Chapter 70 Bottled Up

After Laura had left, Kara realized that she had forgotten to have Lee called to the quarters. She decided to skip the gym tonight. Instead, she scooped up one of the Admiral's open bottles and, ignoring Corporal Paulson's concerned look, swallowed the doctor's little gift with several long swigs directly from the container.

With any luck, I'll be dead to the world before anyone comes looking for me.

She felt a slightly hysterical giggle try to surge out at the wording of her thoughts. Well, maybe not dead to the world. But the world certainly was determined to go on without her. Good riddance, she thought. Then, better get myself into my rack. Not so good the Old Man finding me sprawled across his carpet snoring like the drunken sailor I am. Putting actions to her thoughts. She returned the still mostly full bottle to the bar and managed to get ready and settled onto the sofa before the pull of the medication and liquor sucked her under.

[ I I I I I ]

She was out cold and oblivious when Lee stopped by later to check on her. He quietly ordered the Marine guard from the cabin and stood watching Kara sleep as he had the prior night. Noting the pill vial on the table near her head and the faint reek of alcohol wafting from her, he wasn't surprised that she hadn't roused at his arrival. He could only hope she hadn't drank too much in combination with the medication. And first thing he'd done was to check that most of the pills were still in the bottle. He'd had the image of him calling Cottle to pump her stomach and breathed a sign of relief that it wasn't going to be necessary.

Determined not to fall asleep again, he settled onto the workbench stool and reviewed what she'd been working on. The difficult to read notes hurt his tired eyes, but he was astonished at some of the ideas she was proposing, wondering why no one had considered them before.

His father found him hunched over the desk, adding his own careful annotations to the ones she had scrawled. He automatically looked over to make sure the sleeping form hadn't moved during his preoccupation before rising to greet his dad.

"How'd it go at the gym?" Adama asked as he pulled his shoes off.

"It didn't," Lee answered, then as his dad looked up with questioning eyes, "She was passed out cold when I got here. Taken the sleeping pill with a chaser," he added by way of explanation.

The elder Adama pushed himself back to his feet, unbuttoning the flap of his jacket as he acknowledged that Laura was right. Kara was in hiding. This was just another way she'd found to avoid Lee and himself. He removed the garment, draping it over the back of his chair before turning to his waiting son.

"Tomorrow, Laura and Helo are going to be taking Kara to the gym instead of you," he informed the younger man. As Lee abruptly straightened, a protest already forming on his lips, his father cut him off with raised hands. "Listen to me. This has nothing to do with you. Laura has something she wants to try with Helo," his father firmly said.

"And why can't I do it instead? Why Helo?" Lee demanded. Anger building at being denied at each turn in Kara's care.

"I'm not sure," the Admiral admitted, "but it probably has to do with what Laura thinks Kara's likely to reveal," he said, then started to say more but his son interrupted.

"All the more reason for it to be me," Lee adamantly said. "I need to help her, and she needs me. I know it," a note of pleading leaking into his voice.

Laying a hand on his son's shoulder, Adama gave a shake of his head, "This can't be about what you need, Lee," he said. "And for what Kara needs to share… It'll be too hard. Too hard for her to tell you…and for you to hear." Then as Lee shook his head in denial. "That's why I'm not going to be there either. This is about Leoben and what happened between them on that rock. Kara's got to face it herself before we can ask her to share it with us," his dad explained, giving Lee's shoulder a slight shake. "We're too close, son."

Turning away from his father's understanding face, Lee looked over to the lightly snoring figure. His stomach twisted at what his father was suggesting. He wanted to grab a Raptor and go find the son of a bitch that had caused all this.

Since the focus of his anger was out of reach, he turned it on the only one he could. "Fine. I get it. We frakked up and made matters worse when she came back. Well, that's just your style, isn't it dad?" he quietly flung at the older man. "Never there when your family needs you," he accused, shaking the hand away. "Guess this is just one more of example of you showing how much you care," Lee tossed over his shoulder as he stormed from the cabin.

Understanding why his son reacted the way he did didn't take much of the sting from his words, especially since Bill knew they were justified. He tiredly moved to stand over the sleeping form. With a gentle finger, he brushed a stray blonde lock from the relaxed face. Bending over, he placed a feather-light kiss on her forehead. Straightening again, he vaguely wondered how much an old heart could take before it finally crumbled.

Trying to shake off the bleak feeling, he reminded himself that they still had a fighting chance to repair what had been broken. Both in Kara herself and the relationships they shared.

Keeping that belief held close, he headed to bed.