DPP: The Aftermath

[callmeonetrack.livejournal.com]

A question today: if after their night on New Caprica, Kara hadn't been able to muster out AND she and Lee had to go on to work very closely together (let's say oblivious Bill made her Lee's XO on the Pegasus) in a work partnership capacity (similar to as they had been as CAG and flight instructor/squadron leader)....what do you think that might have changed?

Would the fallout have been worse or better or about the same? They wouldn't have had the chance to miss each other, but the daily demands of working together, of planning things and commiserating about staff and issues--do you think that would make them quicker or slower to reconcile?

How would their marriages (or not, maybe neither got married in this scenario--or maybe only Kara did?) change this?

(As always, feel free to answer with meta, discussion, fics, graphics, questions, etc.)

Comments

[embolalia.livejournal.com]

Ooh, interesting! Well, Kara would have already been married to Sam, and Lee maybe engaged to Dee. But I think actually having her nearby would have kept Lee from internalizing the situation so much. He'd have been angry and in her face - with good reason - and I imagine that Kara, still in love with him and forced to see his pain, would have struggled with her choice more than she did on NC. I think seeing Lee's emotions on the surface would have kept Dee from marrying him, but would Kara and Sam have broken up? That part I'm not sure of. She was pretty sober when she made her decision, and when she made it she had no idea if she could muster out or not.

[n-e-star.livejournal.com]

Yeah, all that ::points up:: me too.


I also think that there still would have been a UB type physical fight/cleansing but it would have been much more privet.


but would Kara and Sam have broken up?
In a world were the writers had let Sam be an awesome, ass-kicking, resistance leader and not just Mr. Kara Thrace; I think he would have called bullshit and filed for divorce.

(Yes, I have all the feelings about Sam. Poor little woobie was the second guy to get thrown under the bus as a way to keep K&L apart.)

[onlyariana.livejournal.com]

Hmmm, what I'm wondering is if Sam will still settle on planet or in a fit of conjugal bliss move to Pegasus. What if it was like post New Cap when Kara and Sam only got together to have sex and otherwise lived apart? If Sam and Dee were both somewhere else I think K & L would at times fall into a comfortable camaraderie. Probably in in fits and starts like laughing together at something and then taking a huge step back because they remember. I can see them repairing their friendship in just a few months. Not sure how long it would take for them to go beyond that.

[callmeonetrack.livejournal.com]

I could see that too! And what if she found out about Sam being a cylon during this period? See my comment to Kate below... that could be very intriguing.

[plaid-slytherin.livejournal.com]

let's say oblivious Bill made her Lee's XO on the Pegasus

I want to love this idea so much and write that AU (obviously I have a thing for Commander/XO pairings) I worry that we'd just get what was going on on the algae planet. Because Kara would still be married, and while maybe Lee wouldn't be, it was almost like he wasn't... although, if the issue was that he wouldn't cheat and she wouldn't divorce but would happily cheat, so maybe they would just be cheating which isn't the best...

Plus if Kara wasn't ON NC and Sam was, I can see her going back to him after the rescue because she'd have been worried about him?

I think I broke it.

[callmeonetrack.livejournal.com]

I think it'd be really fun to see how Lee would react if he didn't have the constraint of a marriage/ideals he was trying to uphold. You could take him really frakking dark and him being kind of cavalier about them sleeping together (on the surface!) and not care that he's destroying her marriage or whatever.

Would he reach some point where he felt bad for Sam? Would he muse on the fact that as the Pegasus commander he's supposed to be someone his crew can look up to, but personally he's kind of a mess?

And would Sam die on NC from pneumonia without Kara there?

[kdbleu.livejournal.com]

I could certainly see Kara trying to go back to Sam after the rescue. Her sense of guilt and obligation are very strong. And I could see Lee trying to go back to a more structured chain of command during and after the exodus from New Caprica. But I could also see Sam (assuming he didn't die of pneumonia) stepping back from his relationship with Kara like he does in TaB. It's a terribly interesting scenario to think about.

[kdbleu.livejournal.com]

OMGs, Lee would be so mad to get stuck with Kara as his XO instead of Dee. And I love it!

Really I can just picture Lee stomping around being mean to Kara for no apparent reason, and Kara trying to keep up a relationship with Sam. I do imagine that she would have still married him, but he would be on the surface and Kara on Pegasus. I don't think that Lee and Dee would have ended up marrying, although they might have stuck it out for a while.

The return of the cylons would have been the big turning point in Kara and Lee's relationship. Suddenly having to really work together instead of being petty and hurt and mean. Making the aftermath of the exodus just as changed but in a totally different way for Kara and Lee.

[callmeonetrack.livejournal.com]

The return of the cylons would have been the big turning point in Kara and Lee's relationship. Suddenly having to really work together instead of being petty and hurt and mean. Making the aftermath of the exodus just as changed but in a totally different way for Kara and Lee.

I could see that. That they get closer emotionally as they slowly strategize and try to figure out how to pull off a rescue over the course of several months, and as they fall back into their old rhythms, they physically get closer too maybe. But they both hold back because of various reasons, including Kara being married to a Sam stuck on the ground.

(ooh and then imagine if as part of the exodus or during the cylon occupation the final five were discovered? And the cylons protected them on New Caprica but they get rescued with the humans in the confusion and then Kara finds out Sam's a cylon. That could be very interesting. I have a hard time believing she'd stay with him if she found out he was cylon before she herself died/went into Maelstrom.)

[kdbleu.livejournal.com]

as they fall back into their old rhythms, they physically get closer too maybe. But they both hold back because of various reasons, including Kara being married to a Sam stuck on the ground.

What if Kara thinks Sam has died from his pneumonia which leads to her suggesting that they should sacrifice the Pegasus, and she'll go down with the ship. But Lee puts up a fight and they end up sleeping together - something really emotionally charged but it causes Kara to rethink dying with the Pegasus and she pops back up in the mess after the exodus.

Add that to the idea that the Final Five are revealed in the fight for New Caprica, which I love, btw. I agree that Kara would have a really hard time Sam being revealed as a cylon before she went into the Maelstrom.


I am so loving this idea. :D

[callmeonetrack.livejournal.com]

Kara's gonna sacrifice her ship and her on it because Sam died? Really?

IDK maybe I'm just a skeptic but she seems a bit too pragmatic to me for that.

[kdbleu.livejournal.com]

I was thinking less dramatic and more, "someone has to do it so it might as well be me," but it does seem a bit over the top. It might work better with the rolls reversed, maybe? If Kara thought both Sam and Lee were dead, but they both end up back in her life.

[callmeonetrack.livejournal.com]

I think if you kept it really background and part of a sliding scale of guilt and depression maybe? Like if she felt like this was the only way the fleet would survive and her life wasn't worth much anyway, and she'd fucked everything up with both of them...

[kdbleu.livejournal.com]

That was more what I was thinking, more feeling futile and like she should have been on the planet instead so going down with the Pegasus becomes her last shot at being useful. It feels like a hard sell though if she's part of planning the rescue mission. hmm...

[callmeonetrack.livejournal.com]

There'd have to be a last minute development I guess where it seemed like a person would be required to navigate Pegasus?

And then...another where they come up with a plan that doesn't require a person/her sacrifice.

A little bit Razor. A little bit the aborted plot idea for Maelstrom (where she volunteered to sacrifice herself so Lee could live but he came up with plan to save them both.)

[kdbleu.livejournal.com]

A little bit Razor. A little bit the aborted plot idea for Maelstrom (where she volunteered to sacrifice herself so Lee could live but he came up with plan to save them both.)

This is a perfect explanation! :D

[winegums.livejournal.com]

Can I just say how much I love this entire discussion? (and how much I wish THIS was canon *sobs*

[ddt73.livejournal.com]

I think in this scenario the both wind up getting married. Seems Lee gets married pretty quickly after this. Not sure Kara being on the Pegasus would have happened.

Her being the XO would have happened, since Helo was Lee's XO, and Kara outranks him. I kind of assume, if Kara had to stay then Tigh would have as well. If Tigh mustered out and she didn't then in that scenario maybe she would have been XO on Galactica? But I'll go with her being XO on Peggy for obvious reasons.

Not sure what the ultimate result would be, but it would be a combustible situation. I think Dee would have found out pretty quickly what happened on NC in this scenario as I don't think L&K would have controlled their raw emotions around each other for long.

Come to think of it, maybe neither gets married, if Kara is forced to stay in service, then would Sam have wanted to be married in that scenario. It made sense when they were going to live together on NC. Would he sill marry her? Would Sam go to Peggy too, or stay on NC?

If Sam and Kara didn't get married cause he didn't want to stay on Peggy and she couldn't stay on NC, that would be a much different scenario then if as in cannon if both L&D and K&S got married. The newlywed period would be vastly different if L&K had to work together on daily basis. At best that's one minor misstep by Lee or Kara to start a powder keg of drama. It would be nigh impossible for them to control their emotions without distance and being reminded on a daily basis what happened.

The result of it all could be anything depending how it plays out. Depending when and where the inevitable fight happens.

[callmeonetrack.livejournal.com]

So many intriguing possibilities... ;)

[bristow1941.livejournal.com]

I think Dee in this scenario would have walked away. There's no way anyone would have missed what was going and I wonder if even Sam would have heard enough gossip that he would tell Kara that he didn't want to be in the middle anymore. Even Dee would not have put up with the public humiliation of being the sloppy seconds if Kara was on board, outranking her, AND being her boss in the CIC!

Our pilots are definitely not quiet or subtle about their issues and I doubt anyone on Pegasus would be in the dark about their being something personal between them after a mere 24 hours!

I could see Bill being super stubborn and refusing to let either of them transfer despite major fireworks. He would definitely tell them to act like officers and stop dishonoring the uniforms with their personal issues.

I love Lee as a Commander so this would have been SO SO awesome... Anyone have fic recs along these lines? I totally feel like I've read a take or two on this.

[damao2010.livejournal.com]

Oh, so much food for thought here...

First of all I think Dee wouldn't have married him. I mean, yes, she knew she was second choice (she was clearer about it than he was, as a matter of fact) and she seemed OK with that. But it's one thing to go into such a relationship when you think the "other" woman is going to be out of the picture and when you can delude yourself into thinking that with enought time and effort things will change. It's quite another when the "other" is on your face 24/7. And Lee certainly wouldn't be indifferent to that. I see lots and lots of anger. Too hard to ignore the elephant in the room when you keep bumping on it and witnessing it scream and fight and sigh and ogle and long ...

I'd like to especulate more, but I should really be working. RL is being sort of a bitch right now. :(

[winegums.livejournal.com]

But it's one thing to go into such a relationship when you think the "other" woman is going to be out of the picture a............it's quite another when the "other" is on your face 24/7. And Lee certainly wouldn't be indifferent to that.

Oh, no, he wouldn't. I can see lots of suppressed anger, them needling each other, endless personal space invasions....and would Dee even want to stick around to observe any of it, forget about marrying Lee under those circumstances? I can very well see UB happening several months earlier than it actually did, if that were the case.

(but if Sam still had pneumonia/nearly died down on the surface/the Cylons came along, might Kara go back to him out of guilt the way Lee did with Dee post-EoJ Raptor rescue? Hmmmm.)

[kdbleu.livejournal.com]

(but if Sam still had pneumonia/nearly died down on the surface/the Cylons came along, might Kara go back to him out of guilt the way Lee did with Dee post-EoJ Raptor rescue? Hmmmm.)

While you could end up with a situation between Kara and Sam that mimics Lee's return to Dee after the raptor rescue if Sam had lived, if he had died you could use Sam's death to eventually intensify the relationship between Lee and Kara. Because I do think Sam's death would likely first cause Kara to pull away sharply. But you could also play so much more with the idea of Sam as a cylon and what that would mean to Kara and her relationship with Lee.