(Took half an hour to write this and it's 3 am. My internet has stopped working for some reason and I'll be damned if I'm doing my PASS homework now. It starts of fluffy and nice but ends up a tad serious and sad. I hope you all enjoy.)
She was sitting at his desk with her glasses perched on the end of her nose reading over paper work when she heard the hatch turn and open. A familiar musky smell and sound of heavy feet filled the room. Just as she was about to call out to him she heard a chair clatter to the ground and a chorus of quiet cursing.
"Stupid frakking..."
She raised her eyebrows and glanced up from the folder in front of her. Not moving any other inch of her body.
"You okay??" she called out.
"Fine." he grumbled back.
At the tone in his voice she smirked and went back to reading. He walked further into his quarters and saw her sitting at his desk with her glasses sitting on her face in the most adorable way. He poured himself a drink, noticing that she already had some water he didn't offer her one, and sat in the chair in front of his desk, facing her.
She didn't make any attempt to look up at him or even acknowledge his presence. He leant heavily on the desk and rubbed his hands through his hair.
"Rough day?" she asked.
"You could say that. Busy day?"
"Snowed under."
He nodded his head and sipped his drink. He heard her take a breath as if she was going to say something but she never spoke. He heard her do it again and still she didn't say anything.
"Something you wanted to say?" he questioned.
She looked up sharply from her folders and pushed her glasses up her nose.
"Actually yes, I was wondering something."
"Go on." he urged.
"The first time I had cancer, were you annoyed that I didn't tell you?"
If he was honest that wasn't what he had expected her to say.
"It bugged me that you didn't tell me yourself yes, and that I was the last to know."
She nodded and pursed her lips, considering her next line of thought. But he continued on.
"I would have never put you in the brig if I knew."
"I know. But that doesn't matter now anyway." she replied.
They both fell silent, he could see that she was contemplating something big and that she had a few things on her mind. But he figured she would tell him if she wanted his advice. He thought back to when he first found out she had cancer. Saul had told him about her "little tirade" as he called it, soon after he had gotten out of sickbay. "Had the whole place going." He said. "With her insane dying leader crap." But he had known better than to assume it was all a show. He had gone to see Jack and forced him to tell him the truth. It was not long after that he realised he had made a big mistake in separating the fleet.
It suddenly struck him. Something she had said before, well not what she had said but how she had worded it. She asked him if he was annoyed at her for not telling him about her cancer the first time. But what spelled alarm bells all through him were her use of "first time".
"Laura." He was looking her dead in the face, making sure not to miss any errant expressions that may escape her facade.
"Mmmm..." she looked up and met his eyes. They were inquisitive, almost boring into her, it made her want to look away, like she had something to be guilty about.
"What did you mean by, 'first time'."
He watched her eyes widen ever so slightly and then calm back into neutral.
"I.. uhh..." she cleared her throat and went back to her paper work. "I went to see Doc Cottle today. He had some test results of mine back. He said something about, we caught it early."
He hung his head and sighed. It wasn't an annoyed sigh or a frustrated one, but a sad and defeated one. Of course he wasn't going to give up and feel defeat, but his sigh was one of, defeat.
She kept writing, her hand moving shakily over the paper. He placed his hand over hers and stilled her movements. She didn't look up but kept looking at the paper as if writing with her mind.
"Laura look at me." It wasn't an order, it was a request.
She slowly lifted her head and he could see that she was having trouble dealing with this horrible news. He leant over with is other hand and took both of hers in his. When he looked at her again he could have sworn he saw the beginnings of tears in her eyes, or maybe it was the reflection in her glasses. It didn't matter.
"We're going to fight this."
(It felt a bit dumb to write a hope fic when we know her fate. But I'm still in denial, and she's alive to me so meh. Please review, makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.)