He was hot, sweaty and exhausted but he couldn't help the grin on his face.
"Not bad huh?"
He laughed and she giggled with him. She moved off him to lie down next to him and stare up at the sky again. His skin was slowly cooling with the breeze but he wasn't cold. She could still hear the laughter in his voice when he asked, "Better than Sam?"
She exhaled long and, after a while said, "I'm not better than Dee."
"What?"
She didn't answer.
For a while it was quite and all he could hear was his own heartbeat trying to normalise, his own breathing trying to settle. He didn't hear her getting dressed or moving around until he felt the dust against him as she stood and walked away.
He held up his mostly empty bottle as he said, "Don't bother with glasses."
She kept walking.
"Kara?"
She didn't stop.
"Hey!" He tried to stand quickly but his body was slow with residual pleasure and tiredness.
She just kept waking.
"I love Kara Thace!" His yell echoed across the landscape.
She faltered, hearing him and for a second he was sure she'd come back. Then she started moving again.
Frustrated and angry but too tired to go after her now, he lay back down, "She'll come back, she'll come back, she'll come back." He muttered it and if anyone had heard it, they would have heard conviction and fear in his voice even as he dosed off.
BSGBSGBSGBSGBSGBSGBSGBSGBSGBSGBSGBSGBSGBSGBSGBSGBSG
Kara was panicking.
She was thinking about Sam.
About Zak.
About the Admiral.
About Dee.
She desperately wanted to cry.
As she came closer to the assembled town, she could hear the party was still going. Not as many people, not as much noise but still a lot of revelry. She saw Felix dancing with one of the CIC crew. Kat and Hotdog were running around like children. And then she saw Dee. She was sat alone, bottle in hand, with a heartbroken expression on her face. She was scanning the crowd every now and then.
She saw Kara. She rushed over before Kara could make her escape.
"Hey. You seen Lee?"
Kara swallowed hard before saying, "No."
"Oh. Okay, see you later." She was swallowed by the crowd.
Kara shuddered.
"Kara!"
She didn't hear Sam calling her into he was in front of her.
"Hey," he was grinning and happy.
"Hi. I need a drink."
Oblivious, he laughed and dragged her over to the nearest bench.
Handing her a bottle, he ask "You okay?"
She smiled. It was slow and sad and not looking at him when she said, "Not better."
He frowned, followed her gaze to Dee. When he looked back at her, she was downing the bottle.
BSGBSGBSGBSGBSGBSGBSGBSGBSGBSGBSGBSGBSGBSGSBSGBSGBSG
When Lee awoke, he felt happy. Satisfied.
When he opened his eyes he was sure he'd see Kara next to him.
She was nowhere to be seen.
Dawn had come and gone and the sun was warm against his skin instead of the woman he had expected to return.
He got dressed quickly, not bothering to do up the front of his uniform.
It was simple to him.
That was it.
Kara was his now.
He was hers.
No more frakking about.
When he got to town, it was clear that he was late in arriving but no one minded.
He was acknowledged by his father in a simple nod but Lee didn't go to him.
He had to find Kara. Find out why she wasn't with him.
When he found her, Sam was trailing after her like a little dagget, tail wagging and all. She saw him. Almost seemed to brace herself.
"Hey, Dee's looking for you."
He blinked. Not what he had expected at all. "Okay."
Before she could stop him Sam declared, "We got married, can you believe it?"
Everything in Lee stalled. He glanced at Kara before taking Sam's offered hand and shaking it. "Good luck," he said, before turning his cold gaze back to Kara, "You're going to need it."
BSGBSGBSGBSGBSGBSGBSGBSGBSGBSGBSGBSGBSGBSGBSGBSGBSG
Kara looked away.
They watched as he walked away.
Dee stood, in her pristine uniform, at the bottom of a Rapter ramp, waiting for him.
He went straight to her and kissed her hard.
Sam looked at Kara. "Wonder what that's about," he said smiling. "That's Dee right?"
Kara, still watching the couple, smiled that same sad smile he'd seen the night before. "Yeah."
When she looked back at Sam, she smiled properly, took his arm and they walked over towards the tables and benches left from the party.
Sam didn't notice how her eyes kept going to the couple as she lent back against the table as she sat.
Dee didn't notice as she buttoned up his shirt for him that Lee's eyes kept drifting towards the tables.