Lee sits in front of his locker checking over his pads and running plays through his mind when his teammate takes a seat next to him on the bench. He watches the captain out of the corner of his eye doubting that Jared singled him out for some kind of pep talk. Especially when the coach had already done so a few minutes earlier.
He has a good idea what Mr. Captain has to say. He's been seeing Kara for over a month now and the whole team knows it. They didn't want it to be an issue, or attempt to hide it like star crossed lovers in some Kataris poem.
They'd been spotted in various encounters throughout the city. A teammate catching them at a movie together. A friend of a friend seeing them at a diner somewhere. A fellow student taking a hike and witnessing them on a run. Half of her team wandering onto the court when they were playing a little one on one at Centennial Park.
No one has said a word to him because up until now, the Admirals have remained a perfect 5-0 on the season, and the only team to come close to beating them was the Pirates. Lee knows Jared is sitting next to him waiting to for his opening because in a few minutes their first rematch with West Athenian is set to begin. He's waiting to question Lee's loyalty now that he has a girlfriend on the other side of the court who's a viable threat to their undefeated streak.
Lee can't help but feel insulted at this. The team he's played his heart out for suddenly doubting him.
"I know what you're going to say," Lee says jumping the gun. "Because I know everyone has been thinking it since they found out I'm dating Kara Thrace."
"What question would that be?" Jared asks, feigning ignorance.
"Am I going to be on my game?"
"Are you?"
Lee turns to his teammate, making his face a blank slate.
"I know what's at stake here. I know coach and the guys, frak the whole school, wants a flawless season and another title. I know it's my job to make that happen. So don't think for one second that I'm not going to do my job."
He gets up from the bench before Jared has the chance to say anything in rebuttal.
Stepping out onto the court the roar of the crowd causes the hairs on the back of his neck to stand on end. He looks around at all the faces, all the locals waving Caprica City High colors proudly. He thinks that there are nearly twice as many people here compared to opening night, and that is probably due to the local papers hyping up a newfound rivalry between the two best teams in the inter city prep league.
He finds his mother in the crowd and smiles when he sees her waving a miniature flag back and forth.
The team gathers into the pre game huddle and coach tells Lee that he's to guard number thirteen once again. An assignment that causes a few glances in his direction from most of the team. It's as if they don't know him at all.
The teams line up on the court and Lee takes his place in front of Kara who's smirking at him like she can't wait for the whistle to blow and the ball to drop. Like she's going to eat him alive. He smirks right back at her.
The ref drops the ball and Lee smashes right into her, knocking her flat on her ass and calling for the ball, easily tapping it into the goal. He lifts his arms in celebration and turns to face his bench and all his teammates, pointing a finger and challenging them to ever question his integrity again.
Making his way back to the line, he takes his spot in front of Kara who's rubbing the spot where she landed.
"I'm glad you did it first," she says with a small laugh. "Because I sure as hell wasn't going to be pulling any punches."
The ref drops the ball again and the next thing he knows, he's on his ass staring up at the lights hearing the sound of the ball getting knocked in to his own goal. Rolling to his side, then moving to a kneel he sees Kara do practically the same thing to her team. He laughs and thinks that questioned loyalties must be the topic of the day.
The rest of the half is harder fought and more exhausting than the first game they played against each other. Lee and Kara meet at the line time and time again. Bodies slamming into one another, hands lingering a bit longer than a play or a block actually call for. On more than one occasion after a fierce tackle, where they're sprawled over one another, he has to stop himself from kissing her.
Kara doesn't help matters any further by threatening to frak him senseless come halftime, if he keeps up all this teasing and foreplay.
The second half isn't so eventful. Lee gets benched because coach doesn't like the way he's not saving any energy out there. She doesn't want him to collapse and die on her pyramid court. He looks across at the Pirates bench and sees that Kara's coach must be thinking the same thing because there she sits staring back at him.
He gets called back into play with only a few minutes left but he isn't told to be on Kara's guard. He's all the way on the other side of the court blocking a player who's never in position to score and feels useless for the remaining time counting down on the clock. He can't stand having to watch his team drop one to the Pirates, on Kara's run of three goals in two minutes because he wasn't there up close to stop her.
So much for being undefeated.
Coach doesn't give him a reason why she never let him get back into a position he had thought he made quite the effort into preventing her from scoring. After the disappointed home crowd files out of the gym, after showering and getting back into his street clothes, he finds her and asks.
"I've no doubt you played all out for me tonight Adama," she says. "But whatever else you were doing with that girl out there doesn't belong on my court you get me?"
He isn't sure how to take that. Despite his obvious flare for playing with and against Kara, one thing he is sure of is that the game would have definitely gone a different way had he been on her guard all night.
One small consolation is that while he was getting dressed most of the guys had told him they thought so as well.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
The second person, albeit inadvertently and not even seriously, to try and pop the bubble of happiness since he met Kara, is Zak.
Lee had been trying for weeks to get Kara to come to his house and meet his mom and brother. And after scoring tickets for the Buccaneers versus the Panthers, he finally convinced her that it was an occasion worth introducing her to his family.
He waits in the foyer of the house pacing back and forth, the strange knot in his stomach twisting and turning all the while.
He'd brought girls over to meet the family before and it had never been a big deal. Though if he wants to be honest with himself he can't recall wanting his mom and brother to like a girl as much as he wants them to like Kara.
When she knocks on the door he's there to open it so fast she doesn't even finish the second knock. She stands there with her hand still poised and playfully continues the motion on his chest.
"You planned that didn't you?" She asks with a grin.
He takes a second to look her over, wondering to himself how she can make casual look so good. She's wearing a pair of old beat up blue jeans and a tight jacket that perfectly outlines her body. He smiles to himself when he sees the C-Bucs patch proudly displayed on one of the sleeves. Her hair is pulled back into a ponytail with a few stray stands falling onto her forehead and he can't help but raise a hand to her face and brush them away.
Pulling her into a quick kiss he whispers in her ear, "Why do you have to be so frakking cute?"
That earns him a kiss in return and the only thing that stops them from letting it linger is the sound of Caroline Adama politely clearing her throat. Lee turns his head sheepishly to his mother while Kara whispers, "Not the best way to make a first impression."
They break from their embrace and Lee gently nudges Kara to stand in front of his mother.
"Mom," Lee says a small hint of pride in his voice, "this is Kara Thrace."
"Nice to finally meet you," Caroline says with a warm smile. "I have to admit I was curious about the girl my boy has been raving about."
Kara smile back politely and glances over her shoulder at Lee.
"Raving?" She mouths questioningly.
He shrugs in response letting the sight of this encounter sink in. Part of him can't believe he's watching his foul mouthed, take crap from no one, punch you rather than talk to you, girlfriend being so well mannered with his mother.
Wondering where Zak is he moves to the foot of the stairs and calls his name. It takes a minute for the younger Adama boy to begrudgingly appear.
"What?" He asks.
"Don't what me," Lee says. "I told you earlier that Kara was coming over tonight. So get down here and make nice."
Zak rolls his eyes and mutters 'fine' under his breath before shuffling down the stairs. "Kara," Lee says grabbing her attention. "This is my little brother Zak."
Zak mutters something else under his breath at Lee making sure to emphasize the word little. However when Kara turns to face the younger boy and offer her hand, his whole demeanor seems to change. Lee laughs softly as he notices that his brother's jaw drops the slightest bit and his hand suddenly becomes limp in hers.
"You're really pretty," Zak says bluntly, causing the three of them to laugh.
Kara smirks at him and knocks him lightly on the shoulder with a fist.
"You aren't so bad yourself kid," she says. "There's something about you Adama boys isn't there?"
"Don't call me kid," Zak says, his grip becoming firmer. "I'm only two years younger than Lee."
"Sorry Zak," she says. "My mistake."
"The only mistake I see here is you dating the wrong one of us," Zak tosses back.
Kara's eyes shoot to Lee as if she can't believe the mouth on him, and Lee himself is a bit surprised. But then Zak laughs and tells Kara it was good to meet her before making his way back up the stairs and out of the room.
Lee tells his mother that if they want to get a decent parking spot at the arena they have to go, and she exchanges pleasantries with Kara one more time before heading into the living room.
"I think your brother has a crush on me," Kara teases as they make their way out the front door.
Lee grabs her hand and pulls her to him, crushing a kiss to her lips. Zak's little comment had bothered him more than it should of and he feels foolish for letting it do so. Kara breaks the kiss and laughs lightly.
"Relax Lee," she says. "It's not like I'm going to marry him."
"That's not even funny," he replies with a smile.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
The third person that tries to pop the bubble of happiness surrounding him since he met Kara is not even a person at all. But the Professional Pyramid Organization is a group of people tossing offers to her to go pro straight out of high school. The second she tells him that a countdown clock of his time left with her appears in his head. He can't imagine winning a competition for her attention with all the pressures and obligations of a pro pyramid player.
They're sitting in their seats at the Buccaneers arena sharing a basket of fries and drinking oasis ale that Kara had managed to get them with a fake ID he didn't know she had.
"I'd kill to be out there right now," she says taking a sip and nodding her head toward the court. "Then maybe the Bucs would win every now and again."
Lee has no doubt about her claim. When he wasn't playing against her himself, and when his attention wasn't steered toward his own team, he was watching her play. And when he watched it wasn't hard to see why so many scouts were jumping all over her.
Her stats alone are staggering. Twenty-six goals in eight games, averaging ten blocks a game, and her tackles are way above par. What she can do with a rebound has been compared to many a pro player. Lee knows she could easily step out on that court and show them all how it's supposed to be done.
"What about you Adama?" She asks. "Any offers? Because I've seen you play, and if you can keep up with me I'd say you got a shot at the pros too."
Lee raises his eyebrows and laughs lightly at her smoldering confidence. He sips his ale and looks down at the cheerleaders providing the halftime entertainment.
"I've got a few," he says. "Not the pro's though." He looks back to her. "We can't all be phenoms. But some b-league teams have talked to my coach. The rest are all universities."
"Any place worth considering?" She asks.
"Picon," Lee says without thinking.
"What is it about Picon that's got you so frakking hooked?" she chides playfully.
"It's a good school," he replies with a shrug.
What he doesn't say is that he wasn't talking about Picon University. More and more he's been thinking about the flight academy at fleet headquarters. About giving up pyramid and trying his hand at something he's been dreaming about doing since he was a little boy, despite the fact that it's the service that essentially drove his father away.
He looks at Kara and wonders if, with her love of the game, she'd ever understand that he'd be so willing to give it up.
"What does your mother think of all these offers?" He asks.
Kara's face drops and Lee's knows he has just made a mistake in asking.
"She thinks pyramid is a waste of time," Kara says quietly before downing the rest of her ale.
"Does she have any idea how good you are?" "She doesn't care. She says that I'm special. That I have a destiny. That I'm meant for so much more than a silly little game."
She sounds so disappointed at her words.
"Well she's right about one thing," he says taking her hand and squeezing gently.
Kara looks at him curiously.
"You are special."
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
The person that does pop the bubble of happiness surrounding him since he met Kara is Kara herself.
He gets a call at two in the morning and nearly knocks the phone off of his night stand trying to grab for it.
"Hello?" he mumbles sleepily into the receiver. "Hello?" He asks again when he hears nothing but silence on the other end. He's about to hang up when he hears his name come softly out of the ear piece.
"Kara?" he asks. "Is that you?"
"Lee," she says again, along with some other mumbles he struggles to hear. "I'm... Gods I'm so..."
He can tell she's drunk by her slightly slurred words and that shakes the sleep right out of him.
"Kara what's wrong?" he asks, the concern in his voice evident.
"Everything's so messed up."
"Where are you?"
She doesn't answer.
"I'm coming over," he says, shifting out of his bed and moving toward his dresser for some clothes.
"No don't," she says but he chooses to ignore her and hangs up the phone.
He quickly gets dressed and runs down into the kitchen for his mother's car keys and makes his way out the door as quietly as he can.
When he pulls up to Kara's apartment building he parks in the first space he finds ignoring the reserved status painted on the ground. He runs into the building glad that the locks have been broken for quite sometime, and tears up the stairwell. When he arrives at her door he finds it open.
Taking a cautious step inside, he doesn't know if Socrata is here or not, but if she is she's not the type of mother to allow a male visitor at such a late hour. He listens for her but can't hear anything other than sad piano music floating throughout the house.
"Kara?" He calls out to no answer.
He finds her in her room standing in front of a large painting on her wall. He's not sure what it is exactly. A giant blue circle, complimented with a smaller circle of orange in the center and a yellow ring around the outside of it. His brow creases slightly, the one time he was ever here he'd only been in the kitchen. She'd never shown him her room, or mentioned that she liked to paint.
"Kara?" He asks softly.
"I told her," she answers before taking a swig off a half empty bottle of ambrosia. "I told her that I didn't care if I was special. I told her I didn't care about my supposed destiny. I told her I was going pro and that I didn't give a frak what she says."
Lee's heart aches at the sight of her so sad. So broken. He reaches for her but she shies away and takes another swig off the bottle.
"What happened?" he asks.
She turns to face him finally and his body goes rigid at the sight of the black eye. He moves wordlessly to her and this time she doesn't move away. He runs a finger along the bruised skin causing her to flinch a little.
"She did this?" He asks in a whisper.
"She's done worse," Kara says, and Lee doesn't ask her to emphasize because he really doesn't want to know the horrible details of the statement. "You should see what I did to her this time. She won't be back for awhile."
"What can I do Kara?" He asks. "To fix this?"
She looks into his eyes with such raw emotion; he instinctually steps back, unsure how to respond.
"Do you love me?" She asks.
The question stuns him, and before he can think of how to reply, she's pushing him back onto her bed and straddling his waist, kissing him with such ferocity that there is no joy in the intimate contact.
"I know you do," she says breaking the kiss. "I know you love me Lee so just say it."
He looks up at her seeing so much pain in her eyes his feels his own heart break along with hers, and knows he is helpless to do anything about it.
"Say it."
"I do Kara," he says firmly.
"You can't take it back," she says as she starts to unbutton his pants. "There's no take backs."
He's quick to grab her wrists to stop her. "Don't."
"But you just said that you..."
"I know," he interrupts. "And you're right." He swallows loudly knowing that the next words to come out of his mouth are true, and have been since the day he set eyes on her. "I love you Kara," he says firmly. "And that's why we're not going to do what you want us to do. Not now. Not like this."
The tears fall down her cheeks and he's quick to wipe them away, she smiles sadly and collapses onto his chest resting her head against his shoulder.
"Don't leave," she mumbles into him. "Everyone who loves me leaves."
He lifts a hand to gently stroke her hair. "I'm not going anywhere," he promises.
He closes his eyes and really hears the music he'd noticed when he first walked in. The slow and majestic piano carrying its sad song throughout the room and fitting the mood of the situation perfectly.
"Who is this playing?" He asks.
"My dad," she replies sleepily.
"He's good."
She doesn't respond and he gets the feeling that she's fallen asleep on top of him. He slides upward a little so the weight of her won't restrict his own breathing, and continues to stroke her hair as her chest rises and falls against him.
"I love you Kara," he says again, closing his own eyes and letting the sleepiness reclaim him.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
When his eyes open to the dim sunlight creeping through parted curtains Kara is gone. He shifts to his side and leans on his elbow, yawning and gathering his bearings. Kara's room is a mess of scattered clothes, food boxes, and countless canvases covered with paint in intricate designs. Kicking his feet over the edge of the bed he shifts to sit up and really take in all the artwork he hadn't had a chance to look at the night before.
Part of him wonders why she never mentioned this passion before. He won't call it a hobby because the work is too prolific. Getting up from the bed he flips through a few of the paintings and is impressed. She has so much more talent than pyramid alone.
He finds her in the kitchen sitting at the table and staring out the window.
"How are you feeling?" He asks to no reply.
He takes a seat next to her wanting to ask more about the paintings, but she shifts slightly away from him. His brow creases in concern and he reaches for her hand only to have her pull back.
"Kara?"
"You should go," she says not looking at him.
He's stunned by the statement, she who only hours ago had begged him not to leave.
"What?" Is all he can find to say.
"Don't make me repeat myself."
"Listen," he starts. "About last night."
"I was drunk," she says dismissively.
"Oh," he replies suddenly getting it. She wants to pretend it didn't happen. That she never broke down in front of him and that he never declared his love for her. It cuts deeply this little revelation, and he tries his best not to let it show.
"Kara," he says softly.
"What did you think would happen?" She says coldly, finally turning her head to him. "That we'd fall in love? That we'd get married and have a couple of kids and live happily frakking after?"
Lee feels his blood begin to turn cold. "Why are you doing what I think you're doing?" He asks.
"Because I'm a screw up Lee," she says, her eyes glaring into him and giving nothing. "It's about time you learned that."
