Once-In-A-Lifetime Opportunity

Part 2: Screw-Up

Kara Thrace ignored Lee Adama's mostly-pulled return punch and went back to re-arranging the innards of the Cylon raider. She was convinced that somehow she could fit an auto-pilot in there. Sending the Cylon raider back to nuke its own had a certain appeal.

More appeal than telling Lee the real reason why she'd slept with Gaius Baltar.

And that was, she'd frakked the Vice-President to take her mind off not frakking the President.

Sure, there were lots of other reasons. Boredom. Curiosity too: was he better at sex than he was at cards? Getting the frak out of the way so Dr Zip-Up-Your-Pants would quit leering at her and leave her alone, yeah, that was a factor. Something physical to wash away the rising tide of tension around unrest in the fleet that kept them watching for Cylon traitors, guarding all of their backs against Zarek and his murderous pals, something that wasn't a bar-fight. Something to reward her for putting on a dress.

Yeah, all of that.

Kara scowled at inexplicable Cylon gizzards that smelled like a latrine: frak's sake, there's got to be a way to make this work.

Only it hadn't turned out to be a great way to waste some time. For one thing, Mr Vice President had been better at cards. So she - well, she'd ended up calling out Lee's name. Not that she wanted Lee, himself. She'd been pretending it was Lee she was in bed with because the guy was the exact opposite of Baltar. Maybe something to do with being Zak's brother too, and she'd genuinely loved Zak.

And, well, he was a guy.

Not - you get the picture.

Now, when frakking the President got to be on her mind, Kara couldn't say.

OK, she could.

Kara stopped glaring at the jumble of living tissue: how about you teach me how you work?

It was right there in the CIC after her gamble to capture the tylium refinery had paid off, the first time she threw her arms round Laura. She'd intended it as a purely social gesture, but as soon as she held the older woman in her arms, all she could think of was pressing her body hard up against Laura's, naked, somewhere far away from the CIC, their hot wet bodies arching and rocking together until the end of ecstasy.

This was completely different from being drunk and not being able to keep her hands off that major from – from - wherever she'd been from. Not least because she'd turned out a total bitch the morning after, and Kara really didn't appreciate Lee throwing that little episode in her face in the hanger with the deck hands around.

This time Kara's fantasy had been a revelation so intense, so real, she'd found it hard to break away and remember to apologise for violating protocol by actually touching Madam President.

Just as well Madam President had no idea what was going on inside Kara's head, which was what she was really apologising for.

Or what had been going on most nights and spare moments since.

For that she mostly blamed the second time she'd held Laura Roslin in her arms, the time when to her surprise, the older woman had returned her first embrace, hard, and they had clung to each other for a long, long moment.

Kara let herself wonder, What if -?

Her mind opened to consider all the possibilities.

Meanwhile, the pilot in her realised that she didn't need to have the Chief's pile of junk in the Cylon raider after all, and then Laura Roslin sent her kid PA to get her.

Yes sir, Madam President, whatever you want.