Fic: 'Spiraling Down'
I've been working on this for a while now and I feel I should warn everyone that it deals with some rather uncomfortable situations so if you don't want to read anything like that don't read this. There's a bit more of an explanation under the cut.
Update: Seriously, could I be anymore melodramatic? Probably but that's neither here nor there. I still stand by my warning but upon rereading the above...well, I tend to get a bit dramatic when I'm exhausted.
Title: Spiraling Down
Author: Katie
Rating: NC-17
Pairing: Kara/Lee
Title: Spiraling Down
Author: Katie
Rating: NC-17
Pairing: Kara/Lee
Spoilers: I’ve placed this around the time of ‘Unfinished Business’ but it’s AU.
Disclaimer: Lee Adama, Kara Thrace and Battlestar Galactica are the property of Ronald T. Moore, Sci-Fi Channel and others. They do not belong to me despite the way I’ve just abused them.
A/N: I’m of the mind that if I have to write an explanation or a lengthy author’s note then I have not done my job as a writer. However, this is a very dark fic and things happen in it that may make some people uncomfortable. That said I don’t think the underlying emotion is that far off from Lee at his darkest moments. I would understand if you don’t like it and completely respect that. I almost didn’t post it for fear of the reaction I might get. All that said I wrote it and so I might as well post it. I’ve sat on it long enough and no amount of obsessive tweaking is going to really change it at this point.
Spiraling Down
It starts the day Lee gets his divorce papers but he and Kara have been moving towards this for a while now. In between the kisses and the rejection Lee feels his heartbreak, feels himself shutting down, feels his anger solidify into rage so strong it’s the only thing he feels.
Kara might refuse to leave Sam but Lee has no such trouble with Dee. He can barely look at Dee let alone be in her presence, pretend to be happy with a wife he’s starting to hate. Freeing Dee is the last decent thing Lee does before signing his divorce papers. Because once he signs those papers Lee Adama stops pretending.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
They circle each other, trading blows. Every blow he lands fills Lee with an odd sense of relief as if he’s purging his growing anger with each hit to Kara’s body. His hits become stronger, more precise till he finally gives up all pretense of sparing and lands a blow to her face. Kara’s surprised but not deterred and she goes to strike back but Lee’s too quick, too angry and his next blow draws blood. The feeling of joy is profound, as if her blood is a balm for his wounded soul. The feeling only lasts for a moment before he can feel the anger welling back up inside him.
There’s blood trailing down her lip as Kara storms out of the gym, ripping her wraps off as she goes. He follows her into the head, dogging the hatch behind him. Her face in the mirror is enraged and bloody and Lee thinks it’s the most beautiful thing he’s ever seen.
He walks up behind her, yanks her head back by her hair and kisses her. Lee tastes her blood and wants to gorge on it. His hand moves down her hip till he’s cupping her through her shorts. Kara tries to pull away, grabs at his hair trying to yank him away but he just rubs harder till she’s gasping and moving with him.
The counter is the perfect height and he shoves her face first on it before ripping her shorts and underwear down. She looks back at him shocked and still furious but a bit desperate too. Lee’s out of his shorts and into her before he can think that this is not a healthy way to deal with the rage burning inside him.
But since when have they ever been healthy?
He doesn’t care that she might not be ready for him, doesn’t care that he’s thrusting so brutally, that her hips are hitting the counter so violently. All he cares about is consuming her, controlling her, making her feel everything that’s welling up inside him.
The reflection in the mirror is someone he doesn’t recognize but he catches Kara’s gaze in the mirror, eyes filled with anger and want and that, that he recognizes. When Lee comes there’s nothing but relief and pleasure and he has never felt so free in his life. He collapses on top of her, not caring that she’s limp beneath him.
The relief is short lived. When Lee catches his breath and looks down at Kara all his anger and hate resurface. He does up his shorts and walks out of the head without giving her a second glance.
Lee hopes she hates him as much as he hates her.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Despite the variety of emotions raging inside him Lee is still the perfect CAG. His rosters, his uniform, his public behavior are all still the model of military perfection. No one would know that he’s rotting away from the inside out. Not even his father who, after yet another pointless meeting asks Lee if he’s noticed anything wrong with Kara lately. It takes all of Lee’s self control not to yell at his father and ask him why, why he can notice when Kara seems to be in agony but can never see Lee’s pain. But then Lee resigned himself to being second in his father’s affections long ago. Its just one more thing Lee swallows down and buries deep, saving it for another time, another form of release.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
She doesn’t look at him during the morning briefing, just stares over his shoulder. But she’s still the last to leave. He follows her out and when the throng of people in the corridor thins a bit he grabs her by the elbow and throws her into the nearest room. It’s an empty supply closet with a few tables and random pieces of equipment. It’ll do.
He’s got her pinned to the wall, staring at her. He was wrong yesterday because this, this is the most beautiful thing in the world: Kara’s face wearing his bruises, reds and yellows and lilac that will turn dark and green and beautiful.
He has to kiss her, shoves his tongue in her mouth not caring that she’s not kissing him back just keeps plundering her mouth with his tongue as his hands start ripping her pants open and shoving them down her hips.
He spins and pushes her onto one of the tables. He’s busy pulling her boots and pants off when she tries to fight back, tries to get away. But Lee pushes her back down, wraps a hand around her delicate throat, clenching just enough for her to notice. She stops squirming after that. He doesn’t even remove his pants, opens them just enough to free himself.
He didn’t ask and she didn’t consent but Kara just hitched her leg higher, her eyes edging him on, her struggle just for show. He pounds into her, hard and unforgiving. He can’t take his eyes off her face, her lovely face that wears his bruises. Her eyes are hard and furious and begging him to keep going; she’s biting her lip to keep from making any noise but when she comes she screams his name, digging her nails into the hand around her throat drawing blood. Lee feels his skin break, feels the sting and pain as it blossoms into relief. He comes so hard he only sees stars.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
He says the most horrible hateful vile things to her, things he didn’t know he was capable of thinking; things that no one should say to another human being, especially one they love. He says all these things to her and she never fights back. It seems a bit strange until he realizes that the more horrible the things he says to her, the harder she comes. So he lets words and phrases trip off his tongue until she’s bucking and screaming and coming as he fraks her mercilessly.
He knows, he knows he should just shut up and frak her, knows that the moment his sanity returns all his horrible words will come back to haunt him. But fraking Kara to within in inch of her life seems to be the only way he can purge himself of the anger he feels these days; anger at his father, anger at Roslyn, anger over his shattered marriage, over the loss of his ideals. But mostly he’s angry over her.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
They’re remarkably discreet. If anyone notices that they barely speak, that they don’t look each other in the eye, that they don’t touch anymore, if anyone notices that they’re each wearing a few more bruises than usual no one says anything. They’re ApolloandStarbuck, odd behavior and extreme moodiness are normal for them.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Kara doesn’t look at him anymore but it’s always his name she calls when he makes her come. Lee wonders if she slips up when she’s with her husband. He’s perverse and hopes that she does. He wonders if Sam cares, wonders if he’ll turn the corner one day and find Sam bearing down on him trying to reclaim his honor and his pride. Lee leaves as many bruises on her as he can, knows Sam has seen them; they’re impossible to miss. He hopes Sam comes for him because he wants desperately to pound Sam’s face in. He knows his anger is misplaced but it still doesn’t stop Lee from leaving bruises across Kara’s body and hoping for an excuse to beat the crap out of the man she refuses to leave.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
He’s got her tide up tight, arms above her head, wrists bound with the ropes he found. She’d tried to fight him, tried to roll them over so she was on top, tried to take some control back. But Lee has always been stronger and he’s been aching to use the rope on her since he found it. So when she bucked and tried to roll he had slammed her back down on the cold hard table, held her down and tied the rope tightly around her delicate wrists before anchoring it to the shelving behind them.
She’s yanking and pulling, trying to get free but the rope won’t break or the knots give. He can tell it’s hurting her, having her arms pulled so tightly. Lee doesn’t care. She bites him when he kisses her and he laughs, goes for the jugular because he can’t stop himself anymore. “Do you forget where you are when he kisses you? Does he frak you like this? Does your precious Sammy know you like it this rough? Does he Kara? Does he?”
He lifts her leg higher, hits a little deeper and revels in the moan Kara let’s slip. He’s got her right on the edge, right where he has the most power and he just can’t make himself stop.
“When was the last time he made you cum so hard you blacked out? Does he know you beg me for this?”
Another moan and Lee feels himself come to the edge ready to fall over. He thrusts a bit harder, grips a bit tighter, hoping to leave just one more bruise, one more sign that she’s his, ensuring that she doesn’t forget. He’s high on control and pleasure; they’re both so close and Lee knows just how to take them over. His words are cruel as ever, ensuring Kara’s orgasm and his relief.
“Does Sam know what a fraked up cunt you are? Because I do.”
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Lee knows the reasons she keeps coming back: Kara feels guilty for her pleasure so she takes her punishment from it. She lets him bruise her and purge his anger through her because she believes its appropriate punishment for betraying her husband, for loving Lee. He knows Kara will never admit to this but she doesn’t have to. Lee Adama knows Kara Thrace better than he knows himself. Especially right now.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
It’s been three weeks and Lee is beginning to hate himself more than he hates and loves Kara. The problem is, he’s so far gone that he doesn’t know if he can stop.
He’s hovering over Kara pounding into her, watching her. Her eyes are squeezed shut, her head is turned away from him. Her breath is uneven, coming in gasps. Lee realizes she’s crying. He’s shocked and confused until it dawns on him that he’s broken her. Lee Adama has done what no one has been able to do: he’s broken Kara Thrace.
In that instant all the rage, all the anger, all the confusion and pain and heartbreak are gone. He’s hit bottom and all those emotions have nowhere to go, can do nothing more to him because they’ve dragged him down as far as he can go.
He looks at her, really looks at her, sees the bruises he’s left on her, sees his pain written on her body and for the first time Lee is horrified by what he’s done. He’s disgusted and ashamed and hates what he’s become. He knows this has to stop; he has to stop before he kills her and destroys himself.
Gently he forces Kara to meet his eyes and says the most horrible thing he could possibly say to her, the one thing he knows will end this instantly.
“I love you Kara Thrace.”
Kara’s eyes go huge. She shoves Lee off of her and for the first time she’s the one fighting to leave first, she’s the one throwing her clothes on and running out the door barely dressed.
He lets her go.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
He doesn’t see her for a week, cares just enough not to obsess over it and does his best to start becoming someone he recognizes, someone he doesn’t hate.
He starts reconnecting with his pilots; ventures back into the rec room for short visits, smiles at the jokes, drinks the terrible alcohol, encourages the nuggets. He starts talking to Helo and Gaeta and even tentatively reaches out to Sharon. He has a real conversation with his father that has little to do with work and the fleet, one that doesn’t disintegrate into yelling and Lee leaves that initial conversation feeling good for the first time in nearly a month.
When he looks in the mirror now he sees someone who might not be whole but who is getting better, someone working towards forgiveness, someone worthy of living.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
It’s been a week since Lee declared his love to Kara, ending her self-flagellation and his emotional breakdown. On the eighth day Kara comes to him. He’s surprised and completely unprepared for what he’ll do or say to the woman he abused so horribly. She comes to him late at night, interrupting his paper work.
Kara stands in his quarters wearing her dress blues and looking beautiful. For the first time in a while there are no bruises on her, no swollen lips or haunted eyes. He’s staring at her, not realizing till now how much he had continually done to mare her. There’s a slight tension rolling off of her, a tiny hint of fear but Kara stands in front of him unwavering. He feels his shame flare up and it’s difficult to look her in the eye. But she’s staring at him and he can’t look away.
Lee watches Kara take a deep breath before she starts ripping at the buttons on her jacket. He’s rising from his chair trying to tell her to stop but she ignores him and continues wrestling her jacket off. What he sees takes his breath away he’s so overwhelmed by it.
Kara had her marriage tattoo removed.
He doesn’t know how she did it and he doesn’t care. He knows exactly what it means.
She’s watching him, biting her lip nervously, waiting to see what he’ll do. He wants to tell her how ashamed he is, how sorry he is, how unsure he is. He wants to tell her how much her act means to him, how humbled by it he is. All he can manage to do is whisper her name.
His voice breaks her inaction and she comes to him, stands in front of him and gently whips a tear from his check. Lee doesn’t dare move, letting her have control for the first time since he took her roughly, brutally in the gym head.
They’re both so fragile, so hesitant, afraid of spooking the other but finally finally finally she leans in and simply brushes her lips against his. He can’t stop himself from trailing his hands gently up her arms, can’t help rubbing the healing skin where her tattoo used to be. He whispers her name again, kisses her again, lifts her gently off the ground and brings her to his bed for the very first time, makes love to Kara for the first time.
He’s hardly forgiven, she’s hardly ready to trust him and they both need to learn to live again.
But it’s a start.
Fin
Update: Seriously, could I be anymore melodramatic? Probably but that's neither here nor there. I still stand by my warning but upon rereading the above...well, I tend to get a bit dramatic when I'm exhausted.
Title: Spiraling Down
Author: Katie
Rating: NC-17
Pairing: Kara/Lee
Title: Spiraling Down
Author: Katie
Rating: NC-17
Pairing: Kara/Lee
Spoilers: I’ve placed this around the time of ‘Unfinished Business’ but it’s AU.
Disclaimer: Lee Adama, Kara Thrace and Battlestar Galactica are the property of Ronald T. Moore, Sci-Fi Channel and others. They do not belong to me despite the way I’ve just abused them.
A/N: I’m of the mind that if I have to write an explanation or a lengthy author’s note then I have not done my job as a writer. However, this is a very dark fic and things happen in it that may make some people uncomfortable. That said I don’t think the underlying emotion is that far off from Lee at his darkest moments. I would understand if you don’t like it and completely respect that. I almost didn’t post it for fear of the reaction I might get. All that said I wrote it and so I might as well post it. I’ve sat on it long enough and no amount of obsessive tweaking is going to really change it at this point.
Spiraling Down
It starts the day Lee gets his divorce papers but he and Kara have been moving towards this for a while now. In between the kisses and the rejection Lee feels his heartbreak, feels himself shutting down, feels his anger solidify into rage so strong it’s the only thing he feels.
Kara might refuse to leave Sam but Lee has no such trouble with Dee. He can barely look at Dee let alone be in her presence, pretend to be happy with a wife he’s starting to hate. Freeing Dee is the last decent thing Lee does before signing his divorce papers. Because once he signs those papers Lee Adama stops pretending.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
They circle each other, trading blows. Every blow he lands fills Lee with an odd sense of relief as if he’s purging his growing anger with each hit to Kara’s body. His hits become stronger, more precise till he finally gives up all pretense of sparing and lands a blow to her face. Kara’s surprised but not deterred and she goes to strike back but Lee’s too quick, too angry and his next blow draws blood. The feeling of joy is profound, as if her blood is a balm for his wounded soul. The feeling only lasts for a moment before he can feel the anger welling back up inside him.
There’s blood trailing down her lip as Kara storms out of the gym, ripping her wraps off as she goes. He follows her into the head, dogging the hatch behind him. Her face in the mirror is enraged and bloody and Lee thinks it’s the most beautiful thing he’s ever seen.
He walks up behind her, yanks her head back by her hair and kisses her. Lee tastes her blood and wants to gorge on it. His hand moves down her hip till he’s cupping her through her shorts. Kara tries to pull away, grabs at his hair trying to yank him away but he just rubs harder till she’s gasping and moving with him.
The counter is the perfect height and he shoves her face first on it before ripping her shorts and underwear down. She looks back at him shocked and still furious but a bit desperate too. Lee’s out of his shorts and into her before he can think that this is not a healthy way to deal with the rage burning inside him.
But since when have they ever been healthy?
He doesn’t care that she might not be ready for him, doesn’t care that he’s thrusting so brutally, that her hips are hitting the counter so violently. All he cares about is consuming her, controlling her, making her feel everything that’s welling up inside him.
The reflection in the mirror is someone he doesn’t recognize but he catches Kara’s gaze in the mirror, eyes filled with anger and want and that, that he recognizes. When Lee comes there’s nothing but relief and pleasure and he has never felt so free in his life. He collapses on top of her, not caring that she’s limp beneath him.
The relief is short lived. When Lee catches his breath and looks down at Kara all his anger and hate resurface. He does up his shorts and walks out of the head without giving her a second glance.
Lee hopes she hates him as much as he hates her.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Despite the variety of emotions raging inside him Lee is still the perfect CAG. His rosters, his uniform, his public behavior are all still the model of military perfection. No one would know that he’s rotting away from the inside out. Not even his father who, after yet another pointless meeting asks Lee if he’s noticed anything wrong with Kara lately. It takes all of Lee’s self control not to yell at his father and ask him why, why he can notice when Kara seems to be in agony but can never see Lee’s pain. But then Lee resigned himself to being second in his father’s affections long ago. Its just one more thing Lee swallows down and buries deep, saving it for another time, another form of release.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
She doesn’t look at him during the morning briefing, just stares over his shoulder. But she’s still the last to leave. He follows her out and when the throng of people in the corridor thins a bit he grabs her by the elbow and throws her into the nearest room. It’s an empty supply closet with a few tables and random pieces of equipment. It’ll do.
He’s got her pinned to the wall, staring at her. He was wrong yesterday because this, this is the most beautiful thing in the world: Kara’s face wearing his bruises, reds and yellows and lilac that will turn dark and green and beautiful.
He has to kiss her, shoves his tongue in her mouth not caring that she’s not kissing him back just keeps plundering her mouth with his tongue as his hands start ripping her pants open and shoving them down her hips.
He spins and pushes her onto one of the tables. He’s busy pulling her boots and pants off when she tries to fight back, tries to get away. But Lee pushes her back down, wraps a hand around her delicate throat, clenching just enough for her to notice. She stops squirming after that. He doesn’t even remove his pants, opens them just enough to free himself.
He didn’t ask and she didn’t consent but Kara just hitched her leg higher, her eyes edging him on, her struggle just for show. He pounds into her, hard and unforgiving. He can’t take his eyes off her face, her lovely face that wears his bruises. Her eyes are hard and furious and begging him to keep going; she’s biting her lip to keep from making any noise but when she comes she screams his name, digging her nails into the hand around her throat drawing blood. Lee feels his skin break, feels the sting and pain as it blossoms into relief. He comes so hard he only sees stars.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
He says the most horrible hateful vile things to her, things he didn’t know he was capable of thinking; things that no one should say to another human being, especially one they love. He says all these things to her and she never fights back. It seems a bit strange until he realizes that the more horrible the things he says to her, the harder she comes. So he lets words and phrases trip off his tongue until she’s bucking and screaming and coming as he fraks her mercilessly.
He knows, he knows he should just shut up and frak her, knows that the moment his sanity returns all his horrible words will come back to haunt him. But fraking Kara to within in inch of her life seems to be the only way he can purge himself of the anger he feels these days; anger at his father, anger at Roslyn, anger over his shattered marriage, over the loss of his ideals. But mostly he’s angry over her.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
They’re remarkably discreet. If anyone notices that they barely speak, that they don’t look each other in the eye, that they don’t touch anymore, if anyone notices that they’re each wearing a few more bruises than usual no one says anything. They’re ApolloandStarbuck, odd behavior and extreme moodiness are normal for them.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Kara doesn’t look at him anymore but it’s always his name she calls when he makes her come. Lee wonders if she slips up when she’s with her husband. He’s perverse and hopes that she does. He wonders if Sam cares, wonders if he’ll turn the corner one day and find Sam bearing down on him trying to reclaim his honor and his pride. Lee leaves as many bruises on her as he can, knows Sam has seen them; they’re impossible to miss. He hopes Sam comes for him because he wants desperately to pound Sam’s face in. He knows his anger is misplaced but it still doesn’t stop Lee from leaving bruises across Kara’s body and hoping for an excuse to beat the crap out of the man she refuses to leave.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
He’s got her tide up tight, arms above her head, wrists bound with the ropes he found. She’d tried to fight him, tried to roll them over so she was on top, tried to take some control back. But Lee has always been stronger and he’s been aching to use the rope on her since he found it. So when she bucked and tried to roll he had slammed her back down on the cold hard table, held her down and tied the rope tightly around her delicate wrists before anchoring it to the shelving behind them.
She’s yanking and pulling, trying to get free but the rope won’t break or the knots give. He can tell it’s hurting her, having her arms pulled so tightly. Lee doesn’t care. She bites him when he kisses her and he laughs, goes for the jugular because he can’t stop himself anymore. “Do you forget where you are when he kisses you? Does he frak you like this? Does your precious Sammy know you like it this rough? Does he Kara? Does he?”
He lifts her leg higher, hits a little deeper and revels in the moan Kara let’s slip. He’s got her right on the edge, right where he has the most power and he just can’t make himself stop.
“When was the last time he made you cum so hard you blacked out? Does he know you beg me for this?”
Another moan and Lee feels himself come to the edge ready to fall over. He thrusts a bit harder, grips a bit tighter, hoping to leave just one more bruise, one more sign that she’s his, ensuring that she doesn’t forget. He’s high on control and pleasure; they’re both so close and Lee knows just how to take them over. His words are cruel as ever, ensuring Kara’s orgasm and his relief.
“Does Sam know what a fraked up cunt you are? Because I do.”
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Lee knows the reasons she keeps coming back: Kara feels guilty for her pleasure so she takes her punishment from it. She lets him bruise her and purge his anger through her because she believes its appropriate punishment for betraying her husband, for loving Lee. He knows Kara will never admit to this but she doesn’t have to. Lee Adama knows Kara Thrace better than he knows himself. Especially right now.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
It’s been three weeks and Lee is beginning to hate himself more than he hates and loves Kara. The problem is, he’s so far gone that he doesn’t know if he can stop.
He’s hovering over Kara pounding into her, watching her. Her eyes are squeezed shut, her head is turned away from him. Her breath is uneven, coming in gasps. Lee realizes she’s crying. He’s shocked and confused until it dawns on him that he’s broken her. Lee Adama has done what no one has been able to do: he’s broken Kara Thrace.
In that instant all the rage, all the anger, all the confusion and pain and heartbreak are gone. He’s hit bottom and all those emotions have nowhere to go, can do nothing more to him because they’ve dragged him down as far as he can go.
He looks at her, really looks at her, sees the bruises he’s left on her, sees his pain written on her body and for the first time Lee is horrified by what he’s done. He’s disgusted and ashamed and hates what he’s become. He knows this has to stop; he has to stop before he kills her and destroys himself.
Gently he forces Kara to meet his eyes and says the most horrible thing he could possibly say to her, the one thing he knows will end this instantly.
“I love you Kara Thrace.”
Kara’s eyes go huge. She shoves Lee off of her and for the first time she’s the one fighting to leave first, she’s the one throwing her clothes on and running out the door barely dressed.
He lets her go.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
He doesn’t see her for a week, cares just enough not to obsess over it and does his best to start becoming someone he recognizes, someone he doesn’t hate.
He starts reconnecting with his pilots; ventures back into the rec room for short visits, smiles at the jokes, drinks the terrible alcohol, encourages the nuggets. He starts talking to Helo and Gaeta and even tentatively reaches out to Sharon. He has a real conversation with his father that has little to do with work and the fleet, one that doesn’t disintegrate into yelling and Lee leaves that initial conversation feeling good for the first time in nearly a month.
When he looks in the mirror now he sees someone who might not be whole but who is getting better, someone working towards forgiveness, someone worthy of living.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
It’s been a week since Lee declared his love to Kara, ending her self-flagellation and his emotional breakdown. On the eighth day Kara comes to him. He’s surprised and completely unprepared for what he’ll do or say to the woman he abused so horribly. She comes to him late at night, interrupting his paper work.
Kara stands in his quarters wearing her dress blues and looking beautiful. For the first time in a while there are no bruises on her, no swollen lips or haunted eyes. He’s staring at her, not realizing till now how much he had continually done to mare her. There’s a slight tension rolling off of her, a tiny hint of fear but Kara stands in front of him unwavering. He feels his shame flare up and it’s difficult to look her in the eye. But she’s staring at him and he can’t look away.
Lee watches Kara take a deep breath before she starts ripping at the buttons on her jacket. He’s rising from his chair trying to tell her to stop but she ignores him and continues wrestling her jacket off. What he sees takes his breath away he’s so overwhelmed by it.
Kara had her marriage tattoo removed.
He doesn’t know how she did it and he doesn’t care. He knows exactly what it means.
She’s watching him, biting her lip nervously, waiting to see what he’ll do. He wants to tell her how ashamed he is, how sorry he is, how unsure he is. He wants to tell her how much her act means to him, how humbled by it he is. All he can manage to do is whisper her name.
His voice breaks her inaction and she comes to him, stands in front of him and gently whips a tear from his check. Lee doesn’t dare move, letting her have control for the first time since he took her roughly, brutally in the gym head.
They’re both so fragile, so hesitant, afraid of spooking the other but finally finally finally she leans in and simply brushes her lips against his. He can’t stop himself from trailing his hands gently up her arms, can’t help rubbing the healing skin where her tattoo used to be. He whispers her name again, kisses her again, lifts her gently off the ground and brings her to his bed for the very first time, makes love to Kara for the first time.
He’s hardly forgiven, she’s hardly ready to trust him and they both need to learn to live again.
But it’s a start.
Fin