A/N: This chapter is dedicated to JediShaylaSora, MarshMelloh and Darkfinder whom gave encouraging reviews. Apologies for taking too long to update.

Dr. Cottle let out a sigh. Choosing his words carefully when breaking the news of how a loved one was doing was part of his job. This was something he had done a lot of over the years, but somehow this was different.

Lieutenant Thrace was staring at him like the faces of many he had looked at before. And although this was the case, something else was at play. He couldn't brush off the words Commander Adama had told him moments ago; choose your words carefully.

And that was his intention.

Dr. Cottle gestured for the Lieutenant to take a seat, to which she obliged without hesitation. Something he took to be a good sign.

"She will be okay Lieutenant," he said softly as he moved to listen to the specialist's heartbeat, "nothing a good bout of bed rest and treatment by yours truly couldn't fix" he added for good measure. This thankfully worked out in his favour as Kara gave him a small tight lipped smile. After a few short moments he turned to Cally, "your heartbeat sounds stable and your body seems to be on the mend. Do your best not to cause yourself any pain" he said before adding to Kara; "don't make her laugh too hard, and page me if she needs anything".

And with that he made a swift exit.

Shifting towards the Lieutenant, Cally looked to be momentarily in pain. This made Kara panic. She was at her side in an instant.

"Cally?" she inquired in panic as she jumped to her feet and moved closer to the bed. "What's wrong? Are you hurt?" she continued.

The Lieutenant dismissed any thoughts of her unusual behaviour as soon as they came to her mind. She normally didn't act like a panicked mother hen. But circumstances changed things, changed Kara.

"Little bit of pain I wasn't expecting," Cally informed her before taking hold of her hand and giving it a small squeeze of reassurance. "I'll be fine Lieutenant" she offered hoping that this would give both of them a sense of ease.

Kara could feel the earlier shout of adrenaline and panic start to fade away as she looked into Cally's reassuring eyes.

"Thank the gods" she mumbled, pulling the chair closer to the bed whilst never letting Call's hand go. "You do know that the Doc may very well kill me in my sleep if you hurt yourself so soon after him leaving the room, don't you?"

Letting out a small giggle Cally gave a small nod. "It crossed my mind"

Chuckling at the specialists humour, Kara found herself to be quite content despite their surroundings. "I'm glad your okay then"

Seeing a cloud of unease wash over Kara's features, Cally decided to ask what was wrong with her friend. "Kara? What's on your mind?"

"You"

The one word was out her mouth before she could register the question. And after it was out she couldn't take it back. Not that she would want to if she really thought about it. No this was the truth.

Fighting off a blush Cally asked; "and that made you worry and look sad all of a sudden?".

"No, no of course not" Kara attempted to reassure her friend, giving her hand a squeeze, to which made Cally looked to be more okay with the situation. Looking at their joint hands, Kara knew she should spill the confusing and questioning thoughts running around in her mind. "I was just wondering how this got out of hand"

"I thought you would have been debriefed about everything" Cally mused aloud.

"They did," Kara informed. "Doesn't provide the best answers tho"

She looked sullen. Afraid of the exact answers she had questions to. And this tore Cally apart. She hadn't meant for Kara to worry even though in hindsight she knew she would.

Briefly taken out of the moment Cally thought of all the times the Lieutenant had rushed to her aid. Had looked like she wanted to take apart something to defend Cally's honour. She was basically her personal knight and shining armour.

The first time Kara had attempted to defend Cally's honour was in the cargo-bay as they worked on the Lieutenant's viper.

The were all alone at this late hour, not that either minded much until the exquisite flying vehicle had just expelled a puff of black dust in Cally's directing as she went to lessen a bolt on the exhaust.

Cally had been completely in shock. This had never happened before, and why on caprica did it had to happen in front of her crush? She was completely sure of herself when she assumed that Kara would laugh at her when she came round the back to see what had happened. To yell at her or something.

That was not the case tho. Kara had simply come round to where Cally had been sitting and looked down at the still shocked brunette.

Once bending down, close enough to see what the specialist had done to cause such as effect, Kara hit it with the spanner she was holding.

Cally didn't know what surprised her even more at that point. Kara loved her viper more than anything or anyone. Everyone knew that. They knew not to touch her viper, only a few were even allowed to work on it. Cally was one of the special few.

But she did. And it wasn't a small tap, a sentiment that one would normally reserve for a child when they touched something they shouldn't have. Nope, this was different. This was Kara hitting her beloved viper for doing something it shouldn't have. In some other universe Cally would have compared this to someone hitting a troll with a baseball bat because it made a pass at the damsel in distress. But that's what it looked like.

"Bad" Kara had scolded as she grunted at the viper. After a few seconds, Kara had simply gotten up from the ground and resumed her previous task.

The second time made Cally giggle aloud whilst Kara gave her a confused look.