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A/N: I want to thank everyone who has left a review. It helps me to continue this story. Please keep in mind that my characters will be somewhat different than those on the show due to different experiences.
Chapter Three: To Sleep...Perchance To Dream
Captain Kara Thrace strode the sterile corridors of the UAG hospital ship Hippocrates. She had several meetings today and being late was not an option, but she also need to see her friend Doc Avery before she went to sleep again. Although with her current schedule she was not sure when she would be getting some sleep. Her deputy CAG brought her a problem involving 2 of her pilots that could turn into a nightmare and the possibility of them being dismissed and banned from military service, not to mention jail time.
She walked into ICU where she was told that Avery was currently going over patient charts. Kara hated hospitals and that was all this rust bucket really was; a mobile space hospital. She went over to the nurses station and grabbed a chair to wait. Everyone here knew her from her very brief relationship with Avery, so no one questioned the Captain when she sat down and put her feet up.
"Starbuck it is good to see you," Avery said coming up behind her. "Especially not attached to a gurney."
"You think you are so funny," Starbuck replied standing and giving Avery a big hug.
"You just bring out the best in me. Let's go to my office before we start a few rumors that might get back to your fiancee," he replied placing his hand at the small of her back and guiding her down the corridor to his office.
Starbuck walked in and plopped herself down right onto his desk. Avery laughed as he watched her swing her legs like a small kid instead of the best fighter pilot the UAG had.
"You said something about wanting to conduct an experiment. So what exactly do you have in mind?" He asked sitting down behind the desk.
"I want to monitor my activity while I am sleeping," Kara replied turning around to face him.
"Well you know I can do that here if you want to stay for a couple of nights," he said.
"No I can't do it here. I need to be in my quarters," Kara replied shaking her head. She knew that if there were people around she would not dream; at least not about Lee.
"The I can come to your quarters and set it up there," Avery said. He liked the idea of spending some time alone with her. He knew she was engaged and to Sam no less, but he still had very deep feelings for her.
"No Avery. I need to be alone."
"Starbuck what is going on?" Avery was not liking what he was hearing. She was hiding something and he was worried that it was something that could wind up biting both of them in the ass later.
"I can't talk about it right now. Not with you or anybody else. I have more questions than answers and I need time to figure out what is going on. I need you to trust me and please don't breathe a word of this to anyone especially the fleet admiral," she said looking at him imploringly.
Avery did not like this but he knew he was going to help her. She was not really asking for anything illegal. He was just worried that she would get in over her head and not ask for help until it was too late. That would not be anything new for her, that was the way she operated.
Getting up he went over to a set of shelves in an a little alcove and brought back a small back case. He opened and began pulling things out of the case and sitting them on the desk.
"Ok, this little black box will record all the information while your are sleeping," he explained holding up the little box. "Everything is color coded so this will be easy. There are 4 blue electrodes that go on your head. One on each side of you temple and the other 2 at the base of your skull. The white electrode is a pulse monitor and you just place it around your index finger. The 2 red electrodes are to monitor your heart, so just place them on your chest. Since no will be there I won't be able to monitor your body movements. Wether or not you are actually at rest or if your are reacting to what your are dreaming about. When you are done just send the box back and I can get the information from it."
"Thank you Avery. I knew you would help me," she said taking the box from him.
"I could help you more if you just told me what is going on." He replied
"Don't. Please I am asking you..."
"Alright, I won't push," he said taking her hand into his. He hugged her and placed a light kiss on her forehead. He often wondered how things would have played out if Devon had not died on Earth. If he had been aboard the UAG Sagittarius when all hell had broke loose.
"I will get this back to you hopefully tomorrow, but it could take longer." She said. Starbuck gently pulled out of his embrace and walked to the door. "Thank you Avery."
He watched her leave feeling the regret and heart ache close in on him. Things never seemed to go the way he wanted them to where Starbuck was concerned, but he should be use to that by now. Afterall she chose Sam over him.
Kara slammed the door to her quarters causing several people in the corridor to stare and then hurriedly find somewhere else to be. Starbuck on a rampage was not a pretty sight and anyone caught in her cross hairs would be annihilated. The rumors flying around the Capricorn was that 4 fighter pilots, 2 from the Capricorn and 2 from the Sagittarius had been grounded pending an investigation into accusations that they were running a drug ring between the ships. It was also rumored that the Sagittarius' CAG had been demoted and that Starbuck had an early morning meeting with the Fleet Admiral. Everyone knew that was not a good sign, the Fleet Admiral and the Capricorn's CAG did not like each other.
Kara walked over to her desk and pulled out a bottle of Scotch, poured a glass and knocked it back. She was beyond exhausted and not looking forward to tomorrow's meeting. She just needed to rest and God willing dream about Lee. It had been over two weeks since her last dream and as much as she hated to admit it, she was beginning to miss him. She was so pre-occupied with her thoughts that she did not notice Sam sitting in one of the large leather chairs.
"There are better ways to relieve all that stress you have bottled up," Sam said as he stood up and walked over to her. He went to place his hands around her waist but she shrugged out of his embrace.
"Not tonight Sam," she said. She saw the brief flash of anger quickly followed by resignation.
"Come on Kara, you just need a little down time."
"Don't Sam. Don't presume to tell me what I need," Kara snapped. She knew she was being a bitch, but she could not bring herself to care. She had a stack of paperwork to go through, a new flight schedule to rewrite and mentally prepare herself for tomorrow. She just needed to be alone.
"Look Sam I need some time alone. You have plenty of friends here who would love to see you. Go hang out with the guys and I promise you that tomorrow after patrol I am all your's," she said hoping to placate him.
"Ok; sounds like a plan," he said pulling her back into his embrace. Kara reached up and softly kissed him whispering against his lips; "All night. I will be your's all night tomorrow."
Sam drew in a deep breath and looked down into her face. He could spend eternity right her with her like this. The soft feminine side of Starbuck she rarely let anyone see.
"Don't work to hard and get some rest. I love you baby," Sam said hugging her one last time and then leaving.
Kara let out the breath she did not even realize she was holding. She dropped down into the chair at her desk and quickly attacked the pile of paperwork before her. A couple of hours later she was done and heading for a quick shower. She decided to forgo clothing and just sleep naked. The last thought that filtered across her sleep fogged brain was that she had skipped dinner.
Lee's eyes fluttered opened and the sight that greeted him made the breath in his chest stop. The sun was just beginning to set across the ocean bathing the sky in a riot of reds and oranges. He never noticed how much he missed a simple sunset until there were no more. He sat up realizing he was at the beach house and that he was completely alone.
He stood up and stretched the kinks from his tired muscles. He realized that he had an opportunity to walk through the beach house and learn a little bit about the woman it belonged to. The living room was a simple room of hardwood floors and glass. You could sit anywhere in the room and have an unobstructed view of the ocean and beach. There was the sofa and matching love seat, plus coffee table and a couple of end tables. The room was simple and beautiful; it reminded him of Kara.
Lee walked into another room that opened off of the living room and found himself in a library or den of sorts. There was a modern fireplace built into a wall and sitting in front of it was a low backed couch. Tucked into the corners were what looked like couple of bean bag chairs. The rest of the room was floor to ceiling bookshelves. Lee took a look at a couple of titles and was surprised to see several books on flight and flight mechanics; as well as books on flight theory. Was Kara a pilot? Just the thought of her being a pilot sent hot thrills shooting into his stomach.
Looking around on the shelves Lee spied several framed photographs. The first that caught his attention was a picture of a younger Kara and he assumed her brother sitting on surfboards and smiling broadly for the camera. On another shelf he saw Kara and the same young man both in full military dress uniforms and in between the was an older woman also in full military uniform. Lee assumed the woman was their mother as all three bore a striking resemblance to each other. Counting the bars and stripes on the older woman's uniform Lee guessed that she was at least a commodore, maybe even an admiral. That sure as hell must have been tough growing up. He saw more pictures of Kara with friends and many with her brother. The next one that really got his attention was one of her in a flight suit standing in front a jet; a fighter jet. His Kara was not just a pilot, she was a fighter pilot. And then right next to it was a picture of her on the back of a tall man, both of them in flight suits and looking goofy. The frame had been handmade and etched into the wood work were the words Best Friends, CAG & DCAG, Starbuck & Helo. Lee smiled to himself; he was definitely in love. The last picture he saw before he left the room was what looked like a postcard of a ship in space. The caption below the ship was the UAG Capricorn. Lee looked at the vessel; it was easily twice as large as the Galactica and quite beautiful.
Lee made his way down the hallway passing Kara's bedroom. He found another bedroom this one being used as a guest room and another bathroom. At the end of the hall he found a third room that was being used as an office. He stepped into the room and knew he had entered Kara's personal sanctuary. There was a nice desk and chair situated in front a very large window. Lee was beginning to understand that Kara loved the ocean. He saw a small compact stereo that was built directly into the wall. H e walked over hit the on button and then play. He heard music fill the whole beach house and realized that all the rooms were wired so you could hear the music not matter what room you were. There were more books scattered on shelves and the desk. Also on the desk was a solitary picture of Kara as a toddler being held tenderly by a dark haired man. Something primitive clenched in Lee's chest as he thought of being the dark haired man holding his and Kara's daughter. Gods he was in trouble. He had only seen this woman twice, in dreams no less and he was having thoughts of her bearing his children.
As he went to leave the room he noticed a framed poster on the back of the door. What he saw almost brought tears to his eyes. A small almost perfectly round blue planet against the back drop of a star filled spaced. High above the planet was a small moon and off in the distance a bright sun bathing the planet in a golden glow. Written in permanent silver marking were the words, "there's no place like home?" He knew exactly how she felt.
Lee made his way to the kitchen and opened up the refrigerator. He pulled out a beer and began to rummage around for something to eat. After several minutes he realized that he had the fixings for spaghetti, salad and garlic bread. Oh this was going to be nice; something other that mush. He began preparing dinner while listening to Kara's personal library of songs. After about the tenth song he found that almost all her songs contained the words sun or sunshine in them. His favorite so far was a song "Soak Up the Sun" because he definitely wanted her to soak him up.
As the sauce was simmering, Lee found a small table cloth and covered the coffee table with it. He then set out glass plates and bowls as well as wine glasses. After a search of the hall closet he found enough candles that he strategically placed around the living room and lit them. He chose a bottle of wine from her stocked wine cooler and popped the cork. He turned around to head back to the living room when he saw her standing in the doorway watching him. She stole his breath away. She was wearing a green bikini top and a matching green and white skirt wrapped around her waist. Her hair was wind blown and her skin looked like it had been gently kissed by the sun. He had a strong desire to replace the sun with his lips.
"Hey gorgeous," he said in greeting.
"Hey yourself mister," she replied smiling at him. "It smells like heaven in here."
"Just something I whipped together," he replied almost shyly. If she kept looking at him like that he would say to hell with spaghetti and have her for dinner.
"I am going to change and then meet you in the living room," Kara said turning to leave.
"Do you have to, change that is?" He asked.
"Yes Lee I do. I want to eat not be eaten. At least not yet; and I need to finish my story for you. You will need to pay attention because after I am done telling my tale, I will want to hear your's" she replied. As she talked she moved closer to him so that she was standing in his personal space. He did not move. Kara reached up and threaded her fingers into his hair and pulled him down for a slow and sensual kiss.
"I don't know what you do to me but I really do like it," Kara replied pulling back. "Now I am going to change and I will meet you in the living room in 10 minutes. And Lee don't be late." With that said she sauntered out of the room.
Lee leaned back against the counter and tried to get his body back under control. Somewhere in the back of his mind a voice was stringently trying to remind him that he had a girlfriend, one that he was serious about and what he was doing was not right. However another part of his brain reminded him it was just a dream.
When Kara walked into the living room she found Lee on the couch and dinner spread out on the table. She sat down, tucked her feet underneath him and grabbed a plate. They ate quietly for a few minutes, enjoying each other's company and the food. Lee had to constantly remind himself he eat slowly so as not to get sick again.
"Alrighty then," Kara said placing her plate back on the table and picking up her wine glass. "Let's see, we were at the UAG Capricorn. That was the first ship to be finished and closely on her heels' was the UAG Sagittarius," Kara said warming up to her story.
"Wait a minute," Lee interrupted. "What determined the names of the 12 ships?" Lee asked.
"Well there were 12 countries involved in the UAG and so it was the bright idea of an engineer to name each ship after a sign of the zodiac. So we have Capricorn, Aquarius, Pieces, Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio and Sagittarius."
Lee's head is spinning, this was no coincidence. Each one of their ship was basically named after a colony. He wondered if Kara knew about the 12 colonies or anything of Earth's early history.
"The Capricorn and Sagittarius were launched at the same time and shortly after the Aquarius was launched. Soon all 12 ships were finished and the last of the colonists were being recruited. This was the point at which many countries that had been left out became quite vocal and threatening towards the UAG and the countries that made up the UAG. They felt like they were being left behind although I am not sure what they thought the UAG was going to do to Earth once they had launched all their ships. There were 4 ships still on Earth and they would never be launch. They were the Virgo, Leo, Scorpio and Gemini. On April1st a distress signal went out from the Sagittarius that they were under attack. At first those of us on the Capricorn and Pieces did not understand. They said they were under attack but we knew they were in orbit around Earth. So we thought, under attack from who? When we got back there we were shocked to see a huge fight going on and ships all around losing orbit and crashing back into Earth or just being blown to bits."
"After a huge struggle we managed to get the Sagittarius free and rescue as many escape pods as we could. We managed to get a few civilian ships together and then we got the hell out of there. Once we had jumped several times we got debriefed from the Fleet Admiral. Several countries with nuclear capabilities planned a massive assault to try and steal at least one of the UAG ships. Their plan was to commandeer the vessel so they to could get off Earth. Things got ugly and then people with little regard for anything but their own agenda started tossing around nukes. Before anyone knew what was going on the situation on Earth was beyond saving and the idiots carried the battle into space. Now Earth is a dead radioactive planet surrounded by a grave yard debris representing the crowning glory of mankind. The things that the UAG were trying to avoid on Earth happened any way. So now instead of us looking for a place to colonize we are looking for a new home."
"It has not been easy. A whole new government had to be formed and the military has had to play a large role in keeping the peace and keeping everyone focused on the same goal. We are in good shape as far a supplies are concerned but morale has been a big problem. This was not the way things were suppose to go. The goal was to find other places to live so that we could give each other some space and breathing room. Instead human nature reared it's ugly head and because people felt like they were being left out, they destroyed everything."
Kara stopped, tears coursing down her cheeks. Lee had listened and realized that the people of Earth had destroyed each other because of jealousy. And now the people of the colonies had just another radioactive planet as their destination. To add to everything the people of Earth had to deal with, Lee was going to have to tell them about cylons. That sounded like fun for everyone.
"Kara I am so sorry," Lee said pulling her onto his lap. He rocked her back and forth, rubbing her back and talking soothingly into her ear.
"Billions of people died because a few in power wanted something someone else had. Sounds like little kids fighting over a toy," she responded. Lee continued to hold her as the rage swept in to replace the grief. She became aware of the heat of his fingers against the back of her neck and the gentle feel of his lips at her temple.
"Tell me what you need Kara. I will do whatever you need me to do," Lee said. Seeing her so broken up was killing him. He needed to find her; wherever she was in the universe and if it was the last thing he did, he would bring them together.
A/N: Once again thanks for reading and reviews are greatly appreciated.