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lanalucyIt did NOT go where I thought it would.
All activity in this fic is consensual.
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newnumbertwo for the beta!Lee rubbed his forehead. It was late, and he was finally leaving CIC. He was focused on the paperwork in his hand, which was his only excuse for not paying attention to the sounds in the corridor around the corner. He took a step into the cross-corridor, looked up at the two people ahead of him to navigate around them, and immediately stepped back around the corner, the image burned into his brain. He was not even a little ashamed to eavesdrop.
Kendra had been leaning heavily into Kara, one small hand unbuttoning Kara’s uniform jacket.
“I believe, Captain, that you are out of uniform.”
“Oh! I’m so sorry, sir. I can’t believe I failed to notice my buttons.”
He’d never heard Kara sound so...remorseful.
“You know that a uniform infraction requires me to punish you severely.”
“Severely, sir? Is there anything I can do to change your mind?”
“Hmm. Possibly we can arrive at some compromise. But you’ll still need to be punished. I can’t let a uniform infraction like this go without some sort of reprimand.”
Lee stood at the corner, slowly leaning forward to take another look. Kendra had undone Kara’s jacket entirely, had her tanks untucked, and had her hand under them, squeezing Kara’s breast. Kara had her head back against the bulkhead with her eyes closed.
“I understand, sir. Should I report to your office for my punishment?”
“I believe my quarters would be better, Captain. There’s really no appropriate place in my office for a good spanking.”
He heard Kara draw in a sharp breath, watched her hand fist against the bulkhead. “Spanking, sir? Do you have to?”
“Spanking, Captain. You have clearly not learned your lesson. If you can’t make an effort to represent the Fleet with a proper uniform, then I’ll have to find a new way to reinforce the dress code so that you understand its importance.”
Kara hung her head. “I’m so sorry sir. Of course a spanking is best. Should I report now?”
Kendra nodded. “No sense putting it off.”
He stepped back from the corner, hoping they’d head the other direction - his and Kendra’s quarters were both in the direction he’d originally been going. Spanking? Kara’s into spanking? Did she do that with - He stopped mid-thought.
He continued to his office, dropped his papers on his desk, uncharacteristically tossed his clothes in a chair in his quarters, and climbed into his rack, guiltily jerking off fantasizing about a naked Kendra spanking a naked Kara while he watched.
---
During their briefing the next morning, Lee went down his list, then waited while Kendra went through hers. As she stood to leave for her shift in CIC, he casually added, “By the way, Major Shaw, when did the Fleet reinstate corporal punishment for uniform infractions?”
“Sir?”
Her mind was clearly racing, trying not to come to the obvious conclusion that she and Kara had been seen.
“The next time Captain Thrace needs punishment, I’d like to be informed, please. I believe my presence would help reinforce the importance of representing the Fleet properly.”
She stood there, mouth slightly open. Then she swallowed, and quietly said, “Yes, sir. I’ll let you know, sir.”
He waited until she’d closed his hatch to smile. Maybe he could make that fantasy a reality.
---
“Commander Adama, sir?”
“Major?”
Kendra said nothing, and Lee finally looked up, took in the subtle discomfort in her bearing.
“Yes?”
“You asked to be informed the next time I needed to discipline Captain Thrace?”
“I did.”
“I’ll be doing that tonight, sir. 2100.”
“Thank you, Major. I’ll be there.”
“Sir?”
Again she stood there, barely betraying her misgivings.
“Major. Kendra?” She gave a short, sharp nod. Lee turned over his words in his head. He needed to be very precise when conveying what he wanted. He was not interested in being keelhauled for sexual harassment, nor in alienating his XO. Fantasies aside, he wanted something else.
“There may or may not be a sexual component to what you are doing, and while I will not deny that the visuals presented by the activities you mention are...stimulating, my interest here is not sexual.”
She blinked slowly, relaxed just a hair.
“I have known Kara Thrace for several years, and seen many facets of her personality. I was very nearly her brother-in-law.”
Kendra nodded.
“I’ve never seen this side of her. I want to know what makes her tick. My only interest in this is observation of the dynamic you’ve created. Does that clear things up for you?”
“Yes, sir.” She hesitated, then continued, “If I may suggest, sir? She is more likely to respond normally if she is unaware of your presence. I can blindfold her, but if you reveal yourself by speaking -”
“I understand the need for my silence.”
Kendra nodded. ‘Very well, sir. 2100. If there’s nothing else?”
“Dismissed.”
---
Lee stood outside Kendra’s quarters at precisely 2100, in sweats and tanks. He didn’t knock on the hatch, presuming she would open the door when she had Kara ready, and she did just moments later. She was careful to close the hatch again quietly, then followed him through her office to her sleeping space.
Lee stopped in the doorway. Kara stood nude in the center of the quarters, blindfolded and with her hands behind her at parade rest. Kendra pushed him out of her way and pointed to a chair against the bulkhead. He nodded.
Kendra walked past Kara to her rack and retrieved something, which she brought back to him. He ran his hands over the wide, thick leather strap, wondering how it would sound and feel. When Kendra took it back from him and walked toward Kara, he settled back, taking in Kendra’s straight posture, and Kara’s complete lack of artifice.
He realized that he’d rarely seen her without her Starbuck skin on, and never really since the end of the worlds. Maybe the only time he’d ever seen just Kara was the night he’d met her, the night they’d both been so drunk they’d nearly frakked each other. He shifted in his seat and pushed the thought away. Not what he was here for tonight.
He knew it was play for them, to some extent, but they seemed to take it seriously. They didn’t banter with each other. There was no flirting or innuendo. Kendra asked Kara, “Do you know why you’re being punished, Captain Thrace?”
“Yes, sir. Uniform infractions, sir.”
“That’s right.”
She helped Kara to the couch and draped her arms forward so she was kneeling but not hunched over. Kendra had apparently considered the angles ahead of time. His seat had been placed at the perfect spot to watch - how Kara and Kendra were positioned, the angle of Kendra’s swings, Kara’s physical reactions to being spanked. If he was able to continue this, he’d have to tell Kendra he wanted to be able to see Kara’s face, watch her emotional reactions.
Kendra laid twenty precisely timed strikes to Kara’s back and ass and thighs. The expression on her face was intent, serious. After the twentieth blow, she placed the strap on the couch and sank down next to Kara, petting her hair and speaking in a soothing tone. Kara nodded at something Kendra said, and Kendra helped her up and to her rack.
When she came back toward Lee, she gestured him toward her office, and he got up, leading her through the doorway. She closed the door most of the way and urged him to the outer hatch.
He opened it, turned, and quietly told her that he had some questions for her. She nodded and said, “I’ll answer what I can, Commander. Before morning briefing?” He agreed and listened to the hatch close as he walked away.
---
He learned over the next few weeks that the setup was play for them, but once they got to the spanking, neither of them were playful. Kendra tried to explain that the punishment was serious. It was the reason for the punishment that was manufactured. Kara would tell Kendra that she wanted to be spanked by creating something for Kendra to reprimand. They would play, before and after, but not during. She never explained, and Lee never had the courage to ask, how Kendra had intuited Kara’s need in the first place.
He did wonder briefly whether his and Kara’s friendship might be in a completely different place if he’d understood what she needed from someone, from him, after Zak’s death. He decided that even if he’d known what she needed, he wouldn’t have been able to give it to her - he’d have failed her regardless. He wasn’t sure he could give it to her now, even if she were to ever ask.
At some point, Kara became aware that someone was in the room with them when she was getting spanked. She clearly disliked being on display for anyone but Kendra, and her behavior changed in some subtle way that Lee never put his finger on.
At the beginning of one session, Kara froze just as she was getting ready to kneel for her spanking, and said, “It’s Lee, isn’t it?” After that, it seemed pointless to keep her blindfolded, and though she didn’t necessarily like his presence, she seemed to accept that Kendra wished him to be there.
On the afternoon before they planned to assault the basestar, it was Kara who came to his office and told him to be at Kendra’s quarters at 2030. He nodded and she stood there a moment, as if she wanted to say something, but left without another word.
---
Lee hated himself for giving Kara the order to complete her mission, wished he’d said a proper goodbye to her. He knew that if Kara knew what he was thinking, she’d probably punch him. She was a soldier, and while she didn’t want to die, she knew that it was a risk every day, whether or not she was in her Viper.
After her return, he read her After Action Report, with its cold recitation of facts, and saw through that to the places where her handwriting was shaky and even a spot or two that might have been a tearstain. He knew that Kara blamed herself - for not protecting Kendra better, for leaving Kendra behind to die - despite knowing that she could have done nothing but follow Kendra Shaw’s order.
He pushed the paper away and wondered how she would punish herself for this.
---
When he opened the hatch, he saw Kara. Quiet, her eyes red-rimmed with unshed tears, holding the strap that Kendra used to discipline her. When he opened the hatch, she held the strap out with both hands, waiting for his answer. He looked at her, looked at the strap, and looked at her again. The last time he’d seen such grief and self-loathing in her eyes, he’d misread her, failed her. He wouldn’t do that again, whatever his own misgivings were. He took the strap and waved her in. Neither of them spoke as they went into his quarters.
Kara stripped, dropping her clothes where she stood, and went to the arm of the couch, where she knelt. Lee retrieved a cushion from the couch for Kara’s knees and held it out to her. She hesitated, and he wondered if she needed the additional physical pain to help her cope with the emotion, or if the strap would be enough. She finally took it and pushed it under her knees before kneeling over the couch arm again, awaiting his swing.
He’d observed them more than once, even after Kara knew he would be there, had paid attention to where Kendra landed her blows, how she swung her arm. But he’d never participated. He had to make sure.
“I’m stronger than she is, Kara. You understand I’m probably going to hurt you without intending it.”
She nodded.
“You’ll tell me if it’s too much.” She didn’t move, so Lee made it an order. “You’ll tell me, Captain. Understood?”
She nodded again.
He got himself into the best approximation of Kendra’s usual position and swung. He didn’t use all of his strength, had no doubt a full-strength swing would hurt Kara, maybe even injure her. He swung again, timing his swings with a long beat between - long enough for Kara to signal him if she needed him to stop - and kept swinging, spreading his blows over her ass, her thighs, her lower back, until everything was rosy and flushed. Kara still hadn’t asked him to stop.
During the next interim beat, he said, “Five more, Kara.” He swung just a touch harder, so she couldn’t say that he had pulled back on her. At the end of five, he dropped the strap, lifted Kara into his arms and took her to his rack. He laid her down, gently pulling the covers back up, and climbed in next to her. He pulled the covers up and held her while she cried herself to sleep.
