Lee looked down at his hands. The bandages had been stripped off when his wounds were examined. Doc Cottle was surprised at how well healed the broken bones were, and he even went as far as to ask Lee how a ship that seemed to hate him would take the time to patch him up so well. Lee refused to tell Cottle how exactly his hands had been fixed. It wasn't his place to explain why Kara was so skilled at fixing his wounds.
Plus, Lee had a feeling Doc Cottle already knew. The man was on top of everything that happened on his ship.
Lee flexed his fingers and smiled. There was a small twinge of pain, but nothing that would keep him from doing whatever he wanted to do. Kara had fixed him. He would fly again.
It had been a full week since they returned to Galactica. He had come in with a bad case of malnutrition, and Cottle insisted upon keeping him chained to his sickbay bed until he started looking better. Lee had a hunch that they were also keeping him away from the other critical patient currently on ship. Cain was still recovering from her multiple bullet wounds, and there were about twenty Marines guarding her. Lee figured that was smart. He prided himself on being rather rational, but he was pretty sure he would lose his temper if he ever came face to face with the Admiral again.
Lee knew that Cain wasn't the only sickbay patient he was being kept away from. For the few days they were both in sickbay, it had seemed Doc Cottle and his staff had a million tests to put him through. He barely had time to breathe, let alone think of bridging the short distance in order to see Kara. Plus, he knew he couldn't risk being caught with her. He needed to explain a few things to his father first.
Then, after that awkward conversation, Lee was going to explain a few things to Kara.
It had taken Lee all week to figure out what he wanted to say to his father and how he could say it without making his Old Man flush him out an airlock. So, in a way, he was happy to be stuck in sickbay. At least there, being kept away from Kara, he could concentrate again.
Regardless of how welcome the alone time was, Lee still found it odd that his father hadn't been to see him. The Commander in William Adama would have wanted to know exactly what had gone down on Pegasus while he was cut out of the loop. Lee knew that his father wouldn't have gone to Kara for an explanation, not after what Lee had already implied. So that meant the Old Man was avoiding both of them at the cost of knowing just how bad a situation he had resolved. That notion scared Lee more than anything. His father was not a man who shrugged away from his duty because of embarrassment and disappointment.
A small cough made him look up, and Lee smirked. He had thought too soon. "I had a feeling you'd be showing up," Lee remarked. "Cottle gave me the all clear a few hours ago, and yet since then, he's somehow kept me on this bed for no real reason."
William Adama gave a small nod. "I wanted to process a few things before I came to see you."
"It took you a week," Lee pointed out.
"There was a lot to process," Adama insisted. He knew this was going to be difficult, but for some reason, he forgot how sad his son's eyes could look. A lot had happened to Lee on Pegasus, and a lot more was going to happen on Galactica. He just wished he could be a father instead of a Commander for once. Then he might be able to put his son at ease.
"I'm sorry you had to find out about Kara and I that way, Dad." Lee took a deep breath and forced himself to look into his father's eyes. "With that said, I won't be apologizing for anything else."
Adama nodded. He hadn't expected his son to make any compromises when it came to Kara Thrace. It seemed like that young woman had had every member of his family wrapped firmly around her finger at one point or another. It was quite an achievement when he thought about how different from him his two sons had always been. "Why don't you start by telling me how two pilots who couldn't be in the same room without arguing suddenly ended up in the same bed?"
Lee could feel his face turn red and did his best to ignore the embarrassment. He was just going to have to make this as impersonal as possible. His father wouldn't understand anything else until he knew the facts. "Something happened to the pilots on Pegasus when the Cylons attacked Scorpia. I don't know what horrors they had to see, but they lost their humanity somehow that day."
"I know. The evidence of that is the Cylon who killed Admiral Cain. Cottle looked her over. There were signs of rape and torture all over her. I know she is a machine and our enemy, but she looks like us."
"The distancing gets harder every day," Lee agreed.
"The Pegasus crew had no problem with it."
Lee nodded. He could talk about how off track Pegasus had become, but that really wasn't the issue at hand. "I was scared for Kara. The pilots treat women like dirt on Pegasus, and she was the only female Viper pilot they had. It started out innocently, Dad. I swear to that. I just wanted to protect her so she could get a little sleep. She was so exhausted."
"Go on," Adama encouraged when his son took a pause.
"I watched over her while she slept under the pretext that we were-" Lee cleared his throat. "Under the pretext that we were sleeping together, sir. It was the only way I could think of."
"So what happened to get you two thrown in the brig?" Adama asked as he took a seat next to his son.
"I got off shift late one night to find that my efforts weren't enough. The pilots and their CAG decided it was time to teach the new girl a lesson." His hands fisted despite the pain. He had a feeling the anger from that day would never go away. "They were trying to rape her, Dad. Something in me just snapped. I couldn't let that happen to Kara." Lee coughed and tried to push his anger back down. Letting his emotions take over wasn't going to make this any easier. "They took Kara to the brig, and when they were done with me, they threw me in with her. She fixed what they had broken in both of us. Cain must have been impressed by her somehow because a few weeks later the Admiral offered to drop the charges."
"So then why was she still in hack?" Adama asked. He was trying to stay as silent as he could through Lee's whole explanation. He knew it was important for his son to make him understand. The only problem was he was still unsure of what Lee wanted him to know. It seemed like he had missed a whole chapter in his son's life while he had been trying to find a way to get his Fleet back.
"She refused to leave without me. Just like I had fought to keep her safe, she couldn't abandon me."
The curtain pulled back abruptly as Doc Cottle stepped in. "Sorry to interrupt this lovely family moment, but the tests on your fingers are back, Captain. They're going to heal just fine, but I can't clear you for the air right now."
"How long?" Lee asked.
"It will take at least a month of rehabilitation to get the sensitivity and quickness back into those bones."
Lee nodded. Staying out of the air for a month would be tough, but at least he knew, in time, he would make it back up there. Kara had given him a great gift.
"What am I supposed to do about the CAG position?" Adama growled, mostly to himself. Doc Cottle's news had put a real obstacle in the path to rebuilding the Fleet. "I need someone strong to whip the pilots on Pegasus back into shape while maintaining order on Galactica."
"That's not my problem, Commander," Cottle pointed out. "My job is to keep those pilots healthy for you. Your son is not ready to be in a cockpit so you're going to have to come up with a Plan B." Cottle gave the Commander a knowing look before finishing up with Lee's chart.
Lee waited until they were alone again before turning to his father. "You have someone capable of doing exactly what you need, sir. Kara can do it."
"You want me to make Starbuck the CAG?"
"At least until I get back on my feet. Like I said before, Cain made her the CAG of Pegasus after she refused to abandon me. For whatever reason, she wanted Kara in that position."
"And Kara just accepted it?"
"She held out until Cain offered her something worth taking." Lee paused. He wasn't sure if he wanted to let his father know exactly what that was right now. He might judge them for putting their attachments to one another before the Fleet. "Kara took on the more practical aspects of the position, and I helped her with the paperwork. It wouldn't be that hard for the two of us to take that on again, especially now that my fingers are healed."
Adama gave him a small nod. He always thought Kara would make a great CAG when she finally stepped up to the responsibility. If Lee thought she could handle it, then he was willing to give her a chance. "That sounds like our best option."
"You have confidence in her, don't you?" Lee asked. All he got in response was a glare. "I know. Stupid question."
They fell into silence, both not sure of the next move to make. They still had to talk about where Lee intended his relationship with Kara to go, but both men knew that now was not the time. The Fleet was walking on thin ice. A little distraction could destroy the whole thing if they let it.
"How did you figure out what was happening on Pegasus?" Lee finally asked.
"I had a rather frantic plea from a Lieutenant onboard the Pegasus. I believe he was Kara's wingman."
Lee's face lit up in surprise. "Travers?"
"I arranged to have a meeting with the young man, and even though he wouldn't tell me why, he displayed a lot of guilt about you and Kara."
"That's because he was a part of what the pilots tried to do to her."
"And to you," Adama reminded him.
Lee shook his head. "It doesn't matter what they did to me."
Adama regarded his son for a moment. Ever since Lee was a little boy, he had always been one to hold a grudge. The fact that he was so willing to forget what was done to him and instead focus on Kara alone spoke volumes. Maybe now was the time to talk about Kara. They might not have another, and Adama really wanted to know where his son's heart was.
"So Logan came to you and told you what happened to us?"
Adama realized with a start that he had been in the middle of his explanation. He usually wasn't this distracted when it came to doing his job. "Lieutenant Travers didn't go into a lot of detail. All he said was the two of you were stuck in the brig for crimes you didn't do, and Admiral Cain seemed hell bent to keep you there. That's why it surprised me to hear Kara was appointed CAG. I can only assume it was part of whatever goal the Admiral was working towards. We'll find out soon enough. I have Lieutenant Gaeta going over the papers from Cain's office as we speak."
"Kara and I both picked up on the same thing as Travers, but we didn't know that much. One of the main reasons she took the position was so she could learn more about what Admiral Cain was planning." Lee shook his head and looked down at his hands. "I shouldn't have encouraged her."
Adama rested his hand on Lee's knee. "Son, you didn't put her in any danger."
"I've seen what Cain was capable of. Kara was in no danger when we were both locked up in the brig."
"You act like it wasn't her decision, Lee. You and I both know that Kara doesn't do anything unless it's what she herself intends to do."
"I know that." Lee brought his hands up to rub the sides of his head. "It's insane how much I want to protect her. There's this innate determination to keep her safe that just keeps nagging at me. It's starting to piss me off."
Adama chuckled. "Frustrating, isn't it?"
"I guess I finally know how you and Zak felt. She's an uncontrollable force of nature, and yet you can't help but want to look after her."
Silence hung in the air between them for a few moments until Adama worked up the courage to ask the one question on his mind. "Do you love her, son?"
Lee paused. He knew his father was expecting him to go into a rant about how much he loved Kara and how guilty that made him feel because of Zak and how it was against military regulations but he didn't care. Lee wished he could tell his father all that, but it would be a lie. The truth was he wasn't sure if he loved Kara in the way that was probably expected. His feelings for her had never been easy to read, but he had a hunch that he was on the way to falling for her pretty fraking hard if he hadn't done it already. There was a lot still unspoken between them, and that wouldn't change until he found time to have a real talk with Kara. Until then, he would do his best to explain to his father what he did know. "I love that when I'm with her, I feel like I belong here, in this life." Lee rubbed his face before looking over at his father. "And that's enough for now."
Adama thought over what his son had said before he responded. "I don't have to tell you on how many levels a relationship with Kara would be wrong for you. I'm sure you've already thought over the reasons time and time again. As a Commander, I know I should keep pointing them out to you until you recognize that you should end whatever it is between the two of you."
"That was pretty easy for you to decide," Lee observed.
Adama let out a deep breath and looked at the ceiling. "Gods. I wish it was that easy." He reached up to take off his glasses. "I love Kara just as much as I love my two boys. I feel like I've raised her since she was a little child even though we've only known each other a handful of years. As a father, Lee, there is no one else I would rather see you with than her." Adama stared down at his hands as he continued, "I've seen the way you are with her. She makes you happy just as often as she makes you mad." He chuckled softly. "She reminds me of your mother in that sense."
"Well, we both know the way that ended," Lee pointed out.
"You are not the same man that I was, Lee. You've gone out of your way to prove that." Adama reached out to rest his hand on the shoulder of his son. "I'm glad of that. I know that I made a lot of mistakes when you boys were young. I don't want to see you get wrapped up in the military and forget the more important parts of life."
Lee looked over at Adama. "What are you trying to say?"
"I'm trying to say that you can't be with Kara outright, at least not right now." Adama felt his heart ache at the sight of Lee's face. He looked completely crushed at the prospect of having to let Kara go. What was a father to do? Adama let out a sigh as he stepped to his feet. "What I don't know can't hurt you, son. Keep it out of the public eye, and you should be fine."
Lee stared in shock as his father gave him a wink and stood up. "Why don't you go find Kara and let her know she's the new CAG?" Adama didn't wait for his answer. He simply patted Lee's shoulder a few times before stepping outside the curtained-in area.
Lee had no clue what to do with his father's words. Whatever was happening between him and Kara couldn't happen, and yet both he and his father were in agreement that there was no way to stop it. For the thousandth time since the Twelve Colonies had been attacked, Lee found his life in a state of utter confusion. Still, a small played at his lips. There was one thing he was certain of.
His fingers weren't broken anymore.