Deliverance (3/?)
Title: Deliverance
Author: coexist_love
Rating: MA
Fandom: Battlestar Galactica 2003
Character: General with Roslin/Adama emphasis
Summary: A normal day on among the fleet is disturbed when an unidentified assailant attempts to assassinate President Roslin.
Disclaimer: Not written for money and if I owned Galactica this would have already happened.
Spoilers: Flight of the Pheonix through Epiphanies
Author’s Note: I thought about this while watching Colonial Day and though my setting is very different to begin with it was given further substance by whyoffry and maj_zoidberg444 at LiveJournal and a special thanks to my lovely betas (I had so many ) but in particular whyoffry campmotha and tina_cat
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
When Laura got off the shuttle from Colonial One she felt her heart sink in sadness. How many more times would she get to visit the Battlestar before her time ran out? She knew that the last time would be when she was moved to Life Station. She would be attached to wires and machines so Dr. Cottle could monitor her around the clock. The thought of her last memory of Galactica being a hospital bed and a room smelling of antiseptic sickened her.
She glanced around the hanger bay as the usual military honors were carried out. She never really liked the way the military fawned over her when she visited the ship but now she realized that she was going to miss it. She smiled meekly as Commander Adama appeared before her.
“Madame President,” he said offering her his arm. “Shall we?” Laura threaded her hand through his arm and he lead her through the halls of Galactica without a word. “How are you holding up?”
“I’m dying,” Laura stated. “How do you think I’m holding up?” Realizing the curtness in her voice Laura immediately apologized, “I am sorry, it’s just…”
“I know,” Bill said. “You’re sad, you’re upset. It’s okay.” They reached his quarters and Adama opened the hatch, gesturing for her to enter. Laura stepped inside and Bill followed her, closing the hatch behind him. Laura wandered aimlessly around the living area like she had done in the past while Bill stepped further into his quarters, “Take a seat.”
Laura turning to face him, tears teetering in the corners of her eyes. She thanked Bill and took a seat on the couch, fighting back her tears. She wouldn’t allow herself to cry. Not now, and not ever. However Bill noticed her tears despite her best efforts and soon enough a friendly hand was resting on her shoulder.
“Laura?” Bill questioned. “Do you want to talk about it?”
“I had an appointment with Dr. Cottle a couple days ago. He told me that the cancer has advanced to the point where I have weeks, a month at the outside.” Laura’s body began to shake. She let the tears fall down her face as she looked into Bill’s eyes. “I don’t want to die Bill,” Laura cried.
“Oh my gods,” Bill stated as he moved closer to her. A part of him knew that the deadline that Cottle had given her was drawing closer, another part didn’t want to believe it. But no matter how hard he tried to put it out of his mind nothing could change the facts before him. He was losing Laura Roslin. “Laura why didn’t you tell me?”
“I’m scared,” she whispered as Bill pulled her closer to him. She was avoiding his question but she didn’t care. She was too drained to focus on the past and the present seemed like the only thing she could think about.
“Don’t be afraid,” Bill said. “I’m here with you.” He leaned down and kissed the top of her head before pulling her into his embrace. She buried her face into his uniform, seeking the warmth of another human being. “It’s okay, you’re not alone.”
Laura inhaled deeply. She was overcome by her sudden outburst of emotion. A part of her wanted to be the stoic political leader and hold in all of her emotions but another part of her decided that she needed this opportunity to cry.
Everything was starting to come together in Bill’s mind as he held the sobbing President against his chest. The way she had been acting when he had offered her his quarters as an outlet for work was strange, rigid, not like her usual relaxed self. When she had returned Dark Day to him he was deeply concerned. Due to the limited resources at their disposal, when someone died the military would distribute the decedent’s possessions among the rest of the fleet. Now he wondered if she had wanted to protect the one gift that he had given to her by giving it back to him.
He remembered when she had asked to borrow a book; the sly smile that spread across her face when she told him of the guilty pleasure she had for mysteries. He had given her the book not just because he believed in never lending a book but because he wanted her to have something of his. At the time, when he was ignorant of her cancer, he wanted nothing more than to see the President smile and be happy. They had just managed to outrun days of rigorous Cylon attacks and he was sure that Laura wasn’t used to the effort such a feet took. So when she had asked for the book he had greatly offered it to her. He knew that it would be in good hands. Her hands.
It was a few minutes before the President’s cries stopped and her breathing leveled out into small and even tones. Bill reached for her hand to find it limp and realized that she had fallen asleep. He smiled slightly at the site and began stroking her hair with his fingers. Bill found himself wondering when she had last slept and decided against waking her until they had to be in the hangar deck to christen the blackbird.
He gently laid her down on the couch as he stood up. He watched as she stretched out, taking advantage of the length of the couch. Walking over to his rack, Bill retrieved a blanket and returned to cover her sleeping her form. He gently raked his hand through her hair as he watched her sleep.
***
It was several hours later before Laura began to stir. When he heard her move he glanced over and smiled at him. He smiled back before referring to the clock and realizing that they would be late to hangar deck if they didn’t leave now.
“Sorry,” Laura said as she began bracing herself to get up.
“Don’t be,” Bill said. “You probably needed it.”
“How long until we have to be on the hangar deck?” Laura asked.
“Ten minutes. Are you ready to go?”
“Yeah, let’s go.” Bill extended his arm and Laura accepted it before standing up.
***
“Commander on deck,” one of the pilots shouted as Roslin and Adama entered the hangar deck.
”As you were,” Adama ordered.
“Chief Tyrol,” Roslin said shaking the Chief’s hand. “This is the blackbird?”
“Yes ma’am. Madame President this is an honor,” Tyrol stated to her.
“No the honor is mine,” Laura said thinking that she was happy she was alive to see this moment. That she was glad that she could see the fleet find some happiness that wasn’t in finding a planet.
“It’s just a ship ma’am,” Tyrol said.
Laura watched as the crew began signing the engine they helped build. She smiled at the sight thinking that it was good for their morale to have something to believe in that wasn’t a war or a fight against the Cylons. She drew on Bill’s words from earlier and began to give a short speech.
“Oh you are too modest. After what we’ve been through, it would be very easy to give up, to lose hope. But not here. Not today. This is more than a ship, Chief. This is an act of faith. It is proof that despite all we’ve lost, we keep trying. And we will get through this, all of us together. I promise.”
“Commander,” she heard Tyrol’s voice say in the distance. “Uh, Madam President. This was supposed to be a surprise, but well…” Tyrol removed the sheet from the head of the blackbird revealing the name Laura written in a clear script.
For the second time today Laura felt tears spring to her eyes as she looked at her name on the blackbird. Most people where put on pedestals, she…she got her name on a ship. She smiled to herself for a moment before speaking again.
“Thank you.”
“If you’ll do the honors, Madam President,” Adama stated as he handed Laura a bottle of ambrosia.
“Of course.” Laura said as she put on her glasses before accepting the ambrosia. Before opening it she read the label and smiled. “Oh,” she said in reaction to the year. “Okay.”
Laura took a few steps closer to the blackbird, still overwhelmed by everything that just happened. She was saddened by the fact that she was dying and that they had immortalized her in the form of a stealth ship. She pondered the irony that there was in having a stealth ship named after her. She recalled the time she had overdosed on Chamalla and Dr. Cottle had to come and give her a shot to help her regain her strength. The time is going to come when you will not be able to hide what you are going through. Feeling her inevitable demise approaching her, she raised the bottle over hear head as if she was going to break it over the hull…
“Whoa!” Tyrol exclaimed pulling her out of her thoughts.
She laughed for a brief moment. “Kidding,” she stated as she positioned the bottle so that the cork would pop off. When the cork successfully ejected from the mouth of the bottle she handed it back to Tyrol and allowed the pilots to enjoy the party. She removed her glasses and she slipped away from the crowd, followed closely by Bill. “That was lovely.”
“They wanted to do that for you,” Adama said to her.
“Thank you,” she said solemnly. “None of this would have been possible if you hadn’t trusted the Cylon.”
“I took your advice,” Bill said. “Met on common ground.”
“What was that?” Laura asked, her voice soft.
“We both wanted to live,” Bill said.
No sooner than the words left Bill’s mouth, a searing pain entered her abdomen and two more that entered her chest. Her breath caught in her throat at the sudden disturbance. She felt all the eyes in the room settle on her as her body began to shake.
“Laura?” Bill asked. She didn’t respond to his voice but Bill watched as her hand moved to her abdomen and came away covered in scarlet blood. Her face continued to grow paler as she stood in front of him. Her body started to fall forward and he caught her in his arms. “Laura!” Bill exclaimed as he eased her down to the floor. He noticed that the white shirt that she wore under her blazer was turning a crimson red from the blood spilling onto it and felt a flurry of emotions enter his head as he realized there was a room of people standing around them. “Get Dr. Cottle! NOW!”
Once the crowd dispersed to the tasks of saving the President and locating Dr. Cottle, Bill turned his attention back to Laura. Her eyes were open but were displaying a look of fear as she stared back at him. Her shaking was increasing violently and her breathing was nothing more than a faint wheeze as she tried in vain to force air from her lungs.
“It’s okay Laura,” Bill said to her as he turned back to the crowd. “Grab an old rag or a uniform, something to put pressure on these wounds.” A couple of pilots immediately rushed to the President and began applying pressure to her wounds. When Laura felt the pressure being applying to her chest her breathing faltered and she coughed as her already weakened lung capacity was further diminished.
Bill responded by tilting her head back and pinching her nose. He covered her mouth with his and breathed into her mouth. His peripheral vision noticed the rise in Laura’s chest and he inhaled again to repeat the process. Laura was attempting to fight against him in a weak attempt to breath for herself.
“Don’t fight me Laura,” Bill told her between breaths. “Just take it easy.” Bill knew that he had to keep oxygenated blood flowing through Laura’s body to keep her from going into shock and since Laura wasn’t breathing deeply enough to keep her blood oxygenated and he took on the task of a human ventilator with a vengeance. He wasn’t willing to lose her yet, her life was already being cut short by her cancer and no one had any right to take her deadline into their own hands.
Laura complied as Bill continued breathing for her. If Bill remembered correctly he should give her twelve breaths every minute and he would continue to do so even as his ribcage screamed in agony. He focused on nothing but her and her survival. He wanted to spend every minute of the last weeks of her life before the cancer took control of her body, and he was willing to do anything to get that chance.
“Where the hell is Cottle?” he panted out of concern for Laura.
“He’s on his way,” one of the pilots announced. “He should be here shortly”
Commander Adama’s attention was soon drawn back to the President as she began to cough violently and her body began to spasm. She attempted to roll onto her side as she coughed up a puddle of scarlet blood.
“Easy. Easy,” Bill consoled her as he cradled her cheek in his hand. When her coughing fit had stopping he eased her onto her back and continued his breathing. The blood in her mouth tasted like copper but he didn’t care, she was alive for now and that was all that mattered.
“Make a hole,” Cottle’s voice boomed as, the crowd parted as a gurney was wheeled into the hangar deck and Dr. Cottle took his place on the other side of the President. “Commander you don’t have to do that anymore,” he said as one of the nurses moved forward and placed an oxygen mask over the President’s nose and mouth and attached it to an oxygen tank. “What the hell happened?”
“She was shot,” Bill said. His eyes returned to Laura who’s dilated pupils were shifting between her and Cottle as if she were trying to read their faces. “I don’t know who or how. All I know is that we were standing there talking and suddenly she just fell over and couldn’t breathe…I think she has a hemothorax. She was coughing up blood a few minutes ago.”
“I appreciate the prediction Commander but please leave that diagnosis to me,” said Cottle as he listened to Laura’s heartbeat with his stethoscope. He wasn’t sure what he had expected. After examining her on an almost weekly basis he had become used to a slow but steady heartbeat, but now the pace of her heart had been cranked up several notches and it seemed as if she was close to the point of a tachycardia or a ventricular fibrillation. “Get her to Life Station now! Call the nurse and tell her to set up for a rapid sequence intubation!” Cottle commanded.
Two nurses stepped in and gently lifted the limp President onto the gurney. Another nurse strapped her to the moving cot as the medical team proceeded out the door. Bill followed closely behind them as they shuttled her through the corridors in the direction of Life Station.
Author: coexist_love
Rating: MA
Fandom: Battlestar Galactica 2003
Character: General with Roslin/Adama emphasis
Summary: A normal day on among the fleet is disturbed when an unidentified assailant attempts to assassinate President Roslin.
Disclaimer: Not written for money and if I owned Galactica this would have already happened.
Spoilers: Flight of the Pheonix through Epiphanies
Author’s Note: I thought about this while watching Colonial Day and though my setting is very different to begin with it was given further substance by whyoffry and maj_zoidberg444 at LiveJournal and a special thanks to my lovely betas (I had so many ) but in particular whyoffry campmotha and tina_cat
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
When Laura got off the shuttle from Colonial One she felt her heart sink in sadness. How many more times would she get to visit the Battlestar before her time ran out? She knew that the last time would be when she was moved to Life Station. She would be attached to wires and machines so Dr. Cottle could monitor her around the clock. The thought of her last memory of Galactica being a hospital bed and a room smelling of antiseptic sickened her.
She glanced around the hanger bay as the usual military honors were carried out. She never really liked the way the military fawned over her when she visited the ship but now she realized that she was going to miss it. She smiled meekly as Commander Adama appeared before her.
“Madame President,” he said offering her his arm. “Shall we?” Laura threaded her hand through his arm and he lead her through the halls of Galactica without a word. “How are you holding up?”
“I’m dying,” Laura stated. “How do you think I’m holding up?” Realizing the curtness in her voice Laura immediately apologized, “I am sorry, it’s just…”
“I know,” Bill said. “You’re sad, you’re upset. It’s okay.” They reached his quarters and Adama opened the hatch, gesturing for her to enter. Laura stepped inside and Bill followed her, closing the hatch behind him. Laura wandered aimlessly around the living area like she had done in the past while Bill stepped further into his quarters, “Take a seat.”
Laura turning to face him, tears teetering in the corners of her eyes. She thanked Bill and took a seat on the couch, fighting back her tears. She wouldn’t allow herself to cry. Not now, and not ever. However Bill noticed her tears despite her best efforts and soon enough a friendly hand was resting on her shoulder.
“Laura?” Bill questioned. “Do you want to talk about it?”
“I had an appointment with Dr. Cottle a couple days ago. He told me that the cancer has advanced to the point where I have weeks, a month at the outside.” Laura’s body began to shake. She let the tears fall down her face as she looked into Bill’s eyes. “I don’t want to die Bill,” Laura cried.
“Oh my gods,” Bill stated as he moved closer to her. A part of him knew that the deadline that Cottle had given her was drawing closer, another part didn’t want to believe it. But no matter how hard he tried to put it out of his mind nothing could change the facts before him. He was losing Laura Roslin. “Laura why didn’t you tell me?”
“I’m scared,” she whispered as Bill pulled her closer to him. She was avoiding his question but she didn’t care. She was too drained to focus on the past and the present seemed like the only thing she could think about.
“Don’t be afraid,” Bill said. “I’m here with you.” He leaned down and kissed the top of her head before pulling her into his embrace. She buried her face into his uniform, seeking the warmth of another human being. “It’s okay, you’re not alone.”
Laura inhaled deeply. She was overcome by her sudden outburst of emotion. A part of her wanted to be the stoic political leader and hold in all of her emotions but another part of her decided that she needed this opportunity to cry.
Everything was starting to come together in Bill’s mind as he held the sobbing President against his chest. The way she had been acting when he had offered her his quarters as an outlet for work was strange, rigid, not like her usual relaxed self. When she had returned Dark Day to him he was deeply concerned. Due to the limited resources at their disposal, when someone died the military would distribute the decedent’s possessions among the rest of the fleet. Now he wondered if she had wanted to protect the one gift that he had given to her by giving it back to him.
He remembered when she had asked to borrow a book; the sly smile that spread across her face when she told him of the guilty pleasure she had for mysteries. He had given her the book not just because he believed in never lending a book but because he wanted her to have something of his. At the time, when he was ignorant of her cancer, he wanted nothing more than to see the President smile and be happy. They had just managed to outrun days of rigorous Cylon attacks and he was sure that Laura wasn’t used to the effort such a feet took. So when she had asked for the book he had greatly offered it to her. He knew that it would be in good hands. Her hands.
It was a few minutes before the President’s cries stopped and her breathing leveled out into small and even tones. Bill reached for her hand to find it limp and realized that she had fallen asleep. He smiled slightly at the site and began stroking her hair with his fingers. Bill found himself wondering when she had last slept and decided against waking her until they had to be in the hangar deck to christen the blackbird.
He gently laid her down on the couch as he stood up. He watched as she stretched out, taking advantage of the length of the couch. Walking over to his rack, Bill retrieved a blanket and returned to cover her sleeping her form. He gently raked his hand through her hair as he watched her sleep.
***
It was several hours later before Laura began to stir. When he heard her move he glanced over and smiled at him. He smiled back before referring to the clock and realizing that they would be late to hangar deck if they didn’t leave now.
“Sorry,” Laura said as she began bracing herself to get up.
“Don’t be,” Bill said. “You probably needed it.”
“How long until we have to be on the hangar deck?” Laura asked.
“Ten minutes. Are you ready to go?”
“Yeah, let’s go.” Bill extended his arm and Laura accepted it before standing up.
***
“Commander on deck,” one of the pilots shouted as Roslin and Adama entered the hangar deck.
”As you were,” Adama ordered.
“Chief Tyrol,” Roslin said shaking the Chief’s hand. “This is the blackbird?”
“Yes ma’am. Madame President this is an honor,” Tyrol stated to her.
“No the honor is mine,” Laura said thinking that she was happy she was alive to see this moment. That she was glad that she could see the fleet find some happiness that wasn’t in finding a planet.
“It’s just a ship ma’am,” Tyrol said.
Laura watched as the crew began signing the engine they helped build. She smiled at the sight thinking that it was good for their morale to have something to believe in that wasn’t a war or a fight against the Cylons. She drew on Bill’s words from earlier and began to give a short speech.
“Oh you are too modest. After what we’ve been through, it would be very easy to give up, to lose hope. But not here. Not today. This is more than a ship, Chief. This is an act of faith. It is proof that despite all we’ve lost, we keep trying. And we will get through this, all of us together. I promise.”
“Commander,” she heard Tyrol’s voice say in the distance. “Uh, Madam President. This was supposed to be a surprise, but well…” Tyrol removed the sheet from the head of the blackbird revealing the name Laura written in a clear script.
For the second time today Laura felt tears spring to her eyes as she looked at her name on the blackbird. Most people where put on pedestals, she…she got her name on a ship. She smiled to herself for a moment before speaking again.
“Thank you.”
“If you’ll do the honors, Madam President,” Adama stated as he handed Laura a bottle of ambrosia.
“Of course.” Laura said as she put on her glasses before accepting the ambrosia. Before opening it she read the label and smiled. “Oh,” she said in reaction to the year. “Okay.”
Laura took a few steps closer to the blackbird, still overwhelmed by everything that just happened. She was saddened by the fact that she was dying and that they had immortalized her in the form of a stealth ship. She pondered the irony that there was in having a stealth ship named after her. She recalled the time she had overdosed on Chamalla and Dr. Cottle had to come and give her a shot to help her regain her strength. The time is going to come when you will not be able to hide what you are going through. Feeling her inevitable demise approaching her, she raised the bottle over hear head as if she was going to break it over the hull…
“Whoa!” Tyrol exclaimed pulling her out of her thoughts.
She laughed for a brief moment. “Kidding,” she stated as she positioned the bottle so that the cork would pop off. When the cork successfully ejected from the mouth of the bottle she handed it back to Tyrol and allowed the pilots to enjoy the party. She removed her glasses and she slipped away from the crowd, followed closely by Bill. “That was lovely.”
“They wanted to do that for you,” Adama said to her.
“Thank you,” she said solemnly. “None of this would have been possible if you hadn’t trusted the Cylon.”
“I took your advice,” Bill said. “Met on common ground.”
“What was that?” Laura asked, her voice soft.
“We both wanted to live,” Bill said.
No sooner than the words left Bill’s mouth, a searing pain entered her abdomen and two more that entered her chest. Her breath caught in her throat at the sudden disturbance. She felt all the eyes in the room settle on her as her body began to shake.
“Laura?” Bill asked. She didn’t respond to his voice but Bill watched as her hand moved to her abdomen and came away covered in scarlet blood. Her face continued to grow paler as she stood in front of him. Her body started to fall forward and he caught her in his arms. “Laura!” Bill exclaimed as he eased her down to the floor. He noticed that the white shirt that she wore under her blazer was turning a crimson red from the blood spilling onto it and felt a flurry of emotions enter his head as he realized there was a room of people standing around them. “Get Dr. Cottle! NOW!”
Once the crowd dispersed to the tasks of saving the President and locating Dr. Cottle, Bill turned his attention back to Laura. Her eyes were open but were displaying a look of fear as she stared back at him. Her shaking was increasing violently and her breathing was nothing more than a faint wheeze as she tried in vain to force air from her lungs.
“It’s okay Laura,” Bill said to her as he turned back to the crowd. “Grab an old rag or a uniform, something to put pressure on these wounds.” A couple of pilots immediately rushed to the President and began applying pressure to her wounds. When Laura felt the pressure being applying to her chest her breathing faltered and she coughed as her already weakened lung capacity was further diminished.
Bill responded by tilting her head back and pinching her nose. He covered her mouth with his and breathed into her mouth. His peripheral vision noticed the rise in Laura’s chest and he inhaled again to repeat the process. Laura was attempting to fight against him in a weak attempt to breath for herself.
“Don’t fight me Laura,” Bill told her between breaths. “Just take it easy.” Bill knew that he had to keep oxygenated blood flowing through Laura’s body to keep her from going into shock and since Laura wasn’t breathing deeply enough to keep her blood oxygenated and he took on the task of a human ventilator with a vengeance. He wasn’t willing to lose her yet, her life was already being cut short by her cancer and no one had any right to take her deadline into their own hands.
Laura complied as Bill continued breathing for her. If Bill remembered correctly he should give her twelve breaths every minute and he would continue to do so even as his ribcage screamed in agony. He focused on nothing but her and her survival. He wanted to spend every minute of the last weeks of her life before the cancer took control of her body, and he was willing to do anything to get that chance.
“Where the hell is Cottle?” he panted out of concern for Laura.
“He’s on his way,” one of the pilots announced. “He should be here shortly”
Commander Adama’s attention was soon drawn back to the President as she began to cough violently and her body began to spasm. She attempted to roll onto her side as she coughed up a puddle of scarlet blood.
“Easy. Easy,” Bill consoled her as he cradled her cheek in his hand. When her coughing fit had stopping he eased her onto her back and continued his breathing. The blood in her mouth tasted like copper but he didn’t care, she was alive for now and that was all that mattered.
“Make a hole,” Cottle’s voice boomed as, the crowd parted as a gurney was wheeled into the hangar deck and Dr. Cottle took his place on the other side of the President. “Commander you don’t have to do that anymore,” he said as one of the nurses moved forward and placed an oxygen mask over the President’s nose and mouth and attached it to an oxygen tank. “What the hell happened?”
“She was shot,” Bill said. His eyes returned to Laura who’s dilated pupils were shifting between her and Cottle as if she were trying to read their faces. “I don’t know who or how. All I know is that we were standing there talking and suddenly she just fell over and couldn’t breathe…I think she has a hemothorax. She was coughing up blood a few minutes ago.”
“I appreciate the prediction Commander but please leave that diagnosis to me,” said Cottle as he listened to Laura’s heartbeat with his stethoscope. He wasn’t sure what he had expected. After examining her on an almost weekly basis he had become used to a slow but steady heartbeat, but now the pace of her heart had been cranked up several notches and it seemed as if she was close to the point of a tachycardia or a ventricular fibrillation. “Get her to Life Station now! Call the nurse and tell her to set up for a rapid sequence intubation!” Cottle commanded.
Two nurses stepped in and gently lifted the limp President onto the gurney. Another nurse strapped her to the moving cot as the medical team proceeded out the door. Bill followed closely behind them as they shuttled her through the corridors in the direction of Life Station.