adifferentpath | (no subject)

This is frakking ridiculous.

Though Lee Adama isn't particularly inclined to, if he wanted, he could come up with a list of his own accomplishments as long as his arm. War college graduate, test pilot school acceptance, CAG, commander, near the top of his class— so far— in law school. He's lived through a war, through more combat missions than he can count, more encounters with cylons and firefights and close calls than any person should see in a lifetime. He's somehow traveled through dimensions and made it through to the other side in one piece.

He should be able to put together a crib. This should be frakking easy.

But as it is, Lee is sitting on the floor of the extra bedroom of his and Molly's apartment, surrounded by parts, trying to work out the instructions, which he's unfolded from a neat little square into an unwieldy large sheet of paper, the steps printed in different directions.

"This is a frakking nightmare," Lee says to himself. At the very least, he's figured out that the poles marked A go into slots marked B, but now that he's ready to connect that part— before the C poles come in— he's finding himself one A short.

"Gods... you've got to be genius just to put one of these things together," he grumbles.

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From:

adifferentpath

"The A one," he says, but by the time he finishes the sentence, isn't so sure anymore, "I think. This thing might be missing pieces."

As much of a hassle as this is already, he hopes it's not. If only because returning it after it's already been opened and the pieces have been scattered on the floor is going to be a frakking nightmare. Not to mention, neither he nor Molly have a car.

"What if we just buy a basket? A nice one."

From:

losttheright

"Yeah, I don't think we can just have the baby sleep in a basket," Molly says, shooting him a dubious look, though it's hard to hold back a laugh as she does at the very idea of it. "Besides, then what would we do with all these... lovely planks of wood that it would probably be impossible to get a refund for?" So far, they've gotten by, but none of this shit is cheap, something that it's hard not to keep in the back of her mind. Showing up here in the first place, she had to grow accustomed to a more limited budget than she'd ever had before, but this is something else entirely, and she's not throwing away money on something as expensive as a crib.

She peers over at the pieces strewn about on the floor, trying to see if she can differentiate them, but quickly gives up, shrugging helplessly. "I can't even see half of these. I think this has gotta be all you."

From:

adifferentpath

"I think a fire's a pretty good idea. What do you think? Think it'll burn?" he asks, and it's only half a joke, because they don't really have the money to waste. Frakking impossible to assemble or not, this is what they're stuck with. Though, he still doesn't think throwing the basket idea should have been thrown out quite so fast.

At Molly/s insistence that he has to be on his own when it comes to the mess surrounding him on the floor, Lee frowns.

"What, you can't even read out the instructions? Come on, I'll even pull a chair in."

From:

losttheright

"It's kind of hard to read pictures," Molly points out, waving the instructions absently in front of her. She's not sure how much good she can do when she can't get a good look at all of the pieces, anyway, let alone help put them together, as much as she wishes she could. Still, unhelpful as she might be, and as much as she might really like to stretch out on the couch and find something stupid to watch, she's not just going to bail completely. "But, yes, if you get a chair, I'll do what I can. That fire idea is sounding pretty tempting, though."

From:

adifferentpath

"What about acting it out?" Lee helpfully suggests as he pulls himself to his feet, doing his best not to step on any pieces as he heads out of the room and into the next to find a chair to pull in. At some point, they're going to need one that just stays in the baby's room, but considering the crib is still in pieces on the floor, they haven't gotten to that part yet.

"Plank A into rod B?" he says once he's made his way back in with a chair from the kitchen, a stolen cushion from the couch on the seat. Once it's placed, Lee pantomimes putting two pieces together.

From:

losttheright

"Thank you," Molly chirps, leaning in to press a kiss to his cheek when he drags the chair in from the other room, taking a seat a moment later. It's easier to be cheerful about it than to dwell on — or complain about — how much she fucking hates this, how huge she is now, how tired she gets so easily, the limits to what she can and can't do. There has been and will certainly continue to be plenty of that, when she still has a couple months to go.

Consulting the directions once she's seated, she nods. "Furniture assembly charades, my favorite. That... sounds about right, but I think you need to find the piece that's missing for that."

From:

adifferentpath

Lee knows how hard this has been for Molly. Especially with him having been busy with school and her still working. He's glad that the last few months before the baby comes, he's on a break from school, but he knows it's only a brief reprieve. Things are about to get really difficult. And he's frakking terrified.

All of the firefights and combat missions and cylon encounters, and this scares him a hell of a lot more than that.

"Right, the... A one. Now where the hell did it even go?" he asks, as if Molly has any idea where he put it.

From:

losttheright

"Don't ask me, I can't tell any of these apart," Molly says with a shrug, though she studies the pieces on the ground all the same. His is a better vantage point, but a second pair of eyes can't hurt, and if it turns out that there actually are any pieces missing, she's going to be really fucking annoyed. All of this is enough trouble already without having to take everything apart again, put it back in the box, and convince the store to return it. She doesn't want to have to go through all of this again, and she's not even the one actually assembling the thing.

Gesturing absently ahead, she asks, "Is that it? Under those other pieces? Or is that just another of the same ones?"

From:

adifferentpath

Lee looks where Molly's gesturing, and right there on the floor is the piece he's been trying to find for at least five minutes now.

"Frak. Yeah, I think that's it," Lee says, sounding almost defeated, and he walks over to extract the piece from the pile. This should be the easy part, and it makes him wonder what the hell he's going to do when they get to the hard part of all of this.

"See, you're more of a help than you thought."

From:

losttheright

"I knew you kept me around for a reason," Molly jokes, smiling when it does, in fact, turn out to be the missing piece. "Since obviously it's not my good looks or great figure." Even with a couple months still to go, she's already dreading trying to get the latter back. Joking about it isn't going to change that, but it's better than sitting around moping. She can't help thinking she should try to enjoy this time while she has it, anyway. Pretty soon, things are going to be even fucking crazier than they already are, and she doesn't feel ready in the slightest. "That's the last of those pieces, right?"

From:

adifferentpath

"Yeah, I think it's the last one," Lee says, though he frowns at Molly's remark as he starts to try and work out how the pieces fit together. He and Molly have been through a hell of a lot, especially in the last few months, but the last thing he ever wanted to do was give her the impression that he doesn't think she's beautiful, even now.

"You know that's not really true, right?"

From:

losttheright

"Yeah, I know," Molly says, her own expression growing softer. "But if I don't joke about being the size of a fucking house, it's a lot more likely to drive me crazy." Even then, it isn't really that simple, but she wouldn't be entirely sure how to explain that to him. It isn't like she thinks the way he sees her has changed at all, but the way she sees herself as, and for her, that's not a new sensation. After everything that happened with Patrick, looking in the mirror was like seeing a completely different person, someone other than her. The same is true now. She doesn't feel right in her own skin, she hates the way she looks and the inconvenience of it, and for all that she's nowhere near ready for it yet, a part of her can't wait to give birth just so she can be done with being pregnant. "It's... not so much about what you think as it is what I think."

From:

adifferentpath

"So what I think doesn't matter?" Lee asks, and he knows his opinion doesn't mean much in the grand scheme of things. Especially not if that's where Molly's landed with things.

Still, Lee sets down the two pieces he finally managed to fit together and crawls over to the chair where Molly's sat, looking up at her.

"Anything i can do to change your mind?" he asks.

From:

losttheright

"No, it's — It matters, of course it matters," Molly says, shaking her head, one hand resting briefly at her forehead. "And, believe me, I'm glad you feel the way you do. But the way you see me right now and the way I see me right now aren't really the same." It's a difficult thing to try to put into words, feeling like her body isn't really her own, even if it's not the first time she's experienced something like this. She's not sure it's worth getting into, anyway, when he moves closer, the pieces of the crib set aside for the moment.

Looking down at him, she arches her brow, just barely biting back a laugh, in spite of what she was saying before. "You're really asking me that while I'm sitting up here and you're down there?"

From:

adifferentpath

"So I come up there," Lee says, "And we build this thing later. We're not on that tight of a deadline."

Though Lee knows that their time is running short. Every day brings them closer to the day when it's not just the two of them. And as much as Lee knows that day is coming, he's found that the more he thinks about it, the more real it becomes. So sometimes, it's just easier not to. Like this particular moment.

From:

losttheright

"I don't know," Molly says, mock-thoughtful, not bothering to hide the beginnings of a smile. "I kind of like you where you are, actually." It's a statement that's as much teasing as not. Part of her knows that, while they do have some time ahead of them, they really should get this done. If anything were going to happen, it probably shouldn't be here, anyway, in what's going to be the baby's room. Still, as strange as things have been since she found out she was pregnant, it's not like she's a completely different person, and some old habits die hard. She might as well see what he says.

From:

adifferentpath

"On the floor surrounded by crib pieces?" Lee asks, looking up at Molly as he tries not to laugh at his own stupid joke, "that'd definitely be different."

They're supposed to be actually making progress today, Lee knows, but this is more fun. Neither of them generally have a lot of time for that, and they're about to have a lot less. Even if they should probably do things like actually talk about names at some point.

From:

losttheright

"Mm, I was ignoring the crib pieces," Molly says, nose wrinkling as she grins down at him. "You were the one who said it could wait until later." They really should probably be focusing on what's in front of them, their span of time to get all of this taken care of limited, but putting it off just a little while won't hurt. If anything, it feels more important, for the moment, to take advantage of this sense of levity, something she's had trouble really, genuinely finding lately. "But, I mean, other than that..."

Edited Date: 2016-10-05 05:46 am (UTC)