Chapter 19
"Gianne"
She tenses and tries to ignore the tone of his voice. Her features are immediately schooled into a practiced calm. Zak lifts an eyebrow at her questioningly and she supplies the information without a trace of emotion. She swallows against the gorge rising in her throat at the look of happy relief on Zak's face.
He follows his brother with his eyes, a tickled, curious look on his face. She tries to smile, it feels wrong. She knows that this one isn't a one night stand.
"This is my brother, Zak and his fiancé Kara."
She has tucked herself into Lee's right side and her hand is hovering protectively over his chest. She lowers it and Kara watches as Zak stands and kisses it making a grandiose show of bowing slightly and meeting her eyes. She watches as Gianne blushes and she feels the odd instinct to stand and curtsy. She doesn't, she eyeballs her instead and ends up getting a throat clearing from Lee. She flashes a look at him that makes him shuffle his feet.
Gianne is a dainty, strawberry blond haired beauty. She has huge blue eyes and a heart shaped face. Kara wants to like her, wants to be happy but she keeps finding herself comparing the woman with herself. Where she is curvy Gianne is lithe, where she is strong Gianne is delicate, where she is hard Gianne is yielding. She finds that strangely offensive though she could never say for sure why.
She drinks too much too fast and her mouth gets away from her.
"No, Lee doesn't like that…"She is slurring slightly and can't figure out why Zak is grimacing at her. "What, he is ticklish…you have to keep your hair short or tied back at night, or he won't ever sleep, he'll play with it, it keeps him awake…Oww." She feels Zak's fingers on the back of her arm and looks down at them and back at him.
"Frak, Zak, that hurt!" She pushes his hand away rubbing her arm.
Lee is shifting uncomfortably and Gianne excuses herself to the rest room. Zak growls at her and goes for more drinks.
"What the frak are you doing Kara?" Lee hisses at her, his blue eyes narrowed and angry.
"What? She knows we're friends right?" She acts as innocent as she can considering.
"Yes but why are you making it so frakking obvious to everyone just how much you know about me? "
"Are you afraid I am going to scare off your lover?" She knows what's at the heart of this discussion and he stares at her and suddenly stands and disappears.
When Zak returns they drink the last couple in silence and go home.
Kara is 24 when her wisdom teeth come in. She figures it would just follow suit that she would get them late. Lords know she has been lacking in the whole wisdom department. She has had the appointment for weeks but forgot about it. She had made an ass of herself to Lee's (finally) new girlfriend. Zak is pretty pissed at her for being a drunken bully. So she goes to get them extracted, thinking she can drive home afterwards if she just waits long enough.
The nurse won't give her, her keys. They call Lee, because Zak is in class. When he shows up he is sporting a hickey the size of a cubit and Kara gags on the blood and gauze stuffed in her mouth. He wraps and arm around her to steady her and she starts crying. The nurse explains how the nitrous effects are wearing off and how she shouldn't be left alone. He nods and they over hear the nurse telling the doctor what a cute couple they are and Kara's sobs deepen dramatically.
"Kara, did they give you a prescription for pain meds?" His blue eyes expectant and concerned. She couldn't believe he was still speaking to her after her behavior the night before.
Her hands shake and her tears double as she hands him the small square of paper. He takes it holding her hand to steady it for a minute first. They sit for a minute and she tries to talk around the gauze and tell him how sorry she is. She feels so bad. She wants him to be happy, she just didn't know it would be so hard to see him with someone.
He sighs touches her tender jaw bone gently.
"I only understood part of that but I accept your apology, let's go get you meds."
When they get to the pharmacy she has to go in to sign for the pills. He stands behind her protectively as she looks over the shoulder high counter. She feels her head tilt forward as she almost dozes off while they wait and looks up at him sheepishly when she snaps it back up. He smiles so adoringly she has a moment of panic thinking he is about to kiss her when he moves pulling his scarf from his coat collar and wipes her chin. She looks down confused and sees that she has drooled on the counter, it's mostly blood and she swallows tasting the metallic twang and blinks back tears. He hugs her in and wipes her chin one last time cleaning up the counter last while she presses her face into his chest smelling his Lee smell. He accepts her pills and nearly carries her to the car.
He takes her home with him so he can finish the paper he is working on while she rests. He calls and leaves Zak a message so he can come get her. He tucks her into his bed, embarrassed at the state of it and the way she wrinkles her nose and makes sure she is on his 'side' she knows he can hear her breathing in his smell and that she is avoiding the other 'side' knowing Gianne had stayed there the night before.
As he tucks the covers around her and helps her get comfortable, he brushes the hair back from her forehead.
"You look tired Lee Lee…" She can't smile and it comes out sloppy with the packing.
He smiles, his hand lingering on her ear. When he speaks it starts her from her drift towards sleep.
"Well, she left her hair down all night…" She knows it's supposed to make light of what she had done, that he has forgiven her. But it makes her cringe slightly and he sighs.
"I can't win can I?" He whispers and moves to kiss her forehead, halfway there he changes his mind and places the kiss on her wounded mouth instead. Her eyes fly open, and panic starts to fill them when the nitrous in her systems tells her that she is overreacting. She kisses him as good as one can with a mouth full of gauze and blood. When she comes to her senses Zak is buzzing the door.
Lee looks at her, his eyes wide.
"Tell me you love me. Let me fix all of this." She can see he wants to, he would take care of it all, defy everything they have done so far, she simply needs to give him a reason. (tell him the truth?)
Her heart pounds, she loves Zak surely that means she doesn't love Lee. She was just jealous because they were such close friends. They argument in her head is one that never gets resolved there, but her body knows the answer and her head is shaking and her eyes are filling and she watches his heart break in front of her. He throws her one last look before he gets up and lets Zak in.
It is the last time Lee is the one to pick her up when she falls. It is the last time she is allowed near any of his dates. He dates Gianne for a lot longer than she expects. It's the first and last time he kisses her until the worlds end.
…
Her brain feels like its melting. There is screaming in her head, an overabundance of information being downloaded and scattered. They cylons are tearing each other apart.
The pain is intense and detaching. She can hear her sisters denying what they have seen but the images have been uploaded and dispersed and the collective knows the truth of it. 13's last images have stopped most of the Leoben's and Six's in their tracks. The image of Kara/Apollo burned into their silica pathways as the God tells them everything they believe is a lie.
The Gods exist. At least the twins do. And they are not happy with humanities children and what they have done in the name of the false god. They have sent the message and shown the cylons what real power does. It doesn't create life itself, it creates universes, Sun's and the promise of life. The chance of evolution or spontaneous creation, as nature sees fit.
Niobe's children are thrown into confusion and pain. They realize the error. The uploaded consciousness of 13 is telling them they have a reason to fear.
Sharon isn't thinking she is a conduit of pain and confusion, her voice, long lost finally stops when she is able to shut down most of the streams of consciousness, when she can only hear 13 and her own sisters fighting over the reality of the Gods. She simply waits then, for the verdict, for the final information download to end her pain.
To know if she was right or wrong, and if she was wrong then if she deserves to live.
They dragged a hysterical Helo away earlier, he was beyond thinking or dealing, her screaming had broken his heart and he was a wreck. They had to force him to sleep, because he was killing himself waiting for her to come back to him. He hadn't been able to fix what was broken in her and it was killing him.
They put him under for his own good. They strapped him down because they were afraid of his strength and desperation. He was shouting that he was going to go blow up the rest of the base stars himself, so they would let his Sharon go…
The cylons have splintered and most were destroyed by their own hands in a suicidal recompense for the attempted genocide of the Gods' children. The insanity that 13 uploaded with the knowledge and face of Apollo stretched far and wide the Sharon model was the only one to deny it and she fought.
She fought hard.
Galactica's Sharon was caught in the crossfire.
She lapsed in to self loathing and internal refuge. Not unlike Kara had when her mother used to beat her.
She was rocking ever so slightly.
…
He is so cold. He can feel ice forming on his wings, and yes he has wings, this takes him a moment to process. He knows he isn't breathing, breath is warm and he feels nothing of the sort. Silver strands of power, a deep calm power, are buried in his tissues. With the taste of sparkling sugar glinting on his tongue he thinks of Hope, it comes to mind now and he is seduced, he could embrace her now. He could love her and show her his soul. He does as he courses through space and time. She wraps herself around him drenching him in the glittering brightness of infinity. The stars stretch before him like diamonds on black velvet and he feels free for the first time. Finally, something that is just for him.
The effort to fly, the movement of muscles he never owned, the stretch and pull of the parts of him that never existed is euphoric. The viper had never been like this. He could see the tips, he flexes them marveling at the beautiful silver feathers sparkling in the fragile light of the stars.
The cold is drawing him forward, away. He can see so far, he feels the huntress in him and she spurs him on. They can hunt the shadows of eternity. They can chase down infinity. There is nothing to stop the forward motion.
…and yet there is.
A bright spot of pain, of heat on his chest. Words from a warm, sorrow filled voice that his soul can not deny.
He doesn't want to go…he loves the feel of his wings he wants to hunt, to chase, to be weightless, alone.
The pain is expanding, and burning him and he remembers his purpose. He glances at the tips of his wings, they are melting. The ice is dripping silver drops as they fall away and his tears join the run off.
He is a conduit. He never gets the choice. The pain in the beloved voice that calls him causes a flashing heat of torment. He will not deny it, it owns him. It consumes him the power spiking and changing from calm, emotionless, to passionate and creative. He is part of an equation, he was never meant to be singular. He pulls the wings to his sides and makes his body an arrow. As he plummets toward the voice he feels his wings ripped away and gasps as he submerges in the pain, in the heat and transmutes it to be a primordial ocean of possibility. He is pulled and melted back into being.
…
Time passes as the twins are regarded naked on the decking of Galactica's hanger bay. But there are decisions being made and tactics being plotted. Kara and Lee are alive and breathing and face to face and have yet to move from where they lay exposed to the whole crew. Lee has yet to speak and Kara is only partially there her facial expressions fleeting, but they hold a conversation without words, in the space of seconds that no one else hears.
Apollo cradles his avatar, asking his twin how to proceed. Artemis is much more logical in these things. Her detachment served him at all times but just now looking into her stolen blue eyes he realizes she is in no way detached. She loves her avatar, and she fears what his has offered.
"If she dies, this will all have been for nothing. He is coming back reluctantly, and if it is to be a life without her I don't know if he will stay."
"He is the divine twin, his death wasn't necessary, he gave up his wings."
"She has offered her life for his though…"
"It wasn't necessary, His last battle was deciding to come back…it was the only obstacle. He didn't want to. But he did it."
"Let's make a deal…" He smirks and she knows the look, she has seen it before, somehow on this face it is the most at home, as if wickedly devious is the nature of his avatar. She fully expects it is.
"She has offered her life…lets work that, a day, a cycle of my new sun, we get them, both of them…for our own use."
"How do you propose we will be allowed such a concession? Surely the Gods will deny us." She sighs it's an old edict, it has been undeniable to this point.
"Your avatar has moved Zeus, surely he can negotiate the sleeping father to allow it?" He winks at her.
"You know my wiles are not as good as yours. Maybe that's what has cost us all these cycles, maybe you are the one who needs to motivate the father God."
She sees him process that and agree. She knows he has more sway, especially with an attractive female avatar this time. Zeus has a weakness for beauty, especially feminine. There is something to be said for being 'daddy's girl'. She had never tried to use that, she never used her sex as a bargaining tool. She knew his avatar used it as a weapon. She knows Apollo does, that he is adept at it. He will get what he wants. The father would bow to the blond before her only because he will be unable to deny her pull on his heart. It is the part of Zeus that his avatar doesn't even acknowledge.
"He loves her like a daughter…he will not deny her, she has the defiant beauty that he cannot resist." She watches him consider, sees his avatar grin again.
"So a day a cycle, these bodies, they may be required to serve out our curse." She frowns, she doesn't want her avatar to suffer.
"I have a better idea, …"
She listens intently and can't help the smile that crosses her face as he speaks. If he plays his cards right, it would suit them all and keep everyone in question alive, with only a small cost, though she knows the truth of the bigger picture, it would cost them something they had never been allowed, as of yet. She finds it hard to feel bad for them though as he outlines his argument with the father.
If they had been actually dealing with Adama he never would have agreed. He knew that his children have already served their time as slaves to destiny.
…
Kara awakens first, and can't remember a thing.
She has an overwhelming need to see her children.
She stays as close to Lee as she can but he takes much longer than her to comeback.
She knows the very second his eyes open. It's when she brings the twins to him. He stirs and strokes Archer's hair absently. His breathing changes slightly but he says nothing and he can't seem to see farther than the end of his own nose.
He hasn't spoken for days. His eyes don't focus. They can't figure out why if they touch he collapses and her eyes blaze golden and her voice changes. They learn to avoid touching.
Sharon's rocking is slower some days faster others, but no one can tell what changes it. If they had asked Kara she might have been able to give insight, but no one thought or knew enough to ask. Helo was released but only allowed a couple hours a day with her. He was taking care of Aura for the first time all alone and he found it hard to look at Sharon and move so he avoided.
Kara is silent and completely absorbed in taking care of her babies, no one can get her say a word about it. She swears she doesn't know what everyone is talking about. Her face pales and her hands tremble when she looks at Lee. He is so damaged they keep him in sick bay on fluids and the Admiral feeds him by hand.
Officially it went like this:
The pilots are all under observation. Kat had been nearly rabid in defense of her former CAGs' and they had taken her down. She was enduring therapy sessions daily. The verdict is group hysteria.
Starbuck, had a mental break.
Lee had a seizure. They were worried about brain damage.
No one admits the sound of her voice when she raised it to the heavens cracked glass and burned ears. No one talks about her singing and pulling Lee from the smoking viper and demanding he return to her.
The cylons haven't attacked again.
Wallace Gray and Billy are running things. Not doing a bad job of it either.
…
Tyrol has worked the bird over three times. Most of the components are melted and fused together. There really isn't a thing he can do to save her. He sits next to her on the ladder looking into the cockpit and sees a scrap of paper singed and dirty sticking out from under the seat. As he pulls it out he sees a shoe print on it, he opens it to pristine whiteness that says it has never been opened before now.
Printed on it in Starbucks handwriting:
Your hands are the hands of a clock that can not be stilled. They touch power, music, eternity and above all my heart. One moment is enough, if it's all we can have, I will not regret it. You must not either.
Vous et nul autre.
Tyrol swallows. He shoves the paper in his pocket and starts tearing Lee's beloved bird to pieces.
…
She has been taking Lee around the Galactica for exercise. He still doesn't speak but he does most other things. His eyes never focus when she is near, he seems trapped behind the veil of sparkles in his eyes. His pupils never reduce, they are so large he winces when there is too much light. It seems to be improving gradually, like he is coming up out of a deep pool and needs to adjust to pressurization.
She has stopped near the entrance to the brig because he has dropped his water bottle again. He is shuffling away from her seemingly without purpose. As he turns the corner into the holding area for Sharon Kara calls to him and then curses because he doesn't answer to his name anymore and his steps never even waver.
When she retrieves the bottle and catches up to him he is standing his hand pressed against the cold glass of Sharon's Cell and his mouth is moving. Kara hasn't seen that for so long she freezes. He is whispering something and she can't make it out but she can tell he wants in. She motions to the guards and watches as they open the door. She hangs back to watch.
Sharon is in the corner of her cell. She has been since the attack on the base stars. She is curled in a ball and her face is pale and motionless and her eyes are glazed over. She hasn't spoken since after the last attack, since the coming of the sun. Her eyes are unfocused just like Lee's.
He shuffles toward her and she takes absolutely no notice.
He bends suddenly and ends up crawling toward her. She notices him then, but doesn't move. When he takes her in his arms she starts to sob. Kara can make out some of Lee's noises now they were comforting, like he would have done for the babies. He was rocking her gently and when he finally started speaking Sharon's sobs deepened and became heart wrenching.
"They will be quiet now. They will be quiet now. Shhh Sharon, you didn't know. They will be quiet now….We are all vessels…you didn't choose any more than I did…"
Kara wasn't sure what it was about but Lee's voice so soft and gentle made tears come to her own eyes. She didn't know why but she had feared him speaking almost as much as his silence. She was afraid his voice would ring with power and it would demand something from her. She realizes he only speaks when he is far enough away from her and if she gets to close his eyes glaze over.
When she would step back though, he was just plain old Lee. Like none of the last few weeks had happened. His frail form wrapped around her former friend in solace. His words were encouraging and forgiving. She waited.
When Sharon finally stopped crying he met her gaze. Her eyes widened and her face so full of pain, cleared. He smiled at her.
"I got to fly…" His soft words made no sense. But Sharon hugged him and he held her close, his eyes closed and he asked Kara to bring Helo.
…
His fingers hover but do not touch she arches as if he has, her dark eyes locked with his light. He dare not touch her or they surrender their bodies to the gods and they lose what is between them to the twins. They have learned to work with it. He can't touch her but she can and he can watch. He does the same. He never knew he would die aching like this. He never knew that all of the obstacles aside, he would never be granted her touch again in this lifetime.
She is pregnant again, from the last time he gave in to the sense of touch. Neither of them mind, children are a blessing now that they are building new lives. He simply regrets that milliseconds after his flesh encounters hers, his vision and sense of touch go black and he is traversing the stars, each time he is pulled back by an intense wracking heat that burns him back into reality.
They have been allowed a semblance of a normal life. They are sharing the responsibilities of their twins, though they have struggled to deal with their malady. An accidental brushing of shoulders caused an embarrassing loss of consciousness, usually followed by hours of black out for both of them. They had to be careful, though the gods sometimes remembered the children and took care of them, they would sometimes succumb to their physical needs without second thought to the mortals they inhabited and the responsibilities they had.
He has to remind her sometimes, what they are paying for. When she breaks and cries, that it was her pledge that cost them each others embrace. Now that she admits her love, that it was always there, she has been denied his body. It is of course not a surprise that they will never be lovers. His destiny required it.
Heavy clothes sometimes worked. Flight suits, he could brush against her in her flight suit and as long as he didn't linger they had that. If he did it was the same as if he had touched her bare skin. The ring on her thumb he could touch and as long as it didn't warm to his touch they were safe. The ring he gave her is the same. She wears it on the chain around her neck though so he can finger it, so he can kiss it and let it drop between her breasts and transfer his kiss to her heart.
He wouldn't blame her if she frakked another man, he has considered other women because the need is still there, more so that she has finally admitted she loves him. They get only the release they can achieve without out touching each other. It is a bitter one. Still no woman would ever satiate him, the one he wants is and always will be the one he can't have.
…
"What is this?"
"Shh Kara, it's a secret."
"What does it mean?"
"Defy Destiny" He arches an eyebrow at her.
"Oh my gods, you are a closet rebel! Zak is going to die laughing…" She can't help it, it's just too funny. His face is classic, self mocking Lee.
"Kara…" She realizes what he is going to say.
She meets his eyes reflecting the cobalt blue of his sheets. She smiles and nods. Zak won't hear it from her. She has no idea why Lee would need to defy his destiny, but he evidently had things on his mind and the angry raised flesh of the small black tattoo made her want to kiss it. She wanted to grab him and hold on. But they had made the decision the night before, that they would only have, what they had always had, a friendship that laughed conventions.
She ran a gentle finger over the marking, over his hip bone where it was emblazoned and smiled. It was hot to the touch.
She can't believe she didn't notice it the night before. He had done it without her and it irked. But it was quality work and she figured he knew her favorite artist because he had been there for at least one of her inkings.
He had been naked in front of her.
Best for her not think about it. She wouldn't have seen it this morning, if he hadn't reached down in his sleep to scratch at it and winced. She had heard the sharp intake of breath and pulled the covers back to see where his hands were on his hip bone.
"Well defiant boy, shall we make some coffee?" She asks softly, trying to ignore the way his fingers have stopped hers from moving across his hip bone. She hears him take a cleansing breath before he speaks.
"Coffee would be great, if I had any…I knew there was something I forgot when I ran to the store yesterday."
His voice is barely a whisper and the tone makes a shiver start deep in her and she knows this is the last time they can be this close, and still be friends afterwards. They have reached the threshold of intimacy with their friendship and the next step would change everything, and that was something neither of them wanted for various reasons. No more innocent nights in Lee Adama's bed. No more gratuitous physical contact, not when the simple sound of his voice pitched so softly sent her into tremors.
"Lucky for you I have ya covered." She bounces out of bed wincing as the noon sun reflects off of a couple of his music disks that are laying on the floor, and hits her in the eye.
He smiled, lazy in his blue haven, watching her drag the bag of coffee out from under her coat, thrown on the floor by the door the night before. She watches as he unconsciously fingers the tattoo again and tries not to let it make her mouth water. She shakes the bag at him sniffing deeply the warm smell of Lee's favorite blend. He points to the coffee maker sitting on an unpacked, overturned box next to the bathroom door.
He is a total gomer, he only has one coffee cup. So they share. It is the best pot of coffee either of them have ever had.
…
"She won't be able to take it much longer, I may need to let her go." Helo watches his friends face he can see the strain, but it is so much better now.
"It's a small price all things considered." He considers the game board before them. The collection of alternating colored squares is nearly hypnotic.
"I know, but that doesn't help her, she is a woman, she needs to be touched. Hell I need to touch her, it is killing me…" He should feel weird but he knows if anyone understands what Lee and Kara are going through it's him, so long denied his love, and just recently reunited with her after the terror of Sharon's final break from the collective.
"You don't get to experience any of it?" He sees Lee watching his sucker stick spin while he plays with the candy uncomfortably.
"No the very second we 'ground' I check out…she says it's the same for her. We barely get to feel the warmth of each others skin before it all goes black"
"Ya know I can see her getting all bent outa shape about this, but it surprises me that you are having such a hard time after all you have gone through, I'd think this would be easy…You seem to be above the sex for pleasure thing."
Lee shakes his head and narrows his eyes at Helo for a second. He starts to move a piece, changes his mind and moves a different one instead. When he lets the move stand he grimaces at Helo's smug look.
"It's not about pleasure, it's about having the right partner…" His voice has taken on a distant quality like he is lost somewhere in his thoughts. Helo glances at him and moves his game piece, on the board taking one of Lee's pieces.
"frak." Helo grins in apology and Lee snaps back to the present and returns it.
Helo's grin fades as Lee's next move sweeps the entire board and wins the game. The piece Helo had taken, a sacrifice for the bigger picture.
…
"I can't take it Lee. Not having you and having you this close is killing me." He wants so bad just to hold her. To hold her hand, if he were honest, just to feel her fingers between his. Her belly is swollen and her face streaked with tears. He knows how this will end. She will take command of Galactica and he will lose her to the stars.
"Don't you think I feel it too, baby please, if you leave me…" He feels the tears start, he feels like a kid, not a man. He hasn't felt like a man in so long now. He has resumed his post. They are building a life on a planet close to the New Sun.
"Please Lee…" He knows she will never move on if he doesn't let her go, selfishly he doesn't want her to. But she will forever be his brood mare and have no life of her own if he keeps her. They get no pleasure, no comfort from each other. Only words, only looks which for a while were enough. They haven't been for a while now and he knows it. She has tried all sorts of ways to touch him and not really touch him. She has reached her limit.
"Kara, oh Kara…" his words taper off and he knows she is leaving him. He touches the ring on the chain around her neck and offers her the only thing he can give her.
"I love you so much, I will let you go because I know I am hurting you."
"Don't forget me…"
"I am afraid if you leave I will cease to exist…"
"I love you." The words waited for so long, mean so much and they hurt.
Her gaze burns him and he worries he will lose this moment so he moves away from her to keep her with him. Its irony is not lost on them. As she walks away he whispers through silent tears.
"You, and no other"
…
The grand piano, it was placed in the presidents living room. It's a gift from the Rising Star. He knows Chloe and Gabe had something to do with it.
The whole fleet is aware of the situation between he and Starbuck. It had been decided that if it perpetuated the religious aspect of his office, the fleet needed to know. It also brought to light the nature of their bond, when he gave her his name in a public ceremony. The separation between government and military though married, was physical.
It appeased some of the religious sects. The excitement and recommitment to the deities was at an all time high, but no one really felt all that good about how their leaders were being used.
He hoped she would still get whatever she needed from the stars, she had returned to them as soon as she could, promising to come back when her time grew near. The crew was skeleton and her mission was simple scouting of the surrounding stars. He ached to be with her but he was too busy with getting things settled to spend much time.
Kat, Helo and Hotdog had all come by and promised him to take care of her. Cottle had rolled his eyes at Lee's fussing and told him to suck it up.
He planned on all of his children playing that damn piano. If he had to sit three hours a day one for each of them. Though he expected the twins to sit side by side.
Phoenix William Adama was born on the first anniversary of the Day of the New Sun. He was a big baby with amber hair and Kara's eyes. Lee delivered him with his own hands, though he was not himself at the time. This was one thing the twins had been looking forward to and at the end they had allowed their avatars a single kiss before wiping away the simple comfort with oblivion.
Kara said it was much easier than last time. He tried not to laugh. He agreed, he didn't have a broken finger this time.
…
"Dearest, your avatar's body is not fully recovered. Take care." She can see his hunger. She knows he is frustrated that his masculine drives are hard to contain in their feminine vessel.
"It's my body…you concern yourself with yours." He grips her insistently and she shudders. She thinks she may have gotten the better end of the deal, even with her avatar's slow physical recovery of his overtaxed body, he is strong and never has to succumb to child birth.
Apollo is drawing shapes on her chest with a warm finger. The tactile sensation is beyond anything Olympus has ever offered. She feels the drag and pull of his warm skin across every cell as he works his way over every exposed inch of flesh. He pushes her back on the bed and straddles her. She places a gentle hand on the slack flesh only a few weeks past delivery of their last son. Even the slight pressure makes Apollo wince and she arches a knowing eyebrow at him. But she knows. Even pain, especially pain was a living thing, a flesh thing and he desired all things flesh when he could get them. She vowed to make him heal the avatar when she was done with him, before he drifted off satiated and sleepy.
It didn't make her gentle. Their time together was in spurts and hiccups, they had no sense of time. The avatars were avoiding, as they knew they would, as they understood so well. She wishes she could grant them something but it would break the deal they struck.
Her thoughts fade as she finds the warm wet expectant body of her mate. She worked to cover every inch of his skin with sensation, to submerge him in the pleasure of it before the pain, to make sure he would be with her the whole time, not left behind if she somehow reached completion first. She was thorough, but never gentle, it was not her nature.
…
They name the planet Gaea.
Luckily for them Gaea has an abundant supply of lumber. Though they had no mills set up yet, Lee has made sure the structures were built with the consultation of the handful of engineers available in the fleet. Construction had been underway for months and much progress has been made.
He has a new born, a wet nurse and a set of two year old twins to take care of. They are moving to his newly built house along with all the other families that they have built for. Chief Tyrol had a hand in all things mechanical and his deck crew had trained many civies for service in the private sector. The chief himself, is getting ready to report back to Galactica and Lee feels the sting of sorrow yet again the Galactica is taking all that he loves away. His father, ironically, the original military casualty is staying with Lee this time and he is looking forward to amending the past.
The chief has inspected what has been done in the Adama household and found a couple things lacking. He is of course fixing them himself as Lee looks on rocking his new born son and trying to understand what Galen is doing to the wiring. Things are in such short supply that all electrical needs are handled minimally. One switch for the whole house. The generators are over taxed as it is and modifications would take years.
It reminds Lee of his grandfather's Cabin. He is happy things like television are to be low on priority, they have radio that is enough. They have wireless satellite for the kids to talk to their mother. For him to hear her voice when she calls.
"Take care not to over load the circuit Adama's." He is pouting and Lee chuckles. The twins grab uncle Tyrol around his legs and hold on. He is getting ready to leave and they are staging the usual offensive to such an action. Suddenly the chief is fishing around in his pocket and he hands Lee a filthy scrap of paper. "I almost forgot again, this was in your bird, before I tore her down. I had forgotten I had it until I cleaned out my locker to do this planet side stuff."
Lee looks at it and swallows. He puts it in his pocket, meeting the chief's eyes he has a good idea who it had come from.
"No happy ever after?"
"It was never in the cards…"