Author- Bea
Rating – PG-13
Archiving- BSG 2003, Apollo/Starbuck Fan Fic, Fanfiction net, all others please ask
Warnings- Violence, some language, some angst
Spoilers- Seasons 1 and 2 (however, the spoilers are interspersed with lots stuff from my brain so… ;-)
Disclaimers- I don't own these characters and I am not making any profit off them. I'm just borrowing them for fun (well, maybe not the poor characters'...). ;)
Many thanks go to Audrey for the great beta:-)
Summary part 3- What happened to Apollo and the fleet after Starbuck jumped to Caprica?
-The Battlestar Galactica-
Colonial Fleet
20 minutes after attempted assassination of Cmdr. Adama
The dimly-lit battlestar corridors surrounded Lee Adama as he walked, feeling numb. He felt as though he was dreaming –a nightmare, peopled by the ghoulish shadows dancing on the walls, the discomfort of the restraints on his wrists and the blood on his hands and arms.
The marines flanking him turned as they entered the brig. They passed President Roslin as he was marched along the row of cells.
Stepping into his cell, he heard the metallic clang of the door closing behind him as he rubbed his wrists –now free from the cuffs. Walking up to the sink, he washed, observing the redness flowing away from him. He threw himself down on the bunk and closed his eyes.
"Captain?" The president was calling out to him –based on how they had placed them, he could hear her but couldn't see her. He looked at the ceiling, desperately wanting to be left alone.
"Captain Adama? Is everything all right?" Frak. He stood up, rubbing his eyes.
"I'm sorry ma'am. You were saying?" He asked, schooling his tone so that is sounded as polite as always.
"I asked if you were all right –you seemed preoccupied when they brought you in."
He leaned his forehead against the bars. "I… no. I'm sorry to say that everything isn't all right, ma'am."
"What happened?" She asked. "I haven't heard anything-"
"My father just got shot." He said bluntly.
Though he couldn't see her expression, there seemed to be shock in her voice when she finally spoke. "Gods. Is he-"
"I don't know. They wouldn't let me stay with him." Lee answered softly.
"How-"
He interrupted her again. All right, so he wasn't feeling that polite at the moment. "Lieutenant Valerii shot him while we were in CIC. Point blank."
"Is she another Cylon?" Roslin asked tersely.
"That seems pretty likely at this point." Lee replied.
"I -" He cut her off when she seemed to be about to continue with her questions.
"Look, I'm sorry Madam President, but if it's all the same to you, I'd rather not talk about it just now."
"I… understand, Captain. But I simply wanted to apologize."
He sighed. "For what?"
"For getting you into this situation."
He shook his head, even though she couldn't see him. "I made my own decisions."
"And I wanted to thank you for what you did. Despite the way everything turned out, I do respect your actions."
He gripped the bars convulsively. "May I speak freely, ma'am?"
"Of course." She seemed surprised at the question.
"With all due respect, Madam President, the fact is that I can't respect yours." He paused before continuing. "I don't condone my father's actions –I happen to believe in the Constitution. But you should know that I do understand what he did."
"The fact is, ma'am, that you and he had built something with regards to this fleet that relied as much on mutual trust and on agreeing to work together, as it did on the articles of the Constitution. What you did in ordering Lieutenant Thrace to return to Caprica –it may not have broken the letter of the law, but it did do something else. It broke that trust. The trust you –we- were all relying on for us to be able to continue to work together as a people… And to survive."
"I… see." She seemed to be somewhat at a loss for words. "I… suppose I appreciate your honesty, Captain." He could tell that wasn't all she appreciated, however, and suddenly and rather whimsically he wished he was talking to some of the more direct people in his life, who would probably have told him to go to hell.
He nodded. "Yes, well… If you don't mind, Madam President, it's been a really long day…" And he couldn't take much more of this.
"Of course. But may I say Captain, that I am sorry for what happened to Commander Adama? I sincerely hope he will pull through. Of course, he is a strong man. There is hope in that." She said softly.
"Thank you." He said. That seemed to put an end to the conversation.
Despite what he had told Roslin, he found himself pacing his cell for hours, unable to sleep. He remembered being dragged away as his father was carried out to the Life Station, and rubbed his aching eyes, trying to rub out the vision.
Finally, he laid down and managed to find sleep.
He was floating above his body and his cares, when without conscious volition he felt himself rise still more and watched as a carpet of stars surrounded his feet. Then, wrenched away from his contemplation, he flew.
He walked along a field, watching the tall grass waving in the wind and feeling the breath of spring along his face. He suddenly found himself faced with a structure –ruins, really. What was this place? Standing within was a woman, a beautiful blonde woman. She turned and smiled at him, but there was a coldness in her eyes.
"We are here. We are waiting, and the cycle will be completed." She said, smirking. He had the certainty he had seen her somewhere before.
The sun shone down on him, and he lifted his face towards it. When he looked back, temple and woman were gone. Instead, before him lay a river, its raging current an unstoppable force.
When he walked towards it, it bent away from him, his steps altering its course. He shook his head, confused. There seemed something important about this, somehow.
Giving up on his attempt to make sense of it, he resumed his walk, and the river quickly disappeared.
As consciousness claimed him, the ground receded and faded beneath his feet, and he heard the wind sigh against his cheek one last time. Remember… The wind told him, its voice vanishing into the mist that surrounded him.
-The Battlestar Galactica-
Colonial Fleet
12 hours after attempted assassination
The rattling noise of his cell door being opened was what woke him. Two marines waited to escort him, as the usual brig guard opened his cell.
"Captain Adama?" One of the marines called as he stood.
"Yes?"
"We're to escort you to the XO's quarters, sir. He's asked to see you."
Lee nodded, then waited as the cuffs were placed back on his wrists. The walk to Colonel Tigh's quarters passed quickly and Lee soon found himself standing before the man, freed from his restrainst. He waited as Tigh dismissed the marines.
Tigh gestured to a chair. "Have a seat, Captain." He said.
Lee sat. "May I ask how my father is doing, sir?"
Tigh sighed. "Unfortunately, he isn't doing so well. He survived the emergency surgery he went through last night, but he hasn't yet regained consciousness." The other man let Lee have some time to digest this.
"Can I see him?" Lee asked.
Tigh nodded. "Yes. Of course. I'm sorry it wasn't possible before –things were too unsettled." Lee elected not to respond to that comment.
"I had you brought here for a reason." Tigh finally continued. "The long and short of it is that I'm stuck commanding this fleet now, which truly makes my day –hell this makes my frakking week- and I have very few qualified people to work with." His face wore a harried expression.
"Despite the mutinous nature of your recent actions, the fact is that we need you. Badly. So I'm having you released. However, there are two conditions."
"What conditions?" Lee asked.
"The first is that you will report to an appointed marine guard at the end of every day, and you will be required to detail your daily activities to that person."
"So I've got a keeper, basically." Lee stated with some sarcasm. Tigh's face tightened at that.
"The fact, mister, is that regardless of your motives at the time, you drew a gun on a superior officer. Who just happened to be me. So forgive me if I don't appreciate your flippant attitude." Relaxing somewhat, he then continued.
"In fact, I'm already bending the rules by freeing you and delaying any court-martial proceedings against you." The colonel paused. When Lee said nothing, Tigh went on in a flat tone.
"The second condition is that you will lead a rescue mission for the fleet. I am sorry to send you away at a time when personal reasons might have won you compassionate leave, but I have no choice. I need someone capable of carrying out this mission, and you're my best option."
Lee sighed, then nodded. What choice did he have? It was certainly better than cooling his heels in the brig. "All right." He said. "I'll do it."
Lee stepped out of Tigh's quarters, heading for Life Station to see his father, and considered his next step.
"The civilians have already made several demands for Roslin's release and reinstatement." Tigh had explained just minutes before. "Unfortunately for them, I'm not inclined to agree to those demands at the moment."
"However, if I keep her in the brig I also need to find someone to replace her –unless I'm considering imposing martial law. To be honest, I would much rather not have to do so and I know the old man wouldn't have wanted it either." He had sighed. "Your mission, therefore, is of crucial importance."
"You are to take a raptor to the Kobol system, and to decide whether a rescue of our personnel on the surface can be attempted. If you decide it's feasible, the primary objective of your mission is to bring back the Vice President in order to calm things down here -until I decide what the frak I'm going to do with all this." He had looked at Lee.
"Do you have any questions?"
Lee hadn't had any then. Now, however, he found himself wondering at the insanity of a universe that could take every bit of happiness away in the blink of an eye. Then he shook himself –moaning about it wasn't going to help.
He turned the corner and entered the Life Station. Finding his father didn't take long –once recognized he was sent in the right direction.
He stood by his father's bedside, unable to find the right words. "I'm sorry." He finally blurted out, his vision shimmering with unshed tears. "I'm sorry Dad. And… I… I love you." He finished quietly.
A few hours later he was sitting in one of the Galactica's raptors, dealing with the final preparations for his mission.
"Sir?" He turned. It was Racetrack, his ECO for the mission. "I talked with Supply, sir, and they got us those last things we needed. They'll be aboard soon." Lee nodded.
"Sir, can I ask you something?" The young woman asked him.
He paused in his checklist. "Of course. What's on your mind?"
"Well sir, I was just wondering… What do you think we're going to find down there? I mean, do you think there's a chance they're still alive?"
He shrugged. "I don't know, Lieutenant. But I guess we'll find out –or at least we'll find out what kind of presence the toasters have there now." Any rescue attempt would obviously have to be abandoned if they couldn't get around the Cylon presence in the system. Racetrack nodded, and bent towards her own panels.
Before long they were ready, and after conferring with CIC Lee set the ship in motion. The stars were bright pinpricks around the ship, then suddenly ceased to exist as they initiated their jump.
Once in view of Kobol, Lee stood ready to have the raptor jump back to the fleet. He smiled. "Well, what do you know…" He said softly, turning to Racetrack, who grinned back.
A natural reaction, given that they were the only ship to be seen.
They spent the next few hours surveying the planetary surface, following a grid pattern. It took only a few hours for them to find a downed raptor.
They landed to examine the damage. "Based on the damage, sir, I think it's quite possible at least some of them survived the landing."
Lee nodded. "That's what I thought." He looked around. "They're not around here if they did, though." Racetrack nodded in return.
"All right. If I were them, I'd have figured that with the Cylon presence, and with probable injured, taking cover would probably be my best bet. So they've had roughly two days on foot to get away from here."
"So what do you want to do sir?"
He waved her back to the raptor. "Let's start combing the region again, but this time we'll start moving outward from this position. We'll look for anything that could present adequate cover, and note any likely possibilities. Let's go."
Several hours and a radius of several kilometers later, there was still no sign of their missing crewmembers. Furthermore, they would soon be low on fuel –flying in an atmosphere took more out of a ship than maneuvering in space. "Damn." Lee said softly. "I was hoping we would've found them by now.
"All right." He sighed. "Let's set down here for a moment –we'll load up the extra fuel we brought."
Tall evergreen trees rose up to encircle them as they set down in a small clearing amidst a forest of trees. Around them stood several gentle hills topped with yet more trees, under a carpet of silver-gray sky. At least there were some fringe benefits to this mission, Lee thought to himself as he followed his companion out of the raptor. He hadn't seen real sky in a while.
"Sir!" They both turned around. Three of their missing crewmembers –Tyrol, Cally, and Crashdown- hailed them as they stepped out of the surrounding trees. Smiling, Lee greeted them.
"It's good to see you all –and unharmed."
"And you, sir." Tyrol answered. "We're really glad to see you. It's been really strange here… The short version is that it'll be nice to get back to the Galactica."
"How many of you are there?" Lee asked.
Tyrol grimaced. "Well, we were the only ones to make it down here sir, and we lost a few on way down. And after…" He hesitated.
"After?"
"Well, let's just say it's become obvious we're not alone down here, sir."
"Oh?"
"Yes sir." He ran a hand through his hair. "We've managed to avoid them so far, sir, but there are toasters on the planet. They keep getting closer to our position… And moving was a little complicated with our wounded, but we had to do it once or twice just so they wouldn't find us… With that and everything else, we lost another man sometime last night."
Lee shook his head grimly. "Understood. I think we'd better be on our way quickly, then. Where are the others?"
Cally turned and pointed up a hill. "Right there, sir. There's a site up there that has cover but also let us have a visual of any approach route. That's how we saw it was you two down here."
"All right." Lee sighed. "Racetrack, you and Crashdown stay with the raptor." Stepping inside the ship, he handed out guns to the new arrivals. "If anyone shows up you don't recognize –you shoot first and ask questions later. Understood?"
Racetrack nodded. "Yes sir."
Crashdown stood mutely. "Lieutenant?" Lee prodded.
The other man shook himself. "Uh, yes sir. Sorry sir." Lee shook his head –Crash wasn't looking so good. He shrugged mentally. Oh well. Time to deal with that later.
Lee, Cally and Tyrol headed into the trees. Around them the forest was mostly quiet save a few chirps from birds and other animal sounds, and the air was crisp and fresh. It took only a few minutes to reach a nearby hill, and a few more to climb it.
"Ah." Lee said, understanding. In this part of the forest the trees seemed to be thicker, essentially obliterating the sky. It did provide fairly good cover from discovery from above. After stepping under this leafy canopy, a small number of bodies laid out on the ground came into view, surrounded by yet a few more members of the Galactica's crew.
"Where's the Vice-President?" Lee asked Tyrol, noting the man's absence.
The chief shook his head. "I don't know sir -I'm sorry. It was a bit chaotic just after we landed, and… Well, I guess we just lost track of him, sir. Last one to see him was Stephens over there, and he just saw him walking away from the crash site."
He sighed -getting everything he needed at once would probably have been too easy. Lee nodded. "All right. Let's get all of you back to the ship. We'll figure out what to do about this then."
The other crewmembers had obviously been prepared to move on short notice, as the wounded were already laid down on makeshift stretchers. As the group made its way down the hill, Lee kept an eye out for movement around them. He saw none, just as there had been no Cylon presence visible in the system when he arrived, which was odd. He supposed it was possible that the toasters might have been distracted by their recent loss of a basestar… But from what Cally and Tyrol had related to him on the way to the campsite, they had spotted some toasters just about a kilometer away from their position as late as a few hours ago, heading south-east. And with every sighting the Cylons had drawn closer to their small group.
Crashdown and Racetrack waved at them as they entered the small clearing near the raptor, stepping up to help settle in the wounded.
"What are you going to do, sir?" Tyrol asked him quietly as they watched the proceedings.
Lee sighed. "Well, I'll have to make another stop at your landing site. We can have a look around there for the doctor... Though I hate to trek around like this with those wounded on board." The Chief nodded.
A short time later he set the raptor aloft and brought them back to the original crash site. He stepped outside, followed by Crashdown and the Chief.
He turned back towards the latter. "All right, I'm going to go have a look. You say he went in that direction?" Lee pointed towards the grassy horizon and some nearby ruins.
"Yeah, that's what Stephens saw, sir."
Lee gave them a hard look. "I want you to wait an hour or two, and if I'm not back by then, you are to return to the Galactica. Is that understood, Lieutenant?" He spoke to Crashdown.
The other nodded. "Yes sir."
He continued, "And what's more, if you see anything that remotely smells like a Cylon you are to get these wounded the frak out of here."
"Sir… You want us to leave you behind, sir?" Tyrol asked him, seeming concerned.
"If the toasters show up then yes, that's what I want you to do, Chief. Your priority is to get these people –and yourself- back to the fleet where you belong. Is that clear?" He asked harshly.
Tyrol nodded. "Uh, yes sir." He didn't seem easy with the idea.
Waving them back towards the ship, Lee walked off into a sea of waving grass.
"This is a momentous time, Gaius." Six was saying to him as he lay in the grass. She had sung him a lullaby, and now his head lay in her lap.
"Oh?" He asked, as she ran her fingers through his hair.
"Yes, my love. But you won't see it right away… Because they must have hope."
"Who must have hope?"
She smiled. "Why, the humans, of course. Hope is the greatest lie there is…" She kissed him sweetly, softly.
"Doctor? Doctor Baltar!" His head slammed down against a rock.
She had disappeared.
"Ow… Frak…" He complained, sitting up.
Oh, wonderful. He thought sarcastically as he recognized the person calling out to him. "Hmmm… Over here, Captain Adama." He said, irony lacing his voice. "So wonderful to see you." He continued, as the other man helped him to his feet.
"Right. How are you doing, sir?" Apollo asked, his face tight.
Good. It was always gratifying to know that a strong feeling of antipathy, like love, was returned.
"I'm just fine. Thank you for asking, Captain. May I assume you're here to get us off this rock?"
Apollo nodded. "Yes. If you'll come with me, sir."
By the time they made it back to the raptor, Lee was having to hold the Vice-President by the arm to keep him on track. I suppose dragging him along could be another way to put it. He thought sarcastically. All in all, Lee was tending towards Colonel Tigh's view of civilians right at the moment.
Once in view of the raptor, Lee waved to Cally and a crewman who were standing lookout. They waved back and moved towards them, when several shots suddenly rang out and several humanoid and metal figures appeared -seemingly out of nowhere.
"Frak!" Lee said, shoving Baltar down to the ground and drawing his weapon. Two shots hit the raptor. "Damn!" Turning to his companion, he yelled, "We need to get to the ship! It's our only shot!" Instead of responding, the Vice-President covered his head with his hands and shivered.
Frak. Wrenching him up, Lee yelled at the man. "Listen, you frakking idiot! Do you want to get out of here alive?" The only response he got was a shocked, glassy stare.
"Fine! So glad we had this conversation! Let's go!" Lee shouted again, gesturing to the people in the raptor to cover them as he forced the man behind him relative to the enemy, and began to drag him along. He shot randomly as he went.
They were almost at their destination when a shot grazed his shoulder. He hissed at the flare of pain. Oh well, he told himself grimly. It was usually the superficial wounds that hurt the most, anyway.
Finally, they reached the raptor, which had taken a few more hits in the meantime. I hope this frakking thing can still fly… Lee thought to himself cheerfully as they entered.
Thrusting Baltar towards a random crewman, he rushed to the pilot's seat and waved Crashdown out of it. "I'll handle this one, lieutenant." He said. The other pilot stepped out of the way –seeming dazed.
"How are we doing?" Lee asked.
Racetrack looked up at him. "Not so good sir. We can still fly, but she's taken some damage from all those hits."
"Right. Well, let's get us out here." He replied, just as his fingers flew over the console.
"Hold on!" He warned the others.
Taking off, he dove the raptor into the firing Cylons, scattering them. That should reduce the number of hits they took, he thought to himself as he sent the ship high into the atmosphere, heading for space. However, once they arrived there…
"Frak me." Tyrol said, looking out over his shoulder. The system was crawling with Cylons.
And despite Gaeta's Cylon device, several raiders swerved off towards the raptor, heading to intercept. However, that wasn't entirely surprising. In the event destroying a basestar wasn't enough to put them off, he had thought it was unlikely the same trick would work twice.
Lee shook his head. He wasn't giving up –they were going to make it back. He gestured impatiently at the chief, without raising his eyes from his control panels.
"Yeah, well, why don't you calculate a jump for us? I'll hold them off."
"Sir…" Tyrol replied, his voice sounding strained. "How the frak are you supposed to hold that off? It's impossible! I-" Lee cut him off.
"You just get us those coordinates, chief! I'll deal with the rest!"
Shaking himself, Tyrol began his task.
Lee waited as the raiders nearest him drew closer. And waited.
"Uhm… Captain Adama, sir… They're getting closer." Crashdown said to him, his voice wavering.
"Yes, thank you, Lieutenant. I did manage to notice that, thank you." Lee replied calmly, looking up ahead of him at the fast-approaching ships.
Then, sending the raptor into a sudden turn away from the main concentration of Cylon forces and the approaching raiders before their ship was encircled, Lee got the enemy to pursue. He examined his readings -the raiders were rapidly gaining on them as the raptor sped away from the planet.
He sent the raptor careening madly in a complicated series of evasive maneuvers, just as the raiders opened fire. A hit shook them, while another passed a few mere microns from the hull. Once they were close enough on his tail, Lee hit a key, engaging a preprogrammed sequence in the ship's systems.
As a result a cloud of dust spread from the aft of the ship, momentarily hiding their pursuers from view. As the raiders began to emerge from it, there was a sudden explosion.
"Captain, sir! I have the jump coordinates!" Tyrol called out.
"Thanks Chief. And right on time, too." Smiling, Lee engaged the raptor's jump engines.
Chief Tyrol mopped sweat off his forehead as they approached the Galactica.
"Sir… Can I ask you something?" He asked quietly, stepping up beside Lee.
"Sure chief. What's on your mind?"
"Well, uhm… what the hell was that? Sir?"
Lee grinned up at him. "Space dust, Chief. Well, mostly."
"What?"
"It was just an idea I had… I mean, ships usually get all kinds of pitting and scoring damage from this stuff. Not to mention the way it fraks with electronics… Well, you'd obviously know about all that much better than I would. Anyways, I needed a way to distract them and finally hit on storing a load of this crap along with a few explosives in our external compartments. The dust blinds them, then boom." He shrugged. "Pretty basic idea, really, but it seems like it worked."
Tyrol grinned back at him. "It sure did sir. That was good thinking, by the way."
Lee laughed. "Well, it was pretty obvious I needed to think of something to keep the toasters busy if they showed up again, so…" He shrugged somewhat self-consciously before turning back to his controls.
Looking back towards the Galactica, his smile faded.
It took a few hours to get everyone settled in, and for Lee and the others to complete a debriefing led by Colonel Tigh. Lee had stopped to visit his father and to have his shoulder checked and bandaged beforehand -the commander's condition had thankfully stabilized, but he was still unconscious.
"That was good work, Captain. Very good." Tigh said solemnly at the end of the meeting, as they walked out of the conference room.
"Thank you, sir." Lee replied quietly.
"And you've very possibly saved me some serious headaches with the rest of the fleet. At least I'll be able to convince them we're not gunning to scrap the articles of the Constitution." Tigh said acerbically. "So at least we should be able to hold it all together until I decide what the hell to do next."
There was a discreet cough behind them.
"Uhm… I'm sorry to be a bother…" Lee and Tigh turned -it was Billy Keikeya, who seemed quite flustered.
Lee frowned. "What is it, Billy?"
"Well, uh, sir…" He hesitated.
"Go on." Lee prompted.
"Well sir… It's the, uhm, Vice-President sir. I can't… I need to find him to brief him and I can't seem to find him. I thought you might know -I've asked around, but now I don't know where to look…" He cut himself off.
Tigh looked up at the ceiling. Lee looked down at the floor.
"Frak." Lee heard Tigh mumble. "Just what we needed… Of all the-"
Lee cut him off. "Sir, why don't I take care of this?"
The other snorted a laugh and looked at him. "You think you can find him, Captain?"
Lee shrugged. "I think I've got a few ideas where he might be, sir."
"This isn't going to put back your recovery any, is it?" Tigh asked again, looking pointedly at Lee's shoulder.
Lee shook his head. "No sir. The doc said it's just a superficial wound. It doesn't even affect my range of motion –although I won't be able to fly for a few days."
Tigh nodded. "All right." He sighed. "This is truly just what I frakking needed. Well then yes, Captain, if you want to solve this problem -" He said sarcastically, "be my frakking guest."
Lee watched him stalk off, mumbling to himself about retirement and never wanting this job in the first place.
Standing next to a hovering Billy, Lee grinned.
"Let's go, Billy." He said, clapping his hands together decisively. "This could be fun!"
They found him in the crew quarters, playing triad.
"I think he's drunk." Billy said to Lee as they both watched him from the room's entrance.
"Oh, I'm pretty damn sure he's plastered." Lee said sarcastically.
Billy sighed, visibly annoyed. "This is just great. What am I supposed to do with him?"
Clapping Billy on the back, Lee strode into the room. "Don't worry. I'll sober him up for you." He said over his shoulder. "I actually know a pretty good remedy…"
Walking up behind Baltar, Lee grabbed the back of his collar with one hand and jerked him to his feet.
"What the… hell…" The Vice-President said somewhat incoherently as he tried to sit back down.
Lee shook him. "You're done here."
"Like hell!" Baltar replied, shaking him off. "Why don't you frak off. I may be a bit drunk right now, but I'm still the Vice-President…"
Lee laughed at that. "You know what?", he replied, "I really don't give a frak." He began to drag the wobbly scientist behind him, who in turn managed to pull himself to a stop.
"Do you know what I think? I know the speed at which gossip travels in a place like this… I think you just might be jeal-" Even drunk, Baltar was shocked at the speed with which he found his face slammed against the table next to his winnings.
"I'd really suggest you not finish that thought." He heard the other man say quietly.
"Let's go." He found himself being dragged out of the room more harshly this time, leaving silence in their wake.
"Well, frak." One of the others said, brilliantly.
"Hey Dad." Lee said softly, sitting down beside his father. "Uhm… I was a little bit busy there for a while, but I thought I might spend some time with you now that I'm done." He paused.
"I hear you're doing better -I'm really glad."
He stopped, not knowing what else to say. It looked like even when one of them was unconscious, communication wasn't what they did best. Right. Well…
"Um, well anyway, I guess I'll just sit here, 'cause it looks like I just ran out of things to say." He finally reached out to hold his father's hand for a moment.
Laying his head back tiredly, he wondered idly where the chair he was sitting in had come from –he'd just shown up this time and there it was. He smiled. It seemed the commander was pretty popular around here. Closing his eyes, he revisited the past.
This time, he decided he'd try to remember the good moments, and not the bitterness.
Continued in part 4 :-)