Sorry but I couldn't make this chapter any shorter than it is. I hope you enjoy it though.
"Sam?" Her voice called out to him. "My gods…" was all that manage to escape her lips. She had seen many horrendous things with her military career but nothing had prepared her for this.
Sam was dreaming of Kara. Holding her in his arms in their bedroom. Kara was farther along with her pregnancy. Both of them smiling when the baby kicked hard against their hands. 'Please don't wake me from this dream.' He wanted so badly to open his eyes just to see her, touch her hand, to hold her once again. But some how he didn't think that was possible anymore.
"Sam please open your eyes and let me know that you are still here. Please." Kara begged as she stroked his burning hot cheek with her hand. "You're safe now, it's okay. I'm here and I'm not going to let anything else happen to you. We are going home, so you need to wake up."
Sam fell for it every time and every time he was crushed, but he held out hope. His glassy blue eyes slowly opened. This time he could see her in a fuzzy distorted sort of way. "Kara," he whispered. He was beyond caring if she were real or a product of his fevered imagination.
Kara didn't know what was worse, him lying in the bed almost dying from Pneumonia or being shot in the leg and not taken care of. She scooted in closer to him on the bed, her right hand on top of his forehead while her left hand grabbed his hand. "Yes Sam its Kara. I'm here," she gently squeezed his hand to let him know that she was really here next him. He was burning up in fever, the sheets drenched in his sweat, and his body was shaking.
"I'm sorry, Kara. Gods I'm so sorry."
"Shh... Sam, it's okay. We are going to take you out of there. Babe can you sit up?" She asked just right before a wave of pain rushed to her chest. She let go of him and grab her chest, rubbing it trying to make it go away. It took a few seconds but eventually the pain eased and she was able to breathe again.
Sharon got down to Sam's other side. "We need to go now, Starbuck. The heavy Raider I brought is just down this corridor. It's not far from here but we might run into some trouble along the way."
"Kara," Sam whispered again, but Kara put her finger to his lips to quite him.
"It can wait until we are off this ship and back home. Save your breath and strength," she ran her hand down his cheek.
Sharon grabbed his arms and carefully pulled Sam up into a sitting position. "Ready?"
Kara nodded to Sharon and then looked at Sam. "You have to stay with me. No zoning out until we are on Galactica."
It was when Kara began to pull him up that he realized that she was there and with him. His eyes snapped wide open. "Is it really you?" He asked in partial disbelief.
"Yes Sam it's really me. How many times do I have to tell you?" Kara half smiled.
His hand, trembling, sought out her cheek. "You are here," as he snapped back into the real world. He flashed a smile that ended in a grimace of pain. She pulled him up and he swayed dramatically before he placed a hand on the wall and took a deep breath to reorient himself with being upright.
"Come on," she paused to kiss him on his hot cheek, "let's get you out of here, and remember you have to stay with me."
"I don't plan on leaving you Kara," he said looking into her lovely eyes. Then he frowned a bit. "You're saving me yet again and just when I got even." He said ruefully feeling suddenly full of life. His arm was over her injured shoulder and they got exactly ten steps when he saw her face blanch with pain. "Starbuck!?" Then he remembered she'd been injured as well.
"I'm okay really," she lied. Anders' weight caused another wave of pain to surface which cause Kara to block out everything and anything that was happening around her.
"No, you can't do this baby. I'll end up hurting you and the..." His heart stopped as he thought of the baby. Was it still alive? Or did the Cylons kill his child when they found out she was pregnant? He took his arm away from her shoulder. Trying to walk on his own was near to impossible.
"Anders! Get your collective fat ass back over here, and let me help you walk." Kara's patience had grown thin, very thin over the pass weeks dealing with Leoben. She didn't mean to yell at Sam like that, well she never meant to yell at him any time she did. It just always came out that way. "Gods Sam, I'm sorry. It's just… I guess it's…"
"Hormones." He finished her sentence.
"No! It's not me being all hormonal. I swear to the gods that when you and I get better, I'm going to kick your ass for saying that!" Kara snapped back and shot a glared up at him."
"There's my girl," he smirked. "I knew Starbuck was in there somewhere." He paused and grabbed hold of Kara's arm as they slowly walked down the corridor. "Is the baby still alive?"
Kara gritted through her teeth as a burning pain flared through her chest. "The baby is alive for now. Now come on!"
"Here Anders." To solve both of their problems with helping each other, Sharon ran from the room and took hold of Sam's shoulder and helped him walk to the Raider.
Kara was not far behind them, walking slower than usually, it was getting harder and harder to breathe. Her lungs felt like they were on fire. She felt weak, lightheaded and of need of rest and a vacation. A vacation sounds so nice right now. A luxury room aboard the Rising Star with a king bed, room service and a huge bathtub to soak in. She thought as she reached the hanger deck of the basestar.
Sam fought back the waves of nausea and blackness that threatened to overcome him as he was helped to the Raider. By the time they reached the ship, he was lucky to even be on his feet, but he wouldn't allow himself to succumb to the darkness, not until they were safe off the Basestar and back to Galactica. He could hardly believe that he was actually back with his wife again but he knew that she was in just as much pain as he was himself. She had been injured, he knew for the paleness of her face and the way she protected her arm and chest attested to that, but he didn't know for certain that the injury was the result of what he'd done. Sure the Six models said as much, but she wasn't exactly looking to comfort him. Still deep in the back of his mind, he knew that the shot he fired had indeed caused her injury.
Sharon started up the Raider as Kara helped Sam down into a sitting position. "Take it easy Sam." She sat next to him and leaned her head back, taking in deep breaths as her chest was on fire again. Once this wave had gone, she was going to check out what was going on with Sam's leg.
Sam closed his eyes for a moment when he was finally able to lean up against the wall. His heart was hammering in his chest and sweat poured freely down his pale face. He knew without looking that the leg had been reopened and was freely bleeding again.
"How are we doing back there?" Sharon asked as the Raider took off and was leaving the basestar.
"I think we have been through worst on Caprica." Kara half smiled as she began to check on Sam's leg. It was bleeding and the look of it made Kara throw up.
"Kara don't just stop. We'll have Cottle look at it."
"Okay," she said wiping her face. "I'm sorry you were dragged into this."
"Kara it's not your fault." He paused and looked at her chest were she was shot. "How are you doing?" He asked before closing his eyes.
"Okay I guess." Kara leaned back on the wall and unbuttoned the top two buttons of her shirt and stuck her hand inside of it. Simon's warning flashed through her mind, telling her that she needed to take it easy until the wound had fully healed. She placed her hand on top of the stitches, feeling to make sure she didn't rip them again. They felt fine but that didn't mean a thing. Pulling her hand back out she didn't see her hand covered in blood or feel herself split back into an unconscious state.
Sam opened still fever glazed blue eyes just in time for him to see Kara slump unconscious. He grabbed for her and lay her head down gently on his lap. "Kara… Kara!" It was then that he saw the bright red stain blooming on her shirt. "Frak! Starbuck don't you dare think about doing this to me now!" He ripped the cloth open and pressed his hand against the stained bandaging.
"Sam?" Sharon called out.
"Athena!" Sam yelled back. "Starbuck is bleeding, I need help!" He frantically looked around for a medical kit, finding one close to hand. He quickly opened it and grabbed a roll of gauze pressing it against the wound, his own bleeding forgotten in his fright for his wife and child.
"She's just going to have to hold on. We're about to jump then we will be aboard Galacitca in two minutes." Sharon made the jump to Galactica and brought them back home. She got on the wireless. "Athena / Galactica.
Dee came over the wireless. "Galactica / Athena. Go ahead Athena."
"I found Starbuck and Anders. I need a medic team."
"Medic team is on the way and will be there when you land Athena."
Less than a minute later Sharon landed her Raider and hopped out of the hatch."I need a medic team in here!"
Lee came running from the CIC to the hanger deck as fast he could along with Helo.
"Who is it?" Lee asked. "Which one is it?" Please be Sam, please be Sam.
"It's Starbuck and Anders. We can't stop Kara's chest from bleeding and Sam's leg is infected. Hurry and get Cottle down here Helo!" Sharon yelled at her husband.
"He's on his way Sharon." He yelled back.
Lee, Helo and Sharon headed back into the Raider. Lee knelt down in front of Kara and looked toward Sam as he still had her head in his lap. "Let me have her Anders."
Sam nodded. "Please hurry Lee. She's lost a lot of blood since we left. I… I can't lose her again."
"She'll be fine." Lee grabbed Kara, cradled her in his arms and brought her out of the Raider to set her down on the gurney. He leaned in close to her ear as the medic team wheeled her towards sickbay. "Don't leave me Kara. I need you. Don't you dare die like this." Before leaving the hanger deck Lee left Kara's side to help Anders onto his gurney.
Kara had gone into cardiac arrest a few minutes after Lee left her side and was being rushed into sickbay with Doc Cottle by her side. The sound of the heart monitor counting out Kara's uneasy heartbeats could be here clearly through the ship. There were a few scary moments were Kara's heart did stop but Cottle managed to bring her back both times.
The Cylons didn't fix her up like Cottle had hope. He performed another surgery on her and fixed the problem that was making her heart give out. Since Starbuck was one of his least favorite patients, he gave her an extra bonus on making the scar no bigger than a fine line down the side of her chest so she wouldn't bitch at him later.
After her surgery she was placed in the ICU for two reasons. One being her heart; it still hadn't found its normal rhythm yet. The other was the baby; Cottle was afraid that she might have a miscarriage with all the stress on her body.
When Cottle was done with Kara, he moved on to Anders. Boy was he a mess. His whole leg was infected and didn't even look like the Cylons had tried to help him at all. Amputation was not needed but antibiotics and physical therapy were his orders.
Anders had undergone surgery as well so that the Doc could remove both the bullet that had been lodged in his leg, up against an artery that was close to penetrating it and if it had, Sam would have bled to death in short order and the infection from the bullet. It was so bad and he had to go in and scrape out as much of the infection as he could. He'd get the rest with the medication, but he feared that the young man's athletic career was over. He'd probably never play professionally again.
Sam was still fighting fever when he awoke hours later. He remembered Cottle saying that Starbuck had gone into cardiac arrest and Sam fought to stay with her. It was then that he was injected with a sedative and next thing he remembered was waking up lying where he was in sickbay hooked up to all sorts of wires, the soft beeping of a monitor keeping track of his heartbeats.
Cottle entered and checked on the young man. "You and your little wife are becoming regulars here Anders," he said gruffly, "and before you ask, she's fine. Going to be out of action for a while but both her and junior are going to be fine."
Anders breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank the gods."
Three days later Kara was brought out of the ICU and placed into the cubicle next to Anders. The only thing separating them was a curtain. She hadn't woken up from her surgery which had Cottle worried but at least her heart rate was back to normal. Cottle told everyone that she was in a slight coma. She could feel and hear everything that was happening around her, but couldn't respond. She had quite a few visits in the ICU from Anders, Helo, Athena, and the Old man but she had more after she was out of ICU. Hours after she was placed in the cubicle, she heard the soft beeping of her heart monitor and two men screaming when the other won a hand of Triad which was sinking slowly into her mind.
"Full colors!" The voices turned out to be Anders laughing at Helo on the other side of the curtain. She opened her eyes, the room was bright and it took her eyes sometime to just.
"You play as dirty as Starbuck. Has she been giving you lessons?"
"Shh... You're going to wake her up. She needs her rest." Sam said as he placed his finger to his lips.
Kara found herself in a curtained off room in sickbay. "Sam?" No response.
"Sam, she's still in a coma. She's not going to wake even if Leoben was standing right next to her." Right when those words left his mouth, he knew they were the wrong thing to joke about.
"That's not even funny Karl." Sam growled back.
"Sorry. I didn't mean it like that."
"Sam?" Kara asked again a little bit louder this time. Once again she didn't get a response from him, but Helo and Sam did get quieter on the other side. Carefully she grabbed the pillow from behind her head and threw it at the curtain. "Hey!"
The curtain flies open and Helo pops his head in. "Well hey there little miss sunshine. Finally chose to come back to the land of the living I see."
"Frak you."
"I let Sharon do that." He laughed.
"So what? There's a game and no one invited me?" She quietly asked and then started coughing heavy.
"Hey take it easy Starbuck. You are human after all and not some sort of god." Anders added in. He wasn't supposed to be up out of bed but not even Helo was going to stop him from going ten feet over to see his wife. He hobbled over to her pale faced and trembling at the effort, but smiling as he drew back the curtain and settled himself carefully in the chair at her side. "Hey there beautiful," he said taking hold of her hand and brushing a kiss on the back. He couldn't easily reach her lips and it looked as through she were still half asleep. "You gave me a scare Kara."
In fact he'd been like a lunatic trying to see her when she came out of surgery that Cottle had to drug him just to get him to stay put. It made Sam angry that they resort to such tactics, however Sam was stuck. He wasn't allowed technically that is to even be up and about just yet and Cottle had already told him that they would both be his guests for at least the next few days. Cottle had been concerned that Sam's fever still hung on albeit much more controllable than before but still the infection was a hard one to knock out.
"Did I? What did I do?" She smiled before placing her hand over her mouth to cover her yawn. Kara slowly turned her head as the pain killer seemed to be wearing off. Feeling as if a Viper was sitting on her chest and her mind was covered in a thick goo. "Oy," she groans, "so how long are we stuck in this rat trap?" Her breathing was still a sore rattle, but it could be much, much worse. Her chest hurt like hell, but at least she was in the best medical unit in the fleet.
"Not long." Sam answered.
Kara was on her way to sit up, but felt a firm hand pressing her back down.
"You are supposed to stay in bed," she heard Sam say.
"Who said anything about getting out of bed? I just want to sit up and straighten out my back. It's killing me. Not to mention that I'm starving. Are you going to let your pregnant groggy wife starved to death? "Kara asked before looking over to Sam.
"There's my girl. I would be afraid if we left Starbuck behind on that basestar," he grinned at Kara.
"Frak you. I'll give you a piece of Starbuck real soon if you don't stop that."
"Please!" He begged as his grin grew wider before he planted another kiss on Kara's hand.
"What are you doing out of bed?" She asked huskily as she mouth ran dry.
"What? Am I not allowed to be near you now?" Anders asked as he helped her sit up by propping a few pillows behind her back before dropping a proper kiss to her pale lips, and then he poured a cup of water for her and helped her drink it.
"Well I do seem to get shot or kidnapped with you around." She joked.
"I want you to do what the doc tells you," he said sternly yet lovingly. He put a hand on her belly. "The baby is fine but Cottle wants you to rest and make sure that he stays that way. I plan on telling my son one day that his mother saved my life more than once," Sam frowned then. "You always seem to be dragging my ass out of some sort of trouble. I thought that was my job."
Kara placed her hand over Sam's on her stomach, then looked up at him eyebrow raised. "He... him... your son? That's going to be a shocker for her. When her father keeps on calling her a boy. Well what ever it is, when he screams, cries, and throws a fit he's going to be just your child. But when she's happy and cheerful she'll be mine." She started laughing before it was difficult to breathe. Once she managed to catch her breath, Kara continued on. "I didn't see anywhere in the marriage manual that the husband's job is to keep their wife's asses out of trouble."
Sam smiled but was ignoring his own body's signals that he needed to be back in bed as well. Sweat beaded along his upper lip and his temples, his arms were beginning to shake at the little tasks he performed for Kara and his head span slowly at any kind of quick movement.
Kara paused and studied Sam closely. "Sam are you okay? You don't look well." She noticed that even his hair was wet from sweat and his body was shaking. "Helo! Helo put Sam back in the bed and get Doc," she ordered.
"You heard Starbuck." Helo helped Sam up and out of the chair, pretty much dragging him over to his bed.
"NO!" Anders made a token protest while Helo helped settle him back in his bed. He hated being so helpless! He wanted to stay by Kara's side and make sure that she was going to be alright. She must have seen that on his face.
"I'm going to be just fine and stop acting like a fool and getting some rest."
Sam threw her a look that said a myriad of things most of which that he loved her. His eyes were slipping closed against is will. He caught Helo's hand. "Make sure she rests as well," he said falling asleep almost as he spoke.
Once Helo managed to place Sam all the way back in the bed, he quickly ran out to go and get Cottle.
Sam's fever spiked to higher levels and Cottle put him into a drug induced coma just so he would get the rest he needed to fight off his infection. While that was happening Kara become very depressed and stopped eating. Which then was putting her life and the life of her child both at risk.
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