Flashbacks Of A Fool Chp 3
Chapter Three
"Gods damn it, what do you mean he won’t come?"
Laura strained to hear the conversation, but a constant noise seemed to surround her, almost drowning the others out.
"He can't risk leaving right now, and he said..."
"There's nothing he can do," Tigh finished for the other man. "Frak."
"How is...?"
The man's voice wavered, and if he said anything else, she couldn't hear it. Laura cursed mentally, wondering what that noise was and wishing it would stop.
Her fingers twitched before she could manage to lift her hand, and her whole arm began to shake as it lifted the blanket. The noise hitched, and Laura realized it was her own raspy, uneven breaths. Her lungs burned, and her throat felt dry. She could taste sweat and her lips were cracked. Her whole body burned; and she absently concluded that she had a fever.
Laura's fingers found a line of stitches on her lower abdomen, and when she brushed against the swollen flesh around it she couldn't bite back her low moan of pain.
"I was counting on you being asleep a while yet."
It felt as if her eyes were peeling open as she looked up at Saul. He awkwardly nudged her hand away from the stitches, re-adjusting the blanket back over her once he was done.
"I'd leave those alone, if I were you."
"Wha--"
"You were shot, d'you remember?"
Laura licked her lips and nodded.
"What were you doing up there? Do you know what happened to Zarek?"
It was hard to keep her eyes open, so she let them drift shut. "Refused... to, to- cooperate."
"Is he dead?"
"No." She shook her head. "No... no, he's in detention..." Laura bit her lip to stifle her giggle. Naughty school boy Tom got sent to detention by principal Cavil. Her hysteria trapped itself in her chest. Tears started sweating from the corner of her eyes and her voice began to catch. "He could be... he could be. Cavil would kill him. Others didn't, others--"
"Alright, calm down. Frak." Saul sighed. "Go back to sleep," he added gruffly. "I'll talk to you when you're better."
"No." She moaned the word, sounding more petulant than she would have liked. She forced one eye back open. "The others, they said they wanted to help. Not kill everyone."
"Yeah, I gathered that's what they said from your speech."
"Build... better future."
He snorted. "We'll see how that turns out."
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78 days before the Occupation
Meeting aboard Colonial One
"I didn't think I was meeting with you."
"You weren't." Laura flashed him a quick, exhausted smile. "A meeting with the workers’ union is running late. I've just left it myself, someone mentioned you were waiting."
She doubted she was supposed to have overheard the information, but Tom couldn't very well prevent her from going. As long as he stayed and listened, Galen and the others would be pleased.
"Skipping out on very important meetings to see me, Madame Vice President?" he teased.
"You are very important." She had meant for the comment to be lighthearted, but a heavy silence fell in the air after she spoke. Laura quickly lowered her eyes as she sat across from him. "How've you been, Bill?"
She could hear him shifting in the liner's bulky first class seat, but she didn't lift her eyes.
"I've been... alright. It's good to see you."
Falling back into their familiar cadence, she looked back at him with a small smile. "It's good to see you, too." Rather than let another awkward silence stretch out between them, she quickly turned to the reports he had brought. "A requisition for more men to be placed down here. I would think most would jump at the opportunity for some fresh air."
"It's not my men who have a problem coming down here. They would do as ordered."
"But you won't order them." Laura lowered the reports, eying him over the tops of her glasses.
"My ships are understaffed as it is."
"These aren't permanent transfers, Bill. We need more working hands in order to get the greenhouses built. Your men would like to eat, won't they? Galactica doesn't have an unending supply of food."
"Why aren't the citizens here taking on the project?” he deflected. “I thought there was a large enough workforce after the water treatment plant was finished."
"The labor union and the government have come into conflict."
"You mean Zarek has come into conflict." Bill snorted. "I suppose he only kills when it's his people being subjugated."
"These people are his people." Laura kept her tone level as she corrected him. "It's some members of the Quorum who are having difficulty understanding that not everything can be built overnight; and that those working would like some time off. Tom taking over the presidency has given a lot of hope to the people that the progress Baltar promised will actually take place. It's also put him under a lot of pressure to show results, even with the limited time he has had to implement those changes."
"You're defending him."
"I remember what it was like trying to keep the people pleased and alive; two tasks which often do not lend help to one another. Tasks--" Laura stressed the word, "--that were often made more difficult by your lack of cooperation."
"We've moved past that."
"Yes. We have, but I'm not the one in charge now. He needs your support, Bill."
"He hasn't done much in the way of asking for it."
"Because he knows you'll turn him down."
Bill's eyes darkened, his expression becoming guarded. "Is it really such an accident that you're talking to me about this?"
Indignation rose up inside of her, and she did her best not to glare. "You think I'm manipulating you."
That she had stated rather than asked put a wary look on his face.
"It's a requisition, not an order. Deny it and cite your reasons if you want, but don't you dare accuse me of using you." Laura stood, turning away from him and dropping the files on the desk. "If I wanted something from you I would not dance around the subject. As you said earlier, we're past that." She sighed, and nearly whispered, "we used to be."
The silence between them lasted long enough for Bill to stand.
"I didn't mean to question you. With Zarek in charge, it's taken some... adjusting. I have to keep reminding myself he's not amassing resources to take control."
Laura managed to catch the ghost of the words 'from you' at the end of his sentence and her lips twitched with amusement. Seeing her back in a position of power, but not calling the shots, seemed more disconcerting to him than she previously thought.
"It's alright." She turned back around, leaning against the desk and crossing her arms. "All of us are adjusting."
"You'll get the men, Laura." Bill smiled faintly. "I just want them back."
"Don't worry, Admiral. I'm sure they'll be returned to you in good working order."
"They'd better." He took a step towards her. "Or I'd have to write up a formal complaint."
Laura parted her lips in mock shock. "Paperwork? Are you threatening me with paperwork?"
"The HR department could get involved," he deadpanned.
They managed to hold straight faces for several more second before Laura burst into a fit of giggles and Bill cracked a smile.
"Am I interrupting something?"
While Laura brought up a hand to try and smother her laughter, she noticed Bill had immediately managed to switch back to seriousness at the sound of Zarek's voice.
The Admiral only turned partially, so that his back was still facing the President when he addressed him. "I was just talking to the Vice President about the requisition for more of my troops to be sent to the surface."
The Vice President. When Laura had been in office, Bill typically referred to Baltar as 'your vice president'. Though she often winced at the responsibility she had of him due to that possession, she knew Bill had meant to use it in order to keep reminding Baltar of his submissive position to her. When speaking to Zarek, he gave no such possession to her title.
"I hope things are going well. I'd hate to think Laura was laughing at one of your suggestions."
Bill didn't respond, and Laura resisted the urge to roll her eyes. She wasn't going to stick around if all they were going to try and do was bait each other.
"Now that you're here," she cut in, "I'll turn the meeting over to you. I have a pharmaceutical rationing bill to go over." With one last quick smile to Bill, Laura moved down the aisle past Zarek. Though he had just come from an important meeting with a prominent civilian organizer, he had somehow managed to make it back to Colonial One on his own.
Laura had never been particularly fond of the entourage that followed her during her presidency. She knew Tom wasn't keen on it either, but he had managed to find a way to give them the slip every now and again. She was often tempted to ask him how he managed that particular trick.
Tom turned in the aisle, giving her the space to pass him. "Good work today."
Something about his words nearly halted her steps. Almost as if he had just said 'good work on the Admiral'.
Shoulders tensing at the thought, she gave a small nod of acknowledgment before hurrying on. Maybe it hadn't been such an accident she'd heard Bill had been kept waiting.
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