Disclaimer: Laura Roslin rocks my socks. I don't own her, but she still owns my heart.
Characters: mainly Laura Roslin. Some A/R. Some R/A. The Tighs. Cottle. Tory Foster. Lee/Baltar mention.
Setting: A different timeline in season 4. Think the end of season 3 but A/R has already happened. On New Caprica... :o) :o) The Baltar trial is over. The nebula happened. The rest not so much...
Summary: Laura has visions - and the question is: do they make sense?
Homecoming
The admiral was woken, like so often these days, by a tossing and turning Laura Roslin. He blinked his eyes and found her sound asleep yet restless by his side. Her blanket was half thrown off, her body barely covered. Bill carefully reached over to catch the blanket before it fully revealed her naked form to his eyes. Not that he would mind the view, but at 3:14 am even he had other things on his mind. He tugged the cloth around them both and tried to nestle her in his embrace. Laura's face relaxed, if only for a beat. A smile arose on her lips, her name fell from his, "It's all right, Laura." She woke for a second. "Go back to sleep." And she dozed off in his arms again.
An hour later, Bill had finally drifted off to sleep, he was woken by her elbow in his ribcage. He howled and let her go. Laura turned, frantically on her side of the bed, her arms were flying up high in the air. Bill rubbed his ribs and tried to soothe her. "Laura," his voice was gruff from sleep, "wake up!" His hand lay on her shoulder. "It's just a dream." He told her every night now since the trial. Baltar convicted, her secret revealed. She hadn't calmed down in more than a week.
She had told him about her visions. They usually came late at night or sometime during the day. Mostly in sickbay or when she took a nap. Chamalla was not the reason, Cottle had explained to him one night. Too strong her reaction, too deep her sleep. Bill didn't like her taking drugs anyway. A joint on New Caprica, some stash hidden in his books – that was another story. Chamalla was different, at least to him. It had a smack of cancer. And he didn't like to think of her as sick.
After a week of sleepless nights, he had learned to tell when she was edgy from another vision. Tonight was different though, worse somehow. Bill looked at his lover's face, fear was reflected in her features, a frown. Then pain. He leaned in to her, placed a gentle kiss onto her head, her hair so soft against his weathered skin. He tried to wake her up without startling her – that was the worst he could do. He moved his hands over her body, skin on skin, to make her feel at ease. Laura froze before she loosened up. His touch still did the trick. Bill smiled and drew circles on her belly, across her waistline and her butt. When his mouth found her jaw line and traced little kisses down her neck, her breasts, Laura purred. "I love you," Bill whispered into her hair.
Laura moaned and visibly enjoyed his touch. "Richard." The name fell from her lips and cut like daggers. She was aroused, her skin was blushed. The name again. Bill stopped spoiling her, his face was frozen. What the frak?
Laura Roslin was tired of being blinded by lights. One vision like the other: the opera house. Hera. Sharon. Caprica Six. Baltar had disappeared now after his conviction. She strangely missed his presence. Was he the key? A Final Five? Laura shook her head and frowned.
Six looked at her from across the gallery. She was suspicious since Baltar had disappeared, from their vision and theirs lives. She looked frail, anxious even. Sharon at the other end of the hall. Her face was exhausted and distressed. They had all stopped chasing after the hybrid child.
Hera sat at the bottom landing of the stairway, enveloped by light, a doll in her hands, a tune on her lips. She seemed at ease. A Final Five appeared to play with her once in a while, gone the second Sharon moved an inch. Six shared her fate and couldn't move – not towards Hera, not at all. Laura was the only one who could leave her gallery, her floor. But she ended up where she had started, no matter which way she went, which door she chose. Every time the same. It made her angry.
Suddenly the lights went dark. Laura couldn't see a thing. Hera's humming had stopped, no breathing left from Athena or the Cylon they called Six. Laura turned around, tried to feel her way along the banister down the stairs. She almost fell, steadied herself and found a hand touching hers. Laura jumped.
"It's all right, Laura." The voice sounded too familiar to calm down. A knock on the door.
"Who is this?" Laura moved around and felt his body closer now to hers.
"Well, who could it be?" His breath was soft and gentle on her neck. Laura closed her eyes for a second and inhaled his scent.
Lights back on, she found herself in his arms. His bedroom at the residence, she recognized it at once. The fancy furniture, the rich, warm colors. The wooden floor strewn with her clothes.
"Just a second!" He shouted at the person behind the door before he pulled her into a lingering kiss. "I won't be long." Another promise, one of his bewitching smiles. Laura lay her head back on her pillow. She couldn't say no to him.
Moments later, he was back with her again. Now in her home, then a hotel room and another. She saw her life with him in fast forward but slow enough to remember the details. Memories now blending in with visions. The loss of her family. Her political career. Her mother's cancer, then her own... She gasped as the cycle broke. She was back in his bed at the residency. His hands traveled up and down her body and made her blush.
"What is this, Richard?" Laura found her voice again.
"You're having another vision." He gently kissed her neck.
"What do you know about my visions?" She moaned.
"More than you do at this point." His lips moved to her mouth and kissed her hard.
"This isn't a memory..." Laura tried to think.
"No, it's not." Richard ignored her attempt to solve the puzzle.
"So you are in my head." Her voice trailed off as his mouth reached her breasts.
"Not exactly," he continued the journey with his mouth. "This is a projection, Laura. What you experience is real. For the Cylons I am real."
"I'm not a Cylon," her protest was lost in his mouth as his tongue danced with hers.
"You have hybrid blood running in your veins. You are more advanced than you think, my love." Richard smiled at her again, his eyes darkened by passion.
"My cancer has returned, how advanced is that for you?" Laura looked deep into his eyes, her voice sad and tainted with frustration.
"Advanced enough." He moved his hands up and down her legs. "You'll live. You'll see."
Laura closed her eyes. The touch of his hands felt too good not to enjoy.
"I missed you so much," his voice broke the silence after a while. His mouth still occupied with refreshing his memories of her, his hands busy learning her anew. "Your legs, your breasts, your neck..."
Laura chuckled. "You missed having sex with me."
"No, Laura. I missed you." His voice was sincere when he sought her approval to make love. "I had hoped you'd be happy to see me."
Laura pulled him into a tender kiss. "I am happy to see you, Richard. That's the problem..."
"Your are seeing someone else," his mood dropped two levels.
Laura, still entangled with his naked body on hers, laughed sadly. "Can you imagine, in the middle of all of this? The chaos, the pain, the darkness."
"Do you love him?"
She paused. "I do. Very much."
Richard propped himself up on one arm and studied her face. He looked defeated, broken somehow – had so before, moments ago, but Laura hadn't seen it until now.
"I never expected you to fall in love with another man." Richard allowed his fingers to keep toying with her skin.
"I mourned you for the longest time, Richard. I simply couldn't afford the luxury of mourning you for the rest of my life." Laura indulged in his tenderness.
"Then why did you bring me back?" He rolled back on top of her and moved his fingers in and out of her core.
"I didn't." Laura moaned his name.
"Yes, you did. You control your visions, Laura, don't you know? Your visions affect your reality and your reality affects your visions." Richard stroked her harder and studied her face. "Who is making love to you right now?" His name fell from her lips as she came. "You choose, Laura. You choose who you love."
Laura woke and jumped. The sound of his name still rang in her head as she saw Bill sitting at the edge of their bed, wrapping himself in a bathrobe.
"Bill?" Laura tried to adjust her eyes to the darkness in the room. "Where are you going?" The alarm clock read 4:30am.
"I need to shave." Bill avoided her gaze and growled.
Laura sat up on the bed and wrapped the blanket around her naked body. Reaching out her hand to touch his, she tried to shake off her most recent vision. "What's wrong?"
Bill fought with his emotions. He was confused, annoyed and tired out. "Nothing. Go back to sleep. You need it. We have a long day ahead of us."
"Did I wake you again?" Laura was concerned. The shadows under his eyes hadn't disappeared in days. "You don't shave this early in the morning for nothing." She inched closer to him and sought his embrace. "Talk to me. What is it?"
Bill felt stiff when he moved his arms around her. Was it childish to be cross with her over a name mumbled in a dream? "Who's Richard?"
"What?" Laura's eyes went wide.
"You moaned his name when you woke up. Who is he?" Bill turned around to look into her eyes and found her embarrassed and confused.
"I saw him in my vision. It was... more like a dream. A memory." She was looking for the right words. "He called it a projection. I don't know."
Bill wrinkled his forehead. He didn't understand. Laura sighed.
"Who's Richard?" Bill's voice was softer now. He wanted to know.
Uneasy about her dream, Laura was looking for a way to start her confession, her story. It had been a long time coming and she still didn't know how to tell him about her past. It never seemed to matter, now it did. This was harder than she thought. She losened their embrace. "Richard Adar." Her voice was frail.
"The President?" Bill's mouth was faster than his mind.
Laura nodded. "I had an affair with him for over ten years."
"He was your boss. He was married." Bill didn't judge, wasn't admiral with her, was surprised to find himself not disappointed.
"He was. All of that and more. I loved him, that's all I can say." Laura felt his hand on hers, his thumb caressing the soft skin on her wrist. "If you want to go shave now, I understand."
Bill smiled. "Nah. I know you love my face scruffy." And he pulled her back into a tight embrace. "Ten years?" He asked after a beat.
Laura nodded again.
"It was serious." His voice was matter of fact.
"For me it was."
"You're not sure about him?"
"In the end I wasn't sure about my own feelings." Laura paused for a moment. "No, that's not true. I never questioned my feelings for him. I questioned my choices, my willingness to be his on the side."
"I never took you for someone who would play second fiddle."
"I was a different person on Caprica," Laura pulled him into a kiss. "You wouldn't have liked me much back then, Bill."
"A surrogate wife..."
"No," she interrupted him. "I wasn't in the backseat of his life for his wife. I was there for his career." Laura kissed him again. "It took me a while to see you would be different."
Bill welcomed her kiss and gently lay her down on the bed. "How often did you see him in your visions?"
"Twice. Two years ago and now tonight." Laura opened his bathrobe and removed her blanket to feel his skin on hers.
"Do you plan on seeing him again?" Bill continued his earlier indulgence of her body and enjoyed to hear her moan his own name now instead of a lover's one long gone.
Laura shook her head and moved her hands over his naked form. "I don't intend to."
"Good then," Bill smiled and kissed her breath away. "Remind me to tell you about my dreams of Carolann."
"Carolann?" Richard fondled her skin. His voice amused and low.
Laura opened her eyes. The room around her was filled with light. She was lying on his bed, surrounded by cushions, silk and linen. Richard smiled like a winner of a game.
"What's going on?" She slowly adjusted her eyes to the brightness that surrounded her.
"You are having another vision."
A kiss on her neck. His mouth so soft. "You said I choose what happens." Laura tried to shake him off.
"I said you choose who you love."
"I love him." Laura looked deep into his warm hazel eyes, her voice controlled.
"I know," Richard pulled her back to him and kissed her mouth. His tongue parted her lips and danced with hers. He was the slow kind of passionate, demanding, fierce. His hands caressed her body now, clearly focused on one goal. And one alone. "I lied."
The touch of his hands intoxicated her like it used to. His tongue so fast she had to gasp for air.
Laura! The sound of her name ripped her away from him. Another mouth on hers, she drifted back into a reality only he made bearable. She wrapped her arms around him to pull him closer. Tried to forget the pictures in her head. Pressed against her now, Bill freed himself enough to enter her. Laura sought his mouth again. "I love you, Bill." He smiled. He loved her, too. Was lost with words now, couldn't answer. Loved her so much he rocked her hard and tender. A mixture she had taught him with their first real kiss. Sensual, full of emotions. A mix that had made him fall. His eyes locked with hers now until his mouth found his favorite spot on her neck. He loved to hear her moan, felt her body shiver against his skin. She was so beautiful to him. He groaned her name. "I love you," her voice drifted off as she came.
"Are you trying to prove something by confessing your love to him?" Richard marveled at a strawberry before her devoured it with delight.
"Get out of my head!" Laura hissed at him, her emotions in turmoil now over the two men spoiling her.
"You are not listening, Laura." Richard placed another passionate kiss onto her mouth before he reached out to grab another berry to feed her. "I'm not in your head. I'm a projection. You want him here with us, be my guest."
Laura closed her eyes when Bill sent her over the edge again. She kept her arms around his body to keep him close. As close as he could possibly be. She was frantic about his skin on hers, loved the shivers he sent down her spine. She moved with him, dug her nails into his back. Her name now like a mantra to him, he gasped when he was overwhelmed by his release.
"You keep doing this, you know," Richard offered her another berry.
The President felt dizzy, Richard's hands so close to hers, Bill's arms tugged around her waist now that he had come. "What's going on?"
"Welcome home, my love." Adar wiped some juice from the corner of her mouth. A knock on the door. Laura jumped. "Come in," Richard hummed and kissed her again.
"Does she remember?" A female voice sounded in the room before Laura Roslin could catch a glimpse of who it was.
"She's close," Richard responded without averting his gaze from his lover's eyes.
"Ellen," Laura gasped as the woman finally revealed herself.
"Back into the habit already?" The blond woman smirked at the two Presidents in front of her and sat on the edge of their bed. "Does he know?" She nodded her head in Bill's direction. His body now next to Laura's in the same bed with them.
"In denial, both of them." Richard sighed, his eyes still focused on his lover.
"How many projections?"
"Enough to trigger the effect." Richard shrugged.
"Maybe you aren't detached enough to help them find their way back home." Ellen studied Laura's blushed face and smiled at the mix of confusion and embarrassment Madam President so desperately tried to hide in her eyes. "Give us a moment, will you? I think it is time for a little girl talk."
Richard caressed Laura's cheek and placed another kiss onto her strawberry mouth. "I won't be long." He grabbed the bathrobe from Ellen's hands and turned around to avoid her lusty stare. "Not in this lifetime, Ellen!" Richard winked at her and chuckled as he left the room.
"It' such a pity. He has such a cute little ass." Ellen smiled mischievously at Laura and made herself comfortable right next to her on the bed.
"Welcome back," Ellen Tigh hummed at her and grabbed the bowl of berries. "I must say you took your time." She smirked at Laura's instinctive move to cover herself and Bill who was, sound asleep, still lying by her side.
"Want some?" The blond woman reached her hand into the bowl and enjoyed the delicious fruits. Laura shook her head. "No? Well, more for me then."
"What is this? Where am I?" Laura Roslin narrowed her eyes as she watched Ellen Tigh eat.
"Oh boy, still clueless, aren't you?" Ellen got up, grabbed herself a bottle of wine and two glasses, and nestled down right next to the brunette woman again. "It was a mistake not to let you die all those months ago. That would've simplified a lot of things." Ellen sighed. So, where do we start?" She spoke half to herself and offered Laura a glass of wine. "C'mon, take a sip, sis. You may need it." She looked at Laura with wicked eyes and nodded as the President accepted her offer. She clinked her glass with Laura's and put her arm around her in a hug. "You're one of the Final Five, darling."
Laura Roslin's eyes widened in shock.
"Don't try to make sense of it. Your past on Caprica and all of that. We had a clever plan. It almost worked."
"Oh my Gods," Laura whispered aghast.
"Now that would be you. In a way..." Ellen laughed. "You wrote the scriptures, Pythia, nice nom de plume. You always had a sense of the dramatic, I have to give you that."
Laura stared at Ellen, horrified and helpless. Was this a vision or a dream?
"We are sisters in a way. Not by blood, but hey, it's only five of us left in the universe. And our children."
"You are one of them?" The President tried to get the picture.
"Yes," the blond woman sighed. "This is really going to take a while, isn't it? Well, all right..."
"Who are the others?" Laura Roslin barely dared to ask.
"You really don't remember, do you?" Ellen shook her head. "I might as well tell you now. Saul is one of us and Richard is, and..."
"Bill," Laura spoke his name in horror and closed her eyes for a beat.
"You're beginning to remember!" Ellen squealed.
Laura stared at her in confusion. "What are you talking about?"
Ellen Tigh rolled her eyes again and took another fruit from the bowl. "Oh darling, Bill, Richard and you – that's a long story. I wouldn't even know where to start."
Laura squeezed her eyes shut and tried to make herself wake up. It didn't work. All she felt was Ellen's hands on hers, removing the wine glass from her hands.
"May I?"
Laura was still were she had been moments ago when she opened her eyes.
"This is a projection, Laura darling. You are on a basestar."
"I know this room. This must be a dream." Laura desperately tried to convince herself.
"You created this room with Richard. I never enjoyed much about it other than this bed." Ellen hopped up and down. "Nice work. No wonder you spend so much time in here."
Taking her wine glass back out of Ellen's hands, Laura gulped down the liquid with one sip. Maybe the booze would help her make sense of it all.
"Easy. Easy!" Ellen laughed. "You may be a Cylon, but the Chamalla has the same effects on you as on humans."
"What do I have to do to remember?" Laura asked anxiously.
"Take a goo bath, die on Galactica. That's the easiest way." Ellen took a sip from her glass, too. "Make it quick and take Bill with you. Saves us time to have you both remember it all."
"Did Saul resurrect?" Laura bore her eyes into Ellen Tigh's.
"Not yet, the stubborn fool. If you get to convince him, you'd kill three birds with one stone." Ellen held her breath. "On second thought, I prefer to keep Saul my business, thank you very much. I think you have you hands full enough with Richard and Bill."
"Laura?" The President jumped as the admiral's voice sounded in her ears. "Darling, wake up."
Laura Roslin blinked her eyes and held her head. Another vision after all, thank the Gods! She felt the tension in her body go.
"What time is it?" She was exhausted from another rocky night.
"6:30 – you have an hour left to see Cottle." Bill stood next to their bed and straightened his uniform.
"I saw Ellen Tigh in my dream." Laura looked at him for reassurance. "She was a Cylon."
Bill sat with her and placed a short kiss onto her mouth to welcome the new day. "Was it a vision or a dream?"
"I don't know." Her voice sounded scared.
"Don't let it get to you." Bill kissed her again. "Ellen has always loved playing mind games."
"I know." The President nodded and slowly got up.
"What did she tell you?" Bill followed her into the bathroom, his voice quietly suspicious.
"That we were Cylons, you and me." She looked in the mirror and saw his face smiling back at her.
"Who else? Saul? So Saul, Ellen, you and me? One big happy family?" He laughed. "I don't think so."
Laura giggled and shook her head. She was relieved. "She got me for a second there."
"Not that I would mind roaming about the galaxy with you for hundreds of years." Bill pulled her into a tight embrace.
"That's not even remotely funny." Laura sounded sincere.
"I know, I know. But call me selfish, I prefer you seeing Ellen in your dream rather than Adar." He kissed the back of her head.
Laura answered him with a small smile and continued to freshen up. What he didn't know wouldn't upset him. She tried to cover up her thoughts as best as she could. Bill glared at her skeptically.
"What?" Madam President played the innocent card.
"Did you see him again?" Bill toyed with some unruly curls of her hair.
"Not this time." It wasn't a lie to hurt him. She just tried to tug the images away. But the admiral wasn't satisfied.
"What else did Ellen say?" He observed how Laura turned around in his embrace and put her hand on his chest. "Nothing you should be worried about." She placed a soft kiss onto his lips and gave him one of her warmest smiles. "Now, do I have time for a cup of tea before Cottle will pierce my arms again or are we running out of time?"
Bill agreed to drop the topic and welcomed her change of moods. "Half an hour left to go," he said to her and kissed her back. "Fluid breakfast ready in five."
Laura smiled and returned to fixing her hair and got dressed. "I'll be right with you." She gently threw him out of the bathroom.
Bill smiled and left her alone. When he was gone, Laura stared at her reflection in the mirror. Ellen Tigh's words still ringing in her head, Richard's hands still fresh on her skin.
In sickbay, 30 minutes later, the President closed her eyes when Cottle stole some blood from her tired veins.
"More tests, really?" Laura growled.
"How are you doing, young lady?" The doctor ignored her protest.
"Fine on most days," Laura replied and made a face.
"Does that hurt?" Cottle was surprisingly soft-spoken.
"If I feel it, I'm still alive, aren't I?" Roslin opened her eyes again and met his professional detachment with a mild presidential smile.
"Is the Chamalla screwing with your head again?" The doctor wrinkled his forehead.
"Not more than usual." Laura didn't feel like discussing her visions with him.
"I wouldn't blame you for taking your visions over our reality, lady. Gaius Baltar out the airlock on your watch? Starbuck back in Lee Adama's head and the XO so drunk in my ER last night he almost convinced me he was a Cylon."
"Excuse me?" the President gasped. "What did you say?"
"Colonel Tigh was here last night to sleep it off. So drunk he passed out in his quarters. Was yelling all the time. Said he's a Cylon and his wife Ellen, too." Cottle shook his head. "Has never been the same since she died. Old fool. Was as crazy about his wife as the Admial is about you."
Laura shot him a short smile for his last remark and rolled down her sleeves again. "Are we done here?"
Doc Cottle looked at her and found the President shaken to her core. "I'll call you about the results, Madam President. You may go."
"Thank you, doctor." Laura Roslin nodded at him and slipped back into her shoes.
Cottle watched her rush out of sickbay with a haunted look on her face and grumbled to himself. "The whole world's gone mad."
The President heard his voice as she stopped her aide Tory Foster to inform her about a change of plans. "The world's gone mad for some time now." Laura silently agreed with him.
"What was that?" Tory asked.
"Nothing, Tory." Roslin shot her quick professional smile. "Please, just get Colonel Tigh."
Minutes later in Bill's quarters, Laura was pacing the room on bare feet. The knock on the door startled her and she jumped. "Yes, Colonel, please." She controlled herself again and asked him to sit.
"You asked to see me, Madam President?" The XO looked at her with hungover eyes.
"I did." She nodded at Tory and asked her to leave. "Thank you for coming on such short notice. I hear you had a rough night."
The sound of the closing hatch was piercing Tigh's ears and he got up to pour himself a drink. "Do you mind?"
"No, please." Laura Roslin shrugged. "You know where to find everything."
The Colonel nodded and laughed. "Has changed a little around here since you moved in."
"You don't like me being here, do you?" The President leaned back on the couch and observed how he gulped down a drink only to fix himself another one.
"Is that what this little meeting is about?" The XO narrowed his eyes.
"Hardly." Laura licked her lips, annoyed by his attitude. "I heard you put on quite a show in sickbay last night."
"Is this going to be one of your quality talks? Bill gives me enough crap about behaving like an officer again since that farce of a trial has been over. I really don't need you to give me lecture about my drinking now, lady." Saul Tigh turned around and sat across from her. His voice was gruff, his face was pale. The glass in his hand kept him grounded.
"I'm not here to lecture you, Colonel. Personally I don't care how much you drink. Bill does, he is your friend. What I care about is what you say when you are drunk. What you said last night when Cottle thought you had gone crazy."
"What's it to you what a drunk man said?" Saul gulped down his ambrosia and avoided her glare.
"Did you or did you not claim to be a Cylon?" Roslin's voice was suddenly fierce.
The XO stared at her. What did she want?
"Did you or did you not say that you and your wife are Cylons?" The President's voice was shaking, her emotions raw and surfaced.
Colonel Tigh put down his glass and got up to sit with her on the couch His voice was calm, his face looked brittle. He shook his head and found her agitated next to him. "I don't know."
Laura gasped and closed her eyes to control her emotions. "Are you a Cylon?" She met his gaze again to read his reaction.
"I think I am." Saul Tigh looked deep into her shocked green eyes.
"Oh my Gods." Roslin gasped but didn't flinch away.
"How did you know?" Tigh felt close to the President for the first time in his life.
"Doc Cottle mentioned..."
"Frak Cottle, that's not why you summoned me. What do you know?" His mind seemed to sobered up.
Laura shook her head, unsure about what to say. "I... I saw your wife in my vision, in a dream. I don't know what it was."
"You saw Ellen?" His voice broke at the sound of his wife's name.
"I did." Laura said under her breath. "And she said that... that she's a Cylon. That you are. That..." She shook her head. She couldn't repeat what Ellen Tigh had said to her.
"Where is she?" Tigh sounded frantic.
"I don't know. She said I saw her on a basestar. In a projection." Roslin answered helplessly.
"Can I get there?"
"I guess you can. If you know how to project." The President looked at the XO for a while. The silence that fell upon them was heavy. One question still unanswered in the air.
"You are afraid you are a Cylon, too." Saul Tigh suddenly bore his eyes deep into hers.
Laura looked at him with teary eyes. Her voice was gone, the possibility too grave for her to admit to it.
"This is why you wanted to see me." His voice went easy on her. He understood. "You are trying to put the pieces back together."
"What pieces?" Laura's breathing was labored from all the questions that were roaming about in her head.
"Music. Pictures. Memories. The nebula. It all made sense for one quick second. I thought I knew. But it was gone when we jumped away."
The President nodded. "I had a vision on CIC. Right after we had jumped."
"So what we need is one of your dreams." Tigh's voice almost toppled over.
"We've both been on CIC, that can't be it." Laura shook her head.
"Then what is?"
"Didn't I tell you to leave Saul out of this?" Ellen sighed and munched away more fruits.
Laura, back in her bed now on the basestar, felt Richard's arms around her and also Bil's. She was faster at adjusting to her visions now. "You said he knew."
"I suggested he does. Guess he needs a nudge like you need one to finally accept your fate." Ellen Tigh smirked. "I have a gift for you. Just wait and see." She laughed.
"Laura, you are back." Richard's voice vibrated against her skin as he kissed her mouth. "Are you here to stay?"
A shot. Laura jumped. The room around her was suddenly dark. She felt the mattress soft against her back. "What's going on?"
When Laura woke, she found Saul Tigh motionless on the floor. His weapon in his hands.
"Oh no. No, no, no!" The President rushed to him and knelt down to feel his pulse. Her staff was running all around her, shouting orders, carrying her away from the body. Making sure she was all right. Laura was shaken to her core. Was asked what had happened. Didn't know. Was hysterical about the bullet in his head.
"Laura!" The admiral held her close when he reached his quarters. Shocked to see his friend dead on the ground. "What happened?" He looked at her security detail for answers. They shook their heads. Tory Foster shrugged.
"Laura, honey. Laura!" He tried to shake her up. Moments later she fainted in his arms.
"He's home now." Ellen raised her glass and toasted to her. "Thank you. I didn't think you had it in you. Always so sweet on the outside."
"I didn't shoot him!" Laura shouted, desperately trying to understand the game Ellen Tigh was playing with her.
"Of course you didn't." Ellen laughed. "All it took was a little persuasion."
"I didn't tell him to put a bullet to his head!" Laura was furious in her shock.
"Suggestions were enough. That's what you excel at, Laura, always have. You have a way with words. Ask the right questions. I mean it, thank you."
"Yes, thank you, Laura." Saul Tigh walked up from behind Ellen's form.
Laura jumped again. "Oh my Gods."
"You say that a lot these days." Ellen smiled at her and gladly welcomed her husband's embrace. "I think it's time for you to come back home now."
Bill Adama held her hand as she woke from the beeping sounds surrounding her in sickbay. A sound so familiar and so dreadful, she barely wished to open her eyes.
"There you are." Bill kissed her hand.
"Is he dead?" Laura looked at her admiral with haunted eyes.
"He is." Adama lowered his head and placed another kiss onto her skin.
"He said he was a Cylon." Laura answered his question for the why without hearing it.
"Did he see Ellen, too?" Bill tried to smile but failed.
"I told him I did." Her voice weak yet presidential in a way.
"What? Why did you do that?"
"I wanted to find out if Ellen was right." Laura closed her eyes to kill the tears that formed in her eyes.
"That you are a Cylon? That I am?" The admiral's voice was tainted by disbelief and anger. "C'mon Laura. It was a dream."
"It wasn't only one dream, Bill. She keeps coming back. Richard does."
"What?" Adama stared at her.
"And now also Saul." Roslin tried to control her fear. "What if she's right?"
"Stop it! Stop being so paranoid. It's bad enough that Saul had to end his life with the bottle in his hand. I'm not going to see you going mad now either." Bill hissed at her through clenched teeth.
"Don't you want to know?" Laura shook off the ghosts from her recent vision.
"Know what? All I need to know is in my head. I'm not a Cylon. Neither are you." His voice had dropped to a whisper now.
"Saul Tigh knew he was human all his life. What did he do? Lie to himself all that time?"
"I'm not going to play this game with you, Laura. You know what I think about the Chamalla, I really wish you would stop." Th concern was evident now in his eyes.
"This isn't because of the Chamalla, Bill. This is much more complicated than that." Roslin moved her hands over his and caressed his weathered skin. "I'm tired of those images. I want them to go away."
"So what do you suggest? You wanna die to prove a point?" Bill stared deep into her eyes. "See if you'll resurrect on a basestar somewhere else in space. What if it's all a lie, Laura? Then you'd be dead. You understand that, right?"
The President shook her head. She knew he was right. She couldn't believe herself that she was actually entertaining the thought of believing Ellen Tigh. An imagined version of her. A dream.
"You've always been full of doubts, my love." Richard's voice sounded in her head, his mouth nuzzling her earlobes.
"That's who she is," Bill agreed against the small of her back. "The human in her."
"You'd find so much bliss just by killing her." Richard caressed her jaw line with his fingers.
"Bliss with us." Adama moved his hands over her butt and belly.
"And peace of mind." Richard kissed her mouth again. "That's what you really want, isn't it?"
Laura moaned and indulged in the adoration she was showered with by the two men she loved so much.
"Your time is running out. We know the way to Earth. Kara found our home. We have to go." Bill caressed her thighs.
"Come with us, Laura." Another kiss, Adar's naked skin pressed against her. "We need you."
"We want you by our side."
Laura's hand was shaking when she heard the beeping getting louder around her again. Bill looked at her with puzzled eyes. "What's wrong?" Then a smile.
And she was gone again.
"Stop trying to keep her to yourself." Richard was annoyed with Bill.
"You had her for more than ten years. What harm could it possibly do to the destiny of our people if I'm alone with her for another week?" The admiral answered him with a a smitten smile.
"You lost. I won. Are you going to hold this grudge forever?" Richard was playful when he returned his attention to Laura and whispered to Adama. "I think she's ready to jump. Just let her go."
Adama sighed and kissed the back of neck. "Just have faith, Laura. We are back in the nebula now."
"We're waiting for you to come home."
The End