Laura’s Fountain

At the soft sigh, Bill touched Laura’s chin, lifting it so he could look at her face. “Bill, no. I’m reading.”

“No you’re not.” Ignoring the report on his lap that they’d both been staring at, he used his thumb to trace her lower lip. “You’re remembering something else on your list.”

Her lips twitched slightly. Ever since she’d told him about her mental list of things that she missed, he’d amused himself by trying to guess different things on her list. “So?”

“What was it?” His eyebrow raised as she sighed again. “Laura, please. Every thing I learn about you is another memory of yours I can share.”

“I know.” Wrapping her hand around his arm, she cuddled closer to him, closing her eyes. “It’s just…silly. Capricious even.”

“You could be silly and capricious?” Bill chuckled and closed the report in his lap, tossing it on the table. “I thought you were the prim and proper Secretary of Education back then. At least in public view.”

“Hmm.” Laura laughed softly. “I was. But…you first.” That had been the deal they’d struck. If he wanted to know about her list, she wanted to know what he missed.

“Very well.” Thoughtfully, he ran the back of his hand along her arm. “I miss…” he hesitated a moment. “I miss…bookstores.”

“Big surprise.” She gazed across the room at the shelves. “Elaborate, Admiral.”

“Very well, Madame President.” Following her gaze, he smiled. “I miss spending hours in a bookstore I’ve found far away from the main shopping areas. Going through stacks and aisles of older books, searching for just the right one that I should have from the store. Spending hours on a rainy day in the dim light, or in the cool shade on a sunny day.”

“Mmm.” Tilting her head up she kissed his jaw lightly. “I remember those kinds of hours.”

“And now yours, Roslin.” He turned his head to meet her lips, letting the light contact linger as she hummed softly.

“Bookstores was good. It’s on mine too, but that’s not what I was thinking of.” Shifting her weight, Laura relaxed against him. “Do you remember the park with all the fountains outside the government complex?” At his nod, she smiled. “I loved to sneak away and sit out there and listen to the water falling. I’d sit in the shade of a sculpture and watch people, and just listen to the water. It helped me clear my head, to focus on what I needed to. It was so relaxing, and stimulating at the same time.”

When she paused and sighed again, he nuzzled the top of her head. “Go on.”

“Right before I left…after I’d left the doctor’s office, I’d gone to see Richard, not about the…cancer, but about the negotiations with the teacher’s union. He hadn’t approved of it, I really don’t think he expected me to be able to get them to talk to me, but he…” her voice trailed off.

“He underestimated you.” Bill chuckled softly. “He forgot about what you could do when you put your mind to it.”

“I think he was more concerned about the direction my thoughts were taking on a personal level.” Laura admitted hesitantly. “So, I was going to meet with the head of the union. He would only do it in a public place, which was fine by me. So, I suggested the park. I had been sitting in my usual place, just…thinking, about all the times I’d been there, and that in all those years, I’d never given into my impulse and dangled my feet in the water. It’s silly, but it just looked so cool and…so, I got up, went over to the pool, slipped my shoes off and…” she sighed happily. “The water was so cool, the fountains were splashing, the sun and the breeze…” tilting her face up, she smiled, remembering. “Gods, it was amazing…and when the representative arrived, I was ready.”

“Settled the strike, got yourself almost removed from office,” Bill grinned. “Would have paid to see Adar’s face when you told him.”

“You wouldn’t have.” Reaching up blindly, she rested her palm on his cheek. “He wouldn’t have allowed it. I think he was just so shocked that the mask slipped for a moment with me, then he went into damage control mode and tried to fire me.”

”Idiot.” He muttered. “You…”

“Bill. Fountains.” Laura brought the conversation back on track. “Not Richard. He is not even near being on my list. The fountains are.” Her tone turned wistful, “the fountains, and the sunlight…water running…fresh air.” Her lips curved up.

Removing Adar from his thoughts, Bill concentrated a moment before smiling. “You, sitting in the sunlight in something like that red dress from Caprica, not one of the suits I’m sure you always wore there, but in something light and comfortable. Your face tilted upward into the sunlight, eyes closed, but not staying in the sun for too long, so you wouldn’t burn. Bare feet, your shoes kicked off to the side.”

“Mmm.” With another sigh, she smiled. “A handsome Admiral coming to remind me that I’ll burn if I stay out there too long…tempting me to return with him to look at his most recent acquisition of a book. Something rare and intimate to both of us…not poetry, but a mystery. To read to each other.”

“I help you to your feet and pick up your shoes, which you choose to leave off as we wander along the fountain path to a shaded bench, our favorite one, behind that willowy tree, the one with the branches that hang over, making it secluded from the main park.” As she glanced up at him in surprise, he grinned. “Yeah, been through the park. It was a short cut from the Fleet office to the base.”

“Hmm.” Laura giggled. “All right then. Since you’ve found the bench, it’s shaded, but we decide to sit on the ground, against the tree, rather I am, and you’re lying on the ground, your head in my lap as we start the book, I read a page, then you read a page, until we decide to take a break, and just be.”

“Just be very unmilitary and unpolitical.” Bill chuckled. “We’d never have gotten away with it.”

“No. We wouldn’t have, back then.” Carefully, she sat up and slid over him as he held her waist, supporting her. “But, we would have done it anyway.”

Tilting his head up, he kissed her gently. “Would have been worth it. Fountains, hmm?”

“Fountains, sunshine…the park.” Laura rested her forehead against his. “Mostly the fountains. Ever changing, the water never falling the same way twice, always washing away what was there, leaving a clean slate to start…”

“New beginnings.” He rubbed his nose against hers lightly. “Which we got, just not in the same way.”

“Yeah.” She sighed softly as he kissed her again before wrapping his arms around her and easing her to the side. “Where are you going, Adama?”

“You’ll see.” Settling her onto the couch, he stood. “Be back in a few minutes. You rest.”

“That’s all I ever do. Rest.” Laura frowned. “What if I don’t want to rest.”

“Humor me.” With another brush of his lips across hers, he straightened and gazed down at her. “Right back.”

“Fine.” Crossing her arms, Laura watched him cross the room and disappear into the back part of his living quarters. When he didn’t return, she sighed and leaned forward, picking up the folder he’d discarded earlier, and opened it, picking up where she’d left off. When he finally returned, she glanced up, her eyes widening as she realized he’d changed into his robe. “Comfortable?”

“Well you were.” He smiled down at her and held out his hand. “Bed, Madame President?”

Holding up the folder, she lifted an eyebrow. “What about work?”

“It’ll be there tomorrow…” Bill glanced at the clock, “later today. You need rest.”

“Charmer.” Tossing the folder to the side she reached up and took his hand, using it to pull herself up against him. “You really know how to flatter a girl.”

“We need rest.” He corrected himself, sliding his hands around and up underneath her tank top. “Or at least to be in bed.”

“Mmmm.” Raising up on her toes, she kissed him. “Will you read to me?”

“I’ll tell you a story.” Reaching up, he took his glasses off and set them to the side before setting hers next to them.

“I like stories.” Pausing only to turn lights out on their way, Bill led her to the rack, as she bumped her head against his shoulder.

“I know.” Waiting as she slid under the covers, he pulled his robe off and tossed it onto the foot of the rack before following her.

“So.” Settling herself against his chest, Laura closed her eyes. “Tell me a story, Admiral.”

“It’s about a cabin.” He began, pausing as her hand ran up to rest on his shoulder. “A cabin in the woods. You know about the cabin, about how the rooms are decorated…”

“Big bed.” She smiled, “deep mattress…picture windows.”

“Big bed.” He chuckled. “But, now the outside…the front porch…”

“Looks over the mountains.” Laura sighed softly. “Road running up to the cabin, winding through the woods.”

“Indeed it does.” Pressing a kiss on the top of her head, he continued. “But the back yard…there’s a lake. But, up by the house, there’s a small rocky pool, and in that pool we installed a fountain. Has a valve to let us have water just trickling through the rocks…or using more pressure, you can make it a fountain. Water catching the sunlight, making a rainbow. And we have a swing next to it. We can sit there for however long we’d like, just watching and listening to the water. If we’re in the sun for too long, we can wade in it…and if the wind catches it, it blows over us…you’re looking up at it, letting it wash across you…”

“Cool water on sun drenched skin.” She let out a soft hum and stretched slightly, arching against him as he tightened his arm around her. “You wouldn’t want to just be getting me out of my clothes now, would you, Admiral?”

”Of course, Madame President.” Bill closed his eyes. “Watching you under the water, rainbows surrounding you.”

”Watching you watching me…” She smiled sleepily, “pulling you into the water with me.”

“And now we both have to get out of wet clothes.” He nuzzled her head again. “Love you, Laura.”

“Make sure you…” Laura’s breath caught slightly, “when…make sure you put that fountain in, okay? And remember me in it?”

“Your fountain.” His arms tightened around her as she curled into him with another sigh. “Don’t worry. I won’t forget…”

“Good.” She fell silent for several minutes, thinking. “Bill?”

“Yeah?” Staring into the darkness, he tilted his head down to glance at her profile, pale skin glowing in the dim light that he’d left on in the head in case they needed to get up during the night.

“Thank you.” With another soft sigh, Laura relaxed into sleep.

“Laura’s fountain.” He whispered, adding it to his own list, not of things he missed, but of things he’d make happen. Somehow, somewhere.