Six Times Starbuck and Apollo Frakked 3/6
Six Times Starbuck and Apollo Frakked
or
Five Times Starbuck and Apollo Couldn't Get the Timing Right
(And Once When Time Was All They Had)
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Part Three: For Old Times’ Sake
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Lee’s dead.
So is most of the human race, but the only one of those billions of deaths that means a thing to her is Lee’s.
Kara tugs the photo from her locker door and for the first time in two years thinks about the day it was taken. She and Zak giggling and in love, Lee standing a little apart; always there and yet not quite belonging.
She says a prayer for his soul and puts the photo back in its place. She wonders why she’s still alive.
~ * ~
It worked.
The real Cylons fell for the trick that never fooled the pretend ones.
Laura Roslin is there to congratulate him but all he can hear is his father’s voice over the comm, calling his name.
~ * ~
It’s been two years and though she will never let herself forget she feels a sort of peace when she lets the secret go. The fault is hers, and she’s the one who deserves his hatred, not the Commander. She’s probably going to die out there, and he needs to know, in case he survives. She is going to fight to her last breath to make sure he survives. It won’t redress the balance, but it’s a start.
When his viper’s disabled she ignores his stupid noble command to leave him to die. She can’t do it. She killed his brother; lost him once already today and dammit she’s not losing him again.
No one’s more surprised than she when her crazy-ass idea actually works. She scoops his viper up and deposits it not-so-neatly on the deck. Hell of a mess, but they’re both alive.
When she finally returns to her bunkroom, it’s empty. She tries not to think of the reason why-there are too many things she refuses to think about. Like Lee, and how many times today she had thought he was dead.
She opens her locker, tosses in her jacket and is rummaging about for a cigar when she catches sight of that photo again. She traces Zak’s face and takes a breath. Love you, Zak. Miss you. Probably see you soon. Then she pulls it away from the mirror frame, unfolds it and smoothes over the crease. She looks at the image of Lee and smiles to herself.
He’s alive.
~ * ~
“You have a good night,” his father tells him when they reach the hatch to his quarters. It’s a dismissal, albeit a gentle one, but Lee feels he should say something else. His throat is too blocked with the emotions of the day though, and he can’t get anything out.
The reconciliation is too new for silences to be comfortable.
“Why don’t we save this for another time, son?” Bill suggests, gently.
Lee bows his head slightly, and turns to go. It seems a good time to seek out a billet, and maybe some ambrosia and temporary oblivion.
~ * ~
She’s relaxing on her bunk when Lee walks in; looking like he’s just witnessed the end of the worlds. Which, of course, he has. (She really shouldn’t be making jokes about it already, even in the privacy of her own head, but she can’t help it.)
“Wasting that one on an empty bunkroom, aren’t you?” He nods at the cigar, and Kara wonders if they’ve ever actually acknowledged that long ago first encounter. She thinks not.
She shrugs. “Maybe I’m just not that picky today. Somebody had to walk in eventually.” She takes a long pull and breathes out slowly, eyes closed; feels the mattress dip as he makes himself comfortable. She opens one eye and tries to read him. “You interested, then?”
He looks away and she thinks she hit the nail on the head. “Kara, I’m your CO now, you know.”
She grins. “Kinky.” She shouldn’t encourage him but she survived the end of the worlds today; she’s invincible.
He smiles, and it warms her so much that she swings around to sit next to him. She passes him the cigar and he takes a puff, closing his eyes to savour the taste. “Have to start saving these,” he observes, passing it back.
She nods, and it’s yet another thing she doesn’t want to think about at the moment. He’s staring at her, so she raises an eyebrow at him and nudges his shoulder with her own. The smirk comes naturally, and she’s not sure whether it’s she who leans over to plant her lips on his or the other way around.
~ * ~
She’s kissing him now, or he’s kissing her, he doesn’t know which. They really shouldn’t be doing this; there’s far too much history between them, but he doesn’t care. Without pulling away he takes the cigar from her again and stubs it out.
“It’s the end of the world, Lee,” she tells him then, and he wants to hate her for echoing herself. He’s forgiven her, but he wants to forget, too. He wonders if he should hate her now, for letting his brother die, and then letting him bury his sorrows in her. He thinks maybe he wants to, but he can’t. He knows she’ll never forgive herself because she’s Kara and he can’t bear to add to her burden-he’s hated his father for two years and it’s exhausting. She’s freed him from that and it feels more like a blessing than a fault.
He decides then that he doesn’t want to play the good boy. Not today when the world’s just ended and he’s talking to his father again. There’s irony in there somewhere, but he’s too tired to look for it, so he just lies back in her bunk and tugs her down with him.
~ * ~
She can’t help but think about the last time they did this; Zak palpably between them. Her confession on the hangar deck means he’s not that far away this time either.
Lee hasn’t said a word about it since she told him, but that doesn’t surprise her. He probably never will. The fact he’s here right now means that he will forgive her. Maybe he already has.
“Are you still pretending I’m Zak?” he asks in the afterglow. She studies him for a minute, wondering which answer he wants to hear. She wonders if he even knows himself.
~ * ~
He’s not sure why he felt the need to mention his brother. Maybe because her confession still stings. Maybe because he needs to remind himself (remind both of them) that this is frakked up and wrong and he has no right to want her.
She shakes her head. “You’re Apollo,” she tells him, “And I’m Starbuck. And this is just a frak between friends, okay?”
He nods in agreement. Friends. Burning off some adrenaline, comforting one another (again)-it is almost believable, even.
Almost.
Ten minutes later the Cylons have found them and what becomes known as the cycle of thirty three begins. Five and a half days and the destruction of a civilian liner later, one little “frak between friends” is already ancient history.
~ * ~
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Series Summary: Starbuck and Apollo are the best pilots in the fleet. In the air, they have perfect synchronicity; on the ground, not so much. Six ficlets, interconnected but standalone.
Fic Title: For Old Times' Sake
Rating: MA for descriptions of sex
Spoilers: This part, miniseries and 33.
Pairings: Kara/Lee, mentions of Kara/Zak
Wordcount: ~1100
Summary: “You’re Apollo,” she tells him, “And I’m Starbuck. And this is just a frak between friends, okay?”