Here is the next chapter of this story... again I have to say that I have no idea where this story is going but so far the chapters keep pouring out at amazing speed so I'm jusy going to ride this wave of creativity and let this story go where ever it wants...

As always - Reviews are not only welcomed they are necessary!

Part 3

"So basically you're telling me that you can't land us back on Galactica without blowing up half the ship, it's going to take you several hours to do the repairs mid-space that assuming you can do it at all, and in the mean time the temperature in the piece-of-crap-bucket you call a Raptor is going to drop to freezing level and there's nothing you can frakkiing do about it…" Starbuck did a quick summery of the information she got from CIC and rubbed her face tiredly as another wave of nausea swept over her.

"Affirmative Starbuck. It's the best we can do. Just sit tight and try to keep warm…" Lt. Gaeta's voice confirmed over the com.

"Frakk!" Kara kicked the chair next to her in frustration.

"I guess we're stuck here…" Dee's voice was calm and even and that simple fact made Kara even angrier "How's your head?"

"It's fine! Why? You wanna kiss it and make it better? You wanna try and fix my pain?" she regretted the words as soon as they came out. It wasn't that she hadn't meant them, it wasn't that it didn't feel good to say these things to Dee's face, but saying these things out loud meant opening a can of worms, saying these things out loud led to conversations that Kara didn't want to get into.

Just as she thought Dee blinked back at the angry tone and harsh words, her face taking on a stone-like mask "So is this what you think of me? Is this what you think happened between me and Lee? That I was there to fix his pain?"

"Look, I thought we agreed not to talk about it…forget I said anything ok?" Kara stood up and reached into one of the overhead storage bins, pulling out a few survival kits. When she staggered and swayed Dee quickly got to her feet and reached out a hand to steady her.

"There should be a few thermal blankets in those kits" Kara said quietly as Dee pushed her into a nearby seat. "That should help us keep warm for a little while"

BATTLESTAR GALACTICA - HANGER DECK

"Chief! Is everything ready?"

"Just about Captain Adama" the Chief nods at him then looks back down at his clipboard "We're loading everything we're going to need for the repairs plus a few extras so we won't have to waist time going back and forth between Galactica nad the Raptor…"

"Speaking of time…" Lee pulled the Chief aside, knowing that there was no need for the rest of the deck crew to hear this conversation "How much time do you think they have?"

"It's hard to say Sir, the temperature is going to drop rapidly… in about 5 hours it's going to be pretty freezing in there… if they use the thermal gear in the survival kits, maybe 10 hours… 12 at the most…"

Lee nodded gravely trying to hide the way his throat constricted at the sound of those words.

The Chief simply looked at him sympathetically. He knew what it felt like, to have someone cared for put in danger - he didn't need to submit himself to the gossiping of the crew to try and figure out which one of the raptor occupants Lee was more worried about. He knew from experience that it didn't matter. He placed a hand on Lee's shoulder, giving it a small squeeze "I'm going to do everything I can to get the repairs done in time… "

Lee simply nodded and let the man go back to his work.

RAPTOR 7 - SOMEWHERE IN SPACE

"STARBUCK!" Kara heard her callsign being shouted at her through the fog in her head. She grunted and ignored it, giving herself up for the blissful darkness. She was so tiered and her head throbbed at every movement she made. She knew that opening her eyes would just make the dizziness and the nausea rush in with renewed force, so she kept them closed and tried to drown out the noise that threatened to awaken her.

Suddenly she felt a hand smack her across the face and her eyes flew open in surprise.

"What the frakk do you think you're doing?" she hissed at Dee

"You're not supposed to sleep!"

"So you hit me? Are you frakking insane?" Kara asked in disbelief, still rubbing her cheek. When Dee simply shrugged and went back to her seat, wrapping herself in the thermal blanket again, Kara's anger flared and she couldn't hold herself back anymore

"I bet you've been dying to do that… hit me…"

"Stop it Starbuck!" Dee yelled back "I'm not the one who's angry here! I have nothing against you and you know it! You on the other hand… you've been ignoring me for weeks now! You think I haven't noticed? All the looks you've been sending me all the sarcastic comments…If you have something to say to me just go ahead and say it! Just spill it out and get it over with!"

The sudden outburst from the usually quiet Dee as well as the throbbing in her head caused by all the yelling made Kara lean back in her chair and let out a big sigh that calmed her down "I wasn't ignoring you Dee…"

"No…" Dee's voice still held traces of anger. She hated this situation as much as Kara did, but in truth she was a little bit grateful for it. For weeks she had been walking around with all these unresolved feelings in the pit of her stomach, she had so many things she wanted to say and as wretched as this situation might be - it was the perfect opportunity to vent off her angers "No, you haven't been avoiding me… you've been avoiding him! I was just collateral damage…"

"I thought we weren't going to talk about it…" Kara said weakly

"Well, we are talking about it…" Dee insisted "Why are you so angry with me? come to think of it - why are you so angry with him?"

"I'm not angry… not with him and not with you Dee." Kara sighed "I just thought it would be easier that way. I figured that after what I did…"

Kara's voice trailed off and she looked away from Dee and out the window. Even through all her anger Dee could see the pain in Kara's eyes and for a moment she felt sorry for bringing up all the painful memories.

There was a long moment of silence until Dee finally spoke "He isn't angry with you Kara. He doesn't resent you for shooting him…"

"Of course he is" Kara protested "How could he not be?"

Another moment of long silence passed until Dee finally spoke in a small voice that was barely audible even at the vast silence of the space around them "Because he loves you…"