Note: Remember how I said the darkest hours were just before dawn. Well, I never said there couldn't be storm clouds to darken things after dawn broke. Ha, ha. Enjoy.

Chapter Nineteen:

"Come on, Kara," said Lee. "You have to eat."

"Lee, I've been stuck in this hospital bed for over a week now," said Kara. "I've been eating the same hospital food for all that time. I'm sick of it. I'm not eating it anymore!"

"Kara, how do you expect to keep your strength up to walk around on those crutches over there and get out of this sick bed, unless you eat?" asked Lee.

"I'll do it," said Kara. "I've got good motivation. Our upcoming marriage, remember."

"Well, you won't have the strength to stand up at our wedding and take the vows unless you EAT!"

"Lee, stop harping on me!"

"Alright, Kara," said Lee. "You force me to use extreme measures."

Lee reached into his pocket, and pulled out a wrapped candy bar. "If I remember correctly, you like chocolate. A lot."

He waved the chocolate bar in front of Kara back and forth, teasing her with it. "Where did you get that?" she asked.

"You think I'm going to tell you?" asked Lee. "And loose my source of ammunition?"

"You don't play fair," said Kara. Then, she smiled. "Of course, since we're not playing fair."

Kara put her hand around Lee's waist and pulled him closer to her. Then, her hand moved around his buttocks to the front of his pants, where she gently caressed him, earning a desired response.

"I could make it worth your while," said Kara. "To give me that."

Lee backed away. "Not going to work, Kara."

Kara put her hands in her lap. "Suit yourself. You force me to go the opposite direction. You give me that chocolate bar, or that little caress I just gave you will be the most you get from me for a VERY long time."

Lee chuckled slightly. "Yeah, right. You're too horny to deny yourself or me, and you know it!"

"I've gone without you for a while," said Kara. "I can do it again."

Lee responded by sitting down on the bed next to Kara. He took his hand and started by caressing her hair ever so gently. He then moved his hand down her cheek, her neck, and down the front of her body. When he reached the area between her legs, Lee began massaging her in ways that made shivers go through her body.

"Oh, FRAK ME!" she said in a low, turned on voice.

Lee then backed off and stood up. "You see," said Lee. "You have no choice but to submit to my demands."

Kara laid her head back and grunted with frustration. "Damn you, Lee Adama! How can you be so infuriating and so damned SEXY all in the same moment?"

"It's a gift," said Lee. He then reached over to the table where the tray of food had been sitting. He handed the tray to Kara. "It's still warm. Eat. Then, you can have your chocolate bar."

Kara reluctantly picked up the fork on the tray and began eating her food. Lee stood there and watcher her with a smile. "Don't look so smug," said Kara, with a mouth full of food. "I'll find a way to get back at you."

Lee chuckled. "I'm quaking in my boots," he said sarcastically.

Doctor Cottle walked over, a look of astonishment on his face. "How the frak did you get her to eat, Captain?"

"Just friendly persuasion," said Lee. "And a little chocolate motivation."

He handed the chocolate bar to Doc Cottle. "Here, Doc. Give her this when she's done eating her dinner. I have to go and see the Commander."

Lee leaned over and kissed Kara on the forehead. "That's my girl," he said. "Eat, eat, eat."

As Lee walked away, Kara gave him the middle finger. She then looked up and saw Doc Cottle sniffing the package of her chocolate bar.

"Don't even think about it, Doc!" said Kara.

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Lee entered his father's quarters to find the Commander diligently working at his desk. "Sir, you wanted to see me?"

Adama looked up from his paperwork. "Yes, Captain, come in. Have a seat."

Lee sat in one of the chairs opposite his father's. "So, how's our patient?" asked Adama.

"Recovering nicely," said Lee. "She should be up and about on crutches within the next day or two. Off crutches a week or so after that."

"You've spent most of your off time at her side," said Adama.

"No where else I'd rather be," said Lee. "I hope you don't feel my duties have suffered."

"No," said Adama. "Not yet. But we need to talk about some things."

Adama took off his glasses and looked pointedly at Lee. "I've been doing some thinking. Ever since the bombing a week ago and the tribunal's investigation that followed. As you know, Chief Tyrol and Lt. Valeri were grilled pretty hard over their whereabouts that night."

"Yes, sir," said Lee. "But it turned out Socinus took responsibility for leaving the hatch open."

"But we both know who left that hatch open and where they were going when they did," said Adama. "Tyrol and Valeri were having an affair, against direct orders from the XO. They were having a romantic meeting that night, and Socinus along with the rest of the knuckle-draggers were covering for them."

"Then why isn't Tyrol in the brig, sir?"

"I need Tyrol," said Adama. "But as I told him, he is going to have to pay a different price for his indiscretions with Valeri, by seeing one of his men take the punishment for him. Because he couldn't put his personal feelings aside and he chose to pursue a relationship with a superior despite the violations it meant to regulations and protocol."

"Sir, I have to ask. Why are you talking to me about this?"

"Son, we never did talk about what happened when I made the decision to call off the search for Kara," said Adama. "Where you were headed, and what you tried to do before that alarm claxon sounded. You put your personal feelings for Kara ahead of your job, ahead of your duty as CAG and as an officer. You even went so far as to threaten your XO physically and were verbally insubordinate to your commanding officer. These things can not be allowed."

"I know," said Lee. "I'm sorry, sir. Truly. I wasn't thinking."

"No, you weren't thinking," said Adama. "Like Tyrol, you were thinking with your heart, not your head. Like the case with Tyrol, others may have had to pay the price for your lack of forethought. If you had gotten off the ship to search, and we had to leave you behind, who would command Galactica's air group? The list of qualified candidates is short. Other pilots might have died next time we faced the Cylons because you weren't in the air guiding them, leading them. Instead, you threw your life away searching for a pilot who was almost certainly dead."

"But she was alive," said Lee.

"We couldn't have known that," said Adama. "Now Tyrol has finally come to his senses. He broke off his relationship with Valeri by all accounts. You came to that same sound decision before that, when you broke off your engagement with Kara. When I went to see her in the sick bay, I couldn't help but notice she had her ring back on."

"We're engaged again," said Lee. "I realized that it was stupid to deny our feelings for one another, that they were going to be present whether we were together or not. I wasn't engaged to Kara when she went missing, but as you so adeptly pointed out, I still let my feelings for Kara take over."

"That's true," said Adama. "But it doesn't change the wisdom of your decision to not marry Kara, especially in light of the incident with Tyrol and Valeri. How can I possibly allow my CAG to marry one of his pilots and tell Valeri and Tyrol they can't be together? Such relationships only get in the way of our duty as officers, which sometimes requires us to sacrifice each other in order for all to be saved. In both cases, personal feelings hindered duty."

"So what are you saying?" asked Lee, as he stood up in front of his father's desk, tension permeating through his demeanor.

"I'm ordering you to break off your engagement and romantic relationship with Lt. Thrace," said Adama, standing to face his son.

"Wait a minute," said Lee. "Kara told me that you encouraged her to wait for me to come to my senses and take her back. To give me time."

"That was before further events proved that you were right, and I was wrong at the time," said Adama. "I'm rectifying that. This is difficult for me, Lee. As a father, I want to see my son happy, and I know Kara could make you happy. But as a Commander, I have to put my personal feelings aside as well and issue this order."

"Difficult for you?" asked Lee. "Where do you get off claiming you have difficulty with this? This order is not about my job. This order is about my LIFE! My life with Kara is none of your damned business!"

"Everything that happens on this ship is my business!" said Adama. "I'm sorry, Lee, but I have the authority to do this under regulations, and I will enforce it. You will not marry Lt. Thrace, and you will not engage in any relationship with her beyond a professional capacity."

"And if I refuse to obey this order?"

"Then I will have no choice but to throw you in the brig," said Adama.

"How can I command your air group in the brig, sir?" asked Lee, half-sarcastically.

"You'd be allowed out when on duty," said Adama. "Your off time would be in the brig, and Kara would not be allowed near it. And despite your anger with me, I'm sure you wouldn't allow your pilots to suffer from bad leadership that would put them at risk just to spite me."

"I can't believe you are doing this to us!"

"Believe it. This is the new reality you have to face, Captain. Only this time, you will have to put your personal feelings aside. This is the way it has to be. Hopefully, someday, things will be different. But for now, this is the way it has to be."

The two men stared at each other for a while. Finally, after a number of long moments of silence, Lee came to attention and saluted. "Yes, SIR! Will that be all, SIR?" he asked with barely contained anger.

Adama saluted back. "Just one thing more. When Starbuck is back on her feet, get her working on helping Tyrol figure out the controls to the Cylon raider she captured."

"Yes, SIR!" Lee said, once again with spite in his voice.

"Dismissed," said Adama, as he sat down at his desk and went back to his work.

Lee stormed out of the room in a fury. Adama watched him go, and then closed his eyes as the pain of what he just did to his son came to the surface. "I'm sorry, son," he said to the empty room.

End of Chapter Nineteen. Chapter Twenty coming soon. As always, reviews/feedback are welcomed and appreciated.