Disclaimer: Disclaimer: Battlestar Galactica belongs to Ronald D. Moore and the Sci-Fi channel. Set in the evening of the episode "Maelstrom." The song is Candleburn by Dishwalla, inspired by the montage from Hollywonka.

Take Me Over

Admiral Adama had given her a memorial service to be proud of, but it could never be enough, not for the daughter he almost had. Captain Kara 'Starbuck' Thrace had been reduced to mere words. He had put her picture on the memorial wall himself, next to Kat's where Lee had told him to. Jacket loosely shrugged on, he poured himself a drink, having told Colonel Tigh that he was to be left alone for the rest of the evening, unless it was a family matter or a ship emergency.

Surprise and annoyance were his companions as he slowly stood to open the hatch, leaving his glasses on the coffee table. Wondering who would dare to knock now, he thought it might be Lee. He opened the door to President Roslin. "Don't worry, I'm not here on business," she reassured him.

On Vineland pass the candle shrine that burns on every night
For someone

Realizing by the determination in her face that he was not going to get rid of her, he let her in and closed the door. "Laura, this really isn't a good time for a social call."

"That's not why I'm here," she remarked, crossing her arms. Her eyes spotted the remnants of a model ship off to one corner in the room, as well as a small gleam of metal from the miniature goddess, Aurora. Quickly assessing that she did not need to ask about the ship, she glanced over her shoulder at the bottle and the glass sitting on his coffee table. "I came to make sure you didn't drink yourself into oblivion."

He let a half-smile slip. "I wasn't planning on doing that, maybe drinking just enough to knock me out for a few hours though."

They sat down on his couch. "If you need to talk, I'll listen."

He shot her a disgruntled expression. "Laura, I don't want a psychologist, and I'm not in the mood to be analyzed."

"I didn't come here to be a shrink. I wanted to talk to you, actually," she conveyed, putting up a hand in defense.

"Problems with Colonial One?" he asked with a smirk.

She lets herself go like an angel in the snow
She lays down on her back
Down on her back - she goes

She took a sip from her drink and shook her head as she slipped her shoes off and crosser her ankles. "No, just chasing away the ghosts. On days like this, there are ghosts, and I didn't want to be alone. Tory has a friend she's been visiting and my ship is too quiet," she sat back against the couch and crossed her knees, continuing to speak. "I start listening for any sounds at all, and then I think I hear Billy moving about. By that point there's no way I'm going to get any sleep."

"Ghosts, huh? I would've figured that the ship picked up some kind of rodent from New Caprica," he teased. Though melancholy, somehow his sense of humor was still present.

She smiled and shook her head. "Thank goodness no. But ghosts aren't just noises. Sometimes ghosts are guilt, from things I should've done, or things I had no business doing. The past has a lot of ghosts."

He took another drink. "If you came here to escape those kinds of ghosts, then you're in the wrong place. I know what you're going to say, and Starbuck is probably going to end up like one of those ghosts anyway. I can deal with ghosts on my own though," he retorted.

She debated leaving right then, but as she faced him something in his eyes stopped her. It was buried deep behind his wall, but it was there, the silent pain that said 'don't leave me alone tonight.' Reaching out, she rested a hand on his knee. "I know you can, but that's not the point. What I'm trying to say is that you don't have to."

Take me over when I'm gone
Take me over make me strong
Take me over when I'm gone
Will they burn for me

At that moment, the door opened and Tigh poked his head in. Adama rose and walked over to the door. "Thought you could use some…" Tigh trailed off, seeing Roslin, "… company."

Roslin blushed and stared down at her shoeless feet as Adama spoke. "It's alright, Saul. Funny, I remember saying that I didn't want to be disturbed, and I'm starting to collect guests."

Tigh shook his head. "That's alright. You probably know what I'm gonna say anyway. I'll come by tomorrow."

The president stood. "Wait Colonel, you go on ahead. I- I should probably be leaving anyway."

Is there some particular reason the deities want me to choose between the friend I've known for over thirty years and the woman who's become my friend in spite of our lives out here? Adama rubbed the bridge of his nose, wondering if the deities knew what they were doing.

Tigh made the decision for him by telling her, "You look like you need to talk more than I do. Bill, if you wanna keep company away, it helps of you lock your door," he stated before leaving.

Part of him wanted to laugh, the part the remembered when the colonists had been running out of food and he had asked Tigh if it was true they were eating paper. He had joked and said that they ran out of paper, and the two ended up laughing because the situation was not good. Here was another situation that only looked worse. He turned back to Roslin after locking the door. He almost expected to see pity in her eyes, but what he saw was a slightly nervous confusion and he dealt her a half-smile.

She watched him pensively. "I didn't mean to-"

"Would you mind if I had one more drink?" he interjected.

"Only if you'll pour me one too," she stated after taking a deep breath.

They returned to the couch and he stared off at the wall for a while. She wiggled out of her black jacket and leaned against the couch. Finally she broke the silence. "It was a good service. She would've been proud, for what you and Lee said about her."

He took a long gulp. "Words will never do her justice. She deserved better. Dammit, she deserved something more!"

"She wasn't just another pilot to you; she was family," Roslin mentioned.

With a long sigh he rubbed the bridge of his nose again. "She was Zack's fiancé and Lee's friend. Somehow she managed to weave her way into the family. I've called her a daughter on occasion, and she was like a daughter most of the time. With her spunk, ingenuity, and spirit, she was the indestructible Starbuck, getting the arrow from Caprica. She didn't get along with everyone, but she…" he trailed off, not knowing how to explain.

"She grew on you," Roslin finished. He nodded satisfactorily. "I'll miss her too."

He let a few tears slip through. "She didn't deserve to die like that, not after all she'd been through."

"How's Lee taking it?" she inquired.

"Not so good," he managed.

Roslin set her glass down on the table. Somehow his ended up there too. After setting her glasses on the table, she scooted closer to him and looped her arms around his shoulders, trying somehow to comfort him. Her nervousness had been replaced with conviction. "I know, it's not fair when the younger ones go first," she told him through tears of her own, thinking of Billy Keikeya.

On Vineland pass the candle shrine that melts into the street design - she waits
For someone

With her crying too, something within him cracked. "I've failed her. Hell, I've failed them. How are we supposed to defend humanity when the only thing that stands between us and total destruction is this ship? I can't protect them anymore. I can't even protect my own family!" he expressed.

She pulled herself closer to hold him, being full flush against his side. "Bill, listen to me. You can only help them so much. They are adults and they make their own decisions. Sometimes they make good decisions, sometimes not, but neither one of us has the ability to control how much risk people put themselves in." It was as if she was trying to physically hold him together.

Tonight she'll give herself away
She'll break apart all by her, by herself
So easy how we come undone

He finally wrapped his arms around her waist so that they were holding each other. Her head ended up in the crook of his neck and she felt the rumble of his voice. "Her death is my fault. There should've been another way."

"No, no it wasn't. You can't take everyone's death upon yourself. It wasn't your fault, Bill," she pursued.

"If I can't keep my own people safe anymore, I'm not fit to command this fleet," he argued.

Take me over when I'm gone
Take me over make me strong
Take me over when I'm gone
Will they burn for me

She was finally able to look him in the eyes, moving her head up. He raised an eyebrow as she glared at him and he saw the inner steel that held her together like the structural rods of Galactica. "Oh no, Bill Adama, you are not going down this road again. We've been here before, and I might not have a frakking medal with me this time, but I will be damned if I let you give up like that! There is no one, no one whom I think is more capable to command the fleet than you! We can't know every single consequence. We can only do our best. Much as we try to avoid it, we're only human-"

He had cut her off with a kiss. What started as a gently kiss transformed into one of desperate need as he pulled her closer. When she moaned, he immediately pulled back. "I'm sorry, Laura. I have no right to-"

"I didn't try to stop you, did I?" she asked boldly. As they looked into each other's eyes, she knew the real reason she had come. She sneaked a tender kiss and pulled back again. "Tell me what you want."

Reaching out to cup her face and gently stroke her cheek with his right hand, he only whispered one word. "Stay."

"I think I can do that," she replied with a small smile as she leaned forward to kiss him soundly.

She pulls me in and strips me down
She pulls me in and turns me out
She pulls me in and strips me down to the ground

He responded hungrily. She easily slid his jacket off. They stood and his lips caressed her neck starting from her jaw, and working their way down to her collarbone as he fumbled with the buttons of her cream blouse while she raked her fingers through his hair. She unlatched his belt with ease. A pair of trousers and a skirt also found their way to the living room floor as their owners stumbled into his bedroom.

On Vineland pass the candle shrine that melts into the street design - she waits
For someone

Tonight she'll give herself away
She'll break apart all by her, by herself
So easy how we come undone

Stopping by his bunk, he looked into her eyes again, as if expecting her to leave. She could see the fear of what they were about to do, but she also saw the loneliness. "Laura, I'm not sure if we should-"

She grinned at him wryly as she cut him off. "Do you really expect me to walk out of your door looking like this? I could've left earlier," she conveyed. His lips captured hers in a deep kiss and she pulled him down on the bed with her.

Take me over when I'm gone
Take me over make me strong
Take me over when I'm gone
Will they burn for me

Adama woke to the unfamiliar sensation of being relaxed. The daze had yet to wear off as his mind struggled to remember what had happened the previous day. Then his eyes focused on the sleeping woman he was holding and the day came flooding back to him. Had they really- one glance over at the clothes on the floor confirmed it. All this is probably going to add up to a very long talk, he figured.

His clock told him that it was 0500. The blankets had slipped a little from him turning and he attempted to rouse her, gently rubbing her bare shoulders. He smirked when instead of waking, she moved closer to him. Finally he cleared his throat and seemed to find a more lucid reaction. She opened her eyes and blinked at him for a while.

"My dreams must be getting more vivid because you're still here," she remarked.

He chuckled and spoke in that deep rumble of a voice that she loved. "I think what should be said is that you're still here. After all, these are my quarters," he pointed out.

She giggled. "Colonel Tigh is probably going to be on your case all day."

He nodded and glanced back at the clock to see that ten minutes had passed. "Laura you need to-"

"I know," she finished.

"Shower's right over there," he added, pointing.

She grabbed her things and was quickly in and out of the shower. Then she had used the cherry travel perfume that she kept in her jacket pocket. That left enough time for him to take a quick shower. He did not expect her to wait for him though. "You should've gone back," he told her.

Folding her hands on her lap, she faced him as she sat on his couch. "I've got a few minutes before I head over to the guest quarters and pretend that I spent the night there. I thought we should talk a bit first."

Here it comes, he reasoned. "About last night?"

"If you want it to be more than just comfort, it can be. If not, then we'll leave it as it was, the fulfilling of a need and a release," she offered.

She's giving me a chance to keep things as they usually are. But is the status quo good enough anymore, or do I wanted something more? As he sat down next to her on the couch, a thought occurred to him. I wonder what Starbuck would tell me to do.

Adama smiled back at Roslin and covered her hands with his. I know I told you that you could, but I don't want to brush this off, she thought to herself as he spoke. "There are several things I don't know, but there's one thing I know for certain: you and I need each other. Last night you stopped me from going somewhere I might not have been able to get back from. I think we should explore what's between us," he leaned forward and kissed her gently. "Now you'd better go before Jaffries brings me my coffee."

He knows everyone's name, she realized as he walked her to the door. "Take care of yourself today, Bill," she conveyed.

"I'll try," he replied. She turned and kissed him affectionately before leaving. Almost ten minutes later his coffee arrived. He was on his way to CIC before he realized that he smelled like cherries.