A.N: In this story Lee never became Commander of the Pegasus and is still Galactica's CAG. He still has the rank of a Captain and Anders never got sick.

Just friends

By Silwyna

Horrorstricken, Kara watched the Cylon ships landing on the planet. She could see the battle in the sky. The Galactica fought hard, but she didn't think they had much of a chance. She hoped they would get the chance to jump away in time. She needed the Galactica to be safe. She needed Lee to be safe.

"What is going on here?" Sam asked terrified.

They both stood several miles away from New Caprica City in the mountains, watching the Cylons occupying their new home. Kara and Sam had been surveying the surroundings for the last few days. Kara hadn't liked the idea of going away so far from the town, but now she was glad they did. Had they been in New Caprica City, they would either be dead now or imprisoned. As Kara had sworn never to be a Cylon prisoner again, she would have chosen the first option.

"The Cylons found us." Kara responded to Sam's question. Not that he needed an answer. He could see with his own eyes what was going on. It was just too hard to believe.

"How?" He whispered.

Suddenly they saw a ship going down fast towards the planet. Obviously the pilot had lost all control over the ship as it spiraled uncontrollably down to the planet. Only seconds later it crashed in a nearby forest.

"Good, one less." Sam hissed.

"That looked more like a viper." Kara said alarmed. Before the last word had left her mouth, she started running towards the crash site.

"Kara wait, you can't know that. It was too far away." Sam called after her. But she wasn't listening and kept running. Swearing, he quickly followed her.

It took them about half an hour to reach the crash site. The viper looked badly damaged and the pilot was still inside. Kara wanted to run to the ship immediately, but was stopped by Sam.

"Wait, this could be a trap." He whispered, holding her tightly on her arm.

"A trap?" Kara stared at him. "The Cylons don't even know we're here. How could this possibly be a trap?"

"The Cylons weren't supposed to know we're on this planet either. But they found us." Sam countered. "And the way this viper looks, the pilot is already dead. He hasn't even tried to get out."

"He could be hurt, unconscious ... He could be one of my friends, Sam. Whoever it is, I'm not leaving him behind." Kara hissed and pulled out of Sam's tight grasp. The she quickly ran over to the viper.

The canopy was covered with cracks, so that she couldn't see much inside the viper. With some effort she managed to open the canopy after a few minutes. When she finally saw the pilot inside, she held her breath. She did know this pilot – it was Lee. His helmet looked battered and there was blood on his face. He was also bleeding from a pretty bad-looking wound on his left leg, where a piece of metal stuck in. When she searched for a pulse, she accidentally touched the wound on his leg and Lee let out a short, painful moan.

"Hold on, Lee. I'll get you out of here." She looked back to where Sam was still standing behind some trees. She willed him to come over and seeing the desperate look in her eyes, he finally moved closer.

"He's still alive. I need help to get him out." She quickly explained when Sam had reached the viper. Kara was worried about the blood that was still coming out of the leg wound but as long as he was bleeding, she at least knew that he was still alive.

Together they managed to get Lee out of the viper. The movement woke him momentarily from his unconsciousness and he winced in pain. But he slipped back as quickly as he woke up.

When he finally lay on the ground, Kara carefully removed the helmet. He had a bad-looking wound on his forehead that was bleeding heavily.

"He probably has a concussion." Kara muttered. Then she looked at his leg. Carefully she pulled out the metal, before she ripped of a piece of her shirt and used it as a bandage to stop the bleeding. "There should be a med kit in the viper." She told Sam without taking her eyes off of Lee.

He only hesitated a second before he got up to get it. He looked down at the injured man. Of all pilots, why did it have to be Lee Adama to crash practically right in front of them? He didn't know what happened between Kara and Lee, but he knew they had some kind of history. And he knew that Lee Adama held a special place in Kara's heart, even though she would never admit that. A place that should only belong to him, Sam Anders.

It took Kara only a few minutes to take care of Lee's other wounds. She tried to wake him up again several times, but his eyes stayed closed. The only sign that he was still alive was his slow breathing.

"What are we going to do now? We can't stay here." Sam looked questioningly at Kara.

She thought about that for a moment. "There were some caves higher up the mountain. We could hide there."

"What about him?" Sam pointed at Lee.

"We carry him. Together we should be able to get him up there." Without waiting for a response, Kara took Lee's arm and put it around her shoulder. Then she looked expectantly at Sam. Sighing he took Lee's other arm and followed her example. Then they carefully got up and started walking higher up the mountain, dragging Lee between them.

Even though both Kara and Sam were strong people, they struggled to keep going with Lee between them. He was dead weight and it took all their strength to hold him. They didn't dare to take any breaks on their way and when they finally reached the cave, they were both out of breath and sagged to the floor immediately.

"I hope he's worth it." Sam choked between breaths.

"He is worth more than you and me together." Kara glared angrily at him.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Sam asked, offended.

But Kara had already turned her attention back to Lee and ignored his question. She carefully opened his flight suit and pulled it down to the waist to look for more wounds. There were just some cuts and bruises but she feared that he might have internal injuries. The way it felt, he might have some broken ribs.

"We need Cottle here." She suddenly said.

"Sure, we just go down there and ask him to join our little cave party." Sam replied sarcastically.

"We have to do something. I'm not going to watch him die."

Sighing Sam looked from Kara to Lee. He really looked like death wasn't too far away. All color had drained from his face and the blood on him made his skin look even paler.

"We don't know what happened down there. Cottle is probably dead along with everyone else." He finally said.

"We don't know that." Kara called out angry. "Maybe the Cylons took them as prisoners. They could still be alive. I can't just sit around doing nothing."

"All of the sudden the Cylons are taken prisoners? They never did that before. Expect the women, of course." He cursed himself for his last remark. He knew how sensitive a subject that was for Kara. "Okay, we wait until it's night. Then we go down there and see what happened."

"I can't leave him alone." Kara whispered.

"Fine." Sam let out a frustrated sigh. "I'm going and you're staying here with your new boyfriend."

"He's not my boyfriend." Kara looked at him, surprised.

"Well, he's obviously worth more to you than I am." Sam still felt offended about her previous remark.

"Sam, Lee and I are just friends." Kara said, looking intently at her husband. "You don't have to be jealous."

Sam looked at Kara a long time before he decided to drop the subject. "Okay, it's settled. Tonight I check on the city and you watch our beloved Captain." Sam couldn't hide the sarcasm in his last remark.

"Fine." Kara said quietly.

XXXXXXX

Kara waited anxiously for Sam to return. He had been gone for hours. She hated that she could do nothing but wait. She almost wished she had gone down there instead of Sam. But when she looked down at Lee, she knew she could have never left. She couldn't leave him alone when he couldn't defend himself should anything happen. It wasn't that she didn't trust Sam, but when it came to Lee, she wasn't going to take any chances.

When she saw Lee stir in his sleep, she quickly grabbed his hand. "Lee, wake up. Please, wake up."

When he still didn't open his eyes, she tried another tactic. She knew that Lee would respond to that when he was able to. "Captain, wake up! That's an order!" She was surprised how steady her voice sounded. She didn't feel steady at all.

A small smile appeared on her face when she saw Lee's eyes flutter open. He looked around himself, confused. When he didn't recognize his surroundings, he tried to get up. Sharp pains in his chest and head stopped him. Groaning, he let his head fell down on the ground again.

"It's okay, Lee. Stay down. You're safe. Well, at least as safe as possible under the circumstances." Kara assured him.

"Kara?" He whispered when his eyes fell on her. His voice sounded so weak that it was hardly audible.

"I'm here." She grasped his hand a bit tighter. "Are you in pain?" She knew that was a stupid question. She only had to take one look at him to know the answer.

Lee thought about the question for a moment. "Yeah ..." He finally answered quietly. He sounded surprised. He must be in a lot of pain if he was willing to admit that. "What happened?"

"What's the last thing you remember?" Kara asked carefully.

Lee closed his eyes. Kara was afraid that he had slipped back into unconsciousness, but only a few moments later she met his blue eyes again. They were filled with pain and confusion.

"I launched for CAP and ... Oh gods, the Cylons!" Again he tried to get up, but was stopped by Kara.

"Stay down, there is nothing you can do. It's already too late." She said quietly.

"Galactica?" He choked out. The scared look in his eyes broke her heart.

"I don't know." She whispered. She wished she could give him a better answer.

"Did you see ... an explosion ... in the sky?" He struggled to get the words out. Kara could see that he was fighting hard to stay awake.

"No, I didn't." She was confused about his question at first, but then it hit her. "I guess that means they got away." She said hopefully.

"Yeah ..." His voice trailed off and his eyes fell close. He'd lost consciousness again.

"Please don't die." Kara whispered. She could feel the tears well up in her eyes, but she forced herself not to cry. She couldn't get weak now. She needed to stay strong for Lee.

XXXXXXX

A short time later Sam returned, but he was not alone.

"Look who I found running around in the woods." He said with a big grin on his face.

Kara looked in disgust at the man standing next to her husband. "Zarek." She spat out. Of all people that had managed to flee from the city, it had to be Tom Zarek!

"Lieutenant Thrace, what a pleasant surprise." Zarek greeted her with a smug smile.

"She's not in the military anymore." Sam explained. He suddenly felt uncomfortable. He could feel the tension between his wife and Tom Zarek.

"Well, I think she just enlisted again." Zarek replied smugly.

"Should that ever be the case, you'd have to call me Captain Thrace!" Kara countered angrily.

"Excuse me, I don't follow military promotions as much as I probably should. I hope you are willing to take my apology, Captain. But maybe we should get to the more urgent subject now. The Cylons have occupied New Caprica." He said quietly.

"What's it like down there?" Kara asked Sam. She chose to ignore Zarek for the moment.

"The settlers are alive, at least most of them. The Cylons have started to build some kind of fence around the city. They're keeping the settlers as prisoners, but they're not killing them." Sam explained.

"That's good news. Now we just have to find a way to free them." Kara said, relieved. She had already feared the worst. But with the settlers being alive, there was still hope.

"Kara, you don't understand. From what it looked like, the whole frakking Cylon fleet is down there. There is nothing we can do."

"We have to do something. You've already been in this situation before. On Caprica ..."

"Caprica was different. This is ..."

"How was it different? You fought Cylons on Caprica, you can fight them here too!"

"Kara ..."

"Please, can I make a suggestion?" Zarek interrupted the arguing couple.

"Shut up." Kara hissed at him.

"Maybe we should hear him out." Sam countered.

"Hear him out? What could he possible have to say that is worth listening to?" Kara got more and more agitated. She couldn't believe Sam would even consider listening to this murderer.

"I have some experience with fighting the authorities." Zarek pointed out smiling.

"You're a terrorist. We don't need your kind of experience." Kara hissed at him.

They were interrupted by a moan coming from Lee. Immediately Kara was at his side, forgetting the two other men for the moment.

"Lee?" She asked hopefully. Maybe this time he would wake up for a longer time. She needed him so much right now. Surely he had already come up with a plan how to come out of this frakked up situation in his sleep.

But Lee didn't want to wake up again. His whole body hurt and he knew that when he would open his eyes, reality would hit him and he would feel even worse. He wanted to let the darkness surround him again, but Kara's pleading voice held him back. Slowly he forced his eyes to open.

"Hey." Kara was at a loss of words right now. She wanted Lee to stay awake, but she knew that would only increase his pain. And there was nothing she could do to help him. No, there was one thing she could do for him that would at least take one worry of his mind. "The settlers are alive. I don't know why, but the Cylons aren't killing anyone this time. They're trapped inside the city, but they're alive." Kara smiled when she saw the relief in Lee's eyes. Even half-dead he still worried about the good of the fleet.

"What happened to him?" Zarek asked with a worried voice. He had just now noticed the Captain for the first time since he stepped into the cave.

"That's none of your business." Kara said angrily.

"His viper crashed in the forest a few hours ago." Sam explained, ignoring Kara's angry glance.

"He looks bad. Maybe I can help him ..."

"Don't you dare touch him. You stay away from him, you hear me?" Kara yelled at him.

"Lieutenant ..."

"That's Captain! And as a colonial officer I'm ordering you to stay away from him!" She glared furiously at the man standing in front of her.

"Captain, do you want him to die? Because that's what will happen if he doesn't get help. I know there is not much I can do, but I have a little medical experience. There weren't always doctors available where I come from." He explained.

Kara kept glaring at him, wondering what she should do now. She didn't want to put Lee's life in the hands of a terrorist. He had already tried to kill Lee before. But looking at Lee she knew that she didn't have a choice. He did need help and she had already done everything she could. There was nothing more she could do for him.

"Okay, help him. But I will watch you closely. And if you do anything wrong ..."

"I don't want him to die either, Captain." Zarek replied quietly. The he kneeled next to Lee and began examining him carefully. When he felt over his ribs, Lee let out another painful moan.

"Some ribs seem to be broken. I can't say for sure, but I think it's better if we wrap them. Do you have anything that we could use?"

"There should be something in the med kit." Kara handed the med kit to Zarek. Reluctantly she had to admit that he seemed to know what he was doing.

"I'm going to need your help. If you could hold him up a bit, I can wrap him." Zarek had already started to gently raise Lee's body in a half-sitting position. Again Lee winced in pain. This time his eyes fluttered open. When he saw Zarek directly in front of him, he tried to get out of his grasp.

"It's okay, Lee. He's only here to help you. It's okay." Kara tried to calm him. She gave him a comforting smile. She could see the trust in his eyes when he saw her right before his eyes closed again. He trusted her enough to keep him safe while he was in the hands of a man who had tried to kill him at least twice before. She could feel the tears well up in her eyes. What did she do to earn his trust? She had done nothing but disappoint him lately. The past few months she had believed that he hated her and now ...

"Captain?" Zarek looked at her expectantly

"Right." Forcing back the tears and concentrating on the matter at hand, Kara held Lee carefully while Zarek put the tape around his bruised chest. When he was done, she gently laid him back down on the ground, wiping some sweat from his forehead. She could feel the pain he was in as if it was her own.

"There should be some morpha in the med kit. Can't we give him some?" She asked helplessly. She wanted to ease Lee's pain so much.

"We should save the little we have. We might need it for later." Zarek denied her request. Angrily she glared at him. But she knew he was right. They only had enough morpha for a few shots and who knew how long they had to stay here before they could get help for Lee? And if they needed to move him to get to a safer place, he would need the morpha. Moving him would be a lot more painful than just laying still on the ground.

Zarek had started looking intently at Lee's leg. "The wound doesn't look good. I need to disinfect it and then we have to sew it up."

"Can you do it?" Kara asked quietly.

"I've done it a few times. It shouldn't be a problem. But it will hurt him. If he's lucky, he'll stay unconscious. If not, you'll have to hold him down. I don't want to waste any morpha on this."

Kara wanted to argue that easing Lee's pain would not be a waste but again she had to agree with him. They had to save the morpha for as long as possible.

As soon as Zarek stuck the needle from the med kit in the wound, Lee cried out in pain. He tried to double over and it took all of Kara's power to stop him from doing so. His agony only lasted a few seconds though as he slipped back into unconsciousness fast. Kara had to force herself to watch Zarek sewing the wound. She wanted to make sure he didn't do anything wrong, but at the same time she felt the pain of every stitch into Lee's wound as if it was her own. After a few minutes Zarek was done. He put some gauze on the wound and stepped away from Lee. He sat down a few meters away and leaned his head against the wall.

"We should all get some sleep and leave the decision for further actions for tomorrow. Who's willing to take the first watch?"

"And who put you in command?" Kara snapped at him. Even though she was grateful that he had helped Lee, she was not going to follow his orders.

"Kara, he's right." Sam cut in for the first time since Zarek had started treating Lee's wounds. "I'll take the first watch. I'll wake you in a few hours."

"No, I take the first watch. You get some sleep." Kara knew she wouldn't get any sleep as long as Zarek was around. She wouldn't let him out of her sight until Lee felt better. Realistically she knew that she had to sleep eventually. But she had kept without sleep for several days before, she could do it again.

Tbc

A.N.: Special thanks to laurie31 for beta reading this chapter. Thank you for reading and please review. :-)