Disclaimer: Battlestar Galactica belongs to Ronald D. Moore and the Sci-Fi channel.
Chapter 25: The right choice
The background searches that Bill wanted for Thomas Farrows only showed that he had been on the Geminon Traveler for the entire trip, and that he boarded the ship from Geminon. The admiral sent a few of his marines to trail Farrows' movements for a few days to find out what sorts of people he had contact with.
Laura had spent the day looking through applications for teachers. Two weeks had passed since they had returned from Galactica. A total of five schools had been built so far and they all wanted Laura to help them select teachers. As she approached the house, she watched a marine had something to Bill and then leave. She entered the front door, leaving her bag and the folder containing the applications on an end table.
"Bill, what's going on?" she inquired, watching him rise from the couch.
He set a manila folder on the couch and walked over to her, embracing her. "It's nothing to worry about. How was your day?"
She smirked. "You're evading the question, but I'll humor you for now. I was busy looking over teacher applications. They got a lot more volunteers than they planned on."
"Are you volunteering?" he asked.
Kissing him softly, she shook her head. "Priority number one is going to be the baby. There is a chance though that they might be looking for a principal. I won't be needed as 'Madame Counselor' much longer."
"The only flaw in that plan will be that certain people still see you as our leader," he pointed out.
She raised an eyebrow. "You mean our other leader. I think 'Madame Principal' has a nice ring to it."
He chuckled and let her go. "Could be."
"Now that we've covered my day," she began, wandering over to the couch, "perhaps you could tell me what you've been up to."
She handed him the manila folder. He opened it to show her the observation accounts. "All we learned from the background check on Thomas Farrows was that he boarded the Geminon Traveler from Geminon. I've had marines following Farrows, to see where he goes and who he spends his time with."
They sat on the couch. "So what has he been up to?"
"He meets with a group of at least eighty people, and they're from several different ships. Most of them are in their thirties and forties. They seem to be a pretty close-knit group. The marines couldn't get close without being notices. The only thing they seem to have in common is a lack of presence on the background check. It's like they didn't have records until the Attacks."
Laura took a deep breath. "Do you think they could be some sort of Cylon infiltration trick? I know they're supposed to be our allies now, but this looks suspicious."
Bill ran a hand through his hair. "I don't know what to think."
"Have you tried medical records?" she questioned.
He blinked. "No, but that sounds like a good suggestion. Are you up to joining me?"
She smirked again. "I'm pregnant, not ill. Of course I'm coming with you."
The Colonial clinic had been upgraded to a Colonial hospital as construction on the east wing continued. Cottle and Morgana had found that the most common injuries lately were construction-related as the Colonial citizens were taking what jobs they could find.
Despite the brief conversation with Chairman Pliny, Cottle had yet to actually propose to Morgana. While Laura and Bill made their way to the hospital, Cottle was in the middle of his third attempt to ask her. He had tried the night before at dinner, but a fire at one of the residential buildings had interrupted them. They had spent the night taking care of burn injuries. Fortunately there were no fatalities. He had tried a second time when they had a moment's peace at breakfast, but she had dozed off.
They had just finished setting a man's broken leg. "Why don't we break for tea?"
"Best idea I've heard all day," he responded.
Soon they were seated in the desk chairs that he had brought down from Galactica. "I've always preferred afternoon tea," Morgana mentioned.
He took a sip. "I thought you liked your tea with gin," he teased.
She narrowed her eyes at him. "I was in a bad mood that day."
"How about today?" he inquired.
Morgana shrugged. "I'm tired, that's all." She watched as he took a deep breath, his focus shifting to the ground. "You seem a bit distracted though."
He faced her, smiling. "I've been trying to say this since last night, but I can't seem to find a good time."
"Then just say it now," she persuaded.
Setting his teacup on his desk, the reached for her free hand. "Morgana, I never in my life expected to find anyone willing to put up with me. You proved me wrong about several things."
"You're not the only person who may be difficult to put up with," she pointed out.
He grinned. "True. I like working with you. I was thrilled when you chose to stay with my people instead of going to your own. What I'm trying to say is –"
A knock on his office door interrupted him. "Oh for crying out loud, can't the universe leave me alone?" Cottle grumbled. He dropped Morgana's hand and stood to answer it. "Come in."
A young nurse spoke. "The admiral and former president want to speak with you."
He and Morgana left the office to see Bill and Laura. "What's wrong this time? I told you to take it easy," he scolded Laura.
She put a hand up. "Relax, Jack. We are not here for me. I'm fine, the baby's fine."
Cottle turned toward Morgana. "Take her blood pressure anyway."
Morgana nodded. "He's only looking out for you," she whispered to Laura.
Bill spoke. "We need you to find some medical records on a man named Thomas Farrows. I've tried other ways of trailing him, but we haven't found much."
Cottle sighed. "Follow me. I'll see what I can do."
As Cottle approached a file cabinet, Bill asked "Did we interrupt something?"
The old doctor slowly faced him. "You and everybody else. I've only been trying to propose to Morgana since last night, but the universe seems to have other plans. First there was the fire, then we were both too tired to talk, and then you and Laura show up."
Bill placed a hand on the drawer. "If this is where the files are, I can look for Farrows myself. You don't have to help me."
"They're medical records. Legally I do, but thanks anyway," Cottle responded. After a moment, he pulled out a file. "Everything looks normal. Healthy, age 32, nothing out of the ordinary. What are you looking for?"
"Try finding where he was born, what colony he came from," Bill stated.
Cottle thumbed through the file. "Hmm, that's strange. It doesn't say where he was born. In fact, the earliest thing on here is a broken leg when he was twelve. He doesn't even have the normal immunization record, only the one from secondary school."
Bill walked over to Laura, passing the information onto her. "It's as if he didn't exist until age twelve."
"It could be a Cylon trick," Bill mentioned.
Laura thought to herself. Then she shook her head, finding Morgana. "The last transmission you received occurred about twenty years ago, correct?"
Morgana nodded. "Yes. But what does that have to do with this?"
"I'm not exactly sure yet. If, hypothetically, there were children on that ship, and if they people onboard used escape pods when their ship was overtaken, then might it be possible for that man not to have standard records?" Laura surmised.
"It is possible. I admit that I had not considered the possibility of survivors myself," Morgana answered.
"It's worth looking into," Laura responded.
Bill glanced down at his watch. "We should be heading back. We've taken up enough of your time."
Laura raised an eyebrow, but followed Bill out of the hospital. When they reached the street, she faced him. "What was that all about?"
"Jack's been trying to find time to propose. We interrupted him," Bill told her with a grin.
She smiled back. "I should've realized."
At the hospital, Cottle finished his now cold tea. Morgana followed him. "They certainly left in a hurry."
Cottle shrugged. "Those two have always been busy."
"So have we. I suppose we had better prepare for the late shift," Morgana remarked.
He set the teacup down on his desk and reached for her hand. "Not so fast. I have something I've been trying to ask you since yesterday."
"Alright. You have my full attention," she responded.
Taking a deep breath, he managed to lower himself on one knee. "I'm not one for flowery speeches, so I'm just going to say it. Morgana, I love you. Will you marry me?"
She grinned at him. "I was wondering if you would ever get around to that."
He chuckled as she helped him stand. "Is that a yes?"
Morgana nodded. "And so is this," she said before kissing him passionately. It was not long before he heard another knock at his office door, but this time he let the other person wait a while before he answered the door.
Their wedding was held three weeks later, in a field near where Bill and Laura's wedding had been conducted. Half of the guests were Colonial while the other half were Terran. The priest was Terran as well. Bill and Laura sat in the audience, watching as Chairman Pliny walked Morgana down the aisle, over to Cottle. "Similar to ours, yet different. I wonder what sort of vows they have," Laura commented.
"They might have written their own. Your dress was better," Bill whispered. Morgana's dress was white, but the top of the long sleeves puffed out by the shoulders.
"It's only a different style, and you're biased," she teased, kissing him on the cheek.
The priest looked out to the audience and spoke. "Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to join this man and this woman in holy matrimony…," he began.
After his introduction, he turned to Cottle. "Do you, Major Jack Cottle, take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife, to love, comfort, and honor her, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, for better or for worse, as long as you both shall live?"
Cottle held Morgana's hands in his. "I do."
"And do you, Morgana Christine Sorenson, take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband, to love, comfort, and honor him, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, for better or for worse, as long as you both shall live?" the priest continued.
She smiled brightly. "I do."
The priest looked from one to the other. "Then by the power vested in me, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may now kiss the bride." He paused while they kissed. "I now present to you Mr. and Mrs. Jack Cottle."
Arms linked, they walked down the aisle as the Terrans threw rice. Then Morgana threw her bouquet of red roses behind her. The flowers landed in little Hera's lap and the people around her laughed. Bill and Laura decided not to stick around for the reception, as she was feeling tired. "I'm sorry about not wanting to play party guest," she told Bill.
"I'm sure they won't mind. They would probably yell at you to go home anyway," he mentioned.
She smirked. "You're probably right."
When they reached their house, Bill noticed the rice in Laura's hair. "I wonder why the Terrans threw rice."
"We'll have to ask them later," Laura replied as she closed the front door.
She took a seat on the couch. Bill sat next to her and then she felt his hand in her hair. "What are you doing? If you wanted to play with my hair, you should've just said so," she goaded him.
He snorted. "Very funny. I'm actually trying to get the rice out of your hair so you don't have a big mess later," he answered, placing bits of rice on a napkin on the coffee table. "This might take a while."
Turning to face him for a moment, she smirked. "You should know, Admiral, that I'm not the only one with rice in my hair. You look like you could use some help yourself." She reached up to follow through on the idea, but then a better idea came to mind and she found herself kissing him instead.
The debate was scheduled for the following week. Two hours before it began, Laura paced the living room of her house. "I don't think that's going to help either side," Bill mentioned.
Laura sighed, not slowing down. "I know, but I can't sit still. What if it goes the wrong way? What if we end up with a civil war? What if we –"
Bill cut her off with a kiss. "Everything's going to be fine. We have five Cylon supporters against five non-supporters. Farrows is on the supporting side, along with Caprica."
"So Saul is babysitting?" Laura inquired.
"Yep. Now we've got two hours. Why don't you rest?" Bill suggested.
She raised an eyebrow. "Bill Adama, I am in absolutely no mood to rest!"
Leaving him in the living room, she headed to the kitchen for a glass of water. She finished off the glass just before a sharp pain began in her abdomen. It dissipated after a moment. She had been feeling pain on and off all morning. I thought drinking water was supposed to help that. I should go back to pacing. I felt better when I was pacing, she reasoned.
By the time they left for the debate, the pain was more persistent, but Laura surmised that it had to do with her lack of activity over several weeks. The debate was held on the first floor of one of the school buildings. Eventually it would be used as a lecture hall for large groups, or for student performances. The room included several seats and a stage. Both debating factions were onstage, seated in front of tables. Lee was acting as moderator.
"Let me first tell you the rules of this debate. No side with insult the other side or make derogatory comments. This is a philosophical debate and no one will resort to name calling. There will be no physical violence. We will flip a coin to see which side goes first. After the first remark, the other side will have time to formulate a response. After the debate, there will be a recess to discuss of something needs to change. Let's begin," Lee explained.
The coin toss went to the Cylon supporters. Caprica spoke first. "We only want to coexist peacefully, to live normal lives and work together for survival."
A man on the opposing side rose. "Peaceful? Haven't we been here before? Didn't you try to 'peacefully coexist' on New Caprica?"
"New Caprica is one of my greatest regrets. I will admit that the Cylons took over, still wanting domination after a fashion instead of cooperation," Caprica responded.
"So you're saying things will be different this time?" the man probed.
"Yes. We want to work together, under the same government, as one people," she expressed.
Another man on the opposing side, a man Laura recognized as one of Zarek's former associates, stood. "Your people are the reason we're here in the first place! Your people nuked the Colonies."
"And I am truly sorry for that as well. There is no excuse for the decimation caused by Cylons, but if you recall, humans did build the Cylons," she argued.
"So you're blaming the humans because you were programmed to kill us? Boy, that's rich. I'll bet the Cylons even killed the humans who built them," the man said snidely.
Another woman on the pro-Cylon cooperation stood. "This isn't about blame. What we need to do is learn to work and live together."
"They have to answer of the past," a woman on the other side retorted.
"No."
The others looked around to notice Farrows, who slowly stood. "This is not about the past. What have we learned from our experiences? Collaborators from New Caprica were granted amnesty. The Final Five were granted amnesty. You can keep looking back, but you'll only find more hatred and more blame. It has to stop somewhere."
"Can you guarantee that they won't try and nuke us again?" Zarek's former associate argued.
Farrows took a deep breath. "We have the ability right here, right now, to end this. Our survival on this new planet depends on cooperation. We have to look toward the future for the sake of our children. What legacy will they be getting from us, one of war, or one of forgiveness and peace? It's about the choices you make today. The Cylons with us now chose to join our side in the conflict, to be limited to one life, like us. We can chose to either accept that they have made a choice to do what's right, or we can fight them. What do you want for your children?"
Laura did not hear further arguments because a sharp pain in her abdomen distracted her. As she grabbed Bill's arm tightly, he faced her. "Why did you insist on coming to this if you knew you were in labor?" he asked her, irritation in his eyes.
"I didn't realize it at the time. We need to – Bill I think my water just broke," she whispered.
"Let's go," he instructed.
Bill helped her stand and they left as quietly as they could. Fortunately the hospital was only a short walk away. Laura staggered through the door with the help of Bill, they were stopped by Ishay. "What's going on here?"
"What's it look like?" Laura retorted.
"She's in labor," Bill responded.
Ishay nodded. "I'll find Dr. Cottle. You two sit for now."
Bill helped Laura into a chair before sitting next to her. "We had to pick a busy day," Laura grumbled.
"I'm sure once he knows it's us, he'll be right out, or Morgana will be," Bill reassured her.
Cottle appeared a moment later, heading toward them. "I can see your water broke. Mind telling me why the hell you waited 'till the last minute to drop by?"
"She wanted to see the debate," Bill answered.
"You're lucky that despite being one of my most difficult patients, I hate to see you suffer. Someone get me a gurney," Cottle requested.
Soon Laura had been moved from the gurney to the bed, the nurses helping her into a hospital gown. "Where is Morgana?" Laura asked.
"Back surgery. Some guy fell from a scaffold," Cottle replied.
Bill sat next to the bed and held Laura's hand. Two hours later they welcomed a girl into the world, as was predicted. Laura held the baby in her arms as she moved scooted over slightly to let Bill sit on the bed next to them. "She's perfect," Laura said quietly, handing the baby to him.
"She's beautiful," Bill added.
The baby made soft gurgling sounds as Bill handed her back to her mother. The he leaned down to kiss Laura softly. She smiled back. "I hope Jack won't stay mad at us."
Bill smirked. "He wasn't mad, just frustrated. We do tend to drop in on him unannounced for all sorts of things."
"Yes, we do," Laura replied, looking down at the baby.
"She's going to need a name, you know," Bill reminded.
Laura nodded. "I've been thinking, one of the flowers that Caprica showed me had a lovely name, 'lily.' I think I'd like to call our daughter 'Lily.'"
"'Lily.' I like that too. For a middle name, how about 'Anastasia?'" Bill suggested.
"Hmm, 'Lily Anastasia Adama.' I like it," Laura responded.
They looked over by the door to the room, hearing someone clear her throat. Morgana smiled. "I don't mean to interrupt, but you have visitors."
"Then by all means, please send them in," the former president recommended.
Caprica entered, followed by Saul, Lee, and Kara. "Well who do we have here?" Caprica inquired. Wilhelmina had been left with Athena for a while.
"Meet Lily Anastasia Adama," Laura told them with a grin.
"She's adorable," Dee remarked. "And I like the name."
"You're gonna have to beat the boys off with a stick when she's older," Kara commented.
Saul stepped over to pat Bill on the back. "Something tells me neither one of you are gonna let her anywhere near a Viper."
Laura chuckled softly. "Hopefully we won't need to."
"Congratulations," Lee stated. "I also came by to tell you how the debate went. Farrows' speech really got peoples' attention. They decided that humans and Cylons would work together to build a better future."
"That's good to know. I did catch most of his speech," Laura mentioned.
"Farrows also told me that he was from a group of 114 people who survived from the Earth fleet. They kept quiet when they had to abandon the ship after it was boarded because they thought no one would believe their story. Then when the Cylons attacked, they were afraid that they would be blamed for everything," Lee relayed.
"I hope you told him that we're not blaming people these days. What's done is done," Bill told his son.
Laura smiled at her extended family, and then at Bill. "Yes, and finally we can look toward the future."
(A/N: There will be an epilogue. My thanks to carolann for reviewing :D)