So I finally got round to the second part of this. It's my take on what could take place after Sine Qua Non. Enjoy!
Laura felt a little self conscious as she walked towards his quarters, everyone she walked past sent her a smile or happy remark, she could almost feel their need to reach out and touch her, but etiquette and military protocol prevented that.
The last time she had walked these well known corridors, she and Bill had just come to what she had hoped to be a life changing decision for both of them. The trouble is she hadn't returned for the promised dinner that night nor for the delights that would have surely followed. She had instead found herself whisked away aboard the Cylon basestar by the freshly awakened hybrid.
Although that had all happened barely a week ago, this would be their first face to face meeting since they had been reunited with the fleet. They had spoken of course, when, what was left of the rebel fleet had managed to stumble back to the rendezvous point, but that conversation had been on an open channel and what had come across was a cool unemotional welcome, even if the bare fact that Bill Adama was sitting alone in a raptor waiting/hoping for their return told her a different tale.
It was his face Laura had sort out of the crowd first as she stepped off the returning raptor earlier to the cheers and whistles of Galactica's crew. What she saw was a brief flicker of relief upon her emergence, before the stoic features returned. His eyes told her a different story, there was fear and, yes he was annoyed, anger sparked through him, well - two could play at that, Laura thought.
Tory pounced upon her, before she and Bill had been barely able to share a nod to each other. Zarek then squeezed his way through the assembly to the front and started manoeuvring the procession away. She watched as Bill's eyes drifted to his shoes and she was forced away from him by the crowd. As Laura took one last glance towards him from across the deck she watched as his head raised and his face broke into a gentle smile as Saul Tigh rested his hand on Bill's arm in an obvious gesture of support. His eyes tracked once more across the crowd and found hers from a distance and she was grateful that his features didn't harden again but he gave her one last nod.
It was hours later that she found herself hesitating outside the 'Lion's Den'. Bill had been present through most of the Quorum meeting and press conferences but no further slips of emotion had been allowed to escape, not that Laura would expect it, this was a game they had perfected, down to even fooling each other.
As she stepped over the threshold into his cabin for the first time since her return, her eyes were drawn to the empty table. Her thoughts drifted back to before this had all happened, had it been laid ready for their dinner date that night? Had he been waiting for her to return home that evening?
She had a much better understanding now of the lengths he had gone too in their/her recovery; she was full of mixed feelings for his efforts. Laura Roslin, the President of the Twelve Colonies, couldn't stop the instant of sadness, disbelief and anger that he had abandon the fleet in its hour of need but… But Laura Roslin the woman felt a warmth infuse her body that she had never felt before with any man, he was a hero, of course his record to date screamed it, hadn't he come back for them all at New Caprica? This was different; she knew he hadn't come back for them all this time. He had come back for HER; He had risked it all for her. It made her wonder if he had actually done the same thing on New Caprica, He was an emotional man, driven by his values, but his values seemed to have changed from seeing the fleet to safety and she didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
As her eyes lifted from the table, they immediately fell upon the man of her thoughts. Bill had emerged from his head, towel round his shoulders, his jacket must have been abandoned somewhere around the room she imagined but she wasn't going to take the time or her eyes off him to look round for it. He stood in his tanks now staring back at her. For once in her life she felt numb, completely hypnotised, and unable to say a word.
It was Bill who spoke first in the end, "You've finished with the Quorum?" he said as he moved across to his desk and started to pull his jacket back on, much to Laura's disappointment.
Laura managed nothing more than a slight nod but Bill noticed and continued on in the same vein, "They behaved like a group of frakking children while you…." He trailed off, obviously not finding the right words for her unplanned trip; instead he waved his hands dismissively in her direction.
"Zarek was his usual power hungry irritating self," he finished.
Not knowing why in the world she would want to defend Zarek but finding Bill's manner a little too dismissive she found herself saying, "From what I heard I'm surprised you knew anything about what was going on in the Quorum, I was told you had no time for them or the people of the fleet."
He turned to her in surprise and shock, this wasn't quite how he imaged her reacting to him, so he said warily, "Really and what else did you hear?"
"That you jumped Galactica away and left the fleet undefended, without a word," she added.
"You're having a go at me?" He added annoyed.
Sensing his growing annoyance and not in the mood for a confrontation, she started, "Bill…"
His voice cut through her words though, "What the hell were you thinking, Laura, running off to that basestar without a word?"
"It wasn't like that," she said defensively, "I needed answers."
"You needed answers…you needed answers so none of the rest of what we are doing is important, just you getting answers on your own, again!" He bellowed. "How many times are you going to do this?"
"Do what?" she asked.
"Leave me out," his eyes blazed angrily.
Laura said crossly back, "I'm not at your beck and call, Bill Adama and I don't have to tell you every single thing I do."
He rounded his table quickly and stepped up in front of her, practically snarling in her face, "You are the frakking President of the Twelve Colonies, you don't have the right not to…" He paused slightly as his voice calmed in tone and grew quiet, "When in the gods' names are you going to trust me, Laura?"
As she looked at his hurt face, her annoyance ebbed away, "Bill, I had no idea that was going to happen."
He turned away from her in disappointment, "Why didn't you come to me, instead of going behind my back with Kara?"
Laura reached out with her hand to stop him moving away. "I…it wasn't a conscious decision."
He turned back towards her, looking deeply into her eyes and spoke softly, "That's what scares me Laura, do you have any idea of the danger you have been in? I can't afford to lose you."
She started to move away from him, and said sharply, picking up his earlier words, "As the President?"
Adama stopped her suddenly with a slight shove which sent her back against the wall of his cabin. "No damn it, as Laura Roslin, the woman I have fallen head over heels for. The woman I can't live without."
Laura stared into his eyes in shock at his confession, it was more than she ever expected, even hoped for and for the second time that evening she found herself at a loss for words. She started to shake her head in denial of his frankness but as she did his arms came up to grasp her shoulders with both his hands.
"I can't live without you, Laura, I don't care anymore about what the future holds, you are the most important thing to me."
She found herself shaking her head again, "Bill, the fleet…" unable to form more than that, the raw emotion evident in his voice rocking her again. She found herself afraid of his feelings, if they let go now, and it was certainly a two way thing, would they be able to return to their duty towards the fleet. If his words were true and she believed with all her heart they were, his actions recently only echoing that all the more, Then did that mean the goal of finding earth was no longer as important to him, she didn't want that, was she the water that had put out that flame, could she live with the knowledge that she could become the distraction that would put this fleet in danger? As his thumbs made gentle patterns on her shoulder blades she knew for certain that she wasn't in much of a better position. At what stage she wondered had her long fight for survival become less about the fleet's safety but more and more about Bill Adama.
"I love you." Bill once again sliced through her thoughts in a dramatic way.
As the tears began to pool in the corners of her eyes, Laura could only nod and say, "I know," before his hands began a slow descent down her silk clad arms, his fingers barely touching the skin underneath the fabric, sending shivers down her spine.
His eyes bore into her, pleading not to be rejected by her. Any thought of that had left her long before this moment Laura admitted to herself. It seemed a lifetime ago that the thought of his hands caressing her body didn't excite her in places long since left dormant since the attacks. His mere presence now sent her flirty tendencies into overdrive, all her time now spent on reining it in for the public but if she were honest that policy had been long since abandoned within the confines of their cabin. Touching had become the norm as they shared their everyday life together.
His hands finished there journey as they reached her hands and entwined their fingers fiercely. He stepped forward pressing his body lightly into her own, his breath whispered against her cheek as he sealed their fate with the words Laura needed to hear, "We are so close, Laura, Earth, It's a breath away, can you feel it, our duty is almost done."
As he spoke, his lips feathered over her ear, making her face turn involuntary into the feel. His breath hot almost moist against her cheek. Unable to speak, Laura shut her eyes and tried to pull some much needed air into her lungs, her whole body sizzled with sensations that had been missing for so long. A long awaited awakening of her own body, her own female body, and as her eyes opened, she looked into his intense depths feeling a complete confidence in her desirability to this man and she whispered, "Yes, I can feel it…" the rest of her words were swallowed up by his mouth as it descended upon hers, hungrily, forcefully, pushing her back once more into the wall.
Laura pulled her hands away from his and immediately threaded them in his thick hair, leaving his to snake around her body, pressed her tightly against him as they kissed over and over again. Bill started to run small kisses along her jaw ending at her ear, as her head fell forward deeply into the crook of his neck. Her hands flatten out on the back of his head holding him tightly in embrace as the kisses stopped and they were both left breathing hard intertwined in a loving hug more profound than and affirming in love than even the kisses had been.
As Laura regained her ability to breathe once more she found her emotions overwhelmed as tears tracked down her face, which left her with only one thing to say, "I love you, Bill, and we will find Earth, but I don't want to do it alone anymore."
Bill pulled away from her, his thumbs brushed away her tears as his own filled with tears as well, "You don't have to anymore."
He brushed a gentle kiss across her lips and turned his head slightly towards the empty table before returning his gaze to her, "Have you eaten? We could have dinner," he said as he sent her one of his most charming smiles. Laura nodded in agreement as she debated whether there was a woman alive who wouldn't stop in that moment and bask in the warmth of it.
Please tell me your thoughs :)
