Helo was sitting by one of the tables of the mess hall by himself eating his dinner. He had spent most of the afternoon with Sharon, who seemed to be doing pretty well, considering that she currently lived in a cell. This 'peace' seemed to give him a lot of free time in that ship, allowing him do basically whatever he wanted even though he had a position that, in normal circumstances, would demand a lot of time and responsibility.

Suddenly, the chair located at his right side was occupied by none other than Kara Thrace, who was currently exhibiting a smug smile on her face. He didn't know if he should stay and talk to her or run away like a little girl – that smile could mean something dangerous.

"You look happy," he pointed out, not bothering to stop eating.

She stole one chip from his plate. "That's because I am," she replied, smiling even more.

"Hey, hey! Hands off my plate! Do you have any idea of how many strings I had to pull in order to get a decent meal of beef and chips?" Helo said, protecting his food from her.

"A lot, apparently," Lee, who had, at some point, occupied a chair by his other side, murmured. "How come I am the Commander and I don't get meals like this one?"

"You were not the one who wiped the cook in triad last night, Apollo," Helo informed him. Actually, he had been wiping the cook for the past week and, as the man already owed him a small fortune, they had set his debts with food.

Kara snorted. "You've got to invite me to these games, Karl. I'm sure Zak's imaginary dog ate better than we do in this battlestar," she pointed out, trying to unsuccessfully steal another fry.

He groaned. "As much as I love your presence, I need to ask you this: Did you just come by to steal my food?" he asked them.

Kara and Lee shared grins. "We've got some news," Lee informed the XO.

"What kind of news?" Helo asked unsure. He stared at Kara, whose smile was still in place. Too smiley, too happy, he considered. "You're not pregnant, are you?"

She immediately frowned and hit him on the back of his head. "Don't be stupid, Karl," she said as he rubbed the spot where he had been hit.

"Frak, woman! I was just guessing," he mumbled. "So, what's the news?"

"We got married," Kara announced in an all-too-natural tone.

Karl just stared at her, then at Apollo. Seconds later, he started laughing like crazy. "You two… are frakking… with me," he concluded between laughs.

The couple stared at the XO in disbelief. "We are not kidding, Helo," Lee assured him. "We did get married. Back in New Caprica, more exactly."

"Okay, then show me your rings," Agathon requested, now able to control his laughter. He was so not falling for that one.

"Do you really think that back in New Caprica people just sell rings in every corner of the street?" Kara asked him. Actually, the ceremony had been so rushed that they didn't have any time to look for wedding bands at all. "It doesn't matter; we'll have time to take care of that later. Just hear me out, Helo: We actually got married!"

Something in her eyes assured him that she was not joking or lying or anything else. Kara Thrace had gotten married. He turned to Lee. "What did you do? Begged? Sworn your eternal servitude?"

"Actually, she was the one who proposed," Lee declared. He had a lump in his throat. Part of him was still in shock, completely unable to believe that the woman sitting a few feet away, the woman he had wished for so long was now his wife. He just wanted to ignore everything, everyone in that hall and start their wedding night right there.

Helo looked in shock, so it took him a few seconds to get a hold of himself and snort. "Well, I guess Kara's looking forward to be the man in this marriage…" he joked.

"Shut up," she told him, tempted to hit him again.

Karl shook his head. Kara had proposed. Kara. He had to admit that it was a big improvement for her – for someone who kept running away from happiness, getting married to the guy was a giant leap. "Well, I guess congratulations are in order then… but don't think I'm not mad for not being invited. Shame on you two."

"It was kind of rushed, as you probably can see," Lee pointed out, remembering the ceremony – small but perfect. "It was only the two of us and a priestess."

"Plus, you are the first person we're telling this," Kara added with a smile. "I also wanted you to be my Best Man, even though we're already married." He was her best friend, not to mention a big supporter of her relationship with Lee, so he was the obvious choice.

The XO scratched his chin seeming to be considering the offering. "Well, if it really necessary…" he murmured in a fake disdain voice.

"Thanks for the excitement," she said sarcastically.

"You're welcome," he told her, smiling smugly. Helo was genuinely happy for her. His best friend had found happiness and married it. Lucky her. How much he wanted to do the same with Sharon… He immediately dismissed these thoughts of his head – now was Lee and Kara's moment. "So, what are you supposed to be called now? Mrs. Commander? Captain she-Adama?" he inquired.

Kara raised an eyebrow. "I think you can keep sticking with Starbuck and Captain Thrace," she informed him.

"But only in official business," Lee added. "Because, outside of it, she is Mrs. Adama." The word 'wife' was still echoing in his head. Part of him was still expecting to wake up from that highly vivid dream. If he was really sleeping, he hoped to keep doing it forever, because that was how long he wanted to stay with her – forever and ever and ever.

"Oh, Mrs. Lee Adama, the commander's wife," Helo said, turning to Kara with a mocking grin covering his face.

"You're an ass," she told him, stealing more chips from his plate just to annoy him.

"Get away from my food!" he shot, pulling his plate closer. "Isn't this your wedding night? Go do wedding stuff. Frak, fight, get bored out of your skulls… just leave the Best Man alone!"

"Come on, honey, let's go. The Best Man is cranky," Lee suggested to Kara as he got up from his chair.

Kara obliged and got up as well. "The Best Man needs booze to clean his spirit," she pointed out, joining her new husband as he left the hall.

--

New Caprica – One a half hours earlier

"Isn't there a frakking priest in this rock?!" Kara asked frustrated. "Back in Caprica, if someone said 'wedding' there would be a long line of guys offering to perform the ceremony."

They had been looking for priests for the last fifteen minutes but they didn't seem to find any, which was getting them insane.

"We could ask Roslin," Lee suggested. "She's all religious. I'm sure she must know one or two."

"Wait, there's Jammer. Let's ask him first," she said, walking in a high speed on the direction of the former deckhand from Galactica. "Hey, Jam, where do you think we can find a priest?" she asked him when she reached him along with Lee.

"A priest now?" he asked, scratching his head. "Let me see… I think a priestess lived somewhere in the main street. Right in front of the school. What do you need a priest for at this time, anyway?"

"That's for us to know and you to find out," Lee told him. "Thanks for the help, Jammer."

"Sure," he mumbled before they started running to the priestess' tent.

They had approximately 40 minutes before their raptor arrived, which meant they had few time to get married. It didn't take them long to reach the tent in question.

"Excuse me?" Lee called from the outside of a tent.

They waited a few seconds before a short old woman came to the tent's entrance. "Yes?" she asked in a kind voice.

"You don't happen to be a priestess by any chance, do you?" Kara asked, hoping the woman would confirm it. She just didn't want to go running after some other priest.

"I am," she said. "How can I help you?"

"We need you to marry us… right now," Kara informed the woman, who raised an eyebrow. "We kind of have a raptor to catch…"

The priestess sighed and invited them in. "Let me see what I can do, alright?"

As the woman walked around the tent getting books and all the kind of stuff, Kara, once again, leaned her head against Lee's shoulder and grasped his hand. They were so close…

The next minutes passed as a blur. At some point, they had gone to 'their spot' and stood together, along with the old priestess under the moonlight.

The priestess sighed and looked at both of them. "Let me charge you both to remember that your future happiness is to be found in mutual consideration, patience, kindness, confidence, and affection," she said. "It is your duty to love each other as yourselves, treat your pair with respect, support, and create a healthy, happy home. It is the duty of each of you to find the greatest joy in the company of the other; to remember that in both interest and affection, you are to be one and undivided."

The ceremony kept going and Kara didn't realize that she was in a verge of crying until it was time to say the binding words.

"I do," Kara declared.

The priestess turned to Lee. "And Lee, do you take Kara to be your wedded wife, and in the presence of the gods do you vow that you will do everything in your power to make your love for her a growing part of your life? Will you continue to strengthen it from day to day and week to week with your best resources? Will you stand by her in sickness or in health, in poverty or in wealth, and will you shun all others and keep yourself to her alone as long as you both shall live?"

He looked Kara in the eyes before answering the priestess, which increased her heart beat in a way that made her throat hurt with the spasms of her carotid artery. That was the moment… "I do," he said.

"Now that you have given yourselves to each other by the promises you have exchanged, I pronounce you to be husband and wife in the name of the Gods," the priestess finally declared.

Lee cupped Kara's face and pulled her for a kiss – the first of a new phase of their lives. After the priestess had announced that she would have the paperwork sent to Pegasus for them to sign and congratulated them, she left them alone in there. The moonlight illuminated their features, just like in their first night together.

He caressed her cheek with his thumbs and kissed her forehead, pulling her to a tight hug. "I love you so much, Kara," he murmured in her ear. "You're mine, now."

She took one step back and, seconds later, smiled at him. Kara asked herself why his words didn't bother her anymore. Issues aside, she was his and he was hers. Like a symbiotic connection, a vital extension of each other's body. "I love you even more…" she told him, not even bothering how vulnerable she might look at the moment.

--

Present time

Kara turned the lights on in hers and Lee's quarters and he followed her inside. The cabin seemed exactly like they had left it, but at the same time, so different. Her heart was once again jumping inside her chest with happiness. Two strong arms enveloped her from behind.

"Welcome home, Mrs. Adama," Lee whispered lovingly in her ear.

"Kara Adama," she murmured. "So many 'a' in a damn name… How come this sounds so right?"

"'Cause it was meant to be," he said, kissing her neck before letting go of her waist. "Wait here," he said, going to the extra room in their quarters.

It was still filled with boxes and books – most of them from his father. Lee opened small drawer from a dresser located by the door and took a blue velvet box out of there, returning to the main room, where Kara was already seating in the sofa. Lee joined her in there and showed her the box.

"My dad gave this to me a week after we told him that we were together," he said, opening it for her to see what was inside: two silver wedding bands. Not fancy, as there was no rock, but classy at the same time. "These were my grandparents' wedding rings."

"They're perfect, Lee," she murmured, looking at them. It fit them: plain and simple.

"I'm not sure yours will fit…" he told her. "We'll have to try."

It did fit her like a glove, she concluded seconds later after putting it on. Both of them looked at their rings in disbelief – it seemed like a fantasy.

"So… we're married," Lee said.

"We are…" she repeated. Kara Adama, echoed in her mind. She was smiled at him and got up. "I think we have a marriage to consummate…"

He grinned, got up too and, to her surprise, lifted her from the floor into to his arms.

"Hey! What are you doing?!" she asked in shock.

"I'm following the tradition – the groom gets to carry the bride to the room in their wedding night," he told her as he carried her to the bedroom. "You don't want to jinx our marriage, do you?"

"Stupid tradition," Kara pointed out in annoyance. Actually, part of her was enjoying that tradition. The warmth of his arms, the sensation of being carried by him…

He placed her in the bed carefully and joined her in there, exchanging lingering kisses with his new wife. Gods, he kept shivering whenever the word 'wife' came to his head – not because he regretted anything, just because it was so good that I feared the thought of it slipping away

"How does it… feel… to be married… so far?" he asked between kisses. Personally, he felt high - his sensed were heighted, he felt euphoric and, most of all, so turned on…

"Fan-frakking-tastic," she responded. She could easily say that, so far, that had been the happiest day of her life… "Gods, we actually got married! How cool is that?"

"Very…very…much," he replied between kisses.

A/N: How nice was that? They got married! Thank you for the feedback last chapter, don't forget: 10 more reviews will get you a preview in my live journal page - see my profile. Help me reach 100 reviews, please. I'm almost there!