Okay, here's some Monday morning madness. I didn't think there'd be anything to follow Brick Wall Surprises, but this popped into my head this weekend while I was away, and so I present to you...

Another Brick Wall Incident
By: Mariel

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The road before her had been clear: President of the Twelve colonies; dying leader prophesied in the scriptures. She'd known where she was going and what lay ahead, and had felt very prepared.

She hadn't been prepared, however, to run into a brick wall named Adama.

In fact, she was pretty sure he hadn't even been on her map.

She certainly hadn't been prepared to crash into him a second time running last night. But here he was, for the second morning in a row... And here she was, smashed up against him like a wrecked car against a brick wall.

Again.

History repeating itself.

She smirked and stretched a bit, loving every moment of it.

This brick wall of a man, this solid, sometimes stolid man had captured her heart, ruthlessly awakened her libido, and left her uncertain about how to handle the situation.

But in spite of that uncertainty, here she was, her legs entwined with his, her head on his shoulder, his arms around her...She wasn't sure where she ended and he began, and she liked it that way. That she'd crashed into not just a body, but into an unexpected emotion as well, merely added a delicious, new dimension to her confusion.

She was, she had to admit, a total wreck where he was concerned.

And she was okay with that, too.

"You're thinking again, aren't you?" His low, bearish voice rumbled in her ear.

She jumped slightly. There it was again: that just-frakked tone in his voice. It held lightness and indulgence and a sense of all-is-right-with-the-world-ness that was unmistakable.

Hard to believe it came from the same stoic, staid man who guided the Fleet.

"You're awake," she finally said.

"Apparently so," he said as his hands glided across her skin.

"Bill, we've got to stop this."

He sighed. "Laura, we have people to see, places to go, decisions to make. We have to wake up sometime."

Gods. Here we go again, she thought. It'd take an hour or more before she got anything serious out of him.

But it was beyond her not to try.

"You know what I mean. I'm not talking about our waking up. This is two nights in a row. Two mornings in a row. We were just having dinner, for godssakes. How are we going to explain my not making it home this time?"

He tightened his arms around her. "Dessert took a while," he said happily.

She resisted the urge to slap him.

"I should never have said yes. What on Picon was I thinking?"

What she'd been thinking...

She often asked him that. He couldn't figure out why, when the answer was so obvious...

"You were thinking that you wanted the pleasure of my company. Of course, you may have stopped thinking," he said, "sometime after we moved to the sofa - but I believe that's when my company got particularly pleasurable, so I think it all balances out."

She bit her tongue. Hard. He was insufferable when he was in this sort of self-satisfied mood.

"Bill-"

The telephone rang. Reaching up over his head, Bill grasped hold of the receiver and brought it to his ear.

"Adama," he said in a raspy voice.

He paused as he listened to the voice on the other end, then said, "Let me check."

He waited a long moment with his hand over the mouth piece, then removed it and said, "Yes, she's here." He paused to listen, then said, "Fine. I'll let her know she should expect you."

Laura looked at him curiously. "What was that about?"

"It was your assistant, wondering if you were here. Apparently the Representative from Geminon wanted to see you first thing this morning. When Tory went in to ask you if you could be ready a little earlier than usual, she discovered that you weren't there. Apparently, it took her a while to track you down."

"Frak!" Laura exclaimed. Rolling over Bill, she tried to make it off the bed.

He held her on top of him.

"Where are you going?"

"To get dressed, dammit!" she hissed.

"Why are you so upset?" he asked.

She looked down at him. "The last thing I need is for her to know what I was doing last night!"

Bill sighed. She was so anal about people finding out. In his experience, the more you worried about something, the more likely it was to happen. The Fates worked that way. It was never a good idea to give them ideas...

"No reason she should," Bill said, his voice unconcerned.

She stiffened. "You reserved the guest quarters for me last night? Again?"

"Of course not. You said we couldn't use that excuse too often, remember?"

"So what's your excuse for me this time?"

"I haven't thought of one, but I will."

Laura glared at him. His confidence made her want to hit him.

Making a movement that let Bill know she still wanted to get up, he obligingly released her and she slid her feet to the floor.

"I've got to get dressed," she repeated as she dragged Bill's coverlet off the bed and wrapped it around herself.

He nodded. "My loss, but I understand. Tory'll be here in about thirty minutes. She's leaving Colonial One now. You might want to shower - there's time."

With a stressed exclamation, Laura headed towards the bathroom, Bill's coverlet dragging along the floor behind her.

She emerged from her shower ten minutes later, in search of her clothes.

"They're on the chair, over there," he said as he passed her on his way to shower and shave.

She looked, and sure enough, her suit was folded on the seat of the chair and her blouse hung neatly on the back of it.

At least she wouldn't look as rumpled as she had the previous morning. Clothes left lying on the floor all night had a look to them that screamed things she didn't want screamed.

Wondering when he had had the time to take care of her clothes, she set about putting them on. She was straightening her skirt when he emerged from the head, a towel wrapped around his middle. He walked to his closet.

She paused to watch him, and felt a moment of regret for snapping at him. Giving in to an impulse she figured she'd likely regret, she walked over and made him face her. She slid her hands up his bare, damp chest and said in a tone that came out only a little more seductive than she intended, "Thanks for taking care of my clothes."

"You're welcome," he said. Looking down at her, he smiled and then kissed her softly. "It was the least I could do."

Liking the thrill his kiss sent through her, she lifted her head and met his lips with her own again. This time, their kiss deepened. He held her against himself more tightly and she wrapped her arms around his neck and arched against him.

Showered bodies, freshly brushed teeth, naked skin...

Gods...

Finally breaking apart, she said breathlessly, "Well...I guess I should let you get dressed..."

He bent his head and murmured against her neck, "Or perhaps you should let me undress you."

A laugh bubbled out of her. "You never stop, do you!"

Before he could respond, a sharp knock on the entry hatch reminded them of life beyond his quarters.

Bill looked towards the entrance. "That will be Tory. You answer, while I finish dressing," he told her calmly.

Laura nodded and with her heart beating an unsteady tattoo, went to do so.

Tory stepped through the hatch. "Madam President," she said with a nod. Her face was solemn, her dark suit forbidding, and her hair was swept up in a tight, impeccable bun. Laura thought she looked somewhat like an executioner...

"Tory," Laura said, wondering if she could perhaps get through this without an explanation for her presence here at this hour of the morning.

"No one called to notify me that you would be staying on Galactica for the night," Tory said, obviously affronted by that fact.

"No, I'm sorry about that."

"The Representative from Geminon was surprised when I had to admit that I didn't know where you were."

"Yes, well..." Laura searched her mind for a lie, any lie, to explain her presence here.

A fully-dressed Admiral turned the corner from his rack area and interjected smoothly, "The President fell asleep after dinner last night." His eyes travelled to the sofa, where a pillow and a blanket lay strewn against its soft leather.

As Tory turned to look at the evidence, Laura turned to look at Bill.

"I did," she said.

Turning to Tory, she repeated more firmly, "Yes, I did. I fell asleep. Unexpectedly. Went out like a light, in fact. I-"

The sound of Bill clearing his throat was her cue to shut up.

She did.

Tory's eyes narrowed slightly as she looked at the Admiral. He returned her look with guileless blue eyes.

"Asleep," Tory said, the tone of her voice making her disbelief a little more obvious than Laura would have liked.

He nodded. "We had dinner, and planned to have coffee before the President left for Colonial One. I returned after making it and discovered that President Roslin had nodded off," he lied easily. "Respecting our need for a well-rested leader, I flipped her feet up and covered her with a blanket." He turned amused eyes towards Laura. "I thought she was simply taking a quick nap to refresh herself after a long day, but 'power nap' doesn't appear to be one of the things our President has in her repertoire."

Tory's stance eased as her eyes turned towards her boss. The President had been working long days recently, and she'd been looking more tired than usual ...and what the Admiral said was true: she'd learned that any time the President said she was taking a quick nap, she usually slept for a few hours.

"You could have woken her," she said, her tone slightly accusing.

"Yes, but I fell asleep myself. At my age, one does," he explained, his expression bland.

Laura made a strangled sound and quickly looked down to fiddle with the clasp on her suit jacket. Tory eyed them both suspiciously.

"Okay, then," she said. "It's just important that there be no cause for rumour. I'm sure you understand."

They both nodded, letting her know that they understood. Completely.

Her eyes darting between them one last time, they finally settled on the President. "Are you ready to leave, Madame President? I'll schedule the Representative in later this morning, if that it all right with you."

"That would be fine, Tory," Laura said in her warmest presidential tone. "And I'll be finished here as soon as I have a word with the Admiral, if you don't mind."

Tory knew that this was the President's polite way of dismissing her so that she could speak with the Admiral privately. That Roslin felt the need to do so now made her strangely suspicious, but she nodded, and left.

As soon as the hatchway door closed, Laura turned on Bill.

"How in Hades did you come up with that!"

Bill shrugged and stepped towards her. "A lucky guess. Power naps are a guy thing. Neither of my wives and none of the other women I've known have ever been able to keep a nap down to fifteen minutes. I figured you'd be no different."

She snorted, not sure she liked the mention of his wives, or of the 'other women' he'd known.

"I'm glad your wealth of experience has provided you with such useful information."

"And so you should be," he said, looking very pleased with himself. Seeing her chagrin, however, he quickly back-peddled a bit. "It really was just a lucky guess," he assured her. "Let's be happy it worked."

She relaxed slightly. He was right - they should be glad it worked. And when his hand reached up and softly touched her cheek, she couldn't help but relent and step closer to him.

"Very clever to plant the blanket and pillow," she smiled, letting her hand drift up to his shoulder.

He reached out with his other hand and drew her against him. "Thank you."

"But we do have to be a lot more careful," she said.

He lifted her chin and bent his head to kiss her. She was still anal, but he was sure she'd come to find this easier and easier. That was a good thing.

As soon as her arms slid around his neck, however, he broke the kiss. "There's only so much of this a man can take, Laura. You need to put on your shoes and leave soon, or she'll be in here wondering what's keeping you."

She smiled, and turned to put on her shoes. Once she was sure she was ready to leave, she smiled a goodbye and had almost reached the door when his voice stopped her. "We'll be careful Laura. You've got to stop worrying so much, though."

She turned and looked at him. He looked so just-frakked it wasn't funny. She wondered if she looked the same way. Wouldn't everyone in the fleet recognise it and put two and two together?

He saw the look of worry cross her face and knew its source. "No, Laura, people can't tell what we've been doing just by looking at us..." He grinned. "They'll just be happy we're in such a good mood today."

She grunted. "Your people, maybe."

With that, she pulled open the hatch and left.

Bill grinned at the empty hatchway and turned to his desk.

The woman was completely adorable.

And he really did think she might get the hang of this.

Eventually.

End