Give a Little

Title: Give a Little

Genre: Battlestar Galactica one-shot.

Teaser: A short little hint of a conversation between Adama and Roslin during and following the events of Crossroads Part I.

Disclaimer: Ronald Moore and his team own. I do not.

Spoilers: Up to Crossroads Part I. Does contain spoilers from that episode. And also a grand assumption.

Notes: For an Angel who's been feeling down, stressed and recovering from her treatments that make her far worse than she really is. Part of a series of multi-genre one-shots but oddly felt in place here and I'm in a sharing mood.

x-o-x

Give a Little

For a moment, he didn't say anything. He just observed her from his bunk. She didn't say anything to him. He didn't expect her to.

"You could have told me."

Her smile was strained, her eyes far too bright. "I'm a grown woman, Bill. I can take care of myself."

He just watched as she ran her fingers over her face, attempting to ease the tension that rested in those fine lines. This was the woman who carried the Fleet on her shoulders, cancer or cure. He didn't like seeing her like this. He didn't want to see her down. Hunched over and retching after mornings of fleeing away for some petty excuse of Fleet business. But part of what bothered him since she took her turn on the stand was the fact that she had hidden it from him as long as she did.

"I thought you trusted me."

"I do trust you, Bill." Again with the smile. Her tired eyes held his for a moment before she rose and moved away from the basin. She could feel the burn in her throat and steadied her breathing, the cool oxygen soothing her morning nerves. It was the morning kick from chamalla and whatever else Dr. Cottle had given her.

"What he did to you was the wrong thing to do."

"What he did was fair and you know it." This was the pragmatist in her speaking, the one that saw things from every point of view before forming her opinion. Never mind that her reputation was at stake. She would never admit that Lee had hurt her by asking that question. Her image of the iconic Captain Apollo had been shattered. What Lee's boldness had left behind was chaos. Her only reprieve was the Admiral's room on Galactica, which is where she found herself enjoying the comfort of the only other person to feel the burden of such responsibility.

"He shouldn't have done it. Not like that."

Laura knew that Bill and Lee had fallen out. That had been obvious by the civilian suit the young Major had awkwardly worn during her questioning the day before. There was a cold rapport between the two men, a level of familial trust that had been violated. "He did what he had to do." Her voice was a mere echo. Her hand reached for a cup, sipping the bitter fluid within. It was a far superior aftereffect compared to chamalla.

And then there had been the questions. Oh, gods, the questions. This is what she had been avoiding by hiding the truth to herself in the first place. She didn't want to put herself through this again. Part of her wanted to blame Lee, but the other part of her knew that the truth would come sooner than later. She hadn't even told her aide yet. Not that it would make much difference – Tory looked awful enough without worrying about the President's condition.

It wasn't like Adama hadn't been through enough lately, either. Starbuck was dead and Lee had stepped out of his father's shadow. The man had lost his two surviving children in the space of twenty days. It was consoling to know that the man she went to for comfort took a little for himself in return.

After all, what else could this be?

"Are you leaving?" His voice was low, sleepy. She knew she'd awakened him when she'd gotten up that morning. But the burn in her throat had nothing to do with her current train of thoughts.

"Did you want me to?" she asked. He knew she hadn't been sleeping well of late. As much as she desired removing herself from the world a while, she needed to face the world again. Baltar's trial would continue whether they wanted it to or not.

"It's early." She could tell he was falling asleep again. Smoothing her robe, she moved to his bunk and sat down. The nausea was gone now. She could sleep again, couldn't she? Didn't she deserve to take if only for a little while?

"Bill."

This got his attention. He opened one eye and squinted up at her. "What is it?" His voice sounded alert and wary. This was the war-hardened part of the man speaking to her now. "Are you all right?"

She forced herself to nod. "I'm sorry I couldn't tell you."

"You don't have to apologize to me, Laura." He sat up now, reaching for her. She let him cradle her face, those eyes scanning hers to find some trace of deception behind them. He wouldn't find any. "Not ever."

She swallowed hard, the burn easing. Again came the wash of comfort as he moved closer to her, his hand settling on hers. She blinked and looked down. "I don't want to live with regrets. Not this time around. Not when…" Her other decision, one that rested solely in her heart, threatened to come out. She forced herself to keep her gaze averted, even when his fingers tipped at her chin, moving her gaze up. She knew that she could tell him, even if it meant putting everything on the line. "I don't want another transfusion from that child. I certainly don't want Baltar's help." Speaking his name like poison freed the coil in her abdomen that begged for justice. "I don't need—"

Her words were cut off as his fingers closed over her lips. "Shh," he said, bending closer to her. "Don't think about that now unless you know the end is coming."

"I only have—"

"I don't want to hear that either," Bill said, his eyes softening.

"Bill…"

"If we had days left, it wouldn't change anything," he replied. "They would never know what this was."

A dying leader and a dying admiral; one from disease and the other from loss. They really were a match.

Her hand wrapped around his. "You don't know how much this means."

"That I would like to hear." His eyes twinkled as he drew closer to her. At the chaste feel of his lips on hers, she surrendered herself to the good, casting out the doubt in her mind. It was she that brought their embrace to a new level. Give a little, get a little back. This was the way it worked with them and it was the way she wanted it to end.

fine