Disclaimer: Disclaimer: Battlestar Galactica belongs to Ronald D. Moore and the Sci-Fi channel.

Part 4/4: Charting new territory

The same crowd soon gathered again in the admiral's quarters, hoping that the day's mishaps were finished. Dee had figured out how to fry the algae enough so that it crunched like potato chips. Anders brought out a deck of cards and the group began to play. Roslin decided to find the dip for the algae chips and set up snacks as they played.

"Why don't you join us?" Adama invited after the first round.

Roslin smiled and took a seat next to him on the couch. "I suppose it couldn't hurt."

"You do know how to play, right?" he questioned.

She smirked and it was if the look was only for him. "In a manner of speaking," she relayed cryptically.

Later everyone understood her clearly. She had thoroughly beaten everyone. Kara eyed her with a newfound respect. "Wow Ma'am, you're good," the young captain observed as Roslin laughed.

Tigh smirked and glanced over at the admiral. "We should probably ask Bill about that one later."

Roslin blushed scarlet and Adama tried to rescue her. "Actually Saul, you can answer that when you hand her the rest of her winnings."

They chuckled and Kara decided to refill the glasses. The next round in the card game was done taking shots of moonshine. Lee had an idea of what to do after the card game. "Why don't we play charades?"

Everyone looked to the admiral for him to decide. He raised an eyebrow and glanced over at the president. She smirked and gave a small shrug. Adama turned back to the others saying, "Why not?"

They decided to make two teams. Tigh thought the whole business was nonsense and volunteered to keep score. Anders, Kara, Roslin, and Adama were on one team. Dee, Tory, Gaeta, and Lee were on the other. Gaeta gave Kara her phrase to start off with, As a group both teams had decided that the category was activities.

She was trying to show water-skiing while the rest of the team was laughing. "Are you riding two horses while standing on them?" Anders asked.

Laughing too, she shook her head. It looked as though time would run out until Kara decided to try something different. She veered to her left, pulled back, veered again, and fell over. Then she moved her arms in a butterfly stroke and stopped to pretend to yell and shake her fist.

"You're water-skiing!" Roslin exclaimed. Kara nodded and returned to the team.

"How did you figure that?" Adama asked Roslin incredulously.

She chuckled. "Because that's what it looked like when I fell."

Gaeta was up for the other team and was fortunate to receive pyramids. Anders found himself with sky-diving and had little trouble. Tory had to remove her two-inch black heeled shoes to demonstrate tight-rope walking. Adama was given deep-sea fishing. He glanced over at Lee and shook his head.

"You haven't gone yet, you know," the admiral goaded his son.

"Being last is worth it to watch how you do this one," Lee joked.

Adama started by tracing the outline of a sailboat and then tracing the sail with his hands in the air. He brought up the anchor and let it back down. Then he drew a fishing pole. "I think you're fishing, sir," Kara stated. He shook his head.

"Looks like it's something more than that. Maybe he's after something in particular," Ander suggested. The admiral shook his head again.

Roslin thought about what she had perceived as the anchor he drew. "It's deep sea fishing," she stated. He nodded and walked back to the team.

"How are you so good at this game?" he asked her.

The familiar mischievous glint was in her eyes. "I used to teach kindergarten." As she said this everyone laughed.

Dee was next and had to figure out an interesting way to illustrate repairing a raptor. She lied down on the floor and drew a toolbox. Then she drew the ship and began to work on it. Gaeta figured it out though. Finally it was Roslin's turn. She eyed Lee with suspicion as he grinned, walking over to her.

He whispered the phrase and she stared at him as if he had sprouted two heads. Her phrase was the 'Adama maneuver.' "Lee how am I supposed to know that one?" she protested.

The young man shrugged. "Just go with what you think it is," he replied, giving her the non-chalant smile.

She glanced over at Adama with a pleading look in her eyes. "Can I at least have an assistant with this one?"

Lee shook his head. "Nope, just try it."

Sighing resolutely, she pretended to slide gloves over her hands. She looked at Adama and pointed at him, and then back to herself. Then she traced a big square. She also drew a person in front of her and made a swirling gesture with one hand to indicate that the person was not facing her. She drew a small circle in the air and made a small motion of striking it. Then she made another swirling motion to indicate that the character turned around. Next she struck the air hard with her left fist and took a step back, as if watching someone fall.

The admiral turned toward his son. "Is that me boxing? Lee, what in Kobol's name did you tell her?"

Lee laughed before answering. "I told her to use the 'Adama maneuver.' I wanted to see what she would do."

Roslin crossed her arms and walked back to her team. "It's not a boxing move?"

"No, it's a flying maneuver," Lee explained.

"I think someone's had too much to drink," Kara teased.

"It happens to be your turn too," Roslin added with a smirk.

She whispered something into Lee's ear and his eyes widened. "I don't know about that, Ma'am."

"Let's see what you do," she responded, sitting next to Adama.

Lee swallowed hard. He folded his arms and placed his thumbs at his shoulders before stalking around the room, acting like a chicken. Everyone laughed and Adama turned to Roslin. "What was that supposed to be?"

"Chicken herding," she answered rationally. He looked at her incredulously. "What? You've never heard of chicken herding?"

As the game drew to its close, Anders left with Kara because they had early shifts the next morning. More drinks were poured and the remaining guests joked a bit. While the others could hold their alcohol fairly well, Tory was beginning to stagger.

"Madam Prressssident, if you had a parrrty once a weeeek, yourrrr rrratings would soar," though articulate, her speech was slurred. Then she turned to Gaeta and rested a hand on his shoulder as she tried to stand up. "Felix, thisss is the besht party I've been too in yearrrrshs."

Roslin watched her aide sympathetically. "It's getting late. I should probably take her back," she began.

She started to stand, but Adama rested a hand on her knee to stop her. "She'll be fine. Lieutenant Gaeta, would you mind escorting the president's aide back to Colonial One?"

"I'll get right on it, sir," the younger man responded as he stood and walked over to Tory. Catching her by the waist, he stated, "I think it's bedtime for you, Tory." With one arm around her waist and one hand holding one of hers, he managed to walk her out of the admiral's quarters.

Dee looked over at her husband as she yawned. "It is getting late. I'm going to turn in too," she relayed. Then she faced the admiral. "Happy Birthday, sir."

"Thank you, Dee," he replied as she left.

The remaining four played one more round of cards before Lee stood too. "I'm too tired to keep my eyes open. If I stay any longer, I'll have to ask one of you to read my cards for me. Night Dad, and Happy Birthday."

Adama walked his son to the door. "Thanks for today," he relayed. The two paused for a moment and then hugged.

Roslin smiled at the admiral when he returned. "It's been an interesting day," she mentioned.

He and Tigh chuckled. "That's an understatement, but there are worse ways that this day could've ended, and for that I'm grateful."

She lifted her glass. "Then gentlemen, I have a toast. To surprises, may the adventure end well."

The glasses clinked and they all took a drink. "I've got a better one," the admiral paused and looked directly at Roslin. "To new adventures, that they take us someplace better than where we've been, and that we have good friends to travel with to make the journey enjoyable." She blushed before the glasses touched again.

"Should've done this earlier when we had the group here," Tigh said as he took a drink and stood. "I'll leave you two alone for the evening. You two don't want a chaperone," he goaded them. "Happy Birthday, Bill."

Adama and Roslin stood, walking Tigh to the door. "Thank you, Saul. It was good having you here too."

"Nah, three's company," the colonel stated. He grinned wryly as he turned to leave. "Take my advice, Bill."

"I'll think about it," the admiral replied.

After Tigh had left, Roslin took off her jacket and began cleaning up the algae chips and general trash that comes from most parties. "What did the colonel mean?" she asked Adama as he joined her.

"When you walked off after we were locked in the storage room, he told me I should take you on a date before we end up 'stranded in a raptor,'" Adama admitted. Roslin giggled in the way that he could listen to all day.

"This is all because of CIC, isn't it?" she paused as he nodded. "The way I see it, we could handle this two ways. We could ardently deny anything or," she grinned with mischief, "we could play with his mind a bit and I could call you with a very interesting message."

Adama chuckled, imagining what Tigh would start telling him then. "You'd probably end up making things worse for me over there. As it is, it'll take a while to live today down."

When they had cleaned up everything, they returned to the couch. He held her hands in his, rubbing small circles in them. "Seeing the condition your aide left in, I don't think she would notice if you didn't come back until tomorrow morning," he mentioned with a smirk.

She grinned back. "You're probably right. Are you suggesting some sort of slumber party?"

Instead of laughing as she had expected him to, he leaned forward and captured her lips in a tender kiss. His hands slid to grasp her forearms as hers did the same. Somehow his arms moved to encircle her waist and she found herself sitting on his lap as they continued to kiss, her hands having found their way to his chest.

They broke to breathe and rested their foreheads together. "I should probably take you on a date before saying this," he began as he rubbed her back, "but I'd prefer to say it now. I love you, I have for a while. I just couldn't say anything because you're the president."

She smirked and kissed him lightly. "You shouldn't have let that stop you. I love you too. You seemed so closed. I was waiting for you to open a door somewhere. I suppose I found one a few days ago and left my foot in it," she told him wryly.

He chuckled and pulled her in for a passionate kiss. One of his hands got lost in her hair. She moaned when he deepened the kiss. When they parted again, she looked directly into his eyes. "Is it alright if we take things slowly?"

Understanding, he grinned and hugged her. "We can sleep and leave it at that for now. I won't cross lines without asking," he explained.

"What do you suggest then?" she asked as they stood.

He had found her a nightshirt and they spent the night cuddled together in his bunk, simply sleeping. Roslin opened her eyes first and stretched. The motion woke Adama. "Good morning," his voice was more gravely than usual.

She grinned at him. "Good morning."

"One of us does have to move, you know," teased.

Roslin moved so that she and Adama were both sitting on the edge of the bed. "I'm sorry your birthday didn't turn out like I planned," she commented.

To her surprise he leaned toward her and kissed her on the cheek. "I'm not. Thank you for the best birthday I've had in a long time," he conveyed with a grin.

"You're welcome," she stated giggling.

He let her have the shower first and then they reconvened in the living room after he had showered. "We need to explain how you're here, and why you're wearing yesterday's clothes, he reminded.

She crossed her knees and folded her hands. "I spent the night in the guest quarters because it was too late to return to my ship, of course. Then I stopped here for coffee on the way back to my ship."

"And how were your accommodations, Madame President?" he inquired, playing along.

"Very good, thank you, Admiral," she responded politely.

They chuckled at their ruse. Then she watched him with amusement as mischief crept into his smoky blue eyes. "I have an idea," he began as he leaned toward her and whispered a plan into her ear.

After he had spoken, she pulled back and raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure you want to subject yourself to what will follow that?"

"I've realized that it'll be worth it to see Saul's face," he told her.

She stood. "Well, I suppose I should be going."

"Why? You came by for coffee and then I offered to walk you back to your ship," he added, also standing.

They stepped closer to each other and he wrapped one arm around her waist. The other hand cupped her cheek. Her arms found their usual spot behind his neck. "I like that idea," she murmured before he kissed her soundly.

After he had taken her back to her ship, Adama headed over to CIC. When the phone rang later, picked it up, grinning inwardly as Tigh and Lee picked up the other two headsets. "Hello Madame President, what can I do for you?" he stated politely.

She chuckled deeply on the other end. "Hello Admiral, I was just calling to make sure that our dinner date was still on," she began.

"Of course, Madame President. Was there anything else?" he commented.

That was the line she was waiting for. "I just wanted to say that you were very good last night and I was hoping for an encore." She was thankful that on her end she was alone and could grin as madly as she wanted to.

He fought desperately not to laugh. "I think we can work something out, Madame President. However, we should continue this conversation on a secure line." Tigh dropped his headset and stared at the admiral, his mouth forming a shocked 'o.' The conversation ended and Adama walked over to the window.

Lee joined him and whispered, "Was that a joke?"

Adama grinned wryly. "I'll leave you to figure that one out, son," he remarked. As the younger man resumed his post, he studied his father and realized that he truly did not know whether or not the Old Man was joking.

Fin…………………………………………….

(My thanks to carolann,banana53080, Mariel3, csiAngel, Ethereal Journey, romeoharvey, kiyani, and Jojo for reviewing :D)

(A/N: Do you think that I should include an epilogue, sending them on a date?)