Now a new chapter. This was actually pretty difficult, as at first I had it written in a very unconventional way but then decided to keep it a bit closer to Regency customs. I know I have terribly neglected Lee so far, that's why he is getting a (tiny) bit of space here. Please let me hear from you!

Disclaimer: As always, no BSG characters are mine

13th of May 1803

The Table in between

Laura Roslin

This was one of the moments when Laura hated social etiquette the most. She would have loved to go to dinner with Commander Adama, but she had the feeling that especially today her friend would honour the rules of society and seat everyone properly - which meant according to rank. Even unmarried, Roslin easily outranked any other woman in the room, which meant she was going to be the host's partner .Mr Adama as the highest ranking male guest would sit next to Isabelle near the head of the table. Ms Roslin had to smile when she realized Mrs Agathon had already arranged the other couples - Karl Agathon with Miss Thrace, Lieutenant Adama with Violet and Robert with Isabella. That left Mr Ditton who was currently reminding Lila that she was not yet old enough to join the others at the big table.

For a moment, the dark haired woman accidently cought her best friend's look. Isabelle eyed her with an unspoken challenge, as if daring her to say something. Laura curtly shrugged her shoulders, barely noticeable, accepting the odds. After all, then she might be able to concentrate more on the food. Suddenly Mr Agathon went over to where Laura and Adama were standing.

"Ms Roslin, may I?", he asked gallantly, holding out his arm for her.

Laura smiled at him and took it, the others following. Even though she as the first lady in the room could potentially choose her seat freely, she sat down as expected on the lowest seat on the right side of the table, so Mr Agathon would be on her left. Isabelle was sitting at the head, facing her husband, with Adama to her right. Well, the dark-haired woman supposed it could have been worse. Even though there would be no way they could talk at all, at least she could see him. On her other side next to her she suddenly found Leopold Adama and gave him a polite smile which he returned. Across from her there were Robert and Isabella, probably not the worst thing. She wanted to keep an eye on Robert, he could have a very loose mouth if she got unlucky. And there were things, even though not scandalous as such, Commander Adama still did not need to know about.

Naturally the first course was already on the table, beautifully arranged. Laura had to leave it to Isabelle, she could be a phenomenal hostess. Better than herself anyway. Well, no, Laura COULD, Laura just simply didn't feel the need to. Why keeping busy with picking out dishes, if she could read novels instead or go to the theatre? She had hosted tons of dinner parties and balls in her life, but most of them had served one aim or the other.

As was expected, the men served the ladies next to them first. Oddly, now Laura's biggest concern was that Violet would not dare to tell the young Adama that she hated the fish soup out of the big tureen in the middle of the table. She herself didn't eat a lot, after all Isabelle had told her that there would be two more courses.

"Ms Roslin, if I may ask so bluntly, what is the first thing you have to do when you arrive in Hertfortshire?", Lieutenant Adama suddenly asked.

The woman looked at him in surprise.

"Mr Adama, to be honest I am not quite sure yet where I am going to start. I have the reports of what has to be done but where to begin, that is something I will decide tomorrow and the day after on the way. So I have a couple of hours to think about it", she said with a slightly pained smile.

"So you are not taking the whole journey in one day?", the young man asked, "why not?"

Laura smiled when she heard the unconcealed challenge.

"Because I don't really want to push the horses that much and I don't want to have to change them. Also I don't want my coachman to get us into an accident because he is too tired. He has my absolute trust, but tiredness can affect anyone", she stated matter-of-factly. "Anyway, back at Caprica Manor there are tons of repairs to be done I am afraid, which will take more time than I like, but there is nothing I can do about it. Then I have to pay my respects to basically everyone living in the area around Newtown and arrange a wedding."

"Wedding?", Robert chimed in, "who are you marrying?"

As soon as he had said that, his face contorted into a grimace of pain. His sister must have kicked him under the table. Hard. Apparently even the far end of the table had heard part of the conversation as they ceased their talking and seemed to focus on her answer, especially Commander Adama.

"No, not me. One of my maids is getting married", she explained, "and she has no family to arrange it for her, so I am going to do that."

There was an affirmatiive murmuring all around the table which Laura took as a good sign.

"Kobol House is for sale now", she informed the others. "It is one of the estates closest to Caprica", she added then, looking at the Adamas and Miss Thrace. "The old lord who has lived there for as long as I can remember died a few months ago. I went there for the funeral. Now his heirs want to get rid of the house, apparently."

"Do you think somebody will buy it?", Karl Agathon asked, making her shrug her shoulders.

"I don't know. It is a lovely estate after all, so I could very well imagine it. Also it is still easy to reach Town from Hertfordshire and there are always people who want to escape the buzz of the city."

"Such as you", a deep voice remarked, making her eyes snap further to the right.

Apparently Commander Adama had heard her after all, even though they were sitting so far away… which also meant that he had been paying attention to her. Was it just politeness? Or real interest? The second thought made something in her chest flutter. She gave him a warm smile.

"Yes, people like me, Commander. But maybe also people like you."

He nodded, granting her the point.

"Maybe we are not that different then after all, Ms Roslin", he said and she had the feeling there was a spark of hope in that statement.

She raised her glass.

"I drink to that!"

Unfortunately BSG doesn't tell us much about what they like to eat and and what not (well there are algae of course, so I decided Laura likes lettuce lol ;) ) so I made things up.

This is the seating order again in a kind of graphic.
Regency Fact: There is one woman missing for it to be considered perfect, normally one had equal numbers of men and women.

Robert Agathon ... Isabella Ditton … Karl Agathon …. Kara Thrace … William Adama

Mr Agathon…. ...… …. ….. …. ….. … …. … … ….. ….. ….. ….. ….. …. … …. … … . … …. …. Isabelle Agathon

Laura Roslin … Leopold Adama …. Violet Agathon …Peter Ditton

More Regency Facts:
- Before dinner, guests were usually standing together, making conversation, there were no drinks.
- There was a certain order to enter the dining room - the host with the highest ranking lady, the hostess with the highest ranking man and then the rest.
- Mostly guests were seated a man next to a woman, spouses were never seated next to each other. As explained by Laura in the chapter, seats could be picked freely (more or less) but basically everyone knew their place anyway. The seats of honour were next to host and hostess on the right.
- Each man was expected to help and serve the woman next to them with food that was in front of them. If they wanted something from the other end of the table, servants brought it over. Therefore dinners could be very loud.
- Normally conversation was only held with people close by because of the noise.

That's it for now my dear Inkdrops, see you soon!