Curtain Call - chapter 15 - Complete
This is it. My very first multipart BSG fic completed.
Chapter 15
Moving through sickbay, Bill stopped short as he caught sight of her. Standing a ways away, he looked down not at her, but at all the tubes and wires running off of her. At all of the things that she had never wanted.
Cottle was seated by her side. They hadn't spoken since the last time Laura had been admitted. Cottle getting her hooked up for her treatments and then departing for other parts of sickbay, Bill arriving a few minutes late, they usually manged to avoid each other all together when she was here.
Moving closer, putting his hand over hers, he started to ask. “She still hasn't -”
“ - She regained consciousness for a short time. I gave her something to get her back to sleep. She needs the rest. She'll be out for a few hours at least.”
Bill nodded. “How's Athena?”
“She'll recover - physically. Any word on Hera?”
Bill shook his head. “Will I be able to take Laura home when she wakes up or do you need to keep her overnight?”
Pity in his eyes, Sherman looked at him a moment before giving his head a slight shake.
He didn't have to actually say the words for Bill to get his meaning - this was home now.
Now this, this was everything that she had never wanted.
Eying the book and magnifying glass in his hands, Cottle gestured to the small table by the bed. “They brought the book she had with her when they transported her here.”
As Cottle left, Bill picked up the book from the table.
Searider Falcon.
It had been ludicrous to think that just because he had put it atop the highest shelf that she wouldn't get it down.
He didn't like the idea of her getting to the end of their story without him, but he hadn't exactly given her much choice in the matter.
Running his hand along the blemished cover, he looked over at her again. Loath though he was to admit it, it was getting harder and harder to deny that the time to finish their story was drawing near.
She was still sleeping as he took a seat and began to read. Wanting to make the story last a little longer, he started a little ways before where they had last left off.
“The raft was not as seaworthy as I'd hoped.”
Only one line in, but the words were so cutting he already found himself wanting, needing to stop.
But he didn't.
“The waves repeatedly threatened to swamp it. I wasn't afraid to -”
Putting the magnifying glass down on the table and leaving the book on his lap, he reached up to stroke her cheek.
From memory, he recited the passage.
“I wasn't afraid to die.” His voice caught as he went on. “I was afraid of the emptiness that I felt inside. I couldn't feel anything. And that's what scared me. You came into my thoughts. I felt them. It felt good.”
Looking down at her hand, he gently brushed away those tears of his that had landed there.
Looking back to the book on his lap, he saw that of their own accord, the well worn pages had turned. The book's binding was creased as if to a part read many times. It had to be a favorite passage of Laura's for he had never made it that far in the book before.
Aloud, Bill began to read.
“Then I dug into the stump and pulled rocks from the ground until my fingers bled. I collected seeds from the few fruits the island offered and planted them in long straight furrows like the ranks of soldiers. When I finished I looked at what I had done. I did not see a garden. I saw a scar.”
He broke off again, but this time marshaling his emotions and his tears, he went on. “This island had saved my life and I -” His voice caught again. “ - I had done it no service.”
Unable to continue, he put the book back on the table and just sat there staring at the woman he loved.
Ishay nodded to him in greeting as she approached with a clearly marked bag in hand. He interrupted her as she reached up to remove the only half empty bag of saline.
“Don't.”
He had said it so softly, she made him repeat it. “Sir?”
“Don't.”
“Admiral?” the medic looked at him questioningly.
He shook his head.
“It's all right, sir.” She spoke words that she no doubt thought would reassure him. “The doctor has her so doped up she won't even notice. She'll sleep right through -”
Closing his eyes, just as softly, he repeated himself. “Don't.”
Poison still in hand, she retreated.
Taking Laura's hand in his, he pressed his mouth to it. Her hand still in his, reopening their book, Bill plodded forward to the end.
Finis
So … if you've taken the time to read all the way to the end I'd love to hear your thoughts on the story. Loved it? Hated it? Indifferent about it?