A/N: This is written on the idea that Earth hadn't turned out to be a shithole and that the 13th tribe was human and not Cylon. More of the inspiration came from driving late at night, Kat DeLuna's song on the radio. I don't own any of the characters and I don't own the lyrics.
Night had fallen. It was fairly late. The car was quiet except for the murmur of the radio. Kara stepped on the gas a little harder. The streetlights were blending one into another; the road was empty. The loneliness, the solitude she saw and felt made her insides hurt. Pieces of the song drifted up and gave her sharp jolts of memory.
I'm always in some trouble
To me life ain't fun unless you're in a good fight
She was throwing punches in yet another drunken brawl. The Marine's face crunched satisfyingly under her knuckles. Someone grabbed and tried to restrain her. She kicked and stabbed her elbows until she was free again. Twirling on her feet, she didn't even check to see who she was assaulting next, who had dared try holding her down. Her fist connected at first but her second punch was blocked. So was her third, fourth and then she dimly realised someone was screaming her name.
"Kara! Kara! It's me!"
She looked up to the face of her attacker and collided with sharp blue eyes.
"Lee?" She stopped her punches but her fists were still up defensively.
Her friend's face looked angry. Lee had lectured her before about getting drunk and then getting into a bar fight. She was just about to tell him to frak off when something hit the back of her head hard and she was out cold.
She came to later, much later and discovered she was in someone's cot. Her throat was dry and painful. Above her, sharp blue eyes stared at her, worried.
All my life I've made excuses
Pushing you away, saying that you're not for me
The alcohol they were consuming was making her hazy but it was the laughter that really had her drunk and bold. He gave her a look that said 'you're such a little kid' after she spat her drink at him. That look of his always made her want to prove she was fully grown up.
Somewhere the synapses got mixed up in her head and she kissed him. Kara pulled away and saw that he wasn't objecting. And at a hundred miles an hour, it hit her: she just needed to be alive, wanted desperately to free her mind and her body of Caprica and the kisses of a man who had little to no chance of survival. So she kissed Lee again and they were off.
"Slow down, Kara," he gasped. "Slow down, we have time."
And she freaked out. No, they didn't have time. If Sam's life was trickling at an alarming speed on Caprica, there was no way she was going to do anything slowly. Lee's eyes said too much, felt too much, were too vulnerable. She was instantly reminded of calling out his name under Baltar.
"There is no 'us', Lee!"
And she had stormed out.
All my life I ran from Cupid
I tried everything
She woke up with her cheek on a warm chest. Sam? And then the previous night paraded in her head, every single minute of it burning against her lips, her neck, her hips, her thighs, her back. Lee, Lee, Lee… she loved him. But no, this wouldn't work. She knew herself when she was this in love, when she had no obstacles in her path; most likely she would do something stupid and destroy the one she loved. She couldn't live with herself if she killed another man, another Adama. She couldn't live in a world without Lee. Kara knew he'd hate her for what she was about to do but it was preferable to his demise.
Oh gods, it would hurt. As she stood up and got dressed, her eyes were glued to his form. She wasn't sure when she'd see it next. His ruffled hair, longer than usual, lighter than usual thanks to the sunlight on New Caprica. His wonderful physique, so very smart at pleasuring her.
Kara ran away before she did something stupid like wake him up and drag the wrong body to a priest.
I never would've dreamed
That you and me
Would be together in the end
He was in a suit and he looked so gods-damned handsome and powerful and her heart filled up with pain. This was it, this was goodbye. The distance had finally been too much; death had been too much for them. Their destinies had finally come undone, no longer tangled together. But his hands were so warm on her face, his kiss so soothing and hungry at the same time. It pained them both. And despite the fact that he was leaving, Lee stood by her.
"I believe you," he had murmured.
And then they had separated, no longer Apollo and Starbuck.
A soft snore brought her back to the present. Smiling, Kara looked at her husband sleeping in the passenger's seat. Lee had been dead tired when they had left the party but he had still insisted to do the driving. Not even halfway out of his father's street, he had pulled over and let her drive.
Now he was reclining in the plush seat, head lolled back at a slightly awkward angle. His lips were parted and he looked absolutely adorable. She reached out and ran her fingers over his freshly cropped hair. Despite the lawyer's suit he wore to work, he still opted for the military cut he had sported right at the beginning of the end of the world.
Kara checked the rearview mirror and her smiled stayed in place as she lovingly ran a quick scan over the blonde angel in the toddler's chair, securely strapped in. She lifted her foot off the gas – there was no need to go so fast anymore. They had all the time to get home.
In the end, in the end it was you
