DISCLAIMER: The character's and the universe of the Battlestar Galactica do not belong to me.

NOTE: This one was not beta'ed. All errors do belong to me.

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I DIDN'T WANT TO BE BACK ALIVE by -yannik-

Chapter Four – OUT OF SIGHT

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To Lee it seemed that the first thing the newly promoted Admiral did, was to reinstate his son to the rank of the Captain and Galactica's CAG. There even was a small formal procedure, with two Adamas and Colonel Tigh present, but the XO left pretty quickly excusing himself with his duties in CIC. So it was the Admiral and his Captain now.

Or maybe the father and the son? It seemed so set up by the Admiral and the XO – to leave the two of them alone.

"How have you been doing Lee?" the older Adama asked. Ah, so it was a father-son confrontation.

"Okay, I guess."

"Are you still angry with me?"

"It's not the matter of me being angry or not" Lee answered tiredly. "And you know that. Because you're not going to explain your motivation to me now, as you weren't then. Because it doesn't even matter, I don't think you would convince me, and convincing me is not the point either. So… No. I'm not angry."

"You know that I changed my mind? That I called Kara off?" Adama sat on the couch and gestured for Lee to join him.

"I do."

"Your words had a lot to do with that."

Lee just sighed. As if it mattered! He just wanted to go back to his reports. He needed to look through Tyrol's list of malfunctions in…

"When are you going to be back in the Viper?" His father's voice brought him back to reality. Admiral was looking directly at him, with his most dissecting stare.

"Soon" Lee replied warily. "I guess."

"Guess? Didn't I mention that I reinstated you to your CAG office as well?"

"You did."

"So it's your call."

Lee nodded.

"Did you talk to Kara?" Admiral asked, and Lee cringed. What was the Old Man relaying to? And why the sudden change of subject?

"About?"

"She was the CAG, and now you're back…"

"To be honest I didn't think about it. But you just reinstated me, how would she know?"

"I spoke to her yesterday" Adama stopped abruptly, it was so obvious he wanted to add something, but he seemed to wait for Lee's reaction. When there was none, he gazed at his son again. And continued. "I didn't want her to be caught off guard by this decision, so I told her. I'm surprised she didn't tell you."

"Maybe she didn't want to spoil the surprise" Lee answered. To be honest he haven't seen Kara yet, since… well, since their clash.

"Maybe." The Admiral rose to his feet and walked across the room, to the book shelf. And stood there with his back to his son.

Lee felt more and more uncomfortable, the tension was beyond his endurance.

"She objected?" he finally asked. His father was most definitely aiming at something, but didn't want to reveal it.

"If she did, that's between me and her."

"What did she tell you?" Lee couldn't bear any more, and his question came out much more accusatory, than he intended.

"Was she supposed to tell me something?" Adama turned, and gazed at Lee again. With his stare, that was so piercing, as if it could penetrate to the very heart of the person he was talking to. Lee wavered.

"Well… No."

"Is there a problem of which she knows and I do not?"

"No. There is no problem."

The Admiral was looking at Lee really long and really intense. But all of the sudden Lee wasn't afraid of that stare anymore. He withheld it with steadiness that he didn't expect to find within himself. And finally the older Adama consented.

"Good." He nodded, sighing. "That's what I told her. And now I'm asking you – the CAG – when are you getting back into the cockpit?"

The return of that subject was – again – a bit sudden.

"I… I need to get through some evals, before I'd get clearance for flight."

"I know that. So when do you plan those evals?"

"Uh" Lee hesitated. "In a few days."

"Could you be more specific?" the Admiral insisted. "I need to know whom I can count on if the cylons chose to strike again."

"The day after tomorrow." It was the first term that crossed Lee's mind.

"Alright then, Captain" the Admiral was all business now. "You're on forty-eight hours leave, effective now. Then report to Helo, and he'll supervise your evaluation."

"Yes, sir."

"Good. Meanwhile…" the Admiral hesitated, and looked up at his son again. "Lee, get some rest." In his eyes the younger Adama saw genuine concern.

"Excuse me?" he gasped.

"Rest. Son. You look tired as hell, and you could really use some relaxation. Gods know you haven't had a spare time over the last six months, and I know that too. Use that day off well. There is a supply ship for Cloud Nine ready to launch in an hour. Go there, return tomorrow, and be ready to get back to your responsibilities."

They eyed each other for a second, and then Lee slowly nodded.

"Yes, sir."

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t.b.c.