Disclaimer: BSG belongs to RDM and DE. Characters: A/R!And Zarek.

Nightly Conversations

Bill answered the phone with a gruff voice. "What?" He paused to listen for a moment. "Alright. Let him in."

Forcing himself to get up, he swung his legs out of bed and hid his sleepy form in his bathrobe. Walking towards the hatch, he met Vice-President Zarek halfway at his dining room table.

"Good morning, Admiral."

"Morning." Bill barked back, his voice still thick with sleep and as low as a whisper. "What can I do for you?"

"I wanted to discuss a situation with you." Zarek's voice matched Adama's in volume.

"A situation? At 4am in the morning?" Bill didn't even bother to hide his annoyance.

"I'm sorry for the inconvenience, but things seem to escalate."

"Excuse me?" Bill didn't understand.

"Laura." Tom started without knowing how to continue.

"What about her?" Bill's voice dropped to a dangerous depth.

"I'm worried about her commitments to you." Zarek shot him an uneasy smile, knowing that he had crossed a line.

"Commitments?" Bill switched into his military mode - his face a mask of superiority and calmness.

Pointing to his rack, Tom nodded his head. "Your relationship, Sir, it's interfering with her position as leader of the fleet."

"And how is that?" Bill ignored Tom's pointing finger, knowing that he had seen Laura snuggled up in his blanket, wearing his pajama top only.

"Her authority is undermined by this little game of yours." Tom went on, carefully.

"Game?" Bill's voice, still controlled but threating by intonation only, cut through Zarek's cool facade. "You think this is a game?"

"Well..."

"Not that this was any of your business, Mr. Vice-President, but I am not playing any games with Laura. And I would appreciate it if you kept your concerns to yourself next time you can't sleep at 4 o'clock in the morning."

"She is losing her ground." Zarek didn't hesitate to add while he was shoved towards the hatch.

"She is finding herself again." Bill defended her.

"The energy she's wasting on playing hide & seek with you could very well be invested in more severe tasks." Tom attempted to explain himself.

"I don't know of any meeting or press conference or one-on-one or frakking emergency she hasn't attended - be it now or in the past." Bill's tone was lower than a whisper now, airlocking him by the mere sound of his voice. "She is sick, Mr. Vice-President. She needs some downtime and she's done everything to keep this fleet together. If playing hide & seek with me makes her happy, I will see to it that she will get to play that game with me as long as humanly possible. Is that understood?"

Tom nodded.

"And trust me, the last thing that will increase her energy level is knowing that her Vice-President is concerned about her personal life."

"I'm just worried about her." Tom defended himself.

"Then go find yourself another project to be worried about. Leave her alone." Bill opened the hatch. "And maybe you could raise her energy levels by attending some meetings for her." Bill patted his shoulder. "Thanks for stopping by, Mr. Vice-President. If you'll excuse me now, I have my own way of supporting our President."

Closing the hatch from the inside and right into Tom Zarek's face, Bill dragged himself back to bed, suppressing the anger that crept from his stomach to his mind. Putting his bathrobe on his chair again, sliding back under the covers and her arms, he decided to ignore his anger and enjoy the presence of her instead.

Feeling his warmth underneath her skin again, Laura snuggled up closer to him and placed a tired kiss onto his neck.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing much." Bill answered in a soothing voice. Fondling the soft skin of her waist, he continued in-between lazy kisses. "Just that crazy Vice-President of yours bothering about things that are none of his business."

Laura giggled. "What time is it?"

"4.20 now." Bill growled. "Go back to sleep."

Feeling the wakening sensation of his hands on her skin, she smiled against his skin when she nuzzled his ears. "Are you sure you want to sleep now?"

Bill shook his head, chuckling. "Sometimes I wonder where you get your energy from..."

"Oh, I recently discovered this drug. It's labeled Admiral and comes with kisses and the comfort of a bed."

Bill, pulling her on top of him to capture her mouth with his, chuckled some more. "Do you know how much easier things would be if we had met on Caprica already?"

"You wouldn't have liked me on Caprica." Laura gave back in a playful tone.

"And why is that?" Bill freed her from his pajama top.

"I had this affair with the President." She said matter-of-fact, obviously not in the mood to pursue that conversation.

"Oh, I see." Bill joined her playfulness. "So you have the advantage of practice."

"Indeed, I do." Laura giggled onto his skin. "In playing games with the press at least. Apart from that, this is so different from what I ever had with Richard."
Not bothering to hide his relief, Bill answered smugly. "Whatever got you into his bed in the first place.."

"Charm." Laura answered scantily.

"What did he do, promise to leave his wife for you?"

Looking up at him, Laura gave another scanty answer. "Do you think I'm that naive?"

Bill shook his head, reading between the lines that her affair had lasted longer than only a short few months.

Changing the subject, he kissed her breasts. "Well, it's a pity we didn't meet years back."

"You wouldn't have liked me years back either." Laura giggled. "I was this awfully conservative girl in college."

"You? Conservative?" Bill laughed out loud.

"Well, a little bit at least. Yes." She grinned while continuing her trail of kisses onto his chest. "Before I started baking weed cookies of course."

"You..." He captured her mouth again. "Oh well, I bet you wouldn't have liked me either.

"How's that?" Laura freed him from his pajama trousers.

"I was awfully immature back in the days. And I bet you never appreciated immaturity in men." He rolled her over to rest on top of her.

"Or in women." Laura gave back while pulling him into another lingering kiss.

"Are there some college stories you wish to share?" Bill wiggled his eyebrows before he reduced her to a bundle of giggles and moans, secretly planning on continuing their conversation at another time. But not just now that she was planning on reloading her batteries again by making love to him.