There was a long-standing tradition of military commanders "christening" their desks with their wives or girlfriends or in the case of female commanders, their husbands or boyfriends. Adama supposed he was the first one to do so with a Colonial President. He didn't want to take advantage of her if she was under the influence of the drugs but she seemed to know what she was doing. Anyway, he didn't have the will to pass up the offer she was making with her heated kiss and her body moving against his.
When they emerged over an hour and a half later, the XO noticed the President's cheeks were flushed and her hair was mussed, as was the commander's. Tigh felt an unexpected pang of jealousy. He got plenty of sex from Ellen but she didn't love him nearly as much as the President quietly loved the commander. Ellen would fawn over him but it was all for show. Though plenty of the men Ellen flirted with desired the President, the President seemed to care only for Adama. She didn't even seem to notice the others were interested in her. This brand new relationship was deeper than the marriage he'd worked on for decades. Maybe Adama wasn't so crazy for taking on this difficult woman after all.
When they were back in his quarters, he wanted her again but she stopped him. She just needed to know if she could alter the future she saw in her dreams. Now that they'd made love, the President was sure they could. If they kept having sex, she was afraid he might fall for her. She might die in a few months. It would be unconscionable to lead him into a relationship only to leave him behind that soon. She knew the agony of being the one left behind and refused to do that to someone she…cared about. Though she could not consciously bring herself to admit she loved him, she knew it on every other level.
"What's wrong?" he asked, wondering if he screwed up somehow. Why was she having second thoughts? Trying a new tactic, he gently trailed kisses down her neck to her shoulder to coax her into another session.
Laura had to dig deep to resist her natural response to what he was doing to her. "We already proved we can alter the future," she answered. When he reached the juncture of her neck and shoulder she had to close her eyes to keep from latching onto him. "We don't need to do this again," she said unconvincingly. It was her last ditch effort to keep their relationship from getting too deep.
He jerked his head back, not sure he heard her correctly. "Speak for yourself. Are you telling me that was a one night stand!"
She was caught. No one walked away from core-melting sex like they'd just had after one time. It was completely implausible. He'd given her his complete trust, unrestricted access to all of his secrets. It was time for her to do the same. "I have to tell you something that might change your mind about wanting to be with me again."
Short of telling him she was about to take vows as a priestess, he couldn't think of a single thing that would keep him from making love to her again. Laura Roslin was a better lover than he ever thought he'd have. Silently, he waited for her to share her mystery.
"I have breast cancer," she finally admitted. "I'm taking Chamalla against it but...I could be dead before the year is out."
Icy hands seemed to grip Adama's heart. Dazed, he slumped into a chair. After a few shocked moments, he reached out and pulled her into his lap. As if he could protect her from the cancer, he enveloped her tightly. When he got over the initial grief, he murmured into her ear, "That only means we've wasted time until now. I want to be with you as much as possible. I don't want to waste another night."
His words freed her to love him without holding back. Passion flooded her and she gave up trying to figure out how she could love him so much so quickly. This time, he moved more slowly, committing every part of her body, every move she made and every sound that escaped her lips to memory.
The next day, there was no need to discuss where she would stay for the weeks it would take to repair her ship. They were inseparable now. She belonged with him and he belonged with her regardless of the location.
Thankfully, concerns about their relationship being detrimental to their duties proved unfounded. They complimented each other when problem solving, completing puzzles by coming at them from opposite sides and meeting in the middle.
That night, when they were alone, they discussed the threat of Ellen again. They surmised her mission was to find out where Earth is and report back to the Cylons. The objective was probably to conquer it and wipe out the remaining tribe of humans. President Roslin suggested they plant a false location to see if she could communicate with the Cylons from here, if she'd have to send a courier, or if she'd have to go herself to deliver the information. Then they'd know how to cut off the information flow.
Adama agreed but pointed out they would have to get rid of Ellen before the Cylons figured out the location was a plant. They would know her cover was blown and there is no Earth. They'd also know where the fleet was hiding if she was aboard. Slaughter would be inevitable.
He could think of a hundred ways to kill her. In fact, he probably had already reached that number over the years, wishing her dead every time she caused bad blood and ruined another career, friendship or marriage. Still, he had no proof she was a Cylon. Saul would think his boss killed his wife. Col Tigh would be a loose cannon at that point. It wasn't inconceivable that he'd destroy the fleet to spite Adama.
Timing would be difficult since they didn't know how she would communicate or how long it would be before they missed her if she was dead. They agreed to string her along for a while about Earth so they could watch her. They needed more Intel on her ops to come up with an executable plan. Absolute secrecy was a must so they only enlisted the help of the four others who were at the card game.
After a few weeks, President Roslin's foot was better and so was her ship. She lost feeling in her two outer toes but it didn't affect her much. Ellen seemed to buy the bits of false information they were feeding her but no one had detected her communicating with anyone outside of the fleet. Some of the surveillance became unpleasant when it revealed just how conniving and heartless she was. Adama knew if Saul ever found out the number of men she slept with to get information, favors on his behalf, or just for her own aggrandizement, Saul would kill her himself.
Her plans for Saul to rise to power and take over the fleet so that she could rule by proxy seemed to move to the back burner when she got more clues about the location of Earth. Perhaps she viewed that as a shortcut to a place of importance where she wouldn't even need Saul.
In the meantime, Adama came up with a plan to get rid of Ellen, set the Cylons on a false trail and save the woman who gave him a reason to live beyond just leading the fleet. His worst fear now was not the annihilation of the fleet but that she would die, leaving him soulless. He could not accept the idea he would only have her for a few months. All of the decorum he'd observed for decades as a military officer was left behind. Those who knew him long enough noticed that he didn't hold back displaying affection with the President the way he had with his wife. When he was near her, his hands were on her. Sometimes he'd rest his hand on the small of her back or on her waist or he'd take her hand in his. She let him kiss her goodbye when one would leave the other.
People who didn't know about her cancer were surprised and charmed that they were so in love they disregarded protocol. The small circle who knew about her cancer found it heart-wrenching.
When Adama played pyramids, he never bluffed. Now, to save his fleet and the woman he loved, he would have to carry off a monumental bluff. He called Ellen to his quarters. She was civil until she saw a pair of the President's earrings on a table next to the couch. A storm seemed to cross over her features.
"I really don't get what you see in her, Bill. I mean, if it was just sex, OK. But the rumor mill says you're actually in love with her."
His jaw tightened. He wouldn't discuss his love life with anyone, much less a Cylon.
Ellen faced off with him. "I mean, she's so cold and unavailable. Wouldn't you rather have someone who was warm and willing?" she offered as she slid her hand up his chest to his shoulder.
"I asked you here to talk about business, not relationships," he said as he moved away from her and took a chair.
Going directly to business without having sex was new for Ellen but she was game. She pulled out the chair across from him and sat down.
"I have an offer for you," he said cautiously.
Ellen leaned toward him, eager to figure out how she could take advantage of the situation.
"I'm willing to give you two things you want if you give me one thing I want."
"And what are those things?" Ellen asked smugly, still deluding herself that he wanted her.
"I have the way to Earth and an FTL-capable raider," he disclosed.
Ellen sat up straight. This was the Holy Grail and wine to go with it. "And what do I have that you want?" she asked as enticingly as possible as she rubbed her foot against his leg.
"A way to cure cancer."
Ellen froze. He knew she was Cylon.
Adama saw the murderous wheels turning in her head and he spoke to draw her off. "You show my doc how to cure cancer and I'll give you the way to Earth and the raider…when the cure works."
Ellen felt betrayed that her mission brief didn't tell her he had cancer. She wondered if she was more isolated than she thought from the rest of her kind. Had they sacrificed her as diversion for the humans? If she was on her own, she needed the two things he offered more than ever.
"Well?" Adama pushed, ready to close the deal or draw the weapon he had holstered to the bottom of the table.
"What kind of cancer do you have?"
"It's not me. Breast cancer."
He didn't have to say anything else. She knew it was the human who had the love she was unable to inspire. "I'll cure her but I'll do it myself. Keep the doctor out of it," she said petulantly.
"I'm not going to let you operate on my…on her," he sputtered in anger.
"Careful, Bill. You almost said 'wife'," she needled. No matter how much she hated the President for having love when she didn't, she couldn't afford to pass up this deal, especially now that Adama knew she was a Cylon. "But she won't marry you while she's got a fatal disease, will she?"
"Take my original offer or leave it." He was gambling she would take it. Otherwise, he'd have to try to kill her before she killed him. He wasn't sure how the repercussions would play out after that except that there would be more death.
"Alright, Bill. I'll give the doctor what he needs to cure your precious President but no one else can know about our deal, especially Saul."
"Agreed," he said without betraying the rush of relief he felt.
It turned out the Chamalla was the right base ingredient to cure the cancer but one of it's root proteins had to be extracted and catalyzed to come up with the right chemical reaction to stem and reverse the cancer cells. She added a synthetic compound from her own blood to accelerate the process by dissolving the tumors. The sooner she cured her nemesis, the sooner she'd get her ship and destination. Ellen turned the drugs over to the doctor with instructions for administration.
In eight days, Laura Roslin was cancer-free. It was too good for her to believe. She questioned whether the doctors screening methods were any more reliable than Baltar's. Adama had not told her the cure was part of the deal with Ellen. He didn't want to get her hopes up in case Ellen was lying. The doctor told her he'd had a breakthrough with the Chamalla and wanted to test a new application of it on her.
When the doctor called to tell her it was a success, she was stunned. In somewhat of a daze, she called Adama and asked him to come over to Colonial One when he had the time. He made the time immediately.
She was at her desk when he arrived, going over a speech with Billy. She hadn't expected him to be so quick. Looking up, she gave him a dazzling smile and took off her glasses.
"You rang?" he asked with anticipation. Her warm demeanor reassured him the doctor gave her clean bill of health.
As she got up to greet him she said, "We'll pick this up later, Billy." Since she kept her eyes on the commander the whole time, Billy knew he'd better get out of there quickly before the fireworks started. Over the last few weeks, people who were around these two sensed the powerful sexual undertow running beneath any surface conversation when they were together. For marginal romantic swimmers like Billy, it was a frightening thing.
Before Billy even got the newly installed door shut behind him, she'd taken him in an embrace and was kissing him with gusto. "I have good news," she murmured into his ear. "It's incredible, but the doctor cured me! I'm 100 healthy," she gushed joyfully.
Adama tightened his hold on her. "Thank the gods," he sighed in relief. When he pulled back to caress her face, she saw the tears threatening to spill from his eyes. She wasn't in the mood to be serious. She wanted to celebrate. Picking up on her irrepressible happiness, he dared her, "Prove it."
Grinning, she pushed him back toward her desk. "I have this desk that needs christening…"she said as she unfastened his coat. Once she got his coat off, she pulled his undershirt up while he unbuttoned her blouse. Adama was surprised at her new-found strength when she pushed him back onto the desk. He slid his hands around her waist and unzipped her skirt. As she moved up on the desk to straddle his waist, he pulled her skirt off.
She held his shoulders down. For a moment, she held position, allowing him to take in the sight of her in just her lace bra and panties, dominating him. He reached up to her but she pinned his shoulder back down and leaned forward to kiss his neck. If he wanted to, he could overpower her, but he didn't have the inclination. Her aggressiveness was one of the things that made her such a good lover.
Laura ran her nails from his shoulder down his chest and followed the trail with her lips. Adama ran his hands from the backs of her knees up the backs of her thighs. He wanted to kiss her on the lips again but when he rose toward her she barred his movement with her forearm across his neck. She continued her trail of kisses down his stomach. He stroked his hands up and down her back in response.
Billy had to reschedule four appointments planned for the next two hours as Commander Adama and President Roslin wrinkled and tore all of the paperwork on her desk. He thought maybe the President's stamina had to do with the drugs but that didn't explain how Adama was able to hold sessions this long. Maybe, he thought, this is what happens when titans make love instead of fighting.
In the afterglow, Husher told her the deal he'd made with Ellen included the cure. Indignant that he kept her in the dark, she pushed herself up from his side to glare down at him. She felt foolish for going on as if it was news that she was cured. Perhaps there was less trust between them than she'd thought. She got off the desk and headed for the shower in silence, pointedly shutting the door behind her.
Adama put on his boxers and followed her anyway. Pleading his case, he said he didn't trust Ellen at all and wouldn't have been able to stand raising Laura's hopes then dashing them. "I promise never to keep any military secrets from you but I can't make the same promise for personal secrets," he said over the noise of the shower.
"In that case, Commander, it would be best if we didn't have a personal relationship," she said coolly from inside the shower. When she finished, she wrapped a towel around herself and emerged to find him blocking her path.
"I'm fairly tough," he said in a low voice, "But I won't be able to tell you anything that would hurt you." After a pause when he engaged her defiant eyes with his own, he admitted, "I love you too much."
No one else had ever been able to make her abandon her position when she was angry. She'd never loved anyone, however, as much as she loved Husher. When he admitted she was his weakness, he became hers. She stepped toward him and rested her head on his shoulder as he wrapped his arms tightly around her. "I love you too," she said quietly.
Gently, he took her face in his hands and kissed her with slow commitment. Disbelieving he could get so aroused again so quickly, he stopped stroking her bare back while he was still able. Even when he was a young fighter pilot stud, he was too exhausted after a couple hours of sex to be interested in having it again. Maybe making love was different. "I have to go set up our half of the deal," he said with regret.
Laura nodded and smiled. "It's probably good that you leave now anyway. Billy's imagination is undoubtedly working double overtime by now," she joked.
Elated that Ellen actually delivered on her half of the bargain, Husher went directly from his "proof of life" meeting with the President to the pilot's ready room. He opened a ciphered supply locker and pulled out a flight suit and helmet. He laid it on the back chair as he said he would do. Quickly, he took the piece of paper from his pocket with the false markers for the path to Earth on it and zipped it in the breast pocket of the flight suit. Then he went to the CIC and ordered the guards in the hanger where the raider was kept to stand down. His cover story was Apollo was going to do a test flight with a payload that was classified beyond their clearances.
Apollo agreed to let Starbuck tie him up in the ready room later so that Col Tigh would believe Ellen had made her escape by drugging him and taking his place. Once again, Starbuck enjoyed her role in this covert operation immensely.
Human Ellen didn't know how to fly but Cylon Ellen had the knowledge in her software. When she took off in the middle of the graveyard shift, the mission manager assumed it was the super secret mission Apollo was supposed to be executing. Coordinates and payloads were masked on the mission plan.
The second she was off, Starbuck called up to the CIC on an open channel and said she saw Ellen get in the raider instead of Lee. She said she got there too late to stop her. Adama waited until the watch officer shouted that the raider made an FTL jump to order the fleet to do the same so the Cylons couldn't find them.
After the jump, Adama had a patrol of security police hunt for Lee. When they found him, everything would go in a written report Col Tigh could read later. Everything that happened in the CIC would be in the watch officer's log for his consumption too.
Everything was going as planned, which worried him. Plans usually only stayed in tact until the second the operations started. When he looked over at the navigation station to get a feel for where they were, he was shocked.
Less than a light year from their new course was a quasar pair. Before he even checked, he knew, there was an asteroid belt on the opposite side of them from the quasar pair. He stared at the display for a few moments, disbelieving their luck. Maybe there was more to this changing destiny thing the President spoke of.
He moved back to the command station and dialed her. "Madam President, do you have time to come over to the CIC? There's something I'd like to show you."
Since they were using a secure line, she felt free to say, "We've run out of desks, haven't we?"
Suppressing a smile, he replied, "This is something on the navigation display. And there's always another desk," he added.
"In that case, I'll be right over," she said before hanging up.
When she arrived, he showed her the quasar pair and the asteroid belt. She could tell they were significant to him but didn't know why. He announced so the whole CIC could hear, "This is the first road sign to Earth. We're on our way."
Jubilant cheers broke out and the President kissed him right there in front of everyone. It would be a long, dangerous journey to Earth, but his traveling companion might make the trip better than the destination.
End Notes:
On the weirdness of things: I can't use William or Bill for Adama because my father's name is William and he goes by Bill. It would just be too weird to write the scenes I want to write using that name. On top of that, his father's name, like William Adama's was Joseph. In addition, my father was an 0-5 in the service (equivalent to commander rank) and I am now following in his footsteps in the same service. My brother was also a pilot in the service but he is now out and thankfully alive. Currently, I'm an XO.
Projection: I'm a sleepwalker, so I gave that attribute, if only temporarily, to the heroine. No coincidence there, just projection.
Big thanks to the following folks for encouraging me to keep writing despite the hours I'm working in my new position. Special thanks to LilStrawbaby for her help with a real colonel. Mahalo Nui Loa to all of you!
A Lee En
Casper23
Codedriver
Gothic Minerva
Grace O'Malley
Indiana Jones Fan
Innogen
LilStrawbaby
MK in La La Land
Mondavis
Sinj
Shez
Witchcat
