"Please sit down, Major." She nods to the chair in front of her desk. "I think perhaps we should have a chat."
He sits, but on the edge of the chair. He is dreading this. "What can I help you with Madame President?"
"You can start by telling me why you look like death." She looks at him over her glasses.
"Just tired." He shifts. "Long hours." He hopes this won't drag on.
"I see." She shuffles a few papers on her desk. "So it doesn't have anything to do with spending every off hour you have on the Dionysian? "
"I don't see how that's really your business, Madame President." He looks her in the eye. "What I do in my off time, off of this ship isn't your concern."
"Of course you are allowed to have a life, Major. But when your activities begin reflecting negatively on this office, I have to intervene. Believe me, I'd rather not be having this discussion with you at all."
He swallows. "I didn't realize."
"No, I'm sure you didn't. But it is a small fleet, Major; and everyone in it knows who you are. I don't know how realistic it is for you to expect your private life to remain that way." She lets her statement sink in. "And to be honest, I'm more concerned with why you are being so, how should I say… friendly? You aren't yourself, Major, and it worries me. I understand if you can't talk to me about it, but I hope you are talking to someone. I need you at your best. The fleet needs you at your best."
"Of course, Madame President. Is there anything else?" She studies him for a moment. He really does look terrible. His eyes are rimmed in dark circles and bags that age him ten years. Tension stiffens his jaw and temples. He looks beaten, she thinks, like it's finally all too much for him to process.
"You can go. Please take care of yourself, Apollo." She says the last part as she rises from her chair. He stands and turns to the door, pausing as he reaches for the handle.
"Thank you, ma'am." Then he's gone.
………………………………………………………
"She's very special," Raina says, picking up random toys after tucking her charge into bed in the next room. "Even when she isn't 'feeling' things, she has this way of seeing right into people. And she's just so … wise." She shakes her head.
"She's a hell of a kid. Especially considering everything she's been through." Kara rolls up from her cross-legged position on the floor to help her friend tidy the tiny space.
"You want to know the weirdest part? She told me that she got through all of it because she knew she was going to end up here, with people who love her. That little girl rips out my heart every day."
"I'm glad you found her. Or did she find you?"
"A little of both, I think." Raina pours two glasses of ice water and fumbles in a drawer. She stops, grins and holds up half a cigar. "Looky what I found! Let's step into the hall."
"Does the school board know their star teacher smokes illegal stogies?" Kara laughs, digging through her pockets for a box of matches. "And used to swear like a longshoreman?"
"Frak! I never fraking swore!" Raina giggles, then guiltily peeks her head in the door to make sure Paya is still safely out of earshot in her room. "Now I just don't fraking swear in front of the kids." Her face is suddenly serious. "Kara. I need your help. Paya can't stay here. If it gets out that she can see things, I don't want to think about what might happen. Half the fleet is going to think she's a prophet…"
"And the other half is going to think she's a cylon." Kara finishes, instinctively checking the corridor for any sign of other people. Feeling her stomach sink, she turns to face her friend. "Gianne?"
"No! No. No. I'm sure she wasn't a cylon." Raina shakes her head vigorously. "Spoiled, unstable and cruel, but not a cylon." Carefully stubbing out the cigar on the sole of her boot, she tucks the butt into her pocket. "Paya has to go with you. To Galactica."
"Uh-uh. Won't work. We have to think of something else."
"What other choice is there, Kara? Who else can protect her? Me? I'm afraid of fraking spiders. Is there anybody else you can think of that you would trust to look out for her?"
They are interrupted when Paya comes running into the hall.
"Kara. You have to go right now. In your viper. He needs you. He won't make it unless you go right now." Paya hands Kara her bag and takes her hand, attempting to pull her towards the hangar.
"Paya, what's going on? What are you talking about?" Kara stops and turns the small girl around to look at her.
"Lee! You have to go help Lee! Right now! You'll know what to do when you get there. Please! Hurry!"
………………………………………………………………………
The alert came over the PA as he was drifting off to sleep. Pulling himself from the relative warmth of his blankets, he dressed quickly and headed to the hangar deck.
"Lieutenant. SitRep."
"Heavy Raider on a collision course, Sir. Hot Dog and Cat knocked out two others, but sustained heavy damage. They're coming in. You're clear for tube three."
In his viper and taxiing towards the launch tube he hears Cat over the com.
"Galactica. Cat. I'm coming in hot with the Raider right on my tail. My landing gear will not drop. Repeat. Landing Gear failure."
"Galactica. HotDog. Raider has veered off course. It looks like it's going to hit right at tube three."
"Frak." He says quietly under his breath as the launch tube hurls him towards the exit. He can see the raider rushing at him, larger than the tube and sure to rip it clean from the ship. "Oh, Kara. I'm so sorry." He closes his eyes, just as the Raider explodes. The blast sends him back to the entrance of the tube, and the belly of his Viper makes a horrible, squealing sound as it tears across the rough floor.
"Galactica. Starbuck. Raider destroyed, but there's damage to the tube. Get an emergency crew in there!"
He passes out as the cockpit fills with smoke.
………………………………………………………………
The searing pain in his leg wakes him. He wants to sit up and grab it, but he can't. His eyes feel like they are filled with glass.
"Careful, Major. Your liable to undo some of my handiwork." He forces his eyelids to open. Tears spring to his eyes when they are met with the bright fluorescent light above him. He closes them tightly again. "You cooked your leg pretty good, you bashed your head and your arm is broken. You'll be fine." He hears the doctor walk away. Thinking he is alone, he tries again to sit up. His head pounds intensely and he lies back down.
"You heard Doc Cottle, Lee. Lay still for frak's sake." Kara. Shit, he thinks. He tries to open his mouth to tell her to go away, but can only cough. She is there with a straw to his lips; the cold water is exquisite on his parched tongue. He blinks quickly several times until he can fully open his eyes. She is standing over him, looking, quite frankly, like an angel who was about to kick his ass. "Thank gods you're okay." She drops to the stool beside the cot. "Frak! I can't take any more of this, Lee. I thought you were dead. Again. Godsdamnit, Lee, I can't do this without you. I need you. And whether you want to fraking admit it or not, you need me just as much. And there is a little girl out there who needs both of us, right fraking now. So get the frak over yourself and let me go back to being the crazy one in this relationship. And get better."
"Not fair," he rasps, eyes now blinking with as much shock as pain. "Can't talk back."
"Damn straight. Maybe you'll actually hear me for a change."
"Starbuck. Don't yell at my patients. Makes me cranky." The doctor pokes his head in the curtain.
"I'm done." She sighs and leans over and kisses him gently on the lips before leaving the curtained area.
"Some nurse you got there, Apollo." The doctor disappears behind her.
Lee blinks.
TBC