She was mad at him…No, strike that, she was still mad at him. For his part in freeing that frak weasel Balter. He honestly didn't think the woman would hold a grudge this long. Evidently he didn't know her quite as well as he thought.

Oh, he knew she was stubborn, pig-headed and had a mean streak bigger than Saul Tigh after a bender, but surely by now she realised he had done what was right, not for Baltar, but for all of them. Baltar, he had no doubt had conspired with the cylons, but more for self-preservation than anything. The man was a coward pure and simple and they had paid the price, in lives.

Their relationship had changed so much in the last few months. What had almost started on New Caprica was still on a slow burner after the exodus. He too had been a coward; he told himself when she came back-and it was always 'when' she came back not 'if', as anything else in his mind was just not acceptable or to even be considered- he would tell her how he really felt about her; that he cared more for her than he had for any woman in his life, even if she drove him insane on a regular basis.

It hadn't happened. Crisis after crisis kept them from the talk, and by then, he had simply lost his nerve. The fearless Admiral was in fact, completely petrified.

When she once again gave him the opportunity to confess his feelings, he had again backtracked. 'And if the cylons hadn't returned…?' 'But they did' and, as he spoke the words saw her shoulders sag in despondence, She promised him she would return, promised they would talk more. He knew he couldn't keep brushing her off this way.

In the end he hadn't had to say a word. She came to his quarters, she sat there and told him how he felt, then proceeded to tell him she felt the same, had done for quite sometime and that life could not wait around for the day William Adama finally 'got his ass in gear' To which his shell shocked first response was that she had to stop hanging around the marines as her language was getting a little colourful.

Thus it had begun. She had come into his life, gotten hold of his heart, then taken him to his bed and dispelled any thoughts he ever had of her being a naïve little school teacher.

He worshiped her with his body, and when his body was spent he worshipped her all over again with his hands and lips, her impassioned cries spurring him on, his name torn from her throat as her juices ran over his tongue.

He adored her breasts. After the groundbreaking ceremony on New Caprica, when she had caught him ogling her cleavage, to the feel of her breasts squashed against his chest as they lay beneath the stars. When she did her lazy strip tease for him that first night on the way to his rack, he had stood there and gawked. It was only when she asked him if he was going to stare all night or actually 'do' something he finally came out of his rosy nipple induced coma.

Wasn't it ironic, that the very things that had first made him see her as a woman, not as just an annoying politician, were the same things that were stealing her from him.

She had thought when he discovered the lump that he would not want to touch her, to be with her. She could not have been more wrong, nothing short of his own demise, and he doubted even then, would make her anything but beautiful and desirable in his eyes.

Now, Along with not speaking to him unless absolutely necessary, she had taken his breast privileges away. He hadn't even had the time go to her and plead his case. Cylon attacks, Kara's miraculous return from the dead, not forgetting his wayward traitorous son, had made for one horny Admiral. She really had to back down soon or he might be forced to throw her in the brig again…He didn't even want to imagine what he might cite as the charges.

'Well, it's like this your honour, she wont let me see the puppies.'

Bill left CIC for his quarters, hoping fervently that the cylons would do him a favour and not attack for at least a few hours of rack time. First though, he was going to make a long overdue-secure line call to Laura. If nothing else, he missed her voice, her council.

Laura knew as soon as the line rang who was on the other end and, truth be told, she missed him. The hurt at Baltars verdict still stung, but deep down she knew it was the right choice. Making him a martyr would not bring back the countless dead. Letting him live as an outcast with his victim's blood on his hands, like the Judas that he was, would be far worse.

"Yes."

"You can't stay mad at me forever."

"I wouldn't wager too many cubits on that, Admiral."

"I miss my friend."

They really were both too old in the tooth for this to split them apart, and she mused it wasn't as if she had much time left to waste being angry with him.

"Is that all you miss?" Her tone lightened.

"Say you're sorry and you can come and see them when I'm done being mad at you.' she teased.

"It was the right choice, Laura." She should have known he wouldn't back down. Even to appease her after the fact.

"I know." She whispered the words so faintly he wondered if she had actually said them.

He could have asked her to repeat it, but he wouldn't. The fact she hadn't hung up on him made his heart glad.

"Have dinner with me after our meeting tomorrow?"

"I think I'd like that."

For the first time in what felt like weeks, the leaders of humanity had something to smile about.

They would work this out, this and every other problem that came their way, like they always did…. together.

The end.