Chapter One

"Okay, okay. I got one." Jessica's voice filled Lee's earpiece as he stared out into the dark void, populated by the four other ships on rotation with him this afternoon. "Why did the Cylon cross the road?" She asked, a soft giggle making Lee smile. He could do so out here, no one could see inside his viper.

"Why, Jess?" Kara asked.

"Cause all this has happened before and all this will happen again." Jessica concluded with a laugh this was followed by a series of groans.

"Oh lords, that was worse than Lee's cow and cat joke." Kara insisted with a laugh.

"Meoooooooow!" Hotdog, Kat and Blinky all exclaimed in unison.

"You know you loved that joke, Starbuck." Lee told her as Jessica laughed in his ear sending pleasant shivers down his back. "All right people; let's not forget what we're out here to do. Focus." He ordered.

Silence for a few seconds and then, "Meow." Lee piped in causing another round of laughter.

Things had been pretty easy for the past few days and all the pilots were trying to enjoy this respite, while still being on edge. The Cylons could attack at any moment, and would fully take advantage if the Galactica had been lulled into a false sense of security. It was Lee's job to make sure that didn't happen. When pilots lost their caution, pilots died and they'd already lost too many good ones. Kara was pulling double duty training new recruits along with flying her shifts.

His father was doing much better, Lee though gratefully. William Adama was walking around some and alternated between running the Galactica for short periods in CIC and doing it from his bed.

Jessica sat with the commander sometimes when Lee had to pull too many long shifts and Lee was grateful to her for that. She could report back to him about his dad and the old man didn't have to know how out of his mind with worry Lee had been. Though Lee imagined Jessica had already told William that, Lee thought with a snort. He'd also bet his last cubit that William had taught her that stupid Cylon joke.

She was getting better at keeping her thoughts to herself thanks to her sessions with Elosha and a few new treatments Salik was prescribing for her. Though one particularly odd hypnotic suggestion of Elosha's had Jessica repeating his name anytime she was trying not to say something she was thinking. Watching Jessica trying to dodge certain questions she didn't want to answer by repeating 'Lee Adama. Lee Adama. Lee Adama' had driven Kara into hysterical laughter so hard she had hiccups for over two hours.

Elosha had finally been able to convince Jessica to undergo hynopsis and Lee would have given anything to have been in on one of the sessions. Curiosity about the things that Jessica had told him about the two of them gnawed at him. Sometimes Jessica blurted what they talked about but she had taken to avoiding him after the sessions.

He didn't want to believe that there was a set path for the two of them. Jessica was a beautiful woman. Sweet. Smart if a little...off sometimes, Lee conceded. But the adoration he saw in her eyes gave him considerable pause. There could be no quick frak, bang off the feeling, between them. As much as Lee thought about just dragging her into his bunk and having at it, Jessica wanted more.

I love you. She had admitted, scaring the beejezus out of him. Of course she did, cause she believed in all the prophetic bunk so she'd convinced herself to follow the path she believed was her destiny.

Only she'd picked the wrong guy. Lee Adama was nobody's sweetheart. He was a CAG. A fighter pilot who put his life on the line and took life with equal ease to protect the fleet. He couldn't allow the weakness of letting Jessica into his heart knowing that he might be blown to pieces in his next breath. How ever much he might want Jessica Talbot in his bed, Lee knew to do so would only cause her pain. They were friends now. He didn't want to hurt her. That was all there was to it.

Never mind that he could still feel her slick warmth against his fingers and her soft cries in his ears from that time he nearly frakked her in the gym. Big mistake. But she'd been so beautiful and stubborn, brave in not letting him give over to his despair. There wasn't a man alive who could resist those green eyes and soft full mouth.

That mouth. Lee licked his lips; subconsciously tasting her then firmly shook his head. Not going there! He insisted, feeling a warmth in his groin.

He alternately enjoyed and cursed when she was on shift at the com. That voice of hers was a little too distracting.

Whatever visions Jessica was having of them, Lee didn't think they compared to the dreams he'd been having about her. Dreams like that hadn't assaulted him with such ferocity and frequency since he was a teenager. He needed to get laid. But couldn't bring himself to get with anyone on the Galactica, imagining Jessica hearing about it and being hurt. Hell, she was psychic! She'd take one look at him and know.

Frak, he was acting like a guilty husband, Lee scolded himself mentally. He owed the woman nothing!

But the whole point of keeping their relationship platonic was because Lee didn't want to hurt her and he knew sleeping with someone else would hurt Jessica deeply.

Damned if he did. Damned if he didn't.

Lee Adama had been flying a lot of solo missions lately.

He found her drinking with a few of the other pilots later that night.

"Oh lookie! Captain Tightass is here." Jessica joked holding up her glass and grinning at Lee when he walked in to the room. Her dark hair was twist at the nape of her neck and her green eyes had a slightly glazed quality to them. Drunk as a skunk, no doubt. "Pull up a chair." She shifted away from Lieutenant Gaeta to make room for him.

"No thanks. Is it such a good idea for you to get trashed?" Lee asked.

"Sure it is. See? I'm winning." Jessica held up her cards to him. Then lay them flat on the table, face up. "Gin."

Kara slowly reached over and picked up her cards, handing them back to her.

"What?" Jessica asked blankly.

"We're playing Triad." Kara reminded her.

"Oh. Whoops." Jessica burst out laughing, which turned into a burp.

"Guys, what do you think you're doing? She's obviously hammered." Lee pointed out annoyed that his pilots would take advantage of the girl.

"Exactly. The alcohol fraks with her brain and she doesn't know what cards we're holding." Kara informed him. "She gets to hang out when we play and we don't have to worry about her spouting off her mouth every five seconds.

"It's an ideal situation." Jessica affirmed. Then looked at him askance. "Anyone ever call you Cappy?" She asked grinning up at Lee and taking another gulp of her glass.

"Never." Lee scowled. "Now come on. Let's get you sobered up." He reached for her arm but she pulled her arm back.

"I'm not done, Cappy."

Lee raised an eyebrow at her after scanning the table. Kara had the biggest pile of winnings, a mix of shots of ambrosia, pens, chocolate, and...were those tampons? Lee wondered uncomfortably. Racetrack was coming in second, followed by Jagger, Dee and then Gaeta. Jessica's space was empty.

"I think we've found a worse Triad player than you, Apollo." Kara joked. Lee narrowed his eyes at her.

"I resent that remark." Jessica announced. Another burp. Kara blew her a kiss.

"I believe there's a law against taking advantage of the feeble minded." Lee insisted.

"Hey!" Jessica grabbed one of Kara's tampons and shot it at Lee's head. "I'm not feeble minded. My mind works better than all of yours! I'm just slightly ineb...inebsicapted.." Another burp.

"Right. Come on. Let's get you some coffee." Lee pulled her to her feet. Jessica swayed, her hip brushing his groin and Lee grit his teeth at the contact.

"Galactica doesn't have any coffee. They have mud."

"Then let's go have some mud." Lee conceded pulling her towards the hatch.

"I don't want to. I want to play 'Go Fish!'" Jessica insisted pulling against his grip.

"Triad!" the pilots around the table shouted at her.

"Now, Jessica." Lee ordered.

She crossed her arms on her chest in defiance. Green eyes wide in silent challenge.

Oh baby, you don't want to dare me to go for what I have in mind. Lee thought, feeling a burst of hot desire shoot through his veins.

She narrowed her eyes obviously trying to decipher what he was thinking.

"Fine. Suit yourself." Lee clenched his teeth and pretended to back away.

"Yeah, I thought so." Jessica said with a grin.

He moved quickly. An arm around her waist, a tight grip on her hip and she was settled onto his shoulder.

"Oooh!" Jessica gasped in surprise.

"I hope she throws up on you, Lee." Kara called out.

Then came Jessica's hands on his ass, gripping tight. "Man alive! You could bounce a cubit off this ass!" She announced as he froze at her touch, then forced himself to walk out of the room. Very glad that Jessica was getting a rear view instead of a frontal.