Lee was going to stay on Caprica a whole month. A month! Now at first I was delighted. A whole month – four weeks – 30 days! That meant there would be lots of opportunities to meet with him and get to know him better.
But then real life hit me and I realized I would have to spend a whole month yearning for my boyfriend's really hot brother. I'm really not that strong. Maybe I should just hide this next month? Or maybe I could fake a Viper accident and spend the next month in hospital. Lying around in bed all day for weeks wasn't really my thing, but one had to take sacrifices. A mental image of Lee nursing me naked suddenly came into my mind. I sighed. I was completely frakked! I would totally screw this up, Zak would leave me and I would be alone again.
"Absolutely right." Little Devil yelled excitedly.
Little Angel said nothing. I actually waited a few minutes for it to comment and say that of course I would do the right thing and Zak and I would stay together forever and ever. But it kept quiet. Was it trying to tell me something with this silence? I tried to ignore the two for now and kept on living my real life: which went pretty well for about six hours. Then Zak told me we were going on a double date with Lee. I felt excited. Another meeting with Lee: Yippee. I love double dates.
"You're not supposed to be that happy about it, remember?" Oh, now Little Angel starts talking again. Thank you very much, but I could have needed your advice a few hours earlier.
I stayed excited about the prospect of seeing Lee again tonight for exactly 9 minutes and 36 seconds. Then it hit me that double dating meant that Lee would come with another woman. Or a man - He could be gay! Zak never really mentioned anything about his sexual preferences. But Lee gay? Life couldn't be so cruel. This man definitely belonged to a woman. Preferably me, but since I'm with his brother that probably wouldn't happen.
So Lee would bring a woman. He just got here two days ago. How did he meet a woman already? Okay, yeah, stupid question, I know. That man has the looks of a god. Okay, Lee would bring a woman. Maybe it was one of the two jogging beauties I meet every morning. Again, life couldn't be that cruel, could it? But when I looked back at my life I realised: It could.
Okay, so Lee would bring a woman tonight, probably one of the jogging beauties. I needed to be prepared. I checked my closet and realized I had absolutely nothing to wear. That had never happened before. I always have something to wear. I'm not like other women who buy new clothes every day, only to lament the next day that their closet is full of old, stinking clothes. I never cared about these things. But I did now. Frak, I had to go shopping. I hate shopping. But it could not be avoided. I needed to look absolutely glorious tonight. I wasn't exactly sure why. I already had a boyfriend, Zak loved me – he had actually said that several times, not just during sex. So there was no reason for me to act like a 16-year old before her first date. But since that was exactly how I felt right now, I put on my running shoes and went shopping.
Five hours, 42 minutes and 10 seconds later I returned to my apartment. I had bought outfits for at least 10 different occasions. Now I just needed to decide which one to wear tonight. Oh gods, I'm turning into one of those women. Aahhrrgg! And all that for a man I can never have.
"You're so screwed." Little Devil did a Happy-Dance on my shoulder.
Little Angel stayed quiet. Again! This was starting to become a habit. And I wasn't too happy about it.
Should I be worried that it annoys me that an imaginary little angel on my right shoulder suddenly stays quiet? Maybe I should just send myself into the next mental facility. At least that way I would make sure never to see Lee again. And Zak, too, unfortunately. A sudden image of naked Lee tying me up to the bed in said mental facility made me let out a frustrated groan.
The evening came. Zak had told me we would meet Lee and his date outside the restaurant. It wasn't the same as last night. The waiter would have probably kicked me out after I didn't just kick one glass of ambrosia off the table, but actually two glasses and then ran into him on my way back from the toilet while he carried some plates. Of course those plates hadn't been empty; they had been full of great looking and very delicious smelling food. The waiter as well as the waiting customers had shot me angry looks for the rest of the evening.
So we waited in front of another restaurant. We only had to wait a few minutes before Lee arrived. Walking right next to him was one of the jogging beauties I meet every morning. Life, did I do something bad to you that I'm not aware of? If so, please let me know so I can make it up again and you can stop being so cruel to me.
Lee introduced everyone. The jogging beauty actually had a name. Melinda. What a name is that please? Melinda? I already hated her. Not that she wasn't nice. I had always expected that someone with her looks had to be some brainless slut but apparently she was a law student. Of course she not only had to look better than me, she was also a lot smarter than me. And she was nice. What a bitch!
When we sat inside the restaurant Lee told the story about how he and Melinda had met yesterday on their morning run. Hello, I was there too. We met, remember? Okay, not really met. We ran past each other but I wouldn't have turned down a nice "Hi". And the story wasn't even a funny one. Jogging Beauty – or Melinda – had tried to get out of Ugly Old Man's reach as he had tried to give her a clap on her ass and she had bumped straight into Lee. I always hated Ugly Old Man. And now he had even ruined what could have been a really nice evening. If he had kept his hands where they belonged Melinda would have never bumped into Lee, they would have just past by each other and Lee would be sitting here alone with me. And Zak of course. Zak, ironically, loved the story. And he really liked Melinda. Later that night when we were back at home he told me that Lee and Melinda would be a perfect couple. They looked so good together. Yeah right, as if men knew anything about that. Lee and Melinda didn't fit at all. I couldn't really come up with a reason for that other than that Melinda wasn't me but that didn't mean I wasn't right. Melinda was not the right woman for Lee. He had surely noticed that for himself by now and would never see her again. End of story.
Three days later Zak and I went on another double date with Lee and Melinda. I hate double dates. Who had come up with this nonsense anyway?
All in all the four of us went out together four times in two weeks. I had finally accepted the fact that Lee and Melinda might not be such a bad couple after all. And Melinda really turned out to be quiet nice. We had some really nice chats when the guys were talking about the latest great pyramid game. Not that I'm not interested in pyramid games. I love pyramid, no I breathe pyramid. I even wanted to start playing it professionally, but then I hurt my knee and that part of my life was over. That's when I decided to join the military. Had I known back then that because of this decision I would be in this horrid situation right now I would have taken the next office job I could get! But here I am and that's just life I guess.
So, like I said, Melinda and I got along quiet well. Unfortunately she wasn't interested in Pyramid at all but in Ugly Old Man we found a topic that we could dwell on for hours. It was actually great to talk bad about this guy with someone other than my two little imaginary friends living on my shoulders.
Anyway, since Lee and Zak seemed to be so thrilled that Melinda and I were friends now we decided to go out together a fifth time. After all, this was a perfectly normal thing to do for friends. Well, Melinda and I were not really friends but Lee and Zak were so happy thinking that and I didn't want to ruin this for them.
So we went into another nice restaurant, talked, laughed, enjoyed the food. We had a really great time. Since it was such a nice night we decided to go for a walk on the beach. Lee and Melinda walked a few meters ahead of us. Did I mention that he calls her Mel all the time? How stupid is that. Anyway, instead of enjoying the moonshine glistening on the ocean I kept staring at the back of Lee's head.
"This is a wonderful evening, isn't it?" Zak asked me softly.
"Mhm." I didn't even really listened to what he was saying. I was too busy watching Lee and Melinda walking arm in arm. Not listening to Zak was mistake number 1.
"Kara, I want to ask you something." Zak gently grabbed me by the arm so I would stop walking. I shot him a slightly annoyed look. We would never catch up with Lee and Melinda if we just stood around like some lovers on the beach. Then I remembered that we were in fact two lovers on the beach so I changed my look from annoyed to loving. It must have worked because now Zak gently took my hands into his. I still kept staring at Lee though.
"Kara, do you want to marry me?"
"Sure, why not." Mistake number 2 was replying to a question I hadn't even really listened to.
"Seriously? Oh Kara, I love you so much." I suddenly noticed a joy in Zak's voice that I wasn't quiet used to. So I decided to turn away my attention from Lee for a moment and looked up at Zak. I saw nothing but the dark night in front of me. I was slightly confused. I had actually expected to look into Zak's face. When I looked down I found him kneeling before me, holding a ring in his hands. Oh, oh, what had been his last question again?
"He proposed to you." Little Angel whispered excitedly in my ear.
"Run!" Little Devil yelled terrified.
"Uhm ..." I wasn't quite sure what to say. But it turned out that wasn't even necessary anyway. Zak had jumped up and pulled me into a tight embrace before he called for his brother to tell the good news.
Lee and Melinda both congratulated us happily. Actually, Melinda congratulated us happily. Lee just stood frozen for a second and stared at us in disbelief. It took him a few moments to regain his composure before he congratulated us. And he didn't really do it in a happy way. More like in an "Oh gods, what's happening here" kind of way. I wondered why that was.
"He loves you and has realized he just lost you to his kid brother forever." Little Devil stated happily. He really liked drama too much. Maybe I should buy him a TV and then he could watch soap operas all day and would have enough drama so he wouldn't have to keep commenting on my life. I could already imagine the look on the seller's face when I ask him for a TV in extra small so it would fit on my shoulder. Okay, yes, that's it. I'm totally nuts.
"He just hadn't expected for you two to get married so quickly. He just met you for the first time two weeks ago. Of course he's happy for you. He's just looking out for his brother." Little Angel assured me.
"Or he thinks you're not good enough for this brother." Little Devil cut in again. Hey, you already had your opinion, you can't just change that. I shot him an angry glare. But deep down I knew he was right. Of course Lee thought I wasn't good enough for Zak. You just had to look at my family. My mother was an alcoholic and my father ... well, I don't even know my father. He ran off when I was six months old. And then look at the Adama family. The mother, I never met her but from what Zak told me, she is the perfect mother. And the father is a decorated Battlestar Commander. Of course I wasn't worth it. And Zak would realize that too one day. I suddenly felt like I couldn't breathe anymore.
But when I looked back at Lee I suddenly noticed an almost desperate look in his eyes. He kept staring at me in a way that said "Don't take him. I'm right here."
"That's only your imagination and you know it. Zak loves you and he always will." Little Angel stated determinedly.
"Yeah, why would a man like Lee Adama want someone like you?" Little Devil agreed. I hate them both. But they're right. Zak loves me. I promised to marry him. So that's exactly what I am going to do.
A.N.: Again thanks a lot to Starbuck042786 for beta reading. You really made this chapter so much better. To everyone else: Thanks for reading and please review.