Another Way Chapter 20
Author's Note: This chapter picks up, literally, just as the last chapter ended... Think of it as the last episode of a four-hour mini series...
Author's Note Two: This was to be the last chapter before the epilogue, but its not going to be... There will be ONE more chapter after this one, then, maybe, an epilogue. Sorry for that! wink wink PLEASE!! Let me know what you think or if there were/are any threads I have left hanging!
Another Way Chapter 20
What a Promise Means
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He caught her before she could hit the floor of the Raptor.
Snapping up his head, Lee craned his neck to Racetrack. "Punch it; full burn all the way back to Galactica."
Hugging Kara closer to his body, he half dragged-half carried her deeper into the hold. He didn't apologize for the ferociously protective scowl he shot at Cally when she manoeuvred herself around them to help shift Starbuck's dead weight onto the backboard. He softened his look when he realized that the younger woman had no intentions of taking Kara away from him; she was just as committed to saving Starbuck. Vaguely, he was aware of the deckhand slipping the oxygen metre back onto Kara's finger and scooping the forgotten heart-monitoring sensors up off the floor. Strapping Kara down securely, Karl was right when he said that. 'Kara needs to be free'. But as far as he was concerned, it was the only way he had to show her that there was no way in Hades that she was going frakking anywhere.
Helo's voice cut through his emotional haze. "Galactica, this is Raptor Two-One-Five. We are declaring a medical emergency. We have an officer down; wave off all other incoming traffic. We need a full trauma team and Major Cottle to meet us when we land."
"Affirmative Raptor Two-One-Five – we read your medical emergency. Please be advised that Major Cottle is currently attending to a pre-natal situation and will not be able to meet you on the hanger deck."
Leaving the strap that was meant to secure her chest undone so that Cally could apply the sensors to her chest, he pressed a separate set of discs onto each of her temples. Whispering harshly into her ear, he told her exactly what he was thinking. "You aren't frakking going anywhere, Kara. Do you hear me? You are going to ride with us back to The Bucket, you're gonna be the talk of the ship, you're gonna be a royal pain in the ass to Cottle and his people and then you're gonna frakking kick everyone's ass in Triad all the way to Earth. You got that, Starbuck?"
The erratic beeping he was expecting to hear wasn't happening. Shooting an accusatory look at machinery, he looked at Cally, who had long since finished putting the sensors to Kara's skin. "Is it broken?"
"No." Her chin trembled as she fought to keep her thoughts together. "It's working fine. It's Starbuck…"
Lee could tell she couldn't say it but he wasn't about to let Cally fall apart either. "Cally – charge it up!"
The tell-tale whine of the machine charging filled the cargo area. Looking down at the amount to of stored voltage, Cally put away her tears. "It's charged, Sir."
"Clear!" Apollo nearly shouted as he watched Kara's body buck with the influx of electrical current.
"No good, still not picking up a heartbeat Sir."
"Again!" Lee ordered.
The defibrillator firing was absorbed by the Raptor breaking the sound barrier. Racetrack pushing the craft to its limit sent ever-increasing reverberations travelling all along the hull of the ship.
Lee felt, rather than saw, Helo swivel in the ECO chair. "Do it again, Cally!"
Pushing the button one more time, Lee felt his own body wanting twist with sympathy pains as Starbuck's body lurched up off the backboard as much as her restraints would allow. Faint beeps from the heart monitor were nearly drowned out by the harsh cough that rumbled up from her chest. Blearily, her eyes opened and focused on him. Unable to help himself, he ran his hand over her cold head.
Whatever he wanted to say, he swallowed as Helo's large hand rested on his shoulder. She was looking at Karl as well when her mouth opened and she found the strength to move her lips.
"Don't worry – I'll never forget you."
Air he had fought so hard for her to draw whooshed out of her chest. The heart monitor suddenly went quiet. He was helpless to stop her ankles from rolling slackly to the side or her eyes from closing.
"Give me a dose of adrenaline – now!" Lee ordered, spreading open Kara's shirt. He held out his hand as he searched for the best place to plunge the needle into her heart.
"I can't – there isn't any." Cally had a steady stream of tears flowing down her face as she rifled through the med-kit. "Where is it? It's supposed to be here!"
Hands descending onto Kara's chest, Lee only heard Helo because Agathon was sitting behind him.
"Helo to Galactica Actual – I'm breaking medical emergency protocol. We need a gurney, two of the biggest guys you have available and every inch of decking between the hanger bay and Life Station cleared. ETA is four minutes. We're coming in at full throttle."
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"Acknowledged, Raptor Two-One-Five; Cottle is waiting for you in Life Station. LSO has been apprised and the board is clear. May the Gods be at your sides." Dee's voice transmitted out to the incoming Raptor at the same time it was fed into the speakers suspended over the Planning Table.
Still in Ops Planning, Tigh and Adama exchanged the kind of soul-weary looks that only true friends could share and understand.
Starbuck was dead. Sharon had brought back her ring and when Racetrack confirmed that she had both Lee and Kara, she didn't quantify who was alive and who was dead – she didn't need too. Of the five bodies on that Raptor, it was Helo's voice that came over the speakers; Racetrack was still flying the ship and the clarification that it was an officer that was down meant that it wasn't Cally who was in trouble. That left only one person: Lee.
"Make it happen. Get my son to Cottle, Saul."
Tigh nodded his head and didn't bother with an exit salute before he headed to the door.
There wasn't time.
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The moment that the trap sealed above them was when Helo looked at Cally. "Trigger the hatch."
The fourteen seconds it took for the hatch to open no where near matched the amount of time it took to be lowered to the Hanger Deck, the lift to link up with the front of the Raptor and taxi the ship forward. They were losing precious time.
The lift hadn't even stopped when Helo bellowed from where he was crouched over Kara inside the cargo hold. "WE NEED SOME HELP IN HERE!"
The Raptor physically dipped as three sets of feet landed on the skid boards. Three large bodies – Gunny, Captain Kelly and Jammer – loomed in the open hatchway. If she had the time to think about the fact that representatives from each of the three different areas Kara 'worked' were who responded, she would have put it in the same category of 'coincidence' as the three missiles that destroyed the BaseStar on the moon.
Looking at who he had to work with, he divvied up the load. "Jammer – you're with me; Kelly and Gunny – you take that end. Cally – you go out first and make sure nothing and no one is in our way."
Wiping her cheeks with her sleeve, her eyes were hard with determination, "Got it." Looking at the new comers, she gave them an order of her own as she skirted past the men. "I don't care of there is a frakking Cylon attack. You. Don't. Stop."
"On the count of 'three' guys, we go." Helo's words snapped them out of the stupor they had collectively slipped into when they saw who they were going to be transporting. 'Three!"
Walking backwards, Gunny and Kelly set the pace. The first to step down, Cally cleared the way with her voice as her fingers curled around the guard-rail of the waiting gurney. Swivelling it into position with uncanny precision, she held it steady as the four men set the backboard – complete with Apollo perched on Starbuck's chest pumping away at her heart with his hands – onto the gurney. Making quick work of the safety straps, the four men who took up flanking positions along the bedside looked like pallbearers to her mind's eye. Setting off at a dead run, the squeaking wheels of the gurney told her that Jammer, Kelly, Gunny and Helo were keeping up with her.
Making like a Pyramid offensive forward, Cally led them down the pre-secured corridors like they were the opposing team's end-zones. She barely glanced at the shipmates who had gathered at intersections, hoping to get a peek at what had set the ship a-buzz. Instead, she scanned the corridors for anything that could impede their way to Life Station. Squinting her eyes at a sudden movement up ahead, a hatchway was swinging open and a Specialist was emerging. No sooner had he put a foot into the hallway was when she, without a second thought and while she was very much in motion, pushed him backwards and sent him careening back the way he came.
Rounding the next corner, she called out, "Stairs!"
Taking them two at a time, she visually swept the corridor as the four men groaned with the exertion it took to lift the gurney high enough to clear the steps and keep their momentum. Turning back to them, her ponytail holder slipped free as she whipped her head around and gave them a status report. "Clear!"
Her feet ate up the decking as her lungs burned in her chest.
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The double doors of Life Station never looked so good.
Bursting through, she saw Cottle snapping on a fresh pair of gloves. "They're right behind me!"
On cue, four men pushed a gurney into Life Station at top speed. Apollo had his back to everyone and Cally could tell by the way his back and shoulders were bunching and releasing that he was still making Starbuck's heart pump.
"Talk to me, Cally – tell me what I'm looking at." Focused so intently on Lee, Cally jumped at the sound of Cottle's gruff voice as he caught her off-guard.
"I don't know. One minute she was alive, flying the Raptor… the next minute she was gone. Then, we shocked her. She came too long enough to say something to Apollo and Helo and then she was gone again. I – we – tried to bring her back – but it was no use." Pushing her bangs off of her hot forehead, she looked at Ishnay trying to get Apollo off of Starbuck rather than at the doctor who was speaking to her. "We kept shocking her until the battery ran out. That's when Apollo started compressions and Helo took up rescue breathing."
Ishnay wasn't getting anywhere with Apollo and he didn't get it that his part was done. Two seconds from stepping forward and hoping Apollo would listen to her was when Helo came up to Lee. The taller man grabbed one of the Captain's arms, startling him. By the looks of things, Apollo didn't even realize that they had gotten her to sickbay. A brief nod and a smooth dismount had Apollo's feet firmly on the decking. It was a fast-acting Helo that kept the younger man on his feet as he swayed and struggled to keep his balance.
Ishnay sealed a breathing-bag over Kara's face and mouth and started to squeeze the bag rhythmically as another medic picked up where Apollo left off and re-commenced with the manual heart compressions.
"Who is it, Cally?"
"Stop her!" Free of Apollo's bulk, Ishnay called for someone to cut off Kara's clothes. The glinting of scissors in the bright lights had Cally jerking her head at Cottle. "Starbuck's not wearing anything underneath that; she's naked. If you have to do that, get a blanket for frak's sake!"
If there was anything that could unbalance the unflappable Cottle, it was Cally's disclosure about who it was that had been wheeled into his domain.
"Doctor Cottle!" Getting a good look at her patient for the first time, Ishnay's normally pale complexion blanched even whiter, "It's Kara Thrace!"
"I'll be frakked." Stepping up to the gurney, he looked at shocked Gunny. "Get a frakking blanket." Glancing over at Apollo he barked, "What happened to her?"
Gulping air and feeling his uniform slide along the layer of sweat that separated him from his clothes, the glib answer of, well, gee, Doc, you mean beyond the fact that she's been a prisoner of war for nearly seven weeks?, danced across his tongue. But, that wouldn't help Kara. Instead, he shook his head. "I don't know exactly. But if I had to guess, I'd say she's been worked over pretty well. By the sounds of things, she has a broken rib or two on her left side."
Taking the blanket from Gunny and draping it over Starbuck – from the waist down – another medic locked his grimly concerned eyes with Cottle's. "There are puncture wounds all over her, Sir."
Lifting up a limp hand, he scrutinized her arm and what caused the back of her hand to be so bloody. He didn't like what he saw.
"There are needle tracts everywhere and her hand's been ripped open something ugly." Letting it fall, he scanned the expanse of skin exposed by her opened shirt. Waving a hand at Ishnay he said, "Get her into the operating room and tell the rest of the staff that I'll be right there. I want a full tox-screen done immediately. And for frak's sake – don't stop what you're doing!"
Giving Thrace's form one more 'once over' as she was pushed by him, he frowned in concentration. A first-year med-tech could see that there was a lot of bruising, swelling and that the foul stench wafting off of her skin was going to be a complication. Frak; what were going to be the asps in his bath were the puncture marks that the medic already noted.
Turning to one of three the people who knew more than he did about his latest patient's condition, he fired off three questions at Captain Adama. "How long has she been without oxygen and how long has it been since her heart stopped? And, what do you mean 'she's been worked over'?"
"She hasn't stopped breathing nor has her heart stopped. We've been doing that for her for the past nine minutes." Latent anger tainted his words as Lee filled in the gaps for Cottle. "As for her being beaten – it's all up and down the backside of her. You'll see it when you turn her over. It looks like she's been whipped." His voice cracked, "Among other things."
Kelly, all but forgotten in the immediacy to treat Starbuck, started to dry-heave. Turning his back and bending at the waist, the sound of retching put a disgusted look on Cottle's face. Never one to spare sympathy for those with weak stomachs, he snapped, 'Get that man out of here and clean that up!" That dealt with, he looked back at the young captain. "First thing's first; we gotta get her breathing and her heart working. Then we tackle the rest."
Pivoting on his heels, Cottle stopped long enough to shrug into a set of surgical scrubs. Without a parting glance, he disappeared into the operating room.
Suddenly, none of them had anything to do.
Kara was in Cottle's and the Gods' hands. She was home. The Cylon ship had been destroyed. The threat that Castor had posed had been eliminated. The Fleet was safe – as much as it ever was – for now.
The group of Jammer, Cally, Helo, Apollo, and Gunny looked anywhere but at each other.
It was the re-appearing Ishnay who broke the quiet.
"Captain Adama – will you come with me? I need to examine you. Dr. Cottle noticed that your pupils were a little off and that there's a trail of dried blood behind one of your ears. Not to mention that there's the matter of a contusion on your jaw."
She was right. Lee was swaying on his feet – he could feel himself listing to one side. Without the constant supply of adrenaline, his body reverted to its concussed state. Nodding wearily, he let Ishnay lead him away.
As soon as Apollo was out of sight, the trauma of the day washed over Cally. It was so much, so fast and too personal. Turning slowly towards Helo, she watched as he spread his arms and let her fall into his embrace. Great wracking sobs that not even his strong arms could suppress rattled every inch of her. Her tears flowed down his borrowed Marine garb. Jammer's consoling hand on her shoulder was matched by the mournful look on Gunny's face. She felt her hair dampen with the few drops of moisture that leaked from Karl's eyes and the way he stroked her back only made her heartache that much more acute.
It was Gunny who saw him first. The way her watery vision saw him bring a trembling hand to his temple in a weak salute told her some ranking officer had just walked into Life Station. Not to mention how Jammer took his hand away like he had been scalded. The way Helo stiffened, but still held onto her, told her it was Commander Adama.
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It was a scene he prayed he would never have to live through again – coming into a hospital setting to claim the body of a dead child. But this was war, not a flight accident. Lee had been down on that moon, inside that BaseStar, on his orders. A little bit of what Kara must have been feeling for all those years crept into his mind; Zak had been in a cockpit because she had cleared him to be in one. Not the same thing, but the guilt was similar enough to singe a corner of his heart.
Cally sobbing into Helo's chest, Gunny's devastated expression and Jammer's lost look was enough to tell him that he had gotten to Life Station too late to say good-bye to Lee.
Corralling his emotions enough to keep his composure, he looked to Helo who simply jutted his head in the direction of somewhere behind and to the left of where they were standing.
Walking by, he briefly touched Cally and saw that she barely registered where she was, let alone that he was there. Leaving them behind, he continued forward and watched Ishnay come out of a curtained-walled room. Not trusting himself to say Lee's name, he stopped her with a look. "Where is he?"
A distracted, distant look to her eyes had her pointing to where she had just come out of before she moved on and approached the operating room. There was something comforting about watching her pull on a set of plastic surgical scrubs. Also, it was an easy way to stall and buy him some time that Lee no longer had.
Drawing a deep breath, he fisted the fabric of the curtain and held on to it as he prepared himself. Shackling the memories of claiming Zak's body, he knew there was no way to prepare for the crushing blow that would come with claiming Lee's body. He just had to do it.
Noiselessly, he parted the panels and stepped inside.
There, lying on a bed, covered from head-to-toe with a blanket, was Lee. He would know his son's outline anywhere – it was a parent's gift. Still holding the same breath, he lifted up the cold blanket and peeled it down, revealing Lee's pale face. Tears welled up and his craggy cheeks hollowed as he tried to breathe in more air than his body could hold. Lee looked like a little boy. His hair was mussed; dirt and grime creased his face. Orange dust from that moon stood out against the backdrop of his uniform. His skin was clammy and chill to the touch but, in reaching for his son's hand, he found the palms to be still warm. He had gotten there just that much too late.
Bringing his other hand to his eyes, he pressed his fingers against his lids. How was he supposed to bury both of his children, knowing he was responsible for both their deaths?
Adama jerked his hand away when Lee's fingers curled reflexively. The macabre thoughts flew out of his mind as he watched his son stir in the hospital bed.
Lee was alive!
"Ishnay – I told you – the lights – they're too bright," Lee complained weakly through closed eyes.
"I'll talk to Cottle about that when he gets back." Adama smiled down at his CAG, his officer, and son. Relief put a smile on his face that hadn't been seen since before the end of the worlds.
Squinting up at his father, grateful to see an old man's face, Lee quipped, "Do that. That way I won't have to pull a blanket over my face in order to block everything out." Closing his eyes again, his expression became solemn. "Did Cottle tell you?"
"I haven't seen him yet. I came straight to see you." Taking in the sight of his living, breathing, bruised son, Adama asked, "What's the verdict?"
"Mild concussion, barely more than a migraine; it's nothing a little rest and a Raptor full of aspirins won't take care of." Lee groaned at the sound of his own voice. Nodding at a spot on his inner arm had him chortling. "Though, I'll say this. One of Ishnay's shots certainly goes a long way to setting things right."
"That's what sucks about concussions – they make everything hurt, don't they?" Adama empathized, remembering when Leoben clocked him on the head with a hand-held torch at Ragnar Anchorage.
"Then I take it you saw Helo?" Lee made himself open his eyes more but managed to crack them a smidgen more before he got overwhelmed by the brightness of the overhead lighting.
"Last time I saw him, he was consoling Cally." The memory of thinking it was Lee the young Specialist was mourning was too fresh for him to elaborate on what he had walked into when he first got to Life Station.
The events of the day were taking their toll on his son as he saw Lee struggle to stay awake. "We did it, Dad. We brought her home – just like you asked."
"We can talk about that later, Lee." Adama felt his throat constrict. Forcing air to form words, he added, "Get some rest. I'll wake you up every half an hour."
Lee's head lolled to the side as whatever Ishnay had put into his system took effect.
Pulling up a chair, Adama settled down to take care of his son.
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It wasn't like last time.
She wasn't alone.
She was still with her father, she was still lying in her childhood bed in her childhood room – before her world irrevocably changed and before bad memories had begun to outweigh her better memories.
Her father had just tucked her in and, being the ever-restless Kara, she had to pull her arms out and trace abstract shapes with her fingernails on the tops of her covers. He was holding something and looking down at her with paternal patience shining in his eyes.
"What are you thinking, Kara?"
Snuggling down further into her covers and pillows and stilling her hand, she answered honestly. "I'm thinking that eternity's not going to be so bad knowing that I can think about Lee – and everyone else – forever and ever."
A soothing hand tucked a lock of hair behind her ear didn't hide the frown that pulled at the corners of her father's face.
"What? What's that look mean?"
He held out the vial in his hand for her to see clearly. "Do you know what this is, Kara?"
She shook her head.
"It's water from the River Styx. Do you know what that does?"
"It will make me forget." She still remembered what she learned as a girl, when she went to Temple and sat in on classes that the priestesses held. Scowling and toying with her sheet and blankets, she made it clear that she didn't like what her father was saying. "I don't want to forget. Can't I go without drinking that stuff?"
"No, you can't. The Gods have their reasons and this one is as good as any of them – especially for you. Forgetting your mortal life is a blessing from the Gods. As Chiron ferries you across the river, your life will melt away until it is gone altogether. You will step onto the Elysian Fields as the warrior you are and the woman that inherently resides within you, without being hobbled by the experiences that come with a lifetime of memories that bind a mortal soul. No pain, regret, fear or trepidation – nothing but peace, love and happiness. Don't look like that – it's not another version of Tartarus." He laughed at the face she pulled. "It's perfection. You will commune with the Gods and They, in turn, will seek you out. If They summon you, then you will have enough memories returned to you so that you can do what they want you to do."
"Like you, being with me, right now?"
"Yes, Kara. The Gods sent me to you because they knew you needed me. The same would hold true for you."
"So, that means I won't see you again?" That wasn't what she pictured eternity would be like.
"You will if the Gods deem it, Kara." His faith was absolute. The peace that radiated off of him was something she wanted for herself.
Holding out her hand, the smoothness of the vial made it roll effortlessly across her palm. Twirling the clear bottle, like she was expecting to read some sort of 'fine print' etched into the polished surface, she was still sceptical. "All I have to do is drink this and then I can go?"
"Yes." A reassuring look passed over his face which he shared readily with his daughter. "But remember Starbuck – you don't have to do anything you don't want to do."
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Hours had passed, marked only by rousing Lee at regular intervals. The hard chair he had been sitting in was making his muscles cramp. His back wasn't as young as it used to be.
Stretching and feeling his bones creak, he took one last look at Lee before going to look for Cottle. He wanted to know why so much time had passed without the Major, or Ishnay, coming back to check up on his son.
Emerging from Lee's room and identifying a lot of the bodies on motion, he didn't see Cottle, Ishnay, Jammer or Gunny. Personnel injured on the mood were still being tended too and there was a lot for Cottle's staff to do. He did see Helo and Cally. They were sitting side-by-side just outside the operating room. Aiming for them, he could see that the ECO and Specialist were each too caught up in their own thoughts to see him approach. Cups of water, long abandoned, rested on the floor at their feet. Their loyalty to Lee was touching.
"He's going to be okay." Two sets of eyes touched his face. "He's got a mild concussion, but nothing serious. Why don't you both go and get some rest?"
Cally's eyes widened in shock and Helo looked completely taken back. It was as if he had asked then to go for a space walk sans a space suit. Mentally shaking his head, he cleared his throat. "Have either one of you seen Cottle?"
Helo waved in the direction of the operating room. "He's still with Starbuck." Cally's nodding confirmed what Helo said.
"Starbuck's in there?" He didn't understand. As happy as he was to know that his daughter had been brought home, where she belongs, the same question buzzed in his ears repeatedly. Why would Cottle have a dead body in an operating room? Speculations that Cottle was harvesting her organs or that the doctor needed something from her body to help heal someone else chilled his own blood.
"Yeah – ever since we brought her in he's been with her." Cally muttered tiredly; frustration played out on her tear-stained face. "I wish he'd frakking tell us something – anything! It's been forever since they took her in there."
The thought that Cally was in some sort of post-traumatic shock frame-of-mind softened his features. Being as gentle as he knew how, he spoke quietly. "Cally, dead is dead. There's nothing they can do to bring her back."
"She's dead? How do you know? How's it that Cottle told you that she's dead and not us?" Cally's head turned in one direction and then another, looking at Helo and himself repetitively. "I swear – I've been sitting here for hours and I NEVER saw Cottle or Ishnay come out of those doors!"
"Cally – he hasn't seen Cottle. Remember?" Placing his hand on her arm, Adama watched as Helo calmed Cally down. "He was just looking for him." Realization that he didn't understand sparked in Agathon's eyes. "Cally – he doesn't know!"
"Know? Know what, Lieutenant?" He knew everything that happened on Galactica. Evidently, when it came to these two, Apollo and Starbuck, he was missing a few details.
"Sir – it's Starbuck. She's – well, she was before we brought her onboard – alive. Cottle's with her now, trying to keep her with us." Helo said. "Lee's responsible for getting her this far."
"Starbuck's responsible for making it possible for Apollo to get her this far," Cally clarified, levelling a pointed look at Helo.
Adama felt all the blood in his body rush to his feet. A strong hand cupping his elbow prevented anyone from seeing to just how close he was to toppling over.
Except – Agathon wasn't looking at Cally any more. Helo wasn't speaking to his commanding officer any more. Karl's eyes were fixated on 'the someone' who was still standing next to him and was letting go of his elbow.
"Sharon?"
Dressed in a hospital gown, her hair tousled and towing an intravenous drip flowing into her veins from a portable standee, Sharon Valerii added herself to the group. Behind her, 'covering' her, was Gunny.
"Oh Gods – are you okay?" Helo surged to his feet and held her for the first time since they all had returned from Kobol. A protective hand drifted to her lower stomach. "Is the baby alright?"
Returning his embrace, she spoke into his chest. "I will be, and the baby is fine. Cottle got me stabilized in time to prevent any damage and my silica pathways have already begun to repair themselves." Pulling away from his chest but keeping his arms around her, she looked at everyone in turn. "For the record, Starbuck is responsible for a lot of things, the least of which is getting me back here and being the reason why we all are still here."
"What do you mean, Sharon?" Helo asked.
About to pose the very same question he wanted answered, Adama heard the doors to the operating room swing open and close. It was Cottle. Reaching underneath his scrubs and patting himself down, searching for something, the doctor pulled out a cigarette, lit it, and breathed in a long drag. Snagging a metal bed-pan from a nearby cart and slowly exhaling blue smoke, he sighed before making his way over to where they were grouped together.
"Her heart is beating on its own and she's breathing on her own. Don't misunderstand me – she's in bad shape – there's a strong probability that she won't last another fifteen minutes, much less the night. And the worst part is that I can't do anything for her. The toxicology report came back with compounds that I couldn't begin to identify. Every time I reached for a syringe, I had to put it down because I had no idea how it would react to what was already in her system." Cottle's frustration was mirrored by how quickly he was sucking down his cigarette and tipping the ashes into the metal pan he carried. "Hell – I couldn't even operate. That woman has got to have some internal damage and I can't get in there to see what it is or set about trying to fix it."
"What's the plan?" Adama heard his own voice in his own ears but his heart, and his head, hadn't wrapped around the fact that Kara, his girl, was alive – ALIVE! – and lying in a hospital bed mere yards away.
"Nothing for it – for the time being – my hands are tied. All we can do is wait it out. Can't sedate her, can't give her antibiotics, and can't do anything until everything those frakking Cylons pumped into her systems have run their course or Starbuck's body processes them on her own and flushes them out. I took enough of a chance with her life injecting her with adrenaline." A spark of hope lit his eyes as he shifted his gaze to Sharon, "Unless you know something about what they did to her and what they gave her."
Hope died with a shake of Sharon's dark head. "I know what they did to her, but as for what they gave her, I have no idea beyond the fact that it was engineered to aid in the control of her body and her mind."
"Can I see her?" A seventh voice needed to know. It was Lee. His colour was better and he wasn't squinting as much but it was apparent to everyone that he was still a little out of it.
"No you can't see her." Cottle cut him off at the knees. Pre-empting Adama, Cottle stopped him before he could say the words. "And neither can you. Right now, she's passed-out, of her own accord. We went to set her ribs and sure enough, right when we turned her over, that's when I saw what you," he pointed to Lee, "were talking about. Who ever did that to her did it with a song in their heart and a maniacal spring to their step – she's been cut clear to the bone in some places."
"Why can't we see her, Doc?" Adama pressed. By the way Cottle was describing her condition, it seemed like sooner would be better.
"It's the only rest she's getting. If I could, I'd sedate her, or better yet, deliberately put her into a coma so that her body can heal. But that's not an option. So, I'm not about to have you all go traipsing in there and waking her up. She'll be doing that all by herself soon enough and when she does, depending on the level of infection that has set in – because, believe me, it will – her fever will be so high that it'll be all I can do to keep her hydrated and replenish the blood she lost. You wanna help? I'll tell ya what'll help. Pray that she lives through the next thirty minutes." Finishing his cigarette, he gave the bed-pan to a passing orderly. "And then beg the Gods for another hour, on the hour, every hour, after that."
Pointing at Helo, Cottle wagged his finger and made it clear he was talking about Sharon.
"Get her back to bed. She shouldn't even be up or on her feet." Turning to Adama, he added, "The same goes for you. Get your son back into his cubicle. He's gonna stay here for another six hours – for observation – then I'm gonna discharge him. You can come back pick him up then." Looking at Cally, he spoke more softly, "You did good work on that moon this morning – I saw what came in. If you ever decide to leave the deck crew, I've got a spot for you here. Also, I want you to spread the word that no one on my staff is going to allow anyone to get near Starbuck, so don't hassle me with requests to see her. Hell – if I had my way – no one would know she was back. It would make the security detail stationed outside my doors a moot point."
"What security detail?" Gunny asked.
"The one that I'm going to have to order because somebody, somewhere is going to try to get at her," Adama grumbled. "Which I'm going to do as soon as you," he looked deliberately at Lee, "follow the Major's orders."
Raising his voice slightly, Adama informed everyone what to expect. "Debriefing will take place in seven hours in the Conference Room. Everyone who is standing here is expected to be there, providing it doesn't conflict with the doctor's orders." Facing Gunny, he added, "You and your men will be debriefed by Colonel Tigh afterwards."
Doing as Cottle ordered, Helo led Sharon back to her bed. Adama tracked Lee with his eyes as his son ambled back to his cubicle. Cally rose and fell in-step with him as they both walked out of Life Station.
Pushing open the double doors proved Cottle right. A small crowd had started to gather. Jammer and an orderly could be heard trying to keep everyone out of sickbay.
Drawing himself up straighter, Bill slipped his father-face into his back pocket and became one-hundred percent Commander Adama. Making short work of the crowd with a promise of letting anyone who decided to linger have the privilege of hammering out dents in Galactica's hull, he headed to his office. Cally and Jammer split from him when the three of them came up on a junction that included an access corridor that led to the enlisted quarters.
Starbuck – Kara – was alive. That thought made his spine rigid and his expression hard. Knowing that she was onboard and that Cottle was fighting for her life made him feel more helpless than when she first gave herself up all those weeks ago. An external enemy he knew how to fight; an infection, something too small to see was an opponent he couldn't formulate a counter-measure. And whatever those bastards had done to her neutralized his only weapon against such an attack: Cottle.
Nodding, returning the salutes that his guards gave him as one of them pulled open the hatch to his quarters, he stepped through and didn't look behind him when the door clanked shut. There were things he had to do and people he had to call.
Oh Gods – how was he supposed to face her knowing that he had sent Sharon out, with the President's blessing, with explicit orders to kill her? There was no way not to tell her – the entire crew knew – she would find out eventually.
Irrational anger, directed at Roslin, welled up inside him. Picking up the phone and deliberately dialling a number that wasn't associated with Colonial One, he waited for the receiver to be picked up before dropping his 'bomb'.
"Saul – be prepared for some chop. Starbuck's back."
xxx……….bsg……….xxx
Standing, she pulled her arms off from around her father's neck and her shuffling feet gently kicked the empty vial and made it skid across the floor.
Stepping away from her father, Kara lifted her face to his and nodded her head. Behind her, the covers on her bed were rumpled, like she had a bad dream and thrashed in her sleep.
"Bye, Daddy; thank you." This was going to be the last time she saw him for a long time and she wanted to make it count.
Closing her eyes, she was ready when the blackness rushed up and consumed her.
Bsg……….Xxx……….Bsg
Groaning as Ishnay roused him again, he felt like the roof of his mouth had been glued together. Lifting his wrist, he looked down at his chronometer. Barely three hours, and six visits from a very diligent nurse, had passed since Cottle gave them the low-down on Kara condition. Scrubbing his face with his hands to bring some circulation to his skin, Lee sat up. The rest he had been able to get had done him some good. Whatever Ishnay had given him was starting to wear off, but at least everything he looked at wasn't slanting to the right.
Throwing his legs over the side of the bed and concocting a story that he 'needed some water', he deftly entered Cottle's access code on the security pad outside the good doctor's office. Slipping inside, there was no one in the small room. Helping himself to Cottle's chair, he started rummaging around his desk. A folded square of paper – with his name on it – caught his eye.
Spreading the corners revealed nearly unreadable handwriting scrawling out a nearly illegible note.
Captain Adama,
Even if you plot, plan, scheme or connive, you still can't see her.
If you get within ten feet of her, I will bust you down to mop-jockey.
Understand?
Get your ass back into bed and stay there.
Major Cottle.
Frustration had him picking up the nearest pen and chucking it across the room. Raking his scalp with his fingers, he flung himself out of the chair and yanked open the door to Cottle's office, not caring if anyone saw him leave.
Weaving his way through Life Station, he headed towards the back of the unit. Instinct led him to the same area Cottle had isolated his father after Boomer had shot the Old Man.
That's where he found her – in a 'clean room' where the walls were made with thick, heavy plastic and a ventilation pipe cycled purified air in and out of the cubicle. Eyes closed, her head was tilted to the side and she was arranged on her stomach. Ishnay was with her and was putting one of Kara's arms, which had been hanging down lifelessly, back onto her hospital bed. Walking around the 'room', he saw that Cottle had erected a tent around most of Kara's person.
Sterile sheets stretched from the very tops of her shoulders to just above the backs of her knees. It was high enough off her body to allow air to circulate, but close enough to keep anyone from seeing anything as he could tell that she was naked underneath the protective covering. He couldn't stamp down the shudder when he saw two intravenous ports, one carrying blood and the other carrying electrolytes, imbedded into separate veins in her neck. Cords trailing from the activated heart monitor were attached to sensor discs applied to the backs of her knees. Coming up on her other side was where the machines that normally kept someone out of Death's Reach stood silent and unused. Completing his circuit, he squatted down and planted his ass on the cold deck. Gauging the distance, he figured he was safe from Cottle's wrath. He was at least a good ten-and-a-half feet away from her and if need be, he would summon Ishnay to vouch for him as she gave him a smile of encouragement and slipped out of the room, carrying her clipboard with her.
Opening up his mind, he turned his thoughts over to the events of the day, as they were still fresh emblazoned in his memory. Re-creating the timeline he and Helo had fine-tuned over the past seven weeks in his head, he started working his way backwards methodically. Pieces came together and rational leaps of logic filled in a lot of the gaps. Clues such as Castor, Persephone, destiny and the workings of the universe were pulled apart, re-assembled, thrown out and cobbled together. It was a long time, long after his legs fell asleep, when he felt someone looking at him. Glancing up and around him, he expected to see Cottle giving him hell or, at the very least, Helo coming to get him for the debriefing.
It was none of the above.
It was a pair of pain-hazed green eyes, fixed on him, that sent his heart soaring.
It was Kara.
She had come back.
She winked at him – just before her eyes rolled shut and she collapsed into her face-rest.
Flicking his eyes back at the heart-monitoring equipment, he watched as her heart slowed, became slower and all but stopped before it started racing again. Comparing the number of beats to something he could wrap his head around, it matched what he did when he ran full-out around the ship. Except her respirations were those of someone sleeping. Her heart was working overtime as her breathing remained slow and ragged. Cottle wasn't exaggerating when he said that every minute she remained alive was a miracle. And this just one of her medical hurdles; the infection Cottle had promised that would set in hadn't gripped her yet. That was still to come.
She looked at him. She saw him. She knew that he saw her too.
Unfolding his legs, it was a couple of minutes before the feeling returned to his toes. Standing gingerly, he made his way over to the Nurse's Station and rummaged around until he found what he was looking for.
Going back to Kara, he took the cap off of the broad-tipped marker and wrote a message, making sure his letters were legible, backwards and just about at her eye-level so that she could read them without having to lift her head.
Done, he re-capped the marker and hurried away from Kara's room, passing Ishnay in the process.
Coming up on Captain Thrace and seeing that the pilot was still unconscious, chunky black letters caught her eye.
Gone to debriefing – be back soon. Lee
Shaking her head, she had to concede that the younger Adama was full of surprises.
For someone who didn't believe in the Gods, he had enough faith in Kara Thrace to build a bridge to Mount Olympus.