Lee heard her silently singing one of her father's songs to herself in the bunkroom on the anniversary of his death and made sure that he kept the area clear for a few hours.

It started with a nagging feeling in the back of Lee's mind that today was different than most days. What with being CAG, though, most days were different than most. There was always some anniversary to remember, be it birthdays of one of his pilots or deaths of some of their loved ones. They ranged the gamut from marriages of over thirty years to that one great fling on Leonis before the attacks.

Like most situations, it wasn't his day to remember, but when he finally figured it out with the help of a few well-chosen words from his father, he knew he should have.

Because this day meant a lot to her, which meant it meant a lot to him, too.

Even though he knew better, Lee spent most of the day rearranging his schedule so that he had the night off. It wasn't because he knew she would need him. She never did. He just knew that he needed to be there. Even if she had no clue, he needed to be waiting in the wings to help.

By the time he came off the early CAP assignment he managed to con out of Duck, he was exhausted. There had been a million and one frak-ups in the twelve hours or so since he woke up, and it seemed like he was the only one who could fix most of them. Lee had never been the guy with all the answers, and it was odd to find himself in that kind of position now.

Lee could feel people staring at him as he stumbled through the corridors, but he ignored it. He was the Commander's son and Galactica's CAG. It seemed like the crew always had some reason to stare at him.

He was determined to just keel over in his bunk and pass out right now so they could just look their fill then.

Even in his rush to get unconscious, he still managed to hear the soft sounds traveling through the corridor. It wasn't anything that would stand out from the normal chaos of the battlestar, but it just so happened that Lee had been listening for this particular sound all day.

Lee heard Kara silently singing one of her father's songs to herself in the bunkroom on the anniversary of his death. He shut his eyes for a moment and remembered back to the small bits Zak had told him all those years ago. This was Kara's song, the one her father had written in honor of her birth.

There was a loud bang from the other end of the corridor, and Lee's eyes flew open. There were several of the senior officers heading this way, and it looked as if they had just finished a rather exciting triad game, the kind where no one left sober.

Lee tried to put on his best CAG face and suggested they all go down to the mess and try to pull themselves together. Grizzly whined that he just wanted to sleep for a millennium, but Pinball quickly nudged him to shut up. Everyone snapped their best drunken salutes at him, and Lee suggested they not show their faces for a quite awhile.

The sound of Kara's singing was still filtering through the cracks of the hatch, and Lee sighed. He let his back hit the wall and then slid to the floor. The least he could do for Kara right now was keep the room clear for a few hours so she could remember her father properly. He leaned his head back against the wall and started wondering if you could sleep with both your eyes open and all your senses still going at full blast.

Lee wasn't sure how much time had passed when he heard the hatch slowly creak open. He looked up to see Kara standing over him. She was wearing his hooded sweatshirt from Atlantia. The hood was pulled up to shadow her face. "That's my sweatshirt."

"I know." Kara shuffled back and forth for a second, and Lee realized she had been crying. "I needed it."

Lee gave her a small nod as he got to his feet. They stood in silence for a moment, and Lee was suddenly very thankful that it was the middle of a shift. The corridor was deserted.

"What are you doing out here?"

Lee knew he should have expected that question, but it still took him by surprise. He cursed himself for not thinking up an answer. "I was-"

Kara butted in before he could start rambling his way to an excuse. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want."

Lee crossed his arms in front of his chest. Gods, this was uncomfortable. "I was giving you a little time to yourself. I figured you needed it."

Kara bit her lip, and Lee wondered if she was going to start crying right here in the middle of the corridor. "Thanks."

"No problem."

Someone Lee had never seen before finally walked down the corridor. They must have appeared rather intimidating because the kid never looked their way.

"I…" Kara's voice seemed to cut off abruptly, and Lee lifted his eyes to take a look at her. She was definitely crying. "I called down to the CIC. They said you weren't on shift."

"I traded my CIC shift with Munroe so that I could have the late CAP which I switched for Duck's early CAP."

"Oh."

Lee felt his heart pull as Kara used the back of her hand to wipe her eyes and nose. It was the movement of a little child, and somehow he found that endearing. "Did you need something?"

Kara's body tensed immediately. "What?"

"You called down to the CIC for me. Did you need something?"

Lee watched her eyes fall down to her hands as she mumbled, "I didn't want to be alone."

"Okay," Lee whispered. He reached out and tugged on the ties of the hood. The hood tightened around her face, and Kara rewarded him with an annoyed look. "Let's go back into the bunkroom."

Kara gave a small nod and turned around. Lee felt himself smile at how adorable she looked with his sweatshirt all tight around her face, running shorts wrinkly from over use, bare feet on the cold metal grating. If he didn't know her heart was aching right now, he'd let himself be selfish and focus on how she looked even more.

Lee slid the hatch quietly shut and leaned down to grab the metal bar laying on the floor.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm dogging the hatch. You don't want to be alone right now, but I'm pretty sure you don't want a crowd either."

Kara gave a small nod, and Lee slid the bar into the handle of the hatch. He tested it a few times. It would hold. He turned to find Kara sitting on his bunk, staring at him. "You look tired," she observed.

"Same could be said for you." Lee started pulling his flight suit off as he moved closer to his locker. It ended up in a ball on the floor, too dirty to even think of shoving into that small confined space in front of him. He felt Kara's eyes on him as he pulled off his sweat soaked tanks and shorts so he rushed to slid on a clean pair of boxers.

It wasn't that he felt strange being naked in front of her. Gods know he had been a thousand times before. This time felt different, though. It could have something to do with Kara being so vulnerable, but he just didn't feel comfortable. Kara had a bad habit of doing impulsively stupid things when she was upset, and Lee's goal today was to be a friend, not destroy their friendship.

Sighing, Lee looked at his reflection in the locker mirror. Kara was right. He looked exhausted right now.

He slammed the locker shut as quietly as he could. Kara was pretty jumpy right now, and she was liable to kick him out at the first wrong move.

When he got close to his bunk, Kara pushed the hood away from her face and then silently slid back against the far wall of his bunk. He laid down on the hard mattress. It was only a few seconds before he lifted his arm and she moved close to his side.

Her tears felt warm against his bare chest.

Lee moved his hand to stroke her hair lightly and let out a deep breath. Sometime he thought a vulnerable Kara was the only sight he couldn't take seeing. It was wrong on so many levels, and he just wanted to figure out a way to keep it from ever happening.

Kara's arm tightened around his waist, and he could feel her sobbing. Soft words of comfort fell from his lips. He didn't really think about what he was saying, and Kara didn't seem to mind. Her crying settled down after a few minutes.

Lee let his eyes drift up to the bottom of the bunk above him and sighed again. He hated that he couldn't fix this for her.

"I miss him, Lee."

"I know, Kara" he whispered, tightening his arms around her. "I know."