Thank you so much for even opening this fanfiction and to everyone who showed an interest on tumblr.. It's my first attempt at this pairing - this show as well - so fingers crossed that I manage to pull this off. Reviewers get a cookie.

Laura Roslin has just been appointed to her second term as President. However, she's about to add one more title to her name. Parent. Following the Exodus from New Caprica, while returning to the Galactica fleet, Laura discovers a stowaway on Colonial One. Four year old, Pandora. Laura isn't the only one intent on protecting the child. When the cylons begin to show an interest in her, tensions start to boil over. Roslin and Adama won't give the girl up without a fight, but could it rip the fleet apart?

Chapter 1 | Exodus Part 2


Colonial One; it was by no means home, but it was the nearest thing Laura had to one.

Even just the appearance of the vessel was enough to calm the woman. Not even the strong stench of cheap whiskey and cigar smoke could get to Laura , this ship was her home, even if Gaius frakking Baltar had taken temporary ownership of it. From simply walking through the central compartment of Colonial One, she could feel a new found sense of confidence growing inside her. Sitting herself down on the plush forest green chair, she felt the weeks and months of constant stress, worry and pain leave her aging shoulders.

"Alright, I'm ready to go" Laura announced as she unwrapped her precious journal, the only reminder she had taken from 'New Caprica' and placed them on the walnut writing desk. As the ship began to lift itself from the crust of 'New Caprica', forever leaving the pain and misery behind, Laura felt a sense of undying happiness come over her. Yes, they would have to repair both the fleet and themselves after the traumatizing weeks and months they had been through, but everything would be okay now. The fleet would be back together after all.

It was then that a loud crash echoed through the entire room froze. "If that's Baltar, I'll kill him with my own bare hands" It was one of the guards who spoke first, holding his gun at chest height while looking around for the source of the noise., his voice filled with anger and hatred at the pain he had endured under the reign of the President. "Lower your gun" Laura ordered, raising her hand at the guard in question, signaling for him to lower his weapon, as she rose from her seat. As much as she would love nothing more than to throw Baltar out of the nearest airlock, she doubted the man had the balls to stay on the ship.

Laura's gentle footsteps echoed through the room, the tension growing with each second, as she walked towards the side storage room. What exactly would they do if it was Baltar in there? "Madame President" She ignored the guards that simultaneously stepped towards her, guns raised. Reaching out for the door handle, Laura wrapped her slender fingers around the cold metal, taking a deep breath before pulling the door open quickly.

A small muffled cry, filled with fear and terror, filled the cold dark grey room. That couldn't be Baltar. No, Baltar didn't sound like a young child. Heavy footsteps rushed towards her and once more Laura held out the palm of her hand towards the guards. "Hello?" Laura cooed, attempting to see into the small room, ignoring the claustrophobic feeling that came over her as she stepped inside, pushing the assortment of parchment, folders and empty glass bottles to the side.

Reaching out, Laura felt her hand rest on thin silk hair. "It's okay, I promise" Laura bent down as she spoke, moving her hand down to the child's shoulder, unable to see through the darkness. "I won't hurt you. Can you come out of there?" Laura coaxed, wondering how on earth a child - of all people - could have ended up on Colonial One. It was then that she felt two short arms wrap themselves around her shoulder, accompanied by a small head of chocolate brown hair that buried itself into her shoulder. The motion almost knocked the air out of Laura's lungs, but she managed to catch herself before she could lose her balance.

Appearing from the compartment, Laura took in the shocked expressions of her companions. No one knew exactly what they had expected the former president to find, but it certainly hadn't been that. The girl's thin fingers were clutching onto Laura's shirt with such fear that her knuckles were as pale as the first drops of winter's snow. "Madame President?" Tori wasn't exactly sure of what to refer to the woman as, but 'Madam President' seemed most natural. Laura walked back into the office area of Colonial One, both of her arms wrapped protectively around the child that rested against her chest. Stopping in front of the desk, she moved in an attempt to set the child down onto it, at least to allow her a better look at the girl. However, the child in question was having none of it, and simply tightened her grip of Laura's blouse. Deciding that there was no point fighting with the girl, Laura lowered herself down into her seat once more, placing the girl down onto her knee.

"What on earth would a child be doing here?" Tori asked, stating the obvious and what everyone else in the room was thinking. "I have no idea" Laura confessed, allowing herself to take a better look at the girl now that she was seated. Even with the child's head buried in against her shoulder, Laura could still make out her ballerina pink cheeks, pale skin and delicate cheekbones, while her thin brunette hair stopped just below her shoulders. "Tori, find me something to wrap her in, she's ice cold" Laura ordered, looking from the group of people and down to the child once more, watching as the child cautiously looked up at her with wide bewildered eyes.

As Tori disappeared in search of a blanket, the girl seemed unsure of her surroundings and moved herself closer to Laura, burying her cheek into the woman's soft curls as she felt a group of watching eyes. "Can we have the room please?" Laura requested, looking up at the group of men who had accompanied her and Tori onto Colonial One. She ignored their mutters of protests as they filed out into the back of the ship. As the men left, Tori returned with a soft cotton blanket for the girl, handing it over to Laura before sitting herself down on the seat at the front of the President's walnut desk.

"Pandora" It was the girl herself who broke the silence between the trio, her soft voice was weak and almost broke with just that one simple word. She took a deep breath, filling her lungs before speaking again. "My name's Pandora" She revealed, looking up at Laura with her bambi like eyes as she spoke. "Pandora" Laura breathed the girl's name with a smile, glad that the young girl was beginning to relax. "I'm Laura. Do you know how you got in here Pandora?" She asked the child, watching as the girl's smile changed to confusion before she began to focus, as though trying to search for an answer to Laura's question. "I don't know," Pandora admitted, her eyebrows drawn as she tried to think of how she had ended up in the cold grey room ."You're the first person I remember" The girl concluded as she looked down at the plush elephant in her hands, even something that was meant to bring comfort to the young girl seemed like a foreign object. Laura began to worry then, no one, not even children as young as Pandora simply forgot things. Even if they did perhaps forget a small thing or two, they certainly didn't forget everything!

Pulling her eyes away from the child, she looked up at Tori for a moment, exchanging a concerned look before speaking. "Can you get through too Galactica, tell them I'll be coming on board?" Laura requested, deciding that a visit to Cottle would be essential. After all, it might more than just Pandora's memory that was playing up. "Of course" Tori nodded her head and went off to find the nearest working telephone to contact Galactica, deciding it may be better not to mention the reason for their visit.

"Four" Pandora held out four small figures as she looked up at Laura with her bambi like eyes. "You're four?" Laura tried to clarify, getting a self-assured nod from Pandora in response., the child now confident of her answer. At least it seemed that Pandora knew a few basic things, if only her name and age.

Laura Roslin wasn't positive of what reception she had expected to receive when arriving on Galactica, but it hadn't been this.

"I may have told them that you needed to immediately see Doctor Cottle" Tori admitted shyly when the pair of them were greeted by a small army of soldiers. Of course, several heads did turn when the former President came stalking through the chaotic halls of Galactica, her arms filled with a young child who was clutching onto her for dear life.

Should she have really of expected anything else?

Arriving at Sick Bay, Laura quickly asked the guards to wait outside before heading inside, being greeted by Cottle who stopped in his tracks when the unusual pair arrived at his door. "What exactly have you been doing, young lady?" Cottle demanded to know as he pulled the freshly lit cigarette from his thin lips, looking unamused by his latest patients as he walked them over to the nearest cubicle. "Do I want to know?" He asked with a raised eyebrow, watching with slight amusement as Laura attempted to get Pandora onto the bed, with the child protesting my silently tightening her grip on Laura's blouse to the point where Laura herself had to get down onto the bed with a heavy sigh.

"I found her on Colonial One, she doesn't exactly seem to remember anything" Laura admitted, watching as Pandora attempted to hide herself from the man before her, choosing to hide her face behind Laura's soft curls, as though using it as a curtain. "Anything?" Cottle asked in surprise, putting his cigarette out as he began to think to himself. Children didn't just forget everything. "Is there any way she could simply have forgotten everything?" Laura wondered aloud, deciding that there had to be some sort of medical explanation for it all. It also didn't help that Pandora seemed to be trying to distance herself from everyone else she came into contact with other than Laura. "The trauma of it all could have resulted in memory loss. Perhaps she witnessed the death of her parents?" Cottle thought aloud, still unsure of what exactly could have caused the unusual memory loss in someone so young. "Let me run some tests" With that, the man relit his cigarette before disappearing off in search of a nurse to preform the necessary tests.

It seemed Cottle sure was taking his time today.

It had been at least forty minutes since someone had last seen Pandora, and Laura could feel her patience running thin. Resting back against the fluffed pillows, Pandora was simply content to listen to the steady beating of Laura's heart as she rested against the older woman's chest.

"They told me you were down here" Laura almost jumped out of her own skin whenever she heard his voice. Bill Adama. Looking up at the man, she was shocked that he had chosen to see her and not stay in the CIC. "I'm guessing the rumor mill is running over time" She joked lightheartedly, watching as Bill's eyes slipped down to the child on her knee. Laura could only imagine the rumors that were running around Galactica, it wasn't every day that the former president could be seen rushing through Galactica with a young child. Not even the Lords of Kobol could imagine some of the rumors. "You could say that" Bill chuckled, having heard several of the muttered conversations around the CIC, he had to admit that it was his curiosity that had brought him down to the Sick Bay; that and his worry for Laura.

"Hello" Laura was once against shocked by another voice, this time from the child by her side. So far, Pandora had pulled away from everyone except from Laura, choosing to hide herself behind Laura's hair or against the material of her blouse, but now, she was openly speaking to Bill. "Hello" Bill replied, moving to sit himself down on the plastic chair next to the bed, watching as the child's eyes followed his every move.

"I'm Bill, you must be the girl everyone's talking about" He confessed, moving to fold his hands in front of his knees as he looked at the child. "This is Pandora" Laura admitted, moving to push the child's thin hair out of her eyes. "I found her on Colonial One" She continued, watching Bill's eyebrow raise in suspicion. "No one has any idea how she got there. She doesn't even remember anything that happened before I found her" It seemed Bill was also concerned about that detail, children don't just forget things, especially not everything. "What does Cottle think?" Bill asked, thinking of a way to explain the apparent memory loss. "It might be tramua related, the Lords of Kobol only know what she might have gone through down there" Laura felt a shiver run through her spine at the very thought of the torture, pain and misery the innocent child may have suffered at the hands on the cylon occupation.

Just another reason to detest the very existence of Gaius frakking Baltar, where was an airlock whenever you needed it? Bill moved to cover his face with the palm of his hand, fearful of exactly what the young girl may have been forced to endure on New Caprica.

"Where did the strange smelling man go?" Pandora asked, looking up from her plush elephant and towards Bill and Laura. It took all of Laura's self control not to laugh at the child's observation, it seemed Pandora also hated the strong stench of cigarette smoke. "Don't let him hear you calling him that" Bill informed the child, finding himself amused by her comment.

As though his ears had been burning, Cottle appeared with another cigarette resting between his fingers. "Seems you're a bit of a mystery, missy" Cottle admitted as he put the test results down onto the foot of the bed and took a small blow of his cigarette as he watched the child moved to hide her face in Laura's shoulder.

"Did the tests show anything?" Laura asked, wishing that for once the man before her could just get to the point. Sighing heavily the man shook his head as he put out his cigarette. "Frak all" Cottle admitted as he once more looked through the test results. Nothing made sense. There was no head trauma, nor was there any sigh of problems with the brain's basic functions. "Take her back in a week or so if she doesn't start to recall anything else, we'll run some more advanced tests then" Cottle suggested, still puzzled by the child in front of him. It wasn't easy to be a doctor and not be able to give an answer to a mental problem.

"I believe they're opening up the nursery to orphaned children to place them with suitable families" The moment the suggest left Cottle's lips, Laura felt Pandora's grip of her blouse tighten as she began to shake her head desperately, terror filling her veins. There seemed to be no right way to deal with it all. Pandora's apparent memory loss was a problem, but so was deciding a suitable place for the child to stay; especially with her apparent trust issues. Though Colonial One was no place for a child, was it?

It was Adama who spoke up then, raising himself up from his chair to stand at level height with Cottle. "I somehow don't see that happening, Doc" Bill proclaimed, stating the obvious as Pandora began to relax once more. Cottle nodded his head in response, as though having suspected such an answer in response to his suggestion. It seemed Bill had made Laura's mind up for her.

With that, the doctor took the test results once again and left the cubicle. "I better head back to the CIC and have them arrange a raptor to take you back to Colonial One" Bill thought aloud, having noticed the dark circles under Laura's eyes and her apparent lack of energy. "Thank you" The soft innocent voice filled the cubicle before Laura herself could speak. Pandora smiled up at the man in the stern uniform, Laura appeared to trust him and if he was good enough for Laura, then he was good enough for her too. "Don't worry about it" With that, Bill disappeared through the cotton blue curtains that divided the cubicle from the rest of the sick bay, giving the former President and her young ward some privacy.

The journey from Galactica was a lot more controlled than their arrival.

It seemed Adama had put the guards under strict orders to get the pair from sick bay and onto a raptor with as little fuss as possible. By the time Laura and Pandora got back onto Colonial One, Tori was standing waiting for them both at the foot of the walnut writing desk, her face filled with worry and even a touch of sadness.

"Tori?" Laura asked, her voice dropping as she saw the expression on her aid's face. "You might want to sit down" The young woman admitted, biting the corner of her thin lips as she contemplated the best way of breaking the news to her companion. Sitting herself down into her chair, Laura watched as Pandora slipped off to the matching sofa in the corner of the room, as though having sensed the tension between the two women.

"It doesn't look like Maya made it off of New Caprica" Tori confessed after a moment of silence, clutching the slightly crumpled photograph before handing it over to the woman before her. Laura felt her heart skip a beat - or perhaps even two - at Tori's words. How was it even possible? Laura had done everything she could to ensure the pair would get off of New Caprica alive, but it seemed even her best wasn't good enough.

"What about the baby?" Laura inquired, praying to the Lords of Kobol that perhaps Hera had managed to be saved. Her prayers for some form of a miracle were dashed when Tori simply shook her head, taking a shaky breath before speaking once more. "I was there when the two guards left to take them to their ship. I don't know...I let you down, it's all my fault" Tori looked on the verge of a breakdown as she started to stumble over her own words, attempting to find some sort of explanation for the entire ordeal.

"No you didn't. It's not your fault, this is bigger than us." Laura attempted to assure the women before her, looking down at the photo of the now deceased woman with a heavy heart before her eyes caught sight of Pandora watching her.

"This is life" Laura concluded mournfully.