Bill stopped reading and glanced at Laura. She had tears in her eyes. "Laura?"
"I, uh..."
"We knew this was coming."
"I know, that doesn't make it less sad."
Laura was right, of course. It was always sad for Bill when his favorite characters died. That was part of why he'd always stopped reading the book at a certain point. Bill couldn't bear to part with the searider. But reading it with Laura, changed all that.
Bill took Laura's hand. "That's enough reading for one day."
Laura still had tears in her eyes, but they had mostly dried. She smiled at him. There were still several hours left of her treatment, and they both knew it. "Is that so, Admiral? What did you plan on doing instead?"
Bill loved when she used that tone with him. So playful in a decidedly unfun place at an unfun time. That's one of the reasons he fell for her in the first place. Her ability to sometimes make them forget everything. "Why don't I tell you a story instead?"
"An Adama classic?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.
"No. An Adama and Roslin classic."
She hummed. "In that case, I'd very much like to hear it."
Bill cleared his throat and began his-their-story.