Deserve Me
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters from Battlestar Galactica; this story is for entertainment purposes only.
Authors Note: Don't kill me. Yes, Crashdown was a bad man but I started this before he tried to shoot her. This is set before the events of Kobol's Last Gleaming but I'm not certain which episode it would fit into. This story stemmed from when Crashdown told Tyrol, "Look out for Cally." I thought it was so bizarre that he turned around and was suddenly holding a gun to her head. But I guess that is the insanity of war.
In this story, even though the ranks are still separated (living quarters, etc) on their off time they get together. I'm sorry if this story is massively OOC, I just needed to get my feet wet. Also, please let me know of any mistakes and I will change them!
Also, this story will focus more on characters than war and adventure, just to let you know.
Thanks to Jessica for her help!
Rating: T
Summary: When Cally has a bad night, her morning is not much better.
&&&
"I'm not looking for reasons/I'm just trying to sleep through the night" Jessica Riddle
&&&
Cally was going to be sick; she felt the pull in her stomach. She let out a soft belch as she stumbled out into the hallway. She clamped a hand over her mouth.
She wasn't sure when the night turned around. It was Socinus's birthday and since the war with the Cylon's began any reason was a good excuse for a party. Morale was still low and the Commander had made it clear that with work there also needed to be play.
One moment she'd been pulled into a tight hug by Lieutenant Gaeta, and the next moment she'd been downing shots with Socinus.
Cally stumbled down the hallway, she took in a deep breath but the stale recycled air of Galactica did not relieve her nausea. One word kept repeating in Cally's mind, bathroom, she needed to find a bathroom. She walked into the wall and leaned against it. She then patted the wall in thanks and continued on her way.
"Cally."
"'M'ok," she muttered in reply, someone was talking to her. Someone was putting their arm around her waist and telling Cally to lean against them. She pointed down the hallway as if that in itself would explain her destination.
"You are trashed Specialist."
Wait a minute, Cally knew that voice, and she looked up and saw Crashdown looking down at her. "Yessir," she replied, with a curt nod. Why was the LT touching her? "I c'n walk by m'self," she gave him a pointed look, "thank you ver' much."
All Cally's words had slurred into a single sentence,but he got the point when she pushed him away.
"See?" She said tripping through the doorway that led towards the enlisted men's quarters. Crashdown caught her again before she pitched forward.
"That's great," he said, "but how about you walk with me for a little bit?"
"Okay," Cally relented, slumping against him. For a moment her sick stomach was forgotten, it was nice not having to do all the walking by herself.
Crashdown observed Cally, she was wearing a pair of black trousers and her army issued tank tops. He noticed she was taking deep breaths, her hair was half out of her pony tale and as they proceeded down the hallway she seemed to be leaning more and more of her weight against him.
"Wher' we going?" Cally asked idly, Crashdown had no idea, when he saw her leave the party alone he had followed her. All though the Battlestar was a relatively safe ship—especially compared to some of the other ships in the fleet, Crashdown still didn't think it was a good idea for a drunken eighteen year old girl to be wandering around the halls.
Crashdown was about to reply when suddenly Cally jerked forward, she clutched her hand tightly over her mouth, he saw her cheeks bulge and he turned her sharply and pulled her towards the head. Cally crashed into the bathroom and barely made it into the stall before she vomited. Her stomach heaved and finally she found the toilet bowl.
She whimpered as her stomach quelled for a moment, then another wave hit her and she ducked her head into the bowl. She rested her cheek against the cool surface, and then she felt Crashdown's hand on her back, his handin her hair brushing it back from her burning face.
The toilet flushed and Cally turned away, she felt the hot rush of tears and she closed her eyes.
"I'm sorry," she whispered as Crashdown began to wipe her face with toilet paper, "I'm sorry," she repeated, dropping her head back down onto the toilet seat.
"What for?"
Cally burst into tears, and she let out a wail into the toilet bowl, her small shoulders shaking. She gestured to the mess she had made and then she dropped her head onto her folded arms. Crashdown lifted her ponytail from the back of her neck. Hot shame burned her cheeks, and suddenly she wanted to be anywhere but crouched in a bathroom stall in her own sick.
"If you knew some of the stupid shit I've done," Crashdown said as he wiped some of the mess up off the floor. He felt Cally moving to stand but he held her in place, "no, stay there, catch your breath." Cally turned her tear streaked face towards him, she was a bit pale but otherwise she looked all right.
"S'okay," Cally said, she took a deep breath."I just…" she made a face, she hated how difficult it was to form a coherant sentence"Water."
"Can you stand?" Crashdown asked.
"I don't know," Cally replied. She took hold of the toilet paper dispenser and pulled herself to her feet. The smell and the site of the bathroom stall nearly made her retch again.
"Don't worry about it," Crashdown pushed open the stall door; he got out after her, and guided her towards the counter. Cally fumbled for the tap with shaking hands. Finally she turned the knob and water poured out into the sink.
Cally bent her head down and took a long drink, she didn't care that the water was running over her face, or that the water was dribbling down her neck. The water was cool and it washed the bitter taste from her mouth. Cally looked up at Crashdown through the mirror. He was hovering behind her.
"Why are you here?"
That question was fair enough, but at first all he could do was shrug. It was stupid the way that he felt protective of Cally, she had Tyrol and the men on her team to look after her but it was just...
"I didn't want you to get hurt."
Why did he care? Cally wondered. He didn't even know her.
"Come on," Crashdown said, "let's get you to bed."
"What about the mess?" Cally asked, Crashdown looked over to the stall then he patted the counter.
"Sit up here, I'll do it."
Cally pushed herself up onto the counter and leaned back against the mirror. She didn't think about whatCrashdown was cleaning. Finally the floor was clean and the toilet was wiped and Cally's eyes were drooping shut.
"C'mon Cally," Crashdown said, he took hold on Cally's arm and pulled her up.
"Not too fast," Cally mumbled, he only hesitated for a moment before he lifted her up into his arms, securing an arm under her knees and around her shoulders. Cally stayed awake long enough to tell Crashdown where her bunk was before her eyes closed and her head fell against his chest.
Crashdown stepped into an empty hallway, he walked the ten minutes to Cally's barracks and he opened the door stepping through. The room was quiet save for the sounds of sleep: rustling, sighing, shifting and even crying.
Cally nuzzled her face against Crashdown's collar bone. He wandered through the bunks until he found a bunk with her name stenciled on the head board. Hers was the bottom bunk, he settled her down onto the mattress and Cally fell over, she didn't wake. Crashdown looked down at the Specialist. She was covered in vomit but he didn't think she would appreciate it if he undressed her.
"Cally," he leant over, shaking her awake. She blinked up at him.
"Prosna?" She mumbled, still half asleep.
Crashdown wet his lips, "its Crashdown."
"Crashdown?" Cally murmured, "But you're not my bunkmate."
"No," Crashdown sighed and shook Cally again; she drew in a sharp breath.
"I'm awake," she said.
"You need to get changed."
"My pajama's are in the bottom drawer," Cally said.
Crashdown dropped into a crouch and pulled open the bottom drawer, he pulled out a pair of black sweatpants. He handed them to Cally who had managed to sit up. She unbuttoned her pants and kicked them into a pile on the floor; Crashdown pushed them out of the way with the toe of his boot. She pulled on her sweats but left on her tanktops.
She looked at him, "thanks," she said and Crashdown shrugged. After a moments pause, "What's your name?"
"Sam."
"Could you…stay with me for a bit?" Cally said, "I just…"
"Miss him?"
"Who?"
"Prosna," Crashdown said, "you said his name when you were dreaming."
She hadn't dreamt of Prosna for what seemed like weeks, she couldn't remember what she had been dreaming about, but she was talking in her sleep again. Cally shrugged, it still struck her how difficult it was to talk about the death of her best friend even now.
She shrugged.
"Do you feel better?"
"I feel like a frakking idiot," she said. She was a frakking idiot who vomited all over herself and then wanted a stranger to stay with her until she fell asleep. He's not a stranger, he's Crashdown. She blinked slowly, and yawned.
"Don't worry," Crashdown said, "stand up for a minute." Cally did as he ordered and she watched as he pulled down the blankets on her bunk, she climbed into bed.
"Thanks," she muttered, she was still watching him but now his face was swimming in front of her, she closed her eyes but she still felt dizzy.
Crashdown leaned his arm against a rung of the ladder leading to the top bunk. Cally was taking deep breaths through her mouth, eventually though her breath slowed and then became more regular as she finally drifted off to sleep.
Crashdown let go of the ladder and stepped back, she was asleep, she was safe, he still didn't understand what it was about the young Specialist, but maybe… maybe it was the fact that he wasthe soldier. He was the one trained to go to the front lines to fight, Cally wasn't. She was supposed to stay aboard ship, fix the Raptors, she was supposed to do that duty and that was it. But then the Cylon's had attacked and everything was shot to hell.
Cally seemed to be sleeping peacefully enough, so Crashdown stepped away from her bunk and left the enlisted men's sleeping quarters.
&&&
"Oh gods," Cally murmured.
The alarm that she kept under her bed was beeping and she turned over onto her stomach. She reached under her bed and groped around, her hand landed on something crusty and she cried out pulling her hand back. It was then that she realized she had found her pants from the night before.
Cally finally found her alarm and was tempted to pitch it across the room but then she realized if she did that, she would be out of an alarm for good. She sighed, and then she winced—even sighing hurt.
Okay, she told herself silently, take it slow, we're going to try sitting up. She took a deep breath and was about to sit up when she heard a low whistle. She looked up and saw Socinus, he was wearing a pair of sweatpants and he has a towel wrapped around his neck.
"You look like frakking hell."
"Yeah," Cally snapped, "thanks." She forced herself to sit up, despite the throbbing pain in her head. She started her shift in a half an hour; they were short handed already so as much as she wanted to crawl into a hole and die—it wasn't an option.
She stood up and flicked Socinus behind the ear, "happy birthday."
"Ow," he swatted her away, "thanks."
Cally grabbed her towel and made her way to the head to take a shower.
&&&
"Cally."
The Chief was speaking to her and she looked at him.
"Heard you had a good time last night."
"I… er…yeah," she replied. It was taking her brain longer than usual to form complete sentences.
"I trust that won't compromise your work?"
"No Chief," Cally replied. She didn't bother to mention that she was far from the first deck hand to come on shift hung over. Actually if Cally recalled properly, there was a time when a specialist, she couldn't remember his name, had come on shift still drunk.
Things are different now. She told herself, there's no time to frak around. She immediately went to work on a Viper, Socinus was with her and she was thankful for the help.
She had only been at work for a few moments when she heard a familiar voice. She looked up and saw that indeed it was Crashdown. She felt something shift in her stomach and she realized that she was nervous. She couldn't figure out why, she had been drunk, well, trashed more accurately.
Last night she wasn't acting like herself but still, Cally tried to focus on rewiring the comm. panel in front of her but she couldn't help looking up to where Crashdown was talking with the Chief.
He had taken care of her, she had gotten used to Prosna and the Chief being protective of her but she had never once expected the Lieutenant to be anything but professional with her, and maybe if things weren't going his way— curt. He should have been concerned only with how long it would take before his ship would be back in space.
He looked up at her at that moment, Cally smiled awkwardly and did the only thing she could think to do, she waved. And then when Crashdown looked back to the Chief without so much as an acknowledgement of her existence Cally tried not to feel hurt.
She looked down to where she should have been focusing, and angrily jammed her set of pliers into the mess of wires, twisting the fried ones free a little more vehemently than was necessary.
She wasn't sure what she had expected, but it wasn't to be ignored.
She jimmied the pliers around, and Socinus looked up at her from where he was working.
"Be careful Cally or you might—"
"Shit!"
"—hurt yourself," Socinus finished.
Cally glared down at him, she was sucking on her hand where the exposed wire had burned. "Who asked you?" She demanded, "I don't recall needing a babysitter."
Socinus looked chastised, "I…" he offered softly.
"Mind your own business," Cally pointed her pliersat him, "I'm a big girl and I can handle myself."
"I know that," Socinus replied.
"Good," Cally answered, because some people seem to be forgetting that lately. She didn't say the last bit out loud. Maybe, Cally thought, you should stop getting yourself into those kinds of situations then. The only problem was Cally wasn't certain how to do that, she didn't ask to get into the situations that she got herself into. She had never asked for theCylon attack, nor had she asked fora possible violation on the Astral Queen.
She sighed, what was the point? She would always remind someone of a sister or a cousin, someone who they would never see again.
It was depressing.
She took her hand out of her mouth and looked where she had burnt herself, there was a little bubble of fluid and she didn't hesitate before she popped it.
"That could get infected," Socinus pointed out.
"Stop hen pecking!" Cally shrieked.
"Do I need to separate you two?" Chief barked.
"No Chief," Cally and Socinus replied in unison.
Tyrol shook his head and turned back to Crashdown, who was looking at Cally with a smirk on his face.
Great! She took a deep breath and looked back down to the consol; she forced herself to focus on the task at hand. She had to finish this, there was no time for slacking or for frakking up, replacement parts were in short supply, read: non existent.
Thankfully Socinus kept his mouth shut for the rest of the shift because Cally was tempted to knock him upside the head with her wrench if he said anything else.
The hours of her shift passed slowly and by the time she finally clocked out it was past 1900.
She pulled off her jumpsuit and crammed it into her locker. She pulled her hair free of its ponytail, undressed slowly and then she gathered up her towel and her toiletries. When Cally had first entered the communal showers—which seemed like years ago—she had been nervous, but over the months the luxury of hot water far outweighed the embarrassment of showering with others people.
The shower room was empty and Cally smiled. She pulled the knob of the shower and water poured out of the nozzle. She stepped under the stream and took a deep breath, trying to release the tension from her shoulders.
It was strange to think that this was it. Sure hopefully someday there would be dental schools again but for now there was Galactica, Cylon's and fear. Cally tried not to dwell on all that she had lost but it was difficult, especially when things seemed to go from bad to worse in a moments notice.
Cally squirted shampoo into her hand and proceeded to work it through her hair. Since simple items like soap and shampoo were in such short supply Cally only washed her hair every three days. She had to make what she had left stretch as far as possible, and as inconvenient as it was she knew that things could have been worse.
She ducked back under the water and then after a few more moments she shut the shower off and rubbed the towel through her hair.
When she stepped back into the change room, the air was chilled and she shivered. When she was dressed again, with her hair pulled back into its ponytail she headed out of the change room.
"Cally!" She heard Socinus called out andshe gavea frustrated growl low in her throat.
"Look," she spun around to face him. "I don't want to hear it!"
"Fine," Socinus snapped, "I was just going to ask if you were going to come and play cards tonight, but if you're going to be such a crank about it never mind."
"…" Cally closed her mouth and licked her lips. She sighed before replying, "I'm sorry."
Socinus smiled, "its okay."
She fell in step with him and they made their way to the enlisted men's quarters. As they crossed into the nexthallwayCally saw a group of pilots making their way down the hall. She saw Crashdown walking with Racetrack and before she could look away he looked up and caught her eye.
This time Cally didn't look away, instead she squared her shoulders and said "lieutenant," as indifferently as she could when he passed.
There was a beat before Crashdown replied, "specialist."
Cally stood at ease again, turned her attention to Socinus again, and kept walking.
END
This story took on a mind of its own and it now my second completed Battlestar Galactica fan fiction.
As of right now this is a one shot, but I could continue it if I hear of any requests!
Thanks so much for taking the time to read it, please leave me a review and let me know what you thought!Constructive criticism is always appreciated—flames not so much!