A/N Set pre-Epiphanies
Cold Comfort
Coming off shift, Bill entered his quarters to change clothes and splash some water on his face before heading to where Colonial One was docked inside the Galactica. He wanted to go straight from the CIC but he knew if he showed up looking the way he did now the President would take one look at him and send him on his way.
Not thinking, he turned on the wireless.
"We are awaiting official confirmation, but reports are coming in that just moments ago President Roslin succumbed to the cancer she had been so valiantly fighting."
Bill felt his heart seize in his chest.
"Secretary of Education, Forty-third in the line of succession under President Adar prior to the cylon attack, little is known about the early life of the late President Roslin."
Picking up the phone before it could even get off a ring, instead of Dee's soft dulcet tones, he got Saul's gruff voice.
"Another frakking false alarm."
It was the third of the day.
Attempting to be the first on the air with the announcement the few competing wireless stations left at the end of the worlds were jumping the gun regularly.
He knew it, but each and every time he still reacted because he also knew that one time – very soon - it would be true.
His heart did it again when he entered Laura's office on Colonial One and saw Billy slumped in a chair there instead of a curtain over with Laura. The past few days Billy had managed to do what Bill himself so desperately desired to do – refuse to leave her side. Laura joked that the young man was starting to look almost as bad as her.
Looking up and seeing Bill's expression, Billy explained. "She said she had some questions. She wanted to speak to a priest. He's in there with her now. She didn't ask me to step out, but –" Billy looked uncomfortable - "I didn't feel as if it was my place to stay."
As a fellow nonbeliever, Bill understood the feeling.
"You can go in if you want. They're not alone. Sarah Porter is in there too."
Knowing that he had no answers for whatever questions Laura would have for a priest, Bill shook his head and took the seat across from Billy.
tbc