Fic: Fantasies Founded on Fragments of Film
Title: Fantasies Founded on Fragments of Film
Author: pressdbtwnpages
Rating: PG
Characters: Lee, Kara, Doc Cottle, Dualla, Bill Adama
Pairings: Lee/Kara
Summary: You know what happens when you assume...
Prompt: Lee is saved by Racetrack after taking the spacewalk during Resurrection Ship...but now, he's got amnesia (temp, permanent, selective, any kind will do).
Warnings: n/a
Word Count: 2,565
Beta: elterriblefizzy
Author's Notes: Title from the song “Europe” by Matt Caplan.
Fantasies Founded on Fragments of Film
He wakes up in some sort of medical facility. It isn’t a hospital, it seems too amorphously impermanent for that. He doesn’t dwell on the possible quality of care he’s receiving for long, though. He feels alright - exhaustion, disorientation, and a nasty case of dry mouth aside - and there is a blond woman gazing at him from the end of the bed. She’s not dressed like a doctor and he has the sense that he knows her.
“Hey,” he says, his voice coming out a rusty croak.
The woman’s eyes snap to his. “Lee!”
Her surprised exclamation is suffused with relief and love. There’s just one problem.
“Who is Lee?”
The woman’s hands clench convulsively around the foot of the bed. Even from seven feet away he can see her knuckles have gone white.
“Cottle,” she says in a weak hiss, and then again, stronger, “Cottle!”
He’s confused and tired and his head hurts. He can’t remember if his head has always hurt or if it started throbbing when the woman began speaking. Maybe if he just closes his eyes for a minute, returns to the peaceful blackness of sleep…
His eyes drift closed.
“No!” the woman is shouting. Something grips his shoulders, shakes him once, and then just hangs on tight. “No, Lee. Don’t you do this to me. Don’t you dare go away on me again!”
He is Lee? He doesn’t remember being Lee, doesn’t remember…
“Captain Thrace!” A gruff voice bellows, “Get your hands off my patient!”
In a gentler tone, the man continues, “You can’t shake him out of a coma, much as I wish you could.”
“He’s not in a coma,” the woman -Thrace- insists. She sounds gutted, and he -Lee?- feels terrible for making her sound so sad. Somehow it seems unnatural for this woman to be left devastated. “He woke up, Doc. I swear. He spoke to me.”
“And what did he say, Kara?” The doctor affects a higher pitched voice, “‘Oh, my darling, my endless love, it is I, Lee, returned from the great sleep beyond. Let us end our pointless drama and frak at once!’”
“No. He said ‘hey’. And then he said,” Thrace - Kara hesitates, when she speaks again her voice is tremulous, “‘Who is Lee?’”
Whoever he is, he’s so tired. With a sigh, he lets go, back into sleep.
*
He’s had strange dreams. Space and speed and silence. It’s almost a relief to wake up to bright lights and the beeping of machines.
The blond, the woman, Thrace, Kara, Kara Thrace is still there, or there again, asleep in a chair, a bowl and spoon abandoned at her side.
She must really love him to be unwilling to leave him, to be so gutted by his injuries. What the doctor had said about their making love only confirmed this to him -to Lee.
“Hey,” he croaks softly, torn between not wanting to wake Kara and remembering how devastated she was when he fell asleep. He doesn’t expect the sound to wake her, hasn’t decided whether or not to try again, but her eyes fly open and she leans forward abruptly.
He sees Kara physically restrain herself - from jumping up, from shouting, he can’t guess which - and instead discreetly press a button on his bed.
“Hey,” she smiles. Kara has a beautiful smile.
He reaches for her hand, takes it. It feels right, and he wonders if Kara is his wife. He feels terrible for forgetting her. “I wish I could remember you.”
Kara’s smile dims. “It’ll come back.”
“I hope so.”
Kara’s smile seems to dim further, but Lee must be wrong because she squeezes his hand.
“Cottle says -” off of his confused expression Kara elaborates, “Doctor Cottle, who runs this place, says that your amnesia is probably temporary. You didn’t bump your head or anything when you ejected, and you were only without oxygen for seconds, so everything should be back soon.”
Amnesia? Ejected? Without oxygen? Lee’s head is spinning and not just from his injury.
With her free hand Kara rubs her temples. “Sorry. I should start at the beginning-”
“Actually, Captain, you should let me examine my patient.” Lee recognizes the gruff voice from earlier, it belongs to a grizzled older man in a lab coat.
“Can she stay?” Lee asks nervously. Kara feels like the only person he knows in the whole world and he finds himself suddenly desperate to not be alone.
“Calm down, boy. You too, Thrace,” he addresses Kara who has risen part way out of her chair and looks like she is gearing up for a fight. “You can stay.”
While Doc Cottle -apparently, everyone calls him “Doc”- examines him, Kara fills him in on the basics of their lives. On a space ship. Being hunted by vengeful robots.
“Are you sure I’m not still asleep?” Lee asks when Kara is done with her tale.
“‘Fraid not,” she says, but Kara tightens her grip on his hand and beams at him.
“Well, Captain,” Cottle says, because he is Captain Lee Adama a pilot aboard the Battlestar Galactica, “you seem perfectly fine to me. Except for the memory. I’m going to keep you here another day to get your strength up, but I see no indications that you won’t make a full recovery.”
Kara’s grip on Lee’s hand is crushingly strong. He doesn’t mind at all. “And Kara can stay?”
Cottle huffs and smirks. “There are other people who would like to see you. Might be a good idea, jog your memory a bit.”
“But Kara can stay, right?” Lee repeats more insistently. He doesn’t want to do this without her, doesn’t want to do anything without her.
“Kara,” Cottle makes a face, “Captain Thrace can stay, so long as that’s alright with her commanding officer.”
Lee looks over at her hopefully. She’s blushing lightly, it looks odd on her and Lee is suddenly certain deep within his bones that he loves her.
“I think that can be arranged,” she says.
Cottle nods sharply. “I’ll call the commander and have him get a group together.”
Lee watches Kara watch Cottle leave and then asks, “Why do I feel like I’m getting some sort of special treatment?”
“You’re pretty special,” Kara offers with a shrug, and then proceeds to distract him with stories of the Galactica’s adventures. They’re so hard to believe that Lee secretly suspects she’s making them up, but he lets her go on telling them until his first visitor arrives.
Kara sits with Lee, grip strong and reassuring, as a parade of people come through his sick bay cubicle. As each person comes and goes it gets progressively more difficult to watch their faces light up at the sight of him and then dim when it becomes clear that he doesn’t remember their callsign, or that time with the Cylons, or that one triad game. It doesn’t seem to be any comfort that Lee doesn’t remember Cylons or triad or his own name either.
“No more, Kara, please,” Lee pleads after the fifteenth person leaves, collapsing back into his pillows. “I can’t.”
“I know, I’m sorry. Just a few more. We saved the best for last.”
Lee groans. So these are the people he’s expected to remember. No pressure there. “Can’t you give me a few hints so they don’t look so disappointed?”
Kara looks at him like she wants to kiss him. Lee wants that too. He wonders why they haven’t yet.
A pretty black woman steps into Lee’s partitioned-off space. “Hi, Lee.”
Kara’s fingers go slack in Lee’s hand, but she doesn’t tug her hand away.
“Can’t,” she replies to his question, settling back into her seat. “That would be cheating.”
Lee pouts at her, gets a thrill from making her laugh. Then he turns his attention to the other woman.
“Hello,” he says.
She steps closer. “Do you remember me, Lee? After all the time we’ve spent together recently?”
Lee doesn’t. He doesn’t even remember Kara, so he’s not sure what this woman is supposed to be to him. Are they friends? She seems pleasant enough, if nothing more substantial than that.
“Easy,” Kara murmurs. “He’s having enough trouble without you pressuring him.”
Kara is being very careful not to say this woman’s name. Lee mock-glares at her.
The other woman notices their intertwined hands and glares at Kara for real.
“Interesting,” she says pointedly.
“He’s freaked out,” Kara protests. “And I’m the first person he saw when he woke up.”
“I wonder why that is, Captain,” the woman spits out the word “captain” like it doesn’t fit right in her mouth.
Lee doesn’t try very hard to stifle the yawn that erupts from him.
“I should be going. I know the admiral wants some time with you, but I’ll be back.” She smiles at Lee. “Don’t worry.”
“That was weird,” Lee comments to Kara as the other woman leaves.
“That’s D-” Kara catches herself. She doesn’t even attempt to remedy her near-mistake. “Last one. You ready?”
Lee yawns. “So ready. For a nap.”
Kara cackles. “Be nice, alright?”
“Why?” Lee asks, but Kara doesn’t have time to answer - though Lee suspects she wouldn’t have even if there had been time - before a weathered man steps into Lee’s line of sight.
Like with Kara, and unlike with anyone else he’s seen today, Lee gets a strong sense of knowing this man. Not a name or a history, but an overwhelming sense of familiarity washes over him.
“Lee?” The man asks, “How are you feeling?”
Something about his voice has Lee gripping Kara’s hand tight. It’s so, so familiar to him.
Kara looks over at him curiously, her thumb rubbing his hand soothingly. It is this gesture more than anything that solidifies Lee’s belief that they are in love.
“Lee?” The man -the woman who has just left called him “admiral”- asks again.
“I’m sorry. I’m fine. Well,” Lee corrects himself, “I’m tired and sore and confused and my head aches, but you seem really familiar. You and Kara.”
The admiral smiles broadly and comes forward, wrapping his arms around Lee.
Lee’s memories are hazy impressions at best, but he’s pretty sure that hugs aren’t traditional between pilots and commanders. Even really good -according to Kara- pilots who have recently lost their memories on a mission.
He pats the admiral’s back awkwardly with his free hand and tries to catch Kara’s eye.
He must look ridiculously freaked out, because she makes a noise like a muffled snort and bites her lip as if she’s trying to hold back laughter.
After another awkward second or two, the admiral pulls away.
“I should let you rest, son,” the admiral says. He glances at where Lee’s fingers are intertwined with Kara’s. “I can count on you to keep an eye on him, Kara?”
Kara looks puzzled. “Sir, I have duties…”
“This is more important, Captain.” The admiral snaps. “Do I have to make it an order?”
“Of course not!” Kara leaps to her feet. She hasn’t let go of Lee’s hand, and that comforts him, even though the subtleties of the conversation are too much for him to follow.
He lies back against the pillows and closes his eyes. “Why wouldn’t my wife be allowed to stay with me?”
*
When Lee wakes again, Kara is still there. It’s not the same, though, she’s pushed her chair as far away from his bed as she can without leaving the room and appears to be doing paperwork.
“Kar?” Lee asks, reaching for her futilely.
“Hey. You’re up. Sleep well?” She smiles, but not as brightly as before, and she doesn’t sound as happy.
“Did something happen?” Lee asks.
“What do you mean?”
“Did the Cylons come while I was sleeping or something?” he presses. “You seem unhappy, what’s wrong?”
Kara puts down her pen and paper and buries her face in her hands. “It’s hard to be mad at you when you have no memory.”
“Mad at me?” Lee repeats. He has no idea what he could have said or done to upset Kara, especially not in his sleep. “What did I do?”
Kara looks up, but not at him. Lee has spent a lot of hours in this room by now, and he knows that nothing in it is as fascinating about it as Kara is making it seem. Except maybe her.
“Look, you’re confused. And I’m... here. It’s nothing. Are you feeling better?” She’s at least facing him, but she won’t meet his eyes. Near as Lee can figure, she’s staring at his left ear.
“I’m fine, Kara. Will you just look at me? Tell me what’s going on. I don’t understand.”
Kara exhales heavily and then meets his eyes. “It’s nothing. Honestly. I was just being dumb. I’m glad you’re awake.”
“Will you come here?” Lee pats the side of the bed, though he doesn’t really expect Kara to give in. The assumption catches him off guard. She seems to be quite fond of him, she’s his wife, so why does part of Lee expect Kara to avoid him?
It’s a wrong part, in any case. She perches on the edge of the bed and lets Lee coax her into lying along side him.
“Did I tell you how much you scared me?” She asks once they’re settled comfortably. “I really need you to not do that again.”
“I don’t know what I did, but I promise to never ever do it again. I don’t want to leave you, Kara.”
She huffs an impatient noise. “Look, Lee, we have to talk.”
The words sound foreboding, but Kara’s still lying on her side looking him in the eye. Lee waits for her to say what she needs to say.
“I’m not your wife.”
Lee realizes that neither of them wears a ring, but it doesn’t seem to matter. He knows how he feels about her.
“Would you like to be?” Lee asks. As proposals go, he can acknowledge it isn’t the smoothest, but it is sincere. He loves this woman with every fiber of his being.
Kara stares at him. After a moment she says, “I’m not even your girlfriend. I’m pretty sure you’re dating Dualla -the woman who was in here before the admiral- or you’re about to be.”
“Why would I be dating her?” Lee asks. Kara presses her face to his shoulder and laughs. Lee is so far beyond confused. “I mean, she seems nice enough, but why would I be dating her when I’m in love with you?”
Lee isn’t sure what he was expecting, maybe for Kara to be shocked at his announcement, but she isn’t. Her laughter cuts off immediately and she looks up at him.
“It’s complicated, Lee. We,” she waves her hand around vaguely, as if she can’t find the words to explain why two people who love each other won’t allow themselves the pleasure of admitting it.
“I wish I remembered,” Lee says around a yawn. He’s suddenly exhausted again and falling back asleep. He hates this overwhelming tiredness, it always seems to take him just when he is on the precipice of learning something.
The last thing he hears before drifting off is Kara’s softly muttered, “I’m glad you don’t.”
Author: pressdbtwnpages
Rating: PG
Characters: Lee, Kara, Doc Cottle, Dualla, Bill Adama
Pairings: Lee/Kara
Summary: You know what happens when you assume...
Prompt: Lee is saved by Racetrack after taking the spacewalk during Resurrection Ship...but now, he's got amnesia (temp, permanent, selective, any kind will do).
Warnings: n/a
Word Count: 2,565
Beta: elterriblefizzy
Author's Notes: Title from the song “Europe” by Matt Caplan.
Fantasies Founded on Fragments of Film
He wakes up in some sort of medical facility. It isn’t a hospital, it seems too amorphously impermanent for that. He doesn’t dwell on the possible quality of care he’s receiving for long, though. He feels alright - exhaustion, disorientation, and a nasty case of dry mouth aside - and there is a blond woman gazing at him from the end of the bed. She’s not dressed like a doctor and he has the sense that he knows her.
“Hey,” he says, his voice coming out a rusty croak.
The woman’s eyes snap to his. “Lee!”
Her surprised exclamation is suffused with relief and love. There’s just one problem.
“Who is Lee?”
The woman’s hands clench convulsively around the foot of the bed. Even from seven feet away he can see her knuckles have gone white.
“Cottle,” she says in a weak hiss, and then again, stronger, “Cottle!”
He’s confused and tired and his head hurts. He can’t remember if his head has always hurt or if it started throbbing when the woman began speaking. Maybe if he just closes his eyes for a minute, returns to the peaceful blackness of sleep…
His eyes drift closed.
“No!” the woman is shouting. Something grips his shoulders, shakes him once, and then just hangs on tight. “No, Lee. Don’t you do this to me. Don’t you dare go away on me again!”
He is Lee? He doesn’t remember being Lee, doesn’t remember…
“Captain Thrace!” A gruff voice bellows, “Get your hands off my patient!”
In a gentler tone, the man continues, “You can’t shake him out of a coma, much as I wish you could.”
“He’s not in a coma,” the woman -Thrace- insists. She sounds gutted, and he -Lee?- feels terrible for making her sound so sad. Somehow it seems unnatural for this woman to be left devastated. “He woke up, Doc. I swear. He spoke to me.”
“And what did he say, Kara?” The doctor affects a higher pitched voice, “‘Oh, my darling, my endless love, it is I, Lee, returned from the great sleep beyond. Let us end our pointless drama and frak at once!’”
“No. He said ‘hey’. And then he said,” Thrace - Kara hesitates, when she speaks again her voice is tremulous, “‘Who is Lee?’”
Whoever he is, he’s so tired. With a sigh, he lets go, back into sleep.
*
He’s had strange dreams. Space and speed and silence. It’s almost a relief to wake up to bright lights and the beeping of machines.
The blond, the woman, Thrace, Kara, Kara Thrace is still there, or there again, asleep in a chair, a bowl and spoon abandoned at her side.
She must really love him to be unwilling to leave him, to be so gutted by his injuries. What the doctor had said about their making love only confirmed this to him -to Lee.
“Hey,” he croaks softly, torn between not wanting to wake Kara and remembering how devastated she was when he fell asleep. He doesn’t expect the sound to wake her, hasn’t decided whether or not to try again, but her eyes fly open and she leans forward abruptly.
He sees Kara physically restrain herself - from jumping up, from shouting, he can’t guess which - and instead discreetly press a button on his bed.
“Hey,” she smiles. Kara has a beautiful smile.
He reaches for her hand, takes it. It feels right, and he wonders if Kara is his wife. He feels terrible for forgetting her. “I wish I could remember you.”
Kara’s smile dims. “It’ll come back.”
“I hope so.”
Kara’s smile seems to dim further, but Lee must be wrong because she squeezes his hand.
“Cottle says -” off of his confused expression Kara elaborates, “Doctor Cottle, who runs this place, says that your amnesia is probably temporary. You didn’t bump your head or anything when you ejected, and you were only without oxygen for seconds, so everything should be back soon.”
Amnesia? Ejected? Without oxygen? Lee’s head is spinning and not just from his injury.
With her free hand Kara rubs her temples. “Sorry. I should start at the beginning-”
“Actually, Captain, you should let me examine my patient.” Lee recognizes the gruff voice from earlier, it belongs to a grizzled older man in a lab coat.
“Can she stay?” Lee asks nervously. Kara feels like the only person he knows in the whole world and he finds himself suddenly desperate to not be alone.
“Calm down, boy. You too, Thrace,” he addresses Kara who has risen part way out of her chair and looks like she is gearing up for a fight. “You can stay.”
While Doc Cottle -apparently, everyone calls him “Doc”- examines him, Kara fills him in on the basics of their lives. On a space ship. Being hunted by vengeful robots.
“Are you sure I’m not still asleep?” Lee asks when Kara is done with her tale.
“‘Fraid not,” she says, but Kara tightens her grip on his hand and beams at him.
“Well, Captain,” Cottle says, because he is Captain Lee Adama a pilot aboard the Battlestar Galactica, “you seem perfectly fine to me. Except for the memory. I’m going to keep you here another day to get your strength up, but I see no indications that you won’t make a full recovery.”
Kara’s grip on Lee’s hand is crushingly strong. He doesn’t mind at all. “And Kara can stay?”
Cottle huffs and smirks. “There are other people who would like to see you. Might be a good idea, jog your memory a bit.”
“But Kara can stay, right?” Lee repeats more insistently. He doesn’t want to do this without her, doesn’t want to do anything without her.
“Kara,” Cottle makes a face, “Captain Thrace can stay, so long as that’s alright with her commanding officer.”
Lee looks over at her hopefully. She’s blushing lightly, it looks odd on her and Lee is suddenly certain deep within his bones that he loves her.
“I think that can be arranged,” she says.
Cottle nods sharply. “I’ll call the commander and have him get a group together.”
Lee watches Kara watch Cottle leave and then asks, “Why do I feel like I’m getting some sort of special treatment?”
“You’re pretty special,” Kara offers with a shrug, and then proceeds to distract him with stories of the Galactica’s adventures. They’re so hard to believe that Lee secretly suspects she’s making them up, but he lets her go on telling them until his first visitor arrives.
Kara sits with Lee, grip strong and reassuring, as a parade of people come through his sick bay cubicle. As each person comes and goes it gets progressively more difficult to watch their faces light up at the sight of him and then dim when it becomes clear that he doesn’t remember their callsign, or that time with the Cylons, or that one triad game. It doesn’t seem to be any comfort that Lee doesn’t remember Cylons or triad or his own name either.
“No more, Kara, please,” Lee pleads after the fifteenth person leaves, collapsing back into his pillows. “I can’t.”
“I know, I’m sorry. Just a few more. We saved the best for last.”
Lee groans. So these are the people he’s expected to remember. No pressure there. “Can’t you give me a few hints so they don’t look so disappointed?”
Kara looks at him like she wants to kiss him. Lee wants that too. He wonders why they haven’t yet.
A pretty black woman steps into Lee’s partitioned-off space. “Hi, Lee.”
Kara’s fingers go slack in Lee’s hand, but she doesn’t tug her hand away.
“Can’t,” she replies to his question, settling back into her seat. “That would be cheating.”
Lee pouts at her, gets a thrill from making her laugh. Then he turns his attention to the other woman.
“Hello,” he says.
She steps closer. “Do you remember me, Lee? After all the time we’ve spent together recently?”
Lee doesn’t. He doesn’t even remember Kara, so he’s not sure what this woman is supposed to be to him. Are they friends? She seems pleasant enough, if nothing more substantial than that.
“Easy,” Kara murmurs. “He’s having enough trouble without you pressuring him.”
Kara is being very careful not to say this woman’s name. Lee mock-glares at her.
The other woman notices their intertwined hands and glares at Kara for real.
“Interesting,” she says pointedly.
“He’s freaked out,” Kara protests. “And I’m the first person he saw when he woke up.”
“I wonder why that is, Captain,” the woman spits out the word “captain” like it doesn’t fit right in her mouth.
Lee doesn’t try very hard to stifle the yawn that erupts from him.
“I should be going. I know the admiral wants some time with you, but I’ll be back.” She smiles at Lee. “Don’t worry.”
“That was weird,” Lee comments to Kara as the other woman leaves.
“That’s D-” Kara catches herself. She doesn’t even attempt to remedy her near-mistake. “Last one. You ready?”
Lee yawns. “So ready. For a nap.”
Kara cackles. “Be nice, alright?”
“Why?” Lee asks, but Kara doesn’t have time to answer - though Lee suspects she wouldn’t have even if there had been time - before a weathered man steps into Lee’s line of sight.
Like with Kara, and unlike with anyone else he’s seen today, Lee gets a strong sense of knowing this man. Not a name or a history, but an overwhelming sense of familiarity washes over him.
“Lee?” The man asks, “How are you feeling?”
Something about his voice has Lee gripping Kara’s hand tight. It’s so, so familiar to him.
Kara looks over at him curiously, her thumb rubbing his hand soothingly. It is this gesture more than anything that solidifies Lee’s belief that they are in love.
“Lee?” The man -the woman who has just left called him “admiral”- asks again.
“I’m sorry. I’m fine. Well,” Lee corrects himself, “I’m tired and sore and confused and my head aches, but you seem really familiar. You and Kara.”
The admiral smiles broadly and comes forward, wrapping his arms around Lee.
Lee’s memories are hazy impressions at best, but he’s pretty sure that hugs aren’t traditional between pilots and commanders. Even really good -according to Kara- pilots who have recently lost their memories on a mission.
He pats the admiral’s back awkwardly with his free hand and tries to catch Kara’s eye.
He must look ridiculously freaked out, because she makes a noise like a muffled snort and bites her lip as if she’s trying to hold back laughter.
After another awkward second or two, the admiral pulls away.
“I should let you rest, son,” the admiral says. He glances at where Lee’s fingers are intertwined with Kara’s. “I can count on you to keep an eye on him, Kara?”
Kara looks puzzled. “Sir, I have duties…”
“This is more important, Captain.” The admiral snaps. “Do I have to make it an order?”
“Of course not!” Kara leaps to her feet. She hasn’t let go of Lee’s hand, and that comforts him, even though the subtleties of the conversation are too much for him to follow.
He lies back against the pillows and closes his eyes. “Why wouldn’t my wife be allowed to stay with me?”
*
When Lee wakes again, Kara is still there. It’s not the same, though, she’s pushed her chair as far away from his bed as she can without leaving the room and appears to be doing paperwork.
“Kar?” Lee asks, reaching for her futilely.
“Hey. You’re up. Sleep well?” She smiles, but not as brightly as before, and she doesn’t sound as happy.
“Did something happen?” Lee asks.
“What do you mean?”
“Did the Cylons come while I was sleeping or something?” he presses. “You seem unhappy, what’s wrong?”
Kara puts down her pen and paper and buries her face in her hands. “It’s hard to be mad at you when you have no memory.”
“Mad at me?” Lee repeats. He has no idea what he could have said or done to upset Kara, especially not in his sleep. “What did I do?”
Kara looks up, but not at him. Lee has spent a lot of hours in this room by now, and he knows that nothing in it is as fascinating about it as Kara is making it seem. Except maybe her.
“Look, you’re confused. And I’m... here. It’s nothing. Are you feeling better?” She’s at least facing him, but she won’t meet his eyes. Near as Lee can figure, she’s staring at his left ear.
“I’m fine, Kara. Will you just look at me? Tell me what’s going on. I don’t understand.”
Kara exhales heavily and then meets his eyes. “It’s nothing. Honestly. I was just being dumb. I’m glad you’re awake.”
“Will you come here?” Lee pats the side of the bed, though he doesn’t really expect Kara to give in. The assumption catches him off guard. She seems to be quite fond of him, she’s his wife, so why does part of Lee expect Kara to avoid him?
It’s a wrong part, in any case. She perches on the edge of the bed and lets Lee coax her into lying along side him.
“Did I tell you how much you scared me?” She asks once they’re settled comfortably. “I really need you to not do that again.”
“I don’t know what I did, but I promise to never ever do it again. I don’t want to leave you, Kara.”
She huffs an impatient noise. “Look, Lee, we have to talk.”
The words sound foreboding, but Kara’s still lying on her side looking him in the eye. Lee waits for her to say what she needs to say.
“I’m not your wife.”
Lee realizes that neither of them wears a ring, but it doesn’t seem to matter. He knows how he feels about her.
“Would you like to be?” Lee asks. As proposals go, he can acknowledge it isn’t the smoothest, but it is sincere. He loves this woman with every fiber of his being.
Kara stares at him. After a moment she says, “I’m not even your girlfriend. I’m pretty sure you’re dating Dualla -the woman who was in here before the admiral- or you’re about to be.”
“Why would I be dating her?” Lee asks. Kara presses her face to his shoulder and laughs. Lee is so far beyond confused. “I mean, she seems nice enough, but why would I be dating her when I’m in love with you?”
Lee isn’t sure what he was expecting, maybe for Kara to be shocked at his announcement, but she isn’t. Her laughter cuts off immediately and she looks up at him.
“It’s complicated, Lee. We,” she waves her hand around vaguely, as if she can’t find the words to explain why two people who love each other won’t allow themselves the pleasure of admitting it.
“I wish I remembered,” Lee says around a yawn. He’s suddenly exhausted again and falling back asleep. He hates this overwhelming tiredness, it always seems to take him just when he is on the precipice of learning something.
The last thing he hears before drifting off is Kara’s softly muttered, “I’m glad you don’t.”