Note: As with many Occupation fics, things get dark. And I had a hard time writing it. So warning if you many not want to read very dark stuff.

Chapter 18-

Kara-

When she wakes up she is confused and dizzy, the hard concrete surface under her cold skin a sharp contrast to the warm blanket given to her by Leoben or Sam's warm body heat, or even her rack on Galactica if she were really going to think back. Slowly as her mind comes into focus, she struggles and opens her eyes, something making it hard for her to do so.

A drug? her mind offers and she shudders inwardly. That is last thing she needs. Looking up at the male cylon, Jared, whose clothes are ruffled and she notes with slight apprehension, he has his pants un-buttoned. It takes her another moment or so to realize they stripped her of her clothes, and stuck her in this cell with the glaring light beaming down on her from all around.

He catches her gaze, and knows what she is thinking, a grin filling his entire face. "I still wonder why Leoben hadn't played with you yet. You're fun as can be" The words sent chills down her spine and Kara mentally begins to pray. This cylon is much worse than Leoben because while Leoben had told her what he wanted, he hadn't actually taken it. This one had, thought it was hilarious in doing so as well.

"What do you want from me?" her throat feels like sand paper, and her mouth is dry, though from the implications of what happened, the drug or just a plain need of water she doesn't know. Probably all of them. The cylon smiles again and puts his jacket back on over his black shirt.

"See, unlike Leoben in regards to you, I don't have this happy pipe dream with rainbows, puppies and unicorns. That isn't to say I don't have goals. Mine is to completely and utterly destroy you." The dark eyes take on a glint and everything in her head tells her crazy.

"See you weren't there but a long time ago a not very nice man named William Adama crashed my skull in. So in return, I am going to destroy everyone he loves, bit by bit." the cylon grinned and she feels sick. "I never liked Leoben either, so destroying his fantasy girl, added bonus. See, at the end of the day, it's not the sex from you I want, or Leoben's fracked up fantasy dreams and his pathetic visions of love crushed, or the power I hold over you, no what I want is you completely destroyed. You'll hurt and you'll know it's me, and you'll beg for me to kill you, until one day you get lucky and I'm feeling generous."

Hopelessness sinks in her gut everywhere, and the cylon laughs at her expression, silent hoping that he's wrong and terror of him being right. This isn't what she bargained for in being free, not at all. There's nothing in her that she can think of that will help her escape. A bucket isn't of much use, nor the camera mounted high on the wall out of her reach, or the one way window coated with something that can probably block missiles. Her mostly brilliant mind is fuzzy, and the only weapons in this room are on the cylon.

The cylon jerks her into reality by grabbing her leg and pulling her back towards him, the bits of rock in the concrete snagging on her delicate skin. He grabs his way across her body until he gets to her neck, holding it in the palms of his hands, able to snap it quickly and efficiently if he chooses to do so.

He pulls his hand back and she quickly realizes what is coming next, years under her mother's 'care' has taught her that much. She moves just slightly to it doesn't hurt as much, and the damage is less. But unlike her mother, who normally did one punch to get her point across, only resorting to more if she really felt the need to hammer it home, the cylon dished out more. Continuous blows, again and again, all over her body until her only option left was to retreat far into herself to compartmentalize it.

She had fared worse, the only thing was, each time she went to raise her arms the tighter the pressure on her neck until it was give in or get her neck snapped. She raised her arms down the pressure went away, and she was forced to endure, completely defenseless. One blow to her head lets her sink back into blackness again, which was becoming a real friend these days.

Maybe now though, the insurgency will have a better chance of getting to her. If she is in the actual detention maybe they'll pick her up on a raid, or maybe somebody will at least know what happens to her. She doesn't fear death, but she fears being forgotten.

Later-

Sam-

Sam was trying to memorize his way through the prison complex, to which cell he was at, but it was of no use, it was a maze of all kinds of twists, tunnels and dead ends. People could wander the cell-lined halls filled with screaming, moaning or even dead inmates forever and never find a way out of the labyrinth.

The Centurions gripped his arms tightly, not giving much chance for circulation to his hands and their metal 'fingers' if that was what they called them, was cutting into his skin and would probably leave scars. It wasn't the scars he was worried about, but it had a chance of marring his marriage tattoo and that had been something Sam had loved the second Kara had asked him about it. It said they were each others, it marked her as claimed. It was the same to him as her inking 'property of Samuel Anders' and him doing the same with her own name.

The cylon in front of him still walked with an arrogant, pompous air, and it was driving Sam nuts. He had never liked people with over-inflated egos, people who could talk they could play a good game but could never actually play said game when it came down to it. He hated people like that, they irked him to end and then some. It seemed things never went wrong for people like them, while him, when things went wrong, they went wrong so spectacularly.

Stopping at a seemingly random patch of wall with a keypad on the front, the cylon male stopped and than keyed a code into the keypad, long, and took more than a minute to punch in. High security prisoner his mind muttered and he smirks to himself. He's important enough to the cylons that he gets locked up fairly good, with little to no chance of escaping alive. Who would have thought Coach?

Shoved in the cell and pushed to his knees, he can feel the jagged concrete beneath his clothing, the layers of cloth not enough to help him be padded well against the sharp edged rock. The light glares down on him from above, leaving two corners shrouded in darkness. A pail is placed by the door, it's use obvious, nothing else.

But it isn't what captivates his attention, curled up in a ball, back to him, is Kara. He can just see the edge of her tattoo sloping down her arm, and her bright blonde hair is as dead giveaway as any. But that isn't what horrifies him, it's the bruises, scratches that seem to cover all of her unclothed body. One or two appears to be a handprint while the rest are just blobs mishing and mashing from one prupled area to the next.

Rage fills his entire being, and if weren't for the fact the cylons had left without a word he would have killed them or at least inflicted some heavy damage. This, how could anyone do this to her? Hadn't she had enough pain in her life, she didn't need more, this was just, it made him angry. He wanted to destroy the cylons piece by piece, wait for him to download and than do it all over again and again and again. They all needed to suffer for what they were putting her through; she didn't deserve any of this.

He goes over to Kara, checking that she is breathing, he notes teeth marks on her neck and rage threatens to consume everything he is again. He needs to stay calm, and be strong for her, his mind having quickly guessed what the male cylon had done to her. He knew his wife was pretty, and he knew this cylon was twisted so it was a pretty fair assumption to think. He really hoped he was wrong.

He pushes the thought away due to the bile rising in his throat. He can't deal with that, not right now. The fact she was, it makes him want to hurt things and sickens him, and Kara doesn't need to wake up and finding him in a state of extreme anger or illness. She would blame herself, and feel guilt for it, though she had no control over the situation.

Sam gently picks her up, leaning against the wall and holds her, his face buried in her hair. It smells like strawberries, and something he only identifies as Kara Thrace-Anders. Freshly washed, what the hell his mind inquires but Sam pushes the questions off, he'll ask her later, right now he needs to hold her, to know she is alive, despite the injuries she has, she is still breathing.

The wounds are definitely fresh, not a single bruise faded from purple and the scratches not completely scabbed over yet, and he can't help but wonder where else she must have been this last month. No one had seen hide nor hair of her, and he refuses to think she would have run from them, she was kidnapped for crying out loud. So where was she, was the question. But it was useless thinking about it now, she was out cold, and he wouldn't have any guarantees she would be talking when she woke up. Besides, he was just happy to see her again.

Kara stirred in his arms and he held on to her tighter. He'd missed this, being able to hold and touch another human who knew him intricately. After a while her eyelids fluttered and Sam leaned forward, kissing her lightly on the mouth, nearly crying in relief. She had been breathing but there was always the chance. He showered kisses on her forehead, despite being in a prison cell, he felt better knowing Kara was okay, or was at least healable.

"Kara, Kara you're alive." he whispered into her hair, still holding her close to him. He'd never thought it may make her uncomfortable, so when her hand swings out and catches him in the mouth he is in shock, is she okay?

"It's me Sam, Kara can you hear me?"

Kara-

Her brain woke up panicked. With what had apparently happened last time, playing with her head or not, it had very real effect on her, and when she felt someone kissing her and being surrounded by a person, well, of course she was going to freak out. Her brain switched from Kara waking up to Starbuck fearless warrior in less then a moment. Her hand swung on years of training, not really any choice of her own.

The voice was recognized after a second, Sam. Guilt threatened to overwhelm her, this was how she greeted one of the few people to ever love her. Leoben didn't count. Comfort took over, maybe all of this had been a bad dream, and than reality set back in. She shivered, her body cold without a stitch of clothing, despite Sam's body heat.

"I'm sorry." she whispered, touching the spot on his face gingerly, not wanting to hurt him. He was in the cell with her, just great, this was going to be horrible, she had never ever wanted him to get dragged into this.

"Shhhhhhhh," he reassured her, kissing her on the ear and her body shuddered, unable to help it. He stopped and just held her tight then, knowing what she needed, when she needed space, affection, whatever. He had always been able to read her, and never judged her either. He made her feel loved again, and there had never been a doubt on if he did or not. "It's alright, I know you didn't mean it."

She closed her eyes again, not wanting to let herself relive what had just recently happened under the influence of drugs. But they wouldn't get out of her head; she had felt the after effects of a drug like it in her system, a boy at her high school having done the same thing Jared had done to prove himself to his friends. She swallowed, suddenly wishing she could be alone so she could figure out what it all meant without Sam being there. How would he react to knowing that cylon had touched her, how could he think of touching her again?

She pulled herself from his warm arms, not wanting to but forcing herself, shivering a little as cool air hit where her skin had been connected with his. He looked a bit hurt and she felt a little bad but it was better now then later. She crawled into the other corner, one of the two in darkness, and curled up there, her body as tightly compacted as it was going to get. She could sense his hurt and confusion, but before he could push it the door opens and it's back.

"Trouble in Paradise?" The cylon taunts, mockingly acting sympathetic towards the two figures on the ground. Kara can't say anything, rise to his bait, nothing. She just stays curled up in her little ball, Starbuck having deflated, drugged or not.

This annoyed the cylon to no end so he tried a different approach. "I had fun bruising her up and look forward to it again. What about you Sammy?"

If Kara had been watching the scene, she would have known Sam's fist was tightening, and he had to use what self control he processed. Only Kara was allowed to call him Sammy, he had made that clear from the get-go. It was her pet name for him, given to him ever since that one time they had first gotten aboard the Galactica. He had threatened to call her Kare-bear, joking of course but she got quiet and he had known to stop. It had been a pet name her dad would call her.

"No?" Jared asked and she sensed him behind her. Don't move, don't move, don't move. It had been a technique that worked with her mom, pretend she was beaten, couldn't take anymore and sometimes she would show mercy, cursing her for being so pitifully weak. He crouched to her level and Kara forced herself to remain still. She couldn't, however, stop the shudder than ran through her when she felt his palm touch her side. "Something else then?"

"Don't touch her." Sam ordered and the cylon turned and looked at him.

"And I suppose you are going to stop me? Anything in this room, anything that happens, that I don't like, she gets it. Understand?"

Sam can't do anything but back down, she realizes it somewhere, but she takes a swing at the cylon, her blow deflected easily. "Obliterating you will be fun." are his parting words, put just before a "See you tomorrow. Sleep well." and the cylon is gone again.

Fight till we can't. Fight till we can't. Fight till we can't. The mantra is suddenly old in her head, and she can't help but to feel the hopelessness. They are obviously in high security, with no hope of getting out really, and a cylon who was hellbent on their destruction. Suddenly dollhouses didn't seem so bad.

She took a deep breath and began. Lords of Kobol hear my prayer.

Sam-

He feels even more sick to his stomach, but he knows it is the last thing Kara needs right now. He needs to be there for her, for each other, because even though they're going to die and there isn't anything he can do to change that, other than go out fighting. He still has the urge to comfort her in whatever way he can, the scars having shown, old ones on her back from stories she didn't want to talk about to the new handprints.

He moves over to where she is, determined to be with someone, needing to be with someone, who loved him just as much as he loved them. He announced his presence with a scuffling noise to let her know he was there, not wanting to startle her. She didn't move, which scared him slightly, this unresponsive person unlike her.

"Kara?" he said quietly, unsure what to do with her. He moved and carefully laid his hand on her shoulder, trying not to scare her. She flinched anyways, and he ran his hand over her skin, the muscle under tense and himself upset. The ways all of this was wrong flashed through his head. Coming in peace, absolute bull, he thought sourly to himself. He picked her up, not knowing if it was a good idea or not, desperate to comfort her, despite everything that faced them, anything that would calm her down or comfort her, even a little bit, was worth it.

"I don't know what happened Sam." he can hear the fear in her voice, fear he'll probably never know being a man, and just holds onto her, giving her comfort. He'll fight to the end for her. "I woke up and then he started to hurt me and you were here and-"

"You don't have to explain anything, it's okay Kara. I don't care, I love you." He kept whispering to her, clinging to the woman he loved, not wanting to face tomorrow, the ticking time bomb an effective weapon. He could hear her muttering lines of scripture, and just held on to her. And refused to let go.

Caprica-

She had spent all morning looking for Leoben, sorry for what had happened between them and trying to make it right, only to be unable to find him anywhere. At first she thought he had been avoiding her, as well he probably should have being how much her words had probably hurt him.

Only problem was, she couldn't find him.

She checked his apartment, but it had been locked and no one was able to get in but himself, so she supposed he could be there, but she doubted it. He would have to come out sooner or later and for a few days no one had. She knew, she had been watching it for a few days. He wasn't working, Three had come up to her the day before last in a huff demanding to know what that 'vision seeing, love-struck fool' was up to.

Something was wrong. She could feel it in her bones. She could feel it the way she loved Gaius, she knew it the way she knew about God's existence. She knew it in her soul.

"You alright Caprica?" Gaius asked, looking up from whatever he was reading on his desk to peer at her. She turned to look at him, her whole reason for arguing for peace between cylons and humanity. So they could be together, at last.

She heard a knock on her door, and she felt out of place with her bathrobe and still wet hair hanging down her face. She had decided she was tired of moping around, if she hid in her apartment all day what did that make her? A coward? Weak? She would go out there and work for the peace that everyone deserved, not just her broken heart. She needed to move on.

She had spent days, just locked up in her, wishing, hoping, praying things were different. She knew she had hurt Leoben, her heart hurt. She didn't want to see him get hurt as he undoubtedly would if he was insisting on his journey to love. Maybe their problem was they both loved humans. Maybe cylons and humans were not meant to be together after all.

Opening the door, cylon living spaces were secured after all, she comes face to face with the man she had spent so much time missing. "Gaius." She part states part questions. She motions him inside, glad she had cleaned up a bit first. She had her apartment look like her old one, something that irked some of the other cylons but Caprica didn't care, it was comforting, familiar. She still had the painting Gaius had gotten her as a present once after he found out she liked a certain artist, to impress her she liked to think.

"Can I come in?" he asks, nervous, and Caprica is aware that this is the part of the story where she is supposed to kick him out, tell him no, that he can't mess with her anymore, she doesn't want to be his frack-buddy. But she motions him in, her entire being thrumming on hope that had led her to this planet.

She remembered him yelling at her to get away from him like it had been moments ago. She sits down on her couch, not playing good hostess and asking him if he wants anything. He follows her, herself noting for the first time his hair looks it hasn't been washed in a few days, his suit slightly rumpled. He seems tired and she can't help but miss him. She hadn't realized what he meant until she was faced with being without him.

She had wished for days that she had been human. Maybe she would have died in the blast for good or escaped with him and he wouldn't have left her alone.

He sits down next to her, a space between them. There is a space there she had never known with him before, the man always moving close to her, a distance never in the customs. She wraps her arm around herself and becomes aware he isn't sure what to say.

"I've been thinking lately." He starts off slowly, "About you, thinking about you." He pauses, as though listening to someone else, the Gaius in her head regarding him from a chair while asking aloud. "Am I really that odd now in person?"

"I want you to know that, and I'm here to work things out with you. I said some things that many not have been the right things to say and-" he stops again, her brow furrowing in confusion before she reaches a hand out and takes his in her's. Gaius looks confused a moment before cupping her cheek with his hand and kissing her softly. "I really missed you, you know."

"I'm just looking for someone that's all."

"Who? I'm insanely jealous." She smiled a small smile, remembering the words so long ago, not what happened after, of course not, she knew Gaius didn't normally go for Brunettes anyways. Here in Colonial One, they could be in their own little world, if only for a few moments at a time.

"A two, Leoben, hasn't been around for a few days."

"Maybe he got picked up by the insurgency?" Caprica frowned, having thought of that. They just had another Four disappear and a Three had just vanished hours ago. They had people scouring everywhere, searching for them, but no one could find them. It was as though they had vanished. She thought if Kara was getting food, but the hall had been silent, her camera catching nothing, no one moving in or out. The hall simply deserted.

"Perhaps" something felt off. She could sense it. There was something not right here. She would do more checking later, in case it all came down to being the insurgents. But she was determined to find him one way or another, he was like her little brother. Leoben was family.