Disclaimer: Battlestar Galactica belongs to Ronald D. Moore and the Sci-Fi channel. Violet Adama and Priam Bennick are mine.
Chapter 7: Punch drunk
Roslin and Lee were unable to join Adama and Violet for dinner again, but this time the two had things to talk about. "So Vie, what did you do today?" Adama inquired, serving fried algae patties.
She took a few bites and became animated as she spoke. "I taught physics again. I've been using the whiteboard for diagrams and formulas and it's fun. How did your day go?" she pursued.
"It went as good as can be expected. We've got people exploring the new planet that we're orbiting, seeing if there might be anything else to eat down there," he mentioned. "Which teacher are you working with?"
There was a pause and she wondered how he would react. Laura probably didn't tell him I wasn't working with a woman. "His name is Priam Bennick and I think he used to be a pilot. He teaches math, history, and some of the other sciences," she explained, watching the admiral closely for his reaction.
He took a bite of his food and added more salt. "Bennick's a good man. He gave up a lot for the fleet, both on Galactica and on New Caprica. It was a shame to lose him as a pilot. I know that Laura thinks very well of him, and so do I," Adama conveyed.
Violet did not hide her surprise. "You don't mind that I'm not working with a woman?"
Adama chuckled. "I'd probably mind if you were working with anyone else. I trust Bennick, partly because of his sense of honor and duty, and partly because Laura wouldn't send you to anyone questionable," he remarked.
He's said her first name twice. I wonder if something changed, Violet mused. "Remember when I told you about Jake Camaretti?" she questioned.
"Yes. You seemed almost nervous about saying his name to me. I'd almost forgotten about that," Adama replied.
Violet swallowed a few bites of food. "That's because in my timeline he was my boyfriend," she admitted.
He raised an eyebrow and she knew that she had surprised him. "He would probably be around twenty-four by now. Him I didn't know very well. Did I approve?"
"You… didn't know," she managed. "We had only started dating recently, and it wasn't much more than hanging out."
Sighing, he faced her and removed his glasses. "In that case I should probably lay down a couple of rules for you. One, no dating until you're eighteen. I should tell you not to date until you're thirty, but I know that one would never work," he paused and they both smirked. "Two, you're not dating anyone that we don't approve of. Is that fair?"
Violet let the ideas run through her mind and nodded with a satisfactory smile. "Yes sir. Wait a minute, who's 'we'?"
Adama took a gulp of water. "The president and I have decided that we would both like to help you. She's a good person to come to an educated conclusion with," he answered.
As the meal concluded, a plan formed in Violet's head that she decided to discuss with Lee. She and Adama said their goodnights again, this time with him hugging her first. As she stepped onboard Colonial One and sought out the president, Tom Zarek passed her in the hall, followed by Tory. Zarek stopped walking and stared at her.
"I don't think we've had the pleasure of meeting. Are you one of the president's advisors, or do you function as a secretary?" he questioned. She took in his suit and calm demeanor, but she kept her own stony reserve up because something about the man's smooth tone made her uncomfortable.
"I teach," was all she said.
He watched her with a harsh scrutiny for a second and she only raised an eyebrow. Then comprehension showed on his face as Tory came back to get him, realizing that he had not followed her. "You must be Adama's niece. I am Tom Zarek, Sagittarian representative," he mentioned, extending his hand.
She hesitated a moment before slowly extending her hand. "Mr. Zarek," she was coolly polite.
"Tell me about yourself, Miss Adama. How did you come to be here?" he questioned, watching her intently.
Keeping the reserve that her father had, she was careful with her answer. "I was running a shuttle mission and the navigation failed. I was only able to jump here recently."
"How did you survive all by yourself?" he drilled quietly.
"Well enough," she threw back.
He raised an eyebrow. "You're definitely an Adama," Zarek stated.
He would have questioned her further if Tory had not come back. "Don't waste your time with her. She's just a teacher in training," the aide informed him. He gave Violet a nod and left with Tory while Violet silently thanked as many deities as she could remember before heading in to see Roslin.
"Hi Laura," she called.
Roslin stood and the two hugged. "Hello Vie. Something tells me that you ran into Zarek on your way here," she observed.
Violet nodded. "There's something about him that I really don't like. Please tell me that you didn't talk to him by yourself."
The president smirked because the comment caused Violet to sound like the admiral again. "Tory was with me the entire time," she replied. "Other than meeting Zarek, how did your day go?"
"It went pretty well. Dinner with Dad was nice too," Violet answered.
Roslin smiled warmly. "I'm glad to hear it."
Violet had the feeling that she was missing something. "Something tells me that you knew it would."
"We… talked." The older woman looked away and blushed.
The girl watched her and smirked. "You two are very confusing. First you tell me not to put you two in a relationship, and then he lets your first name slip at dinner and you blush," she pointed out.
Roslin knew that the girl had her cornered and she sighed, deciding to go for the only escape she could think of. "Vie, this isn't a good time for a discussion of that sort. I have an early meeting tomorrow."
"You're just saying that so I'll let you off the hook," Violet remarked, chuckling softly.
"You sound like your father- I mean B- the admiral. Is it working?" Roslin asked with a smirk.
"This time, Mom," Violet acquiesced.
After the usual shuttle ride with Tory the following morning, Violet left the shuttle and wandered into the classroom. Priam glanced up at her from the book he had been reading and handed her a folded slip of paper. "Here's the recipe for the quiche."
She nodded and accepted it. "Thank you."
He thumbed through his history book, marking a few pages with extra scraps of paper that he kept on his desk, and then he turned to her. "You do know how to cook that, I hope."
Violet smirked and suddenly a glint of mischief came into her green eyes. She looked up at Priam with confidence. "Of course I know how to cook this. In fact, I think I'll offer to cook dinner for my family this evening."
He raised an eyebrow and gave her a wry grin. "Something tells me that you're planning more than dinner. Trying to set up some people?" he teased.
She laughed as she read over her lesson plan, dusting off a few empty folders that she planned to put her notes in. "Actually the thought only occurred to me a moment ago. You're getting ahead of yourself in trying to read me."
"Who said that I was trying to read you?" he asked with a smirk. "That look you had in your eyes a minute ago was screaming 'I've got an idea and I can't wait to try it out.' Remember, I was the oldest of seven and there are things I know."
As Violet moved her notes to the folders, she felt an all too familiar tickle in the back of her throat. No, I thought that stuff that Doc Cottle gave me was supposed to help this. Oh this is bad timing. "Well Mr. 'I can read minds,' do you have some water anywhere?"
He did not understand what was behind the frantic look in her eyes, only that she was holding something back. As he looked through his lunch bag, he heard her begin to cough. It was a dry cough, one that she was trying to hold at bay, but it was causing her nose to run.
She was gasping and still coughing as he found his water bottle. Without hesitation he handed it to her. She took a few sips and then a few more before she was in control of the coughing again. As she placed her hand against the desk, she thought oh frak as the room shifted into an hallucination.
CIC seemed calm at first, with everyone at consoles and the admiral standing by the president as the ship moved past the planet on the viewscreen. "Lieutenant, prepare to jump," Adama ordered.
As the ship jumped to a new location, several Cylon baseships appeared on the viewscreen. "What are they doing here?" Roslin asked.
"Sir, they just showed up," Gaeta relayed.
"Damn, they must've known where we were going," Adama expressed.
The baseships fired on Galactica and the ship shook with multiple impacts. Wiring fell loose, consoles hissed, and people were in a frenzy to put out fires. "Can we fire back at them?" Adama asked the crew.
"We've been disabled," Tigh answered. "Bill, we can't even jump at the moment! If we don't do something soon, we're all dead!"
Adama sighed heavily and grabbed the wireless. "This is Admiral Adama, everyone abandon ship. I repeat, everyone abandon ship," his words seemed to echo in Violet's mind.
She turned and saw Jake standing in front of her as everything else slowed down around her. "You cannot let this happen."
"You told me that already! What do you expect me to frakkin do about it?" she demanded.
"Know where the Cylon is, the one with the human mate. Remember Stats, Cylons have copies. We've played this game before, so play it again. How does one ship know where the other ship is going? You can fix this, but you'll have to do it twice. Gotta split," he explained.
Suddenly the classroom came back into view. Priam's onyx eyes showed intense worry as he studied her, his hands on her shoulders. "What the heck was that? Are you alright?" he questioned.
"I have a breathing problem that's left me dust-sensitive among other things," she answered, trying to brush off more of an explanation.
"It was more than that. I'm debating whether or not to send you to Life Station. I've seen a lot of things with my siblings and with other people since we arrived here, but I've honestly never seen that before. You sounded like you were suffocation and then you just phased out," he conveyed.
She heard students heading to the classroom. "Priam, can we talk about this later?"
He nodded reluctantly. "Alright, but can you teach today?"
"I should be fine now, and thanks for the water," she replied before picking up a few files.
The lessons went smoothly and after Violet erased the board, she turned to Priam, knowing that she owed him an explanation. "Are you ready to explain?" he probed.
She sat down in the desk chair while he sat on the desk again. "Dr. Cottle gave me some medication for my breathing problem and one of the side affects was hallucinations. I should be getting new medication soon, but I guess the old stuff is still affecting me," she began.
Priam ran a hand through his hair. "What are they giving you that makes you hallucinate?"
"Chamalla," she answered quietly.
"Holy Lords of Kobol, that stuff's dangerous!" he remarked.
"Which is why Roslin decided to talk to the doctor and get my medication changed," Violet responded.
"And how many days have you been off it?" Priam pursued.
She thought for a moment. "I think this might be the second day."
He studied her, the worry still present in his eyes. "How elaborate are these hallucinations?" he inquired.
"I keep seeing Galactica in danger and someone I know to be dead shows up and tells me about it," she answered, deciding to tell him the truth.
Rubbing his chin with his index finger, he stepped over to the board and to the wall before facing her again. "Sounds more like a vision to me. I'm not the strongest believer in the Pythian scrolls, but Roslin supposedly had visions regarding the tomb of Athena. Have you been talking to her about…" as he continued to watch Violet, he trailed off.
"Yes?" she urged, balancing her chin on her fist as her elbow rested on the desk.
"Somehow you and Roslin are related, and there's a connection between what she saw, and what you are seeing," Priam realized.
Violet spotted Tory coming and stood quickly. "It's a long story, but I'll explain later."
He nodded. "Parole officer's back?"
"Yes," she stated flatly.
Tory took Violet back to Galactica because the president was busy with meetings, allowing violet to grab her bag. Violet decided to head to the gym for a while, wanting to tell Roslin about her hallucination, or vision later. As she was practicing her boxing skills, she noticed Lee and rushed over to him.
He held up a hand. "No Vie, I am not boxing with you," he told her.
"It wasn't about that," she informed him.
"Alright, what then?" he questioned.
"Listen, I have a terrific idea," Violet told him as she caught up with him.
He raised an eyebrow and studied her. "Something tells me that I should be worried."
She removed the slip of paper from her pocket. "This is a recipe for making quiche out of the algae stuff. I know how to cook and can make this. I'll make four helpings of it, but you and I will leave dinner early."
Lee eyed her with suspicion. "Why?"
"It would be the perfect set-up for the admiral and the president," she whispered.
"Holy frak! Do you realize how much trouble you could get us into? And because I'm older, they're going to blame me if they find out about this!" he argued.
She shook her head. "We'll make it look like you had something you wanted to show me and we'll both leave. They won't suspect a thing," she relayed with confidence.
Lee weighed it over in his mind for a while and finally decided that the end might justify the means. His father and the president seemed to be getting along well and maybe at the very least, a private dinner would put them both at ease after what they had been through lately. "Alright, I'll help you," he conceded.
All the admiral and the president knew what that Violet had volunteered to cook dinner. The two admired her efforts as the four of them sat around the dinner table. Roslin took a bite and smiled over at the girl. "Vie, this is excellent. How did you learn to do this?"
"Priam gave me the recipe," Violet relayed.
Lee looked worried, surprised that she had admitted to consorting with a male who was not a relative. He knew that Priam's character was trustworthy, but he was not sure how his father would react. Adama took a bite and smiled. "So he's not only a good man, but also a good cook."
"Dad, you don't mind that she's spending a lot of time with a guy?" Lee probed.
Adama chuckled. "If it were anyone else, I would, but I trust Bennick."
Violet lightly elbowed Lee and he looked at his watch. "Dad, I promised to show Vie a few things and I thought that she and I would just take dinner with us," he said abruptly.
The admiral raised and eyebrow and glanced at Roslin. She shrugged and he faced the other two. "I suppose you two can go," he relayed.
Before they left with their food, Violet brought out a bowl of punch from the kitchen. "I'm sorry, I almost forgot about this. I used a bit from several fruit juices. You two can have some if you want and we'll have ours when we get back," she mentioned.
Lee raised an eyebrow as it to say 'What's going on now?' but neither Adama nor Roslin noticed. When the two younger people left, the president and the admiral sat across from each other and sampled the punch.
"This is great. I had no idea that she knew how to do all this," Roslin remarked.
"It is good. I wonder though why they both had to leave," Adama commented.
She sighed with contentment and smiled at him. "I don't know either, but it's nice to have an evening to ourselves."
Seeing the candlelight reflected in here eyes made him realize that there were candles on the table. Somehow by looking at her, he had noticed little else. He reached out and the hand that she was not eating with in his. "We didn't talk about yesterday. Our discussion helped me to have a good dinner with Violet. But where is it going for us?"
Having finished her quiche, she gave him a warm smile. "I hope it means more moments like this," she almost whispered.
After having a total of three cups of punch each, they jumped hearing his music player turn on. "Someone must've set the alarm to music instead of the beeping," he remarked.
As they listened to the song, it reminded them of the day on New Caprica they had spent together before the Cylons arrived. Though it was one of the livelier old folk songs, Roslin felt like relishing in it. She stood and offered a hand to him. "Dance with me, Bill," she urged.
He remembered the song also, as well as the part where the dancer is passed from person to person. "You have nobody to change partners with," he pointed out as he rose to his feet.
She smirked and took another gulp of the punch. "What if I don't want to change partners?"
He needed no further encouragement to dance with her. When she laughed, it filled the room as they spun around his living room. As they stopped dancing, she grinned at him and blinked at him flirtatiously, looking like some sort of mythical wood sprite, as she had on New Caprica when she told him about the stream and wanting to build a cabin. They continued to hold each other's arms, neither actually wanting to move.
They leaned toward each other and kissed lightly once, twice, as if teasing each other. Somehow her arms found there ware around his neck and his wrapped themselves around her waist. Their lips met with fervor as they kissed ardently. When they broke the kiss to breathe, both had looks of confusion on their faces.
"This seems a little too fast. What are we doing?" Roslin asked breathlessly.
Adama took a deep breath. "It seems that we've been fighting what we felt on New Caprica." He headed over to the punch and poured them each another glass. As they downed the liquid, he found himself staring at her again.
She looked back at him and slowly closed her eyes for a moment, opening them to a sudden realization. "Bill, I know what's wrong. This," she gestured toward the punch bowl, "isn't punch. Someone must have spiked it. We didn't notice because of all the other flavors in it."
He put his cup down on the table and sighed. "That explains a lot. It means that someone set us up. We had music that was on a timer, a very good dinner, and probably a good amount of alcohol."
"We're going to have to talk to them, you know," she added.
"It wasn't a bad plan, really. I would think that Lee would know better though," he said chuckling. "Now that we know, what do we do about them?"
Roslin smiled mischievously and he rethought his question. "I have an idea. Since they decided to set us up, why don't we allow them to think for a while that their plan worked?"
His hand moved to his chin. "And you do you propose we do that? Should we be dancing around the room when they get back?"
She shook her head. "I've got something better. It would be a harmless prank, as simple as leaving a few articles of clothing here and there, and hiding when they return," she clarified, tossing her jacket behind her.
"So you want them to think that their plan worked too well?" he inquired.
"Exactly," she replied as she removed her shoes, encouraging him to do the same, throwing couch pillows around and spreading out the paperwork that had been neatly stacked on the desk.
He unbuttoned his jacket and she raised an eyebrow as he handed it to her. "We have to make this look good if we want to pull off your prank. Now throw it somewhere," he suggested.
"I can't wait to see their faces when we tell them that we caught on to their little scheme," she commented. As if she had removed it herself, she tossed his jacket behind her lazily. Then they looked around at the semi-disarrayed state of the living room.
"Something's still missing," he mentioned, now in his undershirts.
She glanced down at her clothes and then smirked. "I have one last idea," she told him as she unzipped her black skirt. "Don't worry, I've got a heavy black slip on underneath," she answered his dumbstruck expression.
Flinging her skirt over his desk, she surveyed their efforts with a satisfied grin. He met her gaze and chuckled. "Does this plan look a little crazy to you?" he reasoned.
Crossing her arms in front of her, she answered, "It's no worse than theirs was."
They heard footsteps and he took her hand. "I think that's them. We need to hide,"
he relayed as they headed toward his bedroom.
He watched as she covered her mouth to muffle her giggling. "This will be hilarious! And cannot believe that they tried to set us up," she managed.
Adama grinned as he watched her green eyes dance with mischief. "I'll bet you anything that it was Violet's idea and she didn't tell Lee about the punch. He has his moments, but this isn't his style," the admiral mentioned.
"I wonder whom she inherits her mischief from," Roslin mused with a smirk.
"Since this prank was your idea, she probably got most of it from you," he teased as he reached past her shoulder to dim the lights. "If we want this to look authentic, they can't see a light in the bedroom."
The room darkened, however, he had yet to move away from her. His right hand ended up on her left shoulder. She took a step closer to him and put both of her hands on his chest. His left arm encircled her waist. As her hands slid up to link behind his neck, he kissed her gently. She kissed him back and something neither could name switched on as he pulled her closer and they kissed passionately. She moaned softly as he deepened the kiss. They pulled back to breath and she kissed him deeply. Their hands had begun to wander a bit when he broke the kiss and rested his forehead against hers.
"I thought this was supposed to be a prank," she whispered as she caught her breath again.
"It was. Maybe we've had a little too much to drink," he responded.
They untangled themselves from each other and she nodded. "Yes, it was probably too much to drink," she stated as she heard the others enter the living room.
Lee took one look around the living room and his eyes traveled to the punch. "Vie, they are gonna kill each other in the morning when they wake up and find out what we did!" he complained. "And then they'll come after us!"
Violet smirked and turned to him with a satisfied sigh. "I think they'll be happier now. They would've ended up there anyway, we just gave them a push."
The young man groaned and ran a hand through his hair. "You're gonna get me killed with ideas like this."
"You don't need to worry about it, Lee," Adama relayed as he and Roslin emerged from the bedroom.
"I- but- she…" Lee tried to articulate.
"Boy, we certainly fooled you two," Roslin said with a grin.
Violet glanced at the clothing and the shoes again. "So you two planned this?" she asked incredulously.
Roslin began to giggle. "It was interesting to figure out the best places for the shoes," she mentioned. Then she picked up her skirt and faced Adama. "May I use your bathroom, Admiral?"
"Of course, Madame President," he replied. As she left the room, he turned back to his children. "Lucky for you two, we found this very funny. However, don't you two try this again. And Vie, where did you get the alcohol to make the punch?"
Violet blushed in embarrassment at being caught. "I found a bottle of clear stuff near the Ambrosia in the kitchen."
Adama rubbed the bridge of his nose and sighed heavily. "How much did you use?"
"About a third," she admitted.
"That was a bottle of moonshine that Starbuck gave me. She told me to make sure I "dragged somebody off with me to drink it" and then she told me to have a good time," he relayed, chuckling.
Roslin giggled. "I wonder what she's say if you told her that you finally did?"
It was becoming clear how intoxicated the admiral and the president had gotten themselves as they continued laughing. "I'd probably have to pry her jaw off the deck!"
They ended up sitting next to each other on the couch, laughing at whatever came to mind. Lee and Violet decided to clean up. "Your plan didn't work. They set us up for a prank instead," Lee pointed out as he and Violet washed the dishes from dinner.
She smirked. "Yes it did, just not the way we planned. They still worked together, even if it was to trick us."
(A/N: I feel I should warn you that the next chapter will have more angst. My thanks to carolann, asouldreams, Trinity Everett, derevkobristow-spawn, Mariel3, and Phaser Lady for reviewing :D)