Disclaimer: BSG (2003) and all the characters are property of Ron D. Moore. I merely borrowed his playthings to play a bit in his sandbox.
Enjoy! L
After placing a soft kiss on Sophie's forehead, Laura picked her granddaughter up and held her close, which made the girl squeal with joy and she gently put her tiny fingers on Laura's shoulders. By the time Kara and Lee had finally arrived at the house, both failed to properly hug Laura who was occupied with a very cheerful Sophie, so that their daughter did not at all seem interested in them anymore. Instead, she had begun to ask Laura all sorts of questions regarding their plans for the day and Laura was struggling with handling both, wishing her children a good time at the wedding and at least give them both a kiss on the cheek, but also answering those questions ("Are we going to the chickens? Why is grandpa not here? Do you have cake? Can we plant a flower? Will you read to me later, grandma?").
When Lee had checked Sophie's bag again and assured himself that everything she needed was in it – especially her favourite cuddly toy Bob, a baby gorilla Bill had bought her during a trip to the zoo the previous year – he and Kara left quite soon because they knew Sophie would eventually realise that this was a goodbye situation. She was not very difficult about that and calmed down quite quickly, but they did not want to risk her starting to cry now, mainly because she hadn't gotten too much sleep the previous night because of the excitement and because of having to get up really early. So, instead of watching Lee and Kara driving off, Laura took Sophie and her bag inside, putting the latter eventually down on the floor in her own bedroom.
When Sophie saw that they weren't standing in the guest bedroom where she usually stayed with her parents, she carefully poked Laura's nose with an index finger, asking "Will I sleep here? With you, grandma?" Laura smiled at the girl, slowly putting her unto the bed, and sat down next to her, stroking the girl's soft hair. "Yes, honey. You know, granddad is coming back tomorrow. So, tonight, you and me are gonna sleep here. Oh, and Bob of course," she added, when the girl's head turned to determine whether she could see her best friend sticking out of her bag. With that, Sophie turned her head towards Laura again and took her hands into hers. "Let's go then!" Laura scrutinised her with a surprised look on her face. "Sophie, where do you want us to go?" – "To the chickens, grandma, " Sophie replied with an equally surprised look. "Oh darling, I'm so sorry, the neighbours don't have chickens anymore. But we can visit some other animals and I know you'll love them," Laura suggested with a twinkle in her eye. She knew that Sophie was obsessed with animals and could not wait to go to the zoo or to visit the farms close to Bill's and Laura's home. The little girl tried to decide whether she was happy with the suggestion, pouting her lips and playing with Laura's hands.
After a short while, she seemed to have made up her mind, looked up into Laura's eyes and simply stated: "Okay. Now?" Laura couldn't help but chuckle at how direct her granddaughter could be when she wanted something. "Sure, sweetie, let me just grab some food and drinks and we'll be off in 5 minutes. Do you want to help me pack our bag?" Instead of an answer, Sophie just took Laura's right hand and pulled her along with her into the kitchen, humming happily. Like many times before, Laura was astonished at how confident and also sometimes very stubborn her little girl was. But then again, she was Lee's and Kara's daughter and there was no way she could have ended up differently – especially with Bill as her grandfather. Having arrived in the kitchen, Sophie let go of Laura's hand and stood in front of the fridge, facing Laura, arms akimbo. "What do we need, grandma?" "Okay, so, in the fridge, I've got some fruit and veggies in boxes – yeah exactly, these ones – and then also a bottle of juice in the… – right, this is it." Sophie had opened the door of the fridge while Laura was talking and had quickly taken all the mentioned items and placed them on the table opposite. After she had closed the door again, she was scrutinising Laura with a questioning look on her face, waiting for further instructions. "Well done! So, next thing we need is the picnic blanket from the shelf in the guestroom and, if you don't want to leave him here, Bob. Wait a second, and maybe a book as well, Sophie?" Those last words were rather shouted than spoken because Sophie had already scurried off into the guest bedroom, came out again with the blanket in her arms and quickly headed into the bedroom to get her toy. Trying to balance him on top of the blanket, she came back a minute later and, Laura had to force herself not to laugh out loud, with a book between her teeth because she hadn't seen any other possibility to transport it.
Coming to a halt in front of Laura, Sophie looked up and nodded her head vigorously, which Laura interpreted as an invitation to take the book out of her mouth. Carefully pulling it out, Laura softly chastised Sophie for not being more careful with one of her favourite books. She knew that she didn't have to speak up or use many words for Sophie to understand that her grandma didn't really appreciate her chewing on her books. What was also clear to Laura was that, no matter how confident Sophie appeared on the outside, she was very sensitive and vulnerable when those she loved most showed disappointment or any sign of not being happy with her behavior. Laura recalled several instances where Sophie had ended up crying for a while because, for example, Kara had told her that she could also examine the flowers in Laura's and Bill's garden without ripping them out. Sophie was extraordinarily conscious of how she wanted to treat animals and nature and because of that always was very disappointed in herself if her behaviour did not find approval.
Now, Sophie just looked at Laura for a moment, seemed to think about how much she did not want her book to be damaged in any way, and then mumbled a quiet "Sorry, grandma..." Laura took the blanket and Bob out of Sophie's hands, stroked the girl's cheek and planted a kiss on the top of her head. "It's okay, honey. Now, shall we get our backpack ready and leave for our walk?" The little girl, sensing that everything was okay again, looked at her grandmother with sparkling eyes and nodded enthusiastically. Laura moved into the kitchen to get the backpack with food and drinks and carefully squeezed the blanket and the toy inside as well, the latter in such a manner that its head was still visible when she had closed the zipper. Strapping it on her shoulders, Laura took her granddaughter's little hand in hers and opened the door. Crossing the threshold, they were greeted by the warm spring air that promised it would become a beautiful day. When she had locked the door – Sophie was jumping up and down in the meantime, asking repeatedly where they would go today – Laura turned to the little girl, went down on her knees in front her and gently squeezed her shoulders. "Sophie, I told you we'd see some animals today and have a picnic and go for a nice walk along the little stream. So, we turn to the left from here and walk uphill, okay?"Sophie turned her head into the direction Laura had just indicated and then squealed "I know where we're going. There's sheep, right grandma?" With a smile Laura nodded, got up and took the girl's hand again, trying to stop her from simply running off because she knew the girl soon would be tired anyway.