Chapter 17 Visiting Hours
The awareness of sounds slowly filtered back first; a beeping that set a discordant beat to the pounding in her head, and slow, rasping breaths she eventually identified as her own. Tactile sensations returned next; pressure around wrists and ankles, a yielding surface beneath her sore back, and a deep ache that encompassed her entire body. Lastly, she opened gritty eyes, squinting to focus as a harsh star of light was flashed across her vision. A blurry figure hovered above her and Kara blinked repeated until Simon's worried countenance finally came into focus and with it, a flash of remembered anguish…and Kara shrank away.
"Easy now," the doctor's voice was soft as he slipped the penlight back into a pocket and unwound the stethoscope from about his neck, bending slightly closer as he settled the instrument's cold disc above her heart. "Just relax. Take a couple of breaths." She instinctively did as instructed, confused by his solicitous behavior.
As Simon turned to adjust the IV beside her bed, Kara's gaze darted about the room, searching for his counterpart. They were alone, and her bewilderment deepened when she realized that she appeared to be in a different room now, maybe even a hospital ward.
The door swung inward and D'Anna Biers strolled through, looking relaxed in jeans and tan jacket as she approached Kara's bed. Meeting the faux-reporter's murky blue eyes, Kara's own narrowed, wondering what the skin-job wanted now.
"Good to have you back, Captain. Thought we'd lost you there." Giving a nod towards Simon, "Lucky the Doc's very good because he got your heart up and running again after only a few minutes. Probably no brain damage, right Doc?"
Sifting through the words, Kara decided that the Six must have turned the voltage up too high—maybe combined with whatever Simon had injected her with—causing her heart to stop. She wondered how long she'd been out of it…and what the frakkers had planned for her next. She mentally shied away from thoughts of the moments before her collapse. It was too soon to face them yet, feeling the panic that was coiled in her gut and afraid it would spring loose if she let the memories of soul-tearing pain sweep in.
"Wh—" she started to say, but her voice came out no more than a breath. Clearing her throat, she tried again, "Why are you doing this? What do you want from me?" she managed this time, though still not much more than a whisper.
"Well, there's always information of course. Or, maybe we don't want anything. Maybe we're just torturing you for shits and giggles." D'Anna leaned in closer with an unpleasant smile and said, "I know Six's been enjoying herself mightily."
"Frak you," Starbuck said, locking eyes with those only inches from her own, relying on her Triad face to conceal the serpent of fear the Cylon's words roused.
"No thanks, sweetie. I don't do damaged goods. That'd be Leoben's forte." The Cylon gave her a knowing wink before straightening. With a glance at the hovering Simon, "Keep up the good work, brother." Then, as D'Anna turned and strode away, she said over her shoulder, "I'll be seeing you again real soon, Starbuck. So get some rest, I've a surprise planned."
As the door closed behind her, Kara glanced over and saw regret flash across the doctor's features.
"Sorry." Simon's apology hung between the two of them and she wasn't sure who was more startled as she searched his face. He looked away, giving a sigh as he injected a syringe into her IV line. "This'll help you rest. I'll be back to check on you later."
Watching his retreating back, Kara decided he was just trying to set her up by playing at good Cylon, bad Cylon. They were all just frakkin' Toasters with programming that told them what to do and say. She wasn't about to start believing that he really felt any true sympathy—or regret. The skin-job was just frakkin' with her head like the rest of them.
Wearily closing her eyes, she let the drug pull her back into thankful oblivion.