Two whole chapters today…it's a record!! On a side not, the opening of this chapter is probably my favorite scene in the story. Thanks for reading!! Special thanks to Drakkenfyre for beta reading for me!
Disclaimer: I don't own them Ron Moore and Sci-fi do.
Laura watched with great interest as Bill Adama shaved in front of the bathroom mirror. She sat on his bed with her legs swinging back and forth from beneath the robe she wore. Bill's robe. One benefit to the situation was they could explain anything away as an early morning meeting or a late night meeting. She planned on having lots and lots of early morning and late night meetings with the admiral from now on.
"What are you giggling about?" he asked, glancing at her from the corner of his eye.
She grabbed the pillow sitting next to her and hugged it tightly to her chest.
"Nothing," she said with a wide smile.
She saw a smile twitch at the corner of his mouth. This was a bad thing. She couldn't remember being so happy since…nope, she couldn't remember being so happy. Oh, frak. The whole fleet was going to know what transpired simply by her good mood. And if Bill wore the twitch smile to the CIC they would be doomed. That was okay with her, though. She liked doomed.
"Bill," she began with mischief as her ally, "Say it again."
"Say what?" He asked.
She knew he was pretending for the sake of her amusement.
"You know," she replied, her smile only growing larger.
"No, I don't know. Unless you mean I love you. Is I love you what you mean? Because, I love you Laura," his voice rasped.
She laughed outright when he said the words again. Never in a hundred years would she get tired of hearing them.
"Just checking," she replied and set the pillow down.
"You plan on checking every five minutes from now until we reach earth?" He asked as he dried off his neck and chin with a towel.
"Pretty much, yes," she answered and walked over to stand next to him.
"That's fine with me," he told her.
She saw the smile break out on his lips this time, before he bent down to pick up his uniform jacket. Laura leaned against the bathroom sink and watched as he pulled on the jacket.
"I have a briefing with Lee this afternoon. I could invite Kara and we could tell them," Bill said.
Laura sighed playfully and titled her head to the side.
"Do we have to?" she asked.
"It was your idea," Bill replied, letting her see his smile.
He had a lovely smile.
"Why don't you stop me when I get ideas?" She asked, and pulled him a little closer by the open sides of his jacket.
"Because last night was your idea," he said teasingly.
She touched her forehead to his and smiled.
"No, that was your idea," she argued.
"Madam President, I would never," he said in an over exaggerated tone, causing her to giggle with delight.
It was ridiculous how happy she was at the moment.
"You're a sly one, Bill Adama," she teased back, touching her nose to his.
"That's why you love me," he said, and before she could respond he was kissing her again.
She wasn't quite expecting it because as her lips answered his, her body was caught off balance. Her hand flew backwards to keep her from breaking away but she knocked over just about every bottle, soap dish, and toothbrush he hand on his bathroom sink. The loud noise, combined with the fact they were acting like immature children, made her laugh.
"Now look what you did," Bill said, scolding her with his hands hooked fully around her waist.
"I guess you'll have to throw me in the brig," Roslin cooed. She let her hands rest on his arms.
"Crap," he said, and his smile dropped.
"What's wrong?" Laura questioned her smile fading along with his.
She was having fun and she didn't want to stop their flirty bantering so soon.
"I can't think of a good come back. You're just too clever for an old man like me," he replied. She laughed again.
"Old man, pisssh," she dismissed, "just where did your call sign come from, Husker?"
"My lips are sealed," he responded.
"Hmm, that's too bad," she said replied with lifted eyebrows.
She saw his comeback this time was going to be another kiss, and now she was prepared for it. Just as she began to grow concerned that Bill might never get dressed for his day there was a knock at the door.
"Hide?" she asked him, ready to make a mad dash for his tiny closet.
"It's Saul. He wanted to meet this morning before shift. We have to tell him sometime," Adama replied, unhooking his hands from around her waist.
She turned around and began picking up the mess she made.
"Are you really going to let me get the better of Saul Tigh?" Laura asked with an excited smile.
"Times like these I wish I had a camera," Bill replied, winking at her.
He had never winked at her before. She decided she like the affectionate, nearly unnoticeable gesture and wondered if he would wink at her in public.
"I love you Bill Adama," Laura said.
He smiled, stepped forward and kissed her quickly before he made his way to the door. He didn't bother to button his uniform and Laura revelled in the fact that she, the naive school teacher, as Saul had once called her, was about to shock the Colonel. Laura followed Bill and stopped at the kitchen, still dressed in her bathrobe.
"Bill, we just received a report from Racetrack. It seems the cylons are on our—"
Laura was assembling the items necessary to make coffee and only heard Bill open the hatch. With a smile, she was pretty sure she could guess when Tigh spotted her because he stopped in mid-sentence. Laura turned casually and smiled even wider when she saw the look on Tigh's face; mouth open, eye popping, skin white.
"Good morning, Colonel," Laura began, "Would you like some coffee?"
Much as she hated to, she turned back around and continued to work. Tigh didn't immediately respond. When she could resist no longer, Laura turned back around and watched the Colonel look from Bill to her and back to Bill. His open jaw curved upward into a smile.
"Well," he said, with an exasperated breath, "it's about frakking time."
Laura looked over her shoulder and smiled widely at Bill, whose eyes said he was enjoying Tigh's reaction as well.
"The President and I had an early meeting this morning," Bill said, as if nothing had gone on.
"Uh-huh," Tigh replied, his hands on his hips and his mouth now smirking to the fullest.
"You were saying something about the cylons," Bill urged, pulling out a chair.
Laura listened to their conversation as she fixed the coffee.
"There's a couple of Basestars on our trail. Racetrack reported them this morning," Tigh began, and then gave Bill the rest of morning's reports.
Once Laura had the coffee made she joined them at the table. Tigh glanced at her attire, and she was well aware of his discomfort. She was enjoying every minute of it. After all, there were going to be very few people she could flaunt to and she had to take advantage of her opportunities.
"Prep everyone for an attack. We don't want to take chances," Bill replied.
"No chances, huh? So, I'm assuming this is something you aren't going to let the press in on," Tigh said.
Laura was a little irritated by his directness. It wasn't like it was any of his business. Bill seemed more understanding.
"We talked about that. You're the first we've told. Tory, Lee and Kara will be the only others," Bill explained.
He sent Laura a side long glance. She smiled faintly and tossed her hair out of her eyes.
"Tell Kara? You might as well announce it to the world," Tigh laughed.
"Perhaps, but it's what we've decided," Laura told him, her more professional tone seemed to put Tigh at ease.
Tigh expression became more difficult to read.
"So, I take it this is something you plan to continue?" Tigh questioned.
Without hesitation Bill answered.
"Permanently."
He reached under the table and rested his hand on Laura's knee.
Tigh lifted an eyebrow and even though he looked like he wanted to say something else, he kept his mouth closed. Laura watched him grow more uncomfortable in the silence. She decided it was time to make a graceful exit.
"I better get ready for they day," she said and stood up. "Colonel Tigh."
She rounded Bill's chair and as she walked away she ran her fingers along his shoulders. Bill snatched her wrist and stopped her exit.
"We need to talk before you go," he said in a serious rumble.
She nodded slightly and he released her hand. Maybe if she took long enough he would be gone by the time she dress and showered. What he wanted to talk about was not something she wanted to think about, much less discuss.
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Once Laura was out of earshot, Bill prepared himself for Tigh's real reaction.
"Do you know how many rules you are breaking?" His friend asked.
Bill was annoyed to hear it come from Tigh's mouth. If the Colonel really wanted to start adding up the number of rules broken by an officer aboard Galactica, Bill was pretty sure Tigh would win the count.
"Collusion, fraternizing, misconduct, perjury—" Tigh rambled, waving his hand in the air for emphasis.
"Yes," Bill cut him off. "Obviously there is a need for secrecy. You said yourself you'd help us if we ever decided to go for it."
The side of Tigh's mouth tugged at his face.
"And I'll do just that. Nice going, old man, I didn't think you had it in you," he said, and while laughing hit Bill on the shoulder.
Adama chuckled and was glad to see his relationship with Laura wasn't going to change his friendship with Tigh.
"So…how was she? A wildcat?" Tigh asked, his eyes sparkling with mischief.
Bill had a firm policy on answering Saul's line of questioning.
"Not a word," he countered, though he couldn't keep the smile from creeping onto his face.
Saul smiled back and Bill was suddenly glad Laura had left. He was sure she wouldn't appreciate the topic of conversation, even if it was a complement to her.
"You'll probably want to assign the president permanent guest quarters on Galactica, just to cover your tracks," Tigh suggested.
"Good idea," Bill replied.
Though he gave Tigh credit, he had already thought of the idea himself. Some things were going to be difficult to explain and early preparation might help dispel speculation.
Adama and Tigh finished up their meeting a few minutes later and Saul left before Laura was out of the shower. Bill sipped his coffee, which was the best mixture he had for a while. He made a note to ask Laura how she made it given the limited supplies. He tackled the mountain of paperwork on his desk while he waited for her. Tigh had generously agreed to cover for him if he ran late.
"You're still here?" Laura asked, when she finally came out of the bedroom, "I thought you had the CIC this morning?"
"You're not going to avoid this," Bill said, knowing full well she was taking her sweet time getting ready on purpose.
From his desk he watched Laura pretend to ignore him while she searched for the missing parts of her clothing. A bracelet on the floor beneath the coffee table, a shoe hiding in the blankets at the foot of the bed, her suit jacket still on the sofa were she left it. Bill liked the fact that her simple items were scattered through his place. It made it feel like she belonged there.
"You have to talk to the cylon," he stated, as he watched her sit on the sofa and put on her shoe.
"I know," she replied with a sigh, and then lifted her head to face him with eyes desperate, "I just don't want to."
Bill felt the pain washing over her eyes as presently as if someone where punching him in the stomach. Laura was so rarely frightened of anything and he wished he could make it easier for her.
"This is good coffee," he attempted to lighten the mood, lifting the cup to his lips.
The look of pain of Laura's face dimmed only a little as she accepted the compliment.
"Thanks."
Her voice was hollow. Setting the cup down, he rose from the chair and joined her on the couch. He set closer to her than he would have before last night.
"Six and Sharon have been talking. They know something about the dreams but they need you to help them explain it all. I was there last night, Laura, the dreams are getting worse and you need to find the answers," Bill explained gently.
Last night had worried him. Laura woke up with a jerk and sat up in bed for a few minutes to regain her senses. At the time she shrugged it off as nothing, but from the way she held onto him after that he knew she had been dreaming.
"If you want, I will go with you," Bill offered, hoping maybe that would help to convince her.
In all truth, Bill saw no harm in talking to Sharon and Six. Between what both cylons had told him, and Laura's revelation about Cavil, Bill felt there was something bigger at work. Something both he and Laura had to discover before time ran out.
Turning to face him she forced a smile.
"So, this morning you're going to make me meet with the cylon, and, then, this afternoon you're going to make me face Kara and Lee. You know how to show a girl a good time Bill," Laura said with playful sarcasm.
"Lee and Kara will be easier," Bill assured her, putting his hand on her back.
"Actually, I'm dreading that meeting more," Laura shrugged.
She pulled on her other shoe. Bill kept his hand on her back as she bent over. He loved that he could touch her now without any hesitations.
"Why?"
"I think Kara will take it well. She's already hinted to me that she wouldn't mind us together," Laura explained, brushing a hair away from her face.
"Really? You never told me that," Bill remarked.
He often wondered if Laura ever talked to other people about him when he wasn't there.
"On purpose," Laura replied, giving his shoulder a teasing nudge.
"And Lee?" Adama asked.
"When he caught me in your bed before, he didn't seem pleased," Laura replied, looking at a spot on the carpet in front of them.
"I think he was just surprised. He might take it better than you think," Bill said.
From the conversation he had with Lee he knew his son respected Laura a great deal. Even if Lee did have trouble accepting it to begin with Adama knew his son would end up loving Laura as much as his own mother.
Bill watched Laura ponder the words and they sat in silence simply enjoying each other's company.
"I would like you to come, when I meet with the cylon," Laura said finally.
Bill turned her face toward him with his hand.
"Of course I will," he replied, and kissed her softly.
He was holding a flame now; a brightly burning flame and it was as lovely as on New Caprica.
"You better call Tory. Saul said she's looking for you and about to have a heart attack," Bill replied.
He left his quarters with the sound of Laura's laughter filling his ears.
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"We all know Hera is the shape of things to come," Cavil said to the other cylons around the command center of the Basestar.
"We must retrieve her at all costs," Doral agreed.
A copy of Six shifted her stance.
"We've tried attacking the humans before—"
"They always run before we can complete our mission," a Leobon interrupted.
"We have a plan," another copy of Cavil replied.
The five cylons put their hands into the liquid on the command center control pad, and absorbed the necessary information. None objected to the Cavils' plan. Something had to be done.