She looked at the hair in her hand as she removed her glasses and let the tears that had been threatening to overwhelm her fall onto the documents below. She knew that those words needed to be said, needed to be heard, but knowing this didn't make it hurt any less, didn't stop her from feeling the pain from both his harsh words and her cancer. And she knew that some element of what he said was true, what if she wasn't the dying leader and all this had been for nothing, that hanging on to life so desperately and prolonging her pain would be worthless, her faith and beliefs a bitter waste of time, she was afraid that no one would be there for her as she died, but more importantly she was afraid he wouldn't be there.
He looked into the mirror, looked at the reflection that stared back at him, took a deep breath and let out a low sigh. They both needed to hear the things they said, to put things out in the open now before things got to complicated. Yes he was afraid of loosing his family, Lee had left and Kara was making life difficult yet again. But more than anything he was afraid of loosing the woman who was becoming closer to him than any other, who he had come to think of as family. He knew he would loose her eventually, whether it be through the cancer or his stubbornness first he did not know, but he was still coming to terms with it, still could not quite accept it, and he was scared.
He heard a muffled sob come from the other room, put down his glass and went over to her.
She didn't look up as he came back into the room, didn't even react till he came up behind her and put his arms around her. She turned into him, burying her face in his chest, still crying. He lent down and kissed the top of her head softly whispering in her ear,
'I'm sorry Laura'
'I'm sorry too Bill'