Kara had been searching for her missing running shorts for the past ten minutes. They weren't in her locker or the bunkroom or the pilots' break room or the head across the hall. She was just starting to think Helo stole them for some elaborate prank when she collided with Dee in the middle of the corridor.

"I'm sorry," Dee mumbled, pushing past her.

Kara narrowed her eyes. Dee had barely spoken a word to her in the past few weeks, ever since the day she flew the Blackbird. An apology was about as out of the ordinary as you could get. Kara didn't know why she chose to forget about her missing shorts and jog after Dee, but she had the sudden compulsion to figure out what had the Petty Officer so distracted that she couldn't remember she hated Kara.

Kara followed Dee down a few corridors and into one of the break rooms. The petite woman was leaning up against the table holding the alcohol, and Kara was surprised to realize Dee was actually debating having one.

"What do you want?" Dee hissed, turning to glare at the Viper pilot the second she realized Kara was standing the hatchway.

Kara smiled. Maybe Dee wasn't that distracted. "You bumped into me back there."

"I apologized. What more do you want, Starbuck?"

"You apologized, Dee. To me." Kara folded her arms across her chest. "I just figured if the world was ending again, I needed to be sure."

Kara's words earned her a smirk from Dee, but she quickly covered it up. "I have a lot on my mind right now. I wasn't thinking."

Kara knew she should probably just take that at face value and leave, but there was something in Dee's eyes that struck a nerve. For just a second, Kara could see herself reflecting back. "Anything you want to talk about?"

"To you?" Dee laughed. "Come on, Kara. It's common knowledge that we're barely even friends. Why would I want to pour my heart out to you?"

"Well, for starters, because once you do, you never have to talk to me again. Not to mention I might know where you're coming from." Kara shrugged. "Then there's the fact that I can be totally objective and pretty non-judgmental."

Dee shook her head. "No, you can't."

"I can try," Kara said, taking a seat at one of the tables. "So tell me what's on your mind."

"I broke up with Billy."

Kara's jaw dropped but only for a moment. She had always been good at the quick recovery. "I don't understand."

Dee walked over to sit on the other half of the table. "I don't understand half the time, either. We were walking through the corridor, and I don't know. It just came out. I told him that we weren't being fair to each other and that it was best if we just stopped it now before the pain could grow worse."

"Sometimes the journey is worth the pain," Kara whispered. When Dee looked at her inquiringly, she smiled. "I told you I might know what you're going through."

The room filled with silence for a moment before Kara realized it was her turn to ask a question. "I thought you and Billy were happy."

"We were content," Dee corrected. "It was nice to have him when the Colonies were destroyed. He was kind of stable compared to everything else going on around me. Then the newness of this situation wore off, and I didn't crave that stability. I got to thinking that maybe it isn't right for me to settle for something I figured I should be wanting. Maybe because it's the end of the world as we know it, I should be shooting for extraordinary."

Kara nodded. She could understand that. Hell, the past few weeks all she had been doing was weighing the pros and cons of stability versus… well… versus Lee. Nothing about that man was stable. "So there's something extraordinary that you have your sights set on?"

Dee looked embarrassed, and Kara could swear she saw a blush start from the tips of her ears. "I shouldn't be talking about this with you."

"That good?" Kara said with a laugh.

"It's just there's been rumors."

"There are always rumors," Kara pointed out. "They're usually not true."

Dee smiled at Kara. "You're right. The things they're saying about you and Apollo are probably completely out of context."

Kara tried to keep from gasping or turning white. "What exactly are they saying?"

"That the two of you slept together when you were on Caprica. Everyone keeps joking that the two of you finally saw a loophole in the regs and couldn't say no."

Kara chuckled. They weren't that far off on the fraking part, but they were completely wrong about the regs. The two of them didn't have to wait until they were off ship to break regs. They had been breaking them left and right when the rest of the Fleet was enjoying their r & r on Cloud Nine. "That's a good one," Kara said with a smile.

Dee laughed. "I thought it was kind of funny, too, considering the way Lee's been flirting with me lately."

Kara's laughter cut off immediately. "What?"

"Ever since he got back from Caprica, he's been flirting with me. I don't know what you did to him on that planet, but thank you."

Kara wondered if maybe she had gotten a little too friendly with Dee. She was talking to her like they were friends. They were definitely not friends. "So, Apollo's the reason you broke up with Billy?"

Dee's hand came up over her mouth as she realized what she had just told Kara. "I really didn't want to say that."

"Well, you've said it," Kara said, pushing her chair back and standing up.

"Are you mad?" Dee said. She stood up from the table and walked around to stand beside Kara. "Because you sound awfully mad for a woman who didn't frak her CAG on a nuclear devastated planet."

Kara looked down at the woman standing toe to toe with her. She had never realized Dee was so much shorter than her. She was petite in every sense of the word. "I'm not mad. I'm just a little shocked. Lee hadn't mentioned anything to me."

"Why would he?" Dee said, shaking her head and brushing past Kara.

Kara was left standing in the middle of the break room, wondering if that had been Dee's intention when she started this conversation. She was a smart woman if she had planned on making Kara's heart drop out this whole time.

"Hey, Starbuck! Everything all right?"

Kara looked up at Hot Dog and smiled. "Yeah, everything's just fine."

"You do realize you're alone in this room?" Hot Dog said with a smirk.

"I was just thinking."

"How's that working out for you?"

Kara moved towards the door and slapped an arm around Hot Dog. "I think I figured something out so let's celebrate with a little triad, kid."

They went down the corridor, laughing and joking, picking up more triad players alone the way, and yet Kara's heart wasn't in it. She hadn't lied to Hot Dog. She had figured something out.

Dee was the right person for Lee right now. She was pretty, and she was smart. She was tiny in a 'please take care of me' kind of way. She was someone he could love without inviting more stress into his life. Dee would be good for him in all the ways that Kara couldn't be.

"Lieutenant, can I have a word with you before you start the game?"

Kara stopped in the middle of her shuffling to look up at where the Commander stood in the hatchway. She passed the cards to Racetrack and stood up without a word. They'd deal her in whenever she got back. "What's the matter, sir?" Kara asked as soon as they were in the corridor.

"I talked with Apollo about him giving up the flight instructor position."

"He agreed?" Adama nodded, and she couldn't help but add, "Does he know it's me that's taking it over?"

Adama nodded again. "He wasn't happy at first, but I think he came to the conclusion we thought he would."

"That I could handle the pilots dying on my account?" Kara said, half-jokingly.

"That you're one of the few people left who can handle it."

Kara wished that knowing Lee approved of her that much didn't send a burst of joy through her body, but it did. She was pretty sure she had lost him in a lot of ways since coming back to the Fleet. His little compliment proved to her that at least she still had him when it came to their job. As breakable as Lee and Kara were, Apollo and Starbuck were still untouchable.