As Racetrack landed the raptor on Pegasus' landing bay, Kara's heart raced. So, this is the beginning… she thought.

Lee grasped her hand. "You ready?" he asked her.

"As ready as I can," she said.

The raptor's door opened and they stepped out, still holding hands. A tall brown haired man that Kara recognized as being Hoshi, Pegasus' communications officer, was waiting for Lee outside of the ship with a pile of archives on his hands.

"Welcome back, Commander," he greeted Lee and turned to Kara. "Captain Thrace."

Kara responded with a nod.

"So, fill me in what happened during my absence," Lee said.

Hoshi passed him the archives. "These are the requests of the crew to move down to New Caprica, sir," he explained. "There are about a hundred of them and they include your XO and CAG."

"A hundred?" Lee asked in surprise. "I understand they want to settle but we can't leave this ship with such a hole in the crew…"

"And Petty Officer Dualla called from the surface of the planet also requesting to settle in there," Hoshi continued.

Deep down, Kara felt a bit sorry for Dee… Dualla had moved to Pegasus to be close to Lee but ended up being dumped for her.

Lee took a deep breath. "Alright, send all requests to my quarters. I'll be staying there for the rest of the day thinking of what to do about this."

"Yes, sir," the communications officer told him. "Captain Thrace, do you need me to request transportation for you later?"

"No, Hoshi. I'm being transferred to Pegasus," she stated.

"Really? Couldn't come in a better time," he said. "Sirs," he saluted them before leaving.

"Looks we're back in the real world and you are in trouble, Apollo," Kara told him. "Everyone wants to desert you."

"Don't remind me of that," he said. "Let's go."

Kara followed him through the hallways in the direction of his quarters. Things between Lee and her were changing fast – they had jumped from friends to lovers in one single night – but it was either that or nothing. Kara Thrace was not one for soft changes, they had to be radical or else she wouldn't bother working on them. The choice was taken now and she believed it had been the right one; after all, she had wanted Lee for years…

"Hey, aren't you coming?" she heard Lee ask her. Kara found herself standing still in front of the hatch that led to his quarters as he held it for her.

"Yeah, I was just thinking," she replied, entering immediately Pegasus' luxurious commander quarters.

Lee dropped the files Hoshi had given him on a table and threw himself to the couch. Kara sat by his side silently and looked around the room. She had been there before but she had never noticed how much bigger they were than the Old Man's in Galactica. Apart from the entry hatch, there were three doors.

"This place is big," Kara murmured.

"Yeah," Lee agreed. "Cain had some enlargement works done before the attacks, even made herself a second office."

"Wasn't one enough for her?"

"That's what I said when I saw it. I had the place dismantled and now it is full of boxes and old paperwork. It was useless. Maybe I'll make a personal gym or something," Lee told her.

"Make sure you grant me access to that gym of yours when you finish it," she told him.

They spent several minutes in silence. None of them really knew what to say. It was obvious they needed to discuss their new relationship and what they would do with in the future…

"Gods, I have sand everywhere in my body. I'm gonna take a shower," Lee declared, getting up. "Wanna come with me?"

Kara raised an eyebrow. "Is that code for 'Wanna frak in the shower'?"

"Well, er…" he mumbled with a visible bush covering his face.

"You look cute when you're embarrassed," Kara joked, getting up as well and kissing him. "Let's go to the shower, Apollo."

--

Lee was stretching lazily in bed looking at Kara as she dried her hair with a towel a few feet away.

"Why are you staring at me like that?" she asked him when she noticed him looking.

"Because I can," he told her. "Plus, you're very easy in the eyes. After all these years peaking in the bunkroom I can actually look at you without being considered a pervert."

"Mr. by-the-rules Apollo actually peaked in the bunkroom?" Kara inquired, pretending to be outraged as she joined him back in bed. "Isn't anything sacred for you, Lee Adama?"

He pulled her closer to him. "You are," he replied.

She looked up at him with the same expression she had used last night – vulnerable. Part of her still didn't believe they were actually together, that he considered her sacred. Fate had never been that generous to her…

"So, we need to discuss a bunch of things, don't we?"

"Yeah," she said.

"We're together. What now?"

"I don't know," Kara replied. "I just know that I want to be close to you for now."

He felt the same. Her presence was enough to make him happy for now. The rest were just details.

"That's fine with me," he told her. He looked at the alarm clock by the side of his bed and sighed. "What the hell am I gonna do about all the discharge requests?"

"You have to choose who stays and who goes," she told him. "If I had to be the one to pick I'd just throw them in the air and let those that fell on top of the furniture go."

Lee laughed and looked at her. "I'm amazed by how rational that method is, Kara," he told her sarcastically. "But I think I'll find some other way to pick the officers who go."

"Over half the crew in Galactica was asking to move to the planet too, you know?" she informed him. "Your dad told me yesterday."

"I need to talk to him," he stated, getting up. "Maybe he has an idea to help me."

"'Kay, I'm gonna stay in bed," she said. "I could sleep here forever, you know? This bed is so comfy… unlike Galactica's bunks."

"Feel free to do it," he told her before leaving for the main room.

She stretched on the bed and rolled to Lee's side. His pillow still smelled like him… How they had survived so long apart was still a mystery to her. She remembered the first time she had met him, it seemed so long ago…

--

Five years earlier – Delphi

Kara was in a crowded bar with Zak. His older brother would be coming to the city and Zak wanted to introduce him to her. However, he seemed to be late.

"You sure he's coming today?" she asked him. "Maybe you're confusing the dates."

"No, I'm sure it was today. Lee told me this morning," Zak assured her.

"It is better be, 'cause if you made me wait for nothing, I'll shoot you," Kara threatened him.

Zak pretended to be scared. "Oh, please don't."

"Zak!" someone called across the room. A tall brown haired man was coming in their direction through the crowd.

"See? There he is," Zak told her. He got up just in time to envelop his brother in a manly hug. "Long time, no see, big brother."

"Yeah, it's been what? Six months?" he asked.

"Seven, since Colonial Day," Zak corrected him as both of them sat down by the table.

Lee seemed to immediately notice her presence. "Hey, I'm Lee Adama, Zak's brother."

The first think she noticed on him was how blue his eyes were, like she could drown in them. "Kara Thrace," she introduced herself. "Zak's girlfriend."

"Oh, so you really exist," Lee said, pretending to be surprised. "I wondered if you were a product of my little brother's imagination. You're way out of his league."

Zak elbowed him in the ribs. "Frak off."

"Seriously, Zak here has a fertile imagination. I could swear he was making it all up when he gave me a full description of you by the phone," Lee continued, ignoring Zak. "Did he ever tell you about his 'dog'?"

"Don't believe a word he says," Zak told her.

"When he was six, he had an imaginary Pit-bull named Biff," Lee told her.

She burst in laugher. "An attack dog," she said. "Very advanced for a six-year-old."

"He tells that stupid story to everyone," Zak murmured and turned to his brother. "Good thing you only stick around for short periods."

"Yeah, about that… I'm transferring to Caprica. Picon is too hot for me," he stated.

"Really?" Zak asked in a tone that reminded Kara of a kid receiving a birthday gift.

"Oh, you seem pretty happy for someone who had just said that I being far away was good," Lee told his brother.

"Well, I have to admit that having you around has its perks. Like being able to eat decently," Zak said. "He was always a good cook," he informed Kara.

"Someone had to feed you when Mom was…distraught," Lee murmured.

"So, you're staying in the Delphi base?" Kara asked him.

"Yeah, I guess the three of us will be seeing each other a lot," Lee told them.

"Great," Zak said. "I'll get drinks so we can celebrate." He got up and went to the counter.

"So, my brother mentioned he met you in flight school. You're in his class?" Lee inquired.

She laughed. "Not exactly," Kara said. "I'm his flight instructor."

Lee raised an eyebrow. "Zak's dating his flight instructor?" he asked surprised.

"Pretty much," she confirmed. "You're not gonna shout it to the skies, are you? Zak mentioned you slept with the regulations book behind your pillow."

"No, that would surely get you both in trouble," he stated. "You and Zak are old enough to know what you're doing. I can't chase you around quoting the regs. Plus, he seems happy. We don't get to see him like that very often. Just be careful, I don't want my little brother to get in trouble."

"We are as careful as anyone can be," she assured him in a serious tone. "Anyway, did you manage to beat my flight records?"

"Your flight records?" he asked her confused.

"I was active for one year and reached the highest flight scores in the colonies," she explained. "I was just wondering if you have already beaten them. Zak mentioned you were Apollo, the bloke who was right after me."

"Right after you?" He was confused again. Then, it hit him. His brother arrived with the drinks in that same moment. "You're dating the Starbuck and you didn't tell me, Frak-Head?!"

"It never came up," Zak mumbled as he sat down.

"Surprised?" she asked.

"Of all the women in the universe, my brother had to be dating the pilot who I'm about to dethrone from the top of the highest flight scores," he said. "Of course I'm surprised."

"Keep dreaming, flyboy," she told him skeptically. "You'll never manage to defeat me. And if by a rush of good luck you are, I'll beat you all over again."

"You should make a race," Zak suggested. "It would be a fun thing to see."

"Just tell me when and where," Kara said. "Starbuck never refuses a race."

"Neither does Apollo," Lee replied.

"Great," Zak said. "I'll collect the bets."

--

Present time

Kara laughed at that memory. Apollo had ended up getting his ass kicked in the race and Zak had become hundreds of cubits richer.

Lee re-entered the room with a worried expression on his face.

"What's wrong?" Kara asked.

"Baltar," he murmured. "That asshole approved a decree that forces us to dismiss anyone who requests to move to the planet."

"Wait, so if the whole crew wants to move down there…" Kara started.

"We can't stop them," he finished. "Looks like I have no CAG, no XO and, by the way things are going, no crew."

"We're screwed," she murmured.

"You have no idea…"

A/N: Here is chapter 2. I'll try to update every two days from now on, I'm NOT promising anything. I hope you liked this chap. I'm still a bit unsure about this fic, so please tell me if I'm doing it alright or not. Remember, Review!