The next morning Kara is flying around her room getting dressed when Leoben wakes up. He watches her anxiously move around the room getting ready. She notices he's awake and sits on the edge of the bed to put her shoes on.

"Hey. I have to go check on the overhaul. I'll be back in a few hours. Would you like to have dinner with me again tonight?" She asks almost shyly.

"Absolutely."

"Alright then. I'll see you in a few." She doesn't kiss him before she leaves because she just doesn't think about him like that quite yet. He sighs and settles back into the bed.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Leoben goes back to his place after cleaning up after the party from the previous night. He moves around his apartment feeling lonely, missing her presents after only a few hours alone. He waits for Kara to come to him, since it was she who asked him to dinner.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Kara returns to her apartment feeling greasy and grumpy. The repairs were going to cost much more than she had thought. Money always made her unhappy. As she looked around her apartment she noticed that Leoben had cleaned up before he'd left. There's also a note. It says to pick him up for their date at his place and gave the address. She grins and heads to take a shower.

She chose a t shirt and slacks for the date knowing the diner she was planning to take him to wasn't very high class. She would make him change if he showed up at his door in a three piece suit like he had a few nights ago. She liked a guy that could wear both but she preferred the t shirt look.

She shows up a little early and rings the door to the town home. She steps back and takes a look around. It's a nice place. He answers the door with his tooth brush in his mouth and his shirt not buttoned. She smiled at catching him off guard. He smiles around the tooth brush and leads her into his place. He finishes brushing his teeth in the little hallway bathroom.

"I didn't expect you so soon." He comments moving his hands to his shirt. She stops his hands and he looks at her quizzically.

"We're not going any place fancy."

"You just don't want me to look prettier than you." He comments leaving the shirt unbuttoned. She snorts.

"As if you could." She laugha as he tries to look hurt. "So would you show me around? It looked impressive from the outside."

"Sure." He says grabbing her hand and dragging her further in. "This is the formal sitting room; I've never used it really." He moves further down the hall and the kitchen opens up into the back of the rest of the place. There is a set of stairs and he leads her up them.

"How many stories is this?"

"Four." He says stopping on the next one. "This is where I spend most of my time." He motions to the second floor which is one entire room. There is a desk and TV and couches she notices briefly before she is going dragged up more stairs. The next floor has two smallish bedrooms and a shared bathroom.

"Why do you need this much space?" She asks as they start climbing for the fourth floor.

"I don't really. It was my parent's property before they moved to Arelon and since I loved it so much they let me buy it." She pulls back on his hand.

"You bought this place?"

"I told you." He says moving back down the steps towards her. "People pay me a lot to listen." He places a kiss on her lips and tugs her hand. "Come on, my favorite part is up here." The fourth floor is similar to the second floor except that it's the master bedroom and about half of the floor is taken up by an amazing outdoor patio. There was a large terrace covered in ivy with chairs and a table under it. There were potted plants everywhere, even a small tree. It was like stepping out into a garden. She let go of his hand not bothering to look around the bedroom and walked out onto the deck. She looked out over his corner of Caprica City and was in love. She understood why he had wanted to keep the place.

"Your parents place on Arelon must be amazing." She comments as he came to stand next to her.

"It is. It's near the ocean." He places an arm on either side of her on the railing in front of her. She can feel the heat from his skin through her shirt and she sighs. At this rate they'll never get to dinner. It's like she can't touch him without it turning to sex.

"Well, shall you finish getting ready and we can go? I'm starving." He moves away from her and towards his closet. She follows him in there. "Gods you have more clothes than I do."

"I keep everything." He looks sheepish as he picks out a t-shirt. He looks at her for approval since she hasn't liked his previous choice. She nods. He pulls the shirt on not paying attention to his hair. It flattens in the front. She giggles and moves to run her fingers through it so the short blond hair stands up once again.

"Thanks." He breathes.

"Stop it." She points a finger at him.

"Stop what?" His eyes rove over her body.

"Thinking about me naked."

"How do you know what I was thinking about?" He teases moving to put shoes on.

"That's the look you gave me all last night thinking about what was under my dress."

"I was hoping for a repeat performance." He leads her back downstairs.

"Not likely. That was for shock factor." She says and head off towards the diner. They sit themselves at the counter. They order and he turns his body towards her. He moves a hand to move her hair behind her ear.

"So, how much longer on the repairs?"

"They're done." She comments looking sidelong at him.

"Ah, so you'll be shipping out tomorrow then?" Hating himself for asking.

"Yeah." She says absentmindedly.

"Well then, let's make this worth something." He smiles sadly, knowing it will be a while before she has enough time to spend with him again, but also knowing that he can't hold her down.

"So what made you end up on Picon?" She asked remembering his townhouse a few blocks away.

"I'm not really sure. It just seemed like something I should do. I spent about two years wandering around, getting to know people. I visited all twelve colonies. When I met you I had already decided to move back to Caprica." He takes a bite of the food just delivered. "Not very philosophical is it?"

"What part of life really is?" She asks idly.

"None if it really, but I like to pretend it is. So where is your next mission?" He asks feeling the conversation becoming strained.

"Near Geminon." She's definitely pulling away from him.

"Kara?" He says. She doesn't respond. "Kara." His voice warns. He moves his hand to her arm and grips it. She snaps out of the trance and looks at his hand.

"What?" She's agitated.

"Where were you just then?"

"Thinking."

"About what?" He asked.

"You, me, and "us"" She turns to look at him. "I've never felt this way. Not this fast. Zak was special but he had to take his time. He also kept his distance. You push me in ways I like. Your comfortable when you shouldn't be. And I don't want to leave. This is the first time I've ever had issues leaving a guy I was sleeping with. Usually I'm out the door before the light of day hits the sheets. But you make me want to stay. Do you realize what that is doing to me?" She looks upset.

"Turning your world upside down?" He offers some of his psycho babble.

"Yes. That, exactly that." She looks pained. "And yet I will take you back to your place and do wicked things to you later because I can't seem to help myself."

"Why does that bother you?"

"Because." Her voice is rising slightly, thick with panic. "Because it means that I don't just want you but on some level I need you. It makes me weak."

"It doesn't make you weak." His voice drops as he tries to soothe her.

"Yes it does. It means that when I go into a situation I will want to live more than I care if I die. It cripples me. It will inhibit the way I conduct business, because I'll always be trying to find a way back to you."

"And I will be sitting here waiting for you." He says the words he knows he shouldn't but she needs and wants to hear. It gives her the advantage. He saw last night at the triad game that she would exploit an advantage if she thought she had one. "Why would needing to see me again inhibit the way you conduct yourself? You're not physically weaker. You'll still be Starbuck. Besides, once your up there with your crew you'll feel more balanced."

"You think?" She turns to her food and pushes it away. He puts money down for their meal, feeling the conversation should be conducted in a less public place. They get up and walk slowly back to his place.

He grabs a bottle and two glasses and pulls her up to the deck on the fourth floor.

"Kara, Kara, Kara." He says shaking his head, feeling like his sitting down with a client rather than the hotshot captain she usually is. "What are you so afraid of?"

"The usual."

"Being alone."

"What?" She looks at him surprised. "I'm not afraid of being alone."

"Sure you are. You're afraid that everyone in your life will die. You've got no blood family left and the people you've relied on in your life have either walked out or died."

"Yeah well its not like you're going to promise not to die or walk out on me. You don't know me well enough to say you won't walk away when I frak up and you don't know when you'll die."

"Well even if this," he moves his hand between them, "doesn't work out, I'll still be around for you."

"Why?" She asks sipping her drink.

"It's what friends do. And I think I can call you my friend now." He smirks at that thought and sips his drink as well. She smiles weakly at that comment.

"Can we stop talking about this please?" She's very uncomfortable now.

"If you'd like." His eyes wander away from her angelic face as he tries not to think about how much its going to hurt to have her away from him. "What's your ship like?" He hopes this subject will be less uncomfortable.

"She's amazing. Not built for looks but large. We can carry quite a bit of cargo. Each of us has our own quarters."

"Yours being the largest I assume."

"Naw. They're all the same size. Makes things easier. But I do have a separate office for all of my paperwork." He snorts his drink up his nose at that comment, then swears at himself. She laughs at him as he gets up to wipe his nose as the whiskey comes out of it.

"You have paperwork?" He asks when he returns

"Absolutely. I have a ledger where I keep track of every haul we've ever done. Plus I have a separate log for the crew issues, and one for inventory of the ship. Oh and one on engineering and maintenance. In fact we just had our FTL drive repaired."

"Have you ever used it?"

"Nope. But I took all the classes at War College. I could calculate a pretty accurate jump if necessary."

"My father always told me if I got a ship to make sure the FTL worked."

"In case of Cylons?" She winked at him and wagged one eye brow.

"Ha-ha, yeah. He was a teenager the first time they attacked. He said he'd never forget the day it happened. He was at school and part of it was bombed."

"Wow." She said looking away. "Wait a minute, how old is your dad? He couldn't be that old when the first attack happened."

"He's in his seventies."

"And you're how old?" She asked.

"Forty six." She choked on her drink and her eyes widened. "What's with that look? How old are you?"

"Twenty-three" He cringes.

"I shouldn't have asked." He groans. She giggles. "It's not funny." He comments.

"It's a little funny." She says getting up and moving to straddle him. "How about now? Is it funny now?"

"No, but maybe a little disturbing." He can't think with her that close.

"Meh, what does it matter?"

"Right now, it doesn't matter."

"That sounds ominous."

"I'll try not to pick myself apart later for this. I never even thought about it until now."

"I'll make you forget about it." She says confidently leaning down to kiss him. Within minutes the disturbing fact has left his mind and all that is left are thought of her skin against his.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

He wakes up to an empty bed, and a note. He leaves the note and gets ready for work, not ready to face what she felt she couldn't say last night. Leoben goes to work and helps his clients, throwing himself into his work trying to shake off the emptiness that seems to be filling him.

When he returns that night he still avoids the letter, choosing to go about his business of the evening. It's late when he sits down with a glass of whiskey at his kitchen table. He sighs heavily and opens the note.

Leoben,

Looking at you sleeping so peacefully, I can't conjure up what makes me so afraid to want you.

Thank-you for a wonderful couple of days. I thoroughly enjoyed your company and hope to see you again when I return to Caprica.

Kara

Leoben stared down at the note. Technically it didn't say much, but to a trained professional it spoke volumes. She hadn't panicked and kicked him out of her life, and it didn't accuse him of any misdeeds. He actually smiled to himself and went to bed.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Kara stood in the sickbay of her ship and watches as Copper's blood flows out of him. The haul was supposed to be easy in and out. It had turned into a shooting contest, with her crew on the loosing side. They'd broken free of hard seal and jumped to the Arelon star system. Copper was only shot in the side of the leg, more of a flesh wound, but it had been a while since Kara had seen any wound. She sighed and let Hammer (their resident medic) tend him.

"What happened?" She asked Floyd angrily.

"The sleeping gas didn't work. I think someone had gas masks."

"Well, duh. But you guys are good. You know better."

"Is he going to be ok?" Floyd asks.

"Yeah, he'll be fine." She comments moving up to the command deck. Moose is sitting at the comm. working at changing the transponder signal. She turns as her commanding officer enters.

"You're getting sloppy." Moose states.

"And you're getting snotty." She retorts.

"He could have been killed."

"I'm aware." Kara comments sitting down to look at the read out from the FTL jump.

"Are you?" Moose says getting up and crosses the room. The smaller woman isn't imposing at all. Kara doesn't even stand up. "Do you give a rat's ass about us?" She spits in Kara's face.

"You're angry, I get that. But if you don't step back you're going to find out how much I care about the man down in sickbay." She warns.

"Oh yes, big ole military bitch is going to kick my ass is she?" Moose plants her hands on her hips and stares down at her captain. Kara puts the report down and stands up very slowly. Kara drops her right shoulder, faking that she's going to swing with her left. Moose takes the fake and tries to block the punch she thinks is coming to her face. Kara punches her in the stomach with her right fist. Moose doubles over before she can even think about it. Kara places a foot in front of her right foot and pushes the young woman face down straddling her shoulders. Moose tries to kick at Kara but the angle is wrong. Kara slams Moose's head down, not enough to damage anything but enough to let her know who's in charge. Kara leans down and whispers in her ear, "Don't even imply that I don't care. You don't even board the hauls, can't shoot a gun straight, and can't defend your own statements. Maybe I am getting sloppy, but you're not even in a position to be sloppy. So why are you here? Why did Dave keep you on his crew? Huh?" Moose tries to squirm out from under Kara but she just didn't have the leverage or the knowledge of how to get someone off of her.

Moose tries scratching at Kara's legs, not answering the question. Kara places her hand in the woman's hair and grinds her face into the deck plating. "If you want to insult me, you'd better be able to back it up." Kara says getting off the young woman. Moose tries to get up, but her head was starting to throb. Kara moves back to her paper work knowing that Moose would become an even larger problem now. "And if you don't trust me, you need to get the hell off my crew." Kara stormes out of the command deck to retreat to her office.

Kara knew she shouldn't have done that and she sighs to herself. She goes to her personnel ledger and writes the incident down, regretting slamming Moose's head into the deck plating. After she's finished with her reports she sits down and does something she didn't know she'd wanted to do until his face popped into her thoughts. She wrote a letter to him, to Leoben.

Leoben,

Just to warn you, this might become more like a patient/doctor note but I can't talk to anyone here about it so I thought I would write you. I just beat the snot out of Moose. I'm not sure why I let her egg me on, and for a moment I felt better. But now I regret smashing her face into the deck plating. Why do I always resort to violence? It's been my pattern my entire life. It's what got me kicked out of the military and here I am again pulling the same shit.

She didn't even say anything that horrible to me, just that I was getting sloppy. And maybe I am. Maybe I've let my guard down too much. Dave certainly did and that's what got him killed. I guess my next vacation is going to be basic training with my crew.

Well, we'll be stopping on Caprica in two weeks overnight. See you then.

Kara

She rereads the letter a few times and sends it, trying not to over think her life. She sighs and goes to work out.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Leoben reads the letter and begins anticipating her arrival, even though its weeks away. She didn't say an exact date so he asks Drew (his front end manager) to make sure the schedule is light that week. He smiles to himself and goes on working.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

A week later Kara and her crew are planet side on Geminon. There is a shooting range and obstacle course. Copper's leg is on the mend but it will be a while before he can go running the gauntlet. Kara takes her best pistol and hands it to Moose. The young woman's eyes widen.

"Now the point is to hit the target where you want to hit the target, but each gun will have a different accuracy that you'll have to learn to adjust for. That gun," she nods her head at the one she just gave Moose, "has the straightest shot I've ever found, so I figured we'd start with it."

"Why are you doing this to me?" Moose says suspiciously. Kara looks at her coldly.

"Because I can't have a member of my crew who can't defend herself." Kara puts her ear muffs on and picks up her gun. Moose follows suit. Kara fires three shots and hits the target towards the middle and off to the left. Moose tries the same thing, grazing the edge of the target once and missing it completely the second and third time. Kara watches as the kick back almost knocks Moose on her ass. Kara removes her muffs and moves over to Moose.

"Looks like we'll have to get you a smaller one." Kara comments.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means your small and they make guns for small women." Moose frowns looking dejected. "Don't worry; we'll get you explosive rounds so it'll make a bigger hole." Kara comments. Moose smiles in spite of herself.

"Really?" She says grinning. Kara snorts.

"Really."

"Thanks boss." She salutes Kara with the wrong hand. Kara smiles.

"Alright, lets get moving on this course. We've got to be back on the ship in an hour."

When Kara and the crew get back into the air, Kara checks her messages. There's a note from Leoben. She opens it up.

Kara,

I'm sorry to hear about Moose. I have faith you'll figure something out. And you never have to worry about turning into my patient. I try my hardest not to analyze you, but if you ever need advice don't hesitate to ask. I obviously enjoy helping people.

Can't wait to see you.

Leoben

She sighs sensing there should have been more to that note but pushes the thought away. She goes down to engineering to help Skid with the engine. The woman smiles at Kara as she enters knowing the captain only comes to work on the engine when she's upset, really upset. Skid doesn't bother talking to Kara, since its so loud anyway. That's part of why Kara ends up on the engine room, more to mediate than anything. Plus no one bothers to look for her here.