William Adama found the bodies of his two children, hands entwined, on the farthest hill of the battlefield, and knew without a doubt that they had crawled great distances to be near each other in the end.

ooooooooOOOOOOOOOOoooooooo

William Adama found the bodies of his two children, hands entwined, on the farthest hill of the battlefield, and knew without a doubt that they had crawled great distances to be near each other in the end.

ooooooooOOOOOOOOOOoooooooo

Kara Thrace had never expected it to go down like this. The Fleet was supposed to return to lay down cover fire while the resistance got as many people as they could onto ships and up into the air. There weren't supposed to be collaborators. Her own people weren't supposed to turn against her.

Her eyes swept across the remains of what had been the marketplace. There was blood, bodies, metal everywhere. She twisted to look out into the fields surrounding the city. Everyone was still fighting.

As she watched her friends fighting for the right to be free and knowing there was nothing she could do to help them, her mind slipped back to the previous night. She had been talking over the plans with the Chief when word reached them that the tactical team from Galactica and Pegasus had arrived. They were here to help coordinate the escape.

She had made it to the tent's opening when Cally burst into the tent. It only took one look for Kara to know. Lee was planetside.

She found him on the hillside outside the center of the resistance compound, staring at the lights of the tented city below. They stood side by side in silence for the better part of an hour.

It was Lee who spoke first.

"I couldn't let you do this alone."

Kara didn't take her eyes off the horizon. She didn't want him to know that her eyes were shining with tears. "Thank you."

Lee waited a moment before turning and making his way down the hill. Kara stayed rooted in the same spot for the next two hours.

She was staring down the same hillside right now, only this time there was no calm peace in the air. Everything felt like it was happening in slow motion. Kara twisted to fire into the wave of Centurions headed her way and managed to take out a few before they hit the first line of defense.

A Leoben model broke through the line, and Kara watched him take aim at her. Her hand wasn't quick enough, and there was a small ache in her stomach. She kept her eyes locked on Leoben and watched as Kat put a bullet in his head.

Her hand moved down to hold the pain in and came away stained red with blood. She looked across the battlefield as the fight pushed past where she was standing. She found him immediately. He was fighting with Boomer. Kara knew without looking twice that this was the one they had both served with on Galactica. Lee was fighting with his bare hands. If it was any other model, he would have shot Boomer in the head and moved on. With this one, he had a grudge.

Kara pressed her hand into the wound on her lower abdomen and started hobbling through the fray. She bit down on her lip to keep the burning inside. She wasn't going to let herself lose focus. Her right arm was practically useless. It had been broken in the first stage of the escape. Yet she still clutched her gun. She was going down fighting.

She was fifty yards away when Boomer got hold of the gun.

Thirty yards away when Boomer knocked Lee to the ground and aimed a kick at his face.

Twenty yards when Boomer aimed at Lee's chest.

Ten yards when Boomer pulled a trigger.

Five yards when she didn't hesitate to put a bullet between her old friend's eyes.

Another shot rang out, and Kara felt the slug enter her arm.

ooooooooOOOOOOOOOOoooooooo

When William Adama was young, his mother told him a story of the two humans beloved to the goddess Aphrodite. The goddess of love had spent her whole existence searching for the presence of pure love in hearts of humanity, and she finally found it in Linaris and Misia. They were two warriors of opposing tribes bent on protecting the lands both of their peoples had lived on for centuries. Reality caught up with them when they met in the middle of the battlefield. They hesitated, and both were felled by arrows of their own men. Legend had it that the bodies of Linaris and Misia were carried away from the bloody fields by Aphrodite herself. They were buried side by side in a tomb in the City of the Gods.

He wasn't sure where the memory of that story came from. All he knew was something was off and he wouldn't be able to sleep until it was fixed. It was midnight on Galactica, the only love he still had in life. The memorial service was set for 0900. He was to say goodbye to his children.

The hangar was cleared of all extraneous personnel and ships by order of the President. There were thousands of people expected to attend the service, and it seemed Laura Roslin was the only one able to stay focused at a time like this.

Adama could see the handful of crewman assigned to this graveyard shift filter out of the bay as soon as they saw him approach. He was grateful for the solitude. The coffins sat side by side in the middle of the large, expansive room. William Adama ran his hand over the smooth oak wood that would surround his children. He wasn't sure where these vessels were found, but he was grateful to not have to feel the cool metal of the normal military coffins.

He bowed his head and began to ask the gods for forgiveness. He had failed to protect his children when they needed it the most. The tears were welcome to him as he embraced the guilt that would last him for the rest of his life. "I'm so sorry," he whispered to the empty vessels. He wished he knew if his children could hear him.

"I thought I would find you here."

William Adama straightened up at the sound of his XO's voice, but he didn't move to brush away the tears. "Is something wrong, Saul?"

"No," Tigh said, stepping up to stand beside Adama. "I came down here to tell you that Lieutenant Agathon is looking for you. Helo has been asked by the President to say a few words at the service in the morning, and I think he wanted to get your approval on the passage he's chosen to read."

"I don't care," Adama hissed. "He can say whatever he wants."

"It's the fifth section of the Book of Pythia, the one that speaks of the twin children of Zeus."

"Apollo and Artemis," Adama said, shutting his eyes as the painful memories of his son and daughter laughingly teasing one another flashed through his head. "It's a wise choice. Tell Helo I approve."

The hangar returned to silence. Tigh watched his oldest friend slip back into his shell and wondered if things would ever be the same again. "Is there anything I can do to help, Bill?"

The familiar stony expression was locked on Admiral William Adama's face when he turned to look at his XO. "Do you mean that?"

"Anything you want, I'll get it done."

"I want my children to rest together."

Tigh waited a moment before responding. "I don't understand."

"Talk with Cottle. I want Lee and Kara to rest in the same coffin." The image of his lifeless hands of his children locked together on the cold ground of New Caprica made Adama's heart ache. "That was the way they intended it."

"How do you intend on explaining why there's only one coffin to the crew?"

"They'll understand," Adama insisted. Tigh waited a moment before nodding. He exited the hangar as quietly as he came but left behind a feeling of closure that hadn't been there before.

Adama unbuttoned the top of his dress jacket and wrapped his fingers around the metal chain on his neck. He unclipped the clasp and pulled the two loose dogtags out of his pocket. He held back the tears as he slipped the small pieces of metal onto the worn chain. They gently knocked against the three tags already attached.

462359 and 462753.

Two numbers that represented his heart.

"Lords of Kobol, hear my prayer. Watch over the souls of Lee Adama and Kara Thrace so that together they may rest peacefully in the City of the Gods. Let not even death keep them apart…"

ooooooooOOOOOOOOOOoooooooo

The throbbing from the wound in her arm shot through Kara's body for a few seconds, finally coming to a rest next to the pain in her stomach. She dropped the gun, mostly out of surprise at the rawness of the pain.

Biting her lip, she staggered the last few feet and collapsed beside Lee on the cold ground as an explosion rocked the battlefield. The second wave of the escape had begun. The base stars were destroyed. It wouldn't be long now until the freighters started landing to take the survivors back up into the sky.

Kara wasn't stupid. The pain in her side had slowly faded away. She barely even felt it. Her arm felt numb. She just wanted to lay here and not move, but she didn't. Reality was breaking her heart, and she knew she wasn't just going to give up without fighting for one last thing.

She pulled herself up a few inches and, reaching out, laid her hands on Lee. She could feel the rising of his chest through the soaked material of his double tanks. His eyes were closed, but he was still alive. She ducked down against him as another explosion burst in the air above them.

"Kara?" His voice was faint, too quiet to compete with the sounds of the struggle around them. She watched his eyes slid open. They were already glazing over. Time was running out.

The sounds of the chaos around them faded out. Kara slipped her hand into his and tried to hold back the tears. This was not how this was supposed to happen. They were supposed to make it out of this alive. They were supposed to live to see the thirteenth colony. They were supposed to get the chance to stop fraking lying to one another.

Lee's grip tightened, and he twisted his head to look at her. He moved their joined hands up to brush her tears away.

Kara didn't quite know how to say what she felt. She wanted to deny this was happening, but the sad look in his eyes told her that wasn't possible. They had wasted so much time, and now there was none left.

She wanted to beg him to tell her everything was going to be okay one last time. She wanted him to show her that this was all worth it, all the pain they had caused each other and all the small flashes of love that they had shown each other. She needed to know that death wouldn't change them.

Lee's voice was shaky. "Stop crying, Kara. Everything's going to be okay now."

Kara struggled to speak but the stingy acid taste of blood in the back of her throat made her pause. Trying again, she managed to mouth thank you. It earned her a smile from the man at her side, and somehow she knew it would be his last.

"There's nowhere I'd rather be," he whispered.

She wanted to tell him that she loved him in these last few moments, but she knew that the words would just sound wrong. They had never really said them in life. Why should they say them now in death? Lee knew how much he meant to her, and she was starting to get the idea that she meant just as much to him.

Laying on the battle-torn grass, she kept her eyes on Lee for as long as she could. She could see his life fading away inch by inch, and her own eyes grew heavy. She leaned in to kiss his temple and gave in the urge to rest her head, letting her eyes slid shut. She didn't want to see Lee slip away. The world faded slowly.

Their hands stayed locked together even after their final breaths had gone.