Obligations from a Half-Forgotten Life - Chapter 2
Standard disclaimers apply - I don't own Battlestar Galactica, I just love it.
Chapter 1 from Obligations can be found below- the plot outline can be found as well, so obviously it should be read first. Obviously spoilers apply as the premise is from a plot point from Season three. It's funny, it wasn't my favourite episode, but it really sparked something.
I'm particularly fond of this segment of the story, mainly due to the fact that for once I enjoyed writing my own dialogue. What can I say, coffee inspires me.
She woke in a hospital bed, the sun shining in from an open window and the smell of the Caprican Sea wafting in. Agathe General Hospital, then. She’d spent entirely too much time there lately, and now sadly she was intimately familiar with it.
Turning her head gingerly on the stiff pillow, she was surprised to see William Adama sitting comfortably in the chair next to the bed, reading glasses settled on his face, a pile of paperwork in his lap. Looking down, she saw matching stacks piled haphazardly on the floor on either side of him. He’d obviously been sitting there a while.
‘Admiral…’
She’d startled him; he looked over and smiled, taking the glasses off.
Wow. He should smile more often, she thought.
Then again, she might not ever get anything done.
Getting up, he tossed the current file onto his vacated seat before reaching over, almost in reflex, to check her forehead with the back of his right hand. With the other, he reached for the call button, to summon the nurses she imagined.
‘You’re up.’
She couldn’t stop staring.
‘What are you doing here?’ she rasped.
She shouldn’t be annoyed, he was clearly concerned only with her welfare, but the truth was, she’d never dealt well with being ill.
‘Wait, how long have you… have I…?’
‘The doc should be here in a minute, you were out longer than he expected. Had him worried. Your… Billy went to get coffee.’
‘Billy?’
‘Your, friend? Michelle got a hold of him, he met us here. You gave him quite a scare. You’ve been out for more than a day, so we’ve been switching off.’
He moved out of the way as the nurse came in to check all the machines and hurry off. Nice to meet you too, Laura thought sarcastically as they barely bothered to acknowledge her. She watched as Adama settled himself back in, tossing the latest file on the pile to the left.
Billy she got, gods knows that boy was too conscientious for his own good, but….
‘What are you doing here?’
‘Scared the crap out of me. Just keeled out, fell right out of your chair. Couldn’t get a hold of Billy, thought it best to wait with you until you rejoined the land of the living.’
‘I’m sorry, I still don’t understand.’
‘Anyway, figured it’d be better than having you wake up to Adar sitting next to you.’
Adar. Frak. Now she’d never be able to ditch him. She sighed, aware that Adama’s eyes never wavered from her face, aware that he was carefully tracking her reaction.
‘Admiral Adama - ’
‘Bill.’
‘Bill. While I appreciate your concern…’
Was he laughing at her, damn it? His eyes were crinkling at the corners, their vivid blue standing out against the olive skin of his craggy face. She glared, doing her best to maintain her professional façade.
‘…I assure you that I am now perfectly able to deal with the … nonsense… of my current situation.’
Even that frakwit Adar.
Instead of looking offended, though, as he bloody well should, he laughed, reaching over to grasp her hand lightly before letting go.
‘Naturally, Madame Secretary.’
She was going to kill him.
‘You don’t have to call me that; I’m not in the Cabinet.’
Anymore.
‘Of course, Madame Secretary.’
He leaned back in his seat, once again seemingly devoting his entire focus to the paperwork in his lap, as inscrutable as a slab of granite, and apparently, as immovable. She could sense him looking at her, though, from the corner of his eye. He was clearly still laughing at her, godsdamn it, inviting her to join in in his amusement.
Giving in, she laughed, unable to resist laughing at the ridiculousness of the situation. She had no idea why she felt the strongest need to reach out to the unusual man sitting at her bedside. She wished she could repeat his gesture from earlier and reach out and grasp his hand.
‘I’m sorry. I shouldn’t take it out on you. And it’s Laura.’
Having returned his focus to her, he relaxed under her amused gaze, the paperwork falling unheeded once more into his lap.
Point Adama.
‘Laura.’ He almost savored her name, drawing it out. ‘Bill.’
‘Bill. Now that we’ve established that, can I ask why you’d want to waste such a beautiful day in this godsforsaken hospital keeping a stranger company?’
‘Are we strangers, then?’
‘Are we not?’
‘After we’ve spent the last six months of Wednesdays together waiting at our President’s pleasure?’
‘Oh, we get Fridays, too.’
They both turned to see Billy leaning against the door jam, two coffee cups in hand, looking pleased to have surprised them.
I should get that boy a collar with a bell on it, Laura thought.
‘Billy. How long have you… Never mind. Billy Keikeya; Bill Adama.’
‘Admiral.’ She watched, mystified, as her friend and former aide passed one of the coffee cups to the older man. She was surprised, the two men must have spent enough time together for Billy, who was usually somewhat shy, to have reached that level of comfort with her new friend.
Meanwhile, the tantalizing aroma wafting from the two cups drifted over to torment her. She could almost feel her brain click off.
Coffee…
Frustratingly, the cups were just out of reach.
‘Thanks, Billy.’
Looking directly at her, Adama sipped the devil’s brew, clearly taking care to deliberately taunt her as he savored it. She hadn’t thought she was that easy to read, but he clearly recognized her longing for the coffee he was taking such care to enjoy, his brilliant cobalt eyes meeting hers over the rim of the cup.
Their eyes stayed locked for a few minutes before she broke, laughing, and reached for the coffee. He stretched his hand to hand it over, and she smiled gratefully at him. She didn’t know why she felt like she could simply reach over and claim a share of his coffee, didn’t know why it felt like they’d been playing this game for years, but she was enjoying it, so she wasn’t going to question it. He held the cup just out a reach for a split second longer before offering it to her, acting all the while as if that had been his intention all along.
He smirked. ‘I’m sorry, Madame Secretary, did you want some?’
Snatching it with undue haste, she wrapped both hands around the cheap paper cup before raising it to her face to inhale the rich, caffeinated scent. As the full aroma hit her, she relaxed, feeling like she’d awakened after having been asleep for weeks. Even as the flavor of cheap hospital coffee hit her tongue, she purred. It was doctored just the way she liked, with only a hint of cream.
Determined to enjoy the decadence, she focused on the coffee and ignored the frown Billy directed her way. Unfortunately, Adama noticed her aide’s reaction as well. He quirked his eyebrow at Billy, who couldn’t overcome his inner killjoy.
‘The Doctors. They don’t want her to mix caffeine with her cancer treatments.’
Even as the two men turned to look at her, she clutched the cup tightly and glared at them, refusing to be intimidated.
‘Touch this cup and die,’ she growled.
She though she saw sympathy lurking behind the amusement in Adama’s eyes, but made sure to keep her guard up just in case.
‘How long?’ he asked her, and she decided to assume he meant since she’d been without the glorious brew.
‘Six months, three weeks and four days,’ she informed him after she enjoyed her next sip, ‘so tread carefully.’
‘Billy says you shouldn’t have it.’
Her friend leapt into the fray, obviously afraid of her wrath. ‘Doctors. The doctors say she shouldn’t have it. Not me.’
‘Don’t worry, Billy, I would never blame you. I know it’s the doctors who’ve banned me from the nectar of the gods. Just as I know,’ she continued, seeing him wince, ‘they are the ones who’ve encouraged you to remind me of that fact whenever I even think about coffee. Or tea. Or chocolate - ’
‘Chocolate?’ Adama interjected.
‘Chocolate. Or…’ she growled as Billy paled and took a defensive half-step back, ‘wine. Oh, I know who has banned me from wine. Just as I know who reminds me of that fact every day.’
She could see it as he broke.
‘I’ll just get the doctor,’ he tossed at her as he backed defensively, half-running, out the door.
She struggled to hold it together as he left the room, and as she heard his footsteps hurry down the hall she let out her laughter, her rich, full voice filling the room. Turning to the man by her side, she was delighted to see the answering laughter shining in his eyes. Clearly, he enjoyed her sense of humor. Or perhaps, she mused, enjoying the warmth in his eyes as he looked at her, perhaps he just enjoyed her. It was a lovely feeling.
‘I shouldn’t tease him, he’s a great kid and he’s been so good to me.’
‘You scared the crap out of him.’
She laughed again. ‘I know, I just couldn’t resist. It’s nice to know I still can. He’s growing into his potential every day, while every day I get more…’ she trailed off. She lowered her gaze once again, focusing on the coffee in her hands as she took another sip. ‘Well, let’s just say it’s hard to be intimidating while you’re puking up your guts in front of someone.’
‘Never really have the same relationship after that.’
She smiled at him, grateful he could see the humor in the situation. ‘No, you never really do.’
‘Not necessarily a bad thing, though. He tells me he worked for you?’
‘He did, you were right; he actually was my aide until this last year. After everything, happened, I got him a job in State. At least he can learn there, and it keeps him …clear… of things.’
‘He’s always been with you when I see you.’
‘Yeah, they’re flexible with his schedule; let him work around my… appointments. Never has any down time as a result, though.’
‘Seems okay with it. You too must have been close.’
She sighed. ‘Yeah, it’s funny; he wasn’t my aide for long before I got sick, but, I don’t know, we just clicked.’
‘Sometimes people are like that.’
She looked at the near stranger relaxing in the visitor’s chair beside her and smiled.
‘Sometimes they are.’