Author Notes: Thanks for the reviews guys; they really help keep me motivated and real life is so distracting at the moment!

This is the penultimate chapter of Part 1 and it's a bit of an angst fest! (Yes…Part 1 – but don't worry, Part 2 The Occupation is nowhere near as long and I do have the end plotted out I promise )

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters below – I am only borrowing them – and will not be financially benefitting from the story in anyway. No copyright infringement is intended.

The Missing Link Chapter 26

Many makeshift bars had been set up in the settlements on New Caprica, and today for the very first time, Laura Roslin was grateful that she lived within a stone's throw of one.

She perched on a wooden bar stool that wobbled precariously upon the uneven ground below the tarpaulin floor, nursing her third glass of moonshine…or was it her fourth?

She looked around the dimly lit room, her bloodshot gaze traveling toward the bar's entrance and into the blackness beyond. Laura suddenly realised, as she stared unblinking at the darkness outside the tent, that she had no idea what the time was. Not that she cared.

Bill's words had cut her more deeply than she had ever imagined words could; so she drank to forget, to numb her pain, but with each sip - the heartache crept in.

So, they had discovered a listening device. Their secrets now lay in the hands of Gods know who, for the purposes of frak knows what.

Laura sighed; they could have dealt with whatever came their way together – stood tall and strong in the face of adversity.

'Surely, we would have been stronger together.'

The recording had already been made. The truth was out. The damage had been done and they certainly couldn't take it back now.

Nor could Bill retract his words. 'Bastard.'

How could she have allowed herself to fall so deeply? Why had she let him in?

"Frak it." Laura mumbled to herself, shrugging as she knocked back her drink; the clear liquid burning her throat like battery acid. "Another please, John." She croaked, tipping her glass towards the bartender.

The greying man threw a towel casually over his shoulder, moved slowly towards her and rested the bottles glass neck upon the brim of Laura's expectant tumbler - poised to pour.

"It's Joe," The barman corrected her, wise eyes looking at Laura with an expression borne out of both annoyance and pity. "Ma'am, don't you think you should slow it down a bit?"

Laura fixed Joe with an icy glare that she reserved for her most badly behaved students, and spoke slowly and precisely in an attempt to mask her developing inebriation. "Don't you think you should just do your job, Joe?"

"Well alright then Ms Roslin," Joe shrugged defeatedly and tipped the bottle, "but those cubits you gave me's only good for one more drink."

"I'll get that one."

Laura stiffened and glanced over her shoulder, searching out the source of the voice; but she needn't have. The familiar, wearing tones of Ellen Tigh were recognisable to her anywhere - even after months of separation.

'Great,' Laura internalised

"Ellen," She greeted the blonde woman through a false smile. "How nice to see you – is the Colonel with you?"

"I'll take a glass of whatever that is…" Ellen signalled to Joe and plonked herself on a stool, twisting her upper body towards Laura. "Nope," She smiled back with equal affectation, "just lil' old me."

Laura frowned into her drink, but didn't care enough to press Ellen on the whereabouts of her husband – having one Tigh for company was definitely enough.

"So, Laura…" Ellen looked around the bar, purely for effect - already knowing the answer to her yet unspoken question. "Are you drinking alone?"

"I was." Laura responded bitterly, her argument with Bill lessening her desire to keep up pretences with his best friend's wife.

"Hmmm," Ellen continued - Laura's blatant rudeness bouncing off of the blonde's impervious self-assurance. "Tough day at school?"

Laura harrumphed quietly, the edges of her lips coiling into a tight smile. "Of sorts." She stated simply, deciding not to rise to Ellen's provocation. Instead, she eyed the other woman curiously out of the corner of her eye. "What brings you to New Caprica?"

Ellen's drink arrived and she accepted it eagerly, sipping the fiery liquid with ease; it appeared that years of heavy drinking had toughened her pallet. "Bill didn't tell you?"

Laura placed her own glass on the wooden bar and turned in her seat to face Ellen, suddenly interested in what the woman had to say. "Tell me what?"

"Oh Bill's an old stick in the mud, but I knew he'd come around eventually." Ellen waved her hand in the space between them dismissively and took another sip of her drink. "Saul and I are finally leaving that retched bucket of rust!"

"You're settling?"

"That's right..." Ellen beamed. "Neighbour!" The blonde giggled girlishly as she took another swig of her drink.

Laura narrowed her eyes; she had gotten the impression from Bill that Colonel Tigh hadn't been too pleased at the prospect of settling on New Caprica. "That's great news," She lied, "Tell me…When did The Admiral change his mind?"

"Just yesterday…" Ellen tucked an errant strand of her hair behind her ear and adjusted her lilac sweater around her bust-line, "Saul arrives any day now…" She leant in a little closer, as if she were about to disclose a secret "So, I thought I'd get to, you know, meet the locals before he arrives."

Laura's fake smile was frozen on her face as she followed Ellen's gaze over to a group of mining workers huddled around a table playing Triad. "A girl's got to have a little fun," She smirked as she hopped off of her seat and slinked over to the young men, shamelessly cooing "Hello boys, any room for me?"

Laura looked on as the blonde skilfully situated herself in the middle of the workers, but her mind wasn't on Ellen's barefaced infidelity - suspicion was gnawing at her insides.

In light of discovering the recording device, was it possible that Bill had reassigned Colonel Tigh to New Caprica just to keep an eye on her?

Laura pushed her drink aside, suddenly feeling like she'd had too much.

Unsteadily getting to her feet; she quietly slipped out of the bar into the night - only to bump into yet another familiar face.

xXx

Bill stared intently into the mirror; his troubled reflection stared ominously back.

'What's to love?' He brooded, distastefully running his eyes over greying hair and tired, pitted skin.

Sighing, Bill dropped his gaze to the sink and palming cold water over his face, he reached blindly for a hand towel. He patted down his moustache - droplets of cool water clinging to the fine hairs, and he reminisced about happier times…

'You know what? I think it's actually growing on me.' Laura told him teasingly, when he had asked her what she thought of the new addition to his top lip.

'Really?' He had joked. 'And there's me thinking it was growing on me…'

She had smiled broadly at him then, playfully swatting his arm before asking him to follow her into her tent - the longing in her green eyes making her intentions explicitly clear.

And that was when it happened.

That was the exact moment that Bill Adama realised that he had, without a doubt, fallen desperately, head over heels in love with Laura Roslin.

Bill brought his gaze back up to the mirror, staring bitterly at his reflection. "You're a damned joke."

Roughly placing the white towel back on the rail, he turned and left the head, flicking the light switch as he stomped towards his rack.

Bill intentionally hadn't revealed his feelings towards Laura immediately; he had wanted to be sure that she felt the same way. In her reaction to the shooting, he had glimpsed something within her that convinced him she really did love him – but evidently, he had been wrong.

He sat heavily on the edge of the mattress and bent to unlace his boots – his mind drifting back to their argument earlier that day.

He always suspected that Laura had been sleeping with former president Adar – right up to the fall of the colonies, but her reaction today had definitely confirmed it. The fact that she had been having sex with the man meant absolutely nothing to Bill, but he had assumed by Laura's silence on the matter that she believed it would.

So like a good soldier in battle, Bill had prayed on that weakness – lashing out with callous words, accusations that in the heat of the moment, he used with intent to maim.

As he toed off his boots, his anger towards her slowly began to ebb. He recalled the look on her face when he had used her affair against her – how her lower lip had trembled when she had told him to leave.

Bill collapsed onto his side and swung his legs up onto the mattress, draping an arm over his face to shield his tired eyes from the overhead light.

Laura was hurting and it was his fault, 'I'm a bastard.'

He realised now that his anger had been misdirected. He wasn't angry at Laura – she had never intentionally misled him. He was angry at himself for misreading the signals, for being an old fool and falling too deeply, too quickly.

And now, somebody somewhere had a recording of their most intimate moments – to be used for means unknown and there was nothing they could do but wait for the onslaught.

'We could have weathered the storm together – we are stronger that way.' But the pain was still too raw, the wound in his heart too fresh.

Bill rolled onto his side to face the bulkhead, concealing the tears that stung his eyes from the empty room.

It was hopeless.

They were about to be exposed in the worst possible way, and they would have to face that humiliation alone.

xXx

"Are you following me, Mr Vice President?" Laura spoke calmly, unperturbed by the sight of Tom Zarek emerging from the shadows outside the entrance to Joe's bar.

"You were supposed to meet me at the school, Laura." He responded flatly, his voice barely audible above the music and chatter emanating from inside.

"So…you decided the best course of action was to what Tom?" She asked flippantly, narrowing her eyes, her lips quirking into a mocking smirk. "Wait for me outside in the dark?"

Zarek's dark eyebrows twitched in reaction to her sarcasm, but he said nothing in response.

"Look," Laura rolled her eyes and pulled her heavy woollen cardigan tighter around her slight frame – once the rainfall had stopped the temperature started to plummet "I've had one hell of a day - I just want to go back to my tent and forget all about it. So if you'll excuse me," She took a side step, moving to push past him but Zarek grabbed her arm. She paused, scowling down at his hand before bringing her angry gaze up to meet his.

"I waited out here because I didn't think we should be seen together..." Zarek dipped his head in the direction of the bar "…so publically."

Laura's mind flashed back to her disagreement with Tory earlier that day - why was everybody so concerned for her reputation all of a sudden?

"Thank you for your consideration Mr Vice President." She pulled her arm from his light grasp, tipsily stumbling backwards. "But my reputation is none of your concern…" She righted herself, raising her chin defiantly. "Now if you'll excuse me."

"I'm sorry…Your reputation?" Zarek frowned and shook his head. "Laura I think you misunderstand me – President Baltar was here only a few days ago; if he were to discover that I met with you…" He trailed off as he saw realisation touch Laura's soft features.

"Oh," She thanked the Gods that the darkness hid the shade of crimson in her cheeks. "I thought that…"

"Oh…you thought that I thought…" Zarek bore an amused expression as he moved his hand back and forth between them "people would think that you and I were…"

Laura wrinkled her nose, cringing at her stupidity and cursing her alcohol consumption. "It's just something that Tory said earlier I…," she shook her head "…please, forget I said anything." She dropped her gaze to the floor and moved to walk past him, but Zarek took a step backwards, blocking her pathway and raising his hands in mock defeat.

"Hey," His lopsided smile betrayed his attempt to conceal his amusement. "Your secret's safe with me."

"It's not funny," She protested weakly, her eyes warning him not to persist while she fought the smile that was creeping onto her own face.

As Zarek's smile broadened into a wide grin, so did Laura's and a small chuckle escaped her lips that within seconds, developed into full blown hysterics.

"I'm sorry I…" Laura took a deep breath in an effort to calm herself, wiping at her eyes with the back of her hand. "It's been such an awful day and…God's…"

"No problem," Zarek composed himself, "There's not much makes me smile these days…feels good."

Finally getting her giggles under control, Laura offered him a genuine smile and nodded in agreement. The day had truly taken its toll on her and their shared laughter had offered a much need reprieve.

"So…" She turned and began a slow stroll from the bar, crossing her arms at her chest to keep out the icy cold breeze. "Have you been waiting out here long?"

"A while…" Zarek fell in step and looked at this watch, "It's important we discuss a way out of this mess as soon as possible."

"This mess, New Caprica? Or this mess, Gaius Baltar?"

"Both."

"Guilty conscience?" Laura asked flatly, her gaze focussed dead ahead.

Zarek smiled wryly and shoved his hands deep into the pockets of his thigh-length black coat. "I helped Baltar win the election, so, I'll shoulder some blame - but New Caprica wasn't just a political tool, at least in my mind." He glanced sideways and caught Laura's eyes with his own, he could clearly see the scepticism in her expression. "I know that you'll find this hard to believe Laura, but like everyone else – I too longed to plant my feet on solid ground, to breathe fresh air…Look," He stopped suddenly and Laura turned hesitantly to face him. "I know you don't like me very much…"

"I don't really know you, Tom." She answered honestly. Apart from the occasional governmental liaison, his brief assistance during the coup and what she had read in his file – the real Tom Zarek was a complete stranger to her.

"And you don't trust me," Laura's lips set into a thin line as Zarek pressed on. "I understand your uncertainty; in your eyes I'm a terrorist, your political adversary – and if I were you, I probably wouldn't trust me either…but I'm being genuine here Laura. " His hazel eyes, pleaded with hers. "You may take umbrage with my methods, but I have fought for the good of humankind my entire political career. I'm not about to stop now."

Laura watched the Vice President intently, observing him as she would in a debate. She looked for tells – signs that he was lying, searching for an opportunity to call him on it. But nothing surfaced. Either Zarek was telling the truth, or the moonshine she'd consumed was telling her lies.

Truthfully, she wasn't ready to go back to her lonely tent and the scene of her fight with Bill. A sober Laura would know that being drunk and in the company of a man she didn't completely trust was a terrible idea, but that was exactly what she needed right now - company and an opportunity to discuss something positive. The fact that the discussion would be with a man that Bill despised, did help to ease her pain somewhat.

"Alright." She said firmly with a nod of her head, turning on her heel and walking into darkness.

"Alright?" Zarek called from behind.

"Yes, alright. " She repeated over her shoulder, "We can have that meeting."

Zarek smiled to himself and then jogged to catch her up. "Now?" he asked once he reached her side.

"Let's head to the school as planned" Laura unfolded her arms and pointed to the route ahead "we can talk there."

TBC

Thanks for reading; I'd love to hear your thoughts and theories ;)