Presents
He'd done it. He'd gone and frakking given her a Christmas gift.
After she'd explicitly forbidden him to.
That was Lee Adama all over. Most people thought he was so proper and by the book but she knew better - he absolutely delighted in doing things people wouldn't expect. Especially her.
It was like he was trying to outdo her in a 'pain in the butt' contest.
She huffed like a stream train under full power. Lee Adama had gone one step too far this time. Christmas was a despised thing as far as she was concerned. She hated the holidays - hated everything about them.
As for gifts ... she could count on the fingers of one hand how many times she'd been given gifts for Christmas. All of them held bad memories.
Her mother had bought her the talking doll she'd wanted so badly when she was eight years old and then had taken it away a few weeks later when Kara had forgotten to make her bed before going to school.
She'd never seen it again.
She'd been given the jeans she'd begged for - the ones that were girly and flattered her curves perfectly when she'd just begun to have them. Her mother had expressly forbidden her to wear them in public though, saying she looked like a tart and if she went ahead and wore them she'd be telling men she was cheap and easy.
She'd never worn them. Not even once.
Zak had given her a beautiful red satin negligee for their first Christmas together. It was beautiful. It was soft and full and it made her feel like a princess when she wore it. It was the best used article of clothing she'd ever owned.
Zak had died a month later and she'd thrown it in the trash, unable to even look at it.
Lee was going to pay for his disobedience. Nobody frakked with Starbuck, he should know that by now.
She marched into the bunkroom, not caring if anyone else was there. "Lee Adama you take this back right frakking now! I told you, no Christmas presents."
Lee stood there, calm and unruffled, watching her get angrier and angrier at his lack of reaction.
"Did you hear me? I told you I didn't want any Christmas presents, now take this back!" She held out the package to him with a look of disgust, as though a severed finger or something of the like was in it.
"Open it Kara," he said softly.
"No! I don't want it!"
"Open it."
She growled inarticulately.
"Please?"
"You are so going to pay for this," she murmured through clenched teeth, ripping off the brown paper and opening the box.
Inside was a gold wedding band. Her wedding band - the one Zak had given her all those years ago.
"Where did you find this?" she whispered, awestruck. "It's been missing for months. I didn't think I'd ever see it again." She took it out of the box delicately and held it as if it was the most priceless thing in the universe.
"When I cleaned out the head last week. It had rolled into a crevice under the bench. As soon as I saw it I knew it was yours."
Kara swallowed, the lump in her throat growing as her eyes began to prickle. She flew at him and hugged him hard.
"I don't think I've ever been so happy that you're an anal neat freak," she whispered into his ear.
He folded his arms around her waist and smiled. "I don't think I've ever received a nicer compliment from you. Obviously I'm going to have to get you Christmas presents every year."
fin