Fic: "Aegis" (2/2)
Title: "Aegis"
Rating: R
Word Count: 5,437
Pairings: Kara/Lee, Kara/Matt
Spoilers: "Daybreak" for BSG, none for L&O:UK
Summary: Seeing right through idiots like her was his job. But keeping him safe was her job, and she’d had centuries of practice.
Part One
* * * * *
One of the few certainties he had about Kara Thrace was that she was not the sentimental sort. Aside from their first time together, she was usually quite happy to roll off him with a smile and an excuse for why she needed to head home. But tonight she wrapped herself around him as the sweat cooled on their bodies. She toyed with the pendant around his neck for a few minutes then, out of the blue, she asked, “What’s this about?”
“St. Christopher? Mum gave me that years ago. Said he would keep me safe while I was hunting down criminals.” He laughed. “Ronnie says there aren’t enough guardian angels in heaven to keep me out of trouble.”
Her voice took on an odd tone. “Do you believe in that?”
“Believe in what?”
“Guardian angels.”
He hazarded a glance at her. She was serious about this. Raising himself on an elbow, he replied, “You mean little cherubs floating about? God, no. But I suppose I like the notion of something keeping an eye on me.”
She just looked at him, so he added, “Any reason you’re asking?”
“Nope.”
He traced a line between her breasts; she was ticklish there. “It’s an odd question after what we just -”
Kara flinched. “Forget I ever asked, okay?”
The mood effectively killed, he stood up and shook his head. “Fine. Already forgotten. Mind if I take a shower now?”
She didn’t say anything as he walked toward the bath, but her voice stopped him at the door. “Matt?”
When he glanced over his shoulder, she was sitting up, naked, looking almost like a different woman. “I really ... uh ....” Seeing her at a loss for words was bizarre, not to mention her talking about emotions. Her throat bobbled as she swallowed hard. She opened her fists then closed them and said, “Whatever happens, I just want you to know that I’m glad I met you.”
His eyes narrowed. “Why? Is something going to happen?”
She shrugged, looking away from him. “Just felt like saying it.”
He thought about pressing the point, but he was tired. Still, the look on her face made him reply, “I care about you as well.”
With visible effort, she pasted on a smirk and got out of bed. “Want some company in there?”
* * * * *
Pleasantly buzzed, Matt grabbed a towel and walked into the bedroom. He began drying off to the sound of Kara making a racket at the sink. He reached for his mobile to check the time, only to find that it had been turned off. Oh, shit. First rule of police work was to always be available, whether or not you were on call, and he certainly hadn’t cut it off. He checked the battery, which appeared to be in working order. As he waited for it to power on and get a signal, Kara came up behind him and ran her hands over his bare shoulders. “Is there a problem, Inspector?” she laughed.
Matt stared at the handset, as if he could will it to connect faster. “Did you turn off my phone?”
“Didn’t want us to get interrupted,” she muttered against his neck.
“That’s not your choice to make.” He shrugged her off. “Don’t ever do that again.”
Sure enough, the display showed six voice mails. The first one was Ronnie barking, “Pull your trousers on and get down here. Call me back when you’re in the taxi.” He rattled off an address that Matt committed to memory.
She just stood there as he yanked on his clothes. “Stay here if you like. I’ll ring you tomorrow,” he said, breathless from the adrenaline rush of a hot case combined with sex. When he grabbed his keys, she was still standing there, a deadly serious look on her face.
He blinked.
She stared straight at him and said, “I couldn’t let you die again.”
He nearly stopped to ask what the hell she was on about, until he remembered the urgency in Ronnie’s voice. Time enough tomorrow.
* * * * *
At this time of night, flagging down a taxi was damned near impossible. On the drive over, he phoned Ronnie, who only said “Spencer’s been stabbed,” before getting cut off by some pressing business with the investigation. When Matt arrived, Ronnie stalked over to the taxi before he’d finished paying the fare. “Where the hell have you been?”
Matt knew better than to give the sordid details, so he diverted the topic. “What happened here?” He looked around at the swarms of officers, along with an ambulance.
“Several hours ago, we received word that Geoff Ryland had been spotted at this location. DI Chandler wanted you and me out here as soon as possible to make the arrest. When I couldn’t get hold of you, I called in Spencer for backup. She was the first to go in, and Ryland was waiting. Classic ambush.”
“Shit,” Matt muttered, staring at the red and blue lights flickering along the fronts of the buildings.
“Yeah, a steaming pile of it.” He stared at Matt for a few moments, then shook his head slowly and said, “Why don’t you see if Patel needs help processing the scene?”
Matt watched him walk away. One dismissal from Ronnie Brooks stung harder than a thorough dressing-down. He fished his notepad out of his coat pocket and walked over to the crime scene unit, stopping on the way for a status report on DI Spencer. She was in critical condition, but the initial prognosis was optimistic. And if Kara hadn’t turned off his mobile this evening, Matt would probably be the one in hospital tonight.
* * * * *
Mid-morning, Matt finally left the office, exhaustion making each step feel like a slog through honey. Unfortunately, his mind was wide awake. He managed to make it home in one piece, relieved to discover that Kara had already left. Good. He conceded to the fatigue by sitting cross-legged on the bed with his laptop in front of him. Then he began the research that had been scratching the back of his mind since he left Kara standing here hours ago.
Searching at the office would’ve given him access to much better resources; however, he didn’t want to his colleagues to know until he had some concrete evidence. As expected, the first attempt at a background check using public records turned up the same information as he’d found two weeks ago. He used his remote login for the Border Agency database, where he learned that nobody with the name of Kara Thrace had entered the U.K. within the past year, nor did anyone matching her description with the same date of birth. Without a social security number, the best he could manage on the American side was searches of various public records databases. Again, nothing. No trace of her, whatsoever.
Matt leaned back against the pillows and rubbed his eyes, trying to process it all. She was playing some type of game with him; he was almost certain of that. The dodgy background, the odd comments, the bit about her not wanting him to die again - it all added up to something, but he had no idea what that might be. His best guess was that she was somehow tied up in this case, and a stroke of conscience made her turn off his mobile last night so that he wouldn’t be on the scene for the stabbing. The theory didn’t sit quite right with him, though. She didn’t seem the sort to be involved. Or perhaps he just wanted to believe better of her.
Before he went any further with this, he had to get some answers from Kara Thrace. First, though, he needed some sleep.
He pulled out his mobile and dialled her number, unsurprised to reach her voice mail. “Sorry for leaving so suddenly last night. Why don’t I make it up to you over dinner? Come by my flat at around seven.”
He took off his clothes and crawled into bed, but he lay awake for what felt like ages, turning his suspicions over and over in his head. And when he finally fell asleep, he dreamt that he was floating in space.
* * * * *
It was done. He was safe, at least for the time being. Probably not the last time he’d be in trouble, with that job of his. But the Lords had looked at his life and decided that this was the worst Matt Devlin would ever face, so she didn’t have to worry about him anymore. Time for her to move on. There were seven billion people on this planet, more than half of whom needed her to pull their asses out of the fire. She showed up, got ‘em out of danger, and vanished into the ether until the next assignment came along. Once in a while, she got to see Lee. That’s the way she’d done her job for all these centuries. Except she was still here, and she had no frakking idea why.
The Lords knew where to find her when they were good and ready, but she wasn’t going to sit on her ass and wait for them. She laced up her shoes and went for a run. Instead of the park, she took a wrong turn and found herself in the middle of the High Street shops, or whatever they were called here. A few blocks down, she decided it should be renamed “Frak You Kara Thrace Boulevard”. She slowed to a walk and peered in a few windows. Matt would get so turned on by that red lace bra, but what was the point of buying it if she could disappear at any moment? As she walked, strollers kept cutting her off, and that just reminded her that Matt wanted kids. While she was off saving some other idiot, he’d have a wife and mortgage and lots of rugrats, all because she’d turned off his damned phone last night. Maybe he’d marry someone nice, like Dee.
Shaking off her stupid thoughts, Kara went into a bookstore and picked out an illustrated guide to astronomy. Even though the planetarium trip had been a bust, she knew he’d read nearly anything he could get his hands on. Maybe she’d have time to drop it off before the Lords called her back from shore leave.
And then, of course, it started to rain. She ducked into a chip shop, grateful that this world had finally caught up with junk food. As she stood there in the rain, her phone beeped. She pulled it out of her pocket and listened to his voice mail.
Kara grinned as she tapped out a reply with greasy fingers. One more for the road.
* * * * *
She took a long shower and shaved her legs. Put on some ridiculous lace underwear that he’d liked last time. Low-cut shirt. Jeans. When she stared at the mirror, she rolled her eyes. At least she still saw Kara Thrace there. If she was going to give him a send-off, she wanted to look like herself while she was frakking him.
The walk to his flat was long and cold. A taxi would’ve been easier, but her blood was pumping and she wanted to keep moving while she still could. Fifteen minutes late, she knocked on his door. When Matt opened it, she set the bookstore bag on the floor then gave him a kiss that he didn’t return. Something was wrong. He looked her up and down then said, “We need to talk.”
It was probably nothing, but the kiss and his tone of voice put her on edge. She jerked her head toward the sofa. “Fine. Talk.”
He didn’t seem surprised by her reaction, which made her nervous. And that pissed her off. Might as well just get it over with, though, so she could frak him or whatever. He sat down and began, “How exactly are you involved with Geoff Ryland and Kathy Connaire?”
Kara blinked. “Excuse me?”
“Don’t play games with me, Thrace.”
Thrace? “I’m not. I have no idea who the hell they are.”
He leaned forward with elbows on knees. “Then how did you know they were planning to ambush our detectives last night?”
Well. He was a detective, though of course he had it totally wrong. Typical Lee. She was tempted to tell him everything, just to frak with his mind. But there were rules. A market square in Paraguay three hundred years ago, and that same temptation that she didn’t resist. He’d actually believed her then, and he told another monk. Even now, she could hear him screaming as they tortured him for heresy. She never wanted to hear that again.
But she was stupid. She’d waited too long to answer, which made her look guilty. Gotta come up with some explanation that he’d buy, and that was unlikely. Shit. She crossed her arms and said, “I just had a hunch, okay? So I turned off your phone. That’s it. Why are you jumping to all these frakking conclusions?”
Matt clenched his fists. “What do you expect? You show up out of nowhere. I did a background check this morning, and it was full of holes. You know things that you shouldn’t. And then last night you conveniently turn off my mobile so I won’t get summoned to a stakeout where I could’ve been killed.” He stood up. “What the hell do you expect me to think?”
Fight or flight kicked in. She wanted out of here right frakking now. Disappearing on Lee all those millennia ago had hurt him as much as it hurt her, but he got over it. Eventually. And Matt Devlin didn’t care for her a tenth as much as Lee had. She’d saved him. Her job was done. Except he never did make it easy on her, and she didn’t know what the frak to do now.
Then he took a step toward her, with his palm turned up. The anger on his face shifted into an intensity that she’d seen before. “I’m not going to arrest you. I just need to know the truth, Kara.”
It was something Lee would’ve said.
She stared at him and made a decision. Matt wanted the truth? Fine. He could have it. She was through with being the Lords’ puppet. All these millennia as their errand girl, showing up here on Earth to save Lee or some other poor bastard, with frak-all to show for it. High time for her to be in charge. If the Lords wanted to make him pay for it, they could punish her instead. She’d been through worse. But she was done with letting them decide.
“Remember last night when I asked if you believed in guardian angels?”
Didn’t take long for him to process that. He stared at her like she was batshit crazy, but she kept going. “That’s my job. I fix things, keep people safe, whatever. I’ve never met those people you mentioned earlier. I just knew that something was going to happen if you went on that stakeout, so I kept you away. That’s it.”
He frowned. “I don’t follow.”
“I’m not human. Not anymore. Haven’t been for a long time.”
She let that sink in, and she wasn’t surprised when he finally shook his head and said, “Look, it’s been a stressful day. If you need -”
“Don’t frakking handle me, Lee. I know how crazy this sounds, but it’s true.”
A pause, then, “Who is Lee?”
“You.”
That shut him up.
He wasn’t buying it, not that she should’ve expected otherwise. But she was on a roll, so she might as well go for broke. “Lee Adama. I knew you in a past life, or whatever you want to call it. We were -” How the hell could she explain the two of them? “We were close. I get to see you over and over now, but I have to leave each time. It sucks.”
“And... what, you also get to fuck me over and over?” He started pacing, hands scrubbing at his face. “Jesus, you are something else.”
“Damn it, Matt - that’s not what this was about! I frakking loved you. I loved you so much, but the Lords made me leave before I could do anything about it. This is all I’ve got left. And I was fine with that until I saw you, looking exactly like the way you did back then. I was only supposed to keep you away from that stakeout, but I got stupid. And now here we are.”
Gods, this was humiliating. She just stood there, losing her shit while he stared at her like she was crazy. Maybe she was. Should’ve kept her mouth shut. Should’ve ignored how much he looked like Lee while she did her frakking job. But she’d gotten herself into this mess, so she might as well give it one more try before she crash landed.
“Look, I know you. Maybe not this version, but some things never change. You always check that nobody’s watching before you scratch your nose. When you’re concentrating really hard, you start chanting to yourself. You stay completely still when you sleep, and you never remember your dreams. You jerk off every morning when you wake up, and you’re embarrassed about it because you’re a good Catholic. You call yourself a feminist but you get this protective streak around women. You act open-minded while you judge the hell out of everyone else. You love your job because you want to help people.” Kara shook her head and laughed a little. “Always did want to help the whole damned world.”
And through all that, he didn’t say a word, which unnerved her more than any of his accusations. He was supposed to argue or ask questions or something. Matt Devlin shouldn’t just be standing there. Lee Adama sure as hell wouldn’t. Either way, she was done.
She turned to leave, trying to swallow the stupid lump in her throat. Keeping her voice even, she called over her shoulder, “I don’t even know why I’m telling you any of this. I’ll be gone soon anyway. Don’t bother looking for me. And you can save your own ass in the next life.”
As her hand closed on the doorknob, she heard his voice. “Kara.”
When she turned around, he was there. Kissing her. Teeth and tongue and a low, keening sound that rose through her chest, along with an even stronger sense of relief. Finally. She’d finally convinced him. He gasped her name over and over as he pushed her backward, his nails drawing trackmarks up and down her arms. Then his hands closed around her wrists, pinning her to the door. Only then did she open her eyes to find him looking at her with something close to hatred on his face.
“The only reason you’re walking out of here is because I don’t have enough to arrest you. I don’t know what game you’re playing, but it stops now. Go back to wherever you came from, and if I see you here again, I will lock you up.”
He released her hands and jerked away from her.
She should’ve seen it coming, but she still recoiled as if he’d punched her. Harsh instinct made her want to lash out at him, but what was the point? She’d won the match but lost the war. One last look back at him - this time Matt, not Lee - then she yanked open the door and got the hell out of there.
* * * * *
“Act on evidence, not suspicions.” It was a cardinal rule of criminal investigation, drummed into him at university. The last thing any detective needed was for his or her case to fall apart under scrutiny. But Chandler was a heretic, always urging him to follow a hunch. She would’ve told him to make an arrest. Although Kara Thrace’s story was completely insane, she had stated that she deliberately kept him from the crime scene. Right now she should be cuffed and in the back of a police car. And he didn’t know why he hadn’t had the balls to do exactly that.
He picked up the bag she’d left by the door. An Illustrated Guide to the Universe. It was similar to one he’d had as a kid, back when he cared about such things. Distracted, he thumbed through the pages, wondering why they’d left out the entry for the Lion’s Head Nebula. That sent another headache screaming down his spine. He tossed the book aside. Yet another example of Kara’s brand of quackery; if he weren’t so pissed off, he’d be impressed by how far she’d gone to convince him.
Matt poured himself a finger of whiskey and downed it in one sip. Her story made no sense whatsoever. Calling it “ludicrous” would be charitable. He fingered the pendant around his neck. Guardian angel? Past lives? Complete and utter bullshit. The only part he believed was that she wasn’t involved with his case, though he wasn’t sure why he gave that a pass. And the rest of it? There was absolutely no way she should’ve known so much about him. To think that she’d seemed so normal only twenty-four hours ago. He shook his head and poured another glass. Served him right for getting involved with her in the first place. Kara Thrace had always been insane, ever since that first night when she and Zak invited him for -
He froze. Who the hell was Zak?
He blinked, and in that split-second he had a clear image of Kara leading him into a kitchen, laughing as his brother hugged him. Another blink, and a glass canopy came down to seal him inside a plane.
Stumbling over to the sofa, he sat down as memories came back with the force of a breached dam. A podium in a briefing room filled with gray-suited pilots. A wedding ring and a boxing ring. The weightlessness of space. Cold gunmetal in his hands. A battlestar at his command. Sunlight on his face in a field of grass and barley. And through it all was Kara Thrace. Starbuck.
The sound of breaking glass snapped him back to attention. He stared at the shards on the rug. Granddad Moran had given him the crystal decanter set when he left university. ”You’ve grown into quite a man, Matty. Never forget where you came from.” Now his brain was rewriting itself into Matthew Keane Devlin and Leland Joseph Adama, and he didn’t know whether to smile or scream.
And Kara was still out there. Gods, Kara. She’d found him over and over again, and he’d told her to stay away.
Matt got up, taking care to avoid the glass, and grabbed his coat. She had a fifteen minute lead on him, but she’d always insisted upon walking everywhere. With a bit of luck, he could take a taxi and catch her at home. And perhaps God was finally on their side, because he found an empty cab at the end of his block. On the ride over, he tried not to think of his career or his family or all the things that made up his life. Instead, he focused on Kara and Apollo and Galactica, drawing the memories out from the back of his mind. And they were there, fresh and raw and good, as he stood on the pavement outside her door.
He watched her approach, beautiful and fierce, just like she’d always been. As she crossed the street, she finally noticed him. She stood there in the middle of the street, just staring. Surprise at first, then a glare. “Changed your mind?” she finally said, her voice a growl.
Matt just smiled, and that caught her off-guard. A long moment, then he spotted the car approaching. “Kara!” he called out, which snapped her back to attention. She hustled out of the street, stopping a metre away from him. Arms crossed over her chest. Wary. Waiting.
He took a step toward her. Brushed the hair out of her face. “What do you hear, Starbuck?”
And everything snapped into place.
* * * * *
It always ended with a chase. Each morning, they’d go for a run through the nearby park, staying in sync until they returned to his street, where one of them pulled ahead. Matt loved running with her, like they were picking up an old rhythm. Sometimes the familiar streets faded into the corridors of Galactica. A passing ambulance sounded like klaxons calling them to battle stations. This time it was Kara taking him by surprise as she sprinted to his front door, laughing in her familiar way. Though he could’ve overtaken her, Matt hung back so he could watch her ass in those shorts, no doubt chosen for exactly that purpose.
It was a foregone conclusion that they’d end up in bed, although this time they didn’t even make it that far. Still laughing, she tackled him onto the sofa and straddled him while she shed her shirt and bra. His hands went straight to her breasts, weighing them with his hands as she grinned down at him. Sweat-damp hair slapped his face as he yanked her down for a kiss. Forty-one days after meeting her for the second time, he knew that she tasted salty even without the sweat. That she came harder when she was on top. That she liked to pretend each fuck was spontaneous, even if he’d known they would end up on this sofa from the minute he woke up with her climbing over him to grab her trainers. And she always got off on an adrenaline rush.
A few minutes of kissing that made him hard as nails, then she levered up slightly to tug him out of his sweats and underwear, muttering, “Easy access. Nice.” She winked. He thought it was ridiculous to say that he saw stars when she sank onto him, but it was bloody well true.
All he had to do was put one hand on her breast and the other on her clit while she did all the work, which suited him fine after a 5K run and her looking down at him like that. But of course she took delight in wearing him out as she swirled and ground her hips with precision. Then, in record time, she came with a gasp and a long moan. He had to grab her hips to keep her from falling onto the table - another thing he’d come to adore about Kara Thrace.
Watching her climax was incredible as always, but he was still hard. Fortunately, Kara hadn’t forgotten him. A few twists of her hips and a quick squeeze, then he followed.
At least this time she didn’t collapse onto his chest, which helped Matt catch his breath more easily. He felt his entire body soften. She smirked down at him. “Chalk up another win for me!”
“Keep dreaming,” he shot back, though it was more of a cough than a taunt.
Kara just laughed and climbed off him, disappearing into the bedroom. He started to follow then decided he needed a few more minutes to recuperate. He picked up the astronomy book and tried to read for a bit, but he soon dozed off. By the time he opened his eyes, he heard the bath running. Instead of joining her, he walked into the kitchen to tackle several days’ worth of mess. She had certainly made her mark on his flat. Not that he’d ever been exceptionally tidy, but he liked to keep things in order. If she wanted to stay - and he couldn’t conceive otherwise - then they needed to make plans. He’d like to be able to take care of everything, but he couldn’t support both of them on his salary. They would need a bigger flat. He should introduce her to Mum and his sisters.
Of course, all that was contingent upon her being allowed to stay this time. It was the one topic they hadn’t yet broached, not that he was eager to discuss it. Knowing that her disappearance was a possibility didn’t make it any easier. Matt couldn’t help checking on her while he was at work, or reaching for her in the middle of the night. But as he cleaned the kitchen, an idea began to form in his brain. By the time Kara walked in and opened the refrigerator, the idea had coalesced into a theory.
“I saved you.”
Matt looked up from the dishwater, to where Kara was lolling against the counter, a half-eaten celery stalk between her fingers. She pointed it toward him. “You saved me? When?”
“That night when I remembered. A car was about to hit you, and I yelled for you to get out of the street.”
“So? I saw the car.”
He gave her a look, which she returned with an exaggerated eye roll. “Fine. You saved me. What the hell brought this on?”
“I’m just trying to figure out why you haven’t disappeared again.” He reached for a dishtowel and wiped his hands. “You spent all these millennia saving me, and this time I returned the favour. Maybe that broke the cycle.”
She shrugged. “Or maybe the Lords just got sick of putting up with me.”
“I’m serious, Kara!” He leaned over and snatched the celery out of her hand. “I don’t want to wake up tomorrow morning to find that you’ve left again.”
“I’m not going anywhere.” She took a step toward him, backlit by the afternoon sun in the window behind her. Christ, she was beautiful. Three weeks after that night in her street, and he still couldn’t quite get used to having her here, or the way she sometimes seemed to glow. “I know things. That’s the way the job works. The info is just there in my head, without any warning, but it’s always correct. And right now I know that I’m here to stay. Okay?”
He wished he had half her confidence, but everything was still so new and uncertain. Merging his life as Matt with his memories of Lee was difficult enough without also knowing what was to become of Kara. Not to mention adjusting to living with a woman - especially Kara - for the first time in his life. He still went to work every day, though he’d taken this week off to spend with her. He’d become quite talented at coming up with excuses and not telling Ronnie or his friends what was going on. Though it was tough now, he had to believe it would get easier with time. And he had to believe her when she said she would stay.
Right now, though, the dishes needed to be put away, and he had to deal with all the email he’d left unanswered. Kara just stood there and watched, not that it would’ve occurred to her to lend a hand. Another thing that would have to change. But he could live with that in exchange for running with her every morning, hearing her murmur his name in her sleep, or laughing then quickly deleting her lewd text messages before his colleagues saw them.
He still didn’t understand Kara’s insane story of how she came to be here, but perhaps her abilities extended to mind-reading, because she reached for a basket and began sorting the laundry. The dishes were forgotten as he watched her bend over, with her ass in the air. She glanced at him over her shoulder then wiggled her hips for his benefit. He smiled his appreciation.
Ten minutes later, they were still kissing over the laundry basket. As he bit on her pulse point, she said, “All those years of saving you and the whole damned world - ” He bit harder, and she gasped. “Maybe that’s why the Lords let me stay.”
Matt pulled back and looked at her. She raised an eyebrow, mocking her own words. But they made as much sense as anything did these days. And there was something else underneath her attitude - a wide-eyed faith, like this mattered more than she’d ever let on. He knew that about her now. He’d known it forever. “You mean this is your reward?”
Kara shrugged, but he caught the relief in her eyes. “Stranger things have happened.”
He just laughed and moved in for another kiss.
* * * * *
End (2/2)
Rating: R
Word Count: 5,437
Pairings: Kara/Lee, Kara/Matt
Spoilers: "Daybreak" for BSG, none for L&O:UK
Summary: Seeing right through idiots like her was his job. But keeping him safe was her job, and she’d had centuries of practice.
Part One
* * * * *
One of the few certainties he had about Kara Thrace was that she was not the sentimental sort. Aside from their first time together, she was usually quite happy to roll off him with a smile and an excuse for why she needed to head home. But tonight she wrapped herself around him as the sweat cooled on their bodies. She toyed with the pendant around his neck for a few minutes then, out of the blue, she asked, “What’s this about?”
“St. Christopher? Mum gave me that years ago. Said he would keep me safe while I was hunting down criminals.” He laughed. “Ronnie says there aren’t enough guardian angels in heaven to keep me out of trouble.”
Her voice took on an odd tone. “Do you believe in that?”
“Believe in what?”
“Guardian angels.”
He hazarded a glance at her. She was serious about this. Raising himself on an elbow, he replied, “You mean little cherubs floating about? God, no. But I suppose I like the notion of something keeping an eye on me.”
She just looked at him, so he added, “Any reason you’re asking?”
“Nope.”
He traced a line between her breasts; she was ticklish there. “It’s an odd question after what we just -”
Kara flinched. “Forget I ever asked, okay?”
The mood effectively killed, he stood up and shook his head. “Fine. Already forgotten. Mind if I take a shower now?”
She didn’t say anything as he walked toward the bath, but her voice stopped him at the door. “Matt?”
When he glanced over his shoulder, she was sitting up, naked, looking almost like a different woman. “I really ... uh ....” Seeing her at a loss for words was bizarre, not to mention her talking about emotions. Her throat bobbled as she swallowed hard. She opened her fists then closed them and said, “Whatever happens, I just want you to know that I’m glad I met you.”
His eyes narrowed. “Why? Is something going to happen?”
She shrugged, looking away from him. “Just felt like saying it.”
He thought about pressing the point, but he was tired. Still, the look on her face made him reply, “I care about you as well.”
With visible effort, she pasted on a smirk and got out of bed. “Want some company in there?”
* * * * *
Pleasantly buzzed, Matt grabbed a towel and walked into the bedroom. He began drying off to the sound of Kara making a racket at the sink. He reached for his mobile to check the time, only to find that it had been turned off. Oh, shit. First rule of police work was to always be available, whether or not you were on call, and he certainly hadn’t cut it off. He checked the battery, which appeared to be in working order. As he waited for it to power on and get a signal, Kara came up behind him and ran her hands over his bare shoulders. “Is there a problem, Inspector?” she laughed.
Matt stared at the handset, as if he could will it to connect faster. “Did you turn off my phone?”
“Didn’t want us to get interrupted,” she muttered against his neck.
“That’s not your choice to make.” He shrugged her off. “Don’t ever do that again.”
Sure enough, the display showed six voice mails. The first one was Ronnie barking, “Pull your trousers on and get down here. Call me back when you’re in the taxi.” He rattled off an address that Matt committed to memory.
She just stood there as he yanked on his clothes. “Stay here if you like. I’ll ring you tomorrow,” he said, breathless from the adrenaline rush of a hot case combined with sex. When he grabbed his keys, she was still standing there, a deadly serious look on her face.
He blinked.
She stared straight at him and said, “I couldn’t let you die again.”
He nearly stopped to ask what the hell she was on about, until he remembered the urgency in Ronnie’s voice. Time enough tomorrow.
* * * * *
At this time of night, flagging down a taxi was damned near impossible. On the drive over, he phoned Ronnie, who only said “Spencer’s been stabbed,” before getting cut off by some pressing business with the investigation. When Matt arrived, Ronnie stalked over to the taxi before he’d finished paying the fare. “Where the hell have you been?”
Matt knew better than to give the sordid details, so he diverted the topic. “What happened here?” He looked around at the swarms of officers, along with an ambulance.
“Several hours ago, we received word that Geoff Ryland had been spotted at this location. DI Chandler wanted you and me out here as soon as possible to make the arrest. When I couldn’t get hold of you, I called in Spencer for backup. She was the first to go in, and Ryland was waiting. Classic ambush.”
“Shit,” Matt muttered, staring at the red and blue lights flickering along the fronts of the buildings.
“Yeah, a steaming pile of it.” He stared at Matt for a few moments, then shook his head slowly and said, “Why don’t you see if Patel needs help processing the scene?”
Matt watched him walk away. One dismissal from Ronnie Brooks stung harder than a thorough dressing-down. He fished his notepad out of his coat pocket and walked over to the crime scene unit, stopping on the way for a status report on DI Spencer. She was in critical condition, but the initial prognosis was optimistic. And if Kara hadn’t turned off his mobile this evening, Matt would probably be the one in hospital tonight.
* * * * *
Mid-morning, Matt finally left the office, exhaustion making each step feel like a slog through honey. Unfortunately, his mind was wide awake. He managed to make it home in one piece, relieved to discover that Kara had already left. Good. He conceded to the fatigue by sitting cross-legged on the bed with his laptop in front of him. Then he began the research that had been scratching the back of his mind since he left Kara standing here hours ago.
Searching at the office would’ve given him access to much better resources; however, he didn’t want to his colleagues to know until he had some concrete evidence. As expected, the first attempt at a background check using public records turned up the same information as he’d found two weeks ago. He used his remote login for the Border Agency database, where he learned that nobody with the name of Kara Thrace had entered the U.K. within the past year, nor did anyone matching her description with the same date of birth. Without a social security number, the best he could manage on the American side was searches of various public records databases. Again, nothing. No trace of her, whatsoever.
Matt leaned back against the pillows and rubbed his eyes, trying to process it all. She was playing some type of game with him; he was almost certain of that. The dodgy background, the odd comments, the bit about her not wanting him to die again - it all added up to something, but he had no idea what that might be. His best guess was that she was somehow tied up in this case, and a stroke of conscience made her turn off his mobile last night so that he wouldn’t be on the scene for the stabbing. The theory didn’t sit quite right with him, though. She didn’t seem the sort to be involved. Or perhaps he just wanted to believe better of her.
Before he went any further with this, he had to get some answers from Kara Thrace. First, though, he needed some sleep.
He pulled out his mobile and dialled her number, unsurprised to reach her voice mail. “Sorry for leaving so suddenly last night. Why don’t I make it up to you over dinner? Come by my flat at around seven.”
He took off his clothes and crawled into bed, but he lay awake for what felt like ages, turning his suspicions over and over in his head. And when he finally fell asleep, he dreamt that he was floating in space.
* * * * *
It was done. He was safe, at least for the time being. Probably not the last time he’d be in trouble, with that job of his. But the Lords had looked at his life and decided that this was the worst Matt Devlin would ever face, so she didn’t have to worry about him anymore. Time for her to move on. There were seven billion people on this planet, more than half of whom needed her to pull their asses out of the fire. She showed up, got ‘em out of danger, and vanished into the ether until the next assignment came along. Once in a while, she got to see Lee. That’s the way she’d done her job for all these centuries. Except she was still here, and she had no frakking idea why.
The Lords knew where to find her when they were good and ready, but she wasn’t going to sit on her ass and wait for them. She laced up her shoes and went for a run. Instead of the park, she took a wrong turn and found herself in the middle of the High Street shops, or whatever they were called here. A few blocks down, she decided it should be renamed “Frak You Kara Thrace Boulevard”. She slowed to a walk and peered in a few windows. Matt would get so turned on by that red lace bra, but what was the point of buying it if she could disappear at any moment? As she walked, strollers kept cutting her off, and that just reminded her that Matt wanted kids. While she was off saving some other idiot, he’d have a wife and mortgage and lots of rugrats, all because she’d turned off his damned phone last night. Maybe he’d marry someone nice, like Dee.
Shaking off her stupid thoughts, Kara went into a bookstore and picked out an illustrated guide to astronomy. Even though the planetarium trip had been a bust, she knew he’d read nearly anything he could get his hands on. Maybe she’d have time to drop it off before the Lords called her back from shore leave.
And then, of course, it started to rain. She ducked into a chip shop, grateful that this world had finally caught up with junk food. As she stood there in the rain, her phone beeped. She pulled it out of her pocket and listened to his voice mail.
Kara grinned as she tapped out a reply with greasy fingers. One more for the road.
* * * * *
She took a long shower and shaved her legs. Put on some ridiculous lace underwear that he’d liked last time. Low-cut shirt. Jeans. When she stared at the mirror, she rolled her eyes. At least she still saw Kara Thrace there. If she was going to give him a send-off, she wanted to look like herself while she was frakking him.
The walk to his flat was long and cold. A taxi would’ve been easier, but her blood was pumping and she wanted to keep moving while she still could. Fifteen minutes late, she knocked on his door. When Matt opened it, she set the bookstore bag on the floor then gave him a kiss that he didn’t return. Something was wrong. He looked her up and down then said, “We need to talk.”
It was probably nothing, but the kiss and his tone of voice put her on edge. She jerked her head toward the sofa. “Fine. Talk.”
He didn’t seem surprised by her reaction, which made her nervous. And that pissed her off. Might as well just get it over with, though, so she could frak him or whatever. He sat down and began, “How exactly are you involved with Geoff Ryland and Kathy Connaire?”
Kara blinked. “Excuse me?”
“Don’t play games with me, Thrace.”
Thrace? “I’m not. I have no idea who the hell they are.”
He leaned forward with elbows on knees. “Then how did you know they were planning to ambush our detectives last night?”
Well. He was a detective, though of course he had it totally wrong. Typical Lee. She was tempted to tell him everything, just to frak with his mind. But there were rules. A market square in Paraguay three hundred years ago, and that same temptation that she didn’t resist. He’d actually believed her then, and he told another monk. Even now, she could hear him screaming as they tortured him for heresy. She never wanted to hear that again.
But she was stupid. She’d waited too long to answer, which made her look guilty. Gotta come up with some explanation that he’d buy, and that was unlikely. Shit. She crossed her arms and said, “I just had a hunch, okay? So I turned off your phone. That’s it. Why are you jumping to all these frakking conclusions?”
Matt clenched his fists. “What do you expect? You show up out of nowhere. I did a background check this morning, and it was full of holes. You know things that you shouldn’t. And then last night you conveniently turn off my mobile so I won’t get summoned to a stakeout where I could’ve been killed.” He stood up. “What the hell do you expect me to think?”
Fight or flight kicked in. She wanted out of here right frakking now. Disappearing on Lee all those millennia ago had hurt him as much as it hurt her, but he got over it. Eventually. And Matt Devlin didn’t care for her a tenth as much as Lee had. She’d saved him. Her job was done. Except he never did make it easy on her, and she didn’t know what the frak to do now.
Then he took a step toward her, with his palm turned up. The anger on his face shifted into an intensity that she’d seen before. “I’m not going to arrest you. I just need to know the truth, Kara.”
It was something Lee would’ve said.
She stared at him and made a decision. Matt wanted the truth? Fine. He could have it. She was through with being the Lords’ puppet. All these millennia as their errand girl, showing up here on Earth to save Lee or some other poor bastard, with frak-all to show for it. High time for her to be in charge. If the Lords wanted to make him pay for it, they could punish her instead. She’d been through worse. But she was done with letting them decide.
“Remember last night when I asked if you believed in guardian angels?”
Didn’t take long for him to process that. He stared at her like she was batshit crazy, but she kept going. “That’s my job. I fix things, keep people safe, whatever. I’ve never met those people you mentioned earlier. I just knew that something was going to happen if you went on that stakeout, so I kept you away. That’s it.”
He frowned. “I don’t follow.”
“I’m not human. Not anymore. Haven’t been for a long time.”
She let that sink in, and she wasn’t surprised when he finally shook his head and said, “Look, it’s been a stressful day. If you need -”
“Don’t frakking handle me, Lee. I know how crazy this sounds, but it’s true.”
A pause, then, “Who is Lee?”
“You.”
That shut him up.
He wasn’t buying it, not that she should’ve expected otherwise. But she was on a roll, so she might as well go for broke. “Lee Adama. I knew you in a past life, or whatever you want to call it. We were -” How the hell could she explain the two of them? “We were close. I get to see you over and over now, but I have to leave each time. It sucks.”
“And... what, you also get to fuck me over and over?” He started pacing, hands scrubbing at his face. “Jesus, you are something else.”
“Damn it, Matt - that’s not what this was about! I frakking loved you. I loved you so much, but the Lords made me leave before I could do anything about it. This is all I’ve got left. And I was fine with that until I saw you, looking exactly like the way you did back then. I was only supposed to keep you away from that stakeout, but I got stupid. And now here we are.”
Gods, this was humiliating. She just stood there, losing her shit while he stared at her like she was crazy. Maybe she was. Should’ve kept her mouth shut. Should’ve ignored how much he looked like Lee while she did her frakking job. But she’d gotten herself into this mess, so she might as well give it one more try before she crash landed.
“Look, I know you. Maybe not this version, but some things never change. You always check that nobody’s watching before you scratch your nose. When you’re concentrating really hard, you start chanting to yourself. You stay completely still when you sleep, and you never remember your dreams. You jerk off every morning when you wake up, and you’re embarrassed about it because you’re a good Catholic. You call yourself a feminist but you get this protective streak around women. You act open-minded while you judge the hell out of everyone else. You love your job because you want to help people.” Kara shook her head and laughed a little. “Always did want to help the whole damned world.”
And through all that, he didn’t say a word, which unnerved her more than any of his accusations. He was supposed to argue or ask questions or something. Matt Devlin shouldn’t just be standing there. Lee Adama sure as hell wouldn’t. Either way, she was done.
She turned to leave, trying to swallow the stupid lump in her throat. Keeping her voice even, she called over her shoulder, “I don’t even know why I’m telling you any of this. I’ll be gone soon anyway. Don’t bother looking for me. And you can save your own ass in the next life.”
As her hand closed on the doorknob, she heard his voice. “Kara.”
When she turned around, he was there. Kissing her. Teeth and tongue and a low, keening sound that rose through her chest, along with an even stronger sense of relief. Finally. She’d finally convinced him. He gasped her name over and over as he pushed her backward, his nails drawing trackmarks up and down her arms. Then his hands closed around her wrists, pinning her to the door. Only then did she open her eyes to find him looking at her with something close to hatred on his face.
“The only reason you’re walking out of here is because I don’t have enough to arrest you. I don’t know what game you’re playing, but it stops now. Go back to wherever you came from, and if I see you here again, I will lock you up.”
He released her hands and jerked away from her.
She should’ve seen it coming, but she still recoiled as if he’d punched her. Harsh instinct made her want to lash out at him, but what was the point? She’d won the match but lost the war. One last look back at him - this time Matt, not Lee - then she yanked open the door and got the hell out of there.
* * * * *
“Act on evidence, not suspicions.” It was a cardinal rule of criminal investigation, drummed into him at university. The last thing any detective needed was for his or her case to fall apart under scrutiny. But Chandler was a heretic, always urging him to follow a hunch. She would’ve told him to make an arrest. Although Kara Thrace’s story was completely insane, she had stated that she deliberately kept him from the crime scene. Right now she should be cuffed and in the back of a police car. And he didn’t know why he hadn’t had the balls to do exactly that.
He picked up the bag she’d left by the door. An Illustrated Guide to the Universe. It was similar to one he’d had as a kid, back when he cared about such things. Distracted, he thumbed through the pages, wondering why they’d left out the entry for the Lion’s Head Nebula. That sent another headache screaming down his spine. He tossed the book aside. Yet another example of Kara’s brand of quackery; if he weren’t so pissed off, he’d be impressed by how far she’d gone to convince him.
Matt poured himself a finger of whiskey and downed it in one sip. Her story made no sense whatsoever. Calling it “ludicrous” would be charitable. He fingered the pendant around his neck. Guardian angel? Past lives? Complete and utter bullshit. The only part he believed was that she wasn’t involved with his case, though he wasn’t sure why he gave that a pass. And the rest of it? There was absolutely no way she should’ve known so much about him. To think that she’d seemed so normal only twenty-four hours ago. He shook his head and poured another glass. Served him right for getting involved with her in the first place. Kara Thrace had always been insane, ever since that first night when she and Zak invited him for -
He froze. Who the hell was Zak?
He blinked, and in that split-second he had a clear image of Kara leading him into a kitchen, laughing as his brother hugged him. Another blink, and a glass canopy came down to seal him inside a plane.
Stumbling over to the sofa, he sat down as memories came back with the force of a breached dam. A podium in a briefing room filled with gray-suited pilots. A wedding ring and a boxing ring. The weightlessness of space. Cold gunmetal in his hands. A battlestar at his command. Sunlight on his face in a field of grass and barley. And through it all was Kara Thrace. Starbuck.
The sound of breaking glass snapped him back to attention. He stared at the shards on the rug. Granddad Moran had given him the crystal decanter set when he left university. ”You’ve grown into quite a man, Matty. Never forget where you came from.” Now his brain was rewriting itself into Matthew Keane Devlin and Leland Joseph Adama, and he didn’t know whether to smile or scream.
And Kara was still out there. Gods, Kara. She’d found him over and over again, and he’d told her to stay away.
Matt got up, taking care to avoid the glass, and grabbed his coat. She had a fifteen minute lead on him, but she’d always insisted upon walking everywhere. With a bit of luck, he could take a taxi and catch her at home. And perhaps God was finally on their side, because he found an empty cab at the end of his block. On the ride over, he tried not to think of his career or his family or all the things that made up his life. Instead, he focused on Kara and Apollo and Galactica, drawing the memories out from the back of his mind. And they were there, fresh and raw and good, as he stood on the pavement outside her door.
He watched her approach, beautiful and fierce, just like she’d always been. As she crossed the street, she finally noticed him. She stood there in the middle of the street, just staring. Surprise at first, then a glare. “Changed your mind?” she finally said, her voice a growl.
Matt just smiled, and that caught her off-guard. A long moment, then he spotted the car approaching. “Kara!” he called out, which snapped her back to attention. She hustled out of the street, stopping a metre away from him. Arms crossed over her chest. Wary. Waiting.
He took a step toward her. Brushed the hair out of her face. “What do you hear, Starbuck?”
And everything snapped into place.
* * * * *
It always ended with a chase. Each morning, they’d go for a run through the nearby park, staying in sync until they returned to his street, where one of them pulled ahead. Matt loved running with her, like they were picking up an old rhythm. Sometimes the familiar streets faded into the corridors of Galactica. A passing ambulance sounded like klaxons calling them to battle stations. This time it was Kara taking him by surprise as she sprinted to his front door, laughing in her familiar way. Though he could’ve overtaken her, Matt hung back so he could watch her ass in those shorts, no doubt chosen for exactly that purpose.
It was a foregone conclusion that they’d end up in bed, although this time they didn’t even make it that far. Still laughing, she tackled him onto the sofa and straddled him while she shed her shirt and bra. His hands went straight to her breasts, weighing them with his hands as she grinned down at him. Sweat-damp hair slapped his face as he yanked her down for a kiss. Forty-one days after meeting her for the second time, he knew that she tasted salty even without the sweat. That she came harder when she was on top. That she liked to pretend each fuck was spontaneous, even if he’d known they would end up on this sofa from the minute he woke up with her climbing over him to grab her trainers. And she always got off on an adrenaline rush.
A few minutes of kissing that made him hard as nails, then she levered up slightly to tug him out of his sweats and underwear, muttering, “Easy access. Nice.” She winked. He thought it was ridiculous to say that he saw stars when she sank onto him, but it was bloody well true.
All he had to do was put one hand on her breast and the other on her clit while she did all the work, which suited him fine after a 5K run and her looking down at him like that. But of course she took delight in wearing him out as she swirled and ground her hips with precision. Then, in record time, she came with a gasp and a long moan. He had to grab her hips to keep her from falling onto the table - another thing he’d come to adore about Kara Thrace.
Watching her climax was incredible as always, but he was still hard. Fortunately, Kara hadn’t forgotten him. A few twists of her hips and a quick squeeze, then he followed.
At least this time she didn’t collapse onto his chest, which helped Matt catch his breath more easily. He felt his entire body soften. She smirked down at him. “Chalk up another win for me!”
“Keep dreaming,” he shot back, though it was more of a cough than a taunt.
Kara just laughed and climbed off him, disappearing into the bedroom. He started to follow then decided he needed a few more minutes to recuperate. He picked up the astronomy book and tried to read for a bit, but he soon dozed off. By the time he opened his eyes, he heard the bath running. Instead of joining her, he walked into the kitchen to tackle several days’ worth of mess. She had certainly made her mark on his flat. Not that he’d ever been exceptionally tidy, but he liked to keep things in order. If she wanted to stay - and he couldn’t conceive otherwise - then they needed to make plans. He’d like to be able to take care of everything, but he couldn’t support both of them on his salary. They would need a bigger flat. He should introduce her to Mum and his sisters.
Of course, all that was contingent upon her being allowed to stay this time. It was the one topic they hadn’t yet broached, not that he was eager to discuss it. Knowing that her disappearance was a possibility didn’t make it any easier. Matt couldn’t help checking on her while he was at work, or reaching for her in the middle of the night. But as he cleaned the kitchen, an idea began to form in his brain. By the time Kara walked in and opened the refrigerator, the idea had coalesced into a theory.
“I saved you.”
Matt looked up from the dishwater, to where Kara was lolling against the counter, a half-eaten celery stalk between her fingers. She pointed it toward him. “You saved me? When?”
“That night when I remembered. A car was about to hit you, and I yelled for you to get out of the street.”
“So? I saw the car.”
He gave her a look, which she returned with an exaggerated eye roll. “Fine. You saved me. What the hell brought this on?”
“I’m just trying to figure out why you haven’t disappeared again.” He reached for a dishtowel and wiped his hands. “You spent all these millennia saving me, and this time I returned the favour. Maybe that broke the cycle.”
She shrugged. “Or maybe the Lords just got sick of putting up with me.”
“I’m serious, Kara!” He leaned over and snatched the celery out of her hand. “I don’t want to wake up tomorrow morning to find that you’ve left again.”
“I’m not going anywhere.” She took a step toward him, backlit by the afternoon sun in the window behind her. Christ, she was beautiful. Three weeks after that night in her street, and he still couldn’t quite get used to having her here, or the way she sometimes seemed to glow. “I know things. That’s the way the job works. The info is just there in my head, without any warning, but it’s always correct. And right now I know that I’m here to stay. Okay?”
He wished he had half her confidence, but everything was still so new and uncertain. Merging his life as Matt with his memories of Lee was difficult enough without also knowing what was to become of Kara. Not to mention adjusting to living with a woman - especially Kara - for the first time in his life. He still went to work every day, though he’d taken this week off to spend with her. He’d become quite talented at coming up with excuses and not telling Ronnie or his friends what was going on. Though it was tough now, he had to believe it would get easier with time. And he had to believe her when she said she would stay.
Right now, though, the dishes needed to be put away, and he had to deal with all the email he’d left unanswered. Kara just stood there and watched, not that it would’ve occurred to her to lend a hand. Another thing that would have to change. But he could live with that in exchange for running with her every morning, hearing her murmur his name in her sleep, or laughing then quickly deleting her lewd text messages before his colleagues saw them.
He still didn’t understand Kara’s insane story of how she came to be here, but perhaps her abilities extended to mind-reading, because she reached for a basket and began sorting the laundry. The dishes were forgotten as he watched her bend over, with her ass in the air. She glanced at him over her shoulder then wiggled her hips for his benefit. He smiled his appreciation.
Ten minutes later, they were still kissing over the laundry basket. As he bit on her pulse point, she said, “All those years of saving you and the whole damned world - ” He bit harder, and she gasped. “Maybe that’s why the Lords let me stay.”
Matt pulled back and looked at her. She raised an eyebrow, mocking her own words. But they made as much sense as anything did these days. And there was something else underneath her attitude - a wide-eyed faith, like this mattered more than she’d ever let on. He knew that about her now. He’d known it forever. “You mean this is your reward?”
Kara shrugged, but he caught the relief in her eyes. “Stranger things have happened.”
He just laughed and moved in for another kiss.
* * * * *
End (2/2)