In romance, the shortest distance between two points is frequently a curveball. Adam Skjei Kobol, Fourth Lord of Kobol.
The smell of fresh coffee woke up Chief Tyrol. With a grunt, he straightened in his desk chair and raised both arms overhead for an aching stretch. Damn, he'd fallen asleep over the paperwork again.
"Here ya go, Chief," a young voice said and a small hand holding a full cup of brown liquid magically materialized before him.
Tyrol glanced up at the owner of the hand but didn't take the coffee. "Thanks, Cal. What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be working on the Star Chaser's grav?"
Specialist Cally put the coffee and a plate of white bread sandwiches down on Tyrol's paper-piled desk. Since Chief Prosna had died last week, she'd been tagging after Tyrol like a three-year old. Cally used to be on Prosna's crew and they'd been close, although so far as Tyrol knew, never lovers. After Prosna died protecting Cally in a landing pod fire, Tyrol had spent more than a few hours serving as her crying towel, but he didn't mind. If he'd lost Sharon for good, he would have needed one himself.
They all had to get through this any way they could.
"The grav's all done," Cally said. "She still needs to power up in zero g for adjustments, but I've gone as far I can with her in the landing bay."
Cally's team had started the six-hour job just as Tyrol had sat down at his desk. "Done? How long have I been out?" He wagged his neck back and forth, trying to make it loosen up.
"Five hours. You should try one of these sandwiches. Chief Deuch's been busy with the party and all, but he says these are pretty good, and the coffee too. It's off Colonial One. Mucho primo!" Cally picked up a sandwich and began gobbling it in huge, mouth-stuffing bites while she stood by Tyrol's desk. Like most of the deck crew, she'd spent the last week and a half at a dead run. "So, what do you want us to do now?" she asked around a mouthful, although it had sounded more like, "Whuf chew whamf chush-oo ow?"
"No wonder my neck hurts. Uh, why don't you just have some lunch with me for a minute while I think?" Cally pulled up a chair and began to eat a little more slowly, her ponytail bobbing up and down with each chew. She must have found time for a shower recently. The dark build-up of grease on her freckled face had disappeared.
She took a sip out of the coffee cup. "You really ought to try this coffee, Chief. It is beyond excellent."
Tyrol looked at the plate of sandwiches. He didn't really feel much like eating, but he hadn't felt like sleeping either until his body had conked out on him. He probably should make the effort. Losing Sharon to Captain Kelly didn't have to be the end his universe. He was still a Colonial and a damned good one. Picking up a sandwich, he took a bite. It tasted like sawdust. Mechanically he chewed and swallowed then sipped coffee from Cally's cup. It really was an improvement. "I can't remember my schedule, Cally. What watch are you working tomorrow?"
"Same as today, second." Sixteen-hundred to twenty-four.
"I've been ordered to the Commander's party." He looked at her to see what she'd make of that.
Cally swallowed her current mouthful and said, "So I heard. Hey, congrats on the promotion! I hope you'll remember us grease monkeys when you're flying up forward with the bigwigs."
Tyrol had learned a long time ago there were few secrets on a battlestar. He ignored the congratulations, mostly because they weren't in order yet. He'd lost Sharon and he didn't want to be a pencil pusher. The promotion hadn't been clinched. At the moment Tyrol was focusing on the short term, namely tomorrow night. "I was wondering if you'd like to go with me to the party. I'll ask Delmonico to swap watches with you."
That stopped Cally's chewing. She just looked at him, her cheeks puffed out like a Picon squirrel carrying a load of seeds. After a moment she began chewing again and swallowed. In a low voice she asked, "Not that I wouldn't like to go, but what about Sharon, I mean Lieutenant Valerii? Has something happened? You said were going to ask for permission to marry her."
Tyrol had forgotten he'd told Cally about that. She'd been crying very hard that time and he'd tried to distract her by asking for advice. It had worked too. She'd perked right up.
"Sharon's asked Captain Kelly to the party."
"And you didn't try to change her mind because …?" Once you ask someone for advice, they think they own your life.
Tyrol took another bite and chewed in silence. Pine sawdust, he thought. Or maybe northern spike-needle. It sure didn't taste like bread and sandwich filling. Tyrol hadn't tried to change Sharon's mind because she didn't want to get married. She'd found herself someone else, a someone who was more appropriate for a commissioned officer, and, Tyrol had to admit, who was a damned nice guy to boot.
Cally put down the last of her sandwich. Only two more monster bites would have finished it off, but it looked as though Cally had something to say. "I know it's none of my business, but you are so lucky. Sharon's still alive. And I know … I know if Proz were still here, nothing would stop me from fighting to keep him. I used to think we had all the time in the universe, but with this war and the Cylons, we're lucky if we've got tomorrow."
Cally had turned into quite the little philosopher, but Tyrol wasn't about to be moved. If he shifted even a little, he'd crack his foundations and fall apart. "Do you want to go to this party, Cal?"
"Do you love her, Chief?"
"Yes or no, Cal?" Tyrol had given up eating more of the sawdust sandwich, but he still held it in his hands. He looked down at the sagging pieces of white bread and tried to will Cally to say yes. Sharon would be at the party and Tyrol couldn't bear to go alone. She'd laugh at him, or worse yet, give him one of those long, slow pitying looks.
"Yeah, I'll go."
"Well, are you going to keep me here all evening?" Kara asked looking past Lee into the double compartment he shared with Captain Kelly. She had a large flat box in her arms. "Come on, let me in!"
Lee had not been expecting Kara. He pulled the large towel he wore around his waist closer and tied a knot at his hip. "Yeah, sure come on in. Kell's out doing our laundry. What do you need?"
Kara slipped through the hatch and closed it behind her. It looked like she'd just been showering too. Blonde hair clung to her forehead in damp strands and she was wearing a heavy robe. Throwing the box she carried on Kelly's bunk, she looked around the narrow quarters and said, "Wow, quite the spread you got here, unlike us lowly lieu's." She stepped through the hatch into the tiny combination head and shower. "I'm seriously impressed. Curtains, a few pillows, could be just like home."
"Perks of command," Lee told her. "Kara, what do you need?" He still hadn't quite retrieved his equanimity after yesterday's scare over his father and was in no mood to play verbal sparring games. Plus the humor in this whole thing with Commander Godden completely escaped him. He couldn't giggle with everyone else because he kept thinking of his mother, whom he'd seen just before leaving for Galactica's de-commissioning ceremony. In his mind she was still alive.
Kara had returned to Kelly's bunk. "First, I want to say 'thank you.' I don't know where you got it from, but it's beautiful." She gave Lee, who had been trying to keep his distance, a quick peck on the cheek. "I thought I'd have to wear my dress uniform but this is just gorgeous!"
It was also confusing. "What's gorgeous, Kara? Would you please talk sense?"
She opened her box and fire leapt out at Lee. "Wow! Where did you get that?"
Kara looked disappointed. "You didn't give it to me?" Lee shook his head. "Oh frak! I was sure it was you. I found it in my locker after patrol. None of the girls knew where it came from."
It was certainly an eyeful. Kara picked up the sparkling dance of red by a couple of long narrow pieces. A complicated tangle of straps, beads and chains hung down. "The problem is, Lee, it's some kind of designer creation thing and I don't have a clue how to put it on. Could you help me figure it out? Sorta do a test flight so I don't screw it up tomorrow?" Her eyes were wide and pleading.
On the verge of suggesting that Kara find help among the other women pilots, Lee changed his mind. She looked genuinely worried. He couldn't remember ever seeing her in a dress, not even when she'd been dating his brother Zak. And, of course, he knew her reputation as a hard ass. Hard asses don't fuss with party clothes. Since Kara was tackling this at his request, the least he could do was help.
"Okay, but let me get some pants on."
After donning a pair of duty pants in the head, he returned to find Kara stripped down to her Colonial green skivvies, pulling things out of her box and arranging them on both beds. Her soft pink curves of flesh moved in interesting ways, and blonde hair glistened in the light. "Uh, maybe I'd better dog the hatch. Wouldn't want to give Kell a nasty surprise."
Kara looked over her shoulder. "Nasty, huh? I'll have you know I just scrubbed my entire body for ten minutes in the shower. I haven't been this clean since I was born."
Grateful he'd put on his duty pants, Lee went to dog the hatch. He returned to Kara's side but carefully kept his distance. If he just touched her, something might happen. He'd had fantasies about Kara, but this was real life. She might kiss him, then again she might sock him. He had about a fifty-fifty chance either way.
Dress pieces, a necklace, earrings and other accessories were spread all over both beds. One thing had paired protuberances and looked like it belonged top-side, others weren't so obvious. The only genuinely easy items to identify were the red shoes and a pair of stockings. Lee suggested she start with them.
Holding up one flat, long translucent tube, Kara looked from it to her leg and back. "Now how in the frak am I supposed to get my leg into that?"
"I can't believe you! You've never worn stockings?"
Kara shook her head. "Wasn't that much call for dress-up where I grew up." She'd never told Lee about her childhood and he'd never intruded. Some day she would, when she was ready.
Lee had seen his mother pull on stockings any number of times, not to mention girlfriends. Sticking his thumbs into the silky tube he gathered it up. It caught a little on the work-roughened skin of his hands. He knelt beside her. "Stick your toes in there."
Balancing on one leg with a hand on Lee's shoulder, she did. Gingerly he rolled the stocking up … and up … and up.
Quickly he pulled his hands away from the soft skin and firm muscles his fingers had found. His body had begun to react the way he'd expected. "Uh, maybe you should do the other one for practice."
"Sure, boss man." Watching Kara pull on the other stocking wasn't much better than doing it himself.
Kara slipped on the high-heeled red shoes. They made her damned near as tall as him. She'd need to practice in those a bit; but later, not now.
Lee picked up the thing with the double bumps. Long, red, and strapless, it hooked up the back. "I think you have to take off your … " he gestured at her upper body " … and put on this."
Kara took it from Lee's hand and shook her head in disbelief at the cruelty of fashion designers. "Well, turn around!"
"Oh, yeah, sure."
A piece of Colonial green knit flew past him and landed on his bed. A moment later he heard, "Lee, I need your help with this damned thing! I can't get it hooked!"
He turned around to find Kara's bare back. To his fascination his hands began to shake as he fastened up the five hooks. She turned around. The dress may have been made for a bit smaller woman. The thing, whatever it was called, fit snugly. Parts of Kara stuck out in the wrong places and the whole thing wasn't arranged quite right.
"Uh, you have to … you gotta …" With a bent elbow, Lee made pulling up motions with the bent fingers of one hand.
Kara frowned for a moment then her face cleared. "Oh yeah, sure." She complied. Lee's fingers flexed as he watched her.
"What's next?" she asked.
"I don't know. What do you think?" He picked up the biggest piece. "This might be the skirt."
"Yeah, that's gotta be its waistband." The piece went on quickly and brought Lee some relief. Kara had begun to look more or less clothed.
"Now we've got all these strappy things. What do you suppose they are?" Kara asked, indicating the complicated web of silky red cords, beaded strands and fine gold chain.
Lee pointed to where the strands banded together. "Well, those have gotta be either for your wrists or your ankles. I'm going with your wrists."
Kara tugged the web around a little. "Hey, maybe this is some kind of neck band!" Together they carefully pulled the web over Kara's head as she stuck her arms up the sleeves. The neckline band was actually bigger than that. The whole thing hung just below Kara's bare shoulders.
Kara looked stunning. Lee had never seen anything quite so fine, except perhaps Kara in just her skivvies.
"Whew! I think we're going to make it!" she cried. "All we have left is the jewelry!"
With Lee's help, the red stone earrings and necklace went right on. When he finished he lightly kissed the back of her neck and stroked the bare shoulders.
Kara laughed and pulled away with a twitch and a stumble in her high-heeled shoes. "Hey, that tickles, Lee!"
"I'm sorry." He couldn't take his eyes off her. He felt a sudden pang of jealousy. "I'm going to kill him," he said.
Kara was spinning around in the head, trying to see herself in the small mirror. "Who? Who ya gonna kill, boss man?"
"Whoever gave that dress to you. If he touches you, I'll kill him."
Kara laughed. "Down, boy, down. Don't worry, Lee. Whoever it was, I can take care of him myself." She came out of the head, balancing very carefully. "Well, how do I look?"
"Like star fire in a bottle. You're the most beautiful thing I've ever seen."
"You're so sweet." She picked up her discarded robe. "I think maybe I'd better put in some practice time on these shoes. I'll wear the whole rig back to quarters, give 'em an eyeful. Thanks for your help, Lee. Really."
"Any time, Kara." She paused on her way to the hatch and gave him a gentle, sisterly kiss on the lips. He stood quietly and let her do it.
"Tomorrow," she said.
"Tomorrow," he agreed as she un-dogged the hatch and stepped through. Lee closed the hatch behind her and went to take another shower.
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I am a man; nothing human is alien to me. Terence, Heuton Timoroumenos