Title: No Good Deed Goes Unpunished
Author: rita
E-mail: mommacita1@juno.com
Rating: PG-13
Pairings: SB/A implied
Archive: Yes, please, just tell me where!
Series: Sigh.  Yes.  Sequel to "What a Wingman Does".
Website: http://www.geocities.com/jennylmr/index.html (And thanks to
Jenlmr for hosting me)

Disclaimer: I don't own the boys nor do I make any profit from my
writing.  I just like to play with them and I mostly put my toys back as
good as new.

Warnings (if needed): Starbuck angst, Apollo angst, sappy kid warning
(sorry, should have done that for the previous).

Summary: Starbuck's recovered.  And his reputation has survived his
injuries.  What will Apollo do about the effect he's having on Boxey and
all the gossip?

***

"Didn't you ever hear the saying, 'let no good deed go unpunished'?"
Starbuck asked as he carefully cleaned the cut over Boxey's eye. He had
to focus consciously; his hands still didn't have the fine control they
should.  

"Yeah, but what would you have done?"

"Kept on walking," Starbuck said firmly, crossing his fingers behind his
back.  He hated lying to the boy.

"No you wouldn't have!" Boxey contradicted him.  "My dad's told me
stories ..."

"I'll just bet he has," Starbuck interrupted.  "Hold still."  He turned
his attention to the scrape on Boxey's cheek.

"You wouldn't of kept walking if you saw some poor little guy getting
beaten up just 'cause he wouldn't give his award pin to some bigger guy."

'No, I probably wouldn't have,' Starbuck thought. 'The kid knows me too
well.  I'll have to talk to Apollo about what kind of stories he's been
telling his son.' "And do you know how many times your father or your
grandmother - even your grand*father* had to clean me up? Look at how you
all had to take care of me since last yahren. Now, *please* hold still
and maybe I can get you fixed up so your father won't find out ..."

"Too late."  Apollo frowned as he leaned on the doorframe in the turbo
wash entry, his arms crossed over his chest.  "Boxey, go to your room. 
Starbuck, we need to talk.  Now."

Boxey slunk past his father with downcast eyes and obediently slumped
through the living area into his bedroom.  Starbuck followed Apollo with
a questioning expression on his face.

"Sit."

Starbuck obeyed, sitting on the couch, then asked, "What did *I* do?"

Apollo sat on the edge of the arm chair opposite and sighed.  "It's not
what you *did*, Starbuck, it's who you *are*."  He paused to collect his
thoughts. He knew he should have taken the time to rehearse what he had
to say before going home.  Too late now.  "I got a call from Boxey's
teacher.  She told me what happened."

"I didn't have anything to do with the fight!" Starbuck protested.  "For
that matter, Boxey was just ..."

Apollo held up a hand to silence the blond.  "She told me what happened,"
he repeated flatly.  "She also told me how all Boxey talks about is you
and your ... 'escapades' is the word she used."

"Oh."  Starbuck wondered why he wasn't grinning;  he usually did when
Apollo started in on him about cleaning up his act around Boxey.  Not
that he had much of an "act" left.  Just some card playing and a little
wagering.  But he had a hollow feeling in the pit of his stomach.  This
wasn't just another lecture.  "And?"

"I love you, Bucko, you know that."

'"Bucko" now,' Starbuck thought.  'Not "Star".  This is going to be
really bad.' 

"Boxey loves you, too.  Like a second father."

"But?" he prompted.

"But everyone says you're a bad influence on Boxey.  And, well, I can't
help but see why they say it."

Starbuck just waited in silence. The other shoe, the one he'd *almost*
thought wouldn't drop this time, was about to.

"You're not disabled anymore, not noticeably.  You can take care of
yourself.  Yet you're still living here.  We can't go on being secret
lovers, Starbuck."  There, he'd said it.  The hard part was over. 

Suddenly there was a loud crash from Boxey's room and the sound of
breaking glass followed by a loud screech and then sobbing.  Apollo
jumped up and ran into the room.  

Starbuck stood and barely stopped himself from following Apollo.  'I'm
*not* Boxey's second father,' he told himself sternly. 'That's the
message here.  Time to pack up and get out.  I'm no good for Boxey and
the best thing I can do is get out of both their lives.'  He sighed
loudly enough for Muffit to raise his head a make a querying noise. 

He had only a few clothes, mostly civvies, and one clean uniform that he
hadn't worn in over a yahren.  Those were quickly dumped in a duffle he
could return to Apollo in the duty office.  He swept his few toiletries -
the cologne Apollo liked so much, a razor, and the flavor of toothpaste
he preferred over Apollo's usual generic choice - on top of the clothes,
sealed the bag, and walked out of the bedroom and across the living area
to the door.  There he hesitated, looking towards Boxey's room.  He could
hear Boxey's hiccupping voice explaining how whatever had gotten broken
was not his fault.  "Remember, kid, no good deed goes unpunished.  Use me
as an example of that, a good example." 

Muffit raised his head and whimpered again in question, starting to rise
to follow the man he was programmed to protect.

"Stay Muffit," Starbuck instructed him.  The daggit droid lay back down
with a realistic groan. "Tell them goodbye for me.  Tell them I love
them."  Then he keyed the door open and walked swiftly through.

***

"I don't know where Starbuck is, for the fourth time!" Apollo growled at
his son. 

"When you find him, will you bring him home?" the boy asked tearfully.

"Yes, I will.  I promise."  'Stubborn, hardheaded fool.  I'll drag him
home by force if I have to,' he finished silently.  "Now, let's get you
ready for school.  Neither of us needs your teacher mad at us again
today."

"That's for sure," Boxey mumbled.

***

Instead of Starbuck, Apollo found his old duffle bag on his desk when he
got to the duty office.  "Where's Starbuck?" he asked Boomer, who was
manning the office.

"Said he had inventory to do.  Probably on the flight deck," Boomer
replied.  "Seemed kind of ... remote.  Not that it's any of my business,
but how come he slept in the BOQ last night?"

"It's not your business," Apollo snapped, then instantly regretted it. 
"Sorry, Boomer.  Starbuck's spoiled me and I had to get Boxey *and* me
ready this morning."

"Not a problem, old buddy.  I guess Starbuck's well enough to be back in
the BOQ," Boomer replied blandly.

"I suppose he is."

"He's probably able to pilot a shuttle with a copilot," Boomer suggested.

"Did he put you up to his?" Apollo demanded.

"No.  Tigh did."

Apollo sat in his chair, pushed the duffle away from him and held his
head in his hands, elbows propped on the desk.  "I just don't need
another thing today."

"Then you probably don't want to know that your father commed."

"Oh Lords."

"He commed from the flight deck right before you walked in. Said he'd
talk to you over last-meal tonight."

"Thanks, Boomer."

***

Starbuck was setting the table for Adama when Apollo walked in with
Boxey.  He looked up, then quickly looked down, and concentrated on
folding the napkins precisely into triangles.  Unnecessary concentration,
Apollo knew.  His faculties were almost completely recovered except for
the finest of fine motor control.  Apollo greeted him casually.

Boxey had no such restraint.  "Starbuck!" he yelled as soon as he spotted
him.  "I thought you'd gotten lost or something - where were you? You
didn't take Muffit with you."

"I don't need Muffit with me all the time anymore, Boxey," Starbuck
reminded him.  "And I didn't get lost.  I ..." He looked at Apollo over
Boxey's head.  Surely the Captain had told the boy *something*.  "Didn't
your father tell you where I'd gone?"

Boxey said, "He said he didn't know - he thought maybe you went to visit
friends and stayed over."

Apollo shrugged.

'You could use a little of my "bad influence" to come up with better
lies, Captain,' Starbuck thought.  "Uh, yeah.  Guess I forgot to leave a
note." 'You owe me big time for this one,' Starbuck sent to Apollo
through narrowed eyes.

"But then he said he'd bring you home tonight - he *promised* - and he
didn't." Boxey drew Starbuck's attention back to himself.

"That's probably because he couldn't find me." Then, with real joy in his
voice, he added, "Your grandfather let me *fly* his shuttle today!"

"Well, a Commander's got to have some privileges - I just exercised mine
to bend the rules a little," Adama said coming in and greeting Boxey with
a hug and Apollo with a nod and a look that said both too much and too
little.  "We went on a test flight - to see if Starbuck could handle some
light piloting duty."

"How'd you do, Starbuck?" Boxey asked eagerly.

Starbuck turned to Adama, who replied for him, "Excellently, Boxey.  I
think Starbuck's ready to requalify for shuttle piloting."

"I was going to suggest that myself," Apollo said defensively. "But I
never got the chance.  It only came to my attention this duty cycle."

"Yes, well, that's all right, Son," Adama said expansively.  "Now, why
don't you finish setting the table, Boxey, while I finish programming the
fooder.  And you two, go relax in the living room."  He made a shooing
motion with his hands.

Apollo and Starbuck shared a glance and a shrug and obediently went into
the next room.  Apollo headed straight for the bar, while Starbuck sat
tensely in a chair by the view port and stared out.

"Drink, Bucko?" Apollo asked.

Starbuck considered the timing of his medications carefully before
nodding.  Of course, Apollo would have already done that before offering,
he realized belatedly.  "A small one; last-meal's running late," he said.

Apollo brought the drink over and stood beside Starbuck's chair gazing
out.  

"So what are you going to tell Boxey tonight?" Starbuck said into the
awkward silence that had stretched for centons.

"Are you going to make me a liar, Bucko?" Apollo said lightly.  But he
wasn't smiling.

"Hmm?"

"I promised I'd bring you home."

"Ah."

Apollo broke the ensuing silence this time.  "Why'd you leave?" he asked
plaintively.

"I'm not stupid, remember, Apollo?  You were going to tell me to leave; I
just didn't wait for the conclusion of your speech."

"What in Hades are you talking about?" Apollo asked, coming around to sit
opposite Starbuck.

"Oh, let's see. If memory serves me, and I know mine gets spotty, so I
may skip something," Starbuck began, "you said that I was a bad influence
on Boxey, that I had no excuse to be living with you anymore, and that we
couldn't keep on being secret lovers.  So I kind of guessed where you
were heading when Boxey broke - what did he break this time?"

'Frak! I knew I should have rehearsed what I had to say!' Apollo thought.
"Umm, his carnivorous plants tube," he said absently.  "Then one of them
bit him.  Apparently he was trying to twirl it the way you twirl your
walking stick."

"I do that for therapy," Starbuck said defensively.

"Yeah, I explained that to him."

"Another example of my bad influence, I guess," the blond sighed,
slumping back in his seat.

"Outsiders would interpret it that way, yes," Apollo said slowly. Then he
continued,  "Look, Starbuck, you remembered what I said completely
accurately, but you guessed wrong about my conclusion."

"Oh?"

Apollo slid to his knees in front of his lover.  "Star, I said everyone
thought you were a bad influence because they don't understand you *are*
Boxey's second father.  They really mean you have *undue* influence for a
friend of the family and they assume it's not what I would want and that
I must not know.  And remember who you are - your reputation, Bucko."

"I haven't done anything - Sagan! I haven't *been able* to do anything -
for over a yahren."

"It'll take decayahrens before people stop thinking of you that way,
Bucko," Apollo said.  "Anyway, I meant it when I said we couldn't go on
being secret lovers, Starbuck."

"I know you meant it, Apollo.  I accept it.  I should have known ..."

"Starbuck!  Will you let me finish this time?" Apollo said, frustrated at
the interruption.

"Yeah, let him finish so we can eat!" Boxey chimed in from the doorway.

Both men blushed.  They reddened further as Adama stepped up behind Boxey
and drew him away, saying, "Remember, yahrens ago, how you said Apollo
was 'slow'?  Well, Boxey, he hasn't changed.  Now, come along, or he'll
never get the words out."  A soft chuckle accompanied their footsteps
down the hall.

Apollo sighed.  "Before there's another interruption, let me explain.  I
don't want us to be *secret* lovers.  I want us to get sealed, to be open
about it.  There.  I've said it. What do you think? Star?  Starbuck?"

Starbuck stared openmouthed at the man on his knees in front of him. 
"Did you just propose to me?" he asked in disbelief.

"Well, I guess so.  It's not exactly what I was going to say last night,
but I didn't take the time to organize my thoughts then - or now.  But,
yes, that's what I'm doing: proposing to you.  Will you be my lifemate,
Star?"

Apollo waited.  Sometimes Starbuck still thought out his words before
speaking.  But nothing more was forthcoming from the blond.  "Star? Are
you okay?"  Still nothing.  "Please say *something*!"

"Yes."

"Yes?"  Had something gone awry with Starbuck's synapses again?

"Yes, I'll be your lifemate," Starbuck clarified.

"Oh.  Okay."  Apollo breathed a sigh of relief.  "You scared me there,
love."

"Serves you right, springing something like that on me that way.  I
thought you were dumping me."

"So I gathered.  I didn't mean to ..."

"Then you come out with *this*.  Every dream I ever had - well, since I
first laid eyes on you - coming true."  Starbuck took a breath.  "I was
... stunned."

"*Every* dream?" Apollo asked skeptically.  This was Starbuck after all.

Starbuck nodded.  "I'll prove it to you," he said.  "C'mere." He took him
by the shoulders and pulled Apollo to him.  Then he kissed him hard and
deep and passionately.  He didn't let go or let up until he felt faint
from lack of oxygen.  He leaned back against the seat of the chair he had
slid off of and panted.  "Convinced?" he asked when he could manage a
word.

Apollo nodded.  "Yeah.  Yeah, I believe you now."

"Good," came a high-pitched voice from the doorway.  "Can we eat now?"