Summer Nights (6/?)
Title: Summer Nights (6/?)
Author: Nytel
Rating: NC-17 (or at least it will be)
Spoilers: Nada. It's a pre-mini AU fic.
Pairing: Kara/Lee
Genre: Romance
Summary: Neither of them had been expecting anything other than a normal summer break.
Word Count: 4,012
Beta: The fabulous
nebakanezer. :)
Disclaimer: I am merely borrowing them. No copyright infringement is intended.
Chapter 6
Kara stood on her tiptoes, barely able to reach, as she shoved the last box of ambrosia bottles into place in the storage room. It was stupid really, to keep one of the most popular drinks in all the twelve colonies where hardly anyone could reach it, but her boss was set in his ways. He’d owned the bar for nearly fifteen years now, and the ambrosia had to go on the top shelf, because that’s where it always went.
Kara swore under her breath as she turned the light off in the storage room and walked back out to the bar. It pissed her off a bit, working at her job, but she just reminded herself of the cash she would have later when she was back at the Academy in the fall. Of course all that money could conceivably end up coming right back to the bar, or one extremely similar, but whatever. It wasn’t like this was a full time gig or anything, and if it pissed her off enough she could always just quit.
“’Kay Tony, I’m going to head out,” Kara announced to the other bartender, who had just arrived, as she slid in behind the bar to grab her jacket and car keys.
“Alright,” he said as he turned to face. “Thanks again for switching shifts with me. Deanne just felt like crap this morning, and I couldn’t leave her by herself.”
Kara nodded. His wife had woken up with what he was claiming was the worst case of morning sickness in the world-something Kara never, ever planned to experience for herself-and he’d called Kara, begging to switch her shifts. Tony had been on the early shift and she was supposed to have been closing. But she didn’t mind the change; the ‘early’ shift was hardly that-eleven in the morning until seven at night, mostly stocking shelves. Of course there was the occasional visitor at the bar between noon and the end of the shift, but for the most part the crowd stayed away until ten or so. She wouldn’t mind missing the craziness once, or possibly just being on the other side of the craziness.
Jean had called her earlier in the week, seeing if she’d wanted to go out one night. Kara had yet to return the call, but she thought she might. It’d been nearly a week since she’d found Sam in bed, or more accurately on the couch, with two other women. The memory still made her fuming mad, but it was possibly time to get past that, if not just forget about it for one night.
***
Lee did his best to listen to what Carrie was saying, but he found he was having an extremely hard time focusing, and not just because of the background noise of the bar. It wasn’t that he didn’t like Carrie and Lisa, Michael’s two friends from med school, they both seemed nice enough, it was more that they were… well, he didn’t want to say boring, but it was the only word that came to mind. It probably didn’t help that more often than not the conversation wound itself back to medical topics, something Lee had very little interest in. Sure he’d taken a few first aid courses through the Academy, but he knew nothing about something-something-ectomies, and neither did he really want to.
However, determined to be polite, Lee put on a smile as Carrie continued telling him about this amazing surgery she’d gotten to watch her mentor perform. Lee quickly glanced at Michael and Lisa who were across the booth from them, but they were deep in their own conversation. Lee sighed mentally and turned back towards Carrie, faking interest once again. He managed to get by with mostly nodding and occasionally murmuring agreement. However, he was taken by surprise when Carrie asked him a question. He only realized it because she was staring at him, obviously awaiting some response.
“I’m sorry?” He said, slightly embarrassed.
Carrie smiled at him. “I asked what you do. Are you in school?”
Lee smiled back, while playing with the empty drink glass in his hands. “Yeah, sort of. I’m going into my second year of the military academy.”
“Oh,” Carrie said, seemingly genuinely intrigued. “So are you a pilot?”
“Uh, yeah,” Lee replied. “Vipers.”
“That’s so cool. Do you like it?”
Lee felt a rush of relief. Maybe this night wouldn’t be quite so bad after all, not if he wasn’t going to need to force himself to remain awake. Carrie had a lot of questions about flight school, which surprised him a little bit, but he answered them all honestly. He was just beginning to actually enjoy himself when he caught a glimpse of short blonde hair from the corner of his eye, near the doorway. Lee forced himself to not turn and look.
Even though Kara worked at the bar part time, he knew she wasn’t going to be there tonight. He’d seen her that morning before she left for work and she had told him she had the night off and was possibly going out with a friend. However, when he caught a second glimpse of the person with the blonde hair he couldn’t resist looking anyway. He paused mid sentence when he recognized Kara. Not only was he surprised to see her there, but he was also surprised by her outfit. He’d only ever seen Kara in running clothes or else military garb, which was definitely not what she was wearing now.
It took less than a nanosecond for his mind to process the sight and come to the conclusion that he really liked seeing Kara in jeans. They weren’t fancy, just normal denim, but they fit her body like a glove-a very tight glove. Her plain black tank was simple enough as well, but it too was form fitting, and it also left just a tiny sliver of skin above her waistband revealed. He’d seen her wearing significantly less clothing in the past couple weeks, but for some reason she looked a hell of a lot sexier tonight.
“Is that your girlfriend?” Carrie asked suddenly and bitterly, ripping Lee away from his previous train of thought. Lisa and Michael both stopped talking and looked over at them.
“No,” Lee said slowly, trying to figure out why he felt like a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar.
Michael looked at him in confusion, before following Carrie’s gaze over toward the bar where Kara was now standing. It was the first time Lee noticed there was a redhead with her.
Michael laughed. “Gods no,” he said, saving Lee. “That’s just my half-sister.”
Carrie relaxed visibly. “Oh. I didn’t know you had a sister…”
Michael shrugged. “Yeah.”
“Was she supposed to be meeting us or something?” Lisa piped in.
Michael shook his head. “No. She works here.”
“She isn’t working tonight though,” Lee corrected automatically.
Michael shrugged again, obviously not caring. “Either way, she’s definitely not Lee’s girlfriend.”
***
Kara spotted the only two empty seats at the bar and headed straight for them, Jean following behind. The bar was busy, not surprising in the least. It was one of the more popular places in town, and it was the time of night when it was just getting cool enough to head out. As they sat down, Kara caught Tony’s eye and smiled. He looked merely a little surprised to see her back there, and only a moment later he was headed over with a bottle of the ambrosia she’d been stocking earlier. He placed it on the counter between them and followed it with two shot glasses. “On the house,” he said smiling, before turning away.
Kara grinned and poured them each a shot of the tantalizing green liquid.
“Why do I have a feeling that has less to do with me being on the C-Bucks and more to do with you working here?” Jean joked before downing her shot.
Kara followed suit and had to stop from making a face as the liquid slid down, warming as it went. The first shot was always the most difficult. “Because it was,” she answered, laughing. Jean poured the next round and they both drank.
“Wow,” the redhead commented. “That is definitely the good stuff.”
Kara smiled as she ran her finger around the rim of the glass. “Of course.”
“So,” Jean said casually-too casually. “Who are you sleeping with?”
Kara’s eyebrows shot up in surprise, and she spun on the bar stool to face Jean. “What the hell are you talking about?”
Jean eyed her closely. “Rebound sex… I know it’s been a while since you were recently single, but you must remember how it goes. You find some super hot guy, frak his brains out for a while, and it makes you feel better. At least that approach always seems to work for me.”
Kara rolled her eyes. “I do remember the theory…”
Jean eyed her suspiciously. “But…”
“But what.”
“But you haven’t slept with anyone yet?!”
Kara shook her head and poured another round before taking her shot. “Nope.”
Jean drank too, wincing slightly as the alcohol burned its way down. “I know Anders is hot, but there has to be someone around who is just as good looking.”
“Probably,” Kara assented. Sam was an attractive guy, but he wasn’t the hottest man she’d ever met.
Jean was staring at her closely again. “Don’t tell me you’re hung up on him. Kara, it’s not exactly like he was the best boyfriend in the world, and I’m not only referring to his spectacular downfall last week. He wasn’t exactly attentive either. I mean, didn’t he forget your birthday?”
Kara nodded. Sam had hardly been the spectacular boyfriend, but Jean was wrong on one count, Kara wasn’t hung up on him. In fact, not once in the past week had she found herself missing Sam or any aspects of their relationship. What was haunting her was that she had one more failed relationship to add to her ever-growing list. It’s not like she was looking for ‘Mr. Right’, but for once she’d like a relationship that didn’t end horribly.
“So, what?” Kara asked, looking at Jean. “Is your goal for the night to find some sucker for me to frak?” She was joking, but the look on Jean’s face worried her. “Jean, I was only…” But it was too late; the other woman was already scoping out the bar for potential victims.
She looked back at Kara, smiling. “There are at least four guys in here staring at us. You didn’t exactly give me much of a challenge.”
Kara laughed, shaking her head. “I was kidding.”
Jean shrugged. “Well… if you change your mind, I’m sure you could have your pick. But if I were you I’d go with that guy in the corner booth. Not only is he frakking hot-and I’m talking like sex on legs hot-but he’s been staring at you since we walked in.”
Although Kara didn’t really want to get into Jean’s little game, she couldn’t help but be at least a little bit intrigued. “Sex on legs, huh?”
Jean nodded. “Hell yeah. Hotter than Anders… maybe hotter than all the guys I know. If you don’t snatch him up tonight, I might.” She joked.
Her curiosity piqued, Kara looked over her shoulder to see who the hell Jean was talking about. She was surprised when she recognized the intense blue eyes staring at her. Lee looked a little shocked, but he surprised her when he didn’t turn his attention back to the rest of the people he was with, but instead tilted his head at her in acknowledgement. She grinned at him, shaking her head slightly in disbelief, before turning back to face the bar.
“Okay,” Jean said slowly. “What the hell was that?”
Kara shrugged, still smiling. “That was Lee.”
Jean’s eyes widened. “Your brother’s friend that’s staying at your house this summer?”
Kara nodded. “The same.”
“Holy frak, why didn’t you tell me he was so hot?” Jean sounded almost personally offended.
Kara just laughed.
“Seriously, you’ve seen him, right?”
Kara nodded. “I never said he wasn’t hot.”
Jean looked at her like she’d just grown a second head. “Are you crazy? Why haven’t you done anything?”
“What are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about Lee. Are you telling me you don’t want to sleep with him?”
Kara rolled her eyes. “He’s my brother’s best friend. And… he’s my friend too.”
“So? He’s one of the most attractive men I’ve ever seen. I’d tap that in a second.”
“Feel free,” Kara said, feeling an unexpected bite of something in her stomach. She would call it jealousy, but she knew better than that.
Jean laughed. “Are you kidding me? The way he’s looking at you right now… let’s just say I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t notice if every other girl here stripped naked and cartwheeled across the room.”
***
At some point in the evening Lee gave up trying to follow the conversation that Michael, Lisa and Carrie were now having. He did his best to at least appear to be half-listening, but there was no way he could kid himself into believing he wasn’t paying ten times closer attention to Kara than the people he was actually seated with. It was making Lee begin to think that maybe his theory of why he was attracted to Kara was completely off in left field.
Other than their daily runs, Lee hadn’t spent much time with Kara in the past week. She’d been working quite a bit, and Michael had been keeping Lee occupied with other things. In spite of that, he had noticed that he was finding her to be more distracting than normal-not necessarily a bad thing. But he suspected it might have something to do with the fact that Sam was now out of the picture… and that thought, or possibly more accurately realization, worried him a little. It did not however keep him from continuing to stare.
He’d been surprised earlier when she had glanced over at him, but he’d been more than happy to see the responding smile. Somewhere in the back of his mind he wondered if he would be completely screwed for the remainder of the summer; after all, everyone had a limit on how much temptation they could handle. Yet at the same time he found himself not really caring, which was probably in itself the answer he was looking for.
Sometime just before midnight, the girls stated that they needed to be getting back to their hotel, as they had a flight to catch in the morning. Michael, who hadn’t been drinking, offered to drive them back.
“I’m going to finish my beer and then I’ll meet you back at the house,” Lee told Michael.
His friend nodded. “Sure, sounds good. I’ll see you later.”
“Bye,” Lisa and Carrie said in unison as they stood up to leave.
“Bye,” Lee responded. “It was nice meeting you.”
They smiled politely before heading for the door, Michael only a few steps behind. The minute Lee saw the door close behind them he turned his attention back to Kara and her friend. They were still at the bar, talking.
He downed the rest of his beer before leaving a tip on the table and heading across the room.
***
Kara was reminiscing with Jean about one of their old pyramid games, when she felt the light touch of a hand on her shoulder. She turned just in time to see Lee sliding into the empty seat beside her. “Hey,” he said, smiling.
She smiled back. “Hey.”
“Hi,” Jean added enthusiastically, leaning across Kara to shake hands with Lee.
Kara shook her head, laughing. “Lee this is Jean Barolay. Jean this is Lee Adama.”
“It’s nice to meet you,” Lee said sincerely.
Jean nodded her head. “Likewise.”
“Jean and I played pyramid together,” Kara offered as she stood up and leaned over the counter, grabbing another shot glass. She placed it in front of Lee and slid the now half empty bottle of ambrosia to him across the smooth wood surface. After he poured himself a drink, Kara took the bottle back and poured another round for Jean and her as well. They all drank.
“Do you still play pyramid?” Lee asked after a few seconds.
Jean nodded. “Yeah, I play for the C-Bucks now.”
Kara watched as Lee’s eyebrow rose in surprise.
“Yep,” Jean said. “Same team as asshole Anders.”
Lee laughed quietly.
“Speaking of which,” Jean said slowly. “I should probably be going.” She checked her watch. “It’s almost midnight. Team curfew. Coach will kill me.”
Kara bit back a laugh. There was no such thing as team curfew, not until playoffs anyway. Jean may think she was being sly, but she wasn’t. At least it was amusing. “Oh,” Kara said in a fake believing voice. “New rule?”
Jean smiled. “Yeah,” she lied as she stood up, only stumbling slightly. “Coach is really cracking down on us.” She smiled at them both. “See you later,” she said happily as she walked towards the door.
Kara turned back to Lee. “So…”
“So…” he replied, mimicking her voice as he poured them both another drink.
Kara grinned. “Managed to finally get free of my brother and his friends?”
Lee nodded, looking genuinely relieved.
Kara laughed. “Did they talk hospitals all night long? It’s what Michael always does with my dad, and I hate it-he could at least try to act like a normal person.”
Lee laughed with her. “You would think.” After a moment he said, “I was surprised to see you here tonight.”
Kara stared at him. There was something about the way he said that, and about the way he was looking at her... Was Jean possibly right? She forced herself to shrug it off. It had to be the booze talking. “It’s one of the few good places in town.”
Lee smiled before drinking his shot; Kara followed suit. “It seems like I haven’t seen you in a while,” Lee commented.
Kara laughed. “I started working, I didn’t disappear off the planet. And besides I saw you this morning.”
Lee smiled. “True, but you know what I mean.”
Kara smiled at him, feeling pleasantly surprised that he seemed to care about her diminished presence over the last few days. “I do know what you mean.” After a second she added, “So, what’s new?” She couldn’t help but laugh in response to the odd look Lee gave her. He could only hold it for a second before he was cracking up too.
***
Three hours later Kara poured the last drop of ambrosia into her shot glass and smiled at Lee. They both raised glasses to their lips and tipped their heads back at the same time. Kara cracked up, laughing at the look on Lee’s face. “It’s supposed to get easier to drink with every shot,” she informed him.
Lee shook his head before putting the empty glass back down on the bar. “That’s a lie,” he informed her, sounding dead serious, but she could see his eyes sparkling with withheld laughter.
Kara let out a barking laugh. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt this good, of course that could be in part due to all the alcohol they’d consumed. There was no doubt about it; they were both completely wasted.
The bar had almost fully cleared out, and Tony was behind the counter tidying up for the night, as last call had been an hour earlier. “I’m shutting down in ten minutes,” he told them as he walked by.
Kara hopped off her bar stool, only to stumble sideways into Lee’s. His arm wrapped around her waist, holding her up. “Thanks,” she said as she caught her balance. When Lee stood up she very nearly had to return the favor.
“Wow,” Lee stated. “I cannot remember the last time I was this drunk.”
Kara smiled at him, not surprised that he didn’t go out and get hammered all that often. He was too much of a control freak for that. “I can,” Kara stated, briefly remembering the night she’d broke up with Sam. “But it wasn’t nearly this much fun.”
“Come on,” Lee said, moving his arm to around her shoulders, though she wasn’t sure if it was for her benefit or his. “Let’s go. If we still want to run in the morning, we’re going to need at least a couple hours sleep.”
Kara groaned as they began to head for the door, not noticing the pleased look on Tony’s face. “Maybe we should just skip running tomorrow… I mean, today.”
Lee shook his head as they stumbled out into the cool air. It wasn’t actually that cold, but the contrast with how hot it had been earlier made Kara shiver, and Lee pulled her closer. She let him because she was too tired to resist the chivalry that she wasn’t used to. “We can’t skip running,” Lee stated. “It’s my favorite part of the day.”
Kara groaned in defeat. “Fine, but let’s go later. I know it’s going to be hot, but if I try running while I’m still drunk…”
As if on cue, Lee stumbled, barely stopping himself from falling flat on his face. “Okay,” he assented. “That might be a good idea.”
***
By the time they caught a taxi and made it back to the Thrace house, it was past three thirty. After they staggered out of the cab and started heading up the driveway, Kara tripped, and would have fallen if Lee hadn’t been holding her up.
He was quite glad his arm was around her-it was safer for them both that way. And it felt really nice, but he was pretty sure that was just the alcohol talking. Actually, the alcohol was probably responsible for his arm being where it was in the first place. He rarely got drunk, because when he did he seemed to lose too many of his inhibitions-like now.
They reached the stairs to the porch, only three steps, but Kara groaned. “Ugh, stairs,” she said quietly, presumably keeping her voice quiet so Michael wouldn’t hear.
Before Lee could say anything she dragged him up them with her. It worked well until her left foot caught on the top step and she stumbled, pulling Lee with her. Somehow he managed to catch her by the waist and twist them the other way. Unfortunately the sudden movement made his head spin and he lost his balance. The next thing he knew he had fallen into one of the wooden porch chairs and Kara was on top of him, straddling his lap.
She started giggling at the surprised look on his face and he covered her mouth with his hand. “Shh,” he said, trying to hold back his own laughter. “You’ll wake up your brother.”
Kara’s teeth grazed his palm lightly and he pulled his hand away, surprised. She laughed even harder, but buried her face in his chest to keep from being too noisy. “Sorry,” she said after a few minutes. But then she started laughing again.
Lee had to bite his tongue to keep from joining her. Once she finally finished laughing, for real, Kara angled her head in towards Lee’s neck. “Crap,” she said a moment later.
“What?” Lee whispered, possibly bringing his lips closer to her ear than was really necessary.
“The bedrooms are upstairs,” she stated.
Lee groaned and tilted his head back against the backrest of the chair. “Crap.”
Kara laughed again. “That’s what I just said!”
“Shhh,” he reminded her.
“Let’s just…” she said at the same time he said, “Maybe we should just…” They grinned at each other and Kara rested her head on Lee’s shoulder again.
“’Night, Lee,” she said.
“’Night, Kara,” he replied, and within seconds they were both fast asleep.
TBC
A/N: So, this job I'm supposed to be going on keeps getting pushed back. It looks like now Friday is the earliest day we'll be leaving, but possibly it'll be as late as next week. But really, I don't mind, because it gave me time to write and post another chapter! Chances are the chapter 7 won't get posted until approximately July 13th/14th when I'm scheduled to get back. But if I manage to miraculously get it written this weekend, maybe I'll surprise you all with an 'I'm sorry I have to go away' present. :)
Previous Chapters
Author: Nytel
Rating: NC-17 (or at least it will be)
Spoilers: Nada. It's a pre-mini AU fic.
Pairing: Kara/Lee
Genre: Romance
Summary: Neither of them had been expecting anything other than a normal summer break.
Word Count: 4,012
Beta: The fabulous
nebakanezer. :)
Disclaimer: I am merely borrowing them. No copyright infringement is intended.
Chapter 6
Kara stood on her tiptoes, barely able to reach, as she shoved the last box of ambrosia bottles into place in the storage room. It was stupid really, to keep one of the most popular drinks in all the twelve colonies where hardly anyone could reach it, but her boss was set in his ways. He’d owned the bar for nearly fifteen years now, and the ambrosia had to go on the top shelf, because that’s where it always went.
Kara swore under her breath as she turned the light off in the storage room and walked back out to the bar. It pissed her off a bit, working at her job, but she just reminded herself of the cash she would have later when she was back at the Academy in the fall. Of course all that money could conceivably end up coming right back to the bar, or one extremely similar, but whatever. It wasn’t like this was a full time gig or anything, and if it pissed her off enough she could always just quit.
“’Kay Tony, I’m going to head out,” Kara announced to the other bartender, who had just arrived, as she slid in behind the bar to grab her jacket and car keys.
“Alright,” he said as he turned to face. “Thanks again for switching shifts with me. Deanne just felt like crap this morning, and I couldn’t leave her by herself.”
Kara nodded. His wife had woken up with what he was claiming was the worst case of morning sickness in the world-something Kara never, ever planned to experience for herself-and he’d called Kara, begging to switch her shifts. Tony had been on the early shift and she was supposed to have been closing. But she didn’t mind the change; the ‘early’ shift was hardly that-eleven in the morning until seven at night, mostly stocking shelves. Of course there was the occasional visitor at the bar between noon and the end of the shift, but for the most part the crowd stayed away until ten or so. She wouldn’t mind missing the craziness once, or possibly just being on the other side of the craziness.
Jean had called her earlier in the week, seeing if she’d wanted to go out one night. Kara had yet to return the call, but she thought she might. It’d been nearly a week since she’d found Sam in bed, or more accurately on the couch, with two other women. The memory still made her fuming mad, but it was possibly time to get past that, if not just forget about it for one night.
***
Lee did his best to listen to what Carrie was saying, but he found he was having an extremely hard time focusing, and not just because of the background noise of the bar. It wasn’t that he didn’t like Carrie and Lisa, Michael’s two friends from med school, they both seemed nice enough, it was more that they were… well, he didn’t want to say boring, but it was the only word that came to mind. It probably didn’t help that more often than not the conversation wound itself back to medical topics, something Lee had very little interest in. Sure he’d taken a few first aid courses through the Academy, but he knew nothing about something-something-ectomies, and neither did he really want to.
However, determined to be polite, Lee put on a smile as Carrie continued telling him about this amazing surgery she’d gotten to watch her mentor perform. Lee quickly glanced at Michael and Lisa who were across the booth from them, but they were deep in their own conversation. Lee sighed mentally and turned back towards Carrie, faking interest once again. He managed to get by with mostly nodding and occasionally murmuring agreement. However, he was taken by surprise when Carrie asked him a question. He only realized it because she was staring at him, obviously awaiting some response.
“I’m sorry?” He said, slightly embarrassed.
Carrie smiled at him. “I asked what you do. Are you in school?”
Lee smiled back, while playing with the empty drink glass in his hands. “Yeah, sort of. I’m going into my second year of the military academy.”
“Oh,” Carrie said, seemingly genuinely intrigued. “So are you a pilot?”
“Uh, yeah,” Lee replied. “Vipers.”
“That’s so cool. Do you like it?”
Lee felt a rush of relief. Maybe this night wouldn’t be quite so bad after all, not if he wasn’t going to need to force himself to remain awake. Carrie had a lot of questions about flight school, which surprised him a little bit, but he answered them all honestly. He was just beginning to actually enjoy himself when he caught a glimpse of short blonde hair from the corner of his eye, near the doorway. Lee forced himself to not turn and look.
Even though Kara worked at the bar part time, he knew she wasn’t going to be there tonight. He’d seen her that morning before she left for work and she had told him she had the night off and was possibly going out with a friend. However, when he caught a second glimpse of the person with the blonde hair he couldn’t resist looking anyway. He paused mid sentence when he recognized Kara. Not only was he surprised to see her there, but he was also surprised by her outfit. He’d only ever seen Kara in running clothes or else military garb, which was definitely not what she was wearing now.
It took less than a nanosecond for his mind to process the sight and come to the conclusion that he really liked seeing Kara in jeans. They weren’t fancy, just normal denim, but they fit her body like a glove-a very tight glove. Her plain black tank was simple enough as well, but it too was form fitting, and it also left just a tiny sliver of skin above her waistband revealed. He’d seen her wearing significantly less clothing in the past couple weeks, but for some reason she looked a hell of a lot sexier tonight.
“Is that your girlfriend?” Carrie asked suddenly and bitterly, ripping Lee away from his previous train of thought. Lisa and Michael both stopped talking and looked over at them.
“No,” Lee said slowly, trying to figure out why he felt like a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar.
Michael looked at him in confusion, before following Carrie’s gaze over toward the bar where Kara was now standing. It was the first time Lee noticed there was a redhead with her.
Michael laughed. “Gods no,” he said, saving Lee. “That’s just my half-sister.”
Carrie relaxed visibly. “Oh. I didn’t know you had a sister…”
Michael shrugged. “Yeah.”
“Was she supposed to be meeting us or something?” Lisa piped in.
Michael shook his head. “No. She works here.”
“She isn’t working tonight though,” Lee corrected automatically.
Michael shrugged again, obviously not caring. “Either way, she’s definitely not Lee’s girlfriend.”
***
Kara spotted the only two empty seats at the bar and headed straight for them, Jean following behind. The bar was busy, not surprising in the least. It was one of the more popular places in town, and it was the time of night when it was just getting cool enough to head out. As they sat down, Kara caught Tony’s eye and smiled. He looked merely a little surprised to see her back there, and only a moment later he was headed over with a bottle of the ambrosia she’d been stocking earlier. He placed it on the counter between them and followed it with two shot glasses. “On the house,” he said smiling, before turning away.
Kara grinned and poured them each a shot of the tantalizing green liquid.
“Why do I have a feeling that has less to do with me being on the C-Bucks and more to do with you working here?” Jean joked before downing her shot.
Kara followed suit and had to stop from making a face as the liquid slid down, warming as it went. The first shot was always the most difficult. “Because it was,” she answered, laughing. Jean poured the next round and they both drank.
“Wow,” the redhead commented. “That is definitely the good stuff.”
Kara smiled as she ran her finger around the rim of the glass. “Of course.”
“So,” Jean said casually-too casually. “Who are you sleeping with?”
Kara’s eyebrows shot up in surprise, and she spun on the bar stool to face Jean. “What the hell are you talking about?”
Jean eyed her closely. “Rebound sex… I know it’s been a while since you were recently single, but you must remember how it goes. You find some super hot guy, frak his brains out for a while, and it makes you feel better. At least that approach always seems to work for me.”
Kara rolled her eyes. “I do remember the theory…”
Jean eyed her suspiciously. “But…”
“But what.”
“But you haven’t slept with anyone yet?!”
Kara shook her head and poured another round before taking her shot. “Nope.”
Jean drank too, wincing slightly as the alcohol burned its way down. “I know Anders is hot, but there has to be someone around who is just as good looking.”
“Probably,” Kara assented. Sam was an attractive guy, but he wasn’t the hottest man she’d ever met.
Jean was staring at her closely again. “Don’t tell me you’re hung up on him. Kara, it’s not exactly like he was the best boyfriend in the world, and I’m not only referring to his spectacular downfall last week. He wasn’t exactly attentive either. I mean, didn’t he forget your birthday?”
Kara nodded. Sam had hardly been the spectacular boyfriend, but Jean was wrong on one count, Kara wasn’t hung up on him. In fact, not once in the past week had she found herself missing Sam or any aspects of their relationship. What was haunting her was that she had one more failed relationship to add to her ever-growing list. It’s not like she was looking for ‘Mr. Right’, but for once she’d like a relationship that didn’t end horribly.
“So, what?” Kara asked, looking at Jean. “Is your goal for the night to find some sucker for me to frak?” She was joking, but the look on Jean’s face worried her. “Jean, I was only…” But it was too late; the other woman was already scoping out the bar for potential victims.
She looked back at Kara, smiling. “There are at least four guys in here staring at us. You didn’t exactly give me much of a challenge.”
Kara laughed, shaking her head. “I was kidding.”
Jean shrugged. “Well… if you change your mind, I’m sure you could have your pick. But if I were you I’d go with that guy in the corner booth. Not only is he frakking hot-and I’m talking like sex on legs hot-but he’s been staring at you since we walked in.”
Although Kara didn’t really want to get into Jean’s little game, she couldn’t help but be at least a little bit intrigued. “Sex on legs, huh?”
Jean nodded. “Hell yeah. Hotter than Anders… maybe hotter than all the guys I know. If you don’t snatch him up tonight, I might.” She joked.
Her curiosity piqued, Kara looked over her shoulder to see who the hell Jean was talking about. She was surprised when she recognized the intense blue eyes staring at her. Lee looked a little shocked, but he surprised her when he didn’t turn his attention back to the rest of the people he was with, but instead tilted his head at her in acknowledgement. She grinned at him, shaking her head slightly in disbelief, before turning back to face the bar.
“Okay,” Jean said slowly. “What the hell was that?”
Kara shrugged, still smiling. “That was Lee.”
Jean’s eyes widened. “Your brother’s friend that’s staying at your house this summer?”
Kara nodded. “The same.”
“Holy frak, why didn’t you tell me he was so hot?” Jean sounded almost personally offended.
Kara just laughed.
“Seriously, you’ve seen him, right?”
Kara nodded. “I never said he wasn’t hot.”
Jean looked at her like she’d just grown a second head. “Are you crazy? Why haven’t you done anything?”
“What are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about Lee. Are you telling me you don’t want to sleep with him?”
Kara rolled her eyes. “He’s my brother’s best friend. And… he’s my friend too.”
“So? He’s one of the most attractive men I’ve ever seen. I’d tap that in a second.”
“Feel free,” Kara said, feeling an unexpected bite of something in her stomach. She would call it jealousy, but she knew better than that.
Jean laughed. “Are you kidding me? The way he’s looking at you right now… let’s just say I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t notice if every other girl here stripped naked and cartwheeled across the room.”
***
At some point in the evening Lee gave up trying to follow the conversation that Michael, Lisa and Carrie were now having. He did his best to at least appear to be half-listening, but there was no way he could kid himself into believing he wasn’t paying ten times closer attention to Kara than the people he was actually seated with. It was making Lee begin to think that maybe his theory of why he was attracted to Kara was completely off in left field.
Other than their daily runs, Lee hadn’t spent much time with Kara in the past week. She’d been working quite a bit, and Michael had been keeping Lee occupied with other things. In spite of that, he had noticed that he was finding her to be more distracting than normal-not necessarily a bad thing. But he suspected it might have something to do with the fact that Sam was now out of the picture… and that thought, or possibly more accurately realization, worried him a little. It did not however keep him from continuing to stare.
He’d been surprised earlier when she had glanced over at him, but he’d been more than happy to see the responding smile. Somewhere in the back of his mind he wondered if he would be completely screwed for the remainder of the summer; after all, everyone had a limit on how much temptation they could handle. Yet at the same time he found himself not really caring, which was probably in itself the answer he was looking for.
Sometime just before midnight, the girls stated that they needed to be getting back to their hotel, as they had a flight to catch in the morning. Michael, who hadn’t been drinking, offered to drive them back.
“I’m going to finish my beer and then I’ll meet you back at the house,” Lee told Michael.
His friend nodded. “Sure, sounds good. I’ll see you later.”
“Bye,” Lisa and Carrie said in unison as they stood up to leave.
“Bye,” Lee responded. “It was nice meeting you.”
They smiled politely before heading for the door, Michael only a few steps behind. The minute Lee saw the door close behind them he turned his attention back to Kara and her friend. They were still at the bar, talking.
He downed the rest of his beer before leaving a tip on the table and heading across the room.
***
Kara was reminiscing with Jean about one of their old pyramid games, when she felt the light touch of a hand on her shoulder. She turned just in time to see Lee sliding into the empty seat beside her. “Hey,” he said, smiling.
She smiled back. “Hey.”
“Hi,” Jean added enthusiastically, leaning across Kara to shake hands with Lee.
Kara shook her head, laughing. “Lee this is Jean Barolay. Jean this is Lee Adama.”
“It’s nice to meet you,” Lee said sincerely.
Jean nodded her head. “Likewise.”
“Jean and I played pyramid together,” Kara offered as she stood up and leaned over the counter, grabbing another shot glass. She placed it in front of Lee and slid the now half empty bottle of ambrosia to him across the smooth wood surface. After he poured himself a drink, Kara took the bottle back and poured another round for Jean and her as well. They all drank.
“Do you still play pyramid?” Lee asked after a few seconds.
Jean nodded. “Yeah, I play for the C-Bucks now.”
Kara watched as Lee’s eyebrow rose in surprise.
“Yep,” Jean said. “Same team as asshole Anders.”
Lee laughed quietly.
“Speaking of which,” Jean said slowly. “I should probably be going.” She checked her watch. “It’s almost midnight. Team curfew. Coach will kill me.”
Kara bit back a laugh. There was no such thing as team curfew, not until playoffs anyway. Jean may think she was being sly, but she wasn’t. At least it was amusing. “Oh,” Kara said in a fake believing voice. “New rule?”
Jean smiled. “Yeah,” she lied as she stood up, only stumbling slightly. “Coach is really cracking down on us.” She smiled at them both. “See you later,” she said happily as she walked towards the door.
Kara turned back to Lee. “So…”
“So…” he replied, mimicking her voice as he poured them both another drink.
Kara grinned. “Managed to finally get free of my brother and his friends?”
Lee nodded, looking genuinely relieved.
Kara laughed. “Did they talk hospitals all night long? It’s what Michael always does with my dad, and I hate it-he could at least try to act like a normal person.”
Lee laughed with her. “You would think.” After a moment he said, “I was surprised to see you here tonight.”
Kara stared at him. There was something about the way he said that, and about the way he was looking at her... Was Jean possibly right? She forced herself to shrug it off. It had to be the booze talking. “It’s one of the few good places in town.”
Lee smiled before drinking his shot; Kara followed suit. “It seems like I haven’t seen you in a while,” Lee commented.
Kara laughed. “I started working, I didn’t disappear off the planet. And besides I saw you this morning.”
Lee smiled. “True, but you know what I mean.”
Kara smiled at him, feeling pleasantly surprised that he seemed to care about her diminished presence over the last few days. “I do know what you mean.” After a second she added, “So, what’s new?” She couldn’t help but laugh in response to the odd look Lee gave her. He could only hold it for a second before he was cracking up too.
***
Three hours later Kara poured the last drop of ambrosia into her shot glass and smiled at Lee. They both raised glasses to their lips and tipped their heads back at the same time. Kara cracked up, laughing at the look on Lee’s face. “It’s supposed to get easier to drink with every shot,” she informed him.
Lee shook his head before putting the empty glass back down on the bar. “That’s a lie,” he informed her, sounding dead serious, but she could see his eyes sparkling with withheld laughter.
Kara let out a barking laugh. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt this good, of course that could be in part due to all the alcohol they’d consumed. There was no doubt about it; they were both completely wasted.
The bar had almost fully cleared out, and Tony was behind the counter tidying up for the night, as last call had been an hour earlier. “I’m shutting down in ten minutes,” he told them as he walked by.
Kara hopped off her bar stool, only to stumble sideways into Lee’s. His arm wrapped around her waist, holding her up. “Thanks,” she said as she caught her balance. When Lee stood up she very nearly had to return the favor.
“Wow,” Lee stated. “I cannot remember the last time I was this drunk.”
Kara smiled at him, not surprised that he didn’t go out and get hammered all that often. He was too much of a control freak for that. “I can,” Kara stated, briefly remembering the night she’d broke up with Sam. “But it wasn’t nearly this much fun.”
“Come on,” Lee said, moving his arm to around her shoulders, though she wasn’t sure if it was for her benefit or his. “Let’s go. If we still want to run in the morning, we’re going to need at least a couple hours sleep.”
Kara groaned as they began to head for the door, not noticing the pleased look on Tony’s face. “Maybe we should just skip running tomorrow… I mean, today.”
Lee shook his head as they stumbled out into the cool air. It wasn’t actually that cold, but the contrast with how hot it had been earlier made Kara shiver, and Lee pulled her closer. She let him because she was too tired to resist the chivalry that she wasn’t used to. “We can’t skip running,” Lee stated. “It’s my favorite part of the day.”
Kara groaned in defeat. “Fine, but let’s go later. I know it’s going to be hot, but if I try running while I’m still drunk…”
As if on cue, Lee stumbled, barely stopping himself from falling flat on his face. “Okay,” he assented. “That might be a good idea.”
***
By the time they caught a taxi and made it back to the Thrace house, it was past three thirty. After they staggered out of the cab and started heading up the driveway, Kara tripped, and would have fallen if Lee hadn’t been holding her up.
He was quite glad his arm was around her-it was safer for them both that way. And it felt really nice, but he was pretty sure that was just the alcohol talking. Actually, the alcohol was probably responsible for his arm being where it was in the first place. He rarely got drunk, because when he did he seemed to lose too many of his inhibitions-like now.
They reached the stairs to the porch, only three steps, but Kara groaned. “Ugh, stairs,” she said quietly, presumably keeping her voice quiet so Michael wouldn’t hear.
Before Lee could say anything she dragged him up them with her. It worked well until her left foot caught on the top step and she stumbled, pulling Lee with her. Somehow he managed to catch her by the waist and twist them the other way. Unfortunately the sudden movement made his head spin and he lost his balance. The next thing he knew he had fallen into one of the wooden porch chairs and Kara was on top of him, straddling his lap.
She started giggling at the surprised look on his face and he covered her mouth with his hand. “Shh,” he said, trying to hold back his own laughter. “You’ll wake up your brother.”
Kara’s teeth grazed his palm lightly and he pulled his hand away, surprised. She laughed even harder, but buried her face in his chest to keep from being too noisy. “Sorry,” she said after a few minutes. But then she started laughing again.
Lee had to bite his tongue to keep from joining her. Once she finally finished laughing, for real, Kara angled her head in towards Lee’s neck. “Crap,” she said a moment later.
“What?” Lee whispered, possibly bringing his lips closer to her ear than was really necessary.
“The bedrooms are upstairs,” she stated.
Lee groaned and tilted his head back against the backrest of the chair. “Crap.”
Kara laughed again. “That’s what I just said!”
“Shhh,” he reminded her.
“Let’s just…” she said at the same time he said, “Maybe we should just…” They grinned at each other and Kara rested her head on Lee’s shoulder again.
“’Night, Lee,” she said.
“’Night, Kara,” he replied, and within seconds they were both fast asleep.
TBC
A/N: So, this job I'm supposed to be going on keeps getting pushed back. It looks like now Friday is the earliest day we'll be leaving, but possibly it'll be as late as next week. But really, I don't mind, because it gave me time to write and post another chapter! Chances are the chapter 7 won't get posted until approximately July 13th/14th when I'm scheduled to get back. But if I manage to miraculously get it written this weekend, maybe I'll surprise you all with an 'I'm sorry I have to go away' present. :)
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