Lee Adama decided that he was losing his mind. Since he had woken up from his rack a few hours earlier, his best friend in the Fleet had slowly and surely been driving him insane. And not in any of her usual ways, either.
She wasn't making him angry or challenging his position as CAG. She wasn't arguing about some nugget that wouldn't fall in line or grumbling because she had gotten stuck with the worst patrol. No, she wasn't yelling or swearing or fighting. It would be so much easier if she was.
Instead she was lightly touching his arm as they passed each other in the hall. She was smiling at him out of the corner of her eye even when they were at different sides of the room. And when they were side by side, she kept staring at his lips as he talked with her. For some reason, he couldn't shake the memory of how she bit kept nibbling on her own lower lip as she stared. She had never looked that way at him before.
Then, Kara had thrown him a sly smile as they passed each other in the head. Her words had turned to a soft teasing. Even though she had continued to tell him to frak off every other minute, it was in a whole different context when she used that tone.
Frak, if he didn't know better, he would say that she was seducing him.
And if he was a little braver, he might admit that he was enjoying it.
Lee tried to push all thoughts of Kara out of his mind as he finished up his workout. He had planned to come to Galactica's gym facilities and lift a few weights, but he had been too restless. Instead he had drifted to the punching bag where he had been steadily beating away his problems for the past hour.
Sighing, he gave the bag one last punch before wiping the sweat off his brow and turning to leave. The workout obviously wasn't doing him any good.
Lee didn't even bother to pull the tape off his fingers as he made his way through the corridor. His mind had turned immediately back to the thought of Kara's strange behavior. He didn't know what she was doing or why. He had a feeling it had something to do with the little bout of freedom they had won at that damn triad game, but he had no clue where she was headed with this one.
The only reasoning for her actions he could think of was that maybe Kara was getting antsy with him. He hadn't done one thing that he had felt the desire to. It was probably killing her that he was letting this opportunity slid by. This could all just be another ploy to force him to loosen up. She had been desperately trying for weeks now, ever since her return from Caprica.
He was ripped from his musings as he felt a hand on his arm accompanied by a soft whisper in his ear, "Where you heading to, Captain?"
Lee tried to hold back the slight tremor that wanted to erupt at the sound of Kara's low, raspy voice so dangerously close to him. "I was thinking about taking a shower, Lieutenant," he said, smirking at her. "Is that okay with you?"
"Sure," she said, still holding on to his arm. "In a minute. There's something I want to do first."
Lee had no idea what was happening until it was too late. Kara's grip on his arm tightened as she pushed him to the side of the corridor. She held his gaze for a moment before gently tipping his chin to the side with her hands. Her fingers slowly traced the outline of his lips as she leaned in close, a seductive gleam in her eye. Her tongue slid out to run along the line where his neck met his jaw. The warm pressure of her lips in combination with the touch of her fingertips and the moistness of her tongue made his insides start to burn with a desire he hadn't known was there.
Or at least he would never admit to it.
Kara took a step back and licked her lips invitingly as he tried to catch his breath. "Salty. Just like I always imagined."
His eyes widened at her brazen words. Her body still stayed impossibly close to his as he felt her nuzzle the side of his neck. He could feel the tension in his body increase as he became all too aware of the sudden power this woman had over him. She shifted her hips against his growing erection and ground into him shamelessly. As hard as he tried to fight it, a moan passed off the tip of his tongue, and he felt Kara laugh lightly.
"I think you might have an inappropriate drive, Lee," she scolded, reaching her hand down to lightly cup where his pants were dangerously tight. "You might want to work on finding a way to relieve that."
Before Lee could get a control on either his body or his mind in order to form words, she had walked away down the corridor.
"Frak," he whispered as he turned to hit his forehead against the corridor wall and tried to take calming breaths. If he didn't figure out what she was up to soon, he really was going to go insane.
Stalking down the corridor, he went into the bunkroom to grab some clean clothes before heading to the showers. It was mid-day so there wouldn't be that many people in there. He could take care of the little problem Kara had given him without anyone even knowing. As long as she stayed out of his way, there shouldn't be anything to worry about.
As Lee walked through the corridors, he began to start doubting his luck. Fifteen minutes hadn't gone by that day without Kara popping out of some corner to torture him slowly. It would have been like every other day if it weren't for two things. One, she was torturing him in a very, very physical way. Two, it was blatantly clear that she knew what she was doing.
He had known Kara for years. And for all those years, she had been finding ways to physically torture him without even realizing what she was doing. She walked around the bunkroom in her skivies, puffing away on a cigar. She sparred with him in the gym, not knowing that the way she grunted and groaned sounded frighteningly similar to sounds of passion. She had the most fascinating and most frustrating tell in the world when playing triad. Lee had been the only one to pick up on the way she slowly brushed her lips with her fingertips because he was probably the only one constantly finding himself staring at her while they played.
The people at academy had always joked about the hotshot pilot who knew how to figuratively push a man's button but was never around long enough to let him realistically push hers. Lee had defended her every time he heard something like that. The same talk had been circulating around Galactica, too. He still found himself defending her.
Little did everyone know that he was lying. Lee knew deep inside that everyone had her pegged completely. She had no idea the amount of sexuality and sensuality that radiated in every single cell in her body.
Lee stopped in his tracks as he pulled himself back to reality and back to his original worry. He had made it all the way to the head without encountering her. "Odd," he muttered. He gave Hot Dog and Kat a nod when he saw them standing outside the door.
"Sir?" Hot Dog said just as Lee went to push the hatch door open. "I wouldn't do that if I were you."
He gave Hot Dog a look of confusion. "Why not? Is there a problem with the plumbing again or something?"
"No," Kat said, stepping forward. "It's just that Starbuck is in there. And she asked us to keep everyone out."
"It's that stupid bet she won with Dr. Baltar. Everyone agreed to it without knowing how annoying it was going to get," Hot Doc explained. "I mean, who knew she would suddenly get the urge to take a shower by herself?"
Lee narrowed his eyes, feeling all the dirt and sweat that had piled up on his throughout his workout. Funny how he was so desperate for a shower at the exact moment when she wanted everyone to stay clear.
"Sorry, sir. Looks like you're just going to have to wait with us," Kat said with a shrug.
Lee continued to stare at the closed hatch for a moment as a thought occurred to him. It was ridiculous, and probably his mind's thinly veiled attempt to push the buttons on Kara in the same way she had been pushing on his all day. It was stupid. It was thoughtless. It was something he felt he had to do with every bit of his being.
Firm in his decision, Lee finally turned away from the closed hatch to look at the two young pilots. "Actually, I don't think so. Because Kara wasn't the only one who won that little bet with the resident crazy. And I'm feeling extremely driven to take a shower."
Lee pulled open the hatch before something occurred to him and made him turn back. "Why don't you two keep filling Starbuck's request? If she wants a shower by herself, then we'll give it to her. She won't even know I'm there."
Kat shot Hot Dog a funny look as Lee disappeared.
"My ass she won't know he's there," Hot Dog said with a chuckle.
"They are so fraking,' Kat said, rolling her eyes.
"Who?" Helo asked, picking up on the conversation as he walked down the hall.
"Apollo and Starbuck. They're in the shower, and both of them requested that we keep people out."
"They're not fraking," Helo said, shaking his head. "They're just tired of being around people. For a ship that's understaffed, there are too many people around all the time. Besides, Starbuck is in love with someone else."
"Really?" Hot Dog said, the shock evident on his face. "Who?"
"No one you'd know," Helo answered. "Just some guy on Caprica. It's a long story and one I'm not sure she'd want me telling you. Trust me. Starbuck has no feelings of desire towards our CAG."
Kat stared at the closed door as the three pilots stood in silence. After a few seconds, she turned towards the two men with a confused look. "So you actually think they're not fraking?"