Lee slid the piece of paper across the desk towards his father. He bit his lip nervously as William Adama read it over. He had to accept it. They had no other choice.

"This is risky," Adama said, leaning back in his chair.

"It will work."

Adama glanced down at the paper. "I have to hand it to you. It's good. I didn't realize you were that skilled at mission planning."

"I'm not," Lee said, straightening up in his chair. "It's Kara Thrace's plan."

"That pilot you've been rushing through training?"

Lee nodded. "Believe it or not, Dad, that plan is actually modified from a pyramid play Kara designed a few years back."

"That's right. She's the famous pyramid player turned savior of the galaxy."

"You always taught me to know your assets and use them when it's necessary. We need that tylium. Kara and I both feel responsible for the Fleet wasting supplies so we spent most of the night working through that plan. We want the fuel, but we don't want to suffer casualties." Lee cleared his throat. "There's a lot of blood on our hands already, sir."

"Those are strong words."

"It's the truth." Lee watched his father. Their relationship had started to slowly change as the Fleet drifted farther and farther from the planets they once called home. It seemed now that they were on the same ship, working and loving the same crew, it was much easier to understand each other.

"If we're going to run with this plan, we need to start as soon as possible." Adama reached out to grab the updated pilot roster on his desk and held it out to Lee. "I'll need the names of eleven of the best Viper pilots you have right now. We're going to need to inform the XO, Lieutenant Gaeta, Petty Officer Dualla, and Chief Tyrol of the change."

"Tyrol's down in the hangar bay, and Dee and Gaeta have an off-shift. You can find them both in the officer's mess considering it's lunch. I assume the XO's in his cabin."

"I'll track them down," Adama said, reaching for his phone. "Get me those names, son."

Lee looked over the pilot roster. It was so different from the day he first took the job as CAG. So many of his people were already lost to the war. As he selected names, he wondered why the Old Man was having him do this. The pilots who were going to sneak into battle alongside him were the obvious choices. He needed the ones who could handle their birds under heavy fire and knew that it was either succeed at the mission or die. There was no middle ground.

He wrote down the names without even thinking and slid the paper over to his father. Adama's eyebrows went up as he read the names. He gave Lee a confused look as he finished off his conversation with the XO. "Make sure you're in my office within the hour, Saul. There's been some new developments in the plan." He hung up the phone and looked over at his son again. "I don't understand, Lee."

"Those are the people I need, sir. I can't negotiate."

"I'm not asking you to. I'd just like some explanation why you saw it fit to shift Beehive to the upfront attack squadron. He's been your wingman for weeks now."

"I need some experienced pilots to help support the nuggets I'll have in the air."

"That doesn't make sense considering who you've selected as his replacement."

Lee knew he could sit here for hours arguing this with his father, but really, there wasn't time. "Dad, I need her there."

Adama watched Lee for a few moments before nodding. "You realize this entails a promotion?"

"She's ready."

He nodded. "Fine. I'm trusting your judgment on this one and the fact that she's proven herself to be useful quite a few times in the past month. It's going to take me an hour or so to meet with Colonel Tigh and the rest of the people who need to know about the changes. Why don't you make sure everything is in order with your new wingman?"

Lee smiled. He knew what his father was trying to do. Moments of happiness were few and far between in this life. He was giving Lee the opportunity to forget who and what he was in order to give someone else one of those rare moments. "Starbuck is ready for this, Dad. I wouldn't risk it if she wasn't."

Adama nodded and reached into his desk to pull out a small black box. Lee didn't have to open it up to know what was inside. Thanking his father one last time, he took the box and walked out of the office. The corridors were empty. Everyone was preparing for the battle ahead.

It didn't take long to find her. She was in the mission planning room staring at the little models on the table. Her left hand was idly playing with a toy Viper. Lee smiled when he realized it was the one labeled CAG in bright red letters. "Something on your mind?" he asked, stepping into the room.

Kara glanced over at him and then followed his eyes down to her hands. She let go of the Viper and smiled. "There is a rather intimidating mission coming up."

"He said yes," Lee said stepping into place beside her.

"I figured he would. The other plan we had was complete suicide."

Lee gave her a small nod of agreement and looked down at the table. "This is still completely insane."

"It's going to work," Kara said confidently. They let the silence of the task at hand float in the air around them. They were both nervous, but neither one was going to be the first to admit it.

It had almost two weeks since Kara told Lee about her mother and she still couldn't figure out what they were to one another. Lee had held her tight as she admitted how worthless she really was. He had even gone as far as to tell her she was wrong. Then he had kissed every inch of pain away from her body. She desperately wanted to thank him for pushing his common sense to the side to give her exactly what she needed and wanted.

Yet there was a nagging voice in the back of her head that said what he had done was a mistake. Anyone who got close to her got hurt. She would die before she saw Lee join the long list of names who had become worse for the wear for knowing her.

"Shouldn't you be getting ready, Apollo?"

"The Commander has me getting together the eleven pilots I'm going to need to pull this off."

"And you stopped by so I can use my prophetic powers to say where everyone is?"

"Not exactly." Lee turned to smile at her. "I only need your help finding my wingman."

"All right," Kara said. "The last I saw Beehive, he was in his bunkroom. He should still be there or in the hangar bay flirting with that cute Ensign everyone seems obsessed with." Kara turned to head towards the corridors. "I'll walk with you."

Lee grabbed Kara's arm and spun her back to face him. He held out the small black box for her to take. "You're going to need these."

Kara took the box from his hands and stared at it. "I don't understand." His hand was still tightly grasping her arm, and it was making it hard to concentrate on anything else.

"Open it, Kara."

Her fingers slid against the cool plastic material of the box, and she pulled the top open to reveal two gold pins. They were the Lieutenant rank. She looked up at Lee to see him practically beaming. His hand reached out to take one of the pins and attach it to the flight suit she was wearing. "Congratulations, Lieutenant Thrace."

"What's going on, Lee?" she whispered.

Lee could see a small fear growing inside of her, and he couldn't help but reach out to brush her cheek. "I need you by my side on this one, Kara."

"You got me promoted?"

"You're ready. I mean, half the time we're up in the air, you're the one teaching me."

"And you made me your wingman?"

Lee sighed and took a step back from Kara. "The concept of wingman is to have the person you can inherently trust by your side. That person should have a complimentary flying style to you. You should be able to guess each other's next move without even thinking about it. Beehive has been my wingman simply because of the abrupt entry I made into Galactica's ranks. He's a good pilot, but he's never really been my wingman. Wingmen watch each other's back even when that means saving each other from the horny wife of the XO."

Kara laughed. "You have a strong case there. Still, I don't understand why your father would agree to have a rookie pilot watching his son's back on the most important mission we've run to date."

"I didn't give him the option," Lee said. "You're going to be my wingman, Kara. That is non-negotiable."

She took a deep breath. "So I guess this means, after we single-handedly save the Fleet, our little training runs are going to be over."

"Does that make you sad?" Lee was expecting her normal sarcasm which was why when she bit her lip and nodded, he was completely taken aback. He knew that their training runs were the highlight of his day, but he had been pretty sure they weren't that important to her. She was always having fun with the pilots and the crew of Galactica. She didn't need the little time they spent in the air to keep her going.

"I'm going to miss it, too" Lee admitted, moving to sit on the planning table. He picked a Viper up off the table and casually threw it into the air a few times. "Which was another reason I want you to be my wingman."

Kara sent him a confused look. "I don't get it."

"Wingmen are scheduled for CAPs together. For the foreseeable future, it's going to be you and me every day or so flying for six hour shifts."

Kara could feel the excitement building up in the pit of her stomach. It amazed her every time this man went against his better judgment to pull her closer. They were still struggling to stay within the military regulations, but it was funny how many loopholes you could find if you only looked hard enough.

She fingered the pin on her flight suit. "This means a lot to me, Lee." Lee's mouth spread into a wide smile for no apparent reason. "Did I say something funny?"

"You called me Lee."

"I'm sorry. Sometimes it just slips out."

"No," Lee said with a laugh. "I'm just saying you called me Lee, and for the first time, it's okay."

Kara realized he was right. She was a Lieutenant now, and more specifically, she was Lee's wingman. If anyone had a right to refer to him by his first name, it was her. "So now you can call me Kara?"

"I can," Lee said with a smile.

"It's really not that big of a deal," Kara said with a smirk. "I mean, we've been screwing up that little rule for weeks now."

"Indeed we have." Lee pushed off the table and walked to the hatch. "Be in the hangar bay in two hours. We're going to run through what we have to do and then it'll be time to prep for launch. And Kara?" Lee paused in the hatch and waited for Kara to look up at him. "Just so we're clear, you're still not allowed to call me flyboy."

She rolled her eyes. "Whatever, flyboy!"

When she was alone again, Kara reached out to grab a Viper and push it next to the one marked CAG. That was her. She was actually going to be out there when this all went down. She, Kara Thrace, ex-pyramid player, full-time frak-up, was going to be flying a Viper for the survival of the human race. She was in over her head again.

"He believes in me," she whispered, a smile dancing on her lips. Somehow, if she had nothing else, that little thought would give her the comfort and reassurance she needed.