As the days progressed, so did Laura's pregnancy and the war with the Cylons. Just as everyone thought things had settled somewhat the Cylons began an occupation on new Caprica, forcing Bill to leave his lover behind before things had been truly patched up and forcing Laura and those trapped on the planet to undergo suffering and torture under Cylon control. Times were hard, people were killed and those alive were left haunted. By the time those that had survived found themselves back with the fleet and aboard the Galactica and their respective ships they knew that nothing would be the same again.
Bill Adama sat in his living quarters with his head in his hands. He knew that she was aboard the Galactica but he had yet to hold a conversation with her. He'd barely even seen her since the survivors had made their way back to the fleet. How she and their baby were doing he was completely oblivious of and it was a feeling that he hated. He hated seeing her arrive with what he could tell was her concealed baby bump and he hated not knowing how both of them were. He hated that he'd had to leave them behind. Most of all he hated himself for walking out that night because nothing had been truly fixed before the Cylons came and further destroyed humanity once again.
He walked over to the counter, picking up a bottle of alcohol and pouring out a glass. All he wanted at that moment was to find oblivion and he knew that this would most certainly help him on his way. Just as he was about to take a sip the door buzzer rang.
"Enter." He shouted gruffly, not really wanting company but feeling after recent events that it was his duty to receive as many people who wanted to visit as possible. He put the glass to his lips again as his door opened but then froze. Standing there, looking so much more haunted but still as beautiful as he had always thought she was, was Laura Roslin.
"Aren't you going to say hello? Or take my coat?" She asked; motioning to the thick Jacket she was wearing. He could hear the sadness and fear in her voice and all he wanted at that moment was to take it all away.
"Hello." He said quietly as he walked to her and began fumbling with the buttons on her jacket. "May I?"
"You may." She replied, not taking her eyes off the man that stood in front of her, undoing the buttons with shaking hands.
As he reached the buttons that rested on her stomach he once again froze. As the jacket fell open clear for him to see was the now just over sixth month old bump that housed his child. It was so perfect, straining against the blouse and skirt that Laura had put on to try and regain some semblance of normality once again. He fell to his knees, his head resting against the stomach which housed his unborn child.
"I'm sorry. Gods I'm so sorry that I left you both behind. " He told her tearfully, unable to bring his eyes to meet hers.
"I'm sorry that I didn't come here when you asked me to. I should have come." Laura replied thinking of the futility of staying on New Caprica to protect Hera when in reality she couldn't have done a thing to save her and instead had put herself and her child at risk. She put a hand on her bump and another on his head and began playing with his hair.
"I missed you." He whispered into her shirt.
"We missed you."
Bill got up from his kneeling position on the floor and threw his arms around the woman in front of him. She wrapped her arms around him in response and cried into his chest as he cried into her shoulder.
As Laura wobbled on her feet a bit Bill led her over to the sofa where he helped her sit down. He walked over to the kitchen and got her a glass of water which he immediately handed to her. He sat down next to her as she sipped it.
"I don't know where to start." Bill told her, fiddling with the wedding ring that he still wore, even though with Laura in his life it lost more and more meaning every day. "I thought that if I saw you again...I'd have so much to say...but there's too much. I don't know where to begin...except to say to see you...it's wonderful."
"It's wonderful to see you too." Laura replied honestly, cupping his cheek with her palm and stroking his skin with her fingertips.
"How are you Laura?" He asked her. "You look exhausted." He then added, noticing the bags under her weary eyes. He reached out to her, cupped her face and kissed her forehead.
"I am exhausted. Sleeping isn't really an option when you're being hurt and tortured. Not when you're worried about your child..." She admitted, her voice trailing off as her head filled with unthinkable memories that she would rather forget.
"They tortured you?" He shouted angrily, his hands moving from her cheeks and clenching into fists. "When you were pregnant? They must have realised! They must have seen."
Laura looked at the floor.
"They wanted to use the baby against me. To get me to talk. But I wouldn't. To begin with they...were more sedate...but when I wouldn't talk to them....That's why it took me so long to see you. I needed to see Cottle first. I needed to know that Lily was all right."
"Lily?" Bill asked. He placed a hand on her rounded stomach.
"You don't like it." Laura whispered softly, placing her glass on the table and propping her head up with her arm.
Bill shook his head. "No...It's beautiful. It's just when...? Why...?"
"She was all I had." Laura replied simply as she placed her other hand on top of Bills. "When I was being held, when I thought I was going to die...she was all that I had left of you and of us. She kept me going. I felt that she needed a name because of that, because her being there was so much more personal. It didn't feel right just thinking of her as an 'it.'"
"When did you find out she was a girl...?" He then asked her as he rubbed her stomach in circular motions. He could feel her relaxing a little under his touch.
"I started bleeding one night in my cell. Baltar took pity on me...he arranged a scan but...they told me she'd died...they said my baby girl had passed away and that's how I knew we were having a girl. They told me I'd miscarried to try and get me to talk, thinking that with nothing left I would just give up and tell them what they needed but I didn't. Then one night I heard Baltar outside saying how disgusted he was that they'd let me think that she'd died. I wondered why they hadn't done the procedure to remove the fetus...it was because she was never actually dead. For three days I thought she was dead inside of me."
Laura placed her hands on the sides of her bump and stroked it tenderly. Tears fell from her eyes as she remembered those dark days.
"They let you think you were carrying a dead child?" Bill shouted; his voice and his body shaking with anger. "I'm going to kill him. When we see him I will tear him apart with my bare hands! Him and every frakking toaster that I can..."
"He said it for my benefit. He argued about them telling me I'd miscarried so that I would hear and I would have some hope. I'm sure of that."
"That doesn't excuse them hurting a pregnant woman. It doesn't excuse what he let them do to everybody!"
"No. But it gave me my daughter back. It gave me my hope back. It gave me the strength to go to Cottle today and to see what's become of our little girl."
Bill looked at Laura with fear in his eyes and she could tell that he was terrified and horrified and about a million other emotions in between. She took both of his hands in her own and kissed them.
"Is she..."
"She's fine. She's healthy, she's moving around, there are no irregularities at all. By some miracle our little peanut survived all that. She survived." Laura repeated tearfully and Bill pulled her into his arms again as she cried.
"Our little Lily Rose. Gods I'm so glad. With you two missing...it's been like my heart was gone. I'm so glad you're home." He whispered into her hair as she cried.
"Lily Rose?" Laura whispered as she pulled away a little, allowing Bill to wipe the tears from her eyes with his thumbs.
"Our beautiful little flower." He replied, rubbing Laura's stomach which housed his little girl. "Do they know...about the baby? The people from New Caprica?" he then asked.
"When they told me I'd miscarried they...made it common knowledge. Told people that my child had died...that it should be a lesson to them all to do what they're told...to inform. Everyone found out about the baby the day that we were all told she'd died. Now they just assume that my child's gone and I'm waiting for an appointment to rectify a tragic pregnancy. They all guessed she was yours." Laura told him as she looked at the floor.
"This...just gets worse. I need Lee. We're going to call a press conference as soon as possible. I know you're tired and scared and in shock but I don't think we should keep this from them any longer. We're going to tell them about us, about the baby being alive and about the atrocities those Cylons inflicted. We're breaking open this can of worms and afterwards..."
"Afterwards we get my things and we move...here. Lily and I move here." Laura told him tearfully. "I love you." She whispered into Bills ear as he pulled her into his embrace.
"And I you. You have no idea how much." He replied sincerely as he vowed never to let her go again.
