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

Chapter 6: The way your smile just beams

Bill woke and began his usual morning routine. But as he sat down to read his reports while waiting for his coffee, the silence of his quarters became deafening. As the two breakfast trays arrived, a plan formed in his mind. He picked up the phone. "It's Bill," he said, knowing that she was not speaking first.

"Good morning," she replied. "What's going on?"

"I've got your breakfast tray over her and I was wondering if you'd like to join me for breakfast," he invited.

"Is it alright if I bring the girls?" she inquired.

"Of course," he ended.

He heard a knock a few minutes later and rose to answer the door. Having made coffee, he handed Laura a mug after she set Charlotte down on the couch again. "So what is it today?" Laura asked.

Bill ushered Laura and Hannah over to his small dining table and they all sat down. "Pancakes," he answered.

They began eating the green pancakes, Laura looking over her shoulder at Charlotte from time to time. After finishing almost half of one, Hannah looked up at the adults. "I can't say what troubles me more: the fact that the pancakes are green, or that they actually taste like pancakes."

Again Adama noticed a trace of Laura Roslin in Hannah. Strange, she reminds me more of my Laura than this other Laura. Maybe this Laura is different because she had children. "Most of the food here is green. However, they have flavor extracts that they add to the food."

Laura smirked. "In our universe the people have these things called replicators. They use particle residue to generate food so whatever you type in is what comes out."

Bill raised an eyebrow with interest. "That's a smart idea. We could use a few of those here."

When Hannah finished her breakfast, she asked if she could look at Bill's ship. He nodded and she proceeded to examine it, lifting it up and turning it from one side to the other. "You know, this thing is a mess. It's whole, but just look at the cracks in this. I mean, this rod here helps the sail stay in place but the whole front was rebuilt," then she paused and glanced over at Bill. "What the heck did you do to this thing?"

He faced her mother. "I'm surprised she knows about ship building."

Laura dealt him a wry smile. "You shouldn't be. She learned it from you."

Nodding, he turned back to the girl. "You don't know how many times I've had to rebuild that thing. The materials for it are hard to come by, so the only answer is more glue."

Hannah giggled and shook her head. "Excuses, excuses."

Bill turned back to Laura. "If you don't mind my asking, there are some things in your universe I'd like to know more about."

She shrugged. "Alright."

"For starters, have you been president since the beginning of the trip?" Bill probed.

Laura took a few bites of her pancake. "Yes. I was the Secretary of Education and I ended up becoming the president when the Cylons attacked the Colonies."

"Did your husband survive the attacks?" he inquired.

She raised an eyebrow, watching him over the top of her glasses. "Yes."

"Were you and I fighting when you found Kobol?" he continued.

Laura shook her head. "You and I found it and after some debate, we decided that investigating it was better than dividing the fleet."

So the Bill Adama in her universe is the smart one. Just great. "That's good to know. In this universe, I doubted Laura Roslin's intuition and threw her in the brig. Then I got shot by Boomer when she revealed herself to be a Cylon."

He could see a mixture of sympathy and concern written in her face. "I'm so sorry. Our Boomer was revealed to be a Cylon when Captain Agathon appeared on Kobol with Boomer's double. Both are still alive."

"And Lee? Was he your military advisor? Did he go with you? Was Zarek there too?" Adama pursued.

Her eyes widened. "What in the world happened in your universe? Zarek is and always will be a terrorist. I wouldn't trust him to hand me a tissue. As for Lee, yes he was my military advisor, and he did accompany us. You and I went down to Kobol and found the Tomb of Athena."

Bill pondered her story as he drained his coffee cup. "I can't believe your husband let you go down there like that. But I suppose Adar was never much for camping."

She snorted. "Adar? You've been thinking I married Richard Adar?"

He leaned closer to whisper, "Adar is Hannah's father, isn't he?"

"Yes, but I haven't spoken to him since the day I told him I was pregnant with her," Laura stated with a grin. A moment later they noticed as Hannah left the area to use the bathroom.

Bill's brow furrowed. "Then who is Charlotte's father?"

Laura stood and shook her head, laughing. "You can be so dense sometimes. I'm going to get her." When she lifted the blinking baby from the couch, she handed the child to him. "I want you to take a good look at her and tell me who you think the father is."

Charlotte had the makings of her mother's hair in little red tufts. She giggled and looked up at him with smoky blue eyes. In that instant he had his answer. "She's mine- I mean the other Bill Adama's?"

"Yes. You see, I haven't heard myself referred to as 'President Roslin' since we came back from Kobol. I'm actually 'President Laura Adama,'" she mentioned with a warm smile.

"What happened to distance between the military and the government?" he asked her with mischief in his eyes.

"Two people fell in love and a young girl got an amazing step-father. Her mother lost the next election, which gave them time to learn how to be a family," Laura replied.

"What does Hannah usually call him?" Bill inquired.

"Dad," Laura answered. Then Hannah emerged from the bathroom. "It's too bad you didn't find anything yesterday."

Adama sighed. "Galactica just doesn't have the scanning capability for what you're looking for.

Laura held Charlotte on her lap, running her fingers over the fine hair on the baby's head for a moment. She looked back toward Adama. "I've been thinking, the Raptor that we arrived in has been upgraded and modified. It might be able to scan for what we need to find."

He folded his hands in front of him and thought for a moment. "It could work."

"Then let's give it a try," Laura suggested. She handed Charlotte to the older girl. "Hannah, would you please watch your sister for a while?"

The girl shrugged. "Sure, mom."

"You're welcome to read whatever I have," Bill added before he and Laura left the room, heading for the hanger bay.

Laura donned her hooded robe as she and Bill walked toward the hanger bay, passing people who eyed them strangely. He had expected this and took her by the elbow so that it almost appeared as though he was arresting her. "You don't have to do that. I can just walk behind you so it looks like we're not traveling together," she whispered.

"If I did that, you might get lost or swept up by Baltar's group and I can't risk either of those scenarios," he said quietly.

At last they reached the deck and Adama sought out Galen Tyrol, who had been recently reinstated as the deck chief. The man nodded politely as the admiral approached, then saluted. "Sir, how can I help you?"

Adama glanced at Laura, who had kept her hood on, and then returned to the chief. "We'd like to borrow that Raptor that appeared for a while."

Tyrol shook his head. "Not a good idea, sir. It's been damaged and I've got to make sure all the air leaks are fixed before anybody takes this thing out. However, it's got a bunch of additions that you should take a look at."

"I see," the admiral stated. Then he spoke to Laura. "I know you're on a time limit, but I can't see going out in something that isn't space-worthy."

She sighed. "I suppose you're right."

"Who are you?" Tyrol interrupted. "You sound familiar."

Adama was about to answer when she rested her hand on his forearm. "I think it's best if we continue this discussion inside the Raptor, gentlemen."

Bill nodded and Tyrol led them to the vessel, glancing back with disbelief at the hooded figure. Once they were on board with the door shut, she removed the hood. Tyrol's jaw dropped as he stared at her with a mixture of disbelief and shock. "Madame President?" he whispered.

"Yes, but not the one from your universe. This Raptor has other technology on it because I'm from an alternate universe," she told the baffled chief.

Tyrol glanced over at the admiral. Adama nodded, as if to confirm his question. "Sir, I hope nobody else knows about this," Tyrol added.

"Only a few," Adama replied before turning toward Laura. "Now, you were going to explain what's different?"

She nodded and walked over to the main console. "It has a shield. That's what the blue marker over there measures. Also, it has what the Federation calls phasers. The scanning capabilities have also been increased."

"It's an interesting piece of engineering, but the structural integrity should've been checked before you flew it," Tyrol mentioned.

"Yes. It was still in the process of being upgraded when we were attacked by the Cylons. Can you repair the damage?" Laura inquired.

The chief nodded. "Yeah, but I'll need at least a day."

Laura turned back to Bill. "I think we can manage that."

"We'll just keep our eyes out for Cylon activity," Adama commented.

Knowing that little could be done to help, he and Laura headed back to his quarters. He put a hand on the lever of the door, but found it locked. "She's just taking precautions," Laura stated.

"Let's hope so," he added. He knocked, saying "This is the admiral."

A moment later the door opened. The two adults slipped inside, closing the door behind them. Laura went over to Charlotte, who was still sleeping on the couch. Hannah looked up at Bill. "Did you guys find anything?"

He spotted his ship building book in her hands. "No. The Raptor's damaged and needs repairs before anyone can use it again. Hopefully things should be ready by tomorrow. I see you've found some good reading."

Hannah smirked, glancing down at the book and then back to him. "When I first met the other Bill Adama, he gave me this same book and told me to do something useful with it. That was before we started getting along. I built a ship out of plastic junk that I found and from then on we had something in common."

Suddenly a knock sounded at the door. "Who in the world could that be?" Laura asked. "Don't people usually call?"

Bill headed toward the door while Hannah took her mother's hand. "Mom, we should probably hide until we know who it is."

Adama shook his head. "The only people who knock and don't call are Lee and Saul. It's probably Lee."

As he had predicted, Bill opened the door to find Lee. He let his son into the room and the younger man's eyes flickered from Laura and the baby to Hannah, who had claimed a cushion on the couch. "I came by to ask if you'd found anything regarding the hole in space."

Bill told him about the Raptor and they spoke for a few minutes about the need to move on and find a new planet. "I can give you four days at most," Lee told him.

"I suppose that'll have to do," Bill agreed.

As Lee walked over to the desk where the pitcher of water sat, Hannah spoke up. "So Lee Adama is now President of the Twelve Colonies?"

He poured a glass of water and faced her, studying her face. "That's right. I don't believe we've been introduced."

"I'm Hannah and my baby sister is Charlotte. Really Lee, politics? I thought you had better taste than that," Hannah remarked from the couch.

Lee continued to stare at her incredulously. "It's a long story."

"Whatever," she retorted, turning back to the book on her lap.

When Laura and her daughters left, Lee remained for a moment. "So were you right about Adar?" Lee questioned.

Adama sat on the couch resting his hands on his knees. "Half right. Hannah is Adar's daughter, but Charlotte belongs to the other Bill Adama."

Lee's jaw almost hit the floor. "You mean-"

"Yes. In her universe, she's married to Bill Adama and her title is President Laura Adama," Bill relayed.

"That explains a lot, actually," Lee paused, as if deciding where to take the conversation. "Hannah is a strange kid."

Bill shook his head and sat back against the couch. "Cynical isn't strange."

"That's not what I meant. She seems… this is going to sound weird, but she seems more like Roslin than her mother," Lee remarked.

Adama folded his hands in front of him. "I've noticed that too. The whole thing is just plain eerie."

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