Chapter Eight

Lee gave the man a rueful smile. "You don't know your daughter very well, do you?"

Pain, flashed across the man's face and he closed his eyes briefly. "I never got to know her. At least not when I was alive."

Lee's mouth opened as realization mixed with confusion. "You're not Alexander Talbot?" Gods, she had been telling the truth? Or maybe this was just some fanciful dream concocted by what the stories Jessica had told him and his fever-wracked mind?

Jessica had told him about her mother traveling through time when she was carrying Jess. Her mother, according to Jess, was from earth. An insane story, probably from her mother's broken mind after being tortured by the Cylons. Was this man proof?

"No. I'm her real father. Her birth father. I'm begging you, leave Jessie alone. You'll destroy her if you don't."

Lee sat back, a shiver of apprehension shooting down his back. "What are you talking about?"

"I should let you love her. In my heart I want nothing more than to see my daughter, be able to hold her in my arms. But more than that, I want her to have a long life; I want to watch her with grey in her hair, surrounded by her children and grandchildren. She won't have that with you."

Lee's heart froze. "Are you saying she's going to die? Baltar's working on an antidote. We're gonna beat this virus," He spoke quickly, fear racing through his veins and turning the warm summer air cold.

"I've watched her. She adores you, even when she gives you a hard time. I will never be able to repay you for saving her life, but with you, she's in even greater danger." The older man's eyes filled with tears.

"What the hell do you mean?" Lee asked nervously.

"She's exactly like her mother, you know? Megan didn't want to leave me, I forced her to go to save her life and save our baby. I'm asking you to do the same."

Lee clenched his fists on the bench, more to stop himself shaking than from any anger.

"I'm not--Jess and I are friends, that's all."

Here the man looked away from him. "That's what I told myself with Megan. But the woman was like a pitbull. When she got it in her head that she loved me, she came at me with everything she had, which was her whole heart and I was lost. I see Jess with you, and I see you with her. You don't say the words to her but you know very well that you love her. Listen to me very carefully; don't give in to what you feel for her. If you want to save her. Turn her away."

Lee swallowed back a burst of sadness. He felt as if he was floating and this man was pulling away his lifeline. Grief and panic threatened to swallow him.

"She's convinced we're supposed to be together. That we're going to have this special daughter."

"And a son," the man interrupted softly.

Lee stared at him. "A son?" Children? His children? A family? A future of love and normalcy and no more fighting within his grasp and this man was telling him to turn away from it? Then Lee remembered that he wasn't supposed to want that kind of future anyway. Jessica being sick had made him wish for things, give in a little and think maybe he could be happy with her because the idea of her dying broke something inside of him. But no, Lee was still the man he was. A fighter, a soldier who has to numb himself so he can keep fighting and deep inside he knew this stranger was right. Lee could never make Jessica happy. "You're crazy." He said to himself out loud.

"After Gabe, you're going to know I'm right," the man replied sadly.

Lee could hear laughter, full bodied laughter that could only belong to one person.

"Full colors, baby. You suck," Kara exclaimed triumphantly.

"Easy, lieutenant. Them's fighting words."

Lee's felt his heart swell at that voice and tears sprang to his eyes. Thank the Gods. The rush of emotion choked his breath and sent him into a coughing fit.

The voices stopped on the other side of the curtain. Then fingers tightened around the fabric and jerked it back. Round smiling eyes greeted him.

"Welcome back, gorgeous!" Kara said with a grin.

He smiled back, but then his smile faltered when he noticed she was in a hospital gown too.

Then Jessica's head popped up over Kara's shoulder and Lee's heart stopped. There were shadows under her eyes that made them seem larger on her pale face. Her dark hair was pulled back in a bun at the top of her head. Despite her gauntness, and the utter exhaustion on her face from the battle her body had endured, she looked like almost ethereal.

And then she smiled at him. Everything inside of him leapt.

"How are you?" Both he and Jessica asked at the same time. She gave a soft laugh and Lee was a little glad he felt so weak, otherwise he'd give in to the instinct to jump off the bed and rip her gown off.

Then he felt a knot of unease in his stomach. Something inside of him felt...panicked at the warmth and obvious love in her eyes. Lee felt as if he should be remembering something important but when he tried to think what it could be he only recalled the name Gabe.

What did his imaginary friend from when he was about four have to do with anything he might have dreamed?

"I'm all right. Though I could sleep for about a month. It's over," Jessica replied with a tired smile.

"You're welcome, by the way." Kara said smugly.

"And what am I thanking you for, besides stinking this place up with your cigars?" Lee said with a mock scowl.

"Shhh!" Kara insisted glancing quickly at the door and making sure her cigar couldn't be seen from the doorway. She wrapped her grey robe around her more tightly and swung her legs over the edge of her bed, leaving the playing cards strewn on the blankets. "I helped Dr Freakweasel with his antidote. Turns out your blood cells weren't making nice with the compounds or some kind of technical gobbledeegook like that so he used my blood instead."

"And she's been impossible ever since." Jessica teased but when she looked at Kara, Lee saw the hero worship in her eyes.

Lee rolled his eyes. "I can imagine." He glanced around to the other beds. "How are the others?"

"We lost about a hundred more fleet wide but we were able to save most of the sick. People are recuperating. Now we've got to think about replacing our losses. Training new pilots, new crew." Kara explained.

Lee leaned back against the pillow, the heavy weight of all the work ahead of them draining his strength.

"But that can wait. Don't worry your pretty little head about that yet."

"Starbuck! Give me that damn cigar. I told you, no smoking in my sick bay!" Cottle growled storming into the room and reaching for her cigar. Kara moved her arm out of his reach and waved it around as he tried to grab it out of her hand.

"Relax. I'll go smoke it outside." Kara told him, sliding out of the bed and rushing around Cottle holding her hands behind her back.

"More trouble than she's worth that one. Ah, morning, Captain. How ya feeling?" Cottle asked walking towards Lee's bed.

"How long have I been out?" Lee asked as Cottle examined him.

"About a week."

"You were suffering from exhaustion. That's why the virus was able to latch on to you so easily." Jessica said and when Lee met her eyes, the warm gaze of hero worship was now directed at him along with a soft smile that made him feel as if he really had saved the world.

A.N:

Mae: Take a deep breath. It'll be okay. (laughs) Hope you like this chapter!

JAT.NJ: Thanks so much for your feedback. I'm thrilled you look forward to my stuff! Your line about poor Lee not being able to go into a coma without someone getting on his case made me burst out laughing! I hope you like this chapter too!

cmf161: Your feedback always make my day. You always bring up such interesting points. That one about Kara sacrificing herself to make her mother's words not true didn't occur to me but it's so good and makes so much sense that I'm going to use it in the next chapter. I'm glad that you're enjoying everything that's going on and there is a lot. At the core it's a love story but I want to make the life they're living and the people around the come alive too. Glad to see it's working. I hope you enjoy this chapter too!