AT long last!!
I return.
Here we are with the next instalment. I've not been writing very much at the moment which is odd considering I've finally got my new computer, but I just never seem to be at home very much anymore.
Don't actually know how I'm managing that to be honest.
Anyways, bit of Bill and Laura raunch for ya in this here chappie and it only gets hotter from here on in.
If ya can't stand the heat stay out of the genealogical department!!
Reviews are love.
Chapter 4: Flattery Will Get You Everywhere
"So, you enjoying yourself?"
Laura froze, almost guiltily, in the action of sliding the silky shirt from her shoulders. She glanced at the thin sheet of curtain separating them and let herself shiver at the sound of Bill's voice slipping through the material to scrape over her nerve endings like a physical thing.
"Enjoying myself?"
Paff, paff, paff, bap, paff!
Laura listened to him beat an innocent punch bag and work up a sweat. He smelled good. Even with the curtain between them she could scent the clean male aroma of him. It slid into her body and turned her internal heating to high. She swallowed hard. Only a thin curtain between them. Laura deliberately rasped the zipper of her new pants down and slid them off along the curves of her legs. She was acutely aware of standing there in nothing but her underwear while Bill was mere feet away. She folded the pants and brushed her hand against the curtain, smirking a little when she heard a hitch in his breathing and a scuff of his fist not entirely connecting with the punch bag.
"Yeah, trying on your new wardrobe. It's been a while since you had new clothes isn't it?" His voice sounded a little strangled.
"Are you saying I'm out of fashion?"
"Not at all. You are the haut couture of a post apocalyptic society."
"Damn straight." Laura muttered and picked up her last suit. It was the one that Colton had designed for her and Laura was beginning to suspect that the woman was intentionally trying to provoke a reaction of one of the Three F's from Bill. If not, she just had raunchy taste in suits. Laura held the jacket up and smiled. The fabric was silky soft, the colour a deep red and the skirt was…well, it was going to be a tight fit and Laura very much doubted that she could bend over in it.
In the interest of public decency laws, it was a good thing that the President didn't have to do a lot of bending over…Laura immediately shied away from where that thought could lead her. For instance, what she could bend over and who it might be for….not thinking about it!
Colton had been right about the urges that were swimming through her bloodstream. She hadn't felt like this since she had been a teenager and had ogled the high school men's swim team at every opportunity she got. Even then, it had never been this intense.
Laura heaved a sigh and moved to dress in the suit, not entirely sure that it would fit her, her sense of self was slightly skewed given how she had just lost a great deal of weight aesthetically. That was to say that she looked like the slim tight bodied twenty something she had been thirty odd years ago but she actually weighed nearly twice that of a regular person of the same size. Nanotech was heavy stuff in all forms of the word.
She wiped the smile from her face and resolved to just get dressed and get it over with. She was teasing herself as much as him after all.
On the other side of the curtain, Bill was very much aware that he was being toyed with. Either that, or the universe was conspiring to drive him insane. He beat the bag a little harder and listened to the rush of material sliding over her skin. She was getting dressed. Bill's eyes glazed briefly as he thought about how much he would give in order to witness such an act. Because where there was dressing, there would eventually be undressing too.
Bill missed the punch bag.
Again.
"Have you thought about what we're going to do tomorrow?" It had been decided that they couldn't put off telling the fleet any longer. Now that they were completely recovered and no longer a danger to themselves and others at any rate.
"Ummm…yes." He listened to the shimmy of material sliding over her skin and the growl of a zipper. She must be doing up her skirt. Was she still without a shirt? What colour was the skirt? Was it pale, showing off the dark of her hair, or was it a deep colour to emphasise the porcelain of her skin? Bill dragged himself back into the conversation when she next spoke and tried to convince himself that fantasising about her was not a good idea.
"Colton will have to explain the scientific bit. Lee's briefing her on it now, well, how to be a little more press core friendly at any rate. The plan is that she and Edric will be introduced by Lee and then she'll explain what went on as an authority on the subject and then she can introduce us and we'll deal with the fallout."
Bill returned to his enthusiastic beating of the punch bag.
"Is it wise to entrust the success of this plan to a woman that can barely string two civil words together for someone she likes never mind the press core who, and I quote, are 'nothing more than a flock of heathen vultures who should be dragged out onto the hanger deck and shot as a civic service'."
Laura was silent a moment.
"Are you sure it wasn't you that said that, Bill?"
He scowled at the curtain.
"Now, now, don't look at me like that. It gives the impression that you don't like me and it's very important that the Admiral of the Fleet and the President have good relations." She had a slightly mocking tone, even though she couldn't see him but still knew his expression. Bill wondered if she knew exactly what kind of better-than-good relations he was interested in having with aforementioned President.
"Couldn't have that now, could we?" He had stopped beating the bag and was now completely focused on staring straight at the curtain. Wishing that one of his new abilities had been x-ray vision.
She was silent another long moment.
"You know, Bill, I'm not sure this suit is entirely Presidential material. Would you come in here and give me your professional opinion?"
Bill narrowed his eyes and proceeded with caution. She was up to something, she always was, and if she wasn't then she was planning on being up to something in the near future. He approached the curtain cautiously and pulled it open, stepping inside. Grey light washed over him through the curtain. He looked at Laura and went completely still.
"What do you think?" Laura planted her hands on her very slim waist and canted her hip at an angle.
Think? Yeah right. Not when all blood flow had abruptly decided that it needed to be south of the equator. His gaze rolled right down her and then climbed straight back up again. Savouring every inch. When he got back to her face, he could just make out the faint flush scoring high over her cheeks. He could hear the quickening of her heartbeat and smirked to know that she wasn't entirely in control where he was concerned. Which was immeasurably comforting since he had given up control to her a long time ago.
"Presidential…isn't the first word that comes to mind." He said slowly and moved towards her. He hadn't meant to go closer. He was liable to do something stupid, though enjoyable he was sure, if he got any closer. His feet were taking him towards her anyway. He prowled around her, viewing her from all angles and enjoying every second of it. His blood seemed to thicken, becoming honey in his veins, a beat that pulsed throughout his entire body. He was hungry for her. Looking down at the back of her neck, he decided it was time that he introduced her to that fact.
"What does come to mind then?" Laura tried very hard not to shiver. She could feel his eyes burning into her back, sliding down her spine and over her curves. She could sense that he was aroused, feel the heat coming off him at her back.
"Hmmm…" His voice rumbled in her ear, he must have been so close to her. "Flattering."
"Flattering?" She frowned a little bit at that, that was not what she had been expecting. She didn't know what she had been expecting…it wasn't entirely disappointed though. Perhaps he would elaborate.
"Yes. Flattering." Obviously comfortable in his word choice then. "It takes what's already there and…draws attention to it." He was in front of her and Laura looked up into his dark eyes, they were half lidded and he wasn't looking at her face, he was looking at her body, and damn if that didn't please her. "Like here," he reached up and trailed his finger down over the stitching of the lapels of the jacket. "The stitches is a different colour, you're not wearing a shirt to clutter the neckline so it naturally leads the eye down…and then back up again." His finger brushed over the button at her bust and trailed up the other lapel to her collar bone. This time Laura couldn't hold back her tiny shiver.
"What else?"
"The colour." His hand swept down over her arm, firm and hot. "Brings out the red in your hair, which in turn, brings out the green in your eyes." He looked up to meet her eyes and their gazes clashed like a physical thing. Hard, jarring and sensuous.
Laura's tongue swept out over her lower lip nervously and he watched every movement.
"Hmm." Was all she could manage to say.
"Then, of course, there's the skirt." He dropped to his knees in front of her and Laura whipped her head down to watch what he might do next. Her breath caught a little and she didn't even care that she was giving too much away.
"What about it?"
"It's much more fitted than your other skirts. Emphasises the fullness of your hips." His hands skimmed over said hips with an electrifying touch and Laura decided to forgive his male faux pas. "The length of your legs." His hands slid down the outside of her thighs to her knees and Laura's head tilted back, her fingers digging into her waist and her eyes fluttering closed. After heaving in a fortifying breath, she looked back down at him again. Trying to hear him over the galloping beat of her heart. "And here, the splits in the hem, mean you can move your legs more easily." He flattened his palms over the skin just above her knees and slid upwards, his thumbs sliding under the two parallel cuts in the material that allowed her to lengthen her stride. The slits ran over the top of her legs from the hem to mid thigh. "It also means, if someone's watching you move, then they can see a little bit more of you."
Laura was suddenly very intensely aware of how they were positioned, if someone had happened to throw back the curtain, not only would she be incredibly upset, but 'compromising' wouldn't even begin to cover it. Her standing, hands on her hips, the Admiral of the Fleet on his knees in front of her (which was a very heady thought now that it had a occurred to her), his hands spanning her thighs, his thumbs and the heels of his hands under the hem of her skirt and red hot on her skin. His grip tightened a little when he rose back to his full height, making sure to drag her skirt up a little bit as he did so, until he loomed over her.
"Anything else?" Gods she hoped so.
"Fishing for compliments, Madame President?"
"Only if you're on the on the other end of the rod," her gaze swept down the front of his body and then back up again, "Admiral."
He growled. Low and rumbling and vibrating through his chest to hers. A smirk kicked at his lips and he began to circle her again. Stopping right behind her until his breath rushed against her neck.
"The jacket." He finally decided. His hands went to her waist. "Nips in, right here, the perfect draw to your curves. Enough to drive a man to distraction." His hands slid down her sides, his fingers pushing under hers until he spanned her waist and she gripped his hands, fingers laced with his.
She tried to speak, Gods, she could barely breathe, but she had to ask.
"Speaking from experience?"
His grip tightened, he yanked her back so she made a small sound of surprise and her back was suddenly flush against his front. She swallowed hard and began to pant a tiny bit. Chest heaving against the flush fit of the jacket he was so busy laying praise on.
"No, Laura, nothing could drag my attention from you and you know it." He was talking into her ear, his voice sliding through her and turning her insides molten. His chin was brushing her shoulder, his lips just touching her ear with every word. "You shouldn't toy with me, you know. You don't know what you're playing with."
Now, that irritated her a little bit.
"I know your precious responsibilities will stop you before things get too interesting."
"Do I detect a hint of bitterness?" He was nuzzling her hair out of the way so he could brush his nose against her neck. She shivered and told herself that he was NOT charming and she shouldn't forgive him so quickly for giving her the brush off.
"What do you expect?" A small voice was yelling at her to shut up, strip off and pin him to the nearest flat surface and show him how commanding his Commander in Chief could be. She wanted to punish him a little bit first, though. "A couple of weeks ago you wouldn't have even been interested in me in a hypothetical situation and now that I have a cleavage that starts where my throat ends and the tightest ass in the entire fleet you're interested, seems a little shallow to me."
He growled at her again, teeth scoring against her skin for the briefest instant before he began to murmur sinful things into her ear once more.
"I have to agree, that your cleavage is fantastic, especially from this angle, and that your ass should have an award inscribed to it to acknowledge its status without peer, but there is nothing shallow about what I feel for you, have felt about you for a long time." His grip tightened on her hips and spun her around to face him so fast that she nearly stumbled in her new red 'frak me' heels. Her hands slapped up onto his chest to keep her balance when he dragged her even closer until they were flush against one another. If they wanted to get any closer, removal of clothing was necessary, and she wasn't entirely sure it wouldn't come to that.
She was beginning to think that it was dangerous indeed to toy with him.
"Now, are you going to let me kiss you or not?"
Her breath caught, her nails dug into his chest a little bit and his head bent to hers.
"Dad, I…oh." There was a shriek of metal on metal as the loops holding up the curtains were swept aside with the billowing of the material.
Laura shut her eyes to try and mask her irritation, though Bill did nothing to swallow his growl.
"I'm going to have to kill your son." She admitted with little regret.
"There's a queue." Bill grunted back and pried his hands away from her waist. There was nothing he'd like more than to punch his son out -again- but that might not be politic. He looked over to Lee. "What?"
"Your new, um, uniform is here." Lee gestured over his shoulder and seemed to realise that the tiny voice in the back of his head screaming at him was his survival instinct belatedly emerging. "Madame President." Lee greeted Laura, who was looking at him, no, glaring at him over her shoulder. He made his retreat at the first opportunity.
"Laura, I…"
"Yes, Bill, I know." She spun back to him, suddenly not wanting to hear it. She'd rather not have it quoted to her again. "Responsibilities, right?" She turned away from him and sashayed out from the grey cocoon of the curtain, the Ass Without Peer wiggling a little more in irritation at him as if to taunt him.
He scowled after her and almost took the crewman's hand off when he held out his new uniform to him. He shot a belatedly apologetic look at them but they were already scurrying for cover. Everybody knew that when the Admiral had That Look it was best to give him at least ten feet of play room. The circumstances of That Look usually being brought on in the company, or shortly afterwards, of the President was something that the crew knew better than to comment on if they didn't want to spend the rest of their life up close and personal with the sewage recycling facilities.
He shut the curtain with an irritated movement and tried to soothe himself with the familiarity of dressing in his uniform after an extended leave of absence.
Laura strode across the barracks and took propped a hip against the drawing desk that Colton was working at.
"Nice suit. Told you it would fit."
"Apparently it's very flattering."
"Hmm?" Colton finally dragged her attention away from her meticulous blue prints (the room that was to be her lab had finally been chosen and she was designing the whole thing herself) and looked up at Laura, taking off her glasses and laying them on the desk. "Am I detecting some tension?"
Laura shot her an irritated glance.
"Well, it does look very nice. I thought you wanted to make a grand entrance for the press thingy tomorrow?"
"Yes." Laura gritted.
"Then what's the problem?"
"I think we should add Lee to the 'Must Kill' list. Possibly before Baltar." Laura mused, glaring at the back of Lee's head. Really, though, what was the point of being President if you didn't get a little leeway when it came to air locking certain someones that happened to deserve it?
"Ah, were you and the admiral in congress when the small-and-annoying interrupted?"
"No!" Laura looked momentarily scandalised and then a little sulky. "Unfortunately."
She slapped Colton on the back of the head when the other woman began to chuckle. Which, of course, made her only laugh harder. At Laura's homicidal glance she managed to wrestle herself under control.
"I sympathise of course." She petted Laura's arm a little awkwardly. "On both matters of acute sexual frustration and the homicidal urges that Adama the Third seems to bring out in just about anyone." At Laura's look she continued. "Hey, looking at a woman who hasn't been laid in over sixty years and who has done her fair share of press conferences to explain complex science to the idiotic masses."
"I see that Lee hasn't quite succeeded in introducing you to the concept of tact and diplomacy." Laura said dryly.
"Oh, you know me, I'll be fantastic on stage." Colton was back to her blueprints, only half interested in the conversation now.
"Uh…huh." Laura did not sound reassured, she rarely was around Colton. "Are you nearly done?"
"Hmm…"
"What's this space here for?" Laura gestured to a box shaped inlet in the wall lines of the cleared room.
"Don't know. Not wide enough for one of the bigger desks, too narrow for one of those run around deals with the chair in the middle and…I have pretty much everything that I need. I think it's the appendix."
"What?"
"You know, it's there, but nobody knows why or what to do with it."
"Right." Laura said in her I-have-no-idea-what-you're-talking-about-but-I'll-say-I-do-for-a-peaceful-life tone.
"You know, you could always just….take matters in hand." It sounded so lascivious when Colton said it, even while trying to find something else to fit into the room's appendix space.
"You first. I saw Edric eyeing one of the nurse's in the medbay last time we went for a check-up."
The blue pencil snapped on the grid paper and Laura smirked.
"I should have known that, as a politician, you'd be a compulsive liar." Colton grumbled and laboriously began to sharpen a new point on her pencil with sandpaper since no one would let her have a knife. "And Edric Adama has me precisely where I want him. I'm a genius so it just isn't obvious right away. What's your excuse?"
"I don't need one. I'm the President." Laura sniffed and folded her arms over her chest. She glanced back over towards the curtain and her mouth dropped open.
"How's the fit, ladies?"
Colton turned to see what Laura was busy gaping at.
The Admiral of the Fleet had his new uniform and, obviously, Laura had just realised that all the fuss about men in uniforms wasn't just hype.
"Nice togs." Colton allowed. He was quite dashing, but she'd rather not have a black eye from a possessive President.
Laura was too busy stalking around her Admiral and eyeing him from every angle. She had always thought that Bill looked good in his uniform but…mee-OW! Made broad shoulders broader, trim hips trimmer and there was an ass worth ogling.
"Very flattering, Admiral." Laura allowed on a smirk. "My compliments to the tailor."
"Many thanks, Madam President." Edric joined the group and grinned down at her, then looked over at Colton.
Colton spun in her chair to ask Edric a question, her hand carrying her laboriously sharpened pencil up to slide it through the knot of her hair. Her eyes landed on Edric and his new uniform, the pencil flew out of her hand and she lunged to catch it, fumbling it once, catching it again and finally managing to grasp it. She cleared her throat and looked at him expectantly.
"Yes?" She was studiously ignoring the flush climbing her throat.
"Told you stitching wasn't useless." He smirked at her.
"It's still a girly hobby." Colton sniffed and turned back to her drawings.
"Well, your clothes are at the end of your bed." Edric said to the back of her head. She waved at him dismissively, not turning away from the blueprints. "I'm just gonna swing by the infirmary for a bit, I think Cottle wanted to ask me something." Edric backed away, watching Colton the whole time.
Her shoulders tensed but she still didn't turn.
Edric rolled his eyes, turned and strode away.
Bill and Laura watched the entire display with amusement and Laura ambled back over to lounge against Colton's desk again while Bill went off to have another talk to Lee about what was and what wasn't the proper procedure about interrupting a meeting between the President and the Admiral.
"Hmm, yes, exactly where you want him." Laura looked down at Colton. "It's truly inspiring to see a genius at work."
"It's all part of the game, Laura my child." Colton sat back and smirked, this time managing to get the pencil threaded through her hair. "Ta-dah!" She handed the finished blueprints to Laura for final inspection.
Laura scanned them and pretended to know what she was looking at. She frowned at the small box that Colton hadn't known what to do with two minutes previously.
"What's this here?"
Colton leant over to see what Laura was pointing at.
"It's a double rack." Colton said as innocently as she could manage. Which wasn't very well.
Laura arched a brow at her.
"Well, it seems only fair that I sleep in the lab. I'll be working late there most days anyway and I don't want to oust someone else from their rack."
Laura's lips twitched.
"And I prefer a double rack, I couldn't have one on the Cerberus so I'm taking the chance now." Colton twirled a finger in a loose strand of hair straying from the knot at her nape.
Laura was now working very hard not to grin.
"And I- -look, I don't need a reason, okay, I'm a genius, let's just leave it at that." Colton lent on the desk and rested her chin on her folded arms. She scowled. "Shut up."
"I didn't say anything." Laura shook her head with all the innocence she could muster. Managing to hold onto her control with her fingernails. Her jaw ached from not laughing.
"You were thinking it."
