This chapter is quite a jump from the last one, about 3 years.

Aurora coughs as she lays in Laura and Bill's bed. Laura gives her a cup of cough medicine before setting down a cup of hot chocolate on the bedside table.

"How you feeling, baby girl?" Laura asks as she brushes Aurora's thick black hair from her face to feel her forehead, "Seems like your fever is going down."

"My froat hurts," Aurora grumbles as she reaches over for her hot chocolate.

"I'm sure it'll start feeling better tomorrow," Laura assures her, keeping a hold on the cup as Aurora takes a healthy drink.

"Can I sleep here?"

"Of course," Laura assures her, setting a small book in her lap, "I'm going to go shower, why don't you see how far you can get before I get back?"

"Okay," Aurora says, flipping open the cover. Laura presses a kiss to her head before padding into the bathroom and turning on the shower. She comes back into the bedroom a while later, towel drying her hair as she digs through her drawers before pulling out some underwear and a large t-shirt.

"How are you doing?"

"I got 10 pages," Aurora answers as she looks up from the book. Laura gets dressed in her pajamas and climbs into bed next to Aurora. The little girl settles into her mother's side with a yawn, putting the book between them.

"Alright, let's take a look at this," Laura guides with a watchful eye as Aurora starts to read aloud. Once they finish the first couple chapters Laura takes the book and sets it on the bedside table, "Good job, butterfly, so smart."

"Why do you and Daddy call me that?" Aurora asks as Laura turns off the lamp, cascading the room into darkness.

"Butterfly?"

"Yeah."

"Mmm, after you were born and we came home from the hospital, we went up to the cabin that weekend. That was the year your dad put the hammock up. And I would just spend all afternoon in it with you, just swaying back and forth in the breeze. But every damn time I would take a nap between your feedings, I would wake up and this butterfly - I suppose I don't know that it was the same one every time - but this butterfly was just laying on your head, it's wings just slowly flexing back and forth. And that is how you became my sweet little butterfly," Laura recounts to Aurora before kissing her forehead and pulling the blankets up.

"I like laying in the hammy with you," Aurora says as she snuggles up, closing her eyes.

"Me too, butterfly."

Laura rubs her eyes as she wakes up in the middle of the night. She looks around with an air of confusion on her face. Her hand reaches over and feels Aurora sprawled out on Bill's side of the bed as she hears another couple thumps from the direction of the living room. She slips out of bed and walks around to Bill's side, keying in a code on the pad on the bottom of his bedside table. Laura opens the drawer and retrieves the sidearm inside, letting it's weight pull her hand down as she heads for the door. She grabs the phone before quietly opening the bedroom door, softer thumps and thrashes becoming apparent.

Laura flips the lights on in the living room, raising the gun into some semblance of a grip, pointing it at the man rifling through the living room as he turns around. A single last book falls from the bookshelf, thudding on the ground as he pulls out his own gun and points it at her. She tightens her hand and swallows hard, her eyes quickly flicking towards the bedroom before settling back on him.

"Leave. No one gets hurt, no one goes to jail…if you leave," Laura declares in a low voice. The man stares at her for a moment before lunging, knocking the gun out of her hand and her body onto her ground. Both of the firearms clatter onto the wood floor and Laura struggles to get the upper hand, reaching towards the gun closest to her. The assailant grabs her arm, jerking it back before backhanding her across the face. Laura spits into his face as she shifts her hips trying to get a knee up as both of her hands are restrained.

"Stop struggling," He commands. Laura growls and manages to wedge her foot up between them, kicking him back into the bookshelf, dislodging another cascade of books. She groans softly as she rolls over grabbing Bill's gun and holding it up again while she stands.

"Get the frak out of my house," She tells him again. The man narrows his eyes, lunging for her again. Laura jumps as she squeezes the trigger, firing a round into his side. He drops to the ground, blood starting to gush from his wound.

"Mama?" Laura drops the firearm to the ground and grabs the phone off the counter before sprinting down the hallway, nudging Aurora back into the bedroom.

"Get back in bed, baby," Laura tells her as she dials emergency services while slamming the bedroom door and locking it. Aurora frowns as she climbs back in bed, wrapping her arms around her teddy bear. Laura talks to the woman on the other end of the phone for a few moments before hanging up.

"Who's that guy?" Aurora asks.

"I don't know honey," Laura says as she picks Aurora up and wraps her arms around her, "Are you okay?"

"My froat hurts," Aurora tells her again, exasperation coming into her voice. Laura laughs softly and strokes her fingers through Aurora's hair.

"I know, I know," Laura presses a kiss to Aurora's head as they sit on the edge of the bed and wait for the police.

"Thanks for letting us stay here," Laura says from underneath an ice pack as she lays her head in Mona's lap.

"That's what I'm here for," Mona says, "How is it feeling?"

"The ice is helping," Laura assures her, sitting in silence for a moment, "Gods Mona, I can't believe I shot him."

"You can't believe you shot hi…Laura who knows what he was going to do to you, to Aurora, I can't believe you didn't just shoot him once he pulled out his own gun. Actually, what I really can't believe is that you even know how to hold a gun, let alone accurately hit anything smaller than the side of a house."

"Bill took me to the range on base a couple times when we were dating."

"Was that before or after he found out how many sit-ins you participated in in college?"

"Before," Laura laughs, "Gods it's a wonder I even ended up with him. My 23 year old self would probably be appalled."

"I think you chose perfectly well."

Laura groans and shakes her head as she sits up.

"I didn't even think about trying to call him."

"CCPD probably did," Mona says as she hands Laura the phone. Laura drops the ice pack from her face as she dials the familiar number and talks her way through the process of getting connected with Galactica. Laura holds the phone slightly away from her ear once Bill picks up the phone and immediately starts asking her questions. She sighs as his volume quiets slightly before pressing the phone back to her ear.

"Bill...Bill, I...Godsdamnit Bill will you stop talking!" Mona raises her eyebrows as she takes a drink of her wine.

"Thank you," Laura says as he stops talking.

"What in Hades happened, Laura? I got a call from CCPD a couple hours ago and I haven't heard anything since."

"Someone broke into the apartment," Laura says starting to recount everything to him, "...But we're fine, we're staying at Mona's, Ror's in bed...they said it'd be a couple days before we could get back in."

"I should come home..."

"No you shouldn't. Bill, you're only supposed gone for a couple more days..."

"Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yes, I am fine," Laura assures him, returning the ice pack to her face, "I do miss you though."

"Miss you too. Hows Ror?"

"She is very insistent that her throat hurts," Laura smiles, "But her cold is starting to clear up, she should be in tip top shape for her birthday."

"Good, we wouldn't want her sick for that," Bill jokes.

"I love you...I'll call you if anything comes up okay?"

"I love you too, I'll see you in a couple days." Laura sighs as she hangs up the phone, putting it on the coffee table.

"You know I don't know that I've ever heard you raise your voice at him."

"Mmm, I usually save it for the bedroom," Laura grins before yawning, "I should probably get to bed."

"I think that sounds like a good idea," Mona says as she stands, setting her empty glass on the coffee table. Laura sighs and puts her ice pack back into the freezer before helping Mona turn the lights off.

"Thanks again, Mon."

"Of course, good night."

"Night," Laura says as she goes into the guest room, climbing into bed next to Aurora.

Laura winces slightly as she smiles at Bill after she answers Mona's door.

"Hi."

"My gods," Bill says as he cups her cheek in his hand, stroking his thumb over the bruised flesh.

"It's not as bad as it looks," Laura assures him as she steps back, "They're supposed to be cleaning the apartment today and tomorrow."

"Where's Ror?" Bill asks as he sets his rucksack down next to the door.

"Nap," Laura tells Bill as she picks up her glass of wine and takes a sip, "How was your week?"

"Relatively uneventful compared to yours I'd think," Bill says as he grabs himself a glass and fills it partway with the same red liquid that Laura was drinking. He leans on the kitchen counter across from the stool she was sitting on, looking her in the eye, "How are you doing?"

Laura shrugs as she takes another drink of her wine.

"Laur…"

"I feel guilty, I feel weak…defiled, he was pawing through our things…" Laura tells him, breaking eye contact and shrugging, "I don't know…I just can't wait to get out of town this weekend and just put this behind us."

"You did exactly what you should have," Bill assures her, walking around the breakfast bar and wrapping her in his arms. Laura buries her face into Bill's shoulder and sighs as she wraps her arms around his waist, "And I'm glad both of you are okay."

"Guess those couple dates at the range finally came in handy," Laura says, her voice muffled by his uniform. Bill chuckles and kisses her head, pressing a gentle kiss to her bruise.

"How would you feel about a night out hmm?"

"A night out?"

"I might have stumbled across a couple tickets to the philharmonic tonight, pit seats."

"You hate…"

"Hate is a strong word."

"The philharmonic is hardly your cup of tea."

"Its yours, and you're mine. Come on, it's been a while since we've been on a date."

"This isn't a pity date?"

"Not at all," Bill assures her. Laura steps back and nods as she looks at Bill.

"I think a night out sounds good," She tells him with a small smile.

"I am going to go look in on Ror, get changed?"

"Of course," Bill kisses Laura's temple once more before going down the hall to the guest room. He slips quietly into the room and sits down on the bed next to Aurora's sleeping form. He strokes her long black hair back from her face and watches her sleep for a few moments before leaning down and pressing a kiss to her forehead. Aurora grumbles and wiggles around, rolling over. Bill smiles and rubs her back for a moment before getting up and leaving her be. Laura meets Bill in the hallway, a dress draped over her arm.

"Mon said she'd be happy to watch Ror, what time do we need to leave?"

"Bout an hour?"

"I can make that work," Laura smiles.

Laura sighs happily as she loops her arm through Bill's walking along side him as they take a lap of the riverwalk.

"Thank you, tonight was…magical."

"Magical? I don't know that I've gotten that one before."

"I usually go to the orchestra with Mona, not you," Laura teases. She pauses for a moment to take her heels off, holding them in her hand as she starts to walk again, "But tonight was exactly what I needed, so thank you, again."

"You're very welcome."

"How is everything coming along on Galactica?"

"It looks great, it really does. I think you'll be surprised when we go for the decommissioning."

"I look forward to it. Only a few more weeks and we can blow this joint for good. Can't say it's not soon enough."

"Probably true," Bill agrees with a chuckle. Laura grins and squeezes his arm, resting her head against his bicep.

"We've done good the last few years," Laura hums quietly, "I can't help but wait for the other shoe to drop."

"I think you need to stop worrying about shoes dropping. No matter how full our closet is of them," Bill teases. He kisses her head gently, "Besides I think you're out of shoes."

"Are you?"

"Probably."

"Well, hopefully that's true," Laura says as she directs Bill to walk back towards the car.

Bill dutifully stacks books back onto the bookshelf. The cleaning crew had left earlier in the morning, no trace of blood left on the wood floors, but the books were still strewn about. Laura picks up a couple photo albums and their discarded photos, sitting down next to the coffee table to sort them.

"You know the thing about pictures? You forget that you've taken most of them," Laura says as she leafs through the pages, "There's great pictures in here from our wedding, when Ror was a baby, vacations, candids from around the house…I forgot about this picture we took of the four of them at Ror's first birthday…"

Bill looks over as she holds up the picture of Lee, Zak, Kara, and Aurora at the estate on Virgon.

"That was a good picture, it was a good day," Bill comments. Laura nods as she gets lost in their memories, flicking through the pages.

"I don't think I ever showed you this one," Laura comments, holding up another image. A shot of them in each others arms at their first Colonial Day ball, "I had the reporter send it over to me…I love the look on your face."

"When did they take that?" Bill asks, abandoning his task and taking the photo.

"Mmm, it's a little fuzzy, but I think we were dancing after our foray out on the balcony with Mona."

"You looked so beautiful that night, it was the first time I'd seen you all dressed up, that dress…" Bill colors just thinking about the dress she had worn that evening. Laura grins and takes the picture back, sticking it back in the book. She plucks out another image a couple pages later.

"When Aurora was born…gods, she has to only be a couple minutes old in this," Laura says as her eyes study the black and white photo, "I look…"

"Beautiful," Bill says as he looks over her shoulder at the image.

"She's so little."

"I'm pretty sure up until a year ago you were insistent that her head had been the size of an Aerilon melon."

"Oh no, still insistent about that," Laura says as she looks at the other snapshots from their couple days in the hospital.

"Do you ever wish we had another?"

"Sometimes, but I am plenty content with her. I never even expected her," Laura tells Bill with a smile, "Besides that ship has set sail."

"I suppose there's a reason that retirement babies aren't a thing," Bill grins and kisses Laura, "We've had a good few years, Mrs. Adama. I can't wait for the rest of them."

"Me either," Laura says kissing him back.

[The End - We will see the Adama's soon on Galactica]