Fic: Times Like These: The Way, The Truth, and The Life (8)
Title: Times Like These: The Way, The Truth, and The Life (8)
Fandom: Battlestar Galactica
Rating: T
Words: 2,286
Series Summary: "In the end, your choices will either save or fail you. Life or death, survivor or dying leader. It doesn't matter. Judgment day will come, Laura Roslin. Humanity's final chapter has yet to be written..."
Story Summary: Kara Thrace's return from the dead could be the life or death of them all... (He That Believeth In Me)
--
It is three days before Kara opens her eyes. She doesn't have to know she's in Life Station before the quick onset of the sterile and antiseptic environment seeps into her brain, reminding her that yes, she is alive but more important, she is home.
Leoben, Caprica, and the woods are nowhere to be found, but that doesn't mean that she doesn't have other people to answer to. Through her narrow eyes, she spies Sam curled up in a chair fast asleep.
She then sighs, hearing voices nearby. She doesn't have to look to know that it's the Admiral and President arguing outside of her pulled curtain. Although, she can see their silhouettes, it is their voices that she's paying closer attention to.
She recloses her eyes. So much for a bit of peace and quiet. If she tries hard enough, she can focus on stepping that first step into the forest only to look down the dirt path and up to the sky above the trees.
Long enough to ask herself what the frak she was doing before feeling herself vanish.
"This is my ship and my decision." Kara reopens her eyes upon hearing the Admiral's voice.
"You just want to be able to hole yourself up in the CIC while I deal with everyone else. As it is, I find it a load of crap, Admiral."
"Admiral, Madame President, would you both please take your frakking squabbles elsewhere? It's not good for you Madame President, or me, or any of my patients." Kara hears Cottle's voice finishing them both off as they quiet down.
"Kara?" She hears her own name this time as she reopens her eyes and stares at their silhouettes for a moment. While she hasn't heard the entire specifics, she is willing to bet that part of their argument had been about her. She's good like that, she knows.
Sam's at her side, leaning on the edge of the bed and taking one of her hands into his. She's only starting to feel sensation in most of her limbs, and the dip in the bed takes her off guard. "Hey."
"Hey," she says, unsure of what to say. What do you say to those people that thought you were dead?
"It's a miracle you're here." He smiles, reaching forward to touch her cheek and Kara feels herself cringe at the word. Miracle, almost like destiny and prophet. She doesn't really want to be considered any of those things.
"Some miracle." She can still feel Leoben and Caprica's words in the back of her mind. Sighing, she wishes for clarity instead of the jumbled brain she's stuck with.
"Kara?" Lee's voice comes next, and Sam turns his head and she doesn't have to see his face to know that he's cringing as his grip on her hand tightens.
"Sam--" Kara croaks out, feeling the awkwardness of the situation. "Cottle."
"She's--We--We should get Cottle." Lee swallows the lump in his throat at hearing Kara's voice as Sam shifts off the bed into the chair, never letting go of Kara's hand. He knows the grumpy doctor will kill him if he finds out that he was sitting on the edge of the bed.
As it is, once he pushes past the curtain with Bill and Laura behind him, he eyes the spot on the bed where it's obvious that Sam has been sitting.
"You, out." He points at Sam, moving to the other side of the bed where the monitors are as Kara clenches her eyes shut for a second before opening them.
"Oh, so he gets to stay?" Sam points at Lee, who's still standing near the curtain and in front of Bill and Laura.
"No, pretty boy, he gets to go too. Doctor's privilege. I don't want either of you here causing a ruckus. I've all ready got a headache." He puts his hand over Kara's left one and gives a good squeeze to let her know he's there. Kara tries not to smile as she opens her eyes, watching as Laura moves in front of Bill to allow them both out.
"What do you hear, Starbuck?" Laura speaks first, knowing how the cadence goes and also knowing that Bill's not going to say anything.
"Nothing but the rain." Kara sighs as Laura then steps forward to where Sam was previously sitting. Bill remains rooted in place, his hands crossed in front of him.
"How do you feel?" Cottle asks, and Kara winces.
"Like I've been shot out a launch tube without a helmet." She tries to sit up, only to be pushed back down.
"Have I said you could move yet?" Cottle puts one hand on her shoulder as he looks from the monitors back to her.
"Did you say I couldn't?" Kara winces again, trying to sit up as Laura takes the initiative and helps her to a sitting position by fixing her pillows. "Thanks."
"You're welcome." Laura rubs down her arm before stepping back.
"You're awful quiet over there, Boss." Kara nods to Bill, who remains quiet as Cottle begins to take her vitals. "I'm not going to pull out a gun and shoot, if that's what you're thinking. No way to hide it in these linens. My aim would be pretty frakking lousy anyway."
"I'll be the judge of that," Cottle says, not giving Bill the chance to speak as Kara and Bill exchange silent stares. They had always had this connection of not having to speak in order to get their message across, and this certainly hasn't changed as Cottle and Laura exchange glances of their own.
It is then that Kara remembers shooting Baltar.
"I killed him, didn't I? Baltar?" She sniffles, deflecting the subject as she looks to her blanket-clad legs and then to Laura. "He's dead?"
"Yes, he's dead," Laura replies, giving a tight small smile. She doesn't want to think about Baltar at a time like this. "Looks like maybe your aim wasn't so bad after all."
Kara appreciates Laura's dry attempt at humor, even though she knows it's not going to help the Admiral's scowl.
"Should have gotten him in one."
There is another stay of silence before Bill steps forward, to the edge of the bed as if that is all the proximity he is allowing himself. He watches Cottle, noting the doctor's movements as he checks Kara's blood pressure. When it checks out, he unwraps the stethoscope from around his neck.
"Take a couple deep breaths for me." Cottle places the cool metal on her chest.
"What, you don't trust the monitors or something?"
"Just humor me, Starbuck." Cottle shoots a look from Kara to Bill, as if to challenge the Admiral's stony expression with one of his own. When her beat is regular, he wraps the stethoscope back around his neck.
"Why are you here, Kara?" Laura asks next.
"I made a choice. Not that it was really much of one." Kara sees the round of Laura's belly not quite yet showing underneath a pressed pink blouse and dark blazer, and sighs before looking up. "I'm supposed to show you the way, I think."
"The way to where?" Bill speaks for the first time, trying not to clench his teeth as he knows he's going to get a religious answer that he may or may not like.
"The Promised Land, Boss. Earth's not just some pipe dream the two of you made up. It's real." She swallows the lump in her throat. "And I'm supposed to take you there unless you decide to lock me up or kill me first. Your choice on both, by the way."
--
Bill and Laura exit the curtain and make their way past the marines to where Lee is standing by Tory and Sam. It's obvious from the dead silence that none of them are speaking as Bill nods to Sam, who leaves them to go back to Kara.
"Is everything alright, Madame President?" Tory asks, her eyes darting back and forth from Laura to Bill but remaining focused on Laura.
"Yes, thank you." Laura senses the discussion that is about to follow, and doesn't particularly want her aide listening in on the details. "Would you please have a Raptor ready on the Hanger Deck in about fifteen minutes? I'd like to sit in on the end of the afternoon Quorum meeting."
"Of course, Madame President, right away." Tory takes her leave of them.
"How's Kara?" Lee looks from Laura to his father and back again. He wants the information that he knows they have.
"Claims she's going to take us to Earth," Bill says, and Laura can sense the tension and discord in his voice. "Same old religious mumbo jumbo we've heard before."
"And you believe her?" Lee looks at his father, who pinches the nose of his glasses and sighs. "We-We believe her?"
"Do we have a choice?" Laura asks as both men look to her. "Because from where I'm standing, gentlemen, we don't have very many choices left and that woman in there is offering one. A way for us to find Earth and give our people a home."
"Not if the Cylons follow us." He pauses, and notes Laura's reaction. "What? You think we're just going to go to Earth and the Cylons that have been chasing us are mysteriously going to just disappear?"
Bill continues. "What's to say that she's not a Cylon, hmm? It's awful convenient for her to just appear in the middle of a battle only to end up here spouting off that crap."
The three of them don't see Cottle exit the curtain as he steps up between Lee and Bill to listen to the conversation.
"She saved my life, Admiral." Laura's hand goes to her stomach, as she feels her teeth clench. She doesn't have to finish her train of thought for him to know that she's going to use that as leverage for her argument.
"Alright, fine, but that doesn't prove that she's Kara." Lee points out, and Bill is grateful for the small amount of logic leaning on his side. "Dad's right. We can't just leave the fate of humanity to some thing that calls herself Kara."
"For all intensive purposes, she's human." Cottle says next, taking them all off guard. "Every test I've run, every vial of blood I've examined' it all checks clean. The only thing left is that stupid detector of Baltar's, and for Gods sake, Madame President, I hope you flushed that thing out the airlock for the good it's done."
A smirk crosses Laura's lips as she leans to one side, waiting for Bill's response.
"So what do you suggest, Doctor?" Lee turns to Cottle.
"Do I look like I know what to suggest? I'm a physician, not a frakking politician. I treat people, not lead them. Isn't that why we keep these two around? So that they can decide what's best?"
Laura and Bill exchange glances. "But, for what it's worth, I'd listen to Starbuck. Because if the Gods care enough to bring her back to life, then there has to be a point to it. They don't just frak around when it comes to things like destinies. Take our esteemed President here."
And with that, Cottle walks off to his office, muttering under his breath about incompetent fools and inadequate amounts of cigarettes.
"I think I'm going to go talk to Kara." Laura passes both of them, moving past the guards and into the curtain where Sam has resumed his position at the side of Kara's bed. "Sam."
"Madame President." He stands, as due the respect of her title, though she knows on New Caprica, they were far past titles.
"I'm not going anywhere, Sam," Kara says. "Just give us the room, alright?"
Sam nods his head and makes his way past the curtain, but not before nodding to Laura, who tries to smile. Kara then sighs as Laura takes a long look at her without moving from her position.
"He doesn't believe me, does he?" Kara's referring to Bill, and Laura knows just as much.
"All he knows is what he can see." Laura sighs, crossing her arms and taking a step forward. "And he saw your ship blow up. You died, Kara, and now you're here. I'd like you to tell me what he's supposed to believe."
"It doesn't really matter what I think, does it?" Kara pauses as she waits for Laura's answer. When Laura doesn't give one, her eyes close as her tongue slides up against the top of her lip before coming back down. "I was told to wake up and save your life. Plain and simple. Wasn't given much choice in the matter."
"By who?"
"Our favorite dreamsnatcher." A fake smirk crosses Kara's lips as she thinks of Leoben. She opens her eyes to see Laura staring at her, studying her face before looking away. "There's going to be a war before the end. The five of creation will bring order to the seven of chaos. He spoke about the Dying Leader. I don't know how--"
Sam watches their blurred silhouettes continuing to converse through the curtain, standing between the two Marines posted outside. His ears had perked up at the sound of hearing Kara's words, and now he was just standing there listening.
He needs to find Saul, and Tory, and Tyrol, and quick.
Laura appears a moment later, and he takes a step back to allow her to exit.
"Is everything alright, Madame President?" He appears concerned as she flashes him a small but polite smile.
"Yes, thank you, Sam." He watches her leave Life Station before turning and leaving himself.
Chapter Nine
Fandom: Battlestar Galactica
Rating: T
Words: 2,286
Series Summary: "In the end, your choices will either save or fail you. Life or death, survivor or dying leader. It doesn't matter. Judgment day will come, Laura Roslin. Humanity's final chapter has yet to be written..."
Story Summary: Kara Thrace's return from the dead could be the life or death of them all... (He That Believeth In Me)
--
It is three days before Kara opens her eyes. She doesn't have to know she's in Life Station before the quick onset of the sterile and antiseptic environment seeps into her brain, reminding her that yes, she is alive but more important, she is home.
Leoben, Caprica, and the woods are nowhere to be found, but that doesn't mean that she doesn't have other people to answer to. Through her narrow eyes, she spies Sam curled up in a chair fast asleep.
She then sighs, hearing voices nearby. She doesn't have to look to know that it's the Admiral and President arguing outside of her pulled curtain. Although, she can see their silhouettes, it is their voices that she's paying closer attention to.
She recloses her eyes. So much for a bit of peace and quiet. If she tries hard enough, she can focus on stepping that first step into the forest only to look down the dirt path and up to the sky above the trees.
Long enough to ask herself what the frak she was doing before feeling herself vanish.
"This is my ship and my decision." Kara reopens her eyes upon hearing the Admiral's voice.
"You just want to be able to hole yourself up in the CIC while I deal with everyone else. As it is, I find it a load of crap, Admiral."
"Admiral, Madame President, would you both please take your frakking squabbles elsewhere? It's not good for you Madame President, or me, or any of my patients." Kara hears Cottle's voice finishing them both off as they quiet down.
"Kara?" She hears her own name this time as she reopens her eyes and stares at their silhouettes for a moment. While she hasn't heard the entire specifics, she is willing to bet that part of their argument had been about her. She's good like that, she knows.
Sam's at her side, leaning on the edge of the bed and taking one of her hands into his. She's only starting to feel sensation in most of her limbs, and the dip in the bed takes her off guard. "Hey."
"Hey," she says, unsure of what to say. What do you say to those people that thought you were dead?
"It's a miracle you're here." He smiles, reaching forward to touch her cheek and Kara feels herself cringe at the word. Miracle, almost like destiny and prophet. She doesn't really want to be considered any of those things.
"Some miracle." She can still feel Leoben and Caprica's words in the back of her mind. Sighing, she wishes for clarity instead of the jumbled brain she's stuck with.
"Kara?" Lee's voice comes next, and Sam turns his head and she doesn't have to see his face to know that he's cringing as his grip on her hand tightens.
"Sam--" Kara croaks out, feeling the awkwardness of the situation. "Cottle."
"She's--We--We should get Cottle." Lee swallows the lump in his throat at hearing Kara's voice as Sam shifts off the bed into the chair, never letting go of Kara's hand. He knows the grumpy doctor will kill him if he finds out that he was sitting on the edge of the bed.
As it is, once he pushes past the curtain with Bill and Laura behind him, he eyes the spot on the bed where it's obvious that Sam has been sitting.
"You, out." He points at Sam, moving to the other side of the bed where the monitors are as Kara clenches her eyes shut for a second before opening them.
"Oh, so he gets to stay?" Sam points at Lee, who's still standing near the curtain and in front of Bill and Laura.
"No, pretty boy, he gets to go too. Doctor's privilege. I don't want either of you here causing a ruckus. I've all ready got a headache." He puts his hand over Kara's left one and gives a good squeeze to let her know he's there. Kara tries not to smile as she opens her eyes, watching as Laura moves in front of Bill to allow them both out.
"What do you hear, Starbuck?" Laura speaks first, knowing how the cadence goes and also knowing that Bill's not going to say anything.
"Nothing but the rain." Kara sighs as Laura then steps forward to where Sam was previously sitting. Bill remains rooted in place, his hands crossed in front of him.
"How do you feel?" Cottle asks, and Kara winces.
"Like I've been shot out a launch tube without a helmet." She tries to sit up, only to be pushed back down.
"Have I said you could move yet?" Cottle puts one hand on her shoulder as he looks from the monitors back to her.
"Did you say I couldn't?" Kara winces again, trying to sit up as Laura takes the initiative and helps her to a sitting position by fixing her pillows. "Thanks."
"You're welcome." Laura rubs down her arm before stepping back.
"You're awful quiet over there, Boss." Kara nods to Bill, who remains quiet as Cottle begins to take her vitals. "I'm not going to pull out a gun and shoot, if that's what you're thinking. No way to hide it in these linens. My aim would be pretty frakking lousy anyway."
"I'll be the judge of that," Cottle says, not giving Bill the chance to speak as Kara and Bill exchange silent stares. They had always had this connection of not having to speak in order to get their message across, and this certainly hasn't changed as Cottle and Laura exchange glances of their own.
It is then that Kara remembers shooting Baltar.
"I killed him, didn't I? Baltar?" She sniffles, deflecting the subject as she looks to her blanket-clad legs and then to Laura. "He's dead?"
"Yes, he's dead," Laura replies, giving a tight small smile. She doesn't want to think about Baltar at a time like this. "Looks like maybe your aim wasn't so bad after all."
Kara appreciates Laura's dry attempt at humor, even though she knows it's not going to help the Admiral's scowl.
"Should have gotten him in one."
There is another stay of silence before Bill steps forward, to the edge of the bed as if that is all the proximity he is allowing himself. He watches Cottle, noting the doctor's movements as he checks Kara's blood pressure. When it checks out, he unwraps the stethoscope from around his neck.
"Take a couple deep breaths for me." Cottle places the cool metal on her chest.
"What, you don't trust the monitors or something?"
"Just humor me, Starbuck." Cottle shoots a look from Kara to Bill, as if to challenge the Admiral's stony expression with one of his own. When her beat is regular, he wraps the stethoscope back around his neck.
"Why are you here, Kara?" Laura asks next.
"I made a choice. Not that it was really much of one." Kara sees the round of Laura's belly not quite yet showing underneath a pressed pink blouse and dark blazer, and sighs before looking up. "I'm supposed to show you the way, I think."
"The way to where?" Bill speaks for the first time, trying not to clench his teeth as he knows he's going to get a religious answer that he may or may not like.
"The Promised Land, Boss. Earth's not just some pipe dream the two of you made up. It's real." She swallows the lump in her throat. "And I'm supposed to take you there unless you decide to lock me up or kill me first. Your choice on both, by the way."
--
Bill and Laura exit the curtain and make their way past the marines to where Lee is standing by Tory and Sam. It's obvious from the dead silence that none of them are speaking as Bill nods to Sam, who leaves them to go back to Kara.
"Is everything alright, Madame President?" Tory asks, her eyes darting back and forth from Laura to Bill but remaining focused on Laura.
"Yes, thank you." Laura senses the discussion that is about to follow, and doesn't particularly want her aide listening in on the details. "Would you please have a Raptor ready on the Hanger Deck in about fifteen minutes? I'd like to sit in on the end of the afternoon Quorum meeting."
"Of course, Madame President, right away." Tory takes her leave of them.
"How's Kara?" Lee looks from Laura to his father and back again. He wants the information that he knows they have.
"Claims she's going to take us to Earth," Bill says, and Laura can sense the tension and discord in his voice. "Same old religious mumbo jumbo we've heard before."
"And you believe her?" Lee looks at his father, who pinches the nose of his glasses and sighs. "We-We believe her?"
"Do we have a choice?" Laura asks as both men look to her. "Because from where I'm standing, gentlemen, we don't have very many choices left and that woman in there is offering one. A way for us to find Earth and give our people a home."
"Not if the Cylons follow us." He pauses, and notes Laura's reaction. "What? You think we're just going to go to Earth and the Cylons that have been chasing us are mysteriously going to just disappear?"
Bill continues. "What's to say that she's not a Cylon, hmm? It's awful convenient for her to just appear in the middle of a battle only to end up here spouting off that crap."
The three of them don't see Cottle exit the curtain as he steps up between Lee and Bill to listen to the conversation.
"She saved my life, Admiral." Laura's hand goes to her stomach, as she feels her teeth clench. She doesn't have to finish her train of thought for him to know that she's going to use that as leverage for her argument.
"Alright, fine, but that doesn't prove that she's Kara." Lee points out, and Bill is grateful for the small amount of logic leaning on his side. "Dad's right. We can't just leave the fate of humanity to some thing that calls herself Kara."
"For all intensive purposes, she's human." Cottle says next, taking them all off guard. "Every test I've run, every vial of blood I've examined' it all checks clean. The only thing left is that stupid detector of Baltar's, and for Gods sake, Madame President, I hope you flushed that thing out the airlock for the good it's done."
A smirk crosses Laura's lips as she leans to one side, waiting for Bill's response.
"So what do you suggest, Doctor?" Lee turns to Cottle.
"Do I look like I know what to suggest? I'm a physician, not a frakking politician. I treat people, not lead them. Isn't that why we keep these two around? So that they can decide what's best?"
Laura and Bill exchange glances. "But, for what it's worth, I'd listen to Starbuck. Because if the Gods care enough to bring her back to life, then there has to be a point to it. They don't just frak around when it comes to things like destinies. Take our esteemed President here."
And with that, Cottle walks off to his office, muttering under his breath about incompetent fools and inadequate amounts of cigarettes.
"I think I'm going to go talk to Kara." Laura passes both of them, moving past the guards and into the curtain where Sam has resumed his position at the side of Kara's bed. "Sam."
"Madame President." He stands, as due the respect of her title, though she knows on New Caprica, they were far past titles.
"I'm not going anywhere, Sam," Kara says. "Just give us the room, alright?"
Sam nods his head and makes his way past the curtain, but not before nodding to Laura, who tries to smile. Kara then sighs as Laura takes a long look at her without moving from her position.
"He doesn't believe me, does he?" Kara's referring to Bill, and Laura knows just as much.
"All he knows is what he can see." Laura sighs, crossing her arms and taking a step forward. "And he saw your ship blow up. You died, Kara, and now you're here. I'd like you to tell me what he's supposed to believe."
"It doesn't really matter what I think, does it?" Kara pauses as she waits for Laura's answer. When Laura doesn't give one, her eyes close as her tongue slides up against the top of her lip before coming back down. "I was told to wake up and save your life. Plain and simple. Wasn't given much choice in the matter."
"By who?"
"Our favorite dreamsnatcher." A fake smirk crosses Kara's lips as she thinks of Leoben. She opens her eyes to see Laura staring at her, studying her face before looking away. "There's going to be a war before the end. The five of creation will bring order to the seven of chaos. He spoke about the Dying Leader. I don't know how--"
Sam watches their blurred silhouettes continuing to converse through the curtain, standing between the two Marines posted outside. His ears had perked up at the sound of hearing Kara's words, and now he was just standing there listening.
He needs to find Saul, and Tory, and Tyrol, and quick.
Laura appears a moment later, and he takes a step back to allow her to exit.
"Is everything alright, Madame President?" He appears concerned as she flashes him a small but polite smile.
"Yes, thank you, Sam." He watches her leave Life Station before turning and leaving himself.
Chapter Nine