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All Kara know what that she had to leave. To stay would be too painful. After everything they’d been through to get here, it almost didn’t seem worth it anymore. They’d lost lovers, friends, family. There was no one member of the crew who hadn’t lost someone. Lee looked broken, and Kara knew it was her fault. He tried to step closer, but she knew it would make it even harder to say goodbye. “So what about you?” she asked with a feigned smile, stepping back slightly; putting the distance between them again. “What are you gonna do? Today is the first day of the rest of your life, Lee.” The optimism in her voice, she knew he could tell was all for show.
He shrugged. “I always thought when this was all done, I’d kick back; relax; spend the rest of my days doing the absolute minimum humanly possible.”
Kara tried desperately to hold back her tears. She knew what he was saying. And she wanted that too; more than anything. To spend the rest of her life with Lee Adama almost seemed like it was possible now. It was something she wouldn’t have to fight for.
“And now that you’re here?” she asked, almost distantly, still caught up in her own thoughts.
“I wanna explore,” Lee said, as an excited smile erupted on his face. She hadn’t given him a straight response, and whether he was coving his earlier words, she was unsure of. “I wanna climb the mountains,” he continued. “I wanna cross the oceans; I wanna… Gods, I can’t believe I’m saying this, it sounds so exhausting. I must be crazy.”
Kara looked down and a weak smile crept onto her face. If he thought he was crazy, she could only imagine what he thought of her. She laughed slightly.
“What I said back on New Caprica; I meant it,” Lee said more seriously, stepping closer again. This time, Kara did not back away. “I love you, Kara Thrace.”
She looked up, a pained expression in her eyes. She knew he’d meant it. She’d meant it too. But Sam; Dee. Was it really that simple? Could they really just move on? They both knew they’d settled for second best, and their fates had brought them here. Together. With nothing but each other. It almost seemed too simple now.
Lee moved forward again and put his arms around her, holding her tight into his chest. “It’s not gonna be easy. It’s gonna take effort on both our parts. But we’ll make it work. Together.”
Kara let the tears spill over, dampening Lee’s shirt. She sobbed quietly into him. He lifted her face by her chin and guided her lips towards his. The way he kissed her, it was unlike the kisses she’d received from him in the past. It was desperate. Stay, it said. She was all he had left, and he, her. If he thought they could work, maybe they could.
She kissed him back. For you.
For us, he replied.