No Takebacks

Sacrament, PG
They walk to the chapel holding hands, and Lee thinks he’s never been this happy. Then she pulls him to a stop as they reach the door. “What is it?” he asks nervously.

Kara winces, struggling for words. “Temple marriage is a sacrament, Lee. An oath before the Gods. You and Dee had a civilian marriage, but this--you can never take it back.”

His stomach drops like he’s done a barrel roll. “And you don’t want to--”

“I do!” she interrupts. “I just want you to understand.”

Lee laughs in relief. He’s never been this happy. “I do.”

*

Storm, PG-13

The peace of their marriage is amazing. They lie in each other’s arms, explore each other’s bodies, talk finally about all the steps along the way where they screwed this up. Kara giggles as she describes screaming Lee’s name in Gaius’ bed; Lee blushes with embarrassment about how he asked Zak to send him her picture.

The peace lasts a week, and then the first storm hits. Lee’s never sure what started it, but suddenly they’re yelling, arguing about schedules and snoring and a thousand little things. Kara pushes him and he shoves her back. She stares at him, shocked.

*

You Won’t Cheat, PG-13

They don’t speak for two days, but that doesn’t mean Lee doesn’t see her. He watches her grill the nuggets, flirt with the pilots over triad, fly recklessly through the stars.

He finds her working on her Viper one night and crouches beside her. “I’m sorry,” he says, “for whatever we were fighting about.”

Kara looks at him and snorts. “Does it matter? Fighting’s what we’re best at.” She throws down her wrench and slides out. “I need a drink.”

Lee shakes his head, remembering Anders. “Just promise me you won’t cheat.”

Kara recoils, her eyes wounded. “Frak you, Apollo.”

*

Joe’s Bar, PG

She’s sitting with a row of empty shot glasses in front of her, and Lee approaches warily, sliding onto the stool beside her.

“Shouldn’t this be easier?” Kara sighs.

Lee shrugs. “What, just for a change?” She laughs, and the tension in his chest eases. Then it starts to build again. “What if it’s not, Kara? What if it’s not ever easy?”

She turns toward him, eyes wide and intent. “No takebacks, Lee. No matter how complicated things get.”

“Good.” He reaches out tentatively, strokes her cheek. “I’m sorry for everything.”

Kara grins. “Let’s go to our quarters, Mr. Thrace.”

*

Hot Fudge, R

Kara slides off of Lee and settles against his side, one arm wrapped around his waist.

Lee presses a kiss to her forehead, then one to her lips. “I wish we could have a real honeymoon,” he murmurs. “Take a trip somewhere with a beach, leave the windows open so we could smell the ocean right now.”

“Mmm,” Kara sighs. “Drink champagne and eat hot fudge sundaes.” She quirks an eyebrow at him. “What I wouldn’t give for some whipped cream.”

He grins back at her. “That sounds perfect.”

Kara shrugs and smiles shyly. “This is close enough to perfect.”

Edited Date: 2012-05-03 04:31 pm (UTC)

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Awwwww, married!pilots! I love Kara's nervousness, their arguing, and the way you made it not easy for them (of course not, they're pilots, lol) but our bbs do get some peace at the end and it is perfect. <3 these :)

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Thanks! I was a bit worried this was too angsty, but perhaps I'll write a fluffier bingo later :) Glad it felt real to you!

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scifishipper.livejournal.com

I love how real and hard this feels - just as it would be for them. The middle drabbles were difficult to read, but I love that it's Kara who reminds him of the sacrament. She's 'all in' and I adore it. *slow clap* Wonderful!

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Champagne and hot fudge sundaes woudl be perfect. :)

This is great. Married!pilots with all their insecurities and fears are teh best.

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onlyariana.livejournal.com

I love it. Happily ever after with no bumps in the road doesn't happen for anyone much less people so volatile. I liked when he asked her not to cheat. Very Lee and the response was very Kara.

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Happy and hurty by turns. Very pilots. Love the end <3

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Thanks! I stared forever at "Hot Fudge" after writing those middle three before I figured out how to make it work ;) Glad you liked it!

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Yay! Ice cream does sound good right now... :)

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I worried I was pushing her too far there, so I'm glad it worked! Thanks!

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Aren't they always? Thanks :)

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word-vomity.livejournal.com

How beautiful. How THEM! Her wanting him to understand just how stuck with her he'll be. Him questioning her fidelity. It's so nice how they don't implode just because things get a little hard here. I love it.

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Thanks, I'm glad to hear it! <3

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Tent

Kara’s eyes snap open. There’s something outside the tent. A twig snaps and her heart races. She gropes for Zak. He’s gone.

”I dare you.” The words whisper through the night and suddenly the whole world is noise and motion. The tent flap is flung open and she’s being pelted with water balloons even as she leaps out, flailing and pummeling whoever she’s run into.

“Mercy, mercy!” Lee laughs as she tackles him. He hugs her against his chest, immobilizing her arms.

Zak cackles with laughter.

Kara purrs in Lee’s ear. “No mercy. And I don’t play fair.”

*

Police

Lee grins at the sight: Kara is defiantly doing push-ups with her feet propped on the bench of the cell. “What’d you do this time, Starbuck?” he sings out. He sees her answering grin and tries to fight the way his stomach suddenly flips with desire.

She shrugs, shakes her head dolefully. “You know me. I can never resist a good dare.”

“You’re free to go,” the police officer says tiredly, unlocking the door.

Kara nods to him and follows Lee out.

“What was it?” he asks in the parking lot. “The dare?”

Kara leans close, whispers. “I’ll never tell.”

*

Dance Space

Kara takes another shot and winces. Beside her Helo laughs. “I feel like dancing,” he says, shifting to the club’s thudding beat.

She rolls her eyes. “Go on, then.”

Helo raises an eyebrow. “What, all it took was a nugget to love and you developed self control?” He casts his eyes across the room. “Go dance with him. I dare you.”

Kara looks. Without a word she walks across the room, slings her arms around Lee’s neck.

“Kara?” he asks in surprise.

She presses close, rocking against him. “Shut up, Apollo.”

His hands find her waist. He shuts up.

*

Destiny

Kara can’t seem to leave after one dance. She can smell the salt of his sweat, hear his rapid, hoarse breathing, feel the heat of his arousal as she grinds roughly against him.

Lee’s hands lock around her upper arms, holding her away, turning her on. “We shouldn’t,” he pants in her ear.

“Frak,” Kara bites out. She’s never wanted someone this much. It feels like destiny. She leans back enough to see him. “I dare you.”

He stares at her, then his lips crash against hers, his hands grabbing and groping. Kara loses herself in him, hangs on tight.

*

You Ran Away

She avoids him all night, but finally he corners her. “You ran away,” Lee says. “After the club.”

Kara stiffens. “Nothing else to do.”

“You could have stayed.”

Her eyes widen.

“I guess I should have dared you to.”

She grins then, finally, and the worlds align.

Kara shrugs, shifting closer, tilting her chin up. “I’m here now.”

He nods, leans in the last inch to capture her lips, kissing her hungrily. “I double dog dare you...” he whispers between kisses.

“To what?” Kara breathes, reaching for his fly.

“Frak,” Lee hisses.

Kara kisses him hard. “Thought you’d never ask.”

Edited Date: 2012-05-04 12:21 am (UTC)

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Boxing gloves

Every Sunday morning Lee meets his brother at the gym. It’s a standing tradition whenever he’s home. They’ve never missed it.

He meets Kara on a Saturday night, falls for her within minutes, sleeps with her after his brother passes out.

Six hours later, despite the hangover and crippling guilt, he’s there early, gloves on already when Zak arrives.

His brother is beaming and Lee breathes. Kara didn’t tell him.
He lets Zak knock him out anyway.

Lee’s face wears his brother’s bruises for a month, but the hardest blow he never sees coming:

“I asked Kara to marry me.”

Kacey

She says no. Kara never wanted to marry and she and Zak have always been more off than on. Then there was Lee, and now, this... She doesn’t know what to do, but she knows she can’t marry his brother.

Zak keeps asking, voice quavering even as he insists it’s the right thing to do, and that Kara’s just scared. He’s not wrong about that.

So she waits, maintains a holding pattern while she decides—to call Lee, to tell Zak the truth, to move one way or the other.

Until the day the doctor says: “Congratulations. It’s a girl.”

Dance space

Kara runs. It’s what she does best, isn’t it?

She quits the gallery, climbs in her truck, and drives. Ends up at a dive in the ass-end of nowhere.

Kara ignores the bartender’s dirty look when she orders water and stares out at the couples on the dance floor. They’re young, happy. They have options. Kara doesn’t. She waited too long, brain busy with all the wrong problems. Fucking figures.

“Kara?”

She turns, pulse quickening. “Lee….” She expected Zak. “What are you doing here?”

His face twists in pain, and she thinks: he knows.

But instead he says, “It’s Zak.”

Because of Zak?

The funeral is... a funeral. No one knows about the baby, but they all treat her like Zak’s widow anyway. His father grips Kara’s hand too tightly, his mother sobs on her shoulder. Lee is… Lee. He tries to pull her aside but Kara avoids him.

Finally she slips away, climbs in her truck. There’s shouting behind her, a door slamming, then Lee climbs in too, chest heaving.

Kara freezes.

“My father. He’s so frakking--,” he stops and breathes. “We had a difference of opinion.”

“Over Zak?”

He meets her eyes, shakes his head, lays his hand on her stomach.

Leoben

Kara’s always been crap at relationships and Lee’s not much better. He’s a control freak, she’s a loose canon, and they’re both stubborn. But they can’t seem to quit each other.

Karl calls from Vienna; a friend needs help at her gallery in a little town on the Mur River called Leoben. It’s a fresh start. Kara runs.

But this time she’s not running alone.

She still won’t get married, but when the baby comes, Kara writes “Kacey Adama” on the certificate without thinking twice. Lee kisses her, hugs them close.

“Love you,” he whispers.

"Me too."

They're family now.

Edited Date: 2012-05-04 04:17 am (UTC)

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I love how cleverly you fit these prompts together!

the hardest blow he never sees coming

- oof, that was a great line :)

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Ooh love the idea of the daring each other being a theme (and the hint of Zak in the background?). Reminds me of a French indie movie I once watched -- Love Me if you Dare -- which would probably remind me of pilots if I watched it again now.

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Heh thanks! Some are only v. loosely based on the prompts I'm afraid but was a fun challenge.

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rdave1.livejournal.com

I love this. Pilots daring each other back and forth with appereances by Zak and Helo. Well done!

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rdave1.livejournal.com

What a great story! I agree it's an interesting combination of prompts but you've made them work so flawlessly. Wonderful job!

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Thanks lady! Leoben was such a stretch, lol, but I was amused that it's a real place with something actually called THE JUSTICE CENTER! ;)

Oops! Just realized I cut the bit out of the drabble that said "Lee takes a job at the Leoben Justice Center" in favor of more schmoopiness. Woops!

Edited Date: 2012-05-04 01:50 pm (UTC)

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n-e-star.livejournal.com

Reminds me of a French indie movie I once watched -- Love Me if you Dare

Oh, I remember that movie. Oh god, it was hot and messed up - when she dared him to stay away from her... Yeah, that has pilots written all over it.

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Doesn't it!? I'm afraid to rewatch because I'll probably just want to write another damn crossover. LOL. (Who knew it was a young Marion Cotillard in that too?!)

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I love how you weaved the theme of the dare into each of the prompts, very clever. Lee daring Kara to stay is especially sweet. :)

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I love how this story unfolds, sweet and unexpected. Your use of Leoben was inspired. :D

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Ha ha! Thanks! "I was like I don't even want to consider the actual Leoben intruding on this happy atmosphere. I SHALL GOOGLE IT. There has to be something else somewhere called Leoben." The fact that it was on a RIVER and had a JUSTICE CENTER. Cracked me up. ;)

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Loved the constant daring. It seems so fitting. It's also great to avoid the angst for a change. lol.

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It seems everybody decided to go angst-free today for a change. Young pilots facing the world and starting anew together. What's not to like, right? Very clever use of the prompts, by the way, especially "Leoben". :)

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Hee thanks bb. All I want is to get super shmoopy with them lately. IDEK. I'm writing baby fic bingos?! WHAT IS THIS?

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And here I was thinking you'd made it up. lol Austria and google are ever helpful. :D

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Whatever this is, keep doing it! Everyoned deserves a break now and then. Why not pilots? :) *gently nudges you to go on*

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Hee. I'm already one drabble into the next one and I have a theme/plan. ;) BETTER THAN THE CYLONS!

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Go girl!!!!
Show those toaster how it's done! *cheers like crazy*

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Thanks! I love my bit players :)

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Glad you liked it! <3

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Thank you! They do tend to need a little push ;)

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rayruz.livejournal.com

*SMOOOOOOSH*

You know I love little pilot families.... so much cute and so much... just... happy...smoosh.

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Oooh, I love the running theme of dares, and it makes everything just so much hotter because that's the only way they really know of admitting that one of them wants the other to make a move. And the last three drabbles are pure hotness, pilots dancing are always nuclear levels of sexy.

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UNFFF these are so deliciously angsty. Love them, especially #1 (which surprises me, since babyfic is not usually a thing I like - it works here because you have them dealing with so much other crap and focusing on each other and not just the baby). And I love that Kara refuses to get married but sticks 'Adama' on the kid's birth certificate anyway.

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Thanks! I don't know what kind of shmooptastic headspace I am in lately because I just want to write all these fics of them being all domestic and cute. <3

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lol they would be super cute in domestic mode, I just imagine them as their S1-early S2 selves with the joking and tag-teaming on things. And I'm sure there would be water fights involved too. I can get behind water fights....

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I've been in such a mooshy pilot!brain place lately! <3

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rayruz.livejournal.com

I APPROVE OF MUSHBRAIN IF IT GIVES ME PILOTFAMILIES. I WANT MORE TARA. I AM GREEDY.

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onlyariana.livejournal.com

I see in another comment you said you took out some detail in favor of more schmoopiness. I heartily approve! Sometimes it's nice for everything to work out happily ever after. That's the reward for the angst. Loved this.

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