Chapter 2

Laura was sitting in sickbay, protesting against more tests, and needles and monitors.

Doctor Cottle had tried to talk her into relaxing to the necessary treatments, but over time he had grown tired of arguing against her. He ignored her resistance as best as he could, even threatening to tie her down to one of the beds if he had to. Cottle knew that something was going on, something she wasn't willing to talk about. At least not with him.

When she was verbally quiet again for the shortness of moments, he sent one of his nurses to contact CIC. He wanted to see Admiral Adama about this. It was the forth time that the President of the 12 Colonies had drifted off into what he now knew was visions. And she became crankier with any new vision that took her over. Cottle took another blood sample before she almost jumped out of her skin. Her eyes darkened by fear.

"Gods dammit. What is it, young lady?" Cottle murmured in between two cigarettes.

Laura, struggling to get rid of the drip, tried to control her voice, feeling like shouting at him. "Get me off of this!"

"You will remain right where you are, for frak's sake." He gently pushed her back onto the bed. "You're sick. You should rest!"

"Stop treating me like a frakking child or a total nutcase!" Laura frowned, getting up against his orders. "I need to get up. So take your frakking hands off me!"

"What's going on?"

It was William Adama's stern voice that interrupted the scene. He looked at Jack Cottle with a puzzled rather than angry expression on his face, slowly approaching Laura Roslin while closing the curtains around them.

"I'm glad you came down to help me out here." Cottle muttered. "Maybe she'll listen to you."

Bill moved to her bedside, trying to keep his facade intact – the facade of a concerned friend, maybe that of a confidant. Never that of her lover.

His eyes, thick with sorrow and with a question mark right on top of his lips, he sat down and took her hands in his. She immediately calmed down.

He saw the restlessness in her eyes, the pain, the fear. He noticed how she tried to control the shaking of her bones. He knew that she was on the verge of losing it. And if there was one thing he knew she hated beyond anything, apart from receiving pity or sad looks, or feeling helpless and out of control – it was letting down her guard. Bill noticed how drained she was, how weak. She tried to use the energy that was left to keep up the shields she had established around her, to separate the 'person Laura' from the 'politician Roslin'.

"I will take her to my quarters." The Admiral waved off any possible remark Cottle was about to utter. "I will see to it that she will rest. You have my word on that." The doctor shrugged and nodded, giving him two bottles of drugs to calm her down and ease her pain in case of deterioration. He shook his head with a smile when he saw how the President forced herself to her feet, refusing to use a wheel chair. She accepted the steadiness of the Admiral's arms, walking by his side as graceful as ever. She tilted her head to one side when another vision overcame her, holding onto Bill's arms, releasing a stifled moan of uneasiness.

Adama wrapped his arm around her shoulders, trying to comfort her in the best way possible without losing his composure. He walked her to his quarters as soon as her senses had returned to Galactica, and he carried her over to his rack as soon as he had closed & locked the hatch behind them.

She fact that she didn't even protest when he lifted her into his arms, the way she rested her head on his shoulder was reason enough for him to express his concern after he had carefully tugged her under the sheets.

"Laura, what's going on?"

She smiled. It was a tired smile, and one that tried to soothe him, and expressed her gratitude for his presence and care. She closed her eyes for an instant, reaching out for his hands to hold hers. "I don't know. I have these visions." She said with an exhausted voice. "They don't stop. They keep overwhelming me over and over again."

And she lay her head back in the pillows, releasing a groan when another vision blurred her senses.

"Make this stop!" She pleaded when she drifted back to reality, her eyes tearing up, her soul lying bare to him, exposed and vulnerable.

Bill, not being able to suppress the tears that dwelled up in his eyes, caressed her cheeks with shaky fingers. Thoughts racing through his head, concern overruling any sensible idea, he brushed strings of her hair from her tired face and whispered. "I don't know how, Laura."

She merely looked at him. Her eyes losing herself in his, pleading for his closeness.

When the phone rang, they both jumped, startled by the shrieky sound of it in the silence of the room. Bill, wanting to ignore the call, got up to answer it after Laura gently pushed him off the bed to go. He choked down his tears before he moved the receiver to his ear, and managed to speak into it with a comparably steady voice.

"Yes."

It was Colonel Tigh.

"You asked me to inform you about our status, Sir." His voice was loyal and bound to duty.

Adama nodded. "Oh, of course. What about the power fluctuations?"

"We're set to jump again."

"Good." The Admiral replied calmly. "Good."

"We're waiting for your orders, Sir."

William Adama had turned his head to the fragile form of Laura Roslin's, lying on his bed, his answer delayed when he saw that she had obviously drifted into another exhausting vision. "Leave the nebula and jump to the coordinates Apollo has given you."

"Right away, Sir." Saul barked his orders to Gaetar and Dee, returning to the phone again with a friendly voice. "Do you want me to give you a report on our status every hour?"

"Admiral Adama nodded again. "Yes, I will return to CIC as soon as possible."

"How is the President?" Saul Tigh asked quietly.

"Recovering." Bill answered hesitantly.

"I see." The Colonel bowed his head. "Well, give her the news about the jump. That might speed things up a little." He smiled, looking at Tory with a concerned look. "Tigh out."

Bill hung up, fixing himself a quick drink and pouring a cup of Chamalla-enhanced tea in the cup that was still standing on his nightstand. He took her hand in his, noticing how her body had calmed down and she had fallen asleep.

Laura was surrounded by sunlight again. It warmed her skin, tickled her nose, cheered her up. She was lying in fresh green grass, the smell of it enhancing her ease. She felt his arms tugged around her, his breath underneath her head, the steady sound of his heart playing a familiar tune in her right ear. She was at home again. She felt safe.

The laughter of children in a comforting distance reached her other ear, the sky, blue and clear, with only two white fluffy clouds, open and wide. He whispered something to her, but she couldn't hear him. So she sat up, facing him with a smile and meeting him for a lingering kiss. He spoke to her again, but she couldn't hear him. Again. The sky darkened, black clouds covering the sun, rain pouring down on them within seconds. He pulled her up, running to a cabin by a nearby lake. He opened the door and she could hear their laughter, mixing with childish giggles from the inside.

He spoke to her once again, kissing her neck, nuzzling at her ear. Little feet dancing around them, a warming fire in the fireplace and the smell of freshly baked bread creeping to her nose. She turned around, seeing Hera running up the stairs. Six standing outside, looking in through one of the windows, Gaius Baltar standing next to her, his fist trying to break the glass of the window. He held her, trying to protect her, shouting at her with words that still didn't reach her ears. The only thing she could hear was the giggles of Hera and the other children playing inside and outside of the cabin. She ran upstairs, still holding his hand, being two steps before him. When she reached the top of the stairs, Athena held her daughter in her arms, smiling at her.

She turned around in slow motion at the sound of the breaking glass, Baltar running towards her with a weapon in his hands. He was there, shielding her. Protecting her. They fire went out with the wind that blew through the broken window. It was cold from one moment to the next and she lost the grip of his hands.

She saw how he fought for her, falling into an abyss that slowly opened beneath her feet. She tried to escape its pull, but the maelstrom was too strong to be fought. She fell. Her arms trying to steady her fall, the black vortex closing around her, lights exploding around her, almost blinding her after the darkness of the fall. She was lying on a cold marble floor. The opera house. The Final Five looked down on her, larger than life, light enveloping each and everyone of them. Their faces were revealed to her, and she recognized them from her vision on CIC. Saul Tigh smiled at her. The Chief and Sam Anders completed the picture. Tory helped her up and Kara Thrace addressed her with a calm voice.

"You walk among us, and we shall guide you."

Tory smiled at her, Kara being the only one to speak to her.

"You will see the Earth from your visions. But it will not be given to all of you to see your Earth."

Laura tried to speak, but her voice was gone.

"We will welcome you again. And you will understand."

Laura raised her hand, feeling how Tory wrapped it in hers, soothing her.

"You know now who we are. And you understand the difference."

She nodded.

"We mean you no harm. We are here to show you your way home."

Laura nodded again, feeling someone tugging at her sleeve. It was Hera.

Laura was thrown back to reality with the speed of a jump. She noticed the darkness of his quarters around her, his arm loosely tugged around her waist. She felt his breath on her neck when he propped himself up on his elbow, drawing tender circles on her back with his fingers.

He yawned, pulling her down to him again, covering her with his blanket to keep her from getting cold. She turned in his gentle embrace, enjoying the feeling of her hands on her cheeks, caressing her and wiping the perspiration from her skin.

"What is it, Laura?"

She shook her head, hoping that the wouldn't pursue the topic. She closed her eyes, knowing very well that he would.

"No no no, don't shrug me off." He whispered onto her skin in between soft kisses. "I know that something is wrong. What's bothering you?"

Bill moved closer to her, looking for any obvious signs of pain, physical or emotional. He was relieved to find her body relaxed. "Tell me. What is it?"

Laura suppressed some stubborn tears that crawled to the surface, bringing back the feeling of losing control again.

"Is it about your visions?" He asked carefully.

She nodded.

"Did you see Earth again?"

She opened her eyes again, a tear running down her cheek. It was instantly wiped away by his thumb, sending shivers of comfort through her body. "You seemed to be so confident about it the other day. So relieved. So at ease." He was concerned. "What changed?"

Laura looked at him, trying to arrange the words and pictures in her head, trying to form them into sentences.

Bill, seeing her inner struggle, pulled her into a supporting embrace. He held her close enough for her to be able to breathe, providing her a place to hide from her visions.

Her voice was low when she started to whisper against his skin.

"I did see Earth again. But I'm not sure that what I saw was also the 13th Colony."

Bill Adama was confused. "Why are you doubting your first instincts of having seen Earth?"

""I don't know. It was more like a vision of some peaceful haven, a place only I was allowed to see." She gave up fighting her tears, her voice surprisingly steady and calm.

"You said you saw home." He tried to soothe her.

"I did. But what if this was the final home that I saw? The home of my soul?"

Bill shook his head, fighting the grip that he felt tightening around his throat. "Oh no, you said that it felt like our home. And unless I die here with you, in your arms, I don't intend to let you go anywhere without me ever again."

He placed soft kisses onto her hair, fighting the haunting feelings of concern and panic that settled down in his heart. "Laura, I won't let you give in. We won't give up hope. We will find a solution. We will find a cure."

His words, filled with pain and sorrow, had a releasing effect on her. They triggered a wave of cleansing sobs and tears. Her head, buried in his arms, was caressed by his tender hands.

She wished to hide from her illness, from the visions, from the mixed prophecies that messed up her head.

"There's always a way. And we will just not give up hope."

Laura smiled sadly, remembering the words of the woman she had known as Kara Thrace. But it will not be given to all of you to see your Earth.

She closed her eyes again, trying to fall asleep again in the safety of his arms.