Title: Savor
Author: scy
Feedback: scynneh@yahoo.com
Disclaimer: Not mine
Fandom: Battlestar Galactica
Pairing: Sam/Leoben/Kara
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: up through the series so far
Summary: They are building things, slowly
Author's Notes:  Thanks to sarkastic, who had all sorts of cool ideas and insights. If they're not all here, this seems to have become a series. *facepalm* They will be somewhere, very soon.
July 2008

The house wasn't large, like some of the estates that were being built. Even though Kara and Sam, as officers in the Colonial Fleet had the money and the right, they said they wanted something away from the main settlement, more private, the way they wanted.

They weren't far from the beach, on a hill, a path was dug in the slope down to the sand, and the second week they were there, Sam had cut boards and fitted them into the decline. When he was looking for a way to get away from things, he liked to sit out there.

Leoben seemed to find it just as soothing. He didn't say that in so many words, but that's where Sam went when the blond Cylon wasn't in the house. The first week after Sam asked him to come over, Leoben actually slept outside. The weather was warm, and there were enough reasons that Sam could think of for Leoben to be wary about sleeping in the house that he let it go for that long, and then, on a night when Kara had been held up on the Galactica, Sam watched Leoben walk outside after the meal, and followed him.

"You don't need to do that."

Leoben was already sitting down, his jacket rolled up on the ground next to him. Sometimes he talked endlessly, and then there were silences that Sam wasn't sure he should try and break. A Cylon mystic could have been a contradiction, there was still debate in the Fleet about whether anyone who knew a computer as more than a convenient piece of machinery could have any idea of what religion meant.

Sam didn't argue with any more of them than he had to, but some still turned up, tried to tell him that he'd known what was going on, what had happened. They left faster when Sam didn't back down, and when they saw Leoben too, they didn't have to do more than stand together.

"Come on, it's not even dark yet, I've still got some stuff I want to get done inside."

Leoben glanced up at him, and Sam gave him a hopeful look.

"I can't lift the shelves on my own."

The other Cylon didn't nod, but he got to his feet, and when Sam opened the door, Leoben was right behind him.

"You take that side, I'll get the other," Sam said, lifting the cabinets up onto the wall. Once they were in place, Leoben gestured at him to step away.

"Are you sure you've got hold of it?"

"Yes."

"I still can't over how strong you guys, we, are," Sam said. "I don't know how to do that, though, mostly I just break things if I try."

"You practice control until it muzzles you."

"What?"

"It's only in extremes that you are compelled to act outside of your restraint."

"Just, keep holding that," Sam said and began affixing brackets into the wall.

Leoben was quiet as he easily held the cabinets in place with one hand.

"Is that why the rest of you guys are so much stronger?"

"The Final Five were supposed to show themselves when the time was right."

"I know that, I meant, are we different?"

"Each model is distinctive."

"Is that all?"

"You're crooked," Leoben said.

Sam followed Leoben's head tilt and muttered to himself.

Together they leveled out the cabinets and when they stepped back, things were even.

"Can you show me how to do that?" Sam asked, and Leoben moved back, but didn't get a chance to answer.

"Anders, you there?" Helo called, and Leoben slid back, deeper into the house.

"Yeah, in the kitchen," Sam called and picked up the tools as he heard Helo finding his way.

"You've been busy."

"Have to put in a few things," Sam said.

"Kara's not here, if you needed to talk to her."

"No, I wanted to let you know how things are going. Since you've been out of most of it."

"All right." Sam took a seat at the table, and Helo did the same, his eyes stopping on the three plates on the counter that Sam hadn't gotten to yet.

"You've got company?"

"No," Sam said.

"Okay."

"What's up?"

"I know you've been at the council meetings, but some of the things that the President and Admiral Adama have been considering hasn't been brought to the table yet."

Sam waited, he knew the reason he hadn't heard anything, but didn't much care, and kept silent so that Helo knew he wasn't holding a grudge.

"They talking about establishing a kind of integration program, helping those Cylons that want to live with humans find compatible host families, and in exchange they'll offer some technology expertise."

"Sounds like a good idea."

"Did you want to be a part of it?"

"I think the house is pretty full right now," Sam said, and Helo looked at the dishes again. "But if you need help organizing or pitching it to the Cylons, I could do that."

"I'll let the Admiral know." Helo stood up and reached out to shake Sam's hand. "It's good to see you, Anders."

"You too, Helo."

Sam watched him walk to his Raptor, and as it took off, raised his voice. "What do you think?"

"It might work," Leoben said.

"How many of the others are going to want to get involved?"

"More than a few."

"You don't know for sure?" Sam asked.

"They will be cautious, many aren't sure that this isn't going to disintegrate. Others may want it to."

"Which?"

"D'Anna believes in doing whatever will lead to the best outcome. Force can be the last resort for some, she turns to it first."

"So she might go against this?" Sam asked.

Leoben shrugged. "If there's a vote, it could go in favor or against, The votes can't be counted by model anymore."

"Will you speak in favor of it?"

"Perhaps."

Sam thought about Helo, the way he'd acted when he thought there was someone else in the house, and what other people might say. "Do you want them to know where you're living?"

"Someone will find out," Leoben said.

"Eventually, but if you do this, it's going to happen a lot sooner."

Leoben came only a step or two closer and waited. "Do you want this to be known?"

"It doesn't matter to me," Sam said.

"That's not true."

Sam dragged his fingers through his hair. "No, it does matter." His problem was that this thing, that they were working out, the three of them, was the way they wanted them, and it wasn't up to anyone else to judge or lecture them. He knew all of that was coming, and that the Admiral was one of those people that wouldn't be happy with what was going on. They'd be lucky if the man's first instinct wasn't to try and arrest Leoben, and even Sam, for doing something to warp Kara's mind. She was living with two Cylons, one of them who had caused the Fleet a number of problems, the other had kept that fact to himself until he got exposed, neither of which made them security assets in the Admiral's mind.

Leoben was resting his hip against the counter, still hanging back when Kara walked through the door.

"I'm going to do it," Kara said, throwing her jacket on the couch.

"What are you talking about?" Sam asked.

"I was sitting through another one of those civic awareness meetings, and I had this idea."

Leoben poured a glass of water and passed it to Kara as she hurried about the kitchen.

"We've been trying to integrate the Cylon and Fleet systems, and it's been a frakking pain in the ass, you know?"

"Yeah, I know," Sam said, exchanging a look with Leoben. They both could tell where this might go, but were waiting Kara out.

"Well, I can fix that."

"How are you going to do that?" Sam asked.

"I thought I'd just tow it back here," Kara said. "I'd just need some of the stuff they keep in the cargo bay, the engineers are barely using it anymore, and most of it, they want to get rid of, so I could get it a couple crates of the stuff I need."

"I meant, how are you going to make the 'birds compatible?" Sam asked. "The Raiders are sentient, the Raptors aren't."

"You take parts of both, find a compromise, and work it into a single fighter," Kara said. "We've done some work on the two, but with a resident expert," She waved a finger at Leoben, "around, it should go a lot faster when I need to ask for specifications. Remember, I got that Raider up and flying without anybody telling me what was where before, this time, with help, it should go a lot easier."

"Where will we put it?"

Kara frowned. "Out back? I thought we could put a tarp up, kind of keep it out of the weather, just so I have room to work."

"That sounds great, Kara," Sam said, and knew that wasn't going to be enough.

"Are you hungry?" Leoben asked.

"No, I ate," Kara said, and Leoben turned around, fished in the freezer and pulled out a dish.

He took a pan from the clean stack by the sink, dumped the contents of the dish onto it, and began heating it up.

"Every time I tell you that I've eaten, you do that," Kara said, and Sam steered her to the table.

"That's because what you ate was probably meant for a bird."

"Was not," Kara said. "Do we have anything to write on? I want to get some of the designs down before I forget them."

"Yeah, hang on." Sam brought her some paper and a charcoal stick and headed back into the kitchen while she began scribbling.

"We need to get something together for her," Sam said. "There's no way she's going to be able to work outside for more than a couple months."

Leoben reached out, and Sam pulled open a drawer and handed him a spatula. "There is adequate space for a workshop."

"You want to help me build it for her?" Sam asked.

It was an offer that Sam knew Leoben would understand, and the other Cylon scraped the food onto a plate as he kept his head down. When he looked up, he'd taken the dish over to Kara, who'd begun eating absently without noticing. "Yes, I would."

"Great," Sam said, and ran his fingers along the inside of the pan and licked them. He grinned when Leoben took it out from under him and went over to the sink. "Want to get started tomorrow, after she leaves?"

Kara was oblivious, Leoben turned in her direction to be sure, and then he nodded. "Yes."

Just after sunrise the next day, Sam was out in the back of the property, testing ground, making measurements, and deciding what they had room to build.

Leoben wandered up the stairs from the beach while Sam was calculating foundation depth, and crouched down next to him. "Is it going well?"

"It's going to be a bitch to dig this out," Sam said.

"Not for us," Leoben said. "Do you have shovels?"

"I thought we'd get a machine in here."

"It would be better practice for you to do it by hand."

"You want to see me sweat," Sam said.

Leaning into the morning sun, Leoben smiled and then glanced at Sam. "Possibly."

Flushing, Sam nodded. "Okay, I'll find the shovels."

It took them an hour to dig down as far as Sam thought they needed, and when they were done, he frowned. "Used to be, I'd be exhausted doing that much work, that fast. Today, I'm barely feeling it."

"I know," Leoben said.

"Are you doing that to me?"

"Does it seem that I have anything to do with it?"

"No, but you're a Cylon, and I am too, and we're around each other a lot. Could it happen?"

"Being around your own kind will have some effects on your physiology," Leoben said. "You are becoming aware of your body's capabilities."

"You're saying yes," Sam said.

"In part."

"What should I do?"

"Tell me as these changes make themselves known," Leoben said.

"You're the only one I know who's got any idea of what to do about this," Sam said.

Leoben didn't say anything, but he smiled just a bit, and Sam thought he was pleased.

Sam had noticed that Leoben didn't mind working. He'd clean and cook without complaint, and if it wasn't for him, both Sam and Kara would have been reduced to living off rations for months, until the first crops were harvested out of the greenhouses that had been set up as a first formal joint Cylon-Fleet gesture of goodwill. He didn't want credit, but enjoyed the smallest hint of praise and faded into the background whenever Sam and Kara wanted to be alone. Basically, he was an ideal house mate, and Sam just wanted him to take some more space for himself.

"You're sleeping inside tonight," Sam said. "The weather's changing, and I think the couch is better than grass."

Nobody really talked about New Caprica. Kara didn't handle knives around Leoben, and for the first three weeks he was in the house and handed her a set of silverware, her fingers clenched on the handle of her fork. But, they didn't say what had happened, in the same room. Sam got pieces of it out of Kara, when she raged about what had happened, and tried to understand, and later, after he had cooled down a little, he went after Leoben, who always made himself scarce afterwards.

"It's going to be fine," Sam said, and hopped easily out of the square hole they'd dug, and brushed off as Leoben did as well.

Sam stepped into the shower first, and when he got out, Leoben was standing in the hallway, dirt up to his elbows, even smeared across his face. As he went by, Sam gave into an urge, and brushed his fingers over Leoben's arm, and up to his shoulder. He felt Leoben stiffen, but he didn't jerk away, and Sam exhaled in relief as the bathroom door closed.

He wanted to do things, stuff that he hadn't ever thought about, and he didn't know if he could do it the way he wanted without breaking something that had just started mending. He kept on touching Leoben, not all the time, but when they brushed by each other, he reached out, and sometimes held on. When he did, Leoben would sometimes stop what he was doing and stand still, but gradually he just kept on working, and it was part of what went on around the house.

The workshop went up quickly. Leoben and Sam worked from the time Kara left every morning until only a couple minutes before she got back and it was done in a week and a half.

On the night it was completed, they brought her outside, Sam taking her by the hand, and Kara laughed as she teased him about the blindfold.

"You're setting me up for a kinky game, aren't you?"

"No, hang on, stand right there."

Sam knocked on the door to the workshop, and Leoben opened it.

Kara was led inside and when she was in the middle of the room, Leoben nodded, and Sam grinned at him.

"Okay, Kara, you can take off the blindfold now."

"Finally." She yanked it off and stared, clapping a hand over her open mouth. "Gods," she said. "When did you do this?"

"While you were gone," Sam said.

"It should have taken a month to get all this done."

"I guess there are some advantages to having a couple Cylons around the house."

"Which one of you came up with this?"

Sam couldn't tell if she was happy or freaked out, and watched her warily. Leoben was circling around the perimeter of the workshop and Sam made an inquiring face in his direction. The blond didn't answer, but cocked his head to the side as Kara rocked forward on her toes.

"Do you like it?" Sam asked.

She put her hand down, gave both of them a seconds-long glance and then lunged at Sam.

He caught her, and was nearly knocked over when she grabbed him around the neck and then wrapped her legs around his waist. He grunted, and staggered, hoisting her up higher, and grinned.

"So, you like it."

Kara let go, kissed him hard, with tongue, and then turned to Leoben.

She bit her lip, and Sam waited. Kara didn't touch Leoben very much, not like he did, but if this was going to work, they had to get used to her doing things other than throwing punches. Somehow, that would have been easier, and Sam didn't say a word, he was too busy waiting.

"You helped with this?" Kara asked.

"Yes," Leoben said.

Tentatively, Kara reached out, and caught hold of Leoben's hands, she squeezed them hard, and Sam saw her knuckles turn white, and then she darted in and kissed him quickly on the cheek, looking down. "Thank you."

Thanks given, she tried to hide her embarrassment by wandering around the workshop, touching the shelves, tools hanging on the walls, and the two of them followed her, Sam running a hand over Leoben's back gratefully.

From then on, the casual touching continued, and Sam didn't think that Kara had noticed that he touched Leoben a lot, out of habit, but then one day they were all home, and she stared at them for way too long.

"What are you guys doing?"

Sam blinked. "Standing in the kitchen."

"And?"

"Watching you," Leoben said.

"Why are you two kind of leaning on each other?" Kara asked, smiling.

"We are?" Sam asked, and realized that he and Leoben were standing with their shoulders pressed together as they leaned against the wall. "Oh." He looked at Kara again and she'd gone back to her drawings.

"Go on with whatever Cylon ritual bonding thing that is, just don't get too loud," Kara said.

Sam choked on his water, and Leoben looked startled, but took Sam's glass away and waited for him to get his breath back before he gave it back.

"Bonding ritual?"

"Apparently that's what this appears to be," Leoben said.

"Are there secret Cylon bonding rituals?"

"Certainly," Leoben said. "Although they don't involve a kitchen, or such points of contact."

"Meaning?"

"They are more intense experiences," Leoben said.

"Without clothes?" Kara asked, and was paying attention again.

"Some of them."

"Let me know when you're going to show him some of those," Kara said. "That sounds like fun."

"You'd think that," Sam said, but he wasn't really mad, because she was sounding more sure of herself every day, and sometimes he could barely see the cracks from when she had been broken.

"No, tell me," Kara said and held up her pencil warningly. "Otherwise you two are sleeping out in the workshop."

"He already does that," Sam said, nodding at Leoben.

"Yeah, and what's the deal with that? You don't like the couch?"

"It's fine," Leoben said. "I don't need as much sleep, and I sometimes work late at night."

"You still need to rest sometime," Sam said, and Kara was in agreement.

"Besides," Kara said, offhandedly, but clearly being deliberate in the way she wasn't looking at either of them, "there's a bed upstairs."

If Leoben had been drinking just then, Sam thought he would have been the one to choke, but instead he was immobile.

When Sam followed Kara up to bed, Leoben was rolling up the papers Kara had spread over the table. As he paused on the stairs, Sam could have said something else, but he waited a moment, and then went after Kara. They were both in bed, Kara in her tank top and boxers, Sam stripped down to his own shorts, curled around each other, when the door swung inwards.

Leoben stood on the threshold, and Sam didn't sit up, but lay beside Kara, and when Leoben's footsteps came up to the side of the bed, Sam threw the covers back.

"Come on," he said, and Kara heard them, but didn't roll over or stiffen.

The blond Cylon toed off his boots, and only took off his jacket, climbing into bed with his clothes on and bare feet.

"Cold," Kara said and turned over. "How come you guys can bend steel and still have cold feet?"

"Meticulous design," Leoben said, and Kara snorted.

"More like sneaky."

"It actually makes sense," Sam said.

"Doesn't help me warm up," Kara said.

Leoben was carefully keeping his feet away from them, and Sam groaned.

"Kara, stop it, let's try and get some sleep."

Snickering, Kara nudged Sam into the middle of the bed and draped herself across him. One of her hands lay over his chest and rested on Leoben's shoulder.

Sam stretched his arm out, and found Leoben in the dark. He curling his finger over the other Cylon's hip, and slid them just underneath his waistband, feeling him curve into Sam's hand.

After that, Sam and Kara made it plain to Leoben that he was supposed to sleep with them. He didn't head upstairs right after they did, but before they fell asleep, they always moved over to fit three in the bed.

-end