"Those people were bowing out there." Erica paces slightly after distributing Laura Roslin onto the bed, the only one in the room, "They kneeled right at your feet. Do they always do that?"
"Some believe I'm still the dying leader." Laura pushes herself up onto the bed more, "That's not even the worst of it." Her voice sounds weak, causing it to strike a chord with the young woman, "Some other cancer patients will come into my tent, or...area...whatever, and have me touch their foreheads in a blessing. It gets pretty...weird."
"Sorry." She moves to the older woman, helping her, "Are you comfortable? What can I get for you?"
"I'm fine." The President continues to hold onto the young woman, needing her close. "I'm nearing the end of my days and...my mother, when she was about to die from her cancer, was all about the fields of Elysium. That she was going to cross the river and...be at peace. That there was a life after this one."
"Your mother died of cancer?" Erica furrows her brow slightly, not realizing this may go far deeper.
Laura nods, "And her mother before her. So, please, I beg of you, receive routine check ups. I...I expect the same to happen to you that happened to all of us, but...I hope you're able to combat it better than we have. Take care of it earlier."
"Cottle made sure I had a physical today." The young woman allows the elder to continue to hold onto her arm, almost needing the same herself, "Poked and prodded. I'm curious if there was anything else he found besides our biological link. Maybe I'll start growing a third arm or something interesting."
"He can be pretty secretive." The older woman smiles softly, "But I trust him with my life...literally. I sometimes think I might even trust him more with some things than I do Bill."
"You and the Admiral are quite close."
Laura nods slowly, "He and I...we had the opportunity to be together a long time ago. I'm sorry I didn't jump at the chance then, but...we make up for it now, trust me." She hums a soft chuckle which breaks into a cough before finally getting situated, "Did you say before that you're married?"
"Yes." Erica brightens up a little, "One of the many New Caprican marriages that happened down there. We fought in the Resistance together."
"We were closer than we thought all this time."
"That we were." The young woman continues, "One of the many times that the cylons tried to kill me, he was a part of the group. I saw a One model light a match and flick it at him. Just...he burned up. I caught the tail end of it. They must have drenched him in gasoline or some other ignition fluid." She swallows, "Something came over me and I attacked the old man. I...literally ripped his throat out."
"You did what needed to be done." Laura absently stroked the young woman's tattoo clad forearm, "It wasn't the prettiest way, or the best method, but it had to be done."
"What did you do?" Erica Tejera broke free of her plastic tie restraints, something that was taught to her a very long time ago when she was in the academy. She only played nice to see what the cylons were up to, allowing them to cuff her, allowing them to transport her.
Cavil smirked toward her, a cigarette resting between his lips, "Just taking care of a problem."
"You frakking piece of shit." She tackled him, hearing the firearms of the weapons around her ready themselves to take her out. She dug her nails, which weren't terribly long, but long enough, into the space of his neck. The anger overwhelmed her, something she's never felt before. Her other hand continually punched him at the temple. The ordeal causing the cylon's blood to cover her clothing. She absently wiped her blood laden hand across her face, pushing away a stray hair, when she realizes she must have severed the jugular vein, causing her to look like some sort of ancient Arelon warrior.
Simon cried out in pain, writhing in his own skin. "Someone-" His guttural cries permeated the space around them.
Gaia dashed toward the man, kneeling beside him. She didn't think he was going to last much longer, but she took his hand into her own. "You're not alone. We're going to get you help."
"Hurts." He groaned loudly.
"I know it does, but I'm not leaving you...not any time soon." She shook her head.
Simon began to shiver, "You...you hurt..."
Erica didn't realize she was covered in cylon blood. She glanced down to what he was looking at before she shook her head, "No. No, I'm fine. This is all just...decoration."
"And after an ordeal like that, he survived?" Laura lies down more, her nude head resting on the pillow at the top of the bunk.
"He did." Gaia smiles softly, "It was all before the cylons passed the paperwork to Baltar. They did it secretly. People would go missing and no one knew what was happening." She explains before glancing over at her biological mother, "You're really tired. Why don't you take a little nap?"
"That's all I do is sleep." The older woman explains, "Don't leave, please." She does not want to let this younger woman out of her sight, but knew she was being ridiculous about the whole thing.
"You'll have to try harder than a nap to get rid of me." The younger woman begins to slowly stroke her biological mother's scalp. Erica believes this is what Admiral Adama wanted. He thought maybe she would feel something towards this other woman based solely on biological coincidence. He was right, but...was the feeling genuine, or was it an herbal cigarette making her feel that way?
"Do you ever wonder, if there was one decision you made that was the one thing that completely changed the course of your life?" Laura relaxed with Bill under the stars on New Caprica, "Just...one decision..."
"Every day." Bill held onto her gently, though not too closely, "My father wanted me to be a lawyer, like him. He begged me not to go into the military. My mother...that was a different story." He smirked slightly, "What's your choice?"
She did not talk about her daughter. She could not. That was her first she would think differently about, but she wasn't ready to tell him about the baby, or Daniel. "I would have not slept with Richard Adar." Laura chuckled to herself, knowing Bill was surprised. "It was hard to...work with his wife after we had..." She sighs softly, "And I hate that, as a woman, I did that to another woman. He was scum though."
"I'm just glad he brought you to us. If he didn't ask you...if you weren't sleeping with him, you wouldn't have been our President." Bill answered honestly.
Laura blushed, blinking slowly, "Thank you." She was overcome, not expecting his tenderness. If he wasn't who he was, she would have tried to kiss him. Instead, she snuggled up closer toward his chest as they continued watching the stars.
