Hey guys, thank you so much for reading my story. I hope you like chapter 7. We do a couple days time skip because there wasn't much else to talk about when Kara was out for the count just in case anyone was wondering. And I would also like to say thank you for the comments submitted to the story, it makes me smile,

Chapter Seven-

Kara-

When she woke up she felt warm. She could honestly say she felt safe, secure, and comfortable. Far more comfortable than she had in a very long time. It felt safe here, the mattress soft below her body and the covers not scratchy like the ones in her rack or cot with Sam, who did help make up for it. The kind of sheets she'd never be able to afford on her salary before the attacks unless she was willing to scrap a month's paycheck just for the pillowcases.

She fitfully dozed between wakefulness and a nap, not true sleep but not true wakefulness either. She was somewhere in-between, that place where reality hasn't crashed in and totally burst your happy bubble, and it felt really really nice. Not to worry or be under the stress she'd been under lately, why had she been stressing out lately anyways, it wasn't because Sam was sick, no he had started to get better there had to be another reason.

Problem was Kara couldn't recall it right now though to be honest she selfishly wanted the ignorance as long as she could have it. It stood on the edge of her mind, hovering like a black cloud or the way humidity did right before a thunder storm back on Caprica. She decided not to pay any attention to it, choosing to ignore it for right now. The most logical idea that she could have ended up somewhere so nice was she was dreaming. Her mind had dreamt this place up because no way were there was any kind of mattress or sheets this nice left in the entire fracking galaxy.

She may not know much about how the human mind worked, but she knew it conjured things up under extreme stress or when it would sometimes choose to ignore reality, it was why her imaginary friend named Jacob had come into existence and not been dropped until she was 10. She had always had a rather vivid imagination. So when you put two and two together, she was dreaming because it was a much nicer alternative to whatever the worry, the anxiety, the fear over what was going on that she couldn't quite recall.

It may be the coward's way she thought, going into a dream like this, but Kara reasoned if she was a prisoner somewhere than surely she would be in a cell, or knowing what they had tried last time, a hospital bed. Surely she would wake up there, not a real bed, with a very nice mattress, soft sheets and whatnot, prisons didn't have that stuff. Or if she was not a prisoner at all she would wake up with Sam, back in their tent on that cot that sometimes barely deserved the name, with old blankets pulled around them and the gentle murmur of people nearby.

She grudgingly decided it was time to take in her dream room, so she hopped out of bed and her hands instantly reached out and clung to the bed-post for support. She was a bit shaky on her feet for some weird reason. It had not happened in a very long time. Kara wasn't quite sure why she was so shaky, but she gripped the steel bar, a plain slab of metal made up the headboard.

Slowly she took stock of the bedroom place, and the first thing she noted was the muted colors. Soft grays and blues mainly, sometimes there was a splash of vibrant colors but not really. Her imagination must not have been so imaginative after all she reasoned. It looked like one of those fancy apartment places one of her co-workers had always been looking at in some house decor magazine.

The room was a fairly decent size, with a door leading out and two sliding doors, side by side, presumably a his and her closet. It was exactly like her apartment with Zak. Only the colors were different. But it was still the same shape of the room, same size, the furniture was where it had been arranged. The only difference was the colors, and it was a great deal fancier than the stuff she had.

The bedspread was a soft blue gray like color and the sheets were cream white. The headboard was some kind of silver metal that had been polished till it shone. The nightstand was some dark wood color, with a good sized drawer and metal legs, again the same metal silver color, and again polished till it shone. There was a nightstand on each side of the bed.

.

The carpet was soft below her feet, another light blue and felt very cushiony. Kara had no idea how her mind had dreamt up this place, she'd never been near luxury like this, as a kid her mom could barely afford the clothes on her back because she drank so much and pilots and instructors never made a huge amount anyways, but this, this was like pent house comfy or what she imagined it'd be like. You know, if pent houses and stuff still existed anyways.

She was still in her clothes from the other day when she'd been doing something, something very important. It hovered on the edge of her memory but she couldn't remember it either, not right now. Her combat boots, as if she would wear or want to wear any other kind, lay at the foot of the bed with a fresh pair of socks. There was a painting on the wall that consisted of dark blues, seemed to fit with the rest of the theme. There were navy curtains as well, the painting was an array of dark blue colors and shapes and Starbuck wonders where she'd seen it before. It, like whatever else she was trying to remember, hovers at the edge of her mind, and she pushes and pushes for it to come into focus.

Than it clicks, she's seen it before because she painted it. She remembers that night vividly. She just came back from Zak's funeral, and had been so sad, and angry at herself and depressed. She'd thought his old man was nice for offering her a spot on Galactica, but it was the only bright spot there had been, she just wanted to forget. Forget the pain of seeing the casket lowered, the only person to ever love Kara Thrace going into the ground.

So out had come that painting, created under the effects of grief, pain at the knowledge she'd killed the only man who loved her and lots and lots of ambrosia.

Blinking away a tear that had come up suddenly after staring at the painting for a full five minutes, she decided to see what the closets held before she ventured outside, she wasn't sure if she wanted to know what her mind had decided to conjure up to be outside just yet. Maybe it was what hovered on the edge of her mind, waiting to be recognized, and spring the truth on her in a terrible fashion.

Kara being Kara and wanting to avoid as much pain as possible, a lesson that stuck with her from early on, she could take pain but never wanted it, never craved it, opted to stay and explore her supposed mental fantasy.

She slid back the door to the closet that had been hers and was shocked at how much it resembled to the one she had remembered from Caprica. Clothes hung up in the same way, even her little forest green dress she'd planned to wear to her student pilots' graduation ceremony she ended up not going to because of Zak's death.

Shoes lined up the shoe rack on the floor, the one fancy pair she had gotten for that evening and the rest an assortment of running shoes, comfort not pretty kind of shoes. Some she knew and some she didn't. There was a dresser too which had drawers she cautiously opened in case something might sprang out on her. Socks, feminine stuff she had always kept in the bottom drawer was there, some shirts and things she would sleep in at night. All there, folded up nice and neat.

A part of her was getting unnerved but another part wondered when she was going to have to wake up. But something bad was coming, or was already here, she could feel it, she just couldn't remember what it was.

A box on the floor caught her attention and she bent down and carefully picked it up, settling down on the floor with her legs crossed and flipped through the contents of the box. Photos of her and her Dad, a picture of her parents, looking happy and the way people should be remembered, her and Zak, lots of pictures of her and Zak, her leaving the academy, her father's music stuff, note sheets, little notes Zak gave her.

Some of her art was in the box too, paintings she had done, some with the mandala she liked to draw as a kid. A whole bunch of stuff that was personal to her, some of her mom's stuff, all kinds of pictures, art, little mementos she'd saved over the years.

It was a trip down memory lane; she wasn't sure how long she sat in the closet she thought her mind had dreamt up, going over the things she used to have. After a while she put them all back and shut the lid.

Of all the dreams I've had, this is by far the most realistic, she thought to herself. Kara still thought the entire place was a dream, not real by any means, just a nice place thought up by her mind. A distraction of sorts to keep her from facing the real problem. Whatever that problem may be.

Kara stepped out of the closet and walked over to the next one, not sure what she was supposed to find. After Zak had died she left his closet totally alone, she never went in there, it was left like it had been when he'd left that morning. Waiting for him to come back.

Starbuck pulled the sliding door back, caution be damned, and looked in at what she had come across beyond the door.

It was a man's closet, that much was obvious to anyone. Not Zak's stuff though, it was someone else's stuff. For the first time her mind began to consider the possibility it wasn't a dream. That she actually was awake and this was not some fabrication of her sub-conscious while she was asleep. But how was that right, if she was awake she'd been in her tent with Sam. Right?

She carefully picked through everything, much more careful as though anything could explode the second she touched it. She carefully moved through the articles of clothing until she came to one in the back, and fell back into the doorway in shock, her mind dredging up bad memories of the shirt and the man, the thing that had worn it. It was the exact same shirt Leoben had worn when she'd tortured him.

How likely was it her mind was playing tricks on her? It all felt real, and to be honest with herself she would have dreamt up something different, so maybe it was real? The idea made her sick to her stomach, Leoben again. Leoben who knew all about her mom with no one telling him. Leoben and his one true God. Leoben and his special destiny and the idea she was special. Leoben the cylon.

The fog on the edge of her mind lifted, finally, and she remembered everything, the invasion, the basestar, the tree, and than the rest is black. Just black, she doesn't remember anything beyond that point. Surely she would have woken up, or remembered a piece of what happened next?

The easy answer was she, of course, had been drugged, but that did not explain her current location. Where was she if this was real and not a weird place her mind dreamed up or something? Where was everyone else? Where was the rest of the people who'd been out there, Jean, Chief, Jammer, where were they?

Kara quickly backed out of the closet, and back into the bedroom. She looked at the table against the wall with a vase on it and tried to pick the vase up. It was, upon closer inspection, nailed to the table. Nailed. She than tried the table all with no luck, it was nailed to the floor.

That this was 'just a dream' theory looked more and more discredited, after all, if this was a nightmare she would have woken up by now, besides, her nightmares did not included being in a nice bedroom all by herself. No, this was real and it made terrifying sense. It had to be real, but the big question was why?

What was the purpose of being here? Starbuck couldn't see one? Why kidnap her and then stick her in a very nice place to sleep? There was a bigger picture here, but there was nothing in this room she could do to find it out.

So all that was left was to go out the other door and face whatever was on the other side. No backing down and no looking back; that was what she did right? When she left to return to Caprica, when she left Lee that night, survivor's choice, make a choice and don't look back. One of the few things she could say Tigh had honestly helped her out with.

Her hand gripped the door handle, she felt more alive than she had in a long time. It was odd, the threat of her worst fears beyond that door and yet, she was oddly glad about it. She was a soldier, and no amount of time playing civilian could take that away, and she felt like a soldier again. It was a twisted thing, and yet.

She began to plan, unknown enemy force, no weaponry, except the knife in my boot but I'm going to save that, she decided, for when she really needed it. It was a small knife, not very large as fighting knives could go, and maybe her enemy didn't know it was there. So it made sense to save the advantage, if they wanted her dead they would have killed her already right?

Slowly, she turned the door handle, green eyes searching for anything that was going to attack her. But what she saw, she didn't expect. She didn't expect at all.

Leoben-

Three days now. Three days tonight from the time he had shot a tranquilizer dart into her leg and she fell out of the tree. Less than five hours from when she was taken from the basestar and moved down here into their apartment.

Fifteen minutes past the time Simon predicted her to wake up. Leoben knew very well that she may have decided to do some exploring first, he was not going to sit and watch her until she woke up, no, he had decided that would bother her far too much. Or Simon was just wrong about something. It was best to let her sleep and wait until she came around naturally.

The waiting however made him antsy. It was minutes away from when he would get to see her again, he had waited a very long time for her, but it never had seemed like more waiting until now. The anticipation was hardly bearable. The clock on the wall making a soft sound as it counted out the seconds never seemed louder.

Despite the apartment have been able to be ready a day ago, there were certain things he needed to modify, such as the iron barred door in the apartment hallway, no other model had that, no other model needed to. Next there was the business of nailing down all furniture so she could not hurt him, or more importantly herself with it. Make sure anything sharp was in a drawer or something of the like was locked away, and it went by fingerprint lock, and needed a pulse from said fingerprint to open it.

Leoben had no doubt should she want to try and kill him she would find a way to do it, she was very resourceful, she had been the one that used a downed Cylon raider to get herself off a moon and back to Galactica after all. There had to be a whole bunch of other things she had done that God had chosen not to reveal to him. One thing was for sure, she would be able to turn ordinary things into weapons.

He sat in a chair that faced the bed room door, and he just sat, waiting for her in a dark colored polo shirt, that was what they were called right, he'd never been one for understanding human fashion, and a book in his hands. Trying to read, only he wasn't really reading, it was more of busy work to keep himself from crossing the room and yanking the door open to see that she was still breathing.

He fitfully returned to his book on psychology, the book being rather fascinating but now was not the time, when he glanced up for the millionth time in however many minutes, the knob looked different. As in someone was on the other side holding it.

Leoben bated his breath and he pretended to still be reading, all the while his light blue eyes glued to the silver handle. It seemed to take a lifetime to turn, and the door slowly slid open, revealing what he had waited for.

Kara was awake, the clothes she had worn for the basestar mission slightly ruffled but in the end they looked fine. A pair of dark colored cargo pants, with their pockets emptied, a black jacket over her black tank, her hair was much longer than he had remembered it, falling to her shoulders in a wonderfully messy way he had instantly liked on her. It fit her, she was more beautiful than he had remembered, and his eyes took in the sight of her, starved from not seeing her awake for so long. You could look at her asleep, but she looked so much more alive awake. It was in Leoben's view a breath-taking effect of her's.

He slowly put the book away, marking his page and putting it cover down and looked her back in the beautiful green eyes. They narrowed at him and he could guess what was going through her mind. But nothing could be farther from the truth, the thought process being he would hurt her, the truth being he loved her.

"Did you sleep alright?" he asks and the question seemed to throw her off her guard. Within milliseconds she fixed it, her expression remaining neutral. She shook her head yes, not trusting herself to speak until she found out whatever it was she wanted to know.

"That's good," he answered, more than happy to fill in the gaps into conversation, she would talk to him eventually, she would have to, She had Starbuck in her, and she was a person who couldn't be ignored. As for Kara, she had been ignored far too much, Leoben would never ignore her either.

"Are you hungry?" he asked her, blue eyes locking on the green ones before she looked away, and didn't answer him. Not a shake of the head or anything, just plain out refusal to acknowledge him.

Leoben was not daunted by her behavior, he knew it would be hard; He replaced the book on the coffee table and walked into the kitchen area, opening up a few cupboards thinking about what to get her to eat. Kara didn't have any food allergies which was good as he didn't not want to bring up any memories of what his idiot brother Simon and a Six named Ashley did on Caprica, bringing her because of a food allergy would not bode well. He settled on cheese and crackers, surely she would eat that.

As he set to work cutting up the block of cheese into smaller squares she slowly began to walk around the apartment, going from the place she had stood as she mulled over the information of where she was, he noticed her trying a vase on the table in the foyer, and he watched her expression change slightly as she realized it was nailed down. It was clear she thought she was a prisoner, but that wasn't true. She was being kept her for her own protection, from cylons, and other humans. Out there she could get hurt and would anger many cylons for sure, this was safe, she was with him and safe.

When he was all done cutting up the cheddar he carefully washed the knife and replaced it back into the drawer. He could sense her watching out of the corner of his eyes but did not look up. Nope he was going to keep up this act of this was perfectly normal. He did not want her to hurt herself with a knife, and being in a new place and her talent for being unpredictable meant he was not taking any chances. Replacing the knife back into the drawer he reached into a cupboard and pulled out a box of crackers.

Setting some of them on the plate with the cheese he walked over to another cabinet and pulled out two glasses. He filled both with fresh clean water, and set one at each chair at the table. After he sit them on the glass surface he walked back to the kitchen where Leoben picked up the plate of cheese and the crackers and set them down at her place at the table, and sat in the chair at the other side.

For a long while neither of them did much of anything, he just sat there, sipping his glass of water, watching her and thinking while she went from room to room. She did not understand what was going on and the knowledge she would either wait to find out through observation, which he doubted as she was highly curious or would ask him eventually was a reoccurring though in his mind.

After five minutes, his patience was rewarded. Her bare feet padded across the room and she carefully eased the chair out to sit on it, as though it might shock her or he would throw the table again. Throwing the table had been an act of showing off to her, she had not understood what he could do, and if he was really being honest, he just wanted an excuse to touch her. He would have killed the small chance of them ever being together had he kissed her or anything of the kind so he went for her throat. He had kept some pressure on it, but not enough to cause damage, nowhere near enough to chock and they both had known it. Just enough to hold her in place, feel her soft skin under his hand until he was yanked backwards by that guard fellow.

Her eyes weren't looking at him; instead they were on the food in front of her. He knew she must be hungry, after a while of not eating and sleeping for so long, drugged or not, anyone would be hungry. Human or cylon didn't matter. He guessed at what she was thinking, was it poisoned, drugged, have some kind of drug in it that will make me talk and give up information on the insurgency?

Leoben knew what she was afraid of and quietly spoke "Go on, you can eat it, it's safe to eat I promise. I wouldn't hurt you Kara. There is nothing on that plate except cheese and crackers." she made no movement, only looked back at him with hate in her eyes. This was going to be difficult. But the result would be worth it, no it would be more than worth it.

Another minute passed, neither of them spoke, Kara just glaring at him and Leoben was looking back at her calmly. He decided to try to get her to eat again, "You need to eat Kara, if you don't want crackers and cheese I can get you something else but you need to eat regardless." The idea she would go on a hunger strike was not an appealing one, she would get weak, and her body needed food. It needed to be healthy, how else would that little blonde girl with striking blue-green eyes and Kara's face come into existence if she tried to kill herself on a hunger strike?

She spoke for the first time since she had arrived in this apartment, since he had seen her at all. "How long have I been here?" it's neat, clipped, the same tone she used when she first met him. It's so good to hear her voice, after so long of not hearing it he had almost forgotten what it sounded like.

"Almost three days." He answered her, his tone open and pleasant compared to her own hostile one. Her green eyes steel and proceed to glare at him again and he knows she is searching for some trick, confirming what he said against what she already knows.

Not being able to find fault with anything she fired off another question, "Why am I here?" There were so many ways to answer that, Leoben considered briefly the idea of telling her to guess, liking where the idea began to go. At the very least, she would be talking. The possibility she would clam up for a while the second she found out why she was here was very likely and Leoben had been far too long without hearing her voice.

"Why do you think you are here?" and Kara proceeded to glare at him farther. If looks could kill he'd be in a downloading tank right now, but other than her gaze her facial expressions went lax, triad blank, one of her favorite games, a game she was very good at according to Boomer. But her eyes were what gave her away, they were one of her most striking features in his opinion.

Another minute passed before she answered, "You want revenge for what happened aboard the Geminion traveler." He shook his head causing her to give her second guess, "You are going to try and get colonial information out of me?" and he shook his head again. Leoben thought there were probably other fears she wasn't voicing at the moment, probably had something to do with what his brother Simon had done for research. But if there was anything to do with it she was not voicing it.

"Than what?" she snapped, frustration seeping from every pore. It clearly bothered her, not being in control or able to know what was going to happen to her and what was going on. She was not going to hurt her pride and ask him, not yet anyways. Her hand gripped the glass of water and she promptly threw its contents at Leoben, causing his shirt to get wet and water dripping from his hair into his face. The glass was not enough to drench him, and yet, he still wasn't too pleased by it. But it was something to be expected, and Leoben could never find it in himself to get mad at her.

Leoben choose not answer, he just got calmly got up and went to the kitchen. Opening a cupboard he removed a towel and began to dry his face off while Kara looked on, angry. It had not been his intention to make her angry. Leoben never wanted to make her angry, or upset, or sad, or any of those bad emotions; he only wanted to bring her happiness, and love.

When he bent down to retrieve another towel, he suddenly sensed her presence behind him. He had not heard her sneak up, or had simply not been paying much attention. She was very close, close enough if he turned around he would most likely bump into her.

"Kara-" he began but was broke off as she moved her hand and pushed his head into the cabinet, causing pain to instantly shot up from impact. Blood dripped from the wound on his forehead into his eyes, the crimson color blurring his vision. Leoben raises his hands, trying to get away from the onslaught and to regain his footing. Before he could recover however her hands were around his neck and she hung on.

His breath was coming in short gasps, his vision began to blacken and his lungs were crying desperately for air. Air he couldn't give because her hands were blocking it from entering his body, blocking him from surviving. He squirms in her embrace, if that was what you could call it. It took a few precious seconds, but finally he is managing to turn around to look at her in her face.

The last thing he does in this body is look into her pretty green eyes. He sees many emotions there, loathing at him, hatred, pain, anger, and fear. She's killing him because she is afraid of what he might do to her.

His blue eyes close, her expression forever burned into his memory. It's a look he could never forget. He opens his eyes one last time only to find they are closing on him again.

And than there was nothing at all.