It had been nearly 3 months since the survivors of the holocaust had any contact with the Cylons. Life was slowly returning to normal. But just because they hadn't seen their enemy in a while, that didn't mean that there wasn't conflict.
"Destiny?" Lee Adama said to his wife as she stood in their room attempting to dress.
"No."
"Hope?"
"No."
"Phoenix?"
"Absolutely not." She said as she gave up trying to button her pants and angrily took them off. "Frak!"
"There a problem?" He laughed.
"Yes!" She said throwing her pants on the bed. "Your child is not allowing me to fit into any of my clothes."
"My child?" he snorted. "Oh, I see. Whenever the baby does something wrong it's gonna be my child."
"Well, it's making my life considerably more difficult so it must be your child."
"Yeah, cause it couldn't have gotten those trouble-making genes from its mother." He waited until she found a pair of pants that did fit before he continued. "What's wrong with Phoenix? Women all throughout the fleet are naming their children that. It's a perfectly respectable name."
"It's a perfectly respectable stupid name."
"Kara. It would be nice if this could be one thing that you weren't completely stubborn about."
"Lee, I'm not being stubborn. This kid is gonna have you and I as its parents, life is gonna be tough enough without adding a stupid name to the mix."
"It's only your opinion that the name is stupid."
"Yeah, well, my opinion is the one that matters. I give you one simple task: to come up with girl's names and you can't even take that seriously!"
"Who says I'm not being serious?" He replied sitting on the bed as he laced up his boots.
"Oh gods. I hope you're not being serious, because if those are seriously the names you've picked out for our child, I'm gonna have to seriously rethink being married to you." She said coming up to kiss the top of his head.
"We could just end this right now." He said bringing his arms around her to encircle her still tiny waist. "Zak if it's a boy, Caroline if it's a girl."
"Lee, it's not, it's just…..you know that I loved your mother."
"Yeah. And I know that you loved my brother." He said placing a kiss on her stomach.
"Yeah." She said closing her eyes. "But I don't wanna name the baby after somebody that died. This baby's about the future, not about the past. Okay?"
"Okay." He smiled up at her broadly and then got up to retrieve a bottle from the desk beside the bed. "Here." He said handing it to her.
"What's this?" She asked, taking the bottle of pills.
"Wild thistle root."
"No way." She said tossing the bottle back at him.
He caught it in between his two hands. "Kara, stop being a brat."
"I'm not taking that herbal, voodoo, poison junk! Where did you even get that stuff?"
"The President. She sent out a med-request throughout the fleet."
"Yeah, well, tell her thank you but that I'd rather freeze in hell than take that crap." She paused. "Or, ya know, tell her something a lot nicer than that about why I'm not taking it.'
"I'm not gonna tell her anything at all, cause you're gonna take it."
"Am not." She pouted.
"Kara. Pregnant women have been taking wild thistle root for centuries. My mother took it."
"Yeah, and I notice that didn't prevent you from being totally irritating."
Just then there was a knock at the door.
"Come in!" Lee yelled. "Please come in."
Kara opened the door to their room and found her father-in-law before her. She turned back to her husband. "Uh-oh. The Commander himself had to come to the room. You're in big trouble, Captain."
"You're ten minutes late for the meeting." The Commander said to his son as he saw him rub his eyes. "Problem?"
"Yeah. She refuses to take the thistle root."
"That's right." Kara said defiantly as she stuck out her tongue at Lee. "And you can't make me."
"I can't?" Lee grinned as he turned to his father. "Dad?"
"Give me the pills." The Commander said as Lee handed him the bottle.
Realization began to dawn on Kara. "Oh no. You can't just—."
"Lt. Thrace?"
"Yes sir?" She grumbled.
The Commander put the pill bottle in her hand. "Take the damn pills before I shove 'em down your throat."
"Yes sir." She whispered as she unscrewed the bottle top and took out the pills.
"Do you need water?" Lee asked.
"No." She hissed at him as she swallowed them whole.
"Alright." The Commander said as he looked her up and down. "Now be a good girl and take them everyday without argument."
"Yes sir."
"And stop yelling at each other." He said as he held open the door for them to walk out of. "I don't want my grandchild to be born in this cacophony."
"Ohhh. Cacophony?" Lee questioned and then watched as Kara mouthed 'NO'.
Kara traced her hand over the smooth, cold, metal wing of her plane and sighed dreamily.
"Stop touching the Viper." Tyrol said from behind her.
"I'm not allowed to fly them. What, suddenly touching them is not allowed either?" She said turning to face him.
"You're allowed to touch them. Not indecently caress them like you would your husband. Speaking of which, why don't you stop molesting my plane—."
"My plane." She corrected.
"And go hang out with your husband?"
She pouted. "He's on Colonial One all day. I'm supposed to be in the CAG's office doing training evals, but I got bored. Can I stay for a little bit? Please?"
Tyrol sighed. "Fine. But if I hear any moaning coming from this area I'm kicking you out."
Kara saluted and went back to examining the plane. After a while, though, she noticed someone standing around her. "Cally? What are you doing lurking about?"
The young specialist bit her lip and walked up to her. "Getting up the nerve to ask you for a favor."
"What's the favor?" Starbuck eyed her.
"Will you and Captain Adama have dinner with me?"
"Is that all?" Kara laughed. "In that case, sure."
"With me and Ensign Collier?"
Kara's smile dropped instantaneously. "In that case, no." She said walking away.
"Starbuck!"
"Cally. I try to be as far away from Ensign Collier as I can be when I eat."
"He's not that bad." Cally whined.
"What are you even doing with that jerk?"
"He's not a jerk, he's just misunderstood."
"Okay. The fact that the same adjective is most often used to describe Dr. Baltar does not bode well for your boy."
"See. He's got this reputation and it's not true, but everybody thinks that it's true, even the Chief. In fact the Chief told me that he'd put me on divot pounding duty for a year if I ever went on a date alone with Jeremy."
"So? Take the Chief."
"If the Chief came it would be obvious that he was a chaperone, the only way to do it would be as a double date and the Chief hasn't been seeing anyone since the whole 'Boomer' thing. I just figured it would be more believable if we went out with an established couple."
"Callllyyyy!" Starbuck whined.
"Starbuck, please? I kept your secret when you and the CAG got married."
"You found out about it twelve hours before everyone else!"
"Yes, and do you have any idea how hard it was to keep quiet for those twelve hours?"
"Gods." Kara sighed, grasping the bridge of her nose between her two fingers.
"Come to dinner." Cally said. "And let Jeremy change your mind about him. Come on. You owe me."
"Fine." Kara breathed out. "I'll talk to the CAG about it."
Cally snorted. "Why?"
"Well, he has to agree to it." Kara watched as Cally's eyes got wide and then narrowed in disbelief. "Okay. So he'll go no matter what because I tell him to. But we still like to pretend that he has some say in the matter. It's one of the secrets of our marriage."
"KARA?" Lee screamed as he ran through the hatch of their room. He saw her lying on the bed reading a report. "What's wrong? Are you okay? Is the baby okay?"
"Yes. I'm sorry." She raised her hands in a gesture to calm him down. "We're both fine."
"What's the emergency?"
"There isn't one." She said getting off the bed to stand in front of him.
His voice got loud. "Then why did the President tell me there was?"
"Because I told her to lie to you and say that there was."
"Why would you do that?"
"Because I knew you wouldn't come if you knew the real reason." She whispered, chewing her lower lip.
"What's the real reason?" He eyed her.
She reached up, smoothing the fabric of his uniform jacket over his chest and let her fingers drift down. "You and I are having dinner on the most luxurious ship in the fleet." She breathed seductively.
He grinned a wide grin and circled his arms around her. "And why did you think I wouldn't come if I knew that?" He whispered hotly in her ear before gently biting the lobe.
She breathed deep to steady her resolve. "Cause Cally and Ensign Collier will be there too."
His arms dropped from around her quickly and he pulled back. "No way."
"Lee."
He walked across the room and turned to look at her. "For. Get. It."
"You have to." She pleaded.
"Why?"
"Because I already told Cally that we would and we already have reservations on Cloud Nine."
"Kara, I'm not going." He shrugged.
"You have to eat!"
"They have food on Galactica darling. Food that I don't have to eat with Cally and her lame-ass pseudo-boyfriend."
"It would really mean a lot to her." Kara said as her face started to crumple.
"Are you gonna cry?" He whispered in disbelief.
Her face went back to her normal expression. "Well. I wasn't really gonna cry, I was just gonna fake it for a while."
"Kara!"
"But the fact that I was willing to make that effort shows how much it would mean to me too."
He slumped to the chair that was sitting in the room and sighed defeated. "Alright. But after this we're even."
She laughed as she came up to stand before him. "Excuse me?"
"Fine. I'll do this and about fifty other things and then we might be somewhere near half even." He admitted as he lowered his head.
"Sounds about right." She kissed the crown of his head. "You won't regret it."
"I already regret it." He said looking up at her.
"I know. Me too." She said patting his forehead before he buried his face in her stomach again. "But we're stuck with it."
An hour and a half later the four of them were waiting in the Cloud Nine lobby dressed in civilian clothes.
Apollo looked at his wife sitting next to him. "You look really good."
"Thank you." She said looking around at the luxury before her. "I wore this dress because I knew you liked it."
"And you wearing my favorite dress? Do you think that will somehow make up for you dragging me here?"
"No." She whispered leaning in close to him. "But the stuff I plan on doing to you later should."
He pulled back and blinked at her. "Okay."
"Why are we waiting?" Collier asked rudely, interrupting their teasing.
"Cause its only 19:25." Lee answered. "Our reservations aren't until 19:30."
"Yeah." Collier snorted. "It's a shame we don't know anybody with any influence in the fleet."
Kara felt Lee's hand tense up as it rested on her knee.
"It's close enough." Cally said innocently. "We could at least let them know that we're here."
They all got up and walked into the restaurant and stood before the Maitre'd. "Can I help you?" He asked.
"Yes." Lee said. "We have reservations for four."
"Name?"
"Adama." Lee replied.
The Maitre'd smiled instantly. "Of course. Come this way. It's an honor to have you with us Captain Adama, and Lieutenant Thrace as well." He said as he started walking them to their table.
"Yep." Ensign Collier said from behind them. "Better suck up or else Daddy will stage another coup and take over the ship."
Lee stopped dead in his tracks and Kara reached back and hooked her arm in his to get him moving again. "Just keep walking, dear."
Five minutes later they sat at their table as the waiter took their orders.
"I think I'll have the butter encrusted fish." Kara said.
"No you won't." Lee replied as he never looked up from his menu.
"Lee!"
"Kara, it's got too much salt. Pick something else."
"Fine. I'll have the chicken." She told the waiter before glaring over at Lee. "Does that meet your demands, you culinary fascist?"
"Yes it does." Lee replied.
"And for you, sir?" The waiter asked looking at Lee.
"I'll have the fish." He said closing the menu.
"Okay, you know what?" Kara sneered.
Lee laughed. "Hey, I'm not the pregnant one."
"Something for which I'm intensely resentful considering that you were just as present as I was when I got that way."
Lee shrugged.
"How pregnant are you, Starbuck?" Collier asked.
"A little under three months." She answered.
"And how long have you been married?"
"A little over four." Lee answered.
"Aww, man." Collier said looking over at Cally. "I lose the bet."
"What bet?" Cally smiled.
"Oh, I bet the boys in navigation that they had to get married because Starbuck got herself knocked up."
Kara almost choked on the water she'd been drinking and Lee used all his effort to not grab the knife on the table.
"Jeremy." Cally whispered. "That's not terribly nice."
"Oh, come on. I was joking." He laughed. "What, I'm not allowed to joke with Starbuck and Apollo anymore?"
"Were you joking with Starbuck?" Lee asked coldly. "Or were you insulting my wife?"
"The first thing." Collier gulped. "Come on. I'd never insult your wife. I'm not that stupid."
"You sure about that last part?" Starbuck mumbled as she took another sip of water.
"Just drink your water, dear." Lee said to her through clenched teeth and a forced smile.
Twenty minutes later they had just gotten their food as Cally enthusiastically described a project the deck crew had been working on.
"….and it actually took less time than we had anticipated, but the work was not shoddy at all and I really think that we did a good job." She finished.
Kara looked over at Collier in disbelief as he rolled his eyes. She leaned over to Lee and whispered. "Did he just roll his eyes at her?"
"Yeah, I think he did." He whispered back.
"Okay." She said putting her elbows on the table and her head in her hands. "It's taking all the energy I have not to have an aneurysm right now."
"Calm down." He whispered rubbing her back. "I don't think she saw him. Leave it alone."
"Collier?" Kara said leaning back in her chair. "You don't agree that they did a good job?"
'So much for leaving it alone.' Lee thought.
"Well, I'm sure they think they did." Collier answered snottily. "But I always wonder about the practicality and durability of a project when the deck crew initiates it. I mean knuckledraggers are good at repairs, but leave the thinking to the thinkers. Right?" He laughed.
Lee noticed that Kara was subtly laughing too, but he noticed that it was the slight chuckle that she used to keep herself from killing someone with her bare hands. He was all too familiar with that laugh.
She leaned over to whisper to him. "Yeah, okay, you need to do something about him."
"Why me?" Lee asked softly.
"Cause you really don't want it to be me right now. While everybody would agree that it was justifiable homicide, I'd still have to do some time for killing him and I don't think your father would like his grandchild being born in the brig."
"Cally's a big girl." Lee answered. "She can take care of herself."
"No. Cally's a nice girl that always looks for the good in people. You and I are cynical bastards who know that sometimes there just isn't any."
"Kara--."
"Something wrong?" Cally asked sweetly, interrupting their discussion.
"No." Lee answered dishonestly. "Nothing's wrong."
"Okay." Cally said. "So Jeremy, how's it going in navigation with you guys tracking the Cylon fleet those Raptors scouted out?"
"Fine." He grumbled. "Not like it's gonna matter."
"You don't think it's important to track the movements of the enemy?" Lee laughed in disbelief.
"What's the point? The only thing that Adama and Roslin do when the Cylons come calling is run off with their tails between their legs." Collier sneered.
Kara noticed how Lee's breath was escaping in short, harsh bursts.
"Maybe The President and The Commander care more about preserving human life than they do about hollow victories that would cause casualties and barely make a dent in the Cylon armada." Kara seethed.
"What about boosting morale?" Collier shot back.
"I think morale suffers if soldiers die needlessly." Cally corrected.
Collier sneered. "And what do you know about death in combat? Cally, please, you need to remember that it's a non-com's job to follow orders, not question them."
"Okay. That's it." Lee muttered under his breath as his fork dropped dramatically to the plate below. "Cally, my food is a little cold. Do you think you could get the waiter for me?" He continued more loudly.
"You want me to get him?" Cally questioned.
"Yeah, you've got a rapport with him." Lee answered. "He was nice to you when you asked for that……spoon."
"Um." Cally looked around dumbfounded. "Sure."
She got up from the table and Collier again rolled his eyes as he watched her walk away. "I mean, gods, who does she think she is? The Admiral of the Fleet?"
Lee's hands were around Collier's neck before the other man even had a chance to turn his face back around. "Okay. Listen here you disrespectable, arrogant little punk." Kara watched as Colliers eyes got incredibly wide as Lee continued seething in his face. "You so much as utter another statement that hasn't been blatantly plagiarized from the Colonial Guide on Proper Respect and Etiquette and you're gonna wish you'd never been born."
Collier's lips started to tremble and he desperately looked to Starbuck. "You gonna do something about your husband?"
"Yeah. I'm gonna sit here and watch while he beats the crap out of you." She smiled at Lee and he grinned back as his chokehold on Collier's neck never eased. "Just ask any friend of Tom Zarek's. My husband really doesn't like it when the women in his life get mistreated."
"Here she comes." Lee said, releasing his hold. "Be nice. Compliment her. And remember, there's no rule that says that we only throw Cylons out of airlocks."
"The waiter's coming right now with another plate." Cally said sitting back down.
"Thanks, Cally." Lee smiled over at her.
"Something wrong?" She laughed nervously as she settled into her chair.
"Nope." Collier gulped.
Kara kicked Collier under the table. "Compliment her." She ordered.
"Cally, you look really nice." He blurted out in terror.
"Beautiful." Kara corrected him.
"Beautiful! You look beautiful. I meant to say beautiful." He stuttered.
Cally looked around worried. "What is going on?"
"Nothing." Lee answered. "What makes you think that something is going on?"
"Because my date is crying." She gritted out.
"He's not crying." Kara replied, looking across the table at Collier. "He's just….well, okay, he's crying a little bit."
They left the restaurant and made their way to the shuttle bay. Cally walked ahead to get on the transport while Kara, Lee and Collier walked about ten steps behind. Collier also moved to get on the shuttle but was held back by Lee's outstretched hand.
"Yeah." Lee said. "You're catching the next shuttle."
"The next shuttle's in two hours." Collier choked out. "Why do I have to wait?"
"Because the three of us have spent quite enough quality time with you this evening." Lee answered. "Outside of a work capacity, Starbuck and I never want to see you again. Oh, yeah, and you're never seeing Cally again either."
"You ordering me not to see her?" Collier snotted out.
"She's enlisted and you're an officer. I could do that."
"You really gonna stand here with your pregnant, junior-officer wife and quote the frat regs at me?"
"He's got a point." Kara said from behind them.
"Sweetheart?" Lee smiled at her. "I'm trying to intimidate the little peon, that doesn't work if you agree with him."
"Sorry." She whispered.
"No. It's not an order." Lee corrected. "I'm not gonna give you an order. What I am gonna do is make it so the two of you are on opposite shifts for the rest of your natural lives." Lee paused. "I don't want you ever coming near Cally again."
"Actually…." Kara interjected. "I think he should come near her."
"Excuse me?" Lee questioned his spouse in disbelief.
"He should come near her…….I think he should give her things."
"Give her things?" Collier repeated.
"Pretty things. Nice. And shiny." Kara smiled. "That might prevent me from punishing you for your lack of respect and valor."
"I'm not scared of you." Collier trembled back at her.
"Oh, please." Lee laughed in his face. "You were terrified of her before. You think it's any better now that she's hopped up on hormones?"
Collier looked back and forth between them and sighed. "How long would I have to give her these things?"
"At least a coupla weeks. I'll send you a memo with a schedule and a preliminary stop date." Kara started to walk on the shuttle calling back after her. "Have a good night."
Lee patted Collier on the shoulder and got on as well, leaving the ensign behind.
"Rain?" Lee said to Kara as she sat next to him on the shuttle.
"Rain Adama?" She rolled her eyes. "No thank you."
"Persephone?"
"Do you hate our child? Is that what this is?"
"You're right." Lee agreed. "Persephone would be mean. What about Athena? Ya know, carry on the whole 'names of the gods' thing in our family that Zarek pointed out?"
"The fact that Zarek pointed it out is the exact reason that I don't want to do it."
"I think it would be cute."
"Gods. What is wrong with you?" Kara groaned. "If we're going with that, why don't we just name her Hephestia or Poseidia or…."
"Or Sarah."
"Sarah's not even the name of a god you mor-….Wait…. Sarah?" She turned to look at him.
"Yeah." Lee whispered closing his eyes. "I was holding that one back. Kinda hoping you wouldn't say no to it."
"I wouldn't." She whispered back. "I mean I'm not going to. I like the name Sarah."
"Really?" He grinned.
"Yeah. It's perfect." She grinned back. "Did you come up with that name?"
"No. But I'll be taking credit for it if anyone asks."
"Who came up with that name?" She questioned as she reached over to touch his cheek.
"Helo." Lee sighed. "It's what he would have named his daughter if she had lived."
Kara closed her eyes with a pang of sadness, remembering how devastated Helo had been when 'Sharon' had gotten sick and lost the baby before succumbing to the illness herself. "Oh."
"I just thought that it would be fitting, you know? The Cylon was never supposed to have been able to conceive and the doctor told you that you might not ever be able to either after what happened to you on Caprica, but we were only together a little over a month and….."
"Here we are." Kara finished for him.
"I know it goes against your whole 'no names of the dead' mandate but--."
"I'll make an exception."
"And we're agreed on Laura as a middle name?" He asked.
"Absolutely." She said strongly. "I already told you that."
He relaxed considerably. "Well that was easy." He said but he stopped as he saw her eying him incredulously. " ….in the sense that it was incredibly difficult. Now all you have to do is think of some boy names."
"Don't need to. I already know what I'm gonna name it if it's a boy."
"You do?"
"Yeah. I'm gonna name him after his daddy." She said kissing his forehead.
"Aww. That's sweet." He smiled.
"I know." She said turning her head back to look straight in front of her. "Besides, Saul's a nice name. Don't you think?"
"That's not funny."
"It's a little funny." She laughed.
Cally got off the shuttle first, but was stopped by Lee's voice. "I noticed you weren't speaking to us."
"Yeah." Cally said turning around to face him. "I wasn't trying to be subtle about it."
"You mad about something?" He laughed.
"You know, I'll admit that Jeremy was being rude to you, but you were also being rude to him, and you don't seem to realize that."
"I realize it." Lee replied. "I just don't care."
"Captain!"
"Cally. He was also being incredibly rude to you. What are you even doing with that guy?"
"He doesn't treat me like everybody else does." She answered.
"And you think that's a good thing?" Kara piped up.
"Yes! He's the first person to ever treat me like he doesn't think I'm some 'little girl lost' that needs to be protected from 'the big bad' in the universe. The Commander thinks that way, so does the Chief, and so do you!" She pointed at Lee.
"I do not." He stated calmly.
"Of course you do! Why do you think you acted the way you did tonight?" She yelled.
"Cause the guy's a jerk and I don't like seeing members of my family being treated badly!" He yelled back.
Behind him, Kara smiled, but quickly tried to hide the smile with her hand.
Cally's mouth dropped, but when she closed it again the edges crept up in a small smile as well and her eyes moistened.
"What?" Lee said noticing the tears in her eyes and looking at Kara before looking back at Cally. "Cally, don't cry. What did I say?"
"Nothing." She shook her head and leaned up to place a small kiss on his cheek. "You didn't say anything at all." Then she walked away.
Lee looked at his wife, wondering what the hell was going on. "Kara?"
Kara came up and touched his chest. "You really can be quite sweet sometimes when you're not trying to be." She said as she walked away too.
"Why?" He called after her dumbfounded. "What did I say?"
As Cally made her way through the landing bay, she stopped by to say hello to some of her co-workers. "Hey, Jammer."
"Hey, Cally." He said looking up at her. "I'm so glad you're here. Chief's asleep, and I cannot for the life of me figure out why I can't get this Raptor to cycle." He said handing her a clipboard.
"Oh yeah." She said looking at what he handed her. "Racetrack's Raptor, right? She's too used to the auto-landings on the Atlantia. She always forgets to reset it manually when she lands."
"That's what it is!" Jammer sighed in relief as he looked over her shoulder at the clipboard. "Should've known you'd be able to figure it out. You really are amazing at this stuff. Then again, you're amazing at everything you do."
Cally's eyes snapped up and she looked at the coworker she saw everyday. But it was the first time she ever really noticed him.
Kara and Lee noticed something too as they walked away to go back to their room. They noticed that Cally's smile was as bright as the Caprican sun.
"Could you please not do that in front of me?" Starbuck whined as she sat at the card table and watched as Helo blew a ring of cigar smoke from his mouth.
"You gave these to me when Cottle told you that you couldn't smoke 'em anymore. You can't get jealous now." He said taking another drag.
"I'm not jealous. I'm nauseated." She stated. "The smell of cigars makes me sick to my stomach."
Helo chuckled as he put the cigar out. "Now that, that's ironic."
She groaned. "I know. It's the baby's sick, twisted sense of humor."
"Raise you ten." Lee said as he threw his cubits into the pile.
"I see your ten." Helo said doing the same.
"So Starbuck?" Dee said as she adjusted the cards in her hands. "You gonna teach your kid to fly?"
"Sure." She answered. "If the Old Man, the Doc and the tightass CAG ever let me back in the air."
"We're just following the rules, Lieutenant." Lee piped up.
"You keep me out of the air one second longer than the rules say and those rules will have to keep you warm at night because you'll be sleeping alone, Captain." Kara said tellingly as the rest of the table giggled.
"I'll teach the kid to fly." He told Dee as he ignored his wife. "Obviously if the kid needs to learn to be sarcastic and insubordinate, it'll go straight to its mother."
"Actually." Helo corrected. "If Starbuck's its mother those things will come naturally."
"Do you know what it is yet?" Dee asked as she folded.
"I assume it's a baby." Starbuck said as she contemplated her cards. "But given its father's genes it may come out half obsessive-compulsive freak."
"We don't know what it is yet." Lee answered for her. "Doc said we need to wait a few more weeks."
"I see your ten." Starbuck said depositing her bet.
Dee blanched. "You see it? Have you been paying attention? He's two up, he might have four on a run."
"He doesn't." Kara grinned slyly looking across the table at Lee. "He's bluffing. I know he's bluffing, I always know when he's bluffing."
"How?" Helo asked, curious.
"He makes this face of intense concentration, like he's trying to hold something back."
"And how do you recognize this face?" Dee asked.
"Cause he doesn't just make it when he's playing cards." She deadpanned.
"Hey!" Lee shouted as Helo doubled over with laughter.
Kara winked back at him. "Not only do I see your ten, but I raise you….." She looked around at the empty space on the table in front of her.
"What? You raise me what, Starbuck?" Lee teased. "You're completely broke."
"You can use this if you want." Cally called from the hatch behind them as she held up a small box.
"Hey Cally, we didn't see you there. How was your dinner with Jammer?" Dee teased.
"It was fine." Cally replied embarrassed, smiling shyly.
"What do you got that I can use?" Kara rubbernecked as Cally opened the box and handed it to her. "Whoa, Cally. That's really nice. Where'd you get that?"
"Ensign Collier gave it to me."
"Collier did?" Helo questioned nervously. "Cally, what have you been doing that a prick like him is giving you presents?"
"Nothing! I didn't do anything, I swear." Cally said defensively. "He's been doing it all week. And the funny thing is, he doesn't actually give them to me. He just comes up to the table that I'm sitting at in the mess, silently puts a box down in front of me and then RUNS like hell out of the room." Cally looked at the people sitting at the table. "Can you think of a reason that he would do that?"
"No." Lee said looking across the table at Kara. "No reason at all."
-finis
My life got way too serious in the last couple of weeks and I felt the desire to write some fluff. Hope you enjoyed.