3.

Kara woke with a pounding headache. Her cheek burned like it was on fire and for a few moments she couldn't remember what had happened. Then it hit her. And the pain was excruciating. Her heart felt as though it had shattered into a million pieces. Again. It had felt much the same way when she'd lost Zak three years earlier, but time and space, and Lee, had put it back together slowly. Until recently, she'd felt almost whole again. Life aboard Galactica had been pretty good on the whole, even after the destruction of humanity. They'd been fighting for their lives ever since, but fighting was something she was used to. No stranger to her. It was how she survived. She and Lee too had fought plenty in the year he'd been here, but they'd always managed to pick up the pieces and get back to that comfortable place they shared.

It had almost been ruined by her little indiscretion with Baltar, which had, coincidentally, ended up in similar circumstances to these, but slightly less serious. Funny how she and Lee could argue themselves blue in the face and it never turned violent ... until there was another man involved. Did that mean ... he was jealous? He had feelings for her?

She didn't like where this train of thought was taking her, so she deliberately moved her mouth, causing a white-hot bolt of pain to shoot through her head. Well, that got her attention, and the doctor's too, as she moaned in pain.

"Awake?" he said curtly, wandering over to her bed. He was never one for flowery conversation.

"Mm," was all she could manage.

"Cheekbone's fractured. Gonna hurt for a while. Don't talk." And with that he walked away. Kara decided his bedside manner sucked and wished he wasn't the only doctor left in the new colony. He's not, her inner voice piped up, there's Baltar. She rolled her eyes. No, that would definitely be worse, she thought. He'd avoided her like the Sagitarrian flu ever since their... their ... whatever you could call it ... forgettable frack perhaps? ... whatever, but it suited her just fine. She found him quite revolting and blushed just thinking about how much she must have had to drink in order to lose her sense of self-worth that completely. Or maybe you were just trying anything to forget about Lee, her inner voice chimed in again. Shut up, she told it, and growled unintelligibly. It was the only way to get the doctor's attention.

"Something wrong Starbuck?" he stopped and turned to face her.

"Pain," she mumbled out almost incoherently as the said word became acute fact again. She winced, squeezing her eyes shut.

"Painkiller," he said, grabbing a needle from a nearby cupboard.

"Her eyes opened, then widened at the sight of the needle headed for her arm. After what happened on Caprica, she was rather skittish of doctors shoving needles into her.

"Sorry, can't do pills." Thanks. He was some comfort there as he jabbed it into her arm. "I'll keep you overnight since you need IV still, but orders are to transfer you to the brig as soon as you're able."

She smirked, or tried to, but the pain was intense.

"So, how bad does the other guy look?" he joked, as he put a small bandage on the needle hole. Kara just shook her head helplessly. Even if she could talk, she really didn't want to talk about it. Seeing as how he was the doc and knew she couldn't talk anyway, she figured it must have been rhetorical. "Get some sleep. Back later."

Don't waste words now, she thought cynically, watching him walk away and light a cigarette. Gods, she'd kill for a cigar about now.

It was going to be a long night.

It was a long night. Already. And it had barely begun. Lee had forgotten just how boring life was in hack. Nothing to do. Literally, nothing. And because he couldn't keep himself busy, his thoughts were firmly stuck on Kara.

He flushed in shame every time he thought about what had happened that afternoon. Good thing the guard wasn't paying attention; he'd probably assume Lee was lost in some secret sexual fantasy! He chuckled at the thought. Nothing could be farther from the truth. He did love Kara, he'd finally admitted it to himself and to his father in that moment of weakness. But all he fantasized about now was her forgiving him and allowing him to hold her in his arms. All he really wanted at this point was to regain her trust and friendship.

Kara was ... well she was ... he could hardly even define what she was to him. His closest friend on Galactica? Definitely. Someone he loved bantering with? Absolutely. The only person he truly trusted to watch his back out there when there was trouble? No question.

She was much more to him than that though. If he was Apollo, god of the sun, she was Starbuck, the one who bucked all the rules and regulations to do things her way. He was light, she was the darkness. He was serious, she was playful. He played by the book, she felt rules were only there to be broken. She was his other half - that which made him complete. Without her in his life, he was lost.

After Zak's death, they'd parted in anger, and he thought he'd never see her again. The next two years had been busy - he'd never allowed himself free time because then he was so much more aware of the aching emptiness within him. He'd thought it was because of losing his brother, and it had been in part, but mainly because he'd lost Kara.

The overwhelming joy he'd felt upon seeing her (in this very cell no less!) for the first time since the funeral, made him aware of just how much he'd missed her. It had taken time though, to find their way back to the easy, comfortable friendship they'd had. Somewhere along the line though, Lee had fallen in love with her as well.

He dropped down on the bunk and closed his eyes, resigned to the fact that sleep wouldn't come to him that night. Instead it would be filled with thoughts of her.

Saul Tigh recognized the look in his friend's eye and in the carriage of his body as he walked.

"Lee's in trouble again," he guessed.

Adama just raised his eyebrows. He removed his jacket and splashed water over his face. It had been a long day, and dealing with Lee and Kara had only made it longer.

"What's he do now?" Tigh asked, in an 'I told you so' voice.

"Put Starbuck in the infirmary."

"What?" Tigh couldn't keep the smile from his face. Starbuck had it coming to her, he was sure of it. She had a way of pushing and pushing ... and Lee had finally pushed back.

"Seems they had a bit of a fist fight. Her jaw's fractured."

"Holy hell," Tigh said, shaking his head, his hand rubbing over the stubble of beard that hadn't been shaved in days. Not that she didn't deserve it, but he'd never expected Lee to be the one to hurt her. Hell, he'd nearly strangled Tigh himself and risked the safety of the entire fleet and his own court-martial to find her when she'd gone missing. He'd always figured Lee was secretly in love with her, and that show of emotion had confirmed it as far as he was concerned.

"So how long do you think it'll be before the two of them ..." he began, but wasn't quite sure how to put it diplomatically.

Adama towelled his face dry and turned to face his friend. "I don't know," he said honestly. "They love each other, there's question about that, and honestly I'm not really even sure how close they were years ago when she was ... with Zak ... but there's too much baggage. Too many feelings clouding the issue. They may love each other and may be able to admit it to themselves, but I doubt where or not they'll ever tell each other."

"Well, something has to be done about it Bill. They break regulations right, left and centre because of each other. That can't be allowed to continue."

"I know, but what would you have me do? Dishonourable discharge from duty?" Adama could see from the look on Tigh's face that he thought it was a good option - at least for Starbuck. "We can't afford to lose anyone, especially not the two best pilots we have. When they're teamed up out there they're practically unstoppable."

Tigh nodded. Much as he hated to admit it, Adama was right. "So what do we do? Let it go?" he asked.

"No, I'm dealing with it. Don't worry. I think in the long run I'm going to have to find a way to get them together."

Tigh stared at him. "I thought you flatly refused to have relationships aboard your ship."

"The rules have changed out here Saul. I don't think I have much choice but to change with them."