Disclaimer: Battlestar Galactica belongs to Ronald D. Moore and the Sci-Fi channel. For fun, I decided that Tauron had Westerns.
Chapter 17: Crossfire
Cottle had just finished setting a broken leg on his early shift when his two-way radio crackled. He grabbed it, heading into his office. "Cottle."
"Jack, I know exactly how busy you are, but I have a problem," Morgana's voice told him. He had momentarily forgotten that he had given her a radio.
"Thanks to you and your staff, it's getting less busy," he stated.
"Unfortunately I don't know how long they will be able to stay there. You see, something unexpected has occurred," she began.
"Quit beating around the bush and spit it out," he groused.
He heard her take a deep breath on the other end of the radio. "I've been fired. Blackwell told me that I had been working too closely with your people. Apparently he went to speak with the admiral and the former president yesterday and came back more irritated than when he left. He barged into my office this morning, told me that I was fired for suspicion of sedition, and that I was to pack up my office."
Cottle sighed. "I'm sure that there are other medical practices that would be more than glad to have you-"
"No, you don't understand! He has me blacklisted, meaning that I cannot be hired on this continent," she exclaimed.
"What about the rest of the planet? You'd have to work with other languages but it is an option. What about a private practice?" he suggested.
"That won't do. Private practices have been outlawed. Hospitals are like companies on this world and in order to practice medicine, I need to belong to one of them. That isn't the only problem. I could lose my house over this mess!"
Why today? What did I do to deserve having to deal with a hysterical woman at this hour of the morning? "Alright Morgana, first of all you need to calm down-"
"I know I must sound like some sort of basket-case, and I'm so sorry to bother you with all of this, but I don't have anyone else to talk to, and at the moment my being fired may affect how much aid your people receive."
An idea formed in his mind. "Why don't you come up here for a couple of days and we'll sort this out? I'll send a Raptor for you and meet you at the docking bay."
"Do you think the admiral will mind?" she inquired.
"Just trust me on this one," he told her. After his conversation with Morgana, he called the admiral. The clock by Cottle's desk read 0530. He's going to love this one, the doctor thought to himself.
Bill and Laura were curled up together in his rack, sleeping peacefully when the phone rang. Laura poked his shoulder. "Morning, what's going on?" he mumbled.
"Your phone in interfering with a perfectly good night's sleep," she retorted.
They both sat up as he reached for the offending object. "Adama."
"It's Cottle," the doctor began.
"This had better be important. I'm going back to my earlier question for you, don't you ever sleep?" Bill questioned.
"I had an early shift this morning. Look, I know I woke you up, but you know I wouldn't be doing this if it wasn't important," Cottle reminded. "That asshole of a premiere fired Mor-Dr. Sorenson. I told her she could come up here for a couple of days to sort things out. This could affect how much aid those people on the planet are willing to give us. Apparently you and the former president really got under that man's skin yesterday."
The admiral cleared his throat to banish the last vestiges of sleep. "She can come up here. I'm sorry he fired her."
When Bill hung up the phone, he met Laura's inquiring gaze. "Who got fired?"
"Blackwell fired Sorenson because of us, so Cottle wants her to sort things out up here," Bill explained.
Laura sighed, walking over to the closet to look for an outfit. "Poor woman. We've really done her no service. We've invaded her life and now we've probably ruined it."
"I don't know about that. She called Jack, which probably means she'll be staying with him," he mentioned casually.
She smirked and shook her head. "Bill Adama, sometimes you have a dirty mind."
"Just being realistic. In all seriousness though, I'm not surprised that she got fired. The man only keeps people around when it's to his benefit," Bill stated, heading toward the shower.
"Let's just hope he doesn't notice her sudden departure from Terra Prime to Galactica," Laura reminded.
Morgana had packed and sealed several boxes of files, deciding that leaving them with Cottle might be safer than taking them to her own house. As she cleaned out the bottom desk drawer, the top her hand brushed something that felt like paper. She moved to peer inside of the drawer and spotted an envelope taped to the inside top of it. Removing it, she noticed that it was labeled "Important," but the word was in the old language of English instead of Greek. She decided to translate it later, leaving the office to wait for the Raptor.
Helo retrieved her, as well as several boxes containing her files. When she arrived at the docking bay, Cottle stood on the deck, waiting for her. "Didn't expect this many boxes," he remarked.
"I didn't want to leave them at my house. They contain sensitive information that I wouldn't leave to just anyone. The microfilm machine that you've already seen is in the boxes as well," she explained.
He saw hesitance and confusion in her face as she neared him. Not being a man of public displays, he wondered what she would do as she stood and looked into his eyes. One of her hands moved toward him, but then she stopped herself. "Where am I staying?"
By speaking she had broken the moment. "I can find guest quarters for you, if you would like, or you can stay with me."
She snorted. "I think guest quarters would be more appropriate, don't you?"
The next hour was spent getting her boxes into the guest quarters, which happened to be down the hall from him. After stacking a few of the boxes, she glanced over at him. "Thank you. I hope I haven't taken you away from Life Station for too long."
"Someone would've come looking for me if things had been that busy. Why don't you join me?" he invited, moving a box so that the military-standard couch was visible.
"It won't exactly take my mind off things, not with all these boxes here," she responded.
He raised an eyebrow and realized that they were talking about two different things. Then he chuckled. "I meant that you could join me in Life Station."
She laughed too. "You're probably right. Later I need to use a text scanner that I brought with me to translate a document I found."
They walked to Life Station, continuing the conversation. "What's a text scanner?"
"It's a small hand-held oval device that could be mistaken for a magnifying glass with a wide handle. However, the handle portion is a mini-language database so that the text you read through the clear part of the device looks like whatever language you need," she explained.
"How did that sort of technology survive with your planet's leadership dragging everything back to the stone age?" he probed.
She smirked. "Some things, Doctor, are kept for necessity. Having people on the planet with different languages requires some sort of translation."
While Morgana and Cottle headed to Life Station for a day's work, Bill and Laura sat in the conference room, preparing for the arrival of their guests. "I've got a bad feeling about this. D'Anna might just decide to shoot him," the admiral remarked.
The former president sighed as she sat down, her dark blue dress suit hiding her condition slightly. "Then we have everyone check their guns at the door."
"This is starting to sound like an old Tauron Western," Bill grumbled.
Laura smirked. "Yes, all we need is some Ambrosia and we've got ourselves a regular saloon."
He leaned down to kiss her on the cheek. "Wishful thinking."
A moment later, Lee entered the room followed by Tiberius. "This had better be good," the premiere stated as he took the seat indicated to him, at the other end of the conference table.
"Oh, it will be," Laura assured him, glancing over as Tigh walked into the room followed by D'Anna. With a quick nod to the admiral, the colonel left to resume his post in CIC.
Adama and Lee sat close to Laura, as if protecting her by proximity. Lee spoke first, taking charge of the discussion. He first gestured to Tiberius, then to D'Anna for introductions. "Premiere Blackwell of Terra Prime, please meet the Cylon representative, D'Anna." The two leaders quietly glared at each other. "As we all know there is a problem between our people on a few basic levels of communication."
"Technological, or ethical?" D'Anna chimed in.
Lee chose to ignore the comment. "Our current conflict is that Premiere Blackwell does not want the Cylons on Terra Prime. He has given us two weeks' notice to remove them. The purpose of this discussion will be to find a better solution to the problem."
D'Anna looked from the humans she knew to the one she didn't. "Who are you to judge how right or wrong the Cylons are? What exactly is the problem?"
"The problem is that I don't want robots on my planet," Tiberius retorted.
The Cylon leader rolled her eyes. "The Centurions aren't living down there with us. They're staying on our ship because they would rather be in space than on the planet."
Lee cleared his throat. "I don't think he meant the Centurions."
"So the robots have robots? This just gets better," Tiberius spat.
D'Anna narrowed her eyes at him. "Do you mean to say that you think I'm a robot?"
He folded his hands in front of him. "You're mechanical, programmable, organic properties or not, that makes you a robot."
The Cylon leader looked to the former president and the admiral. "You two have got to be joking if you seriously expect me to deal with this rat. I expected better from you. You've actually managed to find someone more narrow-minded than the two of you were when we first met."
Lee sighed, trying to act as a moderator. "Obviously we are not going to agree on several things. What we need to agree on is whether or not the Cylons can stay on Terra Prime, and how to have them stay there without bothering the premiere or his people."
"Fine. I don't trust these people, so why should I trust you?" Tiberius grilled D'Anna.
She stood, placing her hands on the table in front of her. "We have done nothing wrong. You act as if all technology is a personal offence to you. We can't help what we are, just as you can't help being an obnoxious rodent."
He stood as well. "Bionic woman."
"Ignoramus," she growled back.
"Will both of you please sit back down and act like adults? This meeting is not about what you two think of each other," Laura reminded.
D'Anna looked back at her. "I am defending my rights as a person. This pompous, arrogant-"
"You're calling me 'arrogant?' 'Person' is a relative term," Tiberius spouted, stepping closer to her.
"They may have signed a non-aggression treaty with you, but I didn't. All I am asking is for my people to exist on your sorry excuse for a planet," she argued.
"Threats? You people pull the oldest trick in the book and expect me not to think that it's programmed? If I don't do what you say, you're going to blow me up. She's said the same thing," he stated, pointing to Laura.
"The should never have bothered dealing with you. Obviously your IQ matches your shoe size and your social skills aren't much better," D'Anna retaliated.
"Every thought, every action of yours is from a program," he stated.
She glared at him. "At least I have thoughts. You were right about one thing though; the term 'person' is relative, and right now you don't qualify!"
"Someone should've written a silence program for you. My life was just fine until all of you people appeared! Suddenly I have a civilization begging for a piece of land, and then they bring technology that I don't want. If you really think anything you say is going to sound relevant to me, than go ahead and try!" he growled.
"You obviously don't want to comprehend the world past your nose. Why don't you just frak off and do us all a favor?" she tossed back.
"What the hell does that mean? I should've known that I'd only get nonsense out of a machine," he poked. At her scowl, his lips curled into a leering smirk. "Oh, did I push the wrong button?"
A loud slap seemed to echo in the room as her hand came into contact with his face, leaving an angry red blotch on his pale skin. "You're nothing. You're not a man, you're a frakking rat."
He grabbed her wrist. "Grasping at straws, like a typical woman. Did you run out of decent insults?"
"Enough!" Adama barked. They jerked their heads in his direction, then backed away from each other.
Tiberius looked back at Laura. "We're done here, Roslin. You've got a week and a half." Lee stood, walking him out of the conference room.
"I'm done too. Obviously there are some situations that even old favors can't fix," D'Anna remarked.
Later after Tigh had escorted D'Anna from the room, Laura ran her hands through her hair. "That could have only gone worse of someone had shot him."
"That was quite a colorful argument. Between you and me, I wasn't sure whether they were going to kill each other, or kiss," Bill mentioned.
Laura smiled. "I was wondering the same thing. She won in the end though."
Bill offered Laura his arm as they stood to exit the room. "How do you figure?"
"He called her a 'typical woman.' What was meant to be an insult ended up as an admission in her favor," Laura clarified.
They reached their quarters and headed toward the kitchen to make lunch. She watched him with a bemused smile as he boiled some of the noodles acquire from Terra Prime. "Aren't you still on duty?"
He turned his head toward her, his brow furrowed. "It's been so slow since we arrived here that I don't think anyone will mind if the admiral has a lunch break."
"You just don't want to face D'Anna if she calls back suddenly," Laura stated.
"That too," he responded, stirring the noodles.
Laura picked up a pan and began to make sauce. "I've been thinking, we won't be able to stay on Galactica indefinitely, not with so many of the crew already on the planet. Do you think, assuming that things will settle down with the politics of it, that we'll be able to move planet-side eventually?"
He sighed. "I'd like to think so. You'd have to keep a low profile for a while, of course."
"If we ever resolve this mess with the premiere, I'll be more than happy to keep a low profile." She rested a hand on her abdomen. "I'm worried about a few things though. I know that there is something I'm supposed to do beyond what we've already accomplished, and the baby has something to do with it. I just wish I had a better idea about what it is."
He placed a hand on top of hers, then leaned in to kiss her softly. "I know you'll figure it out. You always do."
After lunch, the admiral returned to his shift while Laura looked over a few reports that Lee had given her. The rest of the day remained uneventful and Bill started reading a new book with Laura after dinner. As he got halfway through the second chapter, she yawned. "I think it's time you went to bed," he told her with a warm smile.
She yawned again. "Maybe you're right. Do you know if Dr. Sorenson ever got settled in?"
"No. I think I'll give Jack a call and find out." Bill headed to the phone and tried a few times while Laura dressed in her pajamas.
"If he's not in his quarters, did you try Life Station? Honestly, that man is glued to his job sometimes," Laura suggested.
"I can't get a hold of him. I'll just have to check on her myself. I know where the guest quarters are that he'd probably want to put her in," Bill decided.
"He's always up early. Maybe he goes to bed early to compensate," Laura remarked as she wandered over to the rack. "I might be asleep when you get back."
"It's fine. You need your rest," he replied.
Another yawn sneaked out. "I knew that I would be eating for two, but I never realized I'd be sleeping for two."
He chuckled. "Just one more surprise."
While Bill was leaving his quarters, Cottle was helping Morgana unpack. "What are all these files for? I thought you'd leave the patients' files for whoever shows up for the job next."
She stacked a few files, arranging them in her own categories by content and date. "Half of what you are looking at are files for medical procedures, especially the more complicated ones. If I need to look something up, I want the information with me."
"Fair enough," he responded. She reached into another box to remove a black duffle bag with a handle. "Dare I ask what sorts of files you keep in there?"
Morgana rolled her eyes, slinging the bag over her shoulder. "Doctor, what's in this bag goes in the bathroom. I did bring a few personal items with me."
"In that case, you'd better warn me about which boxes I should avoid poking around in," he relayed with a smirk.
She laughed. "Good point. The two boxes by me now are for me to unpack only." Opening the two boxes, she knelt down to take inventory of what she had brought. He heard a shuffling sound over his shoulder and turned to see her tossing pairs of pants out of the box. "Drat. I left some of my blouses back at my house. Oh well, I'll just head over to the bathroom and set my toothbrush out."
As Morgana left the room, Cottle heard a knock at the door. He opened the hatch, surprised to find the admiral standing there. "Bill, is there something I can help you with?"
"I was wondering if Dr. Sorenson got settled," the other man responded.
"I've got it covered. I thought she'd be staying for a couple of days. Looks more like she's moving in, but it's mostly files," Cottle told him.
"I don't mind if she's here. It'll probably end up being a good idea to have someone like her with us. She can work…" Bill trailed off, seeing something behind Cottle.
Then they both heard Morgana calling from the bathroom, "Jack, did you see where I left my towel?"
Bill cleared his throat. "Sorry to have bothered you, Jack. I'm sure you can handle things."
The admiral sauntered down the hall before Jack could correct him. The older doctor glanced behind him and saw the pants on the floor. Morgana wandered out of the bathroom a moment later as Cottle closed the hatch. "Was that the admiral?"
"Yeah. He wanted to make sure you were settling in," Cottle answered.
Morgana opened another box and removed a set of towels. When she turned back to Cottle, he was frowning at the pair of pants still on the floor. "What's wrong?" she asked innocently.
"The admiral saw your pants on the floor, then he heard you asking for your towel. He took off halfway down the hall before I could tell him that this wasn't what he was thinking," Cottle explained.
She smacked her forehead. "Oh my gosh, I am so utterly stupid sometimes! I'm sorry about that. Next time I will answer the door."
"It's a good thing he and I are old friends. He'll probably tell the former president about this and they'll have a laugh at my expense," Cottle grumbled with a smirk.
Morgana crossed her arms in front of her. "Oh, rub it in. I'm just a bad influence on you up here."
"I can think of worse things to be. You're not a Cylon, the premiere, or a certain crazy scientist I used to know who talked to himself; so you don't have much to worry about. We're you going to read some document later?" he reminded.
She nodded. "I was, but I can't recall where I put it. I know it's late, but would you mind helping me look for it?"
"You can't get me into much more trouble than you already have," he acquiesced.
Half an hour later, he had found an envelope mixed in with her chiropractic files. "Morgana, I think I found what you're looking for. It's got a word on it in another language."
She had been looking around on the floor, under the couch. "That sounds about right. I'll just- oh drat!"
He set the envelope down on the fold-out kitchen table and walked over to her. "What's the problem?"
"My hair it stuck in the underside of the couch!" she exclaimed. "Ouch! How am I supposed to get out from under this thing?"
Sitting down on the floor next to her, he reached over by her hair to find where she was caught. "Hang on, I might be able to get it without scissors."
"'Hang on?' Doctor, what does it look like I'm doing?" she retorted.
"Sorry, poor choice of words." After untangling some of her hair and detaching it from loose spring that it had caught on, he slowly pulled her up to a sitting position. "There," he paused and kissed the top of her head, "all better."
She blushed with embarrassment at needing his help. "Thank you, Doctor. I-" she sighed and shook her head, a bleak look sitting in her eyes as she faced him. "No, it's not all better. I've been fired. What do I do now? I don't know how to fix this. I'm sorry I'm such a mess today."
He stood and extended a hand to her. Pulling her to her feet, he told her "You might be a mess, but at least you're a cute mess."
"Cute?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.
A grin sat on his face as he noted her irritation. He had not yet released her hand. "Yes, cute."
Her free hand found its way to his chest as she poked him lightly. "One of us has lost his mind."
His other hand slid to her waist as he shook his head. "Nope. We're both sober this time."
She smirked. "We are indeed. Just what are you suggesting that we-"
He did not let her finish as he kissed her soundly. They parted for air and he spoke. "I thought we'd finish that conversation."
"I talk too much, don't I?" she asked with a smile. He chuckled and kissed her again. Their kisses grew more passionate as his clothes joined hers on the floor while they moved toward the rack.
(I didn't mean to have so much Cottle/Morgana this chapter. The next chapter will have more Bill/Laura interactions. My thanks to WonderFallsonDaisies, carolann, McGonagallFan, and Mythtern13 for reviewing :D)