Sacrifice 0216

Day 239

"Are you feeling okay Billy?" Emma greeted as she entered her mother's office and saw sweat glistening from her aide's forehead.

"Yeah. Why?" Billy wondered surprised by the unexpected interruption.

"You're sweating bullets and the ship has climate control. What are you doing?" Emma asked curiously as she observed both hands in his lap behind the desk. "You're not a pulling a Gaius are you?"

"No!" Billy exclaimed quickly raising both hands. He stood up for further defense and knocked his head on the ceiling.

"Is that a ring?" Emma noted immediately distracted from any potential injury.

Billy looked down at his hand and clasped the ring in his fist.

"Let me see."

"It's not much but-"

"It's nice. Personal and romantic." Emma replied inspecting the red jewel.

"Hopefully Dee thinks so."

"I'm surprised. I didn't realize you two were so serious." Emma confessed giving the ring back to Billy. "But I've been pretty distracted."

"I love her." Billy admitted with a sigh. "I think about her all the time. Imagine the life we could have had on the colonies. The life we could have on earth. And I don't want to wait. Do you think it's too soon?"

"I'm 16 and it's safe to say I've never had a real date so…" Emma trailed. "I think it's sweet. We need something to look forward to these days. A wedding sounds as good as anything else."

"Hey Mom." Emma greeted cheerfully holding up a stack of papers. "You are looking at every calculus assignment Gaeta has ever given to me. What's the matter?" Emma asked panicked by the sight of Laura's red eyes and tear stained cheers. "Are you okay?"

"Come sit with me." Laura instructed taping on the empty seat.

"It's not the cancer is it? You're not sick again?" Emma asked a lump caught in her throat and her body paralyzed.

"No, no. It's Billy." Laura said pausing to catch her words. "He's dead."

"What?" Emma asked in disbelief. "No. He was here this morning. He's proposing to Dee. I saw the ring."

"There was a terrorist attack on Cloud 9. A group took hostages and demanded we turn over the cylon." Laura explained detaching her emotions from the story. "Multiple attempts were made to end the crisis. The Admiral chose to give them Boomer's corpse, they recognized the ploy and there was a shootout. Billy was a casualty."

"I dont' understand. It has to be someone else. He's with Dee. Have you checked Galactica?" Emma insisted standing up and pacing the room.

"Dualla was on Cloud 9. Although I believe she was with Captain Adama."

"Lee?"

"He was also shot; however, he should recover from his injury. In regards to Billy, I've seen the body and I have the ring." Laura said toying the gold jewel.

Emma froze at the sight of the ring and tears began to pour down her face. "No. Not Billy. It's not fair."

"I know." Laura agreed standing up and taking Emma in her arms. "It's not fair. None of this is."

"You up for company?" Lee asked tapping on the wall of Emma's room on Colonial One.

"I guess." Emma replied, taking off her headphones. "How are you feeling?"

"I've been better." Lee admitted feeling his bandaged ribs. "But I've been worse too. How about you?"

"Same."

"I'm sorry about Billy, Emma. I really am. I wanted to let you know he died a hero. He stood up to the terrorists and fought back."

Emma rolled her eyes at the cliche phrase. "As a person who is constantly reminded to be safe and make good choices, fighting against terrorists when you're a hostage doesn't sound like a smart idea. And Billy was smart- at least about most things." Emma paused to fight back tears. "But not Dee. He was so in love with her he'd do anything for her. And considering Mom has his ring and you were with Dee on Cloud 9, I'm going to assume his 'heroism' had something to do with that."

"I ran into Dee at the bar. I didn't go with her." Lee clarified, frustrated by Emma's stubbornness. "And yeah he's a guy so he probably wanted to be the hero but that doesn't mean he wasn't. It takes guts to do what he did not matter the motive."

"I know." Emma agreed with a shrug, not looking for a fight. "It's just easier to be mad at him because otherwise I miss him. He was like a brother to me. Family is hard to come by these days for everyone but I never had any. Mom's entire family died before I was born and I don't have a father. I just dodged one bullet with the cancer and now this - an actual bullet with Billy."

"It sucks." Lee agreed taking a seat. "No one can replace Billy - especially me - but if you ever need a big brother, I have some experience." Lee offered taking a seat next to Emma. "It's been a while so I'm a little rusty but I remember a couple things. Telling ghost stories, skillfully unwrapping and rewrapping hidden presents, covering for missed curfew."

Emma couldn't help but smile at Lee's jokes.

"Make you smile on a crappy day," Lee continued pleased to see his attempts weren't in vain.

"Are these the things you did with Zak?"

"A few of them."

"Do you think about him a lot?"

"Everyday." Lee admitted shaking his head. "But it gets easier. Everything gets easier."

16 Years Ago~

"So that's where you work?" Laura observed staring up at the clear night sky, her head resting on Bill's stomach as they laid on the grass and admired the night sky. "I don't think I've ever seen this many stars."

"No light pollution. It's a good view. it's better up there."

"Do you miss it?"

"Yeah. But it's good to have my feet on the ground."

"So what are you working for up there?" Laura asked turning briefly to face him. "A ship I imagine?"

"A ship would be nice. A promotion or two."

"Admiral?" Laura prompted with a grin.

Bill snickered at the suggestion. "That's the dream. What about you?"

"I don't know. There's a superintendent job but - eh."

"Too much ambition." Bill agreed gently stroking her hair. "I bet you'll be president one day."

"Ha. Yeah right. You couldn't pay me to take that job. I hate politics. Endless bureaucracy and game play." Laura shuddered at the thought. "Throw me out an airlock."