Many thanks to Guest for commenting! I'm so glad you enjoyed the start of this and hope it continues to amuse!


2: In Which There Is Flirting


By the time Bill and Laura joined the camp, their amusement was long gone. Darkness settled with stunning suddenness on New Caprica, and the mud that plastered them almost from top to toe was starting to dry out and stiffen.

Tory's greeting smirk was no consolation.

'So you finally made it,' she said when they approached, their steps mincing and awkward.

Laura glared. 'Not one word, Tory. All I want to hear out of you is coffee, bath, and bed, and not necessarily in that order.'

Her former aide's grin was positively malicious. 'I'm afraid you're outta luck. No beds, the coffee is growing cold - although I could be persuaded to heat it up for you,' she added with faux kindness, 'and the bath's that-away. If you can find it.'

'Whaddya mean?' Bill barked, for which Laura was devoutly grateful. Murdering her assistant would be a shocking example to set her impressionable students.

'The boys discovered a hot spring nearby. It's a bit of scramble to get to-'

Laura's moan of longing cut her off. 'I don't care. Point me in the right direction.'

'The Admiral'd have to go with you,' Tory told her. 'What if you fell? It's dark.'

Laura gave her another glare. 'Yes, thank you. I think we've noticed that. Bill?'

'I'll hold your hand,' he said, and she transferred her glare to him. 'Okay, Miss Foster. How do we get there?'

Tory, dark eyes still sparkling, called one of the older boys over. He hummed and hahhed and turned an interesting shade of red when Miss Foster told him innocently that 'Miss Roslin and Admiral Adama want to get cleaned up. Do tell them how they can find the spring.'

The kid's eyes went from Laura to Bill and back to Tory before he fired out the instructions with such speed that Laura could not make head or tail of them. When Bill nodded and said he'd got it, she sent her student a poor attempt at a smile.

'Thank you, Jack. That's very helpful. You can go now.'

The boy turned scarlet all over again, muttered something incomprehensible, and almost ran away. Laura huffed while Bill chuckled.

'I'd forgotten what teenage boys can be like,' he remarked. 'That's what Lee was like at that age. He got embarrassed at any hint that an adult might actually be human.'

'Welcome to my life,' Laura snarked, not particularly interested in tales of Lee Adama at that point. Her clothes were becoming stiffer by the second. 'Uggh. I really wanna get out of these.'

Tory smirked. Laura mentally resolved to hurt the young woman if she ever saw that expression again. 'What are you waiting for? We've told you where the 'bath' is. Go on; I'm sure I'll cope in your absence.'

Laura sniffed at the less-than-subtle dig in the last sentence and looped her cracking, flaky arm through Bill's. 'Come on. Let's go get cleaned up.'

He turned on his torch and led her in the direction indicated by Jack, followed by a series of whoops and cheers and obscene suggestions that they naturally ignored.


When they reappeared several hours later, they were squeaky clean and cold. Laura's teeth were chattering as she huddled down in the tent that had been set aside for the staff.

'Coffee,' she muttered. 'I want coffee.' She gave Bill an imploring look over the top of her now-gleaming glasses and he visibly softened.

'Here,' he said, picking up a blanket to wrap around her shoulders. 'Better?'

She nodded and smiled, her fingers reaching to linger on his. 'Yeah, thanks.'

'I'll go get us a hot drink,' he said gruffly, and disengaged their hands.

She watched him go, the emotional wellspring of warmth within her almost eclipsing her physical chill. Almost. Tory came and sat beside her, and Laura cast the younger woman a suspicious glance. She was half expecting another smart comment.

Instead, Tory gave her a proper smile. 'Better?'

Laura huddled into her blanket and hummed. 'Bill - the Admiral - has gone to get us some coffee.'

Tory opened her mouth as if she was going to say something, and snapped it shut again.

'What?'

'Nothing. Nothing at all. Here's the Admiral!' and she jumped up and dashed off when Bill returned, carrying two steaming metal cups.

Laura took the one he offered, gratefully cradling it in her icy hands. 'Maybe this wasn't such a bad idea after all.'

He cocked a brow at her. 'Not gonna airlock Racetrack then?'

'I'm still thinking that one over. However,' graciously, 'I might forgive her, just because of that spring.'

They sat in companionable silence, listening to the rise and fall of young voices talking and laughing, enjoying the crackle and imagery and warmth of the camp fire.

'I know it's not what we wanted,' Bill said softly. 'This planet. But look at 'em, Laura. Right now, they're happy. Isn't this what we've been fighting for, at the end of the day?'

'Hmmmph.' It was an odd noise, somewhere between agreement and dissent. 'I'd've preferred Earth.'

His face lit up with his rare grin, and he surprised her by putting an arm around her shoulders. 'Gods, Laura, you don't give up, do you?'

She met his eyes. 'No. Not now, not ever.'

Their gaze held and deepened, and their surroundings seemed to vanish into a background haze. He looked as if he was about to say something, and she came closer (it was cold, after all) but their happy bubble was burst by a sudden spike in volume coming from the kids.

Laura blinked, disoriented. When the loud babble resolved itself in her brain a hot flush rose to her forehead.

The little frakkers had noticed them.

They were pointing and giggling.

And some of them were singing.

'Roslin and Adama are sittin' in a ship...'

'At least it's better than a tree,' Bill commented darkly into her ear, his breath tingling on her skin and ruffling through her hair. 'Only time I tried that the frakkin' branch broke.'

Laura doubled over in giggles, the singing still continuing in the background. She tuned it out; she had no desire to hear just what her students thought she and Bill had been up to. It was too long since she'd felt like this, light and airy and almost deliriously happy.

It was good.