Chapter Eleven:
Kara was finishing the post-flight check on her Viper, having just put her nuggets through the ringer in orbit above Picon. Kara was quite pleased with them, and proud that she was going to be sending a few more qualified flight officers to the Colonial Fleet.
After signing the post-flight check form, Kara handed the clipboard it was on to the crew chief and headed towards the building containing the pilots' showers and locker rooms. But as she walked away from her Viper, she saw a familiar form walking towards her. Kara's face lit up, as it tended to do whenever Lee was around.
"Hi," he said, walking up to her.
"Hey, baby," she said, pulling him in for a quick kiss on the lips. "What brings you here? Thought you would catch a chance to frak me in my flight suit and fulfill some deep, dark fantasy of yours?"
Lee chuckled. "Sounds interesting. But that's not why I'm here."
"Let's walk and talk," she said, taking his arm and leading him towards her intended destination. "After I catch a quick shower and change, you can take me to dinner. Make it a nice one, and I'll let you have your way with me later."
"You'd let me anyway," said Lee.
"But if I don't get a nice dinner, I'll make you beg for it first," said Kara. "And that would be humiliating for a soon-to-be promoted Captain who just finished Colonial War College."
"That's what I wanted to tell you about," said Lee. "I got word from my mother today. She's coming to the ceremony."
"I thought you said she couldn't make it," said Kara.
"She dropped her business trip plans to come," said Lee. "I think it was to make up for the fact my Dad can't come."
"And she wants to see her son make Captain," said Kara.
"And she wants to meet you," said Lee. "Considering I've told her all about you, and that I'm madly in love with you."
"Oh, joy," said Kara. "She's going to come, see what kind of girl you've hooked up with, and put me in a room under hot lights to convince me to get lost."
Lee's face got serious. "You had better be joking."
"Half," said Kara, looking down.
Lee stopped her, pulled her close to him, and leaned his forehead against hers. "She is going to love you. Partly because I do, and partly because you are a very special woman. My Mom's pretty smart. She'll see it, just like I do. My Dad liked you."
"Your Dad would not be a great reference of opinion for your Mom right now, Lee."
Lee's face took on a sad expression, thinking of his parent's divorce.
"Sorry, Lee, I…"
"Its okay," he said. "Would you quit worrying about meeting my Mom. You two are going to get along great."
Kara smiled. "She better not find out what I've been doing to her baby boy though." She leaned in and kissed Lee just behind his earlobe, right in the place she knows will drive him crazy.
"Um, so much for making me buy you dinner, huh?" asked Lee.
Kara pulled away from Lee's neck and continued walking with him on her arm.
"Something else, Kara," said Lee. "Do you have any leave time saved up?"
"Plenty," said Kara. "You accumulate quite a bit when you have no family to go home and visit. Why?"
"Put in for some starting the day after my promotion ceremony," said Lee. "I have a little surprise for you."
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Kara ended up getting along with Lee's mother famously. In fact, at one point during the visit, they told Lee to take off so they could talk. He came back a few hours later to find them laughing as Mrs. Adama told Kara a story about Lee when he was a little kid. Consequently, Kara teased Lee about it incessantly ever since. When it came time to pin on Lee's Captains insignia, Mrs. Adama and Kara did it together.
That was two days ago. After Mrs. Adama left to go home, Kara and Lee packed their own bags and headed off to enjoy Lee's surprise. The Peloponnesian Mountains of northern Caprica were considered to be one of the most beautiful places of natural beauty in the colonies. Mrs. Adama's family, being rather more than financially well off, owned a piece of land and a two-story cabin in the mountains. Lee always remembered family outings there when he was a boy, playing with his brother and his cousins while his maternal grandfather barbecued hamburgers and hot dogs. Now, Lee was taking his girl there for a special weekend.
On their first evening there, Lee and Kara made love in front of the fireplace in the cabin's downstairs main room. Laying on a soft rug, with blankets draped over them, they shared each other with only the light of the fire to illuminate them. Afterward, they lay looking at the fire together, with Kara laying half on top of Lee, curled up in his arms. Lee ran his hands through Kara's hair, enjoying the silky feel of it between his fingers.
"So," said Kara, "CAPTAIN Adama." They both chuckled. Kara was having a lot of fun calling Lee that for some reason. "When you were playing here as a child, did you ever imagine you would be bringing a reasonably hot looking girl up here and frakking her on the floor of the living room?"
Lee chuckled. "No, never."
Kara looked up at Lee's face with a mischievous smile. "Oh, come on. I bet you used to lay in your bed and fantasize about it." Kara ran her hands down Lee's body, and started kissing his neck. "Maybe a sexy girl you knew in high school. One that you used to think about naked and sweaty and writhing underneath you."
"Well, maybe," said Lee.
"Too bad I didn't know you then," said Kara. "I would have rocked your world."
"Like you do now," said Lee. "You know what? None of my fantasies that I have ever had about women equal the sheer joy I feel being with you. Not just here, but anywhere we are together. I watch you sometimes as you are eating dinner, or filling out paperwork, or sleeping in my arms. And I thank the gods that you are mine. I love you, Kara."
"I love you, too," she replied, as she kissed his cheek. "More than I have loved anyone in my whole life. Whatever I did that pleased the gods enough to bring you into my life, it wasn't enough."
Both of them lingered in thoughtful silence for a while. Finally, Lee gently extracted himself from Kara's embrace and got up to walk across the room.
"Lee, not that I don't appreciate the glorious view of your bare ass in the firelight," said Kara, "But where are you going?"
Lee went to his coat, laying on the couch, and pulled something out of one of its pockets. He turned and walked back over to Kara and lay back down with her. "Kara, I got my posting assignment. I'm to report to the Atlantia in two weeks."
Kara sat up and looked away from Lee, realizing what that last statement meant. She always knew in the back of her mind that her time with Lee here on Picon was limited. He would have to be transferred to a battlestar for field command training if he was ever to be a CAG. She wouldn't see him every day anymore; wouldn't live with him anymore. Kara worried about this event, wondering that if Lee were away from her he would realize that he didn't want her on a permanent basis. Dumping someone long distance is a hell of a lot easier than doing it looking at them. But maybe Lee was dumping her now, at least having the decency to tell her in person.
"So, that's it, huh," she said.
"What's it?" asked Lee.
"Our time together," said Kara.
Lee sensed Kara's apprehension. He gently took Kara's chin, and turned her face towards him. "Nothing ends here, Kara. I'm not going to stop loving you just because I am further away from you. But I did want to do something to make sure you know that I am with you for keeps. That's one reason why I brought this with me."
He held up a small black box. Kara looked at it for a moment, as Lee gestured for her to take it. When she finally did take it, Kara hesitated to open it. Finally, she did, and a feeling of pure warmth ran through her body. In the box was a diamond ring.
"Will you marry me, Kara? That way, no matter how far apart we are, we will truly be together."
"You want to marry me because you have to be away from me," said Kara.
"I want to marry you because I love you," said Lee. "I am in love with you, and I will always be in love with you. I want to lay in bed with you when we are eighty years old. In the time between now and then, I want to be your husband. I want to make a home with you, and not just one that is made up of a house we would share together. It would be a home in our hearts, where the two of us would be together no matter where we are. And we would fill our home with our children."
Kara looked at Lee in shock. "You see me mothering your children. You want to have babies with me."
"Damned right I do," said Lee. "You are the only woman I would ever want children with. When I think of my child, I think of a baby with your eyes and your smile and your strength. But Kara, whether we have children or not, I want you. You hear me. I want you so badly."
"What if having me is not a great as wanting me?" asked Kara.
"Kara, I've had you in a way for several months now," said Lee. "And I have never been happier in my life. So being married to you could only make me even happier."
"You really think of us together when we are eighty?" she asked.
"You bet," said Lee. "And still horny as hell for one another. And still madly in love with one another."
Kara looked at the ring, then looked at Lee. "He is everything I have ever wanted," thought Kara. "Why do I hesitate?" She could hear her mother in the back of her mind, telling her she was garbage. That this guy would tire of her crap and dump her; probably pregnant with some bastard child he didn't want. But then, Lee's words to her pushed away her mother's taunts. " 'I want to make a home with you…and we would fill our home with our children.'"
Finally, Kara realized that Lee was the answer to her life. He was the man she was destined to meet, destined to be with. Finally, Kara had a home. A home with Lee Adama by her side.
"Yes," she breathed out quietly.
"What?" asked Lee, not sure he heard her.
"Yes, Lee," she said with a huge smile. "I'll marry you. I may not be a great Suzy Homemaker type of wife, but whatever kind of wife I'll make. I'll be your wife."
Lee pulled the ring out of the box, and put it on her finger. He was rushing, almost afraid Kara would change her mind. Then, after the ring was on her finger, Lee held Kara close to him as the most precious thing in his life. They were both laughing and crying at the same time. They were together and happy, and filled with dreams of a bright future.
End of Chapter Eleven. Chapter Twelve coming soon. As always, feedback/reviews are welcomed and appreciated.