Admiral Cain's XO told Billy the Admiral would be coming for an office call rather than asking him if the President would see her. To get around the protocol, the XO said President Roslin asked to see Admiral Cain. While true, it skirted the fact that the President asked to see her several times but she only responded when it suited her own agenda.

LT Gaeta woke Commander Adama with the message that Admiral Cain wanted him to come to a meeting with the President (who, unbeknown to Gaeta, was sleeping next to him) in an hour.

"About what?"

"The prisoners, Sir."

"Thank you, Mr. Gaeta. Tell ops to get a shuttle ready."

"Aye, Sir."

Commander Adama turned to wake the President but lingered for a moment to look at her. She was so beautiful with her dark hair in waves on the pillow and the most serene expression on her face. Pain shot through his chest when he thought how little time he had left with her. He resolved then and there to take desperate measures. He considered them unthinkable until now. Slim as the chance of success was, he could think of no other way to save her.

"Laura," he whispered into her ear to wake her. She did not respond. He kissed her on the cheek. "Time to get up."

"Mmmm?"

Adama smiled at her drowsiness. "Admiral Cain has finally come around. We're scheduled to see her in an hour."

Laura Roslin rolled toward him and stretched under his gaze as she reluctantly opened her eyes. "Does she know I spent the last couple of days corrupting one of her officers?"

"No, and I don't think we should bring that up either."

"OK, but she doesn't strike me as someone who's easily shocked."

"She is easily angered, though. Besides," he offered to change the subject, "she wants to talk about the prisoners."

The President kissed him and sat up. "Well, I don't have much to say about that," she remarked as she wrapped herself in his robe and walked over to the head. "They are all strictly subject to the military justice system."

"Do you want me to go alone?" he asked as he got out of bed and poured some water into glasses.

"No, I'll go. Maybe we can tackle the supply issue when we're done with the prisoner issue," she said as she reappeared in the doorway. She crossed her arms and leaned on the frame. "Are you coming in?"

"I'll wash your back if you wash mine," Adama joked as he followed her into the shower.

To everyone's surprise, the prisoners Admiral Cain wanted to discuss weren't the ones subject to court martial. She intended to kill both of the Cylon prisoners since they weren't yielding any intel and were increasingly troublesome. This meeting served only to verify that they didn't think they could get any more out of the prisoner on Galactica before she disposed of it.

"I still want to do some medical research on it," Adama said firmly, careful to match the Admiral's pronoun, dehumanizing the Cylon. "We're short on medical support and long on injuries, so I need all the resources I can get."

President Roslin considered this reasonable but actually sided with the Admiral in wanting them gone as soon as they weren't of value.

"Alright, but wrap up whatever you want to do in two weeks. I've got some offensive plans in the works and I want any potential internal threats neutralized before we launch operations. Madame President, I'm glad we see eye to eye on this," she remarked with a tinge of surprise that they agreed on something.

Adama had to escort the Admiral back to her shuttle. Then he went directly to find the doctor.

"If I hadn't worked on you myself, I'd wonder if those bullets hadn't hit you in the brain instead of the chest. Do you know how miniscule the chances of this working are?"

"Can you give me a better alternative?"

After rubbing his chin and taking a drag on his cigarette, the doctor admitted he didn't have any other hope to offer. So once again, he'd be in on an impossible medical mission, breaking new ground that no one would ever know about. He was too old to be working on the anatomically mysterious. More than ever, he regretted not staying with that dancer on Gemini instead of accepting the retirement cruise on Galactica.