Disclaimer: It's not mine. Especially not mine is the dialogue from the show.
When Bill sat down beside her hospital bed, Laura was relieved. She had told herself that it would be unrealistic to expect him to show up to sit with her after she had successfully given him the cold shoulder since their fight, but she was still hopeful that he would prove her wrong. And he did. Her heart lifted as she recognized his tread and the scent of the man who had come to mean everything to her and, for a moment, the nausea was forgotten.
He had chosen a new book, Laura noticed. They had been reading poetry, but she thought it would be nice to have him read her a novel. The gods only knew if they would have time to read it through.
Bill said nothing as he assumed his customary seat beside her bed; the Admiral and President had shared several heated words over the past few days, Bill and Laura very few, heated or otherwise.
"Love and Bullets by Nick Taylo. Chapter one."
His rough voice soothed her pounding head and his words caused Laura to smirk with the blatant irony. Love and bullets, that summed up their relationship at the moment rather succinctly. Sadly, it seemed as though the bullets were the ones coming out on top these days.
As he began to read, Laura quickly realized that this was not just any mystery from his shelves; Bill had chosen this book very carefully.
"I could tell she had once been beautiful, but this bullet and fast current had taken that away from her."
She fought to control her facial expression as these words pierced her like so many tiny, well, bullets. She knew Bill must have noticed the hair in his waste basket and the extra strands across her pillow in the morning, though she did her best to hide them. He had yet to say anything, and she was grateful for this. But he knew. And he knew that she was hurting. This book was just his way of saying everything he couldn't, not for lack of feeling but because they were still trying to maintain some sort of professionalism. Whatever the hell that meant out here at the end of the universe.
Bill glanced up once as he read. Finding her expression blank, he returned his gaze to the page and continued. But as he read further, Laura found it impossible to keep a sad smile from creeping to her lips.
"I'll never be free of her, nor do I want to be, for she is what I am. All that is, should always be."
Bill looked up at her then, a smile on his lips and love in his eyes as he gazed at her. Laura couldn't stop the smile that stretched her own lips, or the tears that slipped from her eyes.
"Thank you, Bill."
He said nothing. After a moment, she turned her head and saw that this silence was due to the tears in his own eyes. He offered his hand to her instead and she accepted it, squeezing tightly and offering him a tiny smile.
They were okay. Battered and weary, but still together. And that was enough.