The world stood before them with its proper water supply and fruitful vegetation, but as Kara watched the civilians begin to settle, she couldn't help but ask Lee, "So, do you want to steal a Raptor and fly until we find a world that's a little less perfect and a lot more interesting?"


The world stood before them with its proper water supply and fruitful vegetation, but as Kara watched the civilians begin to settle, she couldn't help but ask Lee, "So, do you want to steal a Raptor and fly until we find a world that's a little less perfect and a lot more interesting?"

Hearing the shakiness behind the cocky tone of voice, Lee walked over to the co-pilot's seat and sat down. "Tell me what's wrong, Kara."

She sighed and kicked her feet up onto the control board. "It's nothing. I guess I just got used to constantly being on the run. It was comforting."

"This place could be comforting, too, if you give it time."

Kara nodded, but Lee had a feeling she was just humoring him. He could understand where she was coming from. It was hard to make the shift from constantly running for your life every second of every day to just sitting around and wondering whether building homes or raising crops was your new life calling. Things were especially hard for people like Kara. Her heart was in the skies, but in about a month, the skies were going to be off-limits. The Fleet had to keep a low profile if they wanted to avoid the Cylons' attention.

"Things are changing already," Kara whispered. The sadness in her voice was almost tangible.

Lee let out a deep breath and settled into the chair. He had nowhere to be right now. "Like what?"

"For starters, just this morning, Hot Dog asked me if I wanted to find a nice little farm to settle down on with him."

"And you said?"

Kara twisted to look at Lee. "No."

He smiled. "Good."

"Seriously, though, Lee. Things are going to be different. The Old Man's up there in the skies, and he's not going to come down unless they kill him. Roslin needs you and I on the planet. Helo's halfway down the road to becoming a hermit now that Sharon's died. The nuggets I trained so hard to keep alive are just casting their wings aside without a second thought in order to settle this place. It's almost like flying meant nothing to them. The Chief's getting married. Cally's all pregnant. Tigh's stopped drinking. Zarek's stopped covertly terrorizing all of us. Roslin is actually talking about instilling that ridiculous repopulation program thing, and I cannot for the life of me understand why these people aren't unhappy."

"It seems like you've covered all the bases," Lee said, looking over at her.

"Almost." Kara turned back to stare at the forest through the Raptor's window. "That's the worst part of all of them. You and I are the one thing in my life that hasn't changed yet. It's taken us a long time to get to the point we're at. I think it would kill me if that were to change."

Lee reached across the distance between the two pilots' seats and grasped her hand. "It won't."

"How can you be sure?"

"I don't know. I just know that it won't."

Kara hadn't even realized her eyes were pooling with tears until one started its slow descent down her cheek. Sniffing, she pushed it away and decided it was time for a safer topic. "I miss flying."

Lee squeezed her hand. "I'm sure we can work something out to fix that. Besides, there are better things to do than fly."

Kara shot him a look of disbelief. "Like what?"

"Like pyramid." Lee knew she missed that part of her life. "Or painting." Kara still wasn't smiling. Lee didn't like that. "Or there's always fraking. Hot Dog did offer you a rather comfy life."

Kara chuckled. "I'd rather settle down on a farm with Tigh."

"Wow. You really hate Constanza that much?"

"He's the pain in my side that won't go away." Kara waited a moment before adding, "But he was a good pilot."

There was a soft beep from the back of the Raptor to indicate there was a comm call coming through. "I should get that," Lee stated.

"Yeah. You really should. Roslin probably wants to ask you to be the poster child for her baby program." Kara smirked. "Lee Adama, encouraging procreation across the Fleet since the Cylon holocaust. It has a ring to it."

Lee twisted in the seat to gently smack her upside the head. "Very funny."

"I thought so," Kara insisted, settling back into her seat.

A few minutes passed by and whomever was trying to contact them didn't make a second attempt. Kara figured that was a good sign. This was the first moment of peace she had been given since they found this stupid planet. The fact that it was with Lee was just too good to be true. "You know, I might not say no if you ask me to settle down on a farm," she pointed out.

"I was saving that little surprise for your birthday," he teased.

Kara smiled, and she felt his grip on her hand tighten. "Just make sure we have room for a painting studio. I am not giving up my art for you."

"I would never ask you to," Lee hissed, playfully acting shocked that she could think such a thing. He waited a moment before tugging on her hand.

Kara let him pull her out of her seat and into his lap. She felt his arms come around her waist and smiled.

"So tell me about this more interesting planet of imperfection we're going to find," Lee whispered.

Halfway through her description, Kara decided that maybe Lee was right. Maybe they didn't have to change if they didn't want to. Maybe they could have it like this forever.