Admiral Adama was already heading back to his quarters when his son caught up to him.

"Would you slow down for a second, Dad?" Lee called out, half serious. His father could still travel fast for an aging military leader.

Adama turned to look at the Commander of the second most powerful ship in the Fleet. "Aren't you supposed to be on your ship now?"

"I have Stinger watching the boards. If anything happens, he's capable of handling it until I get back."

"You think something's going to happen?" Adama said, raising his eyebrow.

Lee glanced around the corridor quickly. "Can we talk in your office, sir?"

Adama nodded, and together they walked the last few corridors in silence. Even if he knew it was a risk to have Lee off Pegasus for reasons unknown, Adama couldn't help but be glad to see his eldest son. It seemed like they only communicated through the wireless these days. He had been wise to put Lee in charge of Pegasus. His son had been in power almost two months, and there had yet to be a complaint. Lee had been trained well.

Lee let out a long sigh as they stepped into his father's office. It was nice to be in this familiar setting. His father's office was nothing like his. Where his office was cold and hard, his father's was full of memories and warmth. Lee wished he had the time to change that, but it seemed like there had been one hundred and one crises to resolve since he set foot on his ship.

Adama sat down on the couch in his office and gestured for his son to take a seat next to him. "What did you want to speak to me about?"

"It's this mass relocation down to the surface, sir. I don't think it's wise."

"I don't think it's wise, either," Adama agreed, "but I can't forbid my people to move on with their life. President Baltar has made a Fleet-wide offer for any willing person to settle on New Caprica. I can't deny that right to the people who have probably earned it the most."

"I understand that. It's just I don't like how everyone's going along with it. Over half my crew has signed up to be in the first wave of settlers. I would have expected…" Lee paused, not sure of how to say it. "I don't know… more of them."

Adama nodded, and leaning forward, poured them both a drink. "I know what you mean. I have at least a third of my ship requesting military discharge for the next few years."

"The Fleet still needs protection, Dad." Lee took the glass of alcohol from his father and gave him a nod of thanks. "We can't just stop because the Cylons have given us a promise. They're the enemy."

"I know, Lee, but there's not much we can do about it. As hard as it is to accept, the civilian Fleet is behind their president. If the civilians stay, we stay. It is our job to protect them."

"Protect them by giving up our responsibilities to become… what? Farmers?"

"I understand your anger. I feel the same way half the time."

"And the other half?"

"The other half is grateful that so much of our personnel have chosen to settle the planet. With them down there, I know it will be done right. Because if you and I are wrong and the Cylons were telling us the truth, then this is our home. New Caprica is our salvation."

"And if we're right?"

"Then we still have half our crew to show those toasters that we don't take lightly to being toyed with," Adama growled.

Lee set his glass on the table and loosened the color to his dress jacket. "There's another reason I came here in person."

Adama slid his glasses off his face and sighed. "I figured."

"We're going to have to make some personnel shifts with all these people leaving. CAPs are going to be harder, and new commands are going to have to be accepted."

"It's happened before. I'm just happy the reason is due to life and not death for once." Adama let out a deep breath. "But you're right. You and I are going to have to sit down and determine what transfers and reassignments need to be made."

"We'll have plenty of time," Lee said with a laugh. "There's really not that much to do up here."

"We're not landing," Adama insisted, even though he knew his son understood that. "No matter how boring it gets up here, we are not landing."

"We fly until we can't fly anymore," Lee smirked. "I think that's a great new motto for the Fleet."

Adama poured himself another drink and leaned back in the couch. "Galen Tyrol wants to be a part of the first wave down to New Caprica."

Lee nodded. "I've heard about what happened to Cally."

"She'll be all right," Adama said before Lee could ask. "It's the Chief that's taking it hard."

"He deserves a break."

"He'll get it. I had to deny his request to go down with the first wave, but I promised him I wouldn't keep him on board for any longer than I had to. Once a new deck chief is trained, then he'll be free to go." Adama chuckled. "You know what was the interesting thing? Tyrol wants me to discharge Specialist Cally because of the lack of maintenance needed on ships that won't ever fly for more than an uneventful CAP every few days. With everything that's happened to her, he thinks it would be a good idea to give her a chance to live like she did before the attacks."

"So then what's the problem?"

"Cally refuses to leave," Adama said with a chuckle. "She said she won't leave the Chief by himself."

"Smart girl," Lee said, even though they both already knew that. "The Chief needs to be reminded of what he did almost as much as he needs to be reminded that the people on this ship care about him. Cally has always been the one to do that for him."

Adama nodded. "So I'm going to have to come up with someone to take over the job."

Lee rolled his eyes. Both he and his father knew who was going to step up and take the job of deck chief even if they couldn't say it out loud right now. "It shouldn't be hard."

"No, it shouldn't." Adama sighed deeply. "I wish all the decision were that easy."

Lee shifted in his seat. "That's kind of the reason I'm here. I had an interesting discussion with Stinger this morning. He wants to go planetside with the others."

Adama tried to hide his surprise. "That's his right."

Lee groaned at his father's diplomatic response and put his face in his hands. "I know that's his right, but it puts me in a fraking hard spot. I have to find a replacement for the second highest officer on board Pegasus, and half the options are already gone." Lee pulled his head up to look at his father. "You know, sometimes I really envy you for having the Colonel by your side."

"Loyalty is often a good thing to have, but at times it can hurt," Adama replied.

"Finding a new XO is going to shake up a lot of things between our two ships," Lee pointed out. "I don't know the pilots on Pegasus enough, and Stinger seemed to indicate that there really weren't many candidates he would be comfortable leaving his position to."

Adama watched his son. He could tell Lee was struggling with something besides the sudden need for a new XO. His boy had been taxed to his limit in every single way these past few months. Lee was a fighter, though. He wasn't going to let some stupid decision made by a worthless president cause his life to go into a downward spiral. If Adama let Lee think about it for long enough, his son would come up with a solution. Granted it would be the wrong one, but it would be an answer none the less.

Lee was good at coming up with a solution by whatever means were necessary. On the other hand, Adama was good at making sure people didn't make a mistake because they were afraid to roll the hard six. He was particularly good at keeping his sons from fraking up.

"You can have one of my people," Adama said after a moment.

"Who do you have that could possibly handling being XO?"

Adama gave his son a knowing look, and Lee's whole face drained of color. "Kara is the only option, Lee."

"I'm not doing that to her."

"Doing what?" Adama asked, confused as to how a transfer could possibly hurt Kara in any way.

"I'm not going to take away her options."

Adama didn't know what his son was talking about at first, but then he realized that like a lot of things having to do with Kara Thrace, Lee had turned a blind eye to what was in front of him. "There's something you need to know, Commander. Kara asked to meet with me this morning. She wanted to make it clear that she had made her choice. She's staying on Galactica."

Lee shook his head. "That's impossible. She wants to go down to New Caprica."

"No, she doesn't. She's staying with us."

"I don't understand. She has no ties to keep her up here. There's a brand new world down there, somewhere where she can go back to doing what she loves. I can't understand why she would give that up."

Adama waited until Lee had looked back up at him before smiling. "Obviously there's something keeping her in the sky, son."

Lee's face slowly lit up as he realized what his father was trying to tell him. The Old Man had always been too perceptive for his own good, and he had this uncanny knack of pulling the rug out from under his sons' feet.

"Now, why don't you and I bunker down in here and knock out the rest of the reassignments?" Adama suggested before his son could protest. "We'll set the transfer date for a week."

As his father reached for paper, Lee tried to push his racing thoughts down. He didn't have the strength to let himself start hoping like that, no matter what his father said.

Hope would come later when he saw it for his own eyes.