Scars that Words have Carved- 2/?
Title: Scars that Words Have Carved
Fandom: BSG/Buffyverse
Chapter: 2/?
Words: ~4600
Pairings: Lee/Kara, Kara/Faith, Faith/Kat
Rating: PG-13 - NC-17 (NC-17 this chapter)Setting: S2.5-S4
Summary: "Y’know I did see Starbuck all walking around and yelling at me and alive, so I really don’t see the big. That’s what this is really about isn’t it? It’s all about Starbuck with you.” “And what about you, Lehane?"
Beta'd by the wonderful, wonderful taragel
A/N: Cookies if you spot the two other Whedonverse references in there.
Previous Chapters Here
Kat needed to learn to time her morning routine better. Either get up earlier or get out faster. Anything to avoid this.
As Kat washed her face, everything seemed fine. Starbuck leaned over a sink across from her, brushing her teeth, and while she was in no great mood, she seemed to be relatively calm. In the time it took for Kat to grab her towel and dry her face, the captain had changed completely. She gripped the rim, every muscle in her body had tensed, and her eyes glowered darkly into the mirror. Kat glanced over to see that Slayer had stepped out of the shower behind her and wondered briefly if she had time to reach minimum safe distance.
Slayer sidled up to the sink next to Starbuck. “Y’look beat, K,” she said, making a show of wringing out her hair.
“So?” Starbuck grumbled as she rinsed out her toothbrush.
The lieutenant shrugged. “Just an observation.” She flicked a sideways glance at something Kat couldn’t see, until Kara removed it from Faith’s reach. It was a tube of toothpaste. “You, uh, hit the bottle pretty hard last night, huh? Pressure too much for you, sir?”
She should’ve been grateful for that hangover because it seemed to be the only thing standing between Faith and another trip to sickbay. Starbuck grabbed the last of her things and shot Slayer a death threat with her eyes before storming from the room. Kat turned to watch the captain leave before turning back to Faith.
“The frak’s her problem?” Slayer nodded towards the door.
“Other than you?” Kat smirked appreciatively. She grabbed her toothpaste and passed it across the way.
Faith accepted it with a tilt of her head. “Hope it’d take more than me to rattle one of Galactica’s officers, ’cause if not, I dunno how the hell you lasted this long.”
Kat’s gaze dropped to the sink, watching a tiny rivulet of water sneak down the drain. “You never got ‘rattled’? Never got burned out?” She glanced back up to see Slayer staring quizzically at her, her toothbrush hanging lamely out of the corner of her mouth as she pulled her hair back and resumed brushing. “Never had to do something… anything to deal?”
“Getting burnt out gets you dead.” She said around a mouthful of foam before she spat it out into the sink. “I get in the cockpit knowing I’m gonna win and the toasters are gonna lose, and it’s workin’ for me so far.”
Kat felt the confusion in her own smile. “Aren’t we supposed to assume we’re already dead and all that?”
Slayer gestured towards her ear with an air of mischief. “Huh. You know they might’ve said somethin’ like that, but, uh, I don’t hear so good.”
“Might wanna get that looked at.” Kat laughed. She glanced once over her shoulder before she strolled around to stand next to Slayer, leaning back against the sink as the other lieutenant rinsed her mouth out. “Starbuck’s been losing it for a while now. This is the worst though; no clue why. If you ask me, I think she got so used to being the best it got to her head and now she just can’t handle the competition.” Kat bumped her elbow against Faith’s.
“Competition?” she echoed. There was something… off about her reciprocating smile, but before Kat could place what it was, the look faded and was replaced by the typical grin. “Sounds like the student’s catchin’ up to the Master.”
“Master, my ass.” Kat scoffed. “I just want to take her down a peg… or ten. I swear she thinks she’s the gods’ gift to flying and she’s...” She shook her head, and turned back to Faith. “On Pegasus they kept scorecards on their birds, right? How many on yours?”
Slayer handed the tube of toothpaste back to her, making a face like she was wracking her brain for the answer. “Guess,” she said, her voice husky and low and it made Kat’s toes curl just a little bit.
She turned the tube over in her hand as she watched Slayer grab the last of her belongings. “Thirty.”
“Guess again,” she said, heading for the hatch.
“Higher or lower?”
“Not tellin’.” Definitely higher.
Kat skipped a bit to catch up to her. “Forty?”
“Guess again.”
“Fifty?”
“Fifty-five.”
“Damn,” Kat replied, nearly breathless. As Slayer winked at her, she reached for something else to add. Following at her heels down the corridor, all she could come up with was “Damn!”
---
“Damn it!”
Kara stormed across the deck. Fury, heat rose in her cheeks as she pushed her way through the flurry of usual post-landing activity towards Lehane’s Viper. “Slayer, what the frak was that?”
“What the frak was what?” She asked, smirking. Her voice was breathy, high, almost laughing, and genuinely confused as she stepped out of the cockpit and perched herself at the top of the ladder.
Grabbing onto the railing, Kara pulled herself up onto the ladder, coming face-to-face with Faith’s perpetual grin. On closer inspection, the lieutenant wasn’t smirking. She was smiling, glowing even. Kara’s knuckles turned white as she gripped the railing, fighting the urge to smack her beaming face. “What the hell were you thinking firing at me like that?!”
The glow began to fade and was quickly replaced with furrowed brow, narrowed gaze, and indignant voice. “That thing was coming up on your six and you wouldn’t--”
“It wouldn’t have gotten behind me at all if you weren’t off playing chicken with its buddy!” Kara grit her teeth. “You nearly got me killed!”
Faith leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees. “I can think of about ten reasons you nearly got killed out there, and none of ‘em has anythin’ to do with my flying, sir,” she sneered, her voice rising in volume. “How ‘bout we start with-”
“Officers!” The younger pilot froze as the CAG’s voice cracked sharply through the air. He reached the foot of the ladder and his voice changed, calm but with an undercurrent of deadly focus that only a fool would want to miss. “You want to yell a little louder?” Lee face was stoic, but the challenge in his tone unmistakable. For the first time, Kara noticed that the entire deck had fallen to complete silence. “I don’t think they can hear you in CIC.”
Kara stepped down from the ladder, landing with a grunt. It took a moment for her to pull her gaze away from Faith and she folded her arms over her chest. “She started it.” It sounded lame even to her.
Lee looked as though his jaw was about to drop. “Are you pilots or preschoolers?” He leveled a firm glare first at Kara then at Faith. “I am this-close to sending the two of you down to daycare and letting them deal with you. Slayer, I want to see you in the ready room, ASAP,” he snapped before turning towards Kara. “And I want to see you in ten.”
As Faith slid down the ladder, she brushed briefly against Kara before following Lee as he headed from the hangar deck. Kara watched her trail him out the hatch. She raked her nails against her scalp, shaking her head. Kara delivered a firm kick to the ladder before storming off in the other direction.
---
Lee pressed his fingers against his temple, closing his eyes against the migraine that had been building over the last week. Ever since Kara and Faith’s visit to Doc Cottle, he’d been having to play referee to their childish spats. But preventing another trip to sickbay was like herding cats. Every day was something else and what had started with irritation towards one another devolved into blatant button-pushing and outright immaturity.
Hotdog. Tell Starbuck to leave her boots in the corridor, they make the whole frakking room smell.
I’m sitting right here.
Hey, did you hear something?
Lee had laid in his rack that night wondering when the hell they’d ended up back in high school.
When he opened his eyes, Slayer was right up in his face. “I got the kill. What the frak is the problem?”
Lee heaved a frustrated sigh. “The reckless flying alone is grounds to take you off rotation until you get your head on straight. We’ve lost a lot of people lately and we really needed everyone we can get, but time and resources it’s going to take to fix up the damage you caused when you-”
“Y’know I did see Starbuck all walking around and yelling at me and alive, so I really don’t see the big.” Faith planted her hands on her hips, shaking her head. “That’s what this is really about isn’t it? It’s all about Starbuck with you.”
Lee felt the anger prickle at her insubordination finally; it didn’t help that she was right. “And what about you, Lehane? You want to tell me that little stunt today wasn’t just another in a long list of crap you’ve pulled trying to--”
“Right.” Her eyes narrowed into a glare. “Because I would never think about actually doing my job and saving her pretty little ass-”
“You are going to stop interrupting me, lieutenant,” he snapped, the words like the crack of a whip. He felt a tension settle in his shoulders that only a few special people had ever actually brought out. Great, add another one to the list. He watched her shift her weight into her heels. Her jaw dropped slightly as she stared back at him. “You are on my ship now. And I don’t care if this is some fallout from Cain’s philosophy or if you were messing with Kara or if you were just having fun out there, it stops. Now.” He paused, cooling a little as he was met with silence. “And you are grounded until I say otherwise. Dismissed.”
She didn’t answer him, just took a step forward, towards him. There was no malice in it, no veiled threat. Her gaze narrowed as she looked him up and down, but she wasn’t glaring. No. It looked like she was studying him. She turned when Starbuck’s voice cut the silence. “You wanted to see me, sir?" After a quick glance to Kara she gave Lee one last appreciative look before turning away. As Faith left the room, she paused by Kara. Whatever Faith’s low voice had said, he couldn’t make it out, but Kara’s eyebrow arched as she watched Faith disappear down the corridor.
“What was that about?” Kara asked turning back to Lee.
Lee sank down into a chair and ran a hand through his hair as he looked up at her as she leaned against the podium. “I have no idea.”
“Getting to you too, huh?” He saw Kara smile for the first time that day. First time in more days than he could remember, he realized with a pang.
Lee laughed softly. “That’s the understatement of the century.” He rolled his eyes towards the ceiling before returning his gaze to her. “But the spats have to stop, Kara. You’re spending more energy fighting each other than the cylons.”
“Well excuse me if I’m a little worked up after getting hit by friendly fire, and I use that phrase in the loosest way.” She tucked a lock of hair that had slipped out of her ponytail behind her ear.
He pushed himself to his feet and stepped towards Kara. “She frakked up today, and I’m not putting her back out there until I’m satisfied she’s not going to be putting my birds… or my pilots in danger.” He finally stopped, less than a foot away. She was studying the fake wood grain of the podium, rubbing a finger over the grooved surface. “Look. I’m not asking you to be friends with her, but just, find some way to deal with her that does not involve one or both of you in a coma.” He paused for a moment, musing on the dull throbbing behind his eyes. “Although gods know that would make things a hell of a lot quieter around here.”
When she looked up at him, her lips were drawn into a tight line. He was close enough to see that her eyes were red, bloodshot, and he had a sinking suspicion that it had nothing to do with the close call she’d had out there or the feud with Faith. He stepped closer, his arm brushing hers, his voice dropping, more caring friend than CAG now.“If I asked you what was wrong, would you tell me?”
“Won’t know unless you try.” Her voice sounded, low, rough. He supposed it had since she’d shown up, but he’d chalked it up to the screaming match less than fifteen minutes before.
His first instinct was to touch her; despite the little voice in the back of his head telling him it was a bad idea, he reached out, placing his hands firmly on her shoulders. “What’s going on, Kara?”
When she sighed, he felt her breath on his lips. She looked up into his eyes, almost like she was looking for an answer before she finally settled on one. “None of your business, Lee.” She didn’t pull back; at least she didn’t pull back right away. “Are we done here?”
Lee relinquished his grip on her and stepped back. “Yeah.” He swallowed hard, unable to tear his gaze from her. “That’s it.” He could feel his pulse pounding in head as he watched her leave.
---
Faith’s intention had been to spend some quality time with the punching bag, but when she walked into the weight room and saw Helo pedaling away on the exercise bike, she had a better idea. He looked over at her, sweat trickling down his jawline and only broke his pace when she tossed a pair of focus mitts in his direction.
“C’mon,” she called over to him. “I wanna hit somethin’, might as well be you.”
Helo stepped off the bike, grabbing for his towel and wiping the dampness from his neck and shoulders. “I’m flattered, really,” he said, “that you think I’m worth a little bit more than the punching bag.”
“Less actually,” she said as she strapped on a pair of training gloves. “Your face is just a lot more motivating. Not gonna be fightin’ cylons for a while, might as well fight the next best thing.” He didn’t move. “I’m bein’ nice. I could hit you without the pads y’know. It’d be a hell of a lot more fun.” She pounded her padded fists together watching for his reaction. “What? Scared?” She grinned when he stooped over, picking up the pads.
Shaking his head, he tossed the towel aside and slipped his hands into the grips, walking towards her. “Fine.” Faith bounced up onto the balls of her feet as he bent his knees, getting into a firm stance in front of her, almost daring her to try and knock him off his feet.
She threw a warm up jab at the left pad, not much, just getting the blood flowing. She followed through quickly with a cross to the same pad followed by an elbow to the right. Frakking Galactica. Jab. Cross. Hook. Uppercut. Frakking Starbuck, frakking Apollo. Jab. Cross. Hook. Uppercut. Or actually, not frakking’d be more like it. A deep growl formed at the back of her throat, her hits landing harder, moving faster, nearly knocking Helo off his balance. Both of them wound so godsdamned tight, they were gonna snap any minute and they didn’t even know it. Godsdamned morons.
“You really hate it here.”
Overhand. Backfist. She stepped back and threw a roundhouse kick at the right pad. “The guy’s got eyes.” She landed another strike, grunting for emphasis.
“It just might be easier if you spent a little more time making friends instead of enemies.”
Elbow. Jab. Uppercut. Hook. Backfist.
Helo drew his hand back, shaking it out. “What’s the matter, toaster frakker?” she snapped. “Too much for you?” She bounced on the balls of her feet, waiting for him to hold the pad back up. “What was that you were sayin’ ‘bout makin’ friends?”
Helo’s eyes narrowed, bracing for the next impact. “We’re on the same side, in the same fleet. All of us.” He set his stance firmer than before. “But ever since you got here you’ve been treating us like the enemy.”
“My Pegasus buddies are dicks.” She landed a backhanded strike against the pad. “They’re not nice. I’m not nice. I got no delusions about that. We fight hard.” Jab. “Dirty.” Hook. “And we have fun doin’ it.” Cross. “Because there’s no better world out there. You guys have this frakked up idea that we’re runnin’ to save our lives, but our lives are over. There. Is. Nothing. Left.” Each word was marked with another blow. “Nothin’ ‘cept revenge. So, get your kicks where you can.” Her final strike hit him in the solar plexus causing him to recoil. “ ‘Cause we’re already standin’ in our grave.” She spread her arms wide before dropping them to her side, a slightly maniacal grin crossed her lips. “And if you think otherwise, you’re the delusional ones.”
His eyes remained locked on hers as he gathered his breath. “You never call them your friends,” he said when he finally had enough air.
“Huh?”
“You say you’re ‘tight’ or that you’re buddies. You tell stories about messing around, getting in trouble, stealing people’s things, but I’ve never heard you say anything about you sticking your neck out for them… or any of them sticking their neck out for you.”
“The frak’s your point?” Any more of this Galactica touchy-feely crap and she was gonna vomit.
“Do you trust them?” He pulled off the focus mitts and sat down on the weight bench.
She gritted her teeth. What the hell right did he have questioning her trust in the guys who had her back, the ones she’d been fighting alongside for months? “With my life.”
Helo nodded slowly. It clearly was not the answer he had been looking for-what the hell did he want to hear?-but before he had the chance to say something else, someone was calling his name.
Faith glanced towards the hatch to see Starbuck entering the room, her gaze pointedly fixed away from her. She tapped Helo on the shoulder, motioning for him to move off the bench. “Spot me.”
The raptor jock quickly followed Starbuck’s order, completely ignoring Faith as well. Faith stripped off her gloves as she watched as his dark head bent low over the bar, spotting the blonde captain’s reps. Starbuck fumbled with the bar a second and Helo’s hands shot out immediately, steadying it. The captain said something low she didn’t quite catch and Agathon’s whole face lit up, laughing. Faith’s stomach twisted and she didn’t even notice when her gloves dropped to the floor.
---
Ten minutes later, Helo and Kara were alone in the gym. “Why’re you pushing yourself so hard, Kara?” Helo kept his hands lightly on the barbell as gravity pulled it down towards her chest and she fought right back against it, pushing it upwards. “I know dealing with Slayer isn’t exactly a walk in the park.” When she didn’t respond to his bitter understatement, he tried to switch topics. Helo had an idea of what had really been bothering Kara lately. “I heard you tried to talk to the Old Man about sending a SAR team back to Caprica.”
“I wanted a spotter, Helo.” She grunted softly as she set the barbell back into place and pulling herself up to sit. “Not a color commentator.”
He watched her as she crossed to the other side of the room, picking up a pair of free weights. That answered his next question. It most definitely was not going well.
---
“Dear Lords of Kobol, please bring me a pony and a plastic Viper.”
Kara nearly jumped a foot at the sound of Faith’s voice. She shoved the small metal figures under her pillow, even though it was already too late to hide them from the lieutenant. Faith was leaning on the closed hatch, arms folded across her chest and it seemed like she’d been watching her for a little while at least. “Y’know, K, I never pegged you for the religious type.”
Pegasus Psycho was walking an excruciatingly thin line now. “My faith is none of your business.”
“Seriously, do you think they actually pay attention? If there are gods don’t you think they got big plans going on, good versus evil, better things to do than listen to a frak up like you?”
Those words. Frak up. They weren’t meant as an insult, but godsdamnit it would have been so much easier if they were. Faith hadn’t even moved and yet Kara still felt pinned to the spot. Faith’s dark eyes had locked onto her own and weren’t letting go, in fact they seemed to be looking right through her. “Kat has this crazy idea that you think you’re better than everyone else,” Faith said as she pushed away from the door. The swing in her hips was distractingly predatory.
Kara could feel her heart hammering away in her chest, the beginning of an adrenaline rush, half-anger and half-something else entirely. “Kat needs to learn to keep her mouth shut.”
“She’s a bright kid,” Faith admitted. “But she’s wrong. See, I don’t think you think you’re better. You’re not better. In fact, you’re just a mistake. Probably would’ve caused a hell of a lot less trouble if someone did you in years ago.” She gave a light shrug of her shoulders as she strode ever closer. “‘Cause you’re not even worth the oh-two you’re sucking down.”
“Shut. The. Frak. Up.”
“Make me, sir.”
Faith clearly was not braced for the left hook to her face. The force of the punch spun her halfway around, nearly knocking her off her feet. As she turned back towards Kara, she was wiping blood from the corner of her mouth. Her chest rose as she laughed, a wicked glint in her eyes. “Gonna have to do better than that.”
Kara brought up her hand to block Faith’s retaliating blow. She deflected the strike, grabbed her wrist, and trapped Faith’s arm between them; she could feel Faith’s pulse rise against her touch, see her eyes darkening. Her full lips parted slightly and something else was going to come pouring from there any second unless Kara found a way to get her to keep that mouth closed.
She wrapped her free arm around the back of Faith’s neck, grabbing a fistful of that dark hair. Kara pulled her close and crushed her lips against hers. Whatever the lieutenant had planned-or not planned as the case probably was-died as a groan in the back of her throat.
It might have only been seconds, but it could have been longer; she was just starting to get lost in the taste of Faith’s lips under her own when she felt her trying to wrench her arm free. Kara pulled back, but just barely. She was still close enough to feel Faith’s breath mingling with her own as she tried to stop her ragged panting. Must have been more than seconds.
From the way Faith had fought to free herself, she expected her to turn, run, leave. And she waited. Waited for any twitch of muscle to show that she was about to move. But she didn’t move, her eyes focused hazily on Kara’s lips. Finally, she knew why Faith had wanted her arm back. The lieutenant grabbed her firmly by the waist of her pants, and tugged her hips forward.
Faith’s lips crashed on hers, more insistent, as her hands wandered around to Kara’s back. Kara arched against her, feeling the drag of nails against the small of her back. Her hands made their own way up Faith’s sides, over the curves in all the right places and up to her face where she finally pushed her back. “That,” she gasped, remembering that the plan had been to shut her up. “That was not a frakking invitation.”
This was a mistake; she was still trying to sort out the confusion from her last one-night stand on Caprica, and this was not helping. But frak, Faith knew what she was doing with those hands.
“Certainly felt like one, sir.”
Kara recognized that tone of voice. It was that same high, breathy, laughter she exuded when she stepped out of her cockpit. Her eyes tore into Kara, glowing with lust, daring her.
What was one more mistake on the list?
Faith gave a sharp cry as Kara shoved her back against the ladder connecting their racks and pinned her in place-her knee wedged firmly against Faith’s hip. The lieutenant’s hands groped for the hem of Kara’s tanks, but she grabbed her wrists and pushed them up over her head, bracing them there as she hungrily attacked Faith’s lips. Kara’s tongue slid out, stroking with purpose over Faith’s lower lip, which dropped with a soft gasp. Faith’s hips were just as insistent, bucking against Kara’s, either pleading for attention or trying to free herself from the captain’s grip.
For the first time in a week, Kara was finally in control and frak did it feel good. She held Faith’s wrists in place with her left hand, and moved down brushing over Faith’s belly and moving to undo her fly.
That was another mistake.
Kara’s head barely cleared the top of her rack as Faith rocked against her, breaking away from the ladder, and shoved her down onto the thin mattress. She groaned softly as she felt Slayer’s knee pressing between her legs, grinding against her; the damp fabric of Kara’s briefs clung to her, rubbed against stimulated skin, and godsdamnit her body was craving more. Faith leaned over her, dark hair falling off her shoulders and brushing against Kara’s cheek, her lips curled into a victorious grin as she rucked up Kara’s tanks and pulled them over her head. Faith’s hands roamed her body, grabbing, claiming, teasing, snapping her fly open and scrabbling into her pants, sliding inside her briefs and sending waves of white heat pulsing through her.
No. It was not going to happen this way. When Faith bent her head, distracted by lips and teeth working along Kara’s collarbone, Kara grabbed a hold of Faith’s waistband, shoving her pants and briefs down her thighs. With no warning, she slid two fingers up into her, eliciting a sharp moan.
And just for a second, Faith’s guard was down.
One second was all Kara needed.
You could die in one second.
She flipped Faith over onto her back and held her there, hovering above her watching the fury that couldn’t quite pierce the arousal, the need for release. “Frak you,” her prey breathed.
“Shut up, Faith.”
Silence. Well, not exactly with the groans, the cries, the reluctant guttural plea for more as Kara drove her over the edge, fingers curled inside her and thumb working hard circles over her clit, but at least she wasn’t talking anymore. The silence was after, as she lay beneath Kara, panting heavily, eyes hazy as the world slowly came back to her.
Later, Kara wasn’t quite sure when she’d let her guard drop enough for Faith to flip her over, shove her down onto her back once again, but she didn't much care, since the lieutenant’s lips and tongue were working her into ecstasy.
Seemed revenge was sweet after all.