Disclaimer: I own nothing, I just play here.

"Food, water." Kara says sitting up in bed, slightly damp from the last round with Leoben. She moves to the kitchen, not caring that she's naked. She returns to bed with water and a sandwich she'd bought at the store yesterday. She laughs realizing he's fallen asleep while she went to the kitchen. He wakes when she sits back down on the bed, wrapping himself around her body. She offers him some food and they share an oddly comfortable couple moment. Kara stops at that thought. Are they a couple? She looked down at him and realizes they were. She waits for the panic to set in and just continues to sit there somewhat stunned. She's even going to introduce him to her crew. What the frak is wrong with me? She thinks.

"What are you thinking about that's making you frown?"

"You."

"Wow that sounds ominous."

"Well more like "us". Waiting for the panic."

"Why would you panic?" He was drawing lazy circles across her thigh.

"It's what I do. I frak, then I leave. But I'm home and I don't really want you to leave and it's confusing me."

"Anything I can do to help?"

"Besides becoming an asshole or stop being attractive, I don't think so."

"So is it the "us" part that scares you or the couple part?"

"I think it's the couple part."

"Well that's a good start. Why would being a couple be bad?"

"It means I can't frak anyone I want."

"You mean I'm not giving you enough attention?" He smiles fiercely and starts his fingers wandering closer and closer to her sensitive area.

"Touch that and die." She says smiling as she pushes his hand down her leg. "I can barely walk as it is."

"Well I don't know when you'll be back next, so I thought I'd make sure you didn't forget me."

"Haven't yet. Don't plan on it now." He sat up and wrapped his body around her back.

"Kara." He said softly into her ear. "It's ok to want someone, to need to be with someone."

"That's not how I operate. I'm not even sure what I see in you anyways." There it is, the panic finally set in. She welcomes it.

"Cute." He says pulling away from her. He gets up and pulls a pair of her sweat pants on and moves to sit in front of her on the bed. "You know what you see in me." She moves off the bed to put clothes on, much harder to use her body against her if she's dressed. She puts on her pants and sports bra. "Kara, come sit with me."

"No." She sighs knowing she's really being stubborn now. She sits on the chair in the corner of her room. He moves to face her. "So what do I see in you?" She breathes half hoping he gets it wrong and she can just throw him out. He smiles sweetly at her and her heart starts to hammer. Dammit, she thinks.

"There, right there is what you see in me. You react to me, to my presence, to my voice, to my hands, my lips; every pore of you reacts to me. Unfortunately your brain has gone and over thought the whole thing. You see in me, what you see in yourself. We all see ourselves in other people. Sometimes we choose to be jealous of the light or dark we see in others or turn the thoughts to fear to help cope with the fact that we're not ready to deal with that aspect of ourselves. What you see in me is a kindred spirit. Someone who knows you without really knowing you quite yet. You see the passion you feel for everything you encounter reflected in my eyes because I feel passionate about almost everything I come into contact with." He finishes. At some point Kara had unwrapped her arms from around her knees and was leaning towards him.

"Dammit." She swore softly. He smiled as she admitted more in that swear than anything she could have said or done to him.

"So, will you join me in the shower?" He looks at her hopefully. She smiles weakly as her eyes meet his.

"Sure. I should get ready for company."

"Oh I had forgotten. I can go shower at my place and come back tomorrow?" He looks sheepishly as he had monopolized her time when she had to prepare for company. She stood up and waited for him to stand up; she takes his hand and leads him to the shower.

"I want you to stay."

"You're serious?" He asks solemnly.

"Do I look like I'm frakking joking?" She's getting angry now.

"I would love to stay for dinner." He smiles and leans down to kiss her.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Thirty minutes later

Leoben is moving around the kitchen helping set up for dinner. He rummages around in her kitchen drawers looking for a bottle opener. He finds a well worn deck of triad cards; he puts them in his pocket for later.

Kara meanwhile is deciding on what to wear. The shower relaxed her as did his hands and she smiles to herself, having forgotten the panic she'd felt a bit ago. She stands with her hands on her hips looking at her clothes. She doesn't feel like wearing anything but having streaked the crew on a dare after drinking too much with her XO, she decides nudity would be a bit too casual. Her eyes graze over the very back of the closet and an evil thought comes across her mind.

The phone rings. "Could you buzz them in?" She asks from the bedroom. He moves to the phone and buzzes in the guests. A knock comes to the door. Leoben goes to open it since Kara doesn't seem quite ready for company and it's mostly his fault, although the little episode in the shower had totally been her fault. He opens the door to find a very tall, jovial looking young man with his arm around a tall, innocent looking young lady. Leoben smiles at them as their smiles falter when Kara doesn't open the door.

"Do we have the right place?" The man asks.

"Depends on who you're looking for." Leoben looks amused.

"Kara Thrace." He states confident that she still lives here as his eyes move to the picture she'd painted the year after Zak had been killed. She had had it framed since then, the man thought to himself.

"Come on in Karl." Kara says walking out of her bedroom wearing a button-up jean dress and flip flops. As all three sets of eyes fall on her, both Leoben and Karl's fall open in astonishment. She snorts knowing they just had the same thought. Kara's in a dress.

"Starbuck." Karl says moving past the man he doesn't know, dragging his date with him. Leoben shuts the door and follows the reluctant couple.

"Helo." She moves the hug the tall man. "Karl this is Leoben." Karl moves from Kara to extend a hand to him.

"Good to meet you."

"Had you for a moment there didn't I?" Leoben said smiling.

"Well I don't think I've ever seen a man besides myself in this apartment." Karl says. Kara smacks him on the arm and moves around her kitchen. "Oh, sorry. This is Sharon. She's my raptor pilot." Kara moves back to shake the woman's hand. They grin at one another.

"Aren't there regs against that type of thing?" Kara teases Karl.

"Well, yeah. That's why she's my former raptor pilot." Karl retorts.

"They'd have to transfer you out of pilots for that."

"Indeed."

"No way. No frakking way!" She exclaims. "You did it? Didn't you?"

"You're looking at the newest commander in charge of ops."

"Nice." She moves to buzz more people in as they call her apartment. "I'm glad you got my message. I didn't know if you'd be around but I know how much you like my cooking." She says moving to the door to let more quests in.

Soon the place is buzzing with people. Most of her crew have brought their significant others or scrounged up a date for the night. Leoben moves from group to group talking to most of the crew. He observes how fluidly she moves around her crew, knowing who needs what and what is going on. That's what makes her a good leader, he thinks watching her. She cares about those around her, even if they're not quite aware of it. Leoben smiles and takes a sip of his wine as he feels someone next to him. He turns to find the gentle man Kara had introduced as Copper sitting next to him.

"So how'd you and Starbuck meet?" He asks seeming to lack any other topic to start on. Leoben looks at him a moment before he answers.

"On Picon, at Joey's Bar." He says. "I was the bartender there for a few months." Copper snaps his fingers.

"I knew you looked familiar. Why'd you leave man?" Copper looks down at his whiskey.

"Another job." He sips his wine and smiles at the rather imposing gentleman. "How did you end up meeting Kara?"

"I'm not sure I've ever met Kara. But I met Starbuck in a bar on Arelon. She had just picked a fight with two of the crew. Totally drunk, but looking for someone to punch." He laughed. "Well she punched a bunch of us all right. Nearly broke her hand on my jaw. When the captain finally came back with drinks, Floyd and Music Man were sporting oncoming shiners. He hired her right on the spot."

"What happened to him?"

"Who? The captain?" Leoben nodded, moving so he could look out into the room. "He got shot in a bar fight on Picon about half a year ago now. I think if he'd been a little more sober, he'd be here today. But he lived the life. He loved it. So do I."

"Who's the little lady you're with?"

"Oh, don't let her hear you say that. She has a temper."

"Well next to you, most people look small."

"Yeah but don't let her know it. That's Opal. She's a firecracker. Best piece of ass on Caprica." Leoben smiles knowing he's wrong.

"Will you excuse me; I think I need to help Kara." He nodded towards the blond fussing in the kitchen. Copper nodded and took off to find his fine piece of ass.

"You look like you might need help." He said as she was trying to pull something out of the oven. Her bare legs peaked out from her dress.

"Naw I got it." She lifted the bread from the oven. "Dinner." She sang out. He moves to her as she pulls the oven mitts off and places a very soft kiss on her lips. She pulls back a little to look up at him. Her crew cheers and hollers at them and they both turned a bit red realizing they had an audience. Puzzled, she leans up and brushes her lips against his briefly before dancing out of his grasp.

Dinner turned into an all out event as food and conversation were passed around. Kara was obviously adored by her crew. They began telling embarrassing stories about each other as Leoben and Copper and Hammer help clear the food away. After the food was put away and most of the dishes have been cleaned, the alcohol keeps flowing. Kara paces herself, knowing she could drink anyone at the table under it.

When there is a slight lull in the conversation, meaning it's not a roar any more, Leoben comes up behind Kara and smiles at her friends. "Who's up for a game of triad?" The table falls silent. He smiles knowing something is up.

"Have you ever seen Starbuck play cards?" Helo asks.

"He hasn't." She smirks to herself.

"Well?" He says sitting down next to her and placing the cards at her elbow.

"Anyone else brave enough?" She asks taking the cards out.

"I will." Sharon pipes up. Karl looks at his date suspiciously. "What? It's my money."

"I guess I'll play then." Karl says.

"Count us out." Copper says from the kitchen. "We've got a pyramid game to get to. It's just starting." He and his date say their good-byes. Hammer and her date decide to play and Floyd says he'll just watch, knowing full well how much he already owes Starbuck.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Hours later Leoben regrets his decision to play triad. He's lost every cubit on him and promised much more than money to her. Up until this point Leoben thought he had a pretty good read on Kara, now he was wondering just how much of a changeling she was. He pushed the thought out of his mind for a time when he was alone and not trying to get to know her friends.

Sharon was the only person to come out slightly ahead of the game. Karl threw in the towel hours before Leoben and Sharon. The two women seemed to like one another and tended to feed off one another's energy. Hammer and her date had left hours ago, losing their money early. Floyd stood out on the balcony looking over Caprica City and smoking with Helo.

"Well it seems we've worn out our welcome." Helo said coming back in with Floyd looking at Sharon's winnings.

"What do you mean?" Sharon asks.

"You may not have won a lot, but you still won. I'm just trying to make sure you're safe." He steered her towards the door. Floyd followed them out, leaving the new couple by themselves. He removes the few glasses left on the table as she packs up the cards.

"Thank-you." He said sitting back down with the bottle of whiskey.

"For what?" She asks taking the bottle from him.

"For letting me stay. It was nice to have dinner with such friendly people. It's been a while since I've been around that many people who seemed to appreciate one another."

"Ha, well that only goes so far when you're trapped on a boat for weeks at a time without real food or a real shower or much of any contact. There is a fair amount of yelling that makes things like this come off this healthy."

"Like any family."

"They are my family. They're all I have left." Realizing what that meant to her and to the whole "us" conundrum she drank her whole drink in one swallow.

"They're a good mix."

"Yeah they are."

"Copper amuses me. And, who was the little one? She has a mouth on her. I can't see you getting along with her."

"Moose. Yeah, she and I have had some issues. Luckily, she's tiny and never learned to use that so it's easier to bully her."

"Did I get a chance to tell you how beautiful you look tonight?" He says angling his body towards hers and placing a hand on her exposed knee.

"No you didn't." She says, waiting.

"You look beautiful tonight. Were you going for a shock factor with that dress?" She laughed at his point blank observation.

"Why yes I was. I figured why not? I can still kick all of their asses even in a dress." He stood up and offered a hand to her, which she took. He pulled her flush against him and traced his fingers across the exposed skin of her neck and down to where the first buttons of the dress started.

"Well you gave me something to think about all night." He said undoing the first button. She sighed.

"Oh yeah, and what would that be?" She moves her arms up his shoulders.

"The mystery of what is underneath the dress as you play hostess for your crew and me."

"Why don't you find out?" She suggests moving back a bit so he can use both of his hands on undressing her. His fingers move inside the dress undoing each button slowly, watching her reaction as his touch begins to get to her. As he feels the skin against his fingers before unbuttoning each button, he knows she's not wearing anything under the dress. He groans at the thought a leans down to kiss the smirk off her face.

He undoes the last buttons of the dress and slides both hands around her waist. He kisses her neck, and travels down to her breasts, taking each nipple in his mouth and sucking on them until she gasps. He moves his hands up, across her breasts and under the dress on her shoulders. She helps him remove the dress shrugging slightly as the garment comes free.

She reaches for his shirt where it's tucked into his dress slacks and pulls it out. Her fingers moves quickly to the buttons and soon his shirt joins her clothes on the floor. She pushes him towards the couch. He sits down as her hands push him down insistently. She straddles his lap and presses herself against him. He growls and tries to pull her lips towards his; she pulls back and moves to take his pants and underwear off. She kneels on the floor and runs her hands up his thighs. She moves her hands around to cup his ass and moves him forward so her face is much closer to his groin.

She grins up at him as his fingers tangle in her hair, getting the hint. She licks her tongue along the length of his shaft, which makes it jump. She smiles and does it again. Her hands are wandering up his chest and just about everywhere they can touch. She leans up at takes just the tip of him into her mouth. His sighs as his head falls back momentarily. He moves his head back so he can watch her. Her eyes look up at him as she takes him into her mouth again, one of her hands moving to complete the movement the rest of the way down his shaft. He groans. She starts moving faster, watching his reaction as she does. He tries not to move but finds it impossible as she moves her warm, wet mouth around him.

Soon she is taking more of him in her mouth as he gets closer to ecstasy. The feel of him in her mouth makes her want him more and she is tempted to stop and finish with him inside her but feels him start to come as she tries to move off of him. She stops moving along him and tries not to fight against the hot fluid filling her mouth. She swallows a few gulps before he finishes. She slowly moves her mouth up his shaft and grins at him as she stays kneeling between his thighs. He pants heavily and leans back on the couch, hands searching for hers to pull her up to him.

He leans his forehead against hers and breathes her in, his hand moving up her neck and into her hair. She smiles to herself as he looks completely spent. He moves his other arm to wrap around her waist. So this is what its like to worship a goddess, he thinks knowing he can never say something like that to Kara. She'd smack him good for something that romantic. He smiles and looks into her hazel eyes. He kisses her briefly and pulls back.

"You are one hell of a woman." He decides that quote from the first night they met might not get him slugged. He's wrong. He punches him in the arm and moves off of him.

"Well I'm going to go pass out. Care to join me?" She asks moving towards her room.

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TBC...