Alternate universes.
Last week I asked for ficlet prompts, and several of my friends requested AU scenarios. It was a much bigger challenge than I'd expected, but also lots of fun! I didn't get to all the requests, but I still have the rest of the summer. ;)
For indigo419: "Kara and Lee holed up in a storm." Yes, I'm cheating with another scene from the Reality & Immortality universe. Forgive me, dearie? ;)
* * * * *
The first time Lee realized that he was happy, he was huddled in a small cave with Kara. The rain that they’d estimated would last “a couple of hours, tops” was now on its second day. They were soaked to the bone and without any way to get dry. And Kara’s mood had long since shifted from annoyance to full-on fury. Although Lee was also annoyed, he was mostly just glad to have her here with him.
Five weeks out here on their own, and they’d be doing good to survive another five. Their provisions had run out, and hunting had proven a far bigger challenge than he’d expected. His arms and face stung with a sunburn that had yet to shift into a tan. Sleeping out in the open left him more paranoid than he’d ever admit to Kara. But she was here. They were still alive. Somewhere along the way he’d started to appreciate the simplicity of that. If they got killed out here, at least it would be on their own terms. Right now that was all he cared about.
Kara wasn’t always so sanguine, though. He heard her mutter, “Screw this,” before walking straight out into the storm. Instinct made him want to yank her back under the shelter, but he knew better. He watched her stand there, shaking the kinks out of her limbs as the water sluiced over her. She looked at him and grinned, and that was all it took.
The water was warm on his skin, but her hands were warmer as she pulled him close. She kissed his cheek then threw back her head and laughed. Lee reached for her hand and tilted his face up to catch the rain. He listened to thunder in the distance and the rumble of her laughter, and something new washed over him. Happiness. No conditions or threats. Just this sense of both peace and euphoria. And he loved it.
For sarmoti: "Kara and Lee on Caprica when the worlds end."
* * * * *
Slapping a fifty-cubit note on the counter, she smirked and said, “Keep the change.” Not that there was any clerk around to run the register. Poor frakker was dead, just like everyone else.
Lee rolled his eyes as she strolled back to the truck. He replaced the gas nozzle in the pump and climbed into the driver’s side. “Since when do you care about paying up?”
She shrugged. “It’s the end of the worlds, Lee. Gotta stay on the right side of the Gods.”
The wind blowing through her hair felt great as Lee gunned the engine and pulled out onto the empty highway. She’d rather be driving, but it was his turn, and she was sick of listening to him bitch and moan about it in his passive-aggressive way. She didn’t feel like telling him that driving was the only time she could take her mind off all the death, all the Cylons they’d just barely managed to avoid so far. Kara closed her eyes and drifted off. She opened them to dusk and the sound of tires on gravel. Took a moment to get her bearings and recognize the place, then she sat bolt-upright.
Without taking his eyes off the road, Lee said, “I thought it was time to pay him a visit.” He parked and got out of the truck, weaving through the gravestones. She just sat there, unfocused eyes turned to the open window.
In those first few months after Zak’s death, she came out here almost every night. Got drunk, passed out, woke at sunrise, and downed enough aspirin and water to sober up enough for work. Then she got a Battlestar posting, which everyone said was “for the best” until she shut them up. When she got back to Caprica, it was like there was an invisible wall that kept her from the cemetery, and some stupid part of her was relieved. Couldn’t deal with all that again. Couldn’t see that gravestone and remember it all. Zak was dead, and that was never going to change. Time for her to stop being so stupid and just get on with it.
But now she was back. Zak had never left. A thousand nukes had blown away nearly everything else on this planet, but the cemetery was still green and calm and perfect. She suspected that the Gods were through with her, but at least They were still looking out for Zak Adama.
She got out of the truck and walked over to sit next to Lee. She felt a familiar rush of guilt at all the times they’d frakked each other raw since she found him in the wreckage of his office building three weeks ago. Anything to still feel alive, even if it was turning into something new and awful and amazing. Zak was the only one who should care, but he was there in the ground beneath them, at peace. She and Lee were alive, and that’s what mattered now, right?
Kara looked up at the tear-tracks on his cheeks, and she reached for his hand. They sat there until sunrise, then they climbed back into the truck. This time, she drove.
For thrace_adama: "A historical AU." This was hard! She suggested Victorian or the Civil War, but I haven't a clue how to write those. I've always had a strange fascinating with Bauhaus and Kabarett culture in pre-war Berlin, so....
* * * * *
It was cold out there - perhaps the coldest since back in ’29. Josef worried about his wife on nights like this, with too many soldiers about, looking for a fight to warm them up. He hadn’t trusted those bastards even before the rumors began to fly, and he didn’t trust Klara to keep her mouth shut and stay out of trouble. Not that he’d ever tell her as much, lest he get one of her boots on his ass.
As he waited, he began to lock up the cabaret. It had been a successful night, with intellectuals and two singers and a lively discussion of what could be done to circumvent the Party and aid the burgeoning opposition. Too many problems without good solutions. He hated that. Although his patrons and friends were fired up, Josef was a pragmatist against his best wishes. Something would have to give soon, and he dreaded the day when he’d need to make that choice.
A loud knock startled him; of course he’d forgotten to unlock the door. He hurried over to let Klara in, with a quick glance down Friedrichstrasse to check that she hadn’t attracted undue attention. As maudlin as he’d been this evening, she was always his breath of fresh air. Sour tonight, though, judging by the shiner on her cheek.
Smiling, he walked over to the icebox and reached for a rag and the pick. “What was it this time - a game of dice on the way home?”
“After our shift, Bernhof announced that he’d joined the Party.”
“Karla -”
She grimaced as she pressed the ice pack to her face. “Let’s just say that I’ll need to find another job.”
His hatred of the Nazis was nothing compared to Klara’s. He could just see her in the garage, fist slamming into her boss’s face. He’d laugh if the situation weren’t so dire. She refused to stay home like his friends’ wives, and he loved her for that. They’d been damned lucky to find an auto repair shop that would hire a woman, and she had become one of the best mechanics in Berlin. But fighting with a Party member would blackball her at best, or put her in serious danger at worst. They could live without her salary, but Josef couldn’t live without her.
He walked around the bar to stand before her. Reaching for her free hand, he curled her fingers into a fist and kissed it. “No more fighting, all right?”
“Yes, Josef,” she replied with a wry smile, though her eyes told him that that would never change. He just hoped she’d be careful next time.
For elly427: "Buddy!cops in an alternate universe." Elly requested any kind of AU, and I'm always happy to do any little thing she wants! Once I came up with this scenario out of the blue, I fell a little bit in love with the two of them like this. (If you watched that series "The Philanthropist" last summer, it was sort of my inspiration.)
* * * * *
“All clear? Good. We’re pulling onto the tarmac now.” Kara slid the phone into her pocket and scanned the perimeter as their limo approached the hangar. Airports usually weren’t a problem, what with all the security clearances. Crowded marketplaces were a much bigger concern, and her boss was way too fond of those.
Beside her, Lee Adama finished his own call. “On behalf of Mr. Morgenstern, I’d like to thank you again for your support. It’ll make an enormous difference in the Foundation’s efforts to promote sustainable agriculture worldwide. Once I’m back in Baltimore, I’ll contact you to iron out the details.”
Kara rolled her eyes. She’d heard him give the same kiss-ass speech dozens of times, and it always sounded ridiculous. But it worked. He’d raised a ton of money for his boss’s foundation. She didn’t really care about some software zillionaire’s environmentalism jones as long as it kept her employed and didn’t rid the world of a big, juicy steak.
As she’d instructed, the Gulfstream was waiting outside the hangar. Lee glanced at her, and she nodded the all-clear. He got out and headed toward the stairs while she checked the itinerary with the pilot. São Paolo to Brussels, where she’d have to sit through another tedious round of meetings with the E.U. Last time they were there, some idiot secretary had suggested that the HQ was quite secure, so perhaps she’d like to take the afternoon to do some shopping? Kara had not-so-politely informed her that her job was personal security, not Prada. Lee teased her about that for the rest of the week.
During takeoff, she always sat in the cockpit’s jump seat - not for security reasons, but because she loved watching the pilots go through the procedures as the ground faded away. Her empty hands mimed each movement, imagining it was the twin-engine Cessna she’d been saving up for.
Once they hit cruising altitude, she went back into the cabin. While she didn’t give a damn about the luxury hotels and restaurants, this plane had spoiled her for ever flying coach again. It was going to be a long flight, and Lee was already on the phone again. So she went over to the wet bar, grabbed a beer from the mini-fridge, and took her mind off-duty. Tossing aside the leather coat, she unbuckled her shoulder holster and set the gun on the small counter, with a quick check of the clip. The bluetooth earpiece was next, followed by the elbow brace thanks to a clusterfuck in Singapore last year. She hadn’t brought the collapsible dagger on this trip, but she could still feel its imprint on her hip. All this weaponry for a guy running an NGO seemed absurd, but Lee Adama still managed to get himself into trouble, often through no real fault of his own. Enough trouble that Morgenstern’s insurance company insisted upon 24/7 protective detail. And even without all that, Lee had made it clear that he needed her, and she needed the job. Decent salary, world travel, the occasional adrenaline rush, and certain other perks.
Like now.
He came up behind her, pressing against her back as he kissed the curve of her neck. “No more work. I’m all yours for -” he checked his watch, “eight more hours. So, what do you plan to do with me?”
She laughed. “I’ll come up with something.”
He slid a hand down her side and hooked his thumb in the top of the zipper, a move honed by nearly ten months of practice. Nobody else knew about this. It wasn’t exactly part of the job description. If they went public, Morgenstern would probably fire her. She’d have to get another gig somewhere else, and they’d never see each other. They both loved their work too much to risk it. But having this wherever and whenever she wanted was way too tempting sometimes.
The need for secrecy didn’t stifle her moan as he slipped his hand inside her pants and then lower. She ground her ass into his hips, where he was hard and ready for her. But after those first few months of frantic screwing whenever they could find the time, now she preferred toying with him like this. Drawing it out until he was close to begging, here in the cabin of a multi-million-dollar jet.
Her blood was pumping so hard that she almost didn’t hear him when he whispered it into her neck. “What?” she gasped.
His voice was a low rumble against her pulse point. “Marry me.”
Kara smiled. It wasn’t the first time he’d asked. Maybe someday she’d say “yes”.
For indigo419: "Kara and Lee holed up in a storm." Yes, I'm cheating with another scene from the Reality & Immortality universe. Forgive me, dearie? ;)
* * * * *
The first time Lee realized that he was happy, he was huddled in a small cave with Kara. The rain that they’d estimated would last “a couple of hours, tops” was now on its second day. They were soaked to the bone and without any way to get dry. And Kara’s mood had long since shifted from annoyance to full-on fury. Although Lee was also annoyed, he was mostly just glad to have her here with him.
Five weeks out here on their own, and they’d be doing good to survive another five. Their provisions had run out, and hunting had proven a far bigger challenge than he’d expected. His arms and face stung with a sunburn that had yet to shift into a tan. Sleeping out in the open left him more paranoid than he’d ever admit to Kara. But she was here. They were still alive. Somewhere along the way he’d started to appreciate the simplicity of that. If they got killed out here, at least it would be on their own terms. Right now that was all he cared about.
Kara wasn’t always so sanguine, though. He heard her mutter, “Screw this,” before walking straight out into the storm. Instinct made him want to yank her back under the shelter, but he knew better. He watched her stand there, shaking the kinks out of her limbs as the water sluiced over her. She looked at him and grinned, and that was all it took.
The water was warm on his skin, but her hands were warmer as she pulled him close. She kissed his cheek then threw back her head and laughed. Lee reached for her hand and tilted his face up to catch the rain. He listened to thunder in the distance and the rumble of her laughter, and something new washed over him. Happiness. No conditions or threats. Just this sense of both peace and euphoria. And he loved it.
For sarmoti: "Kara and Lee on Caprica when the worlds end."
* * * * *
Slapping a fifty-cubit note on the counter, she smirked and said, “Keep the change.” Not that there was any clerk around to run the register. Poor frakker was dead, just like everyone else.
Lee rolled his eyes as she strolled back to the truck. He replaced the gas nozzle in the pump and climbed into the driver’s side. “Since when do you care about paying up?”
She shrugged. “It’s the end of the worlds, Lee. Gotta stay on the right side of the Gods.”
The wind blowing through her hair felt great as Lee gunned the engine and pulled out onto the empty highway. She’d rather be driving, but it was his turn, and she was sick of listening to him bitch and moan about it in his passive-aggressive way. She didn’t feel like telling him that driving was the only time she could take her mind off all the death, all the Cylons they’d just barely managed to avoid so far. Kara closed her eyes and drifted off. She opened them to dusk and the sound of tires on gravel. Took a moment to get her bearings and recognize the place, then she sat bolt-upright.
Without taking his eyes off the road, Lee said, “I thought it was time to pay him a visit.” He parked and got out of the truck, weaving through the gravestones. She just sat there, unfocused eyes turned to the open window.
In those first few months after Zak’s death, she came out here almost every night. Got drunk, passed out, woke at sunrise, and downed enough aspirin and water to sober up enough for work. Then she got a Battlestar posting, which everyone said was “for the best” until she shut them up. When she got back to Caprica, it was like there was an invisible wall that kept her from the cemetery, and some stupid part of her was relieved. Couldn’t deal with all that again. Couldn’t see that gravestone and remember it all. Zak was dead, and that was never going to change. Time for her to stop being so stupid and just get on with it.
But now she was back. Zak had never left. A thousand nukes had blown away nearly everything else on this planet, but the cemetery was still green and calm and perfect. She suspected that the Gods were through with her, but at least They were still looking out for Zak Adama.
She got out of the truck and walked over to sit next to Lee. She felt a familiar rush of guilt at all the times they’d frakked each other raw since she found him in the wreckage of his office building three weeks ago. Anything to still feel alive, even if it was turning into something new and awful and amazing. Zak was the only one who should care, but he was there in the ground beneath them, at peace. She and Lee were alive, and that’s what mattered now, right?
Kara looked up at the tear-tracks on his cheeks, and she reached for his hand. They sat there until sunrise, then they climbed back into the truck. This time, she drove.
For thrace_adama: "A historical AU." This was hard! She suggested Victorian or the Civil War, but I haven't a clue how to write those. I've always had a strange fascinating with Bauhaus and Kabarett culture in pre-war Berlin, so....
* * * * *
It was cold out there - perhaps the coldest since back in ’29. Josef worried about his wife on nights like this, with too many soldiers about, looking for a fight to warm them up. He hadn’t trusted those bastards even before the rumors began to fly, and he didn’t trust Klara to keep her mouth shut and stay out of trouble. Not that he’d ever tell her as much, lest he get one of her boots on his ass.
As he waited, he began to lock up the cabaret. It had been a successful night, with intellectuals and two singers and a lively discussion of what could be done to circumvent the Party and aid the burgeoning opposition. Too many problems without good solutions. He hated that. Although his patrons and friends were fired up, Josef was a pragmatist against his best wishes. Something would have to give soon, and he dreaded the day when he’d need to make that choice.
A loud knock startled him; of course he’d forgotten to unlock the door. He hurried over to let Klara in, with a quick glance down Friedrichstrasse to check that she hadn’t attracted undue attention. As maudlin as he’d been this evening, she was always his breath of fresh air. Sour tonight, though, judging by the shiner on her cheek.
Smiling, he walked over to the icebox and reached for a rag and the pick. “What was it this time - a game of dice on the way home?”
“After our shift, Bernhof announced that he’d joined the Party.”
“Karla -”
She grimaced as she pressed the ice pack to her face. “Let’s just say that I’ll need to find another job.”
His hatred of the Nazis was nothing compared to Klara’s. He could just see her in the garage, fist slamming into her boss’s face. He’d laugh if the situation weren’t so dire. She refused to stay home like his friends’ wives, and he loved her for that. They’d been damned lucky to find an auto repair shop that would hire a woman, and she had become one of the best mechanics in Berlin. But fighting with a Party member would blackball her at best, or put her in serious danger at worst. They could live without her salary, but Josef couldn’t live without her.
He walked around the bar to stand before her. Reaching for her free hand, he curled her fingers into a fist and kissed it. “No more fighting, all right?”
“Yes, Josef,” she replied with a wry smile, though her eyes told him that that would never change. He just hoped she’d be careful next time.
For elly427: "Buddy!cops in an alternate universe." Elly requested any kind of AU, and I'm always happy to do any little thing she wants! Once I came up with this scenario out of the blue, I fell a little bit in love with the two of them like this. (If you watched that series "The Philanthropist" last summer, it was sort of my inspiration.)
* * * * *
“All clear? Good. We’re pulling onto the tarmac now.” Kara slid the phone into her pocket and scanned the perimeter as their limo approached the hangar. Airports usually weren’t a problem, what with all the security clearances. Crowded marketplaces were a much bigger concern, and her boss was way too fond of those.
Beside her, Lee Adama finished his own call. “On behalf of Mr. Morgenstern, I’d like to thank you again for your support. It’ll make an enormous difference in the Foundation’s efforts to promote sustainable agriculture worldwide. Once I’m back in Baltimore, I’ll contact you to iron out the details.”
Kara rolled her eyes. She’d heard him give the same kiss-ass speech dozens of times, and it always sounded ridiculous. But it worked. He’d raised a ton of money for his boss’s foundation. She didn’t really care about some software zillionaire’s environmentalism jones as long as it kept her employed and didn’t rid the world of a big, juicy steak.
As she’d instructed, the Gulfstream was waiting outside the hangar. Lee glanced at her, and she nodded the all-clear. He got out and headed toward the stairs while she checked the itinerary with the pilot. São Paolo to Brussels, where she’d have to sit through another tedious round of meetings with the E.U. Last time they were there, some idiot secretary had suggested that the HQ was quite secure, so perhaps she’d like to take the afternoon to do some shopping? Kara had not-so-politely informed her that her job was personal security, not Prada. Lee teased her about that for the rest of the week.
During takeoff, she always sat in the cockpit’s jump seat - not for security reasons, but because she loved watching the pilots go through the procedures as the ground faded away. Her empty hands mimed each movement, imagining it was the twin-engine Cessna she’d been saving up for.
Once they hit cruising altitude, she went back into the cabin. While she didn’t give a damn about the luxury hotels and restaurants, this plane had spoiled her for ever flying coach again. It was going to be a long flight, and Lee was already on the phone again. So she went over to the wet bar, grabbed a beer from the mini-fridge, and took her mind off-duty. Tossing aside the leather coat, she unbuckled her shoulder holster and set the gun on the small counter, with a quick check of the clip. The bluetooth earpiece was next, followed by the elbow brace thanks to a clusterfuck in Singapore last year. She hadn’t brought the collapsible dagger on this trip, but she could still feel its imprint on her hip. All this weaponry for a guy running an NGO seemed absurd, but Lee Adama still managed to get himself into trouble, often through no real fault of his own. Enough trouble that Morgenstern’s insurance company insisted upon 24/7 protective detail. And even without all that, Lee had made it clear that he needed her, and she needed the job. Decent salary, world travel, the occasional adrenaline rush, and certain other perks.
Like now.
He came up behind her, pressing against her back as he kissed the curve of her neck. “No more work. I’m all yours for -” he checked his watch, “eight more hours. So, what do you plan to do with me?”
She laughed. “I’ll come up with something.”
He slid a hand down her side and hooked his thumb in the top of the zipper, a move honed by nearly ten months of practice. Nobody else knew about this. It wasn’t exactly part of the job description. If they went public, Morgenstern would probably fire her. She’d have to get another gig somewhere else, and they’d never see each other. They both loved their work too much to risk it. But having this wherever and whenever she wanted was way too tempting sometimes.
The need for secrecy didn’t stifle her moan as he slipped his hand inside her pants and then lower. She ground her ass into his hips, where he was hard and ready for her. But after those first few months of frantic screwing whenever they could find the time, now she preferred toying with him like this. Drawing it out until he was close to begging, here in the cabin of a multi-million-dollar jet.
Her blood was pumping so hard that she almost didn’t hear him when he whispered it into her neck. “What?” she gasped.
His voice was a low rumble against her pulse point. “Marry me.”
Kara smiled. It wasn’t the first time he’d asked. Maybe someday she’d say “yes”.