Sometimes, Lee wondered if it would be wrong for him to demand that someone tell him what exactly was this history he kept hearing people whisper about when he and Kara started their flirty bickering.

Sometimes, Lee wondered if it would be wrong for him to demand that someone tell him what exactly was this history he kept hearing people whisper about when he and Kara started their flirty bickering. They were bickering right now, and he most definitely was not turned on. In fact, he was doing all he could not to smack her in the mouth.

He meant to tell her exactly that, but for some reason, different words came out of his mouth. "Did you get your pass to Cloud Nine approved for tomorrow?"

"What?" Kara exclaimed. They were just arguing about the inefficiency of the newest class of nuggets and now he wanted to talk about leave passes.

"You mentioned yesterday that you had the day of and were going to see if you could get a ride over to Cloud Nine."

"Yeah," Kara said, narrowing her eyes. "I got it approved. Why?" She felt her heart freeze as Lee got that familiar look in his eyes and stepped closer to her. "Lee…"

"I thought that maybe you and I could hash out what exactly it is that the rest of the crew sees when we're together. They think we're fraking, you know."

"Really?" Kara whispered, her eyes already lighting up with mischief. "I wonder what could give them that idea?"

Lee bit his lip and leaned in. "Well, we end up standing pretty close when we get to fighting."

Kara turned to smirk at him. "I guess we do."

"I make you laugh pretty damn loud."

"Especially when people are trying to sleep in the bunkroom."

"It's inappropriate," Lee agreed.

"What else?" Kara asked, giving him her best innocent look. People were starting to glance their way, although they were trying to hide their curiosity.

"Well, I guess you and I tend to stare at each other a lot."

"Why would you say that?"

"I heard Kat using the phrase 'eye fraking' when she was talking about us last week."

"Eye fraking?" Kara gave a small nod. "I'm proud. That's rather clever."

"I know."

Kara let out a soft laugh. "You do realize we're staring right now?"

"And you're laughing," Lee pointed out.

Kara rested her hands on his chest. "And you are standing awfully close."

"I am."

Kara narrowed her eyes at him. "Are you asking me on a date, Lee Adama?"

"Are you saying yes?"

Kara turned her chin up, brushing her lips lightly across his, before stepping back. "I'll see you tomorrow evening, Captain."

And that was how he got here to this moment, sitting in some fancy restaurant he didn't even know was on Cloud Nine with his best friend and lead pilot who happened to be wearing the brightest smile on her face to match the sexiest dress ever made on her body.

Lee leaned across the table and was pleased when Kara moved in, too. "Do you want to get out of here?" Kara raised an eyebrow, and Lee felt himself blushing. "Not like that, Kara."

"Than like what, Lee?" she said teasingly.

"There's a pub down on the second level that a few of the new nuggets were raving about. They're supposed to have the best turkey sandwich in the Fleet."

A smile slid across Kara's face. "Beer and sandwiches?"

"You love beer and sandwiches," Lee pointed out.

"Lee, we're pretty dressed up."

"Don't worry. I won't let any drunken fools take advantage of how beautiful you look."

Kara felt a blush come across her cheeks, and Lee vowed to tell her that more often. She snapped out of it rather quickly, though, the embarrassment filtering away to her usual sarcastic grin. "And I'll do the same for you."

Lee got to his feet and offered Kara his hand. She took it and together they walked out of the restaurant that was not them in a million and a half ways.

The bar was noisy but not too crowded. Lee watched Kara relax almost immediately. This had been the right choice. He settled her in to a table out of the main path of traffic and went to the bar to grab a few pints.

"I ordered food," Kara said as he settled into the booth next to her. She took a glass out of his hand and sipped. "You got my favorite!"

"As if I would think to get anything else," Lee chided. Kara smiled at him and took another drink.

Lee was taking his own taste of the pints when he felt her foot brush up his leg. His eyes went wide, and for two seconds he was scared stiff. That is, until she started laughing. "The look on your face," she gasped between breaths. "Oh gods, Lee. I was just taking off my shoes and you would think I was propositioning you to take off all your clothes so I could frak you on the table."

Lee glared at Kara. "You know I have issues, Kara."

"Ellen Tigh issues," she added and started into another fit of giggles.

Her laughter didn't stop until the waitress had brought over their sandwiches, and even then, she ended up chuckling every few minutes. Other than the incredibly annoying yet pleasing sound of her mocking him at every turn, they managed to have a civil meal. In Lee's mind, that was a miracle.

"So what did you do on your morning off?"

Kara's question caught him off guard. Last he checked she was intent on devouring that sandwich without chewing. "I went to see the President."

"How's she doing?"

"For a woman who's recovered from cancer because she got injected with baby Cylon DNA, she's doing amazingly well."

"Good to hear. I was scared we were going to have to bow down to Baltar."

"Word on the street says you don't mind doing that," Lee teased and earned himself a rather colorful gesture. For the millionth time, he was grateful that they had gotten to the point where they could tease one another about what happened on Colonial Day.

"Well, word on the street also says I'm fraking you, Captain, so maybe you're the one who should mind it."

Lee rolled his eyes and took a look around the bar. It had filled up quickly in the past hour or so. He was about to turn back to Kara when his eyes caught on a familiar face. Smiling, he motioned Helo over. Kara would probably want to say hello.

The massive smile that broke out on Kara's face told Lee he had been correct. "Karl! What the frak are you doing here?"

"I got a last minute pass. I didn't know you two were down here." Helo's face scrunched up in confusion. "Why are you down here?"

"Lee took me on a date," Kara said, cheerfully beaming.

Helo raised his eyebrows. "Really? You took her on a date to a pub?"

"Well, he tried to make it fancy," Kara insisted.

"But it turns out Kara and I aren't really the fancy type," Lee finished.

'We're the beer and sandwiches type," Kara said, holding up her empty glass. "Someone get me another!"

"Gods, how many have you let her have, Captain?" Helo teased.

Lee laughed loudly as Kara stuck her tongue out at Helo. "I think this is what I missed the most," Helo said, sliding into the booth. He knew Kara and Lee wouldn't mind. After all, they were already on the most bizarre date in the history of the Twelve Colonies. "When I was stuck on Caprica, laughter wasn't easy to come by."

"How are you adjusting to its reemergence in your life?"

"Fairly easily. I mean, being around Kara and getting to witness her acting like an idiot in every sense of the word can pretty much cure anything."

Kara glared at him. "Is this pick on Starbuck night?"

"Yeah, Helo, you're ruining our date," Lee teased. "We were just in the middle of a serious discussion on how President Roslin is doing."

Helo nodded. "I heard she had an amazing recovery."

"Well, this morning she wanted to talk more about the morale on Galactica rather than how she was feeling. So it was business as usual." Lee let out a small chuckle. "Though we did have a rather interesting conversation about what the secret of life was. The President hinted that she had given it a lot of thought as the cancer wore her down, and I wanted to know if she had been given a moment of clarity at the end."

"And did she?" Kara asked.

"No. She said she just felt blank." Lee said. He turned his attention to the waitress as she handed him another round of pints. She must have heard Kara bellow before.

"You know I've always thought that the secret of life is there really isn't a secret," Helo said, taking a sip of his fresh beer. "And you don't really get your money back."

Kara and Lee stared at him for a moment before turning to look one another wide-eyed. They both burst out laughing at the same moment. "Frak me, Helo. Do you always have to be so serious?" Kara cried.

"I thought it was profound," Helo objected. He gave a large sigh and got to his feet. "Well, I'll let you two get back to your date, strange as it may be."

Kara glanced around the bar as soon as Helo left. "We should probably get going, too. There are a lot of pilots starting to show up."

"Why is that a problem?"

"You're their CAG. They're going to want to buy you drinks." Kara shrugged. "I don't feel like sharing you tonight."

Lee rolled his eyes and got to his feet. "You make me feel like a possession," he said, offering Kara his arm which she quickly took.

"You are, and for at least the rest of tonight you belong to me."

It took Kara and Lee almost twenty minutes to make it to the door. Kara had been right. There were a lot of pilots showing up and they did all want to talk with Lee. They both hoped to have a moment's peace when they got to their Raptor, but they knew that wasn't an option as soon as they saw Grinder was their pilot. The fraker wouldn't shut up even when you threatened to throw him in hack.

The second they had landed on Galactica, Lee grabbed Kara's hand and they jogged through the hangar bay as fast as her heels would allow.

"Lee, stop!" she giggled as he continued to pull her through the corridors.

"I thought you liked these runs," he joked, slowing down.

"I do when we're not making a huge scene about it."

"Kara, I hate to break this to you, but you always make a huge scene."

She glared at him all the way until they came to a stop outside the senior officers' quarters. The air between them shifted to something a little more serious. Leaning against the corridor wall, Kara smiled. "Thank you for taking me out, Lee."

"I needed it as much as you did," Lee whispered as he set his hand on the wall near the side of her head and inched closer.

"The past few weeks have been bad for you," Kara agreed.

"It helps to get back to what we deem normal these days."

Kara watched as Lee inched closer with every word falling from his lips. He was going to kiss her. They had just been on an actual date, and now Lee Adama was going to kiss her. Her mind shot back to the memory of how he had greeted her when she returned from Caprica. He kissed her then and later told her he loved her. Lee Adama loved her and now he was going to kiss her. "We're doing that standing too close thing again."

Lee nodded and leaned in to brush his nose against her hair. She smelled like heaven. He pulled back to see her eyes were wide with what he thought looked like desire. He hoped to the gods that he wasn't misreading this.

"And the staring thing," she whispered.

"But you're not laughing," Lee pointed out.

"No, I'm not." Kara bit her lip and just had time to grip the wall before Lee's hand slid up to cup her face and then they were kissing.

In the middle of the hallway.

The CAG and Galactica's top gun.

Going at it like two school children.

Like most other times in her life, Kara could give two fraks. Lee Adama was kissing her like there was no tomorrow, and it was about fraking time. Evenutally, as Lee's hands moved down her body, Kara could feel them starting to cross a line that shouldn't be crossed in the middle of a corridor. "I'm not putting out on a first date," she whispered as Lee's lips shifted to kiss that sensitive spot behind her ear that she had no clue how he knew about.

Lee's laughter tickled her skin. "Damnit. I thought you were a sure thing."

Kara smacked him playfully on the arm and pushed herself off the wall and away from the strength of his arms. She pushed open the hatch of the bunkroom and stepped inside. She felt more than heard Lee follow her into the room and didn't chance a glance back at him until she had changed into sweats. He was sitting on his bunk watching her. He had taken the time to slid off his jacket and unhook the top few buttons of his shirt, but that was it.

"What?" she said, knowing she was probably glowing right now. He was going to make fun of her.

Lee smiled back at her and shook his head. "Nothing."

"No, it's something," she said, walking over to stand in front of him.

"This isn't going to go away in the morning, is it?" Lee asked as he pulled her down into the bunk next to him.

"Us?" Lee gave her a quick nod. "No, I don't think we're going anywhere, and if that was your way of asking me on a second date, Lee, the answer is yes."

"Thank the gods," Lee said, a huge smile spreading across his face, "because I heard you put on second dates."

Kara smacked him lightly and then leaned in for a quick kiss. She could get used to this level of familiarity. "Get some rest. You have early CAP in the morning," she whispered before sliding out of his bunk.

She could feel his eyes on her as she got into her bunk. Settling in, she pulled the curtain almost completely shut. She waited the few moments it took Lee to change and as she watched him slip into the bottom bunk opposite her, she smiled. "I guess we gave them something to talk about."

"Mission accomplished," Lee said.

Kara slid her curtain shut, and with a smile on her face, did her best to go to sleep. The Old Man was going to love the gossip that would be circulating tomorrow. She couldn't wait to see his face.