Lee had fallen asleep again, even in the metal chair he had pulled up beside the infirmary bed, and the pull of his slumber was tugging at Atia's mind.
But she gritted her teeth, and dug the claws of one paw into the other to keep herself awake, her amber eyes locked upon the sparrow that lay just within her view, unmoving near the edge of Kara's pillow.
Growling quietly when she felt her eyes starting to get heavy, she sat up abruptly, and curled her tail around herself as she stared with renewed attention at the figures lying unconscious in the bed.
They had been found the day before, passed out in one of the lesser-used corridors that led to the hanger deck.
None of which was surprising in and of itself. Starbuck didn't know when to give up, and she had been caught trying to get into a Viper more than ten times in the last few days when she was supposed to be off duty. As far as Atia knew, she hadn't slept at all during the attacks, and it wouldn't surprise her if, in her exhaustion, Kara hadn't realized the attacks were over yet.
So, no, she wasn't surprised that the pilot had been found finally passed out in the hallway. But she was annoyed, and angry.
...And concerned.
Because Kara had been found with a dark bruise around her wrist in a shape that might have been a hand, and the feathers of her daemon had been bent every which way, as though someone had...
Atia closed her eyes, and tried to keep the growl that wanted to rumble in her throat only in her mind as she was forced to lower herself back to the ground.
She would find out what had happened to them as soon as they awoke. And then she would hunt down whoever had dared to touch Altair, and she would...she...would...
The thought trailed off into silence as the exhaustion hiding in her bones pulled her back down into sleep.
Atia awoke suddenly, jerking into the world of the waking so quickly that for a moment she could have sworn she was back on Caprica, as a muffled sound caught her ears.
Immediately, she swung her head to stare up at the bed, and was on her feet in an instant when she saw that Kara was awake, and sitting up, holding Altair close to her chest with shaking hands and a bowed head.
She tugged sharply on Lee's mind to wake him, and he blinked open his eyes suddenly, before sitting up sharply when he noticed that their wayward pilot was likewise conscious.
"Are you okay?" He blurted out, the first words to make it out of the pile fighting for control of his voice.
Kara flinched, as though she hadn't noticed them before, and turned to face them, even as she pulled her daemon closer.
Dark circles hung beneath her eyes, which were red from lack of sleep, and she frowned. "Why wouldn't I be?" She snapped, annoyance mixed with exhaustion heavy in her voice.
Atia narrowed her eyes.
"Kara," Lee said, exasperation creeping into his tone, "You were found unconscious in the hallway. Not to mention the nasty bruise on your hand." Lee didn't bother beating around the bush, but even he didn't dare bring up the state her daemon had been in.
Kara scowled darkly. "None of your business." She muttered, and then, when he opened his mouth to speak again, snapped, her eyes blazing, "I fell, okay? I was heading to the infirmary because I couldn't sleep, and tripped over my own feet because I'm an idiot, and smashed it in a door as it was closing. Happy now?" She glared daggers.
Atia snarled, anger flaring. Why couldn't Kara ever just, for one second, drop the hostile act? She acted like everything they did was a personal attack, and Atia was getting sick of it!
"Alright, that's enough!" Snapped a sudden voice, and Atia barely had time to duck before a daemon swooped dangerously close to her head, and landed on the bed next to Kara's legs.
The white-collared raven clacked her beak loudly in annoyance, her wings still held half-open, and locked one unforgiving eye on Atia. "I will not allow you to harass my patient, Captain!" She snapped, taking a threatening step forward, her body dipping slightly toward the bed as though she were preparing to attack.
Atia reacted by baring her teeth, her ears going flat against her skull. Lee's hand grabbed at the fur on her neck, but otherwise, he did nothing to stop her.
A hiss slid out from the Ka'aliel's beak. "You will leave my infirmary right now, Captain Adama, or you will only be allowed back in when you're the one that's injured."
"Atia, drop it." Lee's voice was flat, and cold. She didn't take her eyes off the raven, but forced herself to hide her teeth. She kept her ears back, though.
She heard Lee stand up, and the hand on her neck tightened by a fraction.
Angry, at him, at Ka'aliel, at Kara, Atia shoved herself to her feet, and stalked away from the bed. When Lee hesitated, she shook his hand from her neck, and then grabbed it with her teeth, tugging him after her. He was the one that told her to drop it, he wasn't allowed to change his mind now.
"I'll see you later, Kara." Lee said icily, one final jab before departing.
Atia snarled at anyone who got too close as she threaded her way through the busy infirmary, and the last thing her ears caught before she left the room was Cottle's gruff voice, saying, "Now, do you want to tell me what really happened?"