Chapter 11
"Captain Adama, they need you. Now!"
Lee didn't even know where the voice had come from, but pure instinct had him reaching for his locker door to grab his uniform before he even opened his eyes. He hadn't heard action stations called, and he was fairly sure he couldn't have slept through that, but it had to be something serious.
A hand closed over his, drawing his attention to the cadet that was urgently looking him in the eye. "I don't think you have time for that," he said cryptically. "There's a problem with Lieutenant Thrace."
If there were any magic words in Lee's vocabulary to wake him fully from a dead sleep, those were the ones. "Where?"
"Main corridor near CIC," the cadet answered. The Commander wants you there on the double."
Lee was already on his way out the hatch, dressed only in his underwear, socks, and a sleeveless shirt. Half-way down the corridor, he heard the screaming. He kept moving even as his heart skipped a beat and his breathing ground to a halt. She was calling for him, and she wasn't doing it subtly.
There were several people standing around staring, concern and confusion etched on their faces. Lee ignored them for the sight of Kara leaning against the wall with arms and legs striking out randomly. His father spared him a single cursory glance as he approached. The older man was kneeling just outside her range of strike, but not touching her. The marks on his hands showed Lee that this hadn't been Adama's first course of action. "Salik's on the way," he informed Lee. "What the hell is going on?"
Lee didn't answer his father at first. "Get everyone out of here," he commanded quickly, not even considering the rank his father held. "Get her some space."
He didn't bother taking his eyes off Kara while it happened, but in the back of his mind he noticed the lack of murmuring that had previously been prevalent, so he assumed that his father had done as he asked.
"How long has she been like this?" he asked over her screams even as he reached for flailing arms.
Adama shook his head, indicating that he didn't know. "I ran into her coming around the corner," he admitted. "She went down screaming. I can't get near her without hurting her."
"Kara?" Lee said softly, resisting the urge to try screaming over. "Come on, Kara. Come back to me." He shifted his glance to his father. "Reach for her arms," he commanded. "Grab her wrists, but keep your shins clear." He didn't wait to see if his father was listening, but instead trusted that it would happen.
Rather than taking the forward approach as his father had done, Lee slipped around behind Kara, scooting her forward from the wall just as soon as his father had her arms down. She tried to turn and direct her attack in his direction, far beyond any rational thought that might have told her who he was, but his father's grip was sure. Seating himself against the wall for support, Lee put an arm around her waist and tugged her into his body. He tossed his good leg over both of hers, using it to keep her from kicking his father. From there, he slid his right arm down hers, from shoulder to fingertips, grasping her wrist beneath where his father was holding. He transferred her right wrist into the left hand, and pulled her arm across her body. Then he held out his right hand and let his father place her left wrist into it. He tugged her arms up, turning her hands upward as well so that she couldn't scratch him. He made sure they were locked up beneath one another, preventing the chance of her bending forward to bite. His father had moved down to take control of Kara's legs, holding them down under one of his knees as he knelt before them. Lee ducked his head to one side, sliding Kara down a bit so that her head crashed into his chest rather than his jaw.
The screaming hadn't subsided, but neither had Lee's calming reassurance, now given immediately next to her left ear. He kept his face to the side, not allowing her head to slam him in the mouth, and he rocked his body slightly forward and back. His grip on her wrists was firm, but gentle enough not to injure her. Then gradually he slipped his bare legs up and over hers, his feet meeting between them so that his father could move back. It was a basic safety hold, taught in the academy for emergency use with prisoners, and it was designed to not only keep her safe, but him as well. It was something used so infrequently as to be nearly forgotten. He didn't know why it had come to him now, but he was grateful because it seemed to be effective.
Kara's screams had decreased perceptibly as Lee spoke to her. The gentle rocking soothed her, and at some point her body went nearly limp as she realized that she wasn't in imminent danger. Doctor Salik arrived with a hypodermic needle in hand just about the time Lee had her calm. William had he presence of mind to hold up a hand, gesturing for him to wait.
"Kara, it's okay," Lee whispered again. "You're on the Galactica. You're safe. I've got you. No one will hurt you; I promise you that. You're okay. We're going to keep you safe."
Lee felt the moment when her rationality returned. Her head fell back to his shoulder and the eyes that had been wide open yet seeing nothing finally closed. Her face flushed blood red, her features clearly showing her embarrassment, and her body started to shake. Lee didn't blame her. Whether from adrenaline or just fear, he was shaking as much as she was.
"I'd like to give her a mild sedative," Doctor Salik told Adama. "It should keep her calm until we can get her to the Life Station."
Kara didn't respond when William looked at her, but Lee did. He nodded, flashing his glance to his father's, giving silent permission. "Kara, we're going to give you a shot. It'll only take a second, and then you'll start to feel better. Do you understand?"
He couldn't see the nod, but he felt the change in pressure of her head against his chest. "Go ahead," he told the doctor. "Slowly."
Lee continued to hold Kara's wrists, but her arms were no longer tightly locked against her body. Salik unbuttoned one sleeve and pushed it up to expose her upper arm, and his glance came up to Lee's as he noted the mottled bruising with its clear linear shape. Someone had obviously had their hands on her, and hard, and recently. Professional as always, the physician didn't comment and proceeded to give the injection into the muscle. Then he sat back and waited with them.
It wasn't a long wait. Kara was already exhausted from her run and the panic that had followed. Gradually her body went from nearly limp to completely flaccid as Lee held her. He never stopped the soft words whispered into her ear, even after she was well and truly out. "You're okay, Kara," he whispered. "I've got you. I won't let go." He wasn't sure if either the doctor or his father caught the gentle kiss that he couldn't help placing on her cheek, but at the time he really didn't care one way or the other.
So focused was Lee on the woman in his arms, that his father's hand on his arm was nearly a shock. Lee opened the eyes that he had closed to focus his attention on Kara, and changed that focus to his commander. "We need to get her to the Life Station," Adama said gently.
Lee nodded, but made no effort to move.
"Lee?"
"I know," he acknowledged reluctantly. He was just grateful to have felt her body relax, and he wanted a moment to catch his breath. Still, his father was right. The sooner they got her out of the corridor, the less likely it would be that anything else would go wrong. "If you'll help me get her up, I can carry her."
Adama didn't look too sure about that, but he took Kara's weight as Lee leaned her forward and Lee slipped from behind her. She didn't even protest, merely lolled her head to one side. Once standing, Lee and his father both reached down and lifted her, finally transferring all of her weight to Lee. His right leg gave a token protest, but thanks to the medications that Salik had provided him with upon return from the mission, he tolerated the pain and his leg held both his weight and hers.
They walked slowly through the corridor, but it was the only concession to Lee's disability. Once inside the Life Station, one of the technician stepped forward to pull the sheets back on a well-made bed, and Lee gratefully transferred Kara there. She didn't move once he'd laid her down, so he took a minute to put a hand beneath one of her hips and turn her slightly onto her left side, gently positioning one arm over the other in a more natural position, before pulling up her covers. Kara hated to sleep on her back.
"Start an IV," Salik told his technician. "Just saline and dextrose for now. Get me some labs, too. Everything from blood count to electrolytes, and a pregnancy test. Don't skip anything."
"Yes, Sir," Cassie told him, making a quick note on an electronic clipboard. "Anything else?"
"I'll let you know in a few minutes," the doctor informed her. "We'll be in my office if there's any change."
"Yes, Sir."
Salik gestured Adama before him towards the small clinical office, but it took Adama's cleared throat and a hand on his arm to get Lee to move. He didn't want to leave her. She looked so small lying there, and so afraid despite closed eyes and slow breathing. "Her boots are still on," he commented inanely.
"I'll take care of it," Cassie assured him with a gentle touch to his arm. "Go."
Lee finally nodded and followed the doctor and his father into the medical office.
"What happened?" Salik asked as soon as Lee had the door shut behind him. "And don't you dare tell me that she got in a fight, because I've seen a traumatic stress reaction before, and I got a damn good look at her arm."
Lee took a deep breath and looked to his father for support. He didn't get any. If anything, his father looked angrier than the doctor did.
"She was running on the planet," he began. "A group of the miners got a hold of her and took her down in the mine. She wasn't conscious for most of it, or at least she says she wasn't. When we got there they were doing their best to beat the living shit out of her. Security killed the miners, I got her out and cleaned her up, and she made me promise not to tell what happened."
Salik was silent for a moment. "Was she raped?" he asked.
Lee swallowed twice before he answered with a faint, "No."
"Are you sure?" the doctor demanded.
Lee looked over at his father again, but the face was as impassive as it had ever been. He really wished the Commander would go back to his own duties. If he had to have this discussion, he didn't want his father to hear all of it. "I'm sure," he said simply. "They had her clothes off. But his weren't. If we'd showed up a minute or two later I think she would have been. As it was, they weren't gentle. She was cut up and bruised, but nothing we couldn't manage with time and a simple med kit."
"I'll have to examine her myself," Salik said to no one in particular. "I'll do it while she's out. It'll be easier that way."
"You didn't feel this information was pertinent to the mission report?" Adama asked him, his voice beginning to show the anger that Lee had been expecting. He didn't know if that anger was at Kara, at him, or at what had been done to her. He didn't think it mattered. He was the one here, so he would have to deal with it.
"She asked me not to," he said simply. "It was all she asked. They took her, and I couldn't find her, and they beat the hell out of her while they had her. And the only thing she asked of me was that I not broadcast it to CIC. I couldn't tell her no'."
"And there are no closed frequencies on the Raptor?" Adama asked sarcastically.
"She asked me not to tell," he repeated. He didn't have any greater excuse than that. "I had to respect her decision."
"And if you has asked her not to mention that you'd been shot on your last mission," Adama said in a furious voice. "Would it have been acceptable for her to omit that information just because you wanted it that way?"
"No, Sir," he admitted. "I was wrong. I'm sorry."
"You're sorry," his father nearly growled. "I have a lieutenant laying in there too afraid of her own crew to act rationally, and you're sorry?"
Lee didn't say anything else. His father was right. There was just nothing more he could say. He had known she wasn't okay, and yet he had not asked for help. Selfishly, he had kept her to himself, as though he could protect her, when he had already proven quite graphically that he could not.
"I need to check on my patient," Salik told them.
After the doctor had left the room, politely closing them in his office, Adama turned to his son. "What were you thinking?" he asked abruptly, but the note in his voice was more pain than anger. He was as worried for Kara as Lee was.
"She seemed okay," he admitted softly. "Not at first. I mean, that first night it was all I could do to clean her up and get her settled down to sleep. I wanted to bring her back up here, but I swear she begged me not to. She wanted to stay for the mission, and Lords help me I was selfish; I wanted to keep her close so that I'd know she was okay. By the next day, she was almost herself. She was a little nervous, and maybe quiet, but nothing that really worried me. She wasn't having nightmares or panic attacks or anything that would have told me that she was on the edge. The last day on the planet she was a little clingy, and maybe I a got a little worried, but as soon as we got back to the Galactica she seemed fine. She took off working, and I didn't even see her the rest of the day. I honestly thought she'd be fine once she was back on familiar ground." He paused a moment, considering. "She reported to you. How did she seem?"
Adama paused to consider that. "Tired," he admitted. "And a little colorful, although she brushed that off. Maybe she was a little more subdued, but I didn't pick up on anything that really worried me."
"Exactly," Lee agreed. "I couldn't see going against her when it didn't look like she needed it."
William Adama sighed deeply and seated himself in the doctor's chair. "If you could have seen her come apart in that hallway" he began, but he couldn't finish.
"I saw enough," Lee agreed, leaning back on the exam table with an exhaustion as deep as his father's. "I'm sorry. I can't say I'd do anything differently given the same circumstances, but looking back I can see the mistake."
"Apollo," the Commander began. "Son," he corrected. "There are certain relationships that do not work well together in the service. I do not assign siblings, spouses, or lovers together when we have work to accomplish. Invariably, their loyalty to one another clouds their dedication to the mission, and their judgement as well."
"Kara and I don't fit any of those three categories," Lee remarked.
"No," the Commander agreed with a soft smile. "You're far closer than any of those. I've seen it, and I've ignored it. I can't ignore it any longer. You and she cannot be objective towards one another. She proved it when you were lost on the planet, and you've proven it now. Your objectivity is compromised."
"So we can't work together?" Lee asked. He knew it was reasonable. He still hated it.
"Under certain circumstances, it will be acceptable," Adama considered. "You still fly almost as one, and that's a rare gift. On less urgent missions, things of a more routine nature, there shouldn't be any conflict of interest. I can even see you remaining the one to make shift assignments, although I must insist that everything be approved through Colonel Tigh before it's posted."
"Tigh?" Lee asked. "Why not you?"
"Because," his father explained, "When it comes to the two of you, I simply don't have any objectivity either."
Lee sat a moment in silence, letting his father's words sink into him. It was the closest his father had come in a very long time to telling him how much he cared. Lee wished he could find a way to tell his father the same, but even two years hadn't taken the distance completely from their estrangement over Zak.
"Can I make a request?" Lee asked carefully.
"By all means."
"Back at the beginning of the war, you offered me an office for CAG duties. At the time, I needed to get to know my pilots and space was an issue, so I turned you down. Is there any way you could arrange it now?"
Adama looked at him for a moment, considering. "What exactly would you need in the office?"
Lee shrugged. "A desk," he decided. "Room for the files. Maybe a computer if there's one available. And maybe a bed."
Adama nodded. "As CAG, it's reasonable for you to bunk away from those you command," he agreed. Then, looking his son in the eye, he asked bluntly, "Do you need a single bed or double?"
Lee knew what his father was asking. After all, this discussion had begun with Kara, and it had never really left her. "It doesn't matter," he finally answered. "She doesn't take up much space."
The Commander gave a small smile as he nodded. "I won't disagree that she could use some space after this," he admitted. "Half of CIC was in that hallway, and the rest must have heard the screaming. She'll need some distance from that, but she can be damn stubborn. How do you plan to get her out of the squadron quarters?"
"We spent two years rooming together at the academy," he reminded his father. "Shouldn't be too hard to talk her into being a roommate again. Especially if you can arrange a bathroom."
Adama grinned. "We'll have it set up by tomorrow," he promised. "I'd doubt Salik will let her out before then."
Apollo nodded gravely. He had almost forgotten for a moment just how messed up Kara was.
"I need to go start taking care of things," his father told him as he stood. "She has a lot of friends in squadron and on CIC that will be worried. I'll give them a minimum of information to get them settled and put an end to any rumors. I want you to stay with her. You're off duty until further notice. Consider it compensation time from the mission. Kara, too."
"Thank you, Sir," he said automatically. Then, as his father opened the door to leave, he stopped him. "Commander?"
"Yes?" Adama asked as he turned back around.
"Does it bother you?" he asked cryptically.
"Bother me?"
"She and Zak" But he couldn't finish the thought.
"Were engaged," Adama concluded. "And very much in love. But that was four years ago, and I never expected Kara to climb into the grave with him. She's a young woman, very beautiful, and very special. She deserves to be happy."
Lee nodded. He couldn't argue with any of the statements, even if none of them told him what he wanted to know.
"And Lee?"
"Yes, Sir."
"You deserve to be happy too," his father told him softly. Then, without another word, he closed the door leaving Lee sitting on the edge of the exam table deep in thought.