Chapter Text
Kara Thrace was impenetrable to charm and seduction. Lee had witnessed a thousand men fail to realize, going down in almost literal flames as she lit them up with insults and disdain. Flattery would get his arms and legs blown off with Kara. She did not believe in being swept off her feet by anything but a Viper.
He could give her his Mark VII Viper, fixed up to a showroom gleam on the nose and all the modern perks of the last state-of-the-art fighter jet in existence. Lee wouldn't miss it that much. He'd get to see it and how happy Kara was flying it. But then she would probably pour all her affection into the plane and he'd get a lot of smiles and nothing else. Or her love for her trusty Mark II might translate somehow to offense, and she'd keep both Vipers as his penance.
He started to think about what he had that no one else could offer. Helo was her best friend. Nothing else explained her support of the man who regularly visited the brig to see his Cylon girlfriend. Kara knew and liked a lot of people. She was very winning at times. She could also freeze out everyone and function coldly in her loneliness. Lee didn't want to be her family. They weren't siblings or comrades in arms.
When it sifted down to basics, his obsessive love was the unique offering he could throw at her feet. He had unconditional love for her that beggared belief. There was nothing she could do to break him from the urge to see her as much and as long as possible every day for the rest of his life
He was the CAG. He addressed the pilots several times a day. It would be simple to slip a personal message at the end of the morning briefing. In the pilot's ready room, he was Apollo and she was Starbuck. With both of them around, sometimes the craziest plans had extraordinarily unlikely success.
"We're running what's become typical patrols lately. We have no pilots down and we have promising trainees working their way up," Lee said, cluing up his remarks. "Don't let yourselves get sloppy. Stay with your wingman. Watch out for each other and remember it only takes one second to lose control of the situation."
Kara gave a little nudge across her armrest to get Helo's attention. Lee looked at her and smiled gently instead of chiding her. "Kara, I've been in love with you since I met you, and I don't think that will ever change. Good hunting!"
Lee had felt his face heating up as he rushed to the end. He hadn't exactly been able to land on his feet and smoothly exit the room. Still, he made the door before the pilots could react much and he'd decided it didn't matter what they thought. Kara had frozen in silence, her mouth dropped slightly open.
He'd turned into the maneuver and now he had to uphold his speed if he was going to survive.
"Uh-hah, haw!" Kara didn't laugh but she tried for one anyway. Everyone was turning to look at her. She made a face and shrugged. "Yeah, I think the CAG might have had a breakfast meeting at CIC and ended up with the XO's coffee. Hey, you guys wanna let me out? First CAP is mine."
The pilots mumbled and milled around, casting glances as she dragged Helo with her. The tall man was grinning stupidly and she punched his arm as soon as they were out of sight of the others.
"Did he lose a bet? Did you two decide to mess with me?!"
"I had nothing to do with it," Karl said. "I think he meant it, Kara. I mean, he's in love with you, so I guess . . . It was a grand romantic gesture?"
"What?" She flicked untidy bits of hair behind her ear, and scowled at him.
"Well, it was a moderate gesture and about as romantic as you'd appreciate in public. I can't actually decide if it was lame or pretty ballsy. It would have been better if he hadn't run away at the end, but you can't blame a guy for trying?"
Kara started walking quickly to the flight deck. "Helo, how long have you known me?"
He gave a grin, but his eyes were solemn. "Long enough to believe you might break Lee's nose for embarrassing you on purpose. Too long not to figure you'll be nicer to him than if Hot Dog tried to profess his love at a briefing."
She shuddered, probably thinking of the awkwardness of having nuggets randomly put up their hands in class to compliment the teacher.
"Come on, Starbuck, if you can just get to your bird you can shoot anybody trying to make kissy face at you," Helo said lightly. He thumped her on the back and tugged playfully at her Viper patch. "Don't flay Lee alive before you talk to him, okay? Maybe it's the only way he could get it done."