Notes are at the end.

Hospital food and emotional instability wasn't exactly Bill's idea of a prefect first date, but he'll take it. Luckily, his neighbors were available to watch Lee and Zak on such short notice, and Bill was able to leave the house an hour after he got home from work with enough time to run by the supermarket and pick up a bouquet of flowers.

The air rapidly changing from warm and heavy to cold and thin as he enters the hospital, Bill realizes, upon reaching the help desk, that he has no idea what Laura's mother's name is.

"Hello, can I help you?" asks the friendly face behind the counter.

"Yes, ah . . . I'm looking for Mrs. Roslin's room."

"First name?"

"Yeah, I don't know," Bill says, smiling sheepishly and rubbing the back of his head. "I'm visiting her daughter, Laura Roslin, if that helps."

"Roslin, hmm . . . Oh, yes I think I've found it. Judith Roslin, third floor, room 285. You'll need to sign in, and stick on one of these." The woman tears her eyes away from her computer and slides forward a clipboard with names and check-in times, as well as a visitor's sticker.

"All right," Bill says, filling out the form and taking the sticker. "Thank you. Third floor, room 285," he repeats to himself as he takes the elevator to the third floor. After departing the elevator, he finds the halls surprisingly easy to navigate. He walks a little awkwardly, as hospitals always make him nervous, but his steps get even heavier and his heart breaks a little as he takes in his surroundings. Not many patients wander the halls, but those who do are mostly bald, many of them women wearing scarves on their heads. There are nurses helping those without family present who are too weak to walk on their own, and what's even more disturbing is that some of these weaker patients can't be over thirty. It doesn't take him long for Bill to realize he's in the cancer ward.

He rounds a corner and spots the plaque he's been looking for, the one reading '285'. His heart skips a beat when he peers into the room and spots a familiar head of red hair. Suddenly he's not sure he made the right decision, coming here. He feels like an asshole, honestly. What right does he have to force himself into their situation? Laura probably doesn't want him here; he's only the father of one of her students – that's all. This is private, a lot more private than he had thought.

Then she looks up, and their eyes meet through the open blinds. Laura smiles, stands from her chair, and has opened the door before Bill has even thought of something proper to say.

"Bill, I'm glad you're here," Laura says softly as she opens the door. Her eyes are red, her mascara smudged just slightly and her cheeks tearstained. It's a sight that crushes his heart but is oddly beautiful on her.

"I brought these," he says quickly, handing her the flowers.

"For my mother? That's very sweet of you; she'll love them. I'll just put these in water, then I was going to get something to eat. Do you want to come in . . .?"

She trails off, stepping back slightly to permit him entrance. "Uh, sure," he says, stepping into the room with some hesitance.

Laura walks to the nightstand by her mother's bed and takes out the wilting flowers currently occupying the vase there, and replaces them with Bill's fresh ones.

The woman on the bed is old and thin, with deep creases on her face from years of worrying. Though her eyes are closed and a green scarf as replaced her hair, he can see the resemblance to Laura. Her lips, her jaw, and her nose are certainly similar. As soon as she's fixed up the flowers Laura kisses her sleeping mother's head and squeezes past Bill to the door. He follows her out, and they walk side by side down the hall.

"I'm sorry," Bill says, finally. "I didn't know she was . . . ."

"Dying? I know. I'm sorry I didn't tell you. She had a seizure earlier, and it scared me and I just needed to talk about other things. It's a good thing you called. I'm glad you're here, really." They board the elevator and Laura presses the button to take them down to the first floor.

"Is it breast cancer?" Bill asks. He's afraid to pry too much, but he has to say something.

"Good guess. She only has a few days left with us, now."

"I'm sorry."

"Yeah, we are too."

Silence.

"So you said you have sisters?"

"Yes, two; they're much younger than me, that's why they're not here. I'm eight years older than Sandra, who's sixteen, and Cheryl is only twelve." She sighs as they get off the elevator. "This is going to break my father's heart. My mother, she's always been the strong one and me . . . well, I'm kind of a mess." She laughs, though it's not cheerful. "I don't know what I'm going to do. About my dad, my sisters . . . there's no one else to take care of them and their life is miles away from mine . . . I'm sorry, I was rambling, wasn't I?"

"It's all right," Bill says, tossing her a smile.

"I should warn you," she says as they cross the main lobby, "The food here is terrible. You might think you know bad hospital food, but you've never tasted anything quite like this."

Bill laughs. "I think I can handle it."

"No, I'm serious," Laura says, giggling as she looks up at him, "I'm only getting tater tots and a bag of chips."

"Oh, come on."

"You can brave it if you want to, but I'm certainly not."

They're laughing as they enter the cafeteria, which isn't very full. Laura, true to her word, gets a plate of tater tots and a bag of Doritos, while Bill gets pizza and fries.

"I'm telling you, that pizza is nasty."

"Well, I'll have to find out for myself, won't I?"

Laura has a hard time stifling her laughter as he takes a bite and immediately recoils. He quickly gulps his soda, his face contorting in disgust.

"You're right, I'm never doing that again."

"You'd be better off listening to me more in the future; I think you'll find that I'm always right."

"Oh?"

Laura 'hmm's as she sips her drink, and chuckles as he shakes his head, the taste of cardboard pizza lingering in his mouth.

"This isn't funny."

"Oh, but Mr. Adama, it is," she says, popping a tater tot into her mouth. "So, tell me more about this 'date' you mentioned."

"Oh, that."

"Yes."

"Well er, I thought . . ." He sighs and laughs nervously, scratching the back of his head.

"You are cute, aren't you," Laura says, leaning back in her chair and sipping her drink some more. Bill blushes slightly and laughs.

"I like you. That's got to be obvious by now," he says.

"Like me? You hardly know me."

"I like what I've seen so far. Three weeks is enough time, right?"

"I don't think you've thought this through."

"Haven't I?"

"No, you haven't." Laura sighs, suddenly becoming serious. "You just got divorced, Bill, and you have two kids to think of. Look, I really like you, I do. A lot more than I'd like to, actually, but Lee and Zak deserve a lot better than me. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have agreed to-"
"There are a thousand reasons for you to not want to do this right now," Bill says, "A thousand reasons that I would accept without question, but backing out because you don't think you're good enough? That's ridiculous, Laura."

"I'm not who you think I am, Bill. I may seem like a nice little schoolteacher but inside I'm all twisted up and I'm about to lose my mother, which means that I'll have to end up taking care of my family when she's gone. And that's not even everything."

"All the more reason for you not to be alone."

"Bill, I can't do this to Lee and Zak, or to you-"

Bill then stands, leans over the table, grabs her face and kisses her all in one fluid motion.

"Tell me honestly you don't want that to happen again."

"Uh, I . . . no, no don't-"

"What if I said that I liked you a lot."

"I just don't think this is a good idea for either of us right now –"

"Come on Laura, hear me out. We both have messy lives, we're both going through difficult times, why can't we help each other get through it? Who says we have to do it alone?"

"Alone is what I have. It's all I have."

"But isn't it getting old?"

Laura sighs. "You don't understand."

They're silent for a few moments.

"Never mind," Bill says, standing from the table. "If this isn't what you want, I'm not gonna force you. Goodbye, Laura Roslin. It was very nice meeting you." He then sets his drink down (perhaps with a bit more force than necessary) and walks away.

But he stops after only walking a few feet, and sighs. He looks back and sees Laura slumped in her chair, staring solemnly down at her tater tots. Just as it looks like she might start to cry, he internally groans and makes his way back to her as fast as he can without looking too desperate. He kneels beside her, causing her to jump slightly in surprise and quickly wipe away tears that haven't fallen yet.

"What are you-"

"You don't have to commit anything," he says, taking her hand in his. "Not a thing. But I've grown a little attached to you, unfortunately," he smiles, "And now I've gone and started to care about you. Stupid, I know, but I can't leave you alone; do you understand that? You don't have to commit to anything, I won't take you on dates and I won't kiss you and you don't have to be around the boys for even a second, but I'm not going to leave you alone," he chuckles, "I'd be a shitty friend if I did."

Laura swallows hard and sucks in her bottom lip. If he hadn't just been sitting with her, he'd think she had already been crying. Bill looks up at her, keeping her hand trapped in his, hopeful that her response might be even a little bit positive.

Then, in a single instant, she leans forward and does the unthinkable: she kisses him.

"Fine," she says, kissing him again.

"Fine?" he says, standing and bringing her to her feet with him.

"I have about a thousand chaotic things in my life right now, what's one more? Who knows, maybe you'll turn out to be my peace."

Before he can speak again, she kisses him and drags him into out of the cafeteria and into an empty examination room.

"Well if I knew this is what you had in mind-" Laura stops his smartass commenting with another kiss and her arms around his neck.

He's done arguing.

How did you like this one, honestly? I feel like the relationship development is a little unrealistic for their characters? I tried to justify it by saying that they're younger (Laura's only 24 and Bill's not too far ahead), so their personalities are going to be different. Which is true, but still, I'd like to know what you all think. And if you have anything you want to see in later chapters (no matter how specific) let me know. It really helps. Thanks for the support.