It turned out that near death experiences could nearly double the paperwork needing to be finished. Lee was about fed up with this CAG job and he had only had it sixteen days.
It didn't help that every time he tried to focus on the flight breakdowns or the requests for new materials and equipment, his mind wandered down the wrong path. Instead of gimbals and Viper jocks, he got a soft, wet tongue kissing the pressure point on his wrist and a wicked smile that shook him to the bones.
It was official. His mind was now his worst enemy.
A knock on the open hatch to the senior officers' quarters caused Lee to look up. No one ever knocked. He held his father's eyes for a moment before looking back down at the flight schedule. He didn't have time for this. "What can I do for you, Commander? Was there something I left out in my report?"
"Your report was sufficient, Captain," William Adama started before pausing. Lee had a feeling his dad was trying to figure out how to take the formality out of the conversation.
Lucky for the Old Man, Lee was in a good mood. "What do you need, Dad?"
"You seemed preoccupied in the hangar bay earlier. Is there anything wrong?"
How about the fact that I want to thoroughly frak the most talented nugget under my command? And not just once either, but over and over again. "Absolutely nothing's wrong," Lee insisted.
Adama nodded. He looked like, for a moment, he was debating whether to leave it at that and make a graceful exit before Lee's temper started flaring. Obviously, he decided he wasn't finished as his gaze steeled. "So, you never gave me your recommendation on what to do with this unruly pilot who stayed by your side. Colonel Tigh seems to think she belongs in the brig for disobeying direct orders from a superior officer."
Lee set down his pen. "That's about the worst thing you could do. Kara Thrace did exactly what any other veteran pilot would do."
"But she's not a veteran," Adama pointed out.
"No, she's not."
"Well then what do you recommend?"
Lee was conflicted. His mind was telling him that Starbuck did need some sort of reprimand. His heart was telling him he should just give her her wings for being so foolishly brave. Other parts of his anatomy weren't allowed to rule in. "Don't worry, sir. I'll handle it." Lee picked up his pen and started marking the schedule again. It still hurt his hand to write, but this thing had to get done eventually. "Is there anything else you needed from me?"
He heard his father pause before speaking. "No, that will be all for now. I've given the two of you a day's reprieve from work and classes. Try to use it wisely, son."
Lee gave his father a quick nod of acceptance before turning back to the paperwork. Looking it over, he realized he had penciled Boomer in two rotations back-to back. His head really wasn't in this right now. He gathered the papers up into a neat pile and took them over to his locker. The work would keep while he took a small break. There was rumors of a rather interesting triad game happening down in the pilot's break room. Lee knew he wasn't going to play. The pilots tended to get nervous whenever their CAG was around. Still, he would imagine watching the card game might be just as fun and relaxing.
Walking out into the corridor, Lee figured he could just hang around the open hatch and watch his pilots unwind. That was almost as good as being able to do it himself.
Kara had been surprised to see so few people waiting on the flight deck for her and Lee to step out of the Heavy Raider. Granted, she was new to Galactica so she didn't really expect anybody to be happy to see her alive, but Lee was their CAG. Shouldn't they be grateful that their leader made it back in one piece?
Kara hung around in the background of the hangar as Lee explained what happened to his father and the ship's XO. She caught a look of gratitude on Adama's face when his son explained the part where Kara refused to leave him behind, but the Commander quickly covered it up. She had been wrapped up in trying to figure out what exactly that meant when Zak came up behind her. Kara thanked him for showing her to the briefing room the day before and Zak quickly invited her to the triad game later that night. Kara promised that if she didn't end up in the brig, she would be there this time.
And that was why she was currently determining if the Lieutenant sitting across from her could offer sexual favors as a bet since she had wiped him clean a few minutes earlier. "I'm sorry…" She paused as she tried to remember the Raptor ECO's name through her slight ambrosia buzz.
"Crashdown," Zak supplied.
Kara smiled at him and nodded. "I'm sorry, Crashdown, but I'm feeling pretty satisfied right now. So unless you have something cold and hard to throw down and it's not in your pants, then you are shit out of luck, little boy."
The whole table and the small crowd gathered around it burst out into laughter and applause. Kara felt herself snickering along with them until her eyes caught the man standing in the open hatchway. "Why don't you join us, Captain?" Kara called out, waving Lee over.
Lee shook his head. "I wouldn't want to embarrass you all."
"The CAG doesn't like to associate with the lowly pilots he commands," the woman across from Kara mumbled.
Kara wanted to grab the pilot by the collar and smack some sense into her. The people on Galactica were so dense sometimes. She had been here all of forty-eight hours, and she could already see the problem. "Maybe if you showed him a little respect, he'd want to play."
"What the frak is that supposed to mean?" the woman asked.
Something about how she said it got on Kara's nerves. "Your CAG risked his life earlier today to protect the Fleet. He was ready to take on all those ships by himself just to keep you stupid frakers safe. He figured out the controls to an enemy ship and flew it all the way back to the Fleet with an injured hand just so he could return to his responsibilities. And how do you repay him? Not a single one of you came down to the hangar to welcome him back. To be, that makes you the ones who don't want to associate."
Kara glanced up to see that Lee was still standing in the hatchway. There was no way he had missed her little tirade. She just hoped her big mouth didn't embarrass him that much. "I'm insisting you get your ass over here, Apollo, so I can prove to these guys that even the CAG is powerless to stop my little winning spree." Kara kicked Crashdown under the table. "Make room."
Lee thought it over for a moment before sliding into the vacated seat. "I have to warn you. Triad was my specialty back in War College."
Kara glanced over at Zak to see him holding back a laugh. "You are such a liar," she said, slapping the cards down on the table. "Someone deal so I can earn me a few new cigars."
The game picked up as soon as Lee joined the table. Kara knew almost immediately that she finally found an opponent she would actually have to work to beat. As they played hand after hand, she could slowly see the CAG letting down his walls. Kara had had a feeling he really didn't like being on the outside looking in.
Lee was easily keeping up with Kara as the game got heated, even though she had a small advantage. Zak was sitting next to her, and every once in a while, he would lean over and tell her about one of the signs that his brother was bluffing. Kara felt guilty at first about the insider information, but then she would win the pot and forget about feeling bad.
"You two are cheating," Lee hissed, throwing a handful of cubits into the pot.
"You're just mad because you're getting your ass kicked by a girl," Zak pointed out.
"I'm mad because my baby brother has no concept of family loyalty." Lee glanced over at Kara. "Didn't I tell you that your addiction to blondes was going to get me in trouble one day, Zak?"
"I don't see any trouble," Kara pointed out. She threw a pair of cigars into the center of the table. "I just see an intelligent man who clearly knows a winner when he sees one."
A small blush rose in Zak's cheeks, and Lee had to fight the urge to roll his eyes. His brother was being so transparent right now that Lee wondered if Zak had even listened to all the tips he gave him when they were little on how to get a girl. Zak had been flirting with Kara all night, and she barely even noticed.
Lee leaned back in his chair, pretending to study the cards in hand. In reality, he was studying the woman sitting across from him. He had known Kara Thrace for two days now. Together, they had been to the edge and back , and he still couldn't read her. Really, he had been lucky to make it this far in the game. You didn't win triad unless you found a way to understand your opponent.
Kara suddenly looked up from her hand to smile at him. Lee could feel the embarrassment of being caught staring flare up, but unlike his brother, he kept the blush from his face. "I think you're bluffing me, Captain, and I don't appreciate," Kara whispered seductively.
Lee looked down at his cards. Four on a run might actually win if Kara didn't have full colors, which he was almost positive she didn't. He took a moment to smile at his opponent before asking, "Is that your opinion or did my little brother tell you what to think?"
"I'm flying solo on this one," Kara insisted. She could feel her heart begin to pick up as Lee raised an eyebrow at the double entendre.
"You're scared because you can't read me," Lee pointed out. He leaned back in his chair with confidence. "That's sweet."
"Put it up, flyboy," Kara insisted, tapping the middle of the table, "and we can find out just how sweet I can be."
Without a word, Lee slid his last few cigars and cubits into the middle. Kara met his bet almost immediately, and a small punch of regret hit him in the stomach. She seemed awfully confident. "Lay them down," she said with a smirk.
Lee laid down his cards and was rewarded with a round of applause by the pilots still left in the room. He had known the hand was good the second it was dealt to him.
"I hope you didn't think I was going to spare you just because you're my boss," Kara taunted, laying her cards out on the table to reveal full colors.
Lee let out a laugh and leaned back in his chair, throwing his hands up. There was a million to one chance that she could actually beat him, and the infuriating little fraker had done it. "That's enough of a sign for me. I'm out."
"Of course you're out," Zak said. "You just lost your last cubits."
"Too bad Starbuck ruled out the betting of sexual favors," Crashdown said as he picked up his jacket and started towards the hatch.
"I ruled it out for you," Kara corrected. She looked across the table at Lee and winked. "I might make an exception for the Captain here."
"That's against regs!" Crashdown yelled from out in the corridor.
Kara chuckled. "You know, I'm actually thinking of changing my call sign to Regs. It seems like that's all anyone ever wants to talk to me about. I don't get why everything thinks I'm going to have a problem with it."
The answer came out of Lee's mouth before he could sensor himself. "Have you looked in the mirror lately? I don't think it's you everyone's worried about."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Kara asked.
Lee focused on gathering up the cards on the table in front of him. He could not believe that just came out of his mouth. "Nothing."
Kara filed that little comment away for torture and teasing at a later date. "All right, Captain. Here's what I don't understand. Everyone on Galactica is so preoccupied with military regulation. Haven't they been told the world is ending? If there's ever a time to forget about stupid rules made up by guys in suits who died hundreds of years earlier, it's now." That earned her a few appreciative laughs from the remaining pilots.
Lee held the cards out for her to take then leaned back in his seat. She shuffled the deck quietly as the last few people filtered out of the room, leaving her alone with the two Adama brothers. It was almost time for shift change, and she was suddenly glad that she had been given a day off from classes because of what she and Lee had gone through. She was probably going to have a wicked hangover in the morning.
Lee noticed his little brother was openly staring at Kara as she played with the triad deck, and he decided he would do the nice thing and try to bring Zak back to the present before he got caught. "Don't you have a shift in a few hours, Zak?"
Zak leaned back in his chair and sighed. "Yeah, I do."
"You're not going to stick around to watch me kick your brother's ass?" Kara asked.
Lee felt himself tense up. She sounded almost sad that Zak was leaving.
"I can't stay. The Chief would kill me if he knew I was drinking so close to my shift, and he has the bad habit of checking up on me when I least expect it."
"What Zak means is he has to go sleep off the ambrosia before he decides to do something stupid like rewire a whole Raptor because it would look cooler if it had flashing lights."
Zak glared at his brother and got to his feet. "Ignore him. He's just a sore loser."
"I can tell," Kara said with a laugh.
Zak smiled down at her. "Thanks for coming to the game."
"It was my pleasure," Kara said distractedly. She was paying less attention to Zak and more attention to piling up her winnings.
Lee watched Zak's shoulders droop in dejection as he walked out of the room, and Lee felt the familiar burn of protectiveness for his little brother. "You can be really cruel sometimes, Thrace," he hissed.
Kara's hands paused in gathering up the cubits, and she looked up at Lee in confusion. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"It made my brother's night to have you here, and all you could manage was a half-hearted 'no problem'. He's been trying so hard to impress you, and you just shut him out without a thought. You had one thing on your mind and as soon as you got it, it was game over."
Kara rolled her eyes. "You can't honestly think I didn't notice he was flirting with me. Zak isn't the most subtle guy."
"If you knew what he was doing, why the need to brush him away?"
"You guys seemed so damn adamant about your stupid fraternization regs that I didn't want to cross a line."
"Our regs are specific to military pilots. They don't apply to the deck crew or the CIC staff."
Kara raised her eyes in surprise and leaned forward on the table. "Are you encouraging me to start a relationship with your little brother, Captain?"
Lee's eyes went wide as he did his best to retreat. "No, I didn't… I didn't say that. I was simply trying to correct the mistake you made. You're new at this so you don't have a good handle on the regulations we have to follow. That's all I meant. I wasn't telling you to go out and start something with Zak."
Kara laughed. "Relax, flyboy. I was just joking."
Lee rubbed his chin as he realized she was right. He was freaking out over nothing for no real reason. At least, there was no reason he would care to admit to right now. He looked up to realize Kara was still watching him, and he could feel his blood begin to rise. Deciding he needed a distraction, Lee reached across the table to grab the deck of cards out of her hand. "You really need to stop calling me flyboy. I'm your superior officer."
"What do you want me to call you then?"
"Sir or Captain are acceptable," Lee said as he dealt out cards to both of them.
"Those don't work for me."
"Well, they're going to have to. Like I said, I'm your superior officer."
Kara's eyes fell down to her cards. She was never good at keeping eye contact when she knew she was about to do something she shouldn't be doing. "Does that mean you can keep calling me Kara?"
"I didn't realize I was."
"When we were down on the planet," she whispered. "You called me Kara when I was about to freak out and then when I-"
"I remember," Lee interrupted. He did not want her to finish that sentence. On Galactica, someone was always listening and he could get in a lot of trouble if word got out about what he let Kara do to him on that Heavy Raider. "I could call you Kara, but it would probably be better if I stuck with Starbuck."
She smiled at him and shook her head. "But Kara sounds so much better coming out of your lips."
Lee fought back the urge to tell her he probably had better uses for his lips than saying her first name. This whole thing was starting to get out of hand. He shouldn't have this much trouble forgetting about how he first met the wannabe Viper pilot sitting across the table from him. It wasn't like he never encountered old one-night stands in the past. It had always been awkward, but it had never been this hard to get past the embarrassment.
Silence filled the room as Lee did his best to forget about the Rising Star and focus on the cards in front of him. Every few seconds or so, he let himself sneak a glance over at Kara. She was absentmindedly playing with the silver ring on her left thumb. It looked like it was more out of habit than conscious thought. Lee knew better than to ask her what that ring meant. That was a personal question he had no right knowing the answer to, seeing as how he was her teacher and she was his student. "So tell me about yourself, Starbuck."
"Is this the CAG asking or the man I met in a spaceship bar?"
"I thought we agreed not to bring that up again," Lee pointed out.
"You insisted," she corrected. "I never agreed to anything."
"Are you trying to avoid my question?"
"No, I was just making a point." Kara sighed and set down her cards. "Let's see. I'm sure you've probably heard a ton of stuff about the whole pyramid thing."
"What pyramid thing?"
At first, Kara thought Lee was joking. The look on his face was so sincere and earnest, though, that her jaw dropped open. He was being serious. "You told me you were from Caprica originally."
"I am," Lee confirmed. "What does that have to do with anything?"
"Aren't you a fan of the Bucks?"
"The pyramid team?" Lee shook his head. "I never cared much for the game."
Kara let out a loud laugh, earning herself a strange look from the man sitting across from her. "This is priceless. You are probably the only man in the Twelve Colonies who seriously has no clue who I am."
"What were you their agent or something?"
"Try their star player, flyboy. I was their leading scorer for the past six seasons."
"You're lying," Lee said.
"No, I'm not. Ask anyone. Frak, ask Zak! He has a rather intense case of hero worship going because of my pyramid career."
"That explains a lot," Lee said, nodding his head. His brother always did have a thing for unattainable women. It was even worse than his love of blondes. "So you really played pyramid?"
"I was drafted into the majors straight out of school. You must have been born under a rock if you didn't hear about that one. I was the highest paid rookie in the history of the sport." Kara paused. "You do believe me right?"
"I don't think you could make that up even if you tried," Lee said with a laugh. "I can't believe we have a fraking hotshot pyramid player in the colonial Fleet."
"Believe it."
"There's one thing I don't get about that. If you're here, where's the rest of your team? I swear I would have heard if a whole pyramid team made it through the attacks."
Kara's face fell as the humor in the situation suddenly disappeared. She had not thought far enough in advance to realize volunteering this little bit of information was probably only going to make Lee want to ask more questions that she didn't want to answer. "They were back on Caprica when the attacks happened. The team had high altitude training in the mountains outside Delphi."
Lee let that sink in before asking the first of a million questions running through his head. "Why weren't you with them?"
"I didn't need the training like the rest of the team. I never had problems with fatigue while I'm on the pitch." Kara took a deep breath and shut her eyes as memories of her old teammates started flooding her head. She had spent hours trying to push their faces out of her head. Getting herself to forget again was going to be even harder. "The manager of the Buccaneers gave me an all expenses paid vacation on the Rising Star. That's why I was in the right place at the right time when the attacks happened."
"That's a funny way of putting it."
Kara stared at him before shrugging. "I'm just happy to be alive. I can't even imagine what it would have been like on the Colonies. Why? Aren't you grateful to the gods for putting you on Galactica?"
"It's complicated," Lee said abruptly. He looked down at the cards in his hands, and it was apparent to Kara that he wasn't going to say anything else on the topic. She didn't want to press him so she just took another look at her cards. They both knew they weren't really playing the game, but it helped to have something to focus on instead of the truth. They were both here for reasons they weren't allowed to admit.
After awhile, Lee let out a chuckle, breaking the silence. "I get it now." Kara waited patiently for him to explain. "Star-buck. I get it."
"Then you have one up on me." Lee raised his eyebrow in inquiry. "Apollo? Where did that come from?"
Lee gave her a smirk. "If I told you, it'd be cheating." Kara held his eyes for a minute before a yawn took over her whole body. "It's been a long day. You should get some rest."
Kara let out a small laugh. "I haven't even had time to unpack my stuff."
"I wouldn't if I were you." Kara could feel the anger well up inside of her immediately. She thought they had finished with this fight the first time they had it. She was just about to start yelling and cursing when Lee winked. "You're just going to have to pack up your stuff when you get moved to the junior officer's quarters."
Kara had definitely not expected that. "I don't understand."
"You're good, Kara, really good. You're not going to stay a nugget for long."
"I'm going to be a nugget for at least the next month. It takes that long just to get through the basic training."
"That's what I wanted to talk to you about," Lee said. He stared at Kara a moment before continuing, "I meant it when I said you were a natural. Flying is a part of you in a way that I can't even begin to comprehend. It would be stupid to have you sitting idle with the rest of the nuggets. If you're up for it, I want to get you in the air whenever you have a second free time. We can push you through your training and have you flying CAP in a week, wings and all. It would mean giving up some of your free time and maybe even losing a few hours of sleep. You'd be a pilot, though, and that might give you a little more freedom in the end. It would earn you the respect of the rest of the squadron, too."
Kara watched him quietly clean up the mess of glasses and half empty ambrosia bottles. When everything was in order, Lee looked up at her. "So what do you think?"
"I think you don't have time to be doing that."
Lee shook his head. "I don't sleep most nights anyway. All this would mean is instead of pulling extra maintenance shifts, I'd be up in the air, training with you. It would impact you a hell of a lot more than it would me."
Kara could tell he was lying. He already had too many responsibilities on his plate, but for some reason, he didn't care about taking on one more. She wasn't going to lie and say she didn't want to have her wings as soon as possible. One day of being a nugget had already killed her patience. "I think you've overestimating me a little here, Apollo."
"Tell you what. You let me take you up in the air. If you can pull an Athena Roll off without me helping, then we'll both know I was right and we can put this little argument to rest."
Kara laughed and pushed her chair away from the table. They both knew she could pull an Athena Roll without a problem. He wasn't going to let her back out of this one. "It's a deal, flyboy."
"We're both off shift tomorrow so plan for an afternoon run. Don't be late, Kara." His words made her pause at the door, and she turned back to look at him. "What?" he asked.
"I thought you weren't going to call me Kara."
"And I thought you were going to stop calling me flyboy." Lee winked at her, already knowing that it was a huge mistake. It seemed he couldn't control himself when he was around this overly smug new addition to the Fleet.
"I kind of like the way it sounds," she said with a smile.
"It's not really polite to be speaking to your superior officer in such a familiar tone, Kara."
Kara shook her head. "You did it again."
"It slipped out," Lee said, shrugging his shoulders.
Kara watched him for a moment and was surprised to feel a massive way of guilt wash over her. Lee Adama had been trying his best to help her fit into this Fleet. He was trying to shape her into a colonial solider, and all she could do was give him shit for it. He was in one of the most vulnerable positions in the Fleet, an outsider charged with the job of watching out for every pilot on board Galactica. One small misstep on his part and things would snowball out of control in the Fleet. That was why he kept pushing her away, why he kept denying what had gone on down on the Rising Star.
And all she could do to help the situation was mess with his mind and his libido.
Kara realized her staring at him wasn't helping matters, but then again he was staring right back. That had to mean something. She didn't know where it came from but the words that came out of her mouth next were an apology. "I'm sorry."
"For what?" he asked without hesitation.
"For that shit I pulled back on the moon."
"Don't be," Lee said, brushing her apology off.
Kara shook her head. "No, it was completely inappropriate of me. I can see why you didn't want me doing it."
Lee met her gaze for a moment before pushing himself to his feet and sauntering over to where she stood in the hatchway. "That wasn't the problem, Kara." The expression on her face didn't change until he paused briefly while pushing past her in order to whisper, "The problem was I wanted you to do it too much."
Kara was left scrambling to figure out what the frak that meant as Lee walked away from her, down the corridor, and out of sight.