(no subject)

[adifferentpath]

By all accounts, Lee has no cause for complaint. Even rough days in Darrow, ones where he's spent an entire afternoon trying to get a handle on a specific bit of court case precedence that's been eluding him for weeks, are better than his worst days on Galactica. He's not fighting for his life here, running and watching his back at every turn. He can makes mistakes in Darrow and not worry about some metal motherfrakker— as Starbuck so eloquently put it once— blowing him away.

In a lot of ways, Darrow is what he'd spent so long fighting for.

In a lot of other ways, it's the worst parts of what they'd hoped to leave behind.

By the time Lee reaches High Gate Terrance, he's frakking exhausted. Not in his bones, like after a dogfight, but mentally. He doesn't think he can even look at another book tonight without losing his mind. Reaching into his pocket for the key to the front door of the building, Lee yawns, even though he knows he's not going to be able to fall asleep once he gets inside for hours yet.

Comments

[losttheright]

"No, I — I know," Molly assures him quickly, teeth pressing to her lower lip, the hand that's been in his hair moving to his jaw. "Don't worry, I wouldn't have thought you were." She can't imagine that he'd have stopped to ask where she wanted this to go if he were just assuming anything, though her heart stutters a little in her chest at the thought that, if he's felt like he had to clarify that, then he probably is thinking about where else this could be going.

For a moment, she's not sure if she's relieved by that or angry about it — not at him, but at herself, for the fact that she can't just pull herself into his lap and take this further, that it has to be a concern at all. Hell, his not trying to push her, not making assumptions, just makes her wish all the more that she could do more than kiss him. Instead, she holds off on doing even that again. The smart thing to do would be to pull away and try to get it the fuck together, but it feels too good just to be close to him. "You don't need to be sorry."

It's not like he's the one who left her irrevocably fucked up, or like it has anything to do with him that she can't get past this. That's on her, and on someone who's long since dead.

[adifferentpath]

"I think... I might have ruined the moment, though," Lee says, with a quiet and nervous laugh, and while he's glad that she's not annoyed that he stopped things for what turned out to be a stupid question, he's annoyed at himself for feeling the need to ask it in the first place. But Molly hasn't made a move to back away from him, her hand still on his jaw, and he covers hers with one of his own.

"But I really hope I haven't."

[losttheright]

"You haven't ruined anything," Molly says with a faint smile, almost self-conscious. That much is true. If either of them is responsible for ruining the moment at all, she's sure it's her, when she really fucking wishes her answer to his question could have been a different one. For all that she really doesn't know what it means that he's still here and saying shit like this, if he's done anything, it's put her more at ease. Saying any of that, though, would be veering too close to what she can't bring herself to give voice to. She has something better in mind, her smile widening just a little. "So, I mean, if you're asking if you can kiss me again..."

[adifferentpath]

"Oh, no. Absolutely not. I was going to ask about something else," Lee replies, returning Molly's smile with one of his own, and he doesn't waste any more time before he's covering her mouth with his again, the hand of his that's been resting on hers moving to touch her hair instead.

Despite her reassurances, there'd been a moment where Lee had been convinced that he'd ruined the spontaneity of the moment, so it's a relief that it's so easy to fall into it again. That he gets to kiss her again.

[losttheright]

It's not like she doesn't already have a good idea of what he's going to do, between what he'd said before and then his response to her offer. Still, Molly can't help being pleased, and a little relieved, when he does kiss her again, smiling slightly against his mouth as she leans into it. Though it felt good before, it feels better now. The two of them know what they're doing. She doesn't have to worry about not being able to go any further. And while there's a part of her that wishes she could even more now that everything's settled, she at least has the sense to fight off those old instincts and not surge ahead. Better to keep it at this than make things more awkward than she has already by having to backtrack.