Ch 26

On the fifth day after their visit to the Pegasus, Lee was in a meeting with the President, his father and Colonel Tigh. The phone had begun ringing incessantly as soon as they had closed the door so Billy, the President's aide, had stationed himself next to it and he was fielding the calls. The phone rang once more and Lee heard Billy's voice behind him asking just how urgent it was, they all paused as Billy's voice rose a few decibels as he tried to end the call but the person on the other end was having none of it.

"Billy, if it's that important let the call through. We could probably use a short break anyway," the President said kindly. She rose from the table and began to walk to the phone to answer it when Billy shook his head and motioned towards Lee with the receiver.

Lee sheepishly took the phone and announced himself, "Captain Adama." He listened for a moment, a wide grin splitting his face and he followed up with , "I understand, thank you!" When he had handed the phone back to Billy he looked over at his father as if to question the length of the meeting.

"Well let's get on with this shall we?" The Commander rumbled. When he noticed his son look longingly at the door he pointed to the chair next to him that Lee had been occupying and Lee trudged back to it.

Fifteen minutes later he couldn't help but notice that Lee was nervously fidgeting in his seat, his knee bouncing wildly as he tapped his foot. "Captain, is there someplace that you need to be?"

Lee couldn't help but look unhappy as his father scolded him but he tried desperately to say with out speaking that yes, he really did need to be somewhere else. Finally the Old Man saw the wicked gleam in his son's eye and realized that the situation was that a certain 'old friend' from the Pegasus had come to visit. "Well then, I think we can finish this up later. I'd like to take a rest and I'm sure the President is ready for some lunch by now. Let's continue this at a later point shall we?"

When everyone had agreed Lee tried to make a discrete exit but failed miserably and everyone watched him bolt out the door and down the hallway. "What was that all about?" The President asked.

"Oh, he found an old friend on the Pegasus and I think she just came to call. Madame President if you'd join me for lunch?" As they walked for the hatch they both heard Colonel Tigh say, "She?"

Lee raced through the halls, dodging people and crates. He'd told Lauren he'd meet her on the deck but he hadn't been able to get out of the meeting so he was afraid she'd been standing there alone. As he came barreling around the corner into the flight deck he almost ran full on into Cally. She blushed as she tried to step out of his way but they ended up tangled with each other, both of them teetering for balance. When Lee had righted them both he apologized and asked Cally if she'd be so kind as to go find Starbuck for him and ask her to come down to the flight deck. Cally of course agreed and headed into the deeper part of the ship looking for her.

Lee straightened himself out and walked in a dignified manner into the flight deck, scanning the room for Lauren. He finally found her standing next to her Viper with Racetrack. The two women looked as if they were deep in conversation and Lee thanked the Gods she hadn't just been left there alone. As he walked up Lauren turned to him and smiled.

"Well hello Captain, I was just telling Lt. Edmondson about how we rotate shifts on Pegasus."

"Can't we do something like that over here too Cap'n? Please?"

He couldn't help but laugh at her enthusiasm. "Well Racetrack, you have to remember they have a few more pilots than we do but we'll see if we can start getting some downtime now that we have a backup. I know I could use some for sure," his grin was genuine and he shot a wink at Lauren.

They were still standing there chatting when Kara wandered over. She decided not to butt into the conversation so she roamed near the Viper. She had just noticed the kill markers under Lauren's wing and she was laughing in her loud bray. "You can't be serious Lauren. You guys actually keep track of how many kills you have? Do you actually get off on this?"

Lauren rolled her eyes and the sarcasm was dripping in her voice, "Yes Kara, they do actually get off on that crap."

With that one statement Kara visibly relaxed because she knew that she was indeed dealing with the Lauren she'd known for so long. Their laughter bubbled up and caught them all up. When it had died down, Kara leaned over farther to look at the marks and count them.

"Okay Lauren, you're a better shot than that so what's up with so few? I know for a fact you're better than that."

"Yeah, that other guy that was over here and he had like fifty. He didn't seem to sharp either," piped Racetrack.

"Well that's mainly because Captain Baker's are in tens." They all turned to look at the man who'd spoke. They found Chief Laird from the Pegasus who'd obviously seen his 2CAG on deck and come to investigate. "I got so tired of repainting her ship every other day I thought I'd save myself some work." His shy grin and fawning look at Lauren made Lee slightly uncomfortable.

Kara's whistle broke the silence of the group. "Wow, that's like 150 kills. How'd you get so good?"

"What can I say? I get the busy shifts?" Her grin was more embarrassed than proud.

Lee jumped in to rescue her and reminded them that the Pegasus had been actively seeking the Cylons and attacking them while they had been running and only fighting when they got caught.

Lauren felt a need to change the topic so she asked, "So what about this stealth fighter of yours? I'm dying to see her."

Kara ran interference and pointedly asked Racetrack if she had seen Helo around. Lee took the opportunity to take Lauren's elbow and guide her across the deck to where the sleek black ship sat. He wasn't willing to take the chance of speaking freely with her here on the deck in case there were other members of the Pegasus about.

When they reached the ship, Lauren was ebullient about the specs of the ship and she wanted to know many of the details in how the ship had been constructed. As they walked around the wing Lee noticed that Laird had followed them across the deck and was listening in to their discussion. He began putting in a few comments once he was noticed. Lee wanted desperately to get Lauren off somewhere where they could talk in private and when Kara wandered back over he found the perfect opening.

"Kara is that room ready for us?" He glared at her and hoped that she'd get the hint.

A sudden light went on behind her eyes and she nodded, "Yes sir! If you two would like to head over now we can get started with our meeting." They wandered off leaving Laird behind.