Pegasus' CIC was so quiet that Helo was tempted to ask Hoshi to join him in a game of triad so they wouldn't fall asleep. All the CAG, commander and XO paperwork was filled, the pilots were briefed and the whole ship was working correctly. Who would believe covering three important positions in a ship could be so boring, he thought. I suppose I earned the right to get an early lunch break.

"Hey Hoshi, I'm leaving for lunch," he told the communications officer. "Call me if I'm needed."

"Sure, Captain," the Lieutenant responded.

Before heading to the mess hall, Helo decided to drop by Kara's quarters in order to pay her a visit and check on her. Maybe he could hang in there for a few hours and justify it as a 'strategic discussion with both the commander and the CAG'. Not likely…

He didn't have to spend much time walking as the commander's quarters were in the same deck as the CIC. He knocked on the door and waited a few moments until Apollo opened the hatch.

"Oh," Lee mumbled in surprise, getting away from the door so he could come in. "You're here." Came right into the wolf's lair, he thought, considering the fact that Kara was not exactly happy that he had 'casually' mentioned James Thrace in a conversation…

"Yeah. Everything is fine in the CIC, so I thought I could drop by and say hi to Kara," Helo told him.

"Er… you might not want to do that…" Lee warned him. "You see, I was curious on what you said about Kara's dad yesterday, so I asked her about it. She's kind of pissed you even mentioned him."

Helo shrugged. He knew she would be mad… "Oh," he murmured slowly. "Did she at least answer your questions?"

"Yeah, she told me everything," Apollo informed him. "She was really messed up by the accident, wasn't she?" he asked in a lower voice.

He nodded in agreement. "I hardly recognized her in the first months after it…" The XO smiled inside because Kara had allowed herself to open up to Lee, almost forgetting she was even mad at him. Apollo was good for her… He took a deep breath. "I'll just face her now and get over with it."

Lee snorted and patted his back. "You're a brave guy and, someday, that's gonna get you killed, just pray that doesn't happen today…"

Helo gulped audibly before going to the room. The door was already opened, so he just came in. Kara was sitting in the bed, seemingly reading a book. He knocked on the wall in order to let her know he was there. She glanced at him for a moment but immediately returned her attention to the book she was reading, not saying a word or even acknowledging his presence, which Helo found extremely odd. He was expecting yelling, maybe something thrown to his head. Instead, she just ignored him. This can't be good, he thought. Maybe she was preparing some kind of surprise strike; maybe she had a gun behind the covers and would shoot him in a matter of seconds. She wouldn't take things that far… he considered. He finally accepted the fact that she was simply using her childhood weapon towards him. Very mature, Kara, he said in his head.

"You're giving me silent treatment, aren't you?" Helo questioned, almost in a joking tone. He hated to be ignored when he was a kid, probably because of having to share his parents with four sisters. So, every time Kara was mad at him, when they were kids, she would give him silent treatment for a few days which completely drove him crazy. "The last time you did that was when you were fifteen and I made you wear a dress for like a week 'cause you had lost a bet."

Kara finally closed the book and put it down, shooting him a deathly glare. "I've spent the last few hours thinking of several ways to kill you. Half of them are so cruel that I wouldn't even apply to my dog," she told him with a completely unreadable expression in her face. "It was kind of entertaining, you know? I should picture your death more often."

"I bet you should," Helo murmured nervously. Yep, she is pissed, he concluded. She was in the passive-aggressive phase, which tented to evolve to a solely aggressive one…

She sighed and was silent for a few moments. "Why did you tell Lee about my dad?" she asked in a low tone.

"I just mentioned him, Kara," he corrected her. "It's not like I spilled everything."

"Still," she insisted. "Why didn't trust me to tell him by myself?" The truth was that it was not the fact the he had mentioned her father that bugged her per se. What really pissed her off was that maybe he believed that she wouldn't tell Lee anything by her own choice…

"Oh, I knew you would tell him, eventually," Helo assured her. "The thing is, 'eventually' could be too far from now and Lee needs to understand why you are like you are. What happened to James explains a lot about you. Maybe tomorrow, next week or a month from now you could have another fight with Apollo because of your issues and he needs to understand your reactions or someday you'd push him away for good and without an explanation. I'd rather you were mad at me now, than suffering because he's gone."

Great, Kara thought. He is right again. She wasn't sure if she should hug him or punch him. The truth was, the bastard was the best friend one could have and she was lucky to have him. However, sometimes she felt like strangling him just because he was always looking out for her… "Come here," she told her friend. He raised an eyebrow, half fearing for his own well-being. Helo finally took a few steps in her direction and sat on the edge of the bed. She immediately hit him in the back of the head. "Next time you want to play the shrink, tell me first, you hear me, jackass? If you don't, believe me, there will be a blood show."

"Ouch, that hurt, Kara," he mumbled, scratching the spot where she had hit him.

"Oh, and about that dress thing when I was fifteen," she started, remembering that extremely embarrassing situation. "I trashed the pyramid locker-room and framed you for that as payback." It felt incredibly good to see his face shift to a shocked expression.

"I got one month of detention!" Karl shouted in disbelief. "I can't believe you did that! It was just a dress!"

"Never mess with Kara Thrace and expect to get away with it," she told him, now grinning.

Someone knocked on the doorway before Helo could reply. "Wow, my XO is still alive," Lee said as he entered the room, faking a surprised tone. He knew Kara would never hurt Helo; the man would always be able to convince her to spare his life. "I wondered why I wasn't hearing the sound of somebody being beaten up…"

"I'll cut him some slack this time," Kara declared. She just couldn't bring herself to kick his ass, considering his good intentions. "He won't be so lucky if he does this again," she stated, glaring at him.

"I'm the one who should be mad!" Helo said, trying to sound outraged. Actually, he felt more like laughing than yelling. Of course, he wouldn't feel the same if she had confessed her doing five or so years ago. "I can't believe you framed me for trashing the locker-room! My mum was so pissed at me! My arms were never the same after she put on dish-washing duties for months."

"What did Kara do?" Lee asked confused. Helo's mother was dead, how could she be mad?

"I played a little vendetta on him back in high school," Kara explained. "I'll tell you about it later." She turned to Helo. "Get over it. Served you good for making me wear a ridiculous dress. Now, go away and do your job. I'm sick of looking at your ugly face," she bantered.

He glared at his friend. "Unbelievable," he murmured, half-laughing. "You are a pest, Kara Thrace; there's no other way to put it."

"Well, you're an ass, so I guess we're even," she said, grinning.

He left still shaking his head in disbelief.

"Wow, you're capable of clemency," Lee murmured to her. "I was already thinking of how to dispose the body without anybody knowing."

"I concluded that without Karl there would be nobody to handle all my crap when you're busy," she said. Helo and Lee were the only two people who she was willing to open up to these days. Not even the old man was that high in her trust, as much as she liked him. "He is pushy and is always butting in my life, but he has good intentions and things tend to turn out alright when he's around."

Lee smiled. "So, what's that story about a dress and a locker room?" He asked as he sat next to Kara in the bed. He had a feeling that he would get a god bunch of laughs from that incident.

She pulled his closer to her, so their lips were almost touching. "Tell you what, why don't you ask me after?" she suggested in a seductive tone.

"After what?" he inquired with a gulp.

"After you frak me senselessly," she stated, finally joining their lips. These antibiotics and to come directly from the hands of the gods – they were definitely miracle workers…

"Kara, you have pneumonia," he reminded her after breaking the kiss.

"Don't worry, I won't get short-breath," she assured him, pulling him to another kiss

"Are you sure? You didn't seem so good yesterday," Lee asked, pulling away again. The last thing he wanted right now was for her to get worse because of him.

"Lee, I said I'm fine. Don't make me hurt you," Kara said, shooting him a glare. She was horny, she was almost pleading… Couldn't the frakker just enjoy the moment?!

Lee smiled. "Alright, if you insist…"

"Thank gods," she whispered and they let themselves sink in the moment, regardless of whatever could be going on in the universe that surrounded them.

Yep, antibiotics were real miracle workers…

A/N: So, you must have noticed that my updates are slowing down... Well, my time is kind of limited these days but I'm doing all I can to post at least once a week. However, tomorrow I have a little time off and I'll start with next chapter, so, hopefully, you won't have to wait long. I am hoping things will slow down in the next weeks, when this new college experience starts to sink in. Next chapter, I will skip a few weeks, so no more sick Kara for now.