Asking the Gods

by callmeonetrack

Even though he didn’t believe in the Gods, he might have said a prayer of thanks anyway if he’d known how. Instead, like always, he just said his prayer to her.

Title: Asking the Gods
Pairing: K/L and a little K/S
Spoilers: Up to 2.20 Lay Down Your Burdens, Pt. 2
Rating: G
Category: Angst, Romance
Disclaimer: Ron D. Moore owns it all.
Author's Note: Written as a sequel of sorts, Lee's POV of Kara's homecoming in Testing the Gods

All this has happened before and all this will happen again.

The Gods surely hadn't been talking about his own personal circle of hell with that little bon mot, but right now Lee found it a bit hard to remember that.

Because there was his own personal goddess in the flesh, grinning at him like she hadn't just jumped over a thousand clicks away onto a cylon-infested planet to bring back a shiny new toy (again) as if it were no more effort than pulling out full colors at Triad.

Same old Kara.

Only this time, the toy was a man. A familiar-looking man at that, but he didn't have time to figure out just who this guy reminded him of before Kara was in his arms. And that was familiar too.

Lee felt her hands slide around his shoulders and her hair brush his cheek and her chest expand against his as she sighed, the sound curling into his ear. For the first time since she'd walked out of his office on the Pegasus to what he'd been certain was doom (not hers, of course, but maybe his), Lee consciously felt his own chest expand and he relaxed.

Even though he didn't believe in the Gods, he might have said a prayer of thanks anyway if he'd known how. Instead, like always, he just said his prayer to her. "Welcome back."

And he knew there'd been too much gratitude in his voice by the way she immediately spun away, leaving him with one arm outstretched and empty, and cracking jokes already about her new man.

Lee swallowed and tried to keep up. Put on his game face and tried to shift into big brother mode (even if that suit didn't fit nearly as well as it once did) as Kara skipped over to the man and kissed him for a ridiculously long amount of time.

Lee tried to look away but the whole frakking room might have been made of mirrors for all it mattered. Everywhere he looked—her locker, her bunk, the table where they'd almost…—all he saw was reflections of Kara.

So he focused instead on the guy. Anders. Lee introduced himself and after an awkward moment where he stood there with his hand out like a frakking idiot while they played tonsil hockey, the guy finally pulled away from Kara with a sheepish look (and that was familiar too) and shook Lee's hand.

As he poured them all a drink, Lee recognized Anders. He was—had been—a pyramid player for Caprica. Right, Samuel T. Anders. A godsdamned sports hero. No wonder Kara had wanted to collect him like a frakking rookie card.

He flicked a glance over at her and couldn't believe how happy she looked. He hasn't seen her smile like that since…

But his thoughts were interrupted when Kara caught him looking and shrieked (because this is clearly not her first round of shots), "Lee, when are you gonna get yourself a girl?"

Best shot in or out of the cockpit. Starbuck always knew how to land a direct hit. It's all he can do to stop from muttering the one thought flashing through his brain: I thought I already had.

His spine stiffened. "I'm doing fine, thanks."

Kara snorted. "You're not still frakkin' Dualla, are you?"

Lee knew he should be defending Dee's honor probably (even if—especially if—he had kind of forgotten all about her until Kara said her name so dismissively), and he tried to work up a righteous head of steam, because even Pyramid Boy, who'd known Kara for all of five minutes, is shooting him a pitying look and that's just too much.

But as Kara cackled about hot young things and climbed onto the man's lap, trying to devour his face, an intense wave of déjà vu swept through Lee. He almost staggered back into the bunks as memory flooded in and he realized what had seemed so familiar before. It had nothing to do with pyramid or the man's appearance (it would be much later before he'd recognize that, physically, he and Sam had more than a few things in common). It was the happiness written all over Kara's face as she looked at Anders.

Like he was a second chance.

He watched them now, feeling sick and sad and a hundred other things, and knowing he should turn and leave. Hell, they wouldn't even notice. But Lee stayed and watched (like he'd always done) and thought about Zak and cycles of time. When he finally turned and quietly exited the room, Lee wondered at how all that time never seemed to be on his side. He'd have asked the gods about that too if he'd known how.

--fin--