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Two hours came and went just as Bill thought he was finally getting some sleep. He woke up to the sound of Lee shuffling around. His son had already packed up his bed neatly and dressed.
"Do you want some breakfast?" Adama offered getting to his feet and rubbing his eyes.
"No, thanks. I didn't mean to interrupt…" Lee began in a whisper, turning toward Laura who was still asleep.
Bill figured he trailed off because Lee still wasn't sure what he was interrupting. Hell, Bill wasn't sure either.
"She still hates me," Lee finally said as he shoved his clothes into the duffle bag he brought from his quarters.
"Laura or Dee?" Bill questioned.
He truly wasn't sure which one of them Lee was talking about.
"Pick one," he replied with gloom. "The ironic thing is they both hate me for the same reason."
Bill stood up, pulled on his pants and walked over to the kitchen to start the coffee maker. The one thing that had survived the destruction of humanity was his old trusty coffee maker. It had served him well during the first Cylon war and through the second cylon war it continued to be his lifeline in the morning.
"They'll get over it," Bill offered.
Lee followed him into the kitchen, keeping his voice low so he didn't wake the President.
"Was it worth it Dad? I mean, we lost the women we love…or…I mean, woman I love and the opinion of the President for the sake of Gaius frakking Baltar," Lee argued.
Bill took a moment to ponder the words before he answered. He was in an usual mood. Having Laura asleep in his bed and Lee here in his quarters in the early morning felt like…he pushed the feeling aside.
"Do you remember what I said the day of Galactica's decommissioning?" Bill asked, lifting his chin and narrowing his eyes.
"Humanity has to be worthy of survival," Lee said.
From the way his jaw hung, Bill could tell his son understood the meaning of that phrase.
"By letting Baltar go for crimes we couldn't legally prove, we also made humanity worthy of survival," Bill explained.
Lee nodded his head and slung the strap of his duffle bag over his shoulder.
"I just hope they forgive us," Lee replied.
"They will," Bill began, "because we love both of them."
Apollo seemed surprised by Bill's words, but not as surprised as Bill was.
He hadn't planned on saying that. It just kind of slipped out naturally. He hadn't even thought about love when it came to Laura. Of course, he loved her because she was his President and he was a patriot, and he loved her because she was his friend and comrade, but the way his own voice sounded when he said it made him pause. His tone made it sound like he loved her. Maybe that was the thing between them that he couldn't put a name to but he shrugged it off.
Apollo nodded and then exited quietly. Bill went about his normal routine of making coffee and toast, or least as close to toast as they could get the revolting algae that made up most of the food supply. The minutes ticked by and Laura still wasn't up. She would probably yell at him for not waking her but he couldn't bring himself to do it. Lately her schedule had been hectic and after last night who could blame her for catching up on a few extra hours of sleep?
The time for his shift in the CIC edged closer. He didn't want to leave without telling her where he was going. With a hot cup of coffee in hand he approached his own bed. He saw her slumbering form beneath his blankets, her hair was sprawled out across his pillow, her head was turned toward him. As he got closer he contemplated the best way to wake her up. Should he say her name? Should he touch her face? Her shoulder? As the task fell upon him he suddenly lost his nerve. Maybe he should just leave. He could write her a note.
Involuntarily, he found himself sitting on the side of the bed, and the movement was enough to stir her eyes open. He couldn't resist the urge to look into them, right as she was coming out of deep sleep. They were vulnerable, dark and held no secrets. She was like an open book, and as she recognized him a smile played at her lips.
"Good dreams?" he asked with a smile.
"Mmmm," was her answer as she dreamily stretched out in front of him.
As quickly and nonchalantly as he could his eyes took a dive into the coffee cup before him. She was still in her nightgown, this time, without the jacket and her stretching, whether she intended it or not, was seductive.
Her hands slapped the covers and she drew the blanket up to her neck, as if she suddenly realized where she was and what she was doing.
"Bill," her voice was alarmed and wavering and he felt her body go ridged underneath the blankets.
He smiled to himself, happy to see he was not the only one who could blush in a situation like this.
"I brought you some coffee," he said, handing it to her and pretending not to notice her trembling hand as she took it.
"Thank you," she answered, her voice back in control.
"I'm sorry to wake you, but, I have my shift—" he started to explain but she interrupted.
"Shift? What time is it?" Her head turned toward the clock on his nightstand.
"Almost 0700," he answered.
"Shit," she muttered under her breath as she put the coffee down and sat up straighter in bed. "Why didn't you get me up sooner?"
"Is your language always like this in the morning?" he teased with a smile. Laura smiled back.
"I'm not a morning person," she answered. "Besides, it's practically afternoon."
Laura fidgeted as if she wanted to get out of bed, but with the way Bill was sitting she couldn't really get very far without crawling over him. He would probably never see her like this again; hair messed up, glasses no where in sight, stilling trying to wake up and in his bed. He wanted to revel in the moment for just a little longer.
"You know we're getting old when 0700 is the afternoon. I remember when I used to be able to sleep the day away," Bill said, feeling slightly silly for his sudden reminiscence.
"Ah, yes, before we had humanity to save," she replied with a teasing smile.
"There should be hot water left, if you want to take a shower," Bill offered, though he knew after his ice cold dip this morning only the hot water was left. And yes, he grudgingly admitted to himself, he had purposefully taken a cold shower because of Laura and her damn nightgown.
"And help yourself to anything you want to eat," he continued.
"Where's Lee?" Laura asked.
She stopped fidgeting and seemed to relax a bit, no longer waiting for him to move and release her from his bed. They both knew they were only prolonging the inevitable separation.
"He left early this morning," Bill began, and deciding to be a little brave added, "He didn't want to interrupt us."
Laura stifled a giggle, perhaps remembering the fiasco last night.
"What have you told him about me that makes him think he's interrupting?" Laura asked with eyes sparkling.
He loved it when she was playful like this. It made life, his day, the CIC, fight the cylons, all bearable.
"He thinks you hate him," Bill replied and unwittingly killed the playfulness in the conversation.
Laura maintained her smile but it was hollow now.
"I might be upset with the two of you but hate is too strong a word," Laura answered.
"He'll be glad to hear that." Bill hoped she understood that he was glad to hear it too.
"Is he…" Laura began but trailed off, perhaps thinking better of it.
"What?" Bill encouraged her to continue.
She reached out and took hold of the coffee cup she had set on the table. Bill tried not to be distracted by her soft, white, exposed arm escaping from behind the blankets.
"No, nothing. It's none of my business," Laura mumbled into the cup before she took a sip.
There were times when he and Laura were so in tune to each other he could almost hear what she was thinking. This was one of those times.
"Dee left him," Bill stated. "That's why he came here for the night."
Laura slowly nodded her head and winced just a little as if what he said had caused her some physical pain.
"I'm sorry to hear that," she said quickly with sincerity.
Bill sighed and watched Laura drink her coffee in his bed. He suddenly became very sentimental.
"Being in love isn't as easy now as it was when we were kids. They have a lot to deal with, and a lot they shouldn't have to deal with," he told her in a low voice.
"You mean…they should be able to just live life as people again…" Laura began, her eyes fully awake and sharp as ever.
"Something like that," Bill answered.
He smiled at her and she returned the gesture. They sat there like that for Bill didn't know how long. Time seemed to be suspended in their world. The look between them seemed to say what volumes of words couldn't. These things had passed between them before but neither of them seemed willing, or even able, to act on them. He couldn't bring himself to put her in a situation that would make her job even harder. He couldn't bring himself to ruin her life like he had Carolann's. So, he just looked at her, hoping his eyes were conveying all that his mind was thinking but not able to say.
"Have a good day, Laura," he said breaking the silence.
He took her hand and pressed her fingers to his lips, an action so surreal he wasn't sure it happened even a few minutes afterward. His fingers let hers go and for a few long minutes she didn't say anything. He would have given his left arm to know what she was thinking right then.
"You too, Bill. And thank you for letting me stay here," she replied.
He stood up, finally allowing her to escape his bed. Without looking back, though he wanted to, he left her in his quarters.
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Laura visibly sighed with relief when she heard the hatch shut and Adama was gone.
"What hell was that?" She asked herself shaking her head.
She put the coffee down and got out of bed. With a growl of frustration at the emotional and physical tension she was feeling she jumped to her feet and grabbed the clothes Adama had retrieved for her. This whole thing was becoming more awkward and ridiculous by the day. The sooner she could get out of his quarters the better. In fact, the way she was feeling now she never wanted to visit this place again.
The more awake she became the easier it was to put all thought of the morning's events out of her mind. She had to visit the cylon today. Later this afternoon she had a meeting with the Admiral and his officers to discuss what happened on Colonial One. Work was a great way to keep her mind from wandering places it always seemed to want to go and places she was, frankly, sick of thinking about.
She took a look at herself in Adama's mirror when she was finally ready to leave. In her younger day she had been a knockout beauty but she must have lost some of her allure with the passage of time. Laura ran a hand through her long auburn locks of hair.
Admiral Adama had just spent the night with her in his quarters in nothing but a torn nightgown and he hadn't laid a finger on her. Not that she wanted him to…but he shouldn't have been able not to. Men were so stupid. Either that or the wear and burden of being President had forced her to lose her beauty, charm, femininity. Laura preferred the 'men are stupid' answer.
Yes, she was well aware of the fact she was arguing in circles that made no sense but she was upset. She was heartsick and the heart was never logical. Which, she reasoned again, was precisely why she couldn't let her heart get involved.
Just as she was about to march out of Adama's quarters something on the edge of his desk caught her attention. She stopped and changed directions. Slowly, carefully, as if it were a fragile piece of glass, Laura picked up the book hiding under a stack of papers. The Courting of Charlotte Astor was printed in faded blue letters across the cover. She flipped through the pages and found a bookmark, not her bookmark, about halfway through.
Not only had Bill taken the book, he was actually reading it. Laura's illogical heart started to pound harder in her chest and she felt suddenly winded. She shook her head and in a sudden burst of emotion tried to keep tears from forming in her eyes. This was not like her at all. She hated frakking women who cried at nothing. With a resolve not to let the situation get to her she set the book exactly as she had found it and buried her feelings so deep she was confident they wouldn't resurface again, ever.
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"Leave us," Laura ordered the guards.
They all gave her funny looks, but they did as they were told.
The cylon, who was sitting with her legs crossed on the bed slowly stood up to her full height. She was about two inches taller than Laura and her hands were still bound. Laura saw red marks around her wrists were the skin was becoming raw.
"What the hell are you wearing?" the cylon asked as her eyes took in Laura image.
If it were any one else Laura probably would have laughed. The sweater and sweat pants Adama had left her were not her clothes of choice, but as long as all her business suites were contaminated, she really didn't have much choice. She probably should have waited until she found something else to wear, but the desire to see the cylon was too strong, especially after what Sharon had told her.
"What did you do last night," Laura demanded, not bothering to answer the cylon's question.
"What did I do?" she repeated, her face full of confusion.
"Let's not be subtle. What is going on?" Laura again demanded.
She was using all the intimidation tactics at her disposal and yet, part of her actually felt sorry for the cylon. Laura was truly beginning to fear for her own sanity. Sympathizing with cylons was way beyond common sense.
"I honestly don't know," the cylon said with a sigh, "Last night, I just felt like something bad was going to happen. I told you before I had to protect Hera. Last night I felt compelled to protect you, and believe me, out of all humans left in the world, you are the very last one I would lift a finger to save."
Laura was almost applaud and the hatred that marred the cylon's pristine features. This model number Six did hate Laura, that much, at least, was truth.
"You're breaking my heart," Laura sneered with sarcasm.
She took a few steps closer and the cylon, for all her grace and power, actually looked a little afraid.
"Why is it I can hear your thoughts, you voice, in my head?" Laura asked.
"Hera has connected the three of us, somehow. She is the—," Six began but Laura finished.
"Shape of thing to come."
Cylon and human stood staring at each other for a long moment trying to figure out what exactly was happening.
"What…" the cylon began a little timidly. In fact, the woman was very nearly childlike in her approach. "What happened last night?"
"There was a gas main break on Colonial One. Sharon woke her husband and told him she needed to go to Colonial One. She didn't know why but her dreams were telling her I was in danger. If she hadn't been there, no one would have made it off the ship alive. By the time they got to my office they couldn't revive me. If your voice hadn't woken me up, I wouldn't have escaped either," Laura explained.
She felt she owed the cylon that much. As she recapped the events she carefully watched the cylon's reaction.
"You think it was cylon sabotage," Six stated.
"How else would you and Sharon both know what was going to happen?" Laura questioned with her glasses hanging off the bridge of her nose.
"How's Bill?" Six asked.
That caught Laura by surprise. Did the model even know Adama's first name? Six must have seen Laura's confusion because she explained herself.
"I could hear your thoughts too, last night. I woke up saying the name 'Bill,'" Six explained. "That's Admiral Adama, isn't it? You're in love with him."
The woman's perfectly shaped lips curved into a knowing smile.
"The Admiral and I have a close working relationship. We respect each other, nothing more," Laura said, wanting to put any question in the cylon's mind to rest.
"Respect," Six nodded, taking a few step away from Laura, "That is something you humans make up to fill the empty void were love should be."
Laura took off her glasses definitely trying to show Six that she was not in the mood to be trifled with.
"This cage you're holding me in is the only thing keeping me from Gaius, keeping me from love. I prefer it to the cage you live in," Six sneered.
Her body was motionless in the reflection of the barred glass walls of the brig. All the intimidation and fear Laura had instilled in the cylon earlier was gone. Bill once said cylons are dangerous because they mix lies with truth. Never were his words more true to Laura than they were now.
"Dr. Baltar has made no attempt to see you, and even if he did—" Laura started to say, really for no other reason than to hurt the cylon.
She was surprised by her behavior but she didn't let it show. Six cut her off before she could finish.
"It doesn't matter. I love him. I always will. This cage is bearable because of my love. You're cage will destroy you," Six explained, her eyes bright and full of wisdom.
"Guards," Laura called.
She'd had enough of listening to the cylon's ramblings. She wasn't going to get any more answers about last night, and the last thing she wanted right now was a lecture from a cylon on her love life. The metal doors slide open and just as Laura was about to step through something made her stop. She paused, turned and not taking her cold intense eyes off a Six called out stern orders to the guards.
"Get her a change of clothes and take the shackles off."
Laura saw a brief hint of gratitude in the cylon's eyes before she stepped out of the cell.
