pilots_presents | A Gift for Sci_Fi

Title: Piecing It Together
Author:

plaid_slytherin
Summary: The day after they choose each other, Kara and Lee deal with the fallout.
Characters: Kara/Lee, Bill, Helo, mentions of past Kara/Sam and Lee/Dee
Rating: T
Warnings: none
Author Notes: The prompt I used was Lee chooses Kara in TABFYW and then they both have to cope with everyone's reactions. What does it change? I hope you like this,

sci_fi_shipper!

Lee came back to consciousness gradually, the reality of morning setting in slowly. The first thing he registered was the sound of the other pilots grumbling as they went about getting ready. Fuzzily, he tried to remember when his first commitment of the day was. A briefing? When was he supposed to fly CAP?

That was when he realized he was in the duty locker. Why was he in the duty locker? He was supposed to be in his quarters with Dee.

No. He wasn't supposed to be with Dee anymore.

It was Kara who was lying next to him. Kara.

After all they'd been through, he'd finally made up his mind, finally done something. It felt good. He felt freer than he had in years, like a great weight had been taken off his shoulders.

The only thing that worried him was whether Kara felt the same way.

She was just now beginning to wake up herself and she seemed to freeze as soon as she noticed him.

"Lee," she said simply.

"Hey," he whispered, suddenly aware that if he got up out of her rack now, they would be instantly exposed and the pilots would stop at nothing to embarrass them. Not that he wanted to hide their relationship anymore. Far from it.

It was just that he thought he ought to have clothes on before anyone found out about him and Kara.

Him and Kara. For real this time, hopefully. He knew that neither of them had undergone a fundamental change in the past twenty-four hours. He'd just made a choice and so had she. A resolution not to shy away from each other this time. Not like on New Caprica.

They were going to try again and this time it would be for real. This time it would work.

"Hey." She laid her hand on his chest and started rubbing it sleepily. "You gonna get up?"

"In a bit," he whispered. "When people start clearing out."

She grinned, completely awake now, and fully grasping his meaning. "I know what you mean." She snickered and then clapped a hand over her mouth. "Sorry."

Lee smiled. He couldn't help himself when he was watching her laugh like that. He kissed her. "It's okay."

Already voices were starting to filter out of the room as people made their way toward the head. When he was certain no one remained, Lee got up and looked for his clothes where he'd stashed them in Kara's locker.

"So," she said, sitting up in bed and pulling her bra out of the rumpled sheets. "Are we telling people, or what?"

"I guess," he said. "I mean, I don't really see making an announcement. I mean this, this morning, was only because-"

"No, yeah, I know." She levered herself out of bed and started dressing. "I just wasn't sure what you wanted to do."

"What do you want to do?"

She stilled, her pants half on.. "Can we kind of… be cautious about this? I mean, I'm not saying I don't want to. Just." She straightened up, brushing her hair out of her eyes. "Maybe it would be better if people got used to… us not being married to Dee and Sam…first."

"Okay." Lee put his hands on his hips. "Okay. We can do that."

"I mean, just… divorce." She shrugged.

He was half afraid to ask the next question, but he'd feel bad if he never found out. "Do you… still want to go through with it?"

She paused for a beat. "Yeah. I do. It's not really fair to either of them. Or to you."

"I'm sorry," he said. "I know how hard that was for you."

"It's okay," she said quietly. "It was for the best."

Lee was trying to think of a reply to that when she said, "I have to go fly CAP. See you later?"

She leaned in and kissed him and he pulled her close, lingering for a moment. When they pulled apart, she was grinning. "Think you can make it to the end of my shift?" she asked.

"I'll try." He kissed her again and then she was gone.

Sighing, Lee sat down on her rack and ran his hands through his hair. This wasn't easy, but he was sure he'd made the right decision.

Hadn't he?

**

Lee was actually glad Kara was flying CAP first shift; it meant he didn't have to look at her while he was giving the briefing. He wasn't sure he'd be able to concentrate, and he was absolutely certain he wouldn't be able to keep himself from looking at her every twelve seconds.

His mind still kept drifting, though, back to the conversation with Dee last night.

She'd understood, had seemed resigned to the fact that Lee would eventually leave her for Kara. He felt guilty about it; there was no question. Without Kara around, he almost forgot why he'd done it - but he knew that when she came back from CAP, he'd remember again. That's the way it was with Kara. It was almost like he didn't quite believe she was real if she wasn't in the room with him.

He really did need to talk to Dee again, especially before he told his father. They hadn't argued, but he wanted to make sure she was okay.

After the briefing, Racetrack came up to him with a question and by the time she left, the room was empty. Sighing, Lee dropped into one of the seats in the front row. He had made the right choice. He just needed to keep reminding himself of that. Kara was the right choice, the one he clicked with, the one who made him feel better about himself than anyone else did.

He stood up and stretched. Right. He needed to get down to the hangar deck, check on things. He turned to leave the briefing room and froze.

His father was sitting in the back row.

"Dad." He knew exactly what this was about, but he wanted to stall as much as possible. "What do you need?"

His father crossed his arms over his chest. "We should talk. C'mere."

Woodenly, Lee climbed to the back of the room. He deliberately took a seat halfway down the row from the Admiral.

"It's come to my attention that you and Dee are getting divorced."

"How-"

"She told me." Bill took his glasses off. "She assumed I already knew."

Lee swallowed hard. He knew he probably should have gone to his father first, but it had happened so fast.

He and Kara agreed to tell Dee and Sam what they wanted to do, then did. And then, after that, they'd gotten lost in each other, hadn't paid attention to anything else for the rest of the night.

"I was going to," he said, though he hadn't really thought about it. "I'm sorry."

"So." Bill crossed his legs. "I assume this means you and Kara…"

Lee looked away and scratched the side of his nose. "Yeah. Kara and I are together now."

There was a long pause. "Did you try? To work things out with Dee?"

Lee looked at him. "Did you try to work things out with Mom?"

He looked taken aback. "That's… that's different."

"Is it?" Lee hadn't meant to argue with him, but he couldn't help it.

Bill sighed. "No. Maybe it's not."

"I did try," Lee said. He paused. "I just can't get her out of my head, never have been able to. I just finally realized it wasn't fair to Dee that I couldn't put her first. I couldn't get away from the history there."

Bill nodded. "I can understand that."

Lee shifted in his seat. "This isn't the first time we've talked about it," he added, trying to phrase this carefully. He wasn't sure he was ready to tell his father about that night on New Caprica. "Before she and Sam got married, even, I thought we might…" He let that thought trail off. Not yet. "We finally did it this time. But I think it was building to it."

His father put a hand on his shoulder. "You really do love her."

"Yeah, I do." It felt odd to admit it to his father, especially because of Zak - he'd never been sure how Bill would react to Lee and Kara, but this was much better than he'd ever hoped for.

Bill reached out and put his hand on Lee's shoulder. "Don't worry about it. If you love her, you love her."

Lee had known that in his head, but it felt good to have his father - of all people - actually say it to him.

"Now," his father went on, "you probably could have handled it slightly better, what with telling me earlier."

"I'm sorry."

"I said don't worry about it." His father smiled. "Now, what was that you put in your report about the tylium ship?"

**

Lee ran into Kara when she got off CAP, waylaying her before she could head for the shower.

"Hey, aren't you forgetting something?" He held up the blank form he had in his hand. "You didn't file this."

"I will," she said. She unzipped her flight suit. "I just don't feel like it right now."

"Hey." He followed her up the stairs. "What's up? You were like this this morning, too."

She stopped. "You really don't get it, do you? Was it just not that big a deal?"

"What are you talking about?" he asked, though he had an inkling of what she had to mean.

"Getting divorced is a big deal. I'm sorry you don't see that."

He started to insist that he knew very well that it was a big deal but stopped. It hadn't been a big deal for him. Not that he didn't think it was, of course, but it was something he'd always known he'd have to do. Kara had never wanted to get divorced.

"Are you having second thoughts?" he asked her. "Did you talk to Sam?"

"No. I mean." She rubbed her mouth. "No, I haven't talked to him since last night."

Lee stiffened, noticing that she hadn't answered his first question.

"Please, Lee," she said. "Just let me have a shower. Then we can talk."

Lee stopped and rubbed the back of his neck. "Okay," he said. "Okay. You know where to find me then."

**

Even after a longer-than-usual shower, Kara still couldn't get her thoughts straight. The decision had seemed so easy for Lee - why was it so hard for her?

It wasn't hard, not really. She knew she loved Lee. But it was hard to let go of Sam. He'd been there for her back on Caprica, and then on New Caprica during the occupation.

But Lee. Lee was another thing entirely.

"Come on," she told her reflection. "Don't tell me you're this much of a frak-up."

The hatch opened and she jumped. It was Helo.

"Hey," she said, splashing water on her face. Hopefully he hadn't heard her talking to herself.

"Hey," he said. "I heard you and Lee…"

"Is it everywhere?" she asked.

He shrugged. "You know Galactica."

Kara sighed. "Godsdamn, I was really hoping I could have a little bit more time to get used to it."

He stopped next to her. "I thought you wanted this."

She pushed back from the sink. "I do. It's just hard. I didn't think I'd have to decide like this. I mean, I know I…" She paused. Might as well say it. "I know I love Lee. I always have." There. She'd said it. Admitting it was a mixture of frightening and exhilarating.

"Is it divorcing Sam or divorcing Sam?"

"Huh?"

Helo smirked. "What I mean is, are you having a hard time leaving Sam or a hard time getting divorced?"

She hugged herself. "I don't know. I mean - like I said, I know how I feel about Lee. And Sam… Sam is wonderful, but we never had this kind of connection I have with Lee." She stopped.

"I remember you've been running away from Lee for years. Sam was the safe option, right?"

Kara looked away, belatedly realizing he could still see her face in the mirror. "Yeah."

Helo nodded. "But sometimes you just have to go for what you really want." He leaned against the sink. "I mean, with Sharon, at first, there was nobody who was on our side. But I knew I loved her, so I knew I wanted to be with her. No matter what anybody else thought."

Kara frowned. If Helo could do it, surely she could. It wasn't like she was dealing with Cylons here.

"Have you talked to somebody yet?"

She shook her head. "I will. Maybe an oracle. I know Lee doesn't care and I don't even think Sam does, not as much as I do. But I kind of want to talk it through with somebody."

"You want to do that now?" he asked.

"No. Right now I want to talk to Lee." She crumpled up her towel and tossed it into the hamper. "I think I scared him before, think he thinks I'm not going to go through with it."

Helo nodded. "All right, well, you go set his mind at ease. You know where to find me."

Kara found Lee in the pilots' briefing room, slouched in a chair. She could tell from his posture alone that he was worried.

"Hey," she said.

He lifted his head from his hands. "Hey."

She made her way over to him and sat down beside him. "I'm ready to talk now."

"Okay," Lee said. "Then let's talk. Are you having second thoughts?"

"No. Not about us." She was confident of this for once, and she could answer quickly. "I know this is the right thing to do, Lee. It isn't easy, but I know it's right."

"What about Sam?"

"I want to talk to him again. Last night, we kind of ended on the wrong foot. I do care about him and I think we can be friends… I just need to let it happen." Kara was surprised at herself; for once in her life, her thoughts felt orderly and the words came out in a way that made sense. She felt a little of the pressure lifting off her chest.

"Okay." Lee nodded.

"And I'm going to go talk an oracle or something about getting divorced. We're still going to do it, but I just want some guidance, okay? I know you're not religious, but…"

"No, I understand. Do whatever you have to do." He held her gaze then and she could tell he meant it; he wasn't saying it dismissively. "I want to be here for you." He reached out to squeeze her hand and she felt another rush of certainty that this was indeed the right decision. It was because of that rush that she knew this was the right thing to do. It had always been there, since the first night they'd met. She hoped it would always be like this.

"How are you with Dee?" she asked.

"I think we're okay," he said. He looked away briefly. "I think she kind of knew this was coming. Maybe she was less surprised than Sam was."

Kara nodded. "What else is there?"

Lee rubbed his nose. "My dad knows. I was going to tell him, but he kind of found out."

She sighed and slumped back in her seat. "I think everyone knows. There's not much we can do about it."

"Well, then, I guess we'll just have to deal with it." He lifted their joined hands. "Whatever comes, I'm ready to face it if you are, Kara Thrace."

She smiled and kissed him. "I'm ready, Lee Adama."