Note: This story is starting to draw near to its close - please note we do not make a pitstop at shitty Earth in this story. And a reminder that Sam Anders doesn't exist in this story, and the Dee/Lee story line never happened.
Bill watched as Laura became more withdrawn, her complexion greying, her eyes dull behind the pain. Eventually the pills that Cottle had been providing stopped working and the migraines became a constant in their lives. He'd never felt more helpless than when he would see a flash of sharp pain across her eyes when the kids would yell while playing, oblivious to their mother's plight.
Late at night, after the kids were tucked in he would make her a warm compress, drape it over her eyes as her head rested in his lap, his fingers massaging gently along her scalp. The first night his finger's hadn't brought her some sense of relief so she could catch a couple hours of sleep she smiled at him reassuringly and rested her head on his shoulder, using the night to enjoy the closeness, the quiet.
Yet, most days the relief wouldn't come any more. She eventually started leaving bed, sifting her way through more work and on occasion taking a break to roam the quiet halls of Galactica. The first time the compress and massage hadn't managed to put her to sleep for a week straight, Laura pulled the cooling cloth away as tears rolled down her her temples, getting lost in her hair.
"It hurts so much," Laura whispers, trying to catch a deep breath, "It hurts so much all the time and I just want it to stop."
"I wish I could make it stop," Bill tells her, his fingers continuing to massage. He sat with her through the night, continuing to run his fingers through her hair, occasionally dabbing tears from her skin. In the morning, Laura sighs and closes her eyes once more as she hears the kids starting to rouse.
"You have to sleep...we can't both be like this," Laura tells Bill, reaching up to brush her fingers across his temple, his tired eyes drooping. He presses a kiss to her palm and stills his hand, disentangling it from her copper locks.
"I'm going to find you Earth," Bill rasps, pressing his lips to her hand once again, nuzzling the gentle hand.
"I never doubted that," Laura murmurs as she watches him, groaning as both of the boys climb onto the bed, elbows and knees poking her soft parts before they settle against her. Laura wipes a hand across her face, getting rid of any evidence of her tears before running her fingers through her sons' hair.
Bill shoos the boys from bed soon enough, telling them he'd be out to get them breakfast soon. Laura shifts her head from his lap and takes her place on her side of the bed. Bill tugs the blanket up around her after standing and leans down to press a kiss to her temple.
"Try to get some rest," He commands softly, stroking her cheek before disappearing to the living area. Laura sighs and closes her eyes, sleep just barely out of her grasp.
Bill nudges Laura's shoulder gently, breaking her out of her reverie on the pages in front of her on the desk. She looks up at him and straightens her glasses on her nose.
"What's up?"
"Kara's back," Bill gruffs, "With a godsdamn basestar and rogue cylons."
"A basestar and rogue cylons?"
"Yep. Congratulations, crisis number 5,421," Bill comments, offering a hand out to help her out of her chair, "Come on."
"Sir, yes, sir," Laura murmurs, taking her husband's hand before standing, following him out of the ward room and towards the flight deck, "What do we know so far?"
"The twos, eights, and sixes are rebelling - apparently the other models aren't concerned with locating the Final Five if anything they are advocating against it."
"What do they want with us?"
"The Final Five - or at least some of them are in the fleet," Bill explains, opening a hatch for her, "That's all Kara could tell us. There's a group coming over now."
"Where is she?"
"On deck," Bill comments climbing down the stairs to the deck before Laura does. Her heels clack gently against the flight deck floor as her eyes scan the area, finding Kara sitting on a tool kit talking to Zak, both of them with flight suits tied around their waists. She walks over to them and rests a hand on Kara's shoulder squeezing gently. Kara stops talking and turns around, looking up at Laura.
"Madame President."
"I'm glad to see you made it back, Kara. And bearing such a lovely gift," Laura smiles warmly. Kara regards her for a moment before nodding, a hesitant grin coming over her face.
"Least I could do."
"Where Mama?" Alex asks as he climbs into his father's lap.
"I don't know bub, I'm going to find her though. I'll always find Mama," Bill promises as Liam climbs up as well. Aurora lingers in the doorway, her eyes cast downward as her hair falls forward in a black veil, "Come're butterfly."
"No," Aurora shakes her head, wrapping her arms around herself.
"Aurora…"
"NO!" The little girl yells, shocking Bill.
"Don't yell at your father," Mona reprimands as she moves into the quarters. She picks up the little girl with a small groan, letting her attach them with her limbs.
"I want Mom," Aurora whimpers as she buries her face in Mona's shoulder.
"We are going to find her," Mona assures her, rubbing her back. Aurora continues to hold on, staying quiet as her fingers move back and forth across Mona's collar, trying to calm herself. Mona sinks into the chair next to Bill's desk, keeping her hold on the little girl. After a moment she nudges Aurora and kisses her head, murmuring in her ear. Aurora climbs down and holds both hands out to her brothers.
"Come on." The boys climb down without question, taking Aurora's hands and letting her lead them out of the room. Mona leans forward, resting her elbows on her knees and her chin on her fists.
"So what's the plan?"
"I need to leave. I need to wait for her. And the fleet needs to keep going," Bill tells her, "I need you to keep the kids safe."
"Bill…"
"We've lost every ounce of objectivity we've managed to maintain over the last three years…I can't live without her."
"What about the kids?"
"They have you, Zak…I trust you two. They don't deserve to watch me try to live without her," Bill reasons.
"She'll hate you, for leaving them behind for her."
"It's a risk I'll take," Bill says, standing as the kids come out ready for bed. He tucks the three of them into his and Laura's rack, sitting on the edge and reading them a chapter out of the book they had been working through. Once their eyes are closed and their breathing has evened out he leans down and presses a kiss to each of their heads. He closes the book and sets it on the shelf above the rack, flicking the light off before standing. He grabs another book off his desk before looking down at Mona.
"I will be back. But…"
"Take care of them no matter what," Mona repeats back to him. She stands and wraps her arms around Bill, squeezing him tight. She presses a kiss to his cheek before pulling back, "Bring her home Bill…"
"Yes, sir," Bill rasps, taking one last look at the kids before grabbing his duffel and heading out of the room.
He's not surprised that the first thing she does is haul off and slap him. He should consider himself lucky that she didn't have the strength to punch him, otherwise he'd be laying on the ground. Her hard look softens a moment after her hand cracks across his face, her arms immediately wrapping around his form and latching onto him. Bill wraps his arms around her slim waist and buries his face in the crook of her neck, inhaling her unique scent as he rasps out a greeting.
"Missed you too." Laura laughs against his shoulder, squeezing him tight.
"I love you."
"I love you too," Bill comments, "The kids are on Galactica with Mona and Zak, they'll keep them safe until we get back."
"I trust you," Laura comments as she steps back, "You trust me?"
"With my life," Bill replies without hesitation.
"We destroyed the Hub, we have the three…she wants to talk," Laura says, taking Bill's arm and leading him off the deck and through the halls, a centurion following behind them, "Have I ever mentioned how much I love you in a flight suit?"
"I don't think so," Bill smiles. Laura smiles and rests her cheek against his shoulder.
"Well I do."
They had dealt with the Final Five, they had brought the Rebel Cylons over to their fleet, they had come to accept that Ellen, Saul, Tyrol, Tory, and Dee were the cylons that they had been looking for the whole time. They had talked and talked and talked. And now they were here, seeing the light at the end of the tunnel with a giant cylon shaped troll standing at the doorway.
"We need to end this," Laura comments as she stands across from Bill at the planning table. Kara, Lee, Zak, some Cylons, and a host of other people flanked the table, looking at the figures in the middle, "And we need to end it now. Otherwise we are going to lose everything we have been working for the last three years."
"We have a bearing for Earth, but we'd be drawing the cylons to it. There's a colony. Where the non rebel cylons are based. It's on the edge of a black hole in the Illian Nebula," Bill explains, gesturing to the map laid out on the table in front of them.
"We need to attack the colony, take down the cylons before we proceed to Earth," Kara says, stepping up. She begins explaining their attack plan, keeping her eyes locked around the room as she tactfully moves ships back and forth explaining what was planned to happen.
"…We are going to need every frakking person that can even remotely aim a gun or fly a plane available to us. This could very well be a one way trip if things don't go to plan. But as the President mentioned…this is it, this is our end of the line. We don't have anywhere else to go if this doesn't work."
"Battle prep begins at 0500 - jump prep begins at 0900…make sure your teams are ready, tomorrow we fight, one last time," Bill says, looking around the room before looking at Laura. She nods in agreement looking down at the table.
"So say we all."
"So say we all!"
"Dismissed," Bill says, taking Laura's arm and walking back to their quarters with her, "What are you doing tomorrow?"
"I don't know if you've heard but there's supposed to be this huge battle tomorrow…" Laura grins. Bill chuckles and pushes the hatch open, letting her in first before closing it behind himself, "I'm going to hang out down in Life Station, be some kind of help. I'm keeping the kids down there with me."
"Part of me would feel better if you stayed with the fleet…the other part doesn't want you guys that far away."
"Not to sound morbid. But if this doesn't work, if Galactica goes down, they're going to retaliate. You know I would do anything to save our kids, to save us…but I won't let them become cylon play things."
"I know." Laura leans down and picks Aurora up with a groan, smiling as the girl wraps her limbs around her.
"When did you get so big?"
"Two days ago," Aurora smiles. Laura laughs and presses a kiss to her cheek before sitting down on the couch with her.
"I'm going to need your help tomorrow, alright?"
"Doing what?" Aurora asks, playing with Laura's hair.
"We're going to be down in the Life Station with Doctor Cottle and Momo. I need you to help me keep an eye on your brother's okay? Make sure they stay put?"
"Okay, I can do that." Laura smiles and kisses Aurora's head as she squeezes her tight.
"I knew you could."
That night the five of them piled into the rack for bed. Aurora nestled against Bill's side as the boys laid between their parents. Laura lays her arm across the boys, and rests a hand on Bill's chest, stroking gently as she sleeps. This was potentially their last night together as a family and she never wanted it to end.
In the morning, Bill dressed in his reg blues, Laura's fingers deftly buttoning his tunic together before straightening his pins. He straightens out his cuffs and stands straight in front of her.
"Madame President."
"Admiral," Laura rubs her hands up his chest and presses a hard kiss to his lips. She pulls back and lets out a shuddering breath as she squeezes his shoulders, "Good hunting."
"I'll see you after," Bill says, pressing a kiss to her head before going to say goodbye to the kids. After he leaves Laura gets the kids dressed, wrapping each of them in a kevlar vest before starting to herd them down to the Life Station. They stop by the flight deck where Lee and Kara were suiting up and Zak was triaging pilots around the deck with the Chief.
"What do you hear, Starbuck?" Laura asks as she approaches the group.
"Nothing but the rain," Kara grins as she jumps into her suit, tying her sleeves around her waist.
"Grab your gun and bring in the cat."
"Boom, boom, boom," Kara replies before wrapping her arms around Laura. Laura squeezes the blonde as she holds her close. She lets her go after a moment and hugs Zak before hugging Lee. Each of them hugs the kids tight, taking a moment.
"Thank you. For what you are about to do today."
"We're going home after this," Lee says. Kara nods in agreement, leaning into her husband's grasp.
"Good hunting, Captain, Mr. Adama."
"Stay safe," Zak says, ruffling his sister's hair. Laura nods and gets the kids back up the stairs and back on their way to Life Station. She settles them at a desk in the corner, explaining to them that it was imperative that they stay in that spot and don't move.
"I'm not going to leave here without you guys okay? So, stay here."
"Okay, mama," Alex grins already getting his crayons and paper out. Laura smiles and kisses each of their heads before going to talk to Mona and Cottle. Cottle brings her up to speed on the plans and processes before handing over two tubes and an injector.
"If the headache gets too bad - use these, it'll boost your adrenaline and hopefully clear your head," Cottle explains, "Only use one every four hours. It's the last I've got."
"Thank you, Jack," Laura smiles, putting a hand on the older man's arm before going to help Mona continue to prep. She grabs the handset as they start calling in for jump prep, swallowing as Bill's voice crackles over the line.
"Life Station?"
"Ready."
[TBC]
