Hi all. Sorry, been without my beloved PC for a little while. Muse has kept going, just getting it all typed up.

Please keep on reviewing, does my twisted little heart good. ;-)

GBrit

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Hours later Saul was sitting by her bedside, freshly showered and treated, white bandages peaking out below his cuffs, steri strips holding a nasty wound on his forehead closed and dark bruising running down his cheek. But, all in all he looked a picture of health compared to Kara, swathed in bandages and plaster, exposed skin mostly mottled in shades of yellow, black and purple. As he sat and held her hand he took simple pleasure in just watching her chest rise and fall as she breathed, for a few moments back in that hellhole he thought he'd lost her. Tears springing to his eyes as he remembered the helplessness paralyse him as she lay crumpled and fighting for breath.

He shook his head, pushing the nightmare vision to the back of his mind, once more concentrating on the fact they had both made it. But at what price, he knew he'd never be the same, that he'd look at her and not always be able see the invincible Starbuck, he knew there would be times when despite whatever front she was bound to put up, he'd still see be able to see her on her knees, naked, bleeding, crying, begging them to stop, to just kill her. He couldn't shake it and he hated them for it, for knowing that they had won on that score at least, they had broken her.

His other hand swiped at the tears he suddenly found leaking from his traitorous eyes, his anger turning from the Cylons to himself, his failure to stop them, his guilt at her suffering just kept eating away at him until he couldn't see past the rage. The instrument tray went flying across the room as he launched his fist at it, the crashing sound bringing the Doc rushing into the room. Yet still she slept on, sedated for her own good according to Cottle.

"Sorry Doc, didn't mean to alarm you". He slumped back into the chair, taking her hand once more, not making eye contact with Cottle at all.

Cottle took in the scene, righted the tray then pulled up a chair on the opposite side of her bed. Her right arm in a cast lay in front of him and he found himself gently stroking her shoulder, the contact assuring him she was just sedated. After a quiet moment he looked directly at Saul,

"Want to tell me happened Colonel?". Saul's eyes immediately raised, the panic in them quickly subsiding as Doc continued, "I've seen everything Saul" he gestured at Kara "you need to tell someone, you need to let this out. Tell me what happened Saul, so I can help her. And you."

A deep sigh, "Where do I start Doc?"

Cottle steeled himself, unsure he wanted to hear this, but knowing it was killing Saul. He took a deep breath and settled in for however long was needed.

"How bout you start at the beginning."

Saul kept his eyes on Kara's sleeping face as he began, "They caught me first, I was trying to help her lead them away and instead ran straight into one of the damn Boomer's, frakking strong for such a small thing, had me flat out on my back with a gun at my face before I knew what was going on. Next thing I knew they're yelling at Starbuck to stop or they'd shoot"

2 months earlier

"You better come out Starbuck or the Colonel here is gonna be missing his face. Throw out your weapon, put your hands up and get out here. You've got 5 seconds. One…." The Boomer model standing over Tigh continued to count slowly, steadily "Two…..Three…."

"Don't you dare Starbu…" Tigh's attempt at warning her off earned him a rifle butt to the head, dazing him.

"Four…." A rifle clattered to the ground directly in front of Boomer. An annoyed shout followed it,

"OK, leave him alone, I'm coming out." Starbuck was true to her word, hands raised above her head as she stepped out into the open, her eyes immediately meeting Tigh's, annoyance and relief mixed as she saw he was ok. "Let him go, I've done what you wanted, now let him go"

A voice behind her dashed her hopes.

"I don't think so Starbuck, two for the price of one, we cant argue with that". Leobon stood behind her, smirking as she started to turn to face him, his fist unleashing across her face before she had time to react sending her to the ground.

Tigh watched from his prone position as the blond cylon advanced on Starbuck as she rose to her knees, the cylon's leg lifting high then stamping down on her shoulder blades, driving her back to the ground and robbing her of breath before wrenching her arms behind her and cuffing them together. Tigh had attempted to go to her aid, instead he found himself in the same position with Boomer restraining him.

"Damnit, let me up. Starbuck, you ok?" His voice was gruff with concern, he hadn't seen Starbuck get beaten down so easily, ever. His only reply was her pained cough as she tried to pull air back into her lungs. Within seconds they faced each other, kneeling twenty feet apart, with Cylons at their backs. Evidently Kara had found her voice, frustration clear in her tone.

"You should have left Colonel."

Leobon grabbed a handful of hair and yanked her head back painfully, his gaze over her head to Saul.

"Yes Colonel, you should have left, really, you're not going to like what happens next." With that he pulled Kara to her feet by her hair before spinning her to face him, a crushing grip on her upper arms holding her in place as he took in the poorly masked fear in her eyes. "And you Starbuck, I've been waiting to get my hands on you for so long. Now its my turn to be the inquisitor. What do you think, you ready for some role reversal little girl?"

He read her move before she even made it, as her knee shot up towards his groin he blocked it with his leg, her retort dying on her lips as he drove his knee up into her groin, he knew that it was an effective move on male or female opposition, his theory proved as she couldn't help a pained yelp as she bent double. He let her go and as she dropped to the floor his knee slammed once more into her face, her body thrown onto her back with the force, blood starting to gush from her nose as she landed on her pinioned arms.

Tigh was incensed, his attempts to get to her thwarted by the unfeasibly strong Boomer model holding him in place so he could only watch as Leobon straddled the dazed pilot, dropping to sit on her legs, leaning down to whisper something in her ear before once more yanking her up onto her knees. Tigh could see a shadow of fear in her eyes that hadn't been there five minutes ago.

The last thing he saw was the blood staining her tanks a deep red before a rough hood was pulled over his head and drawn around his throat. The sudden loss of vision had totally disoriented him and he wavered as he was pulled upright and pushed forwards. Not being able to see in front of him and not having hands free to feel the way was such a new, frightening concept and he couldn't help but take smaller steps to compensate. But, the cylons were evidently in a hurry to leave and so he found himself pulled along faster and faster, up some steps and then he was pitched forward. Off balance he found himself landing face down on something soft, though as he recognised the pained "oof" he realised he'd landed on Starbuck.

Before he had a chance to move he heard the slam of metal doors before the ground moved causing him to once again topple forward onto Starbuck. Simultaneously he realised they were in a vehicle of some sort and that he really, really needed to get off her. Rolling over sideways he hit hard flooring, and the side of the vehicle.

Deciding to stay still and get his bearing he heard laboured breathing next to him. "You ok Starbuck? Sorry 'bout that landing there."

He heard her chuckle, a strange sound given their predicament, but so totally Starbuck. "You're supposed to fall at my feet Colonel, not on me".

He found himself smiling, realised she couldn't see him though, a thought occurred to him.

"You got a hood as well?"

"Yeah, motherfrakkers. Are you ok Colonel?" He thought he heard genuine compassion.

"I asked first Major, how's your head".

There was a pause as he heard her moving around, "I've had worse. We need to get out of here Colonel. I mean, like now. I'm gonna…" Tigh was frustrated at not being able to see when he heard her get cut-off before he heard a hollow thud. He had no more time to ponder exactly which part of her had been hit this time when he found out as his own head was shoved hard into the van side behind him. His grip on unconsciousness faded into blackness.

Present day

Tigh had paused in his recitation. He looked away from Kara's face for the first time, glanced up at Doc, a wry smile flitted across his sombre features.

"I guess that was the easy part. Didn't seem it at the time, you know. But, looking back, it was nothing. Next time I woke up they started on the rough stuff."

Doc handed him a glass of water, settled back into his chair, recommenced touching her shoulder then watched as Saul got sucked back down into his memories.