BSG Fic : Long Time Coming (13/17)
Title : Long Time Coming
Author : Helen C.
Rating : PG-13
Summary : It was the only visible scar still left over by Baltar's trial, now that President Roslin was dead; Apollo's absence and the Admiral's obvious weariness.
Fandom : BSG
Spoilers : Everything aired so far is fair game.
Disclaimer : The characters and the universe were created and are owned by Ronald D. Moore and Universal Television Studios to name but a few. No money is being made. No copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
AN. Goes AU between the verdict and the Cylon attack in Crossroads II.
AN2. Eternal gratitude to joey51 for beta'ing this! As usual, I tinkered (in fact, it's fair to say that I've reached the point where every change I make makes things worse, not better). All remaining mistakes are mine.
Chapter Twelve
Lee was standing in an airlock, hands tied in front of him. It was just like being in the CIC again as his father congratulated Boomer on a job well done, the hidden meaning clear-At least, I can trust her.
"In all justice," his father told him, his face unreadable, "I can't treat you differently than any other of my men." He retreated, closing the hatch behind him. Lee couldn't hold back a grimace when it was sealed shut.
He refused to plead, to defend himself or to try to reason with the men on the other side of the hatch-the Commander, the XO and a couple of marines. They weren't likely to be sympathetic anyway.
He had gambled and he had lost, and that was it.
He just hadn't thought that his father would ever-
He stopped the thought.
He wasn't dealing with his father here, he was dealing with Commander Adama and he knew what the man was capable of when pushed into a corner. Or betrayed.
His heart was beating fast, his blood roaring in his ears as he wondered what it would be like to die in space. Would he suffocate first, or freeze to death? Either way, it would hurt. He tried to imagine what it would be like to scream, and not hear the sound of it.
He knew it was likely he'd pass out in around fifteen to twenty seconds-he had read enough about it to know that most scientists agreed on that part.
Fifteen seconds could be an atrociously long time.
He closed his eyes and took a breath. There was nothing left to say or do, so he waited for his Commander to get it over with, hoping that it wouldn't last too much longer.
He was so tense, waiting for the inevitable to happen, that it took a while for the sound to register.
Someone was banging on the hatch.
He looked up to see his father's face framed into the window of the airlock hatch; he was screaming, frantically trying to push the hatch open.
"Dad?" Lee called, barely daring to hope.
Had his father changed his mind, after all?
He took a step towards the hatch and then, everything around him… dissolved.
He looked around and couldn't see anything. Space? It couldn't be. He should have been flushed out with the oxygen when the outer hatch had opened. He shouldn't be able to breathe, shouldn't be able to hear his own gasps.
He heard a scream, recognized Sam's voice.
I'm here, he tried to call, but no sound came out of his mouth.
He looked down at himself, but couldn't see anything anymore.
He tried to take a step back and-
-walked straight into a wall.
He bounced back from it and shook his head, dizzy, breathless. Hadn't he been dying, a few seconds before?
Why wasn't he dead?
Someone nearby was muttering, Okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, the sound grating on his nerves.
A wave a dizziness washed over him and he sank to his knees, breathing in sharply, remembering the coldness in his father's eyes, the fear and hopelessness as he waited to be executed.
Where the frak had that come from?
Okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay. Lee opened his mouth to snap at whoever was talking, and the whispering stopped.
He shuddered and looked around, trying to focus. After a while, he recognized the Orion but how in the gods' names had he gotten here? He had already blacked out from drinking before, but the explanation didn't seem to fit his current situation.
First things first, he thought as he pushed himself to his feet. He couldn't hold back a groan as his muscles protested and suddenly, it all rushed back-Nate's death, the bad guys, the drugs and the endless questions.
What was he doing here?
Where were the bad guys? Had he managed to escape?
He couldn't remember anything after getting out of the room where he was being held.
Did that mean that he had just walked out?
Were they looking from him?
He tensed at the thought and shot a nervous look around.
Yeah, might want to get on your way, Apollo, his sarcastic inner Starbuck whispered. It seemed like a good idea so Lee took a step forward, only to stumble, his legs too shaky to hold him. He leaned on the wall, waiting for his head to clear.
A noise to his left startled him and he spun on his heels, almost face planting in the process.
He heard a surprised, "Hey," and hands on his shoulders steadied him. He jumped away from the touch, instinctively reaching for a gun he hadn't carried in over five years.
He looked up into the worried face of Scott and took a shaky breath when his vision started to dim.
"You okay?" Scott asked.
"Yeah." Lee blinked and Scott got less fuzzy around the edges. "What are you doing here?"
Scott snorted. "I could ask you the same thing." To Lee's growing concern, Scott's voice sounded muffled, like he was talking from underwater. "Everyone's looking for you, in case you didn't know."
Lee blinked as the colors around him faded, then came back, duller than before.
That can't be good.
Scott took his arm. "Come on," he said.
Lee staggered, leaning on him a little. "Where?"
"My place for now. It's close to here and you need to lie down."
Why? Lee tried to ask. You don't know what happened to me, you might be putting yourself in danger.
From the look Scott gave him, the words that actually left his mouth were too garbled to understand. Lee gave up and allowed Scott to lead him away.
*
"Here, take these," Scott said, handing him a couple of pills and water. Lee shot them a dubious look, prompting Scott to add, "It's for the pain."
"You got your own stash?" Lee asked, though in truth, he wasn't so surprised. Scott wouldn't be the only one getting some supplies from the black market.
"What do you take me for?"
Lee hesitated, reluctant to take anything now that he was starting to get less fuzzy, more coherent. On the other hand, now that he was awake again, everything hurt-a deep, dull pain that made Lee feel cold and nauseous. He wouldn't be able to move if he didn't take something soon.
With a sigh, he swallowed the pills and accepted the water, allowing it to soothe his parched throat.
"How long has it been?" he asked.
"Two days since you disappeared," Scott replied. It had seemed a lot longer than that to Lee, but then he had always thought that time tended to stand still when he was being used as a punching bag. "You've been here for a couple of hours. I patched you up as well as I could. I don't think you have anything that needs stitching."
Lee nodded. "Thanks."
"Anytime."
He dreaded asking, but he had to know. "Sam? I think I heard the guys say she had escaped." He just hoped that part hadn't been a hallucination.
Scott nodded. "Yeah, she's on the Galactica with your kids. Romo went over to see how they were. They won't allow anyone else to go, though. Security thing."
Thank gods, Lee thought. Imagining his family surrounded by a lot of heavily armed marines made something unclench in his chest and he breathed in, feeling better than he had in days.
Scott sat on the edge of the bed. For some reason, Lee couldn't help looking carefully at his every move. He knew Scott was his friend, they had known each other for years, but his gut feeling was screaming at him that he needed to be on his guard.
"What happened to you?" Scott asked. There was nothing wrong with his tone or with his attitude, nothing to explain why Lee suddenly felt like he was back in the bad guys' clutches.
"Some people want to know what Nate was working on when he was killed," Lee said.
"Did you tell them?"
Lee tensed up again as he met Scott's eyes, looking for something, anything that might give him a clue as to why he felt so wary. "Not much to say," he replied after a while.
The more he thought about it, the more his certainty that Nate must have hidden his notes somewhere safe-and taken the secret to his grave-grew.
Hide in plain sight, Nate's voice said, as loud and clear as if he was standing next to him.
Lee almost jumped out of his skin and had to resist the urge to look around frantically. Scott had spotted something, though.
"You should rest."
Yes, maybe he should. But why did he feel like he was missing the most important piece of the puzzle? And why did he feel so wary of someone who was supposed to be his friend?
Despite himself, Lee felt his eyelids start to droop. He tried to resist the pull of sleep but he could tell he wasn't going to win that battle.
"I tried to call the Galactica, but there's something wrong with our communications system," Scott said. "I should give it another try."
"Yeah." Lee closed his eyes, tried to gather enough energy to add, "Dangerous for you," thinking that he should warn Scott before anything happened.
He heard a distant chuckle. "Let me worry about myself, Lee. It's what I do best."
Lee sank into sleep with the unsettling feeling that he had just failed the most important test of his life.
Chapter 13
Author : Helen C.
Rating : PG-13
Summary : It was the only visible scar still left over by Baltar's trial, now that President Roslin was dead; Apollo's absence and the Admiral's obvious weariness.
Fandom : BSG
Spoilers : Everything aired so far is fair game.
Disclaimer : The characters and the universe were created and are owned by Ronald D. Moore and Universal Television Studios to name but a few. No money is being made. No copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
AN. Goes AU between the verdict and the Cylon attack in Crossroads II.
AN2. Eternal gratitude to joey51 for beta'ing this! As usual, I tinkered (in fact, it's fair to say that I've reached the point where every change I make makes things worse, not better). All remaining mistakes are mine.
Chapter Twelve
Lee was standing in an airlock, hands tied in front of him. It was just like being in the CIC again as his father congratulated Boomer on a job well done, the hidden meaning clear-At least, I can trust her.
"In all justice," his father told him, his face unreadable, "I can't treat you differently than any other of my men." He retreated, closing the hatch behind him. Lee couldn't hold back a grimace when it was sealed shut.
He refused to plead, to defend himself or to try to reason with the men on the other side of the hatch-the Commander, the XO and a couple of marines. They weren't likely to be sympathetic anyway.
He had gambled and he had lost, and that was it.
He just hadn't thought that his father would ever-
He stopped the thought.
He wasn't dealing with his father here, he was dealing with Commander Adama and he knew what the man was capable of when pushed into a corner. Or betrayed.
His heart was beating fast, his blood roaring in his ears as he wondered what it would be like to die in space. Would he suffocate first, or freeze to death? Either way, it would hurt. He tried to imagine what it would be like to scream, and not hear the sound of it.
He knew it was likely he'd pass out in around fifteen to twenty seconds-he had read enough about it to know that most scientists agreed on that part.
Fifteen seconds could be an atrociously long time.
He closed his eyes and took a breath. There was nothing left to say or do, so he waited for his Commander to get it over with, hoping that it wouldn't last too much longer.
He was so tense, waiting for the inevitable to happen, that it took a while for the sound to register.
Someone was banging on the hatch.
He looked up to see his father's face framed into the window of the airlock hatch; he was screaming, frantically trying to push the hatch open.
"Dad?" Lee called, barely daring to hope.
Had his father changed his mind, after all?
He took a step towards the hatch and then, everything around him… dissolved.
He looked around and couldn't see anything. Space? It couldn't be. He should have been flushed out with the oxygen when the outer hatch had opened. He shouldn't be able to breathe, shouldn't be able to hear his own gasps.
He heard a scream, recognized Sam's voice.
I'm here, he tried to call, but no sound came out of his mouth.
He looked down at himself, but couldn't see anything anymore.
He tried to take a step back and-
-walked straight into a wall.
He bounced back from it and shook his head, dizzy, breathless. Hadn't he been dying, a few seconds before?
Why wasn't he dead?
Someone nearby was muttering, Okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, the sound grating on his nerves.
A wave a dizziness washed over him and he sank to his knees, breathing in sharply, remembering the coldness in his father's eyes, the fear and hopelessness as he waited to be executed.
Where the frak had that come from?
Okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay. Lee opened his mouth to snap at whoever was talking, and the whispering stopped.
He shuddered and looked around, trying to focus. After a while, he recognized the Orion but how in the gods' names had he gotten here? He had already blacked out from drinking before, but the explanation didn't seem to fit his current situation.
First things first, he thought as he pushed himself to his feet. He couldn't hold back a groan as his muscles protested and suddenly, it all rushed back-Nate's death, the bad guys, the drugs and the endless questions.
What was he doing here?
Where were the bad guys? Had he managed to escape?
He couldn't remember anything after getting out of the room where he was being held.
Did that mean that he had just walked out?
Were they looking from him?
He tensed at the thought and shot a nervous look around.
Yeah, might want to get on your way, Apollo, his sarcastic inner Starbuck whispered. It seemed like a good idea so Lee took a step forward, only to stumble, his legs too shaky to hold him. He leaned on the wall, waiting for his head to clear.
A noise to his left startled him and he spun on his heels, almost face planting in the process.
He heard a surprised, "Hey," and hands on his shoulders steadied him. He jumped away from the touch, instinctively reaching for a gun he hadn't carried in over five years.
He looked up into the worried face of Scott and took a shaky breath when his vision started to dim.
"You okay?" Scott asked.
"Yeah." Lee blinked and Scott got less fuzzy around the edges. "What are you doing here?"
Scott snorted. "I could ask you the same thing." To Lee's growing concern, Scott's voice sounded muffled, like he was talking from underwater. "Everyone's looking for you, in case you didn't know."
Lee blinked as the colors around him faded, then came back, duller than before.
That can't be good.
Scott took his arm. "Come on," he said.
Lee staggered, leaning on him a little. "Where?"
"My place for now. It's close to here and you need to lie down."
Why? Lee tried to ask. You don't know what happened to me, you might be putting yourself in danger.
From the look Scott gave him, the words that actually left his mouth were too garbled to understand. Lee gave up and allowed Scott to lead him away.
*
"Here, take these," Scott said, handing him a couple of pills and water. Lee shot them a dubious look, prompting Scott to add, "It's for the pain."
"You got your own stash?" Lee asked, though in truth, he wasn't so surprised. Scott wouldn't be the only one getting some supplies from the black market.
"What do you take me for?"
Lee hesitated, reluctant to take anything now that he was starting to get less fuzzy, more coherent. On the other hand, now that he was awake again, everything hurt-a deep, dull pain that made Lee feel cold and nauseous. He wouldn't be able to move if he didn't take something soon.
With a sigh, he swallowed the pills and accepted the water, allowing it to soothe his parched throat.
"How long has it been?" he asked.
"Two days since you disappeared," Scott replied. It had seemed a lot longer than that to Lee, but then he had always thought that time tended to stand still when he was being used as a punching bag. "You've been here for a couple of hours. I patched you up as well as I could. I don't think you have anything that needs stitching."
Lee nodded. "Thanks."
"Anytime."
He dreaded asking, but he had to know. "Sam? I think I heard the guys say she had escaped." He just hoped that part hadn't been a hallucination.
Scott nodded. "Yeah, she's on the Galactica with your kids. Romo went over to see how they were. They won't allow anyone else to go, though. Security thing."
Thank gods, Lee thought. Imagining his family surrounded by a lot of heavily armed marines made something unclench in his chest and he breathed in, feeling better than he had in days.
Scott sat on the edge of the bed. For some reason, Lee couldn't help looking carefully at his every move. He knew Scott was his friend, they had known each other for years, but his gut feeling was screaming at him that he needed to be on his guard.
"What happened to you?" Scott asked. There was nothing wrong with his tone or with his attitude, nothing to explain why Lee suddenly felt like he was back in the bad guys' clutches.
"Some people want to know what Nate was working on when he was killed," Lee said.
"Did you tell them?"
Lee tensed up again as he met Scott's eyes, looking for something, anything that might give him a clue as to why he felt so wary. "Not much to say," he replied after a while.
The more he thought about it, the more his certainty that Nate must have hidden his notes somewhere safe-and taken the secret to his grave-grew.
Hide in plain sight, Nate's voice said, as loud and clear as if he was standing next to him.
Lee almost jumped out of his skin and had to resist the urge to look around frantically. Scott had spotted something, though.
"You should rest."
Yes, maybe he should. But why did he feel like he was missing the most important piece of the puzzle? And why did he feel so wary of someone who was supposed to be his friend?
Despite himself, Lee felt his eyelids start to droop. He tried to resist the pull of sleep but he could tell he wasn't going to win that battle.
"I tried to call the Galactica, but there's something wrong with our communications system," Scott said. "I should give it another try."
"Yeah." Lee closed his eyes, tried to gather enough energy to add, "Dangerous for you," thinking that he should warn Scott before anything happened.
He heard a distant chuckle. "Let me worry about myself, Lee. It's what I do best."
Lee sank into sleep with the unsettling feeling that he had just failed the most important test of his life.
Chapter 13