Hearts and Fates Entwined

By Fairedust

Part One

Chapter 1: Finding the Resistance

"We're lost aren't we?" Karl asks.

"You're supposed to be the ' Ace' navigator, aren't you?!" snaps Kara.

"Come on Kara. You're from these parts" Karl says, trying to mask his smirk.

"Frak it!! Pull out the map from the glove box. We'll pull over and figure out where we are."

"Okee dokee" Karl says as Kara pulls to a stop in the middle of the deserted road.

Both climbed out and spread the map on the hood of Kara's military style Hummer truck. While doing so, Kara's head snaped up.

"Did you hear that Helo?"

Cautiously looking around he shook his head and said, "no".

"Well I did" she said, as she reached in behind the drivers seat. She began to pull out some pretty serious weaponry and extra ammo.

" Lords Starbuck! Do you always carry an armory behind your seat! I know your neighborhood isn't the best… but still!" Helo exclaimed.

"Hey, my mother taught me to always be prepared. Are ya gonna start complaining 'bout it now?"

"No. I guess not. You got one of those semi's for me in there too?"

"Yep. And a box of extra ammo too" she said with her Starbuck smirk in place.

Suddenly they are under attack. The shots were coming at them from the tree line, several yard to the right side of the road.

"Over there… by the stone wall… you go first Helo, I'll cover you."

They both moved with a practiced ease, despite their accumulated injuries. Helo was still favoring his right leg. He only told Kara he'd been injured during the initial attack, but would not go into any detail. He told her he was fine and she had to take him at his word for now. Kara, herself had sustained some nasty scrapes and bruises, along with some hopefully only bruised, not cracked ribs from her fight with the blond at the museum. Still the two of them moved more like it was a dance or a game. They evaded and tried to flank their far superior numbered aggressors. Eventually they were overcome. Their sustained injuries and exhaustion, coupled with the enemy's sheer numbers, eventually overcame their experience and training. They were boxed in trying to cross a small bridge. Weapons drawn in both hands, they prepared to make their final stand.

In the tense moments that followed, Helo recognized some of the people surrounding them.

"Oh wow. You're the Caprican Buccaneers , aren't you?"

A few more tense moments passed as both sides finally convinced the other that everyone there was indeed human and not Cylon. Then the introductions were made.

"So what the hell are you doing all the way out here anyway?" asked their leader Sam.

"Looking for any type of ship with and FTL drive to get the frak off this rock" snaped Kara.

" That may be so, but this is Cylon hostile territory. You should both come back to base with us for now. Maybe have someone take a look at both of your injuries while you're there." Sam stated with an air of authority.

Now that the adrenaline was wearing off in the both of them, both Helo's and Kara's injuries were really beginning to make their presence known. Their latest romp thru the woods did neither of the two pilots any good.

"You got a Doc in your camp?" Helo wanted to know.

"Sort of" another Resistance fighter replied with a cynical expression.

" Well then, let me get my truck and then you can lead the way" Kara said with a wave of her hand.

Kara and Helo followed the Resistance truck thru many a secondary road. It seemed that they were driving for a little over an hour when the back road finally opened out into a clearing. After a quick look around, both pilots realized they were on the grounds of some kind of school. The building still looked mainly intact.

"So, how many you have here?" Kara asked Sam. He seemed to be the one in charge. Always start at the top, Kara thought.

"53 right now. We lost 12 last week raiding a hospital, getting some more anti-radiation meds."

Kara and Helo exchanged a look. Both expressing an army of 55 was better than just their two.

"So, she may not be a real M.D., but still we should have her check you both out. She's done really well keeping us all patched. We have another woman with our group who is a licensed nurse, but she is out with a squad trying to locate some more medicines at the moment. Although she's young, I swear Tabitha has had years more experience than Betty does anyway." Sam said to them. Then he lowered his head and said almost to himself. "Actually, she's the best we've ever had; even before the real Doc freaked out and blew his own head off."

"Tabitha?!" Both Helo and Kara exclaimed as one.

"Yah, We found her up in the hills on our way down. Like I said, our team was up in the mountains training. It was a good thing we stumbled onto her cabin when we did too. Maria got snake bit the day before."

Kara and Helo exchanged a look of relief and excitement. Tabitha was such an uncommon name. Add that to the cabin in the hills. It all pointed to the same person they both knew and loved. The person neither of them could bring themselves to even think about since the Cylons had bombed their worlds. It was too painful to think of her as dead, so both had chosen to NOT think about her.

"You know her?" Sam gave both a quizzical look. Both pilots looked stunned and hesitantly hopeful.

Just then, someone burst out of one of the doors in the building. A ball of rapid moving energy came flying across the courtyard, closing the distance at an impressive speed. The someone, slowed just before reaching the small group. Only to come to a complete stop directly in front of the them. Her eyes kept darting between Kara and Karl, then back again. Sam watched in mild confusion as the three others looked back and forth amongst themselves. He was able to hear the buzzing of a dragonfly off to his left, it was so silent.

The silence was broken as the tiny woman closed the final distance and engulfed both pilots into her surprisingly powerful embrace. All three started to speak at once.

"I can't believe…." Karl began

"How did you…" Kara started

"I knew you were both still…." Came from Tabitha

All three stopped as soon as they realized they were all speaking at once and began to laugh. The sound seemed closer to relief to Sam's ears.

"So, I guess I don't need to make any introductions then?"

All three turned as one to look at Sam, then back to one another.

"Right, I'll just leave you all to it then. Oh, and Tabitha, don't forget to check them both out. Don't take NO for and answer either." With that Sam walked away to join those of his group unloading their supply truck.

"Tabby, how did you know we were here? We just got out of my truck a moment before you came barreling out of the building?

"I could feel you. I just knew you were here, even though I was afraid to hope it. I had to SEE you to believe it." she said with tears of relief shining in her eyes. Then "Hey, check you out? What have you two done to yourselves this time?" Tabby said with an air of authority way beyond her years.

"Abby"

"Tabby" they both began

"Save it. Just follow me." Again, her tone left no room for argument or denial. So both the Colonial officers followed her with their heads bowed, more closely resembling chastised children.

She lead them to the science section of the school. It had an enclosed courtyard filled with a variety of plants. She brought them to a smaller room that looked as if she'd taken complete control of. It actually looked very Tabby homey. After having them both take a seat, she went off to gather some supplies.

"I can't believe it. How did she survive? The bombs, the patrols, everything?" Karl said, his tone filled with disbelief and awe.

"Karl, she survived how long as a captive with those bastards the Roganov's?"

"Three plus years." Karl growled. His eyes filling with unaccustomed rage at the mere mention of those monsters who held her prisoner. Her jailors. Her torturers.

"She managed to escape as we were landing on that moon, Tauronella. Tauron's largest moon. We had no idea she or any other captives were even there. We were only ordered to try and remove his criminal control of that Gods forsaken rock. She managed to save 23 others before their fortress collapsed."

"Right, so since she was in the hills, away from the bombings, she was able to get thru the Cylons' initial attack."

"What 'bout the rest?"

" Our girl has grit, like you said. We also know she is one of the most resourceful people we know. I'm just surprised she came down here away from her cabin to be with so many people." Kara calmly stated.

Just then Tabby returned, ending both pilots speculations.

"You're right, ya know." Tabby spoke, her eyes filled with sparkling mischief. Both pilots had the grace to pinken slightly - neither really were the full blushing type. Their pink faces only made Tabby laugh softly.

"Rest easy you two. I'm not reading either of you. You are both sitting under the air vent. It leads into the teacher's office for some reason or another"

The two looked at each other and then up at the ceiling, then back again. Soon they too joined in with Tabby and began to laugh.

Tabby became all business after a few minutes. She insisted on checking both of their injuries. She opened a bag, closely resembling on the outside a Dr's house call bag. Then she opened a larger, two handled duffle. From the larger one she took out the normal medical supplies one would expect: scissors, gauze, creams etc…. From the smaller one, she took out a mortas and pestal, some stones and something that looked very much like herbs and … was that webs?

While Helo looked on speculatively, never having to have used her services before,

he seemed a little confused and not just a nervous. He knew what she was. Knew she was what some would call a ' Natural or Nature Healer' . She and her family had been so for countless generations, she had once told him. Those, not so kind and understanding would have called her a 'witch'. But more than anything, he knew he could trust her, even though this was all new and foreign to him. Truth be told, it was Kara's reaction or more accurately her lack to reaction that calmed him the most.

Kara on the other hand saw all this as 'old hat'. There had been many a time she'd driven up to Abby's cottage or had Abby come down to her apartment for just this service. It never looked good on your military record to have to report to the Medical bay or your superior an injury you acquired in a bar brawl or two. Besides, even legitimate injuries could ground a pilot. Something Kara avoided at all costs. Yep, best to keep as many under wraps as possible was Kara's way of thinking. Her temper seemed to almost always run hot and most of her reactions tended to by physical. As it turned out she had required Abby's skill quite often, when she was still planet side.

"So, who's first?"

Kara looked over at Helo and saw his lips held in a tight line. She burst out in one of her trademark Starbuck belly cackles. Only to regret it once she did, as it aggravated her ribs and turned into a muffled groan.

"Right then. Kara it is. Take off your shirt. Lets take a good look at you."

Even if Tabby's tone brooked no disobedience it would not have fazed her to do so in the least. Living in such close quarters aboard the Galactica for the past two years had removed any and all modesty Kara may or may not have ever had. She removed her shirt with only the slightest problems getting it up and over her head. She managed that part with a little help from Helo.

"Oh my Lord and all his creations!!! Kara, what the hell happened to you?!"

Kara actually blushed an unprecedented flaming red all the way down to her pant line. Karl hissed thru his teeth at the sight of the black, purple and red marks covering her torso.

"Is that all from the 'blond'?"

"Yep. … Well mostly anyway." Kara answered him in a small voice.

"The blond?"

"We will tell you bout it later Tabs. Do you think you've got anything in your bag of tricks that can fix me up?"

For all of Tabby's calm and her mothering tone, her eyes filled with tears at seeing Kara's injuries. Karl understood it was mainly for seeing her friend, someone she considered her family, pain. But he also knew it was from knowing exactly what Kara must be feeling. Having been beaten much, much worse than Kara herself was now. Remembering what that pain had felt like, before Karl had found her.

"Karl. I'm sorry, but I'm going to need you to move so she can lie down." Karl moved instantly.

Tabby began rooting thru her small bag for some more odd things in Karl's estimation. He thought she should be getting things from her rather large medical bag. He was about to say so when Kara caught his eye and shook her head no. He decided for now to hold his tongue. Kara seemed to be used to this. She also seemed calmer than he ever remembered her being. The fact that she wasn't bitching or even giving any type of token protest seemed so out of character for her. He himself had taken her to Life Station on several occasions in the past. She always gave the Life Station staff a hard time. She seemed strangely docile for Tabby.

Tabby put some type of concoction into her mortas and began to work it with the pestal. Then she placed, of all the strange things, a stone in each of Kara's hands. She then finally reached into the medical bag and took some things out to clean the abrasions. Only she added them to her concoction first. It was after all the cuts and abrasions were cleaned and bandaged that Karl realized Kara had never even flinched. That was highly odd, he thought. Some of those looked highly painful. He now seemed to notice that Tabby had stopped humming. Humming?… When had she even started to do that?… Oh right, just before she started to actually work on Kara's wounds. Karl found himself fascinated. He'd heard of Tabby's skill many times, but he'd never actually seen it. He did know she had the ability to heal quicker than normal herself. But he found it odd that when she healed quicker, she also seemed more drained afterward; even more drained than when she was really injured. He'd always wrote it off as 'just another Tabby thing' and filed it away. Never giving it much thought. After all, he wasn't known as one the great thinkers.

Tabby pulled out a hand sized stone from her bag. Plain looking, brownish thing was the first thought he had to describe it. It was somewhat smooth egg shaped. Though he guessed if he were to touch it, it wouldn't feel entirely smooth. She moved back over to Kara.

"Kara, I'm gonna work on your bruising now. How much do you need?"

"Only anything internal if you can. That would be great. I figure the rest will be gone in a couple of weeks tops anyway. Besides, you still need to work on Helo."

"Alright. But some of these external bruises are very bad. I'll try to lessen them too." Tabby told her with a gentle, calm voice. Giving Kara a reassuring smile.

Kara looked at her with complete trust showing on her face and gave her a slight nod.

Internal? Internal?! What the frak were they talking about?! - was the stunned thought racing thru his head. He wouldn't have been able to tear his eyes away even if a Raider had been spotted flying over head. He was mesmerized.

Tabby began to hum once again. Moving the, he'd dubbed 'ugly stone' just above the skin of Kara's torso. If he didn't know better he would have sworn the air around Tabby had begun to shimmer. It seemed to extend down her arm, the one holding the 'ugly stone'. Then it seemed to move onto Kara, herself. Kara inhaled sharply, drawing Karl's eyes to her face. Her eyes were closed tightly and she was biting her lower lip. Should he stop this? It was Tabby who halted his movement.

"I'm not causing her any injury Karl. I promise. But there is quite a bit of damage in there. I've got to fix it." Her voice was barely audible, but he heard her none the less.

"It's o.k. Helo. I trust her. She's fixed me up plenty of times before." Kara reassured him.

Tabby's humming resumed as did the energy shimmer. Before his eyes the worst of Kara's bruising lightened. By the time Tabby finished moving her stone and stopped her constant humming there were no longer any black or purple marks on Kara's body. They were not gone entirely. But they were now red. Many had already turned into the sickly green and yellow tones bruises do near the end. Tabby seemed to collapse into herself. She rested her head on the side of the small couch next to Kara's hip.

Kara reacted instantly "Abby! Abby are you alright?! I told you, you didn't have to do so much! I told you I'd be fine!" Kara cried out, reaching toward her friend.

Tabby let out a small cuff laugh. "I'm fine Kara. Love you back too."

tbc