She wasn't sure how long she stood there. It could have been minutes; hours maybe. Her tears had long since dried and her sadness at seeing her best friend like this had been replaced with numbness. The feeling she had not had since falling prey to the abuse of her mother, years ago. It was when she cut everything off.

The military officer in her took over. She breathed calmly, thinking about the situation. Kara knew that if she let everyone else know what Lee was doing, they would throw him out the airlock, or maybe worse. And of all the things in the Universe that bothered Kara, she wouldn't let that be on her conscience.

"Shh…Lee. You can't talk. Don't make a sound unless you hear my voice telling you to talk to me. Don't open your eyes. Don't give anyone any indication that you're not in a complete coma anymore. Please?"

She listened carefully as the broken record of Lee's whispers came to a stop. Then they were followed by one single word.

"Promise."

It made Kara smile wistfully. She remembered the days when they'd had separate CAPs, and they had both made the promise to each other to come back alive. She bent down and kissed him lightly on the lips, just a quick brush.

"I'll be back, Lee."

Quietly, she looked out of the curtain to see if anyone was around. The nurse had fallen asleep at her desk and Kara smirked at the incompetence of these new civilian medical personnel. A military nurse would have stapled her eyes open before letting herself get caught in a position like that.

As she laid her head on her soft pillow, Kara tried to sleep, but found her mind was racing. What am I going to do? Will he be able to overcome this? What about Sam? What will he think?

"Oh no, Thrace, you are not telling your husband a thing."

"Do you need something Captain?"

Kara hadn't realized she'd spoken aloud when the nurse came by to make sure she was all right.

"No thank you, just a dream…talking in my sleep."

The nurse nodded, shrugging it off. Kara watched as the young woman checked on Lee's vitals, found everything okay and then walked back to do her paperwork at her desk.

It was not easy, but somehow, Kara fell asleep that night, thoughts still buzzing around inside her head.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

"So Doc, you ready to send my pretty face home today, or what?"

The good doctor smiled grimly at her. There was nothing more that he wanted than that. Kara Anders had gotten on his nerves the third day that she was a resident of his ward.

"I'm finishing up your paperwork now. You can go ahead and get dressed; your husband should be here in a minute."

Kara nodded. She was so ready to get out of the medicinal place. But she also made a mental note to find her way in there at least once every three days to check on Lee. She didn't want him to get lost inside that mind of his again. She wasn't ready to let the Admiral in on her little secret, either.

Behind her, she could feel Sam's warmth as he approached, Billy in his arms.

"Look who's coming home today, Billy. That's right, Mommy's coming come today."

The toddler smiled up at his mother, squirming to get out of Anders' arms. He began to whine, and Kara finally reached up to take him.

"It's okay, Billy-boy. Just a few more pieces of paperwork, a blood pressure test, and I'll bet Mommy can beat Daddy down the corridor. What do you think?"

Billy just smiled, and then nodded his head in ascension. Even at his young age, her son had learned to let Starbuck have her way. His Dad reached out to help Kara up, when she felt her legs give out from under her. Sam barely grabbed his son before she hit the floor.

"Doc Cottle! Get down here!"

The older man, huffing and puffing, came down the aisle.

"What seems to be the problem here, oh! Sorry Captain, guess you won't be going home until we run some more tests. Up you go."

"Frak."

Kara put her head in her hands as she felt the tears well up in her eyes. If it wasn't one thing, it was another. She's spent so much time in this frakking place that she felt she'd just become a permanent resident. Screw having any other kind of life!

Cottle's nurse came and drew some blood. Kara sat anxiously waiting as Billy sat between her legs, playing with the bed sheets. Sam took a spot at the foot of the bed, counting how many wires he could see poking through the old girl's rafters.

"So, what's the verdict? Anemia? Blood Pressure?"

"Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Anders, you are going to have a little brother for Billy there, oh, I'd say in about six more months. Get some rest, stay out of Vipers, and take your vitamins – here."

Kara sat there in shock, reaching out to take the bottle of pills from Cottle. Sam sat there in shock, too, and then slowly displayed a widening grin.

"Did you hear that, Billy? Mommy's going to have another baby!"

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

A few beds away, tucked behind a curtain, a silent Lee Adama lay there, listening carefully. He heard Doc Cottle tell the couple there happy news. And something inside of him broke down. Now there will never be a chance in heaven or hell that I'll have her back again.

Don't you worry your pretty little head, fly-boy. I'm not finished here yet.

Lee was frightened on the inside, for he didn't know what his other side had in mind, and he really didn't want to find out. All he wanted to do was love Kara and his son and get on with his life.

No one took notice as a silent tear slid down his cheek.