Hello my dear Inkdrops,
this story is something like a pet project that I started while writing all the slow burning moments during "A Lady's pride and a Gentleman's prejudice". It will be a lot shorter and definitely "quick burn". Is that a word? If not, you know what I mean.
I really don't want to sensationalize or romanticize a horrible catastrophe that happened, I just used the Titanic tragedy as the background of my story.

Laura and Bill are much younger in this one, Laura is just in her late 20ties and Bill has a few years on her. As Laura changes her hair colour quite a bit in BSG, I gave her a brown-red colour here. Lee and Zak are both still children, but you will find out about all of this soon enough. Enjoy and please leave a review!

Disclaimer: I don't own BSG, the chapter title or any real person that might be mentioned

Chapter 1: You can't go home

The dock was full of people of all kind, all mixing, meddling, screaming, shouting. There were passengers, sailors, spectators. There were ladys next to working men. There were children next to grandparents. It was all a total mess. And all because of one ship. One ship could sent a whole port in a frenzy. Well, it was not any ship. It was the biggest ship in the world after all. And her name was "Titanic". She was unsinkable, undestroyable, uncomparable - unique. A masterpiece of engineering and elegance.

William Adama stood in front of it, admiring every detail, trying to take in as much as he could. Laura Roslin stood in front of it too and couldn't have cared less about details. He wanted on this ship to go home, she wanted on this ship to get away. He was there with two little boys, she was there all alone. They had nothing in common. Nothing at all. They were like two different magnetic poles, so when their eyes met in the crowd, accidently, in only a matter of seconds, a pull went through both of them, insistent, towards each other.

Quickly she averted her eyes, blushing crimson red and disappeared in the crowd. Bill couldn't help but hope that she would be on the ship too, that he might be able to see this stranger again. The picture of her face had branded itself in his brain, an unfamiliar feeling. Suddenly, another man bumped into him and he quickly bent down to pick up his younger son to keep him from getting overrun. Zak wasn't even three yet, still a toddler, and thoroughly terrified of all the buzz around him. His older brother Lee was clinging to the father's belt, trying to get a glimpse of the ship, but there was no way for a six-year-old to look over the crowed. He huffed in frustration, making his father look down at him. "Lee I am sorry, but we need to keep close", he explained, only earning an indignant look from his son. Then, suddenly, this son was gone, disappearing into the crowd in the direction of the water.

Laura had just set down her suitcase on the ground next to her, finally a bit at the sideline of the mass of people. The man who had looked at her before with those incredible eyes was nowhere in sight, that was probably a good thing. Just one moment had made her heart do sommersaults and that was concerning, very concerning. After all, who knew who the man was? Just when she let her eyes wander over the water again, something crashed into her, nearly making her loose her balance. The woman turned around, ready to scold whoever was respoinsible, just to find a boy looking up to her. "I'm very sorry Ma'am", he said, still grinning. Even though he didn't really look as if he meant it, at least he had the manners to apologize. Which was more than a lot of adults did. So she nodded.

"Were you going to anywhere in particular?", she wanted to know, raising an eyebrow.
The boy nodded eagerly, pointing towards the "Titanic".
"I wanted to see the ship Ma'am, but I was too small and my father can only carry my little brother and when we board I will only see it from inside but I want to see it from outside as well Ma'am", he answered without breathing in between.
It made Laura smile.
"That is something else then", she answered, moving her suitcase to the side so the boy could stand and look at the ship, "but will your family not worry where you are?"
The boy seemed to consider that for a moment.
"I will find them and if not, I can make it on my own!", he explained, sounding very sure of himself.
"If you think that, then you are either very smart and brave or very stupid", Laura replied, sounding slightly concerned for the first time. Even if it wasn't her responsibility, she had a soft spot for children and wouldn't want one to get lost. "Come on, Let's go look for your father! What is your name anyway?

"I am Lee!", he said proudly, "and my father will come here to the water because he knows I love ships and he does too because he is a Captain. And he is a bit taller than you are I think and has black hair and wears glasses and has a big bag with him and my brother and his name, my brother's I mean, is Zak!"
They both were looking around the people close to the water now, when Lee called out.
"I can see them!"
He disappeared into the crowd as quickly as he had come, leaving behind a slightly confused Laura Roslin.

Relief was an understatement for what Bill felt when his son was suddenly standing beside him again, apparently happy and unharmed. Just when he wanted to start to lecture him, the boy started to talk and in his usual fashion wouldn't shut up. His fascination with the ship made the father smile, he had been the same at that age. But then Lee started to tell something about a very nice lady who had tried to help him and he knew what he had to do - go find her and at least thank her. Fortunately, Lee could remember the direction he had come from and also remembered that the woman had had brown-red hair and was wearing a Navy-blue coat. Finally he saw someone matching the description, standing with the back to him. She couldn't have heard him coming, but for some reason, she turned around. His heart stopped. It was the woman from before, the one that had looked at him only for a second before disappearing. Now, she held his confused stare, a smile slowly spreading over her face when he came closer.

"So I see you found your son", she commented, pointing towards Lee.
He nodded.
"Yes, I wanted to thank you for helping."
She shook her head.
"I hardly did anything. I am Laura Roslin by the way."
She didn't hold out a hand, probably because she knew he wouldn't have been able to shake it with a sailor's kitbag in one hand and a boy on his arm.

The man let the little guy down from his arm, now holding out a hand to her.
"A pleasure Ma'am, I am Bill Adama."
Smiling she shook his hand.
"The pleasure is all mine. So as I can see, you are going on an adventure as well?"
He laughed a little at that.
"No, rather coming back from one. I am just going back home to the States with my boys. What about you?"

The woman, Laura, shook her head.
"I can't go home. There is only moving foreward."

So, here we are! Any thoughts?