Chapter 31
(Adama's POV)

I am trying hard to keep myself from physically shaking some sense into Kara but I freely admit that it's a struggle. Sure, I can see where she is coming from and the rational part of my mind even knows that I should probably have been expecting something like this to begin with but the fact that it is logical and not entirely unexpected doesn't mean I'm not having a hard time accepting it.

True, I knew long before now that Leoben had done a number on her. That much had been obvious from the very beginning but there's still a world of difference between knowing that 'something' happened and finding out exactly what that 'something' entailed... and on top of that having to sit here as she defended him was almost more than I could take, though luckily at least in that regard she finally seems to have realized what it was that she was doing and that is a relief, sort of. The problem is that as much as I may want to shout and scream, I know I can't afford to do it. I know that whether I like it or not, I have to be the rational one for her sake... especially because I'm not the only one who is having a hard time trying to come to terms with this one.

Hell, even though Lee is handling this a lot better than I thought he would, it is still pretty apparent that he is struggling, that he is trying to get through to her without much success and I know him well enough to realize that that is probably driving him crazy.

The thing is that going by what I've heard here today we have a long list of issues that we are going to have to address sooner rather than later but at the same time I am well aware that even in that regard we have barely scratched the surface. Unfortunately --as much as we may all want to get some answers, as much as we may all want to get this over with once and for all-- I suspect that Kara has had about as much 'scratching' as she can take in one sitting.

That means that we are getting close to the point in which we are going to have to back down but we are not quite there yet and we have to make the most we can out of what little time we have left here.

In other words, we can't afford to get distracted and that means that we should at least try to redirect our attention back to the subject at hand so, rather reluctantly, I tell her not to worry about it.

"But I..." she begins but I interrupt her, already knowing what she is going to say.

"It's okay, Kara. That's not what this is about... at least not now."

"Not now?"

"No, I know it's confusing and we will deal with that later but right now I think we should try to focus on the facts."

"The facts?"

"Yes. We need to know what happened and when, to figure out the timeline of events, the rest... well, I won't say it doesn't matter but it can wait, okay?"

"Okay," she whispers, not sounding particularly convinced.

"Good, now you said that you spent the first three weeks or so with Simon in a basestar and then he handed you over to Leoben... that's when things got 'worse', right?"

"Kind of."

"'Kind of'?"

"Yes, I mean, it's not so frakking simple. It got worse --there's no question about that-- but even before that it was still pretty bad. Besides, even after that it wasn't like Simon was gone... not completely."

"Not completely?" I repeat, somewhat surprised by that particular statement.

"Yeah. Even after he handed me over there was still no escaping him. He still came to see me almost daily and he kept up his tests. Hell a couple of times he even..."

"What did he do, Kara?" I ask when it becomes apparent that she is not going to volunteer any additional information.

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Kara," I warn her, though I'm not sure how far I should be pushing this.

"I don't know," she finally admits, looking down at her hands. "I mean he would take blood almost every day, and he kept up the shots, though I never really knew what was in them, not exactly... that didn't change after he handed me over either. He also did some ultrasounds... hell, those were pretty much part of my daily routine and there wasn't a frakking thing I could do about it, but sometimes he did other things... things that I..."

"Other things?"

"Yes, damn it!"

"Care to expand on that one?" prods Cottle, taking a sudden interest in the conversation.

"I can't!"

"Well, could you at least try to tell me what Simon did to you, even if you don't fully understand it yourself?" he growls, growing increasingly frustrated.

"There was something... I don't know what it was, not really, but I think it was a pretty big deal," she says after hesitating for a moment.

"What makes you say that?" I ask.

"The fact that whatever it was that he was doing, he couldn't do it in the 'apartment' but he did it anyway..."

"So it was something he couldn't do where you were being held?"

"Yes. I think it was too complicated or maybe it was just because it required more gear than he could bring in with him but at the same time it was something he obviously deemed too important not to do."

"You were taken out of your cell to do it?"

"Yes."

"And where did they take you, Kara?" I ask when she doesn't elaborate any further.

"To the center's medical facility. I was there five times. I know once was because I was hurt, so that one doesn't really count, and another one was after Kacey fell down the stairs but the other three..." she trails off.

"Those are the ones you don't fully understand?" prods Cottle.

"Yeah. I mean, all I know is that whatever it was that Simon was doing to me hurt like hell and it involved a frakking needle but that's about it."