Title: Give and Take

Author: scullymulder

Rating: PG-13

Pairing: Kara/Lee

Disclaimer: If I owned BSG, they would have found Earth by now...and Dee would be somewhere else. So would Anders, and Baltar certainly never would have slept with Kara.

Spoilers: Captains Hand/Kobol's Last Gleaming, Pt. 1

Summary: Gaius Baltar and Kara Thrace should never have slept together. A re-write of the beginning of Kobol's Last Gleaming, Pt. 1

Words: 1,027

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Ten minutes later, Kara would have found it hard to believe that she had woken up annoyed.

But she had. The consistent (what the frak is it?) cold-to-hot-to-cold (then back to hot) air was driving her insane.

Then, sickeningly, she remembered what it was. The last time she had felt this was before Zak had died…when she had slept with Lee. (Sure, she had slept with other men, -- oh, frak…please not the Doc -- that but she actually hadn't slept with them.)

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Looking back, she didn't even remember what she and Zak had fought about, but she did remember stumbling into the club, already inebriated, as she had already run out of the please, Gods, let me forget drink.

She drunkenly made her way up to the bar, demanding some of the 'good green stuff'. (Kara had been so drunk that she hadn't even remembered what ambrosia was called.)

It was only then that she had sat next to Lee Adama. From there, all she remembered was snippets of Lee saying that he had ended his relationship with – Kara couldn't remember her name – more drinking, Kara telling him about her fight with Zak, more drinking, Lee telling her about (all of them) his problems with Zak, more drinking, Kara telling him about her mom, which was something that she had told no one, more drinking, then: I love you.

The next thing Kara knew, they were tearing their clothes off in Lee's apartment. After they had made love – why did she call it that? She still called what she did with Zak 'frakking' – they had spooned up together and fallen asleep.

They had fallen asleep.

Except with Zak, she'd never actually fallen asleep with any of the men that she'd slept with. And that's what unnerved her.

Well, that and she had – with a Gods-sent hangover, of course – kissed Lee Adama goodbye.

Walking home, she had been overcome with guilt, but when she had got home and Zak tearfully told her that he had slept with another woman, she had felt her guilt lift away. She knew that she should have felt some regret for what she had done…but she couldn't. Not when it came to Lee.

The next day, Zak died.

Kara and Lee didn't talk again until he had been assigned aboard the Galactica for its retiring ceremony.

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Steeling herself, she rolled over, her head colliding with a forehead and a mass of Adama hair.

Then, it all came rushing back to her – the drinking (that seemed to be a common theme with them) and Baltar -- No, it was Mr. Vice President now -- asking her to dance, Lee telling him harshly, 'NO.' More drinking. Baltar sulking. Kara getting déjà vu when they had made love.

"Frak, Kara. I was sleeping, you know," Lee's eyes flew open and his voice was laced with the sound of a not-quite-awake male.

"Sorry. I forgot you were there."

"Mmm," Lee said, his eyes fluttering shut again. "Nice to know I'm loved."

You are.

Kara was notorious (to herself, anyway) for thinking one thing and saying another. Before, she hadn't minded, but as the words "Well, you are called Apollo for a reason" escaped her lips, she hated that she couldn't lower her façade even with Lee.

And when Lee's eyes flew open, with a spark of anger, she hated herself. This was the one chance that fate had given her to make something more of her relationship with him, and she had frakked up.

"Lee, I'm sor --" Kara started.

"No, Kara. I don't want to hear it," Lee said viciously. By this time, he had rolled out of resort bed and had started to dress. "I guess I was naïve enough to think that finally, we might be able to…but I guess not. That I've always been and am always will be just a frak to you."

"No, Lee. You're not."

He shook his head at her. "I don't believe you, Kara. I understood the last time, with Zak…but now…there's nobody stopping you."

His hand was on the door knob before she had the courage to speak. "Lee, please! You have no idea how frustrating it is when your mouth betrays your mind."

He turned to her again, and she saw anger in his eyes for the second time that morning. "The frak, Kara? What in the Gods names does that have to do with anything?"

Starbuck sighed, and gathering her wits about her, she slowly began to speak. "It means….that…Frak," she swore cursing herself for her hesitancy. "It means that the name 'Apollo' isn't just for your physique. It means that you're a wonderful person…to me, anyway."

"Kara…" Lee said wistfully.

"No, Lee, let me finish," she told him sternly, seconds before breaking into laughter. "Oh, Gods, Lee. We're the two most frakked up people I know. Let alone the fact that you've always been my weakness, even when I was engaged to Zak, or that we slept together…"

Kara gathered the bed sheets around her as she stood in up to look Lee in the eye. "Our relationship is give and take…except that I usually forget to give and you usually forget to take."

"No, Kara. You give all the time."

She gave him a smile that read 'Thanks, but I don't believe you'. "At any rate…I just want to let you know that…what you said last night? I'd have to agree."

I love you.

Lee closed the one step that separated them and enveloped the blonde in a hug. His head buried in her hair, she barely made out the soft mumble of "You have no idea…I have no idea what I'd have done if you hadn't said that."

"Get drunk, no doubt."

Lee raised his head, grinning, "Only to have you join me five minutes later, then this insane thing start all over again."

"Well," Kara said, smirking. "I'm up for skipping the 'drunk' part and going right to the 'insane' part if you are."

Lee's silent prayer to the Gods of eternal gratitude was cut short as they collapsed back on to the bed, their lips crashing together.

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A/N: Annnnd because I'm incredibly bad at physical stuff, we'll stop there. Because this was my first BSG fic, I thought Kara was kinda OOC, but...-shrug- Oh well. I wrote the end of it last night at 1 AM...damn. I just read this...and it's really short. Pfft.

Anyway. Constructive criticism and praise are always welcome...I hope you enjoy!