Laura looks up from the papers in front of her as the door to the Ward Room opens. Her eyes widen at the state of Bill's face, both the cut and the expression on it. She swallows and sits up straighter as she looks at him, trying to put on a brave face. Billy pauses and looks between the two.
"Keep going Billy…Commander I'll be with you in just a moment," Laura tells Bill as she turns back to finish meeting with Billy. Once the young boy leaves she pushes her chair back and moves to stand in front of Bill. Her fingertips gently stroke the cut on his temple before stroking down his face. She pulls her hand back and crosses her arms in front of her.
"Are you planning to stage a military coup?"
"Excuse me?" Bill asks, his eyebrows raising imperceptibly.
"Plan to declare martial law, take over the government?"
"Of course not."
"Well, Colonel Tigh makes it sound like Galactica will be leaving Ragnar and returning to fight the cylons. And I have fifty thousand people, sitting out there on ships, without homes, the remnants of the human race. And it's only protection is going to turn tail and fight the cylons."
"That's always been our mission to fight the enemy, win the war," Bill replies in a quiet voice, "Your fleet can stay in Ragnar, the storm will keep you hidden."
"There is no war, Commander," Laura bites back as she backs away from her husband, her tone escalating slightly, "We lost the war the second the last colony fell. We need to take what little amount of people we do have left and run."
"Run where?"
"Another star system, another planet, somewhere the cylons won't and can't find us."
"You can run if you'd like…"
"We need to run, with Galactica to protect us, and we need to start having babies! Without any part of that…we cease to exist!" Laura snaps back, interrupting Bill. Bill sighs and clenches his hands a couple times before turning for the door.
"Excuse me," Bill tells her before slipping out the hatch. Laura presses the back of her hand to her mouth as tears fill her eyes. She takes a deep breath to calm herself before sitting back down, resting her head in her hands with a groan. She looks up as the door opens a while later, Bill re-entering and taking a seat across from her. Laura sits up straighter, resting her hands in her lap as she regards him.
"We are planning a way out of the storm and plotting coordinates to jump to…another quadrant, past the red line, hopefully out of harms way. The entire fleet."
"Thank you, Commander," Laura says, her shoulders relaxing slightly. Bill's own shoulders relax as he leans forward, clasping his hands on the table.
"Where's Aurora?"
"In your quarters with Mona."
"How are they?"
"As good as can be," Laura says, leaning back and crossing her legs.
"How are you?"
"Terrified."
"Yeah..." Bill says standing up, "Go, be with them. It's going to be a bumpy ride out of here."
"Go see her real quick," Laura says as she looks up at Bill, "Please."
Bill nods before leaving through the hatch again. Laura gathers up her papers before going out into the hall and heading back to Bill's quarters. She watches as her husband sets their little girl down before kissing her head, eeking a smile out of her little face. Bill smiles back at her and kisses her head once again before turning to leave, pausing when he sees Laura. Laura squeezes his hand as he passes, tugging him back slightly as he continues walking. Bill arches his eyebrow at her silently as he turns around.
"Good hunting," Laura tells him with a direct look in his eye.
"Thank you," Bill says before leaving and closing the hatch behind himself. Laura sets her items down on Bill's desk before picking Aurora up and peppering her face with kisses.
"Have I ever told you how much I love you?"
"Mmm no," Aurora says, giggling.
"I love you so so so so much," Laura says as she plops down onto the couch next to Mona with Aurora in her lap.
"I love you too, all the way to Virgon and back."
"That's pretty far," Laura says as she smiles at Aurora.
"Super far," Aurora says seriously before grinning. She squirms down before going over to her coloring supplies that were discarded on Bill's desk. She pulls her chair back in and starts to color again on the picture she had been working on when Bill had come by.
"What's going to happen?" Mona asks.
"We're leaving our system...going to try to find something, anything," Laura says as she rests her head on Mona's shoulder, "We're running."
"Are there other places we can go?"
"I don't know. We haven't been out of the immediate solar system since the armistice line was drawn at the end of the war. It would be ridiculous to think that besides the Twelve Colonies and Kobol that there aren't any inhabitable planets out there."
"True," Mona acquiesces, squeezing Laura's leg, "Your husband doesn't have any liquor does he?"
"Um, there's a cart over by the book case," Laura indicates with a flick of her wrist. Mona stands and goes over to the cart, turning over two glasses and filling them part way with amber liquid. She walks back over and hands one to Laura before sitting down. She clinks her glass against her friends. Laura laughs and shakes her head before drowning the liquid in one gulp, wincing at the burn.
Laura digs through Bill's closet looking for something to wear to bed and laughs to herself as she pulls out a well worn Caprica Buccaneers shirt. She unfolds the shirt and pulls it on over her underwear as she hears the hatch open. She shuts the door to the closet and walks around the corner, holding a finger to her lips as she points to Aurora asleep on the couch.
Bill takes off his boots and sets them by the door before walking over to Laura and wrapping his arms around her, pulling her close to his body as he buries his face in her hair. Laura's arms wrap around his neck and sighs softly as she holds him close. Eventually she loosens her grip and lets him go, sinking down to stand flat on her feet. Bill loosens his grip and places his hands on her waist as he looks down at her.
"I'm sorry about earlier," He murmurs quietly.
"Me too," Laura replies, running her hands up his arms and resting them on his biceps, "We need to leave the Commander and the President outside that door when we come home at night...I can't..."
Laura steps back and takes a deep breath as she wipes at her eyes.
"I can't lose my husband after all of this," She tells him. Bill steps forward and takes both of Laura's hands in his, kissing her knuckles before pulling her closer and kissing her lips.
"You are never going to lose me," Bill tells her after he pulls away, "And I see you found some pajamas."
"I always wondered where this t-shirt ended up," Laura says with a small smile, "I figured you pitched it after you left that night."
"Not at all. As a matter of fact it's a great reminder of one of the best nights of my life, and helps with feeling homesick."
"You are very right about the miraculous wonders of this shirt," Laura grabs Bill's hand and pulls him back to his rack before climbing into the bed settling against the pillows. Bill undresses down to his tanks and boxers and climbs into bed next to her, wrapping his arm around her.
"How's Ror doing?"
"She seems okay, I think having Mona around has helped. Gods knows it's helped me," Laura says as she threads her fingers with Bill's, shifting her hold on his hand to rest it on her chest right above her heart. Bill presses a kiss to her shoulder and sighs as he tries to relax. Laura closes her own eyes, her thumb stroking back and forth slowly, "I love you and I'm glad we're okay."
"Love you too," Bill murmurs quietly, managing to start drifting off to sleep.
Laura jolts awake as the alarm blares through the quarters before a crackling voice filters through the speaker mounted above the head of Bill's rack.
"Commander to CIC, we have DRADIS contact," Bill groans and rubs his eyes before getting out of bed. He pulls his pants and tunic on before heading out the hatch. Aurora grumbles as she walks over to the bed before climbing in, sticking her head under the pillow Bill had been laying on.
Laura grumbles her self, resting a hand on her daughter's back, rubbing her fingertips up and down soothingly. She listens quietly to the sounds of people clamoring through the hall and the gentle hum of Galactica, her eyes starting to drift closed again just as a familiar twist sets in the pit of her stomach. Laura practically launches herself over her daughter, scrambling to the head before emptying her stomach contents.
Aurora sticks her head out from under the pillow, frowning. She climbs out of the bed and walks to the head, standing on her tip toes to get a glass of water, holding it out to Laura as her mother flushes the toilet and sinks back against the wall. Laura rinses her mouth out before taking a small sip and pulling Aurora into her lap.
"Thank you, baby."
"Why do you throw up every time we jump?" Aurora asks with a confused look on her face.
"I don't know, my stomach just doesn't like it. How do you know when we jump?"
"It's all tingly," Aurora grins, "Like a fuzzy cat rolling all over you."
"That's a way to put it," Laura laughs and kisses her daughter's head, "Come on let's get back in bed, it's the middle of the night."
"How do you know?" Aurora asks as she gets up, following Laura back to bed.
"My watch," Laura says as she tucks Aurora into her side, showing her the face of the watch, "It's still set to Caprican Time. If we were home it would be two in the morning..."
"We're never gonna get to go home?" Aurora asks with a sad look on her face.
"No, probably not," Laura says as she runs her fingers through her daughter's hair. She frowns when she hears the speaker go live again, this time requesting her presence. She grumbles and gets out of bed, changing her shirt out for a dress before holding her hand out to Aurora, "Come on, butterfly."
Aurora stands on the bed and holds her arms out. Laura lifts her onto her hip, kissing her head before heading through the hatch, trying to retrace her steps to the CIC. She sets Aurora down on the ground once they get to the room, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and holding her close as she looks up at the DRADIS.
"What's going on?"
"They're following us," Bill comments, looking away for a moment to make eye contact with Laura, "So far seems like it's about every 35 minutes or so, we're trying to narrow down the pattern."
"How do they know where we go? How do we even know where we're going?"
"I don't know, they have to be tracking on something."
"Next set of jump coordinates are ready, sir," Zak calls as he hands a set of paper over to Bill. Bill reads down the list before handing them back over.
"Distribute to the fleet. Next jump, let's start a running clock once we gather. See how long we're getting between jumps."
"Yes, sir."
"So, we're just going to keep jumping?" Laura inquires, already feeling her stomach rolling at the thought.
"Until we can figure out how they're finding us, yes."
"Call me if anything changes?" Laura raises her eyebrows at Bill.
"Yes, sir," Laura covers his hand on the console and squeezes before guiding Aurora out of the CIC and back towards the Commander's Quarters. She stops at a crosspoint and takes a different turn her feet carrying her towards Life Station instead. After a quick trip by Life Station to pick up an anti-emetic Laura tosses back a pill and chases it with water before getting into bed with Aurora, hoping to settle down for what was left of the night. Aurora settles into her mother's side and lets out a big yawn before closing her eyes and starting to drift off to sleep. Laura sighs and runs her fingers through Aurora's hair absentmindedly as she waits for the exhaustion to finally take her away.
Laura starts awake as she hears a knock on the hatch. She frowns as she looks around, noticing Bill hadn't come back at all during the night. She slips out of bed and pads to the hatch, letting Billy in along with Jafee, thanking him as he leaves breakfast.
"Madame President, I can come back..." Billy says, pointing towards the hatch.
"No, just take a seat and let me get Aurora up," Laura tells him as she disappears to the back of the quarters, rousing Aurora out of bed before changing out of her pajamas and into one of the outfits she'd brought with. She pulls her hair back from her face before getting Aurora settled with breakfast and grabbing the couple files on the desk, sitting down to talk with Billy.
Bill breezes in a while later, heading straight into the head and turning on the shower. Laura excuses herself from Billy, pressing a kiss to Aurora's head as she slips into the small bathroom.
"Following me into the bathroom?"
"You haven't been back all night."
"We get 33 minutes before they find us. Every 33 minutes, we pause, they show up, we jump," Bill turns off the shower and grabs his towel, wrapping it around his waist as he steps out, "I just really needed a shower and a change, something I can actually accomplish in 33 minutes."
"There's food and coffee on the desk, eat something before you leave," Laura says as she leans up on her toes, pressing a kiss to his lips. Bill's arm curls around her waist and he deepens the kiss. Laura hums and pulls back stepping away with a small smile on her lips, "I'll have Aurora with me today, but I'll be available."
"Thanks," Bill nods. Laura leans up and presses a quick kiss to his lips.
"I love you, I'll see you later."
[TBC]
