FIC: Three's A Crowd - L/K/Zarek, PG, AU, no warnings

[lanalucy]

They’d landed on Earth and somehow Lee had gotten lucky and Kara had stuck around. She’d randomly disappear every so often, though, and after a while he noticed that his chief political advisor (and how the hell had that happened?) always disappeared at the same time.

When he asked Zarek about it, he answered with a shrug and said, “I think maybe she needs the same thing I do - to spend time with someone doesn’t know or care who I used to be. She’s inexhaustible, doesn’t pull her punches, has a wicked sense of humor, and she never takes what I say the wrong way. She’s fun, and I don’t get that anywhere else, to be honest.”

Lee had nodded and they’d moved on to discussing how they were going to implement the newest proposed changes in the local governing council, but a part of his brain had been distracted for the rest of the day considering what Zarek had told him. He thought everything through and before he could talk himself out of it, sent messages to both Kara and Zarek to meet him that evening at the picnic spot in the canyon outside the settlement.

By the time they got there, Lee had worked himself into an internal frenzy, and he blurted out his proposition without giving them any background at all. “You two need each other, and I need both of you.” He gestured to Zarek, but spoke to Kara, “I don’t think I’ll ever think of him as Tom,” then looked at Zarek, “and I’m even less certain that I’ll ever want to frak you,” then he paced some more, “but we each have things to offer that the others need. I’m proposing you two move in with me.”

He never remembered exactly what either of them said, but he did recall that Kara hugged him, and Zarek carefully hugged them both, and in the weeks that followed, they cautiously began crafting this new...partnership. There were definitely growing pains, but Kara seemed happy and Zarek....was growing on him.