The only sound between the two women was the steady bleeping of the heart monitor. It was also the reason why both of them were there. Lee still hadn't woken up after twelve hours. He had gone through a three hour surgery to remove the bullet without causing damage to the nerves in his shoulder, and Doc Cottle still wasn't sure if it would ever heal enough to get Apollo back into the cockpit.

Kara leaned against the end of the bed and watched as Dee rubbed her thumb across Lee's hand. She had been clutching it since the second Lee got out of surgery. Her hair was pulled back, and all traces of the make-up she had worn for her date were gone. It was the by-product of rushing through the bunkroom to wash off all traces of the hostage situation in order to get back down to the sickbay. Kara had done the exact same thing, although she had no make-up to wash off really. She had never been a make-up kind of girl.

"I don't understand why you're here."

Kara stood up straight. These were the first words Dee had said to her for the whole twelve hours they had been standing watch. "Excuse me?"

Dee turned her body enough to meet Kara's eyes. "Why are you here?"

"Why are you here?" Kara shot back.

"I'm his girlfriend."

"I'm his wingman."

Dee paused to take a breath before narrowing her eyes. "Haven't you hurt him enough, Kara? You're the whole reason he's in this hospital bed."

Kara looked down at the ground as she tried to get her anger in check. Dee was being a total bitch, but she was right. Kara was the one who shot Lee.

Then again, Lee wouldn't have been in the Starlight Lounge if it hadn't been for Dee. Instead, he would have been sitting next to Kara in that seedy bar, keeping the dirty old men from hitting on her, kind of like the first time they met.

Kara knew she should just leave and let Dee be the one in the room when he woke up. It would probably be better for everyone that way. Yet a little voice in the back of her head kept screaming there were things she had to say to Lee now that she had been given the chance and gods damnit, she was going to say them even if it meant taking this verbal abuse.

"I know I've hurt him, Dee," Kara said quietly. "I just want a chance to make that right."

"He's not going to accept your apology."

Hearing the shaky tone in Dee's voice, Kara turned to look at her. "You sound afraid, Petty Officer."

"What do I have to be afraid of?"

Kara couldn't hold back the smile. She was trying to be good here, but not even she could pass this up. "You're afraid if I apologize, he's going to forgive me. You're afraid of what that will do to your relationship. You're afraid that even after all the crap I put him through, he'll still choose me in the end."

"You had me pegged right up until the end there," Dee said calmly. "He's not going to choose you in the end because you are not an option, Starbuck. A real woman would admit she was in love with someone else. She would cut the ties she had and just live her own life."

Kara thought that over for a moment, and the conclusion she came to absolutely floored her. "Is that what Lee thinks?"

"He knows you're in love with Anders. He's heard you talking about it enough."

Kara bit her lip. She wasn't going to let Dee be the first person to which she said she loved Lee.

"It's sad really," Dee said, turning to brush her fingers across Lee's cheek. "He cared for you so much."

"I know that," Kara whispered. "We… were close before going to Caprica."

"You are absolutely blind if you think the way he felt about you ended when you went to Caprica." Dee looked over her shoulder. "It didn't."

"You're wrong. We've been barely civil to each other since that day." Kara's mind went back to that brief, intense encounter in the break room, and she had to fight the urge to blush. They were anything but civil. "Lee doesn't think about me in the same way anymore."

Dee let go of Lee's hands and stood up to stand face to face with Kara. "Do you know what his last words were when the Blackbird got shot?"

"What are you talking about?"

"I was on comms when your mission went down. I was the one frantically trying to get a lock on his ejected flight seat all while he refused to respond. I never told anyone this, but his comms were active. I was yelling at him to respond, but he chose not to."

Kara shook her head in disbelief. "No way. If Lee knew you could hear him, he would have said something."

"He did say something." Dee paused to give her point meaning. "He said something to you, Kara."

"Me?"

"His last words were to tell you he loved you and that he was sorry. Gods know why he thought that was the most important thing at the time, but he did." Dee sighed. "But you need to understand that now-"

Dee's voice cut off as a soft groan filled the room. Both she and Kara turned in time to see Lee stir out of his slumber. His eyes slowly inched open, and he stared at both of them for a moment before smiling. His eyes began to shut again as he lost consciousness, but not before he had time to whisper, "Kara."

Kara had to dig her nails into the flesh of her palm to keep the tears at bay. She turned to look at Dee and saw the young CIC officer also struggling not to cry. It was for a completely different reason, though. Lee had woken up, took one look at the two women in front of him, and chose Kara. He chose the woman who had shot him and not the woman who had spent hours trying to help him hang on to life. He chose the woman that broke his heart and not the one that wanted to repair it.

Kara was tired of it. She was tired of hurting Lee. She was tired of being the one that ruined his chances at happiness. She was tired of wanting him as much as he wanted her but always having life get in the way.

"I'm going to leave," Kara whispered.

Dee pulled her eyes away from Lee. "What?"

"I'm going to leave. He should wake up to find you here." Kara smiled at her bravely. "You're the one he needs to see, not me."

Kara knew Dee was still gaping at her as she walked out of sickbay, but she wasn't about to turn around. If she turned around, she would never leave Lee's side. That was something he did not need right now. Staying with him would only give her another opportunity to get him killed.

There was a gentle pressure on his hand when Lee finally woke up. He smiled at the memory of waking up and seeing Kara at his bedside. It was a good thing she was close. He had a lot of things he wanted to say to her.

"Hey," he whispered, turning to look at the woman holding his hand. To his credit, he didn't flinch when he realized it wasn't Kara. Lee knew it was partially due to the pain killers they probably had him on, but he barely even raised an eyebrow to see Dee smiling back at him.

"How are you doing?"

"Good," Lee said. He started to look around the room. He was so fraking confused. He could have sworn Kara was here.

"Lee, you need to settle down," Dee said gently. He was getting frantic. "Tell me what you need and I'll get it for you."

For a brief second, Lee debated telling her he needed Kara. Not even he was that cruel, though. "I want to see my father," he whispered, his voice horse from lack of use. "And Zak. I want to see my father and my brother."

Dee nodded and pushed her chair away from his bed. "I'll go let them know you're awake." She leaned down to place a kiss on his forehead before disappearing behind the curtain partitioning off his bed.

Lee was left staring at the ceiling, trying to figure out what the frak had gone on. The last thing he remembered was trying to help keep the rest of the hostages out of harm's way. Then there had been a shooting pain in his right shoulder. Lee shifted that part of his body and realized that part of his memory wasn't wrong.

Okay, he had been hit. He felt the pain. He saw the blood. Then he looked up to see the barrel of a gun and…

"Oh gods," Lee whispered.

It had been Kara. Kara was the one who shot him.

Lee reached down to rip the IV out of his arm and tried to get out of the bed. His knees immediately gave out, and he practically knocked everything off the table at his bedside, trying to stay upright.

"Captain, you have to stay in bed!"

Lee looked up to see Layne Ishay, the medic who had supposedly saved his father's life when Adama had been shot by the Cylon amongst them, running toward him. Her hands were around his waist, helping him back onto the bed within seconds. "I have to find her."

"Petty Officer Dualla is coming right back, sir," Ishay reassured him. "She just went to tell your family that you're all right."

Lee didn't bother to correct the medic. Letting her assume he had been talking about Dee was probably better on multiple counts. He knew how it looked. He had been shot on what appeared to be a date with his girlfriend. No one knew that it was as far from a date as one could come. He was just trying to let Dee down gently. Shevon's words had hit home. He wanted Kara, and he was going to start fighting for her.

Lee decided he was just going to have to wait until his body healed enough to stand its own weight. Then he would track Kara down. She needed him to help her realize this wasn't her fault and she shouldn't feel guilty. He knew she was probably driving herself crazy with guilt and regret.

"Rest, Captain. I'll wake you up when Dee and your family get here."

Lee almost asked Ishay to include Kara Thrace on that list, but he was feeling a little too tired to even form words. They must have given him some really good pain killers.