Author's Note: Please understand that this is going to be a group of one-shots thrown together as chapters. I posted the opening for requests on my LJ account (if you're interested, the LJ name's hackaddict), and these are the results. None of the chapters are intentionally related so don't take them to be. Thank you.
They say the gods whisper the name of the one you belong to at the very moment in which you cross into the dreamworld, but as Kara found herself falling asleep on the eve of her engagement announcement, she wished they had been a little more specific on which Adama that was supposed to be.
They say the gods whisper the name of the one you belong to at the very moment in which you cross into the dreamworld, but as Kara found herself falling asleep on the eve of her engagement announcement, she wished they had been a little more specific on which Adama that was supposed to be.
There hadn't always been this confusion.
From the day she met Zak, she knew he was the one for her. He understood every inch of her from her temper to her toes. She had risked everything to be with him. He was a student, after all.
Amazingly, for the first time in her life, it had worked out. The gods had given her a gift.
The first time she met Lee, she was a nervous wreck, and it turned out to be well-founded. The bastard looked down his nose at her, the cocky flight instructor who seduced her student, his baby brother, into an illicit affair. The first second Zak left them alone, he was asking her what her intentions were. It was laughable.
For some reason, his protectiveness endeared him to her.
They got over that first bump rather quickly once they figured out they were practically the same person in all the ways that mattered. Kara actually started looking forward to Lee's visits.
Things were going smoothly. She was in love with an amazing man and somehow, along the way, she had gotten one of the best friends a girl could have in the form of his brother. That was the reason she insisted they wait until Lee's next visit to tell him the good news.
It was supposed to be nice, a small quiet dinner at their favorite bar on Picon. Lee wasn't supposed to be late. Zak wasn't supposed to get called to that stupid last minute class. Kara wasn't supposed to be five drinks into the night by the time Lee finally showed.
He hadn't hesitated to catch up with her drink wise as he started telling the ridiculous story as to how his Raptor from the docked Atlantia ended up in a ravine twenty miles from where it was supposed to be. When he got to the part about his co-pilot accidentally pushing him into one of the rivers heading into the city because she saw a bee land on his shoulder, Kara thought she was going to die from laughing.
It was weird how the dynamic shifted with the absence of Zak. Sure, she and Lee had always joked around with one another, but there had never been this need to touch before. It was small at first, a brush of hands as he handed her the beer he bought, a loving pat when she said something patronizing, a slap upside the head when he said something stupid.
Then it escalated. He was telling her the story about the first time he ended up in the brig, and she reached out to lay her hand on top of his. A bit of foam off her beer ended up on her nose, and Lee didn't hesitate to fix that. She flicked a peanut at his head, and when he winced in pain, she leaned forward to brush a kiss against the reddened skin to make it better.
It all culminated in a guy coming over to try to buy Kara a drink, and in response Lee seamlessly slid his arm around her… and kept it there. Things would have been fine. Kara could have dealt with it if the guy hadn't come back.
"You know, a guy could get the wrong idea from the way you're acting."
Kara could feel Lee's arm stiffen as she turned to look at the obviously intoxicated man. "Excuse me?"
"You've been staring at me all night, begging me to come over, and then when I do, this bastard gets all protective. That makes you a tease in my book."
His stool scrapped against the floor as Lee pushed to his feet. Kara's eyes went wide. "Lee, no."
He glanced at her a moment before taking a step to put himself toe to toe with this asshole. "You apologize right now."
"Or what?"
Lee stared at him a moment and then his right fist was making contact with the other man's face. "Or that, you jackass."
Things would have been fine if it just ended there, but it turned out the intoxicated man was not by himself. Before Kara knew what was happening, two men had jumped on Lee. She had no other choice but to join in.
It only took them a minute to start having fun. They started moving together as a team. The other guys didn't stand a chance.
When they got bored, Lee took out his wallet and slammed enough money down onto the bar to cover the damages. The bartender smirked at him and invited them to come back again.
Lee put his arm around Kara as they stepped out into the hot summer night air, and Kara didn't pause to think how wrong it was as she slipped her arms around his waist.
Walking down the street, Kara laughingly pointed out that she never got into fights when his brother was around. Lee reminded her that Zak was not the fighting kind of man.
Kara felt Lee's head tilt down and was surprise to realize he was sniffing her hair. "Lee Adama, you're drunk."
"Kara Thrace, so are you."
"Touché," she muttered with a small giggle.
They walked along the streets in silence, and Kara knew there was something definitely wrong about this. She just couldn't put her finger on what that was. In reality, this was what Zak had always wanted. He wanted the woman he loved to be close with his big brother. He wanted them to bond.
"This is nice," Kara whispered, tightening her arms a little.
"Yeah."
Their agreement hung in the air between them, and Kara found herself wondering if there was more to it than what was on the surface. Because this was nice. Too nice. Nice in a way that things shouldn't be nice. Nice in a you're about to frak you life up yet again, Kara Thrace way.
Lee let out a deep sigh and ran his hands along the goosebumps on her arm. "You know, if things were different, Kara…"
His voice trailed off, and Kara knew he was keeping himself in check. He was giving her a way out of whatever they were on the edge of. Too bad she was too foolish and drunk to take it. "If things were different?"
"If things were different, you'd be the type of girl I would move heaven and earth to have."
Her feet faltered as his words sunk in. She looked up to see him wince. He knew he had just crossed a line he shouldn't have. The only problem was Kara didn't really know whether that was a bad thing. She waited until he peeked on eye hesitantly open before answering. "Lee, I-"
"Hey, wait up you two!"
Kara was proud at herself for not springing from Lee's arm the second she heard Zak's voice. Instead she took a calm step back and waited patiently until he got near. "What happened to that stupid class?" she asked as he pulled her into a quick kiss.
"Ended early," Zak said. He let go of Kara after a moment to look at his brother. "Thanks for looking after my girl."
"Anytime," Lee said, shuffling his feet back and forth.
"We had fun," Kara said. "Lee let me get into a bar fight."
"Frak, I knew you were a bad influence," Zak teased, throwing his arm around his girlfriend's shoulder.
Lee gave him a small smile before yawning. "Listen. I'm about beat. I'm just going to head back onto campus and pass out for the night."
"I just got here!" Zak protested.
"Let him go," Kara whispered. "He's been complaining all night of a headache. I think he was just being nice, staying out this long with me."
"Fine." Zak stepped away from Kara to give his brother a hug but quickly returned to her side.
Kara's eyes met Lee's for only a fraction of a second, and then she was giving him a small wave and he was walking away.
"Did I miss something?" Zak asked.
Kara looked up at him and smiled. "No, not really. Listen, I'm kind of tired to. Let's just go back to the apartment."
Zak gave her a small nod. He knew when it was wise to not ask questions.
"I waited to tell him," Kara whispered, looping her hand in his.
Zak smiled. "Good. I want to see my big brother's face when he finds out I'm getting married."
They walked the rest of the way home in silence, just enjoying each other's company.
And so Kara was here, laying in bed beside the man she had agreed to marry with the beginnings of slumber tingling the back of her head, wondering if the gods were trying to be cruel or if they really just enjoyed fraking with her.
As she fell asleep, the images in her head cleared and for a brief second she saw a man standing before her. Her mind tried desperately to cling to the picture so she would remember it in the morning. Like always it faded with the silent whisper of his name.