Battlestar Galactica - X Equals Thrace
Title: X Equals Thrace
Disclaimer: Battlestar Galactica, and its characters, don’t belong to me. Which kind of sucks, but I’m dealing with it.
Pairing: Laura/Bill
Rating: Teen
Summary: There's more to Kara than meets the eye, she's like a unknown variable.
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Previous: Yielding
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After two days in bed Laura was going positively insane. Every file she received merely had to be read and approved or denied, and even then she was continuously being told to rest. There was really nothing she could do effectively if she kept being told to stop what she was doing. In fact if Tory walked in one more time and gave her half her work rather than the whole days worth, she would not be responsible for her actions. “I wonder if Bill has some of my paperwork,” She said out loud, beginning to enjoy hearing the sound of her own voice again. If he’d hidden some work concerning the fleet from her, it was going to annoy her. But if she found it then she’d have something to do.
Slowly Laura got to her feet and crept into the main living area, just in case anyone was in there. The idea that someone would be hanging around to ‘babysit’ her was constantly coming up. Luckily that wasn’t the case. With a mischievous smile, Laura moved to Bill’s desk and began to sift through the files she saw. She’d always been impressed with how organised he was, although most people in the military were organised. In the pile that he’d left for later, Laura managed to find two requests that she should have received.
“If that’s left on your desk, what else are you hiding from me?” She asked curiously, leaving the files where they were for the time being. Opening the first drawer she found nothing but an envelope with her name on it. She opened it and pulled out the piece of paper inside, reading it with a sly smile. “Get back to bed. Always prepared for any situation aren’t you Bill?” She rolled her eyes and headed back to the rack, pausing as the hatch began to open. There was really no way she could make a run for the rack, or even the head. It was blatantly obvious that she hadn’t just gotten up for a toilet break.
Then in stepped Kara Thrace, and as she saw the President a grin spread across her face. “Aren’t you supposed to be in bed mother-to-be?” She asked with amusement. “Nice to see you half asleep in your rack, as the Old Man suggested you would be.”
“You’re so funny Kara,” Laura shot back sarcastically. “I honestly forgot to laugh for a minute there, but it’s all coming back to me now.” She let out a fake laugh as she lowered herself onto the sofa.
“I won’t tell Madam Prez… promise,” The young pilot said as she practically flung herself onto the sofa next to Laura. Still as close as she’d wanted to get, she held back, leaving a fair distance between them. Not entirely sure what had changed about their relationship, if anything, since New Caprica. Sure she was family to the Adama’s, but Laura Roslin was a different story. Maybe it was the fear of having another mother figure to ultimately disappoint. She cocked her head to one side as she considered Laura. “How is little Zigs today?”
“So you’ve shortened the name further?”
“Zigs Adama amuses me for the moment,” Kara admitted with a smile. “But tell me, how is she?”
“Ziggy is possibly the most active foetus in the history of the Colonies,” Laura repeated back what Cottle had told her when he’d checked that everything was in order. “She’s going to be a feisty one…”
“SO SHE IS A SHE!”
“No Kara, we don’t know,” Laura said quickly, knowing Bill would kill them both if he even suspected she knew what the sex of the baby was. “You referred to Ziggy as a ‘she’ first, and I just followed suit.”
“Well I think it will be a girl,” Kara grinned, leaning back against the sofa. “Wouldn’t you prefer that? Girl’s can be so quiet, and you could brush her hair before she goes to bed. Of course, I’d be the cool big sister figure that goes out hunting every ship in the fleet for the perfect clothes for her to wear…”
Laura frowned and moved closer to Kara. “I thought you’d want to teach her to fly a Viper and get into bar fights,” There was only a hint of humour in her voice as she spoke, watching the younger woman carefully.
“Not all little girls grow up like me,” She pointed out quietly. “Besides Lee’s her real brother, he’d probably fight me to teach her to fly a Viper.”
“He’d probably lose too,” Laura smiled brightly as she noticed Kara begin to brighten up again. “You know… the baby will need a big sister….”
“Are you serious?”
“Well, if it is a girl she’s going to need someone to run to when she thinks I’m ruining her life,” Laura reasoned, reaching out to touch Kara’s hand lightly. “And, no matter what you say, I don’t think Lee would make a good big sister.”
“I suppose I could handle it,” Kara shrugged. “I kinda enjoy looking after little kids. They grow on you after a while.”
“You know Kara,” Laura continued. “You have a strong bond with Bill and Lee - the three of you make a good family. I just wanted you to know that I don’t want that to change just because I’m here. I don’t want to ruin what you have with them.”
Standing up suddenly, Kara rubbed the back of her neck and glanced at the hatch. “I should probably get going,” She explained as apologetically as she could. “I’ve got stuff to do, and pretty much just dropped in to see how you were. Not checking up or anything, just to see. And you’re fine, and the baby’s kicking. So I should really get back to…”
“Stuff…” Laura offered when it seemed Kara wasn’t quite sure what she was getting back to. “It’s okay Kara, I’ll see you later.” She frowned slightly as she watched Kara start to leave, wondering if maybe she was right.
“And I never thought that for a second,” The younger woman said as she stopped before the hatch, not turning to look at Laura as she spoke. She kept her head down, and her shoulders slightly slumped forward. “That you were trying to ruin our family. I was just… getting used to having a mother again, a mother that actually cared. You were all I had on New Caprica, and I never did thank you.” At that she looked back and nodded towards Laura, before turning and disappearing into the corridor.
Remaining where she was, Laura stared at the hatch for a moment longer. There was so much more to Kara then she ever would have guessed. As she stood and headed for the rack, it occurred to Laura that she had found a family after years of being alone. It had taken a holocaust for her to find something so beautiful. She stopped midway and sank to the floor in tears, her hands against her belly. The happiest she’d been in so long, and all she could do was cry. If the baby didn’t kill her, the hormones would.
***
After being caught out of bed earlier, Laura spent most of her afternoon pushing herself around in her wheelchair. Three laps later (excluding two races to see how fast she could get from one end of the room to the other) and the novelty had worn off, if it had even been there to begin with. So it was that Bill found her stretched out on the couch reading a book, with the wheelchair folded up under the coffee table.
“Welcome home honey,” Laura flashed a mock smile at him as she continued reading. “Did you have a nice day at work? Put your feet up, I’ll get you a cold drink. Hold on while I call the children in from the backyard…”
“Very funny,” Bill smirked as he moved to sit at his desk and kick off his shoes. He resisted the urge to tell her how that scenario would have been nice had they met years ago. Not so much the housewife persona Laura enjoyed making fun of. He knew that life would never suit her. It was the idea of taking leave and walking into a real family home with Laura and their children. By the time he got home dinner would probably be cooking while Laura helped their daughter with her homework, absent-mindedly signing a piece of paper their son would slide under her arm at the best opportunity while telling her it’s for a field day…
“Hey?” Laura stood behind his chair and draped her arms around his shoulder. It worried her that she’d made it across the room without pulling him from his thoughts. Then again he was a deep thinker when he was in the privacy of his quarters - when he was just Bill. Smiling at the thought, she pressed a kiss to his cheek. “Tell me what you’re thinking about…” She said softly. It felt good to sling her arms around him and hold him, just being together - so close.
His hands moved to stroke her arms, fingers sliding down until they caressed her pale and slender hands. They were such beautiful hands. Everything about her was beautiful - and graceful. The way she ran her fingers through her hair or the way she stepped into a room then looked up, pursing her lips slightly. Almost like the mystery woman making her entrance in an old movie. “I was thinking about you,” He pressed a kiss against her wrist and lightly pulled her around to sit on his lap.
“You’re always thinking about me,” Laura laughed as she settled back against his chest, letting him move his arms around her.
They sat in silence with their hands protecting their unborn child. No disasters. No annoying Fleet issues. No friends to bother them. It was a perfect moment. Bill smiled and dropped a kiss against Laura’s shoulder, drawing her from her thoughts.
“Tory found a baby book on one of the ships,” Laura suddenly said, amused by the idea that if you really looked you could find anything in the Fleet. “She’s reading random pages, finds it all very interesting. Apparently our baby is this big…” She held up her hand in front of them and indicated what she assumed was roughly fourteen centimeters.
“Is that so…”
“It looks small when you look at it like that,” She continued, staring at her hand. “But it’s not like it’s a straight line. It’s got arms and legs, and probably a big head… so really…” She held up her other hand and tried to work out exactly how big the baby would be.
“We could always ask Cottle,” Bill laughed as he watched her hands twisting around in the air, as if she was trying to solve a Rubik cube.
“Please no!” Laura pouted, her hands falling back down to rest on her stomach. “Every time he gets me into the sickbay he takes more blood and asks more questions. It all makes me feel like an experiment.”
“We don’t have to ask Cottle,” Bill promised, his arms tightening around her protectively. “We don’t have to do anything.”
“That’s nice to know,” Laura sighed, feeling more relaxed than ever. She’d give anything just for a lifetime of these moments with him, moments when they were simply Bill and Laura. “Kara came to see me today, to see how I was…” Her voice seemed to fade away as she thought about the short meeting.
Worried by her sudden silence, Bill moved slightly and tipped her head back to look at him. The sadness in her eyes pained him to see, and he stopped himself from asking if she was okay. Last time he had, she’d thrown a book at his head. “What did she do?” He asked cautiously. They were both well aware that his surrogate daughter had a habit of saying the wrong thing.
“She didn’t do anything,” Laura told him, brining her hand up to gently cup his cheek. “Honestly, it wasn’t like that. I was worried I was getting in the way of her relationship with you and Lee, that maybe she felt threatened by me or the baby. And she told me she was just getting used to having a mother again, a mother that cared for her. She thanked me for that, for being with her when I could on New Caprica… it made me realise just how much I want this. Because she’s just a little girl, who has to fight in a war that our grandparents started long before her time… all she has to cling to is this dysfunctional wreckage that we call a family. And without that, without us, she suffers alone in this darkening void that seems to be our existence now. She’s just a scared little girl, Bill. There is so much more to her than anyone sees, but she needs us just as much as we need her. Just as everyone needs everyone else, or none of us will survive.”
Her words slowly began to form meaning in his mind. The extent to which she’d thought it all through astounding him. It hadn’t occurred to him just how much Kara meant to her as well. “Do you think this deeply about everything?” He asked quietly, not sure what else to say.
“Most things,” Laura muttered, and shrugged her shoulders slightly. “Although the past two days have given me more time to over analyse things, and lately I’m thinking too deeply over the most trivial things.”
“You’re adorable,” Bill chuckled, running his hand through her hair.
“So say we all,” Laura yawned and moved to stand up, knowing it would not be good if she fell asleep in Bill’s lap. “I need to have a nap.” She whispered as he tried to pull her back.
“I’ll wake you for dinner?”
“Yes please,” She smiled and leaned down to press a soft kiss against his lips. “I love you.”
“I love you too,” Bill smiled and turned in his chair slightly as he watched her head for their rack. The thought of joining her crossed his mind, but one of them had to make sure the other didn’t skip a meal. He shook his head with amusement and started his paperwork.
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Next: While We Wait
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Disclaimer: Battlestar Galactica, and its characters, don’t belong to me. Which kind of sucks, but I’m dealing with it.
Pairing: Laura/Bill
Rating: Teen
Summary: There's more to Kara than meets the eye, she's like a unknown variable.
--
Previous: Yielding
--
After two days in bed Laura was going positively insane. Every file she received merely had to be read and approved or denied, and even then she was continuously being told to rest. There was really nothing she could do effectively if she kept being told to stop what she was doing. In fact if Tory walked in one more time and gave her half her work rather than the whole days worth, she would not be responsible for her actions. “I wonder if Bill has some of my paperwork,” She said out loud, beginning to enjoy hearing the sound of her own voice again. If he’d hidden some work concerning the fleet from her, it was going to annoy her. But if she found it then she’d have something to do.
Slowly Laura got to her feet and crept into the main living area, just in case anyone was in there. The idea that someone would be hanging around to ‘babysit’ her was constantly coming up. Luckily that wasn’t the case. With a mischievous smile, Laura moved to Bill’s desk and began to sift through the files she saw. She’d always been impressed with how organised he was, although most people in the military were organised. In the pile that he’d left for later, Laura managed to find two requests that she should have received.
“If that’s left on your desk, what else are you hiding from me?” She asked curiously, leaving the files where they were for the time being. Opening the first drawer she found nothing but an envelope with her name on it. She opened it and pulled out the piece of paper inside, reading it with a sly smile. “Get back to bed. Always prepared for any situation aren’t you Bill?” She rolled her eyes and headed back to the rack, pausing as the hatch began to open. There was really no way she could make a run for the rack, or even the head. It was blatantly obvious that she hadn’t just gotten up for a toilet break.
Then in stepped Kara Thrace, and as she saw the President a grin spread across her face. “Aren’t you supposed to be in bed mother-to-be?” She asked with amusement. “Nice to see you half asleep in your rack, as the Old Man suggested you would be.”
“You’re so funny Kara,” Laura shot back sarcastically. “I honestly forgot to laugh for a minute there, but it’s all coming back to me now.” She let out a fake laugh as she lowered herself onto the sofa.
“I won’t tell Madam Prez… promise,” The young pilot said as she practically flung herself onto the sofa next to Laura. Still as close as she’d wanted to get, she held back, leaving a fair distance between them. Not entirely sure what had changed about their relationship, if anything, since New Caprica. Sure she was family to the Adama’s, but Laura Roslin was a different story. Maybe it was the fear of having another mother figure to ultimately disappoint. She cocked her head to one side as she considered Laura. “How is little Zigs today?”
“So you’ve shortened the name further?”
“Zigs Adama amuses me for the moment,” Kara admitted with a smile. “But tell me, how is she?”
“Ziggy is possibly the most active foetus in the history of the Colonies,” Laura repeated back what Cottle had told her when he’d checked that everything was in order. “She’s going to be a feisty one…”
“SO SHE IS A SHE!”
“No Kara, we don’t know,” Laura said quickly, knowing Bill would kill them both if he even suspected she knew what the sex of the baby was. “You referred to Ziggy as a ‘she’ first, and I just followed suit.”
“Well I think it will be a girl,” Kara grinned, leaning back against the sofa. “Wouldn’t you prefer that? Girl’s can be so quiet, and you could brush her hair before she goes to bed. Of course, I’d be the cool big sister figure that goes out hunting every ship in the fleet for the perfect clothes for her to wear…”
Laura frowned and moved closer to Kara. “I thought you’d want to teach her to fly a Viper and get into bar fights,” There was only a hint of humour in her voice as she spoke, watching the younger woman carefully.
“Not all little girls grow up like me,” She pointed out quietly. “Besides Lee’s her real brother, he’d probably fight me to teach her to fly a Viper.”
“He’d probably lose too,” Laura smiled brightly as she noticed Kara begin to brighten up again. “You know… the baby will need a big sister….”
“Are you serious?”
“Well, if it is a girl she’s going to need someone to run to when she thinks I’m ruining her life,” Laura reasoned, reaching out to touch Kara’s hand lightly. “And, no matter what you say, I don’t think Lee would make a good big sister.”
“I suppose I could handle it,” Kara shrugged. “I kinda enjoy looking after little kids. They grow on you after a while.”
“You know Kara,” Laura continued. “You have a strong bond with Bill and Lee - the three of you make a good family. I just wanted you to know that I don’t want that to change just because I’m here. I don’t want to ruin what you have with them.”
Standing up suddenly, Kara rubbed the back of her neck and glanced at the hatch. “I should probably get going,” She explained as apologetically as she could. “I’ve got stuff to do, and pretty much just dropped in to see how you were. Not checking up or anything, just to see. And you’re fine, and the baby’s kicking. So I should really get back to…”
“Stuff…” Laura offered when it seemed Kara wasn’t quite sure what she was getting back to. “It’s okay Kara, I’ll see you later.” She frowned slightly as she watched Kara start to leave, wondering if maybe she was right.
“And I never thought that for a second,” The younger woman said as she stopped before the hatch, not turning to look at Laura as she spoke. She kept her head down, and her shoulders slightly slumped forward. “That you were trying to ruin our family. I was just… getting used to having a mother again, a mother that actually cared. You were all I had on New Caprica, and I never did thank you.” At that she looked back and nodded towards Laura, before turning and disappearing into the corridor.
Remaining where she was, Laura stared at the hatch for a moment longer. There was so much more to Kara then she ever would have guessed. As she stood and headed for the rack, it occurred to Laura that she had found a family after years of being alone. It had taken a holocaust for her to find something so beautiful. She stopped midway and sank to the floor in tears, her hands against her belly. The happiest she’d been in so long, and all she could do was cry. If the baby didn’t kill her, the hormones would.
***
After being caught out of bed earlier, Laura spent most of her afternoon pushing herself around in her wheelchair. Three laps later (excluding two races to see how fast she could get from one end of the room to the other) and the novelty had worn off, if it had even been there to begin with. So it was that Bill found her stretched out on the couch reading a book, with the wheelchair folded up under the coffee table.
“Welcome home honey,” Laura flashed a mock smile at him as she continued reading. “Did you have a nice day at work? Put your feet up, I’ll get you a cold drink. Hold on while I call the children in from the backyard…”
“Very funny,” Bill smirked as he moved to sit at his desk and kick off his shoes. He resisted the urge to tell her how that scenario would have been nice had they met years ago. Not so much the housewife persona Laura enjoyed making fun of. He knew that life would never suit her. It was the idea of taking leave and walking into a real family home with Laura and their children. By the time he got home dinner would probably be cooking while Laura helped their daughter with her homework, absent-mindedly signing a piece of paper their son would slide under her arm at the best opportunity while telling her it’s for a field day…
“Hey?” Laura stood behind his chair and draped her arms around his shoulder. It worried her that she’d made it across the room without pulling him from his thoughts. Then again he was a deep thinker when he was in the privacy of his quarters - when he was just Bill. Smiling at the thought, she pressed a kiss to his cheek. “Tell me what you’re thinking about…” She said softly. It felt good to sling her arms around him and hold him, just being together - so close.
His hands moved to stroke her arms, fingers sliding down until they caressed her pale and slender hands. They were such beautiful hands. Everything about her was beautiful - and graceful. The way she ran her fingers through her hair or the way she stepped into a room then looked up, pursing her lips slightly. Almost like the mystery woman making her entrance in an old movie. “I was thinking about you,” He pressed a kiss against her wrist and lightly pulled her around to sit on his lap.
“You’re always thinking about me,” Laura laughed as she settled back against his chest, letting him move his arms around her.
They sat in silence with their hands protecting their unborn child. No disasters. No annoying Fleet issues. No friends to bother them. It was a perfect moment. Bill smiled and dropped a kiss against Laura’s shoulder, drawing her from her thoughts.
“Tory found a baby book on one of the ships,” Laura suddenly said, amused by the idea that if you really looked you could find anything in the Fleet. “She’s reading random pages, finds it all very interesting. Apparently our baby is this big…” She held up her hand in front of them and indicated what she assumed was roughly fourteen centimeters.
“Is that so…”
“It looks small when you look at it like that,” She continued, staring at her hand. “But it’s not like it’s a straight line. It’s got arms and legs, and probably a big head… so really…” She held up her other hand and tried to work out exactly how big the baby would be.
“We could always ask Cottle,” Bill laughed as he watched her hands twisting around in the air, as if she was trying to solve a Rubik cube.
“Please no!” Laura pouted, her hands falling back down to rest on her stomach. “Every time he gets me into the sickbay he takes more blood and asks more questions. It all makes me feel like an experiment.”
“We don’t have to ask Cottle,” Bill promised, his arms tightening around her protectively. “We don’t have to do anything.”
“That’s nice to know,” Laura sighed, feeling more relaxed than ever. She’d give anything just for a lifetime of these moments with him, moments when they were simply Bill and Laura. “Kara came to see me today, to see how I was…” Her voice seemed to fade away as she thought about the short meeting.
Worried by her sudden silence, Bill moved slightly and tipped her head back to look at him. The sadness in her eyes pained him to see, and he stopped himself from asking if she was okay. Last time he had, she’d thrown a book at his head. “What did she do?” He asked cautiously. They were both well aware that his surrogate daughter had a habit of saying the wrong thing.
“She didn’t do anything,” Laura told him, brining her hand up to gently cup his cheek. “Honestly, it wasn’t like that. I was worried I was getting in the way of her relationship with you and Lee, that maybe she felt threatened by me or the baby. And she told me she was just getting used to having a mother again, a mother that cared for her. She thanked me for that, for being with her when I could on New Caprica… it made me realise just how much I want this. Because she’s just a little girl, who has to fight in a war that our grandparents started long before her time… all she has to cling to is this dysfunctional wreckage that we call a family. And without that, without us, she suffers alone in this darkening void that seems to be our existence now. She’s just a scared little girl, Bill. There is so much more to her than anyone sees, but she needs us just as much as we need her. Just as everyone needs everyone else, or none of us will survive.”
Her words slowly began to form meaning in his mind. The extent to which she’d thought it all through astounding him. It hadn’t occurred to him just how much Kara meant to her as well. “Do you think this deeply about everything?” He asked quietly, not sure what else to say.
“Most things,” Laura muttered, and shrugged her shoulders slightly. “Although the past two days have given me more time to over analyse things, and lately I’m thinking too deeply over the most trivial things.”
“You’re adorable,” Bill chuckled, running his hand through her hair.
“So say we all,” Laura yawned and moved to stand up, knowing it would not be good if she fell asleep in Bill’s lap. “I need to have a nap.” She whispered as he tried to pull her back.
“I’ll wake you for dinner?”
“Yes please,” She smiled and leaned down to press a soft kiss against his lips. “I love you.”
“I love you too,” Bill smiled and turned in his chair slightly as he watched her head for their rack. The thought of joining her crossed his mind, but one of them had to make sure the other didn’t skip a meal. He shook his head with amusement and started his paperwork.
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Next: While We Wait
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