Hot Dog died two days later.

Lee had known that two of the pilots in the last firefight had died; he had just been unaware of which ones. After he had heard from Stinger that Kara was fine, Lee didn't think much about the loss. It seemed a bit heartless even to him, but the death of viper pilots was a bitter reality. He had just been glad that it wasn't Kara.

However when he found out that Hot Dog had been one of those pilots, he suddenly felt bad. Not really for Hot Dog, although he supposed he should have, but more for Kara. She took it hard when any of the pilots died, and Lee supposed that it would be even worse considering which specific pilot it had been.

So after his father had told him, Lee went off in search of Kara. He hoped that he'd be able to find her within the next hour or so because that was how long he had until his raptor left to go back to Pegasus. Thankfully he had a pretty good idea where she'd be.

He hoped that this would go well between them, because he definitely didn't want to upset Kara anymore, but knowing them… And there was the fact that she hadn't come to meet him in the observation deck like he'd asked her to. Not that he really blamed her for that though; she had every reason to still be furious with him. He just hoped that with time he could change that.

Sure enough Lee found her sitting on the walkway overlooking the flight deck, her legs stuck between the bars of the railing, dangling over the edge, and her forehead leaning against the cool metal.

He climbed up the ladder and approached her slowly, waiting to see how she'd react to his presence. When she didn't do anything he walked up until he was only a foot away from her.

"Hey."

Kara heard his voice, soft, tentative and sweet, but she didn't respond. She stared down at the hanger deck hoping that her silence would give Lee a reason to leave. She was not in the mood for anything that had to do with that man.

When he sat down beside her anyways, mimicking her position, she shifted slightly so that her body was somewhat turned away from him. He didn't say anything for a long time. He just sat there, letting his feet hang over the ledge just like hers. Kara decided that she'd wait him out; eventually he'd have to go back to his ship. But apparently he had other plans.

"Listen," he said softly. "I know that it's hard to lose someone… especially someone that you really care about."

She turned to stare at him in shock. Oh he did not just…

Kara smacked him upside the back of the head, hard. Actually it was probably too hard because it sent his head smashing into the railing.

"What the frak!" he shouted as he rubbed his forehead.

"You're such a bastard," she managed to spit out. "You honestly think that's what I'm doing, mourning my dead lover?"

He looked at her cautiously, still rubbing his head. "Well, yeah."

It took all of her self-restraint not to smack him again. "Idiot," she muttered viciously as she turned to look down at the flight deck again.

A few tense moments later he asked, "So you're not upset about Hot Dog?"

She whirled her head around to face him. "Of course I'm upset Lee. He was my friend, and he was my nugget. I was responsible for training him, and he died. I can't help but feel guilty about that. But if you think that's the only reason I'm up here like this, then you are frakked in the head."

"What else are you upset about?" he asked quietly.

She looked at him, her mouth wide open in shock. "What else! Let's see Lee, my entire life sucks. I have a job that I don't want; you know the one that comes with all of the responsibility that I don't want either. There's the fact that I'm alone on this frakking ship, because you took away the only friend I had left after you abandoned me." She paused for a moment, gripping the bars tightly and looking away. "Oh and yes, here's the real kicker. A man I loved died five months ago, making it the second time I've lost a fiancé."

Her fingers were beginning to go numb but she didn't pay it any attention. She did not want to be having this conversation, especially not with her ex-best friend. Actually… she turned to glare at him. "Why the frak are you here anyways?"

He looked at her intently, not answering verbally, but she could see his feelings clearly on his face.

Within a second she had jumped to her feet and was scowling at him so fiercely that it hurt. "This is so frakking great," she yelled as he scrambled to get to his feet too. "The past five months I've been going through hell, and you decide that you're going to care now!"

He gave her a pleading look as he gently took hold of her arm. "Kara, I'm so sorry."

She pulled out of his grasp like his touch was burning her. She shook her head in disbelief. "I cannot believe that you're doing this, not now. You lost your right to feel sorry for me a long time ago." Her voice was quiet, but there was no mistaking the fury in it.

She crossed her arms over her chest as she glared at him. "You know what Lee? I don't need you. You've done your stupid duty, the CAG is fine, now just leave."

He sighed and she saw his shoulder sag a bit. "That's not why I'm here Kara. I didn't come as your commanding officer, I came as your friend."

"You are not my friend!" she shouted at the top of her lungs, tears stinging in her eyes. "I don't need you. I came into this world alone, and I'll go out of it alone."

Suddenly Lee closed the gap between them and grabbed onto both of her arms, just above her elbows. She tried to pull away, but he wouldn't let her. "Kara please tell me you're not…"

She shook her head, keeping her gaze firmly on the floor. When she spoke it was in a shaky whisper. "I'm not suicidal Lee."

He breathed a deep sigh of relief and loosened his hold on her slightly. "Then why'd you say it Kara?"

She pulled her right arm out of Lee's grasp and wiped away a stray tear from her cheek before she responded. "Because that's how I feel Lee, like I'm alone in this frakking universe and nobody cares about me."

"Kara," he whispered, his voice sad and sweet at the same time. He slowly moved his hands so that they were cupping her face. Then he tilted her head up so that he could finally look into her eyes. "That's not true."

She had to keep blinking back tears. "Yes it is," she said trying to sound angry. But she didn't succeed; her voice was too shaky.

"No it's not," he said softly. He used one of his thumbs to brush away another tear that had managed to escape. "Because I care about you."

It was like his words had caused something to shift inside of her. She knew that she should be mad at him and that she should still hate him. But she couldn't. She needed him too much, even if it was only as a friend.

She threw herself into his arms and began to sob uncontrollably into his shoulder, letting out months and months of emotion.

If he was surprised he didn't show it. Instead he just held her tightly and rubbed his hand up and down her back soothingly. She buried her face into his neck and clutched at his jacket, afraid that he might disappear again.

He seemed to know exactly what she was thinking, because he tightened his arms around her and whispered comforting words into her hair. That just made her cry even harder. She had been so focused on hating Lee that she had forgotten why she missed him so much in the first place.

Eventually the tears stopped, but she waited a few moments before finally pulling out of Lee's embrace.

"Sorry about that," she said when she noticed the tear stained patch on his uniform. "I didn't mean to get your fancy commander jacket all wet." She was doing what she always did, using humor as a distraction. But it just wasn't working. She crossed her arms in front of her again, and looked down at the floor.

That didn't last for long. Lee stepped towards her and used his finger to tilt her chin up until he was meeting her gaze again. "You ok?" he asked quietly.

She took a deep breath before replying. "Yeah, I think I am." And she meant it. Somehow the two of them had just managed to fall back into the friendship that she had been so sorely missing.

He pulled her into a hug and kissed the top of her head. "Good."

She tried to pull out of his reach, but he just tightened his arms around her. "Lee, you have to go."

"No I don't," he muttered into her hair.

"Yes you do," she said, managing to get away. "You're raptor is leaving without you."

He glanced over the top of her head. "So it is. I guess I'll just have to catch the next one."

She sighed. "Lee, as nice as this is, you have somewhere else you need to be."

"No I don't," he said seriously.

"Oh," she said.

Lee walked the few steps over to the railing and leaned against it, looking down onto the nearly deserted flight deck. Kara did the same. Their shoulders were barely brushing against each other, but the touch was still comforting.

When her stomach growled loudly they both laughed.

"You haven't eaten since we jumped six hours ago, have you?"

She shook her head. "Nope. And now I'm starving."

He gave her that warm Adama smile as he pushed himself away from the railing. "Well, I've got just under an hour and a half until the last raptor leaves for Pegasus tonight, so why don't we go get something to eat?"

She smiled back at him. "Sounds good to me."

They ended up back in her office, opting for more private settings than the mess. Kara sat down on the couch and Lee followed. They ate in silence for the most part, simply enjoying each other's company. Eventually they both finished eating their food, (she thought is was supposed to be lasagna), and they stacked their plates on the small table beside the couch.

Surprisingly it was Kara who spoke first. "Why did we let it get this far Lee?" She turned to look at him, awaiting his answer.

He exhaled deeply. "Because I'm an ass." He didn't meet her gaze.

"That's it?"

He turned to look at her. "Yeah," he said sounding very sure of himself. "You thought there was another reason?"

She shrugged her shoulders. "I thought maybe it was something I said… or did."

"Gods no. You didn't do anything wrong Kara."

"Are you sure?" she asked hesitantly meeting his gaze. She didn't think she had, but she wanted to know if she did.

He shook his head lightly before reaching out to grasp her hand in his. "I'm sure." He gave her hand a tight squeeze before releasing it.

Kara sat there for sometime, just thinking about how quickly things had changed between them. She didn't even notice that they weren't talking until Lee's voice filled the air. "I broke up with Dee."

She turned to look at him in shock. "What?" she asked, trying to comprehend what he just said. "I mean that last time I saw the two of you, you seemed quite happy." She couldn't stop a hint of bitterness from creeping into her voice.

He gave her an odd look before replying. "Well I guess she was happy."

"But you weren't?"

"No," he said truthfully. "But I tried to convince myself that I was."

Kara opened her mouth to say something, but then closed it again quickly. It wasn't her place to question him.

"Go ahead," he said, leaning forward to rest elbows on knees. "Say it."

She tucked one leg underneath her and turned to face him. Maybe she shouldn't ask, but she just couldn't help herself. "Why'd you let it go on for so long then? You guys have been together for what, almost a year. If you weren't happy then why'd you wait until now to call it off?"

Lee sighed and ran his hands through his hair like he often did when he was frustrated or confused. "Because for the most part I really thought I was happy. I thought that'd I had managed to forget about this other girl. It turns out I couldn't."

"Oh," Kara said tried to sound indifferent. She shifted so that she was facing the wall opposite to the couch. She brought her feet up onto the cushion and pulled her knees tightly against her chest. "So there's another girl," she said, her voice dropping off to a whisper. She shouldn't care about this; Lee wasn't hers. Too bad logic didn't work well in situations like this.

She could hear the confusion in Lee's voice. "Yeah, there's another girl."

Kara rested her chin on top of her knees. A part of her desperately wanted to know who this other girl was, but another part thought maybe it was best if she didn't know.

She started to fiddle with the bottom edge of her sweatpants. It shouldn't matter to her. Lee was her friend, and she wanted him to be happy. She decided that it was best if she played the role of the supportive friend, after all that's what she was to Lee, just a friend.

"So," she said after clearing her throat. "You must really like this other girl huh?" She turned to look at him, and was surprised to see that he looked puzzled by her question.

"Yeah."

"Does she have a name?" Kara asked as calmly as she could.

Lee's eyebrows knit together in confusion. "What?"

"Does she have a name?" Kara said, talking very slowly. "Or am I just not privileged enough to find out what it is?"

He was still looking confused. "You mean you don't know who I'm talking about?"

Kara shook her head. "Am I supposed to?"

She was very surprised when Lee laughed.

"What?" she asked. "Is it like blatantly obvious? Am I missing something really big here Lee? Because, you know what…" but she was cut off when Lee's lips were suddenly pressing against hers.

She immediately kissed back, but only for a few seconds. That's how long it took her to fully realize what was happening. This was Lee, her best friend. She just got him back and she'd be damned if she was going to let him screw up their friendship like this, especially not when he was pining over some other woman.

Kara pulled away abruptly and glared at Lee. "Why the frak did you just do that?" she asked in an extremely shaky voice, something she wasn't very proud of. Shifting so that she was as far away from him as she could manage on the small couch, she pulled her knees tighter against her chest.

He still had that same confused look on his face. "What's wrong?" he asked, genuinely concerned.

She took a deep breath before responding. "Lee, I won't let you do this."

Kara watched as he let out a defeated sigh, and sagged back against the couch. She thought for a second that she saw a tear in the corner of his eye, but she knew she must be wrong.

"We're friends," she began. "But I'm not going to let you frak me so that you can forget about the other girl." She tried not to let him see how much the thought of being used like that hurt.

As soon as the words were out of her mouth he was sitting up and turning to face her. "Is that what you think I'm doing Kara? You think I'm using you?" He sounded pained and happy at the same time. She'd never get how he managed that.

Not knowing how to respond she just sat there. Wasn't that what he had been doing?

He was slowly leaning towards her. She tried backing up, but she was already at the end of the couch. It didn't take long before his face was only inches in front of hers. Then his hands were on either side of her face, cradling it gently.

Kara's heart was racing. Lee was close, probably too close. In fact she was sprawled out underneath him on the couch now. If he shifted just the tiniest bit he would be laying completely on top her. She held back a shudder at the thought of how good that would feel.

"Kara," he whispered softly, making her tremble.

"What?" she whispered back, since she had no idea what else to say.

"Look at me," he said. Kara slowly shifted her gaze from his chin to his eyes. When their gazes did look Kara trembled again, this time under the pure intensity of his look. "Who do you think the other girl is?" he asked, keeping his voice to a whisper.

"I…" she began. "I don't know." Her hands were shaking now. She pressed them down against the couch to still them.

Lee smiled at her. "Why don't I tell you."

She nodded her head, but just barely.

When Lee brushed his lips softly against hers, Kara closed her eyes instinctively. What really surprised her was when he kept kissing her. He kissed down the side of her face, then to her neck where he let his lips hovered over her pulse point. He paused there for a few seconds, and his warm breath against her skin was utterly distracting. Kara knew there was something they were supposed to be talking about, but for the life of her she couldn't remember, not when he was doing that.

He finally pressed his lips against her neck, and Kara let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding. When he started to suck on her neck, her breath hitched in her throat. She tilted her head back giving him better access.

Eventually his lips made it down to the place where skin met tank. When he reached up with his hand to pull the fabric out of the way Kara sat up with a jolt, and shoving Lee off of her in the process.

"Me?" she managed to squeak out, finally figuring out what Lee had been 'telling' her.

He looked a little startled by her outburst, but he seemed amused too. Grinning up at her from where he was laying, wedged between her and the back of the couch, he said, "You."

Her mind was still reeling from the realization. "The other girl is…me?"

He chuckled as he sat up and pulled her into a sitting position beside him. "Of course it's you Kara. Who else would it be?"

She shrugged her shoulders, still trying to wrap her mind around what was happening. "I don't know. I just didn't think it was me." She turned to look at him as she said this, and she didn't even try to stop the smile from spreading across her face.

He reached out and gently brushed a strand of hair out of her eyes. "It's always been you Kara. Why do you think I left you that note the other day?"

It took Kara a moment to switch gears and realize what note he was talking about. "You mean the one where you said you were a jealous bastard?"

He smiled at her. "So you did get it."

She nodded. "Yep."

"Kara you had every right to be mad at me, but why didn't you meet me? I at least thought you'd come."

She felt her smile falter. "I went to meet you Lee…"

He shook his head sadly. "No you didn't. I waited for three hours Kara. You never showed up."

"Hey," she said. "Let me finish." He nodded. "I was on my way to meet you, but then I saw you and… Dee, outside the gym."

"You saw us?" he asked, sounding astonished.

Kara nodded. "Yeah. I thought your note meant one thing, but then when I saw you with her I knew I was wrong."

He looked at her intently. "What did you think it meant?"

Immediately her gaze fell to the floor. "I thought it meant that… well I hoped it meant that you wanted me." She said, letting her voice drop of quietly with the last two words.

"Kara," he said quietly as he began to rub his hand up and down her arm. "That's exactly what it meant. I was breaking up with Dee and then I was going to meet you."

"Wait," Kara said looking up at him again. "You left me that note, and then you broke up with your girlfriend."

He didn't answer, merely nodded.

"You idiot!" she said angrily. "Don't you think you should have broken up with her first?"

The look on Lee's face as he realized his mistake was almost comical. He groaned and buried his face in his hands. "Gods, I am an idiot."

"Yep." She said, now smiling at him. He definitely was an idiot, but he was her idiot now.

"Kara," he replied, trying to sound angry, but not succeeding.

"What?" she asked jokingly. "I'm only agreeing with you."

He let out another groan and closed his eyes as he let his head flop against the back of the couch. When he opened one eye to look at her, she was staring straight at him and she was smiling so hard that it hurt. He grinned too.

"So where do we go from here?" he asked, turning his head to look at her.

"Well," she said seriously as she stood up. "I say we go right back to where we left off." She was standing directly in front of him now.

"And where would that be?" he asked in a would be innocent voice.

She straddled his lap and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Right here." Then she leaned down and kissed him full on the lips, none of that screwing around like he had been doing.

He responded immediately and deepened the kiss. Kara shifted her weight so that she her chest was fully pressed against Lee's. She also tightened her grip on him, running one hand possessively through his hair.

Initially he had both of his hands on her hips, pulling her closer to him, but now they were beginning to wander, and with increasing intensity. One was entangled in her loose hair, and the other was cupping her ass through her sweatpants.

Kara let out a low moan when Lee began to suck on her bottom lip, teasing it with his teeth and lips. "Lee," she breathed out heavily.

"Kara," he responded in much the same way as he nipped her lower lip one last time before focusing all his attention on her neck. "Mine," he whispered softly against her skin.

Kara was surprised by how thrilled she was to hear that, not to mention turned on. She never thought that she would enjoy the thought of being 'owned' by someone, but this was Lee.

She arched her back and tilted her head back, leaving him with better access to the sensitive skin on her neck, which he willingly took advantage of. Kara let out a gasp and arched her back even more when he found the perfect spot with his mouth. "Lee," she pleaded, needing him to keep going.

The skin on Kara's neck was by far the most sensitive spot on her body. Most of her lovers and frak buddies hadn't known that, but she was so glad that Lee had figured it out. He had put her right on the frakking edge. She was so close …

Then he moved his lips in just the right way and she clenched both of her hands tightly in his hair as she came.

Collapsing against him heavily, she let out a sigh of utter satisfaction. She was sure that no one else had ever had this effect on her before.

"Mmm," she muttered into his hair as she drew lazy circles on his shoulders.

He chuckled against her neck, and the vibrations sent tingles down her spine. "You liked that did you?" She could tell that he was grinning without even having to look at him.

"Shut up," she said, trying to sound serious but failing miserably.

"What?" he asked in a teasing voice as he pulled back to look at her face. "Not good enough?"

She just smirked and scrunched her nose at him.

He laughed. "Well in that case…" And the next thing Kara knew she was lying underneath Lee, pressed into the length of the couch by his body weight. She immediately felt her heart rate increase. She thought that before had been good, but nothing compared to the feeling of being pinned on her back by Lee. This was insane though, they were both still fully clothed; something that she intended to change.

Lee kissed her with an amazing intensity and with what she recognized as pent up desire. It too perfectly matched her own.

Kara's fingers were fumbling with the buttons on Lee's uniform just as his hands were finding their way underneath her tanks. He slide his hands up along her sides, causing her tanks to move up until they were bunched just beneath her breasts.

Just as Kara got the last button undone and Lee began to pull the tanks over her head, the phone beeped.

Lee pulled back and groaned at the interruption before dropping his head down onto her shoulder. "Don't answer," he muttered into her shoulder as it beeped a second time.

"Lee…"

"Just leave it Kara," he said, lifting his head so that he could kiss her neck again.

"I'm sorry," she said as it beeped again. She somehow managed to squirm halfway out from under Lee before reaching for the phone on the wall. Luckily it was directly beside the couch and she didn't have to actually get up to answer it.

"Captain Thrace," she said brusquely. She just wanted to get this conversation over with so that she could go back to what she had been doing.

"Kara," came the voice over the phone.

"Sir," she said in a very surprised voice. She pulled herself all the way out from under Lee and stood up in front of the couch. "What can I do for you?"

She heard the admiral sigh. "I was wondering if …" But the rest of what he said didn't register because someone was too busy distracting her.

Lee was sitting on the couch now, but he had pulled her forward by the waist so that she was standing between his legs. Still holding onto her hips he began to place light, but very distracting kisses all over her stomach. She tried to twist out of his reach, but he just tightened his grip.

"Kara?" came the suddenly loud voice in her ear.

"What?" she asked, momentarily confused. "I'm sorry sir. What did you say?"

"Are you alright Kara?"

"Yes sir, I'm…" Lee was still kissing her stomach. She tried to push his head away with her one hand, but he was too determined. "…fine."

"You seem distracted."

"Nope," she said, shaking her head to emphasize her point even though she knew that he couldn't actually see her. "I'm fine."

Kara nearly jumped when Lee muttered her name against her stomach. She tried pulling away again, but just like the first time it was pointless. He pulled her even closer and whispered, "Mine." She felt a strong rush of desire course through her veins.

"I was calling to see if you knew where Lee was."

She smiled at the admiral's reason for calling. "Actually…" she said, pausing for a moment when Lee's persistent lips met the top of her sweatpants. "Actually sir, he's right here."

He finally pulled back and looked up at her in astonishment.

"It's your dad," she said moving her mouth so that she wasn't talking into the phone directly. Repositioning the phone on her ear she asked, "Did you need to talk to him sir?"

"No," he said. "It's just that I realized he had missed his shuttle, and I thought I'd make sure he catches the next one. It leaves in ten minutes."

"Oh," Kara said, her voice losing most of its happiness. "I'll make sure he knows."

"Thank you Kara," were the admiral's last words before Kara heard him hang up.

She leaned over Lee and hung the phone back up on the wall.

"What's wrong?" Lee asked, obviously noticing her change in behavior.

She forced herself to smile. "Nothing." She pulled her tanks back down.

"Hey," he said quietly as he looked up at her. "It's not nothing. What's wrong?"

Kara sighed as she placed her hands on Lee's well-muscled shoulders. "Your have to go."

"What?" he asked, sounding genuinely confused. "You want me to go?"

She shook her head. "No, of course not. But your raptor leaves in ten minutes."

"Oh frak." Lee said. "I completely forgot." He was looking up at her with eyes that were pleading forgiveness.

She gave him a real smile this time. "I'm not mad at you Lee, but you do have to go."

He stood up slowly, but kept his hands on her waist. "I wish I could stay."

Looking in his eyes she saw the truth in his words. The last thing he wanted to do was leave, but really he had no choice. "I wish you could too." Her words were quiet, and one hundred percent sincere. There was nothing she wanted more at that very moment.

Then Lee pulled her into a tight embrace and kissed the top of her head. Kara wrapped her arms around his waist and leaned against him fully. She could get so used to this.

"I don't know when I'll be back next Kara." He sounded sad.

She squeezed him a bit tighter. "I know," she whispered into his chest. "But you're coming back and that's what matters."

He pulled back slightly and kissed her again, but this time on the lips. Then he gave her a gentle smile before pulling out of her hug and heading for the hatch. He briefly glanced over his shoulder and gave her one last smile before he left her office.

She smiled back at him, truly happy for the first time in a long time. He may not be coming back the next day, or even the day after that, but he was coming back. Their lives were too far intertwined for him not to.

The End (for real this time)