Office Hours, Monday Afternoon

[hera_rises]

Laura certainly hadn't planned on going into the office today. In fact, she'd planned to try and get a walk-in appointment at the spa -- chiefly to work out the knots currently tied into her shoulders. She hoped that doing so would help her sleep, something she had been missing quite a bit the past few nights

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[dbiers]

The last few weeks had been strange and interesting. She'd learnt things, done things she'd never imagined she would.

She'd got as much info from Trona as her brain cold handle and talked to Krycek about cloning till they had found something much better to do with their time...

But there was still something she had to know and only one person could provide that information so here she stood, half-terrified outside her mentor's office.

She knocked gently on the door that was cracked open and called out, "Laura?"

[hera_rises]

Laura looked up from an Excel spreadsheet of collaborators her screen, smiling as she saw the blonde teenager. "Ah, D'anna," she said. "Come in. I've just started some coffee."

[dbiers]

"Hello." D gave her a small smile of greeting that quickly faded. "Coffee sounds marvelous."

[hera_rises]

"Coming up," Roslin replied. She turned in her chair, pouring an extra cup, and setting out the sugar and cream. Leaning forward slightly, she intertwined her fingers around her glasses, now held in her hand. "How are you? And how, ah, has the friend situation turned out?"

[dbiers]

"Thank you." D gratefully took the offered mug and lightly doctored up her coffee with just a touch of cream and sugar. She took a seat as a wide smile crept across her face, followed by a bit of a blush. "Very well, so far."

[hera_rises]

Laura chuckled. She remembered those blushes...some she might give herself, had someone asked her about her friendship with the admiral. It still amazed her how young she felt sometimes. "I'm glad I was able to help."

[dbiers]

"Thank you." D grinned and she got comfy in her chair. "Not to be nosy, but er, I sort of got the impression that maybe you'd... had some experience in that department?"

She took a sip of coffee and then her eyes flew open, "strictly off the record for any purposes, promise!"

[hera_rises]

"I've had a little recent experience, yes," Laura cautiously replied. While her tone remained mostly neutral, her expression was not unlike the cat that ate the canary. "And if anything were aired, D'anna, I'd categorically deny everything." Her grin widened over the rim of her coffee cup.

[dbiers]

"How has that gone?" D really didn't mean to pry, and being young, she hadn't thought of the possibility that there could be any complications arising from this particular vein of the conversation. "I'm much too young to air anything. I'll be lucky if I ever make it to air at all."

[hera_rises]

Roslin paused. "Things have gone...well." She cocked her head to the side and lowered her coffee cup. "Better than I thought, at least. Then again, a long distance relationship doesn't give you much time to fight." A wry grin flickered across her lips before being smothered.

"As for being on the air...Don't sell yourself short. You've got an easy manner about you that makes you easy to talk to. That's an asset in politics, and it's definitely an asset in journalism."

[dbiers]

"So he's back home, then?" D kind of half-grinned behind her coffee. "I've a friend back home but we broke up long before I came here. Ordinary friendships can be tough, but something more must be rather... difficult given how far we are from the Colonies."

"Thank you." D's blush returned for entirely different reasons. "There's just some things that have come up recently to make me wonder if that's... er... still the right choice for me."

[hera_rises]

"Home?" Her expression softened as she thought of the overstuffed leather sofa, the yellowish light of his lamps, and the slight scent of model glue that always seemed to linger. She nodded. "It's not easy. And there are other complications, but, as with all things, time will tell."

Laura raised her brows. She sensed D'anna's hesitance to discuss those "things," and nodded. "I can only say that, if it's something you really want, then it's the right choice. As you get older, you tend to spend more time working. You'd better be pretty happy with your job -- be passionate about it -- otherwise, it's a miserable existence."

[dbiers]

"Home for me's Leonis. Knossos, up in the hills to be exact." D said helpfully thanks to being completely in the dark as to what the future fully held for her home worlds. "I hope it turns out well for you and that you're happy."

"That's true about a lot of things, isn't it?" D asked. Her mind still slightly on her not quiet defined relationship with Krycek but beginning to float towards other things.

[hera_rises]

"Hmm. Knossos. One of the places I've always wanted to go." She smiled, shaking her head. "And I did make it there -- once. But I was so busy at the conference I was attending, I never got to see very much. What I did see quickly convinced me that life there was very different from Caprica City."

Pausing, she glanced down at her coffee cup. Knossos was still there, of course, but she would never see it now; would never be able to drag Bill there, and listen to him grumble about "all the wackos." Because he would, you know, she thought, stifling a giggle.

With that thought, she realized that, despite the occupation of New Caprica, she was happy; she had a sense of direction now, even without the presidency. And her relationship with Bill -- however they finally classified it -- was something she never could have pursued while still in office. Being a normal, every day school teacher certainly had its perks. Even if you are leading a rebellion in your spare time...Laura sipped at her coffee. "One thing I've learned -- we always try to

[dbiers]

"You'll have to come back someday. Mum and Dad and I have done a lot of traveling over the Colonies but its a great place which to come home." D smiled, nostalgic for more than just the place she still thought of as her first home. D laughed. "Yes, very much. I've been there a few times. Went there with my friend Krycek and Cally last year for an assignment, actually." There might have been something in the way she said friend that gave her away, or, you know, not.

"Waiting on Gods is time consuming. I think, sometimes, we have to take matters into our own hands and let the Gods fall as they may." D took a sip of her coffee and remembered why she'd come. She didn't want to ask these things, but she had to know. Desperately had to know. "At least, in certain cases. Miss, I... I was wondering. How did really read field reports on the cylons or was there something more... tangible at your disposal?"

[hera_rises]

Laura hedged a bit, considering her coffee cup a moment before answering. "I..." She stopped, shaking her head. Removing her glasses, she looked across the desk to D'anna. "In my time, I served as President of the Colonies. I had access to -- and spoke with -- several different Cylon models, in addition to reading the field reports.

"So, yes, something more tangible, but a combination."

She left out that they were after action reports. There was always the possibility that the future Ms. Biers faced wasn't the same, that somewhere along the way, the Colonies survived. Why worry her with an apocalypse when there might not be one after all?