The rest of the time though, Lee had to settle for watching Kara from afar, like he had before tutoring and pyramid and the whole glorious mess that what his friendship with Kara Thrace.

What he saw was… different from before. For all his interest in history, there had always been a part of Lee that had rebelled against the idea that truth was dependent upon perspective. Something either happened or it did not. Theories were either right or they were wrong. People either knew something or they didn't, knew someone or they didn't.

But he was beginning to see that, in light of new information, what had looked like a complete truth could turn out to be just a single facet. He had thought that Kara was brilliant, and she was. That she was brash and ruthless and constantly teetering on the edge of something dark, held back only by an iron will and her own good humor. And that was true too.

What he hadn't known was that she was broken. She hid it quite well, but he could see it clearly now, in the way she held her shoulders when she had thought of something she wanted to say to him and then realized a moment later that she couldn't, by the way that she kept everyone, even Karl, even him, even before, at a safe distance.

She was obviously badly scarred from something. Something that probably should have destroyed her, but didn't, because Kara Thrace was one of the toughest people he knew. Not because of her bravado or her smoking or her drinking, but because of a quieter, more feminine strength, an ability to bear up under pain.

The fact that he'd given her more of that pain made him a little sick to his stomach, but mostly it fostered a burning desire to make things right, damn it, and he couldn't do that if she wasn't going to let him in. She hadn't looked at him, really looked at him, since the bar incident.

So he challenged her to an off-screen sim battle, and he did it in the mess hall, within earshot of at least 50 other wannabe viper pilots, so that she couldn't turn him down.

She'd shown up that Saturday, made a few friendly comments to the other cadets in the practice room, and proceeded to slaughter him in 30 seconds flat, which was probably some kind of a sim record. "I wish I could say that that was a good fight, but I'd be lying," she said.

She'd been trying for unaffected, but there was an edge of desperation to her voice that made Lee think that she wasn't talking about the sims at all.

He decided that was progress, so when she made a beeline for the door of the practice room, he followed her out into the corridor, ignoring the shocked looks of the cadets behind him. "Wait!," he called, and watched her back stiffen. For a sick moment, he thought she was going to ignore him again, shut him down like she'd been doing for weeks. Bitter disappointment washed over him; he'd been sure that the sims would get her blood boiling enough to actually spark a confrontation.

And then she twitched and whirled on him, eyes burning into his.

"What do you want, Lee?!"

"I…ummm..." and wasn't this brilliant. Now that he'd finally gotten her to talk, he had no reply for her. None that he was willing to say out loud, at any rate.

She turned away in disgust and starting walking again, and he couldn't let her leave. He lunged for her wrist, and those eyes were back on him again, dark and furious.

"Leave me alone."

"No."

There was a flash of something in those eyes, and then she punched him in the gut with her free hand, and he doubled over, but refused to let go. When she followed up with a kick to his kneecap he fell into the wall, and she was wrenched along after him, still caught in his grip. Then she tried to twist his arm to make him let go, and he panicked. Slammed his free fist into her side and shoved her up against the wall. Her face was suddenly mere inches away from his, and she was breathing hard, and his mind was a debilitating jumble of "Oh shit" and "Kara" and "I just hit a girl."

Sensing easy prey, she shoved him off her, and proceeded to drive her elbow into his adam's apple, three times, just as precise and scientific as she had been in the sims. He was afraid that was going to be the end of it, but when he dropped to the ground, gasping for air, she followed him down and straddled his back, twisting his arm violently behind him. She was pretty close to dislocating his shoulder, and even worse, he couldn't see her. There was no way this was going to end well…

"Thrace," came a tired-sounding voice, "What have I told you about the difference between hitting people and hitting on people? Let the poor Adama boy up, and report to hack. Now." Lee strained to look over his shoulder and saw one of the flight instructors standing there, looking put-upon.

Kara rolled her eyes. "The Adama boy started it," she mumbled, and he waited for it to turn into something more. Something to get him back for his words a week ago, but she merely sighed and climbed off him. The knee to his kidney was probably intentional, but then again, he couldn't really blame her. He did take a moment to wish that she wasn't quite so strong though.

And then he rolled over and announced, "I'm going too." His voice came out kind of hoarse; he was pretty sure she'd damaged something important when she'd went for his throat, but he didn't really care at the moment.

She was looking at him as if he were crazy, but that was okay too, because at least she was looking.

"Can you even stand?" It was asked with derision, but that actually made it better. It meant that she wasn't harboring any guilt. Perhaps they were in agreement then, and that had been payback for bringing up her father, and they were even now. He certainly hoped so. He missed her, damn it, and he wasn't sure he was up for another fight.

He stuck his hand out, and then cheered inwardly when she grabbed it, hauling him to his feet. She was really looking at him now, studying him as if he were some sort of lab specimen, and it occurred to him that perhaps she had expected him to accept her politeness, as if he wouldn't have a problem settling for a distant and quiet version of her. He thought of the viper jock who'd asked him for his secret and wondered how many times people had told Kara that she should be less, well, less Kara and more like the polite mockery she'd been giving him for the better part of a month.

The flight instructor was looking at them both incredulously, but had apparently decided that neither Lee's virtue nor person needed further protection.

He kept bumping shoulders with her on their way to hack, which probably meant that he was walking too close, but she didn't seem to mind, so he kept it up.