Nervously Sam cast a few glances in Lee's direction. He was standing together with his father a few feet away. Lee had suggested to introduce them today. Of course she had looked forward to that. She had only met William Adama one time on Kobol … and at the time she had had only eyes for Lee, so she hadn't even talked to him.
She clenched her hands to fists to stop them from trembling. God, she was acting like a little girl. She would only meet Lee's father, that wasn't a big deal.
When she saw them turning around and walking towards her, she took a deep breath and tried to suppress the feeling of panic that was rising inside her. She put on her best smile and straightened up to meet them.
When William Adama stood before her, she immediately saluted him.
"I don't think that's necessary." Adama smiled at her. "This meeting is personal, nothing military related."
"Oh, of course." Clearing her throat, Sam put her hand down and took the hand Adama was offering her. "It's so nice to meet you, Sir. I have been looking forward to it."
"So have I, Captain, so have I." Adama looked at her thoughtfully. "I have to admit, it was hard believing Lee's story about you and … his dreams. But it's nice to know that it was true after all."
"Believe me, Admiral, it wasn't easy to believe for us too." Sam smiled at him and cast a quick glance in Lee's direction. She was satisfied to notice that he looked as nervous as she felt … even though he did a good job hiding it, but she had learned to read him pretty well over the years.
"I wish I could get to know you better, but I believe your General is waiting." Adama said smiling.
"I'd like to invite you into my home once we're all on earth. You and Lee ..." Sam stopped when she saw a sad look flicker through Adama's eyes.
"That sounds nice. I look forward to it." He nodded at her with a warm smile, then he walked away to meet General Hammond.
"That went well." Lee let out a relieved breath.
"Did you have any doubts?" Sam asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Not once." He slung his arms around her and gave her a kiss. "I gotta go. I'm supposed to be in this meeting as well."
"Don't forget you promised me that tour on Pegasus." She called after him.
"I won't." He called over his shoulder.
Smiling Sam watched him walk away. It felt good making plans for the day.
XXXXXXX
Smiling Sam watched Lee walking towards her. She had been waiting half the day to hear from him how the first meeting between his father and General Hammond had been. Of course Hammond had already told her the most important facts, but she wanted to hear this from Lee's point of view. As Commander of a Battlestar he had been part of the meeting and she was dying to know what had been decided.
But first she had to greet him the right way. When he had reached her, she grasped his hand and pulled him down next to her. Then she gave him a long, passionate kiss. "Have you been waiting for long?" He asked grinning when she let him free again. "Hours. What has been taking you so long?" She looked at him accusingly, but with a mischievous smile on her lips. "I can't just walk through the gate and go home. I have a ship to run." Lee told her, trying to sound very important. His eyes sparked with joy. "Oh, I forgot. Being a Commander is a very time-consuming job." "That it is." Sam's smile faded and she looked at him sympathetically. "Are you going to miss it?" "Hmm?" He looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "Being a Commander. It's not like we have anything like a Battlestar on earth." The sparkle in Lee's eyes vanished and he looked down on his hands uncomfortably. "Yeah, about that …" He stopped and swallowed, unsure how to go on. "What is it?" Sam urged him to go on. She suspected that she wouldn't like what he was about to tell her. "My father isn't willing to leave the Galactica and Pegasus behind. Should the Cylons find us on earth … General Hammond told us that you don't have that many effective weapons yet to hold off an attack from space, so …" He cleared his throat and finally looked at Sam again. "Only the civilians will go through the gate, the crews of Pegasus and Galactica won't. Hammond told us they have star charts from this area and they can show us the way to earth." "Us?" Sam asked quietly. Again Lee swallowed. "I … I can't leave him now. He's my father. And Pegasus is my ship ..." Sam nodded slowly, forcing down the tears in her eyes. Of course he couldn't. "How long …" She cleared her throat and swallowed down the lump in her throat. "How long will it take you?" "Without the Civilians only about a year. Our resources should last that long, so we can go the direct way. And now we know where to go." Lee took her hands in his. "I know this isn't what we had hoped for. Believe me, I want to go through that gate with you, but … I just can't." "I know." "And a year isn't really that long. We've been waiting 23 years for this, another year won't be that bad." "I know." "And we will still see each other every night." "I know." "Sam …" He looked at her with sad eyes. "I'm really sorry." "So am I." She managed to smile at him. "But you don't have to be sorry. I understand you have to go with him. You wouldn't be the man I fell in love with if you wouldn't. It's just … I'll miss you. I'll miss waking up knowing that I will see you during the day. That I can reach you whenever I want to. When you got shot, I nearly got crazy during the day. I couldn't just pick up the phone and check on you. I hate to wait until night. You could have died during the day and I wouldn't have known." "I feel the same way. When you told me about your father .. despite the fact that I was lying unconscious in sickbay, I wanted to be with you. I wanted to be there for you 24 hours a day. But we will have that. Just one more year and we will have exactly that." He smiled at her. "And in the meantime we can picture how our lives will be once we're together. You better have plans ready to show me your planet, because I intend to see every corner of it." "Every corner?" "Each and every one, yeah." "That might be a bit difficult, but I'll do my best." Now she was smiling too. It felt good making plans for the future. "I could start with my house." "That sounds nice. I always wondered what your house would look like." "We could go there while you're still here." Sam asked hopefully. She knew it wouldn't happen, but it felt nice thinking about it. "I'd love that." "I could cook you something – real food." She laughed, remembering his vents about both the Galactica's and Pegasus' food. "Real food? Mhmm." Lee's smile got wider just by thinking about it. "Can I take a shower before dinner? A real, long, hot shower?" "I have a bath tub too." "It's just getting better and better." He smiled at the image, but then reality came back to him. "At least I have something to look forward to during this year." Sam looked at him sadly. Why was it that every time they met something hindered them from staying together? Who knew what would happen in this year? He could die, she could die; they both had powerful enemies who were trying to kill them every chance they got. When she looked at Lee and saw the same sadness in his eyes that she felt herself, she pushed those thoughts out of her mind. She could think about that when she was awake … the nights belonged to Lee and she wasn't going to waste them by being depressed about things she couldn't change. Determined to lighten up the mood again, she put on her most mischievous smile. "A good dinner and a hot bath is all you're looking forward to?" She asked grinning. "Well, that and …" The sadness had vanished from his eyes and he smiled back at her. "… having you all for myself once and for all." He put his arms around her waist and pulled her closer to him while lying back on the grass. Laughing they rolled around for a moment, until they lay still, Sam right on top of Lee. He let his hand ran through her hair, while she traced her finger along his cheek. Finally he drew her head closer to him and kissed her. He indented not to let go of her again until he woke up.
TBC
A.N.: Thanks to Laurie for beta reading. And thank you all for your great feedback :)
PsyckoSama, thank you for your thoughts about how to safe Pegasus. I had actually planned to leave both battlestars behind and get everyone through the gate, but after reading your reviews, I just couldn't ;-)
