Chapter 10:
I looked in the mirror. I took off my shirt. I looked. I ran my hand along my breasts, looking for that horrific lump that almost cost me my life and cost me my presidency. I shivered and closed my eyes, in anticipation for pain that was no longer there. I brushed past the spot, the spot that was higher than normal. I ran my had along that area one more time just to make sure and my greatest fear had been realized. The lump was there. What would I do now? I fell in love with my soul mate again. I regained my presidency. We achieved a time of hopeful peace and now we are back on our way to finding Earth. Why now? Everything is going to be taken away from me one more time. I don't know if I can handle this right now. I need to go to Coddle and ask him what needs to be done. I'm probably going to be going to be taking Chomala again… And be on Diloxin, like my mother… Oh Gods…
I snuck out of Bill's quarters and headed to the sick bay. Coddle gave me a medical confirmation of the tumor and that it was cancer. How am I going to break this to Bill? It's going to be so hard to tell him. We have had so many difficult times together and now everything we have worked for is now going to pieces. This is such a load of crap.
I want to tell him, but I don't want to break his heart at the same time. If I tell him, he will stop acting like the man I know he is; the man that is the leader of the most important part of this fleet, and the last of the human species. If I don't tell him, and I die, the same thing will happen except without my presence. I don't know what to do.
Lords of Kobol, hear my prayer. Give your dying prophet guidance. Help me make the descision that wuld be best for my people and my lover. Thank you for your gifts, dear Zeus, Hera, and the rest of the Twelve. Give me strength enough to find earth. Let me save my people, your children, and help them stay strong.
*sqeaaaaakkkkk* *CLUNK*
"Bill?" I walked into his quarters tentatively, just to make sure everything was safe. I wanted to make sure he was here. And he was alone.
"Yeah, Laura?"
*sqeaaaaakkkkk* *CLUNK*
I walked over to his desk and sat down in his chair. Across the room he was working on his model ship. He was repairing it after completely decimating it a few days ago, again. I think was the third time he's broken it since I knew him. I waited. I thought. I shook, trembled in his chair.
"Bill, I need to talk to you."
"Yeah sure what is it?" He kept working.
"Bill. I NEED to TALK to you."
He faced me and stopped what he was doing. "Okaay. What is it?"
"Ok, first I need you to stop what you are doing and go wash up. You are covered in glue and dinner with the captains is in a few hours and I NEED TO TALK TO YOU."
"Fine. But after I take a shower… Ohhh boy… Stop giving me the look!"
"I will not stop giving you the look until you get into that shower and bathe." He stormed off to the bathroom. I heard the water turn on, then off. A few minutes later, repeat. I was so scared as to what I would tell him. How would I do it? I got lost in my thoughts. I felt myself start unbuttoning my shirt. I looked down, only to see the lump that would cost me my life and the lives of many others.
"Should I stay naked or…" Bill walked in with a towel wrapped around his waist. He had another towel in his hands that he was using to dry his face and hair.
"Go get dressed!"
"Yes, ma'am. Madame Airlock."
I paused before yelling through the wall, "Is that what they're calling me now?"
"Well, they've been calling you that for a long time. Since you threw that cylon, which one was it?"
"Leoben," I muttered under my breath.
"Leoben! Yeah since you threw him out the airlock!" He yelled.
"Whatever! Just hurry up and get your ass in here!" I started shaking again. The shudders made the room feel colder than it was. I missed the warmth of having Bill next to me. I remembered all the times I had slept next to him, just because I could. Just because I was the president and he was the admiral and we could do whatever we wanted and keep it so well hidden that no one would suspect a thing. Now, I would be forced to sleep in the silence of his embrace. All I could think about was his golden brown skin, how it radiated with heat, how even when it wasn't touching my own skin the touch of it still lingered.
"What was it you needed to talk to me about?" I snapped out of my dream, almost too violently, and immediately covered myself as I had already exposed the majority of my chest. Then I realized to whom I was talking. The man I had fallen in love with. The man with the deep ocean blue eyes, and sunbaked golden skin. The man who was there for me even when I was at my lowest. The man I could confide in, and needed to confess to.
"Bill, I need to show you something. Something you may or may not have noticed. Something that will cange our lives forever." I tried to be as somber as I could so that he would not think that I was pregnant or about to say any other happy news. I open my shirt and took off my bra. "Tell me, dear, what do you see?"
"I see the top half of the most beautiful woman in the universe."
"HA! Sure… But in all seriousness, Bill. I didn't come here to flirt, or be romantic. This is not one of those times. I need you to look closely and see every detail. Tell me, what do you see?" I stared at him, hoping he would understand what I was getting at. I watched from across the table as he examined my breasts. He stopped in the area where the tumor resided. I watched as he took a good long look at it.
"Bill…"
"Laura… Oh my…"
"Bill, my cancer has returned."
2 months later, Laura and Bill return to their conversation about her cancer. Kara, recently thought to be deceased, has returned with troubling news other Earth. Bill is on the brink of and emotional break down and Laura is trying to help him cope. Unfortunately, her stubborn attentiveness to the Scriptures has prevented the both of them to make rational decisions in regards to what to do with Kara. Laura's cancer has progressed, not as rapidly as before, but is still killing both her and the majority of her relationships.
"What does this mean for us? Laura, you know what happened to me after Kara left, then when Lee left the military. Whatever this does to you physically, it's going to do the same to me and leave me here alone."
"I will always be there no matter what! Just think of me whenever you can and I will be by your side. I will never truly leave you, you know that!" I knelt down on the floor next to him and held his hand. His muscular fingers intertwined with
"YOU also know that I don't believe in the afterlife."
"But with Kara back, surely there must be some shred of hope that I will somehow be there for you even when I am gone from his world."
"Kara was a freak of nature; from the time I first met her she was incredible. I'm not saying that I don't believe her. But I really do WANT to believe her so I am staying neutral on that topic."
"Bill. If you really want to we can send her off on her own mission with a volunteer crew. But it we do send her, the whole mission will have to be secretly made. No true records will be made. I will have to cover your tracks for a while but I am willing to do that. Is that ok with you, babe?"
"No. I don't want her leaving this ship. Not until we have fully confirmed in every way possible to make sure she is not a cylon." He hung his head like he always did when he was frustrated and tired. I repositioned myself so I was more comfortable on the floor. "uuuuuuhhhhnnnnn."
I got up and sat on the armrest. I placed both of my hands around him and tried to comfort him. "Oh sweetie, everything is going to be ok. At least she is safe right?"
"Yeah but Laura, you don't understand. She was my surrogate daughter. I don't know how to respond to all of this. She keeps making remarks against you, and against me, as if she is trying to provoke a reaction, that would cause the destruction of all we have worked for, just so she can get some sort of sick pleasure from it. She 's going crazy. One day she is probably going to put a bullet to your head. Then where will we be, huh?"
"I… I don't know. I don't know. But this does bring me back to my original point. I will still be there with you because I will not have fulfilled my purpose. I will help you complete the journey for me. I will always be there for you. Always." He looked up at me.
"You will be there for me?"
Always.
The End.