A/N- Thank you to those who reviewed! They're very much appreciated. Thanks especially to Lady Henrietta who has never failed to review! You're wonderful! I hope that you all like this chapter. Please review and improve my 15-year-old self-esteem. ;-)

In The Distant Future

By caramelapples

Chapter 8

Black and white.

Movement.

"That's the heart," the doctor pointed out and both Bill and Laura smiled at the same time. Laura felt tears prickling her eyes, not from sorrow but from utmost joy that was overflowing from her heart. The pride of carrying a child surged through her body like a new meaning to live. She threw a glance at Bill just in time to see him beam with happiness. Our child is growing inside me, she thought.

"Do you want to know your baby's gender?" Doctor Roberts asked. "Some parents would rather keep it a surprise."

"It's a girl," Laura said. Bill held her hand. He knew that in her dream, their baby was a girl.

"Well, I didn't know you could tell," the doctor smiled, amusement glinted in his eyes when he saw how convinced his patient was.

Laura kept silent, not wanting to explain that she had a dream. The doctor flipped the switch and the monitor switched off. He handed her a few paper towels and Laura took it gratefully. She wiped off the once cool gel which was warmed by her body now and threw the paper towels away. Bill held onto her and as she stood from the bed as though she might collapse anytime. And it wasn't as though she couldn't move. In fact, she wasn't even that big yet.

Bill made lunch for her. She doubted that he could cook but as it turned out, he proved her very wrong. He could cook very well. Sitting on the grass underneath the tree, Laura leaned back against Bill. He had his arms around her, kissing the top of her head occasionally. It was fairly cold and Bill had insisted that she wrapped herself in the blanket. Winter was almost there, perhaps just round the block. The leaves on trees where already a dark reddish hue and had started falling.

"I wish I could stay here like this forever," she said, sighing after that. She rested her hand on her stomach. "I never once imagined that I would be having a baby with you. There was a time when I would die if I knew this was what was coming."

"I have to admit, I found you not to my liking the first time I met you."

She nodded in agreement. "The feeling was mutual."

He let out a chuckle at how serious she sounded.

"I was thinking that maybe we can make something for her," Laura said indicating her stomach. "I mean, I would like something for her to remember me by when I…um…when I'm not here anymore."

Bill felt a stab of pain. He had not allow himself to think of her not being there for days. It was easier to deny the truth and bury the pain six feet under. "Laura-"

"Bill, I know you don't want to face this. Trust me. Neither do I. But we have to, okay?"

He was silent for a moment, wishing that there was some alternate answer he could say. Finally, with a sigh of defeat, he kissed her head. "Okay."

"Right. So I was thinking a scrapbook. Everyone can help make it, you know? Kara and Lee…" she let her sentence hang.

"It's a great idea." He held her tighter as though she might slip away. He could tell that she was becoming weaker. The glow of her pregnancy covered the most jarring signs of her illness but he could tell, no matter how much she tried to hide it from him, he knew. Despite all that, he loved to watch her. Her in her sweater fitting snugly against her curves was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. He would never love another woman the way he loved Laura Roslin. Not in a million years.

Bill was awoken by the soft creaking of the door. He peered at the silhouette at the door through half closed lids. Laura was sleeping on his now numb arm and he carefully pulled his arm away. Realising that the blanket had fallen from Laura's sleeping form, he adjusted it and pulled it up to make sure it covered her fully.

"Dad?"

Bill sat up. "Wait, I'll go out. I don't want to wake her."

"All right," Lee said and disappeared from the doorway. Bill placed a kiss of Laura's forehead and left the room, making sure that he closed the door softly so as to not wake her.

He went to the living room to find Lee and Kara sitting down, looking apprehensive. "What is it?"

Kara was the first one to speak. "Laura was saved before, right? From the cancer?"

"Yes," Bill said, wondering what spawned this midnight meeting. "And?"

Lee ran his fingers through his hair. "Was it Hera's blood?"

Bill nodded, not making comment.

"If we get Hera, will we be able to save Laura?" Lee asked.

"What are you saying? That there's a chance to save Laura?" Bill said, his voice becoming huskier. Was there hope? Will Laura live after all?

"If we could get Hera, we can save her, isn't it?' Kara said.

Bill felt light headed suddenly as though the world had become a vortex. He sat down abruptly. "Yes! My Gods, yes! Do you know where Helo and Sharon is? Or Tyrol and Cally?"

"We have to talk to Laura about this first, dad." Lee seemed uncertain. He had brought this new piece of information but he was weary of it. He and Kara had discussed it and they both knew that nobody would want to be injected with cylon blood. It was plain terrifying.

"I'll talk to her tomorrow night," Bill said, feeling hope. Hope that had been so long scarce.

"Absolutely not!"

"Laura, please," Bill took a step closer intending on taking her hand.

"No!" Laura said, her breathing coming out short and rapid.

Bill reached out and took hold of her hand. "Please Laura. If you do this, you can watch our baby grow up and we can be happy together. Don't you want that? She will be able to know her mother."

She rubbed her forehead and looked up. Her eyes held a whirlpool of emotions. "If I agree, what guarantee is there that it would work? What makes you think it'll work?" Her hands shook from the power of her thoughts. She wanted to live, the Gods knew how much but she wouldn't do it this way. She already had cylon blood running in her veins. And despite it saving her life, the thought of it sent chills down her spine.

"It's worth a try." He didn't understand why she wouldn't do this.

"No! I had nightmares for weeks after the first time Baltar injected me with the baby's blood! I couldn't sleep for weeks!" she said, trembling. "And what makes you think it won't harm our baby in any way?"

"We'll do it after she's born."

"Who's going to do this?"

Bill was about to say Cottle when a sudden realisation hit him. He didn't know where Cottle was. And Cottle wasn't even the one who did it. It was Baltar. And if somehow everything works out, the cylon baby's life would be gone just like that. A new miracle cure for cancer and the child would be hounded by the press and scientists, in other words become a science specimen. But it was Laura's life in question. His Laura. All rational thought was gone when it came to her. She seemed to be thinking of the same thing.

"It doesn't matter. Please…" He resorted to begging. Why did she have to be so frakking stubborn even when she's dying? Didn't she want to live to see her child grow up? Our child grow up.

"No, Bill." She looked away. "I can't. It's terrifying," she whispered.

"So you are just going to do nothing?"

"I never said that. Doctor Roberts said that treatment after the baby is born is possible. He'll induce labour as soon as he's certain that the baby will be able to survive on it's own and then he'll start treatment."

"Laura, we both know that the treatments will give you a year the most. A frakking year! I can't do this without you here. This is being selfish! You're not thinking about our child. Don't you think she'll be miserable without her mother?" Bill tilted her chin, forcing her to look into his eyes. "Don't you think I'll be miserable without you?"

Tears sprang up into her eyes and she didn't have the strength to stop them. "I'll fight this and stay as long as I can but please, I can't do this to myself. I can't to this to Helo or Sharon assuming that they'll be willing to help… Or Tyrol and Cally. This will ruin their lives," she said, her voice so small that it was barely audible. "Please don't make me do this. Please."

He pulled her into an embrace and she cried into his shoulder. "Please…"

"I won't, I promise," he said, choking back tears of his own. I hate you, you stupid Gods! I hate you so much! How can you take her away?! When she's the best thing that's ever happened to me?! I hate you! He held her tighter as he'd always done every night. He was sure that she felt suffocated but he needed to have the most of her every second he could.

"But I want you with me all the time. Stop teaching," he said, gently.

She didn't even bother to protest. She needed to be close to him as well. It was never enough, the time they had. She nodded, face still buried in his shoulder. She took a deep breath to calm herself and just when she was certain that she wouldn't cry anymore, a brand new flood was released as though through a trapdoor. Bill rubbed circles in her back while whispering comforts in her ear.

Do you hear me?! I hate you, damned Gods! I will never forgive you!

"Take a bath," he suggested. "I'll fill the tub for you," he said and left her once he was sure she was all right. When the tub was filled, he called for her.

She slowly undressed and went into the bathroom. He lifted her up and gently put her into the warm water-filled tub. Slowly, he poured the warm water over her body as she sat holding her knees to her chest. He knelt down beside the tub and lapped the water onto her skin as though he was washing all her sorrow away with his hands.

To be continued…