Hearts and Fates Entwined

By: Fairedust

Part three

Chapter 2

Heading down to the gym, she knew Karl would be along in a little while. While she waited, she wanted to do some training on the odd looking contraption George had built for her some weeks before. It sort of resembled a lightly padded, multi pegged porcupine, that could swivel. Many of the other crew members laughed when they had first seen it. None laughed anymore, not after they had seen Tabby put it to work.

That is where Karl found her when he entered the gym. He stopped at the door to get a good look at the pixie like woman. Her skin had a light sheen of sweat and her face was slightly flushed. He had to admit, she really was beautiful. Her hair was woven around her head in an effort to keep it controlled and away from her face. Ringlets were framing her face, despite her best efforts. She was wearing a tight pair of sweats and a loose fitting T shirt.

Both Kara and Lee had offered her some military tanks, that she had graciously refused. Only Karl knew the real reason as to why. She was afraid her scars may show if she were to wear the tanks. To be honest, he was surprised she had managed to keep them hidden from everyone, since she came aboard. Living in such close quarters had to make that rather difficult, to say the least.

Looking around the gym, he noted there were several others watching her put her porcupine thru its paces. Deciding he should make his presence known, he ambled over to her. "So, you gonna have anything left for me? Or have you used it all up on your toy, there?" he said with a brotherly smile. He noted once he approached her the others looked away, deciding to get on with their own work out. He wondered if Tabby knew she had an audience. What was he thinking, of course she knew. She just never seemed to care. She was gifted with the ability to never feel self conscious. He often wished that was a trait he too possessed.

"For you brother, I always have more. Shall we? Those two's time is almost up and we have the mat next. Great timing by the way. Why don't you stretch out while we wait?"

She had moved over to toward the mat where she had placed her stuff. While Karl did a quick stretch, she took a long pull of her water. Helo found himself taking an inconspicuous look around the gym again. He noted several people had placed themselves in a position to watch, for when he sparred with Tabby. He was unsure if he should be concerned or not.

"Karl, if anything, seeing me play with my toy and then spar with you, should give anyone here pause. I really don't think you need to be concerned." she said with a small self mocking tone.

He grunted a small laugh, "I suppose you're right there, Tabby." then he took a good look at her face. He noted that her eyes had dark circles under them. He'd once heard that look being referred to as raccoon eyes. Upon closer inspection, he noted her face seemed a little pale. He hadn't noticed at first because it was flushed from her previous exertions. "Hey, Tabby, are you feeling alright?"

Looking over at him thru the corner of her eye, she noted his concerned face. Mudbug!! If he knew how tired she really was, he'd never agree to spar with her. She hadn't sparred with anyone in over a week. She was NOT about to miss this opportunity. This was like bonding with the two of them. Plastering as bright a smile as she could on her face, she turned to him fully. "What, you're not trying to find an excuse to bow out are you?"

"No. … No, I was just asking is all. Actually, with all that's been going on lately, I think I really need this. I think this time I may actually get the better of you." He said with his mischievous smile.

The two people sparring came to an abrupt end as one man hit the mat hard. The victor had landed a really good jab to the other man's jaw. He was out like a blown out candle. The people lining around the mat helped him up and moved him over to one of the benches. Tabby gave Karl a quick look, then went to check him out. Seeing nothing overtly wrong with the fellow, she quickly rejoined Helo for their turn on the mat.

With their customary banter, they began to slowly circle one another. Helo, bouncing on the balls of his feet like a true boxer, taunted her with his superior size. Tabby for her part, moved more in line with a panther. Her movements graceful and deliberate. Each time Helo reached out with one of his long, powerful arms; Tabby would duck then spin away like a dancer.

Unknown to all in the gym, Lee stood fixed in the doorway. He'd decided he'd spent enough time closeted away in his office, doing the never ending piles of paperwork. His muscles were screaming for some release. Since the passages were too crowded at this hour to go for a jog, that only left the gym.

He'd seen the two of them dance a few times before on the mat. But it still held his fascination. He really meant what he had told the President. He really wanted her to teach him how to move like that. Taking a few steps into the room, he found an empty space along one of the walls that gave him a good view of the action.

He no longer held his breath while watching these two, like he had in the beginning. Although there were moments he still had to grit his teeth. From the times he had already observed these two, he knew Abby was in no real danger of getting hurt. Helo on the other hand seemed to be lucky Abby was able to control and pull most of her punches. Just as he was seeing right now.

"Good one Tabby!" Helo said to her as he wiped a hand across his mouth, coming up with a little blood. Tabby had managed to slip in under his defenses and clock him a good one.

"You should be paying more attention to your hands, than prancing around the mat, Karl. All that prancing won't do you a hill of beans, when I can get thru your defenses. Plus, with you dancing around like that, it makes this all the easier." Helo's confused look was shortly answered as Tabby deftly swiped him off his feet.

Within moments it was over, she had him pinned. Helo couldn't even try to struggle out of her grasp. At his every movement, she put pressure onto his arm and shoulder. "Helo! Accept it! I won again. If you don't stop fidgeting, you're gonna pop your shoulder out again." she said with humor ringing in her voice.

"Alright, alright. I surrender. Just don't pop it out again. Even with you fixing it the last time, it was sore for a week." Helo said with good humor. It never seemed to bother him, when he lost to her.

Lee had to admit, he was impressed. He pushed himself off of the wall and approached the pair. The others made room for him to enter the mat. Reaching out a hand, he helped first Abby, then Helo to their feet.

Once on her feet, Tabby gave both men a small head bob and headed back to her toy. Their bout was over way to quickly for it to have expended all her tension. She would need to continue her work out solo, she guessed.

"Sir." Helo acknowledged Lee with a nod and a grin. "Helo." Lee responded back with the same. Both men's eyes followed the pixie as she began to pound on her porcupine. They moved off the mat so others could put it to good use.

Helo cleared his throat, then "So, you gonna ask her to teach you?"

"Teach me?" Lee looked at the man in confusion.

"Yeah, Lee. Teach you. I remember you saying something on those lines back on Kobal. If you think you could handle getting pounded and dropped to the mat several times without getting angry at her; she may be willing to teach you a thing or two. I guarantee they didn't teach you anything like what she could at the Academy or at the War College." Helo said in an off side voice, so no one else could eaves drop on their conversation.

"Do you think she would?" Lee asked curiously. "I've been trying to broach the subject when we go on our runs, but…." As it turned out, Lee was the one who went with Abby on her daily run whenever Kara was not available; which seemed to be almost half the time. He found he enjoyed spending time with this curious woman. Even though she was so much smaller than he was, he found he never had to lessen his pace for her to keep up. They had entered an easy banter during their runs that seemed to flow over to the rest of their interactions as well. He found her to be very quick of wit and entertaining. He had also observed her compassion and understanding with the rest of the crew. For the most part she seemed in a perpetual state of calm that was interlaced with a mischievous, playful humor. Rarely did he see her angry or down.

"Lee, why don't you just ask her, instead of over thinking it. She obviously trusts you. If she thinks you can handle it, she will. If she doesn't, she won't. All of your internal debate is really for nothing." Helo sounded mildly exasperated. It was clear to him that Lee was intrigued with this little beauty. But as with everything else Lee did, he was over thinking it. Helo thought the man was worse than a dog worrying a bone.

Lee gave him a sidelong glance. Helo just chuckled in response, then went over to let Tabby know he was leaving. After a brief conversation, that Lee couldn't hear, Helo left the gym for parts unknown. Lee stood undecided as to what he wanted to do. Should he just ask her to teach him or settle for working with the weights.

"Hey, Lee. Since Karl left, do you think you could spot me? I'll spot you right back, if you'd like." Tabby called out to him. That decided him. First they could work on the weights, then he would ask her to teach him to use her toy. Hopefully in time, she would also teach him how to spar as she did. He was no fool. It would be extremely helpful to be able to fight the way she did.

Oooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Later in the evening, Kara found Tabby lying on her rack. "Hey Tabby." she blared out, startling Tabby enough to make her almost fall out of bed. At seeing her reaction, Kara began to laugh. Whereas Tabby glared and sat up with her feet dangling above the floor, off the side of her bed. Rubbing her eyes and stretching, several of her joints popped like the sound of gun fire.

"You manage to get in a good work out or something there Tab?" Kara looked at her askance.

"Yeah, I did. Took Karl out way too fast though. I ended up working out in the gym for another hour with Lee. You just get off Cap?"

Kara was surprised it seemed that Tabby had still yet to hear Lee's call sign. "Yep. I was planning on heading over to the rec. room to play some cards. You wanna come with? I just gotta take a shower first." Kara said while rooting around in her locker for her shower gear.

"Sure, I'll come along. But you know I don't like to play. There's really not much of a challenge in it for me. You're about the only one who can sometimes give me a run for my money. You always seem to have the luck of the Gods, with cards." she said with a small chuckle. Kara responded by giving in to one of her trade mark belly laughs. Tabby straightened up her area as Kara went to take her shower.

Oooooooooooooooooooooooo

A short time later both women found themselves in the rec. room. Kara immediately sidled up to an existing game. Tabby found an empty chair over by a desk. She had decided to bring her drawing pad along, to give her something to do. Although she wouldn't play cards, she didn't think it was fair for her to gamble; she did like to be in a room full of people.

Opening to a new page and pulling out one of her charcoal sticks, she began to draw the people around the room. She was so focused on her task, she didn't even notice when Lee came in and sat across from her. He too tended not to gamble with the rest of the crew, only doing so on occasion. But just like Abby, he too liked to be in a room full of semi-carefree people.

Realizing Abby had not noticed him, he decided to remain quiet and observe what she was doing. It wasn't until Kara bellowed out a greeting to him that Abby even noticed his presence. With a sheepish look from him, in answer to her startled one he offered her a greeting.

"Hey Abby. I didn't want to disturb you. You looked so focused, it just seemed wrong to do so." he offered an excuse, a small smile on his face.

After realizing who was now directly in front of her, she began to relax. "It's alright, Lee. I really should have been paying more attention to my surroundings. I don't usually lose the ability to feel what's around me. … Sorry. … I didn't mean to ignore you."

Lee waved her apology off with his hand. Glad she wasn't angry at himself. After their shared workout earlier, he had learned to not take her small size into account. He was surprised that she was lifting weights almost as heavy as he was. He found he trusted her completely, while she ended up spotting him too.

Slowly reaching over to her pad, he looked at her for permission before he turned it toward himself. At her small, self-conscious nod, he turned it fully and began to look thru the pages carefully. He saw she was using charcoal, so he made sure he handled the pages carefully. He couldn't understand why she had looked so self conscious. These drawings were great. He paused at the one she had drawn of himself. "I don't remember you drawing me." he said while looking up at her.

"You were flying cap at the time, I believe. I did those today, before heading to the gym." At his questioning look, "I did all our bunk mates by memory." she finished with a self conscious smile.

He nodded his head. Knowing these were all from memory was even more impressive, he thought. Flipping back to Kara's portrait , a warm smile formed on his face. Kara looked so alive here. Even with the picture being in just black and white, her eyes seemed to dance. Once again he felt his chest tighten, at his thoughts of her.

"Lee? Are you alright?" Abby asked concerned. At that he looked up, feeling exposed. Then his brow creased and his lips formed a tight line. "I thought you promised to not read my thoughts anymore, Abby." His tone leaving nothing to her imagination. He was angry with her, very angry.

"But I didn't Lee. I promise. Your face just became flushed and I felt your heart tighten. That's all. I swear." she defended. Lee gave her a probing look, then accepted her answer for the truth. "Ok. Just checking. … These are really good, Abby. Do you draw anything besides portraits?"

"Yes, I especially like to draw plant life and scenery." and so their conversation went. Each learning more about each other than before. It wasn't until much later, that he noticed her eyes began to droop. He insisted on walking her back to the bunk room, on his way back to dig thru some more paperwork. Kara didn't seem to even notice their departure, much to his disappointment.

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Tabby tumbled onto her bunk and was asleep almost before her head hit the pillow. In what seemed to be no time at all, she was awakened by the ship heaving. Opening and closing her eyes several times in confusion, she was able to hear some of the pilots who'd just come in. She noted Kara had yet to return, so she couldn't have been in here that long after all.

She felt another explosion, that must be what had woken her up the first time. Then she heard the klaxon bells start to ring, followed by a voice calling for what she assumed were fire crews to report to an engine room. Knowing there were bound to be injuries, she quickly donned a clean set of clothes and her shoes. Looking at the clock, 0300, she'd only managed to squeeze in three hours of sleep. Doc was gonna have kittens she thought, as she headed off to Life Station.

tbc