Word Count: 4,559 Laura
Roslin clicked along the corridors of Galactica,
her stride even more determined than usual.
She was well early for her usual meeting with Commander Adama, but she'd
just received an evidence-backed report on the diversion and hoarding of
critical supplies on certain ships. The
image of those who were going short because of the greed of a few was enough to
propel her off of Colonial One and
through these corridors to Adama's office.
This had to be nipped in the bud, immediately. Petty
Officer Dualla was her guide this morning, though by now she really didn't need
one. Something in her demeanor must
have told the younger woman that the President was thinking about something
serious. She didn't speak until she was opening the door to the
Commander's office/quarters for Roslin. "I'll
notify the CO of your arrival, Madame President." "Thank
you. I'd like to see him as soon as
possible." Dualla
snapped a salute, her security took up station outside the door, and the door
closed. Laura
took a deep breath, composing herself. She
needed to calm down. She wanted
Adama's input to the problem to be based on her facts, not her ire.
She crossed to the Commander's private head to check her appearance. She
was relieved to note that she mostly looked her usual serene self.
Not a hair was out of place; her dark red suit was pressed and crisp. Then her eyes hung up on the one significant change to her
wardrobe, and she frowned. Her
last clean blouse had met with an accident involving a drunk delegate and a
glass of ambrosia last night. She
had donned the only option she had left for a top, a black V-necked knit shirt
that had been lurking unnoticed in the bottom of her bag when she packed her
three conservative suits for her original trip to Galactica.
Beggars couldn't be choosers, Lords knew. But
she had forgotten exactly how deep that V was. She
shook her head, irritated. So
I'm showing a bit more cleavage than usual—all right, a lot more cleavage.
There's nothing I can do about it now. Besides,
when meeting with William Adama, it didn't hurt to use every advantage you had. The
thought made her laugh. Are you kidding?!
"Iron Man" Adama? Do
you think he'll even notice, much less care?
The most you might get is a raised eyebrow. A
sudden, impish impulse possessed her. She
debated with herself, told herself she was asking for trouble, but in the end it
was too strong. She took off her
jacket, folded it neatly, and draped it over one arm of the sofa, setting her
glasses on top of it. Shall
we see what happens? Smoothing
her slightly wicked smile into something more Presidential, she linked her hands
behind her back and awaited the Commander's arrival. ****** Adama
was feeling about as relaxed as he ever did these days.
His morning workout and run had done its usual job of letting him work
through the aggravations of the previous day.
Given his upcoming meeting with Roslin, he'd allowed himself extra
running time, preparation for aggravations to come.
He still left himself plenty of time to shower, change into his day
uniform and deal with any minor crises that might have come up.
As he toweled the sweat from his shoulders he saw Dualla at the door of
the gym. "Commander?
President Roslin is in your study." "She's
early." And there went his relaxed mood ... "Yes
sir. She seems to have something on
her mind." "When
does she not?" Dee grinned at
this. Adama shook his head and
sighed. "Well, whatever it is
will have to wait while I get cleaned up. Thanks
for the warning." Dee
nodded and left. No salute, Adama
was decidedly not in uniform. Draping the towel over one shoulder, he headed for his
quarters. Once
in his study, Adama shut the door behind him by touch, as he was mopping sweat
from his face with one end of the towel. "C—Commander?" "Madame
President." He lowered the
towel. "You'll have to forgive
my—" He
saw what she was wearing. His
tongue locked. A soft expanse of velvety
fair skin, lightly tinted with peach, framed and contrasted by body-hugging
black knit fabric, sculpted in delightful curves that made him want to reach out
across the short distance between them and—and— An
embarrassing stirring in his loins brought him back to where he was and at whom
he was staring. Bill, what the hell are
you doing?! Eyes up, dammit!!! He felt his
face flood with color. Heated,
confused, and blushing as he hadn't blushed in decades, he finally dragged his
gaze to the President's face— --only
to find that her eyes were as glued to his chest as his had been to hers moments
before. Specifically,
they had locked onto the spot where the outline of his dogtags showed through
his tank shirts. They flicked up to
where he could feel a bead of sweat trailing down his neck, tracking the droplet
until it disappeared under the neckband of his shirt. Her
lips parted slightly. Her grey eyes were iridescent. "Laura?"
He hadn't meant to use her name, nor let it come out as a husky question
... It
was her turn to yank her eyes to his face, startled realization flooding her
expression. He watched a sweetly
rosy blush of her own seep upwards from the boundaries of the black knit to
eventually reach her hairline. Both
blushing, both on fire, breathing in unison, they stood facing each other across
an unbearable gulf that spanned about fourteen inches. Rocked
by her sudden introduction to things normally safely hidden under a uniform
jacket, Laura was discovering that being frozen in place had its advantages.
If you couldn't unlock your jaw, for example, you couldn't accidentally
spill what was going through your mind out your mouth.
Hello, Commander.
It looks like you're in need of a shower.
Care for some assistance? Of
course, judging by Adama's roughened breathing and the duskier-than-usual tones
to his olive skin, she was not the only one in this room disturbed by ...
degrees of exposure. His smoky-blue eyes held hers, then slowly traveled down to
her toes and back up. She felt her
blush turning incandescent, tingling everywhere his eyes touched. His hands clenched, then slowly relaxed.
And still she couldn't move. One of us has to break
this. One of us has to turn away
... She
took a deep breath to gather her resolve. Bad
tactical decision, as she realized when her inhale sent the well-exercised aroma
of him straight to emotion-response center of her brain, completely bypassing
the frontal lobes. Warm male,
sweat, a faint underlying spicy hint, all blended with the electric/metallic
tang of Galactica herself, an olfactory impression of weapons, corridors,
pressurized atmospheres, danger. Completely
unwilled, her eyes began their own journey.
They started with shoulders and biceps that a much younger man would be
proud to own, then traveled lower, over the chest that had so entranced her on
his entry. The minor amount of
middle-aged paunch he carried might have seemed lax on anyone else, but on him
looked wonderfully solid. Glimpses
of firm thighs and trim calves showed through his gray sweats.
She lifted her eyes back to his chest, where they rested.
His body was not toned perfection, with muscles fit only for show.
Every inch of him had been shaped by hard use under hard circumstances.
Her palms yearned to touch, to stroke, to discover every mark his years
of survival had left on his compact form. Is
this what our armor was hiding, all this time? His
uniforms. Her suits.
A constant visual reminder of who they were, what their relationship was.
Even if a flicker of attraction stirred, a hint of heat, it could be
easily pushed aside before it fully impacted the conscious mind.
Such impulses were minor vagaries to two people in their position, no
more than a byproduct of their shared responsibility for the fate of humanity. They surely could never be indulged. Because
she was the President. And he was
the Commander. It
was obvious. But
it wasn't the Commander standing before her right now, scorching her with a gaze
like a physical caress. And search
as she might, she could find no trace of the President anywhere in the turmoil
of sensory overload and pure want within her. Their
armor was gone, and with it went all semblance of caution, reserve, reason ...
and control. Another
wayward drop of sweat trickled along the cords of muscle in his neck.
Not only could she not stop watching it, it was all she could do to keep
from leaning over to sip it off his skin. She
actually swayed forward for a bare instant before stopping herself. Her
movement, slight though it was, seemed to break down something within him.
Moving seemingly of its own accord, his left arm rose and slowly
extended. Staring into his eyes,
she felt two fingers brush a strand of hair away from her right temple. Feather-light, they traced the curve of her cheek and the
slant of her throat before coming to rest directly above her pounding pulse.
She trembled. If
it weren't for the hesitant tenderness in that delicate touch, she might have
been able to turn around and reach for her jacket.
If it weren't for the soft wonder that flooded his eyes at her response
to him, it was just possible she could have summoned up her very last ounce of
resistance. As
it was, that last ounce drained away on her sigh.
"William ..." The
wonder firmed to conviction. The
fingers caressing her pulse point reached around the back of her neck and
exerted a gentle, insistent pressure. She
took a step forward in response. Miracle
of miracles, he actually met her halfway. She
tilted her head back, but the expected kiss took some time to arrive.
He settled one arm at her shoulders, one at her waist.
As she twined her arms around him in turn, he swiveled and backed up
until his desk was just behind him. He
then tightened his embrace, pulling her hard against him as he leaned back
slightly, bracing himself. Only
when she gasped at the feel of him against the full length of her body did he
finally lower his mouth to hers. Oh ... sweet Lords, yes
... Laura's
last coherent thought was that she would never again think of a kiss as
something that focused on mouths. His
mouth slowly explored and savored hers, but his body imprinted her, breasts to
chest, belly to belly, thighs to thighs. The
warm pliability of his lips and tongue contrasted deliciously with the firm
strength pressed against her. She
gave back, sucking briefly on his lower lip, her hands eagerly ranging over the
musculature of his back and shoulders, pressing herself against him with every
bit of the urgency inside her. A
faint mew of sound escaped her when he broke the kiss, followed by a sigh when
his lips sought the same trail his fingers had blazed earlier, temple to throat
to pulse. Nuzzling, tasting.
She blinked and smiled to see his own neck so close to her face. Starting just behind his right ear, she began a nibbling
foray of her own, running her teeth delicately along his trapezius, pulling the
neck of his shirt to one side to increase her access to bare skin.
Coming back towards center, she nipped at the vulnerable point of his
collarbone, soothing the spot with her tongue when he gasped.
The salt/sweet/musk flavor of his skin filled her as his scent had
earlier. When he pulled her back for another kiss, she went more than
willingly. For
his own part, William Adama was far, far gone, lost to the intensity of what
Laura Roslin was doing to him and the amazement of what he was doing to her.
He wanted to learn this woman,
to absorb her with every sense he possessed, to bring her under his very skin.
From the feel and taste of her mouth, he moved to bury his face briefly
in the scent of her soft auburn hair, listening to her harsh, accelerated
breathing. Gently kneading her
back, he kissed her closed eyes, then returned to the satiny sweetness of her
lips. His
right thigh had somehow, no idea how, found its way between both of hers.
Or perhaps hers had slipped between his.
No matter now. No
possibility of hiding his state of arousal, but that didn't matter either
because she made no effort to hide hers. The
tiny, rhythmic motions she made against him with her hips threatened to blow him
apart, tearing a sound from him that was half-growl, half-groan. Her
own soft cries were coming more frequently, becoming more audible.
As if in answer, he slid his right arm from her waist to just under the
curve of her bottom and lifted. The
motion elevated her to her toes and brought a particular portion of her anatomy
to just under his chin level. Bare
inches away from doing what he'd wanted to do since entering the room, he
hesitated. Kissing was one thing,
hell, even necking, but this was a bare step beyond that.
This ... needed permission. He
looked up at her face, just above his own.
"Laura--" She
lowered her head, silencing him with her lips, running her fingers through his
hair. Then, with rather less
gentleness and more insistence than he'd used to bring her into his arms, she
brought his mouth to the tops of her breasts.
"Will ..." she moaned. Yes.
For a few moments he remained still, just breathing in the intoxicating
scent of warm, clean, aroused woman. Then
he let his lips roam over the sensitive territory offered to him, an exploration
that gradually became more urgent as he brought tongue, then teeth into play.
He let her slide down the front of him, one of her hands holding him
willingly trapped against her, the other digging nails into his shoulder.
His nose nudged fabric aside so that his mouth could follow into
unexplored areas, while one hand slid around to cup her in just the right
position. She cried out, rocking
against him. The harsh buzz cut clean
through the moment when it sounded behind him, causing him to jerk his head up
and her to go stiff and still. In a
knee-jerk fury at the interruption he clenched his teeth, snarling,
"WHAT?!" Fortunately for all
concerned, Galactica had never been fitted with voice recognition and response
systems on her comm units. The comm buzzed again as
they looked at each other, stunned and dazed.
His tanks had come untucked, and his hair was in wild disarray from her
hands. Her skirt had ridden up
almost to the tops of her thighs, and both shirt and bra strap were in danger of
slipping off her left shoulder. Her
expression was slipping from stunned to stricken. Reflexively, he reached
for the comm before it could buzz for the third time. At that same moment she pulled away from him, not seeing his
equally reflexive reach for her as she snatched up her jacket and glasses and
crossed to his mirror. He cleared his throat.
"Adama." Lt. Gaeta's voice came
through. "Commander, I have
Colonial One on the line. The
President's aide is wondering if she's nearly done with your meeting. She's had a schedule change." But we've only been here
for-- Brow furrowing, he glanced at
his timepiece. –an hour?! FRACK. Aching inside, he shifted
to watch her adjust her clothes. "You
can tell Mr. Keikeya ... that the President will return to Colonial One
shortly." "Yessir."
Gaeta cut the comm. He watched her still.
I can't believe this. A
minute ago we were a few breaths away from winding up in my bunk, and now she's
calmly fixing her hair?! No.
Not calmly. He could see her
hands tremble as she pulled on jacket and glasses.
Not calmly at all. She emerged from his head, still adjusting her cuffs.
Her armor was back in place, if slightly disarrayed. His was still nowhere to
be found. "Laura—" She interrupted him.
"I actually came over to bring a very important situation to your
attention." She nodded at the
sofa, indicating the folder lying on it. "All
of the information is there. If you
can take some time to read it ... we'll discuss it later." She turned toward the
door. In last-ditch desperation he
asked straight out. "And is
that your plan for what just happened here?"
She turned back towards him. "Discuss
it later?" "Commander."
Her use of his title was a quiet reproof.
"There really is nothing to discuss.
It happened. It won't happen
again. No blame, no recrimination.
It's done." Laura wasn't cowardly
enough to leave without looking him in the face, but in a way he wished she was.
The hunger at the back of her eyes went right through him, reverberating
with his own. She swallowed hard.
"So let's just leave it at that, all right?" She slipped through the
door and was gone. Adama was left with aches
in places he really didn't want to consider, and a single question. Did Billy Keikeya deserve
promotion or strangulation for his timing? She might have been the
one who fled, but he couldn't deny that he was as badly shaken as she was.
Most unsettling of all was the single word that had pulsed through him
from the moment he'd taken her into his arms. Mine. He had refused to think
of another human being in such a way since his divorce. Was he ready to consider the implications now, at his age?
With her? Ready or not, he
considered. Most of all he
considered the hunger in her eyes and the tremor in her hands. Looked down at the tremor in his own. "No," he
growled suddenly, squaring his shoulders. "No,
Madame President, we will fracking well not leave it at that!" He crossed to the head,
stripping off for his overdue shower. Too
damn bad it was going to have to be a cold, solitary one. ****** Laura's
wash was warmer, but no more relaxing. She
lathered and rinsed reluctantly, not really wanting to scrub away his scent, but
unable to risk anyone else smelling him on her.
If her guards had noticed anything, they kept it to themselves.
Billy had given her an odd look when she relieved him of the prep
materials for her afternoon meetings, but that might have been because of the
almost-brusque way she'd informed him that she'd be reading them in her
quarters. After
drying off, she sat on her bunk in her robe, the damned black shirt in her hands
and recriminations dancing through her brain. How could this have
happened?! One good look at an
extremely masculine male and I forget about position, conflicts of interest,
responsibilities, the situation with the hoarders, for frack's sake! Good
gods, her cancer.
That thought nearly made her ill, remembering everywhere he'd ... Eyes
closed, she leaned against the bulkhead, picturing Adama as she'd last seen him,
flushed, frustrated, still obviously and unashamedly aroused.
She didn't know how she could face him after this. Her
common sense finally cut in from sheer exasperation.
Get a grip, woman, and stop the melodrama. You are not an overwrought teenager, nor is he some class
jock to whom you succumbed against your better judgement. What happened was two adults doing something they both very
much wanted to do. You're going to
have to deal with this on those terms. She
opened her eyes, but the picture of him lingered.
Not tall, not handsome, not romantic or charming ... well, not usually
charming, at least not to her. Downright
terse and truculent, most of the time. Unfair
that she should be so primed for him
of all people. She
looked down at the shirt. I
should send this to the laundry. Or
put it through the recycler. She
shook her head. Folding the black
fabric neatly, she paused for one last inhalation of military masculinity before
crossing to place the shirt in her storage.
She froze upon opening the door. Her
blouses hung there, freshly cleaned. Timing.
She didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
In the end she did neither, but instead pulled out her dark blue suit and
got ready for the afternoon's circuses. After
four hours, politics and her own lingering frustration had combined to give her
the mother of all headaches. Going
over paperwork at her desk, she rubbed the back of her neck and winced. "Ma'am?" "Yes,
Billy?" Looking up, she summoned a smile for her chief aide. "We've
just had a call from Galactica. Commander
Adama has requested to meet with you as soon as possible to follow up on the
hoarding situation. Given that it's
a priority, I freed up the next slot on your schedule.
He'll be here in about half an hour." Her
smile froze. You
are just a tad too efficient today. But
no, he was right. It was a
priority, and avoiding the man wouldn't help anything. "Thank
you, Billy. Let's take a break until then, shall we?" "Will
you want me at the meeting?" The
idea of a chaperone was briefly attractive, but--
"Ah—no. No, I don't
think so. You finish that follow-up
on the Virgon delegation. I'll deal
with the Commander." Somehow. After
taking some painkillers, she spent most of the interim trying not to worry.
In dispensing with Billy's presence, she knew she'd set herself up for a
reopening of the heated topic lying between them.
Not that William Adama was likely to try anything physical here on Colonial
One, but surely ... views would be expressed. The
comm chimed. "Commander Adama
here to see you, Madame President." "Thank
you, Aja. Send him in." Intellectually
she had expected it, but the sight of him back in his uniform was still jarring.
Neatly groomed and completely correct, the contrast between his earlier
passion and current control felt like a blow. "Commander." "Madame
President." He nodded and took
the chair in front of her desk, opening the folder she'd left for him and
donning his own glasses. "I'm
glad you told me about this supplies diversion.
I'll just need clarification on a few points before we begin." She
blinked, nonplussed. Braced for a conflict, she had gotten—a nonissue.
We're to be all business now, are
we? She
didn't know what he saw in her expression, but he stopped leafing through
papers. "Is something
wrong?" "No,
I—no, nothing." I'm
just extremely confused about what's happened to you in the past few hours. He
returned to sifting through the folder. "If
it's about this morning, I want you to know that you can relax.
It won't happen again." "I
... see." So
it was true. He'd come to his
senses as well. The Commander was
back, and her ardent William was gone. She
pressed her lips together and looked down at her hands.
She refused, flat out refused
to feel heartsick over getting what she wanted. "Unless
..." She
yanked her eyes from her desk back to his face.
He wasn't looking at her; the folder still held his attention. "Unless?"
She hadn't meant to ask, and she certainly hadn't meant to let her voice
raise half an octave ... He
lifted his own eyes to look at her levelly.
Then he removed his glasses and leaned forward. "Unless
you prove to me that it wouldn't be something you'd regret later." The
smoky blaze smoldered again in his blue eyes.
She sat back, stunned. He
continued to hold her gaze. "I
have no intention of even kissing you if all I'm going to inspire are second
thoughts and self-reproach." The
rasp of his voice was a near-tactile sensation.
"So if you demonstrate that you truly want a closer relationship
with me, we'll have one. Otherwise..." The
arrogant--!! She
swallowed. So
tell him. Tell him you prefer to
just continue your professional relationship.
You'll never have a better opportunity. The
words wouldn't come. A
faint quirk at one corner of his mouth told her that he, too, heard everything
she wasn't saying. "So
don't worry, Madame President. You're
as safe as you want to be." Her
jaw clenched at a sudden dose of hot anger.
How dare
you! How dare you take this
lightly, try to manipulate me with some bedamned reverse psychology ploy, taunt
me with something we want and shouldn't have-- The
tension in her face must have been plain to see; she watched his brow crease in
response. He closed his eyes for a
moment, and seemed to come to a decision. When
he reopened them, his face was completely unmasked.
His want, hunger and hope were plain to see.
He let them show for a few moments, then dropped his eyes. Understanding struck,
abrupt and total, causing a catch in her breathing. You idiot.
There is no ploy here. He's
not trying to tempt, taunt or manipulate you.
He's trying to reassure you. Granted, he's doing it in
the most infuriating way he possibly could, but still. Couched in the cocksure
phrasing was a clear message: He
was not going to press her while she had unresolved issues about deeper
involvement with him. He was
leaving the door unlocked ... but he ceded control of that door to her. The time would be hers,
the choice would be hers, and if she could ever resolve those issues to her
satisfaction ... he would be hers as well. A
hot quiver spread through her belly at that thought. Wanting to convey her
understanding of him without being misconstrued, she reached out hesitantly to
lightly brush the back of his hand, even as he'd brushed her cheek earlier.
A delicate caress, an acknowledgment of a possibility. He exhaled.
He slowly turned his own hand up, not to take her hand, but to support
it. Her fingertips rested against
his palm even as his curved up to meet her from below. Within the Commander's
armor, she could see William waiting. He
would wait for as long as she needed, oh yes. But not one second
longer. She allowed Laura's
warmth into the President's smile, pulling an answering smile from him. Laura was thinking about
the primal scent she'd hidden in her clothes store, and inhaling discreetly to
take in the more civilized version radiating from across her desk. William was thinking of
the small red mark he'd discovered over his collarbone after his shower, and
regretting that now was probably the wrong time to tell her about it. "Shall we get back
to business, Commander?" "Certainly,
ma'am." She turned her attention
to the paper he handed her, but her smile widened at their unspoken codicil. For now, at least. The
End
Date: 5/16/05
Series: Season 1
Rating: M
Category: Relationships
Pairing/Focus: Roslin/William Adama
Warnings:
Summary: This tale is completely separate from the timeline in my other works,
"The Last Dance" and the upcoming "Gods' Gift".
Spoilers/Disclaimers: None that I can see / not my characters (though I love
'em as if they were), and I'm
certainly not getting paid.
What
an irritating woman. I wonder what
it's going to be this time.
Not
fair. How could I think of death
while doing something so totally alive?
Then
I'll just have to make sure that mine prevail, won't I?