Things were very hazy when Lee opened his eyes

The Light of Apollo

By Carolina Blue

A/N: Takes place in S2, between "Home Part 2" and "Final Cut."

Disclaimer: Anything you recognize is property of the show "Battlestar Galactica," all rights reserved, etc. etc.

So I mentioned this in my other story's latest chapter, and I should do it here too: I'm in major life-upheaval right now. I just got a job in New York City and moved there, and I just got an apartment and started working and blah blah blah I'm-busy-cakes blah. I'm not at all saying that I'm putting these stories on the backburner, but the chapters won't be posted as regularly as they first were. As the late posting of this story indicates. I'll try to keep at one a week, but the lateness of this chapter suggests I'm probably a liar. Sorry! Wish me luck!

Thanks to everyone who's been reviewing and favoriting and whatnotting this story- I always get so excited to see an alert in my inbox! Keep 'em coming please!

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CHAPTER FOUR

Things were very hazy when Lee opened his eyes. He groaned against the bright light and tried to go back to sleep, but a hand grabbed his chin, forcing him to face front again.

"Oh no you don't, Captain. I need to check some things out before you go back to your little drug-induced nap," a voice rang in his ears, causing him to wince.

"Huh?" he opened his eyes more cautiously this time to see Doc Cottle in front of him, and he felt like groaning again. This was so not how he wanted to spend his day.

When the Doc opened his mouth to speak, Lee knew what was coming. "Can you tell me-"

"My name is Lee Adama, I'm in Galactica's sick bay, and what day it is depends on how long I've been out."

Cottle snorted. "So your brain's no more messed up than usual. Good. And it's been seven hours."

"Seven?!" Lee made a move to get up, but was easily pushed back down by a combination of extreme dizziness and Cottle's hand on his chest.

"And you'll be staying here for at least seven more. You remember what happened?"

Lee hesitated, not from memory loss but from embarrassment. "I fell in the hangar deck."

Cottle was scowling now. "Collapsed would be a better assessment. You collapsed because your body's pissed off at you. So am I."

"Doc, I can't-"

"You haven't been sleeping. Or, from the looks of things, eating all that much either. You're exhausted and running a fever because your immune system is frakked right now." Sometimes Cottle's glare seemed to burn harsher than even the Old Man's. Lee nodded, eyes going to the IV stand and then tube attached to the back of his hand. Cottle noticed. "Antibiotics and some nutrients you've been lacking. When that bag's done I'm going to switch in a new one. If, after they've run out, your fever's down and your common sense is back, I'll release you to light duty. You take two days to get some real sleep, and we can pretend this little bout of stupidity never happened, got it?"

He nodded again, still not meeting the Doc's eyes. Cottle sighed. "Look kid, I thought we talked about this after that whole thirty-three minute debacle. You have a job to do, fine. But ignoring everything else is irresponsible to you and your pilots. Unless you want them to find an all new CAG from gods-know-where, you need to take better care of yourself. Everyone is better off when you do."

"Yeah," Lee's voice was quiet, but Cottle figured (hoped) he got the message.

"Yeah," the Doc echoed. He glanced over his shoulder at the clock on the wall. "Now, I was going to give you something in a few minutes to help you sleep, but I've heard that the Commander is finally on his way down here. I could give it to you now if you want."

Lee was startled by the offer. He assumed Cottle wanted to knock him out so he and his father couldn't disturb every patient in sick bay with their inevitable argument. That was probably a good idea. He nodded gratefully, only slightly ashamed that he was taking the easy way out. He settled back down as Cottle administered the sedative, closed his eyes, and allowed the warmth to flood his system. He was somewhere between aware and unconscious when he heard what sounded like the curtain around his bed being slid open.

"Commander," Cottle acknowledged blandly. "I'm sorry, I didn't know you were coming down. You just missed him."

"What?" the deep rumble of Adama's voice reached Lee even in his current state. He let it surround him, comfort him, as he sank deeper into the oblivion.

Cottle recognized the moment Lee was fully asleep, turning to look at the older Adama. "He was awake for a bit but I gave him a sedative to make sure his body gets the rest it needs. He'll be out for a few more hours."

Adama took a moment to process that, as the sight of his son unconscious in a hospital bed was more than a little distracting. "That's all he needs?"

No, Cottle wanted to say. But who was he to get involved, so instead he shrugged. One of the new medics approached with something for him to sign. Cottle barely looked at the form as he spoke, "Some real sleep, some real food, and Apollo will be back to being Apollo in a few days, three tops." That was a truthful assessment, if a little oversimplified. He handed the papers back to the medic and waved him away.

Bill nodded, "Good… good," he said quietly, and turned to leave.

"You're not staying then?" Cottle asked. 'He needs you, you stubborn ass!' he thought again. Not that he actually cared about these two or anything.

"Just wanted to see how he was," Bill nearly fumbled his response. "I'm needed back in CIC." He wasn't sure why he couldn't stay, but he couldn't. Maybe because he usually wasn't one to offer comfort. Maybe because he had no idea what to say if Lee happened to wake up. Or maybe because just sitting and staring at his son who had chosen to suffer in silence made him feel disappointed and angry. At Lee and at himself.

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Lee did feel better the next time he awoke, he had to admit. His head was no longer pounding, the lights didn't hurt his eyes, and he could swallow without his throat feeling like it was burning from the inside out. So that was something.

His bed was still curtained off, thankfully. Lee really didn't want anyone to see the CAG tired and weak, flat on his back in bed, while everyone else had to work like usual. His hand itched to pick up a phone and check in with the CAP status, but he knew he couldn't. For one thing, he was sure Starbuck could handle it, and for another he was pretty sure she and Cottle would come together to kick his ass if he tried.

He was still tired and still woozy from the drugs when the curtain opened just a little, and a medic slipped in next to his bed. At least, Lee was pretty sure he was a medic. They had added a few civilians to medical staff recently, and Lee was still trying to learn names and faces.

"Captain Adama?" the medic asked.

"Yes?" his voice was deeper than usual, feeling even heavier in his throat. He almost sounded like his father. Great… Sometimes Lee wished he didn't know how to think. At all. Seriously, how much easier would life be? For the time being, he resolved to not think as much.

…It was then Lee realized that maybe he was more than a little woozy. And that he had processed all of this while the medic had been talking. The man was looking at him expectantly. "What?" he rubbed a hand against the side of his face, hoping it would help him focus.

The medic seemed startled. "I, uh, I asked if you minded going over your medical history with me for a moment?" While Lee tried to contemplate just what the medic was asking, the other man took Lee's silence as reticence. He stammered on, "It's just procedure, sir. We don't have your records on file from before the nuclear attacks."

"I wasn't supposed to be here," Lee replied, reality slowly seeping into his brain.

"Captain?" The medic was confused.

Lee was too. "I've been on the ship for months. Why do this now?" He looked down at his hand, currently still attached to an IV. The bag was empty. "Can you take this out, please?" he clumsily offered the hand to the medic.

"I'll have someone do that soon, sir. First I need to ask you a few questions?" The medic asked. Lee nodded absentmindedly, playing with the IV tubing inserted in his hand.

"Sir?" For a second, the medic looked like he wanted to wave his hand to get Lee's full attention, but he refrained. "How long have you been in the military?"

Lee gave a short laugh with absolutely no humor. "Since conception." The medic stared at him with a strange look on his face. "I was always going to be here. Not Galactica here, exactly, but in the service. I had to be," he tried to explain. Part of him wondered if maybe he was talking too much, but then the other part reminded him of his vow to think less. So he continued quieter, bitter, "This is my birthright." And now there was no escaping it, was there? Stop thinking, Lee. The IV hand was starting to irritate him. He shook it again. "Are you sure you can't take this out now?" His head was still heavy, so he leaned it back into the pillow, eyes drifting shut almost involuntarily. He was still so tired.

It sounded as though the medic was moving away from his bed. "I'll go see if someone can help you with that, sir. You should probably rest for a while longer."

Lee forced his eyes open, moving to say… something? To thank him? But, shockingly, no one was there. "What… hello?" he called out, voice straining.

"Captain?" the curtain was pulled back to reveal one of the medics- not the same one- and Cottle, who went about detaching the IV from Lee's hand.

"A couple minutes to get your bearings, and I think you'll be free to go, Captain," Cottle told him.

Lee nodded, trying to look past both of them into the rest of the sick bay. "Where's that other medic?" he asked.

"Which one?"

"The guy who was just in here, asked me…" he trailed off at the slightly confused looks on the other two's faces.

"There wasn't a medic here," the woman said. "I've been on shift for the last four hours."

"No, no. He was just in here… my medical history," Lee told them. Right? Isn't that what had happened? Everything that happened after his collapse on the flight deck was blurry.

Cottle snorted- his version of outright laughter. "We've had you doped on some pretty good sedatives, Apollo. Chances are you've had some very colorful dreams today. Though why you'd dream that…" He raised an eyebrow.

"I didn't dream it," Lee protested half-heartedly. The medic had really been there, right? What the frak kind of drugs had he been given?

"Everything checks out, Major," the female medic reported. Cottle dismissed her with a nod and then turned back to Lee.

"Alright kid, here's the deal. Light duty for two days. Eight hours of sleep a night-" off of Lee's incredulous look, "-Okay, seven hours a night. Any less and you're looking at a trip back here. And you don't want that. I know I sure as hell don't."

"Thanks Doc," he answered, half-sarcastic, half-sincere. He eased himself off the bed, taking his time buttoning up his jacket as it also gave him time to get his balance. If Cottle noticed- of course he did, he notices everything- he said nothing.

The walk back to quarters was thankfully quiet. The few people he did pass along the way either saluted him pleasantly or offered brief well wishes. It both embarrassed him and (surprisingly) pleased him. Part of him wondered if there was a ship-wide prank being pulled on him. These were people he'd only known for a few months, and in that time he'd managed to take the place of their beloved CAG, fight with their beloved Commander, and hold a gun to the head of their… XO. Okay, the Tigh incident was a bad example. But the rest… Lee just never knew where he fit in with Galactica's crew.

"Well, I've seen that look before," a voice drawled from somewhere to his left. Kara had managed to sneak up next to him and was following him down the corridor.

"What look?" he asked, purposefully not glancing at her.

"The Lee-Adama-is-overthinking look. It's a classic." Out of the corner of his eye, he could see her grinning.

"Kara…" Her name came out more as a sigh.

Of course she kept talking. "All the signs are there. The furrowed brow, the distracted, troubled stare."

"Kara…" He refused to smile. This was a contest of wills now, and he would not be beaten.

Neither would she. "The brooding hunch of the shoulders," she continued as she lightly knocked hers into his side.

"Stop it," he protested good-naturedly. He still didn't crack a smile though, and that was Kara's objective.

"What I can't get, though, is just what he's overthinking about now," she followed him into the S.O.Q. and casually sat at the center table as Lee went to his rack, sitting down heavily.

"Don't do this."

"I mean, whatever it is can't be the end of the world, considering, you know, that already happened and- aak!" Whatever else Kara had intended on saying was cut off by Lee's pillow hitting her face. She laughed, tossing it back to him, conceding the battle to him.

Once he was confident he had won, he finally smiled. "You know me so well," he said, only joking a little.

"Yes, I do." And she wasn't joking at all. The smile had left her face, leaving something else more determined and serious. "You just spent about twenty-four hours in sick bay because you were too busy worrying about everything to take care of yourself. That stops now."

"Cottle already gave me the lecture, okay? I'm sorry," he stretched out on the mattress, laying on his back.

"I'm sorry too," she said after a pause. Surprised, he turned over on his side, facing her with a questioning look. "You were…" she struggled to find the right word, "…sick, and I didn't know. I wasn't, wasn't there for you. You've been there for me in the past and I should have… been a better friend."

Lee was sitting up now, not believing he was getting an actual heart-to-heart apology from Starbuck.

She smiled cautiously. "A lot's happened in the past few months. And I know I did…" Baltar. Gods, don't say Baltar. "…some stupid things, and then I left, and then I came back with a Cylon…" she paused to take a breath. "And we haven't talked about any of it."

"We don't have to talk about it Kara," Lee cut in.

"Oh, I don't want to," she said quickly, firmly. Lee couldn't help but smile at that. "But I want you to know that I will talk, if you need me to. And I'll listen if you need me to. I just… I don't want to see you like that again, okay? Like you were on the flight deck and on Niobe. I want you to see that people here want to help you."

Lee stood up to stand in front of her, pulling her up from her chair and into a hug. "I know you do, Kara." He rested his head on her shoulder. "Thanks." They stood in the embrace for a moment longer when he whispered in her ear, "Can I get that apology in writing?"

"Gods, Lee," she whined, shoving him away and back to his bunk. But both of them were smiling. It wasn't until Lee was back in his rack, fast asleep, that Kara let the smile drop. She had told him that people wanted to help him, but he had only said "I know you do." Did he really not believe that there were others who cared about him? "Damn it Apollo," she whispered to his sleeping form. How can you be such a frakking idiot?

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TO BE CONTINUED…