Imagine (Give Peace a Chance)
Chapter 29
A/U set approx 2 years after the decommisssioning ceremony
Not my characters/not making money
Rated M
Delivered in 3 days. *phew* I think I'm taking the weekend off though, so don't nag!
"I'll have to make some sort of statement," Laura said as she read through the details of the story one more time.
"I don't know, I-"
The telephone buzzing in the corner of the room interrupted Bill's opinion on their dilemma.
Laura watched as his face became a dark cloud after he'd answered the phone with a curt 'Adama'. After listening for a minute, he looked up at her, and then down to the ground.
"I see…no…yes," he said to the person on the other end. "Thank you, Admiral. Yes…tomorrow. My office…yes… 900 hours."
She looked at him questioningly once he hung up.
"That was Admiral Nagala."
"What's wrong?"
"Admiral Cain is dead."
"What?"
"Inviere escaped. Admiral Cain was staying at the Detention Centre in the Officers' Quarters. Security cameras show Inviere breaking into the room and shooting Cain. The suspected Cylon is still at large. Nagala is there now, heading up a team to investigate. He'll advise me of the details tomorrow."
"I'm sorry," she mumbled. She knew it was inadequate. Maybe she should have listened to Bill and assigned someone else to Inviere's interrogation.
Bill went back to the dining table and took a large swig of his wine. "I should call Lee," he said.
"Yes, yes, of course," she agreed. "Use this phone."
He stood, looking down at the table, not saying a word or acknowledging her in any way, nor making a move to use the telephone. Eventually, she stood and left the dining room. If he wanted privacy to make some calls, she thought angrily, he could have it.
0.0.0
Bill came to see Laura in the mansion's office where she was going over the next day's schedule with Maya about half an hour later.
They stood facing each other across the room once her new aide discreetly excused herself. Laura looked down at the duffle bag that was hanging from his arm.
"I'm heading over to Saul's for the night."
Laura bit down on her lip.
"The newspaper article has caused a few debates in the household. Kara and Lee need a little bit of parental guidance."
"I see," she said.
"You're busy anyway. The election is the day after tomorrow."
"Yes."
He was avoiding a confrontation with her. A few months ago she would have liked this idea. She had thought, since Kobol, they had moved past allowing misunderstandings to come between them. She thought they no longer had to pretend around each other, or keep their emotions in check.
However, she couldn't beg him to stay; to talk things over with her. Kara and Lee needed their father and she would come across as a completely selfish shrew if she insisted he not go.
"We have the military base visit tomorrow afternoon. Do you still want me to be there?"he asked.
"Of course I still want you there!"
Laura was hitting the campaign trail for one final time the next day. Her visit to a local military base had been planned for several weeks, and her Military Adviser had always been scheduled to accompany her. Now, of course, she knew as well as Bill that the questions the media in attendance asked would be personal in nature. She knew she had to decide tonight what to announce.
"Bill, I have to tell them something tomorrow."
Bill avoided her eyes and studied some spot on the carpet.
"I'll go along with anything you want, you know that."
"But what do you want?" she asked.
"Same thing I've wanted for a long time, Laura. You." He finally looked up and met her gaze. "Not President Roslin. But I can't have you and not her, so I'll remain your loyal servant and let you decide what's best. You're the politician; you know how to put a spin on things, not me."
With that, he placed a gentle kiss on her lips and left.
0.0.0
Bill sat behind his desk reading the report Nagala had just delivered.
"I was worried something like this was going to happen," Bill said. "We should have never let Cain question her."
"Don't blame Roslin. I would have suggested the same thing, Bill."
Bill removed his glasses and pinched the end of his nose.
"How'd Inviere get the gun?"
"No idea. Her only visitor was a priest."
Bill read over the report again, when a thought struck him.
"Doral," he murmured.
"What about him?" Nagala asked.
"I remember reading his list of visitors. This priest." Bill pointed to the name on the report: Brother John Cavil. "He's the same one who visited Doral."
"We'd better run a check on him."
"I guess it's possible he's the same priest the Detention Centre HQ always call in, but check it out anyway."
0.0.0
"Madam President, you have a delivery from Admiral Adama."
Laura took the brown paper bag off Maya and checked the time. What could Bill possibly be sending her that he couldn't have just given her when they were due to meet in less than 30 minutes time?
She reached into the bag and pulled out a box. A yellow sticky note was attached to it. The word 'eat' in Bill's bold handwriting giving her a direct order. She giggled and lifted the lid to reveal her favourite - sushi.
Her telephone rang, and she reached out automatically to answer.
"If you speak too eloquently I'll know you're not doing as you're told."
Laura grinned broadly. Bill might be still going to avoid talking about Cain or the media, but at least he wasn't avoiding talking to her completely.
"Admiral Adama, you can be very bossy sometimes. But also very sweet."
"I just know you, Laura, and I know you wouldn't have stopped to have lunch. The police just called. Forensics have concluded that Samuel Anders was not attempting suicide. From the angle of the bullet's entry and the damage caused, it apparently couldn't have been self-inflicted. They also believe he was shot at some distance."
"Someone else was in the doctor's office?" Laura speculated.
"Maybe. Their tests show the doctor fired a gun. He either shot Sam in the head, or he shot himself in the abdomen."
"Did Anders fire a shot?"
"Inconclusive."
"Have you called Kara?"
"Yeah. She wasn't surprised. She said something odd though."
"What's that?"
"She said, we can ask Sam the truth one day."
"That is odd."
"Yeah. Little known fact, but Kara believes in the scriptures; is as religious as you. Maybe she just meant in the afterlife."
"All your women are religious? Tough on an atheist," she teased. "Did you call Carolanne?" she asked, changing the subject.
"No. Lee thought it was best to just let him handle it. He's grown a lot over the last few months. I need to learn to trust him."
"Bill, about the announcement today-"
Bill cut her off. "Laura, I know how important this election is to you. You say what you have to say. I don't want to resign, but, if I have to, I've had a good career. Admiral Nagala and O'Neal are completely loyal. They'll continue to do what's right for you."
Laura said nothing. Bill was willing to give up everything for her. The Fleet meant just as much to him as the presidency meant to her - maybe more. Yet, he was willing to throw it all away, sacrifice everything, to increase her chances of willing the election.
0.0.0
"What if the other members of the Final Five remember?"
"What if they do? How do you think this changes anything? We have a plan. We disable the computer network; we nuke the Twelve Colonies; we exterminate the humans. It's all so simple."
"But it's not going according to plan, is it? We still have over 120 Battlestars operational and ready to wipe us out if we so much as poke our noses over the red line!"
"Baltar will win the election."
"How long are you going to continue to have such faith in this one man? How do you even know he will let you back into the system if he does win the election? Your powers of persuasion might not be as powerful as you give yourself credit for."
"If the Final Five know where Earth is, we must find them. This is our chance to find the Thirteenth Tribe."
"And why would we need to find the Thirteenth Tribe? Your dream that they are Cylons could be completely fanciful. They could turn out to be just another group of humans we need to eradicate."
"I don't think Earth is the haven you'll be expecting, dear."
"You know more, don't you? You said you would explain everything, but as usual, you've left out details."
"Details too intricate for your feeble mind to understand without you turning them into some sort of crusade."
"Enough!"
They stared at the woman who had just ordered them to stop their bickering. Her identity shocked each and every one of them. Eights were usually not the most out-spoken models.
"We can't attack," she said.
"What?" One, Four and Six all said in unison.
"We're having a child. A child," she repeated with emphasis.
"I told you, darling. I'll get the child," One said in a placating tone.
"That's not the point! Don't you understand?"
"I'm not sure I do," Five said sarcastically.
Eight flashed him an angry look. "I'll put it in your language then, shall I? We can't breed. We've tried it the traditional way; the scientific way; the religious way. No matter what we do, we are unsuccessful. Now, an Eight is pregnant. Don't you understand? We need the humans. We need them to ensure the preservation of our race!"
"I think you're putting a bit too much importance into this."
"Am I? You will all say that the child is the key to our future. But I don't agree. What none of you realise, and some of you are too obtuse to realise, is that this child's parents are the key to our future. What was special about them that they produced a child?"
"They are in love," Six said.
"Yes."
"Next time we frak, I'll say 'I love you' just as I climax. We could have our own miracle child by the end of summer," One said. All the models ignored his crudeness.
"We need to ask the Final Five," Three said.
"What?" One practically screeched.
"If Eight is right, and we need the humans, the Final Five will know. We need to let them guide us."
"They'll probably only guide us to a bar," One mumbled. "Look," he said in a clearer voice, "what is really going on here? Are you all running scared? We need to remember that these people used us as servants; used us as slaves. We are seeking revenge at the highest level!"
"I vote we hold off on the attack. Find the Final Five. Wait for the child to be born."
"I agree."
"I agree."
"Well, of course you two agree! You're obsessed with a human already, Six. And Three, Earth will not be that exciting, trust me!"
"I agree."
"What? Two, have you gone soft in the head?"
"That's a majority," said Three. "I want to know who the other Final Five are. I want to meet them."
0.0.0
Laura stood on the podium. Cameras flashed, taking photos of both her and Bill, who stood to attention in the front row.
"Madam President!" Playa called out. "Are you and Admiral Adama going to address the issue of your personal relationship once and for all before the election?"
Laura looked across at Bill again. His head was bowed. She'd written four different speeches last night. She had the basics of each of them on a piece of paper in front of her. She had thought that when she stood up today she would automatically know which one to read out. She was wrong.
"The religious factions who have always supported you are now questioning your moral values, Madam President. Are you going to reply to their allegations?"
"People voted for a strong independent single woman in the last election, Madam President. Are they going to be duped tomorrow on this point?"
She held up her hand for quiet.
"For a long time, I just didn't make room for people. I did what was right for people. But I didn't love people," she paused, looking around at some confused faces.
"Madam President! What people?"
She ignored the question. "Everyone has limits," she whispered. "Sine qua non, as they say."
"Sine qua non?" a reporter asked.
Bill's voice rumbled across to her. "Without which not," he translated. She smiled down at him.
"Yes. Those things we deem essential; without which we cannot bear living; without which life in general loses its specific value - becomes abstract."
"Are you saying that the presidency is your sine qua non, Madam President?"
"The people are your sine qua non?"
"No," she said. "I'm saying Admiral Adama is my sine qua non. I finally gave in and just loved someone. And everyone can either accept that tomorrow or they can find some sort of suggested implication in that tomorrow, when they vote. I have no power over that. What I do have the power over is to insist to everyone that I will be continuing to have William Adama by my side because I can't live without him."
Considering it was full of reporters who usually shouted out questions across the top of each other, the room was eerily quiet.
She took the opportunity of their stunned silence to walk over to Bill.
"That's not exactly the speech I was expecting," he said.
They swayed together and kissed, the action finally breaking the reporters out of their daze. Cameras flashed constantly and so many questions were being yelled out that she had no chance of deciphering them even if she wanted to.
"Love, huh?" he teased.
"Yes," she said.
He pulled her into his embrace.
"Rolling the hard six and telling the entire Twelve Colonies might backfire."
"I don't care. The presidency is important to me, Bill. But I want you to know, and the world to know, that you are more important. Winning tomorrow won't mean anything if I have to sacrifice you along the way."
Bill's only answer was to pull her closer and place a brief kiss on her forehead, before letting her go so that she could answer the many questions being fired in their direction.
Link to next chapter
A/U set approx 2 years after the decommisssioning ceremony
Not my characters/not making money
Rated M
Delivered in 3 days. *phew* I think I'm taking the weekend off though, so don't nag!
"I'll have to make some sort of statement," Laura said as she read through the details of the story one more time.
"I don't know, I-"
The telephone buzzing in the corner of the room interrupted Bill's opinion on their dilemma.
Laura watched as his face became a dark cloud after he'd answered the phone with a curt 'Adama'. After listening for a minute, he looked up at her, and then down to the ground.
"I see…no…yes," he said to the person on the other end. "Thank you, Admiral. Yes…tomorrow. My office…yes… 900 hours."
She looked at him questioningly once he hung up.
"That was Admiral Nagala."
"What's wrong?"
"Admiral Cain is dead."
"What?"
"Inviere escaped. Admiral Cain was staying at the Detention Centre in the Officers' Quarters. Security cameras show Inviere breaking into the room and shooting Cain. The suspected Cylon is still at large. Nagala is there now, heading up a team to investigate. He'll advise me of the details tomorrow."
"I'm sorry," she mumbled. She knew it was inadequate. Maybe she should have listened to Bill and assigned someone else to Inviere's interrogation.
Bill went back to the dining table and took a large swig of his wine. "I should call Lee," he said.
"Yes, yes, of course," she agreed. "Use this phone."
He stood, looking down at the table, not saying a word or acknowledging her in any way, nor making a move to use the telephone. Eventually, she stood and left the dining room. If he wanted privacy to make some calls, she thought angrily, he could have it.
0.0.0
Bill came to see Laura in the mansion's office where she was going over the next day's schedule with Maya about half an hour later.
They stood facing each other across the room once her new aide discreetly excused herself. Laura looked down at the duffle bag that was hanging from his arm.
"I'm heading over to Saul's for the night."
Laura bit down on her lip.
"The newspaper article has caused a few debates in the household. Kara and Lee need a little bit of parental guidance."
"I see," she said.
"You're busy anyway. The election is the day after tomorrow."
"Yes."
He was avoiding a confrontation with her. A few months ago she would have liked this idea. She had thought, since Kobol, they had moved past allowing misunderstandings to come between them. She thought they no longer had to pretend around each other, or keep their emotions in check.
However, she couldn't beg him to stay; to talk things over with her. Kara and Lee needed their father and she would come across as a completely selfish shrew if she insisted he not go.
"We have the military base visit tomorrow afternoon. Do you still want me to be there?"he asked.
"Of course I still want you there!"
Laura was hitting the campaign trail for one final time the next day. Her visit to a local military base had been planned for several weeks, and her Military Adviser had always been scheduled to accompany her. Now, of course, she knew as well as Bill that the questions the media in attendance asked would be personal in nature. She knew she had to decide tonight what to announce.
"Bill, I have to tell them something tomorrow."
Bill avoided her eyes and studied some spot on the carpet.
"I'll go along with anything you want, you know that."
"But what do you want?" she asked.
"Same thing I've wanted for a long time, Laura. You." He finally looked up and met her gaze. "Not President Roslin. But I can't have you and not her, so I'll remain your loyal servant and let you decide what's best. You're the politician; you know how to put a spin on things, not me."
With that, he placed a gentle kiss on her lips and left.
0.0.0
Bill sat behind his desk reading the report Nagala had just delivered.
"I was worried something like this was going to happen," Bill said. "We should have never let Cain question her."
"Don't blame Roslin. I would have suggested the same thing, Bill."
Bill removed his glasses and pinched the end of his nose.
"How'd Inviere get the gun?"
"No idea. Her only visitor was a priest."
Bill read over the report again, when a thought struck him.
"Doral," he murmured.
"What about him?" Nagala asked.
"I remember reading his list of visitors. This priest." Bill pointed to the name on the report: Brother John Cavil. "He's the same one who visited Doral."
"We'd better run a check on him."
"I guess it's possible he's the same priest the Detention Centre HQ always call in, but check it out anyway."
0.0.0
"Madam President, you have a delivery from Admiral Adama."
Laura took the brown paper bag off Maya and checked the time. What could Bill possibly be sending her that he couldn't have just given her when they were due to meet in less than 30 minutes time?
She reached into the bag and pulled out a box. A yellow sticky note was attached to it. The word 'eat' in Bill's bold handwriting giving her a direct order. She giggled and lifted the lid to reveal her favourite - sushi.
Her telephone rang, and she reached out automatically to answer.
"If you speak too eloquently I'll know you're not doing as you're told."
Laura grinned broadly. Bill might be still going to avoid talking about Cain or the media, but at least he wasn't avoiding talking to her completely.
"Admiral Adama, you can be very bossy sometimes. But also very sweet."
"I just know you, Laura, and I know you wouldn't have stopped to have lunch. The police just called. Forensics have concluded that Samuel Anders was not attempting suicide. From the angle of the bullet's entry and the damage caused, it apparently couldn't have been self-inflicted. They also believe he was shot at some distance."
"Someone else was in the doctor's office?" Laura speculated.
"Maybe. Their tests show the doctor fired a gun. He either shot Sam in the head, or he shot himself in the abdomen."
"Did Anders fire a shot?"
"Inconclusive."
"Have you called Kara?"
"Yeah. She wasn't surprised. She said something odd though."
"What's that?"
"She said, we can ask Sam the truth one day."
"That is odd."
"Yeah. Little known fact, but Kara believes in the scriptures; is as religious as you. Maybe she just meant in the afterlife."
"All your women are religious? Tough on an atheist," she teased. "Did you call Carolanne?" she asked, changing the subject.
"No. Lee thought it was best to just let him handle it. He's grown a lot over the last few months. I need to learn to trust him."
"Bill, about the announcement today-"
Bill cut her off. "Laura, I know how important this election is to you. You say what you have to say. I don't want to resign, but, if I have to, I've had a good career. Admiral Nagala and O'Neal are completely loyal. They'll continue to do what's right for you."
Laura said nothing. Bill was willing to give up everything for her. The Fleet meant just as much to him as the presidency meant to her - maybe more. Yet, he was willing to throw it all away, sacrifice everything, to increase her chances of willing the election.
0.0.0
"What if the other members of the Final Five remember?"
"What if they do? How do you think this changes anything? We have a plan. We disable the computer network; we nuke the Twelve Colonies; we exterminate the humans. It's all so simple."
"But it's not going according to plan, is it? We still have over 120 Battlestars operational and ready to wipe us out if we so much as poke our noses over the red line!"
"Baltar will win the election."
"How long are you going to continue to have such faith in this one man? How do you even know he will let you back into the system if he does win the election? Your powers of persuasion might not be as powerful as you give yourself credit for."
"If the Final Five know where Earth is, we must find them. This is our chance to find the Thirteenth Tribe."
"And why would we need to find the Thirteenth Tribe? Your dream that they are Cylons could be completely fanciful. They could turn out to be just another group of humans we need to eradicate."
"I don't think Earth is the haven you'll be expecting, dear."
"You know more, don't you? You said you would explain everything, but as usual, you've left out details."
"Details too intricate for your feeble mind to understand without you turning them into some sort of crusade."
"Enough!"
They stared at the woman who had just ordered them to stop their bickering. Her identity shocked each and every one of them. Eights were usually not the most out-spoken models.
"We can't attack," she said.
"What?" One, Four and Six all said in unison.
"We're having a child. A child," she repeated with emphasis.
"I told you, darling. I'll get the child," One said in a placating tone.
"That's not the point! Don't you understand?"
"I'm not sure I do," Five said sarcastically.
Eight flashed him an angry look. "I'll put it in your language then, shall I? We can't breed. We've tried it the traditional way; the scientific way; the religious way. No matter what we do, we are unsuccessful. Now, an Eight is pregnant. Don't you understand? We need the humans. We need them to ensure the preservation of our race!"
"I think you're putting a bit too much importance into this."
"Am I? You will all say that the child is the key to our future. But I don't agree. What none of you realise, and some of you are too obtuse to realise, is that this child's parents are the key to our future. What was special about them that they produced a child?"
"They are in love," Six said.
"Yes."
"Next time we frak, I'll say 'I love you' just as I climax. We could have our own miracle child by the end of summer," One said. All the models ignored his crudeness.
"We need to ask the Final Five," Three said.
"What?" One practically screeched.
"If Eight is right, and we need the humans, the Final Five will know. We need to let them guide us."
"They'll probably only guide us to a bar," One mumbled. "Look," he said in a clearer voice, "what is really going on here? Are you all running scared? We need to remember that these people used us as servants; used us as slaves. We are seeking revenge at the highest level!"
"I vote we hold off on the attack. Find the Final Five. Wait for the child to be born."
"I agree."
"I agree."
"Well, of course you two agree! You're obsessed with a human already, Six. And Three, Earth will not be that exciting, trust me!"
"I agree."
"What? Two, have you gone soft in the head?"
"That's a majority," said Three. "I want to know who the other Final Five are. I want to meet them."
0.0.0
Laura stood on the podium. Cameras flashed, taking photos of both her and Bill, who stood to attention in the front row.
"Madam President!" Playa called out. "Are you and Admiral Adama going to address the issue of your personal relationship once and for all before the election?"
Laura looked across at Bill again. His head was bowed. She'd written four different speeches last night. She had the basics of each of them on a piece of paper in front of her. She had thought that when she stood up today she would automatically know which one to read out. She was wrong.
"The religious factions who have always supported you are now questioning your moral values, Madam President. Are you going to reply to their allegations?"
"People voted for a strong independent single woman in the last election, Madam President. Are they going to be duped tomorrow on this point?"
She held up her hand for quiet.
"For a long time, I just didn't make room for people. I did what was right for people. But I didn't love people," she paused, looking around at some confused faces.
"Madam President! What people?"
She ignored the question. "Everyone has limits," she whispered. "Sine qua non, as they say."
"Sine qua non?" a reporter asked.
Bill's voice rumbled across to her. "Without which not," he translated. She smiled down at him.
"Yes. Those things we deem essential; without which we cannot bear living; without which life in general loses its specific value - becomes abstract."
"Are you saying that the presidency is your sine qua non, Madam President?"
"The people are your sine qua non?"
"No," she said. "I'm saying Admiral Adama is my sine qua non. I finally gave in and just loved someone. And everyone can either accept that tomorrow or they can find some sort of suggested implication in that tomorrow, when they vote. I have no power over that. What I do have the power over is to insist to everyone that I will be continuing to have William Adama by my side because I can't live without him."
Considering it was full of reporters who usually shouted out questions across the top of each other, the room was eerily quiet.
She took the opportunity of their stunned silence to walk over to Bill.
"That's not exactly the speech I was expecting," he said.
They swayed together and kissed, the action finally breaking the reporters out of their daze. Cameras flashed constantly and so many questions were being yelled out that she had no chance of deciphering them even if she wanted to.
"Love, huh?" he teased.
"Yes," she said.
He pulled her into his embrace.
"Rolling the hard six and telling the entire Twelve Colonies might backfire."
"I don't care. The presidency is important to me, Bill. But I want you to know, and the world to know, that you are more important. Winning tomorrow won't mean anything if I have to sacrifice you along the way."
Bill's only answer was to pull her closer and place a brief kiss on her forehead, before letting her go so that she could answer the many questions being fired in their direction.
Link to next chapter