BSG FIC: The Road Diverged, Chapter Five
Title: The Road Diverged, Chapter Five
Author: The Plaid Slytherin (plaid_slytherin)
Characters/Pairings: Bill/Saul, Laura/Lee
Rating (this chapter): T
Spoilers (this chapter): Litmus
Summary: As Lee begins to explore his new relationship with Laura, Bill starts to realize his feelings for Saul may go deeper than mere friendship. Two relationships develop in parallel, with ramifications not only for each other, but for the entire fleet.
A/N: Written for deborah_judge for the help_japan auction, who wanted Bill/Saul and Laura/Lee in the same fic. This is an AU spanning the entire series, beginning, of course, at the beginning. Thanks to astreamofstars for betaing and much input.
Previously: One | Two | Three | Four
Saul stayed in sickbay for a few more days, but after awhile, it started to drive him batty.
"I'm leaving," he said suddenly, when Bill was visiting him one day. They had been playing cards and Bill had to react quickly to gather them up before Saul kicked the blanket off and swung his legs out of bed.
"Are you sure you're okay?" Bill asked.
"Yeah." Saul turned around, looking for his clothes. He spotted a spare uniform on the other chair and went to put it on.
"Are you allowed to leave?" he asked. He tried not to stare as Saul pulled his hospital gown off revealing-well, everything. Bill hadn't yet done a lot of thinking about his and Saul's physical relationship-they hadn't done anything more than kiss hello and good-bye, and rather chastely at that. He looked away while Saul dressed, not feeling like they'd progressed to this point. He’d seen him naked plenty of times before, in the shower and things, but this seemed different somehow.
"Who's stopping me?" Saul asked, buttoning his jacket up. "You're the only one with any real authority over me." Bill snorted at that. "They let me pee on my own, they let me feed myself, and they've decided I don't need the happy drugs anymore. Long as I put this goo on my back, I should be fine. Better to free up the bed for really sick people." He pulled the curtain aside as he said this and seemed to be speaking directly to Starbuck.
She pointed at herself and mouthed Me?
Saul glared, turned on his heel and headed towards the door.
"How are you doing?" Bill asked her, stepping around Saul's bed and pocketing the cards.
"Fine," she said, sounding a little listless.
"It'd be nice to see you out of that bed, Kara."
She sighed heavily and let her magazine fall into her lap. Her face looked pained. "I'm just not ready, sir. This knee."
"I know." He knew it had bothered her previously and he felt bad about pushing her. Maybe she really wasn't ready.
And, there was that little voice in his head, suggesting he should go after Saul, make sure he was okay…
He reached out and gave Starbuck's hand a gentle squeeze. "Then, rest. Heal. I miss seeing you up and terrorizing the nuggets."
She gave him a weak smile. "I'll do my best, sir."
He absently patted her arm, then left.
By the time he found Saul, he was back in his quarters.
"Hey," he said, pushing the hatch open.
"Hey." Saul was sitting at his desk, looking wearily at the stack of reports. "Why didn't you bring me these while I was in sickbay?"
Bill shrugged. "I didn't want to trouble you."
Saul looked slightly annoyed. "I'm your XO, Bill. I want to keep on top of stuff."
"I briefed you. Kept you up-to-date."
"Plus, there's other stuff we need to talk about." Saul flipped the folder he'd taken off the top of the stack closed. "You know?"
"Yeah, I know." Bill scratched behind his ear. "How 'bout we have dinner together? I'll bring you something when I get off shift. We can talk then."
Saul nodded. "Sure. That works. Myself, I might take a little nap."
"And you were ready to leave sickbay how?"
Saul waved his hand dismissively at him. "Get out of here."
Bill grinned and left. He was expecting the President anyway. That was one meeting he wasn't exactly looking forward to.
**
Laura had been sitting in Adama's quarters for fifteen minutes, resisting the urge to browse through his library. That was the curse of being a book lover-she couldn't sit in close proximity to well-stocked shelves without getting up to browse.
Instead, she wondered what was keeping him. She knew he'd been hanging around sickbay lately-that had made it slightly difficult to evade him when she came to see Dr. Cottle. She didn't know how long she could last, only letting a select few know about her cancer, but she was determined not to show any weakness in front of Adama. It wasn't that she didn't trust him-they were certainly getting to be allies, and she had considered the possibility that they could be friends (then, there was the implications of her relationship with Lee to consider). But she felt this was something best kept quiet for now.
Her thoughts were interrupted by the hatch opening.
"I'm sorry I'm late," Adama said. "I was just checking on Colonel Tigh. He's out of sickbay."
"Oh, good." Laura didn't have much of an opinion of the grouchy man but she knew he was an experienced officer whom Adama trusted (plus, Tigh being well meant she was less likely to encounter Adama in sickbay).
"It is," he agreed. He walked around to his desk and sat down heavily. Laura noted that he looked preoccupied.
"Is this a bad time?" she asked. "I could come back."
"No, no, it's fine." He pulled the folder closer and opened it. "Maintenance?"
"Yes," she said. "The captains of the civilian ships have been asking for help from Galactica's maintenance workers for weeks now."
"My deck crew's first responsibility is the maintenance of our fighters and Raptors. If we don't have those, Madam President, the condition of the civilian ships doesn't really matter."
"I understand that," she said calmly. "But I'm sure you can spare a crew now and then. Oftentimes, when my shuttle lands, I see people on the hangar deck who look like they could use something to do." She smiled.
Adama studied her for a moment, then picked up a pen and made a note on his file. "I'll see what I can do. We might be able to spare a secondary crew to do any major work that the civvies can't do themselves, with their own people."
"Thank you, Commander." Laura gripped her notepad tightly, suddenly overcome by the need to hold on to something. She prayed that the gods might not let her throw up on Adama. "Now, what's this about fuel?"
"We have fuel to last a few more weeks, but we do need to find tylium. It should be doable-it's a naturally occurring substance and we will likely encounter-or be easily able to find-deposits on uninhabitable planets or asteroids. It's an eventuality we'll have to plan for, but at this moment, the situation is not critical."
Laura blinked several times, realizing she had retained none of that. She opened her mouth to ask him to repeat himself a bit more slowly, when the edges of her vision went black.
**
When she came to, she groggily began to register that she was in sickbay; she recognized the bright lights and the curtains drawn around her bed. It took her a moment to remember why she was here-she'd fainted in Adama's quarters.
"Oh, gods," she muttered.
"Laura?"
She turned her head slightly and saw that Lee was sitting by her bed. "Please tell me that what I think happened didn't happen."
"Are you okay?" He leaned over her, looking worried.
"I'm fine," she said. "Just a bit… confused. Where's your father now?"
"He was called away," Lee said, looking awkward. "So I told him I'd stay with you until you woke up."
Laura smiled. "I'm grateful to you for undertaking such a task."
He seemed to relax now that he saw she could joke. "It was no trouble at all, Madam President." He hesitated for a moment, then leaned in to kiss her. "How are you feeling?"
"I'm all right, really," she assured him. "I just felt a little light-headed. How long was I out for?"
"Not long. I think my father was just a little nervous about you, er, collapsing in his office."
She sighed. "That's hardly what it was."
She sat up, giving Lee a pointed look in the hopes that he would help her out of bed-not that she needed help, but she didn't know where her shoes were.
"I should get Doc Cottle," he said, stepping away from the bed before she could enlist his help.
"Now, Lee, that's not-"
"It's a precaution." He leaned in close again, brushing a strand of her hair out of her eyes. "Laura, I-I worry about you."
She sighed again, torn between being flattered and being annoyed. She reached up to take his hand, trying to ignore the contrast of his young, strong fingers laced with hers. "Thank you," she said. "Maybe I've been overdoing it a little lately with the…" She stopped, not sure if she wanted Lee to know about the chamalla.
"I understand you don't want to let anyone else know," he said, clearly thinking she was just talking about her cancer. "But you do have to know when things get to be too much to you. Plus," he added, "if you go around fainting, don't you think people are going to notice you're ill?"
She shook her head, but she smiled to let him know she knew he was right. "What would I do without you, hm?"
He smiled back and kissed her again. "I will go get Cottle, though. Apparently, he's already had one patient escape today; I don't think he'd be very happy if you got away, too."
"All right, all right." She sighed dramatically. "I'm ready for my lecture. I really am fine, though."
"I believe you," said Lee. "I just want to make sure he knows, too."
Predictably, Cottle grumbled at her about overdoing it and about the chamalla. Laura knew he was right, but some part of her resented it.
Lee's concern was sweet, though, as he escorted her back to the hangar deck.
"Are you sure you're all right?" he asked.
"Yes, Captain, I am absolutely sure." She took a step back, trying to both prove she could stand on her own and to seem to keep her distance from Lee in public. "In fact, I'd really much rather get back to thinking about what I was discussing with your father. How much do you know about the fuel situation? I know it's not exactly a military matter…."
Lee shrugged. "I know some."
Laura smiled. "Then maybe you would consider meeting me later to discuss it."
Lee seemed to be struggling to hide his smile. "I would be happy to, ma'am."
"Well, then, I'll see you later."
**
Saul was still diligently going through paperwork when Bill came into his quarters with dinner.
"Okay, Colonel," he said. "You can knock it off for now. Time to eat."
Saul looked up and grinned. "Oh, just what I needed. Looks delicious."
Bill raised an eyebrow. "You mean me or the food?"
He hadn't been sure whether to pull out a comment like that, but Saul's grin widened. "Both. And you wanted to talk, yeah? We'll talk."
Saul picked up some of the folders on his desk and dropped them on the floor. Bill winced, but set the tray on the now-empty desk and pulled up a chair.
"So how are you feeling?"
"Fine, fine." Saul was already into his noodles. "No worse for wear, especially 'cause all I'm doing is sitting around today."
"Don't worry about it," Bill said dismissively. "You needed the rest."
"I appreciate it. And I'll be back to work tomorrow, I imagine."
"Good." Bill bobbed his head. "I've missed you in CIC."
Saul looked like he was about to say something, but he stopped.
"You said you wanted to talk."
"That's right." Saul looked down at his chopsticks. "It's been nice, these past couple days." He smiled at Bill, in that adorably earnest way he had. "I kind of wanted to talk privately about it, though. See what you were thinking."
"Okay." Bill rubbed his chin. "What were you thinking?"
Saul smirked. "Tossing the ball back to me, huh? Okay, I'll bite. You said you wanted to try something, when I was in sickbay. You still… want to do that?"
"Yeah." Bill nodded. "I do." He reached out, then, to take Saul's hand across the desk, and received a squeeze in return. "I'd like to see how it goes and take it from there." He wasn't sure what exactly that meant, but he didn't care. They were on the run for their lives-now was the only thing that mattered.
Saul nodded. "Me too." He looked down at his dinner for a moment and then said, "I just know you haven't done this before, so I didn't want to… you know. Move too fast for you."
Bill smiled. "Saul, it's not like I'm some blushing virgin. I do want to take it slow, but you don't have to worry about it."
"I know." He let go of Bill's hand and sighed. "It's just… I'd love to do this; I just worry about frakking it up somehow. I always do."
"Don't say that," Bill said gently.
"Nah, 's true." Saul poked his noodles listlessly. "Every time I get in a relationship, it's always me. Don't know what it is I do, but I've scared a lot of people away, Bill."
"Hey. Look at me. C'mon." Saul looked up reluctantly. "You're my best friend, Saul. Have been for a long time. Not just that, but you're the best friend I ever had. A good friend and a good man to serve with. I can't imagine that you wouldn't be anything less than a great…" He stopped. "A great person to be in a relationship with."
"Aw, Bill." Saul reached up to cup his cheek. It was a far more intimate touch than they'd ever shared and Bill felt the heat climbing up the back of his neck. "This is why. This is why." He stood, leaned across the desk and kissed him.
It was a much deeper kiss than the peck Bill had been pressing to Saul's lips every time he entered sickbay. For a wild moment, a voice in Bill's head was saying "For frak's sake, Saul's tongue is in your mouth!" but a moment later, he was kissing back, voice entirely forgotten.
When they broke apart, it was because Saul pulled back. Bill was struck by the way he looked, pink-cheeked and dark-eyed. It stirred something in his gut. He was attracted to Saul. He hadn't been as acutely sure of that before-he knew he had very strong feelings for him and wanted to be closer to him… gods, why did this all have to be so complicated?
"You didn't frak that up," Bill said.
Saul smirked, back to his old self. "Usually, I can get past the first date before stuff goes south."
Bill patted his shoulder. "So, this is a date?"
Saul spread his arms wide. "Of course. I always think dinner in my undershirt is gonna attract a guy."
Bill smiled. "I sure don't mind."
"Should've tried for you years ago." He stopped suddenly, wincing.
"What's wrong?" Bill asked quickly.
"Just my back, a little." Saul sat down. "It does kind of hurt, still." He sighed.
"Rest," Bill encouraged him. "I'll still be here when you're feeling better."
Saul nodded. "Think I will. Doc gave me some salve." He yanked open the top drawer and pulled it out. "Would you?" He looked somewhat sheepish. "Ishay always did it."
Bill reached for the tube and uncapped it. "I can't promise to have Ishay's touch."
"Mm, I'm sure you'll do." Saul stripped off his tanks. "This isn't that sexy."
"You're damn right," Bill muttered, catching a whiff of the stuff. It was foul. Despite that, he spread a liberal amount on Saul's back, noticing the way the muscles relaxed. "Now, bedtime."
"Yes, sir," Saul said obediently.
"Good boy." Bill kissed the top of his head and watched as Saul headed for his rack. "You need me to tuck you in?"
"I'll manage." Bill waited until Saul was under the covers before turning the light off. "Good night, Saul."
"Night, Bill."
Bill shut the hatch with a very satisfied feeling. They were making progress, slow as it was. He thought about their kiss and shivered. Progress was good.
**
Lee tried to study Laura discreetly, looking for any signs of her earlier distress. She seemed fine, but he was still worried. Cottle had said the medicine had been responsible, and Laura had promised to cut back, but it had still highlighted to Lee, for the first time, how sick she really was.
Why did she have to be so sick, when they'd only just met?
"Lee?" she asked gently.
"Sorry. Guess my mind wandered." He couldn't let her know how worried he was-she'd hate it. He could already tell, in the few weeks he'd known her, that she was fiercely independent and hated to be fussed over.
"I really am all right."
He smirked. "Was I that obvious?"
She squeezed his arm. "You're the only one I'll tolerate this from."
"I'm sorry," he said. "I'll try not to do it anymore."
"It's understandable." She paused. "Right now, I'm just trying to… to manage it. I'm still getting used to the effects of the chammala. Certainly, I learned something."
"I know." He took her hand, threading his fingers through hers. He wanted to move closer to her on the couch, but he wasn't sure if it would be welcome.
"I appreciate the sentiment." Lee was surprised to see that it was her who decided to slide closer to him. He put his arm around her. "I think I'm done talking about tylium today."
"Me too," he said, into her ear. She shivered against him and Lee felt something tug at his stomach.
"Well, Captain Apollo," she murmured, tilting her head up to face him, "what did you have in mind?"
He reached under her hair to cup the back of her neck. "I thought we could work on a different project."
"What a coincidence." She smirked. "I was thinking the same thing."
"Are we alone?"
She nodded. "Yes, I told my staff to go, that if they wanted to help, they could let me rest." There was a slightly mischievous glint in her eye. "And Billy is over on Galactica with Petty Officer Dualla."
"Oh?" Lee hadn't spoken much with her aide, but he knew that he had been seeing Dee. It was nice to see relationships forming in the wake of the attacks. Like us, Lee thought.
"So, if you like, we can stay here, completely undisturbed." Her tone was unmistakably flirtatious and Lee's breath caught. Surely, if she wasn't feeling up to this, she wouldn't be the one suggesting it, right?
"Are you sure?" he asked anyway.
"Absolutely."
Next Chapter
Author: The Plaid Slytherin (plaid_slytherin)
Characters/Pairings: Bill/Saul, Laura/Lee
Rating (this chapter): T
Spoilers (this chapter): Litmus
Summary: As Lee begins to explore his new relationship with Laura, Bill starts to realize his feelings for Saul may go deeper than mere friendship. Two relationships develop in parallel, with ramifications not only for each other, but for the entire fleet.
A/N: Written for deborah_judge for the help_japan auction, who wanted Bill/Saul and Laura/Lee in the same fic. This is an AU spanning the entire series, beginning, of course, at the beginning. Thanks to astreamofstars for betaing and much input.
Previously: One | Two | Three | Four
Saul stayed in sickbay for a few more days, but after awhile, it started to drive him batty.
"I'm leaving," he said suddenly, when Bill was visiting him one day. They had been playing cards and Bill had to react quickly to gather them up before Saul kicked the blanket off and swung his legs out of bed.
"Are you sure you're okay?" Bill asked.
"Yeah." Saul turned around, looking for his clothes. He spotted a spare uniform on the other chair and went to put it on.
"Are you allowed to leave?" he asked. He tried not to stare as Saul pulled his hospital gown off revealing-well, everything. Bill hadn't yet done a lot of thinking about his and Saul's physical relationship-they hadn't done anything more than kiss hello and good-bye, and rather chastely at that. He looked away while Saul dressed, not feeling like they'd progressed to this point. He’d seen him naked plenty of times before, in the shower and things, but this seemed different somehow.
"Who's stopping me?" Saul asked, buttoning his jacket up. "You're the only one with any real authority over me." Bill snorted at that. "They let me pee on my own, they let me feed myself, and they've decided I don't need the happy drugs anymore. Long as I put this goo on my back, I should be fine. Better to free up the bed for really sick people." He pulled the curtain aside as he said this and seemed to be speaking directly to Starbuck.
She pointed at herself and mouthed Me?
Saul glared, turned on his heel and headed towards the door.
"How are you doing?" Bill asked her, stepping around Saul's bed and pocketing the cards.
"Fine," she said, sounding a little listless.
"It'd be nice to see you out of that bed, Kara."
She sighed heavily and let her magazine fall into her lap. Her face looked pained. "I'm just not ready, sir. This knee."
"I know." He knew it had bothered her previously and he felt bad about pushing her. Maybe she really wasn't ready.
And, there was that little voice in his head, suggesting he should go after Saul, make sure he was okay…
He reached out and gave Starbuck's hand a gentle squeeze. "Then, rest. Heal. I miss seeing you up and terrorizing the nuggets."
She gave him a weak smile. "I'll do my best, sir."
He absently patted her arm, then left.
By the time he found Saul, he was back in his quarters.
"Hey," he said, pushing the hatch open.
"Hey." Saul was sitting at his desk, looking wearily at the stack of reports. "Why didn't you bring me these while I was in sickbay?"
Bill shrugged. "I didn't want to trouble you."
Saul looked slightly annoyed. "I'm your XO, Bill. I want to keep on top of stuff."
"I briefed you. Kept you up-to-date."
"Plus, there's other stuff we need to talk about." Saul flipped the folder he'd taken off the top of the stack closed. "You know?"
"Yeah, I know." Bill scratched behind his ear. "How 'bout we have dinner together? I'll bring you something when I get off shift. We can talk then."
Saul nodded. "Sure. That works. Myself, I might take a little nap."
"And you were ready to leave sickbay how?"
Saul waved his hand dismissively at him. "Get out of here."
Bill grinned and left. He was expecting the President anyway. That was one meeting he wasn't exactly looking forward to.
**
Laura had been sitting in Adama's quarters for fifteen minutes, resisting the urge to browse through his library. That was the curse of being a book lover-she couldn't sit in close proximity to well-stocked shelves without getting up to browse.
Instead, she wondered what was keeping him. She knew he'd been hanging around sickbay lately-that had made it slightly difficult to evade him when she came to see Dr. Cottle. She didn't know how long she could last, only letting a select few know about her cancer, but she was determined not to show any weakness in front of Adama. It wasn't that she didn't trust him-they were certainly getting to be allies, and she had considered the possibility that they could be friends (then, there was the implications of her relationship with Lee to consider). But she felt this was something best kept quiet for now.
Her thoughts were interrupted by the hatch opening.
"I'm sorry I'm late," Adama said. "I was just checking on Colonel Tigh. He's out of sickbay."
"Oh, good." Laura didn't have much of an opinion of the grouchy man but she knew he was an experienced officer whom Adama trusted (plus, Tigh being well meant she was less likely to encounter Adama in sickbay).
"It is," he agreed. He walked around to his desk and sat down heavily. Laura noted that he looked preoccupied.
"Is this a bad time?" she asked. "I could come back."
"No, no, it's fine." He pulled the folder closer and opened it. "Maintenance?"
"Yes," she said. "The captains of the civilian ships have been asking for help from Galactica's maintenance workers for weeks now."
"My deck crew's first responsibility is the maintenance of our fighters and Raptors. If we don't have those, Madam President, the condition of the civilian ships doesn't really matter."
"I understand that," she said calmly. "But I'm sure you can spare a crew now and then. Oftentimes, when my shuttle lands, I see people on the hangar deck who look like they could use something to do." She smiled.
Adama studied her for a moment, then picked up a pen and made a note on his file. "I'll see what I can do. We might be able to spare a secondary crew to do any major work that the civvies can't do themselves, with their own people."
"Thank you, Commander." Laura gripped her notepad tightly, suddenly overcome by the need to hold on to something. She prayed that the gods might not let her throw up on Adama. "Now, what's this about fuel?"
"We have fuel to last a few more weeks, but we do need to find tylium. It should be doable-it's a naturally occurring substance and we will likely encounter-or be easily able to find-deposits on uninhabitable planets or asteroids. It's an eventuality we'll have to plan for, but at this moment, the situation is not critical."
Laura blinked several times, realizing she had retained none of that. She opened her mouth to ask him to repeat himself a bit more slowly, when the edges of her vision went black.
**
When she came to, she groggily began to register that she was in sickbay; she recognized the bright lights and the curtains drawn around her bed. It took her a moment to remember why she was here-she'd fainted in Adama's quarters.
"Oh, gods," she muttered.
"Laura?"
She turned her head slightly and saw that Lee was sitting by her bed. "Please tell me that what I think happened didn't happen."
"Are you okay?" He leaned over her, looking worried.
"I'm fine," she said. "Just a bit… confused. Where's your father now?"
"He was called away," Lee said, looking awkward. "So I told him I'd stay with you until you woke up."
Laura smiled. "I'm grateful to you for undertaking such a task."
He seemed to relax now that he saw she could joke. "It was no trouble at all, Madam President." He hesitated for a moment, then leaned in to kiss her. "How are you feeling?"
"I'm all right, really," she assured him. "I just felt a little light-headed. How long was I out for?"
"Not long. I think my father was just a little nervous about you, er, collapsing in his office."
She sighed. "That's hardly what it was."
She sat up, giving Lee a pointed look in the hopes that he would help her out of bed-not that she needed help, but she didn't know where her shoes were.
"I should get Doc Cottle," he said, stepping away from the bed before she could enlist his help.
"Now, Lee, that's not-"
"It's a precaution." He leaned in close again, brushing a strand of her hair out of her eyes. "Laura, I-I worry about you."
She sighed again, torn between being flattered and being annoyed. She reached up to take his hand, trying to ignore the contrast of his young, strong fingers laced with hers. "Thank you," she said. "Maybe I've been overdoing it a little lately with the…" She stopped, not sure if she wanted Lee to know about the chamalla.
"I understand you don't want to let anyone else know," he said, clearly thinking she was just talking about her cancer. "But you do have to know when things get to be too much to you. Plus," he added, "if you go around fainting, don't you think people are going to notice you're ill?"
She shook her head, but she smiled to let him know she knew he was right. "What would I do without you, hm?"
He smiled back and kissed her again. "I will go get Cottle, though. Apparently, he's already had one patient escape today; I don't think he'd be very happy if you got away, too."
"All right, all right." She sighed dramatically. "I'm ready for my lecture. I really am fine, though."
"I believe you," said Lee. "I just want to make sure he knows, too."
Predictably, Cottle grumbled at her about overdoing it and about the chamalla. Laura knew he was right, but some part of her resented it.
Lee's concern was sweet, though, as he escorted her back to the hangar deck.
"Are you sure you're all right?" he asked.
"Yes, Captain, I am absolutely sure." She took a step back, trying to both prove she could stand on her own and to seem to keep her distance from Lee in public. "In fact, I'd really much rather get back to thinking about what I was discussing with your father. How much do you know about the fuel situation? I know it's not exactly a military matter…."
Lee shrugged. "I know some."
Laura smiled. "Then maybe you would consider meeting me later to discuss it."
Lee seemed to be struggling to hide his smile. "I would be happy to, ma'am."
"Well, then, I'll see you later."
**
Saul was still diligently going through paperwork when Bill came into his quarters with dinner.
"Okay, Colonel," he said. "You can knock it off for now. Time to eat."
Saul looked up and grinned. "Oh, just what I needed. Looks delicious."
Bill raised an eyebrow. "You mean me or the food?"
He hadn't been sure whether to pull out a comment like that, but Saul's grin widened. "Both. And you wanted to talk, yeah? We'll talk."
Saul picked up some of the folders on his desk and dropped them on the floor. Bill winced, but set the tray on the now-empty desk and pulled up a chair.
"So how are you feeling?"
"Fine, fine." Saul was already into his noodles. "No worse for wear, especially 'cause all I'm doing is sitting around today."
"Don't worry about it," Bill said dismissively. "You needed the rest."
"I appreciate it. And I'll be back to work tomorrow, I imagine."
"Good." Bill bobbed his head. "I've missed you in CIC."
Saul looked like he was about to say something, but he stopped.
"You said you wanted to talk."
"That's right." Saul looked down at his chopsticks. "It's been nice, these past couple days." He smiled at Bill, in that adorably earnest way he had. "I kind of wanted to talk privately about it, though. See what you were thinking."
"Okay." Bill rubbed his chin. "What were you thinking?"
Saul smirked. "Tossing the ball back to me, huh? Okay, I'll bite. You said you wanted to try something, when I was in sickbay. You still… want to do that?"
"Yeah." Bill nodded. "I do." He reached out, then, to take Saul's hand across the desk, and received a squeeze in return. "I'd like to see how it goes and take it from there." He wasn't sure what exactly that meant, but he didn't care. They were on the run for their lives-now was the only thing that mattered.
Saul nodded. "Me too." He looked down at his dinner for a moment and then said, "I just know you haven't done this before, so I didn't want to… you know. Move too fast for you."
Bill smiled. "Saul, it's not like I'm some blushing virgin. I do want to take it slow, but you don't have to worry about it."
"I know." He let go of Bill's hand and sighed. "It's just… I'd love to do this; I just worry about frakking it up somehow. I always do."
"Don't say that," Bill said gently.
"Nah, 's true." Saul poked his noodles listlessly. "Every time I get in a relationship, it's always me. Don't know what it is I do, but I've scared a lot of people away, Bill."
"Hey. Look at me. C'mon." Saul looked up reluctantly. "You're my best friend, Saul. Have been for a long time. Not just that, but you're the best friend I ever had. A good friend and a good man to serve with. I can't imagine that you wouldn't be anything less than a great…" He stopped. "A great person to be in a relationship with."
"Aw, Bill." Saul reached up to cup his cheek. It was a far more intimate touch than they'd ever shared and Bill felt the heat climbing up the back of his neck. "This is why. This is why." He stood, leaned across the desk and kissed him.
It was a much deeper kiss than the peck Bill had been pressing to Saul's lips every time he entered sickbay. For a wild moment, a voice in Bill's head was saying "For frak's sake, Saul's tongue is in your mouth!" but a moment later, he was kissing back, voice entirely forgotten.
When they broke apart, it was because Saul pulled back. Bill was struck by the way he looked, pink-cheeked and dark-eyed. It stirred something in his gut. He was attracted to Saul. He hadn't been as acutely sure of that before-he knew he had very strong feelings for him and wanted to be closer to him… gods, why did this all have to be so complicated?
"You didn't frak that up," Bill said.
Saul smirked, back to his old self. "Usually, I can get past the first date before stuff goes south."
Bill patted his shoulder. "So, this is a date?"
Saul spread his arms wide. "Of course. I always think dinner in my undershirt is gonna attract a guy."
Bill smiled. "I sure don't mind."
"Should've tried for you years ago." He stopped suddenly, wincing.
"What's wrong?" Bill asked quickly.
"Just my back, a little." Saul sat down. "It does kind of hurt, still." He sighed.
"Rest," Bill encouraged him. "I'll still be here when you're feeling better."
Saul nodded. "Think I will. Doc gave me some salve." He yanked open the top drawer and pulled it out. "Would you?" He looked somewhat sheepish. "Ishay always did it."
Bill reached for the tube and uncapped it. "I can't promise to have Ishay's touch."
"Mm, I'm sure you'll do." Saul stripped off his tanks. "This isn't that sexy."
"You're damn right," Bill muttered, catching a whiff of the stuff. It was foul. Despite that, he spread a liberal amount on Saul's back, noticing the way the muscles relaxed. "Now, bedtime."
"Yes, sir," Saul said obediently.
"Good boy." Bill kissed the top of his head and watched as Saul headed for his rack. "You need me to tuck you in?"
"I'll manage." Bill waited until Saul was under the covers before turning the light off. "Good night, Saul."
"Night, Bill."
Bill shut the hatch with a very satisfied feeling. They were making progress, slow as it was. He thought about their kiss and shivered. Progress was good.
**
Lee tried to study Laura discreetly, looking for any signs of her earlier distress. She seemed fine, but he was still worried. Cottle had said the medicine had been responsible, and Laura had promised to cut back, but it had still highlighted to Lee, for the first time, how sick she really was.
Why did she have to be so sick, when they'd only just met?
"Lee?" she asked gently.
"Sorry. Guess my mind wandered." He couldn't let her know how worried he was-she'd hate it. He could already tell, in the few weeks he'd known her, that she was fiercely independent and hated to be fussed over.
"I really am all right."
He smirked. "Was I that obvious?"
She squeezed his arm. "You're the only one I'll tolerate this from."
"I'm sorry," he said. "I'll try not to do it anymore."
"It's understandable." She paused. "Right now, I'm just trying to… to manage it. I'm still getting used to the effects of the chammala. Certainly, I learned something."
"I know." He took her hand, threading his fingers through hers. He wanted to move closer to her on the couch, but he wasn't sure if it would be welcome.
"I appreciate the sentiment." Lee was surprised to see that it was her who decided to slide closer to him. He put his arm around her. "I think I'm done talking about tylium today."
"Me too," he said, into her ear. She shivered against him and Lee felt something tug at his stomach.
"Well, Captain Apollo," she murmured, tilting her head up to face him, "what did you have in mind?"
He reached under her hair to cup the back of her neck. "I thought we could work on a different project."
"What a coincidence." She smirked. "I was thinking the same thing."
"Are we alone?"
She nodded. "Yes, I told my staff to go, that if they wanted to help, they could let me rest." There was a slightly mischievous glint in her eye. "And Billy is over on Galactica with Petty Officer Dualla."
"Oh?" Lee hadn't spoken much with her aide, but he knew that he had been seeing Dee. It was nice to see relationships forming in the wake of the attacks. Like us, Lee thought.
"So, if you like, we can stay here, completely undisturbed." Her tone was unmistakably flirtatious and Lee's breath caught. Surely, if she wasn't feeling up to this, she wouldn't be the one suggesting it, right?
"Are you sure?" he asked anyway.
"Absolutely."
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