Running had always defined who they were. At first, they were too scared of each other to get that close. Then they couldn't help put feel the pull. They started running together, and things erupted. All thoughts of running stopped when they hit Caprica. When they got back, they'd occasionally pass in the halls but mostly they learned to avoid each other. Lately, she'd been smiling at him when they passed one another. Today, on their first intersecting lap, she punched his shoulder lightly.
Yeah, their relationship was definitely defined by running. Lee just wasn't sure what that meant.
It had been three months since Caprica. That was three long months of holding himself back in order to keep his sanity. Every time he saw her, he wanted to reach out and grab her and never let go. Every time he heard her voice, he had to concentrate to keep the desire at bay. He had thought it would go away over time. That was the logical thing.
Nothing about Kara Thrace was logical.
He had avoided talking to her about anything not mission related for weeks. He was afraid if they started talking about Caprica, she would admit that she had chosen Anders. It wasn't like he didn't already know it. He had heard her talking to Helo that day. She had admitted it outright. The only problem was she didn't know he knew, and he didn't have the courage to tell her.
There was a part of him that held the outlandish hope that he could still win her back. If he could just figure out a way to get into her heart again, he could steal her away. He wouldn't even feel guilty for screwing over a guy currently fighting on a Cylon-occupied planet for his right to live and the right to be with the woman he loves. At least, he was pretty sure the guilt would fade.
Lee gave a few of the pilots in the corridor a quick nod as he ran past them. They would faint if they knew the thoughts on his mind right now. Then again, maybe they wouldn't. There had been quite a few interesting rumors making the rounds lately, ranging from the CAG's being gay and Starbuck helping him hide it from everyone to Starbuck being pregnant and not knowing if Lee was the father or whether it was the baby of some guy she met on Caprica.
That last rumor made Lee wince. It was a little too close to the truth. Kara wasn't pregnant with anyone's child, but she might as well be with the things he was willing to resort to in order to win her back.
Turning the corner, Lee passed Cally and gave her a smile. The movement made him wince, and his hand came up to touch the bruises forming on his face. He had known sparring with Zak when the Fleet was in the middle of this crisis was a stupid mistake. How good is a pilot if he couldn't even move the muscles in his face to talk without being in pain?
Zak had told him his hand slipped when he threw the punch that laid Lee out on his ass, but both brothers knew better. The punch came at the moment that Lee was telling his brother that he thought he might take Dee out on a date when tensions were a little lower. Zak did apologize, but that was quickly drowned out by the screaming. His little brother couldn't understand why he would want to date another woman when Kara was around.
Lee told Zak that he had no idea what it was like to love a woman who was head over heels for someone else. Zak had given him a glare and reminded him that technically Lee had stolen Kara away from him in the beginning. Even more surprisingly than that insight was the fact that Zak insisted Kara was far from being head over heels for Anders. When Lee asked what that meant, his brother had just shrugged. That was the end of their conversation on Kara.
He understood where Zak was coming from with his questioning about how Lee could date Dee but still be hopelessly in love with Kara. Half the time even he wondered how it was possible. His hand came down to brush the skin on his shoulder where Kara had punched him a few minutes earlier. He could still feel the heat from her touch.
That was the main reason he was thinking about starting something with Dee. When he was with Dee, he felt safe. He wasn't going to lose control and do something that wasn't allowed. Dee touched his arm, and the only thing it did was make him smile. He didn't feel the touch for hours afterwards like he did with Kara. She didn't burn his skin or make his body ache to hold her. Dee was safe.
Lee needed safe right now.
Pounding his feet into the metal grating, Lee did his best to clear his mind. He refused to focus on his problems for the small amount of time he found to run. He needed to unwind, and this was the only available way that didn't involve kicking the shit out of someone or something.
He had made it halfway around Galactica before realizing he hadn't passed Kara in their usual spot. Only a few turns later he found out why. She was standing in the middle of the corridor, a paper clutched tightly in her hand, and she was not happy.
Lee pulled to a stop and, after taking a second to catch his breath, asked what was wrong. Kara simply thrust the paper out for him to read. It took him until the third time to fully understand what the paper was telling him. "You're being transferred?"
"To the Pegasus," Kara said nodding.
Lee suddenly felt the urge to kick something. The only time he had with Kara was when they were in the air. How the frak were they supposed to fly together if they were on different ships? How was he supposed to come up with ways to talk with her each day if he had no reason to call those flight instructor/CAG meetings anymore? Realizing Kara was waiting for him to say something, all he could come up with was "I'm sorry."
Kara rewarded that with a mocking laugh. Reaching into her back pocket, she smirked. "You got one, too, Lee."
Lee hesitated a second before taking the paper out of her hand. He read it over quickly seeing as how he had a good idea of what it would say. When he was done, he looked up at Kara. She was watching him closely, and it surprised him to realize the look on her face was one of fear. If he didn't know better, he'd think she was worried that that paper didn't say he was being transferred. "Looks like you really can't split us up."
Kara yanked the paper out of his hand and read it herself. It was the only way she'd believe it. "They can't do that, though! You're the CAG."
"CAGs are replaceable," Lee said with a shrug. "Besides, did you look at the second signature from the bottom?"
Kara's mouth dropped open, and she grabbed her own note back from Lee to see the same name at the bottom of hers. She hadn't noticed William Adama's signature even though she had read and reread that little piece of paper a hundred times in the past ten minutes. "I don't get it."
"It either means my father is finally fed up of our bullshit or Admiral Cain had a little power play we're not aware of."
"My votes with the second because how can anyone get tired of me?" Kara joked.
"Obviously they didn't get my request to keep you on whatever ship I wasn't," Lee shot back.
Kara shook her head. "So sorry, Adama. You're going to be stuck with me until the day you die."
Lee held her eyes for a split second before moving down the corridor. He couldn't take it if she kept saying things like that. It made him hope, and hope was a dangerous thing. "Come on. We should go see the Old Man and figure out what exactly is going on."
Kara nodded, and together they jogged through the ship they both loved to the Commander they both respected in order to figure out why both were being taken away from them.
Kara figured she should be used to her commanding officers suddenly demanding her presence. The Old Man had done it more times than she could count, and Lee had always seemed to have something he needed her to do, both before and after Caprica. It made sense that she would be on this beast for only an hour and already Admiral Cain was asking to see her.
Kara was about to knock on the door when she felt a rather intimidating man staring down at her. She looked at the Marine guarding the door and sneered. "Do you have a problem?"
"Do you have an appointment?" the Marine growled. "Not every pilot can just waltz into the Admiral's office unannounced."
"She wanted to see me," Kara said, giving him a sweet smile and knocking on the door.
She heard someone scream that this better be good before she pushed the hatch open and stepped in. The first thing she noticed was how damn tidy and clinical the room was. This was where Admiral Cain lived. It's where she slept and did her work and had her meetings, and it looked like a fraking hospital. "You asked to see me, sir?" Kara said, trying to push back the small bits of fear that were flaring up in her stomach.
"You're Thrace?" Cain said, barely looking up from the papers in front of her.
"Lieutenant Kara Thrace," she corrected, knowing it was not her place. If the Admiral wanted to refer to her by her last name, that was her right.
Cain looked up and narrowed her eyes. "Lieutenant Kara Thrace. Commander Adama mentions you quite a bit in his logs."
"Is that why I got transferred here?" Kara asked. Cain's face tightened even more, and Kara decided there was no way she was getting out of this conversation without being sent to the brig. Maybe they'll throw her a 'welcome to your new home' party with cake. She really missed cake.
"You got transferred her because I was curious. A pyramid player turned pilot? Even with the end of the world, I found that hard to believe."
"It was a living," Kara said, shrugging her shoulders.
Cain regarded her a moment before smiling. "I was more of a Tigers fan myself."
"Have to stay loyal to the home team, sir," Kara said with a smile.
"And that would make Caprica your home?" Cain looked down at the papers in front of her. "It's not really clear here."
"I lived a lot of places, but Caprica is the only place I've ever considered home. Besides Galactica, that is."
Cain gave her a small nod. "Yes, all of Adama's men seem very enamored with that outdated ship."
"It's a lot more than just a ship," Kara insisted. "I mean, don't your men feel love for Pegasus?"
"They appreciate the fact that the ship's guns keep them alive when they're out there fighting a base star. They appreciate that they have a place to come home to when others did not. They appreciate the fact that the Cylons are scared of this ship. There isn't room for love when there's so much appreciation."
Kara nodded even though she didn't understand what Cain was getting at. She appreciated the Galactica a hell of a lot, but she loved it even more.
Cain cleared her throat, and Kara realized her attention had drifted away. "Commander Adama's logs for the week you returned from your mission to Caprica are quite interesting. He noted the need for a rescue mission back to the colony."
"I left people behind."
"It says in the log that you only went there with Captain Adama, and you returned with both a missing pilot and a Cylon prisoner. How could Galactica have left people behind?"
"Galactica left no one behind besides the pilot we brought back. I left behind quite a few people."
"Care to explain that, Lieutenant?"
Kara tried to bite back every snarky comment on the tip of her tongue. "If I must, then yes, I will explain, Admiral. As you so obviously pointed out, I had a different life back when the Twelve Colonies still existed. I was a pyramid player, and I had a team. The team was going through high altitude training in the hills outside Delphi when the Cylons attacked. On my mission to Caprica, I realized they were still alive and fighting."
"You left them behind on Caprica when you chose to return home."
"There wasn't room in the ship for anyone besides Helo and Shar- the Cylon. Otherwise, we would have taken as many as we could."
Cain nodded. "Here's what I'm hoping you can shed some light on. According to the Commander's report, you are willing to put the search for Earth on hold to return home to the Colonies to save these people. Why are they so important?"
"They're my family, sir," Kara said. In her mind, that was enough.
"That's one person's family. I had a sister and niece on Tauron. Do you propose the Fleet also returns there just to see if my family is alive?"
Kara kept silence. This was not the time to be saying a word.
"What got the Commander to agree to save your family, Lieutenant?"
Kara bit her lip. She knew the answer to that question even though no one had ever said it out loud. She wasn't sure if it was wise to be telling Cain, though.
"I am waiting, and need I remind you that I am the commanding officer of this Fleet? Withholding information from me can give you a one-way ticket to the brig."
Kara fought the urge to tell the Admiral that she was probably heading there anyway. "Captain Adama was on my side, sir."
"Please explain."
"He was the one that requested the mission. I wasn't about to do it myself because, as you so correctly picked up on, it's selfish. Apollo saw the importance in it, though. These people are good men. They'll come to this Fleet, and like myself, they won't want to sit back and do nothing. They'll find their place in the Fleet, and chances are that will be with the military. I can't guarantee they'll help with Galactica's pilot shortage, but they're already half-trained to be Marines."
"You're volunteering your friends for active duty. Isn't that a little presumptive?"
"I know my team, sir. They're fighters."
"I believe that," Cain said. "You think they're still alive?"
Kara shook her head. "I'm not stupid, sir. I know that when we finally have time to get to them, they won't all still be there. Some of them will be fighting, though., and those ones deserve a chance to breathe without worrying about being gunned down."
Cain stared at her a moment before cracking a rare smile. "Consider the rescue mission still on the books, Lieutenant."
Kara felt her heart leap, and she couldn't help but give the Admiral a sharp salute.
"Dismissed," Cain said, turning back to her books and papers.
Kara stumbled out of the office, wondering what had just happened. She had been obstinate and rather difficult, and yet Cain had rewarded her. She thought that the Admiral was supposed to be this amazing ice bitch.
When she finally made it back to her new bunkroom, she still had no clue what had just happened. Lee picked up on it immediately. He got up from his bunk where he had been reading some sort of book and made his way to where she was. Kara tried to ignore the urge to ask what he was reading and chose instead to focus on the horrible fact that she had to share a bunkroom with Lee. Maybe Admiral Cain thought it was generous to stick her in with someone she knew on this new ship. In reality, it was pure torture.
"Is something the matter, Kara?"
Kara shook her head and pulled herself up onto her top bunk. She hated the top bunk. "Nothing really. Admiral Cain summoned me."
"And that's nothing really?" Lee let out a laugh and leaned on the ladder below her bunk. "What did the Ice Bitch have to say?"
"She's not that bad," Kara defended without thought.
"Gods, she must have worked something magical on you. You're already her number one fan."
"I am not," Kara insisted. "I just liked the fact that she listened to reason."
"Care to explain what the frak that means?"
"She's going to go ahead with the rescue mission to Caprica." Kara didn't realize how big of a mistake this conversation was until she saw Lee's face completely fall.
"That's great," he said, knowing his words weren't very convincing.
Kara smiled bravely. "Yeah, it is."
"I'll let you get some sleep. I'm sure the transition's been hard on you, and you're on the flight schedule in the morning." Lee shut her curtain for her and was about to leave the room when he heard it pull back again. He turned to see Kara looking at him rather strangely.
"Thank you, Lee," she said.
He gave her a small nod and shut the hatch behind him. Leaning against the corridor wall, he let out the breath he hadn't even known he was holding. She had been so relieved to know that the rescue mission to Caprica wasn't called off now that Pegasus was ruling the Fleet. It was as if she was practically shouting that she couldn't wait to get back to Anders and his stupid fraking pyramid player arms.
Yet that smile she gave him right before he left made all the pain worth it. He would do anything for that smile.
Lee pushed up off the wall and wondered what he was going to do with his free time now. He had been reading up on colonial military law in order to see if what Cain was doing was illegal. He was just at the part with the law about demoting a colonial officer during wartime when Kara came into the bunkroom. Lee shook his head. He hadn't even had time to tell her about Cain taking him down to Lieutenant. He was too busy trying to soothe away her ever worry.
It made him want to laugh. He was so fraking whipped by a woman who didn't even want him.
"You're pathetic," Lee hissed, starting to walk down the corridor. There had to be something to do while he waited for Kara to fall asleep.