A/N: I'm going to admit, some of this was influenced by listening to The Cure's Lovesong way too much. Death Cab for Cutie has an excellent cover. Check it out if you want to have an idea of what was going through my head! Also, I am working on dialing down the angst, cos this has quickly gone from just standard angst to angst. I promise the story will lighten up a bit now! Keep the reviews coming! Thanks to everyone who has favorited this story!!!

Lee had intended to kiss her chastely, to give her a small kiss of reassurance. It started that way, but now he could feel her need, her hunger and her desperation start to consume it. His hand tangled into the back of her head, and an arm slipped beneath the jacket to pull her in to his body. She tightly gripped the coat he had on.

She broke the kiss, pulled away breathless. She untangled herself from his grip and wiped her mouth with her sleeve. The gesture hurt him, but he knew what to expect with Kara.

"Only you Lee." She said with a small smile and a shaking of her head. He could see a slight light in her eyes that had been sadly missing for months.

Lee crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back a bit, "What do you mean?" He replied with a small chuckle.

"There's just something about you, there's always been something different about you."

"Well I do put up with a lot of your shit." He smirked.

"You aren't afraid of me. Never once. Hell, I've even scared the shit out of the Old Man, but never you. Sam, gods, Sam the CYLON is scared of me. I can feel it when he looks at me, when he touches me. Like one false move will be the end of him."

Lee interrupted, "Kara I really don't want to hear about you and Sam…"

"That's not what I mean. When he touches me, it feels like this empty gesture. Like he's doing it because it's what he's supposed to do, not because it's what he wants to do. It's so empty, hollow. When I first came back I think it was genuine, but the longer I'm back the falser it feels. You're the only one who really touches me. You can brush past me in a hallway and my body burns. I can feel your gaze across a room full of people. Sometimes I think I know it even before you do."

Lee Adama knew better than to intrude on Kara when she was in a sharing mood. She turned to face the fire.

"The only time I've felt alive since I came back, the only time I feel like myself, is when I'm alone with you."

There were times when the only thing Lee wanted to do was sweep her up in his arms and tell her that everything was going to be okay, that he would protect her, that he alone would love her they way she was always meant to be loved. This was one of those times, but he knew she wouldn't stand for it and he resisted the urge. Instead he opted to purge some of his own feelings.

"When you were gone, it felt like I died a little inside. Everyone reacted differently. Dad and Anders took to the bottle, the latter making a right ass of himself more than once." Lee smirked a bit remembering Anders on the flight deck. "I was envious of them, because at least they could feel something enough to stop feeling bad. All I felt was lost and empty…" His words trailed off as did his glance.

"It had started to fall apart a long time before that, but that was the last straw for Dee. She had always been a poor substitute for you, but I think she knew that without you around I would never really be happy again. She knew she had made me happy a handful of times, but your shadow loomed so hugely over it. Frak, the day I asked her to be my wife was in retaliation to you marrying Sam. She said she would be happy to have me until you took my heart back."

Something deep in the fire popped off a few times. Kara looked at it, startled, but far from surprised.

"I suppose there's a Viper in that inferno, a pilot too." He took a moment to absorb what he was saying. "That's pretty poetic for you, a plane becoming its pilot's pyre. An artist yes, but I never took you for a poet."

She smiled at that. She looked back at him, he was kicking the dirt around, and he ran his hand through his hair. A hand that was suspiciously missing something.

"Where's your ring?" She asked, looking at the ground around him to see if it had fallen off.

"Probably being recycled into munitions."

A quizzical look passed over Kara's face.

"Dee filed for divorce; the paperwork went through a few days ago. With all the craziness I guess I didn't get a chance to tell you."

"Does the Admiral know?"

"Of course, he had to sign off on it, because she's an officer and I'm a former officer." He looked over at her, "It's not like you've been wearing yours. When did you stop?"

"When Hotdog told me about Anders sleeping with that frakking toaster Tory, and all the other women. Well, and I heard all about his nights down at Joe's and the flirting. Hotdog really has a big mouth, don't trust him with anything." She looked up at the sky, "Things were done with us before I went missing, by the time he moved to the Salpica we were over."

"But when you came back I thought things were better."

"Sam's loyal, I'll give him that. He's loyal like a dog, and is capable of being a pretty frakking rabid dog. We are better off as friends. He never wanted to settle for being second best. Anyways he deserves more than that. Maybe now he and Tory can have little toasters, or he'll knock up a Six or an Eight, he's always had an eye for them."

"Really?"

"No, but it's what I tell myself to feel better."

Kara walked over to a pile of wood and started throwing more on the fire. Lee went over and offered her a hand.

"I guess we won't be touring Kara Thrace's home of the future here."

"What future? This place makes New Caprica look like a vacation spot." Her trademark wittiness had returned. Lee noticed that in the few hours they had been together she was returning to her old self.

She went over and took another gulp out of the jar, it was almost empty.

"Looks like you're running low on degreaser."

"Why Lee Adama, if I didn't know better, I would say the great and mighty Apollo was disappointed that he can't get a girl drunk." She said as she shot back the rest of the liquid.

"More like it's cold as frak out here and that stuff at least warms you up temporarily." The chill in the air was increasing as the night progressed.

"No fear, as a soldier, I come prepared!" She announced as she pulled another larger jar out of her pack.

"Gods Kara, how long were you planning to be here?"

"It takes the edge off of dealing with Leoben, and it's a good disinfectant. I didn't know what I'd be running into out here."

Lee could see that already she was visibly intoxicated. Give Chief credit, the stuff is fast.

He took the fresh jar from her hand. "It would seem this new body isn't as broken in as the last one. Are you getting drunk already?"

Always full of brass and balls, she scoffed at him. "You sir, I think have had too much to drink!"

Lee picked up the empty jar and poured some in, he handed the jar to her. "I think this would be an appropriate time for a toast." She held up the jar with a wavering hand.

"To broken marriages!" He announced.

"To broken planets!" She proclaimed.

"To returning from the dead!"

"To being President for about 5 minutes!" She laughed.

"To Lee and Kara!" He offered.

"To Starbuck and Apollo!" She retorted.

They clanked their glasses together and drank. Kara cleared the jar of its contents and threw it into the fire. The glass shattered and quickly began to bubble in the heat of the burning tillium and wood. She wiped her mouth with the sleeve she had previously used to wipe him away. He screwed the lid back onto the jar and set it back down. In those few moments he had made up his mind.

She could see the intent in his eyes. He walked towards her with a purpose. Kara stifled a giggle, his face was so serious. She admitted to herself, maybe, just maybe she was a little drunk. When Lee Adama, when Apollo, set his mind to something there was no derailing him, no matter what you thought. She saw the pilot in him right now, the CAG, not some politico, he meant business, whatever that business was.

He grabbed her by her upper arms and looked her straight in the eye. "What's stopping us now?" His tone sounded as if he had come to an epiphany.

She snorted, "From doing what?"

"Being together." She could feel his breath on her cheek as he replied into her ear. His voice was low, serious, as if he was trying to keep someone from hearing him.

"We know this won't work."

"Kara it's been the end of the frakking world, you might have died here, our only hope was pinned on a dead planet, and we keep coming back to each other. That tells me everything I need to know."

He didn't give her a chance to answer. His mouth was on hers before she could register to think. This time he wasn't chaste, wasn't even close. He knew deep down inside that he was the only man who could ever properly kiss Kara Thrace. Her knees faltered slightly, which gave her away. Hungrily he probed her mouth with his tongue. She sucked on his bottom lip with just enough teeth to make him see stars. Every time he kissed her he knew she was the only woman he was ever meant to kiss.

She could feel his intention this time around. The last kiss was for comfort, this one was pure need.