Tears (4)
It was as if she'd punched him. Worse actually. She had punched him before and he remembered all too well what it felt like. It had hurt his pride but it hadn't hurt his heart - the knowledge of what had happened the night before the smack had been what had hurt. Surprising, since he'd never realized till that morning just how much she'd meant to him and why her betrayal in sleeping with someone else had cut him so deeply.
No, the look in her eyes - the tears - that hurt him more than anything. He knew he was being unreasonable as pilots had near misses all the time and clipping someone else's wing wasn't a criminal sin. But he just hadn't been able to stop himself. He was so damned angry at her and he didn't even know why. Yelling at her, pointing a finger under her nose and threatening to toss her out an airlock had made him feel good, as though he'd had the upper hand for once.
Her tears and the obvious internal pain that came with them at his insults jabbed him far deeper and more harshly than any punch she could have thrown at him. She could have nearly destroyed his body and it wouldn't have hurt as much as seeing her cry.
Starbuck. Cry.
The one thing he never thought he'd ever see in his lifetime, and he'd been the cause of it. It cut him like a mortal blow to the heart.
Go on Kara, hit me back. I deserve it.