Originally written: March 26, 2007

PART 21

The next morning, Kara still had the nagging thought that something had to give rattling around in her head. She brought it up over a hastily eaten breakfast and wasn't sure if she should be happy or freaked that Lee was right there with her regarding the fleet approaching a breaking point. Normally she discounted her off the wall thoughts, but Lee's agreement added weight to her concern.

Something big was coming…the question was whether they'd be blindsided or head it off?

Feeling vaguely unsettled, Kara sat at the desk, staring at the class synopsis in front of her. When Lee reached across the edge to gather up some files for a morning briefing, she pulled him into a kiss. For reassurance, comfort, she didn't know exactly it was just something she needed. As intended, Lee dropped the folder in his hand to cup her face and she smiled against his mouth, deepening the kiss, adding a little heat. It did the trick and calm settled over her.

Lee pulled away gently, resting his forehead against hers. "I gotta go." Her lips parted and his mouth closed over hers again, tongue sliding inside stoking a fire he didn't have time to put out. Before things got out of hand, he eased away again. "Really." He nipped her upper lip. "Late." Snagged her lower lip this time. "Gotta go." Feeling like he was forgetting something, he was damned if he could remember what it was at the moment. Shaking his head to clear the lust from his mind, he turned toward the hatch. If he ran any later, his dad would send someone to hunt him down.

Kara blew out a breath in an effort to cool down a little. Spying Lee's file folder on the desk, she picked it up. "Uh, Major?" When he glanced over his shoulder, she tapped the file against her hand before waving it back and forth. "Think you might need this?" Her mouth quirked up on one side as he groaned and reached out for the folder.

Holding it just out of his reach, she shook her head back and forth. "Uh uh. You have to earn it back…considering I just saved your ass." They both knew it was a lie. Lee had everything in the file memorized…per usual.

And yeah…she felt a pang of guilt that he'd be late. But it was only a tiny twinge. Part of her still needed a distraction and the class synopsis wasn't going to cut it. Playing with Lee was much more fun.

The commander could rip him a new one, but Lee didn't particularly care. Getting into the game, he turned to face Kara, eyeing her up and down. "Saved my ass?" She grinned, nodding her head up and down playfully. "Is that right?" It was his turn to smirk.

Oh, she liked it when he got that gleam in his eye. Smiling again, she shrugged one shoulder while shoving the file behind her back. "Yeah, totally saved it." She hit the wall as she stepped back…Lee inches away from her now.

Raising an eyebrow, Lee pretended to ponder the veracity of her words. "Hmm…in that case…" Leaning forward, he breathed against her neck, his lips barely skimming the surface of her skin, 'in that case, Captain…" Pulling back his head, his hands skimmed her hips before smoothing up her sides, "I guess I outta thank you." His lips hit hers with a hot kiss designed to singe her brain so he could snag the file from her hands…which he did.

Grinning with victory, Lee whispered sexily in her ear, "So…um…thanks." Kissing her hard and fast, he tagged on, "Love you…" then raced out the hatch to catch hell for being late.

Leaning against the wall, lips still burning from the kiss, Kara muttered, "Frak me." Shaking herself out of her stupor she sat down to get to work…mind cleanly distracted from its earlier unease.

By the end of the day, a keyed up Kara was ready for another distraction.

Her paperwork completed, she went down to the hangar deck to check on the parts for the Viper. They were ready so she'd crawled under the plane and got down to business. Usually she ran her lectures through her head while she worked and she started out doing just that. But somewhere along the way snatches of conversation filtered their way through and she got an quite an education.

The fleet was twitchy…tired of jumping randomly with no clear goal in mind. Um, hello? Earth, people. But Earth was a long way away and nobody knew for certain it was even reachable. Seemed lots of the civilians were weary of it all. Tired of floating in space, of having too few options and even more limited chances for changing their lives.

Kara knew the Raptor pilots couldn't or wouldn't make up some of the stuff she was hearing. It was ugly out there. Fights were breaking out, escalating into violent altercations between the ships and the civilian populations on board. She and Lee had been on the money about something being up.

Not liking where her head was leading her, she paced around the confines of their quarters. If the civilian fleet turned on each other…hell…there wasn't enough military personnel to handle a crisis of that level. And who knew when the Cylons would pick up the chase again? Did the idiot civvies not get that?

Maybe her question wouldn't go unanswered, as Lee picked that moment to come home. Good. Now she had someone to sound off on about this mess.

Stopping in mid stride, Kara noted the tired lines around Lee's face. Or maybe not. "Hey." Crossing the floor she greeted him with a wry smile, she'd rather write after action reports for an entire squadron than sit through an all day meeting. "Finally over?" It sucked to be him right now.

Heaving a sigh, he glanced at Kara then back down at the agenda he'd brought in. Gods, he hated meetings…especially all day ones. "Yeah. Finally." His brain was still spinning with information. He was wound taut with tension and not even the sight of Kara worked to distract him at the moment.

Dropping a quick kiss on Kara's mouth, he moved to deposit the files he carried on the desk then walked toward the bedroom. Expelling another breath, he unbuttoned his uniform shirt stripping it off and tossing it in the laundry bin. All he wanted to do was get a clear picture of how to move forward but it eluded him. And made his head hurt in the process.

Unbuttoning his pants, mind still on the briefing, he missed Kara's narrowed eyes when she followed after him and only listened with half an ear, making what he thought were appropriate responses to her description of the conversations about the rumblings from the fleet. But nothing she said really made it through the aching fog to hit his brain.

Considering everything she told him was the very topic of the meeting, he should be paying attention. Instead he was distracted, trying to wrap his head around the scope of the situation. With little success.

He had known something was up from his earlier meeting with his father. He got the full rundown as soon as he walked into the conference room. Nobody even remarked on his lateness…they were already in heated debate.

Sitting with the assembled group, Roslin, Tigh, Gaeta, Baltar, and his dad, he could feel unease wrap tightly around his spine and settle across his shoulders. Not only because there were more people than he expected but also because the conversation was grim.

Things were bad. Beyond bad.

Laura gave an account from the latest Quorum meeting where they reported an unusually high volume of violent altercations. Tensions were running high, with the civilian population weary of running, tired of being hunted by the Cylons. A new movement was underway calling for settlement or surrender and it was gaining momentum, making lots of noise.

With the help of Tom Zarek, Roslin had intel describing the main players and where their base of operations was located. A small cargo ship on the fringes of the fleet had lots of increased shuttle traffic for no apparent reason. The only thing the ship provided was additional storage when necessary. And right now that didn't account for their sudden influx of visitors.

At the mention of Zarek, Lee jumped into the conversation. "Are we sure he's not behind this?" Zarek was shifty at best. At worst he could incite the remaining population to the brink of civil war. People listened when he spoke and Tom wasn't afraid to use that to his own advantage.

Laura shook her head and answered honestly. "No." She stood, pacing back and forth while speaking. "However, he has much to lose by playing both sides of the fence with this." Stopping, she slid her glasses off and rubbed the bridge of her nose. "I'm not adverse to keeping him on a short leash though, Major." Glancing pointedly at Lee, her message loud and clear. Keep Zarek in the loop but under a watchful eye.

The rest of the discussion evolved into how to defuse the ticking time bomb of a fleet reaching its breaking point. There were more than a few moments it got heated between Tigh and Baltar making Lee wonder if maybe the colonel knew about his wife's extra curricular activities with the Vice President. It also wasn't lost on Lee that Baltar had yet to say anything directly to him. Every bit of Baltar's dialog was directed toward everyone else.

Good. Just made what he had to tell the president and commander that much easier. And they both needed to know. Baltar's baiting comments to Tigh and his unwillingness to even be civil to Lee made it necessary to brief his father also. Kara would either understand or not…but the commander needed to know…now.

Zarek might need to be kept under tight rein…but Baltar? The guy was vice president, for frak's sake. That made him dangerous on a whole different level. The smarmy man sitting across the table, unable to make eye contact with him, posed a threat. Lee could feel it in his bones.

With a solid list of strategies to present to the Quorum, President Roslin adjourned the gathering. Everyone filed out with the exception of Lee who remained behind indicating to the leaders he needed a moment from them.

He filled them in on the incident with Kara then suggested that short of sending Baltar out an airlock it might be a good idea to keep a closer eye on the weasely man. After inquiring that Kara was unscathed, Roslin readily agreed. The Commander shot him a look that told him they'd be discussing it later in greater detail. Lee decided to let Kara do the talking when the time came. He'd already spilled it without telling her.

And he had enough to deal with trying to get his head around the potential powder keg waiting to explode in the fleet, without having Kara erupt over the Baltar incident. He had to give her a head's up in case his dad decided to broach the topic. Tuning in to the sound of her voice, he waited for a break in the conversation but still only listened with half an ear, nodding his head occasionally.

Kara got that Lee was distracted…the all day meeting had him off kilter. Still…it pissed her off he couldn't spare five minutes to actually listen to what she was saying. The talking thing…not something she did often. And the one time she wants engage in serious conversation, to tell him they'd been dead on…that the fleet was headed for some kind of breaking point? He was a million light years away.

She'd had about enough. Time for new tactics. "Right…so after that, Helo suggested all three of us hook up for some hot sex." Ha! No way he'd ignore that one.

Lee nodded again, saying, "Yeah." Then her words hit him. 'Wait…what?" Did she just say Helo wanted to hook up for a threesome? He shot a quick glance in her direction, noting the disgusted look on her face.

Ah…he had some making up to do. "First. I wasn't listening and I'm sorry." Grinning sheepishly, he added in explanation. "Long day."

Slightly mollified, Kara shrugged. "Yeah, well. Thought that would snap you out of it" She grabbed a sweatshirt out of Lee's locker and tossed it at him. "Second?" Digging through his drawer she pulled out a pair of socks and headed his way.

Lee wondered if Kara realized how domestic she was being. He also knew it was time for him to focus on them. They couldn't solve all the fleet's issues overnight if they tried. And they weren't going to try. He had something else in mind.

Looking contrite, Lee sat the sweatshirt aside. "Second. I'm game if you are." He watched her confused look dissolve into raucous laughter as comprehension dawned.

Reaching out, he tugged her between his legs. "Seriously. For you…I'd try just about anything." His fingers slipped under her shirt to play along the waistband of her pants.

With a playful shove, Kara pushed Lee back and climbed on top of him. "Is that right?" Shrugging her shirt off, she leaned forward, mouth inches from his. "And what if I don't wanna share?" Her lips dipped to his in a teasing kiss before she scooted backwards, hands grabbing his already unbuttoned pants to drag them off his legs.

Watching Kara shed the rest of her clothes had Lee's head completely back in the game. "Mmm…" Their play on words turned him on almost as much her lips now trailing along his torso did.

Lee continued the verbal exchange. "What's the matter?" Gods, it killed him when she scraped her teeth over his skin sending shivers of heat along his spine. "Can't play well with others?" His breath hissed out and his fingers tangled in her hair as she licked a path from his navel to his sternum.

Laughing low in her throat, Kara flicked her tongue over his nipple before replying. "Not in this case…" Moving up to straddle his torso she gazed down at him before finishing her answer. "I kinda like having you all to myself." She loved the way his eyes went dark before his hands came up, drawing her face to his.

Teasing or not, the way she said it made him wild for her. Tongue sliding between her lips, he kissed her fiercely before saying against her mouth, "Feeling's very mutual." Catching her lips again, he twisted around shifting their positions so he was on top.

Caught by surprise, heat flared in her widened eyes, especially when Lee's lips found the pulse point of her throat. Latching on, he sucked on the skin, making her arch in response. He knew it was a sensitive spot. He also knew what it did to her when he focused his attention there.

Their fun little verbal set-up just kicked up a notch. It was now a game of one-ups-manship. And the best part? No one would lose.

Lee's mouth sent hot fissures of desire curling through her. She knew without having to look he'd leave a mark and she'd have to wear a collared shirt or put up with massive ribbing…primarily from Helo. And she also knew Lee would sport a matching mark before they were through.

Smiling in anticipation, Kara hooked her leg around his and twisted out from under him. Lee didn't protest with more than a cursory grunt when suddenly he was on his side and the playing field level. Instead he drew her face to his, placing kisses everywhere but her mouth. Laughed when Kara grabbed his head to slant her mouth over his because she wasn't in the mood to wait.

Tongue scraped against tongue as they dueled for control, limbs tangling as they rolled sensuously together. Teeth nipped at exposed flesh, lips soothed the sting. Hand and fingers slid over heated skin sending pulse rates into overdrive.

The crappy day, problems in the fleet, rumors of trouble all fell away as their focus centered on feeling the powerful pull between them. Over and over they went, trading positions, smoothly moving together, skin against skin. A touch, a caress, fingers gliding, legs entwined, then free to move again.

Kara twisted around, her back against Lee's chest, arcing against him. His hand cupped her breast, fingers brushing over the tip before gently rolling the nipple between them. Gasping, heat flaring, Kara pitched her hips low pushing her butt against his erection. The hardened shaft responded, pulling a groan from Lee. Moving forward far enough gave his cock enough room to move, seemingly of its own accord, to seek entrance. Lifting her leg, Kara threw it over Lee's hip just as he thrust inside.

Fingers entwined, hips rocking together they let the pleasure build slowly, drawing it out until neither could hold on much longer. Edging closer to the pinnacle, fingers still entwined, Lee moved their joined hands to hover above her clit. Using a gentle sweeping motion, Lee guided both of their fingers over the bundle of nerves, making Kara's breath rasp out in short, little bursts.

Sliding his lips over her shoulder and along her throat, he whispered hoarsely in her ear. "Let go, Kara." Nipping gently at her ear, he soothed the sting with his tongue. "Come for me." Kara's held fell back against his shoulder and he felt her fingers move faster over her nub until her hips dipped and stopped moving. It pushed him right to the edge. "Now, Kara…gods, now." Kara clenched around him, her breath hissing out and she came shuddering against him, moaning his name.

Splintering apart, Kara felt Lee's hand go to her hip, gripping it hard as his thrust upwards. "Gods, Lee." Her own hand grabbed his thigh, still wet fingers digging into the flesh. "Yes. That's it." She felt him swell, surging inside her and she pushed back, tightening herself around him, knowing he was close.

And then he was there, emptying himself, his harsh breath fanning against Kara's ear. His hand slid to her belly, fingers splayed over the flat surface, holding them together, while his lips pressed kisses along her neck. "I love you." Cheek resting against hers, he felt the grin before he heard her satisfied sigh.

Spent, Kara turned inward to lie on her back, Lee's hand still on her tummy. Gazing up at him, she whispered hoarsely, "Back at ya." Then drew his head to hers for a gentle kiss before reaching around to pull the coverlet over them.

Settling down, with Lee spooned against her side she gazed at him, his eyes closed, as he drifted toward sleep. If nothing else, the lines of tension no longer creased his forehead or around his mouth. The fleet's unrest momentarily forgotten. Smoothing a finger over his brow, she thought at least they could box it away for moments like this.

And her gut told her that wouldn't always be the case, so she appreciated have some room to breathe right now. Her eyes got heavy and she blinked a couple of times, wanting to watch Lee while he slept. She knew it wouldn't be long before he'd be strung tighter than a bow, unable to relax.

Smothering a yawn, her eyes drifted shut and sleep claimed her. But not before she laced her fingers with his to draw his hand up over her heart.

FIN