Author's Note: I'm glad so many of you enjoyed the last chapter. I was totally hesitant about leaving it as, err, graphic as it was, but now I am glad I did. Here we return to angst, angst, angst, angst. With this chapter I also debated just how to put it together, but have decided to just throw it out there and see what the lot of you think (I know it's a bit confusing, Lee is Night and Kara is Day, I hope this hint helps!)! Thanks again, we're almost at the end!

****NIGHT****

Lee barely slept. He dozed off shortly after she did, but he awoke well before dawn. She was still wrapped around him, making small noises in her sleep. He had never noticed that before. As he stroked her hair he realized how soft it was. So many things about Kara were hard and masculine, but so many more were feminine, they just weren't things she advertised.

He stared up into the sky above him and was shocked to see stars. This late in the night the ground and atmospheric temperatures must have met and let the sky clear. It was just as beautiful as it was in the temple, like a million tiny lights flickering above them. Looking up he saw the Lagoon Nebula faintly, the nebula that lead them down the perilous path to where they were right now. He silently thanked that road marker, for it lead him here, back to her.

Kara sighed and rolled over off of him. As she did he felt her warmth pass, and most of the blanket. He should have figured her for a blanket hog, she hogged everything else. He stretched out and felt the earth with his toes. It was damp and cold, but in a decidedly terrestrial way. His hands reached behind him to grasp the long grasses behind him. At night the meadow almost seemed like any autumnal meadow on Caprica. Sleep was something that just wasn't coming back to him. The fire was dying down, and there were parts that no matter how much wood they added would never be fully consumed.

As much as he didn't want to leave her, he knew he had to. There were things that were better done by dark of night than light of day. Things that he had to do. He pulled on his clothes and boots. Looking through the pack Helo had given him he found a flash light. The cylons and humans had been excavating on the beach and the supplies he would need would be there. There was still enough light from the fire to guide him back to here, back to her. He bent down and kissed Kara on the temple; she reached up and pawed him away. He couldn't help but laugh to himself on that one.

*****DAY*****

"Captain Thrace, Captain Thrace, do you read?" The sound of Helo's voice was coming from somewhere; of course finding that somewhere was difficult with your eyes closed. Kara felt around for her pack to find the wireless walkie hanging off of it. "Godsdamnit Starbuck are you there?" Helo was losing his patience. Either the world was ending or Hera kept him up all night, it was hard to tell these days.

"Captain Thrace here." She said, and sunk back down into the covers as she released the button.

"Do you know where Lee is, did he find you?" There was urgency in his voice.

"Yeah, he's right…" She started as she rolled over to find, absolutely nothing. "Erm, he was here, but I don't know where he is." The disappointed tone in her voice gave her away and she knew it. She didn't care though, Helo had known her a lot longer than Lee, and seen her through way worse than being abandoned. She reached her hand over to the spot and it was cold, he hadn't just sneaked off to relieve himself, no, he had been gone for quite some time. Touché Lee, Touché she thought to herself.

"I need you to find him, and now, otherwise I'll send a unit of marines or a raptor to find him."

"What's the frakking rush Helo? It's not like it's the end of the world, cos that happened a long time ago here." She squinted, it wasn't sunny out, but it was bright, the sun reflected off the atmospheric dust to light up this miserable place. Where were her clothes, she wondered as she remembered she was naked, although it's not like half the marines hadn't seen her that way anyways.

"Kara, it's just…" there was something else in his voice, what was it? She couldn't quite put a finger on it. "Something's happened up here, and we need to speak with him immediately."

Kara's mind immediately wandered to the worst case scenario. Did the old man die? Did the president? It seemed to her those would be the only two real important things that could happen which Lee would be needed for, that and maybe her own death, but here she was alive, well, alone, and talking to Helo. If that had happened surely Helo would have told her.

"If I see him I'll let him know to call in." As she rolled back towards her pack she saw her clothes neatly folded and piled near her pack. Next to it was an opened bottle of water and an algae bar. She never took him as the love 'em and leave 'em type (except for with the hookers, and why that man ever paid for what he could readily get for free looking like he did was beyond her), the care he put into starting her morning off decently only proved her right.

She held the blanket around her as she stood up to dress. There was one thing missing, her underwear. Well, it wouldn't be the first time she went home without them. She shrugged her gear on, but kept the blanket wrapped around her. This planet was damp in the morning and the cold seeped into your bones. Plus, it smelled like Lee.

She looked over where the pyre had been the night before. Everything was gone. No ash, no burn ring, no remnants, nothing. For a moment she almost panicked, wondering if she hadn't hallucinated the whole event. It quickly dawned on her what had actually happened, Frakkin' Lee, cleaned up another of my messes. She thought, but where was he? While there were rolling hills around the area, they weren't exactly large enough to hide anyone. Behind her stood a lone forked tree, how anything of its size thrived here was beyond her understanding. Maybe this dead old rock was coming back from the dead; at least it was something she could relate to.