"I had a hope that you would forget all those lies your mother told you and believe me when I say you are the most beautiful woman I have ever met," Lee whispered to her, and it was all Kara could do to focus on the triad cards in her hand and not on the small profession of love by her superior officer.
Within ten seconds, Lee knew Kara was having a bad day. Usually she was all taunts and laughter when she took a seat at the triad table, but this time she was silent as she mercilessly took all of Hot Dog's cigars and his only extra sweatshirt.
He knew better than to keep playing when Starbuck was in this kind of mood and motioned for Gaeta to deal him out of the hand.
Leaning back in his chair, Lee racked his brain, trying to come up with why she might be so out of it, and finally remembered the XO asking her to try to come up with a way to rig colonial weapons to their captured Cylon Raider. It was meaningless task, something that wasn't necessary, and Colonel Tigh knew it. He just wanted to get to the almighty Starbuck in the only real way he could.
Lee watched a glimmer of a smirk come to Kat's face as she pushed her last bottle of conditioner into the pot and braced himself for another stupid comment from the graduated nugget.
"I might have to let you win this hand, Lieutenant. Some of the civilians who were on ship yesterday were commenting on the rather rough looking woman who was running the corridors. I could only assume they meant you and your morning jog."
Lee watched Kara's jaw tighten and knew that the words had hit home somehow.
"You have been taking care of yourself less and less these days. I understand there's no real reason when our lives are guided by the basic need to survive. I mean, no one gets on my case if I hit my rack for extra downtime in lieu of a shower." Kat threw a handful of cubits into the pot before leaning closer to the table. "But you're rather high profile, Starbuck. You think you would try to set a good example."
Kara laid down her cards carefully. "Are you currently breathing, Katraine?"
"Excuse me?"
"I'm sorry," Kara apologized. "I'll talk slow and in simple words. Are you taking in air and then letting it out in a manner that implies you are not dead?"
"Yeah," Kat said, rolling her eyes.
"Right. You are alive because I busted my ass to prove you knew nothing about flying. I broke you down and brought you back up. Every time you take a Viper off this ship, you stay alive because of me. I am the flight instructor, top gun, and the only gods-damn pilot who can do a full work-up on her own bird. I had to sacrifice a lot of things to do all I can to keep stupid mother frakers like you alive, Kat, so show a little respect."
Lee watched the other triad players smirk and chuckle as Kat was put in her place, but he couldn't muster the energy to join them. The words were pure Starbuck, but they didn't match the look in her eyes. Her mind was somewhere else and had been since Kat's first comment.
Kara picked her cards up off the table and sighed. "When I was young, my mama always said that this is a dog eat dog world and if I wanted to be anything, I had to work harder than everyone else. I had to be harder, tougher, than any of the men out there fighting to take my position. She told me there wasn't time to be a girl if you wanted to make something of yourself, and she was right. Maybe the second I have to stop working so hard to prove myself to frakers like you Kat, I'll have time to work on my hygiene so I can be easy on the eyes."
No one said much after that. The triad bets went around the table a few times, and there was a small amount of teasing and joking. Then it was quiet again. Kara won with four on a run. No one was surprised.
Racetrack started shuffling the triad deck for another round, and Lee took the small window of opportunity where no one was watching either him or Kara to lean a little closer to the woman seated next to him. "I can't believe you just shared that bit about your mother with the whole table."
Kara looked over at him and smiled. "I guess I really am tired."
Lee nodded. He had known for years about the beliefs Sarah Thrace had tried to instill in her daughter, but that was only because Kara was so weak after Zak's death. She had broken down in the remembrance ceremony after the burial. Lee had seen it coming and made sure she was out of the way when she finally lost control. It was only because she was scared that she started talking about how much her mother would have disapproved of the way she loved Zak.
Lee learned a lot of things that day which he filed away for when he would need them.
This was one of those times.
Taking a deep breath, he leaned close enough that he could smell the small lavender scent of her shampoo. "I had a hope that you would forget all those lies your mother told you and believe me when I say you are the most beautiful woman I have ever met," Lee whispered to her, and it was all Kara could do to focus on the triad cards in her hand and not on the small profession of love by her superior officer.
She cleared her throat as Lee moved away to gather up the new cards being dealt to him. "You know my daddy also had a few things to say about hygiene."
It seemed Kat knew better than to open her mouth on this one.
"He always warned me about the opposite sex, said that if I spent too much time focusing on men that I would mess everything up. Some crazy guy could come in and ruin all the dreams I had if I wasn't careful."
"Damn straight," Racetrack agreed as she threw two cigars into the middle of the table.
"I spent years heeding his advice."
"And now?" Gaeta asked.
"I'm starting to think it might be kind of nice to lay down my dreams and just let myself be." Kara looked directly at Kat. "It might be nice to have the time to start worrying about how I looked."
"I think you look just fine," Gaeta pointed out.
"Thank you," Kara said, smiling and turning back to her cards. "Then again, why should I give everything up just to look pleasing to the world? I was raised to be a strong woman, to follow my dreams no matter what road I ended up on."
"Why can't you have both?" Racetrack said, nodding.
Kara's eyes drifted down to her hands. They were caked with grease and dirt from working on the Raider, and she didn't think her fingernails would ever come clean. The rest of her body pretty much matched that little detail. Smirking, she looked around the table. Her eyes settled briefly on Lee. She gave him a wink before moving on to Kat. "I want a man who isn't afraid to call me beautiful despite the fact that I don't have time to make an effort. I want a man who could call me beautiful when I'm covered in grease and dirt and actually make me believe he meant it."
"Such a man doesn't exist," Kat said with a laugh.
Kara nodded in agreement, and it was only because Lee had known her for years that he was able to brace himself for the kill shot. "You're right. That kind of man doesn't exist… at least not for people like you, Katraine."
"And what about you, Thrace?"
Kara laughed. "I already have one, thank you very much, and now folks, it's time to bring this little gabfest of confessions and accusations to a close." She threw down her cards, revealing full colors, and began to do a little victory shimmy.
Lee leaned back in his chair and smiled. Mission accomplished. Starbuck was back to normal.
