Always, Never

[rachelindeed.livejournal.com]

Good evening, night-owls, and good morning everyone else!  Thanks so much for your wonderful movie suggestions, I know what I will be doing this weekend, now :) 

Today, I'd like you to tell me one thing Kara always knew about Lee, and one thing she never knew about him; one thing Lee always knew about Kara, and one thing he never knew about her; and then pick an outside point-of-view (anyone you like -- Bill, Roslin, Tigh, Leoben, Kat, Cally, Carolanne, anyone...) and tell me one thing they always and/or never knew about Kara and Lee.  You can answer as many or as few of those questions as you like, of course!  Just write whatever you feel like; it's always great to hear from you!

"The mystery of love is greater than the mystery of death."  (Oscar Wilde)

Comments

[rachelindeed.livejournal.com]

Kara always knew that Lee was the kind of person who'd put his job before his personal feelings. It was why she couldn’t tell him about Zak (except she did). It was why she couldn’t blame him for betraying that secret to his father when she failed to do her job again.

She never knew that Lee hadn’t meant to give away her secret. And he never told her just how badly he’d broken the rules for her sake.

Everyone expected recklessness from his father; they all recognized that patented Adama fire, that undying and unreasoning loyalty. No one ever seemed to expect the same from him.

But Lee knew better, and it scared him.

[kag523.livejournal.com]

So beautifully done, Rachel. Love your writing ALWAYS!

[kdbleu.livejournal.com]

These are really nice. Particularly the one about Lee.

[scifishipper.livejournal.com]

Lee always knew that Kara hurt people that she loved; he never knew she would hurt him, too.

Kara always knew Lee tried to do the right thing; she didn't expect that he would stop doing that for her.

Bill never knew that Lee loved Kara. He's an idiot.

[rachelindeed.livejournal.com]

Wow. Beautiful, elegant, and hilarious. This was just perfect.

**HUGS**

And now for the comment I MEANT to post....

[kag523.livejournal.com]

First two were so poignant. Guh. So good.

The third made me laugh. LOL

[damao2010.livejournal.com]

I was almost in tears with the first two (especially "she didn't expect that he would stop doing that for her") and than I almost fell on the floor laughing with the last one. It was so unexpectedly funny.

[kdbleu.livejournal.com]

I keep popping back to read this because it makes me happy. The juxtaposition is marvelous.

[kag523.livejournal.com]

Kara always knew that she and Lee wouldn’t end up together. It didn’t matter that she’d wanted him, needed him, loved him, felt that rush of connection with him like no one else. She just knew. Things weren’t easy with him... Lee Adama wasn’t an easy person to contend with. He challenged her and angered her and argued with her so much that sometimes she wasn’t sure whether she loved or hated him... She felt too much with him. And that scared her.

And so Kara forced herself to be content with taking what she could get of Lee in bits and pieces. Glances and touches and the subtle dance of attraction, denied. Stepping in too close to the fire when she could no longer stay away, before running off (from Galactica, from the pilots bunkroom, from New Caprica) to nurse her burns in private. Letting herself heal knowing – the way she always knew – that it was better, in the long run, to hurt him where the cuts would be shallow, than scar him forever by staying near.

She never knew how wrong she was...

Lee Adama knew Kara Thrace was the one he needed from the moment he met her but believed each denial from her was yet another trial for him to endure. Risking that fire between them would have been infinitely kinder, even if it had ended in separation and pain. Letting the two of them burn out like the hard-deck explosion that destroyed her viper. The flash-fire not reducing their love to cinders, but flaring outward in a brilliant flash of light, like a star gone supernova in the night.

[scifishipper.livejournal.com]

*sob* I wish none of this were true. Beautiful work, Karen. It's an angsty day, isn't it?

*sigh*

[damao2010.livejournal.com]

OMG. So nice and sad. You guys are really going to make me cry today.

it was better, in the long run, to hurt him where the cuts would be shallow, than scar him forever by staying near.

*sniffs* Too bad she never knew how deep those shallow cuts really were.

[kdbleu.livejournal.com]

Lovely. Sad, but lovely.

[rachelindeed.livejournal.com]

K, this was so amazing. Truly beautiful images of love and pain and heat and light. I'm sorry I was MIA earlier today (real life got a bit crazy) and that I'm late in saying this, but thank you so much for this lovely, lovely contribution.

I used to watch a very low-budget but high-ambition sci-fi series called Babylon 5, and there was an episode once where two characters were contemplating the future: "How will it end?" one asked. "In fire," the other answered.

Kara and Lee were always going to end in fire, but you beautifully described the life and radiance and expansion that fate might contain, rather than simple pain or destructiveness.

Thank you!!

[damao2010.livejournal.com]

From the very first time he laid eyes on her, that fateful night when he almost betrayed not only his brother but everything he believed to be true about himself, Lee always knew Kara Thrace was the only person who could make him completely lose control. Scary as that was, it was also something he had always desperately needed. And, just like that, against his better judgment, from that day on, he just couldn’t get away from her pull. No matter how hard he tried.

From the very first time they met, Kara always knew Lee Adama was the only person who could get through all her carefully built walls, without even trying. Whenever she needed the most for those walls to crumble, that was when she strived harder to keep her distance. Or to make him keep his distance. Whichever worked better. Neither strategy seemed to work long, though.

Lee never fully realized just how unworthy of happiness Kara really believed to be, how deep her emotional childhood scars really were.

Kara never fully realized that all her attempts to protect the ones she loved from herself often caused them more harm and hurt than whatever she was supposed to be protecting them from ever could.

Sooner or later, everyone but Bill Adama realized the bond between Kara and Lee went way beyond friendship and camaraderie, even beyond death.

[scifishipper.livejournal.com]

That's a lovely summary, Claudia. I think you are getting closer and closer to writing fic (despite your protestations!) :)

No, she never did know, I guess, that always pushing him away hurt them both more than she could ever predict. *sadface*

I adore what you said about Lee always knowing about her power over him. Lovely stuff, bb.

[kdbleu.livejournal.com]

This is great, very true and heartbreaking. :)

[kag523.livejournal.com]

I absolutely ADORE this, Claudia! *cheers*

These lines struck me as having a particular beauty to them that just made my heart squeeze tight...

that fateful night when he almost betrayed not only his brother but everything he believed to be true about himself...

Kara always knew Lee Adama was the only person who could get through all her carefully built walls, without even trying...."


WOW! I want more from you. Get writing, hon! *hugs* K

[rachelindeed.livejournal.com]

I love how clear-eyed this is, how it cuts straight to the heart of so many of their deepest complexities and confusions. I love the understanding you have of these characters. Thank you so much for sharing your creativity with us! This is why I love short stories so much; there is something about writing concisely that forces each sentence to pack a punch.

I'm sorry I'm late in commenting -- real life got a bit crazy today -- but thank you so much for sharing this. It made my day!

[ninjamonkey73.livejournal.com]

Kara always knew Lee was a breast man. From the first time she kissed him, drunk in a bar on Caprica the only night he ever went out with her when Zak was out of town, she knew right where his hands would be if he got caught up in the moment. What she never knew was how many nights' sleep he lost agonizing over both the first time, and the last.

Lee always knew Kara would self-destruct. A part of him desparately wanted to believe he could save her from herself, but the pragmatist in him could see where her road led. A hero's path to a hero's death if she was lucky, now that the entire Colonial Fleet reported to his father and dishonorable discharge was no longer a concern. He never found out she broke up with Zak the day of his accident.

[kdbleu.livejournal.com]

That first both cracks me up and makes me sad. *thumbs up*

[kag523.livejournal.com]

Love them both for different reasons. Oh goodness there's such fantastic humour and pain in the first one and the second... *guh* Oh that hurts.

So beautiful. WOW!

[rachelindeed.livejournal.com]

Woah. I really, really love the line about how Lee was always enough of a pragmatist to know that Kara's time would be short. I believe that - she was always a beautiful disaster waiting to happen - and it makes his love for her all the more fascinating. Great insight, great writing, thank you so much!

There was a line in an old fanfic by Lint called "Wet Hot Caprican Summer" in which Kara is looking at Lee at the end of the summer and thinking to herself: "It sucks that we're both realists." Because they know that life isn't going to work out the way they want it to. It doesn't stop them from loving each other, it just adds a bittersweet quality even to their joy. I like that.

[kdbleu.livejournal.com]

Adama caught sight of them far enough down the corridor that there was no way he could hear what Lee was talking. Kara was nodding. Resignation or forced understanding clouded her face. His son just kept talking. The Admiral stopped though and watched them. Not caring that he might be somehow eavesdropping.

Something about the way they way they stood. Lee rigid and straight. Kara relaxed against the wall. Lee was close without invading her personal space. But their feet were in a line. His and then hers. His and then hers.

Lee’s hand came up and rested just on the other side of Kara’s shoulder, pressed against the gray behind her. As he neared, Kara brushed the hair from her face and very nearly smiled. He thought his son blushed.

They had stopped talking. A comfortable tension spilled out from them as they stayed eyes locked and perfectly still.

For a moment Bill Adama wondered what they had been discussing. Before realizing that wasn’t the point. He always thought he knew them, his children, Starbuck and Apollo, Lee and Kara. Giving them back their privacy, he started down the corridor again. He thought he might never have known them at all.

[damao2010.livejournal.com]

Oh, I so loved this. Your Adama is not so stupid, after all. *grins*

[scifishipper.livejournal.com]

This! It blows me away. Brilliant.