For notes, warnings and disclaimers see chapter 1.

Chapter 35
(Cottle's POV)

As I watch Starbuck all but run out of here I can't help but to shake my head and wonder if it was enough.

Starting tomorrow she is going to be back out there and --even though things are still far from normal-- the truth is that I had run out of excuses to keep her off active duty and the fleet needs her.

As strange as it may seem, her biggest problem right now is that from a physical perspective she is doing fine. In fact I should probably have released her from sickbay ten if not twelve days ago and I suspect she knows it... but then again her injuries were not the reason why I insisted she stay here in the first place. I knew that if she had been left to her own devices she would have done everything in her power to push people away, especially Apollo and the old man, and that was something I was trying to avoid. Of course, if in the process these past couple of weeks taught her a lesson about asking for help --especially medical help-- I would be incredibly grateful but, well, the truth is that I'm not holding my breath. The bottom line is that that girl is just too frakking stubborn and I don't think that's likely to change any time soon. Hell, I'm not even sure I want it to change.

Of course, when it comes to Starbuck and Apollo, Starbuck is only half the problem. The other half is Apollo, who seems to be determined to keep walking on eggshells around her. He keeps pushing her to talk to him --to trust him-- and he keeps reminding her that 'he knows', something that is probably bugging the hell out of her. That, I suspect, is the real issue. Oh, I can see that he is trying, there is no question about that... unfortunately he is also failing miserably.

He seems to be determined to fight off an enemy that isn't even there and in the process he just keeps forgetting that Thrace is not exactly the 'wrap her in cotton and keep her safe' kind of girl. I could tell him that that is not the best way to approach it but he probably already knows, he just can't help it.

Unfortunately I suspect that --unless he gets over it and gets over it quickly-- that attitude is going to land him here sooner rather than later. After all, I've known Kara ever since she first came onboard and one thing I've learned is that there's only so much pushing you can do before she starts pushing back... and my gut tells me that Apollo is long overdue for a fist-shaped reminder of that little fact.

Well, the good news is that at least Helo has shown some common sense in that regard... in fact out of the three of them he is the one who seems to be coping the best with this whole situation. If nothing else at least he seems to be aware of the fact that there is nothing for him to fix in the first place and he treats Starbuck as he always has.

As for the old man, while he is nowhere near as bad as his son, I do know him well enough to realize that this has hit him and hit him hard. He may be more subtle than Apollo in his attempts to make things right but those are still undeniably there. Of course, in a way that is only natural.

I've known Bill Adama for a very long time and I know all too well how he feels about that girl. I saw him with her when she first came on board, shortly after Zak's death. They were both a mess and in a way they both held on to each other for dear life. At first Zak was the thread that bound those two virtual strangers together but by the time the worst was behind them the two of them had somehow managed to become a family. She was no longer his almost-daughter-in-law... she was the daughter he had never had and the best of both his sons all rolled into one convenient, foul-mouthed package. She had a natural skill in that viper of hers that the pilot in the old man couldn't help but to admire... and she accepted him, unlike Apollo who wouldn't even talk to him in the aftermath of his brother's death.

That was what sealed it for him, and now the father in him is struggling to come to terms with the fact that someone hurt his 'little girl' and he is desperately trying to protect her, even if the rational part of his mind knows that it is too late for that, that she is neither his nor little... not to mention that she is more than capable of taking care of herself.

In fact the funny thing about these past couple of weeks has been precisely the way in which both Adamas have been so worried about Thrace's past that they haven't given much thought to her present so the reason why she ended up here in the first place --the fact that she was shot and captured by the cylons only a couple of weeks ago-- has been all but forgotten. That should have been their most immediate concern.

In fact what the cylons had done to her in the first place was something that remained a bit of a mystery so yesterday I decided to run some tests on her to determine the extent of the damage and the good news is that, just as I had hoped, those revealed no missing --or added-- pieces. In other words, even though the experience has obviously left its mark on her, chances are that the cylons didn't have time to do more than take a couple of tissue samples. That is still far from a comforting thought and I know it, but considering the alternative --and what the cylons were apparently up to in that damned farm of theirs-- I think this was the best we could possibly have hoped for.

In fact even though at first Starbuck was more than a little reluctant to even allow me to conduct those tests, when all was said and done I suspect that she was glad to at least have an answer to the questions she hadn't dared to ask. She may have tried hard to keep up her facade and hide it but I could see that not knowing just what it was that that butcher had done to her in the first place was really bothering her and now she finally has some answers... now she just has to figure out what she is going to do with them.

Author's notes: Hi guys, sorry about the delay. The truth is that even though I should have posted this thing yesterday I was not happy with it in the least and even after an extensive rewrite I am still far from pleased. Unfortunately this is a transitional chapter, as was last week's, and I suck at writing transitional chapters. The good news --if you can call it that-- is that the transition is over so hopefully next week's chapter won't be this bad.

Also, sorry about the delay in replying to your reviews. I promise to try to get caught up later today, now that the site is finally back to what passes for normal,

Alec