In these coming chapters you have Laura's and Bill's storylines combined. I don't think it would be hard to follow, though.
I hope you enjoy it!

XXXVII.

"You let her do what?" Bill asked rising his voice, staring at the blonde woman with real anger in his eyes.

"I just did what she had asked me to do" Kara replied calmly. "And she told me to wait until she had left because she knew you wouldn't like the idea…"

"What were you thinking, Kara?" he asked walking closer to the woman, his nostrils flaring in anger. "She's the President… Did you even think about how valuable she could be to them? They could perfectly keep her as a hostage!"

Kara shook her head. "They're our allies now, aren't they? Then they're not going to do anything to her. And… it's not like she's alone in there. She's got Helo with her."

Bill rubbed her temples with one of his hands and looked at Kara disapprovingly from over his glasses. "Kara, she's pregnant, for frak's sake! We cannot be sure they won't try something. Anything." He took his eyes off from the young woman. He wasn't going to get anywhere thinking like that, he would only end up worrying even more about Laura. "I'm her husband, damn it… She should've told me about it. I shouldn't have been informed of it by you…"

The young woman shrugged her shoulders and looked at Bill clueless of what to say. The silence between the two of them was tense, and was only broken when he looked at her again. Then, she felt the urge to leave. She wasn't entitled to watch that scene. "She just didn't want to worry you" she mouthed. "I guess."

He smiled sadly and broke the visual contact. "I guess" he repeated. It wasn't long until he heard the hatch of his quarters close. Kara was gone. Then, he let all his weight fall on the couch, and took the photo that was sitting on the coffee table; one of the two of them, recently taken. He caressed Laura's image with one of his thumbs and sighed deeply, tired. "You… stubborn woman" he whispered looking at the Laura in the photo, with her radiant smile and her small hands covering his palms, over her belly. "You're too stubborn for your own good."

It was weird. There was no other way to describe it. There was a woman inside what looked like a big bathtub, with a strange reddish light coming from the liquid she was in. The hybrid, she guessed. She had heard some things about it, but no one ever told her what it looked like. That thing, a woman, lying there was the hybrid then, and it knew lots of things about her.

The more she looked at the scene in front of her eyes, the more fascinating it seemed. It absolutely looked like something that could be taken right out from a bad science fiction book or a lousy space soap opera. It definitely wasn't what she had expected. Yet, she wasn't even sure what she had been expecting.

Apparently, that thing, the hybrid, needed to be connected to some sort of power in order to be activated. Considering that, it was more like a machine than any of the other cylons, even if it had a human appearance.

Laura stood there, looking at that creature, staring at it in amazement. They had to connect it, just that easily, and it would come to life. She didn't want to wait more than necessary; her idea was to get answers from that thing as soon as possible and get back home, with Bill. The news of her trip would've already reached him at that moment, and he was probably worrying about her. At least the news of it would've come from friendly lips; it was something.

She looked at the people around her; several cylons and the people who had come there with her, including Baltar, with that shitty smile on his lips. She walked towards the hybrid with decision. "Plug it in. I need to talk to it."

Baltar stepped by her side. "Let God's will be done" he said.

"Shut up" Laura quickly replied, taking a couple more of steps towards the hybrid. She didn't really care about what Baltar thought of it all. She had gone there with a purpose and she wouldn't leave until she fulfilled it. "It's time to get some answers."

On Eight looked at her doubtful, but she finally did as Laura had told her to. She took the wires that were connected to the hybrid and connected them to the main source of power.

The light coming from the liquid increased immediately, turning almost blinding for an instant as the hybrid opened its eyes widely. Laura felt that it was looking at her even before she was able to check it. She felt as if it was looking into her soul, even if its eyes looked lost. She suddenly noticed a smirk form into that thing's lips. There was no more doubt; it was looking at her.

"The dying leader is here" it said with a cold, mechanical voice. Laura felt a cold shiver run down her spine. She was frozen, unable to move or say a word. The hybrid had recognized her. It was really true then; everything that Kara had said. All of a sudden, the hybrid tensed and opened its eyes even wider. "Jump!" it shouted.

And after that, Laura was no longer with those people in the baseship.

It was difficult to keep his mind focused in a moment like that. He wasn't able to do his work as he worried about Laura; he was more than worried, he was truly concerned about her wellbeing. He had tried to stay calm, to focus on doing his work the right way, but there was no way he could do that. The situation was more complex than just that, it was true, but he couldn't even bring himself to worry about the Vipers that had also jumped away or about the pilots that were there. Laura; it was his only concern at the moment, the only thing on his mind.

He had been concerned about her since Kara had informed her she was in the cylon baseship. When they learned it had jumped, he had immediately known she had also been there. Now he had a real reason to be concerned. The baseship had jumped, carrying her and more than half of his pilots, and they had no idea where it could be. They could only wait.

The baseship had jumped all of a sudden, unexpectedly, at the exact moment that Natalie, the cylon leader, had been shot. There had to be some kind of relation between those two things. Coincidences didn't exist; everything was connected; that was a thing Laura had taught him.

Athena. Sharon Agathon. It had been her who had shot the Six, just like Boomer had once shot him.

The cylons had jumped the moment their leader had been shot, and that made his skin shiver. One colonial soldier had shot their leader and they had Laura; his precious Laura. How was he supposed to keep calm? She was gone, and he could do nothing to get her back apart from waiting.

Frakking Zarek proved he had no heart as he tried to contact him as soon as it was officially confirmed Laura had been at the baseship at the time of the jump. He already wanted to take her place. Bill obviously refused to even talk with him. Laura was alive; there was no reason to be looking for anyone to replace her. She was fine; he knew it, he felt it on his bones. She was strong and smart, and there was something on her that made her really special. There was no way anything bad happened to her.

But what had happened left him with a problem he couldn't ignore, even if it was not what was first on his mind. Most of his pilots were on the baseship, prepared for the mission of destroying the Resurrection Hub. There was just so much to do, and he really didn't feel like doing any of it. He just wanted his Laura back, safe and sound between his arms.

Laura found herself in a different place all of a sudden. She looked around, a little bit afraid. It all was somehow familiar, but she couldn't quite recognize the place. It was big, empty and cold.

She closed her eyes, trying to hear something; anything. But there was only that constant humming, one that came from the walls around her, a mechanical one. She wasn't able to hear any footsteps, any voice or even anyone else's breathing. There was only the sound of her breathing and that low, constant humming.

When she opened her eyes, she saw a figure standing in front of her. She immediately battered her eyelashes, unsure. That person didn't move, but started smiling instead. Laura looked closer and convinced herself it was true. It had to be true. She had experienced things way stranger than that.

She quickly reacted, throwing her arms around the young man's back and hugging him tightly. The man hugged her back with no hesitation. "I'm sorry I did not show up the other day" he said with his calm voice. "I didn't want to deprive you of any time with your family."

Laura shook her head and tightened her embrace to the man's fit torso. Then, she broke the hug and looked at him. His wide smile quickly brought her all the memories she had been repressing for quite a long time; in an instant, she remembered the reason why she had considered the young man a part of her family, as if he were a surrogate son of hers. "Billy…" she said with a throaty voice, unable to manage anything more elaborate before breaking down with sobs.

The vision in front of him wasn't a pleasant one. He felt like he had to be there, though. That cylon had something to do with the jump, and he needed to understand. That cylon might have been their enemy one day, but now she was their ally. While he was watching her, he realised she suffered just as much as any human would. They were really not that different. Cottle was trying to save her life, to stop the blood that was draining out from her body.

That was his place; he couldn't stay in his quarters thinking about Laura. He needed to have something on his hands and feel like he was actually doing something to get her back.

He looked away from the woman for an instant and realised Dee was still on the phone. The young woman covered the receiver and looked at him. "Sir, vice president Zarek is still waiting to talk to you. What should I tell him?" she asked trying to disguise the urgency on her tone. Bill looked into her eyes and saw they were swollen and glistening with unshed tears; she was fonder of Laura than he had initially thought. "Sir!" Dee said rising her voice, trying to regain his attention. But Bill only shook his head; he wasn't going to honour that man by talking with him. He wanted to take Laura's position.

Saul came to him talking about the problematic way the fleet had been left by the viper's departure with the cylon baseship; nothing that he hadn't known already. That was not what had him worried, it was the cylon dying in front of him; the reason the baseship had jumped away. It had been one of her kind who had shot her. He needed to understand. "Where is she?" he asked Saul.

He looked at her, surprised Bill had said something, but he quickly understood. "Clamp. Marines are holding her" he informed.

Bill led out a sigh and looked at his friend. "My quarters" he simply said, and he immediately rushed out of sickbay, unable to take the sight in front of him any longer.

She looked around her and noticed nothing had changed. She was at the cylon baseship, with the hybrid there, talking frantically. She released a breath she hadn't realised she had been holding. No real time had passed while she had that vision. Because it had been a vision; she had been there, she had touched Billy, she had smelled him. But she quickly realised it wasn't how things were supposed to happen. They weren't supposed to jump, but they had. She looked around her, trying to find an answer to her questions in anyone's face, but everyone looked as much confused as she did.

Only a Sharon, and Eight, seemed to know something or, at least, she didn't looked as confused as the rest of them. Laura looked at her and took a couple of steps towards her. "Why did it jump?" Laura asked her. "Where are we?"

The Eight barely looked at her; she was busy with the hybrid. "I'm more concerned about why we're here" she said after a while, not even looking at Laura.

She looked at the hybrid again. It just kept talking, but its words were erratic and did not make real sense. They were just that; words. She also heard Baltar talking, but she didn't really listen to him or to the answer Helo gave him. No, she was still more concerned about what she had expected after the jump. She had been there with Billy, and it had taken several minutes, but that time seemed to have never passed when she got back.

Out of the blue, she saw the hybrid tense as it shouted. "Jump!" And with that, Laura suddenly wasn't there again.

The situation he had on his quarters wasn't any easier. Maybe he could ignore Zarek, but he couldn't ignore his son. Lee was telling him all of what was a conflict with the government at that moment, with the President absent.

He kept telling him about Zarek and the Quorum, but he wasn't really worried about any of it. "Look, the fleet needs reassurance; then you reassure them" he said after a while, tired of that conversation and wanting to talk with Athena. "That's your job now. You can tell Zarek he can go to hell. Laura appointed you as her successor; not him. You've been doing most of her job for a while. Don't let the man take your place."

They both stayed in silence for a couple of seconds, until Lee spoke again. "She'll be fine, dad. She's strong and smart" he said convinced, not letting space for doubt, just right before hanging up the phone.

Bill hanged his end of the phone and walked towards Athena, sitting on his couch. Their couch; his and Laura's. He was angry with the woman in front of her, there was no way he could disguise it. But he was not only angry, he was also disappointed. "Why?" he asked, his nostrils flaring with anger. "Do you hate your people so much you look for any excuse to kill one, or did you deliberately try to sabotage this truce?"

Athena seemed to grow smaller, sitting on the couch. "No, Sir, of course not" she said with a small voice, unable to look into the man's eyes.

That didn't calm him down in any way. "Then you tell me why. You make me understand why you did this."

The woman finally looked him, and with her eyes on his, she looked even smaller. "They were going to take her" she vaguely said. "The six; she was going to take my child."

Bill stared into her eyes and shook his head. "There were too many witnesses. They all said the same thing. Your daughter was lost" he stated, hardening his look. "The cylon merely knelt down and was talking to her."

Athena broke the eye contact and looked at the floor, fidgeting with her shackles. "Maybe that's what it looked like to the others, Sir, but… I know…." she said, her voice growing thinner. "I had a vision" she stated, rising her voice a little bit. "A vision where the Six and Baltar were taking Hera away from me." She stopped for a second and raised her eyes to Bill again. He knew about that vision, Laura had told him about that part. Athena probably didn't know he had already heard about it, but it didn't change anything. "It was more than a vision, Sir" she said, misinterpreting the look in his face. "When I saw them together, I knew that they would take her. That they would take away my child!"

He took a couple of steps away from her. "You murdered an unarmed woman, and by doing so you put the lives of every single person in this fleet at risk." Bill looked at her hardening his eyes; it was time to make her realize what she had done. "And it could quite possibly cost the lives of the President and your husband. You disobeyed the orders of a superior officer, but more importantly, you betrayed a promise to me. I trusted you."

By the look on her eyes, Bill saw she had finally realized the consequences of her action. Athena became even smaller. She raised her eyes to his and opened her mouth. "Sir, I will accept any form of punishment you think I deserve" she said wholeheartedly. "I just ask that you please don't take away Hera."

Bill shook his head. "I'm afraid the brig is no place for a little girl" he said looking into Sharon's eyes. Then, he turned his back on her. "Guards!" he shouted, and the marines quickly entered through the hatch. "Get her out of my sight."

She was there again. The empty corridors, the constant mechanical humming, the cold lights. She felt a hand resting on her shoulders and turned around, confused. She was there again, and so was Billy. He smiled sweetly to her and took her hand "Will you walk with me?" he asked with his warm voice.

Laura nodded and smiled. Suddenly, something clicked on her brain. "Galactica" she voiced out, realising those empty corridors were those of the ship she had started calling her home. She looked around them again, her eyes wide in amazement. "It… What's going on?" she asked, frowning. "It's empty."

Billy smiled and gestured her to start walking. "It is… It feels bigger this way, doesn't it?"

She followed his pace as she was looking around her, trying to find some kind of clue that would explain it. But there wasn't anything. The corridors were empty, and it wasn't only because they were the only people there, but because the walls were bare and there wasn't anything there; there were no things there apart from the walls of the corridors. Not a box, not a photo, not a paper on the floor. Nothing. She stopped walking. Billy stopped with her and looked at her with a questioning look. She brought one hand to rest on her belly and caressed it, forgetting about her worries for an instant, calming down. "It's so quiet" she almost whispered, not rising her eyes from where her palm rested. "It's strange."

He looked at her and placed a hand on her forearm, earning Laura's attention. When she raised her eyes to him, she saw comprehension on his eyes. He gestured with his free hand, putting them in motion again. They walked slowly for a while, until Billy suddenly stopped and held Laura's eyes firmly. "A lot of things are strange, Laura" he said with a small voice. She heard pain in his voice, and pity.

Laura looked at him doubtful, with a hint of fear. He gestured with his head, and Laura looked in that direction. What she saw made her heart break into a million pieces. She broke her link with Billy and covered her wide-opened mouth with both her hands.

There she was, lying on a bed in sickbay. Gods, she looked so thin and pale! She looked away, unable to look at herself in such state, but what she saw sent a pang of pain to her heart. She walked there and pressed one palm to the warm glass of the incubator and the other to her belly. A sad smile set on her lips as she saw the tiny baby moving slightly. Her daughter, she quickly understood.

She was too small, too pale, too thin, and she looked so tiny and lost inside that glass cage, connected to all those wires. She splayed her hand over the glass and let her tears fall down her cheeks. She could hear the beeping of the machines. Both of them were attached to them. Both of them looked extremely fragile; too fragile…

Laura felt a hand rest on her shoulder, but she ignored it and kept watching how her daughter was fighting for her life. That hand didn't give up; its owner kept it there, on her shoulder. After a while, she collected the strength to open her mouth. "What?" she croaked in a whisper.

The hand tightened its grip on Laura's shoulder. "Laura," a warm, known voice called her softly, "don't let this happen."

She turned slowly turned around. Nothing that happened in her visions surprised her anymore. "Elosha…" she whispered as two short but firm arms encircled her waist. "Oh, my gods…" she managed to say as she hugged back her old friend.

Elosha tightened their hug. "That's one of the things that could happen… You can still change it" she said in a whisper.

Laura suddenly felt a sharp pain on her lower abdomen, one that brought her down to her knees and made her surroundings and Elosha vanish.