Two weeks ago she'd found Lee, Helo and another Cylon with Boomer's face. She led them to her apartment and ended up crying herself to sleep in Lee's arms on her bed after she confessed her part in Zak's death only for Lee to forgive her and hold her in his arms as she sobbed. She woke up the next morning sprawled over Lee, her head on his chest and clutching his left hand in her right while her right leg had pinned both of his to the mattress.
The awkward moment she'd expected from Lee never came, not even a sarcastic remark. He just gave her a sleepy smile while she slid off of him and quickly woke the others. After finding one last cigar and palming her father's music files she led the others down to her truck and they drove out of town.
They stopped just a few miles outside of the Delphi city limits and Lee quickly created a model of the Cylon presence around the air field to break down what intel they had from their escape attempt. They were ambushed by a resistance group and met most of the C-Bucs including Sam Anders who led the group.
After they'd all reassured each other that everyone was human (they neglected to mention Boomer) the group took them to an abandoned high school which now served as the base camp for the resistance.
As she bent to pick up the ball someone stepped on it and then flipped it up with their toe. She stood up and found Lee smirking at her with the ball in his hand, she grinned at her now-clean-shaven friend and spoke, "Well hey there baby-face!"
With a shrug he ran his free hand over his jaw, "I am definitely glad to be rid of that rat's nest."
She pretended to give him a once over then spoke in a throaty voice, "I thought it was sexy."
His eyebrow rose and he looked at her with a bland expression, "Really?" His flat tone said clearly that he didn't believe her for a second.
She started to nod then spoke, "Not really, made you look like a pervert."
He laughed, "Well, maybe you should grow a beard, since you are a pervert."
She gave him a light punch in the stomach for his cheek then reached for her ball. With a grin, he pulled the ball out of reach. She scowled slightly and said, "May I have my ball, Lee?"
He raised an eyebrow at her again and smirked, "What, I can't hold it?"
She shook her head and chuckled, "Don't be an ass."
She reached again and he passed the ball behind his back, "What's the magic word, Starbuck?"
She rolled her eyes and reached for it as she said, "May I have the ball back, please?"
He pretended to mull it over before offering the ball to her, "How about a game?"
She tilted her head at him with a haughty expression, "Seriously?"
He shrugged, "Yeah."
She took the ball and passed it back and forth in her hands, "You hate pyramid."
He shook his head, "I said I hate pyramid broadcasts. I played all the time growing up. I was even on my high school team. I mean, I'm not as good as someone who was recruited into the Academy to play, but I'm not too terrible."
She gave him a placating expression, "Aww, is the poor little Academy and War College Valedictorian feeling inadequate?" She grinned, "Okay, the court is regulation for one-on-one; we'll play to ten, win by two. Fair?"
He nodded then shrugged off his jacket and found a pair of gloves and forearm guards while she adjusted hers. "We playing for something?"
She laughed, "Other than to humiliate you?" He nodded and she continued, "We'll name terms later, when I win."
She put the ball in play and Lee made a swipe for the ball, she pivoted and put her back to the goal to protect possession and smirked when she felt Lee's rather unorthodox hand check, one hand at the small of her back and the other on her left hip. "Taking advantage, Apollo?"
She heard him grunt when she pushed back against him, "My coach always said to follow the hips. You can't make a move without moving your hips first."
She nodded, that was sound defensive philosophy, but she couldn't help herself, "Nice line, but…" She shoved her ass backwards and pivoted again then bounced the ball hard off the ground sending it into the goal cage and moved around Lee. The ball bounced high and she quickly tipped it into the goal with a rattle of sheet metal.
She gathered the ball and flipped it to him with a laugh, "I think you were just copping a feel. One-zero."
Bringing the ball into play, Lee stayed square to the goal. His free hand out in front and he held the ball back behind him. Kara's game face snapped down over her features and she brought one hand up to prevent a long shot the other reached out until she could almost grasp his fingers. They slapped at each other's hands and Lee faked with his shoulders before she said, "Make a move already Apollo."
He made another shoulder fake then took two steps and hurled the ball towards one of the barricades they'd placed out of bounds in place of the walls they'd have for an indoor court, and tried to move around her for a shot off the rebound. Kara shuffled backwards to block the goal and as he surged to the goal his thigh collided hard with hers as she buried her shoulder into his solar plexus. The air left his lungs and he crashed to the pavement while she gathered the loose ball and brought it to the far end of the court to reset play.
Lee scrambled to his feet just in time to watch the ball sail through the goal with an emphatic sound. She merely winked as he grabbed the ball and wheezed slightly. This time he dipped low and tried to bull rush past her. Ignoring finesse, she hooked an arm under his and tangled his legs up with hers and they stumbled to the ground as the ball bounced away.
She had twisted so that Lee was on his back and she was on top of him and smirking at him, "Not so cocky now, are you?"
"On the contrary, I never said I was going to win, I'd be stupid to think I could beat you in pyramid." He folded his hands behind his head and looked like he wasn't interested in moving at the moment.
She shrugged and found a more comfortable position for both of them, "Then would you care to tell me why you even offered a game?"
"Two reasons; first, you were having fun and so was I. Second and more importantly; I got to grab your hip, squeeze your ass and end up with you lying on me without even buying you dinner." She clubbed him in the chest as he laughed, but still she didn't move and he didn't make her. She was beginning to truly enjoy the open flirting they seemed to be doing.
She supposed she'd started it, with the way she'd sprawled over him that morning and by not telling him it didn't mean anything (which probably would have been a lie.) She felt the need to touch Lee, to make sure he wasn't just a daydream or a by-product of her concussion. He didn't seem to mind, hell one of the first things he did in the museum was caress her face. It made a girl wonder if a certain pilot had a crush. Still, it was more than that.
Something had been missing from her for the last two months, between the loss of Lee and being the CAG, she'd found herself slipping into her flight instructor persona full-time, she wasn't the life of the party and other than the night she told Adama about Zak and the party for Colonial Day with Kat and Racetrack, Kara hadn't drank since the Holocaust. Suddenly Starbuck had become a different pilot and officer and every once in a while she missed who she used to be. Lee was allowing her to be the old Starbuck, even if only for a while.
He pushed himself up on his elbows and spoke in a soft and serious tone, "You should have told me Kara."
She shook her head as she got off him and rose to her feet, "So, two-nothing and it's my ball."
She heard Lee scrambling to his feet and as she was about to pick up the ball a hand gripped her elbow. There were three people in the Universe who could ever get away with gripping her arm to keep her from walking away from an argument, all of them were named Adama and two of them could expect to be laid out as often as getting her to talk. She'd never hit the Old Man after all.
She turned and didn't hit him, yet. "Kara, you should have told me, I would have understood."
She shook her head and looked away, "Please Lee." She didn't care for the tone of her voice but she was desperate not to talk about this.
His hand slid up her arm and gripped her shoulder and he squeezed it in a reassuring fashion, "Talk to me."
She refused to meet his eyes, "What could I have said Lee, 'I passed Zak 'cause we were starting to have trouble and I was terrified that if I failed him that would be the last straw?' You were furious with your dad, what would you have said to me?"
"I would have understood." She finally looked up at him incredulously and he shrugged, "Or you would have gotten mad enough to start hitting me until I understood."
"It would have only made things even worse… I would have only made it worse, you would have hated me."
He frowned and looked more like his father than she ever remembered, "When we get back, you and I will sit down with my father and talk this out." He smiled slightly, "I know that isn't what we're best at, but there are a lot of things that need to be said. This can't wait though; Kara, you were and are my best friend, I love you and if it's the last thing I do, I'll convince you to trust me enough to talk to me. Understand?"
She tried to fight the grin that tickled at her mouth but it was a lost cause, "You love me?"
He narrowed his eyes at her but nodded, "Yeah."
She only grinned wider, "You love lil' ole me?"
"What are you? Twelve?"
She shrugged, "It's just surprising is all. I mean most of us thought you were made of stone. It's the only way you'd be attracted to a Stone Wall after all."
He barked out a laugh, "Bitch!" She pushed at him and they started grappling for dominance both of them laughing as they did.
&&&&&&&&&
Sam watched as Starbuck and Apollo wrestled with each other over by their ad-hoc pyramid court with interest. Truth be told, he'd found Starbuck extremely attractive, she was athletic and fiery and sarcastic, everything he enjoyed in a woman. It didn't hurt that she had a body that screamed sin, he enjoyed that in a woman too.
Of course, Apollo might be a bit of a problem, he'd immediately determined that Helo looked at her like an older brother and he was eyeing Boomer possessively so it was safe to say she was his. Apollo however seemed to cast glances at Starbuck in almost the same manner as Helo eyed Boomer. That wasn't as much of a problem as the way Starbuck acted with Apollo, he'd noticed it right from the start. When they'd finally decided that everyone was human and not a threat, the first thing Starbuck had done was reach out and grasp Apollo's hand to lower his gun. Then it lingered and she gave him a smirk that he reacted to like a gentle smile.
Now this pyramid game was leaving him worried, after all he had no problem bedding a woman who was single, but he wasn't about to poach on private property. Especially with a guy who looked like he was a second or two from going completely psycho. Helo, Starbuck and even Boomer seemed rather relaxed here in the camp but Apollo was watching everyone with a guarded expression.
Sam heard a rustling of foil behind him and turned to find Helo tearing open a chocolate bar from one of the vending machines on campus. He nodded to the bigger man and greeted him, "Helo."
Helo took a bite of chocolate and sighed happily, "Damn, that's good. I was so tired of MREs, peanut butter and canned soup."
Sam shrugged, "Well, we've been living on increasingly stale breakfast cereal for almost two weeks now. Though I think they're trying to start growing things in the greenhouse. Man cannot live on breakfast foods alone." Starbuck's shriek of laughter drew his attention as Apollo hauled her over his shoulder and swatted her backside before she swung her legs around and they crashed to the ground.
Sam frowned at them, "What's their story?"
Helo shrugged, "It's complicated, I don't even know it for sure. Starbuck, Boomer and I served under his father before the attacks and she's currently the CAG on our ship."
The Pyramid player shook his head, "It has to be way more than that."
Helo smiled, "Oh it is. They were at the Academy together, she gave him his call-sign and vice versa. Everyone they went to flight school with thought they were frakking. I'm guessing it's really complicated."
Sam sighed, he'd be poaching. Starbuck and Apollo may as well be frakking because even if they weren't they'd act like they were if he made a pass. "So, I can guess at Apollo, he's probably some super-hotshot pilot, but Starbuck?"
Helo grinned, "According to Apollo, she started at the Academy on a pyramid scholarship but messed up her knee. She's from Caprica, so when she started flying everyone called her 'the Star of the C-Bucs' which became 'Starbuck.'"
Sam nodded, "So, are you four going to start going by your names at some point? You're going to be here a while after all."
"Oh, I doubt that." Both men turned to find Starbuck and Apollo had come over to them, Starbuck's hair was ruffled and Apollo had a bloody lip but both pilots looked completely at ease. Apollo spoke again, "After tonight, we'll be leaving to get our hands on a ship to get back to the Galactica."
Starbuck nodded and turned to Helo, "Let Boomer know we're moving out in the morning. We have a plan, so get plenty of sleep." The pair walked off bantering quietly.
Sam watched them go with a sigh, "I never had a chance, did I?" He turned to Helo who just shook his head as he took another bite from his candy before walking off himself. When he was alone, he could only think of one word to sum up the situation, "Frak."
End Part