Chapter 14

Being friends with Lee again was unexpected happiness for Kara. It was so long since they had been friends, and even longer since they had been on the same ship. She resurrected old traditions.

She dragged him off to the gym to follow the exercises Cottle prescribed to recover his strength, and jogged with him through the hallways as he built up the muscles in his legs. They ate together in the mess and she spiked his coffee with salt. He started joining the pilots in the rec room when they played triad and she comprehensively kicked his butt for old times sake.

When Cottle finally released him from life station she arranged for him to sleep in his old rack again. She told the Admiral it might help him regain his memory. Nothing to do with the fact that it was opposite her own, that she could lie there in the quiet shadows and watch him sleeping. Reassure herself that he was whole and alive and back where he belonged.

Lee set himself to recovery with the dogged determination he applied to everything in his life, and after a few months, he eventually reached the point where Cottle cleared him for full duties.

The next day he told his father he was going to learn to fly again. The Admiral tried to talk him out of it, but Lee just fixed him with a stubborn blue stare and told him to deny that he needed every pilot he could get.

So Kara ended up with Lee in her nugget class.

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When he told her she laughed solidly for five minutes while he glared at her exasperatedly. That only made her laugh more, and he stalked out, leaving her doubled over on her rack. When she told Helo it took ten tries to get the words out coherently.

If he ever got his memory back, she was never going to let him live this down.

Word soon got round. The day of Lee's first training session with the new class of nuggets Kara walked into the briefing room to find it packed with pilots wanting a 'refresher course'.

She let them stay. She thought she deserved a little payback for all the jokes Lee had pulled on her in the past.

She couldn't get him to call her 'God'.

But she did make him repeat the four basic controls of flying ten times.

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When Kara took them all out in vipers for the first time, Lee was incredibly nervous. He did his pre-flight check at least five times and looked so pale that Kara had to bite her lip to stop herself going over to reassure him.

They shot out of the launch tubes, and as she rapped out instructions to the group over the comms, she kept her eyes on Lee. He was manoeuvring slowly and cautiously, but as she began to put them through the training patterns, everything changed.

Kara had thought it would. It was just as it had been with the paperwork. The knowledge and skill was still there in Lee's brain; he just couldn't consciously access it. As the nuggets performed manoeuvre after manoeuvre, she could almost feel him relaxing, letting his instincts take control. With every exercise he was faster and more confident, and by the end of the session he had far outstripped any of the others.

When she sent them back to Galactica, Kara told Lee to stay behind. She showed him how to perform some more complicated manoeuvres and was thrilled to see that he followed through perfectly.

"You'll pass basic flight in no time," she said to him, and flipped her viper above his so she could smile down at him through the glass. He grinned back.

"Enjoying yourself?" she asked, and his grin widened.

"Hell, yes. This is the happiest I've felt since I woke up here. I feel like I'm back where I belong."

"Among the stars?"

"Among the stars with you."

Kara felt suddenly awkward, unsure how to take that. Since their long talk several months ago in her office, she had stuck resolutely to Lee's offer of friendship, waiting for him to say he was ready for more. Was that comment a sign that he was?

She tried not to build her hopes up.

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Lee strode down the corridors of Galactica.

"Hey, Helo. You seen Kara?"

"She's in the bunkroom," said Helo, grinning. "Indulging her artistic side."

He walked on before Lee could ask what he meant by that. He shrugged. He'd find out soon enough.

As he headed to their bunkroom, he could feel his stomach cramping nervously as it always did at the moment when he saw Kara. It had been happening ever since she told him he would be getting his wings next week, and he'd made a decision.

Getting his wings was important to him. It felt like he was finally getting part of his old life back. That had given him the courage to try to get the most important part of his old life back.

Kara.

It was time to ask her if they could be more than just friends.

Lee felt sick with nerves just thinking about it. He hoped when he finally came to do it he wouldn't start stammering or something equally embarrassing.

He'd spent a long time thinking about what Kara had told him about their past in her office that day. Tried to get it all straight in his head.

Eventually, he had decided none of it mattered. The arguments, the pain, the misunderstandings – none of it was important. What was important was how he and Kara felt about each other now, and what they chose to do about it.

Lee knew how he felt. If he had thought he was falling in love with Kara all those months ago, now he was certain of it. He couldn't imagine his life without her, and he didn't want to.

He only hoped she felt the same.

He took a deep breath and fixed a smile on his face as he entered the bunkroom. Kara was sitting at the table, a flight helmet in front of her.

"Hey, Kara."

"Hey Lee," she said, but she didn't look up, too absorbed in what she was doing. As Lee stepped closer, he realised she was painting something on the front of the helmet in red paint. For a moment he thought she was using her fingers, but then he blinked and realised she was using a fine brush. He felt suddenly unsteady, and put his hand on the back of a chair.

"Who's that for?" he asked.

"Kat," said Kara, still not looking up. "It's her thousandth landing today. The helmet's a pilot tradition."

Lee moved round to look at her work. She'd painted the number 1000 across the front, surrounded by tiny vipers.

"Impressive," he said idly. "But I thought you didn't like her?"

Kara twisted her head round to grin up at him. "Exactly. Nothing like unwarranted generosity to make her feel awkward. I'll enjoy watching her choke on her thanks."

Lee laughed. "You're an evil woman."

"I try." Kara put the brush aside. "I'd better hurry. CAP's due back any minute." She jumped up, pushing back the chair, and picked up the helmet.

"Careful!" said Lee. "You've got paint all over the floor."

"Shit! Where?"

Kara looked round with irritation and then frowned. "Lee, what the hell are you talking about? I haven't spilled a drop."

Lee moved beside her to stare at the floor. She was right. The floor was clean and unmarked.

"I could have sworn-"

Kara's face turned from annoyance to worry. "Lee, are you all right? You're not – seeing things again, are you?"

Everything inside Lee froze for a moment. Gods, he hoped not.

"I'm fine," he said tightly, even though it wasn't true. His head was suddenly buzzing.

"Lee?" Kara looked torn. "Lee, I have to go-"

"Go," he snapped. "I'm fine."

Kara looked at him doubtfully, but she started moving. "If you're sure-"

"I'm sure," he said, trying to raise a smile. "Go. She'll never let you forget it if you're late."

Kara went, with one last backward glance, and Lee was left alone.

He found himself staring at the floor. He was sure he'd seen red paint sprayed across it….

He blinked, and there it was, a scarlet arc across the floor. Then he looked up at the table and he could see Kara as she had been a moment ago, painting the helmet, but this time she was using her fingers and he was helping her.

She was laughing at him, mouth set in a wide mocking smile.

'You are so unprepared. You're the worst CAG in the history of CAGs.'

The buzzing in his head grew to deafening proportions.

Lee stumbled through the hatch. He'd better go and see Cottle, maybe the hallucinations were coming back…

Another vision swamped him just outside the hatch. Now he was walking between his father and Kara, and she was telling a story. Do you know what your father did on his thousandth landing?

Lee put a hand against the wall, desperately trying to steady himself. He just stood there, completely unaware of anything but the voices and images which were flooding into his head, leaving no room for anything else.

'If it were you, we'd never leave.'

'I like Captain Apollo. It has a nice ring to it, don't you think?'

'Apollo, you magnificent bastard! I couldn't have done it better myself.'

It was too much. A thousand memories crashing down all at once. Lee leant his head against the wall, trying to clear it.

He took a deep breath, and his surroundings came into focus. To his utter relief he realised he was still outside his bunkroom. He opened the hatch and staggered in, heading straight for his rack. He could try to get to life station later.

He didn't know how long he lay there, staring at the metal underside of the bunk above him, trying to absorb the memories as they surged through his head.

Some of them made him smile.

Zak, whooping and punching the air when he told Lee he'd got into fleet academy.

The look in his dad's eyes when he promoted Lee to commander.

Some of them hurt.

The things he'd said to his father at Zak's funeral.

The Olympic carrier, exploding into flames before him.

But one memory rose above the others. One memory made him raise his head, gasping.

Kara said she loved me.

Lee sat bolt upright, nearly banging his head on the bunk above.

Kara said she loved me.

Had it really happened?

He racked his brains desperately. It had, it definitely had. He was sure of it.

He just hadn't realised until now how much those few words meant. Or just how long he had been waiting to hear them.

Lee rolled off his rack and got to his feet. He had to find Kara. Right now.