She stayed quiet, her mind still reeling with images from her dream. Suddenly he was on top of her, pinning her to the floor. She cried out in pain as some of his weight fell onto her side. She fought with him, trying to force him off her. She screamed as his fists began to pummel her, nearly blacking out again. Then she was blinded as the cell door slid open. Someone pulled Doral off her and towards the door. She couldn't move.

"This was not a part of the plan Doral."

"As long as she's alive, the plan can still go ahead."

"Not if she's permanently damaged." She could hear them struggling with each other, then the cell door closed, blocking out any further noise.

-----------------

"Sir!" Gaeta's voice shook him from his reverie.

"Yes?"

"We've received another message on the long range…" Gaeta handed him a print out. "It was transmitted a couple days ago but the signal was so weak it took awhile to get the full message."

"Thank you, Mr. Gaeta." He scanned the paper, it was written in code as the others had been. Kara had obviously been the author this time. It was simple enough to work it out though, he and Kara were close. They were ready to proceed on the ground; all they needed was his signal… It detailed some of the planned attacks, gave locations of enemy deployment. He froze, his eyes on the last sentence of the message.

'School lacks a teacher, Pythia was taken.'

"Mr. Gaeta, how long until we're ready to make the final jump back to New Caprica?"

"If repairs continue on schedule and our recon teams return as scheduled, about four more days, Sir." Four more days… Four more days could be too late.

"Thank you Mr. Gaeta. I'm counting on you to keep those repairs on schedule." He paused, glancing back at the message in his hand. "I'll have a response to this in half an hour; I'll need you to send it back on the same frequency."

"Yes Sir. And sir, supplies are running low… During the rescue mission we should try and resupply as much as possible."

"When the recon raptors get back we'll take that into consideration. Carry on." He returned Gaeta's salute distractedly, already formulating a response in his head.

-------------------

"Will she be alright, Simon?"

"I don't know, she's extremely dehydrated. I need to get an IV in her. Once she's stable I'll need to take X-rays." She was flashing in and out of consciousness. She was dimly aware of the walls rushing past her. Everything was so bright. She closed her eyes, fading out.

"The children need a teacher Bill and I am a teacher."

"I need you. We both know it's only a matter of time until the Cylons find us. It's not safe."

"Bill I need to be doing something. There aren't enough teachers as it is."

"Laura, I can't protect you down there."

"With all of your people going planet side, pretty soon you won't be able to protect me up here either. I have to go. Up here I'll only get in the way, I'm not military. I won't be able to help, I'll be useless baggage."

"Laura--"

"I'm going Bill and nothing you say is going to change my mind." And she had stormed out of his quarters, breaking into a run when he called after her. Part of her had wanted to stay but she still had a duty to the people. She could have told him Baltar had ordered her planet side… In hindsight she should have because they hadn't spoken since.

She opened her eyes. It was bright, the light stung her eyes.

"You're the doctor, not me. You're the one who's supposed to…"

"Look, under normal circumstances I wouldn't ask you to, but she's been through hell. If nothing else at least yours is a familiar face. She's extremely dehydrated, she's lost a lot of weight, it'll be quite a while before she'll be able to manage solid food, she's had the tar beaten out of her, and considering the state you found her in, I'm inclined to believe…"

"Alright, alright." Someone approached her. "Laura?" She flinched as a hand came in contact with her shoulder. "Laura, it's alright, I'm not going to hurt you. I-- We need to know what happened." She opened her eyes slowly to see Leoben standing over her. "Can you tell me what happened after I left your cell?" She shook her head, tears filling her eyes. "Did… Did Doral come back?" Slowly she nodded, a sob escaping her. Someone was moving at the end of her bed. She looked fearfully over to see a man… a Cylon she'd never seen before. "This is Simon, Laura. He's here to help." She tried to get up, tried to get away from them, but pain exploded in her chest, ripping through the rest of her body.

"Don't move, you'll start bleeding again." The Cylon called Simon moved forward, a look of concern on his face.

"No… Don't" She croaked out as he bent to look at her side.

"Laura, look at me. Look at me." She turned her head, looking fearfully back at Leoben. "I know everything you've been put through is terrible, unforgivable. I know we-- they hurt you. But Simon and I want to help you. Trust me, Laura. We only want to help." She remembered her dream, and looking into his eyes he seemed earnest. She nodded slightly, unable to muster the words.

"I need to know if he… If you were…" Simon struggled for the words, knowing that her psyche was just as fragile as her body right now. She stared at him helplessly.

Leoben let out what could only be described as a growl. "I… He…" He shook his head then looked at her, eyes suddenly filled with a fierce determination. "I'll be back."

------------------

Kara looked round as a boy, one of Laura's students, Tommie, came hurrying towards her looking anxious.

"Excuse me, um… Starbuck, ma'am."

"What is it Tommie?" She'd been helping Maya out at the school since Laura's arrest.

"There's… There's a man looking for you. He says his name is Leoben… He says…" Tommie took a deep breath. "He says he wants to talk to you about… about Ms. Roslin." Kara was suddenly very alert. Leoben… again.

"Where is he?"

"This way." She followed Tommie quickly, wondering what Leoben was up to this time.

------------------

She was trying to fight off the panic she was feeling, she knew she needed to calm down, Simon kept telling her that. He was taking her pulse again, looking worried. Then he looked at the IV.

"You should be sucking down a lot more fluid than this…" He muttered, now turning to examine the machines around her. Her heart was pounding, her instincts kept screaming run! But she couldn't move, she was seriously injured, Simon had mentioned something about surgery… She tensed as he approached her again.

"I'm just going to give you another dose of pain reliever." He injected something into the IV and she began to feel a numbing sensation move through her body. "Try to sleep." He looked at her still wide, frightened eyes. "You're safe here; I'm not going to let anyone near you." She wanted to believe that, she was exhausted; she needed to rest, but… "I don't want to give you a sedative… But you need to sleep so your body can heal." He watched her for a moment longer. "At least try to relax a little. Your heart rate is much higher than it should be…" He left, pulling the curtains closed behind him.

--------------------

"How do I know I can trust you?"

"You don't, but you're never going to get her out without help. Six knows how important she is. You're going to need someone on the inside." Kara studied him for a moment. She didn't like it, but what choice did they have. He was right; they were going to need his help.

"Alright…" She just hoped he was actually going to help. "How… How is she?" She asked after a minute, knowing that the answer was not going to be good. He looked at her, frowning slightly.

"She… She's receiving medical attention as we speak."

"You didn't answer the question. If we are going to work together, you had better tell me the truth." Kara was already beginning to doubt him.

"She…" Kara's doubt turned to confusion as he turned away from her. "She's been beaten… numerous times. She's been starved … She's been…" He straightened, shaking his head. "She's bad, Starbuck, and the sooner we get her off this planet the better." Kara stared at him, starting to put things together.

"You care about her don't you?" Leoben looked back at her.

"Yes." And he was striding quickly away from her. "I'll be back in two days, meet me here." He called over his shoulder before disappearing into the crowd. Kara walked back to her tent, not quite sure what to make about this new information. She froze upon entering, seeing a very familiar pinstripe suit and large grey sweater laid out on the floor.

-------------------

"We need to be careful. She's still feverish… She appears to have gotten over the delirium. Did you get in touch with the resistance?"

"Yes… Are we sure that Doral…"

"I'm afraid there's no doubt. When she finally passed out a few hours ago I took a look… She was definitely violated."

"When I found her…"

"I know."

"She was laying there, in a pool of her own blood… naked. I was so afraid that she was dead… I should have been there, I should have stopped him."

"Leoben…"

"I knew he was going to try to… I'd found him in her cell once before."

"Leoben, you had other things you had to see to… It's not your fault."

"I could have done something… I could have tried to get her out."

"And you would have gotten yourself killed, alright. Now stop beating yourself up over the past, you can't change what happened. So make yourself useful."

She had woken up half way through their conversation and now opened her eyes as they pulled back her curtain. Simon went straight to checking her IV and the monitors around her while Leoben stood there, looking uncomfortable.

"Your body's finally taking in some fluid… good." Simon turned to look at her. "You're looking a little better. How are you feeling? Do you need some more pain reliever?" She shook her head. "Can I look at your side? I need to see how you're healing after the surgery." She nodded and he bent over her, pulling back the white sheets. "Still seeping… If that doesn't stop by tomorrow we're going to need to get you a blood transfusion…" Leoben came forward slowly.

"I met with Kara Thrace…"

"And?" She managed, her voice barely more than a whisper. Was she going to get out of here? She didn't know how they were going to manage it, she couldn't move without being in pain and she sure as hell wasn't going to be able to walk. She could barely manage to muster up enough energy to turn her head.

"We're working on getting you out of here… She's still not entirely convinced I'm trustworthy, which isn't surprising, but she knows she's going to need my help. I'm meeting her again in two days." Laura nodded.

"Thank you." She swallowed painfully. Simon lifted a glass of water to her lips.

"Small sips or you'll start retching again."