Title: Oh Boy…..

The exodus from New Caprica had been difficult and emotional and stressful for everyone that was rescued from the planet. The same was true for those that had stayed in orbit for much longer than they wanted when they found themselves in a situation where they had to jump away to safety before all hope was destroyed. Once the rescue mission was completed, those few days in flux had seen their fare share of ups and downs as the realities of where they had been, what they had been through and what had been done took their toll. There were lots of emotions making their rounds throughout the military and civilian vessels following those events; there was celebration, relief, guilt, joy, hope, and even despair for some.

Tom Zarek was currently President of the Colonies and that left Laura Roslin in the realm of enjoying being a private citizen. She had been quickly whisked away off the hanger deck by the Admiral when she had stepped off Colonial One only to find herself in the Admiral's quarters after a brisk and silent walk. He followed her in and quickly closed and locked the hatch behind him.

Before she could even turn around he had wrapped his arms around her but she gasped in pain only to push him away. Bill was confused by this and felt almost angry at her reaction until he saw she was fighting back the tears. Taking a deep breath he grasped her hands in his hands and began to speak.

"Laura, I won't presume to know what happened to you…" but she wasn't ready to talk yet and laid a finger against his lips to silence him.

"Please Bill – not yet…just for now can we simply enjoy this?"

"Enjoy this? I'm afraid I don't understand. You don't exactly look like you're enjoying anything right now."

"Do you remember that night under the stars?"

"The ground breaking ceremony – yes, I remember."

"Bill there were things we could've done, wanted to do that night that we didn't because we thought we'd have plenty of time to get around to it. No one could've predicted what was coming or how quickly we'd be separated but here we are again, alive, together, and safe for now and I don't want to waste any more time."

"Laura, what are you talking about?"

"We both know you won't support Zarek as President which means, before to long, I'm guessing I'll be back in the hot seat. If we don't seize this moment Bill, it will be too late again."

"What do you mean too late Laura? You said it, we're both here – we do have time."

"Honestly Admiral, if you weren't going to cross that line of responsibility between professional and personal before with the President, what makes you think you'll do it now?"

"Well, I…I don't know but we'll figure it out." Bill moved closer to her but she began pacing.

"No, if there is one thing I have learned through all of this madness it's that putting things off does nothing but cause regret and I'm done with regrets Bill."

"O.k. what do you want to do then?"

"First, I want to take a really, really long shower."

"Right, well, that's easy…you see, I happen to have a private shower that I can guarantee you unlimited access to." Bill said as he poured them each a glass of ambrosia. Handing one to Laura he took a sip of his as she continued.

"Then I want to spend a really, really long time in bed with you." At this Bill couldn't help but immediately choke on what he'd just drank and what wasn't caught in his throat was sprayed out of his mouth.

"You What!"

"You heard me Bill and don't tell me you would be opposed to that – you may have been to much of a gentleman to take me to bed that night on New Caprica but I remember how you kissed me and touched me and there was no innocence there sir."

"Are you sure you're the same Laura Roslin I know? I mean, I knew you always had plenty of sass to spare but this is you on a whole new level." Bill half laughed as he said this but quickly stopped as Laura came to stand before him with a very serious expression and took his hands in hers.

"Truth? Physically I am the same for the most part." She stopped, took a deep breath and continued. "I may have a few more scars then before, but…" she took a deep breath before continuing. "And emotionally, I am of the same beliefs but I have learned some very valuable lessons. One of the highest amongst them is that time is luxury and a gift that I am now choosing to no longer squander. I've seen too much and we've lost too much to ever take anything for granted again."

Bill stood and listened to what she was saying. He knew she was right about everything she'd said so far. Time was something they couldn't afford to waste and if he were truthful to both of them, he would probably be a good little Admiral and return the professional distance to their relationship if she became President again, which was more than likely because there was no way in Hades that he would ever support Zarek. So his mind wondered, maybe now is the perfect time. Maybe once they started whatever this is, titles or positions won't change what existed between them and probably wouldn't even matter; after all, an existing relationship doesn't change because people's jobs change. If they had been together before all of this happened regardless of whatever their positions became he knew they would still be together so maybe, just maybe they could…As all of this ran through his mind, all he could do was stare back into her eyes as he took a breath before saying, "So say we all."

Thus it began, the courtship of William Adama and Laura Roslin – it wasn't a very long courtship…it lasted about a week before they found themselves in bed together one night after making love that Bill found himself looking down at her, brushing her hair back from her face and he realized he never wanted to spend a day away from her again. Before he could stop himself, the words tumbled out of his mouth.

"Marry me Laura."

"What?!"

"You heard me. I want you to be my wife."

"I…your….oh my…I….." she couldn't really finish speaking as her eyes filled with tears. Her mind was screaming at her to speak but she simply couldn't instead she reached out and pulled him to her capturing his lips in a searing kiss.

"As much as I loved that and wouldn't mind if you were to do that again, I would really like an answer."

"Why?"

"Why? Because I would like an answer – there are really only two options"

"That's not what I mean…I mean why do you want to marry me?"

"Easy….I love you Laura."

"You do?"

"I do…with everything I am and everything I have...and as crazy as it is, I do love you."

"Then today is your lucky day."

"Really and why is that?"

"Because I love you too, and I'm going to give you an answer….Yes!"

"Yes?...really? Are you sure?"

"Of course I'm sure….are you trying to give me an out?"

"No, no way, it's just I didn't think it would be this easy?"

Laura narrowed her eyes at him before asking, "Why not?"

"I don't know…I guess I figured you'd fight more for your independence, maybe that you'd need time to think."

"Well Bill, the reality is regardless of whether I marry you or not, I do not intend to ever give up my independence so get that thought out of your head right now. And as for the second thing, truthfully, it's all I've thought about since the cylons…" Laura's voice faded and faltered slightly as her eyes fell away from his.

He gently reached out and lifted her chin to bring her eyes back to his, "Laura, it's all right, you don't have to…"

"Yes, I do…you see Bill; you're all I thought about after they came back. You are what got me through, you were my hope and my strength and I knew after you left the day following the groundbreaking ceremony that I wanted to be with you always and I promised myself that that the next time I saw you I would tell you just that."

"Well, that plan obviously didn't work out. I've seen you every day for almost a week and you've not mentioned the slightest little word about that Ms. Roslin."

"What can I say Admiral? Oh yes, that's right, I recall now, every time I've seen you since, we barely speak before we end up in bed together. I haven't really said much."

"Hmmmm true….so it's my fault then I suppose?"

"Yes, I like the sound of that, after all every good husband knows they should take the blame for everything any time goes wrong."

"So what does that mean?"

"It means you better get good at taking the blame fast because I'm not up for a long engagement."

"How long are you talking?"

"Well, it's not like we really have the luxury of planning a wedding like we would've had back on the colonies so given that we went from dating to engaged in a week, why not match that between the engagement and the wedding. We only need a priest, how long can that take to find."

"It will take about a minute if I had my way but the fact is we have certain realities to face."

"I hate reality"

"I know but the fact is there are certain people who need to know."

"I really hate you when you're practical."

"I know but you'll learn to love it about me."

Thus began the marriage of William Adama and Laura Roslin-Adama, who in maintaining her independence, insisted on hyphenating her last name as well. Their wedding had started out to be small but quickly moved from their quarters with a handful of people, to the mess hall with about 30-40 of their closest friends and family, to the hanger deck with standing room only for the entire crew. All of this had changed during the course of the week as more and more people found out about the impending nuptials and neither had the heart to exclude anyone.

Telling people had been quite a different experience then they had prepared themselves for. They had been meticulous in trying to think up every obstacle and roadblock and reason that might be thrown at them to not marry. Instead, at every turn they found acceptance and well wishes and even more than a few who had thought it was about damn time. If they were honest with themselves, they were a little disappointed that no on had any major objections but, who were they to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Their wedding turned out to be more than they bargained for. Bill for his part had it fairly easy; he had his full dress uniform. For Laura it was a little more difficult but she didn't really care and hadn't complained. She knew what she wanted and didn't care what she had to wear as long as by the end of the day they were husband and wife. She had been stowed away in the back corner of the hanger deck in the makeshift bar as it provided some privacy and the Admiral wouldn't see her until the designated time. In truth she was aggravated at the antics of Starbuck and Dee who insisted she be blindfolded as they had a surprise for her. As they removed the blindfold she couldn't help but bring her hand to cover her mouth as she gasped at the beautiful gown before her.

It turned out a few couples had been aboard different vessels for their respective honeymoons and thus had their wedding attire with them at the time of the attacks. Several messages had come through offering dresses for the President to wear which Tory had fielded and they had selected the one they thought would be the most appropriate. It was a strapless Ivory dress which had a somewhat low cut back and overlay of antique ivory lace decorating the top of the dress while the skirt fell straight and soft to the floor and the waist was accentuated by overlay of a slightly darker shade of ivory which joined in a twist but then angled out to reveal the skirt below and elegantly provide a bit of dimension to an otherwise very simple dress.

Before she knew it, she was in the dress with only a few alterations needed to make it fit properly. Her dark red hair fell loose just passed her shoulders and a simple matching tiara crowned her head completing the look. As Kara and Dee finished primping she heard a catcall from behind her. As she turned she saw Jack Cottle stood in the entry to Joe's Bar ready to give the bride away.

"Don't you dare Jack."

"What?!" he looked at her with mock hurt.

"Whatever it is you're gearing up to say….Don't!"

"I'm hurt that you would think such a thing young lady."

"Oh Gods, now I know I'm in trouble."

"Well, it is a long walk up the aisle….you may as well let me get it out of my system now or I'll end up tormenting you the whole way there."

She threw up her hands in disgust, "Fine, go ahead, out with it."

"Well, I was going to say first, HOT DAMN!!...second…Man, am I jealous of the old man now and third I say again it's about damned time and…."

"Well…" Laura was now standing with her arms crossed in front of her in mock disgust.

"And…" Jack approached Laura and untangled her arms to take each of her hands in his. "You and Bill make each other very happy and that is a rare commodity these days. Make sure you never forget how precious the gift of your love is."

Laura had tears running down her face as he finished talking and burst out laughing as he quickly finished by saying, "And if you ever tell anyone that I just sounded that sappy, I will deny it and they will believe me over you…I do have a reputation to uphold!!! Now, let's get you married!"

Dee and Kara preceded Laura up the aisle in dresses they each had. Bill for his part had been watching the girls as they neared him but as the gasps came in a wave from the back of the hanger when Laura had just emerged from her hiding place he suddenly found his eyes glued to her soaking in every bit of her dress…Gods where had she gotten that dress! And then finally to her eyes where they stayed locked even when Saul leaned over to whisper, "Easy old man – we wouldn't want you to have a heart attack BEFORE the wedding night."

The exchanging of vows and rings had been simple and the party didn't last long as everyone had duties to return to.

Chaos quickly returned to their lives as they discovered people were beginning to disappear from the fleet. "The Circle" had been discovered after a few more disappearances and then was quickly disbanded. The discovery of what Zarek had done, lead to an even faster demand of resignation than Laura or Bill had originally wanted or planned and before long, Laura was poised to reclaim her presidency. After the dust settled, life fell into somewhat of a normal pattern or at least as close to normal as you can get when the fleet Admiral is married to the fleet President and the small remains of civilization remains on the run from the cylons.

It was on an odd day, given very strange circumstances that Admiral William Adama and President Laura Roslin-Adama found themselves sitting across the desk from Jack Cottle who literally looked like the cat that just ate the canary. Laura hadn't been feeling well and assuming the worst, they'd quickly sought out Doc Cottle to see if the cancer had in fact returned.

"O.k. kids, now that you're both sitting down, you want to know what's going on; here you go….you're not dying the cancer is still in remission."

Both Laura and Bill smiled and shared a joint sigh of relief which was short lived as the next words escaped the doctor's mouth.

"But…you're pregnant."

"What!!" Laura couldn't stop her exasperation.

"You heard me, pregnant as in with child as in knocked up." Jack was grinning lasciviously.

"Jack, don't be crude." Laura reprimanded him.

"Well, like it or not, you two have not only FINALLY gotten your act together…which reminds me, I still have some overdue money coming to me….

"JACK!"

"Sorry…so now that you've gotten together, you've also managed to get yourself pregnant."

Bill sat there in shock before he muttered "OH Boy…."

Cottle was still enjoying seeing these two off balance couldn't help but add "….or girl…"

"Doc…" the Admiral's tone was warning but Cottle couldn't resist with a final zinger of, "…or one of each, now wouldn't that be something"

"What!" came the joint exclamation.

"Hey, stranger things have happened I mean look at the two of you, no one would have ever put the two of you in…"

Laura cut him off with the wave of her hand, "What do you mean one of each?"

"I mean, just that. Your hormone levels are a bit high for this early on and it could be twins, but it could be just a singleton. We'll recheck your blood every couple of days that will tell us."

"Uh…well, Jack, exactly…ummm…How is this possible?"…Bill stammered.

"Do you really need me to explain that?!" Cottle grinned

"Shut up Jack… What I meant was we aren't exactly young – we didn't think this would or could happen"

"I'd love to mock you for that naivety; however, under normal circumstances you would be correct. Truth is I don't have a medical explanation other than something must have changed with Hera's transfusion. The fact is we just never looked at this part of your system that closely. We knew the cancer was gone, we monitored it and we were happy with that. We didn't think to look into how it may have affected your other organs. Needless to say that is not a mistake I would make again."

"Again?! Do you have other patients which such transfusions we should know about Jack?"

"No, of course not you know what I mean. Look, everything seems fine with the pregnancy. You're about 4 ½ weeks along so you may start to notice more symptoms."

"More symptoms, Jack, I can't handle many more symptoms I'm already exhausted and nauseous most of the time."

"Well, that will continue, you'll also notice you'll become more emotional and as your milk production increases you'll probably notice your breast will become uncomfortable and sensitive to the touch. I suggest you eat smaller meals more frequently. Keeping some kind of food in your stomach will help ease the nausea and you may want to schedule in a nap or two a day to help fight the fatigue. The cylons provided most of the medical supplies on New Caprica so we have almost full stores of pre-natal vitamins as there weren't too many pregnancies prior to settling so I want you to start taking one of these a day."

"Anything else?"

"Just one thing….don't forget to take a minute to just enjoy this. Forget about how it will impact either of your careers and focus on simply how it will impact your lives as an expectant dad and a mom not an Admiral and a President."

It was about a week later when Laura had gotten home before Bill and was lying on the bed taking a nap when he got home. Suddenly feeling very tired himself Bill climbed in behind her to rest a few minutes himself. They laid together content for a few minutes just to enjoy the silence before Laura spoke.

"Hey there."

"Hey yourself."

"How was your day?"

"Not to bad…yours"

"After dealing with the Quorum this afternoon, I've begun to think that dealing with a baby could very easily be easier than dealing with that group of adults."

"Wow that bad huh?"

"Ugh…."

"Right…o.k…so…."

"I'm scared Bill."

"What? Why?"

"I'm at a complete loss here, I wasn't prepared for this, and I wasn't even thinking that this could happen. I don't know what to expect, I don't know what to do, what to worry about what to…"

"Whoa, slow down. First take a deep breath….good. O.k. next, Laura I can honestly say, you are one of the bravest people I know and you love children, we'll be o.k."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because I love you and you love me and everything else we can handle together." As their conversation had progressed, each of their hands had subconsciously found there way to rest on Laura's abdomen as if protecting the life within.

"So you aren't worried?"

"Of course I'm worried, but I worried about you every second you were out of my sight before you were pregnant. But, we'll be o.k."

"We'll be o.k.?"

"Yeah"

"o.k."

Just as silence fell over them again, the phone rang startling both of them. Laura reached it first.

"Hello?"

"Is something wrong?"

"Yes, he's here...why?"

"What? Are you sure?"

"And you double checked?"

"Yes"

"Yes, all right…Bye."

Bill noticed that Laura had gotten very tense during that whole conversation.

"Laura?"

"That was Jack."

"And"

"And, they ran more blood today and he was able to do some kind of a DNA mapping test."

"What did that do?"

"It told him if we were having one or two babies."

"And?"

"Aaannndddd, he's certain of it….it's definitely….Twins."

Bill couldn't help but flop back on the bed as he said, "OH Boy!"

The end...