I am sorry this took so long, but I had to put up with a 100 % writer's block - I hope you still like what I have written.
Anyway, I am so happy and grateful to all of you who are still with me on this journey in 2022.

Disclaimer: I still don't own BSG or Jane Austen's works.

April 1804

Aftermath

Bill Adama

"How did you like the dinner?" Bill asked his children on the coach ride back to their house.

"It was good," Kara commented, "many arrogant people. But the Cooks were nice and so was Miss Valerii. And the food..."

Lee nodded. "Some people were ignorant, but that Colonel, he seems like a nice, decent fellow. Papa, do you know how he knows Ms Roslin? Aren't they related or something?"

Bill shrugged his shoulders. "I have no idea, she has never talked about him. But the people of the ton are mostly related so it could be possible. He seems to be in London now, so we might see more of him." He gave Kara, who was sitting across from him, a stern look. "Who was the letter from you received this morning? Was it Anders?"

The woman bit her lip, then nodded. "He will be back in a couple of days and he wants to meet me."

Bill sighed internally, judging by the light in her eyes there was no way she would take a no for an answer. Maybe he would finally dump her - that would solve the problems.

"You won't meet him unchaperoned, understood?" he declared.

Kara sighed.

"Alright, but I will meet him and you won't stop me!"

Lee huffed. "Take care sister mine, you know how quickly a reputation is ruined!"

"Since when do YOU care about reputation?" she snarked back.

The young man only sighed but refused to say anything more. Bill didn't particularly like the silence that had developed in between his children, but also didn't make an effort to disturb it. When they had reached their home and the two had excused themselves, he penned a quick message to Ellen to send the next morning, asking her to meet up. Then, after thinking (and drinking) some more about it, he ripped the message again, writing a short letter to Saul instead. That was safer, Ellen might get the wrong idea and be all over him, and he really couldn't deal with that right now.

Unsurprisingly, the answer came quite quickly the next afternoon, inviting him for the next morning. Not particularly caring what his children were doing - as long as Lee had an eye on Kara - he rode into the city. A footman opened the door of the smaal townhouse that the couple was living in. It was so different from Roslin House, he noted, obviously decorated with less expensive material but also much more gaudy with a lot less taste. Ellen and Saul were waiting for him in a slightly crammed morning room.

"Bill, it is so nice to see you!" the woman called, "to what do we owe the pleasure?"

"I need your expertise," he cut right to the chase. "So, you know I have been aquainted with Laura Roslin for quite some time, but at a dinner a couple of days ago, I met a man, a Colonel Fitzwilliam, some relative of her. That made me realize that apparently she hasn't told me some aspects about her connections into gentry and probably won't, even if I ask her. I am curious and I would like to know if you have any information about it."

Ellen hummed, taking another gulp of her drink, presumably wine.

"Well...," she drawled, "you do seem to live under a rock, Bill. Being aquainted with such a powerful woman as her - and not even knowing it. So, you see, their family tree is complicated but influential, it is all old money. Laura Roslin is the daughter of Sir Percy Roslin, some minor knight. Money, but no title to pass on. I believe all of her siblings are dead, which leaves her with a huge estate in her own right and an enormous amount of money - that at least you should know."

Bill nodded and motioned for her to go on.

"Now, what is really interesting is the maternal side. Her mother is the late Lady Amalia, born Amalia Fitzwilliam, of the Fitzwilliam family. Therefore, the uncle of your dear Ms Roslin was the late Earl of Matlock, I don't know his name. Her cousin is the current Earl of Matlock, I think his name is Carrick or something like that. He does have two sons, and the younger one is in the military, as far as I know. It might have been your wonderous Colonel. Then of course you have the connections to the de Bourgh and the Darcy family, both have huge estates and a fortune to their name. Does that answer your question?"

"It does, thank you Ellen," Bill answered, suprised that the woman had given him some useful information - even though, to be honest, he had never heard of the "the Bourghs" or "Darcys" before. He wasn't quite sure what he would do with ithat knowledge now though, but at least it was a start.

After exchanging some pleasantries with Saul, he decided on a whim to go and call on Laura. He met her, as usual, in the library, were she seemed to be burried in a pile of correspondance. She looked up when he entered, seemingly a bit stressed, but smiled.

"Good afternoon Bill, I wasn't expecting you," she said, standing up and walking around the desk to greet him.

"I didn't expect to come," he answered truthfully.

He saw Laura motioning her servants to leave, then she turned fully towards him, eyeing him curiously.

"I suppose you have been enquiring about me and now want to know how much of it is true?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

Bill shrugged his shoulders. "I am a curious man, especially concerning the woman I kiss on a regular basis."

"Is that so?" she asked, "now, do tell. What did you find out?"

He stepped closer, starting to trail his fingers along the line of her cleavage.

"That I should probably not antagonize you since you are rich, powerful and very-well connected, even more so than I had thought."

She grabbed his wrist, hard.

"Well then my dear, you better remember that, right?" Laura all but purred before kissing him softly. In an instant his other hand was in her hair and he was attacking her mouth, making her smile against his lips as he walked her backwards until she hit the edge of her desk.

Both of his hands found her waist and he lifted the woman up easily so that she sat on the desk in front of him, her dress riding up to her knees, exposing the chemise under it. Her hair was rumpled and the lips plush from kissing, still she looked as regal as a queen. She tilted her head, wordlessly calling him closer. As much as he resented it, sometimes, as much as he told himself he should not let somebody else have that kind of power over him - he knew in that moment that this was just what they were. She was his emperess, the leader, the one who gave the orders. He was the soldier, the dutiful protector, following that call. Bill stopped, only a few inches away from her.

"Bill - I will tell you about me - someday. But not now," Laura said lowly.

It was a promise to share. Most of all - It was an order, not to ask.