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"Captain?" Kara turned at the sound of Cottle's cigarette-roughened voice, flinching involuntarily away from the curtain at Lee's bedside. She took a deep breath, pursed her lips slightly. "Just passing by."
"The CAG'll be out for a while yet." He pulled out a cigarette. "Want one?"
"I'll pass." Alcohol was her main vice these days. That and frakking up with Lee, she mused bitterly.
Cottle lit his cigarette, took a drag, and exhaled. "The bullet did a number on him, but he'll pull through." He paused, looking her over. "Way you look, it's done one on you too. Go get some rest, I don't want you back in my sickbay for some damn fool reason like exhaustion now."
Probably end up in the bed next to his, with her luck. "Yeah, sure." Kara gave him a brief nod, picking up her bottle and the clipboard with the checklist that should have been Lee's to check off, but now fell to her instead.
"I'll tell him you came by when he wakes up."
She turned, looked him squarely in the eye. "Don't bother, Doc. See you later."
"You sure?" The concern was more obvious now, barely hidden behind the gruffness. "Blaming yourself won't help him get better, young lady."
All very well to say to the one who put the bullet in him in the first place, she thought, taking a swig from the bottle, and then another. To the one who was supposed to be on his six and frakked up the job.
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