BSG Fic : Long Time Coming (7/17)
Title : Long Time Coming
Author : Helen C.
Rating : PG-13
Summary : It was the only visible scar still left over by Baltar's trial, now that President Roslin was dead; Apollo's absence and the Admiral's obvious weariness.
Fandom : BSG
Spoilers : Everything aired so far is fair game.
Disclaimer : The characters and the universe were created and are owned by Ronald D. Moore and Universal Television Studios to name but a few. No money is being made. No copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
AN. Goes AU between the verdict and the Cylon attack in Crossroads II.
AN2. Eternal gratitude to joey51 for beta'ing this! As usual, I tinkered. All remaining mistakes are mine.
Chapter Six
Three months ago
"Oh, please!"
Sam was laughing too hard to heed Scott's protests. So were the rest of them.
"I'm telling you, it was totally innocent," Scott insisted.
"Sure," Lee said amicably. "You ended up on your knees in front of her, her skirt over your head, totally innocently. Right."
The sad thing was, Scott was probably sincere. It was just the kind of thing that constantly happened to him. He called women, "Mister," and men, "Miss," he tripped over his own feet and he found himself in impossibly embarrassing situations without having looked for it.
Lee wasn't far from feeling sorry for him.
"Whatever," Scott said, going back to his drink. Whether he was pouting or enjoying the fact that he was the center of attention was hard to tell.
They had all gathered to celebrate Nate's birthday. Once upon a time, they would have shared a nice meal between friends, but sharing rations was just too depressing. These days, it was easier to get alcohol than food, so they were drinking instead. No one complained but Lee sometimes wondered if their social alcoholism would ever become a problem.
Yet another leftover from his childhood he'd prefer to do without but he couldn't ignore the fact that his mother had been an alcoholic, not with two kids depending on him. He would not become like her, he vowed again.
"Much as I enjoy watching Scott squirm," Nate said, smiling when Scott glared at him, "Have you heard that the Captain has decided to ask for a doctor to be assigned on board permanently?"
"Yes," Lee replied, at the same time Sam said, "Oh, no, we said no serious conversations tonight!"
Nate mock snapped a salute, Lee asked, "So, we should torture Scott some more?" and Scott turned bright red.
"Ah ah!" Charlie exclaimed. "I knew you were hiding something!"
"I'm not hiding anything!" Scott protested, too eager to be honest. Sam and Charlie, sensing a weakness, started grilling him without remorse while Nate, Romo and Lee sat back to enjoy the show.
"This is nice," Nate offered, his voice too low for the women to hear.
Lee nodded. Things had been fairly grim recently, between the constant threats of sabotage and the Cylon attacks. It was nice to sit back and have fun, even if it was only for a while.
"I can't believe you actually trusted someone else to stay with your kids," Nate added.
"Sandra isn't just someone else," Lee pointed out. They rarely saw her, since she was busy raising her own children, but she was still someone he trusted-at least enough to go a few decks away for a few hours, leaving her in charge of his kids.
Besides, contrary to what his friends often insinuated, Lee wasn't a total whack job when it came to Mark and Laura's safety. It wasn't his fault if he knew precisely how hard things could be, how fragile life was. He just reacted to the situation they were in, that was all.
He and Sam had had a lot of talks, recently-between themselves and with the kids, elaborating plans and making sure the kids knew what to do in case of an emergency. He felt slightly better now that it was done.
He smiled, raised his glass. "We weren't going to miss your birthday. A year older. A year wiser…"
"Ah, my child, I could teach you so much," Nate said dramatically. "And maybe, one day, I will. My wisdom should be shared."
"I can't wait," Lee said, his tone sarcastic. Nate never failed to go for the dramatic, when it suited him. "Are you working on something, by the way?"
"I thought your wife said nothing serious."
Lee shrugged, gesturing to Sam and Charlie, still busy questioning Scott. "She's otherwise busy."
"And inquiring minds want to know," Romo threw in.
Nate studied them both before shaking his head. "Not now," he said. "I'm working on something, but I can't say until I'm sure…"
Well, that was cryptic, Lee thought. As he was about to insist, Nate asked, "How is Mark settling in?"
Okay, that settled it, then. It was about as unsubtle as Nate ever was when trying to divert attention from himself, and Lee knew better than to push when he was like that. "He's not complaining. I'm not sure he would if something wasn't right, though." Both he and Sam found it difficult to be parents to Mark without taking the place of his own parents; it had taken them a long time to start defining the boundaries of their relationship, and they were still mostly playing it by ear.
"He's a tough kid," Nate observed.
Lee didn't disagree, but tough or not, Mark was only ten and had lost his parents recently. Neither Lee nor Sam expected him to just get over it and move on. Mark was way too quiet, too accepting, and spending half of his childhood on a ship fleeing the Cylons might have something to do with it, but it wasn't the only explanation.
Sometimes, Lee looked at that kid, staring down, lost in his thoughts, and wondered if he would ever be able to trust anyone not to leave again. Lee had always found it hard to trust, even as a kid, and while the conditions hadn't been ideal, at least both of his parents had been alive.
Scott was spluttering over a question Sam had asked him and Nate turned in their direction to catch what was going on. Romo leaned in to ask, "Have you heard from your father?"
Lee shook his head, trying to hide how affected he was by that. "I sent him a note after we adopted Mark. He hasn't replied yet."
"I did not sleep with that guy!" Scott squealed, before Romo could answer. Scott had always had an innate talent to blurt out things like this, usually during a lull in the conversation, when things were quieter and everyone was sure to hear him. Several people, including the man he was looking at, turned to their table. Lee started to laugh with the others and even Romo kind of smiled-which, for him, was the sign that he was enjoying himself greatly.
"How long do you think they're going to keep torturing him?" Lee asked.
"All night if we don't put a stop to it," Nate replied, his voice barely above a whisper.
"Should we-?"
"No!" both his friends yelled in unison.
Yeah, Lee thought. As long as the girls focused on Scott, they weren't grilling the rest of them. Keeping quiet was definitely the way to go here.
So, Lee sat back, nursed his drink and smiled at the sight of his friend trying to pretend he wasn't blushing to the roots of his hair.
This was going to be a good night.
Chapter 7
(In case you were wondering, we have another (short) chapter set in the past to go, then we'll go back to Bill and his surprise visitors.)
Author : Helen C.
Rating : PG-13
Summary : It was the only visible scar still left over by Baltar's trial, now that President Roslin was dead; Apollo's absence and the Admiral's obvious weariness.
Fandom : BSG
Spoilers : Everything aired so far is fair game.
Disclaimer : The characters and the universe were created and are owned by Ronald D. Moore and Universal Television Studios to name but a few. No money is being made. No copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
AN. Goes AU between the verdict and the Cylon attack in Crossroads II.
AN2. Eternal gratitude to joey51 for beta'ing this! As usual, I tinkered. All remaining mistakes are mine.
Chapter Six
Three months ago
"Oh, please!"
Sam was laughing too hard to heed Scott's protests. So were the rest of them.
"I'm telling you, it was totally innocent," Scott insisted.
"Sure," Lee said amicably. "You ended up on your knees in front of her, her skirt over your head, totally innocently. Right."
The sad thing was, Scott was probably sincere. It was just the kind of thing that constantly happened to him. He called women, "Mister," and men, "Miss," he tripped over his own feet and he found himself in impossibly embarrassing situations without having looked for it.
Lee wasn't far from feeling sorry for him.
"Whatever," Scott said, going back to his drink. Whether he was pouting or enjoying the fact that he was the center of attention was hard to tell.
They had all gathered to celebrate Nate's birthday. Once upon a time, they would have shared a nice meal between friends, but sharing rations was just too depressing. These days, it was easier to get alcohol than food, so they were drinking instead. No one complained but Lee sometimes wondered if their social alcoholism would ever become a problem.
Yet another leftover from his childhood he'd prefer to do without but he couldn't ignore the fact that his mother had been an alcoholic, not with two kids depending on him. He would not become like her, he vowed again.
"Much as I enjoy watching Scott squirm," Nate said, smiling when Scott glared at him, "Have you heard that the Captain has decided to ask for a doctor to be assigned on board permanently?"
"Yes," Lee replied, at the same time Sam said, "Oh, no, we said no serious conversations tonight!"
Nate mock snapped a salute, Lee asked, "So, we should torture Scott some more?" and Scott turned bright red.
"Ah ah!" Charlie exclaimed. "I knew you were hiding something!"
"I'm not hiding anything!" Scott protested, too eager to be honest. Sam and Charlie, sensing a weakness, started grilling him without remorse while Nate, Romo and Lee sat back to enjoy the show.
"This is nice," Nate offered, his voice too low for the women to hear.
Lee nodded. Things had been fairly grim recently, between the constant threats of sabotage and the Cylon attacks. It was nice to sit back and have fun, even if it was only for a while.
"I can't believe you actually trusted someone else to stay with your kids," Nate added.
"Sandra isn't just someone else," Lee pointed out. They rarely saw her, since she was busy raising her own children, but she was still someone he trusted-at least enough to go a few decks away for a few hours, leaving her in charge of his kids.
Besides, contrary to what his friends often insinuated, Lee wasn't a total whack job when it came to Mark and Laura's safety. It wasn't his fault if he knew precisely how hard things could be, how fragile life was. He just reacted to the situation they were in, that was all.
He and Sam had had a lot of talks, recently-between themselves and with the kids, elaborating plans and making sure the kids knew what to do in case of an emergency. He felt slightly better now that it was done.
He smiled, raised his glass. "We weren't going to miss your birthday. A year older. A year wiser…"
"Ah, my child, I could teach you so much," Nate said dramatically. "And maybe, one day, I will. My wisdom should be shared."
"I can't wait," Lee said, his tone sarcastic. Nate never failed to go for the dramatic, when it suited him. "Are you working on something, by the way?"
"I thought your wife said nothing serious."
Lee shrugged, gesturing to Sam and Charlie, still busy questioning Scott. "She's otherwise busy."
"And inquiring minds want to know," Romo threw in.
Nate studied them both before shaking his head. "Not now," he said. "I'm working on something, but I can't say until I'm sure…"
Well, that was cryptic, Lee thought. As he was about to insist, Nate asked, "How is Mark settling in?"
Okay, that settled it, then. It was about as unsubtle as Nate ever was when trying to divert attention from himself, and Lee knew better than to push when he was like that. "He's not complaining. I'm not sure he would if something wasn't right, though." Both he and Sam found it difficult to be parents to Mark without taking the place of his own parents; it had taken them a long time to start defining the boundaries of their relationship, and they were still mostly playing it by ear.
"He's a tough kid," Nate observed.
Lee didn't disagree, but tough or not, Mark was only ten and had lost his parents recently. Neither Lee nor Sam expected him to just get over it and move on. Mark was way too quiet, too accepting, and spending half of his childhood on a ship fleeing the Cylons might have something to do with it, but it wasn't the only explanation.
Sometimes, Lee looked at that kid, staring down, lost in his thoughts, and wondered if he would ever be able to trust anyone not to leave again. Lee had always found it hard to trust, even as a kid, and while the conditions hadn't been ideal, at least both of his parents had been alive.
Scott was spluttering over a question Sam had asked him and Nate turned in their direction to catch what was going on. Romo leaned in to ask, "Have you heard from your father?"
Lee shook his head, trying to hide how affected he was by that. "I sent him a note after we adopted Mark. He hasn't replied yet."
"I did not sleep with that guy!" Scott squealed, before Romo could answer. Scott had always had an innate talent to blurt out things like this, usually during a lull in the conversation, when things were quieter and everyone was sure to hear him. Several people, including the man he was looking at, turned to their table. Lee started to laugh with the others and even Romo kind of smiled-which, for him, was the sign that he was enjoying himself greatly.
"How long do you think they're going to keep torturing him?" Lee asked.
"All night if we don't put a stop to it," Nate replied, his voice barely above a whisper.
"Should we-?"
"No!" both his friends yelled in unison.
Yeah, Lee thought. As long as the girls focused on Scott, they weren't grilling the rest of them. Keeping quiet was definitely the way to go here.
So, Lee sat back, nursed his drink and smiled at the sight of his friend trying to pretend he wasn't blushing to the roots of his hair.
This was going to be a good night.
Chapter 7
(In case you were wondering, we have another (short) chapter set in the past to go, then we'll go back to Bill and his surprise visitors.)