Disclaimer: Battlestar Galactica belongs to Ronald D. Moore and the Sci-Fi channel.

Chapter 4: The way you wear your hat

Lee stared at Laura with a mixture of shock and amazement. "Madame President?" he gasped. "With all due respect, ma'am, you're dead."

When Adama looked back at her, the expression she wore mirrored his son's. "Actually Lee, so are you."

Adama sighed heavily and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "I think it's best if we all sit down before this goes any further."

"I'll get the glass," Lee remarked.

Once they were all seated, Adama spoke. "She's from a different universe.

She came here through some accidental wormhole."

"And you believed her?" his son probed.

Adama glanced briefly at her. "It took some convincing, but she wasn't alone."

"I brought my daughters with me," Laura said.

Lee pondered her statement for a moment. "So in your universe, I'm dead?"

A dark look passed over her face. "Unfortunately. You were killed during the Exodus from New Caprica as the Pegasus exploded, but your wife made it," Laura answered.

He sat back against the couch. "Who was I married to?"

"Dee. And your brother is married to Kara," the older woman told him.

Lee's eyes widened, as did Adama's. "Zack's alive?" Lee questioned.

"Of course," Laura replied.

The younger man sighed heavily. "He died in a flight school accident."

Laura placed a sympathetic hand on his shoulder. "Where I'm from, he still had the accident, but he survived. It ruined his knees though so he wouldn't be flying after that. He works in CIC."

Lee smiled at the thougth of his brother alive and having a life. "The question now is what are you going to do here?"

"I need to get back to my universe and close the hole before the Cylons come into your universe," she answered.

Adama retrieved the pain medication for Laura and watched her leave. Then he poured himself a glass of Ambrosia and sat down at his desk.

"Well this has been a strange day," Lee commented, taking a gulp of water from his new glass.

Bill turned to face his son. "You still here?"

The younger man nodded as Bill joined him on the couch. "How do you feel about everything?"

Taking a long sip of Ambrosia, Bill focused on the wall, his eyes locking with a picture of him standing with Roslin. "I was there when she died. Hard as it is, I was beginning to accept it. But this... I don't know what to do with this. I think I understand Helo better."

"I thought I was seeing a ghost," Lee added.

"You're not the only one. The real kicker is that she's married," Bill muttered.

Lee spat out his water in a spray. "To whom?"

Bill faced his son. "If I had to go by looking at the older daughter, I'd say Richard Adar."

"If she married Adar and he's alive, why did she answer to 'Madame President?'" Lee reminded.

"I don't know. Maybe she beat him in an election," Adama supposed.

The younger man loosened his collar. "Why him?"

"She told me - I mean our Laura told me she was having an affair with him just before the attacks on the Colonies. Maybe in this other Laura's universe, he's a descent guy and she married him," Adama suggested.

Lee shook his head. "I have a feeling that Adar would be a slimy ass in any universe."

After Lee left, Adama returned to CIC. Tigh nodded at him as he neared the center. Noting the 'Adama' scowl though, the XO remained silent. Adama looked out at the viewscreen, staring intently at the starry landscape in front of him, as if he could find the hole between the universes by staring. Being left alone for the moment, he allowed his mind to wander.

This ranks right up with one of the worst days in existence. A different Laura shows up, having lived the life my Laura was denied. And she's married. The sooner we send her back where she came from, the better. He pulled his gaze away from the screen and looked back at the crew. "The Raptor that jumped in was a fluke, just a prank by someone who had no business getting into a Raptor. I'd like to scan for anything out of the ordinary though, just to make sure that there aren't hostile Cylons out there latching on to extra signals."

"Sir, Galactica only has minimal abilities to scan for subspace frequencies," Dee reminded him.

"Try anyway," the admiral responded.

Several hours later, the scans still had not turned up anything. Tigh leaned close to Adama. "If we can't find the hole they came through, you're gonna be stuck with them."

"Believe me, Saul, I'm very aware of that," Adama stated.

Tory had been quiet enough not to be overly noticeable. Hearing such an odd conversation, she stepped over toward the admiral. "Is there something that I should know about?"

Her question was met by a cold glare from the admiral. "No."

At the end of his shift he made two phone calls. The first was to the galley, telling them to send an extra tray for a few days. He did not know how long Laura and her daughters were staying, but figured that it would be easier if he gave her a tray himself, rather than letting news of her arrival circulate. The second phone call was to Laura herself.

The phone rang four times before someone picked it up. Hearing only silence, Adama spoke first. "It's Bill."

He heard a relieved sigh before her voice. "I'm here. When the phone rang, I wasn't sure what you'd want me to do, so I figured whomever was on the other end could speak first."

"That's fine. Listen, I scanned the area, but Galactica's sensors didn't pick up anything," he relayed.

"There has to be a way," Laura protested.

"I'll see what our other options are tomorrow," he mentioned.

"Okay. Thank you for all you've done so far. We'll sort this out in the morning," she concluded.

"By the way, I'll be bringing dinner by soon."

"I'm guessing your people are still stuck with algae?"

"Unfortunately, but it's not inedible."

"In that case, it's food, and it'll do."

After Adama had dropped dinner off with them and had read through some of the recon reports for the area, he poured himself a glass of Ambrosia. Sighing, he removed his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose. Then he rose and took the glass with him, heading over to the far wall. On it hung a familiar picture, housed in a new frame. It was of him standing near Laura Roslin. Both had been in their respective uniforms, his military outfit and her dress suit. The frame had been replaced due to the bullet hole in it.

He stared at the picture as he took a gulp of Ambrosia, focusing on her. "You told me I'd see you again, but I never thought it would be like this. Why couldn't you have been a Cylon? It would've made things easier. This Laura, she's going to cause me all sorts of trouble, not that you didn't cause me trouble. But it's different. Her presence puts the fleet in jeopardy, and if I don't find a way to close the hole she's mentioned, we could be fighting Cylons again. What should I do? I don't know how to handle this one."

Sighing again, he set is glass on the end table next to the lamp. Then he slumped down onto the end of the couch closest to the picture. "I think what bothers me most is that she's got what you should've had: a family and a husband. I wish things had been different for us."

After spending a few more minutes in a contemplative silence, he stood, taking one last look at the picture. "Goodnight, Laura," he said before heading to his rack.

(My thanks to The Breeze, Mariel3, carolann, Ceridwyn2, Mamabella, max72, and McGonagallFan for reviewing :D)