Lee spent the next three days balancing his duties with the time he spent visiting Kara in sickbay. It wasn't as hard as some might have guessed, especially given his extensive paperwork foray in the two weeks directly following the destruction of the resurrection ship. Other than changes to the flight schedule and the normal weekly maintenance reports, he didn't have much to do.
For the most part that was a good thing; it allowed him to spend his free time doing whatever he wanted, which always turned out to be keeping Kara sane during her stay in Cottle's dungeon. At first, things had been rather tentative and almost awkward between the two of them. Sometimes Lee would find himself not knowing what to say or do, unsure what her reaction might be. But with each passing minute they spent together it got easier. They'd almost reverted back to the easy banter that constituted their relationship.
There was only one bad thing about having the extra time; it forced Lee to put himself back on the flight schedule. He was still the CAG, that much hadn't changed, and because he wasn't swamped with paperwork and other various duties, he belonged out there with his pilots. His first time back in a viper had been two days after his lengthy conversation with Kara.
Lee stood in the middle of the bunkroom and zipped up his flight suit with trembling hands while he ignored the clenching pain in his stomach. He still wasn't sure this was a good idea, but it was either that or he revoked his own flight status, and that would cause too many people to start asking too many questions. He closed his eyes for a few seconds, inhaling and exhaling deeply, hoping it would somehow calm his nerves. He hadn't felt this way since his first time flying a real viper.
He opened up his eyes and he did up the buckles on the front of his flight suit, moving so forcefully that he nearly caught the skin of his thumb in the clasp. He'd made his decision; he was going to do this. He was going to get back in his viper, and now was not the time to chicken out.
When he made it to the flight deck he did his best to appear unchanged, completely in control, and not the slightest bit nervous. He was pretty sure that it worked, but he was too busy focusing on that to look for reactions from any of the crew.
The preflight routine went smoothly. He felt hyper-aware though, like the sounds, sights and smells of the hanger deck were sharper than before. It seemed more real after having lived in a puddle of confusion for the past… he didn't even know how long.
By the time he made it to the launch tube his stomach was twisting itself up in knots even if he didn't show any outward signs of it. The launch supervisor checked off the launch systems verbally, the fuzzy sound of his voice coming over the comm channel and filling Lee's ears.
Lee moved his hands into place, clutching the throttle a bit tighter than he needed to, only because it served to still his shaking hands. The supervisor's last words came through over the comm and Lee gave one sharp nod. It was now or never.
As he sped out the side of Galactica, his heart rate increased two-fold and he could feel sweat breaking out all over his body. But as soon as he made it into space he felt calmer. He'd never before considered the dark void to be soothing, but it was.
The CAP began their first sweep of the mining area, leaving the patrol around the civilians to the Pegasus pilots. With each turn and change of pitch Lee felt more like his old self.
He wished that he could pinpoint why - why this time was so much different than the others since his ejection from the blackbird - but he couldn't. He just knew that once again, it felt good to be flying.
"Cut the chatter," he said suddenly, interrupting Kat's punch line to a crude joke he'd heard a million times.
There were a few responses of "Yes, Sir", some sounding relieved to be spared from Kat's joke and others resentful about his order. He didn't care; all he wanted was to enjoy the feeling of flying again.
That had been the day before and Lee was just now returning from another rotation. Duck had gotten food poisoning and his shift needed to be covered at the last minute. Instead of delegating the responsibility, Lee had opted to take it. He had been sure of his decision until his stiff muscles began to protest as he levered himself out of his cockpit. He really needed to start working out again.
As soon as his feet hit the deck he hurried across the hanger deck. The only bad thing about taking Duck's rotation was that it left him with hardly any time to get to sickbay for Kara's release, or her 'return to freedom' as she had taken to calling it. She had said that she didn't need an escort back to the bunkroom, and he was sure that was true, but it didn't mean she didn't want one.
OoOoOoOoO
Kara could hardly contain her joy as Cottle stopped prodding her knee and told her that she was free to leave. She had used crutches the day before and he'd only needed to keep her for one extra night to make sure that 'walking' hadn't agitated her knee too much.
"Get the hell out of my sickbay," he ordered, the words coming out more like a growl.
"My pleasure, Sir," she said as she turned on the bed, swinging her legs over the side. Moving still hurt a hell of a lot, but it was bearable and that was all she could ask for.
Cottle muttered something under his breath as he turned and left. It was probably derogatory, but at that moment she truly didn't care. She was getting out of sickbay!
Her spirits dropped a little as she realized that Lee wasn't there to accompany her back as he had promised, but she knew that he would have a good reason for it. No sooner had the thought entered her mind than Lee walked through the partially open curtain.
"Ready to get out of here?" he asked.
"You b…" but the words died on her tongue as she took in his appearance. He was in a flight suit, and his hair was damp with sweat.
"You were flying," she said, the words somewhere between a statement and a question.
He nodded his head as he made his way over to stand beside her. "Yeah." A small grin spread over his face.
"You didn't tell me," she said, trying not to sound hurt. It was his business after all, but she would have expected him to tell her.
He just shrugged his shoulders. "I actually flew CAP last night too, but I didn't want to make a big deal out of it."
She tried not to think about how it was a big deal, for both of them.
"I figured with you worrying about your knee and getting out of here, that I'd just tell you later." His voice grew hesitant at the end of his sentence, like he was unsure how to say what he wanted to.
Kara couldn't help but notice how he still flinched when he mentioned her knee injury. She nodded her head. It did make sense, but she still wished that she would have known.
Lee extended his hand toward her and it took her a second to realize what he was doing. However, as soon as she did recognize the gesture for what it was, she gripped his hand tightly and allowed him to help her up from the bed, moving slowly so as not to jar her knee too much.
She stood there, balanced on her good leg, waiting patiently as Lee handed her her crutches.
She tucked them firmly under her arms, but before she started moving she said, "Can you grab that?" She looked down at the small duffel on the bedside chair to indicate what she was talking about.
"Sure," Lee said as he picked it up and slung it over his shoulder. There wasn't much in it, just a few clothes and a deck of cards, but it'd be rather awkward to carry while trying to maneuver the hallways with crutches.
She started moving and Lee followed her, hovering only half a step behind. She smiled.
OoOoOoOoO
Lee walked with Kara through the hallways of Galactica, doing his best to stay beside her and not linger behind to catch her in case she happened to fall. It wasn't that he really thought she would, but he couldn't help himself. The feeling was instinctive, and he wouldn't be able to rid himself of it if he tried.
They passed quite a few people on their way to the bunkroom. Some had warm wishes for Kara's recovery, others like Kat just had an icy glare to give.
It took a lot longer than usual to make it to the pilot's quarters, but Lee didn't acknowledge it in any way. He knew that Kara was already frustrated enough with having to use crutches, and reminding her of their slowing effects wouldn't be the smartest thing to do, not if he wanted to make it back to the bunkroom alive.
He wasn't surprised when they found the bunkroom empty. It was midday and most pilots were on either a CAP rotation or maintenance shift, and if they weren't then they were probably grabbing some R and R off-ship.
Lee hung back a little bit when they arrived, letting Kara enter first. She made her way across the room, slowly navigating past the table and a chair or two, heading for her bunk on the far side.
"It's good to be back," she said so quietly he wasn't even sure if he was meant to hear the words. She looked over her shoulder and smiled at him. It was infectious and he found himself grinning back. He wanted to say something in response, but everything that flitted through his mind didn't seem right.
Kara moved the final distance until she was in front of her bunk. She stopped suddenly and muttered something under her breath, her smile falling away. If Lee wasn't mistaken it sounded like "Crap".
"Umm," she said quietly as Lee was still trying to figure out what was wrong. "I don't think this is going to work."
She was eying the top bunk with disgust and suddenly it clicked. When the Pegasus had arrived, some pilots had been transferred and a lot of the bunk arrangements had shifted, including theirs. Kara's bunk was now a top one instead of a bottom.
Lee reached around Kara and tossed her duffel onto his bunk, directly beneath hers.
"What are you doing?" she asked, sounding half confused and half intrigued.
He shrugged. "You can have my bunk until your knee's better," he said, biting his tongue at the end to keep from adding, 'it's my fault anyway'.
"Are you sure?" she asked, rapidly switching her gaze from him to the bottom bed.
He nodded. "Yeah." It's not like they weren't already living in each other's back pockets.
"Thanks," she said, her voice unusually quiet.
After a few seconds of odd silence, Kara opened her locker, directly to the left of their racks. She reached in and pulled out her… shower kit? The Starbuck grin was back. "I don't think I've ever wanted a shower more in my life," she said, completely in earnest.
Lee chuckled. "Well, I bet we could do something about that."
OoOoOoOoOoO
Late that night Kara lay in Lee's bunk, listening to the quiet chatter of the other pilots as they either left for a night shift or made their way to their racks for some sleep. Lee was off in a meeting with the President and she was enjoying her freedom.
She wouldn't be back on active duty for about another three weeks, so she really didn't have that much to do. Although she supposed that it wouldn't be long before people started to hand off paperwork to her, or assigned her other tasks that didn't require a fully functioning knee. She'd welcome it actually, because doing nothing would drive her stir crazy. For the current time however, she didn't have anything to do, and her mind began to drift like it had taken to doing for the past few weeks.
Things weren't back to normal between the two of them and not even just with Lee himself, but they were on their way. There were times however when she could tell that he was thinking about saying something, probably important, but then he wouldn't. She didn't mention it to him. The last thing that she wanted to do was push. All she could do was hope that he might open up eventually, and if he didn't on his own, she could think of a few ways to persuade him.
He still felt guilty about what had happened, she could see it in his eyes every time he looked at her, and his actions only made it that much clearer. He was being protective. It was usually just frakking annoying to her, as she hated being mollycoddled, but this time she didn't mind it so much, although she couldn't think up a clear reason for why that was. She'd bet anything that it had more to do with the person who was being overprotective, instead of the situation. Lee always made her do crazy shit.
Even now, lying in his bunk, her head on his pillow, breathing in the unique scent that was him, her mind was drifting into dangerous territory. There were things that she'd vowed never to think about in regards to Lee; feelings that he stirred up inside of her, feelings that she knew were true and wouldn't be disappearing any time soon. She'd shoved them so far down, hoping that she would never have to confront them. It was complete and utter denial, but it meant that there was no chance for her to betray Zak and ruin the best friendship she had all in one fell swoop. It seemed worth it to her.
TBC