Chapter 13

Bill Adama had surprised her that morning by his suggestion to go shopping. It had been a week since he had come home from the hospital, and in that time Laura had not gone into work, but had stayed at home with him. She had read what he had so far with his book, but he was still lacking an ending. He had watched her sketch some of the plants in his garden, they were very good.

So shopping was completely out of the blue. But Laura dressed and got ready and her and Bill was out the door by nine o'clock. She was draped around him as they walked down the street, a feeling that she definitely enjoyed.

"Bill, why are we going shopping?"

"You need a new wardrobe. The elections are coming up, and to impress Adar you need some new things."

Not the glamorous shopping trip she had in mind then, the thought of going back to Richard made her skin crawl. Still, they travelled to one of the most expensive department stores in the city, and Bill gave her his credit card.

"Go crazy, but only get the best stuff for me." He winked and kissed her on the nose. Bill went out to go grab something to eat, trying to be the Commander rather than her lover. She watched him go and felt sadness well up inside her: the elections couldn't come soon enough.

Laura headed to the more conservative part of the store to get her 'Adar' wardrobe. Pencil skirts and blouses in neutral colours, black dresses that came to the knee. Classy stuff, with an edge of sexy. Her lingerie was basic black and white, she didn't want anything fancy.

With that done with, and the promise to pay Bill back with some sort of money (maybe she could trick Adar into paying off her credit card debt…), she headed to the more expensive areas of the store to get things that only Bill would ever see her in. After picking up a few items, she tracked down Bill who was standing outside holding two cups of coffee and a doughnut. He was trying to eat his doughnut while balancing the two cups and ended up getting jam and sugar on his top lip.

"Let me get that for you."

She licked the sweet food off of his face with the edge of her tongue and then placed her mouth directly on his. "Come with me," she whispered in his ear when she broke the kiss and dragged him to the corner of the shop where the changing rooms were. Making sure there were no shop assistants around, Laura grabbed Bill by the collar and dragged him into the stall with her.

Burying her hands in his hair, she couldn't get enough of his taste. Laura groaned as the kiss got fiercer, and Bill pushed her up against the mirror with such force that she thought they had broken it. Pushing him away for a moment, Laura explained what they were doing in there. "I needed some help trying on a few things."

(Sorry, rest is MA. Head over to 'Survival Instinct Adama Roslin site to read the rest if you want.)

X

Filing. That was all her life consisted of now. But it was very important filing at that, it was for the President of the Twelve Colonies. Alex Charlton didn't know whether it was because she was a genuinely good assistant, or because the last assistant Richard Adar had had gone missing, but Alex had remained at the Government building against all odds. Especially considering her reemployment after her first firing was because Adar's at the time but not currently however soon to be again fiancée Laura Roslin had insisted upon it.

She was going stir crazy. It hadn't been that long since she had been up in space, but she missed the thrill and the excitement of it. Alex had decided to be planet side to be with Billy and her father, but frak she missed being out in the big empty. She also missed all the friends she had acquired from her dream of being in space, and she knew that they still would be her friends at the end of the day, but things just didn't seem right.

"Mr President, sir, they're about to announce the other candidate for the Presidency soon."

"Thank you Ms Charlton, you can pack up and go home if you'd like."

She nodded and left, she wasn't going to be around that crazy attempted murdering son of a bitch. Especially considering that he didn't like her very much. She went to Billy's desk to say goodbye and that she would see him later. They had a quick kiss before she left the building. Outside, with her feet on solid ground, she felt empty and heavy at the same time, like gravity was weighing her down too much.

Getting out her phone, she dialled a number, talked for a bit before heading to the city Barracks.

"Knew you wouldn't be able to keep away."

Helo was a sweet guy, not as sweet as Billy because he had that dangerous side to him. He definitely reminded Alex of her father when he was younger, so like an older brother really. He had agreed to take her out in his lunch break and teach her how to fly a raptor. She knew that Bill and Lee Adama were trained to fly both, and there was always something relaxing about flying in a raptor. It reminded her of her childhood.

"You're doing great Alex, you're doing great. You've got flying in that blood of yours, I tell you!"

Alex smiled over at Helo and adjusted the controls. Flying was like an addiction; she couldn't get enough of it. Now she could see why her father had always stopped her from flying, he didn't want her to get hooked like him.

X

Laura was walking down one of the streets in Caprica City, her body humming from her encounter with Bill earlier that day. She felt like a character in an old detective movie, the woman in love with the detective and obsessed over by the villain. If she had still been a teacher, then none of this would have happened. Laura sighed to herself, some days that might be nice. But then again, maybe she wouldn't have met Bill Adama at all, and that was something worth hanging on to.

She wasn't needed until later that day, when she would confess her love to Richard Adar without gagging. Laura was glad of her fondness for Drama in her youth, being a politician meant she had retained some of those skills that would serve her well in tricking Adar into their little web of his own making. But that wasn't the only thing circling around in her mind. Her love for Bill was causing her actions to become erratic; there was no logical order in how she felt about him. Add into that the young adults she seemed to have adopted as children from being Bill's partner, and things were might confusing. Kara had taken rather a shine to her, and Boomer had invited her to her bachelorette party that night.

"Thank you for meeting me."

"No problem whatsoever."

That was another problem that Laura wanted to deal with, which was why she was here and now talking with the priestess Elosha in an out of the way coffee shop. Before Adar had shot Bill, she had been dreaming about a bloodied man in the gutter of Caprica City. And then, in the hospital, she had a dream about Bill and her in his house and they were going somewhere. She knew it was a dream and yet it wasn't at the same time.

"When we met the last time, you said that if my dream was the third option, then I should come back and talk to you."

"I take it that it was?"

"My partner Bill was shot soon after we spoke."

Elosha nodded and brought out one of the scrolls from her bag. "I considered that that may be why you had tracked me down and asked me to come. Tell me, have you noticed a changing in the wind?"

Laura had just thought it was something to do with her Cancer or because of her relationship with Bill. But something had switched, something was different now. You could taste it, like when a storm was coming and you could tell that the weather was about to change even if it was bright sunshine.

"I see that you have. There is a change in the wind, and I believe that you are one of the few people who can see it, see the future. Don't think me crazy Laura; your visions are already examples. You know the election coming up?"

Too well. "Yes."

"In Pythia, it speaks of the coming of a leader. "And the Lords anointed a leader to guide the caravan of the heavens to their new homeland. And unto the leader, they gave a vision of serpents, numbering two and ten, as a sign of things to come." A change in the wind, a new leader perhaps, things are stirring. If you have any more visions, please don't be afraid to call. At the moment the visions relate to just you, so there is no need to be alarmed for now."

Well didn't that just fill her with confidence?

X

Bill was sitting in his garden on his garden furniture, glasses perched on the edge of his nose and looking at the typewriter in front of him. This part of the story wasn't working, it just wasn't. The hero and his girl had made love, had secured the love of each other but there was still the villain in the background and he hadn't been put to justice. Bill didn't want to make the characters two dimensional, that wouldn't work as a story. He had read characters that seemed too good to be true or just flat and they never excited him.

"Hey, you listening to the election broadcast?" Saul asked, bringing his friend a glass of juice from the kitchen. They had agreed to meet up at home so Saul could flick through his sports magazine and Bill could continue to write his book.

"Not yet. Switch the wireless on."

Saul flicked the switch and sat in the sunshine watching his friend. He could tell when he was having trouble moving, and today was one of those times.

"You pulled something?"

"Must have done something when I was out with Laura this morning."

"Right."

Saul smirked at his friend and watched as Bill moved stiffly. Yeah, pulled something, or more like someone. He may have to have a word with his friend about his sex life; after all, there was a reason why his subordinates called him the 'old man'.

Meanwhile, in one of the main café's that Caprica City offered, Laura was having lunch with Boomer and Kara and discussing the upcoming wedding. It had already been decided that Bill would take on the role of father of the bride, while it seemed that Laura had been chosen as defacto mother of the bride. She didn't mind, she hadn't got any children of her own so it was nice to feel like she was part of something.

"And remember, I know it's untraditional but it's the bachelorette party tonight. You're coming right?" Sharon asked, and Laura nodded. She would have preferred to spend the night in with Bill, but she couldn't say no to Sharon Valerii.

"Hey that's the election broadcast, turn it up!" shouted one man from the corner of the room, and Laura watched as the owner of the café turned up the radio so the whole place could hear it.

"Well, we're getting the information now about who has been chosen to stand against President Adar in the upcoming election. You may have thought about it, but I never would have guessed it. Standing in opposition to President Adar…is Tom Zarek."

Outside the Mayor's office in Caprica City, Tom Zarek ascended to the stage and waved the crowd. He had worked hard on getting paroled from prison, and then getting involved in local government. His ideas and reputation had moved him up the ranks quickly, and Tom felt like he actually stood with a chance.

"Thank you Brent, thank you. I wanted to tell all the electorate today how proud I am to be standing for President, and I wanted to tell all the electorate today how hard I am going to work for them. And most importantly, I wanted to tell all the electorate that I, Tom Zarek, am a man you can trust. After all, all my dirty laundry's already out!" Tom joked, and waved to the mass crowds that had assembled in front of him. Some looked like they were ready to throttle him; others looked like they would kill anyone who would try.

Just what he wanted.

X

She couldn't get out of the café fast enough; she had to talk to Bill immediately. Sharon left with the promise of seeing them later, and Kara had offered her a lift to Bills. She hadn't waited for even Kara's beaten up jeep to stop; Laura jumped out of the side door and hurried up the path way to Bills.

He had been expecting her; he was sitting on his doorstep with his head in his hands and with a worried expression playing on his features. He looked up at her for a brief moment before walking to her and holding her.

"Let's do this inside."

He waved Kara off as they closed the door behind them, needing privacy for what they wanted to discuss. Inside the house, Bill took a seat in one of his armchairs, but Laura remained stubbornly standing.

"We can't do it. Not with Zarek running against him."

"We have to."

"We CAN'T Bill, Zarek is a frakking terrorist. I hate Adar with everything in me, but I love the Colonies and they don't deserve him as a President."

Bill stepped away from his chair and held Laura gently against his chest. Kissing the top of her head, he murmured reassuring words to her, but they didn't stick.

"It doesn't matter about Zarek, the public will still decide. But we have to show them the truth about Adar, and then it will be up to the citizens of the Twelve Colonies to choose between an attempted murderer and a terrorist."

"I know…I know."

"Laura, look at me. We will never be free of him until he's out of power. The lesser of two evils…" Bill trailed off before he stopped talking. Looking down at Laura, he kissed her gently on her lips. "Talking about Adar, you better go and see him."

She nodded and grasped hold of his chest, holding on for dear life. It took everything in Bill to let him go, and as he watched her leave his chest felt like it was ripped open.

X

Richard Adar was trying to get a grip of the situation when things became even more unhinged. Into his office stepped Laura Roslin who he had not seen for two weeks, not since she had walked out on him and fled to Adama. Then there was Adama's shooting, which he had stubbornly survived. It would have been easier for Adar to get a contract out now on Bill's head, for trying to kill a man twice would just be sloppy. But a contract meant a paper trail, and that was the last thing that Adar wanted.

She looked good, very good in fact. Her hair was a little bit longer, not by too much. Maybe because it was styled differently was the reason he was seeing it in a new light. She was wearing a knee length pencil skirt that showed off her legs, as did the heels she was wearing. Laura was also wearing a cream blouse to match her brown skirt. She looked beautiful.

"Laura?"

"Hello Richard."

"I thought I'd never see you again, I thought you were with Adama." The bruises were gone from her face. He had honestly expected her resignation over the last few days, given to him by a smug looking Bill Adama carrying a large pistol and a fresh wedding ring, but here she was.

"Bill was shot the day after I last saw you. I went with him to the hospital, I held his hand. But although…although I know that he loved me, his heart always belonged to someone else."

"Who?" Richard was genuinely interested now; obviously trying to kill Adama had proved of some benefit after all.

"Carolanne, his first wife and the mother of his boys. The way he looked at her when she came into the hospital room…I knew things weren't meant to be."

Richard felt himself nodding and walking over to Laura. He stood close to her, but she took a step back.

"I wanted to see if we could do this Richard, but we're doing things my way. After what you did…you hit me and said those things about me…I tried to tell myself that you cared but I'm not sure anymore."

"Laura, I love you."

"I think I know that, so I decided to give you another shot. But there are rules to this. Three nights a week I stay at my own home, you don't come there whatsoever. Three nights a week I stay at your place, and the last night of the week I stay with family just outside Caprica City. Richard we need to start over, right from the beginning. We've had an affair for twenty years, but we've never had a relationship. Can you do that?"

Richard swallowed but he nodded all the same. He could do that; he could do anything for one more chance with Laura by his side. He kissed her cheek and held her hands, so glad of what was happening. Just the sight of her in front of him made the afternoon's debacle with Zarek wash away.

She was trying hard not to throw up, and Bill's name was running through her head like a mantra, along with the image of him holding her first thing in the morning with day light streaming in. It was the only thing stopping her from screaming.

X

It had to be a bar, and it had to be in one of the seedier parts of Caprica City. Boomer was enjoying being the centre of attention, especially as it was required that all the women invited dress up as nymphs with wings and glitter. Guests included Sharon of course, Kara, Racetrack, Dee, Cally and several of the other Galactica crew. Also present was several of Sharon's other friends, Laura and Alex who was fast on her way to becoming part of the pilot pack.

"Okay, here are three for you. The Old Man, President Adar and Colonel Tigh!" Sharon exclaimed to the group, and the other women burst out laughing. Kara and Alex shot a look to Roslin before taking a gulp of their respective beverages.

"C'mon Laura, who would you do?" The game was whom you would marry, whom you would sleep with and whom you would kill. Laura knew that some of the group had recognised her originally from being the President's fiancée, and that was still the official story until the election or she died, whichever one came first. Although most of the pilots present knew she had a thing for Bill, she didn't want to say anything in public.

"Marry the President." Several choruses of 'aw' and vomiting sounds. "Sleep with the Old Man and kill Colonel Tigh." Or rather his wife, Ellen was very annoying.

"Sleep with the Old Man, seriously?"

"Oh yeah. There's something ruggedly handsome about Commander Adama, his cool collected nature but then there's also that pilot charm underneath. And his voice? Panty peeler." Laura announced to the hushed silences of the bachelorette party before taking another shot to the resounding giggles Maybe she had had too much to drink.

That became even more apparent to Laura over the course of the evening when she had sung karaoke, announced to everyone at the table that Kara Agathon and Karl Thrace were an item (Starbuck was also too drunk to disagree with her) and also danced with Racetrack on the dance floor.

Outside the bar, Laura stumbled in her ridiculously high heels and nymph wings as she tried to navigate her way to a taxi so she could get home and sleep it off. However, that was easier said than done as she tripped in the heels. Before she could fall flat on her face, a kind stranger had managed to catch her.

This kind stranger was quite handsome, quite warm and he smelled rather good too. But all of that made Laura miss Bill more, so she decided to find him first. Thanking the kind stranger with a kiss on the cheek, Laura continued to stumble until she managed to find her way into a taxi.

Back outside the bar, Tom Zarek was rubbing the place where the woman had kissed him. She was certainly beautiful, and her hair was the richest red he had ever seen. Smiling, he watched as the little nymph wandered into the night and he found himself thinking about how he would track her down in the morning.

Across the city, Bill Adama was frankly not enjoying his time at the Chief's bachelor party. Helo and Jammer had planned it, which meant that they were at a strip club. The women were perfectly attractive, and were certainly happy with their work, but Bill couldn't help associate the redhead (almost certainly dyed) in front of him gyrating against a pole with Laura Roslin.

"Enjoying yourself Bill?"

"Never been happier Saul," Bill replied, chinking their glasses together. Bill mused that Saul must feel happy in one of these clubs; in fact the last time that Bill had been in one it had been when Saul had met Ellen. Maybe that's why Bill loathed them so much.

Lee, Helo and several of the other male pilots were whooping in front of one woman, and Kelly, Gaeta, Tyrol, Jammer and Figurski were also enjoying the show. Bill took one look at all of them admiring the female form in front of them, and Bill realised that he could actually properly enjoy the female form at home. Laura would either be at hers or his tonight, and it wouldn't take him long to find out which. After saying goodbye to the Chief, Bill decided to head home and find Laura and enjoy himself that way.

X

When Bill arrived home, he had expected to find Laura curled up on the sofa watching television. It was only when he had tripped over a pair of high heels sprawled over the welcome mat did Bill remember that Laura had been invited to Sharon's bachelorette party.

Following the trail of clothing, Bill found Laura on his kitchen table. He gasped as he watched her, the moonlight streaming into the room. Her long legs were on full view, and she kept swinging them so he could see all of them. He followed them up to find her encased in a pair of purple silk knickers. His eyes continued on their journey and found she was leaning back, giving him an ample view of her chest in a matching brassiere and her red hair bouncing on her shoulders. She was also wearing a pair of nymph wings and glitter all over her face.

"You're home early."

She giggled and he realised that she was half drunk; she had sobered up a little but not too much. Bill wanted to see her completely like that, completely free, but he guessed he would have to wait for another time to see that.

"Come here."

He walked over to her and kissed her, his tongue in her mouth instantly. She looked so delectable just sitting there, and he prayed to any Gods that would listen that she would stay that way. He felt her unbutton his shirt, and Bill was glad to help her. Pulling the material off of his torso, Bill flung it to the floor and engulfed her mouth with his. He could taste the ambrosia on her tongue, and that aroused him further.

She pulled down his trousers and he kicked them off, the muscles that had ached from this morning miraculously feeling fine. Bill hooked his fingers around Laura's knickers and pulled them off. The moonlight was the only light in the room, and it created a surreal effect. Pushing into her, Bill nearly collapsed from the pleasure. She was so wet already, his imagination was racing with thoughts about what she was doing before he had got home.

"Laura!"

Their exploits that morning meant that Bill couldn't last as long as he would have liked, but it was enough to let go. Pulling out of her, Bill chuckled against the counter at how he felt. He felt glorious. Looking over to see if Laura felt the same, he noticed that she had fallen asleep on the kitchen worktop. Picking her up, he carried her to their bed and tucked her underneath the covers. Bill kissed her head before falling into bed himself.