Title: Wait – Epsilon Sentence Ficlet

Author: Monti

Date: December 3, 2008

Rating: M

Word Count: 1248

Category: L/K AU

Warnings: None

Spoilers: None

Disclaimers: Don't own these people. Just borrowing them for a little while. I promise to put them back when I'm finished. Any and all mistakes are my own.

Author's note: Day four of the 12 Days of Fic. A huge shout out to my awesome beta ez_as_pi!

Summary: Kara loses a rare hand of triad and owes Lee. Hijinx ensue thanks to the other pilots.

12 – The one and only time Lee Adama gets lucky at cards and she ended up having to wait on him hand and foot for forty-eight hours.

WAIT

The one and only time Lee Adama gets lucky at cards and she ended up having to wait on him hand and foot for forty-eight hours.

And the worst part?

Lee didn't even have to come up with anything for her to do. Oh no. The other pilots had a list a mile long. Not to mention they were trying to live vicariously through Lee. Kara thought they were maybe enjoying her loss a little too much for their own good.

Gaeta started it by deciding she should serve Lee all his meals for the forty-eight hour period. Should have been simple, right? Except that Felix added a stipulation…she had to deliver the food wherever Lee happened to be.

For Racetrack, it was booze. Lots of it. Kara was pretty sure Margaret Edmundson drank at least half of what was poured for Lee. Then again, she would have done the same.

Kat's idea was surprisingly original…a shave with a warm towel to finish it off. Once Lee lost the sickly green pallor, it was actually a lot of fun.

Hardball suggested Kara do Lee's laundry. And she did…what there was of it. She steam pressed Lee's uniform, too…after Red Wing decided it was absolutely necessary.

Even Helo…the frakker…joined in on the fun. He thought it was only fair for Kara to do after action reports to help Lee get caught up on the back log. She barely made a dent, but Lee seemed to appreciate her help. Which was nice…but not quite the last on the long list of ideas.

Oh no…the best suggestion, by far, if you asked the pilots, was Hot Dog's. Of course her point of view differed…greatly. Hot Dog's idea of a perfect chore was for Kara to play maidservant to Lee before, during and after his next shower…like the ancestors used to have access to.

She put her foot down when someone tried to make it mandatory to have witnesses present. She also decided there was a special place in hell for Hot Dog. And as long as it wasn't anywhere near the spot she would occupy, Kara would happily watch him burn.

Standing outside the head, waiting on Lee to arrive for his post-CAP shower, Kara was thinking this whole thing was beyond a bad idea. On a good day you could cut the sexual tension between them with a knife. Gods damn Hot Dog for recognizing that and running with it.

She was all tense with anticipation for no reason. Nothing would happen between her and Lee, right? She shouldn't be this anxious over a shower, should she?

A small sigh escaped before Kara could stop it. She shouldn't be…and she knew it. She didn't want to frak things up with Lee…they were at a great place. If only she could convince her body that it was just a shower…things would be peachy. She felt like she was standing on a bunch of hot coals…jittery and jumpy.

Pacing back and forth only added to the feeling, but standing still was worse. It gave her brain too much time to conjure up images she didn't need to have in her head. Argh!

Turning to walk the short distance back across the corridor, she smacked directly into Lee, muttering a startled curse. "Frak, sorry about that." Backing away, she noticed he had his shower gear in hand. "'Bout time you showed." She didn't mean it to sound bitchy, but it did…even to her own ears.

Gods, she needed to get a grip.

Lee's quick smile of greeting faded to a questioning glance and Kara made a hasty apology. "Sorry." She spun around and entered the head, not relishing the idea of having an audience watching her come completely unglued.

Having no choice, Lee followed her in, dogging the hatch behind him. It took Kara a few moments to realize he wasn't undressing or doing anything to get ready for a shower. In fact, he hadn't moved at all, except to lean back, his shoulders braced against the bulkhead.

The bland look on his face only irritated her more. "What? Do I really have to undress you, too?" She took a step toward him, but stopped when Lee held up his hand.

********

Lee was waiting for something like this. Frankly, he was shocked it had taken this long to annoy Kara to the point of a meltdown.

Pushing away from the bulkhead, Lee spoke quietly. "First…you lasted a hell of a lot longer than I thought you would. I gave it maybe 24 hours before you'd decide to say frak it all and be done." He slowly advanced in her direction and she backed up, looking skittish, and bumped into the table behind her. "Second…no one, not even you, bothered to ask me what I wanted you to do for me." He stopped a few feet away from her and waited for her response.

Dammit he was right. She hadn't thought to ask if he wanted any of the crap she'd been doing. "Why didn't you say something?" She propped her butt on the table.

Lee shrugged and sat next to her. "Good for morale. Everyone was having so much fun…I didn't have the heart to stop it." He nudged her shoulder with his own. "Sorry about that."

Kara snorted. "Yeah, well, they were enjoying themselves." At her expense, too. How often did that actually happen?

Lee turned toward her. "You don't have to do this, you know." He glanced at his watch. "Your 48 hours ended about 15 minutes ago."

Kara opened her mouth to correct him when it hit her. "You were late on purpose." He didn't deny it and Kara wasn't sure how she felt about that. She was kinda pissed, especially after working herself into a damn frenzy over the whole thing. "Why?" An unpleasant thought hit her. "Wait…you don't want the whole shower thing, do you?" As much as Kara hated to admit it, she was disappointed by the idea.

Lee answered honestly. "No." Realized that wasn't a good way to put it. "I mean yes," Gods, that was worse. "Frak…what I mean is having you as my personal shower assistant wouldn't be a bad thing." His mouth quirked up in a half smile. "As if." Rising, he turned toward his locker and yanked his tanks over his head. "But if you're gonna play that role, I'd rather it not be a payoff for a debt." Lowering his shorts, he turned to ask if she understood, but almost swallowed his tongue instead.

His head cocked sideways and he blinked…wondering if he was seeing things.

He wasn't.

Kara was completely naked. There was no mistake.

He felt like the air had been sucked out of the room and wondered if the deck was going to drop out from under him if he moved.

Testing the theory, he slowly headed in her direction. So far, so good.

Stopping inches away from her, he held her eyes. "You're sure?" He knew she understood what he was really asking. There would be a lot more than a shower happening from this point onward.

Kara smiled, nodding. "Yeah…I'm sure." And she really was. Lee's ploy of being late to give her an out sealed it for her. She didn't want whatever happened between them to be a payoff to a debt either.

And now it wasn't. They made the choice together.

Hot Dog might escape that special spot in hell after all.

FIN