Title: At Least a Friend (Apollo/Helo)
What Once Was and What May Be Again. Part One
Title: At Least a Friend
Author: Pairatime/Zach/Writenwright
Word Count: 1,271
Famdom: Battlestar Galactica
Author's Contact Info: pairatime@yahoo.com
Rating: PG
Genre: Hurt/comfort
Characters/Pairings: Apollo/Helo
Series: What Once Was and What May Be Again
Summary: Sharon died in labor and Helo thinks he’s all alone but he’s not.
Author's Notes: AU after Resurrection Ship part 2/and Epiphanies. In time there may be more but right now my plate is full is this is a written as a stand alone. And I don’t own.
At Least a Friend
The infirmary was quiet and nearly deserted on night shift; one lone nurse covered the bay herself. She rose from her station as Lee entered. Yet he didn’t need medical attention from her. No, he had come to see someone else, someone he cared deeply about.
Lee looked in the curtained-off corner of the bay where Helo was, sitting with his daughter. Where he’d been since his daughter was born. Since his…’it’ had died without a resurrection ship nearby. Helo hadn’t left the room once from what he’d heard. Lee just hoped what he’d heard was wrong.
Lee didn’t want to believe it; he didn’t want to believe the man knew so well could be like this. Lee couldn’t imagine it. He couldn’t conceive that the man he knew so well, so intimately, was being described as broken. He wouldn’t believe it, not till he saw it with his own eyes.
That’s why he almost couldn’t, he didn’t want to pull aside the curtain but needed to, he had to know. As he pulled it aside, he was surprised, even knowing what to expect. The first thing he saw was the baby covered in wires trapped in a plastic box. She was so small, so tiny, and so beautiful.
“Why are you here,” the voice was cracked and raw, but Lee knew that voice well, he would know it anywhere.
“I-I heard you haven’t left since…since your daughter was born,” he tried to keep his voice level but he knew he didn’t, he couldn’t. Not when he turned to look at Helo. Helo was a tall man, he towered over Lee even when he was hunched over, but now he looked so small, hunched over before his daughter.
“So, what does it matter to you?” His bleary eyes, red with exhaustion, refused to meet Lee’s.
“Helo, you need to get rest, some real rest and when was the last time you ate?” Lee asked, drawing closer to the other man.
Helo seemed to ignore him up to the moment Lee laid his hand on Helo’s shoulder, that’s when the other man exploded from his seat shoving Lee away, “don’t you dare, you don’t have the right any more. You gave that up remember. So don’t pretend you care about me. You don’t have to “Sir”,” the last words were spat out like venom accompanying the glare that had gone with his outburst. Lee fell back as much from surprise at the hate that flowed from those red-rimmed eyes as from the shove.
Lee caught himself on one of the nearby gurneys as he listened to Helo’s words. Helo was right, he didn’t have the right to tell Helo what to do outside of the flight deck, not anymore. But he couldn’t do nothing. He couldn’t stand by and watch Helo suffer and self-destruct without doing something, anything. “You’re right. I can’t tell you what to do, not anymore…but I’m still your friend! I still care for you, whatever you might think, I do. So I’m asking as your friend, when was the last time you ate or slept Helo?”
Lee watch as Helo slumped back into his chair before looking back to him, “I don’t, I don’t remember, Buck brought something not to long ago but…” He trailed off shaking his head.
“Starbuck’s on the Pegasus and before that she’d been on cap for six hours. You need to eat; you won’t be any good to your daughter if you pass out from exhaustion Helo.” Lee slowly made his way back over to Helo as he spoke, but this time he didn’t touch the other man just stood close to him.
“I-I just can’t leave her alone, don’t want her to be alone,” Helo slowly ran his hand over the box that his daughter was in, “she shouldn’t be alone.” Lee considered how empty and impersonal the sick bays was and his heart was tugged by the thought that he wouldn’t want to leave anyone here alone either, how much more Helo must feel that for his daughter…
“Eat this and then you need sleep,” Lee pulled out a protein bar from one of his pocket and tossed it over to Helo before pulling over one of the folding chairs and sat next to him.
Helo looked at the bar in his hand turning it over a couple of times before looking up at Lee, “This is a Tauron brand, they don’t-didn’t sell it outside of Tauron very much.”
“It used to be your favorite. You went all the way across town to get them all the time. They made you late more than a few time till…”
“Till you bought a case and just told me to grab them from your room. I got a lot less demerits after that.” Helo slowly pulled the wrapper off the bar before looking back at Lee, “You still keep these with you?”
Lee looked down at his hands for a moment before looking back up at Helo, “I carry a box of them with me, I never opened it but…I always have it with me,” Lee looked back down at his hand as he rubbed them together.
Helo looked at the bar in his hand as he swallowed his bite before looking back at Lee, “It’s been over two years. Why would you still-“
“I just do and that’s the important part, now eat so you can get some sleep,” Lee as said after cutting Helo off.
Helo paused for a moment before he lowered his head and took another bite of the protein bar, “I’m not leaving her.”
Lee sighed as he looked from Helo to his daughter. “Then don’t leave, just get some sleep Helo, for fark’s sake that’s all I ask.”
“Ok,” Helo said before he shoved the last of the bar into his mouth.
***
Rebecca couldn’t help herself. It’d been almost thirty minutes since the two men had stopped talking and almost an hour since Captain Adama had first arrived. It was so nice to see someone visit Lieutenant Agathon. He was the only person other than Captain Thrace that had come to visit, because the President and the Admiral didn’t really count, they had only come because of the daughter. Not that Rebecca could blame them, she was so beautiful and her little sounds were just so adorable, in fact that’s why she was doing this it’s to check on the baby not to see the Lieutenant or the Captain, really.
Of course all thoughts of the baby flow from her mind as soon as he pulled the curtain aside. There right in front of her was Agathon with his head in Capt. Adama lap…asleep, the rest of his tall, very tall, form was draped over two of the folding chairs with his legs propped up and over the back of one. That must be killing his back, it has to be, but she couldn’t help but think it was so sweet he didn’t want to leave his daughter.
When Rebecca found her feet again she calmly, or as close to calm as she could, walked over to the monitors and added the reading to the chart; but when she looked up at the two men, that’s when she froze again. Captain Adama was running his hand through the sleeping Lieutenant Agathon’s hair, but it was more than just that. There was a kindness in his movement and a look on his face that made it more. This was private and she knew it…but she couldn’t help grabbing just one more look.
Next Part
Title: At Least a Friend
Author: Pairatime/Zach/Writenwright
Word Count: 1,271
Famdom: Battlestar Galactica
Author's Contact Info: pairatime@yahoo.com
Rating: PG
Genre: Hurt/comfort
Characters/Pairings: Apollo/Helo
Series: What Once Was and What May Be Again
Summary: Sharon died in labor and Helo thinks he’s all alone but he’s not.
Author's Notes: AU after Resurrection Ship part 2/and Epiphanies. In time there may be more but right now my plate is full is this is a written as a stand alone. And I don’t own.
At Least a Friend
The infirmary was quiet and nearly deserted on night shift; one lone nurse covered the bay herself. She rose from her station as Lee entered. Yet he didn’t need medical attention from her. No, he had come to see someone else, someone he cared deeply about.
Lee looked in the curtained-off corner of the bay where Helo was, sitting with his daughter. Where he’d been since his daughter was born. Since his…’it’ had died without a resurrection ship nearby. Helo hadn’t left the room once from what he’d heard. Lee just hoped what he’d heard was wrong.
Lee didn’t want to believe it; he didn’t want to believe the man knew so well could be like this. Lee couldn’t imagine it. He couldn’t conceive that the man he knew so well, so intimately, was being described as broken. He wouldn’t believe it, not till he saw it with his own eyes.
That’s why he almost couldn’t, he didn’t want to pull aside the curtain but needed to, he had to know. As he pulled it aside, he was surprised, even knowing what to expect. The first thing he saw was the baby covered in wires trapped in a plastic box. She was so small, so tiny, and so beautiful.
“Why are you here,” the voice was cracked and raw, but Lee knew that voice well, he would know it anywhere.
“I-I heard you haven’t left since…since your daughter was born,” he tried to keep his voice level but he knew he didn’t, he couldn’t. Not when he turned to look at Helo. Helo was a tall man, he towered over Lee even when he was hunched over, but now he looked so small, hunched over before his daughter.
“So, what does it matter to you?” His bleary eyes, red with exhaustion, refused to meet Lee’s.
“Helo, you need to get rest, some real rest and when was the last time you ate?” Lee asked, drawing closer to the other man.
Helo seemed to ignore him up to the moment Lee laid his hand on Helo’s shoulder, that’s when the other man exploded from his seat shoving Lee away, “don’t you dare, you don’t have the right any more. You gave that up remember. So don’t pretend you care about me. You don’t have to “Sir”,” the last words were spat out like venom accompanying the glare that had gone with his outburst. Lee fell back as much from surprise at the hate that flowed from those red-rimmed eyes as from the shove.
Lee caught himself on one of the nearby gurneys as he listened to Helo’s words. Helo was right, he didn’t have the right to tell Helo what to do outside of the flight deck, not anymore. But he couldn’t do nothing. He couldn’t stand by and watch Helo suffer and self-destruct without doing something, anything. “You’re right. I can’t tell you what to do, not anymore…but I’m still your friend! I still care for you, whatever you might think, I do. So I’m asking as your friend, when was the last time you ate or slept Helo?”
Lee watch as Helo slumped back into his chair before looking back to him, “I don’t, I don’t remember, Buck brought something not to long ago but…” He trailed off shaking his head.
“Starbuck’s on the Pegasus and before that she’d been on cap for six hours. You need to eat; you won’t be any good to your daughter if you pass out from exhaustion Helo.” Lee slowly made his way back over to Helo as he spoke, but this time he didn’t touch the other man just stood close to him.
“I-I just can’t leave her alone, don’t want her to be alone,” Helo slowly ran his hand over the box that his daughter was in, “she shouldn’t be alone.” Lee considered how empty and impersonal the sick bays was and his heart was tugged by the thought that he wouldn’t want to leave anyone here alone either, how much more Helo must feel that for his daughter…
“Eat this and then you need sleep,” Lee pulled out a protein bar from one of his pocket and tossed it over to Helo before pulling over one of the folding chairs and sat next to him.
Helo looked at the bar in his hand turning it over a couple of times before looking up at Lee, “This is a Tauron brand, they don’t-didn’t sell it outside of Tauron very much.”
“It used to be your favorite. You went all the way across town to get them all the time. They made you late more than a few time till…”
“Till you bought a case and just told me to grab them from your room. I got a lot less demerits after that.” Helo slowly pulled the wrapper off the bar before looking back at Lee, “You still keep these with you?”
Lee looked down at his hands for a moment before looking back up at Helo, “I carry a box of them with me, I never opened it but…I always have it with me,” Lee looked back down at his hand as he rubbed them together.
Helo looked at the bar in his hand as he swallowed his bite before looking back at Lee, “It’s been over two years. Why would you still-“
“I just do and that’s the important part, now eat so you can get some sleep,” Lee as said after cutting Helo off.
Helo paused for a moment before he lowered his head and took another bite of the protein bar, “I’m not leaving her.”
Lee sighed as he looked from Helo to his daughter. “Then don’t leave, just get some sleep Helo, for fark’s sake that’s all I ask.”
“Ok,” Helo said before he shoved the last of the bar into his mouth.
***
Rebecca couldn’t help herself. It’d been almost thirty minutes since the two men had stopped talking and almost an hour since Captain Adama had first arrived. It was so nice to see someone visit Lieutenant Agathon. He was the only person other than Captain Thrace that had come to visit, because the President and the Admiral didn’t really count, they had only come because of the daughter. Not that Rebecca could blame them, she was so beautiful and her little sounds were just so adorable, in fact that’s why she was doing this it’s to check on the baby not to see the Lieutenant or the Captain, really.
Of course all thoughts of the baby flow from her mind as soon as he pulled the curtain aside. There right in front of her was Agathon with his head in Capt. Adama lap…asleep, the rest of his tall, very tall, form was draped over two of the folding chairs with his legs propped up and over the back of one. That must be killing his back, it has to be, but she couldn’t help but think it was so sweet he didn’t want to leave his daughter.
When Rebecca found her feet again she calmly, or as close to calm as she could, walked over to the monitors and added the reading to the chart; but when she looked up at the two men, that’s when she froze again. Captain Adama was running his hand through the sleeping Lieutenant Agathon’s hair, but it was more than just that. There was a kindness in his movement and a look on his face that made it more. This was private and she knew it…but she couldn’t help grabbing just one more look.
Next Part