Chapter Fourteen
She was having trouble breathing. Jessica's fear seeped out of her like beads of ice popping through her skin. If the cell had a carpet, she would have worn a hole through it by now. Pacing hadn't ease the burning panic in her chest so Jessica had stopped and sat on the floor, knees up to her chest and head buried against her forearms.
They certainly hadn't wasted any time tossing her in the brig. Once Kara was safely, if shaken, out of harm's way, Lee had locked Jessica in the cell and left her there. She wasn't sure of the time, but she guessed it was about 2 in the afternoon. Her stomach was lurching dangerously, a mix of hunger and fear. Jessica swallowed. She would NOT stink up this place with her own vomit. Jessica took deep breaths. This fear was painfully familiar. Being locked up, shut away. But this time she didn't have her parents there with her to comfort her when the terror got too overwhelming. She struggled to remember that these people were not the Cylons. But the sense memory in her body knew no different. The enclosed room with no windows, the hard cold floor. The chill in the air. It was all playing havoc with her hold on the present. But dammit what were they going to do with her?
Surely they had questions? That at least, she hoped would keep her alive. Jessica snorted bitterly. It all came down to that. Her saving grace was information. She had it. They would want it. Well, frak 'em. Her silence had kept her alive before, it would do so again.
Jessica whimpered and closed her eyes willing herself to remember her mother's hand, clasping hers as it had done back then. She curled her fingers around the hand that was no longer there, tightening her grip, willing the feel of her mother's skin against her. Jessica could call up her mother's scent. Soft, like lilies on a hazy summer back in Caprica. Jessica inhaled deep, feeling her panic begin to lull. Focusing on her mother, Jessica didn't notice him until he spoke.
"Since the cursed day I brought you on this ship you have nearly knocked me unconscious, thrown up on me, stabbed me, nearly broken my nose and bit me. Now you give me one good reason why the hell I shouldn't tell my father to execute you for shooting a senior officer."
Jessica stared at Lee's red nose. It had been bleeding but had recently dried up.
"I was aiming at Baltar." Jessica offered with a shrug.
"He says you're lying." Lee said sitting across from her on the other side of the bars.
"Of course he does. And your so frakking chicken shit scared that I'm right cause that would mean you've been trusting a traitor all these years." Jessica seethed at him.
"Let's just entertain for a moment that you are right. That's two bodies out the air lock instead of just one. Either way, you lose." Jessica really wished Lee would just stop talking. Her hold on her mother was getting further and further and she really did not want to lose it in front of him. She leaned her head against the wall and closed her eyes willing the panic back but her breath was coming out uneven. Jessica watched as Lee began to notice.
"You alright?" Lee asked, his mouth lifting in a grin.
"Not a big fan of enclosed spaces. Two years in a Cylon prison will do that to you." She admitted. She felt his stab of sympathy for her and felt him just as easily force it down. "You won't kill me. And unfortunately for me, you won't kill Doc Genius either." Jessica said getting to her feet. She'd come to the damning realization that despite his betrayal, killing Baltar would have been a mistake. He still had his part to play and Jessica had to learn to reign in her emotions.
"Dare I ask why not?"
"Doc Genius is the only Cylon detector you've got besides me. You need him as much as you need me. Not to mention I know where Earth is." Jessica held on to the bars, tightly. Her heart rate going up so high she could hear it in her ears.
"Back there again,are we?" Lee asked rolling his eyes. "Honey, Earth is a myth. My father gave up his story a long time ago."
"Your father was mistaken. Earth is real. My mother came from Earth. She was pregnant with me at the time and THAT, Captain, is how I can do what I do. It's the time travel. It changed my blood somehow. I'm not a seer because of my mind. It's my genes."
"This would make fascinating fiction, really." Lee said laughing. So help her, if she hadn't been behind the bars Jessica would have lunged at him and choked the giggles right out of his throat.
"You son of a bitch. Salik told you I can't lie. Why would I be doing so now?"
"Yes, Salik, since anyone can be a Cylon these days-"
"Oh for frak sakes. Your doctor is not a Cylon and you know it."
"No I don't. And that is another card in my hand. You yourself could be a Cylon. I'm sure Baltar would be only to happy to back me up on that one seeing as you did try to shoot him. One word to my father-"
"You would do that?" Jessica asked, her face paling and her eyes filling. Lee sighed and leaned against the steel back of his chair.
"No. Of course I wouldn't." Lee admitted. "But you've got to give me something more to go on here than genes and time travel and your belief that Doc Geniu- I mean Doctor Baltar's responsible for the destruction of the human race."
"I swear to you, Lee. I can lead you to earth if you only give me a chance. I only have to remember. Elosha or Salik can help me do that but you have to set me free." By now Jessica could feel the tears drop down her cheeks but she was too terrified to care. If he didn't let her go she was gonna have a full fledged painc attack right in front of him. "I am yours." she said suddenly. Lee started in his chair. "Your mother's ring said 'In this life and the next'. It was half of a sentence. Your father's ring has the other half, 'I am yours.' It's engraved in the rings."
"Frakking shit." Lee said paling. Then he shook his head. "You could have seen them."
"For Gods sake, Lee, when?" Jessica asked desperately. She swallowed hard. She was visibly trembling. "Doc Genius was frakking a Cylon and slipping her defense secrets. That is how the Cylons were able to very nearly obliterate us. Although If we're going for details here he didn't technically know she was a Cylon. After a good frak the good doctor has worse diarrea of the mouth than I do." Jessica pushed her nails so hard into her palms she felt the sting of breaking skin.
"Okay, this is over. I'll pass what you said on to my dad and it'll be up to him what to do with you."
"Lee wait!" Jessica called out and as she watched him make his way to the door."Can't you please let me out of here?"
"You shot our XO. You have to face justice for that."
"You bastard!" Jessica spat "You want me." Now what on earth made her blurt that Jessica would never know! Lee stilled and turned around.
"What?" Lee asked. His blue eyes widened but Jessica knew she had struck a nerve.
"That's another reason you're not gonna kill me. You wanna frak me so bad I can feel it. As much as I freak you out, you want me. It irritates the frak out of you but your not gonna let me die before you get me on my back." Jessica said, narrowing her eyes at him. Lee was up to the bars in three long strides. Despite the fact the bars separated them, Jessica leapt back fearfully.
"You certainly think much of yourself don't you?" Lee sneered. "If you think you're gonna try and buy time by offering me your sexual favors. You've got the wrong man."
"Believe me, I frakking wish I did." Jessica tossed back.
"According to you that tactic would work best on Baltar." Lee reminded her.
"I should warn you though, Captain. The last man I let into my bed died." Jessica warned. Lee took a step back and regarded her warily. "Go ahead. I know your dying to ask me how." Jessica gripped the bars. Lee remained silent. "Alright, I'll tell ya. His name was James and I killed him." Jessica said getting great satisfaction from the blood draining from Lee Adama's face.
