Disclaimer: Battlestar Galactica belongs to Ronald D. Moore and the Sci-Fi channel.

Chapter 6: The Fifth

Bill and Laura sat in Cottle's office as he closed the door. "The cancer's back, isn't it?" Laura assessed.

The doctor sighed, shaking his head. "I wish it was that simple. I ran your blood work through twice to be sure."

"Did I catch something from Earth then?" she probed.

He sat down at his desk, folding his hands in front of him. "No Laura. The tests confirmed that you're a Cylon, probably the last of the Final Five. Apparently being on Earth triggered something in your programming. You purged yourself of a human illness, like some sort of de-frag or reboot. All the damage from the cancer has been repaired, and that is impossible in a human. I'm so sorry."

Laura did not hear much after "you're a Cylon" as she stood. "All this time. I'm what we've been running from," she said quietly.

Bill stood as well, but only looked at her, shell-shocked to move further by the discovery. She suddenly pushed past him, walking out the door. Cottle walked over to him. "I was afraid of this. You'd better go after her."

"Why Laura?" Bill asked.

"How should I know?" Cottle grumbled.

The other man sighed heavily. "What do we do now?"

Cottle glanced at the door Laura had left from. "Do you love her?"

Startled, Bill stared at him. "What kind of question is that?"

"Do you love her? If you love her, does it matter that she's a Cylon at this point?" Cottle questioned.

Bill looked away and shook his head. "No, it doesn't matter."

"Then go after her!" Cottle exclaimed, pointing toward the door. "That poor woman's probably falling apart from the inside over what I've told her and you just let her walk out the door!"

Realizing that the doctor was right, Bill dashed out of Life Station. As he reached the hall though, he had no idea where she had gone. What would I do if it was me? I'd go find the nearest airlock. At that thought, he took off running, hoping that he was not too late.

He was only a few feet away from the control room when he heard the doors and the rush of atmosphere being sucked out into space. His heart stopped in his chest. I'm too late. She got around the safety switch, he thought. Then he heard mild cursing from the other side of the door as the outer doors closed again. He plowed through the door, finding Laura as she leaned over the control panel.

Her face was streaked with tears. "I can't seem to open the inner doors if I've pushed the button," she admitted quietly.

"You can't activate it by yourself. The inner doors won't open if the button's been pushed," he said, standing behind her, resting a hand on her shoulder.

She sniffed, turning to face him. "I'm a Cylon. You should airlock me before I have a chance to cause any more problems."

"You haven't done anything wrong. I don't know what you're talking about," he relayed.

Crossing her arms in front of her, she stepped away from the control panel. "I led us to Earth, to a dead world. I did that, through Pythia. How can I be the dying leader if I'm actually a Cylon? Wait, I know. The part of me that was Laura Roslin died when Laura the Cylon kicked in."

The tears began anew and he wrapped his arms around her. "We led them here. It's not our fault that whoever was in charge of the planet nuked it. We couldn't have known."

She pulled away from him. "You don't understand. I'm a Cylon who's been in a leadership position for quite a while. Who knows what I've screwed up? And you, how can you even want to touch me? I'm the enemy, like Saul."

"He and I have made peace," Bill mentioned.

"That doesn't change the fact that you shouldn't trust me, let alone allow me to stay with you," she argued.

Reaching out to her, he cupped her face in his hands. Then he kissed her gently. "Laura, I love you. It doesn't matter to me that you're a Cylon."

"Then why didn't you follow me immediately? I would've airlocked myself if I had been able to," she pointed out.

He let his hands drop to her waist. "I was a fool, and I was in shock. Jack brought me out of it. Laura, listen to me. It doesn't matter."

"How can you say that? I belong in the brig," she protested.

Holding her close to him, he whispered in her ear. "I don't care. I don't care that you're a Cylon because I love you, and that's what matters."

"Oh Bill," she said softly. He moved from her ear to her lips and kissed her passionately. She kissed him back with equal intensity.

Both were breathing hard as he pulled away. "Come on. Let's go home."

She nodded, looping her arm around his. The walk back to their quarters was silent, but as they entered and he closed the hatch she asked, "Bill, if what you said about the airlock is true, then how did Callie Tyrol commit suicide?"

His eyes widened. "Frak, you're right. All this time and we didn't notice."

"But why in the world would anyone want to kill her?" Laura wondered as she headed into the bathroom where she had left her pajamas when Cottle had called.

"I don't know. Galen Tyrol loved her, despite their problems. When I had to demote him for a while, he spoke badly of her because he was mad at her for dying," Bill replied, putting on his pajamas.

Laura emerged from the bathroom, making her way over to the bed. "Tory said that Nikki was found wandering around the hall near the airlock."

Bill sighed heavily as he joined her on the bed. "If it's true and someone did murder her, we need to tell him."

She yawned. "We'll deal with it in the morning. It's late and both of us could use some sleep." He nodded, yawing himself. However, any thoughts of feeling sleepy were delayed as he kissed her deeply. It was a few hours before the peace of sleep overtook them.

In the morning Laura was unusually quiet as they got ready for work. "What's on your mind?" Bill asked her, handing her a warm mug of coffee.

She took the cup, smiling briefly in thanks. "I've been trying to figure out why anyone would want Callie out of the way."

He raised an eyebrow. "And?"

"And I keep coming up blank. We're missing something," Laura answered.

"She hated Cylons. She was the one who shot Boomer," Bill mentioned.

"Which doesn't help us. That lends credence to the theory that she killed herself because she found out she was married to a Cylon," Laura pointed out.

Bill rubbed the bridge of his nose. "I hate loose ends. We've got too many other things to worry about to have a killer loose in the fleet."

"I suppose we'll deal with it later then. In the meantime, I'd like to know if the archaeologists found anything on Earth," Laura remarked.

He nodded. "So would I."

Later they stood in CIC, waiting to hear from Kara. Laura paced the lower deck. "Starbuck's not going to be on the wireless any faster if you wear a hole in the floor," Bill chided her.

Stopping next to him, she sighed. "You're right. I just hate waiting."

"I figured that. Patience isn't always one of your strong points," he teased.

She swatted his arm playfully. "You, sir, are a pest." Tigh snorted and she seemed to remember where she was as she stepped away from the admiral, crossing her arms in front of her.

Then they heard the wireless crackle. "Galactica, this is Starbuck."

"Galactica Actual here. What have you got?" the admiral asked.

"The signal was coming from part of a building. Most if it had collapsed, but we managed to get down inside part of it. It's some sort of laboratory. It's got human remains and weird schematics of the human body drawn. We've got pictures. I don't know if they were trying to make Cylons, but it looks like they started with electronic prosthetics and moved to using an artificial brain in a human body. It's weird stuff down here, boss," Kara informed him.

"Does it have computer systems? Are any of them functioning?" Adama inquired.

"Nope. If it's electronic, it's been fried for a long time. The only thing still running is the signal. It's actually transmitting something. There's a screen down here that goes with it, and a one line message. 'The last will find the way to humanity.' I have no clue what that means. But as for the actual transmission, the part of it at the top is actually putting out an infrared flash. The only way we found it out was doing this was by the scanner in the Raptor. It's not something a human can see."

Bill and Laura exchanged glances before he spoke to Kara again. "Good job, Starbuck. Was there anything else?"

"No, sir," she responded.

"Then bring in the cat. We've got some new coordinates to test out. Galactica is jumping first. Then if we find something the rest of the fleet can follow," he told her.

"Aye, sir. We should be back in space again in a few hours," she replied. "What about the Cylons?"

He shrugged and looked at Laura. "Let them come with us. They're not shooting at us yet, and maybe they'll be useful," she stated.

Bill turned back to the wireless. "Tell them they're welcome to join us, provided they don't have malicious intentions."

Then he broadcasted his intentions to the fleet, as well as the rebel Cylons. "Sir, Colonial One is insisting on coming with us," Gaeta informed the admiral.

Laura rolled her eyes. "I should've known they wouldn't dream of letting me have too many days off."

"They say Lee and a few others will stay behind on the Gemenon Traveler to maintain the rest of the fleet," Gaeta added.

"Fine, if Colonial One really wants to come, than why not?" Laura grumbled.

The admiral dealt her a wry grin as he passed the message to Colonial One.

As Adama set the wireless back in its holder, he looked over at Roslin. "The last will find the way to humanity," she repeated quietly.

"Madame President, may I have a word?" Bill inquired.

She nodded and they walked over to the control room. Letting him close the door, she spoke. "I did see a flash. For whatever reason, that signal was meant for me, wasn't it?"

He knew the question was rhetoric. "Yes. It seems that with or without Pythia, you're still meant to lead us somewhere."

A small smile graced her face. "Yes, it does look that way. However, I didn't give you coordinates."

"You were the one who pointed out that reddish planet and wanted to look at it. And you were the one who made me look again. There are other humans out there and we're about to find them," he commented.

In that moment, in that smile, she saw genuine hope. I don't want to let you down. Please let me be right about this. "Then what are we doing in here? We have a planet to find." He chuckled and they returned to CIC to try the new coordinates in a few hours.

(My thanks to WonderfallsonDaisies, carolann, kywildcat, and McGonagalFan for reviewing :D)