In the Officers' Club on the Battlestar Pegasus, Apollo watched Commander
Cain walk in with Cassiopeia on his arm. Inwardly, he seethed. How could
she just dump Starbuck like that? Not that he particularly wanted Starbuck
and Cassiopeia to be together, but his friend had been hurt, and what hurt
Starbuck, hurt Apollo. 

Starbuck had seemed almost surprised when he'd admitted that losing Cassie
had hurt him. He'd tried hard not to form "attachments." Apollo wondered
if Starbuck considered him one of those attachments. He'd admitted that
he'd never understood Starbuck's reluctance to let anyone get close to
him. He'd actually had to remind Starbuck that "this is Apollo - we talk
about things." Starbuck had reminded him that he, Apollo, had grown up in
a big family - something Starbuck had never had.  So the Lieutenant had
surrounded himself with as many people as possible, never allowing himself
to get close to any of them. 

And now one of the few people that Starbuck *had* allowed himself to get
close to, almost in spite of himself, had betrayed him. And that made
Apollo angry. 

He resolved to have a talk with Cassie later.

As they left the Pegasus with the medical shuttles, leaving Cain and his
uninjured crew members to go against the Cylon base ships, Apollo noticed
Cassiopeia kissing Cain passionately. While Starbuck watched, he noticed.
He wondered if that was why Starbuck had offered to stay on the Pegasus:
to get away from Cassie. 

Starbuck stood in the Life Centre with Apollo and Adama. He listened to
Adama telling Sheba that she was part of the "family" now. He wondered
where she fit in to the family. Seeing Apollo holding her hand, he thought
he had a pretty good idea.  Certainly hadn't taken her long to move in. 

Maybe he wasn't being fair. After all, she'd just lost her father and the
ship that had been her home for the past several yahrens.

But it hurt to see Apollo hold her hand and focus all his attention on
her. 

It had hurt to lose Cassiopeia to Commander Cain. He'd been fond of her.
She'd been able to distract him somewhat from his unrequited love for
Apollo. But now that Cain was gone, maybe she'd come back to him. 

He'd spent most of his life avoiding getting close to people. It was
easier that way when they left or died or betrayed you. But somehow Apollo
had slipped through his defences. And Apollo knew him too well for him to
hide anything. He'd managed so far to make him think that any hurt he was
showing was because of Cassie, though, and not because of him. He didn't
know how long he'd be able to keep fooling him, though. 

Apollo finally managed to catch up to Cassiopeia. Or rather, she caught up
with him. After she'd babysat for Boxey, instead of returning to her own
quarters, she stayed behind and told him she wanted to talk to him,
sending Boxey to his room so that he couldn't interrupt or eavesdrop. 

"Is there a problem?" Apollo asked, thinking she wanted to talk about
Boxey. 

"You tell me. You're the one who's been looking daggers at me for the past
secton.  I thought we were friends." 

"My friends don't hurt my other friends," Apollo answered.

"What the frack are you talking about, Apollo?" the blonde woman asked
impatiently. 

"Starbuck."

"What about him?"

"You hurt him."

"That's news to me."

"Well, Starbuck doesn't show it when something hurts him. I only know that
he's hurting because I've known him for such a long time. When you walked
out on him to go to Cain, he was hurt." 

"I have to tell you, I'm surprised," Cassie answered.

"I think he surprised himself," Apollo told her. "He doesn't form ...
attachments ...  easily. Too many people have left him or betrayed him.
And you're one of them." 

"Starbuck and I didn't have any kind of commitment. What was I supposed to
do, abandon Cain, someone I loved, someone I thought was dead, because
Starbuck was feeling possessive?" 

"Look, when you came aboard the Galactica, there were people who didn't
exactly ... approve of you, because of, well, your past. I defended you.
But now I wonder if I was wrong." 

"You can say it, Apollo. I was a socialator. I don't deny it, and I'm not
ashamed of it. But what does that have to do with me and Starbuck? You
think that because I was a socialator I can be expected to screw around on
him? I wasn't his only woman, you know. But apparently the old double
standard is at work here. A woman is supposed to be completely faithful to
one man, while the man can frack anyone he wants." She looked at him.
"Including his wingmate, I suppose." 

She turned and walked out, leaving Apollo with his mouth hanging open in
shock. 

Later that day, Apollo and Starbuck met in the Officer's Club. 

"So what's going on between you and Cassiopeia?" Apollo asked his
wingmate. 

Starbuck shrugged. "Not much. She'll get over Cain eventually. Then things
will go back to the way they were." 

"Just like that?" Apollo asked in astonishment. "You'll take her back
after she dumped you?" 

"Why not? We didn't really have any kind of commitment going. She never
promised to be faithful to me." 

"So that's it. Just like that, she crooks her finger, you come running." 

"What does it matter to you, anyway?" Starbuck wanted to know. 

"I just don't like to see you get hurt," Apollo protested.

"You're jealous!" Starbuck exclaimed. He remembered Apollo accusing him of
the same thing when he'd been engaged to marry Serena. 

"No, I'm not," Apollo muttered, staring into his drink.

Starbuck smiled and clapped Apollo on the shoulder. "Hey, I understand,"
he said.  Echoing Apollo's words to him from that day that seemed like
such a long time ago, he added, "I think it's nice." Then he suddenly
asked. "So what about you and Sheba?" 

"What about me and Sheba?" Apollo asked.

"You seemed pretty friendly with her."

"She's just kind of lost right now. She's in a strange place with a lot of
new people.  She lost her family." 

"So you're going to be her new family," Starbuck commented.

"Now who's jealous?" Apollo wanted to know.            

The two men stared at each other.

"Are you jealous?" Apollo finally asked.

"Are you?" Starbuck countered.

"I asked first," Apollo returned.

"All right. I'm jealous of you and Sheba."

"I'm jealous of you and Cassie."

They both broke into laughter. "We've been fools," Apollo finally said
when he got his breath back. 

Starbuck, not caring who saw them, took Apollo into his arms and kissed
him passionately. "If I'm a fool, I'm a fool for you," he said. 

Apollo gazed into his eyes. "I'm a fool who's in love with you."

"And I'm in love with you, but I don't think there's anything foolish
about it, except that I denied it for so long." 

Apollo stood and held out his hand. "Come with me," he offered. "Let's go
to my quarters." 

And they went to Apollo's quarters, where they made love well into the
night, then fell asleep in each other's arms. 

END