Laura's completely and totally canon, not at all crack, pre-miniseries meeting of Bill Adama, Lee Adama, Helena Cain, Peter Corman, Aaron Kelly, and Jackson "Dipper" Spencer.

Chapter 1

The sign on the door said 'Back in 5' but Bill had been waiting twenty.

If this was Fleet Head Quarters on Picon there would be a secretary manning a desk outside the Secretary of Defense's office and numerous other staff bustling about for him to question, but here on Caprica at the Presidential Offices the Admiral had only an unstaffed office little bigger than a closet for use while on world for Cabinet meetings.

Bill noticed that the door to the next 'closet' was slightly ajar. Giving a perfunctory knock, he stuck his head in. "I'm sorry for disturbing you, but I had a meeting with the Admiral. Do you happen to know where he went or when he will be back?"

Without even looking up from her keyboard, the woman behind the desk responded tartly. "I may be a Secretary, but I'm not his secretary."

Bill refrained from answering back in kind. "Again my apologies, but I don't see anyone else around here to ask. Perhaps you could direct me to someone who might know where I could find him?"

"He died. He's dead."

Bill couldn't contain his shock. "I spoke to him only yesterday! He sounded fine! How did it happen?"

Around the pencil between her teeth, the woman responded dryly. "Auto-erotic asphyxiation."

She didn't seem terribly broken up about the death of her coworker. Hazarding a guess, Bill quipped. "Well for his sake I hope he at least came before he went."

That at least got a chuckle out of her. Eyes still on her keyboard, she apologized. "I'm sorry if I seem rude, its just that I've been trying to finish this speech all morning. I have a very nice office down the street in the Hall of Education, but in the mistaken belief that I would get fewer interruptions I came here after this morning's Cabinet meeting instead."

Taking off her glasses, she set them beside the phone that was off its hook. Pinching the bridge of her nose, she gave him the real story. "The Attorney General had two front row seats to the pyramid playoffs on Tauron. The Secretary of Defense received one in exchange for agreeing to commandeer a battleship to take them there. The Secretary of Defense couldn't be bothered to actually cancel all of his appointments for the day – or even get his secretary to do it for him - so he left the sign."

"I see." Bill sighed. That certainly did sound like the kind of thing that the Secretary of Defense would do.

Leaning back in her chair, she closed her eyes as she continued massaging the bridge of her nose.

"Must be a pretty important speech if you've been working on it all morning." Bill observed.

"Not really. It's a two minute bit on the reopening and renaming of the elementary school down the block. If it weren't for the fact that it is right down the block I wouldn't even be attending." She admitted.

Smiling, Bill ventured. "So you're just an incredibly dedicated perfectionist who really wants to nail it."

"I wouldn't say that either."

"Maybe you just need a little break. A chance to recharge and come back at the speech fresh. Have you had lunch yet?"

"Yes, I have." She gestured to the empty energy bar wrapper on her desk. "Now if you'll excuse me I really do need to finish this speech."

Redonning her glasses, she returned to hunting and pecking away at her keyboard.

"I would hardly call that a real lunch."

"Well it seems we will just have to agree to disagree."

"I'm Bill by the way."

"Nice to meet you, Bill."

"And you are -" he prompted her.

"- I am busy. I am very, very busy. Now if you don't mind ..."

He should go. He should leave her be – he knew he should but there was just something about her. He didn't want to go.

She seemed so on edge over what she readily admitted to be such a little thing. "Maybe I could lend a hand. I'm not so bad at speeches myself."

Her eyes only occasionally flicking toward the computer screen and not once flicking in his direction, she kept her attention on her keyboard as she spoke. "I am sure that you are a most eloquent writer who delivers the most riveting of speeches - just as I am sure you would be a very wonderful and attentive lover, however -"

"- What?" She couldn't possibly have just said what he thought she had just said.

"- while I congratulate you for graduating at the top in your flight class -"

Frowning, Bill tried to interrupt her. "- I didn't."

"- And being the youngest person to ever make Admiral -"

Bill gave her an odd look. "- I appreciate the attempt at a promotion, but -"

"-And I concede that while my blouse is very becoming on me, if you were on me you too would be -"

At that Bill could just gape.

"- I really, really need to finish this right now. So why don't you leave so I can finish this and

tonight over drinks we could talk a little more about the many, many differences between a bed and a rack and how very much you would like to give me a personal demonstration of each and every one of them."

Utterly speechless, Bill just stared at the red head.

"There's a little Gemenese restaurant right down the street. Say seven forty-five?"

Bill was confused and even a slight bit disturbed. In the entire time that he had been in her office, the woman had yet to actually look at him even once. Still, he had to admit he was intrigued. At his age it wasn't everyday that he was propositioned by such a beautiful, if odd, woman. He had his misgivings, but he could figure it out tonight over drinks.

Hesitantly, he agreed. "All right."

"Good! Now on your way out close the door and make sure you close it all the way."

As he was closing the door, she made one last request of him. "Do be sure to keep the dress uniform on for tonight."

Things were suddenly a whole lot clearer. She was one of those women. The ones who were just in it for the uniform.

It was a little disappointing, but the truth was Bill wasn't entirely opposed to being used and abused in such a manner. Particularly not by such an attractive figure.

Besides, it wasn't as if he currently had the time for a long drawn out courtship. Galactica and her crew were shipping out in two days time for an extended deep space mission. That was actually what his meeting with the Admiral was supposed to have been about.

Heading for the exit, Bill ran into Peter Corman who he could only assume was the Secretary of Defense's next appointment of the day. Bill knew that at least a few of his own crew had evaluations scheduled for while they were in port. He would need to contact his ship and get the word out that any meetings scheduled with the Admiral were canceled for the day.

"Bill!" The Admiral's eyes didn't meet Bill's but rather shifted around awkwardly. "How are you?"

Given the way Corman had completely thrown Bill under the bus after what had happened with Bulldog, Bill wasn't surprised that the other man was uncomfortable being alone in a deserted corridor with him.

"Good and you?"

"Oh you know." Corman shrugged. "Same old."

Resisting the urge to pop the other man, Bill went for a more subtle route. "Listen, the Admiral had to step out for a few minutes, but he'll be back just as soon as he can. He needs to talk to you about something very important though so he said to tell you to wait for him to come back - no matter how long it takes."

"Right. Thanks." Corman nodded.

Bill smiled as he continued on his way out. "Anytime."

tbc