Chapter 7

"We need to talk!"

Typical Starbuck. No 'Hello, did you sleep well' or any niceties of that kind, no she preferred to wrench your curtains open and inform you of her displeasure. Rubbing his eyes, trying to adjust to the bright light he sat up in his bunk. Three hours of sleep was not enough to deal with a pissed off Kara he thought grimly.

"Would you mind giving me a few minutes before chewing my head off? Please?" He added in an after thought.

"What are you doing here?" Obviously she was not in a patient mood either.

"Sleeping?"

"Don't be a dumb ass!" The confused look he gave her must have worked since after muttering under her breath something, he did not catch quite what but was sure it was not nice, she explained as if he was a two year old:

"I mean, what are you doing sleeping here in this bunk, in the officers' bunkroom I might add, instead of in your own cozy quarters with your charming wife?"

"If I tell you that I missed the beauty of the place you're not going to believe me, will you?" She flashed him a 'quit annoying me or you might soon loose a limb' look. He ignored it, stretched and rubbed his face once more.

Half naked and his mind fuzzy with sleep was not the way he had imagine telling her he had left his wife. Actually he had planned on going slowly, getting their friendship back before dropping the bomb shell. It was stupid he should have known that living on the same Battlestar she would learn of his sleeping arrangement sooner or later.

"I am still waiting for an answer there Adama!" She was angry but he could see that she was nervous as well; her hands gave it away. He grabbed his shirt and pants, got dressed quickly taking this opportunity to gather his thoughts. When he finally turned around he found her invading his personal space. Not backing away he looked her straight in the eyes and quietly but clearly told her:

"I think you know why Kara." She said nothing for a while, did not move. She stood only inches from him erect and proud daring him to go on, to explain. He could feel her breath on his checks; her lips were so close to his own that it took all of his restrain not to kiss them. Eventually she caved in and looked away. It was something the old Kara would never have done; she would have punched him in the jaw instead. But she had changed and her protective walls were just a little bit thinner than before. She asked again her voice completely stripped of her previous bravado "Why?"

"Why?" The question hung between them in the silent room.

"Why did you not tell me Lee? Why?"

Since her return aboard Galactica Lee was always present at her side, a silent shadow watching over her, giving her the strength she needed to face each new day. With the cylons' raiders constant suicide attacks runs she had been forced back in the cockpit rather quickly. To her relief the nightmares that had plagued her since New Caprica had stopped disturbing her sleep and she was once more at one hundred percent of her capacities. She was slowly recovering from her ordeal and her nightly talk with Lee had been one of the major factor, the other one being Kacey.

Those conversations had started one night when after having put Kacey to sleep with a story of what she now referred as the Adama's story book, she had found Lee seated on the bunk opposing hers, staring at her.

He had told her "I don't think I ever got to ear the end of that story, always fell asleep before" then with a chuckle he had asked "Is there even an end?"

For the very first time in a long time there had been no animosity behind his words, he had looked boyish his blue eyes sparkling with mischief. He had invited her to join him on the mattress and then they had traded childhood tales. Well he actually had told the stories and she had listened. It had happened again the next night and the next and the next… Sometime they'd talked about their day and laugh together other time they would brush more serious subjects. Bit by bit she found herself telling him of her captivity in the cylons' prison, most of it he knew already but some she had never told anyone of. She had even talked about her mother one evening and to her surprise he had understood her as only someone who had been through the same thing could have. She had her theory about it but she asked no question, he would tell her if he wanted, if not then it was no big deal everyone was untitled to their own dark secrets.

They were building back their relationship brick by brick, learning to trust one another once again. Or at least she had thought they were up until this morning when she had overheard a conversation in the mess between two petty officers who were gossiping about Apollo's upcoming divorce. The fragile balance that had established itself between them had been destroyed in a second, because he obviously still didn't trust her. No surprise there she had thought bitterly, with the number of one-eighty she had pulled on him in the past how could he ever trust her with his heart again?

"I think you know why Kara."

She was not strong enough to let him reject her. She needed him by her side and she was not going to let this trust issue come between them. He was still standing very close, watching her as if waiting for her to take the first step. She took his left hand in hers and brushed her lips to his knuckles.

"I am sorry Lee."

"I…what? Kara, what are you apologizing for?"

"I am sorry I put you through so much crap that you now feel I am not trustworthy enough to be told about your divorce. I really though we were getting past that."

"You're wrong you know."

"Then if I am wrong, why the big secret? Hum? Why did you let me think that you were still happily married to the sweetest woman in the fleet? Why did I have to find out about it through the rumor mill? Why pretend that I was your friend?"

By the end of her tirade she was screaming at him, her fits were closed tightly an indication that she was about to strike something, probably his face. He caught her wrists in his hands and taking her by surprised, pulled her whole length against him and kissed her with all he had. She resisted trying to wrench herself free from his hold so he cornered her against a wall, she tried to talk, he took this opportunity to invade her mouth with his tongue and when she relaxed and reciprocated the kiss he let her go.

His breathing swallow, his head buried in her neck he whispered in her ear: "This is why Kara. This is why."

TBC...