Eeep!! Here be (old) fic...
I decided to take someone's advice (not really sure at the moment, because a lot of people have told me to do this) and post the back chapters of Too Much here so I can start posting the updates at the A/R community, and thus, get even more reviews than I've already gotten. I'm a greedy little bitch, aren't I?
How many people actually visit here, anyway?
Anyway, here we go. Follow the cut, or link, or whatever the hell you choose to call it, for chapters one and two of Too Much.
Title: Too Much
Author: Kate
Pairing: Adama/Roslin (like it really was gonna be Roslin/Dr. Batshit)
Spoilers: Up to EoJ and one tiny one from Rapture
Warnings: There be some dark, scary stuff in here, because the author has been taking lessons from Kristen and Becky.
**
CHAPTER 1
“Uh, Tory?”
Tory Foster looked up from the paperwork she had been going over to see Jack Reynolds watching her with a perturbed look on his face. Cocking an eyebrow, she set the papers down and stood up. Jack rarely looked anything but unflappable, a good quality for the President’s head of security to have. Seeing his face now concerned her, even more than the President’s odd behavior of late had been.
“What’s going on?” she asked, stifling a yawn. It was past time for her to go to bed and judging from Jack’s expression, she probably should have.
“There’s a shuttle outside waiting to dock. It’s Admiral Adama.” Jack remarked, looking past her to the President’s sleeping area. “What should I do?”
Tory shrugged. There went any chance of her getting to bed when it was still a decent hour. “Let him onboard. He’s the admiral of the fleet.”
Jack wasn’t all that convinced. “Have you seen the two of them together lately? A New Caprican breeze would warm the temperature between the two of them. What happened between the two of them anyway?” He, like many others who had opportunity to observe the interactions between Admiral Adama and President Roslin, had been speculating on what could possibly have caused this level of breakdown in their relationship.
“It’s not just him she’s freezing out.” Tory pointed out quietly. “It’s everyone. I can’t even remember the last time I saw her crack a smile.”
“Yeah, well, I can’t remember the last time I saw them in a room together and act like they were in the same room together.” Jack remarked. “You think she’s still pissed at him for trying to nuke the algae planet?”
“Whatever it is, the Vice-President knows about it.” Tory replied. “But he’s not talking, and that leads me to believe it was something a little more serious than that. It’s almost like the President’s lost most of her feelings. She’s more hardcore than Colonel Tigh is.”
“Don’t remind me.” Jack rolled his eyes. He had noticed that as well. The President had once made a regular practice of conversing with him throughout the day, and did the same thing with nearly everyone else who crossed her path. She honestly cared about the people she was interacting with, a rarity when you were dealing with politicians. But now, there was nothing. No small talk, no reaching out to touch people, no smiles or little laughs that showed she was in a good mood, no matter how frakked up the day was shaping up to be. It was almost as if a part of her had just vanished. “I’m gonna go meet the admiral when he docks.”
“Make sure you remind him most people are sleeping right now.” Tory advised. “If he wants another shouting match, tell him to go back to Galactica and call her on the wireless.”
“The Vice-President knows, you said?” he asked.
“Yeah.”
Jack’s lips curled into a leering smirk. “And you weren’t able to seduce it out of him? Shame, Tory, shame.”
“Shut up, Reynolds.” Tory threw a paperclip at him.
Chuckling, he started for the door only to stop in his tracks as Admiral Adama walked through that same door, a grim expression on his face. Jack nearly groaned and Tory took a step back. The infamous Adama Glare was out in full force and they had not been warned to hide under the nearest desk.
Tory recovered her nerve first and stepped forward. “Good evening, Admiral.”
“Tory.” Adama nodded at her, then to Jack.
“Admiral.” Jack inclined his head.
“Is the President awake?” Adama asked, and Tory got the distinct expression that it wouldn’t matter what the answer was. He was going in to see her whether she was awake, or wanted to see him, or not.
“Probably.” she replied, reaching for the phone.
Adama held his hand up to stop her. “No need. I’ll go right in.”
Before either of them could protest, Adama had already disappeared through the curtain dividing the President’s office from her personal space.
“She’s gonna be pissed.” Jack warned Tory, who could only nod in amusement.
**
William Adama was a patient man. He had to be, considering his position. But enough was enough. He had grown tired of this cat and mouse game that the President had been playing with him. She had sequestered herself on her ship for the better part of the last month since what he had come to know as the Hera incident. He paused and reconsidered his thoughts as his eyes adjusted to the dim light. Maybe “sequestered on her ship” wasn’t the right phrase. She just hadn’t set foot on Galactica since the day he had confronted her over what she had done.
At first he thought it was her conscience rearing its ugly head, but as the weeks went on and their business was conducted through phone calls, he got the feeling that she was somehow different. He had once been able to read Laura Roslin like a book, even over the wireless, when the only contact he had was the sound of her voice. Her voice had told him everything he needed to know, from what kind of mood she was in to how she was feeling and even if she had gotten enough sleep the night before. Hell, he had even managed to hear his way through a bluff on one memorable occasion when he had point blank asked her if she had had breakfast that morning!
Now there was nothing. Her voice betrayed nothing of what Laura was thinking or feeling or doing. It betrayed nothing of Laura. And he hadn’t even noticed until Saul had pointed it out to him.
The XO had been unusually taciturn in his approach, explaining that he had been conducting some of the fleet’s business with the President personally and she had been concerning him to the point where he thought she might be ill again.
Bill’s heart had nearly stopped beating at the possibility. Could she be sick again? Was that why she had all but ended communications between them that didn’t directly involve the welfare of the fleet? He had spent the past week scheduling meetings with her, only to be forced to either reschedule or deal with an unusually closemouthed Tom Zarek.
The cancelled meeting tonight had been the last straw. Making a hasty decision to shuttle over to Colonial One unannounced, he hadn’t permitted himself to consider his actions until now, when he was on the verge of waking the President up from her sleep.
His assumption proved to be erroneous as he looked over at the small cot she had managed to bring back from New Caprica and found that it was empty.
“Laura?” he called softly, seeing the light on in her small bathroom.
“Who’s there?” There it was again. The hard edge he was unaccustomed to hearing in her voice. The snappish tone that underlied no real annoyance, just a general lack of patience. A general lack of caring.
Disturbed by his thoughts, he called back, “If you don’t recognize my voice, we’re in some trouble.”
The door to the bathroom opened and Laura stepped out, tying her bathrobe around her securely. She stared at him, meeting his eyes unflinchingly. “What are you doing here?”
“I got sick of the runaround you’ve been giving me.” he replied. “Mind if I turn a light on?”
“Don’t bother. You won’t be staying very long.” she snapped, sweeping past him to lay her clothes out on her desk. “There’s a good reason I cancelled our meeting, Admiral.”
“And if you had informed me as to the reason, I wouldn’t be here right now.” Bill replied testily. Something was definitely off. She had left the shower running, he could hear it. Normally she was anal about conservation.
“My reasons are hardly any of your concern.” she retorted, every bit as frosty as he was. “If you’ll excuse me, Admiral, I have an early day tomorrow.”
“I see.” Bill said slowly, realizing that he was speaking to her back. “I’d like to reschedule our meeting. There are some security issues we need to discuss.”
“Send the reports over and I’ll coordinate with Colonel Tigh on how best to implement your recommendations.” Laura replied, wrapping a towel around her head. “If that’s all-“ she gave him a look that probably would have frozen a lesser man solid.
He realized that he wasn’t going to get anywhere with this infuriating woman tonight. Tomorrow, when she was on his turf, he’d find out what the hell was wrong with her. What was it they used to say about home field advantage?
“For now.” he replied. “Good night, Laura.”
She turned on her heel and walked back into the bathroom, shutting the door behind her. He grew even more mystified as he heard the unmistakable click of a lock sliding into place. Who the hell was she locking out?
Shaking his head, Adama ignored the little voice inside that was practically screaming there was something very wrong here and left the President’s personal area, where Jack and Tory were deep in discussion.
“No, I’m telling you, the picture just got knocked off the desk and before I could catch it, it hit the ground. The frame was totaled and I haven’t been able to find a new one.” Tory was telling Jack, who was shaking his head. “I thought she’d go ballistic, but she barely even looked at it before handing the picture to me and walking away.”
“What picture?”
Both the aide and the head of security looked up guiltily, having been caught talking about their boss in front of someone who was slowly turning into an outsider again.
“The picture of her and Billy.” Tory briefly lowered her eyes out of respect for Billy. Sometimes she still missed that kid. He would have known what to do to bring the president out of her apathetic funk.
“You broke the frame and she didn’t break your fingers?” Bill exclaimed, his eyebrows rising.
“Didn’t even blink.” Tory replied. “Did you have a chance to speak with her?”
“See to it that she’s on the shuttle to Galactica in the morning.” Bill said. Before Tory could bristle at being ordered around like she had joined the Colonial Fleet, he went on to add, “There are a number of issues that have been piling up and I’d like to have them all resolved tomorrow.”
**
CHAPTER 2
“Madam President, I can’t tell you how good it is to see you right now.”
Tory had been waiting impatiently at the shuttle bay of Colonial One ever since the Galactica had jumped in, joining the rest of the fleet that had left them behind nearly a week ago. The Vice-President had joined her only a few moments ago, having been told by one of his own aides that President Roslin and her security were arriving. Zarek had done an admirable job of keeping things together throughout the past week. As the other ships had begun to worry, Zarek had been a calm voice in the middle of everything, making twice-daily reports to the press to assuage rising anxieties. He had mentioned everything from the list of jump coordinates Galactica had provided them with to the fact that Admiral Adama had, after all, told them in a fleet-wide address that it might take a few days before the Galactica would be able to rejoin them.
As a result, the fleet wasn’t nearly as panicked as it could have been, though there was profound relief greeting the return of Galactica.
“It’s good to be back, thank you, Tory.” The President offered her a wan smile, then turned to Zarek. “I trust all ships are still present and accounted for, Mister Vice-President?”
“Yes, ma’am.” Zarek replied, smiling at her. “If you don’t need me, I think I’ll catch a ride back to the Astral Queen with that Raptor.”
“Actually, I do need to speak with you immediately. Tory, would you give us a few minutes? Jack, why don’t you go get some rest? You look pretty much exhausted. The Vice-President and I won’t be long.”
“Yes, ma’am. Thank you.” Jack replied, though Tory was puzzled by the worried glance he shot at her. She looked back at the President, who was staring off at nothing and chewing on her lip. “I’ll just see the Galactica pilots off then.”
“Thank you.” The President then turned to Tory and tried to smile. “I’ll need to speak to you for a few minutes once I’m finished with him,” gesturing to Zarek, who had crossed the bay to the door to wait for her.
“Is anything wrong?” Tory asked. She wasn’t one to beat around the bush and she could see that something wasn’t quite right with the President. Something about her eyes, Tory couldn’t quite place it. Nor did she know exactly what, but there was something missing. Something vital that made Laura Roslin who she was.
“No.” Not even Laura looked convinced by her response to Tory’s question. “Shall we, Tom?”
The use of his given name gave Tom pause and he turned back to look sharply at her, coming towards him. “Lead the way, Laura.”
**
“I suppose the first thing I should tell you,” Laura remarked as she placed a glass of water in front of Tom, “is that you’ll probably be having a number of sleepless nights for the next few weeks. I apologize for that, but I don’t think it can be helped.”
“What’s going on?” Tom asked as she sat across from him at her desk, pouring herself a glass of water. He took a few gulps as she collected her thoughts.
A mistake, it turned out, as her next statement caused a spew of water to stream straight out of his mouth and all over the paperwork on the desk.
“Excuse me?!” he sputtered, jumping out of his chair. “You’re resigning? What the hell is wrong with you, Laura?”
“Sit down, Tom.” she directed, barely glancing at him over her glasses as she set about mopping up the water from the desks. “It’ll hardly be amusing to anyone to watch the President of the Colonies arrested for kidnapping and led away in handcuffs. I think everyone remembers what happened the last time Admiral Adama sent marines over to my ship. At least if I’m no longer President, there won’t be such an uproar in the fleet.”
“You’ve lost me, Madam President.” Tom sank into his chair slowly. What the frak had gone on in the past week?
“Do you remember last year, well before the elections, the Cylon pregnancy?” Laura asked. At his mute nod, she continued, “Lieutenant Valerii… Agathon, actually… gave birth to a half-human, half-Cylon baby girl. I suppose you also remember that the child saved my life.”
“What does a dead baby have to do with you resigning?” Tom asked. He didn’t mean to sound callous, but he was already nursing a pounding headache and he just wanted to get the story so he could start talking her out of this ridiculous course of action.
“The baby isn’t dead. She’s actually onboard Galactica right now with her parents.” A small smile appeared on Laura’s face and disappeared a mere breath later. When she spoke again, there was a hard edge to her voice. “I ordered Major Cottle to fake the child’s death and Tory and I arranged a closed adoption. All of this was obviously done without Admiral Adama’s knowledge or consent.”
“Why not just have the baby killed outright?” Tom asked curiously. As much as he hated to admit it, that seemed to him the easiest, least messy, way out of that particular bad situation. The baby would never have been permitted to remain with its mother and if current information was still reliable, Tom had many doubts as to the character of the baby’s father. He wasn’t one to throw stones, but he could read between the lines with the best of them.
“I would never do that to a child.” Laura replied, taking a sip of her water and rested her head against the headrest of her chair. Sighing deeply, she eyed him carefully. “Not even a Cylon child, Tom. She didn’t ask to be born into this mess. And she saved my life.”
“If she’d been allowed to remain with her parents, there’s a good chance that baby wouldn’t have lived anyway.” Tom said. It might be brutal, it might be cruel, it might be hard to hear, but it was also unfortunately the gods’ honest truth. He could think of about forty or fifty names off the top of his head of people who would be more than willing to visit the sins of the half-breed’s mother on the child. Some of them were on Galactica and could have gotten to the baby very easily. “So you hid the child to protect her?”
“It hardly matters why I did it now, does it? I did it, and I got caught.” Laura replied, and Tom cringed at the coldness in her tone. “I’m not terribly good at being a criminal, I guess.”
He was so surprised he didn’t even hear the snort escape his lips. Then he recalled her rueful reply to his question on New Caprica.
“Just need some practice, that’s all.” he remarked. “All right, so how did all this come out?”
“The woman we placed the baby with, Maya, she never returned from New Caprica. I had assumed Isis had been killed with her. But the Cylons found her alive. I don’t even know if Maya was alive with her.” Swallowing hard, Laura lay her hand on the table, touching the photograph of Maya. “The Cylons wouldn’t have thought twice of killing her to get to the baby.”
“Don’t torture yourself.” Tom advised. “So the Cylons got the baby. How did you find out about that?”
“The admiral told me.” Laura replied.
“How did Admiral Adama find out?”
“One of the Cylons, another Valerii copy, the one we know as the young woman who shot the admiral-“
“Wait, I thought Lieutenant Agathon was the same model as her.”
“Mr. Vice-President, I would advise you to not try to understand the Cylons’ concept of individuality.” Laura replied testily. “It’s a headache under the best of circumstances. To return to the subject at hand, Lieutenant Agathon did not know whether to believe this other copy, so she went to the admiral, who came to me with his concerns.”
“And you told him what you’d done.” Tom replied, though it was hardly necessary to say it aloud. Anger began to simmer in him as he realized what must have happened after that. She wasn’t resigning. She was being forced from power just like it had happened before. Evidently, Admiral Adama was a slow learner.
“Yes.” Laura replied. “I’ll announce my decision tomorrow afternoon, once I’ve had a chance to tell the staff. I hope you’ll consider keeping most of them on. They’re all valuable people.”
“I won’t have to worry about keeping your people on. You’re not resigning.” Tom replied firmly.
An ironic smile appeared upon the President’s lips as she considered the words. Tom could see the irony of the situation himself. Before New Caprica, he would have jumped at the chance at the Presidency, even while he was Vice-President of the Colonies under Baltar. The miserable megalomaniac had never taken any of his suggestions and then had him thrown in jail when the Cylons hit. But Roslin had promised him that he would have a voice as her Vice-President and she had kept her word. It had shocked the hell out of him to discover that he was more than satisfied to just be a voice, rather than THE voice, as he had once so passionately wished to be.
“There was a time when you would have had me shot if it would get you the Presidency, Tom.” she said softly, lacing her fingers together on the desk.
“Times change, Madam President.” Tom replied, leaning forward. “I won’t let you be brought down by this. Anyone else would have killed that baby outright and probably its mother along with it. You let Adama keep her, made sure she was treated as a human being most of the time, and I will not stand by and watch Adama tear you to shreds over this.”
**
How many people actually visit here, anyway?
Anyway, here we go. Follow the cut, or link, or whatever the hell you choose to call it, for chapters one and two of Too Much.
Title: Too Much
Author: Kate
Pairing: Adama/Roslin (like it really was gonna be Roslin/Dr. Batshit)
Spoilers: Up to EoJ and one tiny one from Rapture
Warnings: There be some dark, scary stuff in here, because the author has been taking lessons from Kristen and Becky.
**
CHAPTER 1
“Uh, Tory?”
Tory Foster looked up from the paperwork she had been going over to see Jack Reynolds watching her with a perturbed look on his face. Cocking an eyebrow, she set the papers down and stood up. Jack rarely looked anything but unflappable, a good quality for the President’s head of security to have. Seeing his face now concerned her, even more than the President’s odd behavior of late had been.
“What’s going on?” she asked, stifling a yawn. It was past time for her to go to bed and judging from Jack’s expression, she probably should have.
“There’s a shuttle outside waiting to dock. It’s Admiral Adama.” Jack remarked, looking past her to the President’s sleeping area. “What should I do?”
Tory shrugged. There went any chance of her getting to bed when it was still a decent hour. “Let him onboard. He’s the admiral of the fleet.”
Jack wasn’t all that convinced. “Have you seen the two of them together lately? A New Caprican breeze would warm the temperature between the two of them. What happened between the two of them anyway?” He, like many others who had opportunity to observe the interactions between Admiral Adama and President Roslin, had been speculating on what could possibly have caused this level of breakdown in their relationship.
“It’s not just him she’s freezing out.” Tory pointed out quietly. “It’s everyone. I can’t even remember the last time I saw her crack a smile.”
“Yeah, well, I can’t remember the last time I saw them in a room together and act like they were in the same room together.” Jack remarked. “You think she’s still pissed at him for trying to nuke the algae planet?”
“Whatever it is, the Vice-President knows about it.” Tory replied. “But he’s not talking, and that leads me to believe it was something a little more serious than that. It’s almost like the President’s lost most of her feelings. She’s more hardcore than Colonel Tigh is.”
“Don’t remind me.” Jack rolled his eyes. He had noticed that as well. The President had once made a regular practice of conversing with him throughout the day, and did the same thing with nearly everyone else who crossed her path. She honestly cared about the people she was interacting with, a rarity when you were dealing with politicians. But now, there was nothing. No small talk, no reaching out to touch people, no smiles or little laughs that showed she was in a good mood, no matter how frakked up the day was shaping up to be. It was almost as if a part of her had just vanished. “I’m gonna go meet the admiral when he docks.”
“Make sure you remind him most people are sleeping right now.” Tory advised. “If he wants another shouting match, tell him to go back to Galactica and call her on the wireless.”
“The Vice-President knows, you said?” he asked.
“Yeah.”
Jack’s lips curled into a leering smirk. “And you weren’t able to seduce it out of him? Shame, Tory, shame.”
“Shut up, Reynolds.” Tory threw a paperclip at him.
Chuckling, he started for the door only to stop in his tracks as Admiral Adama walked through that same door, a grim expression on his face. Jack nearly groaned and Tory took a step back. The infamous Adama Glare was out in full force and they had not been warned to hide under the nearest desk.
Tory recovered her nerve first and stepped forward. “Good evening, Admiral.”
“Tory.” Adama nodded at her, then to Jack.
“Admiral.” Jack inclined his head.
“Is the President awake?” Adama asked, and Tory got the distinct expression that it wouldn’t matter what the answer was. He was going in to see her whether she was awake, or wanted to see him, or not.
“Probably.” she replied, reaching for the phone.
Adama held his hand up to stop her. “No need. I’ll go right in.”
Before either of them could protest, Adama had already disappeared through the curtain dividing the President’s office from her personal space.
“She’s gonna be pissed.” Jack warned Tory, who could only nod in amusement.
**
William Adama was a patient man. He had to be, considering his position. But enough was enough. He had grown tired of this cat and mouse game that the President had been playing with him. She had sequestered herself on her ship for the better part of the last month since what he had come to know as the Hera incident. He paused and reconsidered his thoughts as his eyes adjusted to the dim light. Maybe “sequestered on her ship” wasn’t the right phrase. She just hadn’t set foot on Galactica since the day he had confronted her over what she had done.
At first he thought it was her conscience rearing its ugly head, but as the weeks went on and their business was conducted through phone calls, he got the feeling that she was somehow different. He had once been able to read Laura Roslin like a book, even over the wireless, when the only contact he had was the sound of her voice. Her voice had told him everything he needed to know, from what kind of mood she was in to how she was feeling and even if she had gotten enough sleep the night before. Hell, he had even managed to hear his way through a bluff on one memorable occasion when he had point blank asked her if she had had breakfast that morning!
Now there was nothing. Her voice betrayed nothing of what Laura was thinking or feeling or doing. It betrayed nothing of Laura. And he hadn’t even noticed until Saul had pointed it out to him.
The XO had been unusually taciturn in his approach, explaining that he had been conducting some of the fleet’s business with the President personally and she had been concerning him to the point where he thought she might be ill again.
Bill’s heart had nearly stopped beating at the possibility. Could she be sick again? Was that why she had all but ended communications between them that didn’t directly involve the welfare of the fleet? He had spent the past week scheduling meetings with her, only to be forced to either reschedule or deal with an unusually closemouthed Tom Zarek.
The cancelled meeting tonight had been the last straw. Making a hasty decision to shuttle over to Colonial One unannounced, he hadn’t permitted himself to consider his actions until now, when he was on the verge of waking the President up from her sleep.
His assumption proved to be erroneous as he looked over at the small cot she had managed to bring back from New Caprica and found that it was empty.
“Laura?” he called softly, seeing the light on in her small bathroom.
“Who’s there?” There it was again. The hard edge he was unaccustomed to hearing in her voice. The snappish tone that underlied no real annoyance, just a general lack of patience. A general lack of caring.
Disturbed by his thoughts, he called back, “If you don’t recognize my voice, we’re in some trouble.”
The door to the bathroom opened and Laura stepped out, tying her bathrobe around her securely. She stared at him, meeting his eyes unflinchingly. “What are you doing here?”
“I got sick of the runaround you’ve been giving me.” he replied. “Mind if I turn a light on?”
“Don’t bother. You won’t be staying very long.” she snapped, sweeping past him to lay her clothes out on her desk. “There’s a good reason I cancelled our meeting, Admiral.”
“And if you had informed me as to the reason, I wouldn’t be here right now.” Bill replied testily. Something was definitely off. She had left the shower running, he could hear it. Normally she was anal about conservation.
“My reasons are hardly any of your concern.” she retorted, every bit as frosty as he was. “If you’ll excuse me, Admiral, I have an early day tomorrow.”
“I see.” Bill said slowly, realizing that he was speaking to her back. “I’d like to reschedule our meeting. There are some security issues we need to discuss.”
“Send the reports over and I’ll coordinate with Colonel Tigh on how best to implement your recommendations.” Laura replied, wrapping a towel around her head. “If that’s all-“ she gave him a look that probably would have frozen a lesser man solid.
He realized that he wasn’t going to get anywhere with this infuriating woman tonight. Tomorrow, when she was on his turf, he’d find out what the hell was wrong with her. What was it they used to say about home field advantage?
“For now.” he replied. “Good night, Laura.”
She turned on her heel and walked back into the bathroom, shutting the door behind her. He grew even more mystified as he heard the unmistakable click of a lock sliding into place. Who the hell was she locking out?
Shaking his head, Adama ignored the little voice inside that was practically screaming there was something very wrong here and left the President’s personal area, where Jack and Tory were deep in discussion.
“No, I’m telling you, the picture just got knocked off the desk and before I could catch it, it hit the ground. The frame was totaled and I haven’t been able to find a new one.” Tory was telling Jack, who was shaking his head. “I thought she’d go ballistic, but she barely even looked at it before handing the picture to me and walking away.”
“What picture?”
Both the aide and the head of security looked up guiltily, having been caught talking about their boss in front of someone who was slowly turning into an outsider again.
“The picture of her and Billy.” Tory briefly lowered her eyes out of respect for Billy. Sometimes she still missed that kid. He would have known what to do to bring the president out of her apathetic funk.
“You broke the frame and she didn’t break your fingers?” Bill exclaimed, his eyebrows rising.
“Didn’t even blink.” Tory replied. “Did you have a chance to speak with her?”
“See to it that she’s on the shuttle to Galactica in the morning.” Bill said. Before Tory could bristle at being ordered around like she had joined the Colonial Fleet, he went on to add, “There are a number of issues that have been piling up and I’d like to have them all resolved tomorrow.”
**
CHAPTER 2
“Madam President, I can’t tell you how good it is to see you right now.”
Tory had been waiting impatiently at the shuttle bay of Colonial One ever since the Galactica had jumped in, joining the rest of the fleet that had left them behind nearly a week ago. The Vice-President had joined her only a few moments ago, having been told by one of his own aides that President Roslin and her security were arriving. Zarek had done an admirable job of keeping things together throughout the past week. As the other ships had begun to worry, Zarek had been a calm voice in the middle of everything, making twice-daily reports to the press to assuage rising anxieties. He had mentioned everything from the list of jump coordinates Galactica had provided them with to the fact that Admiral Adama had, after all, told them in a fleet-wide address that it might take a few days before the Galactica would be able to rejoin them.
As a result, the fleet wasn’t nearly as panicked as it could have been, though there was profound relief greeting the return of Galactica.
“It’s good to be back, thank you, Tory.” The President offered her a wan smile, then turned to Zarek. “I trust all ships are still present and accounted for, Mister Vice-President?”
“Yes, ma’am.” Zarek replied, smiling at her. “If you don’t need me, I think I’ll catch a ride back to the Astral Queen with that Raptor.”
“Actually, I do need to speak with you immediately. Tory, would you give us a few minutes? Jack, why don’t you go get some rest? You look pretty much exhausted. The Vice-President and I won’t be long.”
“Yes, ma’am. Thank you.” Jack replied, though Tory was puzzled by the worried glance he shot at her. She looked back at the President, who was staring off at nothing and chewing on her lip. “I’ll just see the Galactica pilots off then.”
“Thank you.” The President then turned to Tory and tried to smile. “I’ll need to speak to you for a few minutes once I’m finished with him,” gesturing to Zarek, who had crossed the bay to the door to wait for her.
“Is anything wrong?” Tory asked. She wasn’t one to beat around the bush and she could see that something wasn’t quite right with the President. Something about her eyes, Tory couldn’t quite place it. Nor did she know exactly what, but there was something missing. Something vital that made Laura Roslin who she was.
“No.” Not even Laura looked convinced by her response to Tory’s question. “Shall we, Tom?”
The use of his given name gave Tom pause and he turned back to look sharply at her, coming towards him. “Lead the way, Laura.”
**
“I suppose the first thing I should tell you,” Laura remarked as she placed a glass of water in front of Tom, “is that you’ll probably be having a number of sleepless nights for the next few weeks. I apologize for that, but I don’t think it can be helped.”
“What’s going on?” Tom asked as she sat across from him at her desk, pouring herself a glass of water. He took a few gulps as she collected her thoughts.
A mistake, it turned out, as her next statement caused a spew of water to stream straight out of his mouth and all over the paperwork on the desk.
“Excuse me?!” he sputtered, jumping out of his chair. “You’re resigning? What the hell is wrong with you, Laura?”
“Sit down, Tom.” she directed, barely glancing at him over her glasses as she set about mopping up the water from the desks. “It’ll hardly be amusing to anyone to watch the President of the Colonies arrested for kidnapping and led away in handcuffs. I think everyone remembers what happened the last time Admiral Adama sent marines over to my ship. At least if I’m no longer President, there won’t be such an uproar in the fleet.”
“You’ve lost me, Madam President.” Tom sank into his chair slowly. What the frak had gone on in the past week?
“Do you remember last year, well before the elections, the Cylon pregnancy?” Laura asked. At his mute nod, she continued, “Lieutenant Valerii… Agathon, actually… gave birth to a half-human, half-Cylon baby girl. I suppose you also remember that the child saved my life.”
“What does a dead baby have to do with you resigning?” Tom asked. He didn’t mean to sound callous, but he was already nursing a pounding headache and he just wanted to get the story so he could start talking her out of this ridiculous course of action.
“The baby isn’t dead. She’s actually onboard Galactica right now with her parents.” A small smile appeared on Laura’s face and disappeared a mere breath later. When she spoke again, there was a hard edge to her voice. “I ordered Major Cottle to fake the child’s death and Tory and I arranged a closed adoption. All of this was obviously done without Admiral Adama’s knowledge or consent.”
“Why not just have the baby killed outright?” Tom asked curiously. As much as he hated to admit it, that seemed to him the easiest, least messy, way out of that particular bad situation. The baby would never have been permitted to remain with its mother and if current information was still reliable, Tom had many doubts as to the character of the baby’s father. He wasn’t one to throw stones, but he could read between the lines with the best of them.
“I would never do that to a child.” Laura replied, taking a sip of her water and rested her head against the headrest of her chair. Sighing deeply, she eyed him carefully. “Not even a Cylon child, Tom. She didn’t ask to be born into this mess. And she saved my life.”
“If she’d been allowed to remain with her parents, there’s a good chance that baby wouldn’t have lived anyway.” Tom said. It might be brutal, it might be cruel, it might be hard to hear, but it was also unfortunately the gods’ honest truth. He could think of about forty or fifty names off the top of his head of people who would be more than willing to visit the sins of the half-breed’s mother on the child. Some of them were on Galactica and could have gotten to the baby very easily. “So you hid the child to protect her?”
“It hardly matters why I did it now, does it? I did it, and I got caught.” Laura replied, and Tom cringed at the coldness in her tone. “I’m not terribly good at being a criminal, I guess.”
He was so surprised he didn’t even hear the snort escape his lips. Then he recalled her rueful reply to his question on New Caprica.
“Just need some practice, that’s all.” he remarked. “All right, so how did all this come out?”
“The woman we placed the baby with, Maya, she never returned from New Caprica. I had assumed Isis had been killed with her. But the Cylons found her alive. I don’t even know if Maya was alive with her.” Swallowing hard, Laura lay her hand on the table, touching the photograph of Maya. “The Cylons wouldn’t have thought twice of killing her to get to the baby.”
“Don’t torture yourself.” Tom advised. “So the Cylons got the baby. How did you find out about that?”
“The admiral told me.” Laura replied.
“How did Admiral Adama find out?”
“One of the Cylons, another Valerii copy, the one we know as the young woman who shot the admiral-“
“Wait, I thought Lieutenant Agathon was the same model as her.”
“Mr. Vice-President, I would advise you to not try to understand the Cylons’ concept of individuality.” Laura replied testily. “It’s a headache under the best of circumstances. To return to the subject at hand, Lieutenant Agathon did not know whether to believe this other copy, so she went to the admiral, who came to me with his concerns.”
“And you told him what you’d done.” Tom replied, though it was hardly necessary to say it aloud. Anger began to simmer in him as he realized what must have happened after that. She wasn’t resigning. She was being forced from power just like it had happened before. Evidently, Admiral Adama was a slow learner.
“Yes.” Laura replied. “I’ll announce my decision tomorrow afternoon, once I’ve had a chance to tell the staff. I hope you’ll consider keeping most of them on. They’re all valuable people.”
“I won’t have to worry about keeping your people on. You’re not resigning.” Tom replied firmly.
An ironic smile appeared upon the President’s lips as she considered the words. Tom could see the irony of the situation himself. Before New Caprica, he would have jumped at the chance at the Presidency, even while he was Vice-President of the Colonies under Baltar. The miserable megalomaniac had never taken any of his suggestions and then had him thrown in jail when the Cylons hit. But Roslin had promised him that he would have a voice as her Vice-President and she had kept her word. It had shocked the hell out of him to discover that he was more than satisfied to just be a voice, rather than THE voice, as he had once so passionately wished to be.
“There was a time when you would have had me shot if it would get you the Presidency, Tom.” she said softly, lacing her fingers together on the desk.
“Times change, Madam President.” Tom replied, leaning forward. “I won’t let you be brought down by this. Anyone else would have killed that baby outright and probably its mother along with it. You let Adama keep her, made sure she was treated as a human being most of the time, and I will not stand by and watch Adama tear you to shreds over this.”
**