[Fic] The Agency: Troubles Compounded
Chapter Twenty-Seven: The Calm
Rating: MFandom: Battlestar Galactica
Pairing: Adama/Roslin
Author's Note: For summary, category, disclaimer and warnings, see Chapter One. Because you are the best bitches ever ... Though I think you'll all enjoy the next chapter more. Also, can I just say that it is frakking fantastic when my flist gets my Star Trek jokes. Best. Bitches. Ever.
Chapter Twenty-Seven: The Calm
The hums and beeps of Life Station were beginning to grate on Laura’s nerves. Her skin was clammy despite the chill she felt, her head was throbbing, not overly painfully, but the pressure of the constant thumping was making her rolling stomach feel far worse.
She wanted to pull the drip out of her arm and flee. Go back to her suite, curl up in her own bed with the lights out and just sleep her way through it. She wanted to break something, so Gods damned sick and tired of feeling like this. She wanted to shove something up Doctor Cottle’s nose. He was the one insisting on the treatments, despite her wishes.
The only thing that calmed her was the deep rumble of Bill’s voice. When she squeezed her eyes shut she could almost block out everything else. He read from Love and Bullets, quietly so as not to aggravate her senses, and she could almost lose herself in that low, rough timbre.
“’The guy looked as if he’d spent one too many nights on the strip, soaking in booze and sinking into loose hookers. Shadows on his face and in his eyes and I knew that whatever he had to tell me, it wouldn’t be any pretty little tales.’”
Laura barely remembered the plot of the book, didn’t really care who killed who. The comfort came not with having her mind transported into a story, but rather with the mere presence of the man who sat at her side.
What it was about Bill Adama that gave her such a sense of security, she didn’t know, but right now, feeling the way she did, she wasn’t going to waste her energy thinking too hard on it, if only because she knew she’d manage to think her way out of allowing him to soothe her.
“’His voice was as dry as a Canceron wind when he told of his last night with Sheridan, ten cubits worth of her time in a run-down pay-by-the-hour motel. She’d been his favorite, he explained. He took her almost every night, shared cheap whiskey with her and then frakked her until he was satisfied. ‘Anything happen that weren’t like the usual?’ I asked and he gave me a smile that showcased gums that probably bled.
“‘Whaddya wanna hear, Detective? She pissed me off so I slit her throat? Make it a bit too easy for you if I was the guy who killed her, don’tcha think? I roughed her up some, I pay extra for it, ya’ see, like it when they fight me, but she ain’t no use to me now, is she? Waste of a damn good whore, you ask me.’”
Bill’s voice soothed her nausea, but Laura’s thoughts were still troubled. They’d be at ground zero tomorrow night, dead center sight of the blast, unless they could find a way to stop it. She’d already made plans with her section chiefs on the other worlds, to make sure they all knew what to do in the event that both she and the Chief died. Not to mention what they were to do if most of the government was wiped out.
Here she was, allowing the diloxin into her system in order to prevent her death, when the very next night she would be facing it in the form of a powerful explosive. So the point of today’s treatment was? To make Jack happy, she supposed.
The whole damn process was to make Jack happy, and because Billy had asked her to do as the doctor said. If it had been her decision, she would have told Cottle exactly where he could shove his treatment schedule. She didn’t want the diloxin, but she’d satisfied those around her with the promise of one round. If it didn’t work, she wouldn’t be continuing to try.
She opened her eyes when Bill’s voice trailed off and found him staring at her. Quietly, he asked, “You okay?”
“My mother died of breast cancer,” she told him, though she didn’t know why she had. He marked their page and closed the book, waiting patiently for her to continue, not saying a word.
She went on, “She was diagnosed when I was thirteen. She died two years later. My father had trouble coping, and my sisters were too young, so I took care of her. She was on diloxin and sometimes I was sure that it was worse than the cancer. I barely recognized her by the time she finally died. And I was relieved when she was gone, that it was over, for all of us. She wasn’t in pain any longer and we didn’t have to watch her suffer like that anymore.
“I won’t die like that,” she told him gravely, meeting his eyes. “I’ll accept this round of treatment, but if the cancer comes back, I won’t take anymore.”
Something like laughter bubbled from her throat. “I keep thinking about tomorrow night, how we might all die at Aphrodite Hall. And though I’ll do anything to stop it, there’s a part of me that wouldn’t mind going out like that. A bang, rather than a whimper.”
Bill smiled at her. “I can’t imagine you ever just fading away.”
Reaching out, she took his hand in her own and then curled up around it, closing her eyes again and trying to give in to the exhaustion she was feeling. There was some shuffling as he maneuvered enough to let her keep hold of him, and then the quiet rumble of his voice as he started to read again washed over her.
~~~~~~~~~~
“Hey,” Lee said as he walked into the galley, surprised to find his partner already there, the sole occupant since it was almost three in the morning.
She was huddled at a table, a half eaten sandwich at her elbow, reports and the like scattered in front of her. “Hey,” she parroted, looking up at him. “What are you doing up?”
“I could ask you the same thing. You know how it is before a big op,” he shrugged, heading into the kitchen.
Kara nodded. “I haven’t even attempted to go to bed yet,” she told him as he found a still-hot pot of coffee and poured them both a cup, then opened the cupboard and nabbed a handful of cookies.
When he sat down at the table, he glanced over what she had spread out in front of her. “Local comm. transcripts?”
She nodded. “Just got out of the SecCenter, been listening in on the locals all night, hoping something will come of it.”
“They’re on alert, but Baltar and his Cylon are laying low,” Lee reminded her. “They’ve been invisible since they left the compound. I doubt we’ll find them before tomorrow night and even if we do, it’s likely the bomb has already been planted.”
“The old lady’s got marines and agents going over that building with a fine tooth comb. They’d be stupid to have planted it already, and neither of them have struck me as stupid yet.”
“Too frakking smart,” he agreed, sipping at his coffee.
Starbuck pushed the transcripts away from her and snagged one of his cookies. “Maybe we should just let it happen,” she suggested, leaving Lee gaping at her. “I’ve never much liked politicians anyway.”
Relieved she didn’t actually mean it, he laughed. “It’d be easier, that’s for sure.”
Turning serious again, Kara met his eyes. “Which is why we won’t do it. Too easy. We always gotta’ do it the hard way, don’t we, Apollo?”
He caught the subtle undertones in her words, but it was something they didn’t voice, so he didn’t commentate on it. Merely turned his eyes away from her and chewed thoughtfully, before he told her softly, “Not the hard way, Kara. We’ve always got to do it the right way.”
~~~~~~~~~~
Billy rarely came to the bar. He didn’t drink very often and he never felt entirely comfortable mingling with the field agents. He wasn’t one of them, never would be and to be honest, they intimidated him somewhat, despite the fact that he knew, as most others did, that Laura Roslin was grooming him to take her place as the Director someday.
He wasn’t sure how he felt about that. On the one hand, he was immensely proud. That his mentor, the woman who had raised him since he was a teenager, would hold that much faith in him, made Billy want to puff his chest out and tell anybody who would listen. On the other hand, he’d seen firsthand the kind of stress a job like that put on somebody, had watched Roslin struggle daily with the burdens and responsibility she carried.
Sitting at the bar now, after going back behind it and pouring his own glass of water, he scanned the place. There were two other people present, side by side in a darkened corner, and the agent who had taken it upon himself to play bartender for the day, stocking the shelves.
The door opened, the setting sun bright as it lit the darkened bar and before his eyes could adjust, it was closed again. In the frame of it stood a young woman; not overly tall, with dark skin and one of the prettiest faces Billy had ever seen.
And she was here to meet with him.
She was only meeting with him because Chief Adama was far too busy planning for the President’s Ball, but Billy allowed himself a self-indulgent smile at the thought anyway. She nervously made her way towards the bar, looking around suspiciously, in the same manner that the other occupants of the room were eyeing her.
Hastily, Billy stood and intercepted her. “Anastasia Dualla?”
“You’re the guy I talked to on the phone? Billy?”
“Yes,” he smiled. “The Chief is sorry he couldn’t meet you himself, but things are pretty crazy at the moment. You know why you’re here?”
She glanced around the bar again in a manner that indicated, no, she had no idea why she was in the run-down place exactly. “The Commander - - I mean, the Chief, said something about a job. I mustered out of the Fleet after Galactica was decommissioned, and I’ve been looking for work ever since. When Commander Adama called, saying he was looking for a personal assistant, I accepted immediately.”
“That’s the basic job description,” Billy said. “But it’s also a whole lot more. If you’ll come with me, I’ll take you to the facility and get you settled in.”
He began to lead her towards the storeroom and the hidden entrance, telling her as they walked, “I’m afraid with things being so up in the air right now that you’ll be thrown straight into it, but I’ve got some files for you to read through that’ll help you familiarize yourself with the job, and I’ll be there to help you.”
“The Commander - - Chief, sorry, that’ll take some getting used to - - said that he was working for some sort of classified security company.”
Billy laughed quietly. “Something like that. The Agency is a group of highly trained specialists committed to the protection of the Colonies and its citizens. It’s difficult to explain, really.”
She hesitated once they were in the catacombs and looked at him warily. “Are you sure Commander Adama sent you? Where are we?”
“The catacombs beneath Caprica City,” he told her, trying to soothe her fears. He could easily understand how this looked, a strange man leading her into isolated, darkened tunnels. “The facility is hidden in here. If you’ll trust me for a few minutes, we’ll be there shortly.”
“Okay,” she agreed slowly and Billy was amused to see that she kept a good deal of distance between them and a close eye on him.
“So,” he started, wanting to put her at ease with menial conversation. “You were with the Fleet?”
“Yes. I was a comms. officer for three years, two of which I served on Galactica, with Commander Adama.”
“You miss it?”
She shrugged. “Sometimes. I miss the people, mostly. I made some good friends while I was with the Fleet, but I’m happy to be back on solid ground. I only really joined because they gave me the opportunity to finish my education.”
Finally, they approached the entrance. Billy punched in his passcode, got them through security and then led her through the halls. He watched her stunned face the whole time. He’d never seen someone take it all in for the very first time before.
“All of this,” she said quietly as they moved through the agents bullpen, “hidden under Caprica City? And no one knows it’s here?”
“Only those of us who work here. That’s kind of the point, being a top secret organization and all.”
He led her to her desk and gave an over exaggerated flourish. “This is where you’ll be working. That’s my desk just there, the Chief’s office is just behind you.” Then he smiled widely. “Welcome to the Agency, Anastasia.”
“Dee,” she corrected, still looking around in amazement. “You can call me Dee.”
She kept staring at her surroundings and Billy kept staring at her. She really was very pretty. Thankfully, before he could open his mouth and make a complete fool of himself, the Chief bustled out of his office wearing a tuxedo and obviously struggling with the bow tie.
“Dee, good, you’re here,” he said with a warm, fatherly smile and the moment she saw him Dualla visibly relaxed. “You wouldn’t happen to know how to tie one of these damn things, would you?”
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