Laura Roslin was buried in books, and she was perfectly happy about it. Her research for her dissertation led her off world to Tauron, to its oldest and most expansive library. She had the semester off, so she could take her time and enjoy her research. It was wonderful.
She was currently occupying two tables: One for her, one pile of books, and her computer-Laura refused to be afraid of technology; the cylon war was long over, and the humans had won, so she didn't see the need to remain in the dark ages-and one table was for the rest of the books she was using.
Laura had spent the better part of three days working between those two tables. For the most part everyone left her alone, and she had permission from the librarian to keep the books out on the tables at the end of the day. Laura had proven she was trustworthy, and she promised to return them when she was finished.
She was so absorbed with her work that she didn't notice the man. He was walking with his own stack of books, looking for a free table. There didn't seem to be one available. That was odd. Bill Adama had been coming to the library forever. He wrote all of his books there, including his dissertation, which was published-not that it sold many copies. No one was interested in military history anymore; all anyone cared about was Dr. Baltar and his technological advancements. They'd been down that road before and it nearly brought mankind to ruin.
Bill had witnessed that near ruin himself. He was a viper jock at the end of the war. When the war ended, he mustered out and put himself through school. After his freshman year, he discovered he had a knack for history, so he spent the next 10 years of his life working up the ladder, finally earning his PhD at the end. He was in his early thirties, and he was happy with what he'd accomplished. Academia had been good to him, and he was on the tenure track.
But he was pretty frustrated that he couldn't find a table in his library.
Then he saw her. She was beautiful. At least from what he could see of her face-most of it was buried in books. Yes, she seemed to be reading from several at once. And diligently, by the looks of it. He recognized that look. That was Dissertation Look. And she was sitting at Dissertation Table, and he suspected the adjacent table was her auxiliary table. Well, not for long.
"Excuse me, Miss. Are you taking up two tables?"
No response. Bill wasn't deterred. She probably didn't hear him. Hearing is often the first casualty during research.
He put his books down next to her secondary pile on the adjacent table and approached her. He gently tapped her shoulder.
"What?" She asked. She preferred not to be touched, especially by strange men in strange places. Laura did look up at the man behind her. He was definitely from Tauron. He had the skin color typically associated with that colony. She was surprised to find his eyes were very blue, though.
"I asked you if you were occupying two tables, but you didn't seem to hear me."
"Oh, I didn't, I'm sorry. Let me move some-"
"That's okay. I can work around them." He smiled down at her, and she returned it with one of her own.
He was right; she was beautiful. Even more so when she smiled, but he sensed that didn't happen often enough. She definitely had an edge, and it wasn't related to grad school work.
He neatly consolidated her secondary pile. "I'm not frakking up your system, am I?"
"What system?"
"That's what I thought."
"I suppose that might be part of my problem."
"Dissertation's not going well?"
"How'd-"
"I looked the same way."
"Looked?"
"When I worked on mine."
"So, you know my pain, then? How refreshing."
"No one else seems to get it, huh?"
"Well, my advisor's been very helpful, but he's in Caprica."
"You're from Caprica?"
"Yeah."
"Me too, believe it or not. At least, I was originally."
Bill sat at the next table, at the place he had cleared. He was still facing Laura. Perhaps he should have reconsidered that seat; he didn't see how he'd get much work done. On the other hand, it seemed rude to sit with his back to her when they were talking.
"What's it on?"
"I'm not entirely sure yet. It's..."
"It's okay. I never like when people ask me what I'm writing."
"You can't know until you-"
"know."
"Exactly."
"How long will you stay here?"
"As long as I need. I have the semester free to work on it."
"It'll go by fast."
"I know. I'll keep on it."
"I'm sure you will."
Laura sensed the conversation was over and returned to her books. Bill opened one of his books and began reading. They continued working for awhile. Then they heard a rumble.
Laura blushed when she realized it was her.
"When was the last time you ate?"
"This morning."
Bill checked his watch and frowned. Then he got up and offered Laura his hand. "Let's go."
"What?"
"We're getting you something to eat."
Laura was about to protest, but her stomach spoke for itself. Again. So she acquiesced, packing her computer and other belongings into her bag.
"Dr..."
"Adama, but you can call me Bill. Only my students have to call me Dr. I try not to be too pretentious."
"So, Bill, where are you taking me?"
"The best place in town."
The way Bill said it and smiled, she believed him.