren could afford a bigger flat and all of the things they'd been putting off for so long. Then, when their tours were up they'd opt out and find a good place to settle down and be normal people.
He arrived at the tram station as the latest one was preparing to pull out and he jumped aboard with seconds to spare. As he slid into a seat he pulled the velvet box out and his mind wandered back to the night he'd met Lauren.
Zak had been crazy enough to enter a flight training program on Saggitaron and Lee decided it was his job to talk his kid brother out of it. Zak just wasn't ready for flight school, especially not in a Viper and Lee knew it, so he felt it was his duty as the big brother to talk him out of it. Lee arrived on planet just as the sun was setting and he knew his wild little brother probably wasn't in his bunk. He asked around and eventually tracked Zak down at a bar across the base. When Lee walked into the loud and rowdy bar he searched until he found Zak at the bar. Zak looked like he was having a lot of fun, this was made even more obvious by the pretty blonde draped across his lap.
Lee almost laughed about this but then he figured that Zak was probably using his status as a Viper pilot to attract women. That almost seemed like a thing that Zak would do but Lee wasn't totally sure so he wandered over to the couple at the bar.
"Hello little brother. You look like you're having a good time."
The reaction on Zak's face was one that Lee would not soon forget. He watched as his brother went from shocked to scared to depressed all within seconds. Zak knew why Lee had showed up without another word and he was dreading the argument that would happen. Their father had always pushed the boys to be pilots, bragging to everyone how talented his boys were and how they were such naturals at flight. He was only partially correct in this, Lee was indeed a natural pilot but Zak just wasn't. When one of Zak's flight instructors had contacted Lee on Caprica to advise him of how poorly the younger Adama was doing, Lee knew he had to get Zak to realize that he just wasn't cut out to be a pilot.
"Ergh…uh…Lee! What a surprise. It's good to see you again big brother!" Zak's enthusiasm was obviously false but Lee smiled at him anyway. Under his breath Zak whispered, "what the frak are you doing here?"
"Well, I wanted to come see how you were doing. I figured that you'd be the star of your class and I thought I'd come brag about you. You certainly look like you're doing well for yourself."
"Oh! Um, Lee meet Kara Thrace. Kara, meet my big brother Lee."
The blonde on Zak's lap righted herself and thrust out her hand to shake. Lee was impressed by how she looked and then she dazzled him with her smile. "Good ta meetcha! I guess Zak's told you all about me by now huh?"
"Uh, no, actually."
"Zak!" she whipped around and playfully smacked Zak on the shoulder. Then she broke out in a laugh that was loud and raucous but Lee found strangely infectious. "Well come on, let's get you a drink and we can all get friendly like shall we?"
They sat around drinking and talking until the bar closed down and Lee found that Kara Thrace was a whirlwind in a small pretty package. They traded insults and laughed like they had been friends forever and Lee was proud that his little brother had caught such a fine woman. He'd been watching their playful banter all night and he could see that both of them were deeply in love and Lee felt like it was the best thing that could have happened to his brother. Then he found out that Kara was Zak's flight instructor and the whole world changed.