Summary - This story is very dark and will contain violence and scenes that may be difficult reading.

Set after Kara returns from Caprica – oh and she never met Sam (yay!)

Chapter 4

He suddenly was aware of noise around him and a strange smell. He couldn't place it initially and then it came to him; Sickbay. Then he remembered what had happened. He'd been shot. By an officer he trusted and had put his faith in. He opened his eyes and realized he was looking at the ceiling of his ship. Then he realized he was alone. There was no one there sitting with him. He found this more upsetting than being shot by Sharon Valerii.

****

He suddenly was aware of noise around him and a strange smell. He couldn't place it initially and then it came to him; hot metal. Then he remembered what had happened. He and Kara had crashed on Kobol. Kara! He opened his eyes and… couldn't see much of anything. The cockpit controls in front of him were a mess. There was smoke streaming from them, hampering his view. He moved his arms up and tried to shove the canopy above his head out of the way. It must have been damaged during the crash. The front of it had been smashed. It wouldn't budge at all. Lee decided to try a different tack. He needed to get out of here quick and make sure Kara was okay and that she'd gotten out of her Viper. He took off his helmet and used it to smash through the already shattered screen. He worked at it, forcing bits out of his way until the hole was big enough for him to climb through. He clambered through the small gap and then slid down the wing of the plane.

Once he was on the ground, Captain Adama looked around. He knew her Viper had been fairly close to his when they'd entered the lower atmosphere of the planet… but they could still have crashed quite a distance from each other.

He noticed there was smoke some way off in the distance. That was probably where she was. The officer in him kicked in, knowing he needed to get there asap so he headed off in that direction, keeping an eye out for any Cylons that may still be on the surface of the planet. It was a good few kilometers before he was close enough to the smoke to know it was Kara's Viper. He ran the remaining distance until he got to it. Her plane had sustained a lot more damage from the crash than his had.

Apollo could see she hadn't got out of the cockpit yet and he climbed the wing to try and see if she needed his help. When he saw her, his heart was in his mouth. She didn't appear to be conscious. He had to use a little force in order to be able to slide the canopy back, but it wasn't anywhere near as badly damaged as his had been – the damage her plane had sustained was quite different to what his had. He reached into the cockpit and released the collar of her helmet. He gently lifted it off her head and threw it to one side. Using his right hand, he felt her neck for a pulse and was relieved to find one there. It was a little slower than he'd have liked but it was there.

"Kara, can you hear me?" She didn't say anything. She was definitely unconscious. Suddenly, Lee smelt something that made his heart freeze. Fuel. It must've been leaking from the plane. Had she mentioned she was losing fuel earlier? He couldn't remember. One thing was certain though, he needed to get her out as soon as possible because her Viper was about to blow.

Apollo reached into the cockpit and put his hands under her arms. He heaved and her body shifted slightly. By the time he had her half out of the cockpit, he was physically drained, but he carried on, determined to get her out. He felt ashamed with himself that he was struggling but he knew he'd ran a lot of the way from his plane and was now beginning to suffer the usual adrenaline plummet after a Cylon attack. Nevertheless he continued to half lift, half drag her out of the wreckage. Getting her the rest of the way out of the plane was much easier. He finally had momentum and gravity was working on his side too. He lifted her into his arms and carried her down the wing and away from the downed plane. They hadn't got more than a few hundred feet away before it exploded, forcing both of them to the ground with the impact of the blast.

Captain Adama quickly looked at Kara, trying to ascertain if she'd be alright. Her pulse was still there, and he thought it seemed a little stronger than it'd been last time he checked. "Kara, can you hear me?" He checked over the rest of her. She seemed to have no obvious injuries. Of course he only remembered the basics from the standard field medic training he'd received at the academy, but he was no doctor so he couldn't be definite. However he was all they had – so he'd have to do. Once done he checked himself over. Again there seemed to be no real injuries. They both had cuts and bruises and he was fairly sure they'd ache in the morning, but they'd both been incredibly lucky.

Lee sat next to her unconscious body and thought everything through for several minutes, trying to plan their next move. "Well if there are any Cylons still on this planet, they probably heard or saw that explosion; so we need to move. Find some shelter. And since you're determined to miss out on this party, I guess that means I'm going to have to carry your sorry ass." Lee smiled tenderly at her, brushing a strand of her hair behind her ear. "But don't worry; I'm never going to let you forget this. You'll be hearing about this for a long time." He placed a soft kiss on her lips and then got to his feet. He looked around to see if there was anywhere they could use for shelter. He saw some trees off in the distance and that seemed as good as any place to start. Very carefully, he picked her up in his arms and headed off in that direction.

****

Adama was pleased to see his XO come into sickbay. Saul walked up to the bed. "It's good to have you back with us, Sir." His relief was genuine. At times he'd never believed it would happen.

"It's good to be back, Saul. What have I missed?"

"Well, we managed to temporarily get separated from the fleet, a little confusion with not letting the rest of the fleet know the new emergency jump co-ordinates. We had to jump away because a second basestar had appeared near Kobol. We jumped back to Kobol so we could try and calculate where the fleet had gone. We destroyed the second basestar and rescued the downed Raptor from the surface and then jumped to the rest of the fleet. So now the fleet's all back together again. The president managed to convince me we should jump back to Kobol, so we're currently above the surface of the planet."

The look on Tigh's face conveyed more to Adama than his words managed to. He knew an uneasy truce had been called between the president and his XO. "I missed quite a lot then. Thanks for looking after my ship, Saul."

"It was my pleasure, Commander."

"Anything else I need to know?" Wondering when he'd get round to telling him about his son. He was curious as to why his son wasn't here. The fact he wasn't worried him a little as well.

"You should know Lieutenant Thrace came back from Caprica – with a couple of passengers." A look of disgust swept over Tigh's face, a level of disdain he couldn't keep hidden from his commanding officer.

"She's back?" How come she's not here? "Who was with her?"

"Lieutenant Agathon… and another copy of the Cylon that we know as Sharon Valerii. She's currently locked in the brig." His face once again showed his feelings for that… thing that was now incarcerated several decks lower. The loathing he felt was oozing from every pore. "According to the Major the Cylon's also apparently pregnant."

Adama felt lightheaded when he heard this. He couldn't begin to understand why Kara would bring another Sharon back from Caprica. He knew she would've known she was a Cylon. His mind turned back to his son. "What about Lee?"

"What do you want to know… Sir?" There was anger to his voice now.

"What happened with him after I got shot?"

"He was still locked in the brig. He still would be, if it wasn't for Thrace." His anger grew with each sentence that he spoke.

"Meaning…"

"I left him in detention, but as soon as Thrace returned she went down to the brig to see him… against my orders."

"Commander Adama, it's wonderful to see you looking better." Laura Roslin's voice interrupted their conversation. The Colonel turned to glare at her. He wasn't happy to see her. He didn't think she should be there.

Adama could sense the atmosphere in the room and sighed. He turned to his friend and trusted officer. "Colonel, maybe you should go back to CIC. There are things the president and I need to discuss."

"As you wish, sir." Saul Tigh reluctantly walked away from Bill, glaring at the president once more before leaving.

Laura walked over to the side of his bed and took a seat in the chair. "How are you feeling?"

He could see that she'd been worried about him. He wasn't sure how he felt about that. Somewhere deep inside, he liked it. "I've felt better but I understand I've also been in a lot worse condition in the last couple of weeks so I guess I should be grateful." Laura smiled. "I understand Kara returned from Caprica?"

"Yes she did." She paused and looked down at her hands. Raising her eyes to meet his, there was a small grin on her face. "I guess we need to discuss the matter of me asking her to go back to Caprica don't we?"

"I think we should. It's not healthy for the fleet if we're not talking to each other."

"I'm sorry for going behind your back and getting one of your officers, someone close to you, to disobey your orders. However, I don't regret my decision to get someone to go back to Caprica. I know that's probably not what you want to hear but I believe the scriptures." She paused again and took a deep breath. She needed to tell him the truth; about why she believed so much. "I've got cancer, Commander. It's terminal, because of this I believe I'm the dying leader mentioned in the Scrolls of Pythia and we need the Arrow of Apollo in order to locate Earth. And we can do that on Kobol. I've had visions that have shown me this."

He absorbed her words and thought about what she'd just told him. "If something like this was to happen again in the future, would you still do what you did?"

"It would definitely be what I'd want to do, but I think I'd maybe handle it slightly differently. I don't want to fight with you, Bill. I respect you as a person and as a leader, but sometimes you can be very pigheaded and discussing things with you can be like hitting my head against a brick wall." She now had a large grin on her face that she was failing to hide, try as she might.

He grinned back at her, admitting her words about him were true. "Noted. I'll bear that in mind in the future as well." He decided it was time for him to admit something to her as well. "If I'm being completely honest, it wasn't so much what you did that pissed me off, more the fact it was Kara you asked. I shouldn't have sent the marines over to arrest you… although I'm guessing they never did make it over to Colonial One?"

"No they didn't. I think they would've done, if it hadn't been that Galactica got separated from the rest of the fleet. That couldn't have happened at a worse time as far as you were concerned. It was minutes after you'd been shot and the Doctor wasn't on Galactica. It was several hours before the fleet was reunited. That didn't improve your condition."

"Before you came in Tigh was just starting to tell me about Lee. Maybe you can tell me what went on?"

"What has he told you?"

"That he left Lee in the brig but Kara went to see him, against orders, when she got back from Caprica."

"He did leave Lee in the brig. Kara went to see him because she was concerned about him."

"Concerned about him?"

"The Colonel obviously didn't tell you everything that went on concerning your son." She paused unsure how to tell this man about what his closest friend had put his son through. She continued when the man in front of her nodded at her. "Lee was pretty much kept in solitary confinement for the two weeks after he was placed in the brig. Until Kara got back. The Colonel ordered that nobody on the ship was to speak to Lee and revoked his flight status. He didn't even know about you. Didn't know you'd been shot. Nothing. I tried to come over here, to get some excuse to go and see him so that I could tell him, but I wasn't allowed aboard unless it was for my medical appointments and even then I was always under Marine guard so unable to see him." She paused, sympathy for the man in front of her making her stop. This was possibly worse than approaching Lieutenant Thrace behind his back, and it was only going to get worse. "Doctor Cottle also put in many requests to check on Captain Apollo as well, but was refused each time by Colonel Tigh."

"Why would he refuse? It's basic human rights that he should be entitled to medical treatment."

"I can't answer that I'm afraid, Commander. There was a lot going on at the time so I suppose he was a little distracted. Mainly I think it's because he was angry with Lee. Angry that Lee held a gun to his head and disobeyed a direct order."

"And when Kara returned?"

"Well, she ignored his orders and went to see Lee. She told him everything that had happened and told him about you. Then she brought him here to see you."

His hopes lifted at her words, followed quickly by confusion. "He came to see me? Why isn't he here now?"

"Two reasons. Firstly, the next day when they came to see you again, the Colonel also showed up. He had a go at Lee. Said some horrible things to him and pretty much banned him from seeing you, so Lee left sickbay. Much to the Cottle's chagrin, as he still hadn't had a chance to check him over. Kara and Tigh had an argument and Kara went after Lee."

"What's the second reason?"

"When Lee left here, he went to the hangar deck and somehow managed to convince the deck crew to let him take a Viper out. He said he needed to get away from everyone for a while. Kara went out after him. They disappeared off DRADIS for some time. Just as they were coming back to Galactica, twelve Cylon Raiders appeared. Kara and Lee went to intercept them. The CAP was on the other side of the fleet and the alert fighters were six minutes away, so there was only them."

"Are they okay?" His concern rose once more.

"Dee told Billy that they destroyed all of the Raiders between the two of them, with some amazing flying apparently. By the time the alert fighters arrived on the scene, there was no sign of them or the Raiders. It's been assumed they must've had to land on Kobol for some reason."

"Has a S&R team been sent out?"

"Not to my knowledge." She hated admitting it to him, but he needed to know everything that had happened.

"What?!" He couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"Tigh won't allow it. I've tried to get him to send one out… but he won't listen to me. It's a military matter, and not my concern. I'm really sorry. I tried my best… but there's no talking to him about it."

"Well there must be something wrong with one or both of them if no one's heard anything from them. Something must've happened to their Vipers or they would've returned to Galactica." He began to sit up and tried to get out of his bed, regardless of his injuries. "I need to get out of here. I need to organize a team to go and find them. I need to find them."

Laura rose to her feet and made her way over to his side, placing a hand on his. She could tell he was getting upset, and didn't think it was a very good idea. She knew it would seriously annoy Cottle, if nothing else. "Commander, you're staying here. You're too ill to leave at the moment. You're still recovering from heart surgery. I'm fairly sure there are plenty of officers on this ship that would be willing to help. Nobody was particularly happy about the way Lee was treated by Colonel Tigh. I think you need to talk to him. Maybe you should order him to send a rescue team down to the planet. We should also consider what we want to do about finding the tomb of Athena. Kara brought the arrow back from Caprica… we should use it to try and find Earth."

"Lee and Kara are the only things that are important to me at the moment."

"I know that Bill. We could use it as a cover story to what we're planning though. Maybe have one team try to find the arrow while the rest of them search for Lee and Kara."

"We??" He was surprised by her choice of words.

"We're in this together, Bill. Lee and Kara are very important to the fleet and to you… therefore they're important to me. Anyway I owe both of them an apology."

"Why?"

"It's my fault Kara went back to Caprica; because I asked her to, it affected both Lee's and your relationship with her and ended up with Lee in the brig. I feel I should apologize for my actions."

"Okay. It sounds like I need to talk to Saul. Can you get one of the nurses to ask him to come back down to sickbay?" Laura left the room and went to find a nurse.

TBC

A/N: I'm so glad for the positive feedback I've been receiving - it really helps to know people are enjoying something I've written. Please continue...