Kara stands next to Lee and flexes her hand, the temptation to take his like a living thing inside her. It's an instinct she doesn't understand - she'll frak him, or fight him - they've even tried both at the same time, but she's never wanted to comfort him, and she's not about to start now. Instead she plays with the ring on her thumb, spinning it slowly as they wait. The call had come up from planet side that they had found a new Cylon. Number Twelve. Tigh's voice had cracked across the phone as he'd spoken. He'd asked to talk to Kara, which had raised Lee's eyebrow, but he'd handed over the phone without a word.

Be there, Starbuck. I don't care that it's me making the order, or you taking it. If you've ever cared about him, you'd better frakkin' be there.

The Raptor's door opens and she almost reaches over. Almost. At the last minute, she remembers herself and brings her fist back hard against her thigh. She doesn't feel the impact as three armed guards step out of the Raptor followed closely by a man in shackles, a man she knows. Beside her, Lee's whole body shudders then stills so quickly it's like he's frozen. Hers acts on instinct and she steps forward, her eyes locked on the man before her and her lips parting on a word she realizes now she never understood at all.

"Zak."

Lee hasn't said a word and it worries her. They're in the Old Man's quarters and Zak…the Cylon is in Sharon's old cell. Lee's standing beside the small bar and staring down at the bottles, tilting them slowly, one after the other.

"Lee?"

He cracks open a bottle and pours a glass. Ignoring the tumbler, he lifts the bottle to his lips and drinks, his chest heaving with every gulp. She moves over to him and lays a hand against his back. He shrugs her off and moves away. Before he gets more than a foot, she grabs the bottle from him and drops it on the floor, challenging him with a look as she moves in on him, using both hands to shove him hard toward the wall.

She follows him, pushing him again until he turns and brushes her hands away with one violent swing of his arm. She moves back in, crowding him, holding him against the wall. Her voice is hard, but she can feel the cracks threading through it. "Lee."

His jacket is open and his shirt is wet from the booze and his eyes are closed and his expression is a mask of agony. She brings her hand over his shoulder and down, both hands on his chest, thumbs brushing the thick fabric of the collar of his shirt. She licks her lips as she looks up at him, her lower lip trembling and she tries to remember the last time she wanted this, wanted to cry, wanted him while Zak was in another room.

"Lee?"

He sighs, the lines of his body giving way to resignation. "Go away, Kara."

"Lee…" Her voice has the soft hint of pleading, the closest she'll come to asking anything of him.

"Go. Away." The resignation is gone, replaced by a complete lack of emotion. Moving away, he sheds his jacket and shirt on the way to grabbing another bottle and leaving her behind.

She grabs the full tumbler and flings it across the room just to watch it shatter. She always thought leaving was her job.

"Hello, Kara."

"Zak." She shouldn't be down here, and she shouldn't be doing this, but she can't help herself. She's frakked up -- as anyone on Galactica or Pegasus or New Caprica could, and would, remind her in half a second. "Or is it Number Twelve? Is that what you answer to these days?"

"You look good."

"Do I?" She frowns, her brow furrowing as she leans against the glass, the phone held loosely in her hand. She wants to throw things. She wants to hit something. He smiles at her and her heart catches on the sharp edge. She loved him once. Loved the man she thought he was. The man he never was. "You do too. But then, I guess that's a given, hmm?"

"So. You and Lee?"

Her head comes up and she nails him with her eyes, hard and cold. She's not the same girl that loved him, loved Zak Adama. Maybe she never was that girl. "So, a Cylon, huh? You'd think they'd teach you how to fly."

"I can fly rings around you, Thrace." His voice drops to that low, throaty growl that seems to run in their family. From the old man it scares her, from Lee it thrills her and from Zak…Zak's dead. "But you served your usefulness and, until now, so had Zak. How was the funeral? Did you hold Lee when he cried?"

She slams the phone against the glass, further spreading the spider web of cracks from when Sharon had slammed her head into the glass. Kara holds her ground as Zak steps closer to the barrier between them, waiting for her to lift the phone again.

"Of course, Lee doesn't cry, does he, Kara? Doesn't feel. He's like a godsdamn Cylon, isn't that what you used to say? The emotional depth of a godsdamned frakkin' toaster."

"Shut up." Kara's had her words thrown back at her all her life, but hearing them in Zak's voice somehow makes it worse. Her own voice is rough with feeling, and her fists clench at her sides as she fights to keep it all in, not to let him - it - see that he's - it's - getting to her.

"And all the while he was pure beating heart and human emotion." He rests his hand on the glass and smiles at her. "You always did have lousy luck in lovers."

She drops the phone and frames his hand with her fists as she leans in and snarls. "Frak you."

"You did. And good. Frakked me all the way to my grave. Why don't you come in here and let me thank you for that?" He laughs as she backs away, shaking her head. "No? You sure? You played right into my hands, Kara. But then, you were always so good in my hands."

She shakes her head again - this isn't her Zak - and turns, stopping at the familiar wall of Lee's body. "Lee."

"Captain Thrace." He doesn't look at her, stares past her to the dark, laughing gaze of his brother, and she knows instinctively that he heard every word. "You're wanted on the flight deck."

"Yes, Sir." She salutes him and moves past, not allowing herself to look back.

She finds herself in the workout room, doing what comes naturally - gear on the floor, gloves off the wall - and it takes her a moment to realize she's not alone.

"Are you going to talk to me about this?"

"There's nothing to talk about."

"Nothing. Nothing."

Kara tucks the other glove under her arm as she moves closer to the doorway leading to the showers. Lee is there with a towel slung low around his waist and Dee is sweating heavily from the steam, her dark shirt clinging wetly to her skin, tension vibrating off her in waves.

"Your brother is back from the dead. Your brother is a Cylon. And you think there's nothing to talk about?"

"That thing isn't Zak. Never was Zak. Zak is dead."

So simple, Kara thinks as Dee shakes her head. Zak is dead. Long live Zak.

"What do you want me to say, Dee? It's that simple."

"What about Kara?"

Lee's body tenses and Kara feels her own do the same in response. Her eyes slide over the tight muscles of his body, then, as he relaxes and almost smiles, she glances over to Dee, who still looks tight as a wire. Looking back at Lee, the smile is in place, though it sure as frak doesn't meet his eyes. "What about her?"

"She was Zak's fiancée."

"I'm aware of that." "Aren't you worried that her feelings for your brother might get in the way? Aren't you worried that your feelings for her might get in the way."

Sighing heavily, Lee shakes his head. "Are we going to have this fight again, Dee? Is this where I'm supposed to reassure you that I'm not frakking you because I can't have Kara? Are we to that part again yet?"

"Everyone knows that you love her."

"Name one thing that everyone knows that's true, Dee." He rubs his forehead with the tips of his fingers. "Here's what I know is true. Kara loved Zak. Kara loved Anders. End of story."

"What bothers you most, Lee?" Dee's voice is thick and her jaw tightens as she watches him. Kara watches her, sees Dee's eyes move over him like she's searching for something. "That she loved Zak -- or that she didn't love you?"

"Are we done here, Dualla?"

Kara catches her breath as Dee salutes him, her mouth curled into a smirk. "Sir. Yes, sir." She turns on her heel and storms out, brushing past Kara as if she isn't even there.

Lee closes his eyes and exhales, his head tilted back, his throat exposed. Kara shivers as her eyes move over him, hungry, wanting. The steam is dissipating and cool air is circulating through the room. His nipples are hard and he looks like his namesake. He blows out another breath and drops his head, turning it and nailing her with his blue, blue eyes.

"Did you need something, Captain Thrace?"

"No, Sir."

He doesn't even wait for her response before he goes into the showers, the heat of his body hitting hers like a wave as she steps back to allow him to pass, watching him without a word until he's gone.

It's a council of war, though no one wants to call it that. Laura Roslin, Admiral Adama, Lee, Tigh and Kara. Kara's pretty sure the only way there could be less reason and more emotion would be if Zak were sitting in the center of the circle, but even then she's not too sure. She just knows that Tigh isn't drinking and the Admiral is, and that's more than enough to make her think that she'd rather be in the middle of a single-handed fight against every frakking Cylon in the fleet than here right now.

"So, on to the last item."

Lee hasn't said a word more than he's had to all night. He's been factual and precise. His voice has been cool and slightly remote. His back has been ramrod straight. She shakes her head, attempting to stave off another memory and only serving to shake it loose.

Gods, Zak. Could your brother have more of a stick up his ass? At least toasters have a warm name. Lee's probably got a check list for when he fraks to make sure he doesn't miss anything. Moan here. Touch there. No wonder he never has a date.

Roslin's voice softens as she speaks, but there's a steel undercurrent to it. The Admiral puts down his drink and pushes it away. Lee's pen starts tapping softly. Kara breathes a soft sigh of relief at the sound, though in a few seconds it will irritate her beyond measure. She knows this. Knows him.

"It's not a topic for discussion."

The Admiral's voice brooks no dissention, but Roslin's just as strong as he is, maybe stronger in this case. "Yes, Bill. It is."

Tigh glances at Kara and shakes his head enough to warn her. She nods slightly in response and smoothes her palms over her thighs. Lee's pen is moving slowly - taptaptap - and Roslin stares at the Admiral with something painful in her eyes.

Lee's voice, when it comes, shocks them all

"Throw him out the airlock."

He drops his pen onto the table and stands, his chair scraping across the hard metal deck. "It doesn't need discussion. It's a Cylon. Throw it out the frakking airlock."

The Admiral looks exhausted and wrecked. The weight of his duty and the weight of Lee's words bending him until Kara starts to believe he might someday actually break. She looks at Roslin who is watching Lee with a possessive look that makes Kara's heart pound and her blood boil. Tigh is refilling the Admiral's glass and pouring some into his own.

Which only leaves one thing for Kara to do.

Sound echoes in the little room. It reeks of Baltar's cologne and sweat from long hours of observing Sharon or doing frak knows what else, but she knows she can watch here, unobserved. Kara adjusts one of the knobs and it's quieter, though nothing close to peaceful. Zak stares at the glass as though he knows she's there, but she imagines he's just waiting for something. Someone.

"Well, well. Big brother."

Lee's flipped the switch that only three people know about so he doesn't have to use the phone, so he can hear the mocking sound of Zak's voice as clearly as if there weren't a wall of reinforced glass and steel between them. Kara adjusts the sound in her booth again, knowing she shouldn't be here. She knows this is going to hurt, but she can't help standing in the line of fire.

"I can only assume that your mission is to distract us, just by virtue of who you look like."

"Have you frakked Kara yet?"

"The Cylons must be desperate if they've held you in reserve for so long. What are they going to do when they realize you're a bust?"

"You thought I never saw the way you looked at her, but it was clear from the moment you saw her in my apartment that you wanted her. You can't help but want a woman who'll answer the door in nothing but a pair of red panties, can you?"

Zak had a water gun; she was drenched, drunk and laughing, and she'd opened the door and stopped dead. Lee had stared at her, his gaze darting down her body only once before he met her eyes. She'd nailed him right between his perfect blue eyes with a shot from her own water gun and then run for cover. Run for Zak.

"Why are you here?"

"Thought you had more balls, big brother. I thought you'd have frakked her hard and fast on Daddy's Battlestar. Or maybe you thought it'd be best not to tempt fate. Maybe you were afraid that sex was yet another area you'd come in second best."

"It must bother you, bother them. The Admiral won't even see you. He spent hours in here talking to Sharon - Number Eight. He doesn't even think you're worth the time."

"We didn't want to break you too much though. You wouldn't have been of any use if you'd been too far gone. You had to have something, so we let you be the better pilot, though never better than Kara. She was like manna from heaven. She can fly rings around you, Dad loves her. Mom loved her. Every other firstborn son is a frakkin' God, Lee. The closest you ever got was your call sign."

Lee had shown up in full uniform looking for all the 12 colonies like he wanted to be anywhere else. She'd let him in and ignored his eyes as they swept around the mess she called home. He'd told her something about Zak, his brother - as if she was unsure who he was - and she hadn't heard a word.

She'd watched his lips moved, watched his eyes stare at her mouth, watched him watch her. He hadn't stayed long, and after he left, she'd sat on the couch shaking from the effort it had taken for her not to touch him. Not to want him. Zak had come home and she'd made him frak her, hard and fast over the back of the couch, while she turned her face away and wished that he was Lee.

"You're so proud of how human you are." Lee's voice breaks into her thoughts and she leans forward in the chair, watching Zak's dark eyes as his smile falters. Lee's expression doesn't change, though she knows he's triumphant that he's scored several hits, knows that he's bleeding inside from every one of Zak's strikes. "Let's see how well you do without the bare necessities."

He turns off the air in the cell and takes his hand off the button. Kara scrambles to find the matching switch on her control panel, but by the time she does, the air's back on and Zak is gasping as oxygen floods the room again.

"What's the matter, Number Twelve? You look a little pale. Afraid to die?"

Lee hits the button again before Zak's color is back, before his gasps have stopped. Kara can just imagine Lee counting slowly in his head before he hits the switch again.

"You Cylons," Lee shakes his head and laughs low and soft, and the sound frightens Kara more than she wants to admit, even to herself. "You managed to make yourselves prettier, but you sure as hell didn't make a better machine."

Kara's shaking when she gets back to her rack, her whole body trembling like she's strung out on stims. She can barely turn the latch and she nearly jumps out of her skin as Lee moves out of the shadows and slams the bar between the spokes, locking them in. She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath, letting it loose in a shaky sigh.

"What exactly did you think you were going to see, Kara?" His voice whispers against the back of her neck, warm breath on chilled skin. "Cigars and a family photo?"

She shakes her head and balls her hands into fists at her side. "I wasn't…"

"Spying? Listening?"

"I was worried about you."

"Me? Or Zak?"

His fingers trail down her spine before he slides his hands around her waist, letting his thumbs rest on the curve of her hips, his fingers digging into her stomach just enough that she can feel the power behind them, feel them brush against the scar that puckers her skin. Can feel the hard press of his body behind hers.

"You can't answer, can you?" His voice is still smooth and low, and it ripples over her flesh like warm water, lapping at her senses. "Say one thing and it means you don't want this, want me. Say another and it means betraying Zak's memory. Damned if you do," he presses a kiss to the back of her neck, his tongue teasing the skin. "Damned if you don't."

"Lee…"

"Hmm," he purrs the word against the side of her neck, brushing her hair back. "Gotten the name right so far." He slides his hands up over the worn, smooth material of her shirt and cups the weight of her breasts. She shivers, unused to this Lee, to this manic need that seems to fuel every movement. His thumbs brush her nipples, and she closes her eyes, breathing heavily. The thumbs wreaking havoc on her senses so calmly blew the Olympic Carrier from the sky, so calmly stopped Zak's air. "Shall we see how far we can go before you slip up?"

His teeth nip at her earlobe and she shudders, closing her eyes and leaning back against the solid expanse of his chest. "Lee." His hands slide back down, pressing against her flat stomach before slipping beneath the fabric and guiding her shirt up, off her body, letting her turn to face him as he strips it free of her arms.

"So far so good, Kara."

He takes a step forward and she feels the table hard against the back of her legs. She swallows hard - she nearly frakked him here, frakked Sam here. "Lee."

He smiles, and his eyes trail down to her breasts, the nipples tight and hard against her bra. He licks his lips, and his smile changes to something predatory and hungry. She shivers and reaches out to touch him, her hand shaking. Her lips part, dry in the wake of her inability to breathe and he leans in, his mouth hot above hers as he closes the distance between them.

"Zak…"

He jerks back, and the mask she's come to know so well slips back in place. She tries to finish her sentence but he's unlocked and out the door before she can even form the words.

Her legs give out, and she slumps down beside the table, staring sightlessly at the wide open hatchway.

She's jogging to clear her head, but it's not working. Her thoughts seem to bounce and jolt with every step, skittering away from any attempts to line them up, organize them. And then her mind goes blank all together as she rounds the last corner and runs into the hard, solid flesh of Zak Adama.

Her hand's on her gun before she can even process anything, and she can see him watching for the telltale tremors in her grip that cause the corners of his lips to curve. Her finger twitches on the trigger until she realizes everyone's watching her, that he's not alone and that, more importantly, Lee's not there.

"What's going on?" She holsters her weapon slowly, thumbing the safety at the last moment.

"Dad's taking me for a walk." Zak's smile hasn't changed in the slightest for being dead and buried back on Caprica. "Want to join us? It'll be just like old times. I can finally tell him about us."

She ignores him and looks at the Admiral. "Where's the Commander?"

"Commander Adama disapproves." Zak's smile widens and he leans in, whispering loudly. "Commander Adama is afraid Daddy likes me best."

"Is this wise, Admiral?" Kara raises her voice slightly, drawing the old man's eyes up from the papers he and Tigh are discussing a few feet away. She sighs her frustration, ignoring Zak and crossing her arms over her chest. She's keenly as Zak shuffles closer, the movement nearly imperceptible, though she feels every inch of space between them. She raises her voice again. "He's a prisoner, Admiral. A Cylon."

"Or maybe it's more to the point that Commander Adama knows you like me best. What did you say to him, Kara? That third time, I didn't think he was going to turn the air back on."

Admiral Adama walks up, his nod dismissing the guards to fall back. He looks hard from Kara to Zak, his gaze giving away nothing. "What was that?"

"Oh, nothing, Sir." Zak's smile doesn't reach his eyes, his dark and cunning eyes. "Was it, Kara?"

"No, Sir." She doesn't look away from Zak, can't look away. "Nothing, Sir."

"Walk with us, won't you, Kara?" He leans in and lifts his hands, handcuffed in front of him, just enough to brush her forearm. "Won't you?"

"Don't have much of a choice, do I?"

Zak shakes his head as she turns and falls into step with him; the Admiral and Tigh, for the moment, a few paces behind. "You've got no choice at all."