Disclaimer: I don't own them.

For rjsteamboat76, who challenged me to write outside my normal ship.

- I'm Here

Kara sits on the empty beach throwing rocks into the water, watching the sunset and thinking about the two last things she ever expected to see again: a Caprican sunset, and Karl Agathon.

She didn't plan on accepting the President's mission to return to Caprica, and until she spooled up the raider's FTL drive, she was pretty sure she wasn't going to. Yet here she was, sitting on the beach she used to visit as a child with her best friend's head laying in her lap.

She remembered the last time they were on this beach together. It was the summer after they had graduated from Officer's Candidate School, before she stayed here to teach basic flight at the base and he went off to War College on Aerlon, three worlds away.

They had made love that night, too. Then, it had been a way to hold on to each other a little longer after they had said their goodbyes. Now, it was an expression of relief and gratitude in finding each other alive. Both times Karl was gentle and generous, his touches soft and loving. Both times she had cried from the sheer physical and emotional intensity of the orgasms he brought her to, and both times he had held her afterwards and stroked her hair until her crying stopped and they had both had fallen asleep.

They had never dated. They were never a couple by any modern definition, and had never crossed the line into a sexual relationship until that one night, and never again until now.

He is her closest friend. He knows more about her than Zak ever did, more than Lee thinks he does, and he doesn't judge her for any of it. He has her back and catches her when she falls and she does the same for him.

She watches the slow rise and fall of his chest and knows she'll have to wake him soon, but for now she leaves him to his dreams. He looks peaceful for a man who's been through hell the past six months, keeping one step ahead of the cylons. His ordeal shows in the scars on his body, his thinner frame and his cautious nature, but his face is still handsome, though older and strained.

She gently rakes her fingers through his hair and he stirs, turning his face into her stomach and curling an arm around her waist. Gunshots ring out in the distance, reminding her that peace doesn't last for long on this changed world. The exchange of gunfire is proof to them that there are people still alive and fighting against the cylons, and they're hoping to find them and lend a hand until they can find a way back to Galactica.

She ruffles his hair a little harder this time and he opens his eyes.

"Come on beautiful." She says. "The fighting's starting up again and we need to get moving."

He stretches lazily then gets up slowly, reaching out his hand to help her up. As they walk in the direction of the gunfire, his arm slides around her shoulders and he pulls her close, kissing the top of her head. "I'm glad you're here, Kara."