Title: Truth Be Told
Date: October 29, 2006
Summary: Starbuck teases Apollo about something she heard, and Apollo wants the truth.
Rating: PG13
Pairing: A/R with slight mention of L/K.
Characters: Lee Adama, Kara Thrace, William Adama, several other background characters.
Author's Note: My first BSG fic. Sometime after Roslin's cancer is cured and Apollo becoming the Commander of the Pegasus. Also, this is not beta'ed because I don't know anyone in the BSG world so if you want to beta it for me, I'd appreciate your help :) Just let me know.
Disclaimer: Though I wish they were mine, I just play. I promise to put back in the order in which I found them.

Starbacuk entered the officer quarters to find Apollo, Hot Dog, Helo, Kat, and a few others horsing around. It was the only way to break the tensions of the day, of the situation, other than that card game they all knew too well. She put on a plastered smile and responded to the welcoming cries that both teased her and admired her.

She didn't say much, just listened to their conversation, their jokes, their silliness, their teasing each other. She opened her locker and stuffed her jacket into it, laughing with the others as Helo came down hard on Apollo for his latest love affair with Dualla. Dee is a sweet kid, but she's just that – a kid.

Lee took the teasing well, only to return a favor and joke around about Kat's stem-abuse. From there it only went to Kara's own alcohol abuse and certain similarities between her and Tigh, the drunken XO. She let them tease her just a bit more, didn't say much but laugh at their comments, listening to the teasing.

She held within her the tool of destruction that would bring one Captain Lee Adama to his feet. She held within her the rumor that would make her day worthy of its meaning.

She waited a few more minutes before her silence and unresponsive behavior caught their attention and teasing will turn to her again. It was not like her to keep quiet about something like being compared to Tigh, and Lee and Helo knew that. Frak, everyone knew that. It would only be a moment more before either of them notices.

She listened on as Hot Dog got berated, his cheeks burning bright red with embarrassment and laughter. The joke on him involved a certain petty officer working the deck, small, sweet child by the name of Cally.

Finally, Lee turned the teasing back to her. "So, how is VP Baltar today? Does he talk to himself, beat himself up, when he's with you too?"

That one stung. Like a frakking bitch. Lee had no idea what he was talking about. She'd spent one night with Gaius Baltar, ended up calling out the wrong name in the throes of passion, and realizing even before she did so that this had been the mistake of a lifetime. But she didn't let the anger consume her. Oh, no. This was the perfect opportunity to pay back.

She turned around to face the others as they laughed. She leaned back against her locker and smiled sweetly, mischievously, at her commander.

"I heard something on the gravepine today."

Question looks met her gaze as it traveled around the room and landed on Lee. The others cat-called when it was obvious to whom the latest rumor was related.

Lee hated her at that moment. That cocky grin, hearing but unseen, everyone's buddy, all knowing Kara Thrace.

"Go on, hit me with your hardest," he challenged.

"I think you'd better sit down for this one, Captain." She crossed her arms in front of her.

Everyone's eyes were on them at that moment.

This really was a good one, he realized. This much preparation for a punch-less joke would be stupid on her part and Kara Thrace was not stupid. He needed to protect himself, steer her off course somehow. "I heard you and Tigh went at it in his bunk before his nasty wife showed up and joined you."

She shuddered as the others practically rolled on the floor.

"That's actually gruesome," Helo commented.

"The day I won't want to punch that man in the nose is the day we are all in trouble," Kara announced to the others' cat-calls.

"No, no," she went on. "Scuttlebutt says there's something a little, shall I say, purely out of respect for both parties, by the way, a bit inappropriate, going on between the Old Man and a certain sassy president."

Kara felt her heart race and counted the seconds before the Ooohs and ahhhs filled the room around them but both she and Lee were silent.

He was burning bright red, his eyes on Kara's, and he knew that that just made her day so much better. He knew she'd waited for this opportunity all day long and if need be she'd have waited until tomorrow, too. And then the implication of her word's finally burst from his unconscious to his conscious mind – the last thing he wanted to think about was his father having sex.

Kara had turned him speechless and that doesn't happen often, she knew she had to take advantage of the situation to drive the point further. "Rumor has it he was observed leaving her private quarters on Colonial One at three in the morning, buttoning up his jacket."

"That could just mean he left after a meeting that ran long," Hot Soup countered.

Her eyes never left Lee's. "The rumor also says she was seen sending him off, in her nightgown, messy hair and all, sending him a flutter of kisses as he walked away."

Lee's shoulder sagged as he took in the image. He rubbed his face. He didn't have to look at her to know her smile was as big as her locker. Around him the group was already putting one thing with another, creating secret messages passed between them, imitating their behavior, translating the looks those two would pass between them in meetings and in CIC when she would tag along, the late night conversations… His father and the President made it far too easy for anyone to make this into a big deal. But he let them go on joking, mostly because he knew they have nothing but respect not only to the Old Man, but to President Roslin as well. Especially Kara.

But deep down inside he wondered if it were at all possible.

Kat pulled him out of his reverie. "Well, what say you, Captain, will you call her 'mom'?"

"Very funny!" Lee punched his locker. "She's the President of the Twelve Colonies and this is the kind of treatment she receives from you?" He growled at them.

Silence reigned in the Officer Quarters for a moment, and then another, as the gang sobered up. He could put them all on charges of treason had he wanted to. Freedom of speech was publicly acknowledged but in the military you had no opinion.

"Awww, look at that, he's defending his step-mom's honor!"

Kara was the only one who would dare call him on his bluff. Frak, she was the only one who knew him well enough to know it is a bluff.

She cooed at him, giggling as she did so. The others broke into laughter as well.

"Grow up, boys and girls. Really." He murmured as he heard them laughing after him as he closed the hatch behind him.

Exhausted, he crashed-landed onto the bench in the middle of the officers quarters. Being CAG never got easy. He rubbed his face, too tired to get up and change. Just a moment longer to relax.

The hatch door opened and Kara stepped in. "Hey, Captain." She was unsure where they left things off earlier. He was pretty steamed about the comments she made about the Old Man and Roslin, even if it were all in good fun. They'd spoken since, but it was while flying and when you fly there are no personal feelings involved or you die.

He barely acknowledged her presence but she knew better than to call him on it. He'd heard her, he knew she was there. She opened her locker and started undressing; pulling her jacket off with such haste she almost ripped it.

"Good flying out there today," he said finally.

She only nodded. Yeah, bitch-slapping those frakked Cylon Raiders was something she was good at.

"Hey, Lee, I'm sorry if we got under your skin before."

"Yeah."

"I actually think it would be pretty good for the Old Man," there went the two tanks over her head, pushed into the locker.

Lee chuckled, suddenly full of energy. "Yeah," he stood up, pulled his own clothes off. "He hasn't had a serious relationship since my mom and she was getting married before the attack… They'd been divorced for years."

Kara watched him. "You think there's any truth to the rumors?"

"I seriously don't know. I guess it's my job as his son to find out, huh?"

"I was hoping you'd say that!" Starbuck grinned at him and continued undressing.

"Kara."

"Yeah?"

"If we do find out, we can never tell anyone, you know?"

Kara thought about the ramifications of that little piece of knowledge floating around the fleet. The media would go berserk with this. Political coups, abuse of power, loss of creditability, both Admiral Adama's and President Roslin's. "Hey, I just want the, both to be happy." She turned back to her locker.

Lee watched her for a few moments. Watched as she prepared for the shower she had been waiting for all day long. Watched her quick, sure moves. Was she happy? Yeah, life's a bit tough now, with Cylon attacks every other day and a home that's essentially a bucket of bolts and bulkheads, and a job that is so dangerous most of the time it's voluntary. But was she happy?

Ready to head to the showers, Kara turned around and caught Lee staring at her. Changing in front of the boys was never a problem for her, she's been doing it since she's 18, but suddenly she was aware of her body, of him, of the attraction between them neither dared speak of, of the situation. "Lee?"

He heard his name and held on tight to that single word as it pulled him out of his thoughts. He smiled apologetically. "Sorry, got caught thinking about the Old Man." It was a lie and she knew it but she let it slide.

"Just find out what you can, okay?" she left without waiting for a response.

"Right," he murmured into the empty room.

Apollo entered his father's quarter's one step behind his old man. Dinner in Admiral Adama's quarters had become a regular weekly occasion spent talking mostly about tactics and rules of the engagement – work. Once in a while William would invite others to joing, Tigh, Thrace, once he even invited President Roslin to join them. But today it was just the two of them and he was thankful.

Now with dinner out of the way the senior Adama poured two glasses of Ambrosia and handed one to his son before settling on the couch.

"Dad, I've got to ask you something."

William had been wondering what was on his son's mind all evening. "Go ahead."

"Rumor on the gravepine says you and President Roslin have an affair going on." If ever there was something Lee didn't want to say to his father, it was this. "I know it's none of my business, and I'll butt out, but I have to know."

The older Adama watched his son shifting uncomfortably on the couch. So it was true. Rumors had reached the crew. He knew rumors kept moral high, and while he didn't indulge in them, he didn't mind the occasional rumor about him floating. But the situation was different now. Any kind of uncontrolled rumor can hurt both his position, and the President's.

"Maybe in another time, another world, Laura Roslin and I could have had some kind of a personal, romantic, relationship. But the way things are now, I don't think so."

Lee visibly relaxed under his father's gaze. He even warmed to the idea. "She's a beautiful woman, Dad."

"And here I thought you liked blonds," William teased.

"That's a whole different matter," Lee sighed.

"Son, the only thing going on between Laura and me is a professional relationship. The furthest either of us can let that get without harming either our position, without it turning inappropriate, is the friendship we share."

So his dad thought about it. He weighed the pros and the cons of a relationship with Roslin. And he came to the only possible conclusion in their situation, and he settled for friendship. What might have happened between them, had they not both been in positions of power? "I wish things could have been different for you, Dad."

William smiled sadly. "As do I, son. As do I."

Lee knew every rumor has a sense of truth in it. Where was that truth hidden in this rumor? For a moment he dared not ask. His usually private father opened up to him on this matter much more than Lee thought he would.

"Son, where did you hear this rumor?"

Lee snickered. So much for not asking. "Kara told me, actually. Apparently she heard it earlier today on the deck, the junior crew talking about it."

"What were they saying?" If anything, William wanted to see if there was any truth at all to it, if there was a basis for it, and if so, if there was a conspiring mole on board.

"Something about you being seen leaving her private quarters on board Colonial One buttoning up while she stood at the door in her sleeping gown and messy hair, sending a flutter of kisses your way, at three in the morning." Lee made sure he said all this very quickly.

Both Adamas broke into laughter.

"It seems we have a mole on Colonial One."

The admission startled Apollo. A mole would mean that this was true; someone had really seen him leaving her quarters at three in the morning.

"A couple of nights ago I was aboard Colonial One for our weekly meeting. It ran long because of Baltar, that blabbering idiot. When I left, at two in the morning, I had my jacket undone and was buttoning it up. She called after me to remind me of yet another meeting we had scheduled for the next day."

"I'm assuming she wasn't in a sexy nightgown."

"I'd be surprised if she even has one out here." William smiled weakly.

"If it means anything at all, I think you'd have made a good couple." Lee regretted says so the moment the words left his mouth. There is no point in living with what if's and what could have been's.

Adama Senior chuckled, but said nothing. He doesn't often let himself indulge in what could have been.

The phone rang then, interrupting the silence that hung between father and son. Adama rose and got the call.

"Put her through, go to secure."

He smiled warmly at his son, as if the joke was on him that the subject of their conversation was to call on a secure line. Apollo rose as well, headed for the hatch.

"Thanks, Dad. For everything."

The end.