(no subject)

[subtilior]

title: Forbidden Fruit
characters/pairings: Kara/Leoben
rating and warnings: PG-13; lots of cussing, some making out
spoilers: through end of season 3
summary: Starbuck runs into Leoben at a shipboard market.
thanks: to sionnain  - this is all her fault. She wanted characters grocery shopping: something short and adorable. The plot bunny in my head mutated into a Bunny of Unusual Size.
word count: 3K and change
note: I am not sure of the genre for this'un. Equal parts smutlet and ... dark schmoop? Is there such a thing? Hm. Why don't you read it, and give the verdict?
The title "Forbidden Fruit" is a kinda common one in fanfic, generally, so my apologies if it's a duplicate of anyone's in BSG. Finally, this is unbeta'ed, so any typos, and all excessive dashes, are mine alone.



Forbidden Fruit

Starbuck looked away from the stack of shipmags ("Algae Rations Cut By One Third!" Boring shit - the least they could do was mention the riots -) and kept her face impassive. "Two credits."

"Five credits."

"Three."

"Five."

"Two, and this here." Starbuck held up a beaded bracelet. C'mon, take the bait.

The vendor bit her lip and flicked a glance down and to the side. Starbuck looked, and saw a little girl, staring at the bracelet wistfully.

She sighed, "Fine," and tossed the bracelet to the kid. "That there, and three credits."

"Done," the other woman said, smiling, and gave her the algae squares.

Starbuck bit into one, moodily, as she turned away and set her feet towards the other end of the market. Every other week on the Minos, you could get algae strained into soup, you could get algae frozen and sweetened into candy, you could get algae baked into something resembling Caprican flatbread, and you could get godsdamned lost. She took a quick drink of water to wash the square down. Tucked the flask away, and the squares into a bag, and glanced at the makeshift map.

"Six weeks," she muttered. Six weeks since she had been there, and the maze of stalls and booths had expanded, and turned in on itself, and twisted into an even more confusing muddle since she had last walked it. Ridiculous, to have to spend a good piece of barter on supplies to make it back to the motherfrakking exit, down two miles of convoluted ship corridor.

She was lost, and hating it, She could see the shipmag header now. At least she'd spice it up. "Legendary Captain Thrace Lost in Market - Emerges After Months Missing! 'Frak All of You,' Captain's First Words Upon Return!"

Starbuck crumpled the map, rounded a corner without looking, and bumped hard into another person.

"Frak!" Rubbing her elbow, she turned back and glared.

Wait. Not person. Thing. The only thing guaranteed to make her day worse.

"Leoben."

The motherfrakker looked happy to see her, godsdammit, saying: "Kara!" loudly. Too loudly. People turned to look, and Starbuck saw one mother hurry her child away. Smart woman, because she couldn’t think of a Cylon who fit the child-snatcher type more than Leoben. Well, maybe Three, from what she had heard. Or Six, from what Athena had mentioned of her nightmares. All of them, a walking shipmag header. "Child Vanishes in Maze of Minos Market! Parents Distraught!" Kind smile, and soft words, and would you like some candy, little girl? and who knew what else.

Besides, the frakker had done it already.

Pushing Kacey out of her mind, she glared at Leoben. The same tufted hair and loopy smile, as always. Damn him. Everyone else looked like ghosts walking past, pale and tired, and he looked like he had just come from a day at the beach.

"What the frak are you doing here?"

A shrug. "Just looking around."

"Looking?" Starbuck bit back a harsh laugh, and held her bag tightly to her chest. "Just looking around? For what?"

"At what," he corrected. Leoben's smile widened. She saw his gaze, clear and crystal-blue, flit from her face to over her shoulder, to the side - "At the intriguing sights, Kara. The humans move through this place like fish in the stream. I could watch their patterns all day."

"I'm so happy for you." She didn't bother to keep the bad temper from her voice. Someone jostled her, walking past, and she shoved back, hard. Then she let her bag swing to her side, and sneered. "Come to think of it, you look a little happy yourself."

At his smile, that flashing smile that she couldn't stand, she narrowed her eyes. "Crazy happy. What's got your circuit board all lit up?"

The Cylon held up a shallow box. Then he slid back the fitted cover the tiniest bit, and tipped his chin in its direction.

"What is it?"

His voice was low. "Come and take a look."

Starbuck crossed her arms, and squinted at the box.

"Come and look, Kara. Aren't you the least bit curious?" He opened the lid a little more - and ...

... was that something green?

She stepped closer.

“That’s it,” Leoben’s voice slid over her skin - and he walked backwards. “Come here, Kara. Just a few steps. Don’t you want to see?” His voice, that caressing quietness ... she felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end … but there was something green in the box. Green ...

... or, at least, green until it vanished in the gloom, and her heart shot into her throat as he clicked the door to the service closet shut behind her.

“Shit!” Starbuck whirled and shoved at the door. It was locked. She slammed one fist against the metal, though she couldn’t see it in the dark. Dark - it was too dark, and he had trapped her behind a locked door, and she could feel his hot breath on her cheek.

“Shh.” His voice sounded mild. A *click*, and Starbuck blinked in the sudden light. “I thought you wanted to see.”

“Oh frak you, you bastard, let me out of here before I kill you!” Her heart was pounding. It was too small, the closet, and his long fingers brushed her collarbone as he slid back the lid of the box all the way.

“I …”

Mutely, Starbuck stared.

“Is that what I think it is?”

“Mm-hm.” Leoben ran a long index finger up the vivid green stem of a plant. One leaf unfurled over the plastic. The Cylon clicked his tongue against his teeth, and nudged the leaf back inside. He smiled up at her. “I think it wants to get out.”

“Yeah.” There was a lump in her throat. “You can’t keep that in a box.”

“True enough.” He eased his hand under the fall of delicate green tendrils. “It hasn’t been here very long. I just transplanted it today.”

“Transplanted?”

A nod.

“You have more of these?”

“Yes.” Leoben was looking, intent, at a leaf that was slightly yellowed. “I have a - well, you could call it a garden. Combination of hydroponics and a bit of dirt that I took from Picon before ...” He flicked his eyes away from the leaf, and tapped the box’s side. “Well. With the worms, the soil has stayed healthy all this while.”

“Worms?”

“They came with the dirt.” He smiled. “Even the smallest of God’s creatures has a purpose.”

Starbuck felt her jaw go slack - earthworms and their special destiny, frak - but then her mind caught up with his words, and her eyes narrowed, suspicious.

“How do I know that’s not pretty green plastic?”

He shrugged, and held the box towards her. “Smell.”

She bent forward, and sniffed. It smelled like dirt, and like something cool and clean. Like something growing. Starbuck ignored the fragile stalks brushing over her cheek, and stepped closer, inhaling. A green smell. She put her fingers out, to touch the dirt. A growing smell, that cut through the metal and chemical smell of the supply closet, and Leoben’s scent, the particular tang she remembered from New Caprica ...

Starbuck froze, and looked up. Frak. He was so close that she could see each eyelash, and could feel the slight warmth of each exhalation on her face, except she couldn’t, which meant that he was holding his breath.

She backed away, saw how he swallowed, hard, and felt her shoulder blades hit the wall. Shadow fell cool across her face, and she glanced up at the shelf above her head. It would hit her on the scalp, if she stretched, but it would get him at the base of his neck, right at a vertebra, so that could work. That, and she had her pistol. “So,” and her voice came out loud. “So, it smells. So what? How do I know it’s not going to die in a week?”

“You don’t.” Leoben’s own voice was rough. He cleared his throat. “You don’t. It could die in a week, or it could die tomorrow.” He looked at her. His eyes were very blue. “But the strongest of them usually live.”

Oh, Starbuck meant to say, but the word got stuck. She bit her lip. “Well, how do I know that’s true?”

Leoben raised an eyebrow. He stretched one arm up - she narrowed her eyes at him - and carefully placed the box on a shelf. Then he put a hand into one pocket, raised the other eyebrow as her hand crept to her sidearm, and took out …

Starbuck blinked. Blinked again, harder, and bit the inside of her cheek. She shouldn’t be reduced to frakking crying at the sight of something as simple as an apple, however red and beautiful it looked, and ... wait ...

“Is that an onion?”

“Yes.” Leoben held it up. “Not quite as aesthetically pleasing as the other, admittedly, but much easier to grow -“ His voice trailed off. “Kara?”

Godsdammit. Starbuck swiped at her eyes, angrily, with the back of one hand. Crying over a frakking apple. Not the onion, because that would be really pathetic, but an apple - wasn’t that pathetic enough? and in front of Leoben, of all people. Leoben, who was talking again.

“… very sorry.” He was wrapping the onion in a scrap of cloth, and then he stooped and carefully placed it in her bag. “I always forget that onions do that.” He straightened, and looked at her cautiously. “Here.”

He was holding out the apple.

Starbuck wiped off her face with a corner of her jacket. Then she flipped her hair up off her brow and glared. “Like frak. How do I know that’s not fake?”

Leoben rolled his eyes. “Does it look fake?” He stuck the apple under her nose. “Does it smell fake?”

She tried not to smell, but there it was - the soft perfume of fruit, fruit … She felt her mouth begin to water, because it smelled so good.

Starbuck kept from leaning forward as he drew back the apple, but it was a close thing. She swallowed.

“Smells OK.” A shrug. “But how do I know it’s not poisoned?”

Leoben gave her a long look. His eyes glinted blue, under lids half shut. Then he brought the apple to his mouth, and she saw his teeth flash as he took a bite.

She clenched her hands into fists to stop them trembling, because she could hear the crunch of apple, and she could smell the fruit, so much stronger now that there was the green-white flesh and juice visible, instead of just peel. She clenched her jaw as hard as her fists as Leoben held out the apple again - and as he ran his other thumb over his chin, to catch a stray drop of juice.

Starbuck grabbed at the apple; quick as a flash, he yanked it back, and smirked at her, chewed, swallowed, and spoke.

“Do you want it?”

His voice, gravelly, made her skin prickle. She licked her lips and saw his eyes flare. “Give it to me.”

“Say ‘please’ …”

Starbuck smiled, sweetly, then palmed her sidearm. “Give it to me, now.”

Leoben tsked. “You’ll really kill me for an apple? Kara, Kara … All you have to do is come here - just a few steps.” He held the apple before her eyes and then drew it back. “Come closer.”

She brandished the pistol, aiming right for his heart, and stepped closer. One step. He drew the fruit back. Another half step. He drew the fruit further back. Two full steps: the weapon was pressed into his shirt, she was a hands breadth away from him, and she could feel his breath, quick and warm, on her face.

“Give it to me,” Starbuck whispered. She flicked the gun safety off, and saw his eyes fall shut. “Please.” She eased closer, and trailed a finger over the tendons of his wrist, up towards the apple. “Pretty please.”

His eyes opened, and stared into hers, dark and hungry. Then Leoben leaned into the gun, brushing his body against hers - Starbuck swallowed hard - and held the apple to her lips. “Take it.”

Starbuck stared back at him. She smiled, opened her mouth, and deliberately ran her tongue over the broken edge of apple peel. She was close enough to see his pupils dilate. Then she closed her eyes, and took a bite.

Gods ...

She hadn’t tasted fruit in so frakking long - it was sweet, and just tart enough to make her tongue prickle, and the saliva rush into her mouth. She heard a high-pitched sound, and had just enough time to realize that it had come from her own throat, before she registered the faint lightning-fast sensations of his free hand ghosting over the gun, flipping the safety back on, and his fingers coiling around hers where they held the weapon. He eased it out of her hand, and reached out - she heard a faint *clack* and a rattle, which meant that he had pushed it into a corner of the shelf. Then there was a *click*, and the light went out.

None of it came close to the taste of apple, and the slide of her mouth over the ridges and crannies where her teeth had marked it. Starbuck pressed closer, bit harder - chewed and swallowed, and bit again, because she was so hungry. It didn’t matter that it was dark, and it didn’t matter that Leoben was pressing closer himself, sliding his free hand around her waist to the small of her back, and frak - she gasped as she felt him - hard - against one of her hips. She eased against him, rubbed slowly, and felt his own gasp, and then - shit -

He had let go of the apple to grab her ass, growling. She caught the fruit as it fell from her teeth, but it was a close call.

“Hey,” Starbuck growled back. She took another bite, and spoke with her mouth full, because the motherfrakker had never liked that on New Caprica. He didn’t say anything, and his breathing was harsh, so she grinned, shoved her hips against him, and whispered in his ear. “Clumsy.”

“Kara,” and his breath, hot, gusted over her cheekbone. Just her name. Her name, the way he had always said it - but he was kissing her cheek, too, and trailing his lips down to her mouth. Starbuck angled away, taking another bite, feeling the crisp peel break, and another surge of taste flooded over her tongue …

… but then Leoben started licking the juice from the corner of her mouth, delicate and careful, and she felt her knees turn to water. And then she somehow had her free arm looped around his neck, and she felt both his hands slide down behind her thighs, and she felt the muscles in his neck tighten as he picked her up.

Thwack.

“Shit!” Starbuck punched his shoulder with the hand that held the apple. Her head hurt, from where it had hit the shelf. “What part of clumsy don’t you -”

Her words were cut off with the hot slide of his mouth over hers, as he turned, holding her, and she felt her back thump against the other wall, this time; and this time the whipcord muscle and sharp bones of his body were pressing her against it.

The apple was still sweet, when she could manage a bite - between the hot and wet kissing they were doing, and once she tasted copper when she bit hard on his lip instead of the fruit. But it all tasted delicious, and it all felt warm, or hot - hot where his hands trailed around her waist and behind her back, under her tank and over her breasts, and where they were grinding together, against the wall.

But then she tasted something bitter - not blood or apple. She racked her memory, and the taste of an apple seed surfaced, from four, five years ago, a life and death ago.

“I think ..." Her voice was thick.

“What, Kara?” Leoben murmured into her neck. Then he kissed her again, and she tasted the salt of her own sweat on his lips. “What do you think?”

She licked at his mouth. He sighed in pleasure, and ran a thumb over one of her nipples and she groaned. “There’s no more apple.”

“Hm.” Those long fingers were teasing the nipple into a hard peak. Starbuck shivered, raked one hand through his hair and tightened the clutch of her legs around his, just to hear him growl before he said: “There’s more.”

“Yeah?” Her breath caught as he palmed her breast, and as he rocked up against her hips.

“There is a tree, Kara,” and the words slid like honey over her mouth, from where he was speaking, from where his lips touched hers. “There is a tree in the middle of the garden, there is garden in the middle of the star - come with me there,” Leoben kissed her, “let me take you there. Let me love you there …” Another kiss. “Let me love you …”

Starbuck opened her eyes, wide, and could still see nothing. Nothing, even though they were kissing, their tongues sliding together, even though he had moved his hand back down, slow and tantalizing over her stomach, teasing at the waist of her sweats. She should be able to see him, or at least see his eyes …

“Let me love you …”

It was as though the darkness spoke, with his voice.

She shuddered, and shut her eyes tight. “Yes.”

A rasped, “Yes?” against her mouth.

Starbuck inhaled, and pulled him closer. "Whatever. Just," and she swallowed against the bitterness of the apple seeds. "I'm starving, you bastard."

A harsh laugh. "You're not the only one." Leoben pushed her up higher against the wall, shoved his hips between her legs, and slammed his mouth against hers again, biting. Starbuck bit back, scratched at his back beneath his shirt, but then stiffened as he sucked and bit at her neck, and as his fingers coiled into her hips, hard enough to bruise through her sweats. She let the apple core fall, twisted both hands into his hair and yanked, growling. Yanked painfully enough to make anyone normal back off, but Leoben sighed, and kissed down her neck to slide his tongue over her collarbone.

"I love you," he whispered.

“Yeah, I get that, but I’d like to get out of this market without making the shipmags, you understand?”

A pause. "Not really, no."

"Stupid toaster." Starbuck cuffed him. Then she rocked down against him, and up, and back down, just to hear him groan, and to feel the hot sweat of his brow slip against her bare skin. "You mark me up any more and I'll need a godsdamned bag over my head to keep people from noticing."

A ghost of a laugh, and he scraped his teeth over her neck again. “Modest.”

She bent to find his mouth, heard and felt his hum of pleasure as she flicked her tongue over his lips - but then she bit him, sharp and fast, and he yelped.

“You call me modest, and I will hurt you, you understand?” Starbuck hissed, pulling at his hair.

She could almost hear his smile. “Understood.”

"Right. Then put me down." She let one leg fall from around his waist, then moved it just so and kneed at him, laughing under her breath as he inhaled and grabbed her thigh to stop her.

Leoben eased her back down to the floor, letting every part of her body slide against his. She held onto his shoulders until she was sure of her footing, and then jabbed a finger against his jugular. “Light.”

A pause, then a *click*, and Starbuck, looking into his eyes, saw his pupils refract in the sudden glare. Then she looked at his face - at his mouth and neck.

“Shit.” She grinned. “Kinda mauled you there.”

He smiled back, lazily. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

He was still holding her waist. Starbuck shifted, tried to straighten her jacket, and nudged at his arms with her elbows. Frakking Cylon refused to take a hint, so she looked up at him again, with a hint of steel. “Let go.”

Obediently, Leoben took his hands away. He reached up behind him to the shelf, retrieved the plant in its box, then gave her sidearm back, matter-of-fact. She stared, sharply; he smiled a half-smile, took out another scrap of cloth, and wiped the blood off his lips. Starbuck licked hers, tasted copper, and swore. “Got another one of those?”

“This will do.” The smile reached his eyes. He carefully dabbed at her mouth with the cloth. Then he brushed it over her cheek, scrubbing softly at what had to be spots of blood … Starbuck blinked into his eyes - so blue, and close. She reached up and took his hand - and, looking closely, saw the dirt in the lines of his knuckles.

“A garden, huh?”

Leoben’s voice was soft. “Yes.” He let the cloth drop, ran a long index finger up her neck, and eased his hand under the fall of her hair. “Full of beautiful things." He looked at her, intent. "I’ll show you all of them, if you wish.”

Starbuck fought against the urge to lean into his touch. “Right. Do I look as bad as you?”

A shrug. “Don’t concern yourself with modesty.”

She bared her teeth at him and stepped away. “I don’t mean modesty, motherfrakker, I just concern myself with discretion. And speaking of discreet,” she nodded towards the plant, “you had better cover that back up, or you’ll be mobbed outside.”

Leoben smiled. “Good point.” He tucked the leaves carefully away, and then, looking into her eyes, he slowly slid the box cover shut. Starbuck peered at it, suddenly curious about the intricate pattern of lines etched into the plastic - but then lost sight as he put it in her bag, which he then picked up.

Starbuck rolled her eyes. “I don’t need some stupid gallantry, Leoben. Put that down.”

“You’ve got the weapon.” He looked at her, sly. “You’ll protect me if I’m mobbed.”

“Like frak I will.” She holstered the gun. “I can see it now: "Galaxy’s Dumbest Cylon Trampled in Minos Market - 'I Told Him To Hide the Plant,' Enemy Says.””

His voice was quiet. “Enemy? Still?”

Starbuck wouldn’t meet his eyes. She focused on smoothing her tank and jacket, and slicking her hair back. Gods knew it was sweaty enough.

She heard Leoben sigh, and flicked a glance at him. He was staring into space, and nibbling on something red.

Starbuck froze. “What’s that?”

“Nothing.”

“Nothing?” She stepped close. “Nothing, my ass.” He flicked away something green; her eyes followed it, and then snapped back to his. “What was that, Leoben?”

He smiled. “Why don’t you find out?”

Oh ...

Without a second thought, she grabbed the back of his neck with one hand, twisted the other in his shirt, and pulled him into a kiss. A nip, and a flick and slide of her tongue, and she tasted -

“You -“ Starbuck yanked her head away, and glared at him. “You have strawberries in that garden?”

Leoben glanced at her from under lowered lids, and then began to straighten his shirt.

“Frak that.” She grabbed his arm. “Unlock the door.”

“But ... discretion?”

“Frak discretion. We’re going, right now.”

He laughed outright, punched in the lock code, and opened the door onto a clamor of noise and color. Starbuck strode out, but then stopped.

“Oh -”

“What is it?”

She looked around, at all of the people darting in and out of the side ways of the market, at the booths and stalls, at all the different, twisting paths. “Godsdammit, I forgot.” Starbuck gave a rueful shrug. “I got lost. Gimme a Viper and I'll get us out, but with a half-frakked map ... And shit." She turned to face him. "Shit, people are looking. Let's go."

Leoben looked into her eyes and smiled a kind smile. His voice was soft. “I know a back way.”

He held out a hand to her.

The market was noisy, and hot, but, suddenly, Starbuck felt cold.

He flicked those fingers at her, still smiling. "Trust me?"

Starbuck looked back at the Cylon, for a long moment.

"Not for a second," she whispered, and took his hand.

the end