It All Came Tumbling Down (54/?)

[ruthkit]

Title: It All Came Tumbling Down

Warnings: Some mature content used. AU but some material from all seasons

Characters: Kara/Lee of course!! some Karl/Sharon and all cast appear

Disclaimer:
I do not own the characters unfortunately they belong to to Ron Moore
and Universal. I'm just borrowing their brilliance!

***

I’ve only watched season four once, quite a while ago now, (for obvious reasons) so most of the rest of the story only follows bits of cannon that I can remember. (Though only the good bits :D) Again, thank you for all the reviews they mean so much, sorry if I haven’t responded to all of them.

Chapter 54

Lee and Kara felt as if they were the naughty kids in class as they sat together at the back of the Ready room.  The front was full like normal with Kat sat right in the middle, listening intently.  Kara slouched into her chair, her knee resting up on the bench in front of her.  Lee at least looked like he was half listening to the debriefing.

Stinger was a good pilot and leader, but he lacked panache as the CAG.  Kara couldn’t help the yawn that escaped her lips as he droned on about their next mission.

“Am I boring you Major?” he asked from the front.  Kara could feel Lee’s eyes glance at her.

“No sir,” she replied, trying to suppress a grin.  It had been a long time since she had been reprimanded in the Ready room by the CAG.

Lee leant in towards her slightly, whispering, “sorry for keeping you up last night.”

This time Kara did grin, whispering back, “you can wake me up like that anytime.”

They both giggled, which earned them a stare from Stinger.  “Care to share the joke with the rest of the room?” he asked, glaring up at them.

“No sir,” they said in unison and the CAG carried on.

Kara whispered to Lee, “thought he was about to put us in detention.”

Lee smiled at his wife, taking her hand discreetly under the bench in front.  He had been too wrapped up in her to hear Stinger asking him a question, earning him a nudge from Kara’s elbow.  “Sorry, what?” he said and then realised that the entire room was looking over at him.  “Sir,” he said sitting to attention.

“Obviously you’ve forgotten normal protocol whilst you were in charge of the ship,” said Stinger with a sneer that reminded Lee of when he had first come aboard the ship.

“No sir,” replied Lee, feeling Kara smirking next to him.

“As you were not listening, you’ve personally volunteered yourself for the landing party.”

“Thank you sir.”

Stinger then dismissed the room.  Kara and Lee walked out together, the former holding back a guffaw until they were a few metres from the exits.  “Aww Lee, you’re the worst at talking yourself out of trouble.”

“I haven’t has as much practice as some people,” replied Lee, glancing at her quickly.

“Mm? It was easy when you were in charge.”  She was grinning wickedly in her way that made Lee go weak at the knees.

“I was a soft touch, and it helped that you always sat right within my eyeshot.”

“Liked that huh?”

“It was torturous,” said Lee, at which point Kara grabbed his arm, pulling him into side corridor and into a storage room.

“Really?” she said after placing a firm kiss to his lips as soon as the hatch door closed.

“Excruciating,” replied Lee and pulled the zipper down on her flightsuit, pulling the top half down.  Their kisses were passionate as they pushed back up against some boxes.  Kara pulled down Lee’s flightsuit off his arms, as he pushed hers over the curve of her hips.  The feel of the boxes was rough as he lifted her slightly on top of them and then released himself from the confines of his suit.  Scooping Kara towards him, he entered her swiftly making them both moan with ecstasy.  Their rhythm was fast and erratic as they led each other towards climax.

Kara panted as she came down from her high.  “We haven’t done this in a while,” she said with a grin, motioning to the dark cupboard.

“Bonus of having fewer responsibilities,” replied Lee, placing a kiss to Kara’s lips.

“You okay with that?” asked Kara.  She didn’t really care that she was not acting as the CAG for a while, having never really wanted the responsibility in the first place.  The attack against the Tylium mine years ago, when she had a busted knee, taught her that.  But she was aware that Lee had always strived to reach the top.

Lee shrugged as he zipped his flightsuit back up, “yeah I guess, haven’t really thought about it to be honest, I’ve enjoyed flying with you again.”

Kara zipped up her own flightsuit, “hopefully it will only be temporary.”

Lee scrunched up his face, “I made a completely unauthorised FTL jump Kara, somehow I don’t think Fisk will be that forgiving.”

“Well my status is only temporary until I can prove I’m not crazy.”

“So never then?” replied Lee playfully.

“Hey,” said Kara feigning offence.  She looked at her watch briefly.  “We’ve got three hours until this mission, are you ready?”

Lee gave her an uncertain smile, “it’s been meticulously planned…”

“…But not by you or me,” finished Kara, she patted his arm.  “You’ll do good, you have a good team.  Just remember not to screw up or Sharon will kill your ass for losing her husband.”

“Thanks for the encouragement.”

Kara grinned playfully, “I’ll come and rescue you if you get stuck, don’t worry.”  Lee looked serious for a moment, “what’s wrong?”

“I dunno,” replied Lee with a frown.  “A cylon base, all the way out here?  It doesn’t seem right and I refuse to believe that it’s unarmed and undefended.”

“All recon missions with the Blackbird have shown there’s no-one’s around, relax, it’ll be fine.  If Sharon’s right and it really is their major resurrection hub, then destroying it would finally put us on an even playing field.”

Lee took his wife’s hand into his, stroking his thumb over her upper palm.  “I love you Kara,” he said softly.

Not caring that they were in the corridor, Kara leaned in and gave him a long, firm kiss to the lips, their brows softly touching.  “I love you too, now go get ‘em.”

Reluctantly Lee let go of her hand and walked off down the corridor towards the deck, leaving Kara, who watched, a look of concern washing over her.  She felt her stomach drop, fearing that she wouldn’t get to see him again.

oooo

Lifestation - four months earlier

Kara tried to remain stoic as Philips plunged another needle into her arm.  In the past twenty-four hours he had taken so many blood samples that she was starting to feel like a pin cushion.  He had not gotten around to telling her any of the results yet, which was starting to make her feel edgy.

When he had finished extracting this sample he placed a pad on the new wound and Kara closed her arm, pinning it in place.  “Is this all really necessary doc?” she asked.  “I’m fine.”  It was not the first time she had asked this question in the past day.

“You’re not fine,” replied Philips gruffly, in a voice that nearly imitated Cottle’s infamous growl.  “People don’t just wake up from comas with the energy of ten men Major.  It’s a freak of nature that has to be explored.”

Kara stared at the man, saying in a hard voice “thanks,” and then muttering “Kara Thrace, freak of nature extraordinaire.”

“I also need to work out why you fell into that coma in the first place, and merely stating destiny on your medical records is not going to cut it.”

Kara rolled her eyes, regretting the action soon afterwards as she was feeling slightly woozy from the loss of more blood.  “Whatever doc, just hurry up with your tests, I have toasters to cook, kids to see and a husband to frak.”

“Not until I’ve had a look inside that head of yours,” replied Philips.

Kara shook away a sudden memory of her mother, telling her that she was stupid and there was nothing in her head.  For some reason she had dreamt about her a lot in the past few weeks, rehashing the painful memories of being unwanted and unloved.  Philips turned away from her so she hopped off the lifestation bed and started to make her way out.

“Not so fast Major,” said the good doctor.  “I’m not finished yet.  Until I’m fully satisfied that you’re fit for duty, you will be staying here.”

“No way,” replied Kara and continued.  “I’ve had enough of doctors.”

“Just so you know Major,” he added as she neared the exit.  “I have two armed marines standing outside with strict orders not to let you out.”

Kara sighed, it was useless to try and argue with the man. Doctors had always been like that, even when she was a child.  After telling them over and over again that her broken fingers had been caused in an accident, they still insisted on interrogating her.  “Fine,” she said forcefully and walked back over and sat down on the bed.

“Not here, I need to take a scan.”

She thought about arguing, but then slipped off the bed and followed the doctor without complaint.  It was infuriating that only twenty-four hours ago she had been full of so much energy, doing what she did best.  Now she was being treated like a medical experiment.  This was only wasting time, she had to get out and help with the search for Earth.  She couldn’t explain it, but something inside her head told her that she knew way.

The scanner made her feel claustrophobic and seemed to take forever as it took images of her brain.  After what seemed like an eternity inside she started to fidget, nudging her shoulder in a vain bid for freedom.

“Keep still!” shouted out Philips from his work station.

“Frakking doctors,” muttered Kara under her breath refraining from wriggling and continuing to stare upwards.  Philips could at least have put a picture up in here or play some damned music she thought.  “How much longer?” she called out, but didn’t get a response.

Lee’s voice then reached her ears, making her relax slightly. “Is everything okay doc?” he asked.

“Everything will be fine,” replied Philips, adding “if your wife manages to keep still for a few minutes!”

Kara kept as still as she could, wanting to get out of the machine and see Lee again.  Finally when she was released, she could see him, standing there with that slightly disapproving smile he had always saved just for her.  He held out his hand and helped her sit up, not that she needed the assistance, and then pulled her into a hug.

“Hey,” he said into her ear.  “How are you feeling?”

“Like I’m about to start glowing,” she replied, squeezing him close.

“The doc just needs to make sure you’re okay.”

Kara pulled away from him and looked deeply into his eyes, “I’m fine.  I feel fine, I look fine, I am fine, end of story.  This is just a waste time.”

“Kara…”

“Something amazing happened Lee.”

“What, Kara?” asked Lee anxiously.

“I’ve been waiting for this moment all my life and I think it’s finally happened.”

“You’re destiny?” asked Lee.  Kara smiled at him, happy that he was pushing his usual sceptical persona aside.  He seemed to sense what she was thinking, “After everything that I’ve seen, and speaking to that priestess again, I’m much more of a believer now.”  Their conversation was interrupted by Philips who coughed discretely to catch their attention.

“So what’s wrong with my brain doc?” asked Kara.  “Too many g-forces and retina detaching moves finally knocked my senses out?”

Philips looked at her disapprovingly, “I hardly find this situation something to joke about.”

Kara rolled her eyes, “fine, please tell me what’s wrong with me.”

“Nothing as far as I can tell,” he replied.  “My previous tests found nothing wrong and confirmed you are not a cylon.”

“Well that’s good to know,” said Kara flippantly.

Lee, however, looked annoyed, “is that why you posted guards outside, because you thought my wife is a cylon?”

Philips was unaffected by his irritation, “actually Major, they were placed there because your wife keeps trying to abscond.  I have never suspected her to be a cylon.  I was ordered to do the test by Commander Fisk.”

“Frakker,” muttered Lee and then asked, “so there’s nothing wrong?”

Philips flipped through his notes and then glanced up at Kara. “The tests show that you are slightly anaemic, but nothing to cause alarm, it’s a common affliction of being placed on rationed food.”  He flipped another page over and smiled, “I can confirm you’re not pregnant.”

“Frak doc,” said Kara.  “Is there anything you didn’t test for?  I’ve had my shots, there was no chance I could be.”

“Many of the shots have been replaced with placebo injections, President’s orders,” replied Philips with a smile.

“Frakking Baltar,” replied Kara and then hopped off the bed.  “Seen as you’ve taken over a day just to work out I’m not a toaster and not about to pop out another kid, can I go now?”

Philips shook his head, “I’m afraid not, you’ll have to wait until the rest of the tests come back.”

“Motherfrakker,” voiced Kara to no-one in particular and sat back on the bed.

“Commander Fisk has also suggested that you speak to someone about your experience.”

“Uh-uh, no way doc.  My last therapist tried to kill me.”

“I find it hard to imagine that there are few people who haven’t wanted to kill you,” said Philips as he wrote another note in his chart.

Kara stared at him hard until he got the hint and walked away.  “Frakking doctors.”

Lee placed a kiss to Kara’s brow, “just give it a few more hours and you’ll be outta here.”

Kara wasn’t quite so optimistic, having told herself that lie about twenty hours ago.  “Haven’t you got a ship to run?” she asked.  “Or has Fisk decided to go soft on you?”

“Neither,” replied Lee.  “Fisk busted me down to squadron leader, and that was him being generous.”

Kara remembered that Helo had mentioned something about a plan, “what did you do?”

Lee shrugged his shoulders, “you were going to die if we stayed by that gas cloud, Fisk wouldn’t allow the fleet to jump so I did anyway.”

“Wow Lee, that’s impressive, not even I’ve pushed the boundaries that far,” despite her words she didn’t sound that impressed.  “It was completely insane, what if Fisk had you shot?  What would Lena and Joseph have done then?”

“You were about to die Kara, I couldn’t let that happen without trying everything first.  I don’t think I could have looked them in the eyes again if I hadn’t tried.”

Tears welled in Kara’s eyes, she leant up and placed a kiss to his lips.  “Thank you for saving my life.”  She sat back on the lifestation bed, putting her feet up.

“Are you going to start co-operating now?”

“Considering you went all out to save my ass, it would best to make sure everything really is okay.  Besides, it keeps me away from catching up with paperwork.”

“Actually you’ve also been bumped down to squadron leader, so you can forget about the paperwork.” said Lee.

“Nice,” replied Kara and settled her back into the pillows, trying to get comfortable.  “Remind me to thank Fisk later will you.”

Lee laughed, he placed a kiss to Kara’s head and then left the lifestation, fully satisfied that his wife was back and hadn’t changed a bit.

oooo

Lena and Joseph were growing up so fast Lee was finding it difficult to keep up with them.  Lena squirmed as he tried to get a comb through her ever thickening hair.  In the past he could never have imagined being with his two children, tying up his daughter’s hair into little bunches.

“Dada, dada, dada,” she said over and over with delight.  Lee still beamed with pride every time she spoke.

Joseph toddled over and handed Lee a toy for no particular reason and toddled away again, lost in his own innocent happiness.

“Aa aa?” asked Lena, which Lee took to be her attempt at saying mama.

“You’re momma will be here any minute, the doctor’s finished making her feel better now.”

The kiddies squealed happily as they heard the hatch door open, toddling towards Kara as she stepped in the room.  She crouched down a scooped them into her arms, sitting down on with them on the floor.  “Hey there,” she said.  “I missed you both.”

“Aa aa,” said Lena.

“Sta,” said Joseph.

“Nearly kiddos, how bout saying momma?” asked Kara as she cuddled her children.

“Maaaa,” attempted Joseph, as he half chewed on a finger.

“Aaa, dada,” said Lena with a smile and pointing at Lee.

“Sure kiddo, why not,” shrugged Kara jokingly.  “I mean, all I did was carry you around for 9 months, gave birth to you, look after you when you screamed all night.”  Lena just grinned up at her mother, making Kara’s heart melt.  She leant down and placed a kiss to her head and then did the same to Joseph.  She smiled at Lee’s attempt to put Lena’s hair up, noticing that the bunches were wonky.  “How have they been when I was asleep?” she asked Lee, who looked suddenly guilty.

“Helo and Sharon looked after them a lot, I…I couldn’t leave your side.”

“Lee…” Kara began, instead she got up off the floor lifting Lena and Joseph up with her and walked over to him.  She placed a soft kiss to Lee’s lips.  “Thank again for saving my life,” she whispered and then smiled.

“I figured I owed you one from all the times you saved my ass.”

“Aaaase,” said Joseph making Lee grimace slightly.

Kara rolled her eyes, “and you thought it would be me who teaches them all the curse words.”  She bounced the twins on her hip and then sat them in their highchairs at the small dining table.

“So did the doctor find anything?” asked Lee as he picked up some toys from the floor.

“Considering he ran every single test possible, not much,” replied Kara sitting at the table.  “Apart from being anaemic, having a low potassium level, vitamin deficiency, a cyst on one ovary and needing a filling in one of my teeth, everything’s fine.”

“But nothing to explain the coma?”

“Nope, I’m pretty much suffering from the same problems as everyone else on the ship.”

“Has he cleared you for duty?”

Kara shrugged, “yep, apart from being, as he quotes “certifiable,” he can’t see any reason why not.”

Lee left the quarters for a few minutes, bringing back with him some mush in two bowls for the twins and mush on two plates for him and Kara.  Together they fed Lena and Joseph, getting them ready for day care.  They had nearly finished when Kara’s name was called over the comm, ordering her to report to Commander Fisk’s office immediately.  With a sigh she left their quarters and walked through the ship.

When she entered his office, Fisk was sat behind his desk and motioned for her to sit.  “Welcome back,” he said cordially.

“Thank you sir,” replied Kara and took a seat.

“I’ve looked at the doctor’s notes, nothing but the same problems as the rest of us.”

Kara imagined that Fisk probably also had an elevated heart rate, high blood pressure and a damaged liver, but she chose not to voice that opinion.  “Yes sir, am I cleared for duty?”

“I assume Major Adama has informed you of the new hierarchy?”

“Yes sir.”

Fisk nodded, “Stinger has been promoted to Major and will take over as the CAG.”

“Good choice sir,” lied Kara, she would have chosen Showboat.

“Shaw will temporarily take over as the XO.”

Kara nearly winced at that choice, again choosing not to voice her opinion, she was in enough trouble already.  “So am I cleared for duty, sir?”

“I still have concerns.  You woke up from an unexplained coma and then went out gallivanting in your viper.  From my point view that’s insane.”

Kara shrugged, “I still kicked ass out there though…sir.”

Fisk raised an eyebrow at her, “we shouldn’t have been there at all, we should have still been orbiting the gas planet.”

“Well from what I understand, sir, is that if we stayed there, we’d probably all be dust right now.”

Fisk muttered under his breath and then moved on.  “Your husband kept telling me that he believed your coma was caused by the pressure of some destiny.  Excuse me if I find that hard to believe.”

“You think it’s easy for me to believe?  I’ve had this thing following me my entire life, but finally it’s started to get clearer.”

“What is?”

“I’m not sure, but my instincts are telling me that we have to go a certain way to find Earth.”

Fisk leant back in his chair, pressing his fingers to the side of his temples and rubbing small circles.  He was clearly having difficulty with the entire concept.  He made a small moaning noise, “why can’t you people do things the easy and clearly logical way?”

Kara shrugged, “sometimes you’ve got to have faith.”

“Well I don’t have any of that, what I do have is a ship to run and hundreds of lives to protect.”

“We’re also searching for our salvation,” Kara reminded him.  “That is the point of this whole mission, to find Earth.”

“Well I didn’t sign up for a mission where we would be directed by one pilot’s gut feeling, and I’m sure not many others did either.”

“Do we even have a direction to go in yet sir?”

Fisk seemed about to speak and then closed his mouth again, glancing across the room momentarily where a large pile of star charts were strewn about.  “We were heading for the nebula,” he said at last but not very convincingly.

Kara nodded, “good place to start, and then what?  That was the only marker we saw from Kobol, what if there isn’t another one when we reach there?”

Fisk rubbed at his temples again. “I swear the Adama family is going to be the death of me,” he said.

Kara smacked her lips together, “so can I return to duty or what…sir?”

“Don’t push it Major,” warned Fisk.  “Emergency viper duties for now, the rest of the time you can look through these star charts and see if you can plot us a path to Earth, like you claim you can.”

Frak, thought Kara.  “Thank you sir.”

“Perhaps when you can prove to me that you’re not completely nuts, I’ll put you back on active duty.”

Kara stood up from her chair and saluted sharply before being dismissed.  Once she had exited the room she felt like screaming out, but seeing Lee waiting for her outside made her change her mind.

“Did you get your ass kicked?” he asked walking into step with her.

“I have to prove that I’m sane before he’ll put me back on active duty.”

“Frak, that’s going to be difficult, you’ve been crazy since the first day I met you.”  Kara jabbed him in the ribs playfully with her elbow.

She looked at him and a pang of desire overcame her, “are the kiddies in day care?”

“Yep,” replied Lee.

“When are you on duty?”

Lee looked at his watch, “in an hour.”

“Good,” said Kara and then grabbed his wrist, pulling him down the corridor that led to their quarters.

Once inside their actions were swift, pulling open their clothing leaving them in a messy pile upon the floor, and then falling back onto the bed.  Their movements had to be quick and precise, almost like a perfect viper manoeuvre, to arouse as much pleasure as they could in the limited time that they had.  Afterwards they lay spent in the rumpled and damp bedsheets, curled in each-other’s arms.

oooo

Kara threw her pen across the consol in the CIC making two petty officers turn in her direction.  It wasn’t just them who had stared at her, everyone on the ship seemed to look at her every time she walked into their vicinity.  The look in their eyes told her that they thought she was an abnormality.  Normally she would just brush off such looks and gossip with a brusque “what?” like she had done most of her life, but this time she did feel subconscious.  The only other time she had felt like this was when she was pregnant, but now they seemed to eye her with some suspicion rather than pity.

She had only been confined to “map searching” duties for two days and already she was completely frustrated and fed up.

“It helps if you hold on to the pen if you want to write with it,” quipped Helo as he walked over to her.  He leant down and picked up the pen.

“What are you doing here?” asked Kara.

“Came to see how you’re doing.”

“Fantastic.”

Helo held out the pen until Kara snatched it back and then placed it on the table in front of her.  “You’re not going to get anywhere if you don’t try.”

“I can’t just plot a course on a frakking map,” exclaimed Kara.

“Well you’re gonna have to try Kara, because people are going to have difficulty believing it otherwise.”

“I never asked for this.  All I want to do is fly my frakking viper.”

Helo looked at her sympathetically and then picked up the pen, holding it out for her.  Kara looked at it for a moment before taking it from him.  No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t see anything familiar on the star charts except the nebula, although something in her head told her that they were headed in the right direction.

“I can’t explain how I know where to go,” she said.

“What does your gut tell you?”

“It’s not my gut, it’s my head,” replied Kara holding her hand to her head and rubbing her temple.  “Somehow it feels right that we’re going this way.”  She then began to laugh, making Shaw glare at her from the dradis consol.

“What’s so funny?” asked Helo.

“Kara Thrace and her special destiny, sounds like a bad cover band,” she laughed again.  “A destiny so special that not even she can work out how to complete it.”  She looked up at Helo who was smiling.  “If you don’t believe me after all the crazy stuff you’ve seen me do, then no-one else but Lee will.”

“My child is half cylon, Starbuck, something like that kind of makes you believe in the incredible.”

Kara nodded and then looked back down at the star chart, nothing screamed out to her and it was as frustrating as hell.  She closed her eyes tightly for a moment, trying to think.  Flashes of a nebula came to her mind, a viper coming through the clouds joined by another, and then she zoomed away until they were nothing but specks.  Images of space and stars flew past her vision and then a large planet was there, areas of green land surrounded by vast oceans.  She opened her eyes quickly, realising that she was leaning against the consol.

“Are you okay?” asked Helo concerned.  “You seemed to zone out for a while there.”

Kara looked up at him.  “I’m fine,” she said and pulled a star chart towards her.  The right path was out there somewhere, she just had to find it.

Tbc…