Chapter 9
Kara tugged back the covers and lay back with a sigh. She didn't mind her bunk, but a real bed wasn't something she'd turn down. Lee was in the shower - she'd saved him that five minutes after all.
She supposed she should feel uncomfortable spending the night with a man, but this was Lee. She and Zak had crawled into his bed during more than one thunderstorm on Caprica, and this really wasn't so different. She was feeling a little empty, and he was likely feeling the same, and it just made sense to keep one another company.
"I forgot what hot water felt like," Lee remarked as he exited the bathroom wearing undershorts and a tank top.
"It was nice," she agreed.
He walked over at sat on the edge of the bed for a moment, just looking at her.
"What?"
He grinned. "Just seems like old times," he commented. "But no lightning."
She smiled back at him. "I was just thinking about that," she admitted. "You always put up with us, even when you got squished."
"Squished nothing," he said in a wry tone. "Half the time I woke up on the floor. At least you aren't the one that used to kick me in the stomach."
"I promise to keep my feet to myself."
He smiled at her again and lay down next to her. The bed was bigger than their bunks, but not quite as big as a double. It was a snug fit, but they could lay side-by-side without much difficulty. Lee put his hands behind his head and stared at the ceiling. "You tired?"
She grinned. "I'm wired," she admitted.
"Me too."
"You want to play cards?"
"I have better sense than that," he told her, turning his head sideways to look at her. "I don't play against Starbuck."
"You're smarter than you look," she told him. It earned her a pillow in the face, but she could give as good as she got. Within a few seconds they were battling with pillows and beating one another silly. She finally called a truce, and they laughingly put the covers back on the bed and straightened them out. This time when Kara pulled back the covers to get in, Lee got in right beside her.
"You're dangerous," he grumbled as he rubbed his face.
"At least I didn't break your jaw."
That sent them into a fit of laughter again, until Kara's side hurt and she had tears streaming down her face. When she finally wiped her hands over her cheeks, her smile faded slightly.
"I never thought I'd be laughing today," she admitted. "It seems almost. wrong."
Lee shook his head at that. "Survivor's guilt," he told her simply. "Just remember, Zak never would have wanted you miserable. He liked to make you laugh." He rolled onto his side facing her and reached out to easily flip her onto her side, faced away from him.
"Hey!"
"Relax," he said quietly as he tugged her back into the curve of his body. "I'm just settling in. You're less likely to kick me if you're faced that way."
"Don't count on it," she muttered, but she couldn't argue that the position was comfortable. Her back was against the front of his body, and he was warm. One of his arms was draped across her side and his hand was comfortably on her hip. With anyone else she might have felt compromised in the position, but this was just Lee, and he had always kept her safe.
They lay that way for a few minutes before he spoke. "It's been good hearing you laugh tonight. I've missed that."
She put her arm over his and held his hand. "There hasn't been much to laugh about."
"I know."
"It's getting better, though. I half expected something to happen today just because of the ceremony, but it all worked out fine."
"Yeah."
They were quiet for a while longer, and Kara started to wonder if he'd gone to sleep on her. His breathing was deep and regular, and his body relaxed. She gave a soft sigh and just enjoyed not having to be alone for the first time in recent memory. Lee was always nearby - his bunk was above hers - but this was different.
They had been very close as kids, but as adolescence had approached she had become uncomfortable with the boys. Zak hadn't let it bother him, but Lee had gone pretty shy. Suddenly skinny-dipping and pillow fights were less acceptable and they were expected to act as adults. The funny part was, there was a lot to be said for a good pillow fight - or skinny-dipping, for that matter.
"You okay?"
His voice was barely a whisper as he released her hand and reached up to tuck her hair back behind her ear. The bangs had been falling in her eyes. It was odd how he always seemed to know what bothered her before she did. "Fine," she answered. "Comfortable."
"Me too," he said softly. "So who gets stuck turning out the lights?"
She thought about getting out of the warm bed, or having him do it, but suddenly it didn't matter at all. "Just leave them on," she suggested. "I'm warm."
"Me too," he repeated, his voice fading on the words. She couldn't blame him. The events of the day had definitely caught up with them, and she was exhausted.
"Night, Lee," she whispered, finally closing her eyes to sleep. He must have already been out, because she never heard him answer.
The first thing Lee noticed as he drifted slowly awake was that he was warm. Really warm. For the first time in as long as he could remember, the pervasive chill of space wasn't surrounding him.
The Galactica was a good ship. She was technologically limited by design, but she was as comfortable as any in space. Unfortunately, heat required fuel, and Tylium was a constant issue as they fled the Cylons. Because of this, everything stayed just a little cooler than was strictly comfortable. It wasn't cold - nobody got sick from it - but neither was it warm.
Lee was warm. He shifted minutely, noting that his right arm was numb and there was hair tickling his nose. One eye opened slowly, and a gentle smile came across his face. It was just Kara.
It had been a very long time since he'd awoken with a woman in his arms. The refreshing part about the situation was that he wasn't in the process of trying to think of how to get out of the bed without waking her or out of the room without facing uncomfortable conversations. This wasn't one of the rare bed partners he'd had over the years - albeit far fewer since he'd left the academy - but rather a friend.
Friend or not, his body had a predictable response to early morning and warm woman. He shifted himself back a bit, moving his arm in the process and wincing at the pins-and-needles feeling that pervaded it.
Kara shifted then, her body inching backward as if searching for him. She probably was. She probably liked the warmth of a shared bed as much as he did. But he didn't want her awake just yet. He was warm, and drowsy, and he knew this was a stolen moment out of time. He didn't want to waste it.
He rested his chin carefully atop her head to keep the hair from tickling him, and put his arm back around her. Neither of them slept much, although both of them got more rest than they had at the beginning of the war. Schedules were a bit more regular, and they weren't awoken quite so often by either theirs or another's nightmares. In fact, things in quarters were almost comfortable, if it weren't for so many unfriendly faces.
He would have to deal with those faces after this. It didn't bother him very much, because they didn't like him in the first place. They had glared at him behind his back before this, and now they might glare to his face. He might even hear a word or two against him before he turned a corner or stepped out of a shower stall, but they would likely not confront him directly.
The thing that bothered him about the situations was that now they actually had a reason. No, they wouldn't know that the only thing going on in the isolated room was some sleeping, and it wasn't his job to educate them on what was none of their business, but he couldn't deny that he'd given them quite an opening for gossip.
Kara had said that it didn't matter, but her heart was softer than she let on. She needed friends, and at the moment she had some. She'd put enough of those friendships on the line by just sticking by the new CAG when nobody else did, but to sleep with the enemy might strain those relationships beyond mending. He wanted to be her friend - needed her in ways he was just beginning to understand - but she needed more than just him. The thought that this might cause her hassle really did bother him. Not enough, as it turned out, to keep him out of the room or out of the bed.
He wished he could regret it.
Truthfully though, he was more content than he'd been in ages. And it didn't have all that much to do with sleeping in her bed. It had to do with a much-missed smile, a rare laugh, and a sparkle in her eyes that had been absent for too long. The previous night, with its quiet conversation and not so quiet pillow fight, had shown him something he had regretted losing as much as, if not more than, the world as he knew it. He'd had Kara back last night - even if it had just been for a couple of hours. He couldn't regret it.
He watched her sleeping, occasionally closing his eyes and resting some, but mostly just enjoying the sight of her quiet for a change. She was pure energy, always in motion and on the go, and that made this time even more precious.
It was more than an hour later, but much too soon for Lee, when Kara began to stir. He felt the instant when she truly woke, when her body tensed and then once more relaxed. He didn't need to see her eyes to know she was awake.
"Hey," she said softly, turning her head to look up at him.
"Hey," he replied, his voice just as soft and the smile on his face very obvious.
"What are you doing?" she asked, and he could have sworn there was a slight blush on her cheeks. He knew Kara never blushed, so he thought it must have been their shared warmth.
"Just watching," he admitted.
"Watching what?"
"You. Sleeping. You're kinda cute when you aren't punching anyone."
She finally smiled, and he felt like he'd won a prize. "Thanks," she remarked with more than a little sarcasm. "What time is it?"
"Not sure," he replied. "You're lying on my watch arm."
Her head flashed around and this time it was a definite blush on her face before she moved. "You should have dumped me off."
"Not a chance," he told her, bending his elbow and working his wrist to try to get some feeling back in there. "Almost midday," he finally answered.
"Wow."
"Yeah. But it was late when we got to sleep, and you were pretty tired."
She nodded at that, but she'd put her head back down on the pillow and was still lying with her back against his chest.
"Still tired?" he asked.
"Not really," she admitted. "Just comfortable."
He brushed the bangs from her forehead again, tucking them behind her ear. "Yeah, it's nice."
"It's warm."
He laughed softly. They thought so much alike.
"We do have to get up eventually," he told her. "My dinner's about gone."
On cue, her stomach growled. She giggled softly and he had to smile again. She was going to be okay after all. Maybe they both would be.
"They should be serving lunch," he told her. "For a while anyway. Rumor had it that anything left from the banquet would be on the lunch line."
"That might be worth getting up for," she admitted wryly. But he seriously doubted it.
Kara had known it would be awkward slipping back into quarters with her dress uniform on, but she hadn't quite planned on the silence that greeted her when she came through the hatch. She went through a few scenarios in her mind regarding how to best handle the situation, and decided that shock factor was probably her best weapon. That and the absolute truth that she had done nothing wrong, and had nothing to hide.
"Morning, Guys," she said with her brightest smile. "Miss me?"
"More like afternoon," Hawk called.
Her head jerked around at the familiar voice. "Welcome back," she called with a genuine smile. "I thought you'd be in the life station for another week."
"I'm stubborn," he stated emphatically as he stood and moved away from his bunk. "They let me out this morning. I still have to go in for bandage changes and the like, and no duty, but it beats the hell out of hospital beds and lousy food."
"Now you can have crew bunks and lousy food," she agreed. "It's good to have you back."
"You, too," he said as he sat down next to Lieutenant Evans on a lower bunk. "Where've you been."
"A friend got me into private quarters," she said honestly. "I got to sleep in."
"Private quarters?" Runner asked. "How'd you swing that?"
"I didn't. A friend did," she hedged. "You guys on duty today?"
"Tonight," Runner admitted.
"Two hours," Evans grumbled.
"I'm off," Hawk said with a straight face. They all laughed at that.
"Hey, Starbuck?"
Kara turned back to face Rand, who had just walked in from the shower bays wrapped in only a towel. "Yeah?"
"You okay?" he asked.
It was better than the grilling she'd expected; that was certain. "I'm great," she replied. "I'm just gonna shower and catch a run before I go to lunch."
"By yourself?" Rand asked. It was probably as close as he'd come to prying.
She took a deep breath, and dove in. "Look, before the rumor mill gets going, let's set something straight. Who I run with, eat with, sleep with, or do anything else with is entirely my business. Understood?" After seeing a couple of sheepish nods, she continued. "While I have your attention, Apollo and I have been friends for a long time," she said in a stern voice. "I'm not going to stay clear of him just because you guys can't recognize authority. He hasn't done anything wrong, and I'm sick of the crap you say behind his back. He's a good friend, and he'd probably be yours too if you'd give him a chance. I won't apologize for defending him, or running with him, or anything else I do with him - which I repeat is none of your business."
There were a couple of nods, and a couple of angry looks, but she really didn't care. She looked around the room as she waited for a response, but she didn't get one. Finally sure they wouldn't say anything more, at least not in front of her, she stripped off her dress uniform and tossed it on her bunk. She traded boots for running shoes, and grabbed some shorts from her locker as she walked past them. "Anyone want to run?" she asked, her voice a challenge.
There were shaken heads and a couple of negative sounds, but she hadn't expected anything different. She stepped from the hatch and started at a jog, glad to be out of the tense room. It wasn't long before she was up to a dead run, long legs flying up staircases and around passageways. She felt better than she had in ages: well rested and fit, and ready to take on the world. She just hoped that the world didn't take her up on it.
Lee Adama stowed his helmet in his ready room locker. The patrol had been long but thankfully uneventful. He was glad for small favors. At the very least his wingman had been civil, and that had been a nice change.
As usual, the room was filled with pilots either getting ready for or getting off duty. Some were playing cards, and others were just resting or looking over flight rosters. It was the same as it was every time he came through here. He quickly unfastened his flight suit and prepared to change into his regular work uniform.
"Hey, Apollo?"
He glanced over at Sharon Valerii, who was sitting with two other men at a table near the center of the room. "Yeah?"
"You still play Pyramid?"
He paused a moment. They had never invited him to play before, so he didn't know what to say. He hated cards. He'd been beaten in too many games by Kara to have any confidence in his ability. "Occasionally," he admitted.
"We need a forth," the Lieutenant next to her said. Lee thought his name was Evans, but he couldn't be sure. He knew the guy was the pilot that slept two beds down from his, and one over. They'd never really made it to names.
Lee took a deep breath before he answered. "I'll play," he consented. "As long as Starbuck's not around. I don't like losing."
All three of them laughed at that, and he had to join in. Kara's card playing was legendary, even with a war going on.
"No problem," Sharon said with a smile. "I think she's tearing apart her Viper with the Chief. Something about him never getting the gimbal right."
Taking a seat, he muttered, "That's Kara," and there were a few nods around the table. Then Sharon was dealing the cards, and all he had time to think about was the game at hand. It didn't look good for him.
Three games later, he was developing a notorious reputation as the greatest Pyramid loser in fleet history, but he couldn't seem to mind. At least he was in the game. Sometimes, that was what mattered. If it took a little song and dance to get along with the guys, he'd find a way to manage it. Loosening up a little couldn't hurt that much. So he'd just play a little cards with the guys. And maybe he'd dance.
The End (
Chapter 9
Kara tugged back the covers and lay back with a sigh. She didn't mind her bunk, but a real bed wasn't something she'd turn down. Lee was in the shower - she'd saved him that five minutes after all.
She supposed she should feel uncomfortable spending the night with a man, but this was Lee. She and Zak had crawled into his bed during more than one thunderstorm on Caprica, and this really wasn't so different. She was feeling a little empty, and he was likely feeling the same, and it just made sense to keep one another company.
"I forgot what hot water felt like," Lee remarked as he exited the bathroom wearing undershorts and a tank top.
"It was nice," she agreed.
He walked over at sat on the edge of the bed for a moment, just looking at her.
"What?"
He grinned. "Just seems like old times," he commented. "But no lightning."
She smiled back at him. "I was just thinking about that," she admitted. "You always put up with us, even when you got squished."
"Squished nothing," he said in a wry tone. "Half the time I woke up on the floor. At least you aren't the one that used to kick me in the stomach."
"I promise to keep my feet to myself."
He smiled at her again and lay down next to her. The bed was bigger than their bunks, but not quite as big as a double. It was a snug fit, but they could lay side-by-side without much difficulty. Lee put his hands behind his head and stared at the ceiling. "You tired?"
She grinned. "I'm wired," she admitted.
"Me too."
"You want to play cards?"
"I have better sense than that," he told her, turning his head sideways to look at her. "I don't play against Starbuck."
"You're smarter than you look," she told him. It earned her a pillow in the face, but she could give as good as she got. Within a few seconds they were battling with pillows and beating one another silly. She finally called a truce, and they laughingly put the covers back on the bed and straightened them out. This time when Kara pulled back the covers to get in, Lee got in right beside her.
"You're dangerous," he grumbled as he rubbed his face.
"At least I didn't break your jaw."
That sent them into a fit of laughter again, until Kara's side hurt and she had tears streaming down her face. When she finally wiped her hands over her cheeks, her smile faded slightly.
"I never thought I'd be laughing today," she admitted. "It seems almost. wrong."
Lee shook his head at that. "Survivor's guilt," he told her simply. "Just remember, Zak never would have wanted you miserable. He liked to make you laugh." He rolled onto his side facing her and reached out to easily flip her onto her side, faced away from him.
"Hey!"
"Relax," he said quietly as he tugged her back into the curve of his body. "I'm just settling in. You're less likely to kick me if you're faced that way."
"Don't count on it," she muttered, but she couldn't argue that the position was comfortable. Her back was against the front of his body, and he was warm. One of his arms was draped across her side and his hand was comfortably on her hip. With anyone else she might have felt compromised in the position, but this was just Lee, and he had always kept her safe.
They lay that way for a few minutes before he spoke. "It's been good hearing you laugh tonight. I've missed that."
She put her arm over his and held his hand. "There hasn't been much to laugh about."
"I know."
"It's getting better, though. I half expected something to happen today just because of the ceremony, but it all worked out fine."
"Yeah."
They were quiet for a while longer, and Kara started to wonder if he'd gone to sleep on her. His breathing was deep and regular, and his body relaxed. She gave a soft sigh and just enjoyed not having to be alone for the first time in recent memory. Lee was always nearby - his bunk was above hers - but this was different.
They had been very close as kids, but as adolescence had approached she had become uncomfortable with the boys. Zak hadn't let it bother him, but Lee had gone pretty shy. Suddenly skinny-dipping and pillow fights were less acceptable and they were expected to act as adults. The funny part was, there was a lot to be said for a good pillow fight - or skinny-dipping, for that matter.
"You okay?"
His voice was barely a whisper as he released her hand and reached up to tuck her hair back behind her ear. The bangs had been falling in her eyes. It was odd how he always seemed to know what bothered her before she did. "Fine," she answered. "Comfortable."
"Me too," he said softly. "So who gets stuck turning out the lights?"
She thought about getting out of the warm bed, or having him do it, but suddenly it didn't matter at all. "Just leave them on," she suggested. "I'm warm."
"Me too," he repeated, his voice fading on the words. She couldn't blame him. The events of the day had definitely caught up with them, and she was exhausted.
"Night, Lee," she whispered, finally closing her eyes to sleep. He must have already been out, because she never heard him answer.
The first thing Lee noticed as he drifted slowly awake was that he was warm. Really warm. For the first time in as long as he could remember, the pervasive chill of space wasn't surrounding him.
The Galactica was a good ship. She was technologically limited by design, but she was as comfortable as any in space. Unfortunately, heat required fuel, and Tylium was a constant issue as they fled the Cylons. Because of this, everything stayed just a little cooler than was strictly comfortable. It wasn't cold - nobody got sick from it - but neither was it warm.
Lee was warm. He shifted minutely, noting that his right arm was numb and there was hair tickling his nose. One eye opened slowly, and a gentle smile came across his face. It was just Kara.
It had been a very long time since he'd awoken with a woman in his arms. The refreshing part about the situation was that he wasn't in the process of trying to think of how to get out of the bed without waking her or out of the room without facing uncomfortable conversations. This wasn't one of the rare bed partners he'd had over the years - albeit far fewer since he'd left the academy - but rather a friend.
Friend or not, his body had a predictable response to early morning and warm woman. He shifted himself back a bit, moving his arm in the process and wincing at the pins-and-needles feeling that pervaded it.
Kara shifted then, her body inching backward as if searching for him. She probably was. She probably liked the warmth of a shared bed as much as he did. But he didn't want her awake just yet. He was warm, and drowsy, and he knew this was a stolen moment out of time. He didn't want to waste it.
He rested his chin carefully atop her head to keep the hair from tickling him, and put his arm back around her. Neither of them slept much, although both of them got more rest than they had at the beginning of the war. Schedules were a bit more regular, and they weren't awoken quite so often by either theirs or another's nightmares. In fact, things in quarters were almost comfortable, if it weren't for so many unfriendly faces.
He would have to deal with those faces after this. It didn't bother him very much, because they didn't like him in the first place. They had glared at him behind his back before this, and now they might glare to his face. He might even hear a word or two against him before he turned a corner or stepped out of a shower stall, but they would likely not confront him directly.
The thing that bothered him about the situations was that now they actually had a reason. No, they wouldn't know that the only thing going on in the isolated room was some sleeping, and it wasn't his job to educate them on what was none of their business, but he couldn't deny that he'd given them quite an opening for gossip.
Kara had said that it didn't matter, but her heart was softer than she let on. She needed friends, and at the moment she had some. She'd put enough of those friendships on the line by just sticking by the new CAG when nobody else did, but to sleep with the enemy might strain those relationships beyond mending. He wanted to be her friend - needed her in ways he was just beginning to understand - but she needed more than just him. The thought that this might cause her hassle really did bother him. Not enough, as it turned out, to keep him out of the room or out of the bed.
He wished he could regret it.
Truthfully though, he was more content than he'd been in ages. And it didn't have all that much to do with sleeping in her bed. It had to do with a much-missed smile, a rare laugh, and a sparkle in her eyes that had been absent for too long. The previous night, with its quiet conversation and not so quiet pillow fight, had shown him something he had regretted losing as much as, if not more than, the world as he knew it. He'd had Kara back last night - even if it had just been for a couple of hours. He couldn't regret it.
He watched her sleeping, occasionally closing his eyes and resting some, but mostly just enjoying the sight of her quiet for a change. She was pure energy, always in motion and on the go, and that made this time even more precious.
It was more than an hour later, but much too soon for Lee, when Kara began to stir. He felt the instant when she truly woke, when her body tensed and then once more relaxed. He didn't need to see her eyes to know she was awake.
"Hey," she said softly, turning her head to look up at him.
"Hey," he replied, his voice just as soft and the smile on his face very obvious.
"What are you doing?" she asked, and he could have sworn there was a slight blush on her cheeks. He knew Kara never blushed, so he thought it must have been their shared warmth.
"Just watching," he admitted.
"Watching what?"
"You. Sleeping. You're kinda cute when you aren't punching anyone."
She finally smiled, and he felt like he'd won a prize. "Thanks," she remarked with more than a little sarcasm. "What time is it?"
"Not sure," he replied. "You're lying on my watch arm."
Her head flashed around and this time it was a definite blush on her face before she moved. "You should have dumped me off."
"Not a chance," he told her, bending his elbow and working his wrist to try to get some feeling back in there. "Almost midday," he finally answered.
"Wow."
"Yeah. But it was late when we got to sleep, and you were pretty tired."
She nodded at that, but she'd put her head back down on the pillow and was still lying with her back against his chest.
"Still tired?" he asked.
"Not really," she admitted. "Just comfortable."
He brushed the bangs from her forehead again, tucking them behind her ear. "Yeah, it's nice."
"It's warm."
He laughed softly. They thought so much alike.
"We do have to get up eventually," he told her. "My dinner's about gone."
On cue, her stomach growled. She giggled softly and he had to smile again. She was going to be okay after all. Maybe they both would be.
"They should be serving lunch," he told her. "For a while anyway. Rumor had it that anything left from the banquet would be on the lunch line."
"That might be worth getting up for," she admitted wryly. But he seriously doubted it.
Kara had known it would be awkward slipping back into quarters with her dress uniform on, but she hadn't quite planned on the silence that greeted her when she came through the hatch. She went through a few scenarios in her mind regarding how to best handle the situation, and decided that shock factor was probably her best weapon. That and the absolute truth that she had done nothing wrong, and had nothing to hide.
"Morning, Guys," she said with her brightest smile. "Miss me?"
"More like afternoon," Hawk called.
Her head jerked around at the familiar voice. "Welcome back," she called with a genuine smile. "I thought you'd be in the life station for another week."
"I'm stubborn," he stated emphatically as he stood and moved away from his bunk. "They let me out this morning. I still have to go in for bandage changes and the like, and no duty, but it beats the hell out of hospital beds and lousy food."
"Now you can have crew bunks and lousy food," she agreed. "It's good to have you back."
"You, too," he said as he sat down next to Lieutenant Evans on a lower bunk. "Where've you been."
"A friend got me into private quarters," she said honestly. "I got to sleep in."
"Private quarters?" Runner asked. "How'd you swing that?"
"I didn't. A friend did," she hedged. "You guys on duty today?"
"Tonight," Runner admitted.
"Two hours," Evans grumbled.
"I'm off," Hawk said with a straight face. They all laughed at that.
"Hey, Starbuck?"
Kara turned back to face Rand, who had just walked in from the shower bays wrapped in only a towel. "Yeah?"
"You okay?" he asked.
It was better than the grilling she'd expected; that was certain. "I'm great," she replied. "I'm just gonna shower and catch a run before I go to lunch."
"By yourself?" Rand asked. It was probably as close as he'd come to prying.
She took a deep breath, and dove in. "Look, before the rumor mill gets going, let's set something straight. Who I run with, eat with, sleep with, or do anything else with is entirely my business. Understood?" After seeing a couple of sheepish nods, she continued. "While I have your attention, Apollo and I have been friends for a long time," she said in a stern voice. "I'm not going to stay clear of him just because you guys can't recognize authority. He hasn't done anything wrong, and I'm sick of the crap you say behind his back. He's a good friend, and he'd probably be yours too if you'd give him a chance. I won't apologize for defending him, or running with him, or anything else I do with him - which I repeat is none of your business."
There were a couple of nods, and a couple of angry looks, but she really didn't care. She looked around the room as she waited for a response, but she didn't get one. Finally sure they wouldn't say anything more, at least not in front of her, she stripped off her dress uniform and tossed it on her bunk. She traded boots for running shoes, and grabbed some shorts from her locker as she walked past them. "Anyone want to run?" she asked, her voice a challenge.
There were shaken heads and a couple of negative sounds, but she hadn't expected anything different. She stepped from the hatch and started at a jog, glad to be out of the tense room. It wasn't long before she was up to a dead run, long legs flying up staircases and around passageways. She felt better than she had in ages: well rested and fit, and ready to take on the world. She just hoped that the world didn't take her up on it.
Lee Adama stowed his helmet in his ready room locker. The patrol had been long but thankfully uneventful. He was glad for small favors. At the very least his wingman had been civil, and that had been a nice change.
As usual, the room was filled with pilots either getting ready for or getting off duty. Some were playing cards, and others were just resting or looking over flight rosters. It was the same as it was every time he came through here. He quickly unfastened his flight suit and prepared to change into his regular work uniform.
"Hey, Apollo?"
He glanced over at Sharon Valerii, who was sitting with two other men at a table near the center of the room. "Yeah?"
"You still play Pyramid?"
He paused a moment. They had never invited him to play before, so he didn't know what to say. He hated cards. He'd been beaten in too many games by Kara to have any confidence in his ability. "Occasionally," he admitted.
"We need a forth," the Lieutenant next to her said. Lee thought his name was Evans, but he couldn't be sure. He knew the guy was the pilot that slept two beds down from his, and one over. They'd never really made it to names.
Lee took a deep breath before he answered. "I'll play," he consented. "As long as Starbuck's not around. I don't like losing."
All three of them laughed at that, and he had to join in. Kara's card playing was legendary, even with a war going on.
"No problem," Sharon said with a smile. "I think she's tearing apart her Viper with the Chief. Something about him never getting the gimbal right."
Taking a seat, he muttered, "That's Kara," and there were a few nods around the table. Then Sharon was dealing the cards, and all he had time to think about was the game at hand. It didn't look good for him.
Three games later, he was developing a notorious reputation as the greatest Pyramid loser in fleet history, but he couldn't seem to mind. At least he was in the game. Sometimes, that was what mattered. If it took a little song and dance to get along with the guys, he'd find a way to manage it. Loosening up a little couldn't hurt that much. So he'd just play a little cards with the guys. And maybe he'd dance.
The End (
Kara tugged back the covers and lay back with a sigh. She didn't mind her bunk, but a real bed wasn't something she'd turn down. Lee was in the shower - she'd saved him that five minutes after all.
She supposed she should feel uncomfortable spending the night with a man, but this was Lee. She and Zak had crawled into his bed during more than one thunderstorm on Caprica, and this really wasn't so different. She was feeling a little empty, and he was likely feeling the same, and it just made sense to keep one another company.
"I forgot what hot water felt like," Lee remarked as he exited the bathroom wearing undershorts and a tank top.
"It was nice," she agreed.
He walked over at sat on the edge of the bed for a moment, just looking at her.
"What?"
He grinned. "Just seems like old times," he commented. "But no lightning."
She smiled back at him. "I was just thinking about that," she admitted. "You always put up with us, even when you got squished."
"Squished nothing," he said in a wry tone. "Half the time I woke up on the floor. At least you aren't the one that used to kick me in the stomach."
"I promise to keep my feet to myself."
He smiled at her again and lay down next to her. The bed was bigger than their bunks, but not quite as big as a double. It was a snug fit, but they could lay side-by-side without much difficulty. Lee put his hands behind his head and stared at the ceiling. "You tired?"
She grinned. "I'm wired," she admitted.
"Me too."
"You want to play cards?"
"I have better sense than that," he told her, turning his head sideways to look at her. "I don't play against Starbuck."
"You're smarter than you look," she told him. It earned her a pillow in the face, but she could give as good as she got. Within a few seconds they were battling with pillows and beating one another silly. She finally called a truce, and they laughingly put the covers back on the bed and straightened them out. This time when Kara pulled back the covers to get in, Lee got in right beside her.
"You're dangerous," he grumbled as he rubbed his face.
"At least I didn't break your jaw."
That sent them into a fit of laughter again, until Kara's side hurt and she had tears streaming down her face. When she finally wiped her hands over her cheeks, her smile faded slightly.
"I never thought I'd be laughing today," she admitted. "It seems almost. wrong."
Lee shook his head at that. "Survivor's guilt," he told her simply. "Just remember, Zak never would have wanted you miserable. He liked to make you laugh." He rolled onto his side facing her and reached out to easily flip her onto her side, faced away from him.
"Hey!"
"Relax," he said quietly as he tugged her back into the curve of his body. "I'm just settling in. You're less likely to kick me if you're faced that way."
"Don't count on it," she muttered, but she couldn't argue that the position was comfortable. Her back was against the front of his body, and he was warm. One of his arms was draped across her side and his hand was comfortably on her hip. With anyone else she might have felt compromised in the position, but this was just Lee, and he had always kept her safe.
They lay that way for a few minutes before he spoke. "It's been good hearing you laugh tonight. I've missed that."
She put her arm over his and held his hand. "There hasn't been much to laugh about."
"I know."
"It's getting better, though. I half expected something to happen today just because of the ceremony, but it all worked out fine."
"Yeah."
They were quiet for a while longer, and Kara started to wonder if he'd gone to sleep on her. His breathing was deep and regular, and his body relaxed. She gave a soft sigh and just enjoyed not having to be alone for the first time in recent memory. Lee was always nearby - his bunk was above hers - but this was different.
They had been very close as kids, but as adolescence had approached she had become uncomfortable with the boys. Zak hadn't let it bother him, but Lee had gone pretty shy. Suddenly skinny-dipping and pillow fights were less acceptable and they were expected to act as adults. The funny part was, there was a lot to be said for a good pillow fight - or skinny-dipping, for that matter.
"You okay?"
His voice was barely a whisper as he released her hand and reached up to tuck her hair back behind her ear. The bangs had been falling in her eyes. It was odd how he always seemed to know what bothered her before she did. "Fine," she answered. "Comfortable."
"Me too," he said softly. "So who gets stuck turning out the lights?"
She thought about getting out of the warm bed, or having him do it, but suddenly it didn't matter at all. "Just leave them on," she suggested. "I'm warm."
"Me too," he repeated, his voice fading on the words. She couldn't blame him. The events of the day had definitely caught up with them, and she was exhausted.
"Night, Lee," she whispered, finally closing her eyes to sleep. He must have already been out, because she never heard him answer.
The first thing Lee noticed as he drifted slowly awake was that he was warm. Really warm. For the first time in as long as he could remember, the pervasive chill of space wasn't surrounding him.
The Galactica was a good ship. She was technologically limited by design, but she was as comfortable as any in space. Unfortunately, heat required fuel, and Tylium was a constant issue as they fled the Cylons. Because of this, everything stayed just a little cooler than was strictly comfortable. It wasn't cold - nobody got sick from it - but neither was it warm.
Lee was warm. He shifted minutely, noting that his right arm was numb and there was hair tickling his nose. One eye opened slowly, and a gentle smile came across his face. It was just Kara.
It had been a very long time since he'd awoken with a woman in his arms. The refreshing part about the situation was that he wasn't in the process of trying to think of how to get out of the bed without waking her or out of the room without facing uncomfortable conversations. This wasn't one of the rare bed partners he'd had over the years - albeit far fewer since he'd left the academy - but rather a friend.
Friend or not, his body had a predictable response to early morning and warm woman. He shifted himself back a bit, moving his arm in the process and wincing at the pins-and-needles feeling that pervaded it.
Kara shifted then, her body inching backward as if searching for him. She probably was. She probably liked the warmth of a shared bed as much as he did. But he didn't want her awake just yet. He was warm, and drowsy, and he knew this was a stolen moment out of time. He didn't want to waste it.
He rested his chin carefully atop her head to keep the hair from tickling him, and put his arm back around her. Neither of them slept much, although both of them got more rest than they had at the beginning of the war. Schedules were a bit more regular, and they weren't awoken quite so often by either theirs or another's nightmares. In fact, things in quarters were almost comfortable, if it weren't for so many unfriendly faces.
He would have to deal with those faces after this. It didn't bother him very much, because they didn't like him in the first place. They had glared at him behind his back before this, and now they might glare to his face. He might even hear a word or two against him before he turned a corner or stepped out of a shower stall, but they would likely not confront him directly.
The thing that bothered him about the situations was that now they actually had a reason. No, they wouldn't know that the only thing going on in the isolated room was some sleeping, and it wasn't his job to educate them on what was none of their business, but he couldn't deny that he'd given them quite an opening for gossip.
Kara had said that it didn't matter, but her heart was softer than she let on. She needed friends, and at the moment she had some. She'd put enough of those friendships on the line by just sticking by the new CAG when nobody else did, but to sleep with the enemy might strain those relationships beyond mending. He wanted to be her friend - needed her in ways he was just beginning to understand - but she needed more than just him. The thought that this might cause her hassle really did bother him. Not enough, as it turned out, to keep him out of the room or out of the bed.
He wished he could regret it.
Truthfully though, he was more content than he'd been in ages. And it didn't have all that much to do with sleeping in her bed. It had to do with a much-missed smile, a rare laugh, and a sparkle in her eyes that had been absent for too long. The previous night, with its quiet conversation and not so quiet pillow fight, had shown him something he had regretted losing as much as, if not more than, the world as he knew it. He'd had Kara back last night - even if it had just been for a couple of hours. He couldn't regret it.
He watched her sleeping, occasionally closing his eyes and resting some, but mostly just enjoying the sight of her quiet for a change. She was pure energy, always in motion and on the go, and that made this time even more precious.
It was more than an hour later, but much too soon for Lee, when Kara began to stir. He felt the instant when she truly woke, when her body tensed and then once more relaxed. He didn't need to see her eyes to know she was awake.
"Hey," she said softly, turning her head to look up at him.
"Hey," he replied, his voice just as soft and the smile on his face very obvious.
"What are you doing?" she asked, and he could have sworn there was a slight blush on her cheeks. He knew Kara never blushed, so he thought it must have been their shared warmth.
"Just watching," he admitted.
"Watching what?"
"You. Sleeping. You're kinda cute when you aren't punching anyone."
She finally smiled, and he felt like he'd won a prize. "Thanks," she remarked with more than a little sarcasm. "What time is it?"
"Not sure," he replied. "You're lying on my watch arm."
Her head flashed around and this time it was a definite blush on her face before she moved. "You should have dumped me off."
"Not a chance," he told her, bending his elbow and working his wrist to try to get some feeling back in there. "Almost midday," he finally answered.
"Wow."
"Yeah. But it was late when we got to sleep, and you were pretty tired."
She nodded at that, but she'd put her head back down on the pillow and was still lying with her back against his chest.
"Still tired?" he asked.
"Not really," she admitted. "Just comfortable."
He brushed the bangs from her forehead again, tucking them behind her ear. "Yeah, it's nice."
"It's warm."
He laughed softly. They thought so much alike.
"We do have to get up eventually," he told her. "My dinner's about gone."
On cue, her stomach growled. She giggled softly and he had to smile again. She was going to be okay after all. Maybe they both would be.
"They should be serving lunch," he told her. "For a while anyway. Rumor had it that anything left from the banquet would be on the lunch line."
"That might be worth getting up for," she admitted wryly. But he seriously doubted it.
Kara had known it would be awkward slipping back into quarters with her dress uniform on, but she hadn't quite planned on the silence that greeted her when she came through the hatch. She went through a few scenarios in her mind regarding how to best handle the situation, and decided that shock factor was probably her best weapon. That and the absolute truth that she had done nothing wrong, and had nothing to hide.
"Morning, Guys," she said with her brightest smile. "Miss me?"
"More like afternoon," Hawk called.
Her head jerked around at the familiar voice. "Welcome back," she called with a genuine smile. "I thought you'd be in the life station for another week."
"I'm stubborn," he stated emphatically as he stood and moved away from his bunk. "They let me out this morning. I still have to go in for bandage changes and the like, and no duty, but it beats the hell out of hospital beds and lousy food."
"Now you can have crew bunks and lousy food," she agreed. "It's good to have you back."
"You, too," he said as he sat down next to Lieutenant Evans on a lower bunk. "Where've you been."
"A friend got me into private quarters," she said honestly. "I got to sleep in."
"Private quarters?" Runner asked. "How'd you swing that?"
"I didn't. A friend did," she hedged. "You guys on duty today?"
"Tonight," Runner admitted.
"Two hours," Evans grumbled.
"I'm off," Hawk said with a straight face. They all laughed at that.
"Hey, Starbuck?"
Kara turned back to face Rand, who had just walked in from the shower bays wrapped in only a towel. "Yeah?"
"You okay?" he asked.
It was better than the grilling she'd expected; that was certain. "I'm great," she replied. "I'm just gonna shower and catch a run before I go to lunch."
"By yourself?" Rand asked. It was probably as close as he'd come to prying.
She took a deep breath, and dove in. "Look, before the rumor mill gets going, let's set something straight. Who I run with, eat with, sleep with, or do anything else with is entirely my business. Understood?" After seeing a couple of sheepish nods, she continued. "While I have your attention, Apollo and I have been friends for a long time," she said in a stern voice. "I'm not going to stay clear of him just because you guys can't recognize authority. He hasn't done anything wrong, and I'm sick of the crap you say behind his back. He's a good friend, and he'd probably be yours too if you'd give him a chance. I won't apologize for defending him, or running with him, or anything else I do with him - which I repeat is none of your business."
There were a couple of nods, and a couple of angry looks, but she really didn't care. She looked around the room as she waited for a response, but she didn't get one. Finally sure they wouldn't say anything more, at least not in front of her, she stripped off her dress uniform and tossed it on her bunk. She traded boots for running shoes, and grabbed some shorts from her locker as she walked past them. "Anyone want to run?" she asked, her voice a challenge.
There were shaken heads and a couple of negative sounds, but she hadn't expected anything different. She stepped from the hatch and started at a jog, glad to be out of the tense room. It wasn't long before she was up to a dead run, long legs flying up staircases and around passageways. She felt better than she had in ages: well rested and fit, and ready to take on the world. She just hoped that the world didn't take her up on it.
Lee Adama stowed his helmet in his ready room locker. The patrol had been long but thankfully uneventful. He was glad for small favors. At the very least his wingman had been civil, and that had been a nice change.
As usual, the room was filled with pilots either getting ready for or getting off duty. Some were playing cards, and others were just resting or looking over flight rosters. It was the same as it was every time he came through here. He quickly unfastened his flight suit and prepared to change into his regular work uniform.
"Hey, Apollo?"
He glanced over at Sharon Valerii, who was sitting with two other men at a table near the center of the room. "Yeah?"
"You still play Pyramid?"
He paused a moment. They had never invited him to play before, so he didn't know what to say. He hated cards. He'd been beaten in too many games by Kara to have any confidence in his ability. "Occasionally," he admitted.
"We need a forth," the Lieutenant next to her said. Lee thought his name was Evans, but he couldn't be sure. He knew the guy was the pilot that slept two beds down from his, and one over. They'd never really made it to names.
Lee took a deep breath before he answered. "I'll play," he consented. "As long as Starbuck's not around. I don't like losing."
All three of them laughed at that, and he had to join in. Kara's card playing was legendary, even with a war going on.
"No problem," Sharon said with a smile. "I think she's tearing apart her Viper with the Chief. Something about him never getting the gimbal right."
Taking a seat, he muttered, "That's Kara," and there were a few nods around the table. Then Sharon was dealing the cards, and all he had time to think about was the game at hand. It didn't look good for him.
Three games later, he was developing a notorious reputation as the greatest Pyramid loser in fleet history, but he couldn't seem to mind. At least he was in the game. Sometimes, that was what mattered. If it took a little song and dance to get along with the guys, he'd find a way to manage it. Loosening up a little couldn't hurt that much. So he'd just play a little cards with the guys. And maybe he'd dance.
The End (
Chapter 9
Kara tugged back the covers and lay back with a sigh. She didn't mind her bunk, but a real bed wasn't something she'd turn down. Lee was in the shower - she'd saved him that five minutes after all.
She supposed she should feel uncomfortable spending the night with a man, but this was Lee. She and Zak had crawled into his bed during more than one thunderstorm on Caprica, and this really wasn't so different. She was feeling a little empty, and he was likely feeling the same, and it just made sense to keep one another company.
"I forgot what hot water felt like," Lee remarked as he exited the bathroom wearing undershorts and a tank top.
"It was nice," she agreed.
He walked over at sat on the edge of the bed for a moment, just looking at her.
"What?"
He grinned. "Just seems like old times," he commented. "But no lightning."
She smiled back at him. "I was just thinking about that," she admitted. "You always put up with us, even when you got squished."
"Squished nothing," he said in a wry tone. "Half the time I woke up on the floor. At least you aren't the one that used to kick me in the stomach."
"I promise to keep my feet to myself."
He smiled at her again and lay down next to her. The bed was bigger than their bunks, but not quite as big as a double. It was a snug fit, but they could lay side-by-side without much difficulty. Lee put his hands behind his head and stared at the ceiling. "You tired?"
She grinned. "I'm wired," she admitted.
"Me too."
"You want to play cards?"
"I have better sense than that," he told her, turning his head sideways to look at her. "I don't play against Starbuck."
"You're smarter than you look," she told him. It earned her a pillow in the face, but she could give as good as she got. Within a few seconds they were battling with pillows and beating one another silly. She finally called a truce, and they laughingly put the covers back on the bed and straightened them out. This time when Kara pulled back the covers to get in, Lee got in right beside her.
"You're dangerous," he grumbled as he rubbed his face.
"At least I didn't break your jaw."
That sent them into a fit of laughter again, until Kara's side hurt and she had tears streaming down her face. When she finally wiped her hands over her cheeks, her smile faded slightly.
"I never thought I'd be laughing today," she admitted. "It seems almost. wrong."
Lee shook his head at that. "Survivor's guilt," he told her simply. "Just remember, Zak never would have wanted you miserable. He liked to make you laugh." He rolled onto his side facing her and reached out to easily flip her onto her side, faced away from him.
"Hey!"
"Relax," he said quietly as he tugged her back into the curve of his body. "I'm just settling in. You're less likely to kick me if you're faced that way."
"Don't count on it," she muttered, but she couldn't argue that the position was comfortable. Her back was against the front of his body, and he was warm. One of his arms was draped across her side and his hand was comfortably on her hip. With anyone else she might have felt compromised in the position, but this was just Lee, and he had always kept her safe.
They lay that way for a few minutes before he spoke. "It's been good hearing you laugh tonight. I've missed that."
She put her arm over his and held his hand. "There hasn't been much to laugh about."
"I know."
"It's getting better, though. I half expected something to happen today just because of the ceremony, but it all worked out fine."
"Yeah."
They were quiet for a while longer, and Kara started to wonder if he'd gone to sleep on her. His breathing was deep and regular, and his body relaxed. She gave a soft sigh and just enjoyed not having to be alone for the first time in recent memory. Lee was always nearby - his bunk was above hers - but this was different.
They had been very close as kids, but as adolescence had approached she had become uncomfortable with the boys. Zak hadn't let it bother him, but Lee had gone pretty shy. Suddenly skinny-dipping and pillow fights were less acceptable and they were expected to act as adults. The funny part was, there was a lot to be said for a good pillow fight - or skinny-dipping, for that matter.
"You okay?"
His voice was barely a whisper as he released her hand and reached up to tuck her hair back behind her ear. The bangs had been falling in her eyes. It was odd how he always seemed to know what bothered her before she did. "Fine," she answered. "Comfortable."
"Me too," he said softly. "So who gets stuck turning out the lights?"
She thought about getting out of the warm bed, or having him do it, but suddenly it didn't matter at all. "Just leave them on," she suggested. "I'm warm."
"Me too," he repeated, his voice fading on the words. She couldn't blame him. The events of the day had definitely caught up with them, and she was exhausted.
"Night, Lee," she whispered, finally closing her eyes to sleep. He must have already been out, because she never heard him answer.
The first thing Lee noticed as he drifted slowly awake was that he was warm. Really warm. For the first time in as long as he could remember, the pervasive chill of space wasn't surrounding him.
The Galactica was a good ship. She was technologically limited by design, but she was as comfortable as any in space. Unfortunately, heat required fuel, and Tylium was a constant issue as they fled the Cylons. Because of this, everything stayed just a little cooler than was strictly comfortable. It wasn't cold - nobody got sick from it - but neither was it warm.
Lee was warm. He shifted minutely, noting that his right arm was numb and there was hair tickling his nose. One eye opened slowly, and a gentle smile came across his face. It was just Kara.
It had been a very long time since he'd awoken with a woman in his arms. The refreshing part about the situation was that he wasn't in the process of trying to think of how to get out of the bed without waking her or out of the room without facing uncomfortable conversations. This wasn't one of the rare bed partners he'd had over the years - albeit far fewer since he'd left the academy - but rather a friend.
Friend or not, his body had a predictable response to early morning and warm woman. He shifted himself back a bit, moving his arm in the process and wincing at the pins-and-needles feeling that pervaded it.
Kara shifted then, her body inching backward as if searching for him. She probably was. She probably liked the warmth of a shared bed as much as he did. But he didn't want her awake just yet. He was warm, and drowsy, and he knew this was a stolen moment out of time. He didn't want to waste it.
He rested his chin carefully atop her head to keep the hair from tickling him, and put his arm back around her. Neither of them slept much, although both of them got more rest than they had at the beginning of the war. Schedules were a bit more regular, and they weren't awoken quite so often by either theirs or another's nightmares. In fact, things in quarters were almost comfortable, if it weren't for so many unfriendly faces.
He would have to deal with those faces after this. It didn't bother him very much, because they didn't like him in the first place. They had glared at him behind his back before this, and now they might glare to his face. He might even hear a word or two against him before he turned a corner or stepped out of a shower stall, but they would likely not confront him directly.
The thing that bothered him about the situations was that now they actually had a reason. No, they wouldn't know that the only thing going on in the isolated room was some sleeping, and it wasn't his job to educate them on what was none of their business, but he couldn't deny that he'd given them quite an opening for gossip.
Kara had said that it didn't matter, but her heart was softer than she let on. She needed friends, and at the moment she had some. She'd put enough of those friendships on the line by just sticking by the new CAG when nobody else did, but to sleep with the enemy might strain those relationships beyond mending. He wanted to be her friend - needed her in ways he was just beginning to understand - but she needed more than just him. The thought that this might cause her hassle really did bother him. Not enough, as it turned out, to keep him out of the room or out of the bed.
He wished he could regret it.
Truthfully though, he was more content than he'd been in ages. And it didn't have all that much to do with sleeping in her bed. It had to do with a much-missed smile, a rare laugh, and a sparkle in her eyes that had been absent for too long. The previous night, with its quiet conversation and not so quiet pillow fight, had shown him something he had regretted losing as much as, if not more than, the world as he knew it. He'd had Kara back last night - even if it had just been for a couple of hours. He couldn't regret it.
He watched her sleeping, occasionally closing his eyes and resting some, but mostly just enjoying the sight of her quiet for a change. She was pure energy, always in motion and on the go, and that made this time even more precious.
It was more than an hour later, but much too soon for Lee, when Kara began to stir. He felt the instant when she truly woke, when her body tensed and then once more relaxed. He didn't need to see her eyes to know she was awake.
"Hey," she said softly, turning her head to look up at him.
"Hey," he replied, his voice just as soft and the smile on his face very obvious.
"What are you doing?" she asked, and he could have sworn there was a slight blush on her cheeks. He knew Kara never blushed, so he thought it must have been their shared warmth.
"Just watching," he admitted.
"Watching what?"
"You. Sleeping. You're kinda cute when you aren't punching anyone."
She finally smiled, and he felt like he'd won a prize. "Thanks," she remarked with more than a little sarcasm. "What time is it?"
"Not sure," he replied. "You're lying on my watch arm."
Her head flashed around and this time it was a definite blush on her face before she moved. "You should have dumped me off."
"Not a chance," he told her, bending his elbow and working his wrist to try to get some feeling back in there. "Almost midday," he finally answered.
"Wow."
"Yeah. But it was late when we got to sleep, and you were pretty tired."
She nodded at that, but she'd put her head back down on the pillow and was still lying with her back against his chest.
"Still tired?" he asked.
"Not really," she admitted. "Just comfortable."
He brushed the bangs from her forehead again, tucking them behind her ear. "Yeah, it's nice."
"It's warm."
He laughed softly. They thought so much alike.
"We do have to get up eventually," he told her. "My dinner's about gone."
On cue, her stomach growled. She giggled softly and he had to smile again. She was going to be okay after all. Maybe they both would be.
"They should be serving lunch," he told her. "For a while anyway. Rumor had it that anything left from the banquet would be on the lunch line."
"That might be worth getting up for," she admitted wryly. But he seriously doubted it.
Kara had known it would be awkward slipping back into quarters with her dress uniform on, but she hadn't quite planned on the silence that greeted her when she came through the hatch. She went through a few scenarios in her mind regarding how to best handle the situation, and decided that shock factor was probably her best weapon. That and the absolute truth that she had done nothing wrong, and had nothing to hide.
"Morning, Guys," she said with her brightest smile. "Miss me?"
"More like afternoon," Hawk called.
Her head jerked around at the familiar voice. "Welcome back," she called with a genuine smile. "I thought you'd be in the life station for another week."
"I'm stubborn," he stated emphatically as he stood and moved away from his bunk. "They let me out this morning. I still have to go in for bandage changes and the like, and no duty, but it beats the hell out of hospital beds and lousy food."
"Now you can have crew bunks and lousy food," she agreed. "It's good to have you back."
"You, too," he said as he sat down next to Lieutenant Evans on a lower bunk. "Where've you been."
"A friend got me into private quarters," she said honestly. "I got to sleep in."
"Private quarters?" Runner asked. "How'd you swing that?"
"I didn't. A friend did," she hedged. "You guys on duty today?"
"Tonight," Runner admitted.
"Two hours," Evans grumbled.
"I'm off," Hawk said with a straight face. They all laughed at that.
"Hey, Starbuck?"
Kara turned back to face Rand, who had just walked in from the shower bays wrapped in only a towel. "Yeah?"
"You okay?" he asked.
It was better than the grilling she'd expected; that was certain. "I'm great," she replied. "I'm just gonna shower and catch a run before I go to lunch."
"By yourself?" Rand asked. It was probably as close as he'd come to prying.
She took a deep breath, and dove in. "Look, before the rumor mill gets going, let's set something straight. Who I run with, eat with, sleep with, or do anything else with is entirely my business. Understood?" After seeing a couple of sheepish nods, she continued. "While I have your attention, Apollo and I have been friends for a long time," she said in a stern voice. "I'm not going to stay clear of him just because you guys can't recognize authority. He hasn't done anything wrong, and I'm sick of the crap you say behind his back. He's a good friend, and he'd probably be yours too if you'd give him a chance. I won't apologize for defending him, or running with him, or anything else I do with him - which I repeat is none of your business."
There were a couple of nods, and a couple of angry looks, but she really didn't care. She looked around the room as she waited for a response, but she didn't get one. Finally sure they wouldn't say anything more, at least not in front of her, she stripped off her dress uniform and tossed it on her bunk. She traded boots for running shoes, and grabbed some shorts from her locker as she walked past them. "Anyone want to run?" she asked, her voice a challenge.
There were shaken heads and a couple of negative sounds, but she hadn't expected anything different. She stepped from the hatch and started at a jog, glad to be out of the tense room. It wasn't long before she was up to a dead run, long legs flying up staircases and around passageways. She felt better than she had in ages: well rested and fit, and ready to take on the world. She just hoped that the world didn't take her up on it.
Lee Adama stowed his helmet in his ready room locker. The patrol had been long but thankfully uneventful. He was glad for small favors. At the very least his wingman had been civil, and that had been a nice change.
As usual, the room was filled with pilots either getting ready for or getting off duty. Some were playing cards, and others were just resting or looking over flight rosters. It was the same as it was every time he came through here. He quickly unfastened his flight suit and prepared to change into his regular work uniform.
"Hey, Apollo?"
He glanced over at Sharon Valerii, who was sitting with two other men at a table near the center of the room. "Yeah?"
"You still play Pyramid?"
He paused a moment. They had never invited him to play before, so he didn't know what to say. He hated cards. He'd been beaten in too many games by Kara to have any confidence in his ability. "Occasionally," he admitted.
"We need a forth," the Lieutenant next to her said. Lee thought his name was Evans, but he couldn't be sure. He knew the guy was the pilot that slept two beds down from his, and one over. They'd never really made it to names.
Lee took a deep breath before he answered. "I'll play," he consented. "As long as Starbuck's not around. I don't like losing."
All three of them laughed at that, and he had to join in. Kara's card playing was legendary, even with a war going on.
"No problem," Sharon said with a smile. "I think she's tearing apart her Viper with the Chief. Something about him never getting the gimbal right."
Taking a seat, he muttered, "That's Kara," and there were a few nods around the table. Then Sharon was dealing the cards, and all he had time to think about was the game at hand. It didn't look good for him.
Three games later, he was developing a notorious reputation as the greatest Pyramid loser in fleet history, but he couldn't seem to mind. At least he was in the game. Sometimes, that was what mattered. If it took a little song and dance to get along with the guys, he'd find a way to manage it. Loosening up a little couldn't hurt that much. So he'd just play a little cards with the guys. And maybe he'd dance.
The End (