When Kara Met Lee

by Innibis

Summary:

Yup. Just a When Harry Met Sally and Battlestar Galactica crossover.

Notes:

I'm moving all my (ancient) stuff over from LJ. For posterity I guess?

I wrote this for Reel Pilots back in 2011. Woah.

My darling workerbee73 you are the zig to my zag. Many thanks for the help and the support and making me write a little romance into a romantic comedy.

Chapter 1

An older couple sits on a couch, holding hands.

Man: I walked into CiC and this beautiful girl was working there and I turned to President Roslin and I said, "Ma’am, do you see that girl? I'm going to marry her,” and two weeks later we were married and it's over fifty years later and we are still married.

* * *

Lee Adama drove his parent’s beat up old Crown Victoria cautiously down the main campus drag. The ragged crowds of students, burdened with boxes and back packs and suitcases, paid little attention to the big car, distracted by the possibilities of summer, and he really didn’t want to start his new life by taking out one of the bouncing kids. He rolled down the window and breathed in the Chicago spring. He was going to miss it, college had been good to him, but not as good as Columbia law school was going to be. He was sure of it. Lee tried to contain the grin, but it flashed, bright and bold, anyway.

He finally pulled up to the corner where he was supposed to meet Zak and waited with resignation as his brother sucked face with a blonde. The impassioned clinch went on. And on.

And on.

The couple leapt apart at the sound of the Crown Vic’s blaring horn. “Sorry,” Lee said, cheerfully unapologetic.

“Nice,” Zak said, striding over to the car and reaching into the open window to punch Lee’s shoulder. “Very mature.”

“Yeah, making out on the street corner is the epitome of maturity,” Lee said, clambering out of the car. He hooked an arm around his Zak’s neck and pulled him in for a quick hug. They had already effectively said their goodbyes the evening before, aided by good scotch and cheap cigars, but damnit if he wasn’t going to miss his annoying little brother.

Someone pointedly cleared her throat behind them and Zak laughed. “Lee, this is Kara. Kara. . .” he turned and looked quizzically at the striking woman.

“Nice, Adama,” she said easily. “Kara Thrace,” she said, offering Lee a firm hand shake and a big smile.

“Like you know my first name,” Zak said without concern. “Kara, this is Lee.”

“Nice to meet you, Kara Thrace,” Lee said. “Do you want to drive the first shift?”

“Nope,” Kara said. She leaned down and scooped a worn duffel bag off the sidewalk. “Adama,” she grinned at Zak, “it was fun. Thanks for hooking me up with a ride.”

Zak laughed, “You are most welcome, Miss Thrace,” he said in a throaty voice that made Lee grimace. Kara fell back into Zak’s space, giggling as Zak pulled her tight against him and nipped at her neck.

“Zak!” Lee said sharply.

“Ohhh, your name is Zak,” Kara said teasingly. “I think Lee’s ready to go, Zak.” She kissed him softly on the mouth.

“He is,” Lee said.

“Alright, alright,” Zak said. He gave Kara one last kiss and then shuffled over to Lee. “See you at Thanksgiving, right?” he asked casually, looking down at his shoes.

“Wouldn’t miss it,” Lee said gruffly, “come visit some time. And don’t forget to study.”

“Oh my God, get in the car,” Zak said, pushing Lee away from him. “Kara, it’s been a pleasure,” he said, taking her bag and slinging it into the backseat.

“Nice knowing you. Zak,” she called as she circled the car to the passenger side and climbed in.

“Drive safe, you two,” Zak said with a wave, “Lee, call me when you get there,” and then he was gone, not waiting to watch them drive away.

Lee stared after his retreating back. “We going?” Kara asked.

“Yeah,” Lee said and put the car in drive. “Let’s go.”

* * *

Kara eyed the guy driving the enormous car as she popped a grape in her mouth. “Tell me the story of your life.”

“The story of my life?” Lee shot her a confused look.

“Yeah, it’s a long drive to New York,” Kara said, settling back into her seat and picking another grape off the bunch.

“My life hasn’t started yet,” Lee said. “That’s why I’m going to New York.”

“So that your life can start,” Kara replied, trying not to sound skeptical.

“Well, yeah,” he said. “I’m going to go to Columbia Law and then I’m going to work for the ACLU.”

“Oh God, an idealist,” Kara groaned.

“Well, why are you going to New York?” Lee asked sharply.

A sensitive idealist. Awesome.

“I’m headed to NYU for a masters in journalism,” she said airily. She watched Lee brighten.

“So you want to be the next Nellie Bly or Ethel Payne or maybe a Bob Woodward, huh?” he asked. “That’s very cool.”

“More like Grantland Rice or Walter Winchell,” she said.

“Sports or gossip,” Lee said flatly.

“Sure,” Kara grinned. “World’s gone all to hell anyway, not much use trying to change that.”

“But,” Lee began.

“Oh don’t even start,” Kara said. “That might get you into the pants of the gals in CODEPINK, but spare me.”

“Excuse me?” Lee asked in an outraged voice. “Since when does giving a shit merit such condemnation?”

“Merit condemnation?” Kara asked in disbelief. “Jesus, listen to yourself.”

“Whatever, Perez Hilton,” Lee shot back. “I’m sure you have something original and fresh to add to the thousands of articles, blogs and tweets already out there already about Kim Kardashian’s ability to give head or Derek Jeter’s jock strap rotation. Way to make your mark on the world.”

Kara felt herself flush with temper. “That’s your bottom line, isn’t it?” she sneered. “It’s always the same with you self-righteous types. Shape the world in the way you think it should look, forget anyone else who thinks differently-”

“Woah, woah, woah,” Lee said, voice even more irritating if possible. “I’m not trying to do anything but be part of the fight for people’s rights.”

“Just get over yourself,” she bit out, looking out the window. They hadn’t even made it out of Chicago. It was going to be a long drive.

* * *

Several hours later, Kara pulled up to a 24 hour roadside diner. Lee was asleep in the passenger seat, face mottled in the orange lights illuminating the parking lot. She briefly considered not waking him, but they had managed to be mostly civil, if completely incompatible, since about ten miles out of Chicago. Plus it was his car and her inherent sense of fairness, not to mention her own need for a nap, insisted that she wake the guy up so he could eat before she made him drive.

“Lee,” she said softly, shaking his shoulder.

“Hmm,” he sighed and stretched and fluttered open his lashes like a goddamn courtesan. He was a pain in the ass, but a hot one, she acknowledged.

“Food,” she said, gesturing her chin toward the diner.

“Oh,” he said, stretching once more. “Cool.”

They walked into the restaurant, sliding into a booth. Lee was still rubbing the sleep out of his eyes but Kara wasted no time in looking at the menu. She was starving. A waitress came bustling over, “What can I get you?” she asked.

“I’ll have a cheeseburger, fries and a coke,” Kara said handing the waitress her menu with a smile.

“And you, hon?” she asked Lee, who placed his menu down in the precise middle of the table and turned toward her.

“I’ll have the grilled chicken sandwich, with a side salad, but only if the chicken is free range. If the chicken is not free range then I will have the Greek salad, only with the fat free balsamic vinaigrette instead of the normal dressing, but if the balsamic vinaigrette is not fat free, I would like it on the side, but only if the vegetables are organic, and if not, then nothing.”

Kara and the waitress stared at Lee, but the waitress recovered herself to gamely ask, “No salad at all?”

“No, I’ll still have the salad but with the red wine vinaigrette and without the olives.”

“Uh huh,” the waitress said and wandered back to the kitchen.

Kara grinned across the table. “Now that is the first interesting thing you’ve done all night,”

“What is?” he asked, and Kara’s smile grew wider, charmed in spite of herself. “Nothing at all,” she said and settled back into her seat.

When their food came, she watched him politely thank the waitress and then suspiciously poke at his salad. “Please just eat it,” she said. He looked like he was going to argue, but shrugged and poked a forkful of lettuce into his mouth while she took a big bite of burger.

They ate quickly and in silence and proceeded to split the check without much fanfare. It may just have been because her eyes were tired from the road, but Lee looked appealing, rifling through his pocket to find extra cash for a tip. “You’re a pretty good-looking guy, Lee,” she said, the words flying out of her mouth before she had time to think about them.

Lee froze for a long moment, then stood, emptied his pockets onto the table, glared at her and stalked past.

Kara heaved a sigh, threw her own tip on the table, gave a smiling nod to the waitress and took off after him. “Now what?” she asked, tossing the car keys to him when he held out his hand.

“I can’t believe you just hit on me,” he hissed.

“I did not,” Kara protested.

“You did too,” Lee said, grimly getting into the car and putting the key in the ignition.

“I did–“ Kara stopped herself, rolling her eyes as she clambered into the passenger seat. “I made an empirical observation, nimrod. You’d know it if I had come on to you. And what’s the big deal if I hit on you anyway?” she asked, curious in spite of herself.

Lee looked scandalized, “There are so many things wrong with it, I can’t even begin to tell you.”

“Fine,” Kara said, completely confused and a little stung. “I take it back.”

“You can’t take it back,” he said as he backed the car out of the parking space. “It’s already out there.”

“What are we going to do?” Kara asked in mock horror, “it’s already out there!”

“Just let it go” Lee said as he pulled on to the highway.

“Want to get a hotel room?” She couldn’t help but push back and watch him twitch. “See what I did there? I didn’t let it go.”

“No, thank you,” Lee said, sounding somewhat desperate but obviously aiming for polite, falling back into the trappings of his, no doubt, country club upbringing.

“Aw, Lee, but I asked so nicely,” she teased, leaning toward him and running a finger down his arm.

“Friends!” Lee shouted, yanking his arm away, his eyes a little desperate. “We can just be friends.”

“You have no idea what you’re missing,” Kara said, but she pulled back fully to her side of the car. “Besides, men and women can’t be friends. The sex thing always gets in the way.”

“I have plenty of women friends,” Lee said.

“Well sure, there are plenty of guys I’m friends with too,” Kara conceded. “It’s a different situation if they’re gay.”

“I’m friends with straight women too, Kara,” he said.

“No you’re not,” she said with conviction.

“Um, yeah, I am,” Lee said with equal conviction.

“No you’re not,” Kara said in a sing-song tone that she could tell just grated on his nerves.

“Are you saying that I’m having sex with these women without my knowledge?”

“No,” Kara said patiently, “I’m saying that they all are thinking about sleeping with you. Especially when you think they are listening to you talk about saving the whales.”

“I don’t believe that,” Lee said, sounding about as uncertain as she had heard him the entire trip.

“Believe it,” Kara said, and, when he didn’t answer, closed her eyes and went to sleep.

When she woke up, the sun had risen and the Manhattan skyline was practically glowing in front of her. She stretched her arms out, casually bumping the back of Lee’s head and the rolled down the windows and breathed in deep. Her future laid out in front of her and she couldn’t fucking wait. She was going to own this town, she was sure of it.

They managed to wend their way down to Greenwich Village, where Kara was meeting up with an old friend from high school who she was going to sublet with. Lee pulled the car to the curb and they sat in semi-awkward silence before he opened the door and climbed out. She shrugged, and tugged her duffle bag from the back seat and got out too.

Lee stood in front of her, right hand extended, the other in his pocket. “So, good luck,” he said.

“Yeah, you too,” Kara said shaking his hand firmly before dropping it.

He started back around the car to the driver’s seat. “Are you sure that we can’t be friends?” he asked, grinning at her.

“Pretty sure,” she laughed.

“That’s a shame.” He opened the car door.

“Why?” she felt compelled to ask.

“You’re the only person I know in New York.” Lee got in the car and waved at her before pulling away.

Kara stared after him, bemused by the last twelve hours, but then she saw Dee walking through the crowd, big smile on her face. All thoughts of Lee were pushed to the side and she charged forward to hug her friend.

* * *

An older couple sits on a couch, holding hands.

Man 1: We fell in love on the Pegasus.

Man 2: Yeah we were... we were wartime sweethearts.

Man 1: But then after a few years he was caught up in the mutiny.

Man 2: But I never forgot him.

Man 1: He never forgot me.

Man 2: No, his face is burned on my brain. And it was years later, after having faked my death by execution, that I was walking through a sun-dappled valley on Earth and I saw him come out of a nearby forest.

Man 1: And we both looked at each other, and it was just as though not a single day had gone by.

Man 2: He was just as beautiful as he was before the Galactica fell apart.

Man 1: He was just the same. He was exactly the same.

Five Years Later

God she could kiss, Lee thought blissfully, his hands locked into her soft, long hair. He wasn’t even thinking about how obnoxious they must look, making out in the middle of the airport like a couple of hormonal teenagers. Okay, so maybe he was thinking about it a little, because seriously, what if a client or judge walked by? Gianne bit his lip a little sharply; just like he liked, and he drifted back down for a moment before he felt a set of eyes on them.

Lee broke away from Gianne’s mouth and found himself meeting the startled eyes of Kara. . . something. Jesus Christ, not her.

“Gianne,” Kara’s voice broke into his thoughts. “I thought that was you.”

Gianne untangled herself from Lee, “Yeah, it’s me,” she managed not to sound embarrassed. Lee had no idea how Gianne never managed to be embarrassed, but it was a quality he appreciated.

“I’m really sorry to interrupt,” Kara said walking forward and the women exchanged friendly hugs. “I just haven’t seen you in a while.”

“Oh. No,” Gianne said warmly, “I’m glad you did. Kara, this is Lee Adama, Lee, this is Kara Thrace. Kara and I used to live in the same building and have been terrible about getting together the past year or so.”

“We really have been,” Kara laughed, looking intently at Lee. “It’s nice to meet you.”

He nodded, “Likewise.”

“Well,” Kara said, still looking at him, “I have a plane to catch. Gianne,” she turned her attention to his girlfriend, “I am calling you when I get back.”

“Definitely,” Gianne smiled. “We have to catch up. Kara shot an overtly sly glance at Lee, “I can see that.” Gianne and Kara laughed and Lee forced a smile until Kara had disappeared into airport security.

“Thank God she couldn’t place me,” he said.

“Who, Kara?”

“Yeah, we drove from Chicago to here after graduation and it was the longest night of my life.”

“Oh?” Gianne teased.

“Not like that,” he laughed, kissing her again because she was so pretty. “She hit on me after she had just slept with my brother.”

“She did not,” Gianne said.

“Oh yes she did,” Lee said. “And when I told her that we could be friends she said that men and women could never be friends.”

Gianne looked at him skeptically, “Well, it’s been awhile, so either your memory is faulty or she’s changed, because that does not sound like Kara.”

“Possibly,” Lee conceded, not wanting to waste another minute of his time with Gianne before he left for the week.

“Fly safe,” she said, leaning in to kiss his cheek. “I love you.”

“You do?” Lee found himself blurting out like an insecure idiot. “I mean, I love you too,” he beamed.

She laughed and kissed him again and shooed him toward security, and Lee passed through it with the dumbest, biggest grin on his face.

* * *

“I’d like a Bloody Mary, with clamato juice, not tomato juice, two celery sticks on the side, and a dash, just a dash, of Old Bay on the rocks. With four ice cubes. If you can’t make it that way, I’ll just take a cup of ice and the vodka. Please.”

“University of Chicago,” Kara blurted out before she could even think about it. A head shrunk down below the headrest right in front of her.

“Yes,” Lee said resignedly. Kara unfastened her seatbelt and leaned up and over the seats. “I knew I knew you from somewhere,” she said. “Did we hook up?”

“No,” Lee said, sounding scandalized and all of a sudden the whole car trip rushed back to her, even as he was saying, “we drove to New York together after graduation.”

“Do you two want to sit together?” the lady next to Lee turned to smile at Kara.

“That’d be great, thanks,” Kara said, loudly enough to drown out Lee’s dissenting opinion. She had to see what this guy was up too these days. He had to be less of a freak if he was dating someone as easygoing and fun as Gianne. She swapped places and plopped down on the seat next to Lee, who was eyeing her warily over his vodka. She smiled up at the flight attendant, “I’ll have a Bloody Mary, however you want to make it.”

Lee scowled, but passed a ten to the flight attendant, “For her’s too.”

“Thanks,” Kara said to both of them when her drink was handed to her. “So you and Gianne. You’ve been going out, what a month?”

“Yeah,” Lee said. “How did you know?”

“She brought you to the airport,” she said, “That’s clearly beginning-of-the-relationship behavior, and something I never engage in.”

“Why?” he asked.

“Because I’ve never wanted someone to look at me and ask ‘why don’t you take me to the airport anymore?’”

“You know,” Lee said, staring, “you look like a normal person, but you really are the harbinger of death.”

“Oh-okay, Rain Man,” Kara said. “I’ll have two celery sticks. Two celery sticks. Two. Two. On the side.”

“So. How are things with you?” Lee pleasantly bared his teeth.

“Great,” she said, “couldn’t be better, really. I’m working at the Times, got married a few months ago and we just moved into an apartment in TriBeCa.”

“You?” he said incredulously.

“Well, yeah,” she replied. “Remember, I was going to NYU for-“

“No, not that,” Lee brushed aside. “You’re married?”

“His name is Sam Anders, he’s a teacher.”

“Wow.”

“What?” Kara asked sharply.

“No, no, it’s great,” Lee answered hurriedly. “Congratulations. It just seems so - I don’t know - optimistic of you or something.”

“Well it’s amazing what falling head over heels in love can do for your outlook,” she said, still a little defensive.

Lee’s smile was genuine though when he replied, “That’s really wonderful, Kara, I mean it. I’m happy for you.”

“Thank you,” she said, twisting the wedding ring on her thumb, feeling the thrill of life going so well. “And I’m happy for you,” she added, “Gianne is really great.”

“She is,” he agreed, and Kara laughed as they beamed good will off of each other, but she had things to do, so she pulled out her laptop and he pulled out a file and they worked in comfortable silence on the rest of the plane ride to Chicago.

“So you’re here for work?’ she asked as they exited the plane.

“Mostly,” Lee said, “I’m also visiting family. You?”

“Work,” Kara said.

“So. . .” Lee trailed off.

“We can maybe meet for dinner while we’re both here,” Kara offered.

“I thought you said men and women could never be friends,” Lee smiled.

“I never said that,” Kara protested. Lee continued to walk in silence. “Okay, yes, I did say that,” she conceded. “But, there’s a caveat that they can be friends when they are both happily involved with other people.” He shot her a sideways smile and began to speak when she blurted out, “Of course, then the other people get jealous that you are spending so much time with your friend, and they ask if you want to bang them which, I mean, of course you do, and that all leads back to the original premise that men and women can’t be friends.”

Lee stopped and looked at her, eyebrows raised, “Under those circumstances, I don’t think that dinner would be a good idea. Good luck with everything.” He held out his hand and she shook it.

“Good-bye,” Kara said awkwardly. Lee gestured in front of him and she walked on ahead with her laptop bag slung over her shoulder.

* * *

An older couple sits on a couch, holding hands.

Man: We were married years ago. We were married three years, we got a divorce. Then I married Valerii.

Woman: But first you lived with Boomer.

Man: Right, Boomer. But I didn't marry Boomer I married Valerii.

Woman: Then he got a divorce.

Man: Right, then I married Sharon.

Woman: Another divorce.

Man: Then a couple of years later at Gaeta 's funeral, I ran into her. I was with some girl I don't even remember.

Woman: Athena.

Man: Right, Athena. But I couldn't take my eyes off you. I remember I snuck over to her and I said... What did I say?

Woman: You said, "What are you doing after?"

Man: Right. So I ditched Athena, we go for a coffee, a month later we were married.

Woman: Thirty-five years today after our first marriage.

Eight Years After That

"Take it," Lee said. "You're not going to get a better offer than that."

"I could get three times that from the jury," Bill Husker replied.

"Yeah, but I'll win on appeal and then we'll both have wasted nine months and be right back where we started."

"Where's your sense of theatricality?"

Lee just rolled his eyes.

"Fine," Bill conceded, "we'll do it your way. This time," he said with a grin.

Bill Husker was, improbably, Lee’s best friend. When he had first begun as a civil defense litigator, the older man, a notorious plaintiff's lawyer, had beaten him at every turn and was seemingly around every corner. Bill was flashy and bold and unrelenting, and Lee had found himself completely outmatched and frustrated, but he had dug in and kept at it until he started getting the hang of the system, the law, the way things worked in their part of the world and, eventually, how to get the better of Bill Husker. Sometimes. Somewhere along the way, between expert witness depositions and small talk about Lee’s nieces and Bill’s Irish Setter show dogs, they had gotten to know one another, until really no one else other than Zak knew Lee better. They were still on opposite sides of the courtroom on a regular basis, but the competition was as integral a part of the friendship as the ritual of Thursday afternoon scotch and Monday Night football.

“I guess that’s that,” Lee said, feeling halfway decent about the products liability settlement they’d worked out. He waved at the bar and Zak walked over to slump down in a chair next to him. “Sorry that ran over.”

“You always run over,” Zak said. “It’s why I always show up late to lunch, and thank God daily that I didn’t pass the bar any of the times I took it. Hey Bill,” he nodded at him.

“Hello Zak,” Bill nodded back, “How are Kendra and the girls?”

“Great,” Zak grinned warmly. “Which reminds me, are you two coming over this weekend to carve pumpkins? Gianne is especially requested, since she’s the only one of us who can draw.”

“Gianne and I broke up,” Lee said and the table fell silent with a shock only broken when Bill shouted an order of three Glenmorangies, neat and doubled to the startled bartender.

“Lee,” Zak gasped.

“Are you okay?” Bill asked at the same time.

“Guys, I’m fine,” Lee said “It’s for the best.”

“What happened?” Zak demanded, placing his hand on Lee’s shoulder to squeeze briefly.

“She came home one day about a week ago and essentially said either we get married or we’re done. I didn’t want to get married.”

“You’ve been together for the better part of a decade,” Bill said, nodding his thanks to the waiter who slung the drinks onto the table, “it’s hardly an unreasonable request.”

“It isn’t,” Lee agreed, sipping his scotch. “I’ve just given all that I have to give, and it isn’t enough for her. She wants kids and I don’t. It makes sense.”

“You are handling this way too well,” Zak said.

Bill nodded, “If Saul broke up with me, I’d be devastated.” Lee glanced over at Zak who rolled his eyes. Bill’s decades long, tormented affair with Saul Tigh was a frustrating fact of life for Bill’s friends.

“I appreciate it,” Lee said, meeting their concerned eyes, “but I’m seriously okay.” He was actually surprised about how okay with it he was, but felt so detached from the situation, like the moving van coming in the morning and the search for a new apartment and the dissolution of what, up to a week ago, he had considered to be a happy and solid relationship was something that had happened three years ago, not something that was happening now.

“It’ll be fine,” he said out loud and sipped his scotch.

* * *

Blood and sweat flew through the air at the force of the left hook the boxer landed on his opponent’s jaw, snapping the other man’s head back.

“Nice,” Laura said to Kara from her ring side seat.

“Sam left me,” Kara said in reply as the crowd, Laura included, jumped to its feet.

They had been going to fight nights at the Garden since Laura Roslin, the Obituaries Editor of the New York Times, had mentioned that she loved a good boxing match. The art, the balancing act, of writing the obits, especially the advance obits, was something for which Kara had a knack and Laura had an appreciation. She may have been her boss, but from their first fight night, where they bonded over a T.K.O. followed by a bottle of Pinot Noir from the Russian River Valley, she had become a good friend as well.

Laura abruptly sat back down. “What?”

“He did, he left,” Kara said, feeling the reality of her failed marriage sink even further into her bones every time she said the words.

“Oh, Kara,” Laura said, covering Kara’s hand with hers. “I’m so sorry. What happened?”

What had happened? Kara contemplated as the crowd, still buzzing, settled back into their seats as the boxers retreated to their separate corners. She still couldn’t fathom how her sweet and steady Sammy had suddenly turned on her.

“I don’t know,” she said honestly. “We were sitting there last Sunday, just eating Chinese takeout and watching the Jets when he said that he needed space.”

“Out of nowhere?” Laura asked. The bell rung, signaling the end of the round.

“Completely took me by surprise,” Kara said. “I was calm,” Laura shot her a look. “No really, I was. I had no idea what he was talking about since we hadn't spent too much time together lately.” Sam was a physics high school teacher and the coach of the baseball team as well as the fall club rugby team. He was at school a lot, and Kara had always really liked her independence so it suited her.

“Anyway,” Kara continued, “He said that he had been doing a lot of thinking and that he wasn’t sure that he wanted to be married anymore. The words were just out there, hanging in the air when the doorbell rang.”

“Who was it?” Laura asked eyes wide behind her glasses, and Kara vaguely heard the bell ring and the crowd ramp up again.

“Movers,” Kara said. Laura sucked in her breath. “Yeah, at the door. With dollys and boxes. I couldn’t even say anything. I mean-what is there to say? So I stood there looking at the movers and looking at Sam, and Sam not looking at me. So I was finally like, ‘How long have you been thinking about this?’ and he just shrugged and said that he had been thinking about it for a while, only he said it in the form of a question. Like it was fucking Jeopardy. Like I was supposed to have the answer.” She stopped, still angry and hurt and pretty sure that she’d do something rash, like strap on some gloves and ask one of the boxers if he wanted to go a few rounds.

“What did you do?” Laura asked tentatively.

“I left,” Kara said. “Just walked out the door and sat out on the front step of our building and watched them carry his stuff out and into a van. Watched him leave.”

“Oh my God,” Laura said, sounding winded.

“That’s not the worst part.”

“Oh no.”

“Ohhhh yes,” Kara said, perversely enjoying Laura’s shock. At least someone else thought the whole thing was as crazy as she did. “I followed him. And his moving van. Turns out it was all a lie. He was moving in with a woman. I saw her at the door. I stood there and watched him kiss her while the movers brought in his big screen.”

“How humiliating,” Laura blurted out and then looked appalled at herself.

“Yeah, that’s supportive, thanks,” Kara said. Too tired to talk about it, to even think about it one second more, she leaned her head back and let out a long breath. She stared at the ceiling of the Garden, not at all interested in the fight any more, Laura holding her hand as the crowd roared around them.

* * *

“So I happened to be looking through Saul’s briefcase,” Bill said looking down at Lee as he spotted him in bench press.

“What? Why?” Lee grunted as he pushed up into his third rep.

“Well, it was there and he was in the shower. . . Anyway, that’s not the point,” Bill said hurriedly. “I found a receipt for lingerie and for two tickets to Paris on a week I’m scheduled to be in trial.'

“What would you have done if he found you looking in his briefcase?” Lee inhaled, bringing the bar down to his chest.

“You are focusing on the wrong thing!” Bill said sharply. “A romantic vacation to Paris? I don’t think he’s ever going to leave her.”

“No one does,” Lee said as he puffed through another rep and Bill fell silent. Lee hated this conversation. He was also pretty sure that Bill had lured in him into working out at Bill’s gym not, as he said, to get a workout buddy to help combat middle age spread, but in fact to make Lee a captive, weight trapped audience to his relationship issues.

“There’s a hot blonde scoping you out,” Bill said suddenly and sotto voce, leaning over him.

“What, where?” Lee huffed out as he pressed the bar up a final time and dropped it onto the uprights. He sat up, using his shirt to wipe the sweat out of his eyes.

“Over there, by the lat pull down,” Bill gestured completely unsubtly. Sure enough, there was a beautiful woman by the weight machine, looking intently at him.

“I know her,” he said dismissively getting up from the bench and adjusting the weights. “You’re up.”

“You do?” Bill asked, still peering at her. “Who is she?”

“You’d like her,” Lee said, “she’s married. She’s also a journalist and she probably doesn’t remember me. Are we lifting or not?”

“Lee Adama,” a female voice interrupted.

“Hi Kara,” he said, turning to face her, resigned.

“This is my friend, Bill.” He turned to Bill only to see him scurrying away to a treadmill. “Was my friend, Bill.”

“How are you? It’s been a long time.”

“Yeah, about eight years.” Lee thought briefly, and slightly bitterly, about how romantic it all was with Gianne back in the beginning.

“Yeah, I guess it was,” Kara said. “How’s Gianne? I never did catch up with her.”

“Fine,” he said shortly, but then relented. None of it was Kara’s fault. “I hear she’s fine. We broke up.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” she said, sincerely.

“Thanks. How’s madly in love married life treating you?”

“Not all that well actually,” Kara answered ruefully, “I’m getting a divorce.”

“I’m really sorry,” Lee said, surprised that he was. They looked glumly at each other for a moment, the clanking and humming of the gym all around them. “It’s really warm in here,” Lee said. “Do you maybe want to go for a walk to cool down?”

“Yeah,” Kara said, smiling at him. “I think I would.”

* * *

Kara’s duffel bag slapped rhythmically against her hip as she matched Lee’s easy stride. The air hadn’t quite turned the corner from summer, but it was definitely cooler. Fall was finally making its presence known.

“A corporate defense attorney and an obituary writer,” she laughed, pushing sweaty strands of hair off her forehead. “We strayed from our bright shiny futures a little, didn’t we?”

“Eh,” Lee shrugged, “more like adjusted to the real world our road-tripping selves couldn’t comprehend. I’m not unhappy. Are you?”

“Christ, no,” Kara said. “I mean, the mess of my marriage aside-“

“Naturally,” Lee acknowledged.

“Yeah, I love my job. I would never in a million years have thought to pursue it, but I thank God for it.” And she did. The lives she learned and honored daily, the full tapestry of the human experience, the beauty of it, the grotesque. It satisfied her to the foundation of her Catholic soul, where the religion of her youth and taken root and still held strong, though she sometimes went months between celebrating mass.

“That’s great,” Lee said. “I don’t entirely love my job. Or at least there are times when I think I should be doing more.”

“Like saving the rain forest,” Kara interjected, unable to help herself.

“Like saving the rain forest,” Lee smiled, “but. . . I don’t know,” he said, looking thoughtful. “I just try to do the best I can and help in other ways.”

“You’re different,” Kara said. “I didn’t like you very much the first time we met.”

“I didn’t like you either,” Lee said.

“Oh yes you did,” Kara laughed, “You were just too uptight.”

Lee stopped entirely, “Look, I appreciate the fact that we’ve both changed, but I don’t think that my not wanting to sleep with someone who had just slept with my brother the night before is all that out of the realm of normal behavior.”

“What are you talking about?” Kara said walking back toward him, hands on her hips. “I don’t even remember who I slept with the night before, just that he said he knew a guy driving to New York.”

“Zak,” Lee said. “You slept with Zak Adama, my brother. The guy he knew driving to New York was his brother. Me.”

Kara stared at Lee. “Oh my God,” she said, aghast, things suddenly making more sense. “I promise you that I didn’t know. I didn’t even know your last name until Gianne introduced us. And by then, Zak wasn’t even a blip in my mind.”

Lee started laughing, “Well I’m glad we cleared that up,” he said, starting to walk down the street again and pulling at her elbow to turn her around to walk with him. “I’m sorry - I thought that you were trying to pull some kind of a weird sex hat trick by sleeping with siblings within the same 24 hours.”

“Apology accepted,” Kara said. She looped her arm through Lee’s feeling oddly comfortable with someone who was essentially a stranger. “And I apologize for hitting on you after sleeping with your brother. Although I really didn’t mean to even hit on you so much as give you hard time when you freaked out. Understandably.”

“Apology accepted,” Lee slowed as they arrived at a subway station. “This is my stop,” he said and Kara unlinked their arms, sorry to see him go. “Do you want to have dinner tonight?” he blurted out.

He looked uncertain. Probably waiting for her to tell her that they couldn’t be friends, Kara thought. But she could use a good friend about now. “I’d love to,” she said.

* * *

Hours later, finishing up their second, maybe third, bottle of Cabernet in a little Italian hole in the wall Lee finally found himself confessing to Kara, “I feel like such an asshole.”

Her eyes were soft and fuzzy with wine, her hair shining in candlelight. “You shouldn’t,” she said, her voice insistent with unearned loyalty.

“I should,” he replied. “At least a little.”

“No,” she said. “No you really shouldn’t.” She reached across the table and grabbed his hand insistently. “She knew the score. You never intended to get married and she knew that. You weren’t married. You didn’t cheat.”

Lee’s fingers closed around hers. “I’m so sorry Sam did that to you. You didn’t deserve that.”

“Yeah, well,” Kara pulled her hand away and taking her last sip of wine. “Aren’t we a fun crowd tonight?” She grinned suddenly, blindingly, at Lee and his heart felt lighter. “Want to do it again sometime?”

Chapter 2

An older couple sits on a couch, holding hands.

Man: We were both born on the same Resurrection Ship.

Woman: Ten years before the attack.

Man: Seven days apart.

Woman: On the same Resurrection Ship.

Man: We grew up one deck away from each other.

Woman: We both lived toward the bow.

Man: On the starboard side.

Woman: I was one deck above him.

Man: My model moved to Caprica when I was ten.

Woman: He lived on Fordham Road.

Man: Hers moved when she was eleven.

Woman: I lived on a hundred and eighty third Street.

Man: For six years she worked on the fifteenth floor as a platoon commander, as the same building where I had a medical practice on the fourteenth floor in the very same building.

Woman: We never met.

Man: Never met.

Woman: Can you imagine that?

Man: You know where we met? On a dirt road. On New Caprica.

Woman: He was in the third tent and I was in the twelfth.

Man: I walked down nine extra tents just to keep talking to her.

Woman: Nine extra tents.

* * *

“Thanks for coming with me,” Kara said, bumping her hip into Lee’s.

“Sure,” Lee’s head was tilted to the side, trying to find the meaning in a very abstract painting. Kara gave him credit for trying.

“Not your speed, huh?” she asked, turning her attention back to the canvass. It was a palette of deep, cool colors. Strong but not violent.

“I wouldn’t say that,” Lee said.

“More of a classics guy?” Kara asked, eyes following a particularly intriguing swirl of velvety purple.

“More of a music guy,” he corrected. “I like art, I just don’t know much about it.” He stepped back and wandered to the next painting.

Kara followed slowly behind him, watching him carefully appraising the space, the art, the people around them. She knew he’d have plenty to say later, once he had absorbed it all and they were firmly ensconced on his couch or hers, drinking scotch, eating popcorn, and probably watching one of those haunted house or alien visitor or monster documentaries for which they both had a weakness.

Having Lee as a friend had been an unexpected bright spot in the turmoil and confusion of her divorce. It gave her someone else to concentrate on, someone else to get to know, someone to lean on who didn’t know Sam, and who felt no obligation, unlike all of her other friends, to give Sam more of pass, since Sam was the quintessential nice guy. Lee was effortlessly on her side. And it felt somehow selfishly good to have something, a friendship all her own after years of sharing.

Lee’s face suddenly smoothed out into sheer politeness, and she looked at the enormous painting he was observing and had to laugh. A single, tiny orange dot in the corner of an otherwise white canvass.

He shook his head. “How about we go to the symphony next time we’re feeling the need for culture?” he asked.

“It’s a deal,” she promised.

* * *

Lee picked up his phone off nightstand. It was late, so it really could only be one person. “Hey Kara,” he said.

She sneezed into his ear. “Hi, Lee. I think I might be dying.”

“Of a cold?” he asked, idly flipping through tv channels with his remote before settling on what appeared to be a show about alien abduction.

“It feels worse then a cold,” Kara said, sneezing again.

“Then go to the doctor,” he said. “I can come with you if you’re scared.”

“I’m not scared,” she said, sniffing wetly, “the doc’ll just tell me it’s a cold and then I won’t be able to complain to you about it.”

“Yes, and then what would we talk about tomorrow night when you call me?”

“Exactly,” Kara said. “Busy day tomorrow? Or can you escape for happy hour?”

“I can always escape for happy hour,” Lee said, starting to yawn.

“Liar,” she said cheerfully, and he clicked off the tv and settled more firmly into his pillows.

“I’ll call you tomorrow afternoon and let you know,” he said.

“Sounds good,” she said. “Good night, Lee.”

“Good night, Kara,” he smiled into the dark.

* * *

“So. . .” Lee started and then trailed off when they got to the head of the line.

“Two for Rocky Horror, please,” Kara said.

“I really can’t believe we’re seeing this,” Lee said.

“You need to see it at least once in your life.” She took the tickets and nudged him toward the theater door.

“Says who?”

“Says me,” Kara answered and handed their tickets to the ticket taker and walked toward the snack bar, Lee trailing behind her.

“What were you going to say before?” she asked.

“Oh, well, we’ve been seeing a lot of each other these past few months,” he said and interrupted himself briefly to order snow caps and two cokes. “So I didn’t know if it’d be weird, but I have a date tomorrow.”

“Oh,” Kara looked at him, startled. “That’s great,” she said. “It shouldn’t be weird.”

“It shouldn’t,” Lee said, taking his coke and chocolate and walking toward the theater. “But it is, a little.”

They found seats in the theater and sat down before Kara answered, “You aren’t going to stop hanging out with me, are you?”

“No, of course not,” Lee said, vehemently.

“Then we’re good,” Kara said. “You’ll have to tell me all about it. All the dirty details.”

Lee made a face but didn’t actually protest. “I think it’s time for you to date too.”

“What? No,” Kara said. “Yes,” Lee said firmly. “You’re fantastic, you’re beautiful and it’s time for you to get out there.”

“I’ll think about it,” she whispered as the lights dimmed.

* * *

Laura swung her club with skill, striking true and sending the ball flying through the air. “Tell me about this Lee you’re seeing again,” she said, admiring her shot before it caught in the net about 100 feet away.

Kara reached into her bucket for a golf ball and placed it on the tee. “I’m not seeing him,” she said, lining up. “We’re friends.” She swung and the ball sliced a little, but not too badly.

“I don’t understand the relationship,” Laura swung again. “You say he’s attractive, successful, single, straight, and you like spending time with him. Why aren’t you dating?”

Kara watched her ball hook from her overcompensation before she looked back over to Laura, who was standing there with her club neatly balanced on her shoulder. “It’s actually pretty great. I can tell him anything and get the guy perspective.”

“You talk to him about sex?” Laura asked, sounding horrified.

“Well sure,” Kara replied, pulling out another golf ball. This time she shot true and straight down the center of the driving range and into the net. Laura was still staring at her, so she sighed and tried to explain. “Look, I think this is good for me. A friendship with a man that is in no way professional, familial or sexual. I feel like I’m growing, damnit--so appreciate my maturity.”

“If you say so,” Laura said with a delicately raised eyebrow.

* * *

Lee walked through the door of his apartment, threw his keys on the counter, shrugged off his overcoat and pulled out his phone. He flopped down on the couch as he dialed Kara.

“Aren’t you supposed to be out on a date?” Kara’s voice was teasing, and he sighed his relief that she answered.

“Yes,” Lee said. “Aren’t you?”

“Yes,” Kara said. “It was terrible. Couldn’t wait for it to be finished.”

“Me too. I’d be discouraged, except that I think I might never want to date again.”

“That bad?” she laughed. “Well at least you got sex out of it.”

“No I didn’t,” Lee protested. “She was awful. And boring and had no sense of humor, I didn’t want to sleep with her.”

“Uh.”

“You didn’t,” Lee said.

“It was an awful date,” she protested. “The least he could do was give me an orgasm for suffering through it.”

Lee felt unreasonably angry at the casual way Kara could get laid and move on. He either didn’t have it in him anymore or was just dating the wrong people. Maybe both.

“Hellooo?”

“Sorry,” Lee replied. “I’m glad you at least got an orgasm out of it.”

“Thank you,” she said primly before cackling with laughter. “Hey, it’s still pretty early, want to grab a drink.”

“Yes,” Lee said fervently. “Yes, I do.”

* * *

“How was your date last night?” Lee asked once the waiter left.

Kara shook off the normal, awe-struck silence his food ordering always inspired. “Good. I think. I mean, I think he had a nice time.”

Lee grabbed a roll and began to butter it. “You don’t sound convinced.”

“It felt sort of off,” she said, accepting the butter dish from him. “Even the sex was not quite connecting, but I think it was just me. He seemed to enjoy himself.”

“How do you figure?” Lee asked, leaning back in the booth.

“Well, I mean, it was sex,” Kara said trying to figure out what Lee was getting at, “and he laughed at all of my jokes.”

“Yeah, but did he really think they were funny?” he asked in a tone Kara found entirely too skeptical.

“Why would he laugh otherwise?” she demanded.

“Um. . .“ The bastard stalled by stuffing his entire roll into his mouth.

“What are you saying? That he fake laughed to get me into bed?” she asked. “Come on, I’m a writer. An observer of the human condition. Or something. I’d be able to tell.”

“Kara, you think knock-knock jokes are funny,” Lee said around his mouthful of bread.

“They are,” she said. “At least the way I tell them.” Lee finished chewing and swallowing and then stared her down across the table. “What?” she asked, annoyed.

And then he touched her. He ran a single finger down her forearm, trailing to the center of her palm. He leaned in intimately, head tilted, eyes warm and amused. He smiled, slow and easy and looking right at her, like she was the only person in the room. A low, deep laugh rumbled out of his chest, one she had never heard before, and Kara felt it down to her toes. Her face flushed at the blatant appreciation of Lee’s gaze, the heat in his eyes, the force of his attention.

She took a shaky breath and reluctantly pulled her hand away, “Oh, shut up Adama. Point made.” And the charming stranger turned back into the Lee she knew, looking entirely too smug for his own good.

Kara threw a roll at him.

* * *

“Ten, nine, eight. . ."

“Want to get some air?” Lee asked Kara and she nodded.

They wended their way through the crowd and made it to the balcony just as the entire crowd bleated out “Happy New Year!” and then proceeded to make out drunkenly around them.

They looked at each other awkwardly before Kara laughed and hauled Lee in for a short, sloppy kiss and he grinned against her wide mouth. “Happy New Year, Lee,” she said pulling back.

He tugged her back in close for a hug, “Happy New Year, Kara,” he replied.

* * *

An older couple sits on a couch, holding hands.

Woman: Well, he was the team captain of the Buccaneers and I was the team captain of the Panthers, and there was a pre-season social one night, and he walked across the room. I thought he was coming to talk to my friend Sue Shaun, because people were always crossing rooms to talk to Sue Shaun. But he was coming to talk to me, and he said...

Man: I'm the captain of the Picon Panthers.

Woman: At that moment I knew. I knew the way you know about a good shot on goal.

* * *

“Why are we doing this again?” Bill asked, straightening his tie as they walked to the restaurant.

“Because Kara is one of my best friends, and you are one of my best friends, and I would like it if you got along,” Lee said. “It makes it easier to hang out together sometimes. That’s why she’s bringing Laura.”

“Are you sure this is not a blind date,” Bill asked suspiciously, stopping at the corner to wait for the light to turn.

“You are much too old for Kara, and I don’t know Laura. So no,” Lee said.

“And plus, I’m with Saul,” Bill reminded him, and the signal changed and they hurried across the street.

“You aren’t,” Lee said in a sudden, awful surge of honesty. “I have never met him and he has no intention of ever meeting me, or any of your other friends. He doesn’t care enough about you or your relationship to even do that.”

Bill stopped dead in the middle of the intersections, and Lee dragged him to the curb.

“Bill-” he started, wanting to apologize, but he really couldn’t. Nothing he had said had been wrong. So he just stood with his hands on Bill’s shoulders as Bill blinked. “He’s never going to leave her,” he said in a soft, sad voice, and for the first time, he sounded like he meant it.

Lee squeezed his shoulders and looked his friend square in the eye. “No,” he said, “he’s not. I’m really sorry, Bill.”

Bill nodded and stepped back, his face still stricken. Lee opened his mouth to offer to cancel dinner, but Bill squared his shoulders and kept walking down the block. Lee followed.

* * *

Kara resisted the urge to put her face in her hands as Laura and Bill flirted their way from first glance, through the main course and kept right on going past dessert. She caught Lee’s eye, and he shook his head at her, bemused, as they settled the check.

“Well,” Bill’s voice caught her attention and she looked up, startled to see him standing up with his coat on already. “Laura and I are going to split a cab home, do you guys want to join?”

Kara opened her mouth, but Laura quickly cut in, “Okay then, see you at the office in the morning, Kara, nice meeting you, Lee.”

“Uh, yeah,” Lee started, but Bill broke in, shooting out a big hand to shake Kara’s vigorously.

“It was a pleasure meeting you, Kara. Lee, I’ll see you at the deposition Monday,” and with that, Bill and Laura were out the door.

“What just happened?” Lee asked her.

“I think that my boss and your opposing counsel are running off to have sex.”

“That’s so bizarre,” Lee said.

“It is not,” Kara admonished. “It’s sudden, but Laura deserves to have a little fun.” Plus if there was anything she had learned from her job, it was that life is never long enough but it was made infinitely better with people in it. Whether for a night or fifty years, it was the interconnection that made humans, humans.

“Well so does Bill,” Lee said, a little defensively, “I just didn’t need to watch love blossom quite so vividly in front of me.”

“Yeah, okay,” Kara admitted. “The suggestive, in-synch sucking of their martini olives was a bit much.”

* * *

“I still think that it’s easier just to get them a plant and a bottle of wine,” Lee complained as he followed Kara through the enormous electronics store that seemed to house everything from electric nose hair clippers to tvs.

“Where’s the fun in that?” Kara asked, picking up a remote control helicopter.

“Fine,” Lee said, “Two bottles of wine.”

“Oh yes,” Kara exclaimed, and Lee looked up from wireless weather forecaster he had in his hand to see her practically sprinting for an enormous screen with two pads in front of it. “Come on, Lee,” she yelled over her shoulder.

“Why?” he asked, somewhat crankily. The class action settlement he was working on was driving him crazy and making him work a lot of nights and weekends. It was so nice to see Kara, and he’d rather be on her couch with Indian takeout watching Shark Week than shopping for a house warming present for Bill and Laura, who had surprised the hell out of themselves and their friends by deciding to move in together after only a few months of dating.

“You have been in a foul mood for a week, you workaholic shut in,” Kara said cheerfully and yanked him on the mat next to her. “You need human contact and exercise. Okay, here we go.”

“Here. . . oh hell no,” Lee protested as pop music blared out of speakers and two dance avatars appeared on the screen.

“Dance, Adama!” Kara laughed and the game began. He found himself hopping and shuffling and turning in spite of himself, egged on by Kara’s breathless laughter next to him and his own damnable sense of competition.

“We have to get them this!” Kara yelled over the music. Lee really couldn’t fathom Bill and Laura playing video games, let alone setting up a dance completion in their living room, but he was concentrating too hard to say so. He completed a spin and saw that Kara’s avatar had stopped moving. He turned his head and saw Kara facing away. “It’s Sam,” she said softly.

“What?” Lee came to an abrupt halt. “Where?” Lee turned to see a very tall man and a lovely woman standing maybe ten feet away, staring at them as the dance music pounded on behind them.

“Kara,” Sam said.

“Hi Sam,” Kara said, looking a little shell-shocked.

“How are you?” Sam asked, looking like he was trying not to laugh, and Lee found himself bristling a little. “Fine,” she said, glancing over at the woman beside her ex-husband. “I’m fine, thanks. How are you?”

“Great,” Sam said. “This is Tori, I don’t think you two have met.”

“Not officially, no,” Kara said, staring daggers at the woman. Sam stared pointedly at Lee. “Oh, um,” Kara fumbled.

“Lee Adama,” Lee said.

“Nice to meet you,” Sam said and then looked back at Kara. “It was great bumping into you, Kara.”

“You too, Sam,” she said, and Lee watched her watch the couple walk out the door, holding hands.

“Kara-” he started softly.

She interrupted. “You’re right, a plant and some wine is a much better idea.”

“Okay,” Lee said. He stayed beside her, but she was quiet and didn’t look at him once all the way out the door.

* * *

She couldn’t believe it. Couldn’t fucking believe it. Not only had she run into Sam, she had run into Sam and the woman he had left her for. And she hadn’t even run into them. She had danced in front of them; gyrated bizarrely, and sweated and snorted with laughter and then stood there, staring, with her mouth hanging open like some sort of moron. A glass of wine appeared in front of her face and she blinked at it before taking it from Lee.

“Are you okay?” he asked softly.

“Fine,” she bit out. “Stop hovering.”

“Alright,” he said dubiously, and left her staring blindly out the window while he went back to talk to Bill and Laura. She let their conversation wash over her, deciding where to put what, whose books to display where, which family to visit on what holiday, until she was drowning in memories and regret and it burst out of her.

“You know, Sam and I started out like this,” she said, turning, and interrupting and not giving a rat’s ass that she was raining all over their new, shiny love and their fresh beginning. “Moving in furniture, arranging rugs, putting plates in cabinets. I never, ever thought that it would end dancing to Ke$ha in the middle of a store in front of the woman he left me for.” She slammed her wine down on the counter and stormed out, away from their startled, pitying eyes, not being able to take it anymore.

Kara ran down the four flights of stairs of their walk up and burst out into the spring evening. She didn’t get two seconds to herself before Lee came barreling out of the door. “I know,” she said, holding up her hands, trying to forestall the lecture she knew that was coming but just could not bear to hear. “I know I shouldn’t have said that.”

“No, you shouldn’t have,” Lee said, but his face was more concerned than angry. “Kara, you can’t just say everything that comes to mind the minute you think it.”

The frustration boiling inside her acquired a convenient target, “Oh thanks, Lee,” she snapped, “I am always looking for lectures on decorum from Mr. Calm, Cool and Collected.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” Lee demanded.

“It means that nothing ever bothers you. You lived with Gianne for seven years, you’d think that there’d be at least some mourning. Or maybe not. You didn’t even want to marry her.” As soon as the words were out of her mouth she regretted them.

“Where do you get off?” he said quietly, anger and hurt in his voice. “You think because I don’t talk about it or - or take it out on the people around me that I don’t feel anything? That I don’t miss her or feel ashamed that I couldn’t be the person she needed to me to be? Do you think that I don’t wonder what the hell is wrong with me?” Lee shook his head in disgust, whether at himself or her, she couldn’t tell.

“I’m sorry,” she said instantly, and meant it. “I’m really sorry.” She pulled him into a hug and hung on tight, just in case he was inclined to try to get loose. He wrapped his arms around her instead.

“I’m sorry, too,” he said into her hair. “He didn’t deserve you.” He spoke it like it was an incontrovertible fact.

“Thanks, Lee,” she whispered, muffled by his shoulder so she wasn’t even sure he had heard it.

* * *

Lee closed his mouth with an audible snap.

“You look nice,” he managed to state. To understate. The light of the opulent chandeliers in the lobby of The Met made Kara’s hair gleam gold and the green silk of her dress shimmer.

Kara grinned and shimmied a little as she crossed the room to him. “Why thank you,” she said. “Ready for the opera?”

“Uh-” Lee said, still blinking. He pulled his act together and offered her his arm. “Yeah, definitely. Thanks for coming.”

“I couldn’t let you go alone,” she said as they walked toward the opera house. Lee actually didn’t mind going to the opera alone, having done so several times before. It wasn’t like he talked to anyone during it. But Kara didn’t believe him and had insisted on accompanying him when she found out his date had cancelled. “What are we seeing again?” she asked.

“Don Giovanni,” he answered, handing their tickets over to the collector.

“You do love your Mozart,” she said, sliding her hand down his arm to casually lace her fingers with his and pull him down the aisle toward their seats.

“I do,” he said, staring at her nearly bare back and holding her hand tighter.

* * *

There were actual tears running down her face, she was laughing so hard. Lee had given up drawing and was just pointing his marker over and over at the stick figure wearing boxer shorts.

“Pants,” shouted Bill.

“Capris,” said her date, a short scientist named Gaius who was smart and good in bed, but was really just too weird for her to take seriously.

“Ten seconds,” Laura said. Lee began making little boxes around the stick figure and then pointing to the poor thing’s crotch again.

“Cubes!”

“Boxes,” Zak said, and Lee pointed at him a little frantically.

“Cube pants!” Bill yelled with such conviction that everyone stared at him.

“Time,” Laura said. “And those are boxers dear, not the very common cube pants we hear so much about.”

“Ohh,” the guys chorused and Lee threw his pen down in disgust as Kara celebrated her team’s victory by taking a shot with Zak’s wife, Kendra. Lee’s date, Shevon, slinked off the couch from next to Kara and wound her arms around Lee’s waist.

“I can’t draw,” Kara heard Lee say to her. Shevon laughed, “I don’t think that Michelangelo would have helped your team out.”

Kara agreed, but she wasn’t about to admit it. She grabbed a bunch of discarded glasses, stepped around an Irish Setter, and followed Laura into the kitchen. “So Shevon seems nice,” she said.

“She’s really nice,” Laura said. “Bill and I went out with them for dinner a week ago and I like her.”

“Oh, that’s great,” Kara said. “She’s also very young,” she couldn’t help but add it and Laura shot her a look. “What? I’m just saying.”

“She is,” Laura acknowledged. “But she’s accomplished a lot.”

“Accomplished what?” Kara asked.

“She’s had four children’s albums released,” Laura pointed out.

“Shevon is Miss Shevon?” Kara asked incredulously.

“You didn’t know that?”

“But the only kids Lee likes are his nieces,” Kara said. Laura shook her head and ignored the comment. “So Gaius seems nice.”

“He’s brilliant,” Kara said. “Of course he has the tendency to stare into space and have one-sided conversations with himself whenever he thinks he’s alone, but everyone’s a little weird.”

“If you say so,” Laura said and they went back into the living room to join the others.

* * *

Lee sat very still on the hard, wooden pew and kept his eyes forward. He wasn’t comfortable in churches, having been the product of a non-devout Episcopalian family that had attended service maybe twice a year, if they didn’t have other plans on the holidays. He had no idea why Kara had asked him to go to mass with her, but she had sounded brittle and he hadn’t even considered refusing.

The cantor began another prayer, the Prayer of the Faithful it was called in the book he was following along in. Lee wasn’t paying all that much attention to the rumbling responses from the congregation until Kara’s hand gripped his. Hard. And he looked at her, her eyes closed, her body practically quivering with concentration.

“For those who have died, especially Socrata Thrace, may they know the grace and redemption of our Heavenly Father, and may we celebrate their joyful rebirth into eternal life.,” the cantor looked up into the crowd. “We pray to the Lord.”

“Lord, hear our prayer,” the congregants responded, Kara’s voice and prayers joining theirs.

* * *

Kara picked up the phone on the third ring, bouncing up and down on one foot as she pulled a pump off. “Hello?”

“Are you alone?” Lee’s voice sounded funny.

“Yeah,” she said, putting her foot down. “What’s going on?”

“Gianne’s getting married.” He didn’t sound good. “Can you-”

“I’ll be right over,” Kara said and hung up to put her shoe back on.

Twenty minutes later, she was knocking on Lee’s door. When he opened it, she was taken aback at how wild-eyed he looked.

“What happened?” she demanded, walking in.

“She just called me, out of the blue,” Lee said, pacing back and forth in front of her. “She said that she wanted to tell me first. She said she’s happy.”

“It’s okay,” Kara said moving to stand in front of him. She put her hands on his upper arms to still him.

His hands lifted to play with the bottom hem of her shirt in unconscious aggravation, pulling and plucking at it. “I don’t know why this is making me crazy, but it is.”

“You loved her,” Kara said simply. “You didn’t break up all that long ago. It stands to reason that this would be a shock.”

“But I want this for her. I want her to be happy and get everything she needs.” Lee said, his eyes still fixed on the floor.

“Of course you do,” Kara replied. “But why would you think that would make hearing that she loved someone else easy?” Lee’s head dropped back and he sighed. “Come on,” Kara said, and pushed him until he fell back into his big chair and a half. “You know better than that.”

“Maybe,” he said, but he still looked lost, so Kara sat half next to him, half on top of him and wiggled until he wrapped an arm around her. He leaned his head against her shoulder. “I like my life now,” he said. “I wouldn’t want to be back in a relationship with Gianne, but why not? What’s wrong with me?”

“Nothing,” Kara answered.

“I’m cold,” Lee said, and Kara almost laughed out loud, except that she had nearly accused him of that herself a couple months ago.

“You’re reserved,” she said.

“Everything has to be done my way,” he countered

“You know what you want and aren’t afraid to ask for it. Look,” she said, running her fingers through his hair, “I’m not going to play ‘list and counter Lee’s bad qualities’ all night. You’re great. You have a lot of people who love you. This has been hard, but someone you have beaten yourself up for hurting is moving on and getting married. This is a good thing, Lee.”

He nodded, his 5 o’clock shadow scratching lightly against the skin of her shoulder where it was bared by her sleeveless dress.

“You’re right,” he said, leaning against her, “Thanks.”

“You are more than welcome,” Kara said and planted a kiss on the top of his head. Lee tilted his head up and smiled at her, his heart in his eyes, and she caught her breath. Not even thinking about it, she kissed his forehead, and then the tip of his nose, and then his smiling lips.

And then his mouth opened under hers, and Lee got a whole lot more interesting. She kissed him again and again, his mouth warm and inviting and moving with hers. She sighed, and raised up enough to swing her leg over his lap and straddle him. His hand rose to grip her chin between his thumb and forefinger and he tilted her head further to one side to get a better angle.

Their hands fumbled on breasts and thighs and hips, on zippers and buttons and pulling underwear out of the way. It was fast and strange and comfortable and new in all the right ways. They didn’t make it off the chair. They didn’t even really make it out of their clothes, but there he was, moving inside of her easily, with one hand fisted in her hair and the other on her hip. And as she came with her eyes locked on his, all Kara could think was that she had made a huge mistake.

Chapter 3

Lee woke up alone. Normally this was not very surprising, but since Kara had been stretched out against him the night before, he had been expecting company.

“Kara,” he called out, but there was no answer. He got up and went into the living room. Her clothes and purse were gone. There was no note to be found.

He picked up the phone and dialed her number but she didn’t pick up.

Lee couldn’t quite believe that she would do this to him. He knew she ditched the other guys she hooked up with, but this was him. This was them. He thought that they had started something, finally. Something he hadn’t fully acknowledged that he wanted, but something great and scary and right all at the same time. He had actually looked forward to waking up this morning, knowing that they were going to begin the day together.

But Kara was gone.

* * *

Kara walked into Laura’s office and shut the door. “I did a bad thing,” she said.

Laura looked up from her computer, “Do I need to call the legal department?” she asked.

Kara winced, “No,” she said. “Not that kind of bad.” She leaned her head against the door and looked up at the ceiling. “I slept with Lee last night.”

“This should be good news,” Laura said. “Why isn’t this good news?”

“Good news?” Kara asked. “Ruining one of the best friendships in my life is good news?”

“Why is it ruined?” Laura demanded. “Kara, Bill and I have been hoping that you two would get together. It just makes sense.”

“I don’t know – maybe it’d be a good thing, but I don’t think so. I just got divorced. Lee and I know each other too well. I snuck out after he fell asleep and didn’t leave a note and haven’t returned his phone calls.”

Laura dropped her head into her hand. “Well that isn’t going to help you keep your friendship normal, that’s for sure.”

“He’ll forget about it,” Kara said, not feeling all that convinced. “We can just pretend that it never happened. I’ll call him an a few days.”

* * *

Bill and Zak exchanged very unsubtle looks over Lee’s head as they all leaned back against the bar, listening to the band that Bill wanted to hire for his and Laura’s wedding. “So Lee,” Zak said casually. “Have you talked to Kara lately?”

“Not since the last time we spoke,” he said shortly. That one phone call where she hadn’t said a word to him for three days and then had called out of the blue and started in on the date she was going on the next evening, like nothing was different. He had played along. Sort of. He hadn’t yelled at her at any rate, just let her talk, gave one word responses and politely told her to have a good time before he hung up.

“I know she’s calling you,” Bill said.

“She is,” Lee said.

“You just aren’t picking up?”

“I’m not,” Lee said.

“Come on,” Zak said. “You can’t not talk to Kara forever. It’s wrong.”

It was wrong. It felt wrong every day, but Lee was just too angry and raw to listen to her try to pretend nothing had happened. He drained his beer and thumped it on the bar before turning around to face the band. “These guys are pretty good, Bill,” He said. “I think that Laura is going to like them.”

* * *

“Hi,” Kara said walking up to Lee where he stood on the edge of the dance floor before she lost her nerve. She’d gotten over the shock of seeing him at the rehearsal dinner and then standing across from him at the ceremony, but this was the first time they’d spoken one on one, and she wasn’t really looking forward to breaking the ice.

“Hey,” Lee said, not looking at her, but at least not leaving either.

“Nice ceremony,” Kara said coming up next to him.

“Yeah,” he said, “It was beautiful. How’ve you been doing?”

“Well, you know, it’s the holidays. Every year I just try to get from the day before Thanksgiving to the day after New Year's.”

“Yup” Lee said.

“Oh come, on Lee,” Kara burst out in exasperation. “When are we going to get past this?”

“I don't want to talk about it,” Lee said. “Not here.”

“Then when are we going to talk about it?” she demanded. “It isn’t like I see you anymore. Are we going to carry this thing around forever?

“Goddamnit, Kara,” Lee swore and then grabbed her wrist and pulled her away from the crowd and into the hotel lobby. “You want to do this now? Fine. My problem is that you want to act like what happened didn't mean anything.”

“I'm not saying it didn't mean anything,” she protested, “but why does it have to mean everything? Why can’t we go back to what we were?”

“Because you walked right out the door and left me to wake up alone,” Lee bit out. “A friend wouldn’t do that.”

“I’m sorry about that,” Kara said. “I am - but I thought it was the right thing to do. I thought it was a mistake.”

“Then I guess it was,” Lee snapped. “What else is there to say?”

“What do you want from me, Lee?” she asked.

“You know what? I don't want anything from you,” Lee said. “Not a thing.”

Kara bit down her protest. She may have been in the wrong initially, but this was ridiculous. She wasn’t going to beg him to be her friend. “Fine,” she said. “Fine, but you need to know that I did not go over there that night to sleep with you. But what was I supposed to do when you were all needy and sad—just leave you there?

“Are you saying that you took pity on me?”

“No, “ Kara said hurriedly. “That’s not-”

“Fuck you,” he said, hard as nails and devastatingly quiet. She watched him leave. He walked right back into the reception with his shoulders as rigid as she’d ever seen them.

“Goddamnit,” Kara bit out, and then followed him back in. She couldn’t leave Laura anymore than he could leave Bill. She’d just stay as far away from him as she could.

* * *

From: [email protected]

To: [email protected]

Subj: Maybe we can type like civilized people

It wasn’t out of pity, and you know it. I would never do that to you. I’m sorry for leaving, that was wrong, but I am done apologizing. We’re just stuck in this cycle and it won’t get better until we do something about it. What are you doing for New Year’s? If you want, we can go to Bill and Laura’s party together.

I miss you,

Kara

From: [email protected]

To: [email protected]

Subj: Re: Maybe we can type like civilized people

Hi Kara,

Thank you. I’m sorry too, for what it’s worth. I’m being forced to go to Zak and Kendra’s actually, but you have fun with Bill and Laura. I will definitely catch you after though, in the next couple of weeks.

I miss you too,

Lee

* * *

Kara was a woman who had always appreciated a good party, but she was not feeling this one. She tugged a little on the front of the strapless dress she had worn on a whim and leaned against a wall next to Laura, watching Bill’s dogs, in their New Year-appropriate sparkly collars, politely beg for treats from the various guests.

“You’ve been ignoring Leoben all night,” Laura remarked.

“He’s weird,” Kara answered, looking over at the good-looking but creepy blond who was sitting on a couch staring fixedly at her.

“You could have asked Gaius to come.”

Kara just looked at her. She didn’t want Gaius or Leoben or any of the other guys she had casually dated. Hell, if Sam walked in this minute and asked for another chance, she wouldn’t be interested.

She was restless and lonely in a crowded room, standing next to one of her best friends.

She thought about Lee at his brother’s party, probably laughing at not-funny jokes of women that were not her, giving them an easy smile and fixing those blue eyes on them until everything else faded away. Probably doing shots with Zak. Definitely driving Kendra crazy with his food requests. And he was too far away for Kara to kiss at midnight.

And she’d be goddamned if he was going to kiss anyone else.

“I’m out of here,” Kara said, pushing off the wall and heading for the door.

“Where are you going? It’s almost midnight,” Laura called after her.

“Happy New Year,” Kara yelled back. “I have somewhere else I need to be.” She ran out into the night, not even stopping to find her coat.

* * *

Lee had had enough. He made his apologies to Zak, kissed Kendra, and walked out the door at about 11:30PM. He turned up his collar and headed toward home. He was not even going to attempt to find transportation at this hour on New Year’s Eve.

He was allowing himself until the stroke of midnight to stop brooding over what he and Kara would never be. And then it would be a new year, and he would sally forth to be a good friend. Still, he figured he’d make the most of this foul mood while he had it, and he walked, scowling, down the street.

Kara was probably picking out who to kiss come midnight, he thought. There were probably dozens of them, just waiting for her to choose them. All lined up across Bill and Laura’s living room for inspection. Lee shook his head. He was a mess, a delusional mess.

Someone was walking toward him at a quick pace as he trudged along, not really paying attention. And then he was pulled into a strong embrace. “Stop struggling,” Kara said, voice muffled against his coat.

“Kara?” he tried to step back to see, but she had a death grip on him.

“You will stay here and listen to me,” she said, pulling her head out of his chest and meeting his eyes fiercely. Her nose was red with cold and she was wearing a short strapless dress and no coat.

“Okay,” he said, confused, and rubbed his hands up and down her arms and back briskly. “Why are you outside like this? It’s freezing.”

“I’ve been doing a lot of thinking,” she said. “And the thing is - I love you.”

Lee’s mouth dropped open, but no words came out.

“You better say something real quick, Adama,” Kara said, dangerously.

“I -“ his mind stuttered. “What do you want me to say?” he asked.

She smacked the back of his head, “How about that you love me too, you dumbass?”

“I could say that,” he said. “I can say it.” His hands stilled on her, coming to rest on her hips. “But why did you say it?”

“I don’t know,” she said, exasperated. “I just do. I love that you’ve never managed to order a sandwich without footnotes and a flowchart. I love the way your eyebrow raises when I say something completely inappropriate. I love that you’ve got two feet planted firmly on the ground but you still want to save the world. I love the way you pretend to think I’m crazy and then go along with whatever I’m doing anyway.”

“You are crazy,” he said, smiling wide and sudden, and he laughed at her answering grin, so glad to see it. “Coming down here all this way without a coat.”

“Normal people would say that it was romantic,” Kara said, unbuttoning his coat and then sliding inside. Lee wrapped the open flaps as far around her as he could.

“Normal people would not be in love with you,” he said.

“That’s true.” She put her freezing cold hands on either side of his face and hauled him down into a kiss. “Happy New Year.”

* * *

A couple sits on the couch, holding hands.

Kara: The first time we met we hated each other.

Lee: You didn't hate me, I hated you. The second time we met you didn't even remember me.

Kara: I did too, I totally remembered you. The third time we met, we became friends.

Lee: We were friends for a long time.

Kara: And then we weren't.

Lee: And then we fell in love.

Kara: Um, yeah. Did you have to just put that out there like that?

Lee: I think the secret’s out. Since three months later we got married and all.

Kara: Yeah, it only took three months.

Lee: Yup, three months. Give or take a decade and a half or so.

Kara: Details. We had a great wedding.

Lee: It really was. It was a wonderful wedding.

Kara: Yeah, we had this enormous cake.

Lee: Huge cake with everything - all the tiers and a very rich chocolate sauce on the side.

Kara: Because not everybody likes it on the cake because it makes it soggy.

Lee: It just soaks up a lot of that stuff. So it's important to keep it on the side. Let people choose what they want.

Kara: (grinning and shaking her head ) Right.