It was funny what sleep deprivation did to her brain. For a while, it had given her the energy and attention span of a particularly hyperactive two-year old. About fifteen seconds into the pre-flight brief, she'd started fidgeting, then tapping her hand on the chair in front of her until Lee had trailed off in the middle of a sentence and sent a pathetic approximation of a death glare in her direction (in his current state, he'd looked more like a beaten puppy dog begging for mercy). She'd stopped just long enough for him to continue talking, then started tapping her foot instead. It was probably only his own exhaustion that kept Lee from coming over and punching her.
Now, the nervous energy had worn off, and she found herself oddly fascinated with random things. The trails left by the Cylon missiles, for example, or the way the deckhands' uniforms were so very orange. Or, at this particular moment, how Lee's reflection in the mirror as he shaved off a good two days worth of stubble.
It wasn't like she'd never seen a man shaving before, or even Lee shaving. (She'd seen him do a lot more than that; Fleet Academy didn't seem to believe in privacy for its students.) But there was something about the way he was so intent on his task, staring at his reflection and moving the razor in slow, short strokes so his hand wouldn't have a chance to shake, that captivated her muddled mind.
Standing next to him, toothbrush forgotten in her hand, Kara watched him in the mirror. Despite the bright lights of the head, his pupils were huge, making his eyes look unusually dark. Between that, his hair squashed flat by too many hours in a helmet and the shaving cream covering half of his face, he almost looked like a different person. He could almost not be her best friend or Zak's brother or the CAG or any of the other things that made their relationship so complicated. If he were someone else, it wouldn't matter if she allowed herself to think—
"Kara?" Lee was looking quizzically at her reflection in the mirror, the razor hovering an inch from his cheek. "What are you doing?"
She looked down at the toothbrush just long enough to clear her mind, then back at Lee. "Nothing," she said, and left without bothering to brush her teeth.