Kara looked at her reflection in the mirror and tried to ignore the nagging voice in the back of her head that was telling her something wasn't right. So what if she had chosen to forgo wearing the tight black top she had bought on her last trip to Aerelon in order to wear the red tank that was anything but low cut? Who cares that her hair was back in a low ponytail instead of styled loose on her shoulders like she did for most dates? This was a date, and she was happy to be going on it.

That didn't really explain why she couldn't get the slightly sad look off her face.

"You look nice."

Kara cursed as the sound of his voice hit her somewhere deep inside. Even after all she had learned, the desire wouldn't go the frak away. This was getting out of control. She turned to smirk at Lee. "Thanks."

Lee pushed off where he was leaning on the hatchway and entered the nuggets' bunkroom. "Are you going somewhere special?"

"I was meaning to come find you. I can't go on a training run tonight." She tried to ignore the slight disappointment on Lee's face and the way it matched how she was feeling inside. "I have a date."

"I'm hoping it's not with one of my pilots," Lee said. The good-natured tone of his voice came off as slightly forced to Kara.

"No, one of the deck crew," Kara said, brushing past Lee. She tried to ignore the slight shiver that slid through her as their bodies touched for just a brief second.

Lee shut the hatchway door and jogged to catch up to Kara. "You do look nice, you know."

"You keep saying that," Kara said, glaring at him.

"You want me to stop?"

She didn't answer.

"You know, I was going to show you how to accurately buzz another ship so that they end dealing themselves the kill shot, but if you're too busy, Starbuck…"

Kara winced. This was the lesson she had been waiting for. She lived for those high-risk maneuvers. Lee was playing dirty. "I said I had a date, Apollo."

"Come on," he taunted. "You and I both know you could reschedule. Your nugget schedule isn't that strenuous."

"Is it just me or are you practically begging me to spend time with you?"

Lee gave her a sheepish smile that made her want to do anything and everything he had just suggested. "Sometimes the CAG job can get lonely. It's nice to just fly for flying's sake."

His words resonated with something inside Kara, and she found herself wondering if she really could call off this thing with Zak. Luckily, before she could do anything she would regret, they turned the corner that led to the hangar bay and passed a certain comms officer. As Lee gave Dee a small wave and a smile, Kara suddenly remembered why she had said yes to his brother.

"Excuse me, Lee," she said, pushing past him to enter the hangar bay. "I have a date."

"You keep saying that," Lee yelled as she rushed away from him.

"Only because it doesn't seem to be getting into that thick skull of yours," Kara yelled.

Lee shook his head and started scanning the hangar bay. He really loved being down here when he was off-shift. The pure emotional charge of being so close to the action was the root of the reason why he was a pilot. Plus, the deck crew never really treated him like an outsider. He was just another person who could help them get their birds in the air.

Lee was in the middle of the indescribable euphoria of being in such beautiful chaos when his eyes caught on the Raptor assigned to shuttle the off duty personnel to the Rising Star. His brother was currently taking Kara by the hand and leading her onboard. That was the moment her words finally hit home.

I have a date.

Kara managed to glance over her shoulder just in time to catch sight of Lee one last time. All traces of the good mood he was in before were gone. She let Zak lead her to a seat and slumped down in it. She did her best to focus on the words coming out of Zak's mouth and forget the look of disappointment she had just seen on his brother's face. She had every right to be here.

She gave Zak a brave smile and answered his question about the last pyramid game she had played before the colonies were attacked. She knew to any outsider they looked like a perfectly normal couple, waiting to go on a date, but to her, it just didn't feel right. She couldn't get Lee out of her head.

The memory of Lee's voice whispered inside her. He had warned her not to string Zak along. Hurting him was probably the last thing she wanted to do, but then again, she had never intended to hurt Lee. These kind of things just happened when she was involved.

As they neared the Rising Star, a small voice in the back of her head kept insisting that her mother had been right. Kara really knew how to frak up a good thing.

Two hours later, her opinion hadn't changed. Zak was still being wonderful. He had gotten them a table at the rather fancy restaurant on the upper level of the ship. He had asked her the perfect number of questions about herself, making sure not to pry too deep. He smiled at her when she needed reassurance and laughed when she told a stupid joke. He was perfect.

And yet Kara still found herself wishing he was Lee.

She was well and truly fraked.

Taking a sip of the ambrosia in front of her, she smiled at Zak. They needed to move on to a safer topic, something that couldn't be related back to his brother. "So how did you end up a Specialist?"

"Believe it or not, I started out wanting to be a Viper pilot. It was my dream since the second I got old enough to have a dream."

Kara's eyes went wide. "What happened to change that?"

"I flunked out of flight school. Blew my last few test maneuvers and never got my wings." Zak sighed. "I wanted to be like Lee since practically the day I was born. It was hard knowing that I wasn't good at the one thing that made my brother so fraking great in my eyes."

Zak started going into the details about why he could never hack it as a Viper jock, but Kara's thoughts were already drifting back to a not-so-welcome topic. She couldn't figure out what it was about Lee that kept her so preoccupied. He was attractive, but she had been with plenty of men who were just as good-looking. A particular guy she hooked up with after the playoff game with Virgon a few years back came to mind. Kara smirked. That had been one wild night.

"You think it's funny that my flight instructor shot me down?"

Kara snapped back to the conversation. Did Zak just say that his flight instructor tried to shoot down his Viper during his training run? She should really have been listening a little closer. "Um… no?"

Zak looked at her and sighed. "I guess it's my fault. I probably shouldn't be talking about all the times I got shot down when I'm actually on a date with someone who didn't turn me down."

Kara felt relief wash over her. Zak had switched topics away from Vipers. "Men generally try to keep that to a minimum," she agreed.

"So, then I guess I won't get any stories about the wild times you had on the Bucks?"

"No way," Kara insisted. "Whatever happens on or around the pyramid court stays on the pyramid court. It's the unofficial motto of the Bucks." Zak was staring at her rather intently, and Kara could feel herself grow uncomfortable. He wasn't supposed to be getting all serious on her yet. This was just a first date.

"I'm glad you came, Kara."

"It's a nice change of pace," she said, her eyes scanning around the room in a quest to do anything but meet his gaze.

"Yeah, I guess so."

"The military life is a shift. It's like pyramid only completely different," Kara joked. "Did it take you long to get adjusted?"

Zak relaxed back into his easygoing way of rambling, and Kara let out the breath she hadn't known she was holding. She was having fun. Zak was a great guy. Her heart just wasn't in it. It was too soon.

Her thoughts drifted back to Lee and the fact that he wasn't anything special. She had already established that she had met guys who looked as good as him. Kara paused. Well, maybe they had looked almost as good as him. She had no idea that kind of body could be on this plane of existence. Shaking her head, she tried to pull herself away from the dangerous thought pattern that was Lee Adama.

It didn't work.

Guys on the colonies where she had grown up had tried to take her on as a charity case just like Lee seemed to be doing. The only problem was she felt more like she was doing Lee the favor rather than the other way around. He seemed so happy when they were up in the air together. She had thought at first that it was because of the way she seemed to make him laugh. Now she was pretty sure it was only because she took his mind off of Gianne and what he had lost. No wonder she found him trying to drink his sorrows away that night in this very bar.

"What are you thinking about?"

Zak's question caught her off guard which was why Kara didn't have time to sensor her answer. "Your brother."

"Excuse me?"

Her eyes went wide, and she did her best to backpedal. "We were supposed to be going on a training run right now. I had to cancel." Kara put on her bravest fake smile. "The bastard tried to bribe me with the promise of a lesson on buzzing."

"I'm going to have to have a talk with Lee about why he was trying so hard to keep you on ship."

Kara sensed where Zak was going with that thought and shook her head vigorously. "No, Lee didn't know I was going on this date with you at the time." She winced as she realized her words came out wrong.

Zak took a few deep breaths before asking through clenched teeth. "Does he know now?"

The look on Lee's face as she stepped onto the Raptor suddenly appeared in her head. "Yes, he definitely knows now."

He nodded and finished off his glass of ambrosia. "What say you and I hit the dance floor, Kara?"

Kara smiled. "I'd love to."

The rest of the night breezed past as Kara surrendered herself to the beat of the music and the feeling of being in a man's arms again. It had a certain refreshing comfort to it that she had missed. She even managed to keep herself from imagining Lee's face on Zak's body when she shut her eyes during the slow music. Not even she could be that cruel.

When they got back to Galactica, Zak walked her to the hatchway of the nuggets' bunkroom, and Kara indulged him in a quick kiss. It was hardly the kind that would make her stomach do flips, but she didn't usually get that kind of kiss on the first date. She wasn't worried.

Zak was solid. He was someone she could be with and not have the usual kind of drama she had grown accustomed to. He would be good for her. She had actually convinced herself of that as she slipped into a tank and shorts and laid down in her bunk.

Then she shut her eyes and the memory of how Lee had playfully tried to coax her out of this date came to mind. She fell asleep wondering what would have been different if she had been brave enough to tell him yes.