For three days Sam and Zarek had watched the City and the patroling Cylons. They had come up with a plan to avoid the patrols and sneak into the city. They were going to try and get in this night. And this time Kara wasn't going to stay behind. She still didn't agree with Zarek's plan to use explosives within the City, but she hoped to be able to contact some of her friends or at least see if they were still alive. Maybe she could even find Cottle to get help for Lee and if she was really lucky she would stumble across a working radio to contact Galactica.

Zarek had agreed quickly to stay behind this time. Inwardly he was glad that he didn't had to sneak into the City. He hated to admit it, but he was starting to feel old. His whole body was hurting from sleeping on the ground of the cave and sneaking around in the dark at night. He didn't really feel up to this mission. He was glad that Kara had insisted on going to the City. As Anders wouldn't let her go alone, he had no other choice but to stay in the cave with Apollo. Though it hurt to admit that he was getting too old for this kind of thing.

He watched silently as Kara and Anders got ready to leave. Anders – or Sam, they had become friends over the last few days and called each other with their first names now – waited impatiently at the entrance while his wife said goodby to Apollo. It was time they left. He hadn't had a chance all day to give Apollo the morpha injection and he had been awake now for quite a while. He was amazed how well his plan was working though. As Apollo was mostly asleep all the time thanks to the morpha injections, Kara Thrace didn't waste much time discussing any new plans to free the settlers as she was too worried about him. So far they had only his plan – stealing explosives from the City and attack the Cylons until they left the planet ... or until the last Cylon was dead. He really didn't care what would happen first, as long as they won in the end. He never had that success in his last fight on Sagitarron. After his imprisonment the resistance he had built up had ended fairly quicky. He still wondered what would have happened to his people had he never been caught. Would they have been strong enough to win and overthrow the government in the end? Well, he would never get an answer to that question ... But now he had a new chance and this time he would fight until the end.

Finally Kara and Sam left the cave. Now all Zarek had to do was wait until the good Captain was asleep, then he could give him another injection. It was a good thing that he had found the sweater in Sam's bag – this way the needle marks stayed hidden. Zarek smiled and waited for Apollo to fall back asleep.

XXXXXXX

Anxiously Kara watched the Cylon patrol walk by. She and Sam had managed to get into the City. Now they only had to get to the tent where the explosives had been when they had left the City. They hoped they would still be there. When the Cylons were gone, Sam started moving towards the tent, which was standing nearby.

"Sam, wait." Kara whispered, holding him on his arm.

"What is it?" Sam asked quietly. Nervously he looked around for Cylons.

"You get the explosives. I'll go to the main tent, maybe the radio is still there."

"What?" Sam stared at her in disbelief. This hadn't been their plan. He had thought she had given up her idea of contacting Galactica.

"I have to try, Sam. I'll never get the other one to work. I'll meet you back here. Be careful." She gave him a quick kiss and before Sam could say anything else, she had disappeared in the dark.

Cursing Sam watched the empty spot where Kara had stood only seconds agao. Then he started moving towards the tent again.

XXXXXXX

After a few minutes Kara had reached the main tent. She hadn't encountered any more Cylons, now she only hoped that her luck wouldn't run out and she would stumple into a whole group of Cylons within in the tent. When she glanced through the door, the tent looked empty. Quietly Kara stepped in. Once the tent was closed behind her again, she felt a sharp pain on the back of her head and then she was surrounded by darkness.

XXXXXXX

Groaning Kara opened her eyes and stared directly into more than familiar eyes. "Chief?" She whispered in astonishment.

"I'm sorry, Starbuck. We heard someone sneaking around the tent. And when you stepped in, I knocked you out. I didn't know it was you." Galen Tyrol looked at her apologetically. Then he held out his hand to help her up. She accepted gratefully.

"Who is we?" Kara asked. But when she looked around the room, she didn't need Tyrol to answer. Sitting around a table were Roslin, Cally, Cottle and Tigh.

"Late as always, Starbuck." Tigh grumbled. But the look of relief in his eyes betrayed his words.

"Well ..." Kara shrugged and looked grinning at everyone. "It's frakking great to see you all alive."

"You too, Captain." Roslin said smiling. "Thank the gods you're all right."

"I'm not a Captain anymore, Madam President." Kara replied smiling.

"And I'm not a President any longer." Roslin returned her smile.

"Right. Old habits die hard, I guess." Even after one year she still couldn't get used to the idea that Roslin was only a school teacher again and Baltar was now their President. In her eyes, Roslin would forever take that position. It seemed Roslin felt the same way when it came to her military history. Over the past year they had adressed each other over and over again with their former titles. "What are you doing here in the middle of the night?"

"Planning. We're going to build up a resistance. When Galactica comes back, we have to be ready." Tyrol replied.

"So you also think she will come back." Kara said gladly. Finally she wasn't the only one anymore thinking that the old man would come back. Even Lee had his doubts. "Well, what's the plan?"

"Actually, we just got started." Cally admitted.

"Okay ... Do you have a working radio?" Kara asked, looking around the room.

"The Cylons have confiscated every radio. The only ones still working are on the raptors, but they are guarded. We managed to sneak into one of them yesterday, but they are jamming our transmissions, so it's useless." Tyrol told her.

"Did you come here alone?" Cally asked.

"No, I'm here with Sam. He's getting some explosives."

"Good, we're going to need any ammunition we can get." Tigh said. "Once Galactica comes back ..."

"I'm afraid Sam isn't going to wait that long. He and Zarek came up with the plan to ..."

"Zarek?" Roslin cut in sharply.

"Yes, we kinda ran into him during the first night. Lee ... I mean Apollo is with us too."

"Apollo? I didn't know he was on the planet." Tigh called out surprised.

"He wasn't. He was on CAP when the Cylons attacked and got shot down. He's hurt really bad." Kara added, looking intently at Cottle now.

"How bad?" Cottle asked immediately.

"I'm not sure. He's got some broken ribs, cuts and bruises, a deep leg wound. He might have hurt his head or have internal injuries. He's mostly asleep all the time."

Cottle thought about her words. "Is there any way I could check on him?"

"You would have to come with us. He's in the mountains. We're hiding in one of the caves." Kara looked hopefully at Cottle. If he would come with them, surely Lee would be okay again soon.

"Can you guarantee me that I can get back here? I have patients to look after and babies to deliver." He pointed at Cally who was eight months pregnant.

"We got in once, we'll be able to do it again."

"Okay, let's go then." Cottle said determinedly.

"I'll still have to get a radio." Kara said.

"We'll take care of that. When you bring the Doc back tomorrow night, we might have something for you." Tyrol told her.

"Okay, I see you all tomorrow then. Be careful."

"You too, Starbuck. And marek sure to bring the Doc back. We can hide his absence for one day, but not longer. And my wife still needs him." Tyrol looked down at Cally.

"Don't worry. I'll get him back on time." Kara assured him.

"He is still waiting to go." Cottle said impatiently. He didn't like other people talking about him while he was still in the room. He felt like one of his patients – and it wasn't a good feeling.

"Let's go Doc."

XXXXXXX

Sam already waited impatiently in their hiding spot where Kara had left him.

"Sorry, it took a while." Kara said quietly. "You got everything?"

"Yes. What is he doing here?" Sam asked, pointing at Cottle. "I thought you were going to get a radio."

"He is going to check on his patient. And he doesn't want to waste any more time. Can we go now?" Cottle asked impatiently. This talking about him as if he wasn't there was starting to become a habit.

"Follow me, Doc." Kara said grinning. Without waiting for Sam, she started moving out of the City.

XXXXXXX

Two hours later the three arrived back in the cave. Seeing Lee lying on the floor, Cottle went straight to him. Kara watched anxiously as he checked Lee's vitals and looked over the injuries.

"Captain Adama?" As Kara had so many times the last few days, Cottle shook Lee on his arm, trying to wake him up. He repeated that several times until he got a reaction. Lee's eyes fluttered open and he looked confused at Cottle.

"Doc?" He whispered.

Cottle just needed one look in Lee's eyes to get an idea why he was unconciouss so often. The numb look in Lee's eyes spoke for itself. "Did you give him any medication? Morpha?"

"No, we wanted to wait until the pain ... got worse. And he's asleep most of the time anyway. There was no need to." Kara explained.

"You sure you didn't give him anything?" Cottle asked again, looking intently at the three younger people. He noticed the nervous expression on Zarek's face, even though he was trying to hide it.

"We gave him antibiotics once. He had a fever. But that was days ago." Kara replied, wondering why Cottle was insisting on this.

Determinedly Cottle pulled up both sleeves of Lee's shirt, revealing several needle marks on his left arm. He cocked an eyebrow at Kara – he didn't need to say anything else.

"What ...?" Surprised Kara stared at Lee's arms. Then it hit her – Zarek.He had given the sweater to Lee. She had known there was something evil behind that. And when Lee thought that Zarek had given him antibiotics ..."You frakking bastard!"

Kara threw herself at Zarek, punching him hard. "You frakking son of a ..."

"Kara, stop it!" Sam tried to pull her away from Zarek. "Kara! I'm sure Tom was just ..."

"Tom?" Kara finally let go of Zarek and stared at Sam. "You're on the first name basis with a terrorist now? He tried to kill him!"

"I did not try to kill him!" Zarek stated determinedly. A second later he wished he had stayed quiet as Kara started punching him again.

With some effort, Sam managed to pull her away from Zarek.

"Let go of me!" Kara yelled at him.

"Beating him up won't do anyone any good." Sam tried to calm her.

"It would do me good. I would definitly feel better afterwards!" Kara snapped. She pulled free of Sam's arm and was just about to threw herself on Zarek again, when Cottle's sharp voice stopped her.

"Captain!"

She stopped in her tracks and looked at him surprised.

"We still need him able to talk. What did you give Captain Adama? Morpha?"

"Yes. But not to kill him!" Zarek repeated quickly. "He was in pain and ..."

"You told me yourself we should save the morpha, no matter how much pain he is in." Kara cut in furiously.

"I ... I changed my mind. He woke up when you were gone with Sam and when I saw how much pain he was in ..."

"You are a frakking liar!" Kara yelled. She tried to go after him again, but Sam pulled her back before she reached Zarek.

"How many injections?" Cottle asked quietly.

"I'm not sure. I injected him everytime she was asleep or out of the cave. Enough so that he was asleep most of the time." Zarek watched Kara intently, ready to retreat should she go after him again.

"Did you know?" Kara asked angry. She had pulled out of Sam's grasp and stared at him furiosly.

"What? No! How can you think that?" Sam asked offended.

"Well, you two seem so close lately. You even call him Tom!"

"Kara ..."

"Maybe you two could discuss this outside!" Cottle interrupted them sharply. "Mr. Zarek, care to tell me the real reason why you gave him the morpha?"

Zarek stayed quiet for a moment. He could hardly tell them the real reason, Kara would kill him immediatly. But he would have to come up with something quickly. "She was hovering over him all the time. I ... We needed her to think clearly. She couldn't do that when all she did was talk to him." He pointed at Apollo. He knew this wasn't a very good explanation and Kara looked like she would kill him right away, but she was still holding herself back. He hoped that Sam would back him up on that one. And it was definitly better than his real reason – making her worry about Apollo, so she wouldn't fight his plan and at the same time making Sam jealous enough so he would agree to everything he said.

"You frakking son of a ..."

"Kara, he's right." Sam interrupted her.

"What?" Kara stared at him in disbelief.

"When he's awake, he's all that matters to you. It's like you're his private nurse or something. You wouldn't even look at one of us, much less think of a plan to get us out of here."

"I did come up with a plan. You just liked his better." She spat at him. Then she shook her head. She couldn't believe that her husband was siding with Tom Zarek. "Did it hurt him?" She asked Cottle.

"It certainly didn't help. He's weak. I assume he hasn't been able to eat or drink much during the times he was awake."

"No." Kara replied. She had already worried about that too.

"When was his last injection?" Cottle asked Zarek.

"About two hours ago."

"And before that?"

"Right after they left. About eight hours ago."

"Okay, he'll probably won't wake up then for the next few hours. Even if you didn't intend to kill him, you were on your best way to do so, Mr. Zarek. Captain, I want you to have a meal prepared for him when he wakes up. Soup, nothing else. And he needs to drink. A lot."

"Sure." Kara nodded. She would make sure Lee got everything he needed once he woke up. She just hoped it wouldn't take too long.

"Alright. I'll go to sleep then. Wake me when he wakes up. And try not to kill anyone." With that said, Cottle picked up one of the blankets lying on the floor and lay down near the fire. He closed his eyes immediately and a few minutes later he was quietly snoring.

"Kara ..." Sam tried again.

"Don't ... talk to me!" Kara glared at him furiously. "Neither of you will go near him again. If I catch you close to him, I'll shoot first and ask questions later."

Neither Sam nor Zarek doubted that she would go through with it, so they both sat down as far away from Apollo as possible.

Kara sat down right next to Lee. She was determined not to leave his side again until he woke up.

Tbc.

A.N.: Thanks a lot to Laurie for beta reading this. :) I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Thanks for reading and for your reviews. I always look forward to them. :)