Ellen Tigh holds Sloane Roslin on her lap, speaking to the eleven-month-old, "I'm not very...I'm not very good with this, you know. Your Uncle Saul wanted the kids more than I ever did." A block in her hand as she holds it in front of the boy, "He's great with you. I can only try." When the boy gazes his large blue eyes up to her, she smiles softly, "You're cute though. I'll give you that."
Saul limps, using his makeshift cane as he enters the living space he shares with his wife. He groans as he lowers himself onto a chair. A hand rolled cigarette leans in the corner of his mouth, he picks a trembling hand up after he inhales, taking the smoldering herbs in wrapped paper with it as he exhales the smoke into the air.
She stands, holding the boy in her arm, "Saul, look who came to see you today." Her voice excited as she holds the infant near her hip. The boy appears excited to see the man. "Maya had to teach class since Laura is still indisposed." The blonde smiles softly, knowing her husband hasn't been the same since his torture at the hands of the cylons.
"And you thought best to bring him here?" His voice hoarse, his draw slow, "Don't need a kid around here when there is a war going on."
"But there are kids around here, Saul. The New Caprican Baby Boom. It was in the papers the other day." Ellen nods, "Baltar and the cylons haven't gotten to that yet. Maybe you'd like to read it." There's a sense of fear about her with the man, too focused on revenge to care about anything else.
"Well, no shit, Ellen." Saul scowls with his remaining eye, "Don't need a frakking half assed newspaper to tell me that."
She sighs, sitting on the bed again. Ellen sets Sloane down, knowing he can stand, and knowing he likes to stand. Offering him the block in the palm of her hand, she smirks when the boy offers her a toothy grin, what teeth are actually in his mouth, with a dribble of drool drips down the corner of his mouth, onto his chin. Ellen leans forward, wiping it away with her thumb before it has a chance of falling onto his clothing. Not that it would make much of a difference.
"They've been taking the higher ranked officials more and more, I've noticed." His voice just above a mumble, letting his wife know he's actually speaking to her, "Sometimes, they don't even say anything to them. They just throw them in a cell for a few days without any interaction except food and water. Total frakking isolation."
Ellen listens to him, "Isolation is better than torture though." She glances up, "Wouldn't you agree?" She pauses suddenly, noticing the boy walking to the man, "Saul, look...hurry."
Tigh glances down, seeing what his wife is referring to. He does his best not to smile, not to show any type of reaction, but can't help it. A slight smirk forming at the corner of his lip. He finishes his cigarette, placing it into the thick glass ashtray as to not let the boy get it, "That was great, little warrior." Saul leans forward, slowly lifting the boy into his lap, grunting when Sloane takes it as his cue to hold onto the man in a hug. "Alright." He places his hand on the boy's back, leaning back in the chair more. The older man closes his eye, thinking of how he wants this place to be better for the boy that he's grown attached to.
Laura Roslin remained at her desk, slowly going through her students papers. She quickly glanced to her son, ensuring that he was asleep still. She smiled softly, reading through another paper, "Well, that's imaginative." She said to herself, picking her head up when she hears tapping on the tent, "Yes?" Her voice quiet, yet low. Ensuring the person on the other side could hear her, but without the cost of waking an already cranky infant.
Tom Zarek glanced around the classroom again, smirking, "Sagittaron week." He looked to her, "It's a good week then."
"I should have you come speak to my class...dispel any rumors or thoughts that their parents may attempt to instill about your colony." She smirked, "Did you receive my letter?"
"About the crib?" When he noticed her nod, he continued, "Yeah, you didn't have to do that."
"I digress, Mr. Vice President, you didn't have to do what you did." Laura shook her head, "I don't know where you got it from, but it is greatly appreciated."
"So, what did you end up having?" Tom tilted his head to the side, "Some of my sources say a boy, some say a cylon." He chuckled to himself, "Some of the religious that were following you are even saying you birthed the next messiah since you returned from the dead and had a child in such a short amount of time."
"Oh, they are not." She admonished him, looking up to him again, noticing his look to her, "They are?"
He shrugged, "That's what I've heard...and I know more about the people around here than Ellen Tigh."
Laura giggled softly to herself, "That's saying a lot."
Tom smiled, "So, what did you have?"
"Little boy. His name is Sloane." She placed her pen down on the desk, turning her chair to motion to the baby's cradle.
"Yeah?" He grinned more, walked closer, and peered into the white basket lined with cloth and soft padding, "Would you look at that...Laura, he's great...Has your features."
Laura watched him, "Some of them."
"Good. Wouldn't be fair. A woman of your beauty having a child without any of your features would be a crime." Tom smirked, glancing to her. He chuckled to himself when she blushes.
"Tom-"
"It's true." Zerek nodded, then motioned to the tent flap, "I'm going to walk a bit more before it becomes too dark to see anyone. Good luck, Laura, not long before he's a heartbreaker."
Laura pulls her jacket more around herself, tapping on Tigh's tent before opening the flap. Unaware of the size of the structure, she glances about, "Ellen?"
Ellen exits the bathroom area, pulling a brush through her wet hair, "Laura, they released you already?" She takes a sip of the alcohol they kept in stock by paying people off in the Marketplace, bringing the short glass to her lips.
"Maya informed me that you had Sloane. I've come to retrieve him."
"Oh." She nods slowly, obviously intoxicated, "Saul took him to the thing..."
Laura can feel the anxiety beginning to rise within her, "What thing?"
"Come on, Laura." The blonde whines, shaking her head, "You know."
She closes the flap, going to to the underground bunker. What if the cylons had found the bunker? What if they had taken Saul, or Sloane? What if her son was injured, or dead, all at the hands of those metal beasts? She knows she would kill Ellen Tigh with her own hands, that she could kill her without another thought. Laura runs inside, looking around. Seeing a figure sitting underneath a faint light, on a throw rug. She slowly, "Saul?" Her voice quiet, full of worry.
"Madam President." A sigh of relief as the figure stands, walking closer to her.
"Anders." She smirks ever so slightly, seeing the baby in his arm, "Oh, thank gods." Laura takes her son from him, holding him closely, "Thank you."
"The Colonel went with Tyrol to try to contact the Galactica. He was crying, so I brought him down here so the cylons wouldn't try to investigate. Can't be heard down here." Sam smiles to her, "Glad to see you're out."
"Me too." Laura kisses her son on his cheek, letting him up a little, "Any luck with contact?"
"Haven't had any for a few months, ma'am." He shakes his head, "I don't think they're ready to admit that the Admiral isn't coming back."
"He is coming back, Sam." She nods, looking to her son again, then back to the man, "Any word on Kara?"
Anders shakes his head again, "No, ma'am."
"Don't give up hope. She went all the way to Caprica, crawling with cylons, just to retrieve an arrow for me. I believe in her and I know you do as well." Laura gently takes his hand, reassuringly, "Which is why I know Admiral Adama is returning as well."
"After three months?" He stares to the woman, his eyes more damp than they were before.
"You just have to believe."
Anders nods slowly, almost instantly relaxed, "I can see why the Followers of the Dying Leader believe in you like they do...because it's deserved."
Laura feels a chill flow over her. They had a name.
Elosha grinned to the woman, "Do you see, Laura? They know of your true destiny as told in the scrolls."
"I don't like this though. I'm no different than they are. I have a title and they have orange jumpsuits, but we are all humans. I am not a god. I feel like that little display of...whatever that was...I feel terrible about it." Laura paced slowly, her hands on her hips.
She watches the woman as she clutches her own copy of the sacred scrolls to her chest, "Laura, you were chosen by the gods to fulfill this role for humanity."
"Seems like luck to me." She stopped, taking a deep breath and running her hands through her hair.
"At fourteen, you were the only survivor of a car accident that killed your father and two older sisters. Your mother detached herself from you because she couldn't handle life, forcing you to care for yourself. She became ill and her illness progressed to something she could no longer care for on her own, you cared for her. No one else, just you. She was too proud to let anyone else to see her sick. She died and you became alone, you were an orphan. You were alone before, but you never thought about it that way. Then you were the one who was chosen to board the Galactica...and Colonial One. You have dealt with your illness, you know that there is a reason for your own." Elosha shook her head, "If you think that was just luck and not an act of the gods...you are severely mistaken."
Laura folded her arms, trying to keep her eyes from tearing up too much, she quickly touched the corners of her eyes with her smallest finger, "They should be worshipping the gods or whoever...whatever, but not me."
"And you are simply an instrument of those gods...or what if you are a reincarnation...a reincarnation of the goddess Demeter-"
"Why Demeter?"
Elosha smirked, sitting slowly in a nearby chair, "Goddess of growth and nourishment. You want to take care of your people, Laura, you want them to grow as a race." She watched as the other woman stilled herself, "Look, I'm not saying it is a fact, but don't knock them down just because you don't believe in yourself."
"I know my role in this." Laura turned, facing the woman, "I know what I believe in."
"And so do those people. What is a religion but a firm belief and devotion by a group of people to a single idea? A single thought? A single notion? A single entity? Or even a single belief in multiple entities?" Elosha grinned more, "You mustn't treat their beliefs as any less than your own just because you aren't able to understand their reasons. Indulge them. They are not the first ones, and I'm certain they will not be the last, Madam President. You are a force to be reckoned with."
Lee peeked into the area, "I'm sorry for bothering you. Madam President, Zarek says he would like to discuss the plan for when we get to our destination with us."
Laura glances over to him, nodding, "Of course." She gently touches the Priestess' shoulder as she quickly walks past her.
Lee lies in his rack, studying the picture his father had given him. He gently runs his finger over Laura's face, smiling softly.
Dee exits the bathroom, a white towel wrapped around her. Seeing him on the bed, looking at a small paper, a photograph, she believes, "What's that?"
He jumps ever so slightly, seeing her standing there, drying off her beautiful body. "Picture."
"Yeah." She rolls her eyes a little, "Of what?"
Lee doesn't know if he should just put it all on the table, or continue to hold his cards. If he told her that he wanted to be with Laura and his son now and they aren't able to save them, he'd have risked everything for nothing. If he doesn't tell her, and they are able to save the people of New Caprica, he wouldn't want it being a surprise to her.
"Lee, what's the picture of?" Dee shakes her head, laughing softly to herself, "What's up with you lately? Your head has been all over the place."
"Just a lot on my mind, I guess." He knows he must be optimistic, "We have to talk."
"About?" She walks nude through their quarters, opening the closet, pulling out a pair of black panties as well as her bra and tanks, in case they're called while they're asleep. Dee travels back to the bed, her hazel looking right through him.
Lee hands the picture to her, not saying anything, not knowing if he should actually say anything.
Dee watches his face as she slowly takes the paper from him, her eyes moving to the woman and the little boy, "The President and..." She shakes her head a little, looking at the boy more, it finally hits her, "He has your eyes."
He swallows, "That's because he's my son."
The young woman falls quiet for a few minutes, just looking at the infant "How old is he?" The boy should have been hers. She knows that her love for Lee as far greater than his love for her. Maybe this would be the breaking point in their already troubled marriage. If the baby were hers, it would save their marriage.
"If I do the math right, because he was premature, he's eleven months...almost a year."
She nods slowly, thinking of the things that happened around that time, "You were with her around the same time you were with me." Her voice quiet, almost childlike.
"Before I was with you." Lee stares forward, not at anything in particular, "Before Billy died...I didn't think she would want me anymore after she visited me in Sick Bay when you were on duty." He nods, "I love her, Dee. I've loved her a long time. Not just because we have a child together either. She and I have been through a lot."
Dee bites her lip, "Did you see them when we were on New Caprica?" When she notices him shake his head negatively, she continues, "What makes you think she's waiting for you down there?"
His head turns to face her, "What makes you think I'm-"
"Because I know you, Lee." She tilts her head slightly, "You're a romantic."
Lee raises an eyebrow, smirking, "Yeah, I am."
Dee takes a deep breath, "What does this mean for us?" Bill Adama is a man of dignity. He commands a post. He allows it to consume him. The Galactica is just an extension of himself. His son, however, his son is a joke. Figuratively and Literally, some of the pilots laughing and teasing. She sees it. Sometimes, she thinks it herself.
"I will leave that up to you."
She nods, sometimes she saw Bill Adama in Lee, especially with his dignity, "What if I want to work on this?"
"I know you, Dee." Lee nods slowly, "We don't have to get a divorce, I can marry her as well."
"No...I...I don't think I could be in a marriage knowing that you just don't love me as much as you love her." She smiles sadly, "She has your son, Lee. You have a real family. That's what you've always wanted...whether you know it or not."
He blinks, taking hold of her hand. She wasn't wrong. "I'm sorry."
"Did you know?"
"No...not until recently when my father told me...after we jumped away." Lee takes the picture back when she offers it to him, "He had been visiting them on the surface...didn't tell me."
Dee can see the sense of pain in his eyes, she reaches over, stroking his hair softly, "I'm sorry."
"I can't let another child get away." His tongue darted out, quickly licking his lips. Lee begins to think of Playa and the child he would have had with Gianne, if they weren't both gone, "I haven't even met him and I love the hell out of him."
"He's your son, Lee. He will always be your son." She leans over, kissing his jaw softly, "And I will help you bring them back, but for right now...let's just get some sleep."
Lee nods slowly, looking to the picture once more before setting it on his night stand. He reaches up and turns off the light off. She was right. He lies there a moment before rolling to his side and wrapping his arm around the young woman out of instinct. The last thing he wants is to hurt her, but knows this isn't a situation that will allow both parties to remain painless.