Chapter Two: The Beach House
Kara woke up screaming his name, her heart pounding in fear, lunging out for a man who only existed in her dreams. Her body trembled and tears began to stream down her face and fall onto her hands. The overwhelming feeling that Lee needed her filled her chest until it hurt and dragged gut wrenching sobs from her. How could she feel such an emotional attachment to someone who did not exist? She did not even feel this strongly about her fiancee Sam. She was beginning to get just a little unnerved about what was going on. And the worse part was that she did not remember what she had been dreaming about.
Every night for the past month she had vague dreams about Lee Adama. He was in some kind of trouble and she believed that she was suppose to help him, but she never got close enough to do anything but watch him die. It ripped her apart every time and left her feeling as if her soul was being stripped away. If this kept up she was going to need to see one of the doctors for something to help her sleep and maybe a shrink; just to be sure she was not going crazy. Although her mother would be pleased if she could have her permanently grounded and transferred into the civilian sector.
Kara swung her feet to the floor and stood up. The first thing she noticed was that the floor was not cold but plushly carpeted. Her quarters were not carpeted. She looked around trying to fight the feeling of dread that was beginning to creep over her. Was she still dreaming? Did a person dream about dreaming? The room was large and well appointed with a large bed on a wooden platform and other pieces of furniture. The walls were mostly floor to ceiling windows that were open to let in a soft breeze and Kara could hear the ocean in the distance. A small smile graced her face; she knew where she was. The beach house she had dreamed of building and had actually drawn up plans with an architect before the end of the world. She looked around the room and knew that it was just as she had planned.
She walked out into the hallway and saw the large poster-sized picture of her brother on the only wall of the living room. All the other walls were glass and gave a spectacular view of the ocean and beach. She let her eyes travel over the familiar face of Devon Thrace. Trying not to get chocked up on her emotions, she admired the clean cut boyish face framed by golden brown curls. He was looking right into the camera and you could see the mischievousness in his deep green eyes. She loved this picture of him. Turning her back on the picture she turned toward the sliding glass door that would lead to the back deck and came face to face with the man who had been haunting her dreams for the last month.
"Hey gorgeous," Lee Adama replied leaning against the open door.
He was once again dressed casually in a blue linen shirt and matching linen pants. No shoes. Kara was beginning to wonder if he had an aversion to wearing shoes. She drank in the sight of him and prayed to God that this dream was not going to end in her screaming his name and him dying.
"Hey yourself mister," she replied walking toward him. "So whose dream is it this time?"
"Very sure it is still mine," he replies. "Same beautiful woman, same beach; only thing this time there is this really nice house."
"And let's not forget I have clothes on this time as well," Kara replies.
"Well that settles it then. This is definitely not my dream," he chuckles.
The sound washes over Kara and she feels her stomach clench. She does not know why this man has this kind of effect on her. Not even Sam can make her lower all her defenses. The only other person who was capable of that was her brother and he was dead. As always thinking about Devon brought Kara crashing to reality. She turned away from Lee as the tears threatened to fall. She hated for anyone to see her cry and she definitely did not want this man to see her when she was weak.
Lee was not sure what had just happened. One minute they were casually flirting with each other and the next she had retreated behind a wall and effectively shut him out. He had an overwhelming desire to pull her into his arms and comfort her, but an inner voice told him he could not push her.
"Do you want to talk about it?" He asked stepping closer to her. He put a hand on her bare arm and was shocked by the frisson of electricity that passed from her to him.
Kara looked up at him and found herself pulled toward the concern in his blue eyes. She felt the warmth of his fingers on her arm even before he had actually touched her. This man was way too dangerous to her sense of being. He could easily consume her and make her forget anything but him. Good thing he was only a dream. Feeling a little bold she took his hand in her's and pulled him over to the couch. Before sitting down she reached up and gently cupped his cheek, letting her hand caress the smooth skin.
Lee drew in a deep breath as her fingers brushed lightly over his face. His mind sharply warned him that he was in a relationship with another woman and allowing Kara to touch him so intimately was wrong. His heart told his brain to shut the frak up; afterall this was just a dream. And it could not really be called cheating if it was not really happening. She sat on the sofa and reached for his hand to pull him down next to her. He sat close but not too close, not wishing to crowd her. They had a lot to talk about and he did not want to feel intimidating or get distracted by what his body wanted to do with her. He shifted uncomfortably. Thoughts like that did not help his already aroused state.
"Every time I think about my brother I feel as if I am being ripped apart and hearing about his death for the first time," she replied turning her head to look at the picture on the wall.
Looking at the picture, Lee could tell that the young man was a relative of her's. They shared the same face and same beautiful eyes. The man's hair was a few shades darker and had more of a curl than her's. Were Kara was guarded and on edge, the man in the picture was open and carefree. He invited you to get close with his eyes and Lee got the feeling that everyone called him a friend. To see the love that she had for this man made him glad that he was her brother and not a rival for her affection. He would have lost if that had been the case.
"Tell me about him," Lee invited settling back against the cushions and picking up her hand. He gently began rubbing his fingers along the inside of her palm hoping the gesture would get her to open up to him.
"I can't," she replied. Lee watched as she pulled all of her walls back into place and retreat behind them. This was something she was not ready to share; least of all with a man she only sees when she closes her eyes.
"Alright. I would never ask you to do something you don't wish to," he said turning her face to his. He feels his heart tighten at the lost look in her eyes. Now he knew he was in trouble; dream or no dream. Time to steer this conversation into another direction.
"Kara, if you don't mind I would like to ask you some questions. They are going to seem strange to you but I am asking you to trust me and know that I will in turn answer any questions you will have."
Kara looked at him and knew that they were about to have an in depth conversation that was in direct relation to the first dream in which they met. There were a lot of things about their conversation that had unnerved had and by the look on his face she knew the same held true for him.
"Ok, but I get the first question. Are we really dreaming?" She asked. Of all the things that had been said and not said, this whole dream format worried her.
"Well I can tell you this; I only see you after I have had an exhausting day and I go to sleep alone."
"Does that mean you don't usually sleep alone?" Kara asked. She was not sure what made her ask that but the idea of him sleeping with someone else pissed her off. Pissed her off enough that she wanted to do something about it, like beat the crap out of whoever his sleeping partner was. She was going to need therapy by the time this was all over.
Lee smiled at the jealous tone of her voice. He liked the idea that she was beginning to have possessive feelings towards him. It also made him wonder if she slept alone.
"To answer your question, I don't normally sleep alone. I am very rarely alone but I occasionally fall asleep in my office on the couch." Lee could not help but tease her a little.
Kara was not happy about having her suspicions confirmed. Just the thought of him sharing himself with someone other than her seemed wrong, cosmically wrong. They would have to talk about that later; much later.
"Well the same applies to me. I have vague snatches of dreams, but after a really grueling day when all I can do is fall into my bed, you pop up," she replied shifting to the end of the sofa. She needed to put some distance between them before she grabbed him and had her way with him.
"Ok, so we know we are asleep but this just does not feel like a dream. I can feel physical sensations, pain, intense emotions, fear and complete clarity," he said turning to face her. He liked being able to watch her, especially when she stuck the tip of her tongue out and ran it across her top lip. He got hard just thinking about what he would like her to do with her tongue. He shifted trying to find a more comfortable position and was thankful that he was wearing loose clothing.
"Let's shelve the idea of wether we are dreaming for right now. I have some ideas and I want to test out my theories before we draw any more conclusions," Kara replied. She was thinking about asking the doctors if they could help her with a sleep study. "Plus you said you had some questions you wanted me to answer, so shoot."
"When I asked you if you live on Earth, at first you said yes then no. Which is it?"
"This could take awhile," she replied getting up and heading to the kitchen. Even if this was not her dream it was her dream house; so hopefully the frigger and pantry would be well stocked. Both her and Devon were heavy eaters as well as sugar junkies, so she had learned early on to make sure to have plenty of food and drinks on hand.
She opened the pantry door and grabbed a couple bags of chips, a box of her favorite vanilla cupcakes and a bag of Hershey miniatures. Looking in the frigger she decided to grab a six pack of Cokes instead of the beer. She could really use a beer but decided to play it safe. Walking back into the living room she threw a bag of chips to Lee and sat a Coke on the table in front of him. At first Lee stared at the food she had handed him shell shocked and then he tore open the bag of chips and devoured them. One of the vanilla cupcakes quickly followed the chips. Before Kara could even sit back down, he opened the can of Coke and drank it in one gulp. When he looked up and saw the expression on her face he burst out laughing.
"I promise that once I have explained you will understand what just happened, but Kara that is going to have to wait because I am going to be sick," Lee said hopping up from the sofa turning a lovely shade of green.
"The bathroom is through the bedroom and Lee hurry," Kara said chuckling. She watched him jump cleanly over the sofa and run through her bedroom door. She sat down and began to slowly enjoy her food while waiting for Lee to rejoin her.
Lee did not stop until he made it to the bathroom where he proceeded to empty the contents of his stomach. He should not have eaten everything so fast but he could not help himself. He had been existing on mush and algae for so long that resisting and going slow was not an option. Once he was sure that his stomach had settled down he got up and washed his mouth out with the mouthwash he found in the medicine cabinet. He turned off the bathroom light and headed through the bedroom to return to the living room. As he walked past Kara's dresser a framed picture caught his eye. Picking up the picture he realized that it was of Kara and a guy who was holding her in his arms. She was looking at the man as if he was the only thing in the world. Lee put the picture back realizing that the two of them had very separate lives and those lives did not include each other when they were awake. They only existed for each other in this time and place, wherever that was.
Kara held out another soda to him when he sat back down on th sofa. "Go slow and no gulping," she chided gently. This woman was beautiful to him and he hoped that the guy that she allowed to hold her so tenderly understood what he had.
"Now back to the inquiry. I am not sure where to begin to answer your question. So much has happened where Earth is concerned and I get this feeling you want to know everything," she replied. He nodded affirmatively. "Alright then. I use to live on Earth but now it is uninhabitable. It is still where we left, though it is a radioactive wasteland."
"Wait a minute. Are you telling me that Earth has suffered a nuclear holocaust?" Lee asked stunned. The thought that Earth was not a viable option for the fleet was devastating. And then the possibility that the cylons had beat them to Earth chilled his blood.
"Yes, Earth has suffered a nuclear holocaust. A total devastation of all life on the planet. With the exception of those that were already off planet or who managed to escape in the civilian ships. But that is near the end; so much happened that led up to those events," Kara replied.
"Ok," Lee said taking a deep breath. He was tense and afraid of what she was going to tell him but he needed to hear all of it.
"But what I need to understand is why this all seems like news to you. It almost seems as if you are hearing this for the first time. Like you are not from Earth," Kara said looking strangely at him.
Lee knew that he would eventually have to answer all of her questions but right now he needed her to tell this story. "Please Kara, believe me when I say that I will tell you everything you will want to know. Just not right now. I need you to trust me; even though you don't know me. And I need you to tell me about Earth as if I have never been there a day in my life.
Kara was not quite sure what was going on but she was willing to put her trust in this man. She could tell that he would never intentionally hurt her and she felt that something bigger than both of them was at work here.
"Well two major things happened that would change life on Earth forever. First was a major explosion in population. The world population had been increasing steadily for years with advances in medicine that allowed people to live longer. But somewhere along the way the population skyrocketed. There were more than 10 billion people on a planet that realistically could support less than half that number. So with so many people and nowhere to go things were going to get ugly fast." Kara stood up and began to pace. Lee watched her liking the way she moved. She was graceful, athletically built and sexy as hell.
"The second thing was a major scientific breakthrough. Faster than light travel. It meant that now we could get out of the solar system and that meant we could find another place to live. Not to mention the possibility that there was intelligent life out there." At this point her eyes swung back to Lee. She grabbed a handful of chocolates out of the bag and tossed him a couple. Lee decided to pocket them to save for later.
"Now comes the good parts. Not very many countries on Earth had a space program and even those that did knew that inter planetary colonization could not be taken on by any one country. So the Terran Convention was held Zurich Switzerland. After two years the results were a new group called the UAG or United Allied Group. Twelve countries each pledging 100 billion dollars, manpower and raw materials to build 12 deep space exploration and colonization vessels. Those 12 countries were the USA, Canada, France, United Kingdom, Germany, China, Japan, Russia, Switzerland, Italy, Australia, and Greece. Each deep space team was comprised of a space air craft carrier, medical transport ship, terra forming and agriculture ships. The breakdown of personnel was essentially 10,000 colonists and everyone else was UAG military which equaled about another 10,000. The UAG formed a military made up of citizens of all 12 countries and opened academies in each country to began training people for every job imaginable. This was a huge endeavor and would be years in the making, but it would also incite riots and world wide hate. Most countries were left out and many religions and cultures were excluded." Kara walked back to the couch and sat down. Lee was completely enthralled by the story that he did not notice that she sat almost in his lap.
"The first ship to be commissioned and finished was the UAG Capricorn," Kara said with just a hint of pride in her voice. Lee on the other hand began to choke on his soda.
"The Capricorn?" He chocked. Kara reached over and pounded him on the back. Once Lee had stopped gasping for air she began to gently massage his back.
"Better?" She asked.
"Yeah just went down the wrong pipe." Lee became distracted by her hand lightly rubbing his back. The linen shirt was thin enough for him to feel the heat from her fingertips. He turned to look at her and almost stopped breathing as he saw desire flare in her green eyes. He reached up and gently cupped her cheek and brought her face closer to his. Kara's hand moved from his back to his neck effectively holding in place.
"My story is not done yet," she whispered. They were so close that he could feel her lips brush his when she spoke. Those soft lips of her's made him say to hell with the rest of the story. He needed to taste her now.
"It can wait a few more moments," he replied taking full possession of her mouth. She tasted like salt and vanilla frosting and all he wanted to do was nibble to his heart's content. Lee pulled her body closer to his as his mouth continued it's gentle assault on her's. He ran his tongue along her bottom lip and when she gasped his tongue swept inside to take full possession of her.
Kara could not seem to get close enough to Lee so she climbed into to his lap to straddle his hips, bringing his erection into full contact with her body. Lee's body surged at the warm intimate contact and his ability to think rationally was compromised. He pulled back from her coming up for air and gazed into her deep green eyes. What he saw there made him give up his soul to her forever.
"Kara I need you..."
"ACTION STATIONS! SET CONDITION ONE THROUGH OUT THE SHIP! ALL HANDS ACTION STATION!!"
Lee was pulled harshly out of sleep with the blaring of Lt. Gaete's voice over the comm. The claxons that were sounding were chasing the remnants of the dream from his mind but not his body. He was still fully aroused and he could still feel the full weight of Kara in his arms. Not too mention the taste of salt and vanilla in his mouth. The damn cylons had messed a perfectly good dream, not to mention the rest of her story. Gods let him find his way back there so they could continue. First things first; he had some cylons to kill.
