Title: Almost Out of the Sky (4/12)
Pairing: K/L eventually
Rating: M-ish for language
Disclaimer: RDM owns BSG characters. Title from Pablo Neruda poem.
Summary: Earth 2012. Coffee and the Fourth of July. 'Nuff said.
Beta: A big sparkly thank you to the lovely workerbee73
A/N: Enjoy and thanks for reading!
Untitled
"Okay, moment of truth. Let's see if the old knee holds up, shall we?" Kara edged to the side of her bed and put all of her weight on her good leg, her left one. Rising slowly, she straightened her right leg and eased her weight down. Sherlock, dutiful observer that he was, waited patiently for Kara to topple over.
"Don't you dare laugh at me," she commanded Sherlock who was doing nothing of the sort. After putting on her knee brace, Kara leaned over and grabbed her crutch this time and started again. This part wasn't bad. She could handle the crutch. It was the transition to no crutch that was so nerve-wracking because her knee would occasionally give way at the most inopportune times.
"Guess it's not time yet. Maybe I should try after breakfast?"
In apparent agreement, Sherlock headed toward the stairs and waited for Kara to hobble over. Ever so carefully, Kara trailed her watchful dog as she made her way down every flight of stairs. By the time she reached the bottom, she was sweaty and in desperate need of coffee.
"Good morning!" said Emily far too brightly from her seat at the table. She was dressed in her running clothes, same as Lee who was giving Kara a nervous smile.
Frak. She hadn't been hallucinating when she'd told him to come over this morning. Kara fought the urge to climb back up the stairs. All. Four. Flights. Instead, she huffed audibly and sucked it up. It was time to accept that Lee wasn't going to relent until she gave him a chance.
Not that he deserved one, she thought with a scowl.
"Ugggnnnnhh," grunted Kara as she hobbled to the counter, grabbing a large mug from the shelf above the coffee pot. She was unshowered, her hair was a tangled mess, and she was doing her best not to reach for the pain-meds. Glancing at Lee and Emily out of the corner of her eye, she found them both surveying her warily.
"What?" she barked. "Like you're all sunshine and daisies until you've had your coffee, Em."
Emily glowered at Kara as she rose from the table and retrieved Kara's full mug then set it on kitchen table for her. "Figure out what you two want for breakfast while I go wake up Max and grab a shower. I don't have to go in until eleven today."
Kara followed behind Emily and clipped her in the thigh with the bottom of her crutch.
"That's for my pedicure."
"Watch it Kara, don't forget what happened last time," Emily warned as she went down the hall and climbed a different set of stairs.
"Last time?" asked Lee.
"She died my hair blue after giving it a trim because I accidentally bumped into her and she fell into Karl's pool. It's not my fault she was dressed in white."
"Is that so?" said Lee as he took a sip of his coffee. "Maturity at its finest. You're pretty mobile, so… soon after dislocating your knee."
"I guess I didn't hurt it as bad as everyone thought I did."
"Danny said it'd take about six weeks to heal," said Lee as he leaned back in his chair. His eyes glided up her leg, sizing up the bulky knee brace.
"Well, whatever happened to it, I should be good to go in a couple days," said Kara dismissively. "So… I don't remember much from yesterday afternoon other than you giving me a sorry-ass apology. And now you're here in my kitchen, so there must be a good reason for a pre-coffee visit."
"You don't remember… anything?" Lee sounded slightly alarmed and Kara grinned. He quickly narrowed his eyes at her, looking peeved.
"Fine, fine. I remember. I was hoping you'd forget," said Kara, attempting to waylay his interrogation. "Still, I don't understand why you even care what I've been up to. As I recall, you wanted to stay away from anything that caused you too much grief ."
Kara had made her peace with the past, she really had. Still, it was much easier to believe what she told herself repeatedly when the past wasn't sitting right in front of her, shooting her peace all to hell. Regardless, she wasn't going to make this easy for him.
Giving him a hard look, Kara noted that despite his current frown he looked much more relaxed than he had the first night she saw him. Still, faint creases in his forehead coupled with worry lines around his eyes, revealing more about the past three years than he could ever verbalize.
"Fine," she sighed loudly. "You've got until Max gets down here, so choose your questions wisely."
"Where'd Sherlock come from?" he asked quickly. The corner of her lip curved upward at his rapid-fire approach. Of course he'd have questions stored up. That was so Lee. He'd probably even made a list.
"Well, when two doggies love each other very much…"
"Kara…"
"The name or the dog?"
"Both."
"A petty officer who worked for me transferred into housing that didn't allow dogs and nothing else was available."
"So you just brought home a puppy? Just like that?" asked Lee, brows raised.
"Of course. Who could say no to that?" she pointed to Sherlock who was sprawled out on his side, chasing something in his sleep. "He was two-months old the first time I saw him — all paws and ears. Fortunately, he grew into both."
"Emily let you keep him?"
"It was actually Ruby. I was lucky because she'd take in a stray Giraffe if she could find a place to fit it."
She smiled at Lee who chuckled. "Then where'd the name come from?"
"I'd had Sherlock for about a week and he wouldn't answer to a thing we called him. I took him for a walk and about halfway I plopped down in the grass to give him a break. I had a book with me and set it down for maybe… ten seconds and looked over to see him pissing all over it," said Kara as she looked at her silver dog, remembering him squatting over her used book.
"When I asked if he hated 'Sherlock Homes' he wagged his tail and got antsy. He either liked the name or had gas, so I tried it again and got the same reaction."
"So he got his name from a book?" asked Lee. "I guess that works. Sherlock Homes. That's mystery, right?"
"Yup," said Kara as she drained the last of her mug. "I guess you didn't have much opportunity for light reading?
"No, not so much," Lee replied wistfully. "Though I did learn how to play tennis and golf. We tend to talk a lot of shop during those activities."
"I have no idea how to play either, so you've got me there."
"Maybe I'll show you sometime. They're both pretty enjoyable." Lee said as he scratched the side of his face. "Okay, next question. What did you end up doing?"
"You mean after I left your office that day?" Zing. She watched Lee clench his jaw as he nodded slowly.
"Me and a few others were recruited for some… light training to handle security issues for when our technology falls into the wrong hands. It was pretty… intense for a while," Kara paused for a second, remembering the complete and utter mindfrak her first seven months on Earth had been. Light training her ass. They were full of pain and misery, two things at which she excelled.
"… but then training wrapped up and I was offered three different positions," with three fingers raised, she ticked off each location. "One here, one in Germany and one… in D.C., actually."
"This was the billet for Flight Coordinator?"
Kara pursed her lips. His deflection skills were much improved. This chat would be much more exciting if he'd just take the bait.
"Sort of. My position evolved into that. Other than myself, Cottle and Aaron Kelly are the only remaining senior officers still in the fleet. Karl stayed in too, he's a Major."
"You're a Lieutenant Colonel?" asked Lee, surprise evident.
"Since about two months ago. I was promoted to Major right after we found Earth and was fast-tracked to senior staff for multiple reasons… it gave us a little more credibility with other military branches. With Admiral Tigh up on Galactica maintaining a skeleton crew, they needed someone to step up down here."
Lee nodded and seemed to file all the information away in his brain, most likely to go over later. Same old Lee. As long as the questions stayed light and easy, they'd be fine.
"Emily mentioned that you travel a lot."
"Yeah, I spend a lot of time in the hot zones — the Mideast, Russia, China. But I also coordinate a lot with the EU since we're all trying to maintain a Joint Forces Command."
Lee nodded as he cocked his head to the side. "What country do you enjoy the most?"
"Work or pleasure?"
Lee grinned, "pleasure."
Kara paused for a second, mentally reviewing the countries she favored. It was tough.
"Gods, there's so many. I've gone on a few trips with both Danny and Karl. We've gone rafting and hiking in Peru and Chile. Both were beautiful and just… overall great experiences. We're planning a trip next spring to Mount Kilimanjaro. I also went on a few trips with Ruby."
"Just travel or were those also adventures?"
"No, Ruby took up photography when she retired from working at the university. She had friends all over the place. Whenever the mood struck, she'd pick up the phone, give a buddy a call and hop on a plane. Every once in a while, I'd get to tag along."
"Taking pictures?"
"Yeah. She found me messing around with one of her old cameras not long after I got here. I was terrible, but Ruby said I had a good eye. Whatever the frak that means," Kara said flippantly.
Kara rolled her eyes, thinking about her first months with a camera. She glanced up quickly at Lee and found him smiling at her, causing an unbidden rush of warmth through her body. Blinking hard and looking away, she continued.
"Eventually I got better and she started taking me on some of her trips. Some of my favorites were New Zealand and… well, and Russia."
"Russia? Really?"
"Yeah, it's… hard to explain," Kara hedged. "We had a really good time once when went to visit an old friend of Ruby's. It was insanity from start to finish."
Kara smiled, remembering Ruby's amazement at Kara's ease with picking up Russian, especially the swear words. More importantly, she got to visit Samara, the city where her father grew up.
"After our last trip," said Kara, more somber as she picked at the corner of the placemat. "Ruby got this uh, this weird blood clot from sitting still too long… It ended up killing her."
"That's how she died? A blood clot?"
"It was — it was pretty sudden. Caught everyone off guard. Em was devastated."
"She seems to be handling it well, though," offered Lee as he straightened a little in his chair.
"Some days are better than others," Kara replied quickly. She didn't want to tip him off to how much Ruby's death affected her personally.
"What's your job like then?" Lee asked, effortlessly switching topics. "Danny and Ryan said you're gone a lot."
"Chatty aren't they?" Kara quipped. "I'm typically gone from Monday 'til Wednesday night or Thursday morning, according to my schedule."
Kara leaned back and propped her leg in the chair where Emily had been sitting, sighing as she did so.
"I basically go around, recruiting top guns from different countries to participate in the International Aerospace Program. I evaluate them on our sims and out on the aircraft carriers to see if they can hack it."
"Will you put them through Advanced Flight?"
"Yeah, just like what we went through. Twelve weeks."
"What about sims? Did you get Chief to help you?" Lee asked as he leaned forward on the table.
Kara nodded, leaning forward as well.
"We engineered five different sims and sent them out," Kara glanced up at him and continued, anticipating his next question. "For instruction purposes, I took the two remaining texts we had, cut out what was defunct, added a few maneuvers and some helpful stuff and slapped together a new manual."
"What about instructors? You can't do it all. I could talk to Marcia, see if she'll agree to transferring Racetrack —"
Kara fought to hide her grin, "Kat, Hot Dog, and Racetrack are all on board with being instructors. Kat helped me prep the Viper course; Karl and Sharon are in charge of raptors."
"You, Kat, Hot Dog on vipers, Karl, Sharon, Racetrack on raptors? Sounds like a good crew."
"Actually, Karl and Sharon will alternate duties, especially when —" Kara cut herself off. No one knew Sharon was pregnant yet. "I mean… they'll alternate so one can stay at home with Hera."
"And how many pilots have we got?"
Kara raised an eyebrow at Lee's use of 'we' but didn't call him on it. He caught himself anyway, and looked away while she continued.
"So far we've registered 113 pilots, both helicopter and fighter-jet, and a few astronauts. We'll be heading up to Galactica around the time school starts back in the fall."
"Sounds good, Kara. I know how far this will go in getting the trust of the naysayers out there."
Kara ducked her head, not wanting him to see how much his opinion mattered to her.
"You seemed to have settled in pretty nicely here," said Lee as he settled back against his chair. "How uh… how long did that take?"
Odd question, Kara thought. Eyes narrowed, she looked him in the eyes and detected more than a hint of jealousy. Maybe this wasn't about her at all.
"After I met Danny? Not long at all, I mean look how well you're doing, and you've only been here a few weeks," she said as Lee nodded slowly in agreement.
"Yeah well…"
"What? Are you doubting your status as a brand spanking new resident of Ithaca Bay?"
"No, I mean, I don't even live here. I'm just —"
"Just visiting, right. I bet you want to be a townie, just like the rest of us. Give me a week, I'll see if we can make you feel right at home."
Lee looked at her uncertainly as he crossed his arms. Out of the corner of her eye, Kara saw Sherlock raise his head and seconds later, the loud trampling of a cranky six-year old could be heard, and thus ending the Q & A. Kara sighed quietly in relief. Lee's dogged interest made her uncomfortably tense.
"Just a heads up, but Max doesn't like waking up early," said Kara as she turned to see him enter, looking much like she imagined herself. Max walked up and leaned against her shoulder, yawning widely.
"What's wrong Wild Thing? Did your mom wake you up?"
"Worse. She let Muffin in my room and let her do it," he said with a frown. Kara looked over to Lee and mouthed 'cat' to him as he nodded. "Did Muffin lick your face again?"
"Yeah, and she sat on my belly and kept sniffing at me and started biting at my fingers."
"How dare she!" said Kara in mock indignation. Lee bit his lip while Kara tried to smooth down Max's rebellious hair, her efforts proving to be futile. "Your mom told us to figure out what we wanted for breakfast, but I have no idea what I want. What about you two?"
Kara watched in amusement as both Max and Lee looked upward and tapped their chins, their actions mirroring each other perfectly.
"Waffles," they both said and grinned at the other's response. Kara just rolled her eyes as Emily entered the kitchen, freshly showered.
"Took you long enough," said Kara as Max left to get some orange juice out of the fridge.
"It was muddy, lots of scrubbing involved," snapped Emily. "Maybe you should do us all a favor and take one yourself."
Kara shot her a dirty look as Lee shrugged. She knew all about his views on hygiene.
"Maybe I will," she retorted as she started to rise carefully. "By the way, we decided on waffles. But I'd like chocolate chip, please."
"Me too!" said Max.
"Me too, what?" asked Emily as she looked to Lee who nodded in agreement.
"Me too, please," said Max. "Starbuck be careful in the shower, it get's slippery."
"Don't worry Wild Thing. I'll be fine," Kara said as she hobbled over to the stairs. She didn't realize until she got there that she'd left her crutch behind.
Yeah, she'd be good as new by the end of the week.
When she returned a short while later, she found Lee kneeling beside Max as they watched steam rise from the waffle-maker. Emily was sitting at the table, holding a touch-sensitive screen as she read all the e-news. All in-print newspapers had made the reluctant transfer to electronic circulation.
"Anything exciting?"
"Just a hostage situation in Pakistan again. The US only claims that 'help is on the way'," said Emily. She glanced over at Kara and said quietly, "I guess it's a good thing you dislocated your knee."
"No idea what you're talking about," said Kara, feigning nonchalance.
"Right," Emily rolled her eyes and sighed, "of course not."
Kara gave Emily a warning look that could freeze water then nodded over to Max and Lee.
"What'd you do to them?"
"Me? Nothing," said Emily. "Lee offered to make the waffles and Max wanted to help. I just sat back and let them do all the work."
Kara looked on with disapproval as she saw them split a banana. Max always split fruit with her. He wasn't supposed to be grinning up at the strange man with bright blue eyes and a stupid smile. She shook away her petty thoughts. No, it's not like she could be replaced around here.
"Hey Lee, how would you like to take Kara's place? She never cooks and you're much better to look at in the mornings," joked Emily at the worst time imaginable. Kara reflexively punched Emily in the biceps. "Ouch! Kara, not so hard."
"Hmph. I'm pretty sure your fiancé would have something to say about that," said Kara as she limped over to the coffee pot and filled her mug half way.
When she turned, she nearly ran smack into Lee who then tried to go to her left as she did the same and they kept almost running into each other. One of those inopportune times presented itself and her knee gave way slightly. Kara reached out with her free hand and pushed against his chest, stilling his movements while she leaned on the counter with her other arm. On reflex his hand came up and wrapped around her wrist, but she jerked it away as if burned and sidestepped him.
Releasing a breath she was unaware she'd been holding, Kara rolled her eyes when she caught Emily watching the encounter with a bemused expression on her face. Returning to the table, Kara slouched down in her chair while Max brought over the peanut butter, syrup, and butter.
"Lee are you coming out with us on Wednesday?" asked Emily as she retrieved plates and silverware.
"Out on the harbor for the fireworks? I'm just doing whatever dad and Laura are doing," said Lee as he slid the waffles onto the plates, somehow managing to carry all four to the table at one time. Of course Lee could do that, noted Kara. Lee could also crap gold bricks and walk on water.
"I can almost guarantee they'll be out there with us, since they've got a boat and Laura said she was bringing dessert. Ryan has his parents' large pontoon boat and we have a twenty-eight footer that's as old as dirt, but we latch them all together and have a cookout and a great time."
"You've got to come Apollo!" said Max as he did his best to get a cavity by slathering his waffle with peanut butter then dousing it in syrup. "I just got my kite and it's huge!" Max stretched his arms out as wide as he could.
"What do you have a kite for?" asked Lee as he took a bite out of his waffle.
Kara had to admit the waffle was good. Actually, it was very good. She was felt a pang of sadness as she remembered an evening when Lee made dinner for her and Zak. She forgot how well he could cook. Kara shook the fog away when Max hopped up and ran out of the kitchen, returning with a brightly colored box kite.
"Everyone always brings their kites out to the beach during the day. Last year mine broke and it fell in the water," Max frowned. "But not this year. Me and Starbuck picked this one out last week. Do you like it?"
Kara watched as Lee examined the kite, giving it as serious consideration as he would an important document or prized artifact. He nodded and handed it back to Max, giving him a sure smile. Lee might be awkward with kids, but he treated them as equals and they loved that.
"It looks great, Max. You and Starbuck did a good job." He glanced at her with the corner of his lip quirked upward and she raised her eyebrow in return. "Well, if everyone else is going to be there, I guess I will be too."
Kara ignored the way Lee looked directly at her when he said everyone else. Of course she'd be there. It's not like she could work with a bum knee.
.::.::.::.
After storing party food on the Old Man's boat, aptly named Galactica, Lee went with Laura to the beach in search of their neighbors. Spotting the box kite flying high in the sky and its owner, he and Laura set up camp near their neighbors.
"Hey Lee," greeted Emily warmly as she doused Max with a thick coat of sunscreen. "The Walker family does not tan," Emily explained as she closed the lid on the bottle, "we burn."
"My apologies," Lee replied. "Where is everyone?"
"Around… I think Kara went into the city for something or other," said Emily, seemingly unconcerned.
"I'll bet she did," Danny said tersely as he walked up beside Emily and Lee.
"Leave her alone Daniel," chided Emily. "She said she'd be back by two, which is a half hour from now."
"Isn't this a national holiday? What the hell… heck," covered Danny, glancing at Max, "is she doing, driving all over creation? I'll bet she's at work, not downtown. She's supposed to be resting, you know."
"Starbuck always says she'll rest when she's dead," said Max, who still managed to listen despite his apparent attention to flying his kite.
"Well, she sure is headed that way," said Danny under his breath. Lee looked at him sharply and caught Emily doing the same. Emily raised her eyebrows and looked away, shaking her head as she leaned over towards Lee.
"Ignore him, he always gets moody around this time of year."
Lee wasn't quite sure what to make of Emily's comment. Before he could prod further, he felt someone tugging on the back of his shirt. Turning, he found Sharon standing next to Hera, who was about a foot taller with a gap-toothed smile similar to Max's.
"Hera!" said Lee. "Gods, you look just like your mom."
Hera bit her lip shyly as she looked up at Sharon who nodded in encouragement.
"Hi… Apollo. It's nice to see you again."
"It's good to see you too. Where's your dad?"
"Bringing the casserole dishes," said Hera as she pointed to Karl who was carrying about twenty objects and sporting a beleaguered expression.
"I'm going to go give him a hand," said Lee. "See if Max will give you a turn with his kite."
Lee started towards Karl with a commiserating grin. "Need some help?"
"Always," said Karl. "Sharon picked out like… five dishes, couldn't decide, so she made all of them."
"Is she a good cook?" asked Lee as they headed toward the dock where his father's boat was moored, side-stepping all the families dotting the beach.
"Decent, I guess… for some odd reason she's really good at making Korean food."
"Weird," commented Lee as they approached the Galactica. "Dad? I've got Karl with me."
Bill came from below deck with a beer and a handful of cigars, wearing a large hat to protect his face. He greeted them and showed Karl where to store the food. As they stepped back onto the dock Lee saw Ryan approaching, still dressed in his scrubs.
"Well I'll be damned, you Colonials join in on any party you can get, huh?" he joked in passing as he patted Lee on the back. "See you all in a few, I've got to change. Anchors aweigh at 1800?"
"Sounds good, Ryan," said Bill as they continued up the dock and returned to the crowd.
Lee heard a familiar cackle and searched around until he found the owner. Kara was laughing with Jean and another man while Sam appeared to be reenacting Kara's now famous collision with the freight train and the former cheetah.
Kara was wearing jeans, her knee brace strapped to the outside. She hadn't noticed him yet, so he took the chance to observe her before she put up that cold front of which she was so fond. Breakfast Monday morning had gone a long way in mending they wide void between them, but she still remained relatively standoffish.
It was breezy by the shore and the wind kept sweeping through her hair, catching the sun at odd intervals as the golden strands licked at her neck and face. He scanned the rest of her body; observing how her body was much sleeker in tone than he recalled. As she raised her arm to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear, he noted a streak of orange on her forearm. Curious.
"Something wrong?" whispered Laura as she walked over to Lee and handed him a drink from the portable cooler.
"What? No… I was wondering who that man is, standing next to Kara."
"That's Kara's Master Chief on base, Taylor Gaffey," offered Laura. "His wife is just over there with their two daughters."
Lee looked to where Laura pointed, where a beautiful dark-skinned woman with two young girls, their dark hair twisted tightly with beads stacked at the tips, were filling their buckets with sand. As if on cue, he waved goodbye and returned to his family while Kara walked over with Sam and Jean.
"Hey, Lee," said Jean, her fingers threaded through Sam's. "I understand you were introduced to ultimate frisbee on Saturday. Was it everything you thought it'd be?"
"I figure any game —" said Lee as glanced at Kara pointedly, "that can knock Starbuck on her ass is worthwhile in my book."
The others laughed while Kara narrowed her eyes. "Watch out Senator. Might find yourself on your own ass soon enough."
"Duly noted... Oh, before I forget," said Lee as he motioned to her arm. She lifted it and there was a fine streak of orange paint, still wet. Without thinking he reached over and wiped off a strip, rubbing it between his fingers. Oil-based, he thought.
"Wonder where that came from," she said as wiped off the remainder. "Must have rubbed against something."
"Yeah," replied Lee. "Strange."
.::.
Dinnertime loomed as nearly a hundred boats dropped anchor in the harbor. Lee couldn't deny how good a time he was having, surrounded by friends both old and new. He was getting to witness first hand what Karl meant when he said Kara and Emily always brought the party.
Mischief seemed to follow in their wake as they moved about on the boats, both sharing an identical twisted sense of humor, which caused most of the ruckus. Well, that and their infectious laughter.
Lee chose to stay out of harms way, sitting off to the side with Jeff and took the opportunity to learn a little about Emily's soft-spoken fiancé.
"I teach World History at the high school in town," said Jeff as he leaned back against the starboard side. "Went to Texas Christian University and played short-stop on the baseball team."
"I have no idea what a short-stop is, but I can appreciate playing a varsity sport while still maintaining a full course load."
"Did you play sports in school?"
"Yes, but not varsity, and the only thing from my youth that comes close to a sport you have here is Soccer."
Jeff nodded in understanding as another eruption of laughter came from Kara and Emily, both of whom were talking with his father who was emitting his deep-throated chuckle. It was an unusual sight, seeing his father so lighthearted, but Lee was learning to adapt. Rolling his eyes, Jeff gave him a long-suffering look.
"Are they always like this?"
"More often than not. Even though Kara's five years older, you'd think they were teenagers judging by the way they act half the time."
Lee nodded in understanding at Jeff's comment as a nearby boat turned on some music. Drawing Emily's attention, she spotted the pair looking her way and broke away from her conversation. She folded her tall form into a chair beside Jeff and beamed up at them.
"Have you told Lee about the first time you met Kara?" asked Emily. Lee turned to Jeff who gave Emily a long blink and grinned. He was such a goner.
"I'd been here 'bout a week, and I was wanderin' around town, lookin' for directions to the trailhead for Odysseus's Rock. Out of nowhere, this big silver dog nearly ran me over. Then that one," said Jeff as he raised his chin over to Kara, "walked up behind me and apologized, then asked why I looked so confused. We got to talkin' and she told me to come out to Dizzy's that night. Turns out, it was Karaoke night and she signed me up first thing as a… welcoming."
"What he isn't telling you," said Emily, swinging her arm around Jeff's shoulder, "is that Jeff here is a darn fine singer. Plays the guitar too."
"Really?" Lee couldn't imagine quiet, serious Jeff up on stage, singing his heart out.
"It's how he won me over."
"I thought it was my enchiladas?" he asked as he stole a quick kiss.
"Hey now you two, not while there are impressionable young minds around," cracked Danny as he came over next to Emily. "So uh, Em… Here's the deal. I uh… I accidentally left the sparklers at home."
"But Max and Hera love the sparklers," said Emily as she glanced around. "Look over there, Fred Murray has his fishing boat. See if he'll run you over to shore."
"D'you have any of that halibut I can barter with then?"
"How about you agree to take his sister out on a date instead?"
Danny gave Emily an angry look and for the first time, Lee realized that Danny was a force to be reckoned with. Emily blanched quickly while Danny shook his head at her.
"Oh Danny!" Emily gasped as she covered her mouth. "I wasn't thinking. Sorry. Here… let me uh… let me go get you a plate."
Lee watched Emily climb over to her boat while Kara walked up to Danny, nudging him in the arm. "Did you break the news?"
"Yeah, she suggested I ask Fred to give me a ride to shore."
"Hmmm, Fred's kinda quirky. You should take reinforcements," said Kara. She looked at Lee who frowned. "Take Lee, he's never seen your house or that boat you've been working on."
"How 'bout it Lee? You up for a quick ride?"
"Will we miss the fireworks?"
"We've got 'til dark, so just over an hour. Come on," said Danny as Emily returned with a foil-covered plate. He heard her whisper 'sorry' while Danny nodded, cuffing her on the shoulder lightly.
After sweet-talking the town eccentric into giving them a roundtrip ride to shore, Lee and Danny plodded up the dock then onto a trail leading in the opposite the direction of his father's house. Conversation was still light, but Lee couldn't help but notice Danny's edgy behavior as they neared his house.
Speaking of, Danny's house wasn't what Lee was expecting. He'd imagined a small bungalow shoved two or three streets away from the beach. No, this was a fair-sized house plush against the coast with at least three bedrooms. Lee suddenly wondered how much physical therapists made and whether or not he'd like the profession.
"Want to see the boat first? I'm still working on it so it's below my deck."
"Sure," replied Lee. They rounded the house and walked beneath the high-rise deck, Lee's jaw dropped. The 'boat' was about 40 feet long with the usual fiberglass hull. As they approached it, he saw the solid mahogany wood decking and whistled.
"Are you… refinishing this? How long have you been working on it?"
"A while now… just over four years."
"I don't know much about boats, but I mean, is that the average? What possessed you to buy a boat?"
Danny brushed a hand over his curly hair and sighed loudly.
"My wife and I were going to sail it with our daughter down to South America."
Lee raised his eyebrows as his jaw dropped, "your… w-wife?"
Danny looked back at Lee and let out a humorless laugh and started shaking his head.
"No one told you? I thought you and Kara… patched things up."
"We did, sorta. Told me what?"
Danny made a sour face and turned around abruptly. "Come on Lee, you need to try my homebrew, this month it's oatmeal stout."
Lee felt a little dizzy and wasn't really sure he needed a beer. He followed Danny as they climbed up his back steps and entered the kitchen. Other than finding it tidy and well decorated, Lee noted a drawing of an amorphous blob with crazy hair signed Max on the fridge. Danny emerged from a room that Lee took for the garage, holding a box of sparklers and two bottles of beer without labels.
"So…" Lee began as Danny handed over the beer and held open the kitchen door.
"Sorry, I uh. I don't talk about it often because everyone already knows," Danny continued on in silence for a couple minutes while Lee just drank his beer. He discovered that he was a fan of homebrew, especially the oatmeal variety.
"My uh... Rebekah and my daughter, Holly died," Danny looked directly at Lee as his voce cracked slightly, "four years ago, tomorrow."
Lee didn't know what to say so he kept quiet. He could feel the blood pulsing in his ears and saw the trail start to merge together in front of him. How could someone so happy and carefree as Danny have already laid to rest a child and his wife?
"They… there was… you know that subdivision up on Bedford Hill?"
"The one with all cookie-cutter houses?"
"Yeah, that one. The outlet of the subdivision used to be right below the crest of the hill. They'd been working a few months in the area and Mack trucks, those huge diesel trucks with a flat front, were always making a big commotion and stopping up traffic leading out of town."
Lee frowned; he had a feeling as to where this was headed.
"So, my girls were… coming back from a trip into the city and… a Mack truck took the turn too wide hit Rebekah's car head-on. Rebekah died on impact, Holly died on the way to the hospital."
Silence fell between them as Lee took in Danny's words. He started thinking about what Danny must be feeling, remembering his own wishes to talk about Zak after his death, occasionally even the end of the Colonies. Problem was, no one ever wanted to listen.
"If I'm asking too much, just let me know," said Lee carefully. "How did you meet Rebekah?"
Danny glanced over at Lee and he drew his eyebrows together.
"You know, other than Kara, you're the only one who's ever asked. Everyone assumes I never want to talk about them, like it's too painful."
Lee shrugged, waiting for Danny to proceed.
"It's your usual boy meets girl story, really. Rebekah moved here when I was a sophomore in high school and she was s junior. Her mom had some high-powered corporate job where she bailed out sinking companies and they moved around a lot. I think I fell in love with her the first time I saw her trying out for our swim team. It took me a year to work up the courage to ask her out."
"Yeah, I know what that's like," nodded Lee, remembering his younger days — and some of his more recent ones.
"I was only seventeen, but when we finally got together, it was like… I don't even know —"
"Like your entire life was building up to you two coming together?"
"Exactly. Like we were meant to be together and no one else would ever be able to fit that role."
Lee clenched his jaw. Unfortunately his wife wasn't the first person to spring to mind when he thought of being fated to spend all eternity with someone.
"So what happened after graduation?"
"I went just south to Stanford on a swimming scholarship and she went to Santa Clara for teaching."
"At least you weren't too far apart."
"No, but we both kept pretty busy," he said as he drained the last of his beer.
"We hit a rough patch when I started training for the Olympic trials in ninety-six. I was beat out by one of my college teammates, but I kicked his ass at Nationals the next year," said Danny with a rueful grin.
"I wrapped up school and we got married a month after graduation. Bek was finishing up her masters for teaching and I just started PT school. We were living off school loans and our only saving grace was that Bek's mom signed over the house as a wedding present when she moved back east."
"Nice present," muttered Lee. His apartment in Crystal City was a closet compared to Danny's house.
"Not so nice when you're all alone."
"Good point," Lee replied as the yacht club came into view. "When did Holly come along?"
"Let's see, Bek had been teaching at the high school for about four years, actually Jeff has Rebekah's old job. My baby girl was born in 2004. She was a leap-year baby."
"What were they like?"
"Bek was… smart and beautiful and driven… she had this laugh that made my heart stop," said Danny with a sigh.
Lee frowned again, once again an image of someone with blonde hair popped into his mind and it was certainly not his wife.
"I'll be damned if I don't still wake up every morning, wishing she was there to rub her cold feet against me and nudge me out of bed. And Holly… Holly was going to be just like her, eyes as bright blue as yours… Except she got stuck with my frizzy hair, poor kid," said Danny quietly as he yanked at the tip of his hair.
Lee envisioned a tiny Danny running around and was struck by the fact that he rarely, if ever considered children. They weren't really his thing. He liked being able to return them to their parents when they got out of hand.
"I bet she'd still be beautiful, regardless if she got stuck with your 'fro," said Lee as they waved to Fred Murray who'd finished his plate and was playing a harmonica. They climbed aboard his little boat and he took them back to Ryan's pontoon.
"Thanks Fred," said Danny followed Lee aboard. "You want some dessert?"
"No, no thank you. Watching my blood sugar," he said as tipped his hat and found himself an empty spot among the towering boats.
"Danny?" called Lee quietly before they joined the others. "Thanks for sharing your story with me. I wish I could have met them both."
Danny gave him a sad nod and looked away quickly, and Lee traced his gaze to Kara who'd just spotted them. She gave Danny a bright smile and Lee suddenly found himself wanting to be on the receiving end as well. He immediately tampered the wish, wary of where it could lead.
"Me too, Lee. Anyway, thanks for listening. It means a lot," said Danny as he tapped Lee's shoulder with the long box.
Lee nodded just as Kara came up with her hands held open, waiting for the sparklers.
"Took you both long enough," she said with a wink. "So Lee what'd you think?"
The way she said it made him get the feeling she knew exactly what Danny just shared with Lee.
"About the boat?" he asked as she nodded. He looked to Danny and said, "It was definitely worth the trip."
Kara gave him a measured look and she smirked ever so slightly, understanding Lee's meaning.
"Well, c'mon. We're all gathered on the Galactica. It'll be a tight fit, but I can always throw you overboard if we start to sink," she said over her shoulder said as they trailed behind her.
"Good to know you care so much," said Danny as he poked her in the back.
"Oh please. I care too much," she said as they reached the speedboat, squeezing into the remaining spots.
By nature of what was available, Lee ended up sitting next to Kara and across from Karl and Sharon. He tried to ignore how closely Kara sat next to Danny — doing her best to maintain no body contact with Lee whatsoever. Instead he focused on the cheerful, patriotic atmosphere and the warmth he derived from being surrounded by friends, old and new.
As the fireworks began and everyone settled back against the cushions for a better view, Kara started to relax. Lee loosened up slightly as well, taking in a deep breath of cool, salty air — the breeze carrying the scent of Kara's hair. He blinked quickly and forced himself to pay attention to the glimmering weeping willow in the sky.
"So Lee," said Danny during a brief lapse in fireworks. "Kara tells me you want to get a little better… acquainted with the town."
Hearing Danny's comment, Karl pulled the sucker out of his mouth and shook his head in warning.
"I uh… yeah, sure," said Lee; uncertain as to where this was leading. He caught the mischievous looks that Danny and Kara shot each other and immediately looked back to Karl for guidance. All Karl would provide was a shrug and a foreboding condolence.
"It was nice knowin' ya Apollo."
Lee wondered if they had suckers in hell.
.::.::.::.
Next up: mud, pretzels, and landscaping. Que?