Almost as soon as the hatch had closed behind her, Laura sagged against the door, bending over. Her clenched fists slammed into her mouth, muffling the strangled sob that was trying to escape her lips. She reached blindly behind her, locking the hatch, before crumbling to the floor beside her briefcase. Clutching her hand to her heart, she gasped as an image of Maya, tearful and terrified, assaulted her. Had there been a firing squad? Had she known what was going to happen to her? Had they allowed her to hold Isis one last time before taking her away.

Laura buried her head in her hands, shoulders heaving with silent, unspoken sobs. My fault, this is all my fault. Maya is dead because of my actions.

No wonder Bill couldn't bear to look at her. Her sins had been laid out for everyone to see, her actions one step beyond the realm of any sort of decent behavior. Another encounter with Captain Agathon was precisely what she had hoped to avoid and so she had stayed away. She couldn't in good conscience bear to be the reason for more troubles with Bill's crew, not when she had nearly destroyed the trust they had all placed in him.

The thought of Bill brought the searing agony down just long enough for her to remember that she had a meeting. She had to calm down. She had to regain control. The one thing Bill and Saul probably wouldn't be able to stomach from her was tears and they had already started. Taking a deep breath and letting it out in a partial sob, she leaned her head against the hatch. She could feel nearly every inch of her face contorting, almost of its own volition and her mouth dropped open, unable to contain her soundless scream anymore.

I can't, I can't, I can't.

That's what you always say, Laura. Calm yourself right the hell down NOW! You think you're going to get any sympathy out of anyone with your tears? You've brought every bit of torment on yourself. The Cylons were right, now frakking live with it and move on!

She reached out with shaking hands and dragged her briefcase over to her. Unbuttoning her blouse, she paused for a moment to listen at the door. The hatch was locked, which meant there was a slim to nil chance of anyone barging in on her. She removed her blouse from her shoulder and rummaged around in her briefcase, finally coming up with the item she needed.

Not long now, Laura. Just hang on another minute or so. The pressure will be relieved and you'll be fine.

She hissed as she dragged the pocketknife over her skin, her head falling back against the wall. Reaching out for the gauze she had taken to carrying with her, she pressed it against the shallow gash, applying enough pressure to stop the blood within a minute. A minute was all she needed. She quickly taped the gauze to her shoulder and sat for just a moment, breathing deeply.

It's okay. You're all right. Let the pressure lift.

Taking another breath, she sighed in relief as icy numbness began to set in.

"Thank you." she murmured. "Thank you, gods."

"Hey, Starbuck!"

Kara looked up from her lunch (some sort of soupy mixture the galley, in alliance with that old frakker Cottle, had come up with) to see Lee heading towards her, a self-satisfied smirk on his face. This interested her. She only saw that smirk after he'd gotten laid and she knew for a fact Dualla was still in CIC. She shoved out a chair for him, which he gladly took.

"What the hell is that?" he asked, looking absolutely disgusted by her lunch.

"Algae broth." Kara replied, taking another spoonful. "They added some stuff to it. It's actually not half-bad. Well, compared to the protein bars we were choking down before. Don't knock it before you've tried it, CAG."

"We'd better find that hot fudge sundae planet of Tyrol's pretty soon." Apollo muttered, ignoring her attempts to try and get him to try it. "But that's not why I was looking for you. You blew out of the briefing before I had a chance to tell you the good news."

Of course she'd blown out of the briefing. She needed to round up some more co-conspirators for his party. And given the fact that it was a surprise, Kara really didn't want to give anything away.

"What good news?" she asked, only mildly interested. If she pretended to be listening to whatever it was he was about to say, it gave her time to come up with some asinine excuse as to why she didn't stick around the briefing room long enough to hear what he had to say about her latest batch of minions.

"The marines accepted Sam." Lee announced without preamble. "They'll need to brush him up on all the ins and outs of military protocol, but he's not an idiot. He'll learn fast."

"He'll be thrilled." Kara replied. "Thanks for putting that word in for him."

Lee shrugged. "I figured I owed him one. And now that we're all even and squared away and all that, I think we should throw him a party to celebrate."

Kara's stomach dropped.

FRAK!

"You really think that's a good idea?" she asked slowly. "We wouldn't want Sammy to start getting any ideas that he's special now, right?"

"I'm not talking about putting him in command his first time out." Lee remarked off-handedly. "Besides, it's been way too long since we've had something to celebrate around here. Things were still pretty screwed up when we managed to get the Eye of Jupiter off the algae planet without Dad blowing all of us up."

There was her opening. She was going to take it and run with it and make damn sure Lee frakking Adama was not going to ruin the first half-decent thing she was doing for him in gods-only-knew how long.

"Speaking of all that, what's up with the old man and the president?" she asked, leaning in so no one would overhear her. "When I met her Raptor a couple of hours ago, Reynolds was watching her like a hawk and she was late coming off the Raptor."

Lee shrugged. "I honestly don't know what's going on. I know the President's still fighting battles regarding Helo and Athena's daughter. I was talking to Tory a couple of days ago and there are still people calling for Hera's removal from Galactica."

"Crazy shit, that." Kara had also heard the wireless calls coming in. They had tapered off some, given the time that had passed, and the fleet seemed content now that they knew where their next meals were coming from for the foreseeable future. "Are they really giving her that hard a time?"

"Tory's turning off her telephone at night." Lee replied. "And the Quorum's putting pressure on the Vice-President to take a public stance."

"He did." Kara replied. "At the press conference with the Old Man."

Lee's face twisted into an ironic grin. "I think they want him to change his public stance."

"Frakking politicians." Kara growled. "How the frak does she put up with them every day?"

"She's good at it." Lee replied, clearly unconcerned. "So, look, about Sam and this party-"

"Look, Lee, I'll have to get back to you on that. Sam might not want a party." Gods damn it all to frakking hell and back!

"So we don't tell him it's for him. We just post a general get-together and when Sam gets there, BAM!" Lee smacked his hand on the table. "Hey, that's a good idea. A surprise party."

Starbuck felt like beating the crap out of him. Again.

Well, this had been unexpected.

Hands clasped behind his back, Saul found himself studying the inner confines of Chief Tyrol's office as he and Bill waited for the President. Reynolds, in a much darker mood than Tigh had come to associate with the man, had informed them that the President had needed a moment in the facilities. Not wanting to hear anymore on that particular subject, the admiral had waved him off with a grimace.

Saul couldn't help but notice that Jack looked as if he wanted to say something else, but it was almost as if there was some kind of invisible muzzle around his mouth.

"You all right, Reynolds?" he finally asked, gaining the attention of not only Reynolds himself, but of the admiral as well. "You look like you've got something on your mind."

Cursing himself for showing his hand, Jack deliberately schooled his face into something carefully bland and shrugged. "Just politics. Still gives me a headache."

Tigh chuckled, shaking his head. "Hazards of the job getting to you?" Needling Jack had become a favorite pastime down on New Caprica during the Occupation. He was harder to rile up than Zarek was and he could get away with a lot more with Jack than with Zarek these days.

Jack cracked a smile. "I ever want a vacation, I'll apply for your position, Colonel."

"Whoa, hey." Tigh pointed at him. "Now that was low, Reynolds. Bill, you think we should kick him off the ship?"

Bill wasn't listening, however. His attention had been drawn over to the far side of the hangar deck where Chief Tyrol was working on a Raptor. Or least he was making a valiant attempt to do so while his wife was making a valiant attempt to distract him. He watched as Cally's hands fluttered around almost angrily. He wasn't near close enough to hear what she was saying, but he could tell the Chief was getting frustrated.

The admiral watched as the Chief shook his head and started to move to the other side of the Raptor. Cally followed him, still speaking. It looked serious and normally the admiral wouldn't care, but they both had work to do.

"Jack, you've been here for a little while. What's going on with the Chief and Cally?"

Jack looked up from his ribbing session with the XO and glanced over to where the admiral was looking. His headache returned with a vengeance as Cally squawked in indignation and Galen, finally losing his patience, made a gesture that looked as if he was ordering her back to work. Shaking her head, Cally looked over at them. Her face brightened upon seeing the admiral and she started for them. Her forearm was immediately caught by Galen, who pulled her back gently, shaking his head.

You know what the President said.

He could practically hear Galen saying it.

Jack relaxed somewhat. The President's secret was safe with the Chief and he would make sure Cally kept it safe.

Now all he had to do was arrange to have the admiral or his second-in-command be on hand the next time the President had a run-in with Agathon.

"Gentlemen."

All three men looked up to see the President walking briskly towards them, head held high, shoulders squared back.

"I apologize for keeping you waiting. Saul, it's good to see you." She shook Tigh's hand and then turned to face Bill, nodding curtly. "Admiral Adama."

Disappointed in the reception, Bill merely nodded back at her, ignoring Saul's pointed glance. What the frak does he expect me to do? It's a rough patch, it's got to be.

He wasn't sure what he could do if it wasn't. If she'd only frakking talk to him.

"If you'll come with us," he gestured for Tigh to take the lead and moved to take her forearm, only to freeze when she just barely blanched at the threat of a touch. He quickly moved to gesture ahead of him, "After you, Madam President."