In The Distant Future

By caramelapples

Chapter 5

Bill took a deep breath to calm his emotions when he went into the ward. He would have to be the strong one for them both. She was awake as she turned to him and smiled weakly. It was heartbreaking to see that the woman he loved, the woman that was incredibly strong in willpower, weak and pale lying under the crisp white blanket.

"Hi," she said. Her voice was soft, as though she was too tired to speak which was most probably the truth.

"Hey," he said and gently caressed her cheek.

"I'm sorry, Bill… I'm sorry," she said. His heart broke at the pain that shone in her eyes. "I just couldn't tell you…"

"If you-"

"No. This baby is all we have, Bill," she said.

"You are all I have."

She lifted her hand to grip his. "I know. And you would have made me abort the baby. I can't do that. I can't."

"Why?" His voice came out as a strangled whisper. "Why?" he asked again. "I love you so much. I love you more than you'll ever know."

"I wanted so much to be happy… I wanted so much to love you and live the rest of my life with you," she said. She squeezed his hand and felt him squeeze back. "Promise me something."

He struggled to keep the tears from flowing. Be strong for the both of us. "What is it?"

"That you won't talk about this… Not until I'm ready. I want to be happy, at least for a while. However short the time is, I want to feel happy."

He furrowed his brows and felt his heart tighten. She was already giving up. The stubborn woman who never seemed to give up was giving up. "You can't-"

"Please."

He nodded reluctantly. "You should rest now," he said.

She was too tired to protest and welcomed the gentle haze of calm that settled on her.

Finally a tear escaped and ran down his cheek. I love you, Laura.

Laura sat back against the couch and curled her feet under her. She placed a hand on the gentle swell of her belly and smiled. In a few months time, she would be carrying it her arms. Her child. She remembered being extremely nervous and frightened when she found out she was pregnant. The majority of her worry came from the fact that it might be Cliff's child and she worried that Bill would leave her if it proved to be correct. She remembered the overwhelming rush of relief she felt when Cliff had told her that he had had a vasectomy a few years back when she brought the possibility up during one of her trips to the bookstore. She almost cried tears of joy. And then there was the doctor's appointment that finally caught the- No, don't think about that.

Realising that there was someone knocking at the door, she pulled herself up with a sigh and went to open it. The man standing in front of her was no one other than Lee Adama, or in other words, her Captain Apollo. He launched into a big hug and squeezed her tight without even saying hello.

"Careful, Lee, you might hurt the baby."

There was no mistaking that voice of his, despite listening to it everyday, she would never tire of it. Lee pulled away, grinning and went to hug his father.

"It's good to see you," Bill muttered, smiling himself. "It's good to see you." He patted his son's back.

"How did you find us?" Laura asked, still smiling widely.

"Dad left me your address before he came here and naturally I- Dad, did you just say not to hurt the-" he had a big grin plastered on his face as he looked at his father and then at Laura who blushed a deep shade of red. Lee grinned more-if it was possible.

"Lee Adama! I cannot believe that you're making me carry all these by myself!"

Laura giggled. The voice was of no one else but Kara Thrace. The younger woman walked in, dropped the bags and gave Laura a hug, a rough one but she didn't mind. She rushed to Bill and almost knocked him over, laughing. "Old Man! I've missed you!"

"Good to see you," Laura said. "I can't believe you're both here, right now."

"Kara, they're expecting a baby," Lee said, still with the grin on his face.

"Oh, good, good…" Kara said, whatever she heard, not registered in her brain yet. "What?!"

Laura sighed, but for joy. True, the peace had been shattered by none other than the spunky blonde. However, it was not unwelcome. She was glad they had come. Especially now that- No, don't think about that.

"Well, well, well… Someone has been busy," Kara said and grinned, joining Lee in the ranks. "To think of all those pent up tension exploding on one night…" she sighed mockingly as she saw Laura blush again. "The first time is always-"

Laura swallowed uncomfortably as she was assaulted with images of her and Bill together on their first night and those images were enough to make her collar seem tighter and room temperature seem higher.

"Kara!"

Thank the Gods for all the Lees that came with Karas…

Laura flashed an appreciative smile at him.

"All right, all right…" Kara said and rolled her eyes. "Congratulations you two!"

"Thank you," Bill said.

"I cannot believe I'm going to be a big brother!"

Laura smiled tightly but Bill was quick enough to catch her smile falter as she excused herself for a moment.

To be continued…

A/N- Please leave reviews! I love them and I promise to write faster if you leave them! And seeing how many hits my profile page got, I've decided to update it! My bio is there. ;-)