Author's Note: I wrote this chapter earlier but I had a lot of issues loading it here. Sorry for the delay.
Chapter 11
"It's Thrace, she's human, and for the most part she seems physically fit."
"For the most part?" Lee queries.
Cottle takes a moment to draw on his cigarette, considering how to phrase his response without raising the hackles on the trio before him. Leave it to Starbuck to return from the dead and not be a cylon. "She's lost muscle mass since the last time I examined her, but she's not malnourished. Her only complaint seems to be hypersensitivity."
Bill gives up the pretense of playing the commanding officer; here in life-station he's a father waiting to hear news about his little girl. "Hypersensitive? To what?"
"Just about damn near everything…light, sound, smell, touch, and taste. In fact, when she was here the only thing she did, besides give me a hard time, was bitch that life-station smelled like a corpse immersed in alcohol. Soon as I was done, I had the marines escort her back to the cylon containment cell."
Lee's emotions flip end over end, from relief to rage, "Why? You said yourself, its Kara."
"I said it's Thrace and I meant it. I also said she's coping with sensory overload and that holding area is one of the only controlled environments on this ship. She'll have an easier time readjusting in there. Now if you'll kindly excuse me, I have other patients to see." He turns towards his office, but the President's voice stops his progress.
"Can we speak with her?"
Cottle quirks an eyebrow at that, "Not sure how much good it will do you. She wasn't very cooperative when she was here, but that's nothing new." He gives Roslin a curt nod of permission, "Just don't upset her."
"You think she's unstable?" Adama asks.
Cottle takes the last drag of his cigarette, "I think she's Starbuck."
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Lee stalks down the corridor struggling to control his temper. The way people are moving out of his path is a testament to the extent of his failure. His mind flashes back to his conversation with the Admiral and President moments before.
"Lee, I know that you're very close with Captain Thrace, but I think, and the Admiral agrees, that our first interview with her should be as objective as possible."
"Objective?" Lee shakes his head, "Whatever it is you have to say, just say it."
She smiles and nods, to signify that the gloves are coming off. "I think you're entirely too close to the subject and I think your emotional investment is counterproductive to our cause."
"And I think you're a fool if you expect her to open up to you just because you're the President."
His father's voice rumbles, softly, "She won't be going in alone."
He should be used to his father and Roslin pulling this bullshit, but with the revelation of the Final Five, he thought they were finally moving forward, as equals. He should have frakkin' known better! Lee tucks his anger back and tries to appeal to their sense of reason. "Two against one isn't a strategy that she'll look kindly on. You'll put her on the defensive and she'll shut you out." His father meets his eye, "You know I'm right."
"Maybe. But we don't know how much her experience with the cylons has changed her." Those grey blue eyes turn weary and sad, "She may not be our Kara."
It's the fear that's gnawed at him since her return and he swallows back the bile rising in his throat. "All the more reason to surround her with people she knows and trusts." The two of them share a patronizing look, so reminiscent of one's between his father and mother, that it makes Lee want to scream in frustration.
"I agree." Lee looks up, startled by Laura's admission, "But from what I've witnessed, although you have a long history with Kara, it's also a tumultuous one."
His discomfort turns to indignation when his dad continues, "I think what Kara needs right now is a bit of stability."
That hurts. But that sting is nothing compared to the one he felt when Kara neglected to visit him after he was shot. How will she feel if she returns from the dead and he's not part of her welcoming party…or worse yet, he leaves her to the mercy of an inquisitorial squad? Lee knows that he's being irrational, that their intentions are not so sinister, but Kara has a special talent for bringing his emotions to the surface. He concedes that is the real reason they don't want him there for the first round of questioning. Lee sighs in resignation, "What do you propose I do in the meantime?"
"Well…when was the last time you visited your client?" There's a glimmer of dark humor behind Laura's eyes, "In order to keep up appearances, I think it best if you return to work on Dr. Baltar's trial."
Suddenly Lee is standing outside the brig without the slightest memory of having walked here. Honestly, he hasn't spared Gaius Baltar a single thought since this whole 'Final Five/Guardian' mess started the other day.
The past 5 interviews involved him questioning Baltar and Caprica in adjoining cells. The idea being that, by listening to them interact and play off one another, he'd gain a better insight into how to position Baltar's 'Love' defense. He grudgingly believes in the concept, but he's found nothing significant from these discussions that would convince a jury. Lee was shocked to find that the cylon displayed more obvious signs of ardor, than his human client. His traitorous mind cannot help but compare some of Caprica's forlorn looks at Baltar with a few of Kara's tentative smiles at him. He clamps down on the slow burn of shame ripping at his gut and tries to focus on how to conduct today's interview.
The usefulness of their present course of action has been exhausted. It's time to try a different approach with his wayward lovers.
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The hollow clang of a closing hatch wrestles Gaius Baltar from a troubled sleep. He blinks and slowly Lee Adama's form takes on an increasingly coherent shape. "Where have you been?" His voice is scratchy and dry and he clears his throat to repeat the question, but Caprica intervenes.
She's watching closely as the younger Adama settles himself at the table before them, "You missed our appointment yesterday." She turns towards the steel bars shared by their adjacent cell, meeting Baltar's eye, "Problems in the fleet?" The mischievous smile on her lips infects the inquiry.
Gaius sends her a chastising glare and tries to diffuse the snark from her previous comment, "Nothing serious I hope?" The last thing he wants to do is piss off his only human advocate. The look he receives from Mr. Adama is a mixture of skepticism and confusion.
"Nothing for you to worry about."
"Well I've heard rumors that the trial was becoming a point of contention within the fleet and I certainly don't wish to tarnish my image further." He smiles nervously and he can see Caprica roll her eyes as she turns her back on both of them. "So, then…where did we leave off?"
"We were discussing the events leading up to the exodus on New Caprica," Lee turns the full force of his coldest stare solely on Baltar, "and how you signed the death warrant for over 200 colonial citizens."
Gaius shrinks back, not from Lee's tone, but at the memory of that day. He was so despondent and, yet for the first time in his life, he took a stand that had nothing to do with his own self preservation. Though others may dismiss the effort in favor of the outcome, in the life of Gaius Baltar, it was an act of unparalleled grace. It wasn't until he saw the smoking hole in Caprica's head and felt the searing muzzle of that same gun pressed to his temple, that the futility and fear conquered him. He swallows back the regret of another failed chance at heroism, "We've already gone over that incident. I told you, all I remember is Doral screaming at me and the pressure of the gun against my head. I know that I signed the paper, but I think we can all agree that the circumstances fall into the realm of extreme duress."
"Coercion is a good defense, but we have no witnesses."
Caprica turns back to face Lee, defiance radiating from her posture, "I can corroborate Gaius's chain of events, right up until the moment Doral shot me." Her tirade is met with stark silence, "Oh, I see." She turns to Gaius, "Cute. He's not listening to me….because they won't listen to me either. I'm a cylon, which means my testimony is worthless. Isn't that right?"
Lee shakes his head, "We're going to lose this case if you don't help me Doc."
"Is that the point you're trying to make? That the jury will dismiss her testimony because she's a cylon?" Gaius grows increasingly disquieted by the way Lee Adama stares at him in silent reply. He tosses his hands up and leans his head against the bars, he can feel her lithe fingers cover over his and squeeze. "If they're going to discredit her or disallow her as a witness, then I'm a dead man."
"We'll just need to come up with a new defense." The soothing tone of her voice nearly convinces him that everything will be alright.
He pulls back to look into her eyes, "You're right, we can't give up hope." He turns back to face Lee, who's watching them with rapt attention, "If we're going to come up with a new strategy then three of us need to brainstorm."
Lee presses, "The three of us?"
His annoyance with Lee Adama has reached its zenith, "Yes! I know she's a cylon and you've proven your point that, as such, her testimony is worthless in the eyes of the everyday colonial citizen. However, I won't stand for you treating her this way."
"And how am I mistreating her?"
Gaius rolls his eyes and gestures to the Amazon beauty to his left, "By ignoring her presence and input."
"Caprica?"
"YES! Six, Caprica Six, Caprica…call her what you will but have the decency to acknowledge her. Especially when all she's trying to do is help!"
Her soft smile is a dazzling reward, but her words send a chill down his spine, "I hope you remember that when this is over, Gaius."
Faintly he can hear the Major calling to him, "Gaius. Gaius! Look at me!" Baltar turns away from her siren song to meet Lee Adama's solemn gaze.
"As your defense attorney, I'm recommending that you change your plea to not guilty, by reason of insanity."
Gaius stares at him dumbfounded. He almost gets the first syllable of outrage past his lips when he feels her hands snake around his middle and her body press against his backside. His eyes shift to the right and tears begin to fall from them, as a barren cell stares back at him.
Six slides a hand up to his neck and coos into his ear, "I'm sorry Gaius, but this was the only way to save you."
He trembles at enormity of her salvation and his defeat. There's no way to rationalize today's events. Lee and the guard were both witnesses, and all the interviews in this room are video recorded as a safety precaution. He has no doubt that today's tape will be the evidence that spares his life and condemns his reputation. He sinks to the floor and pulls his knees to his chest, tears streaming all the while.
Six wipes a tear away with her thumb and winces when he turns his head away from her ministrations of comfort. "God has spared you, Gaius."
It's the final straw, the last crack that breaks the true barrier between genius and psychosis, "I am damned!" He shouts it so loudly, even the marine on guard jumps, but he doesn't care. Gaius stands on his feet, toe-to-toe with his angel turned demon and embraces his fate, "Frak you and your God and leave me to my madness."
Somehow, Lee knows that Baltar's last words were meant for his visionary Six, but it also serves as his dismissal. As he grabs the tape from the monitoring station, Lee catches a glimpse of the live feed, where Gaius Baltar has returned to sitting on the floor in a tight ball. At that moment, he feels a pang of genuine sympathy for this small man, so tormented by his love for a woman, that it cost him his sanity.
Lee walks down the causeway in the direction of Kara's holding cell and admits to himself that perhaps it was kinship, rather than pity that he felt for Baltar.
Author's Note: I felt the need to visit Baltar again and this is the way I had hoped they would resolve his trial. Never mind the final cylon reveals...I want someone to realize that Gaius is completely nuts and sees a ChipSix! I promise more Kara in the next chapter! Reviews are appreciated.