Leaning back in the chaise, Laura sighed softly as the sun gently washed over her. The storm of the previous night had broken for a few hours at least, and she was taking advantage of it. She and Bill had gone into town and dropped off the papers she needed to at the school before going to see the doctor that Sherman had recommended. While not broken, her hand was indeed slightly fractured, and he'd bound it up, giving Bill a list of instructions of things she was and wasn't allowed to do. Afterwards, they'd returned to the house and he'd made sure she was settled and didn't need anything before going back to town to run errands, despite her protests that she'd been perfectly able to run them with him.
"Well don't you look contented." At the wry voice, she opened her eyes slightly.
"Hello there." She smiled slightly. "We were wondering where you'd gotten off to."
"Went to find supplies in the stable, like Bill said, and decided to take a walk for a bit." Saul looked around at the clearing. "Nice little cabin the two of you have."
"We like it." Laura nodded to the chair next to her. "Have a seat."
"What'd the doctor say?" Setting the supplies he carried next to the broken doorframe, he sank into the chair, facing her.
"Minor fractures." Her lips twitched. "Rather familiar words to me. Bill however, believes I should be in bed…well, let me rephrase that." A giggle escaped her at his expression. "He thinks I shouldn't be doing anything until it completely heals."
"Man loves you." Relenting, he chuckled and held out his hand, waiting until she'd lightly placed her injured hand in it. "Bandage only?"
"Told you it was minor." As he inspected it, she sighed.
"Yeah. You'll live." Releasing her hand, he chuckled. "Question is, will you survive him waiting on you hand and foot?"
"Girl could get used to it." Closing her eyes again, she settled back into the chaise.
"Girl could, not you though." He watched her smile slightly. "You look good Laura. Suits you."
"Thank you." She sighed softly. "He's…we've both missed you Saul. It truly is good to see you."
"Missed both of you too." He gazed at her. "How much have you told him?"
"Saul…" Laura opened her eyes, the soft light that had been in them gone.
"Laura, I need to know. I don't want to say something and have it come from me, not you." He leaned forward. "How much have you told him?"
"Not all of it." She admitted hesitantly. "I know…I know it…he still has times where I can tell he's remembering having to leave New Caprica. We both had to do things during that time that we haven't told the other about. We're not hiding it from each other, but just haven't had the time…"
"Laura, you've nothing but time." When she turned her head slightly to look towards the woods, he reached out and took her uninjured hand. "He asked me about something I slipped and said last night." Her eyes widened. "Nothing big, just that I'd carried you before, something like that."
"What did you tell him?" Sitting up, she slid her legs off the chaise and turned to face him.
"Just that when you were released from detention, that you'd insist on walking under your own power until you were out of sight, then you'd only let Cottle or me help you." He hesitated a moment.
"And?" She leaned forward.
"And," Saul shook his head, "the thunder. What happened that day in the school tent."
"Oh." Laura bit her lip, her mind flashing back to the memory. "I see." Standing, she looked down at him. "I'm going to get something to drink, you want anything?"
"You sit. I'll get it." He stood and pointed back at the chaise. "Suppose Bill sees you waiting on me? With an injured hand?"
She managed a weak smile. "Very well. I'll come inside with you though. Looks like it's about to rain again."
Saul looked up at the sky, where sure enough, clouds were about to obscure the sun again. "Let me move the stuff I brought up inside as well." Following her, he picked up the wood and tools he'd found in the stable and set them inside the door as she crossed to the sink and began to fill the tea kettle.
"Be right back." Laura glanced at him and crossed out of the kitchen as he washed his hands and began to open cabinets, looking for mugs. By the time she returned, he had two mugs set out, along with some crackers he'd found. "Thanks. Can you open this please?" She handed him a bottle. At his lifted eyebrow, she shook her head. "We're talking about New Caprica. I think we'll both feel better for some of this in the tea."
"Very well." Pouring a measure into each mug, he recapped the bottle. "I wasn't sure which tea you'd want."
"This will do." Pulling out two bags from a container, she placed them in the mugs and poured the steaming water over them. "We'll let them steep a few minutes. Hungry?"
"No." Saul nodded toward the table. "Sit, I'll bring them over." When she relented with a sigh, he followed her, carrying the two mugs. As she stared at the steam rising from hers, absently stirring it with a spoon, he seated himself across from her. "Well."
"The thunder." Laura studied her tea, judging the color of the liquid before carefully lifting out the tea bag and setting it aside in the spoon. "I'd meant to tell Bill, sometime. It's just never been the right time. I mean, how do you start? Bill, one day when I was teaching on New Caprica, the Cylons decided to blindly fly over the settlement, dropping bombs where ever they'd like, and then shooting people who ran into the streets. Oh, and some of those people fell into the school tent, where I was huddled under a desk with all the children, praying to the gods that a bomb wouldn't hit us, or a Centurion wouldn't decide to randomly open fire on us. And the raiders kept coming, and coming, and coming. And the children kept screaming. And I just…I…" She took a swallow of her tea, wincing at the bite of alcohol in it. "It felt like it would never end." She whispered and looked up at him. "Saul, he still feels so much guilt for leaving us there…for the way everything happened, for letting the election…not declaring military action…for deserting us when the basestars arrived…"
"Things happened." Saul took a swallow of the tea. "But, for all the horrors that happened to us down there, can you imagine what he believes happened? Whether its worse or not, it's unspoken between you."
"You went and got wise." She sighed and shook her head. "When the frak did that happen?"
"When you two died and left us as the frakkin' elders." He chuckled and lifted his mug toward her.
"Yeah, well, I didn't have much choice on that." Laura sipped her tea and gazed at him for a long moment. "Do you…"
"Do I what?" He encouraged after a minute of silence as she searched for the words.
"When we were in the medical tent…" Her finger traced along the top of the mug. "Do you remember when you used to tell me I was sleepwalking? Moving to the door of the tent before you could catch me? And that I was saying something? Reciting something?"
"Yeah. You said it was the meds…" His voice trailed off. "Laura?"
"I've done it a few times since I've been here. Kara found me one morning, Bill another…" She shivered slightly. "Standing on a ledge at the edge of the balcony of my apartment. We were living there while the house was being built. Elosha even came and talked to me about it, but I have no idea…"
"I remember." Saul's frown deepened. "Cottle couldn't figure it out either. Except maybe it was some sort of combination of the chamalla screwing your blood up, with whatever cocktails the Cylons were shooting into you. But that wouldn't make any sense now."
"No. It wouldn't." Laura picked up her mug and sipped at it. "I always wondered if it was due to Gaius' transfusion. The Cylon blood in me. We didn't really have any means to test its long term effects, and obviously, the cure wasn't permanent." She sighed. "But, I really didn't think I'd still be having the…episodes, dreams, whatever they are."
"We never determined a pattern back then…anything now?" He leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table.
"No." She sighed, her fingers absently toying with the mug handle. "I still don't even realize I'm doing it, no memories of doing it afterwards…"
"Frak." Saul sighed.
"Yeah." Laura glanced at the window, at the rain streaking down the glass. "Hasn't happened since we've been here, yet. But I worry."
"You shouldn't. Not if it hasn't been a precursor to anything." He broke off as she shook her head.
"But it's happening. And I don't know why. It never happened after we left New Caprica, not until I was here." She paused. "I think. I mean, I think someone would have told me if I was wandering around in my nightgown. Tom Zarek would have had a field day with it politically. Let alone Baltar if he'd found out about it."
"True." Saul stood and moved to pick up the bottle she'd left on the counter, returning to the table and pouring some into their mugs. "So. It happens again, we'll work on figuring it out. Between my knowing what happened before, as well as Cottle, and Kara and Bill knowing what's happening here, we'll figure it out. And speaking of Kara. She around here a lot?"
"Yes." Laura lifted an eyebrow. "And we expect you two to play nice."
"Yes ma'am." He chuckled. "And, master politician you are, you've tried to divert me. Back to New Caprica missy."
"Colonel." Her mood immediately sobered again and she sighed. "You know, they never did figure we would work together."
"We didn't exactly perpetuate a solid working relationship to the general public. Or in fact to anyone except Cottle." He lifted an eyebrow. "Safer that way. For all concerned."
"Indeed." Laura shook her head. "Even Tyrol and Sam didn't realize how close."
"Well, I was the one that took the slap." Saul grinned.
"I wasn't acting." Taking a swallow of her tea, she winced. "More of a kick now."
"Yeah." He took a swallow as well. "How much."
"He knows I was in detention. And that I have, had scars that were newer than others." A flush ran up her cheeks. "He knows they tested drugs on me, and took me at random times of the day and night. He knows that they would have known I would have done anything to keep the children safe. And, he knows that Baltar and I had a conversation at least once while I was in."
"Yeah. I remember you recreating that little memory in a role reversal with him." He considered for a long moment. "You tell him about the extent of the physical abuse, or the drugs?"
"He knows I wasn't…raped." She stared across the room. "He knows they took me…I've told him some of what happened, and being in the military, I know he can imagine."
"He knows we spent time in Cottle's care together." It was a statement not a question.
"Yes." Laura nodded slowly.
"He asked me once about it." Saul mused. "Told him you'd been tougher than many of the marines we'd worked with, didn't surprise him. Told him we'd been in at the same times, seemed as though they didn't want to leave either of us around to rally support, and thought without us that the rebellions would cease. Which they didn't. They weren't above using us to try to get to the other, luckily since they thought we despised each other, they didn't pursue that track too often. There were a few times that you were coming down off of whatever they'd shot you up with, was a lot like when, uh, I, uh…well, that time in the brig, when you were coming down off of chamalla."
"You would remember that." She retorted wryly. "What did Bill say."
"That he knew they'd underestimate you, had underestimated you. He had, and knew that it was one of the best weapons in your arsenal. Being underestimated. He and I, we made that mistake once, he learned faster than I did." He shrugged. "But, don't think they ever did. Know that frakker Zarek didn't. Always thought he could control you in the end."
"So he did." Laura took another swallow. "Or kill us."
"Had no idea." Saul shook his head. "We all had our heads elsewhere, he took advantage." Glancing at her, he grinned. "You know, that was the first morning that I was positive you two were back together."
"I figured as much." She smiled slightly. "You've always been a good friend to him, to us."
"He wanted me to shoot him you know." At the quiet statement, Laura's eyes widened and she stared at him. "Confronted both Starbuck and me. After New Caprica. We were adjusting to being back. To integrating. Lot of anger and frustration. You'd pardoned every frakkin' collaborator…"
"We'd had enough of the killing, of the hate. I understood why. Would have taken part in a different situation, but there were so few of us. We needed to start healing, not continue in the cycle of hatred that we'd entered." Laura sighed and took a swallow of her drink. "And a secret tribunal was not the way. Not at that time."
"Whatever." He shook his head. "Still. Starbuck and I, he confronted us. Starbuck got her head together…took me a while longer."
"I think everyone expected life to be better once we were off of New Caprica." She mused softly. "When you're digging through mud, bundled against the cold and dust, trying to figure out if you'll have edible food, or clean water…worrying about being shot, or taken…it's so easy to imagine that on Galactica, we were able to have food and clean clothes, and although we were on the run, we were able to fight back. To have a better chance of survival. And then when we in fact were off that place…we were still struggling to find who we'd been, where we'd been, and come to terms with what we were to do as we searched for a safe home again. For Earth. To find who we'd become. And to integrate with those who had remained on Galactica and Pegasus. And to find how we could live together."
"Always better on the other side of the creek." Saul nodded. "Always running, always trying to catch up or figure where we were going."
"He really asked you to shoot him?" Laura asked softly after they'd sat in silence for a few minutes.
"Yeah. Either get back to work, make a commitment, that sort of thing." He shook his head.
"When did you tell him about Ellen?" She asked softly.
"He knew she was dead. Didn't tell him the rest, not then. Not for a while." One eyebrow raised, "Not that it mattered in the end. Never told you. Appreciated what you did for her. Then."
"In her own way, she did what she had to do." Laura raised her eyes and met his levelly. "I can understand that. Did understand that. We all had to do things…"
He nodded in understanding. "So we did."
"I'm glad you're here." Reaching out, she touched his hand lightly. "We've missed you. I'd ask you more about what's happened, but Bill would only want you to repeat everything."
"Indeed." As a sudden burst of wind howled around the window, they glanced toward it. "Storm's getting worse. I need to fix the door."
"Bill will probably stay at the base until the worst of it passes over." She stood. "I'm going to go upstairs and lie down for a bit though."
"I'll take care of stuff down here." Standing, he gathered their cups. "You'll be okay going upstairs on your own?"
"It's my hand, not my legs." Laura laughed softly just as the handset on the wall rang. Picking it up, she glanced at Saul. "Hello Bill." Pausing to listen, her lips curved up. "Because I knew you'd be calling to make sure I was resting." When Saul chuckled, she shook her head at him. "And yes, I'm on my way upstairs now, Saul's just getting ready to fix the door." She paused again. "Fine. Oh, the grocery order should be ready to be picked up in about another half hour. You'll pick it up?" Leaning against the wall, she smiled again as she listened. "Mmm hmm. Fine. We'll see you then. Love you." At the response, she giggled. "Kay, here he is." She held the phone toward Saul. "Apparently, he doesn't quite believe I'm capable of going to rest on my own." With a wink, she handed him the phone.
"Yeah?" At Bill's question, his eyebrow lifted. "Yeah, we had some tea. And some ambrosia. No, Madame President's not toasted, and she's perfectly capable of getting upstairs on her own." As she disappeared through the door with a wave, he chuckled. "She's on her way now. Really Bill, she's fine. Headed up now." He paused as the door opened and Laura peeked back in. "Hold on…"
"Tell him to ask Kara if she wants to come for dinner tonight…" She directed. "Once again, as long as you two can stand being in the same room."
"Not a problem." He grinned. "We'll be fine. Go on now so he'll stop nagging us both."
"Yes sir, Colonel." With a final wink, she disappeared through the door again.
"She wants you to ask Kara to dinner." Saul paused. "Fine. She's already upstairs, and no, I'm not going to go check on her. Learned that with Ellen, finally. See you in an hour." With a chuckle, he hung up the handset and crossed the kitchen to start repairs on the door, muttering under his breath. "Frakkin' domestic, the both of them."
