In The Distant Future

By caramelapples

Chapter 13

In all the years Jack Cottle had been a doctor, he had never met a patient with the will-power of Laura Roslin. She was stubborn, completely regardless of her own health and a little smart ass who, to the great surprise of Jack Cottle, rubs off on you. He was concerned about her although he would rather give up his life than to ever admit it to her-or to anyone else for that matter.

He glanced at her sleeping form and allowed a small smile to tug at the corners of his mouth. She really was quite adorable when she slept. He had ordered her to rest for the side effects of the impending cure would tire her, drain her of all the strength she had-and it was a lot of strength.

He had no idea how he was going to do it although he had a faint idea of what he was supposed to do. He had seen her newborn baby and, although very uncharacteristic of him, found himself liking Baby Laura. How sappy can you get? Naming your baby after yourself… Despite his thoughts, his heart was telling him it was cute and greatly endearing. Where was he going to do this? He had no lab, no sterile conditions and no Baltar. And how the hell was he going to do it without any weird incompetent Earthling finding out? They were far behind on this…

Unless he were to sneak in into the middle of the night. Cottle scoffed at the thought. His mind wasn't functioning properly since the hospital insisted that he stopped smoking. Damned those signs! Seriously, what else were he to do? They had not really talked about it but all of them agreed that this was supposed to be kept hidden. He knew that if he did it, and if it worked, the cancer might just disappear and no traces of Cylon blood will be found in Laura's blood. Not that it wasn't there, they just didn't have the knowledge that what they were seeing were Cylon blood. He watched the steady beeping of the monitor. He knew that it was there because she had been bleeding and her cancer was almost in full swing without treatment.

He would just have to do it like he did in the first war. He saved people without having a lab or sterile conditions. He would do it again. It's just that this time, he actually cared about the woman he was saving.

Doctor Roberts went over the charts for his latest and by far, the most interesting patient. It was already late and his shift was over. He could go home but he didn't want to. The man who was here earlier, introduced to him as Doctor Cottle, had returned with the father of her patient's baby. They did look suspicious although he had no reason to suspect them of doing anything. But it didn't hurt to check, in case she was asleep and they were disturbing her. He had to act in his patient's best interest, didn't he?

He got up from his chair and headed for Laura Roslin's ward.

He was not prepared for what he saw when he entered. The older man was standing beside her bed and was about to inject something into her forearm. There stood Bill, holding her other hand and stroking her cheek. She seemed conscious but was she even aware of what they were doing?

"What the hell are you doing?!"

Bill and Cottle both looked up, startled.

"What the hell are you doing?!" the younger doctor almost yelled. "Get away from her!"

Cottle stepped back and Bill went towards him in one swift motion. "Shut up!" he hissed.

"Not until you tell me what is going on here!"

"Please," Laura's soft voice was heard telling them. "Let them explain and I can assure you that they're not trying to harm me in any way." She struggled to sit up and Bill went to her and helped. "As you can see, these gentlemen are not harming me."

"Then what are they doing?"

"We're trying to get rid of her damned cancer," Cottle said, annoyed. Damned earth people.

"They can't tell you anymore than that," Laura said.

"And I'm supposed to trust them? You are my patient, Laura. I'm supposed to make sure you're-"

"Just let us do it. I am not going to lose her!" Bill said. "It worked the first time and it'll work again."

"You mean you've done this before? What is that anyway?"

Laura was relieved to hear the Roberts calm down and start to listen.

"We can't tell you."

"You have a cure for cancer and nobody knows about it?!" Roberts voice was incredulous.

Bill pulled the younger man aside, in view of Laura and Cottle but they couldn't hear what he was saying.

"I love that woman lying on that bed more than anything in the world. I almost lost her once and I'm not losing her again," Bill said, quietly. "Can you understand that? Do you have someone you love so greatly that the though of her gone will shatter your very being?"

Roberts nodded. "I love my wife."

"If she was dying, would you do all you can to save her?"

Roberts looked at Laura, and then at the floor. "Yes, I-I would."

"Then please let us do this. He's going to inject her with the stem cells of a child but only that child can save someone from cancer. Only that one child." Bill gazed intensely at Roberts. "I have two scenarios that might happen here tonight. She might die or she might continue living, with or without the cancer. But you have to trust us on this"

"I'll be breaking my oath," he said and ran his fingers through his hair. "I could lose my job if this goes wrong!"

"Not if you walk out of here and never saw anything," Bill told him seriously. "Please."

"All-all right," Roberts said.

"And you cannot tell anyone. We're depending o you to keep this secret. If she lives, you're doing a good thing here. You're saving a baby's mother."

Roberts smiled a little hesitantly at that. "I hope that I'm doing the right thing. Good luck, Laura. See you tomorrow." He exited the room and Bill returned to Laura's side. He took her hand in his.

"Since that idiot is gone…" Cottle said, scanning the room. "We can proceed with this."

Laura nodded and shut her eyes. She had no idea how this would be like since she was barely alive the last time this took place. She felt the piercing of the needle through her skin and winced. She felt Bill's grip tighten. Just as sudden as that, she felt as though her arm was on fire. Cottle was injecting flames into her system and she fought to not cry out in agony. Tears streamed down her face as she felt the fire spread from her arm to her chest and her heart.

The monitors beeped wildly as she trashed on the hospital bed, the seizure overcoming her senses. The white light of the fluorescent tube above her bed caused her to squeeze her eyes shut the moment she opened them. She saw Bill at her side, calling her name and he was a blurry mess. She heard Cottle as well, but mostly she heard her own heartbeat in the beeps of the monitor. She felt the ground open up below her and swallowed her into a dark vacuum. A darkness blacker than anything she's ever known.

To be continued…

A/N- I hope you've enjoyed this. Please leave reviews! Thanks!