The Rising Red- Chapter 7- It's All Significant In The End.

[splodge04]

BSG Fic- The Rising Red
(It's also uploaded at Survival Instinct for those who prefer that format.)

Summary: An angsty and slightly AU fic surrounding Adama and Roslin. The President's life is jeopardy and it's only a matter of time until it's too late.
Rated: M
Disclaimer: These character are unfortunately not mine! I'm just putting them into my own little storyline to keep me entertained until Season 4!
It's set after Epiphanies and before Sacrifice in Season 2.

Thanks to me beta's laharah  and trickalicious78  !

Chapter 7- It's All Significant In The End. -Word count 4730

Chapter 1 can be found here. Chapter 5 can be found here
Chapter 2 can be found here. Chapter 6 can be found here
Chapter 3 can be found here
Chapter 4 can be found here

Chapter 7- It’s All Significant In The End.

The light tunnelled around him from the sky outside, the moon’s light washing over her as she slept. Her long blonde hair sprawled around the pillow and her features soft and peaceful. Her hand was resting lazily against his and he felt her fingers twitch against his cool skin.

They had been lying in the garden for hours, watching the sun set and the stars begin to appear like someone stabbing a needle through a black blanket. He was so content lying with her, gazing up at the stars, her warm body lying against him like a blanket.

“I think it’s time we went to bed,” he whispered, moving her hair to one side and adjusting her position.

She opened her eyes slowly and smiled, her fingers tightening the grip on his hand. “Do we have to?” she mumbled sleepily, her eyes glistening underneath the moonlight.

“It’s starting to get cold.” He wrapped the edges of the rug around her body.

She didn’t reply, she just sat watching him, smiling at him and watching as he gazed into her eyes. “Ok,” she whispered, sitting up and taking his other hand, pulling herself up. “We get a lie in tomorrow,” she said playfully as she picked up the basket from the floor. “I’m expecting breakfast in bed,” she giggled.

He watched as she walked inside the house, her slim figure gliding over the linoleum surface of the kitchen floor. “Of course.”

When he opened his eyes he could see the stars through the window ahead of him and he sighed. It had all been so simple then, so easy. It was perfect. She was perfect. Only a few days after that she was gone and it had left him heartbroken, but he had trusted her and understood. One day they would be together again. Whether in this life or another, they would one day be truly happy. Until then, however, he had a mission to do and he would get it done. The fleet would one day be his and then the Cylon’s. The plan would work and he would reign supreme.

It had been a long and lazy day, the sunshine warm outside and the windows and
doors open, letting the fresh air drift in. The plan had begun coming together nicely. She would come home and he would propose to her and make her his wife. He wanted them to be together until the end.

“Honey?” he heard her call from outside. “Could you come and help me with the bags?”

He smiled, placed the small box in his pocket and leapt up from his reading chair. When he walked outside into the sunshine he was greeted with the sound of chirping birds in the big tree outside the house. When he looked over to her he paused slightly, watching as the thin summer coloured cotton moved swiftly in the breeze around her body. In both hands were a multitude of different bags and objects. Her hair, blonde and bright, was twisting and turning as the air rushed past her head, making her look windswept but even more beautiful. She was amazing.

“You sure went shopping didn’t you?” He laughed, walking over to her. “Please, put them down, I’ll do it.”

She smiled and began placing all of the things onto the ground. “There was a sale! I bought us a new lamp and a whole load of really gorgeous things. I thought you’d like them.”

“I’m sure I will,” he grinned. “But I need to ask you something. It’s really important.”

Her smile faltered slightly and her eyebrows rose, questioning him with her gaze. “Honey, what is it? Why do you look so nervous?” She lifted her hand to his face and cupped his cheek. “Is everything ok?”

A grin swept across his face like a bushfire. “Oh it’s more than alright.” He kneeled down on the floor and put his hand in his pocket, bringing out the box. He opened it slowly, watching as her eyes grew wide and her jaw dropped. “Will you be my wife?”

As soon as the last word left his lips she had jumped on him, knocking the lamp over with her foot. She wrapped her hands around his neck and kissed him several times, before putting her head against his shoulder. “Yes, of course I will.”

----

Gaius faltered as he pipetted a small solution into the test tube and began mixing. To his right stood Six who was wrapped in her red dress, watching him avidly as he did what he had done at least a hundred times already. “Gaius, what do you believe is going to happen?”

Gaius lifted his gaze from the tube and looked lazily at her as she leaned against the side. “What do you mean?”

“To the human race. Do you think you’ll survive? Or do you think you’ll fall, succumbing to a demise that was brought on by your own ignorance.” She moved, sliding quietly behind him, wrapping her hands around his waist. He jumped, spilling the contents of a small beaker onto the side. “There are very few humans that understand the meaning of true love, anger, hatred, remorse or even happiness.” She took his hand and leaned her head against his shoulder. “They know jealousy, they know fear and they know greed, Gaius. Why should you survive?”

Gaius looked up, sighed and put down the pipette on the side. “Oh come on, I’m sorry, I didn’t realise your kind were fully programmed with the whole spectrum of human emotion.” He picked his work back up and dropped some of the chemical onto a slide, adding some blood to it and placing it under a microscope. “What would you know about true love? What would you know about real passion. In fact,” he placed everything down and turned around. “You say that we don’t know this and we don’t know that. How do YOU know what it feels like? You criticise but what do you really know? You were created by us! You can only feel what we feel.”

“Gaius, you know so very little about me, you can’t pass judgement. God has a plan that we are meant to follow, and I followed mine. I’m here at this point for a reason. What I have done or haven’t done is only significant at the end when I have reached my goal.” She dug her fingers into his arm and clenched her jaw. “Even if we have to drop everything and leave our loved ones behind, we do it, because it is what we are meant to do. God has a plan for all of us.”

“Yes, you keep reminding me.” He looked through the microscope and stared for a few moments. “Can’t you come and pester me when I’m not busy?” When he turned around she was gone, all that remained was a red label attached to a small chemical container. When Gaius picked it up he raised his eyebrows. “Well, we could certainly give this a try.”

---

Bill stood angrily with his face almost pressed against the metal, staring at the man behind the bars who was sat huddled in the corner, his body turned away from them. “The President asked you a question,” he barked.

Laura stood quite far back, not entirely sure what to do with herself. She had asked him about what was going to happen and she had yet to receive an answer. The man in the cell was young but a giant in comparison to the people around her, yet there he was whimpering in the corner. It was strange and very uncharacteristic for a ‘bad-guy.’ She walked forward into the open cell next to the prisoners and took a seat. “What are you afraid of?” she said quietly, leaning forward so she could catch his face. She had seen it behind his eyes, the moment they had slapped the cuffs on him and dragged him through the halls of Galactica. She had followed at a fair distance, Starbuck cursing at her side. When they had rounded a corner he had looked at her, his eyes wide and full of fear.

At first he didn’t say anything, his gaze locked onto the bulkhead, his chin on his knees. Laura waited, watching him as he sat perfectly still. Something banged behind him and he jumped, his eyes catching hers as he turned to look at the people behind him. He opened his mouth to speak, but then paused, wrapping his arms around his knees tighter.

“Why did you come here? Were you coming to kill me?”

“I’m not here to kill you,” he said quietly, his eyes glistening with tears. “There is no need for me to do that.”

“Really?”

He moved a little so he could see her face properly. “Everything is mapped out. Everything has its order of events. It all happens for a reason. I am not here to do anything of the sort, it is not the way or the path I am meant to follow.”

Laura moved the chair closer and leaned herself against the bulkhead behind her. When she lifted her head she caught the wary look of the Admiral, who had now entered the cell with her, obviously not wanting her to get too close. A man of that size could probably do damage even with one arm through a cell. Laura could sense a spiritual side to the man, he was set in his ways, following a path that had been laid down. Like her, he seemed to have a job. “What is your path?”

Geoffrey closed his eyes and shook his head. “I can’t tell you.”

“Nobody will know what you say.”

Bill was watching carefully, not totally impressed by what was going on. She had surprised him with her rational thinking and level-headedness in such a situation. Bill wanted to find out the answers and make whoever it was pay, he was angry for her, and he would expect her to be angry also, but she wasn’t. Her face was calm and her eyes were warm in a purposeful way, she was being nice to him. Nice…to one of the people who had put her in this position. “I think you should start talking,” Bill mumbled angrily, his eyes wandering to Starbuck’s. “Or things won’t be easy for you.”

Laura looked at Bill, her eyes telling him to stop.

“It doesn’t matter what you do to me. Everything will come to play when it needs to. I won’t tell you because I can’t.”

Laura moved herself closer. “Why can’t you tell us? This place is secure. Nobody will know. Do you want to tell us?”

“He’ll find out. He knows everything. Everything that is going to happen is all written down…” he trailed off when he considered that he had said too much.

“In his book?”

Geoffrey lifted his gaze to hers, his eyes suspicious and worried. “How did you-”

“There is a reason for everything, as you said. Maybe this isn’t meant to plan out as it should?”

Bill could see now what she was doing. Obviously, having almost instantly worked out the man’s weaknesses and strengths she had began working against them, picking at him in all the right places so she could gain some sort of trust from him. She was very clever and he had figured out that using a more physical way of getting information was not the right way, because she was not into physical punishment and she had used clever tactics.

“How do you know that it isn’t meant to end with us overcoming this whole situation? A way for the humans to find a strength in themselves and overcome this? What if we, as leaders, were meant to live?”

Geoffrey looked into her eyes regret sparkled within them. “It doesn’t matter what will happen now. It all comes down to time, which you have very little of.” He reached his hand through the bars, reaching out to her.

Laura stared at it for a few moments, her heart beating in her chest. When she looked up at Bill, she could see concern lining his face. She reached her hand towards the prisoner and took his hand.

“I can see that there is a passion within you to survive. I can see that you want to live, and it’s for unselfish reasons. As a person, you long to love and be loved but you are set on a path to lead humanity to their final resting place. You want to succeed in this and you will do whatever you can to get there. You want the whole race to survive.” He paused and looked into her eyes. “But the course has already been set. If this whole situation is meant to plan out so that you survive then you shall, but by what means I do not know. I have learnt as much as I can, and I know that there isn’t an antidote for anything. H-he…he has never spoke of one. Although I see a light shining within you, I’m not sure how long it will burn.”

Laura felt her eyes sting, totally unsure of what to think. What if he were speaking the truth? He seemed like a man that wouldn’t lie, but how could she be sure? She dropped her hand from his. “I see.”

“Hope is a strong emotion and will guide you. You’ve overcome obstacles before and you will overcome more. Even in the darkest tunnel there is a small ray of light which hope can thrive on. You must not forget that.”

Bill stepped forward. “Who is doing all of this?” he shouted, his temper beginning to flare in his chest.

“I will not tell you.” He turned himself around and stared again at the bulkhead.

Bill watched as Laura clambered to her feet from the chair. She walked out of the cell, turning her head once to look at the prisoner and then she walked to the hatch, in which Starbuck followed. She left the room silently leaving Bill with the prisoner. “You have all the answers but you choose to side with whoever is behind all of this!”

“You, too, have all the answers,” he mumbled. “You have a valuable book there and you haven’t used it to your advantage. It’s been there from the start, and I have the feeling you haven’t given it your full concentration.”

Bill turned around and stomped out of the cell, his stomach in knots and his fists clenched. As he reached the hatch, he paused, turning to look at the prisoner one more time. “You said in the letter that you wanted your ideas to be heard. What were they?”

“I came here because I was told to. I was told to tell you one thing, but it wasn’t an idea, it was an ambiguous statement that I know nothing about.” he paused, turning around. “A leader who falls with love in his heart will be remembered by at least one person. Passion and idolism paves the way for idiocy. A careful step too many, or a blind jump will only make things worse. Remember. Love will make you fall faster-”

“And when you hit the floor, death in your eyes, all you will care about is the person you love and idolise. Love made you fall faster, but it softens the blow. Love will run within you like a poison and you will watch as the light fades around you. Ending. Love is the gateway to the Gods. Embrace love and you will not fear death.” Bill paused and looked at the prisoner. “The epilogue to Wartime Passion.”

“I figured you would know it.” He stood up and sat on the rack, lying down and putting the sheets over him. “Use your mind. You have the resources.” He yawned and closed his eyes.

Bill stood, his mind reeling with thoughts. He had this book in his quarters. He turned to the guard. “I want this room secure. Nobody in and nobody out without my permission.” Bill opened the hatch and walked into the corridor, confused and bewildered. What the frak was going on? It seemed that things had just taken a dramatic downfall yet again.

---

Bill watched as Laura lay on his rack, her face blank and her gaze distant. It had been a few hours since they had been to the brig, and since then she hadn’t said anything, too lost in thought. Bill had decided to let her mull it over, as he had tried striking conversation with her a few times and all he received was mumbles and grunts. They both had a lot to think about, and he was sure she was letting things sink in, so he would talk to her when she was feeling a bit more open.

The book lay open to his side and he had sat analysing today’s day, trying to make anything significant out. To the left of him sat Wartime Passion, which he was going to re-read in hopes of searching for clues. It had been a long time since he had given it a read and he had hoped that it would hold something. It was like following a breadcrumb trail that had been picked on by birds. In terms of absurdity, this whole situation was at the top. It was being dragged out, twists and turns being added right when they were over coming a hurdle. Would they ever get something to help them, really?

Laura blinked, altering her gaze from the ceiling to Bill who was bent over that retched book, his face close to the pages and his eyes moving from side to side. He was trying. He was doing more then she was at the moment. Of course, she wanted to get to the bottom of it all, so she could try and get herself out of this endless hole that she was being thrust into. But, deep within her, in the most distant parts, she knew that a part of her was letting go. It was a small part, but it was prevalent none the less. If things were really going to end then why should she hold on and try to fight it? The strength that she had been holding onto had waned and she seemed to be floating amongst this sea of hopeless emotion. The optimistic side of her was clinging onto every happy memory and every person she had ever loved, trying to keep her afloat in the sea of despair and fear. She was struggling, she knew, but she was going to try her hardest. Even in the darkest tunnel there is a small ray of light which hope can thrive on. You must not forget that. She closed her eyes, remembering the look on his face. He was right, of course, you should never give up until it’s over. The energy and passion required to do that was high, and although she had the backing of Bill and Billy, she could still feel herself falter.
Bill turned the page over and she watched him as he concentrated on the words. “Bill?”

Bill looked up, the creases in his forehead softening as he adjusted his focus. “Don’t let me give up,” she whispered, returning her gaze to the ceiling.

Bill didn’t say anything, he watched her for a few moments seeing the weakness on her face. A person was only as strong as those that backed them up, and she was obviously finding things more difficult then he had anticipated. He closed the book and stood himself up, walking over to the bed. Sitting softly down next to her he watched her as she stared. “You’re a strong woman, Laura, but I will never let you give up. You have the strength inside you to battle this, I know you do, I’ve seen it.”

“I’m just so tired,” she said, her eyes filling with tears which she tried to stop falling. “It’s just so hard.”

“I know you are. You have my support, and that‘s not going to change. I will stand with you.”

“I know you will, Bill, I know. It’s just, when I actually sit and keep myself quiet, thinking about what’s going on I can feel myself falter. I can feel myself moving away from it all. When things are bad you can wake up in the morning and tackle the problems, but in this case my problems stem from the sleep or lack of. What I’m working on is not sufficient anymore. It’s so hard for me to pick myself back up from a knock because I just don’t have the energy. I can feel myself letting go. When I was ill there was a strong motivation to carry on, that is there but it feels like I’m losing it. It feels like I’m losing everything. I just want to rest and let sleep take me away from all of this.”

Bill moved his fingers in with hers, that conversation had obviously been a strong hit to whatever hope she had left. Although it was difficult to know what to believe she had obviously taken this person’s words to heart. It was hard to sit and watch. Watching a person give up was one of those things he always found difficult to observe and although he would do what he could, there would only be so much he could do. He would use every resource he had to help and would work hard to keep her floating. “Laura, I want to ask you something.”

Laura didn’t even alter her gaze from the ceiling, still gazing lazily into the distance. “Ok.”

“Before all of this, before you found out that you had cancer what did you see yourself doing when you got older?”

“I saw myself in a small house by a small lake, spending my time fulfilling all the dreams I had never been able to do. Why do you ask?”

“I want you to hold onto that thought. You will make it and when we make it to Earth, you will have your house by the lake and I will promise you that you will fulfill as many dreams as possible.”

“You’re quite the optimist today, aren’t you?”

“For you I’d be anything, even optimistic.”

--

“How’s she doing?” Cottle said as he pulled up Bill’s sleeve in an attempt to draw some blood. He had told him that he had wanted periodic blood samples from him to make sure that he hadn’t been infected with anything along the same lines as Laura.

Bill looked down at his knees briefly before turning to the needle that was sitting near his arm. “Not particularly well,” he said sadly. “It’s beginning to get to her. I just hope she won’t give up.”

Cottle nodded sympathetically. He had had to resort to talking to Bill because he knew that he would be open about her condition. The President had been told about the need to be honest, but she always held back a little and it annoyed him. Brutal honesty was the way forward. “It isn’t going to get any easier, I’m afraid. We’re also not any closer to figuring out how we can stop it. If at all.”

“What have you found?” Bill watched as the blood was pulled from his body.

“Well we’re trying to find chemicals that will react or counteract what’s happening to her. It’s tedious but necessary. Baltar has a few good ideas, it’s just hard to implement them in such conditions.” Cottle placed the vial onto the cart and moved it out of the way. “Is she resting?”

“Trying to. You can see she is exhausted but she just can’t sleep properly. Is there nothing at all you can do for her?”

Cottle shook his head. “The strongest sleep meds I have are what I have given her already. They seem to be bouncing off of her. I mean, we could put her into unconsciousness and that might do something, but, she’s against that completely. It‘s an idea to try, but in terms of this actual chemical we still don‘t know an awful deal about it. It will stop her sleeping and it will react violently with any pain medication we give her. We have the chemical structure, but it‘s so complex.”

“I’ll have to talk to her.”

“Please do,” Cottle said lighting his cigarette. “Bill…I know that there is a chance that something might happen to you, but I hope that you will use your common sense and get your frakking ass down here straight away.”

Bill nodded. “Of course.” he stood up and rolled the sleeve of his shirt down.

Cottle walked out of the curtain. “Try and get her to rest, Bill, I’m serious.”

“I know you are, Jack,” Bill nodded his head and walked out of sickbay,

---

Bill opened the hatch and entered his quarters with a stack of blank paper. When he entered he could make out Starbuck who was sitting lazily on his sofa, her eyes looking down at an open book she had obviously taken an interest in. Bill did feel sorry for her, she was like a bird and didn’t do well being caged. But, she wasn’t allowed to fly and instead of her being a nuisance she would certainly be better off here with the President.

Laura was seated at Bill’s desk, her eyes red and her face blank as she looked down at the book which he had been scanning through earlier. It had only been two hours since he had left, needing to attend to some things down at CIC, and he could tell she was exhausted.

Starbuck stood up, closing the book and making her way over to the hatch, eager to get out of the room and roam free around Galactica. “I’m good to go now, sir?”

Bill nodded and watched as she exited, quickly and sharply, just like he had thought she would. Bill put the pieces of plain paper down on his desk and spread them out, taking a pen in this hand and placing one next to Laura’s hand. “I know you probably are finding it hard to concentrate right about now, but I think we should start mapping all of this out, from start to finish so we can get a grip on it.”

Laura nodded her head and rubbed her tired eyes, silently taking the pen and drawing a line down the middle of her page. Like a timeline she plotted out the days, not even saying anything to Bill to try and confirm that was what he was suggesting.

Withdrawn, was the best way to describe Laura Roslin’s actions, she was definitely beginning to detach from things. Or it was the pressure of not being able to sleep. Her body was only concentrating on the necessary things or she was detaching herself from the situation to try and overcome it. Bill didn’t like it at all. “So,” Bill said, taking his pen. “Day one.”

---

He hummed to himself as he flicked through the pages in the book which he had placed on his lap. It was so nice not to have Geoffrey babbling in his ear like a nervous idiot. He was annoying but useful. A spiritual giant who liked to follow a path, was the best way to describe him. He had delivered the message and it was a matter of time until he would start spilling information to the President. It was meant to happen, it had to happen, otherwise things would not follow the correct course.

Target number two, the ever pressing, ever strong Admiral Adama. Tomorrow was the day when things would begin tumbling for him, his strength which he was using to keep the President upright would be redirected. It would all take place and then things would truly begin to crumble. It would not happen quickly, and may not be fully prevalent straight away, but it would begin to be noticeable.

“Day 23 would bring about the beginnings of the end for the male leader. Aggression and misdirection would overcome him. A path that was followed would crumble."


----

Comments are love :D