There. Footsteps. Someone was coming. He grew agitated. Somehow, he sensed these people weren't coming to help them.
Someone was creaming. A weird noise - too loud for his liking. Some more screaming. Somewhere, a baby was crying. He didn't like the new arrivals. Someone bent over him.
"You take it. Take anything you want but - leave me the kid."
"Sure. Can have him. He'd only be in the way anyway."
He was lifted up by the first voice. "Come here, honey. Shh, it's okay, everything's gonna be all right. You're safe now. Don't cry, honey."
He decided he liked the voice. He really did feel safe in the stranger's arms. And warm. And comfortable. He snuggled into the arms that were holding him close.
They were moving now. Where to ? He didn't know. But he wasn't scared anymore. The stranger would take care of him. He would be loved. Something he hadn't felt for a long time. Not since Mommy had left.
Then. An evil laugh. A muffled groan. The baby was crying again. He felt like falling.....
Starbuck woke with a start, soaked in sweat and breathing heavily. The same frakking nightmare he'd been having ever since he could think. Twice, maybe three or four times every yahren it would come out to haunt him, only to disappear and leave him on edge.
"You OK, Bucko ?"
"Sure, 'Pol. Go back to sleep."
"Been dreaming again ?"
"Yeah."
" Come here, honey. Shh, it's okay, everything's gonna be all right. You're safe now. Don't cry, honey."
Starbuck really did feel safe in Apollo's arms. And warm. And comfortable. He snuggled into the arms that were holding him close.
He tensed suddenly, his subconscious noticing the parallels to the dream and deciding to act upon it.
Feeling the other man's grip on him tighten, a loving hand rubbing his back, he relaxed.
Then. A gentle kiss on his temple. A soothing whisper. A hand smoothing his hair out of his face. He felt loved.
"Sleep, love."
He snuggled into Apollo's embrace, soon hearing a soft snore that indicated his new-found love had gone back to dreamland.
Yet, he couldn't get himself to sleep again. The dream was haunting him, as it usually did. It felt way too real to be nothing but a dream, a nightmare. It must be something he had experienced in reality. When he'd been too young to remember consciously. Or maybe just something pieced together by his subconscious, based on memories like his short visit with Baltar on his baseship.
What really unnerved him was that he just didn't have a clue. And that there was no way to find out, either.
Just like so many other things in his life, this dream would remain a mystery, never to be solved.