Soon, he is spending most of his free time in Kara's quarters. He still has a week until he can fly again, so he watches Paya while Kara is on duty, or at least that's how he explains it to himself. The truth is, he usually lingers for several hours after Kara returns. The peace that washes over him, when he is leaning against Kara with Paya on their laps, is like nothing he's ever experienced.
Tonight he is dozing in the armchair Paya charmed out of Tigh, she is curled warm in his lap, the book they were reading open across his chest when she comes in. She stops for a long moment, watching them sleep. Paya is wearing her tiara, fashioned out of wire and a pile of costume jewelry donated by the females on board, and her t-shirt with a viper patch sewn on front. Paya has confided to Kara that she plans to be the fleet's first princess-slash-viper pilot, and Kara doesn't doubt for a second that she will succeed. Feeling her eyes on him, he stirs and smiles sleepily at her.
"Hi." He whispers.
"Hi yourself." She bends and kisses him lightly, then scoops the sleeping girl into her arms.
"Kara. You're home. We had spaghetti. Did you know Lee can cook? He's really good, too." Paya wiggles in Kara's arms. "Lee! Come read to me."
Two stories later, they close the door to Paya's room and return to the living area.
"Spaghetti, huh?"
"I saved you a little. It took a little creativity, but it tastes almost like the real thing." He pulls a plate from under a towel on the table. She spears a bite and nods fervently while she chews.
"Holy crap, Lee. This is really good." He grins and blushes and she thinks he is adorable. "You've been holding out on me." She makes quick work of the dish.
"I wanted to open a restaurant. Before…"
"Really? I can see that." She nods. "Plus I bet you'd look really hot in a chef's hat." She grins when he blushes again.
He kisses her lightly. "I like this."
"Me too." She returns a kiss, a little deeper. They meet each other's eyes, and he steps back.
"I should go." He kisses her again, and heads for the door. He wishes he didn't have to leave, but they swore they would do this right. And slow. Very, very slow.
………………………………………………………………………………
"KARA!"
She bolts upright in her bed and is in Paya's room in seconds. "I'm here. What's wrong?"
"I had a bad dream!" She is sobbing and clutching her teddy bear.
"It's okay, sweetie. It's all over now." She kneels next to the bed and strokes Paya's hair.
"No it's not." Kara feels her stomach drop.
"Do you want to tell me about your dream?"
"No."
"Okay, you don't have to. Do you want me to sit here for a little while?" The girl nods.
"Love you, Kara."
"I love you too, sweetheart."
……………………………………………………………………………
Lee comes by early the next morning, so Kara can go out for a run.
"Paya's still asleep," she tells him. "She had a nightmare last night. She wouldn't tell me about it, though, and I could tell it really scared her. Will you try to talk to her? Maybe she'll feel more comfortable talking to you."
"Of course." He hugs her. "It looks like you didn't get much sleep yourself."
"That's nothing new." She laughs. " I don't think I've had a good night sleep since the world ended." She stretches lightly and heads out the door, hoping the run will shake the feeling of dread she's had in the pit of her stomach since Paya woke her the night before.
Within seconds of Kara leaving, Paya comes out from her room, still clutching her bear.
"Hi, Lee."
"Hi, peanut."
"I had a bad dream."
"Kara told me. You wanna talk about it?"
"No, but I have to." Her lower lip begins to quiver.
"Maybe a glass of milk will help?" He pours her a small glass. She takes it gratefully and somberly. She sits down at the table, with a now-thriving fern in the center, and wraps her small hands around the glass. She takes a deep breath and raises her eyes to him.
"Bad people are coming. They want me to come with them so I can tell them things, but I don't want to go. I don't want to leave you and Kara." She sobs.
"Paya, Kara and I will never, ever let anyone take you away from us."
"But they'll hurt you. I saw it."
He gathers her into a hug. "Sweetheart, we'll never let anyone hurt you. We love you more than any two people have ever loved a little girl in the whole universe. And know what? That love makes us strong enough to take care of anyone who tries to come between us."
"Really?"
"Definitely." He hugs her tightly. He feels her relax, a little, and she smiles up at him. Gently, to avoid scaring her any more, he asks, "Do you know where the bad people are? Maybe we can stop them, before they get here."
"I don't know. It's far away, but they're getting closer." She pauses, and her voice lowers. "They don't think you can stop them."
"They obviously don't know how much we love you." He, himself, is shocked by how quickly he lost his heart to the sweet-faced urchin in front of him. He would take on an entire army of centurions single-handedly before he would let a freckle on her nose be harmed. He knew Kara felt the same, if not stronger, and he pitied any person or thing that tried to separate Kara from the little girl. "Why don't you go get ready to go? When Kara gets back we'll go have breakfast, okay?" She nods and walks into her room.
Kara returns a few minutes later. "What's wrong?" she asks, before even closing the door behind her.
"I think we may have a situation."
……………………………………………………………………………
She is hunched under her bunk, trying not to make any noise. She is supposed to hide here. She hears loud noises in the front room, yelling and crashing. She hears Lee call out to Kara, and then she hears Kara cry out, then she hears silence. She is shaking when the door to her room opens…she tries to scream, but her voice won't work.
She wakes to find both of them there, sitting on the side of her bed. She is so relieved she cries. They gather her up and whisper to her. She is snuggled between them, an arm wrapped around each of their necks. Slowly, her sobs subside and she relaxes against them. Kara smoothes back her hair and gives her small kisses on the top of her head. Her eyelids get heavy again, and she dozing off when they tuck her back into her bunk.
"Love you, Paya." They leave her door cracked.
……………………………………………………………………
"Hello, Paya, I'm very glad to meet you." Laura holds out her right hand to the little girl. "My name is Laura."
"Hi." The little girl eyes her with a bit of suspicion.
"Do you like living on the Galactica?"
"Yes." Paya raises an eyebrow at the woman, who laughs, noticing how much the expression makes her look like Captain Thrace.
"Do you know why I wanted to see you?"
"You see things. Like I do."
"Yes, sometimes I do." Laura looks at her carefully. "Sometimes the things I see are pretty scary."
"Me too." The little girl sighs. "It's hard to see the scary stuff. Being with Kara and Lee helps. Maybe you could talk to them when you get scared."
"I might just do that." She swallows a chuckle. "I hear you have many friends onboard."
"Yeah." Paya grins. "Uncle Saul is teaching me how to play Triad, but don't tell Kara."
Laura laughs, not bothering to hide it this time. "You are a very special little girl, Paya. I'm glad you're happy here." Paya laughs, too, and her blue eyes sparkle.
"I like it here a lot." Her face gets serious. "I don't want anybody to get hurt, when the bad people come."
"Do you think they're coming soon?"
"Yes," Paya whispers. "They're afraid of something I know."
"What do you mean?"
"When I get older, I'm going to know how to stop them."
TBC