RUNAWAY BRIDE(GROOM): Pt 10

The aftermath of what should have been Lee & Dee's wedding day...

One month later...

"I can't thank you enough, Laura, for finding my son."

"My pleasure, Bill."

It was like old times. She reclining in her canvas chair (it was much too cold to kick off her shoes, though), her legs stretched out. He standing across from her, pouring himself a steaming cup of coffee. Though they were in a small drafty tent, the light from the propane lantern lent a warm ambiance to her makeshift living room. As he sat down on a small bench, she felt just as comfortable with his company as she had aboard Colonial One. She took a sip from her chipped ceramic mug before speaking again. "It almost frightened me how broken down he was. If we were back home instead of on this mudball, I'd say he was due for a long vacation."

"What can I tell you?" he responded, blowing lightly over his coffee to cool it. "We Adamas are workaholics. We don't like taking breaks."

"Unless something breaks you first."

He unconciously put his right hand towards his chest, remembering how he was brought down by a bullet from one of the Sharons. "Yeah, well, I guess it's a matter of time before a wheel falls off."

"So, how much longer is he in the brig?"

"He's been there for a month, so he has one more to go."

"Has he gone crazy yet?"

"If he's going to be a pilot again, he needs to build up his strength, so I've allowed him an hour in the gym per day. Other than that, I lend him books, he has visitors. I even have breakfast with him in his cell every morning. We actually talk then."

"How's that going?"

"Better. We sometimes just glare at each other. Other times, though, we've been able to at least broach some difficult subjects, like my divorce from his mother, Zak, Cain...I think we're finally getting somewhere... at least until we frak up." He looked at his watch. "Damn! I got to meet Baltar in twenty minutes. Once I get there, he'll probably make me wait for an hour." Or make me watch that frakking video.

"I guess this is goodbye, then." she said, the tone of her voice revealing her disappointment.

"Actually, what are you doing this evening?"

"I've got a staff meeting at five. Otherwise, nothing else. Why?"

"My shuttle will take off at about 2200, so I was wondering if you'd like to have dinner with me, here. I brought some extra rations, and a bottle of some of that whisky you liked." He stopped, giving her a look that spoke volumes to her. "It's been too long."

Laura smiled, hearing the plea under the friendly invitation. Luckily for him, there was peach-colored silk peignoir under her bed that was dying to come out and meet him. "I have a better idea. I know the perfect place. It's classy, warm, dry, and it has a real bed...with real sheets..."

101010

Lee was doing pushups on the floor of his cell when he heard the hatch to the brig swing open, and familiar footsteps approaching. He jumped to his feet, looking at the woman he loved.

"Captain."

"Major."

Kara leaned into the bars. "This looks familiar. What's the charge this time?"

"Oh, dumping an inferior bitch, abandoning my post, living in sin with a loose woman–ow!"

"I may be loose, but you're the one behind bars."

He reached through the bars, touching the side of her head. "What happened to your hair?" It was short again, like the way she had it before she resigned her commission. It's a shame, he thought. He had liked it long, the way it had brushed against his skin as she moved above him. On the other hand, the haircut framed her face better, the glow from her blonde hair making her look like an angel.

"Oh, I got bored last night, since you're not there to bug me."

"And what brings you here now?"

"I miss you."

"You see me every day."

"No, I mean I miss you...badly."

"Oh."

"I was wondering what the policy is regarding conjugal visits."

"But we're not married yet."

"One thing at a time, Adama. Get out of here first. You've got four more weeks, so...what are we going to do in the meantime?"

He had missed her too–a lot. Because he was usually locked in his cell with somebody watching him at all times, the only occasion he had for release was during his five minute shower, and that was no substitute for the what was standing right in front of him. He leaned forward, his voice lowering to a sexy growl. "Well, Starbuck, you are famous for your out-of-the-box thinking. Think of something."

She gave him a wicked smile as she turned to the guard. "Corporal, you can stay outside for the next hour."

The redheaded marine grinned back at her, giving her a crisp salute before exiting the room. It was worth it to see them happy. Well, almost. Weeks later, and the guys were still ragging on him.

As Trigger stepped out into the corridor, he saw his relief walking towards him. "Hey, Sledge! One month exactly! And they're doing it through the motherfrakking bars! Pay up, buddy, 'cause aren't going to smell pretty anymore!"

101010

"So Dee visited him about a week ago. That, apparently, went better than expected. They're still not each other's favorite person, but I guess the whole thing knocked some sense into her head."

Helo paused, looking at Sharon, still sitting on the bunk opposite of him, with her back to the bulkhead, hugging her knees. She still hadn't said a word-- not since the day after their infant daughter died almost a year ago. After the Admiral deemed that she was no longer a threat to the security of the fleet, he had allowed her a bunk in one of the many empty rooms aboard Galactica. But still, she hadn't said a word. She did nothing but either sit in her bunk, staring blankly at the walls, or wander aimlessly through the corridors of Galactica. For the most part, the remaining crew ignored her, until she was almost invisible (he didn't dare bring her to the Pegasus).

There were times after Hera's death that he wanted to shake her, slap her, yell at her, anything to see life in those eyes again. Instead of finding comfort in each other, she had shut him out completely, making him angry and frustrated at first, and then, after a while...just sad.

"Well, I've gotta get back to the Pegasus. A Commander's work is never done. He stood up. "I don't know when's the next time I can visit. My next meeting with the Admiral's..."

Sharon had put her forehead to her knees, her body shaking. Every once in a while, when she had fallen asleep, she cried, calling out for Hera. He quickly sat next to her. "It's okay, sweetheart. I've got you." But even as he tried to hold her, she pushed him away, and looked up.

"That is so frakked up."

She was laughing. Definitely laughing.

Helo was stunned. After so long...Of all the things she could have said..."Uh, what's so frakked up?"

"What the frak have you been talking to me about the past hour?" Her voice was a little hoarse from disuse, but it was definitely her. "Dee being dumped on her ass! The wedding from hell! Apollo and Starbuck running off! Oh Lords of Kobol!"

"Uh, Sharon–"

"I mean, Dee's always going for the Gold, if you know what I mean. Before the decommissioning ceremony, Dee was always mooning over Adama. I mean, we'd be lying in our bunks and she'd be yakking about how noble and dignified he was and shit. Gods, she wouldn't stop! Oh, and one time, when she had too much ambrosia at Gaeta's birthday party, she told me she had sexual fantasies about him! Ugh! Too much information, if you ask me!"

Helo didn't know what to say. All he knew was that she had come back to life, talking as if a dam had burst. "So she had a thing for Apollo for a long time–"

"No, stupid! The other Adama! Ugh! He's old enough to be her father! That's why I was so shocked when she started dating Billy. He was so...young!"

"Uh, yeah. So...you have been listening to me."

Her laughter died down, her dark eyes fixing on his. "Of course I have."

"All this time?"

"Yeah."

"Then why–"

"Why haven't I said anything?" She took a deep breath in, wisps of her hair floating up as she exhaled. "I just didn't feel like it."

"You didn't feel like it. How do you think I felt?" A note of anger tinged his question.

She took his hand, placing it on her knee, gently brushing her fingers soothingly over it. "I'm not saying that you felt any less. It's just that I carried Hera inside of me, and to lose her like that, after everything we've been through together, I couldn't..."

He closed the gap between them, holding her in a fierce, yet gentle hug. "It's okay. You don't have to explain. I've got you. I've got you back. I've got my Sharon back." He kept repeating it over and over again, as trying to make that moment seem real. He closed his eyes, breathing in her scent, feeling the warmth of her fragile body. I've got her back...

Sharon held him just as passionately–because she was scared.

The loss of her child hadn't been the only reason she'd been quiet. She'd been listening, not with her ears, but with whatever her Cylon nature had given her to sense that something was coming. Something big. As she had wandered through the corridors of Galactica over the months, she was trying to get a clue, a scent, a sign. Anything. The humanistic part of her had wanted to warn them, but the legacy of betrayals and her own grief had killed any incentive she had to speak up. Still, there was time. And there was Helo. Whatever the fates are going to throw at us, there is love.

The End