Laura paces slowly, this technically isn't her ship. It's Tom's ship now. Tom Zarek. The kiss playing over and over in her head. It isn't that she was looking for it or expecting it, but it was something that was missing between them. It will be incredibly hard to give this ship over to him, she knows. He's given her so much already that he couldn't possibly expect to give her something else. What about Lee? Her mind tingles in anticipation of just seeing him again, much less being able to hold him. He's the father of her child and she loves him, a great deal. However, he's younger than her. Much younger. Is that fair to claim him for herself? She slowly turns her head when she begins to hear running footsteps. Little footsteps.
"Careful, champ." Lee says quietly to the boy, looking down when his son raises his hand in the air, "Oh, you want to hold my hand?" He lets the boy hold his finger, "There you go." He's been watching him since he arrived from New Caprica and hasn't taken his eyes off of him the entire time. Sloane looks like Laura, he thinks. Laura and maybe his brother a little bit. He isn't really sure. "Ready?"
Sloane pulls aside the curtain slightly, peeking through. Unsure if his mother would be behind it, or a stranger. He smiles a little, looking back to his father and nodding. When the man motions for him to go, he pulls the curtain open all the way and shouts, "My 'ere!"
Laura grins broadly, scooping him up when the boy runs to her. "I have missed you so much, my sweet boy." Her voice falls off slightly as she wills herself not to cry tears of pure relief. She looks over his shoulder as she continues to hold him tightly, the boy's head on her shoulder, she says softly, "Thank you, Captain Apollo."
Lee nods and watches her with a soft smile at his lips, "We need to talk."
"I'm aware, but do you think it can wait until tomorrow?" She swallows, knowing he's going to be upset and angry with her, knowing he's going to demand answers to questions that aren't even simple in their own right. "We've had...we've all had an eventful day. President Zarek has been gracious enough to let us use-"
"I was told you just ran off like you own the ship."
"And I was told your ship had blown up...and it was unknown if you were on board."
"Fair enough." Lee watches her a moment more before walking closer and kissing her tenderly against her mouth. He pulls back after a few seconds and looks into her eyes, looking for something, anything that tells him that she missed him as well and not just because she thought he was dead.
Her eyes well up even more, though she doesn't acknowledge her tears, even after one falls. Laura swallows, "Lee, you're married." Her voice almost at a whisper as she brings her hand to his cheek, "And I can't do that again."
"No, I'm not." He shakes his head, "Dee understands."
"She shouldn't have to."
"You're all I could think about." Lee watches her, "And when Dad told me about Sloane...I knew my decision to marry Dee was the wrong one...for all the wrong reasons. I didn't think you were coming back. I was angry that you decided to live down there...I thought I was, at least. I think I was more jealous and frustrated that I couldn't join you."
"What if we didn't?" Her question catches him off guard, "And what about the time before the elections?" Their lack of communication hurt her before she decided to go to New Caprica, it was a factor in her reasoning for going.
"Laura..."
"What was your reasoning then?" She walks to the chair behind her desk, sinking slowly. Laura continues to watch her son's father, "You made it clear that you wanted nothing to do with me after Billy died."
She was right. Of course she was right. Though it wasn't that he didn't want her or didn't love her, he thought she would blame him. She should blame him. Lee runs a hand through his hair, "That isn't true." He shakes his head slowly, "This isn't about that though."
"No, it isn't." She lets Sloane down, not wanting him to listen much on a conversation between his parents, "Stay in this room, please. You can have a look around later." Laura offers the boy a smile as he teeters off, "It's his birthday...I can't...I'm not able to even offer him anything. His first birthday and..." She shakes her head a little, slowly looking back up to Lee. She motions to the seat next to her.
Lee sighs softly, doing as she wants. "He doesn't know what a birthday even is. Besides, we're both here...together. I'd say a first birthday with both of your parents together is a pretty good one, wouldn't you say?" He reaches over, taking her hand as they watch the boy, "For his birthday, he's got his family together finally."
"He's always had a family." While one part of her wants to snatch her hand from his, the other half couldn't possibly. Their son finally has both of his parents in the same room, and she finally has Lee back. "I'm glad he has you now...Colonel Tigh was a great male figure for a while...before the cylons returned, but..." She shakes her head, "We all endured a great deal down there, but some had it worse than others."
"I'm sorry." He whispers, then clears his throat, speaking a little louder, "Were you hurt down there?"
Laura huffs a soft laugh, "While on New Caprica, I had a premature child without any pain medication, I was thrown into detention without cause, I escaped a firing squad by pushing President Zarek and myself down a hill, I outran cylon insurgents." She smirks, "It was all a walk in the park compared to Cancer."
"Yeah?" Lee grins, "They're going to write comic books about you."
She giggles to herself, then instantly feels guilty for doing so. Laura goes quiet for a few moments, still watching as their son looks about her quarters on the Colonial One, "Lee, if we can both agree that we were both wrong in this...I think we will have a better chance of getting past it. However, I won't try if you're with Dee. I...I can't."
He knows where it's coming from. He remembers the talks he had with her while they were on the run and on Kobol. How open she was to him when she usually was a very guarded person. He remembers her trusting him with the knowledge of her and former-President Adar's relationship and how she fell in love with the man only to be hurt because he allowed the power of the Presidential position consume him. Lee knows that would never happen to Laura. "I will never betray you." He brings her hand to his lips, kissing her knuckles softly, "and I'm sorry if you felt like I did before. It was...unintentional. I assumed you would no longer want me to be around. I didn't know about Sloane until-"
"I didn't either...and when I did, I didn't want to tell you because you were living a different life, Lee, a life I was no longer a part of..." She shakes her head, "I didn't keep him from you to hurt you. I kept him from you to protect you."
Lee listens intently, "Protect me from what?"
"Several things. Before the cylons arrived, I knew they would. I predicted as such...I could feel it." Laura swallows, "I didn't want you to second guess leaving and protecting what remained of the human race incase the planet went nuclear and rescue efforts weren't able to occur." She replies simply, slowly looking to him finally, "I couldn't have you risk that. Not to mention that it would look...bizarre to the public for the President or former-President of my age to be shown in a relationship with a man of your caliber, potential, and age."
"That's it?" He looks into her eyes, when she tilts her head as a sign for him to continue, "You said several and you only named two. Several usually implies more than two, but less than five." His words low and slow, almost calculated.
"You were with Dee. You were going to build a new family together while on Pegasus...being a doting father and husband." She licks her lip, looking down slightly, "I didn't want to have to explain to our son why you weren't there...or where you were instead. I didn't want to have to tell him about siblings he would rarely see and that his father would rather be with because they were on a ship with him and he didn't have to take a shuttle for a visit. I didn't want to tell him that we were staying on New Caprica because there just wasn't enough room for us where you were." Laura's eyes glisten, though she ignores the additional wetness, "I didn't want him to hurt."
"Him, Laura...or yourself?" Lee places a gentle knuckle at her chin, moving it up for their eyes to meet again. "Let's start over...with how it should have been in the first place." His voice gentle, soothing almost as it's undertones stroke her heart.
"We were supposed to talk about this tomorrow." Laura whispers, a smirk forming at the corner of her mouth as a tear finally drips from her eye, only to be wiped away by his thumb.
"I can be impatient." He smiles.
She nods approvingly, "Okay, Captain Apollo."
Lee nods, "I don't want to intrude, but...I'd like to be able to put my son down to bed for the first time. If you'll let me."
Laura looks to the wristwatch on the man's hand, "Lee, it's only eighteen hundred." She hums a soft giggle, "Do you usually go to sleep at six?"
He smiles slightly, ever so slightly embarrassed, "I didn't realize..."
"It's okay." She nods, "Would you rather stay over? I mean...I don't really know how long President Zarek plans to allow me to continue to live here."
"President Zarek?" Lee raises an eyebrow, "The Admiral will have him thrown out-"
"He was a great ally while on New Caprica...when the cylons arrived, they almost immediately put him into the Detention Center because he told Baltar that he didn't agree with handing things over to them..." Laura shakes her head a little, "They beat and tortured him...like they did with Tigh."
He sighs, shaking his head, "I don't trust him as far as I can throw him."
Tom Zarek held the five month old in his arms, "Are kids usually this happy?" He grinned when the boy, letting him hold onto his fingers, investigating each with a delicate precision as only an infant could display.
"Not always." Laura smirked, attempting to straighten and organize her classroom. The Vice President had grown to be a friend since he had become aware of her whereabouts, not to mention the care he's offered regarding her son, "My mother always said my sisters were miserable and they were lucky when I came along because I was the easy child they had been dreaming of." She hummed a chuckle to herself.
"If they could see you now, huh." He looked up to her, offering a smile, "They'd be pretty damn proud of you."
"You know, all this flattery will get you nowhere, Mister Zarek." She replied jokingly.
"I mean it though." Tom nodded, "I always wondered how my parents would react if they saw me now. My parents were freedom fighters. I walked in my mother's footsteps...almost literally. They both died when I...I wasn't much older than this little guy." He glanced to the infant in his arms, "I barely knew them."
Laura slowed slightly as she listened to him, "I'm-" She paused, considering his statement, "I'm sorry to hear that. I was unaware."
"I don't talk to many people about my childhood and my history otherwise proceeds me...especially since most of it has been spent in prisons." He smirked.
She was just as guilty of doing as such, "Your friends don't exactly help either."
Tom shrugged, "They're my friends. I can't make them into something they're not. Friends stick together."
"Never really had anyone I was close to in that way." Laura shook her head, "You have me there."
"That's not true. Adama visits you when he's down, Tigh does as well, your roommate, that miserable doctor in the tent across the way...me." He smiled, "You have more than you realize."
She cleared her throat, moving to take a seat next to him and change the subject, "He likes you."
"I'm sure he likes everyone." Zarek liked their closeness. He had a crush on the woman, with good reason. She was smart, beautiful, funny, and she could hold her own in an argument while remaining completely calm, regardless of what was going on around her. She could look down the face of a gun barrel and not blink. All things he found ridiculously attractive. Only thing is, he was terrible at hiding it.
"He does." Laura leaned over, touching her shoulder with his for a moment, playfully. She sits up. "You look like a natural."
Tom shook his head, "This is the only one I've ever held...and I don't have any...that I know of, at least."
"That you know of." She giggles to herself with a hum afterward, "And what would you do differently if you discovered that you did, in fact, have a child?"
He shrugs, "Ya know, I don't know. I'd be there." Tom tilts his head to face her, "Shouldn't see it as a responsibility, a family is a luxury people took for granted before the attacks. If you didn't have one to worry about before, taking a family for granted is impossible now...not to mention, stupid. Now, having a family is a luxury."
"You're right...very right."
"Well, I believe that's the first time you've ever said those words to me." Tom grinned.
Laura hit his arm playfully. Did she actually enjoy spending time with this man?
"He tried to have you killed before the elections...while we were on Cloud Nine. His men were ready to kill you. One smuggled in a pistol and bullets that couldn't be detected by a metal detector...among other things." Lee breaks the silence.
"People change after traumatic events in their lives, Lee. New Caprica is one such event." Laura replies softly.