Disclaimer: BSG (2003) and all the characters are property of Ron D. Moore. We merely borrowed his playthings to play a bit in his sandbox.

Enjoy! C & L


9th December

The act of buying books had become one of their rituals.

They would normally either visit some of their favourite local book shops on a Saturday afternoon after they had done all the grocery shopping for the weekend or they would make a day trip to one of the small towns they had put on their „tourist to do list". Eventually, they would find themselves buried in a tiny shop in an alley they almost hadn't noticed while admiring architectural landmarks or taking pictures of delicate bridges across small water canals.

Depending on whether they had a book shopping list with them – yes, they did occasionally write these – or just wanted to browse the shops for new titles, they stood in front of old wooden shelves in premises full of nooks and crannies, one of them engrossed in reading the first chapter of the book in their hands while the other would also at least glance at it while scanning the shelves for more reading material.

This particular trip had led them to a tiny old town by the sea and after they had enjoyed a cup pf tea and a piece of chocolate cake as a treat after a long walk by the beach, they discovered one of these old book shops close to the small harbour.

Bill, standing in a corner of the shop, had unexpectedly discovered the first edition of a classic he hadn't read since school and Laura peeked over his shoulder to see what he had found. Leaning her head on his shoulder, she exhaled " 'Dreams Lost in the Future'? I wrote my thesis on it in college when I was with... Oh Gods...," she added with a whisper and Bill turned around to face her.

Gently lifting her chin, he studied her suddenly pale face. With knitted brows, his voice sounding surprisingly coarse, he asked: "When you were with whom, Laura?" Laura closed her eyes for a moment and then replied with a small voice:"I'll tell you another time, Bill. Let's just say the words "love" and "trust" can apparently be interpreted in different ways..."

He could feel that whatever had happened back then must have broken her heart, but decided not to push further. Instead, he replaced the book into the shelf and pressed a gentle kiss to her temple before putting his arm around her waist and pulling her closer to him. Mumbling against her soft hair, he asked her: "But you do know that you can trust me and that I do love you, right?" With a hum, she gently squeezed his hand on her waist. "I do, Bill, I do," she replied and leaned into him, tenderly kissing his warm cheek. Arm in arm, they left the shop and, realising it was dark outside already, they decided to head back home and make themselves comfortable on the couch with a book they had bought the week before, ending the day with another of their book-related rituals.