Ch 2

"Zak…you seriously can't do this. Kara is your flight instructor for frak's sake! Do you know how bad that looks?"

They'd been arguing about it for several hours now and Lee was beginning to get a throbbing headache from it all. Zak was the most stubborn person Lee had ever known and his little brother was being even more pig headed now than he'd ever been before. Lee finally realized that there was simply no way to talk Zak out of doing this so he relented. Zak's smile reached all the way to his eyes when he realized he'd finally beaten his big brother.

"You know that dad is going to be super proud if you do this, and I guess I'll have to be proud too. Just don't frak up!"

Several days later, after Lee had relented and let Zak lead his own life by his own terms, Zak and Kara took Lee on a tour of the local bar scene. They hopped from bar to bar and Lee noticed the quality of the surroundings degrading as they moved. They stopped for several hours at a bar called "Has-Bens" that Lee almost warmed too. He enjoyed the oldies style music and the crowd seemed quite loose and friendly. Several of Zak's flight mates wandered over to say hi and Lee soon began to enjoy the style of their attitudes. He relaxed and followed the lead of Kara and Zak.

Then after a while at the same place, Kara noticed a group of her friends at the bar and waved them over. Several of the ladies in the group were exceptionally pretty to Lee's eyes and he soon realized that Kara was inviting them over to try to set him up with one of them. Apparently she couldn't stand to see a lone male, well…alone.

Towards the end of the night a small group of women came to say 'hi' to Kara and one stayed to talk and have a drink. Lauren, as her name turned out to be, was plain, yet pretty in a strangely beguiling way. Lee looked her up and down and was impressed by her seductive good looks. Her hair was long and a deep reddish brown, braided in a neat club down her back. Her deep brown eyes seemed to go on forever and her body, well there was a great deal to be said for the curves and planes of that particular form. But what really snared Lee was her laugh. Her infectious and amazing laugh that made him feel as if he was floating on air and higher than ever before. He fell in love with her laugh and there was no going back.

Lauren perched on her bar stool, trading sarcastic insults with Zak and Kara for a while then she began to tell tales. Tales that simply had to be made up but were intoxicating never the less. Lee soon fell under her spell and when she finally looked into his eyes and made that special contact with him, he was hooked. He looked into the deep brown pools of his eyes and felt himself being pulled under. He started to ask her questions about her stories, not caring about the answers but wanting simply to have her look at him. And all too soon the bartender called last round and they had to leave their cozy space.

"So Lauren, did you walk or ride tonight?" Kara asked as they headed for the door.

"I got a ride over with Karl but they must be long gone so I guess I'm walking."

Lee smiled at this since it meant he'd get to spend more time with her. Kara apparently had the same thought and she winked at Lee. The blush on his face was endearing and Kara knew then that she'd found a good match for him. The two couples set out down the tree lined street towards the barracks and Lauren flitted back and forth between Kara and Lee. Then Kara and Zak started giggling at something private and Lee had to laugh when Kara reached over and punched Zak in the arm for something. Zak laughed about it and smacked Kara on the butt and ran off so she couldn't hit him again. The two chased each other around trees and were soon far ahead of Lee and Lauren.

"They are really in love aren't they?" Lee asked.

"Fast and deep. Not a thing gonna pull them apart." The look in Lauren's eyes wasn't quite jealousy but it looked like it could be if she let it.

Changing the topic in hopes of making her smile again Lee asked her, "So tell me more about yourself. What's the mystery of Lauren?"

"No mystery here! I'm just a humble farm girl from Aerelon."

"A farm girl? No way!" he laughed at the thought of this boisterous woman being stuck on a farm.

"It's true! I was raised on a farm but as you can tell, it wasn't what I wanted to do with my life so I enlisted in the fleet. Did my time in basic and decided I kinda liked it so I renewed and they started testing me for skills. I tested out high in electronics and piloting and lo and behold, here I am, farm girl turned pilot."

He was fascinated by the story and wanted to keep her talking, "So how did you hook up with Kara? You two seem to be really good friends."

"Oh we are! It's kinda funny, we were actually in two separate flight classes. My lead instructor decided he didn't like me so he traded me off to Kara's squad. We hated each other at first. We danced around for a while trying to determine who got to be the alpha female and then we both compromised and decided to share. The rest is the stuff of legend!"

"I'll just bet it is. I'd kinda like to hear the legends sometime."

"Well you are just gonna have to wait or ask Kara cause this is my building," she said pointing over her shoulder at a squat brick building.

"Well okay. Another time then. It was really a pleasure to meet you and I hope to see you again soon."

"Oh you will, I'm unavoidable!" the laughter that bubbled up from her was the sweetest sound Lee had ever heard and he had a hard time pulling himself away from her. "I'm glad you're here Lee."

"Oh? Why is that?" his hopes shot up at the thought of this woman being interested in him.

"Well, cause if you weren't I would have had to walk home alone." She smiled and winked at him when she realized that she'd just shot him down. Then she leaned over and kissed his cheek and turned to go into the building. Lee was stunned and could do nothing more than stand there with his mouth open as he watched her walk away.