Spoilers for the mid-season finale Revelations.

Disclaimers: the show and all characters belong to RD Moore and the scifi channel.

Thanks to Ellymelly my awesome beta!

Earth! It had been such a dream.

As she watched the barren land before her, Laura couldn't help but feel her hope rapidly crumble into dust. She couldn't cry. All her energy was focused on hiding the pain she felt inside, the pain of her shattered dream. Earth was no more than a living nightmare.

Bill was standing by her side, on Earth.

While she had been embracing him earlier in the CIC, she had thought this was the best day of her life, a new beginning - things could only get better. They had found Earth together like promised and would be offered a chance of living happily together on this Promised Land. This was supposed to be a glorious day for everyone but in a twist of fate Laura would come to remember today as the day when she and the rest of Humanity lost all hope. The Thirteenth Tribe had been destroyed, its civilization annihilated, leaving only ruins to gaze upon, dirty ground to walk on and this dusty cold air to breathe. Laura closed her eyes, saddened by the irony. She had led her people from one nuclear wasteland to another.

Laura felt Bill's gaze upon her. She opened her eyes and slowly turned to face him. She couldn't talk, not yet. She couldn't voice her disappointment; it would make the situation more real. Somewhere deep inside she mourned her lost vision and almost wished to have died before reaching this planet.

Bill seemed to sense the extent of her pain and gave her a moment. He did want to talk to her, to share his feelings but he needed Laura to acknowledge her loss first. She shifted her gaze back to the ruins before her and Bill sighed at her lack of emotions. If both leader of the Fleet lost hope now they were doomed! It was now his turn to show strength for both of them.

"This doesn't have to be the end," started Bill

Laura snorted at his optimistic view, "Right! I would think this is indeed the end Bill. This is Earth and we have nowhere else to go."

Bill grasped her shoulder gently and turned her to face him. He saw the look in her eyes, begging him not to start this conversation. Bill was wise but still needed some reaction from Laura. She had been there to put him on the right track earlier today, now it was his turn to make her see there was still hope.

"I know this sucks…" He tried with a small smile. His tone indicating he was debating if 'suck' was strong enough to describe the planet.

Laura sighed, her eyes dropping to the ground

"Yes, it does," she replied, looking at him questioningly while trying to anticipate where this was leading to.

Bill continued, "But we haven't explored the entire planet yet."

Laura raised her eyebrows at that, "Gods you are hopeful now of all times!"

"Laura…"

"Bill. Please I feel bad enough as it is. Don't start clutching at straws."

"You once told me 'never give up hope'."

His right hand slowly reached her cheek and caressed her, his thumb making slow circle pattern on her cheekbone.

"There must be better grounds on the planet, some land left untouched. A recon mission will give us more information. We can still build that cabin of yours." He said smiling at her in attempt to comfort her.

Laura closed her eyes and Bill took the opportunity to kiss her brow and envelop her in a tight hug. This was becoming one of his favorite habits. Even if things looked gloomy right now, he had Laura Roslin in his arms on Earth… something he would have thought impossible even a few weeks ago, and it felt good. True, he also felt dejected by the outcome of their journey but knew that this was certainly not the end as Laura seemed to think.

Lee Adama was watching his father from a distance. He too felt the weight of the revelation of the true nature of Earth but he couldn't help but smile at the sight of his father embracing the President of the Colonies. He felt this was a step toward something more. His dad had finally found a woman who loved him as much as he loved her. Even this broken land couldn't make him sad. Bill Adama was content with Laura Roslin's small frame against his body and Lee felt envious at the sight.

Bill was now caressing her hair and her lower back. Laura was finally relaxing a bit, feeling his warm breath on her neck. Bill was right, they had been on this planet for only half an hour and she was already giving up. I must get a grip, she thought.

As she left Bill's embrace she noticed that some people were watching her. Lee was actually focused on his father but spared her a few glances too. Kara was sitting on a block on one of the ruins, a blank expression on her face as she met Laura's eyes. D'anna was giving her a sad smile, feeling lost as the situation hit her too.

Everyone was hurting but Laura had someone to comfort her. She was not the only one though, the Agathons were holding hands in the distance, Tigh and Caprica Six seemed to be sharing some affection even if it was hard to tell for Laura.

Laura went back to watch Bill and got surprised when lips connected with hers. She gasped drawing attention to them. Bill chuckled.

"Sorry. I needed to do that." Bill told her.

She sighed and nodded, yes life should go on.

"I must set a quorum meeting. You need to get those recon missions started. I want to know everything about frakking Earth. Can we live here? What are our options? There so much to do. The Fleet is gonna ask questions, I need…"

Bill kissed her again, stopping the flow of words

"Shhh. Relax Laura. No rush here. We have arrived and will do what need to be done. You can take five minutes without worrying, right?" teased Bill.

She nodded. Bill took her hand.

"Come on, let's walk a bit."

The leaders of the ragtag fleet started their way through the ruins holding hands, a sight no one would have expected but actually took as a sign of hope. Maybe Earth wouldn't look so bad tomorrow.

The end.

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