Lee

Lee let Kara slip from his arms. It's not like he could refuse Dr. Baltar's request to cut in. It just wasn't done. He always did the correct thing. He took a few steps and caught sight of his father and President Roslin as they finished their dance and began to make their way to the edge of the dance floor. He caught up to them and asked her if she'd like to dance.

"I'd love to, Captain Apollo." She accepted his hand and he led her back onto the dance floor. "So, Captain," she asked him as they danced, "are you enjoying the Colonial Day celebration?"

He forced a smile. "I'm having a great time."

"I just saw you dancing with Lieutenant Thrace." She gestured towards Kara and Gaius a few couples away. "I never thought I'd see her in a dress. She looks like a completely different person tonight, doesn't she?"

His eyes lingered on Kara for a moment before softly replying with a simple, "Yes." He didn't notice the president watching him closely and then smiling a little when he finally answered.

The song ended and they turned to find Billy and Dualla beside them on the dance floor. Billy asked President Roslin to dance so Lee felt obligated to ask Dualla. What else could he do? He glanced over Dualla's head and spotted Kara still dancing with Dr. Baltar. His muscles tensed.

"Is something wrong, captain?" Dualla asked.

Lee tore his eyes away from Kara and focused on his dance partner and somehow forced himself to relax. He faked another smile. "No, not at all."

Billy reclaimed Dualla at the end of the song and he saw the president stop to talk to Tom Zarek. Somehow Lee ended up dancing with the blond reporter from talk wireless whose name he couldn't even remember. He wasn't quite sure how that had happened. One moment he was starting to head for the bar to get a drink and then the next thing he knew the woman had insinuated herself into his arms. At least someone actually wanted to dance with him. She was a good dancer, too. A few songs passed without him even realizing it, then a nice slow song started. He didn't think it was possible, but somehow she moved even closer to him. Yikes, he had uniforms that didn't fit him this snugly. He smiled in spite of himself. It seemed like there was always something that kept him busy all day long since the moment he had first flown aboard the Galactica what felt like years ago. It had been quite a while and, truth be told, she felt wonderful in his arms. He was still a man, after all.

In spite of himself, he scanned the dance floor and finally spotted Kara. She was at a small table drinking with Dr Baltar, her head thrown back, laughing at something he'd said. She sure seemed to be enjoying herself. He glanced down at his dance partner. Playa felt his eyes on her and she met his gaze and smiled. His right hand slid around the back of her neck, toying with her shoulder length blond hair. Unbidden came the thought that it was just a little too long and not quite the right shade of blond.

He shook his head, trying to shake Kara from his mind but his eyes had a will of their own and strayed to her table. It was empty. He slowly scanned the room over Playa's shoulder, finally catching sight of her on the dance floor again. Kara's back was to him, giving him a perfect view of Dr. Baltar's hand sliding down her back, stopping for a moment to caress her ass before moving back up to a slightly more respectable area. A muscle jumped in his cheek as he clenched his teeth together to keep his emotions in check because, after all, he never lost control. He couldn't go over and rip Kara from Dr. Baltar's arms like he wanted to. That just wasn't done. And the lords know, he always did the correct thing. Maybe if he'd done more than just compliment Kara's knees earlier—he shook his head. Well, he guessed it didn't matter much now.

His eyes slid closed and he vowed to himself that he'd had enough torture for tonight. It didn't take long for him to break his own vow and scan the room again for Kara. His eyes swept the room, twice to be sure, but still couldn't locate her anywhere in the banquet hall. Before he had time to completely absorb that Kara was gone, he got another surprise. He first heard the voice from right behind him.

"Playa, I just loved you with The Colonial Gang on the wireless today," Ellen gushed.

He momentarily froze. Then, as much as he didn't want to, he and Playa both turned to face Ellen. He kept his left arm around Playa, his hand slid down to rest lightly in the curve of her waist, and pulled her a little closer to him, like some kind of human life preserver. Ellen and Playa chatted for a few moments but he didn't hear a word of it. Could this day possibly get any worse? He never should have left his bunk this morning. His question was soon answered and it wasn't what he was hoping for.

"Playa, do you mind if I steal Captain Apollo from you for a dance?" Ellen asked.

The polite smile didn't quite reach Playa's eyes. "Sure, I'll catch up with you later, Lee." His eyes desperately followed her as she walked away and beads of sweat formed on his upper lip. Dreading it as much as facing an executioner, he turned to face Ellen.

"Come on now, Lee. Don't be shy." Ellen latched onto him like a leech and he had no choice but dance with her. It's not like he could just leave her standing alone on the dance floor. After all, that wouldn't be polite and he always did the right thing. He sent a silent prayer to the Lords of Kobol in thanks that at least it wasn't a slow song.

The longest song of his life was finally coming to an end when he spotted Colonel Tigh standing near the bar, watching them dance. "Oh look, Ellen, there's the colonel." He grabbed her hand and had her halfway across the room before she even realized what was happening.

"Lee, don't be absurd." She attempted to dig in her heels to stop him. "Saul hates dancing."

He ignored her. "Oh look, here we are." He transferred Ellen's hand to her husband's arm, quickly wished them both goodnight, and nearly ran from the banquet hall. He paused outside the door, seeing a completely deserted corridor and his face split into a wide grin in relief at his narrow escape. He considered going back for Playa but decided that it was too big a risk. Ellen would never let him go if she got her hands on him again.


Apollo glanced up from his Triad hand and watched Gaius from across the table. It looked like Gaius was going to polish off that whole bottle of ambrosia practically on his own. His words were getting a bit slurred and he was rambling on about how he always wins. Gaius was definitely in a strange mood today.

"Oh, frak," he mumbled under his breath when he saw Baltar's cards. He couldn't believe he'd lost yet another game to him. He was so sure that he'd had the winning hand this time, too.

Then Kara popped into the officer's mess hall for a few minutes and things got really weird. She and the vice president exchanged words. Lee asked her to pull up a pew but she answered that she had things to do. That wasn't like Kara. She never turned down an opportunity to play Triad. She never even looked at him when she replied. She just stared at Gaius the whole time and then turned and left the room. He saw Crashdown and Dualla exchange looks from the corner of his eye. Everyone in the room could feel the tension.

Something strange was going on. He watched Kara's retreating back and then his gaze slid to Gaius. All the pieces suddenly fell into place. At that moment, he knew their Colonial Day celebrations hadn't ended in the Banquet Hall aboard Cloud 9 last night. It felt worse than when his father had punched him in the gut this morning and just as unexpected.

He silently watched Gaius gather his winnings and head for the door. Gauis paused in the doorway, turning back to face them. "This was great fun. We'll have to do it again soon." He glared at Lee for a heartbeat before disappearing around the corner in the hallway.

"Was he a little weirder than normal today, or was it just me?" Crashdown asked, standing and pocketing what little cubits he had left.

"No, it wasn't just you," Dualla said as the three of them headed out the door and she saw Gaeta nod in agreement. "He definitely seemed to be mad about something."

Lee sat alone at the table, listening to their voices fading away the farther they got from him. He put his elbows on the table and rested his head in his hands. Gaius sleeps with Kara and he's pissed at me? How frakked up is that? And Kara, she'll never change. Kara frakking the vice president of the colonies. What the hell was she thinking? He guessed she was looking for someone a little more powerful than just a simple CAG or maybe just someone smarter. He'd thought…no, it didn't matter what he had been beginning to think. She just proved that she'd always be the same old Kara and would never change her ways.


Lee had met up with Kara later in the hangar bay. He sat on his bed thinking about what had happened. He'd said some stupid things about her not being able to keep her pants on and brought up that time she'd gotten drunk and slept with the major. His tongue slid across the cut inside his lip that he'd gotten when Kara punched him. By reflex, he'd punched her right back. It wasn't the first time that they'd fought, but it felt…different this time. He ran his fingers through his hair. He still didn't understand why she'd slept with Gaius. He'd asked her, but all she said was that she was a screw-up and to keep that in mind. Like it was some kind of warning or something to stay away from her.

He was glad she never got a chance to marry Zak and break his heart like Ellen constantly did to Colonel Tigh. He had no doubt that Kara would act the same way. The lords know that she can't keep her damn pants on. Never could, never will. He'd thought she'd changed. He'd started to think that maybe—NO! He cut off his own thoughts. Apparently he wasn't good enough for her. Not a good enough pilot; she hadn't thought that he would be able to pull of their last mission and destroy that Cylon base to get the fuel the fleet needed. Apparently he wasn't smart enough for her, either, at least not as smart as the illustrous Dr. Baltar. Or maybe it was just the power that she enjoyed; the power of sleeping with the vice president of the colonies. He snorted in disgust. Yeah, it was a good thing Zak had gotten killed before they'd had a chance to get married. Zak was better off that way and was saved the disappointment of learning that Starbuck would never change. He thought she'd changed her ways, but she just proved him wrong.

He just wasn't sure why it hurt so much. He tossed and turned a long time before falling asleep.


He got a bad feeling when Colonel Tigh said Starbuck was working on a plan to use the raider to get a nuke on the baseship. He was glad his father ordered him to go talk to her. He remembered the last time she was upset when she took on eight raiders and barely made it back alive. The lords only knew what she would think up next to try and get herself killed.

After talking to her though, he was forced to admit, if only to himself, that she'd come up with an excellent plan of attack. Then she went and asked him if he'd miss her if she got killed. What could he say? He told her that he needed every pilot that he had, even the screw-ups. He paused for a moment but couldn't force himself to reply when she apologized. He just turned and left before he said something else that he would regret.


He sat in his viper watching the raider just off his right wing and waited for Starbuck to start her test. The next thing he knew, she was firing up her FTL drive. "What are you doing, Kara?" No reply and then she vanished from the sky. She'd jumped. What stupid ass idea had she come up with now to get herself killed?

He leaned back and closed his eyes. He should have handled things differently earlier. He wished that he'd admitted how much he would miss her if she were gone. He prayed to the gods that he would still have that chance.