Author's Note: The next chapter is finally here! Man, I have been soooo buried under homework for the last two weeks that I have not even seen the Sun! I am really, really sorry that this took so long, but it's countdown to exam time and I guess everyone knows what that's like ;)

Hope you like this chap!

Cheeky.

The Thirteenth Colony:

Chapter Thirteen:

By cheeky-chaos

Jack yawned as the Prometheus dropped out of hyperspace after its latest jump. He was really, really tired. In fact, he wasn't sure if he could remember when he last got some decent sleep. Beside him, his wife tried not to do the same, feeling just as tired as Jack. Finally, they were not more than an hour's trip from Atlantis, were Jack hoped he could catch a little rest, but rather doubted it.

"Galactica reports that fleet all present and accounted for." Sam told him, as he caught the last flashes of the FTL drives of the other ships.

"Good." Jack replied. "Set course for Atlantis."

Slumping down lower in his chair, Jack wondered which crisis was going to hit next. He had already informed John (General Sheppard) about the fleet's imminent arrival, and the SGC was helping them prepare for the influx of refugees, because that's essentially what they were. Dr. Elizabeth Weir (she still refused to go by her husband's surname within the programme) had successfully argued for the SGC not to send a large team of diplomats with the supplies, much to Jack's delight. He got on well with Elizabeth, but dealing with diplomats wasn't his favourite pastime.

Groaning inwardly at the things still left to do, before this situation was even remotely solved, Jack ran his hands over his face. The Cylons had to be dealt with and whether the Cylon Resistance could be trusted, let alone contacted. Dr. Baltar had to be dealt with. All the civilians within the refugee fleet had to be checked over, both medically and to confirm they weren't Cylons. And there was always the Goa'uld and Wraith to worry about.

Jack sighed. And those were only the immediate problems, he reflected wryly.

"Jack?" Sam's soft voice broke into his thoughts. "You've got a calling coming in from Atlantis."

"John?" Jack asked.

Sam nodded, as she connected the video-link between the Prometheus and Atlantis. "Hey, Jack." General John Sheppard greeted his old friend when his face appeared on the screen before Jack.

"Hey, John." Jack returned the greeting.

"How's it going?" John asked, a small smile playing at the corner of his mouth, as if he knew exactly what Jack was feeling.

Jack raised an eyebrow. "How do you think its going?" he asked. "It's a nightmare!"

John chuckled at Jack's outburst. He could definitely sense the feeling behind those words. "Don't worry." He said. "It'll be both our nightmares soon. How far are you from Atlantis?"

Glancing at the pilot, Moretti, Jack shrugged. "Less than forty minutes, sir." Moretti told him.

"Wonderful." John muttered. "Well, we're all ready on this end."

"That's good to hear." Jack said. "We've got quite a few problems to sort out, and soon."

"So I hear." John replied. "Elizabeth is reading up on everything as we speak."

"Thought she might be." Jack smiled dryly.

"Any new developments?"

"Since the Goa'uld attack? Not really." Jack answered. "Although, the Doc reports that Commander Adama is getting better and the President is responding very well to her treatment."

"That's a piece of good news." John reflected.

"It is." Jack agreed.

Watching his friend, John noticed the exhaustion behind his eyes. "Hopefully there'll be more."

"I wouldn't count on it." Jack replied.

Saying goodbye to his old friend, Jack watched the video-link wink out, before slumping further down into his chair and shutting his eyes. No matter what the Doc said, it was at times like these that he thought he was getting too old for this. Somehow, Jack knew that his plans of retirement had gone out the window – at least for a little while. He was needed to fix this mess first.

Laura stared at the papers on her desk, not really seeing them. The waiting, after so many long months of it, was getting unbearable. Judging by the updates she was getting from the Galactica, the fleet had made the last jump successfully and they would be arriving at Atlantis in less than an hour.

The President let out a sigh and put her glasses down on the desk, giving up all pretence that she was actually reading one of the many documents on her desk. She was feeling rather restless, as if she just wanted everything over and done with already. Laura knew the amount of work that was coming and just wanted it over – but as President of the Twelve Colonies, it was her duty to ensure the safety of her people.

No doubt, round after round of talks would start as soon as they reached Atlantis, not to mention a million crises. She would have to finally make a decision about the Cylons and deal with the Cylon Resistance – not to mention what they were going to do about Sharon and her child. Laura sighed again. Was it too much to ask for it all to be over and done already?

"Penny for your thoughts?" Bill asked, from where he stood just inside the doorway.

Laura gave a tired smile in greeting, and gestured for him to come and join her at her desk. "Just realising how much there is still left to do." She said. "Everyone was so focused on finding Earth that we never really thought about what would happen when we did. I mean, not really. We had our daydreams, but the reality was forgotten."

Bill gave a wry smile. "Even more so in my case, I'm afraid to admit. I don't think I ever truly believed Earth existed…at least, not until I woke up and confronted it."

Seeing the pain in his eyes, Laura reached across the table and gave his hand a reassuring squeeze. Somehow, that basic human touch gave each of them comfort. "I'm not even sure I truly believed." Laura admitted softly. "Sometimes, I wondered if I just believed so strongly because it was a way of dealing with the fact that I was going to die."

Even as she spoke, her eyes drifted to the device she wore around her wrist. She still found it a little hard to believe that her cure was coming from such a small device. It was a smaller version than the one she had worn earlier, as it was only needed to monitor for a reappearance of the cancer. Bill's eyes followed hers and this time, he was the one to offer comfort. Giving the hand still on his a gentle squeeze, he said softly. "We would have found a way to save you."

"Would you?" Laura turned dark green eyes on him, and Bill saw the deep running fear behind them.

"Yes." He said, knowing it was true.

"Because I'm the President?" Something inside Laura made her ask.

"No, because you were – and still are – the only person that can lead us through this." Bill answered.

Strangely disappointed in his answer, Laura merely blinked and didn't contradict his answer, even though she was pretty sure Bill had done an equal amount of the leading. "Oh."

"Would you rather I said that I don't want you to die?" Bill wondered what had possessed his tongue to make him admit that out loud. But it was worth it, just to see the smile that blossomed over her face.

Feeling especially pleased, Laura nodded. "Yes, I really think I would."

Unfortunately, the moment was broken by Billy, who poked his head inside Laura's office. "Sorry to interrupt, Madame President, but General O'Neill has informed us that we'll be coming up on Atlantis very soon."

Both Bill and Laura visibly pulled themselves back into command mode and the layers of formality went back up. "I'd better be getting back to the Galactica, Madam President." He said, standing.

Laura nodded. "Of course, Commander." She said.

With a final nod and glance in her direction, Bill left to catch the shuttle back to the Galactica. Laura watched him leave for a second, before turning back to Billy. Her aide was still hovering in the doorway, meaning there was something else he wanted to say, but not so sure he should. Hiding a smile, Laura looked at him. "Was there something else, Billy?"

"Umm, well Madame President, I was wondering…" Billy began.

"You want to watch our arrival at Atlantis?" Laura interrupted him.

"Yes, ma'am." Billy admitted, blushing slightly.

"You know," Laura said, grabbing her jacket. "I wouldn't mind seeing that myself."

Lex sighed and drummed her fingers on the desk in front of her. "Do you have to do that?" Lee asked, sitting opposite her and doing his paperwork.

"Yes." Lex replied with a frown. "I'm restless. And I can't annoy anyone else on this ship!"

The fleet was minutes out from Atlantis and as a result, Lex and the other pilots weren't actually needed out on patrol. They had been given a much needed rest, which most were using to catch up on sleep. Lex wasn't one of them. Much like her father, she just couldn't cope with sitting still for too long.

"What about Lucas?" Lee asked mildly, still not looking up from his paperwork.

"He's busy monitoring Dr. Baltar and the President." Lex said with a frown.

Now Lee looked up, a mixture of amusement and annoyance in his expression. Strangely, it was almost exactly the same expression her mother wore when her father was in one of his restless moods. "Surely, not every single pilot aboard is asleep?"

"If they're not asleep, I can't find 'em." Lex muttered grumpily.

"Well then, what about the Chief?" Lee asked. "I know he wanted to talk to you about those Interceptors."

Lex nodded, but reluctantly. "Yeah, he did." She admitted.

Realising he wasn't going to get anything done until Lex left, Lee gave up trying to read the report in his hand and put it down. "Alright, what is it?" he asked.

"Everyone keeps staring at me. Like they're in awe or something."

"They are." Lee said mildly.

Lex shot him an annoyed look and got up to start pacing. "Yeah, well I don't want them to be, okay?" she said. "And your pilots are the worst! It's not like I can walk on water or anything."

"What brought this on?" Lee asked, puzzled. "You were getting along with them fine earlier!"

"That was before I caught them staring moon-eyed at me!"

Lee shook his head. "Why don't you just go and have a nice chat to the Chief? He won't stare moon-eyed at you and the rest of them will get over it soon enough."

Lex snorted in disbelief. "Hey, I do know what I'm talking about, remember? Commander Adama's son?"

Lex looked sheepish. "Yeah, sorry." She said. "I'll go and talk to the Chief."

"You do that." Lee said, watching her dart out of his office and close the hatch behind her.

Sighing in relief at the peacefulness, Lee looked back down at his paper work and was about to start reading the report again, when someone knocked on the closed hatch. "Lee?"

Stifling a groan, Lee recognised Kara's voice. "Come in." he called, taking the Gods suggestion that he take a break from the paperwork for a while.

Kara ducked into the office and shut the hatch behind her. "Hi, Lee." She said, sounding just a touch anxious.

"Hey, Starbuck." Lee replied, not too annoyed at the interruption anymore.

"I raided those new supplies being handed out in the mess and wondered if you wanted to share the spoils with me?"

The bright smile hid the uncertainty Kara still felt. Her disappearance had affected her relationship with Lee, as had her actions before it. She still wasn't quite sure what was going on, or if she had the courage to change it some more. So she was playing it safe for now, much to her own disgust.

"Yeah?" Lee said. "What have you got?"

Lee noticed the uncertainty in Kara's approach – she had never been that tentative before. She had no problem bursting in on him, no matter what he was doing, usually. Including having a shower, dressing, sleeping…

"Well, seems Earth has some fairly decent chocolate. And I managed to grab a couple of sandwiches with actual vegetables in them." Kara said with another grin.

"Chocolate?" Lee asked hopefully.

Laughing, Kara kept the bars of chocolate hidden in her pocket and handed him a sandwich. She knew Lee's sweet tooth well and if she gave him the chocolate now, he wasn't likely to eat anything else.

Lee shot her a teasing look. "This doesn't look like any chocolate I've ever seen." He said.

"It called a sandwich." Kara said, thumping down into the chair on the opposite side of the desk. "Eat it."

Lee rolled his eyes. "Yes, mother."

Kara snorted loudly at that and almost choked on her mouthful of sandwich. "What, did you forget how to chew?" Lee asked her.

Kara narrowed her eyes. "Very funny."

"I thought so." Lee replied with a small smirk.

"You're entirely too full of yourself, Adama." Kara snapped.

Lee snorted. "You can talk!"

"Yes, I can." She replied. "Glad you've noticed."

The pair shared a look and then burst out into laughter. Grinning at the ease they had fallen back into their familiar teasing, Lee and Kara enjoyed the rest of their sandwiches, but they were careful to keep the conversation away from anything about the disappearance – or Earth. That was something they could talk about later.

"So," Lee said, eyes Kara. "Where's that chocolate?"

"What chocolate?" Kara asked, feigning innocence.

Lee narrowed his eyes. "The chocolate you said you swiped from the mess."

Kara grinned. "Oh, that chocolate." She said.

"Yeah." Lee agreed, still regarding Kara warily. "Where is it?"

"Would it look anything like this?" Kara asked, drawing two chocolate bars from her pocket.

Lee's eyes hungrily followed the chocolates as Kara waved them around. She laughed. "Oh, you want them bad!"

Lee narrowed his eyes and glared at Kara. "Give them to me." He growled.

Kara pretended to consider that for a moment, still dancing around to keep the chocolates out of Lee's grasp. "No." she said with a cocky grin.

"Now, Lieutenant!"

Kara hid the chocolate behind her back. "Make me!"

Lee stood up and Kara backed up, alert for any trick he was going to pull. Raising an eyebrow sardonically, he said. "Don't you think I can?" he asked, deceptively mild.

Still with a cocky grin on her face, Kara retorted. "No one beats the mighty Starbuck!"

"Except the mighty Apollo!" Lee replied. "I've done it before and I can do it again."

"In your dreams, maybe!"

Eyes narrowed in determination, Lee advanced on Kara slowly. She stood her ground as Lee stalked towards her, waiting for the right moment to dart past him. Judging her timing, she suddenly moved, making to slip past him and around the other side of the desk. But Lee was too fast for her. Strong arms grabbed her and trapped her against a firm body. "Now what are you going to do, oh mighty Starbuck?" Lee asked in her ear.

Kara wriggled and struggled for a bit, but Lee's arms were too strong for her and she was caught in an awkward position, with her arms trapped behind her back. "You know, if I didn't like you, you'd be writhing on the floor in agony by now." Kara remarked.

Lee winced, understanding her meaning. "It's a good thing you like me then." He said.

Kara struggled some more and managed to twist in his grip, so she was facing Lee and smashed up against his chest, just in time to see his blue eyes darken, like storm clouds rolling in. She stilled and, chocolate momentarily forgotten, stared up into those amazing eyes.

Lee stared intently back at Kara, never blinking and seemingly holding her enthralled in his gaze. He seemed on the verge of leaning down and crashing his lips on hers in a passionate kiss…

…when there was a knock and the hatch swung open. "Lee…" Lex's voiced began, before stopping when she caught sight of the pair still tangled together in the middle of the office.

They sprang apart, Lee looking a little guilty. "Hey, Lex." He greeted, trying very hard to sound casual, like he hadn't been about to kiss his lead pilot senseless.

"I can come back later." Lex said with a smirk, not fooled for a second.

"No, it's okay." Lee said, seizing on the distraction as guilt, embarrassment and regret surged through him. Had he really been about to kiss Kara? "Come in. Starbuck was just depriving me of chocolate."

Kara caught sight of the soft, easy smile he flashed Lex and instantly felt jealous. There had once been a time when smiles like that were only directed at her, and she didn't like to share.

"Didn't know you had such a sweet tooth, Lee." Lex commented, coming to sit down in front of Lee's desk and sensing the tension still in the air.

"Yeah, well, if you spread it around, I'll just deny it." Lee said, also coming to sit down, behind the desk.

Lex chuckled. "Your secret's safe with me." She said, noticing Kara's glare in her direction.

Lex just grinned broader. She knew she had interrupted a potentially pivotal moment between the two, but felt surprisingly little remorse about it. Lee was looking more and more uncomfortable about what he had almost done (silly boy!) and Kara was just looking very irritated. Already plotting wickedly in her head, Lex wondered how much she would have to push those two until they kicked her out of the office and finished what they had been about to start.

Kara glared at Lex, who seemed to be sitting quite unconcerned at the desk and grinning up at her. Not many people could withstand Starbuck's lethal "drop-dead" glare and she felt her respect for the other woman grow. Of course, that didn't mean she wouldn't knock her unconscious the first chance she got. She shared Lee's secrets, and while in Kara's mind that was enough to equal death, she had also intruded on what could have been a great moment – if both of them had managed to get over their uncertainty and fear, anyway.

"Pass the word: Captain Adama to the CIC." Dee's voice intoned over the internal PA system. "Captain Adama to the CIC."

"Uh…" Lee began. "I've got to go."

"We're fine here." Kara told him.

Lex grinned even broader. "Yes, we are." She agreed.

Lee was a bit nervous about leaving the two women alone in his office, even for a second, but it seemed he had no choice. He was needed in the CIC. "Just don't kill each other, okay?" he said on his way out the hatch. "I don't want to have to explain this to my father."

The two women didn't reply, as Kara continued to glare at Lex, while she just kept on grinning. "You don't like me very much, do you?" Lex asked.

"Not really." Kara answered.

Lex laughed. "Finally!" she cried happily.

Kara narrowed her gaze. "You're happy I don't like you?"

"Yeah." Lex said, with a sigh. "So many other dratted people on this boat seem to be convinced I can walk on water."

"Well, I don't." Kara muttered.

Lex grinned again. "I know." She said. "And those pilots of yours? They're the worst!"

"Nuggets." Kara corrected.

"Huh?" Lex asked.

"They're called nuggets."

Lex laughed. "Rookies." She said, realising what Kara meant. "I was trying to be nice."

Kara frowned. "That's what I really don't like about you." She said with her characteristic bluntness. "You're always frakking nice!"

"That and I'm too close to your Captain." Lex added, deciding to use her own bluntness to get to the heart of the matter.

Kara blinked. "So, you're friends." She said, feigning casualness that she didn't feel. "Why would I care?"

"You love him." Lex said, before deciding to deliberately provoke Kara and getting to her feet. "And why not? He seems to be a very loveable guy. Nice ass, too."

Giving in to her instincts, even though part of her mind knew it wasn't going to do much (except make her feel a lot better), Kara reached back and swung at Lex with one of her infamous punches, straight at her jaw.

Even expecting something like it, the punch caught Lex a little unawares, and she saw stars when it connected with her jaw. Blinking them away, she staggered backwards and probably would have fallen over, if she hadn't caught the desk. Narrowing her eyes, Lex did the only thing she could – she retaliated.

This time it was Kara who staggered backwards a little, as Lex's fist connected with her cheek bone. Rubbing her jaw, she looked at Kara. "Feel better now?" she asked.

Kara narrowed her eyes. "Not really." She said, rubbing her own face. "Were you trying to give me a black eye?"

"Yes." Lex said. "Were you trying to knock my head off?"

"Yes." Kara said, this time a small smile tugging at the corner of her mouth.

With a sigh, Lex flopped back down onto the chair in front of Lee's desk. "Ow." She grumbled. "I feel like I've just slammed into a brick wall!"

This time Kara couldn't quite keep the smile off her face. "So do I." she said. "Where'd you learn to punch like that? I though nice girls didn't hit people."

"Why does everyone think I'm so nice?" Lex muttered. "And if you'd grown up with the family I have, you'd know how to knock people unconscious too."

"You didn't knock me unconscious." Kara pointed out.

Lex gave her a sidelong look. "Doesn't mean I don't know how." She said.

That surprised a laugh out of Kara. Shaking her head, she looked at Lex. "Careful." She said. "I'm getting dangerously close to liking you."

Lex smiled. "Well, to fix that problem, I'm going to give you some advice that you're not going to like." She said. "Throw Lee up against a wall and…well, you get the idea."

Kara gaped at Lex for a minute, not entirely sure how to take that blunt statement. Kara was usually blunt herself, but she wasn't sure she liked the unvarnished truth pointed in her direction.

Lex rolled her eyes at Kara's expression. "Oh, come on!" she snapped. "You can't take your eyes off each other, you're always kicking each other's asses and you don't even need words to communicate sometimes! How is this not obvious?"

Kara frowned. "I could have gone all day without someone pointing that out, you know." She said.

"I know." Lex agreed with an impish smile. "It's probably why I said it. Now, do you want to come and see Atlantis from the observation deck with me? We should be hitting orbit soon."

When Lex stepped onto Galactica's observation deck, she noticed she wasn't the only one who had had the same idea. Some of her fellow pilots sat in the corner, playing a game of pyramid of all things and Billy Keikeya had his nose pressed against the glass in excitement. Lee, Bill Adama and President Roslin were also on the observation deck, standing in a little group and talking quietly.

At her appearance Lee looked up, his eyes sliding from her to Kara, who was only a step or two behind her. Frowning, he excused himself from Bill and Laura and walked over to Lex and Kara. "Those aren't the beginnings of bruises, are they?" he asked, noticing the slight marks on their faces.

"Of course not." Kara said with a grin.

Lee just continued to frown at her. Suppressing a smile, Lex turned back to both of them. "You're missing the view, guys." She said.

Blinking in surprise at the sight they saw, all the Colonials on the observation desk looked down at the planet below the. The city of Atlantis sat majestically on the ocean of the planet, the Athosian Continent just visible behind it. The sun was setting in a blaze of fire behind the regal city, painting the spires with slashes of red. Since they were only in orbit, the city looked smaller than it actually was, but you could see the main tower rising up in the centre and the rest of the city spreading out away from it.

"Wow." Lee breathed.

"She's something, isn't she?" Lex agreed.

"And you built her?" Lee turned to ask her.

Smiling, Lex shook her head. "No, we're not smart enough to do that yet. She was built by the Ancients."

"A city of the Gods." Kara breathed.

Lex's smile widened. "Welcome to the lost city of Atlantis." She said.

To Be Continued…