Bill wakes up in the morning, feeling a cold mattress next to him. He slips out of bed and pulls a pair of sweatpants on before going out to the sitting room in search of Laura, instead finding the kids watching TV and eating cereal with Zoey. Aurora looks up and smiles at her father.
"Morning."
"Morning. Where's your mom?"
"She went down to the gym," Aurora replies, shoveling another handful of cereal into her mouth, "Can I go to school with Zoey today?"
"I'll talk to your mom about it," Bill comments, ruffling her hair and smiling as she wrinkles her nose, showing that she had already asked Laura and not necessarily gotten a positive answer, "I'm going to go find her."
"Okay," Aurora comments, turning back to the TV. Bill presses a kiss to the boys' heads before trying to retrace his footsteps to the gym that they had been shown the previous day. He finds his wife jogging at a brisk pace on one of the treadmills, headphones plugged firmly in her ears. He comes around to her front, smiling as her eyes widen before she slams her hand down on the stop button. She smiles as she reaches up pulling the buds from her ears and resting them on top of the iPod on the panel.
"Morning."
"Morning, how long have you been up?"
"Um, little over an hour," Laura comments as she grabs a towel, wiping the sweat from her face and chest. She climbs down from the machine and walks over to a matted area, sitting down and starting to stretch.
"What were you listening to?" Bill asks as he sits down on a weight bench, watching her with interest.
"Music," Laura comments as she leans forward, slowly, "Zoey showed me this thing. I think it was called Pandora or something? Anyway, it's an app that curates radio stations for you based on likes and dislikes."
"Sounds interesting."
"It is. It's refreshing to listen to new music again," Laura smiles, sitting back on her hands, "Help me with my legs?"
"Your legs don't need any help," Bill comments as he stands before kneeling in front of her, reaching down to grab her leg as she offers her foot. He slowly stretches it up, leaning some of his weight into it. Laura hums in the back of her throat, letting out a long slow breath, "Ror said she wanted to go to school with Zoey. I presume by her nose wrinkling that she already asked you."
"I told her I would think about it," Laura responds, flexing her foot into Bill's shoulder as he presses further, "What do you think?"
"I think it's good that she wants to go. And if we're going to attempt some sense of normalcy, she probably should," Bill reasons, lowering the leg in his grasp before grabbing the other, repeating the same motions, "She'd be safe with Zoey."
"She'd be safe with Zoey's security detail, which is not our security detail."
"So send Marcus with," Bill replies, pushing a little further and pulling back as Laura groans, "Give me the other one again."
"Maybe you're right...we do need to start getting back into things," Laura agrees as she brings her other leg back up, sighing as he stretches both of them back.
"Might have to mark that one on the calendar. You admitted I might be right," Bill teases. Laura narrows her eyes at him and thunks him in the head with one of her feet. He laughs and lets her legs down before offering her a hand to sit up. Laura pulls herself up and tugs bill closer, pressing her lips to his gently.
"I love you, you know that?"
"I've heard it once or twice," Bill says with a small smile. He stands and lifts her up onto her feet, keeping his hands resting on her waist. Laura smiles up at him, a loving sparkle in her eyes. Bill leans down and captures her lips once again, "I love you."
Laura captures Bill's hand and walks back upstairs with him, not surprised to find their kids still watching tv. There hadn't been much of a chance to watch anything on Galactica, so they were soaking it up. Laura greets Abbey, who was sitting in one of the arm chairs reading the paper with a mug of coffee curled up in her hand.
"Morning, you two are certainly early risers."
"I think our sleep patterns could probably use a reset," Laura smiles, draping the towel over her shoulder, watching as Bill takes the kids' bowls from them and takes them into the kitchen, "Aurora mentioned possibly going to school with Zoey today."
"Yeah, if you guys are okay with it," Abbey nods, folding up the paper and sitting it in her lap as she looks up at Laura, "I know Zoey would love it. I talked to the school yesterday, they were fine with Aurora popping in as things get settled. And I think someone else is very interested."
Laura turns around seeing Aurora peaking over the back of the couch, watching the two of them talk. She sighs as she regards her daughter for a moment before nodding towards the bedroom.
"Go get dressed, you can go."
"Yes!" Aurora squeals, jumping off of the couch before racing over to Laura, giving her a hearty hug around the waist, "Thank you, thank you, thank you."
"Zoey should have an extra uniform you can borrow," Abbey tells Aurora, a smile playing on her lips. Aurora lets her mother go before running off towards Zoey's bedroom, yelling out to let her know that Laura had said she could go. Laura laughs and shakes her head before looking back at Abbey.
"A Secret Service agent goes with her?"
"Mmhm. We can send an extra for Aurora unless you have someone in mind to send."
"Marcus," Laura offers, "He's been her guard the entire time we were on Galactica. She trusts him, I trust him."
"I'll have him sent over," Abbey assures, standing from her seat, "If my husband doesn't have you too busy today, maybe we could pick the kids up from school and do a little site seeing before dinner?"
"I think that sounds great," Laura smiles, "What time do they get out of school?"
"Around 2:30."
"I think that should be doable," Laura affirms, looking down as Alex tugs on her shirt, "Hey bubba."
"Do we gotta go too?" He asks, not letting go of the cotton in his grasp.
"Not today. Today you two get to hang out with me."
"Good," Alex smiles, letting go of his mother's shirt.
"Why don't you get your brother and go get changed, hmm?" Laura prompts. Alex nods and grabs his brother before they head off towards their room to get changed, holding his hand as they walk.
"They are too cute," Abbey comments, watching the boys as well. Laura nods in agreement before smiling as Bill passes by, pressing a kiss to her cheek.
"I'm going to go supervise, the might actually get into matching pants and shirts this time."
"Thank you," Laura calls after him as Aurora sprints back into the room, dressed in a blue and grey plaid skirt and maroon sweater. She holds a brush and hairtie up to her mother with a smile.
"What are we thinking today?" Laura asks as she sits down on the footstool of the chair Abbey had been sitting in.
"Braid?" Aurora asks, turning around. Laura runs her fingers through the waist length black hair before working the brush through a few times, eliminating all the tangles before she divides it into 3 swaths. Her fingers quickly twist Aurora's hair into a long braid, tying it off at the bottom before turning her around. Aurora swishes back and forth in the skirt with a grin, "What do you think?"
"I think you look adorable," Laura smiles pressing a kiss to Aurora's nose, tucking a couple stray hairs behind her ears, "Marcus is going to go with you, he knows how to get a hold of me if you need anything."
"Okay," Aurora smiles, wrapping her arms around Laura once more before Zoey comes out dressed in a similar uniform with her back pack, greeting her secret service agent with a smile.
"I'll be there to pick you up after," Laura says as she kisses Aurora's cheek, "Have a good day, okay? I love you."
"I love you too," Aurora replies, kissing her mother's cheek and running over to Zoey, waving at Marcus. Laura sighs as she watches them go before deciding she should probably get in the shower and get ready for the day. She arches her eyebrow invitingly at Bill as she crosses his path on the way to the bathroom.
"Care to join me?"
"Water conservation efforts?" Bill grins as the boys zip past in a blaze of yellow and denim, heading back to the tv.
"We're going to have to reign that in soon," Laura murmurs as she tugs him into the bathroom with her, flicking the lock with an expert hand as she turns the water on. She sheds her work out clothes before running her fingers under the spray to test the temperature. A grin spreads across her lips as she feels Bill's solid form at her back, his lips at her shoulder. Laura slips into the shower and tugs her husband in, her arms immediately wrapping around his form and her lips finding his as they find a home under the warm spray.
Laura sighs as she paces the Oval Office quietly, the boys were knelt at the coffee table coloring, quietly sharing the colored sticks back and forth as needed. She had spent most of the morning recounting the last four years to the President before he'd been pulled out by Leo. She pauses when the door to the office opens and Charlie steps in with a warm smile.
"The President wanted me to pop in and apologize that he's been a while," Charlie says, "He's getting ready to take lunch, if you guys want to follow me."
"Sure," Laura nods with a smile. She cleans the boys up and tucks their things away in one of their small backpacks, before guiding them to follow Charlie. He takes them up to the dining room in the residence and opens the door, letting them in.
"He is on his way up, and there's a menu on the table," Charlie explains, "Can I get you anything right now?"
"No, we're fine," Laura says, lifting the boys up into chairs as Charlie bows out of the room. She picks up the menu, looking at the food options as she brushes her fingers through Alex's hair. A few minutes later the President breezes into the room an apologetic look on his face.
"I'm sorry for being so long," Jed apologizes.
"It's okay, I think it was a good break in our conversation," Laura assures him as she takes a seat across from him at the table. Charlie comes back in with his note pad asking what they wanted for lunch. Jed rattles off an order without looking at the menu before Charlie turns his attention to Laura.
"How about a couple grilled cheeses and some vegetables?" Laura suggests, "And a mixed green salad with salmon?"
"Sure. I'll let the cook know."
"Thanks Charlie," Jed says, smiling at the young man as he heads out of the room. He sets his hands on the table as he looks at Laura, "Again, I apologize for having to step out for so long."
"It's fine really," Laura smiles, leaning back in her chair and crossing her legs.
"I appreciate you taking the time to talk me through your trip this morning. I suppose I should fulfill my end of this story."
"It'd be nice. You don't seem to be too surprised to find us here."
"I'm not. Since the 13th Tribe landed on Earth thousands of years ago, and gave up all of the technology they brought with them, it has been maintained that some day their brothers and sisters were going to come," Jed explains, "So from generation to generation it was handed down. As the years went on the tribe integrated into culture, and many forgot. As we began to form nations the keepers went from being tribal leaders to being nation heads."
"How many people know we existed?"
"Before you arrived?" Jed questions, "Fifty four."
"Fifty four people on a planet of seven billion," Laura points out.
"Yes. A mix of current and past dignitaries, scientists, military heads…people that needed to know and had the wherewithal to help once you did show up. Plans were drawn up and modified over the years as we advanced, as some relationships became strained…but there was always a plan," Jed assures her, "Admiral Fitzwallace has the go ahead to organize with Admiral Adama to get the fleet landed within the next few days. What we can do once they get here is get them off the ships. There is a camp being erected at Andrews and we will get them clothed, showered, fed, start documenting them. While we do that there will be a special meeting of the Council of Kobol."
"The Council of Kobol?"
"Not a name I came up with," Jed smiles. A staff member comes in with their lunch orders, serving the table before bowing out again, "But we'll bring you up to speed on the agreements that have been made, and hammer out the final details. There is a State Dinner this weekend. The Prime Minister of the UK is coming over early, he wants to meet you and he's probably one of the bigger supporters you have on the Council."
"Do people know about us?" Laura inquires.
"Not really. CJ, my press secretary, is setting up a press conference for tomorrow. That's when we'll break it," Jed tells her, "She'll probably come get you later this evening to prepare you."
[TBC]