Fic: Favors, K/L, PG-13, S1, no warnings

[lanalucy]

Post-You Can't Go Home Again.
Prompt: Lee promises Kara "favors" if she'll get her ass out of that sickbay bed and get back to work. (might be an old no_takebacks prompt)

Thanks to newnumbertwo for the beta, and being patient while this one languished.

Lee watched her attempt to walk across the sickbay floor and give up much too quickly. She backed toward the bed, right into him, and he grabbed her hips to keep her from falling over. She kept bitching, and Cottle said something about shutting down happy pill distribution, and because the idea of ‘giving her a bath’ was stuck in his mind, he leaned forward and whispered, “I’ll owe you a favor, Kara.”

She got herself up onto the bed and looked at him suspiciously and asked, “What kind of favor?”

“Whatever you want. We need you on the flight deck.” No one else can make the frakkin’ thing work, that’s for damn sure. Because it was Kara, and it didn’t hurt to keep her on her toes, he answered her skeptical look with, “Yes, even that. I’ve heard it’s a great way to relieve pain.” It was all he could do not to laugh as her jaw dropped, and he gave her a grin full of teasing promise before he turned and walked through the curtain. She is so going to take that the wrong way, Lee Adama. How you gonna get out of this one? Do you even want to get out of it?

He was back on the flight deck, watching Chief and Cally work on the Raider, when he heard her crutches rhythmically hitting the deck, accompanied by occasional grunts as she put her weight down wrong. He turned to watch her approach. She’d obviously been to the bunkroom - she was in uniform. She handed him her crutches and said, “That favor better be worth the trouble, Captain.”

When Kara all but fell out of the Raider half an hour later, she was cranky. He could tell she was in pain, and he’d overheard several pointed comments about the smell. Cally got to her before he could, and got her upright and supported by the crutches. Kara came toward him and as she passed, she said, “I’m going to wash this disgusting crap off me, and then we’re going to have a talk about the favor you owe me, Apollo.”

So like her to make it less personal and more personal at the same time. “Of course, Starbuck,” and fell into step beside her. I can play that game, too, Kara.

She looked at him sideways. “Going somewhere, Lee?”

“I don’t know if there’ll be anybody there if you need help. Thought I’d keep you company, just in case.” He carefully kept his expression clear of any intent.

She hesitated, as if unsure how he meant it, then shrugged and said, “Yeah, I might need help getting this thing off,” and nodded down toward the brace.

When they got to the bunkroom, he changed into shorts, then got Kara’s shower stuff and put it on the table. “You having trouble?” She’d gotten her jacket off, but was struggling with her pants.

She sighed. “Yeah. I guess.”

You just hate depending on someone else, don’t you? “Sit down. We have to get the brace off first.”

He was careful unfastening it and sliding it off. Since she was already in pain, even a little nudge could be too much. “Okay. If you lean against the ladder, I can get them the rest of the way off.”

“With the brace out of the way, I can do it myself.” She moved to slide the pants off her ass, but put weight on her bad leg and hissed in pain. “Frak. Fine. Help me up.”

After he got her pants off, he asked, “Can you keep your towel on using the crutches? Do you want to keep your bra on instead?”

Kara grimaced then laughed. “It’ll be fine, Lee. It’s not like nobody’s seen me naked.” He noticed that she left her panties on until they got to the showers, though.

How does she make them look so...Never mind, Lee. He put the brace on the bench, took her crutches, and asked if she needed anything else.

“What? You’re not going to get in with me, Lee? Gods know you’ve seen me naked.”

He shook his head. “I’ll be right here if you need help.”

Kara tossed her towel over his head and while he wrestled it out of his way, she’d pushed her panties down to her knees. “Uh, can you pick these up? I won’t be able to bend over and get them.”

“Lean on the wall. You don’t need to put pressure on your knee.” He knelt forward and braced her leg as he pulled them the rest of the way off.Sometimes, I wish she would grab me by the hair and - damn, Lee, stop thinking about it. Her smell, underneath that foul odor from the Raider, was enticing, and he had to make himself retreat to the bench.

~*~

What the frak is the matter with him? After that comment in sickbay, I expected something else, but he’s the same old Lee. Careful and so godsdamn aggravatingly proper. I gave him an opening a mile wide and he just looked at me like I was his favorite puppy.

When he bent in front of her to pull her panties off, his hair brushed her belly, and if he hadn’t been holding her up, her knees would probably have given out. All because he said “Even that” in that tone of voice that makes me think about frakking him into the ground. Not that I don’t think about that way too much anyway. Fine. If I have to think about it, you have to think about it.

“So, Lee. You never answered me. You wanna give me a bath?”

He turned toward her, clearly not expecting the question. “What?”

“Come on, Lee. You said you were here in case I needed help. Obviously, I can’t get to anything much below my waist without putting my weight on my leg and risking falling down. So?” She held out the washcloth and the soap.

“Uh, sure?” He reached for the cloth as he stood up. “What do you need me to wash?”

Gods, Lee. Do I have to tell you everything? “If there’s soap in the next stall, you could get it, and I’ll wash what I can reach, and you can do the rest.” She made a sort of circular gesture with her hand to indicate the relevant areas. Lee’s gaze locked on the area between her legs, and she shifted to keep herself from snickering. Lee is going to try to be all properly washing things, and I am going to tease the frak out of him. She rubbed soap on her face to hide her smile.

He was kneeling in front of her, washing her feet and ankles, working his way up, and she waited until his face was where she wanted it, then raised her bad leg right in front of his nose, spreading herself a little wider, and propping that leg on his thigh. He froze for a minute, and she thought she heard him say ‘Gods’ before he moved the washcloth to her inner thigh.

Lee gently lifted her leg off his and moved to set it down. Kara “slipped,” grabbing Lee’s hair and shoving his face towards her belly. This time, she knew she heard him say ‘Frak!’ It didn’t stop him from taking a deep breath while he was there. She schooled her expression into pain, so that when he looked up, he wouldn’t suspect she’d done it on purpose. Just trying to have a little fun with my tight-ass Lee.

She watched him hesitate before adding more soap to the washcloth and washing between her legs. She bit her lip to keep from letting any sounds escape, but she couldn’t control her breathing, and by the time he was finished, she was very nearly panting. That really shouldn’t have turned her on. She closed her eyes and leaned back into the wall of the shower stall.

“You okay, Kara?” He sounded concerned, not horny.

Godsdammit. “Yeah,” she breathed out. “Just a little too long on my knee, that’s all.” If he’s not getting hot from this, I’m damn sure not letting him see that I am.

Lee dried her off thoroughly, and she wondered if that lingering on her inner thighs was all in her imagination. When he maneuvered the brace back on her leg, she was sure she’d made it up. He walked her back to the bunkroom, asking her what clothes she wanted as he put the rest of her stuff away.

“You know you’ll have to take this frakkin’ thing off to get my panties on, right?”

He froze with his back to her, then said, “Yeah. I know.” When he turned around, his face gave no indication what he’d been thinking.

She couldn’t decide if she wanted to push some more or if she was just too tired to mess with him today. Finally she decided she was too tired even to think about it anymore. Whatever happened, happened, and she’d go from there. He still owed her a favor, after all.

Kara sat on her rack, towel tucked strategically, leg extended for Lee to take the brace off. He set it aside and put her foot through the leg of her panties, then picked up her other foot to do the same. He motioned for her to stand up, and she leaned heavily on his shoulder, hopping slightly to keep her balance. It wasn’t her fault if his face was practically in her crotch.

Frak. If he pushes those damn things up my legs any slower, I’m going to catch fire. Does he really not know what he’s doing to me?

Lee got her panties all the way up, and smoothed them out with his hands, running his fingers briefly under the edges covering her ass to keep them from riding. Gods. How is it he doesn’t get laid more often?

“You can put your tanks on yourself, right?” He picked up her sweats and pulled them on as well, then got the brace back in place over the top of them.

“Uh, yeah. Hand ‘em to me?” She reached out to take them and without thinking, undid the towel and dropped it.

Lee spun away immediately, gasping harshly as he did, and she knew he was pretending as hard as she was. So what are you going to do about it, Kara Thrace? She fell back on ‘what happens, happens’ and tugged her tanks over her head. She couldn’t resist teasing him, though. “They’re all covered up now, Lee. You can turn around again.”

His face was red when he turned halfway, sputtering, “I wasn’t - I’ll put your towel into the hamper.” He didn’t even look at her when he took it.

She inched herself into her rack and tried to get comfortable. “Crap. I forgot my water. Will you hand it to me?” She fluttered her eyelashes at him, not that it had ever worked on him before. When he handed the bottle to her, she asked, “Are you planning to spend the rest of the day here, just in case I need help, Lee? Don’t you have CAP sometime today?”

He glanced at his watch. “Frak! Do you need anything else?” He rushed around the room, cleaning up her mess, then headed for the hatch.

“I’m good, Lee.”

“Okay.” She’d bet he didn’t know his knuckles were white on the jamb. “Guess we’ll have to talk about that favor later.”

“Guess so. Flying CAP’ll give you a chance to figure out what you want to do for me, anyway.” Perfect! Stroke of genius, Kara. Make him decide. “You must have had something in mind when you said, ‘even that,’ right?” She glanced up, hiding her amusement as she watched the flush roll up his face again.

“I gotta go.”

Kara waited for the hatch to close fully before she burst into peals of laughter.

~*~

Frak. You knew she’d take it the wrong way, Lee. What are you going to do now? He squashed thoughts of pushing Kara back in her rack and kissing his way up her legs to those panties he’d had to put on her. Add putting panties on to the list of things I never want regarding Kara Thrace. It’s a pretty short list, but important nonetheless. He had to keep his sanity around her somehow. Never want to put her panties on again. Never want to listen to her cry again. Never want to listen to her frakking another guy. Or hear about it from said guy, even if said guy is my godsdamn brother. Never want to lose her on a moon again. I desperately want to give her another shower, but if I do, I don’t know how I’ll keep from frakking her up against the bulkhead. If I’d taken any longer to put that stupid brace on her leg, she’d probably have thought I was making a pass at her. Yeah. Never want to get killed by Kara Thrace. That’s on the list.

He’d managed to compose the list in his head while he was suiting up and making his way to the flight deck. He stuffed Kara way down deep. He needed his wits flying CAP. Preflight check. Helmet on. Shoot out the tube. Four hours without hearing her voice. A blessing and a curse. Nobody else he’d rather have on his six, but more often than not, he came off a CAP hard as a rock just from listening to her talk. Those rubber suits hid a lot of flaws. Thank gods.

~*~

Lee pulled her out of her rack and handed her the crutches. “Come on. We’re going to my office.”

Kara grumbled at him, but came with him anyway. When they got to his office, he pushed her in the direction of his couch, told her to sit, and went into the head. He came back with a large square container and a bucket full of steaming water. He poured the water out of the bucket, took off her shoes and socks and put her feet gently into the square container, telling her to leave them there. He went back to the head for a towel and a bag, from which he pulled a stone.

“What are you doing, Lee?”

“You’ll see.” He picked up one of Kara’s feet, put it on his thigh and started rubbing at the calluses. He’d never done a pedicure for a girl before, and he was pretty sure he didn’t have everything he needed, but it was something Kara couldn’t do for herself right now, and that constituted a favor.

He shut everything out and focused on her feet until all the rough patches were gone. He looked up every once in a while - her eyes were closed, her face was relaxed and sometimes her mouth was quirked in a tiny smile.

He carefully pushed the water-filled container aside, grabbed the bag, and sat on the couch with Kara’s feet in his lap. He rubbed lotion into both of them, then put those strange toe-separator things in between her toes. She raised her head and looked at her feet, then at his face.

“This is...not the favor I expected from you, Lee.”

He had no idea what made him say, “What? You thought I would rip your clothes off and go down on you?” He didn’t miss the way her foot jerked in his hands, and when he looked up, he saw the flush creeping up from the neckline of her tank. Her eyes were wide on him. Oh, really? Long-time fantasy of yours, Kara? He went for broke and said, “Maybe later. I’m busy right now.”

He watched her jaw work, and knew she was rolling her tongue. I always thought that meant she was annoyed about something. He pondered some of the times he remembered her doing that, looking at them from this new perspective.

He’d pulled out two small bottles from the bag and held them up. “What color?” She pointed to the one on the right and he went to work. When he was done, he looked her feet over and sighed. It was a little sloppy and definitely didn’t look professional, but it was a decent first attempt.

“You have to blow on them.”

His mind went a dozen different places as he looked at Kara. She smirked and said, “My toes. You have to blow of them to make the stuff dry faster.”

Oh. Not where my mind went first.

“What made you think of this, Lee?”

“Overheard some women in the head the other day. They were talking over the shower walls at each other about what they missed from before the attacks. When one of them said she missed pedicures, half the women in the head moaned and agreed. You are a woman, -”

“I am.”

He ignored that. “- so I thought you might like it. And I owed you a favor.”

“It’s a good start, Lee. A really good start.” She raised her foot and turned his chin with her toes. “Thank you. This was nice.”

He kissed her toes. “You’re welcome.” Then, because he was feeling pleased that this had gone so well, he took hold of her foot and gently bit the padded ball of her foot. The color of her eyes changed, and she held her breath for a long count. You like biting, or you like having your feet nibbled? He decided he was going to find out. But not today.