Kara maintained her brave face, perfected through the years. Only a purse of her lips betrayed the fact that Lee’s words had hit home. She worried about the new assignment, too - more than she’d ever admit. The post she’d had before the Galactica had gone disastrously, after all. And it was her own fault. Maybe…maybe Bill Adama was the only Commander she was capable of succeeding with. The failure cut right into her gut.
"Gods, where’re you hiding the booze in this place, Apollo?" she breezed with a forced smile. "Gotta get a soldier a little drunk before you call her ship soft."
The idea of being kicked off another ship - lords, would they make her teach flight school again? She didn’t think she could face it - made her a little sick. Frak up. She could almost hear her mother’s voice in her head, clear as day.
"Give the old man some slack, Lee," she said with more seriousness. Her tone was gentler than usually came from Starbuck. It was, after all, partly her actions that had driven the wedge between Lee and his father. "He’s earned it. I know you two don’t get along, but he’s a good commander."
Lee knew Kara well enough to tell that he'd said something wrong--even the slightest of changes in her demeanor didn't slip under his radar. Sometimes he had lapses in perception, usually when blinded by his own demands of that person or his self-absorption, but he could tell. The Galactica, after all, was no doubt Kara's home; he was telling her something she already knew but, he figured, didn't want to formally recognize. He turned somewhat frigid when she spoke with a sternness Lee hadn't become familiar with in her presence. Lee scoffed, ❝ Well, I don't suppose they'd make such a big deal of him leaving if he wasn't. ❞
He immediately regretted the words after they left his mouth, but he couldn't bring himself to apologize immediately. Lee hoped the lighting was dim enough that she couldn't see him looking down to his glass in shame. It pained him to be so distant from his dad, but maybe he and Starbuck were alike in the sense that they didn't want someone else to tell them where they were going wrong, He broke from the thought with a sharp exhale, ❝ Sorry... Hey, the, uh-- ❞ He rubs his eyelids with his thumb and index finger, trying to push back the inevitable headache that seemed to plague him in situations of prolonged seriousness, ❝ The strong stuff is in the cupboard above the sink. ❞