Chapter 4 Notes: Set during season 2 before the fleet is re-united at Kobol.

Chapter 4: How to Staunch a Bleeding Heart

She was fast sleep when Felix roused her with a message from the Commander: The Petty Officer was to report immediately to his quarters.

She blinked away her sleep as his words seeped through and a tingle of excitement ran along her chest in anticipation of seeing him. It was only when Felix's eyebrows waggled suggestively at the end did she realise she was grinning like a fool.

Felix looked at her and laughed, "I do believe someone is not letting on entirely about how she feels about a superior officer." He started to nonchalantly buff his nails against his uniform, "Perhaps, I should take some time to refresh your memory about the military code, hmmm?".

"Get a life!" she huffed, rolling her eyes and shoving him off her bunk as he continued to laugh whilst she pulled on her fatigues and looked around for her jacket.

"You forgot the 'Sir', Petty Officer." he retorted back as innocently as he could although he could barely keep a straight face..

'SIR." she said with a mock salute and smile.


"Make a hole!" she called out as she jogged through Galactica's corridors. Her mind ran through her recent interactions with the Commander, trying to think of anything she could have done to piss him off. She fleetingly thought of his annoyance with her when she reported how many people rather than 'resources' they had lost with regards to the ships that had jumped away to follow President Roslin.

A few minutes later, she sat stock-still in the chair listening to him talk about his rage and frustration. She knew he had been shot in the chest but it seems Cottle's stitches had done little to staunch the emotional losses that continued to seep from him. She was at an utter loss as to how she could help the fractured, broken human being in front of her. Listening seemed so inadequate! She wanted to hold him and comfort him.

She felt a tide of anger surge within her when he dismissed her for speaking her mind. Normally, her anger was slow to provoke but this time, a white hot flame flared bright and instantaneous. She barely took a breath when her anger gave her the dutch courage to ignore his dismissal and instead reach for him. Her heart was in her mouth but she dared to grasp his arm and take his hand again. The delicate paintbrush he held clattered to the floor, forgotten. The weight of his hand felt just like it had done on the many occasions she had held it close when he lay deathly pale in the hospital cot except this time his touch was electric when she made contact with his fingertips. His angry eyes sought her out, the bright blue deepening into a darker shade to match his rage.

The shiver of anticipation and desire that took hold of her as she gazed into his eyes was instantly quelled as he tried to dismiss her words again.

Her own bright green eyes flashed stormy grey as her anger swelled to match his. She thought of the only thing that would get through to him – Lee – so she told him exactly what she thought before walking out of his quarters.


She was early for her shift but her steps took her straight to CIC and she promptly relieved her colleague who was only too glad to get some extra rack time. She felt Felix's gaze on her and she gave a wan smile to his questioning look before turning her attention to the monitors.

Her fingers jabbed viciously at the datapad. She was angry at him but now she was fuming at herself that one, he managed to rouse her anger and two, even during this heated exchange, she had still felt the traitorous urges of attraction swell through her body and the thought of silencing him with a brutal kiss had briefly made an appearance in her mind. Frakking ridiculous holonovels she thought to herself knowing full well that the idea had come from reading one of Cally's 'romances'.

She did not even notice his entrance into the CIC until the XO uttered a surprise exclamation about Kobol.

Her posture snapped to attention as she heard his words about putting the fleet back together. Her heart soared, she felt lighter already; her anger all gone as she looked across the room, her green eyes meeting his blue ones for less than a heartbeat; acknowledgement and apology were transmitted mutually in an infinitesimal moment of time.

Her eyes dropped from his and she smiled to herself, perhaps she could staunch some wounds after all. Frakking rules she thought ruefully as she watched him leave the CIC and her traitorous imagination once again took flight.