Rated: T

Summary: After the event in "Sacrifice" Laura seeks Bill's comfort

Disclaimer: Battlestar Galactica and its characters don't belong to me. I make no money from this work of fiction.

AN: Unbeta'd

Convince me

Laura didn't stop to consider what she was doing; she just opened the hatch and entered the commander quarter. He was surprised to see her, she could see that. She waited until the hatch was closed behind her before speaking.

"Hold me."

"Excuse me?"

"I just lost the only person left in the world that was close to me. I need to be held and you're the only one I can ask."

He rose wordlessly from his couch and pulled her into his arm. She dropped her head into his shoulder allowing new tears to drench his jacket. She had already shed so many that her eyes were burning, a small distraction to the pain in her heart. She took a deep breath to control her sob before talking again, still in his embrace.

"I know you're relieved it's Billy on that cold table in the morgue. I know it because I wish it was Lee."

"Lee's my son."

"I know and that's what Billy was to me. I don't blame you. I want to. I want to blame Lee. Hell, I'd be happy to blame the Cylons. But I can't, can I? No, it was a human bullet, shot by a human hand. As if taking my Billy would bring another man back."

He held her tighter, the damp wool of his opened uniform uncomfortable against the skin of her face. She wished Dr. Baltar hadn't saved her. Dying couldn't be as painful as she felt now.

"Why am I still alive?"

He didn't answer.

"I'm serious Bill. How come I'm still alive? I've been shot at by centurion, twice, I had cancer, terminal, I've even been the target of an assassination attempt. And I'm still alive. And he's not. He wasn't even thirty years old, Bill."

She pushed against his shoulder to see his face. He had the same expression as the day he had told her about the Pegasus civilian fleet, she he was afraid she was dying on him.

"Convince me Lee deserved to live more than Billy."

"It doesn't work that way Laura."

"I don't care. Convince me."

"I can't"

"Convince me! Or frakking convince me that you deserve to keep your son more than I do mine"

"I can't either."

"Then what's the point?"

She slumped back against his chest all energy drained, not even sobbing or crying anymore. He led them back to his couch and kept her against him as she stared blankly at his coffee table.