Road Trippin' and Tent Pitchin' (Prologue & Ch1)
Title: Road Trippin' and Tent Pitchin' (Prologue and Ch1)
Fandom: Battlestar Galactica
Pairing: Lee/Kara
Rating: PG13 for now
Spoilers: Post-Academy, Pre-mini, AU.
Summary: Lee and Kara decide to head off into the wilderness for one last hurrah before he starts his first posting after War College and she starts as Flight Instructor.
Author's Note: Much love to taragel for the beta and brainstorming and general fabulousness! Credit also goes to pali167 for the prompt that started it all, and eugis for demanding a sequel, which then gave me the idea for making it into a multi-chapter piece.
"So the Atlantia," Kara's voice came over the line, a little tinny-the ship-to-ground comm lines weren't great tonight-but still familiar and welcome after not hearing from her for almost three months. "Like father, like son, huh?"
Lee cringed a little, shifting the receiver from one ear to the other. "I like to think I got the assignment on my own merit."
"Oh, you did," she assured him without missing a beat, and he smiled a little at her unwavering confidence. "Didn't you graduate in your top ten?"
"Third in my class," Lee corrected, trying not to sound too proud of that.
"Beats the hell out of my sixteenth, huh?" she mused, before sighing dramatically. "Guess you had to be better at something. But I can still kick your ass in the air anytime, Apollo."
"So you keep saying," Lee smirked, picking up his pen and darkening the edges of five days on his calendar. Five days of leave coming up at the end of the summer. "Maybe I should swing by Delphi on my leave and hand your ass to you in the sims. Settle this once and for all."
He heard her snort of disbelief and could almost see the challenge dancing in her eyes. "Bring it on, Apollo. When's your transfer?"
"Last weekend of summer. I'm to report for duty on the 28th."
"Oh, saved by a hair," she crooned, chuckling. "Guess I won't be kicking your ass after all. I'm not due at the new gig until the 29th. And I plan on spending the week before becoming Flight Instructor Kara Thrace far, far away from anything work-related."
Lee sat up a little straighter. "Really?"
"Uh huh."
"Hmm."
"What?"
"I'm on leave the twenty-third through the twenty-seventh." He traced the edge of the 25th one more time, a heavy spot of ink smearing as his finger brushed across it. Silence hung on the line for a second, and there was something just a little different in Kara's voice when it finally came across the line.
"How do you feel about a road trip?"
------------------------------------------------------
As it turned out, “road trip” had actually meant driving half a day into the back woods of Caprica and then roughing it in the middle of nowhere for three days before driving half a day back. It was not exactly the most relaxing way he could imagine spending the last week before his posting but Kara had been insistent.
“Come on, Lee, live a little,” she’d goaded him. “Trust me, you want to get your fill of fresh air, and sunlight, and trees before you’re stuck breathing recycled O2 under fluorescent lights for months.”
She had a point, he supposed.
So now here he was, adding sliced cheese and mustard to bread for sandwiches in Kara’s kitchen while she showered off the surprise survival training she’d been wrangled into chaperoning. Her place was… utilitarian. She had a secondhand couch, a beat-up old coffee table that had been littered with newspapers and a stray beer bottle or two before he’d arrived and straightened them, and a mattress on the floor. Her clothes spilled out of half-unpacked boxes that almost provided a hint of privacy from the main living area. On the floor under the window was a TV, still in its box, with an old red radio propped on top. It all seemed rather haphazardly thrown together, except for one corner: there was a neat stack of blank canvases, a rickety easel gingerly propped against the wall, and a few tubs filled with fresh paint tubes and carefully stored brushes. Lee thought it was quite possibly the most orderly few square feet he’d ever seen her keep - and that included her up-to-regulation Academy barracks. The air held the faint scent of cigar smoke mixed with the smell of earthy, spicy lotion that had always driven him crazy in the best and worst way. Kara had called the place a work in progress; he thought it suited her well already.
The spray of the shower cut off as he began slicing salami, and two minutes later, Kara emerged, t-shirt-clad and fresh-faced and smelling of lavender soap. He could have sworn she’d gotten even more beautiful in the year since he’d last seen her. “Did you make yourself at home?” she asked, rubbing a towel over her short locks and then tossing it onto her bed.
Lee glanced at his still-packed duffel and shrugged. There hadn’t been much making-himself-at-home to do, really. “I guess.” She bent to rummage through an open box, and Lee caught a flash of cherry-red briefs when her t-shirt rode up. It was certainly not the first time he’d caught a glimpse of Kara in her underwear, but it seemed different here in her apartment, away from the Academy and public showers and off-duty pranks. “We, uh… we don’t have to go camping, you know, since you just got back,” he pointed out, trying to keep his mind away from areas it really shouldn’t wander.
Kara looked up, then rolled her eyes and straightened before walking into the kitchen. “We’re going.”
“If you’re sure...” Lee turned his attention back to the sandwiches. “We’re leaving early, right?”
“Mmhmm.” Kara snagged a piece of salami, nicked two slices of bread, slapped them together and dug in before Lee could protest. “0600,” she managed, mouth full.
Lee grimaced as she headed for the fridge. “Kara, these are for tomorrow. And for gods’ sake, chew before you talk.”
She made a show of chewing slowly and deliberately as she cracked open a beer, then took a swig and said, “I’m sorry to have offended your delicate manners, Leland. And so what? Make another for tomorrow; I’m starving.” She leaned against the fridge, watched as he prepped two more slices of bread, then assembled one sandwich, another. Kara just chewed and sipped silently.
“You gonna help or just stand there and watch?” he asked, one brow raised.
“No, I’m gonna stand here and eat,” she smirked. “Give me a break, Lee; I just got back from shepherding a bunch of nuggets who’d never seen a survival pack in their lives. I swear to you, there wasn’t a boy scout in the bunch, and it rained the last thirty-six hours straight.”
“And you want to go back? You just finished six days in the woods with no toilet or bed, and you’re really ready to go back out? Because we can just stay here, head down to the beach and-”
“Lee.” Kara shook her head, rolled her eyes. “I want to go. We’re going. This isn’t… this is different.”
“Why, because we’re gonna be on the other side of the planet from the training ops?” he quipped, stacking another sandwich together before glancing back up at her. “Or because you’re not going with fifteen rooks and a captain who’s up your ass the whole time?”
“No, because…” She looked at him for a minute, letting her gaze sweep over him once just a little too slowly to be casual, and shrugged. “It’s just different, okay? Drop it.”
She dropped her gaze to the countertop, licking her fingertip and intently catching up crumbs one by one. Lee wondered to himself what was so different about camping out in the middle of nowhere for work and camping out in the middle of nowhere with him. Oh. Oh. Lee smiled a little and turned his attention back to the food. Well, that was… something.
Kara rubbed her fingers together, letting the crumbs fall to the kitchen floor, and he got the distinct impression she was fighting not to fidget.
“I guess it was better assisting with a bunch of inexperienced kids than facing a court martial on Triton, though, right?” he pointed out, hoping to break the moment, but her posture stiffened slightly, her mouth working into a scowl before she took a long pull from the bottle in her hand. Well, that hadn’t been the reaction he wanted. She hadn’t told him what happened on Triton yet, and he wasn’t sure if she ever would. She’d just said it was “nothing” and “stupid” and they’d “talk about it later or whatever.”
“Did you get ice?” she asked, changing the subject. Lee let it drop.
“It’s in the freezer,” he nodded, tucking a sandwich into a plastic bag and sealing it shut.
“Good.”
Quietness hung in the air for a minute, and Lee couldn’t quite figure out if it was awkward silence or not. Bringing up the Triton had probably been a bad idea. Kara had begun peeling the label off her bottle with the edge of her thumbnail, chewing on her bottom lip just slightly. Lee paused mid-sandwich to watch her, relearning the contour of her silhouette, the slope of her nose, the curve of her chin. He’d missed the sight of her more than he’d realized.
She looked up suddenly, caught him watching, and quirked her eyebrow curiously at him. Lee felt his cheeks heat up just a little and cleared his throat, turning back to the sandwiches. “So, uh, what’s the itinerary for tomorrow?”
“Leave at 0600-“
“Which, knowing you, means we’ll actually leave by 0730?” he teased, grinning and daring a glance at her just before she balled up a napkin and threw it at him.
She was grinning right back. “Frak you, Adama.”
“You wish.”
“Right,” she snorted, shaking her head and sipping from her bottle again. It was quiet again for a minute, but decidedly more comfortable this time. “Lee-” she started, then seemed think better of whatever she’d been about to say.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“No, really, Kara.” He zipped another sandwich away, then gave her his full attention. “What were you going to say?”
“Nothing, just…” She shrugged a shoulder, smiled at him. “It’s good to see you. I’m glad you’re here.”
Lee smiled slowly and reached out, slipping the bottle from her fingers and stealing a sip. “Yeah. Me too.”
Fandom: Battlestar Galactica
Pairing: Lee/Kara
Rating: PG13 for now
Spoilers: Post-Academy, Pre-mini, AU.
Summary: Lee and Kara decide to head off into the wilderness for one last hurrah before he starts his first posting after War College and she starts as Flight Instructor.
Author's Note: Much love to taragel for the beta and brainstorming and general fabulousness! Credit also goes to pali167 for the prompt that started it all, and eugis for demanding a sequel, which then gave me the idea for making it into a multi-chapter piece.
"So the Atlantia," Kara's voice came over the line, a little tinny-the ship-to-ground comm lines weren't great tonight-but still familiar and welcome after not hearing from her for almost three months. "Like father, like son, huh?"
Lee cringed a little, shifting the receiver from one ear to the other. "I like to think I got the assignment on my own merit."
"Oh, you did," she assured him without missing a beat, and he smiled a little at her unwavering confidence. "Didn't you graduate in your top ten?"
"Third in my class," Lee corrected, trying not to sound too proud of that.
"Beats the hell out of my sixteenth, huh?" she mused, before sighing dramatically. "Guess you had to be better at something. But I can still kick your ass in the air anytime, Apollo."
"So you keep saying," Lee smirked, picking up his pen and darkening the edges of five days on his calendar. Five days of leave coming up at the end of the summer. "Maybe I should swing by Delphi on my leave and hand your ass to you in the sims. Settle this once and for all."
He heard her snort of disbelief and could almost see the challenge dancing in her eyes. "Bring it on, Apollo. When's your transfer?"
"Last weekend of summer. I'm to report for duty on the 28th."
"Oh, saved by a hair," she crooned, chuckling. "Guess I won't be kicking your ass after all. I'm not due at the new gig until the 29th. And I plan on spending the week before becoming Flight Instructor Kara Thrace far, far away from anything work-related."
Lee sat up a little straighter. "Really?"
"Uh huh."
"Hmm."
"What?"
"I'm on leave the twenty-third through the twenty-seventh." He traced the edge of the 25th one more time, a heavy spot of ink smearing as his finger brushed across it. Silence hung on the line for a second, and there was something just a little different in Kara's voice when it finally came across the line.
"How do you feel about a road trip?"
------------------------------------------------------
As it turned out, “road trip” had actually meant driving half a day into the back woods of Caprica and then roughing it in the middle of nowhere for three days before driving half a day back. It was not exactly the most relaxing way he could imagine spending the last week before his posting but Kara had been insistent.
“Come on, Lee, live a little,” she’d goaded him. “Trust me, you want to get your fill of fresh air, and sunlight, and trees before you’re stuck breathing recycled O2 under fluorescent lights for months.”
She had a point, he supposed.
So now here he was, adding sliced cheese and mustard to bread for sandwiches in Kara’s kitchen while she showered off the surprise survival training she’d been wrangled into chaperoning. Her place was… utilitarian. She had a secondhand couch, a beat-up old coffee table that had been littered with newspapers and a stray beer bottle or two before he’d arrived and straightened them, and a mattress on the floor. Her clothes spilled out of half-unpacked boxes that almost provided a hint of privacy from the main living area. On the floor under the window was a TV, still in its box, with an old red radio propped on top. It all seemed rather haphazardly thrown together, except for one corner: there was a neat stack of blank canvases, a rickety easel gingerly propped against the wall, and a few tubs filled with fresh paint tubes and carefully stored brushes. Lee thought it was quite possibly the most orderly few square feet he’d ever seen her keep - and that included her up-to-regulation Academy barracks. The air held the faint scent of cigar smoke mixed with the smell of earthy, spicy lotion that had always driven him crazy in the best and worst way. Kara had called the place a work in progress; he thought it suited her well already.
The spray of the shower cut off as he began slicing salami, and two minutes later, Kara emerged, t-shirt-clad and fresh-faced and smelling of lavender soap. He could have sworn she’d gotten even more beautiful in the year since he’d last seen her. “Did you make yourself at home?” she asked, rubbing a towel over her short locks and then tossing it onto her bed.
Lee glanced at his still-packed duffel and shrugged. There hadn’t been much making-himself-at-home to do, really. “I guess.” She bent to rummage through an open box, and Lee caught a flash of cherry-red briefs when her t-shirt rode up. It was certainly not the first time he’d caught a glimpse of Kara in her underwear, but it seemed different here in her apartment, away from the Academy and public showers and off-duty pranks. “We, uh… we don’t have to go camping, you know, since you just got back,” he pointed out, trying to keep his mind away from areas it really shouldn’t wander.
Kara looked up, then rolled her eyes and straightened before walking into the kitchen. “We’re going.”
“If you’re sure...” Lee turned his attention back to the sandwiches. “We’re leaving early, right?”
“Mmhmm.” Kara snagged a piece of salami, nicked two slices of bread, slapped them together and dug in before Lee could protest. “0600,” she managed, mouth full.
Lee grimaced as she headed for the fridge. “Kara, these are for tomorrow. And for gods’ sake, chew before you talk.”
She made a show of chewing slowly and deliberately as she cracked open a beer, then took a swig and said, “I’m sorry to have offended your delicate manners, Leland. And so what? Make another for tomorrow; I’m starving.” She leaned against the fridge, watched as he prepped two more slices of bread, then assembled one sandwich, another. Kara just chewed and sipped silently.
“You gonna help or just stand there and watch?” he asked, one brow raised.
“No, I’m gonna stand here and eat,” she smirked. “Give me a break, Lee; I just got back from shepherding a bunch of nuggets who’d never seen a survival pack in their lives. I swear to you, there wasn’t a boy scout in the bunch, and it rained the last thirty-six hours straight.”
“And you want to go back? You just finished six days in the woods with no toilet or bed, and you’re really ready to go back out? Because we can just stay here, head down to the beach and-”
“Lee.” Kara shook her head, rolled her eyes. “I want to go. We’re going. This isn’t… this is different.”
“Why, because we’re gonna be on the other side of the planet from the training ops?” he quipped, stacking another sandwich together before glancing back up at her. “Or because you’re not going with fifteen rooks and a captain who’s up your ass the whole time?”
“No, because…” She looked at him for a minute, letting her gaze sweep over him once just a little too slowly to be casual, and shrugged. “It’s just different, okay? Drop it.”
She dropped her gaze to the countertop, licking her fingertip and intently catching up crumbs one by one. Lee wondered to himself what was so different about camping out in the middle of nowhere for work and camping out in the middle of nowhere with him. Oh. Oh. Lee smiled a little and turned his attention back to the food. Well, that was… something.
Kara rubbed her fingers together, letting the crumbs fall to the kitchen floor, and he got the distinct impression she was fighting not to fidget.
“I guess it was better assisting with a bunch of inexperienced kids than facing a court martial on Triton, though, right?” he pointed out, hoping to break the moment, but her posture stiffened slightly, her mouth working into a scowl before she took a long pull from the bottle in her hand. Well, that hadn’t been the reaction he wanted. She hadn’t told him what happened on Triton yet, and he wasn’t sure if she ever would. She’d just said it was “nothing” and “stupid” and they’d “talk about it later or whatever.”
“Did you get ice?” she asked, changing the subject. Lee let it drop.
“It’s in the freezer,” he nodded, tucking a sandwich into a plastic bag and sealing it shut.
“Good.”
Quietness hung in the air for a minute, and Lee couldn’t quite figure out if it was awkward silence or not. Bringing up the Triton had probably been a bad idea. Kara had begun peeling the label off her bottle with the edge of her thumbnail, chewing on her bottom lip just slightly. Lee paused mid-sandwich to watch her, relearning the contour of her silhouette, the slope of her nose, the curve of her chin. He’d missed the sight of her more than he’d realized.
She looked up suddenly, caught him watching, and quirked her eyebrow curiously at him. Lee felt his cheeks heat up just a little and cleared his throat, turning back to the sandwiches. “So, uh, what’s the itinerary for tomorrow?”
“Leave at 0600-“
“Which, knowing you, means we’ll actually leave by 0730?” he teased, grinning and daring a glance at her just before she balled up a napkin and threw it at him.
She was grinning right back. “Frak you, Adama.”
“You wish.”
“Right,” she snorted, shaking her head and sipping from her bottle again. It was quiet again for a minute, but decidedly more comfortable this time. “Lee-” she started, then seemed think better of whatever she’d been about to say.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“No, really, Kara.” He zipped another sandwich away, then gave her his full attention. “What were you going to say?”
“Nothing, just…” She shrugged a shoulder, smiled at him. “It’s good to see you. I’m glad you’re here.”
Lee smiled slowly and reached out, slipping the bottle from her fingers and stealing a sip. “Yeah. Me too.”