Chapter 11
(Kara's POV)

A few seconds after the Old Man leaves Lee and Helo walk in and, while Helo stays close to the curtain, Lee approaches my bed and I can barely keep myself from groaning. I feel like I'm on display here and I really wish they would just go away but I know that's not going to happen.

"Hey," says Lee.

"Hey," I reply, not really knowing what to say and wondering what's coming next.

"So?" he asks, in what has to be the dumbest excuse for a conversation ever.

I just shrug my shoulders at that.

"How are you doing?" he finally manages to ask.

"Could be worse, though I'll be a lot happier once Cottle lets me out of here," I say, trying to keep things safe.

"Yeah, well, about that, I think he is planning to keep you here for a while."

"I know, any idea as to how long?"

"About a week."

"WHAT?!" I exclaim. I mean, I know he had mentioned something about wanting to keep me here for a few days but this is ridiculous.

"He told us something that basically amounted to the fact that he doesn't really trust you to do as you are told, I don't know what could possibly have given him that idea," he says, rather sarcastically and I just glare at him. "Anyway, he seems to want to keep you where he can actually keep an eye on you."

"Great," I mutter, wondering what am I going to have to do to get my ass kicked out of here.

"The good news is that we managed to talk him into allowing you a couple of hours of freedom a day as long as we stay with you."

"I don't need a frakking babysitter."

"It's not our call, Kara, we just thought you might enjoy the freedom but if you'd rather stay here 24/7..." he trails off.

"That's not fair. I hate it here," I growl, knowing that I'm pretty much caught between a rock and a hard place and seriously suspecting that the doc has something up his sleeve... not to mention that this gives him something to blackmail me with.

"I know but I think Cottle is just trying to be careful."

"More like he is frakking trying to get even because I didn't tell him what had happened," I mutter.

"Okay, so there's that too... and he is not the only one."

"Don't start, Lee," I warn him.

"Oh, I am so starting. I thought I was your friend."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"You are supposed to trust your friends," he reminds me.

"What do you mean?"

"Do you really want me to make you a list?"

"Not particularly," I concede, not wanting to go down that particular road, at least not now.

"You are lucky that we only have five minutes otherwise..."

"Five minutes?"

"Yeah, Cottle said something about you needing your rest."

"It's not that bad," I point out, though the truth is that I'm somewhat relieved by the knowledge that this conversation won't drag on forever... especially because I suspect that that five minute limit has a lot to do with Lee's willingness to avoid certain issues for the time being. Now if only I could figure out how to get him to avoid them permanently, but I know that's not going to happen, I know sooner rather than later he is going to start pushing and so will the Old Man so I might as well enjoy their reluctance while it lasts.

"Yes, well, after that stunt you pulled can you blame him for wanting to play it safe? I mean, when I think back to Kobol..."

"It was nobody's business but my own. Besides, I wasn't hurt anywhere near as bad as the Old Man and he was down there with us," I remind him.

"That's not the point. This has nothing to do with my dad, Kara, it has to do with the fact that I can't watch your back if you don't tell me what the frak is going on. If you are not at a hundred percent I need to know about it."

"I can take care of myself."

"Usually, yes, right now, not really... not to mention that you could easily have ended up jeopardizing someone else just because you were being stubborn," he growls, slipping into CAG mode, even though we both know that that is not what this is about.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence."

"Do you really expect me to believe that if Helo hadn't realized that you were sick you would have told me that you were not fit to fly CAP today?"

"Well, no, but..."

"And what do you think would have happened if the cylons had shown up while you were out there?"

"Come on, Lee..." I start but he interrupts me again.

"And what about Kobol? I trusted you to watch my back... are you honestly going to tell me that the fact that you were hurt didn't interfere with your ability to do that?" he pushes and I know he is just playing dirty.

"What do you want me to say?" I all but yell at him.

"I don't know, okay? I just want you to frakking trust me!"

"I do, it's not..." I trail off, not quite knowing how to explain.

"It's not what?" he prods.

"It's not about trust," I whisper.

"You have to be frakking kidding me! Not about trust?" he yells.

"Um, sir, remember what Cottle said about upsetting her," Helo interrupts us, taking a step forward from his spot near the curtain.

"I'm not going to frakking break, Helo," I growl at him. Even though there's a part of me that is definitely grateful for the interruption the fact remains that I don't want them walking on eggshells around me, though I suspect I'm going to have to get used to it, whether I want to or not.

"No, but Cottle may end up breaking us... or he could change his mind about allowing us to get you out of here," he points out. Sure, leave it to Helo to be the frakking voice of reason.

"We will talk about it later," growls Lee.

"Funny, that's pretty much what your dad said... and I would tell you that I'm looking forward to it but, well, we both know that I'm not so why bother," I say, trying to keep him at arm's length and failing miserably.

"I don't care... did Zak know?" he blurts out, out of nowhere.

"Know what?" I ask, wondering what the frak he is talking about.

"Did you ever tell him about your mom?"

I shake my head at that even as I let out a resigned sigh. So much for him avoiding the subject.

"You mean you never told him? For frak's sake, Kara, why not? You were going to frakking marry him!" he explodes.

"Because it didn't matter, because it's in the past and telling him wouldn't have changed a frakking thing... not to mention that it was none of his frakking business!" I say, wishing he would back off but he just gives me this puzzled look... which is kind of funny seeing how I am the one who doesn't have a clue as to what the big frakking deal about me not telling Zak is supposed to be.