Post by childminerva on Dec 16, 2007 10:28:17 GMT -5
People Who Make It Work, Rated K, K+
Summary: Bill has a gift for Laura, one that brings an unexpected reaction. Some spoilers for Deathly Hallows.
Part two of Sprinks' secret santa gift...this is a crossover fic of sorts with Battlestar Galactica. Enjoy!
It was a special night; one Bill had been looking forward to for some time. He had spoken to Tory earlier that day and convinced her to arrange a special meeting for him with the president in his quarters and had convinced the disapproving aide that it would not be a fleet-wide disaster if the president was unable to make it back to her ship until the next morning. Bill had a special gift for Laura and it was all he could do not to start grinning during his shift in the CIC as he imagined surprising her with the gift.
Some months ago Laura had been browsing through his library and had come across his copies of the Harry Potter series. She had teased him at first about the presence of those books amongst his others, but all teasing had ceased when she sat down and read them for herself. She read all six sitting on the couch in his quarters and Bill would never forget the day he received an urgent phone call in the CIC from Laura, who was furiously searching through his bookshelves for the seventh and final book in the series.
“What do you mean you don’t have it?” she demanded.
Bill glanced over at his curious XO and tried to cover up a smile as he responded.
“The final one came out just before the attacks; I hadn’t had the chance to acquire it.”
Laura huffed angrily and slammed down the phone.
After that, Bill had sent out inquiries amongst the ships in the fleet, looking for the seventh Harry Potter book. Two months, a bottle of Joe’s best brew and three cigars later, Bill Adama had the final book in his possession. Much as he was dying to read it himself, Bill was a gentleman and he was going to allow Laura that honor. So he had arranged this evening for her to receive and read the book; once she was done he would have the chance to enjoy the book at his leisure.
Bill was rather pleased with himself, and the gift. It was not often he could surprise Laura Roslin, and even rarer that he could present her with a gift of something she truly wanted. So when she entered his quarters that night he wasted no time in leading her to the couch and handing her the book, wrapped in simple brown paper.
“A present, Bill?” Laura asked, her eyes dancing and a beautiful, teasing grin on her face. “Is there some special occasion I am unaware of?”
Bill smiled and nudged the package.
“Not at all, just open it.”
Laura flashed him another dazzling smile and then turned her attention to the package. She slit the seams of the wrapping quickly and cleanly with a fingernail and let the paper fall away to reveal the book. It was missing its cover, but Laura did not have to look at the spine to know what book she held in her hands.
“Bill, you found it!” she sighed, then gave a short happy laugh. “Have you read it yet?”
“No, not yet.”
Laura considered him a moment then reached over and squeezed his hand gently.
“Thank you, Bill; this is the most wonderful gift I’ve received in a long time.”
“I’ve arranged with Tory for you to spend the night here, so you can enjoy the book without having to go back to your ship.”
Laura laughed again, clearly delighted.
“Bill Adama, you are absolutely wonderful.”
Bill grinned and stood up from his seat on the couch.
“I know. Now if you will excuse me, Madam President, I have some fleet matters to attend to, so I will leave you to your book.”
Hours later, Laura was still curled up on the couch with a blanket wrapped around her shoulders as she devoured the book. Occasionally she would laugh aloud or make a small sound of protest, and once or twice she paused to wipe away a tear. Bill watched her from the entrance to his sleeping area and smiled, pleased that she was so entranced by the gift. He knew there was no point in wishing her goodnight, she would only wave him away, so he cast a final glance at the woman on his couch and went to bed.
His alarm went off earlier than it needed to as Bill had arranged with Saul Tigh to take a later shift, but he still heeded the call of the buzzer and rolled out of bed. The light was out in his living room, so he knew Laura had eventually closed the book and gone to sleep. But when he exited the head after shaving and getting dressed, the light was back on and Laura was flipping through the pages of the book, searching for where she had left off.
“You could sleep at least another hour, you know,” Bill commented softly as he walked up behind the couch and placed a hand on her shoulder.
“Shh,” she admonished him, flicking her hand and indicating that he should leave her alone.
“In that case, here’s some coffee.”
He handed her a mug of coffee and she accepted it silently, her eyes never leaving the page. Bill smirked; it was a very good gift indeed.
Still smiling, he moved to his desk where he spent the next few hours going over mundane reports, occasionally glancing up to gaze at the woman on his couch. He loved to hear her laughter ring out as she came across an amusing line, though as she moved closer to the end of the book, the laughter ceased and the pages seemed to move faster as if she was racing to reach the end. Bill found himself becoming increasingly curious about what lay within those pages, and was eager for Laura to finish so that he could find out for himself.
The phone rang, startling them both. Laura looked up from the book and blinked as she looked around as if remembering where she was, before resuming her reading. Bill sighed as he reached for the phone.
“Adama.”
“Morning Admiral, is the president ready to return to her ship?”
It was Tory Foster, already anxious to have Laura back on Colonial One.
“I’m afraid not Tory,” Bill replied, trying his best to be civil.
“Admiral, it will not reflect well on the president if word gets out that she has spent the night in your quar-“
“I can assure you that at this moment, the president is far more interested in her new book than me,” Bill informed the aide curtly. “You will be notified when she is ready to leave.”
He hung up the phone just as Tory was about to speak again and silently cursed the aide, the press and the whole rest of the fleet. Couldn’t Laura even have a moment for herself to enjoy a book, let alone anything else? He was distracted from his mental rant by the sound of the heavy book being snapped shut and Laura’s deep sigh.
Bill got up from his desk and moved across the room to sit beside her on the couch.
“Finished?”
Laura sighed again, then yawned and massaged her face before facing him and smiling sleepily.
“Yes,” she told him lazily, letting her head fall back onto the couch. “It was quite something. Thank you.”
“Well I’m glad you enjoyed it,” he told her as he picked up the book from the couch and stood. “But now it’s my turn to read it, so don’t give anything away; I can’t start until after my shift in CIC. That was Tory on the phone a while ago; she wants you back on Colonial One as soon as you’re ready.”
Bill deposited the book on his rack then pulled his uniform jacket from the closet and began the arduous process of doing up all the buttons. He glanced in the mirror quickly to make sure his appearance was neat and then returned to the living room to find Laura still on the couch. She had a pensive look on her face and her lips were turned down into what Bill could only describe as a pout.
“Laura?” Bill asked tentatively. “Is everything all right?”
She glanced up at him and sighed.
“Everything’s fine; I’m just a little disappointed, that’s all.”
Bill frowned; all that trouble to get the book and she was disappointed?
“With the book? I thought you liked it?”
“On the whole, yes, I did. But I thought, oh never mind.”
“No, tell me.”
Laura sighed and crossed her arms over her chest as she answered him, her words coming out in a rush.
“I was convinced it would come out that they were together all along, but this book makes it seem as if he had some sort of mancrush on that villain.”
Bill looked down at her, at a loss.
“Harry?” he said finally, “And Voldemort?”
“No!” Laura scoffed. “Dumbledore!”
“Dumbledore and Voldemort?” Bill was really starting to wonder about the woman sitting in front of him.
Laura sighed in exasperation.
“No,” she said flatly. “Dumbledore and McGonagall. I took it for granted throughout the series that they were together and that Harry would become aware of this towards the end, but now it appears that Dumbledore had a thing for Grindewald in his youth. Such a disappointment.”
Bill could only stare.
Laura raised her eyebrows inquiringly as he continued to look at her without speaking.
“Well?” she snapped.
Bill cleared his throat and cast about for something to say that would bring reason back into the conversation.
“Is that issue important to the plot?”
“It is to me!” She glared at him.
“Uh, well I’m sorry I don’t really know what to say about-“
“Forget it then,” she snapped again, turning her face away. “I was just really hoping that it was possible, that people like them could make it work.”
“People like who?” Bill pressed, wanting to understand what was really bothering her.
“People like Dumbledore and McGonagall,” she said softly, still looking away. “People with high profile positions, people with responsibilities, people who have to hide things to protect themselves. I wanted to believe a relationship in that sort of situation was possible, that two people could make it work.”
Understanding dawned at last and Bill took a seat on the couch, nudging Laura’s legs aside so that he could sit closer to her and put an arm around her shoulders, drawing her to him.
“People can make that sort of relationship work, Laura,” he whispered into her hair and placed a kiss on her forehead, “we make it work.”
Laura stifled a sob and buried her face in his neck.
“I just wish it wasn’t so difficult, that we didn’t have to hide everything from everyone.”
Bill caressed her arm soothingly and rested his head against hers as he smiled sadly.
“We both knew it wouldn’t be easy,” he said at last. “But I love you.”
She smiled against his neck and placed a gentle kiss there before responding.
“I love you too.”
They sat in silence for several minutes, lost in their own thoughts and relishing the rare moment of time together. Laura was the first to speak and she pulled out of his embrace just far enough to look up at him and grin wickedly.
“You will never guess who kills Bellatrix…”
Bill clamped a hand over her mouth before she could say more and looked at her sternly.
“Not another word.”
The End.
