"I'm still not sure if I should be honored or insulted."

Kara laughed at Helo's comment. "Why? Because you're my maid of honor?"

"Okay, you've gotta come up with a better title than that. I may be your friend, but there's only so much my ego is going to let me put up with."

She smiled as he watched her finish her hair. "Okay, how about 'ECO of honor'?"

"That would work…if I'd actually been on the clock while seeing the insides of a Raptor anytime lately."

"It's not my fault the only way you could stay on Galactica keeps you buried in CIC all the time," Kara pointed out.

"True. I can deal with ECO of honor."

"Good." She turned around to face him. "How do I look?"

Helo smiled. "He's a lucky guy, Starbuck."

"Or stupid; I haven't quite figured out which yet."

He laughed. "Are you going to kick my ass if I say you're absolutely beautiful?" Kara smiled. Roslin had called in a favor to get her a dress, a long white thing with an empire-waist and thin straps on her shoulders. A few of her ex-pilot friends had loaned jewelry and given tips for hair and makeup. She completely and totally looked like a girl, and for once she didn't care.

"Today you've got permission to say it," she told Helo. "But only today."

"Yes, Sir."

They both looked up at the sound of a knock on the door to the Galactica bunkroom they were currently occupying. The hatch opened slightly. "May I come in?" Adama's voice came through the crack.

"Yeah, I'm almost ready," Kara replied. The admiral stepped in the doorway and then just stopped, taking in the sight of her as a smile slowly crossed his face. "What do you think?"

"Beautiful," Adama told her. "Absolutely beautiful."

"That's what I said," Helo commented. He grinned at Kara. "I think you're in good hands now. I'll see you in there."

She nodded. "Thank you."

"No problem."

Adama shut the door behind Helo as he left. "Are you ready?" he asked.

"I think so…There's something I wanted you to have." She went over to her bag of things that was on one of the beds and pulled an object out of one of the pockets. Once she'd placed the thing in Adama's hand, he could see that it was a silver ring. Zak's ring.

"I didn't take it off for a long time," Kara explained. "I'll never forget him, I promise you that, I just…I don't need that anymore to remember, and I thought you might want it."

Adama nodded. "Thank you…Have you spoken to Lee?"

"I don't think we're on speaking terms at the moment. He knows, though, about the wedding." He made a mental note to talk with his son later. Loving Kara meant wanting her to be happy, whatever that entailed, but he'd known for a long time what was truly behind the games that his son and 'daughter' played with each other. Lee had been the first of the Adama's to know her, and was the one that had loved her the longest. In another lifetime, maybe…

A knock sounded on the door and Helo stuck his head in. "You've got an impatient groom out here and some even more impatient guests," he told Kara.

"Okay, okay, we're coming."

Adama extended an arm to her. "I suppose we should get this started," he told her.

The ceremony was wonderful, performed on Galactica's hangar deck with all of their friends. A few of the pilots had given them a wedding present of a night onboard one of the nearly-empty civilian ships that was still stuck in orbit because they didn't have a facility it could land on. They'd taken full advantage of their lavish private quarters before finally falling asleep.

Kara was surprised to find herself dreaming about New Caprica. In her vision, conditions on the planet were considerably better than their current state – the shantytown of tents was instead populated by small houses. Standing in the middle of a dirt street, looking around at the bit of extremely-early-morning activity around her, she could see people on their way to the industrial sites visible by the hills that surrounded the city. A few waved.

Upon opening the wooden door to the little house in front of her, Kara was greeted by a sight that made her throat constrict. Curled up on a couch in the corner were Sam and a little brown-haired girl, fast asleep. The idea of actually having a family was slowly starting to sound more and more appealing.

The child looked up upon hearing the door close. "Hi, Mommy," she whispered.

"Hey there. Why aren't you in your own bed?"

"Daddy fell asleep working and I kept him company since you weren't home."

"That was very nice of you. You've still got another hour or so before you need to start getting ready for school. How about I get you tucked in back in your room?"

"Okay," she agreed, reaching for Kara to pick her up. She obliged, and took the girl into her small bedroom. Before her mother could finish rewrapping her in blankets, her eyes were already drooping once more.

"Sweet dreams," Kara told her as she got up to go.

"Love you, Mommy."

She smiled. "I love you, too." She settled back into sleep, and as Kara left the room, she realized something. Her daughter still had blue eyes. Not with a touch of green and gray, like her own, and certainly not dark like Sam's. Blue, like only one person she knew. And she didn't know how it would be possible, but she wasn't going to question. The child was gorgeous, and in another lifetime…she might have actually existed. And they might have been very happy.

Kara woke up, feeling slightly disoriented as she looked around the room. "You okay?" Sam groggily asked her, only half awake.

"Yeah. Just…a dream."

"Good one?"

She smiled, settling back into his arms. "Yeah. Very good." She didn't what the vision was supposed to mean, but she'd liked it. Kara had no idea what her future was going to hold, but for the moment, she was optimistic.

Fin.

I decided to leave things a bit open ended as far as what their future (season 3) will hold. Hope you've enjoyed; thanks for all the feedback I received.