'Something' by jandjsalmon

watching the sun flit through her golden hair…

They could hear her laugh as they walked through the chain-linked gate. It was the first thing that had made him smile since his father had been transferred there from the Colonial Fleet Headquarters on Picon. It had been a long three weeks and Cassia Agathon had tried everything to make the move less traumatic for her eleven-year-old son. Bringing him to the base's open playground was her grasping at straws. It seemed that it had been a gamble well worth it when Karl's face lit up and he ran toward the merry go round.

Karl was still a boy, but there was something about the pretty blonde twirling upside down that drew him towards her. He paused for a moment, watching the sun flit through her golden hair before finally getting up the nerve to say something. "Hey, can I play?" His traitorous voice chose that exact moment to crack. His cheeks began to burn.

"Sure, it's a free colony." Still upside down as the ride slowed, the girl grinned up at him. "What's your name?"

Karl reached down to help her up. "I'm Karl."

Still grinning, the girl smacked him hard on the shoulder, "You're it!" she cackled as she ran across the grass.

"Hey, what's you're name" Karl hollered as he followed her.

Then there was that laugh again. "It's Kara," she said warmly over her shoulder.

The two children played all afternoon. As the sun began to set, Cassia came to retrieve her son and it was with a disappointed sigh that Karl said goodbye. He'd never had so much fun. On Picon, Karl had been the oldest of all the officer's children. He'd looked after them and played little children's games with them, but he'd never had a friend his own age.

Just before he walked to his mother Karl turned to her, "I'll see you at the base school, right?"

Her blonde hair ruffled as she shook her head sadly. "We're moving to Caprica City tomorrow. My mom was transferred."

Cassia didn't realize she'd interrupted anything when she called him away, but Karl just walked backward toward his mother, the smile long gone from his face. He looked back at Kara, his new friend, just as his mother pulled the car away.

"Who was that, Karl honey?" Cassia asked.

Karl turned to stare forward out the windshield. "Her name is Kara, Mom. She's moving away but… but I think that I'll see her again. I'm sure of it."

Cassia Agathon smiled softly. Her Karl was a perceptive boy. Perhaps he was right.

…eventually a whistle blew

The atmosphere was charged. Karl was the first to admit that he wasn't much of a Pyramid fan, but he'd come all this way to support the Delphi Flyers anyway. The Colony High School Championships were under way and it was looking like it was going to be a rowdy weekend. How he ever convinced Cassia and Marshall Agathon to let him leave Delphi and make the trek to Caprica City for the tournament with his friends, he'd never know. Not that he was complaining or anything. Someone had to keep his friends out of trouble and that lot fell onhim most of the time.

It was hot. The Pyramid arena was full of people. It was hard to keep an eye on the three boys who'd come in his car, but Karl knew that if he lost any of them they would find themselves in all sorts of mischief on their own. Just as he'd always been the baby sitter as a child even now when his friends were his own age he found himself watching over them and keeping them all out of jail by keeping a level head and by talking them out of their more dangerous ideas.

As the sun poured over them, Karl raised his hand to his forehead. It seemed that he'd lost Caehl. Luckily for Karl, he knew exactly where to look. The entire drive up from Delphi, Caehl had spoke of nothing other than the four females pyramid players for Caprica Heights High School. Karl eyes scanned the crowd for their blue and green uniforms and finally spotted them on the far wall of the arena. The team was currently in first place but had one match left to cement their three-year run as Colony Champs. Just as Karl had expected, there was Caehl, chatting up a redhead. He made his way toward his friend when a flash of gold stopped him. He couldn't help but watch as a pretty blonde girl in a black tracksuit joined them. There was something oddly familiar about her to Karl, but he covertly dropped his eyes from her as he smacked Caehl upside the head.

"There you are, Caehl. Thought the Cylon's got you." Karl tried to smile at the two girls while still showing his annoyance with his friend.

"Very funny, Aggy. I'm still safe and sound… unless you think the cylons have cooked up a way to pass themselves off as harmless pyramid players," Caehl replied cheekily. "I figured you knew where I'd be. We were just going over the finer points of the game. Seeing as you said it was 'full of dimwits and jocks who couldn't find their way out of an open-air shrine' you probably aren't interested."

Caught with his own words Karl opened his mouth to defend himself, bashfully looking at the blonde, and then closed it again when he saw her cracking up. He could have sworn he'd heard her laugh before and it was infectious. It wasn't long before Karl was chuckling too. "He'd have you believing I wasn't here to watch the game, but we all know what he came here to watch. Hi, I'm Karl." He reached out his hand to the blonde, ignoring the grin plastered all over his friend's face.

"Kara," the girl took his hand and shook it. "So, if you're not here to watch the game, and you're not here to watch the players," at that she tilted her head toward Caehl who was enraptured with the redhead again, "then why are you here, Karl?"

Karl loved it when the banter was easy. There was just something about her that made him feel like it would always be easy to talk to her. "Why? To witness history in the making. I may not be an avid sports fan but I know the importance of watching one of the most touted players in the Colony."

"Oh really? Who's playing that I should take notice of then?" She grinned as if she knew something he didn't.

"Some guy named 'Thrace'. Seems that in the next few years he's going to be the biggest thing in the Professional League and I heard someone say if I was lucky enough to see Thrace play I might become a fanatic. So, I offered to drive my guys up here to watch."

Her grin took on epic proportions. "How very generous of you. I hope you get to meet him."

Karl smiled and they spent the rest of the game sitting on the sidelines learning about one another. He even told her his plans to join the Fleet later that month after graduation. Amazing that after just meeting they were already talking like they'd known each other all their lives.

Eventually a whistle blew and voices began to interrupt them echoing throughout the arena.

"Motherfrakker!" Kara looked away from him toward the official. "Our game is next. Do you want to get something to eat after? Before you guys go back to Delphi?" She looked strangely hopeful and Karl wanted more than anything to find out what else went on in that head of hers.

"Uh…" He didn't know what to say. It wasn't often that pretty girls asked him out; usually he was the one charming them into going out with him. Karl quickly covered his shock and smiled. "Yeah. Sounds good."

"Great!" Kara smiled as she pulled her hair back into a knot on the back of her head. She unsnapped her track-pants and pulled her black jacket over her head to reveal a bright blue and green uniform. "See you after." She grinned and as she turned toward the arena Karl saw the surname printed over her shoulder blades. Karl was floored as she looked back with a grin.

Thrace. Her name was Kara Thrace.

Karl nearly fell over. He was fairly certain his mouth was hanging open as Caehl put his arm around him and said, "Aggy boy, isn't she the primo player we came up to see?"

Karl nodded but couldn't say anything. He just watched her play. It was amazing. The rumours were true. There was something sensational about the way Kara Thrace attacked the arena. Caprica Heights was up seven to three with only a few minutes counting down on the clock. Kara was confident and powerful, but it seemed that she also sensed that there was a strategic element to the game and she balanced well with her teammates.

As the final seconds counted down it was clear that the opposing team's captain was not as pleased with Kara's skill as Karl was. He looked her over and made sure an official wasn't watching, and as the whistle blew he slammed in to her, bending her knee backward twisting it in an unnatural and sickening way. There was a scream mingled with the cheers of the Caprican Heights fans as they stormed the arena.

It took a while, but once the officials were able to sort things out, an ambulance took the Pyramid star away and Karl was left still in shock holding her tracksuit. He had to be back in Delphi in order to take his finals and enlist. He would not be able to go out for dinner with Kara. He would not be there to find out what it was that pulled him toward her like a moth to a flame, but he was sure that he would see her again; he just didn't know when or how, but he knew to trust his instincts; they were never wrong.

…and the little pile of blue fatigues cursed from the floor

Karl loved coming back to fleet headquarters on Picon. It was always buzzing the cadets, facilitators, and instructors as well as all of the upper level officers that Karl liked to refer to as 'white shirts'. He'd been serving aboard the Solaria for just over a year and loved being the ECO on a Raptor, but there was just something about standing on solid ground again that made him breathe deeper. Maybe that's why he'd chosen Raptors over Vipers. All those viper jocks seemed to get off by being in the air. Karl, or 'Helo' as his fellow officers now called him, just liked feeling that he was doing something important with his life.

This was his first official leave since his commission and Karl felt like paying a visit to some of his favourite instructors at the academy before catching his flight to the coast where his parents had retired.

His mind was so full of memories as he walked through the corridors he once knew that as Karl turned the corner in the Flight Sciences building he bumped into something small and blonde.

"What the frak?" the little pile of blue fatigues cursed from the floor.

"Oh, I'm so sorry." Karl tried to help the woman up but she slapped his hands away as he did, at least until she looked up and saw him. Karl couldn't help but recognize her and a knot gathered itself into his throat. It would be too much to ask for her to have forgotten.

She remembered. Well, at least she remembered that he was something familiar. "I think I know you," Kara Thrace said once she dusted herself off and looked Karl over. Nodding her head in recognition she continued, "You're the guy, the guy from that night."

Karl couldn't remember the last time he looked at the floor bashfully, but he did it anyway. "Yeah, that's me."

The blonde, Kara, smirked at him. "Oh come on, it wasn't you who knocked me around." She looked him over. He was wearing his dark blue uniform and she smiled. "So, you did it. You joined the Colonial Fleet."

Karl nodded. It seemed out of place to be having this conversation, a conversation he'd thought of having more than once in the past four years, in the middle of the Fleet Academy. She wasn't supposed to be in a place like this. She was supposed to be entertaining the Twelve Colonies. She'd been the best frakking Pyramid player there ever was, they'd said. But instead she was here.

Her golden hair contrasted with the navy blue fatigues and he couldn't wrap his head around the strangeness, but it didn't matter. Kara Thrace knew what he was thinking.

"My knee. I can't play anymore." Something akin to remorse flashed across her face before the shutters closed quickly and she smirked again. "But I'm the best damn Viper pilot in the fleet, so I guess it's not all bad."

He laughed and shook his head in bemusement. They walked together, neither caring where to, and caught up on all the things they missed over the years, almost as if they had been old friends instead of two strangers who had passed a single evening together four years before.

Karl completely forgot about his flight where he was supposed to meet his parents, and as the sun began to set, the two of them were still sitting on a bench near the arboretum at the front entrance to the Capital Building.

"So you've been a flight instructor for the last year?" he was genuinely interested.

She nodded. "And I pretty much own the Triad tables in the officer's rec Hall, so yeah, it's been a pretty good year, considering the way I thought it'd turn out.

Karl had kept an ear open for mention that she might be dating someone, and he wondered if this might be the catalyst for the 'something' that he'd often wondered about.

"Hey, you know what we should do, Helo?" Kara asked him with a smile.

"Hmm?" Karl's eyebrows rose.

"We never went and got food. Let's go now. I know a place close." Kara helped him up off the bench and didn't give him much choice but to follow her.

They ate onion rings out of a coned up newspaper from the sidewalk stand Kara dragged him to. They walked around Academy Park until Kara remembered for him, that he was supposed to fly to Rhysenn earlier that night. "Let me take you there," she said, "It's my fault that you missed it."

Karl tried to beg off, but she insisted. She had an old Colonial Forces Jeep and a few days off with nothing better to do. She insisted. Helo just grinned and followed her back to her barracks to grab her keys.

She was punching in the passwords to her apartment when footsteps coming up the stairwell behind them caused her to bend back and look behind Karl. She grinned as a dark brown head appeared.

"Kara?" the head, now a fully-grown body with a blue cadet's uniform, called out when he reached the landing on Kara's floor. He was short, somewhat stocky and looking at her like she hung the moon. He had a friend with him who didn't look overjoyed to be there, and who, in fact, gave Kara a wide berth and didn't look directly at her.

Kara stopped what she was doing immediately and ran into the shorter man's arms. "Zack? I didn't know you were back on Picon." She leaned up and kissed him possessively. As they parted, Kara glanced at the other man before leaning in to the man she'd called Zack and whispering "You managed to drag Lee here to visit too, how did that happen?"

"He wanted to be here when I brought you this." Zack fished into his pocket and handed Kara a small black box. "You said you didn't want anything fluffy or romantic."

Kara's mouth grew wide. "You didn't really?"

He smiled and nodded. "I got it from my mother while we were back home on Caprica. You know, she still wants to meet you before the wedding."

"I'm getting married!" Kara couldn't hide her excitement. Zack held her tightly until his eyes settled on Karl and confusion swept his face. "Kara, who's this?" he asked softly into her hair.

Pulling back, Kara turned to Karl and grinned. "This is my old friend Karl. We've known each other for ages."

Karl smiled at the somewhat private joke before reaching out his hand. "I'm Karl Agathon. Helo. Nice to meet you…"

"Zack Adama, Helo. This is my brother Lee."

Karl nodded to the man, who looked just as uncomfortable as he did.

"I was just about to take Helo to Rhysenn." Kara told Zack. "Lee, you wouldn't mind taking him, would you?" Lee nodded and gave her a small smile, the first one of the evening. "I'm sorry, Helo. You don't mind, do you?"

Karl smiled tight-lipped. He was happy for her, he really was, but there was this falling out in his stomach that he couldn't quite place. While both he and Lee stood in the hallway, Kara and Zack, who were kissing more passionately now, backed into her apartment and closed the door behind them.

Under his breath, Karl mumbled, "Why do I feel like I just missed something that could have been meant to be?"

Lee apparently heard him, because he mumbled an answer, "You and me both, Helo. You and me both."

The two men looked at one another and seemed to understand each other completely before Lee led Helo out to the parkade where his truck was waiting.

Karl looked up at the light in her window as Lee pulled away. It wasn't over yet, he could feel it.

…his heart was beating shallowly…

Karl was happy. He was married to the woman he loved, their daughter was alive and with her parents safe on Galactica, and professionally, he was very nearly at the top of his game.

The world had ended, the colonies that had been his home were gone, and yet strangely, fate had brought him back to the ship she was serving on, and his life continued to be intertwined with Kara Thrace.

It had taken years, but Karl could now see how important she'd been to his life. Each one of their meetings had been at a cross point in his life. He had long given up the idea that they were meant to be together in a romantic way. She was more like the other half of his soul – the other half that kept him going straight and even.

They played off one another. They had helped one another. When Zack had died, he'd been there for her. When he'd been left on Caprica, she had been the one who'd found him. It was fate and it was destiny.

That was why when she'd been out in her Viper with Lee that last day he couldn't believe it at first. She couldn't die. He couldn't live in a world without her, he was sure of it. The whole ship was reeling. They could speak of nothing other than the CAG and how he continued walking yet seemed to be dying inside. The crew of Galactica was so busy watching Lee Adama fall apart, that no one seemed to notice Karl Agathon and the impossibility he was facing in losing the woman who had become his best friend.

Even the Admiral, who should have understood both his son and Helo's feelings, assigned him to takes over as CAG when the emotionally unstable Lee was grounded to oversee a security detail.

Helo was given more and more responsibility. He was forced to carry on, while his heart was beating shallowly and even Sharon couldn't get him to talk about losing her. There was just something that he couldn't accept about losing Kara Thrace.

He would talk to her. Technically, Karl knew she wasn't there, but he would still talk to her. It was after she was gone that he remembered the little girl in Delphi. He remembered her laugh and how she had helped him get over his worry about moving to a new place. She'd always been able to do that for him… she'd taken away his worry with her laugh.

"Who will do that now, Kara?" He wondered aloud, wiping the tears from his eyes before anyone else in the Head could see them. Let them focus on Lee falling apart. My grief is my own, he thought.

…she drew him toward her with every breath she took.

Helo was the only one on the CIC who wasn't surprised with Lee's communication. Of course it was Kara. She couldn't die. There was nothing that Karl was surer of more than that fact.

She stepped out of her Viper, facing a squadron of Marines sent to escort her to the brig. Helo could understand that the Admiral couldn't be too careful, but as soon as he saw her he knew she was really Kara.

"Starbuck?" He stood several feet away from her, the soldiers between them, but he saw her smile at him, and knew. She was that peaceful little girl that he first met when he was twelve years old. She wasn't wrapped up in demons from years gone by, from loves lost and dead. The Kara he knew and loved – in a way that even Sharon understood and supported - was actually there. As she watched the worry wash off of his face she laughed out loud in the hanger bay.

She drew him toward her with every breath she took. Something that he knew would always draw him toward her.