BSG fic--short, in honor of a short but cute pilot... er, lawyer

[rose_griffes]

I'm feeling Hobbit-ish this week, so I have presents. Sort of. Just fyi, writing Kara/Lee as anything more than friends is still beyond my abilities, apparently. Oh, and yes, I do have a shmoopy love for heads leaning on shoulders.

Also, I think I like daybreak777's idea of kicking ficlets out of the nest. This one is new, but I may kick a couple of other (very) short stories off the hard drive before the season four premiere. They're just going to be rendered obsolete by all the new information anyway, so why not?

The marines opened the cell door after checking him for weapons. They even checked his pen. Kara sat on the cot, watching the procedures with an amused expression on her face. He wasn't sure if that was a good thing, but at least she looked relaxed.

He tried to sound relaxed as well. "Hey, Kara, how's it going?"

"I thought I'd follow your example and try some mutiny. Went about as well for me as it did for you." She gestured with her hand, indicating the surroundings.

"Insurrection, not mutiny."

"What?"

"I committed mutiny--rebelling against a superior officer. You, on the other hand... you rose up against civil authority. That's insurrection." The words rolled off his tongue; it was easy to fall into this teasing speech pattern with Kara, even now.

"Ah. Thanks for the enlightenment, Lee." She waved toward the empty chair; he pulled it closer to the cot and sat down.

"What were you thinking?" He didn't mean for his tone to sound judgmental, but the question came out that way in spite of himself.

She moved her feet up from the floor onto the cot and wrapped her arms around her knees. "I was thinking that I have information, and Laura Roslin doesn't want to listen to it."

"And a gun would help?"

"Well, people usually listen to someone who has a gun." She didn't look belligerent, as he might have expected. Instead her expression was sad, defeated.

"Kara..."

"Yeah, I know. It was stupid, and I didn't mean for things to happen that way. I just wanted her to hear me." She blinked twice and tried a wobbly smile. "So what now?"

"Well, that depends on a lot of things." He leaned forward and put his hand over hers. "Do you know why I'm here?

"'Cause I messed up?"

"My dad told Romo Lampkin to get me over here and fix this. He's on your side."

"And you?"

"I'm always on your side." He slid over to the cot and sat next to her, arm wrapped around her shoulders. "We'll figure this out."

"Good. 'Cause the brig might be my second home, but I'm ready to get us to Earth." She leaned her head against his shoulder and they both sat in the quiet for a moment. Gods, he had missed moments like this--just being Lee, with Kara next to him.

It didn't last long, naturally. "So you and your dad are still not talking?"

He should've known she wouldn't let that statement go by unnoticed. "Things fell apart while you were gone. He couldn't talk to me without yelling, I couldn't stay calm, either."

"He does love you, Lee."

He'd forgotten how much Kara had been a part of what glued him and his father together. Lee felt more compassion for his father now. His dad's grief over Kara's loss had made him do stupid things, made him say stuff that he might not have said otherwise. That didn't mean Lee had forgotten them, though. It was tough to get over being called dishonest by your dad, even if he was mourning when he said it.

"I think that all either of us wanted to say was that we both missed you so much. You're a part of our family."

She laughed. "If having me around holds things together, that's one frakked-up family."

"Yeah, I know." He breathed in deeply, tightened his grip on her shoulder and closed his eyes.