This is based on a cut scene from the original script for Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down. I didn't think aspects of it made much sense in the context of Season One,so I've situated it in Season Two, at any point between Epiphanies and Sacrifice. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!

A Question of Bases

Billy had always thought that most clichés were simply that, clichés, bad phrases made up by authors too lazy to think of something more original. Yet now he found he was almost literally dancing on air as he made his way through Colonial One to the office, a wide grin pasted on his face, his tie loose, and his jacket slung over one shoulder.

He came to a stop at the curtains when the sound of the President's voice drifted towards him; it was pitched low and intimate, and he had no desire to interrupt her evening, not after having had such a Dee-lightful evening of his own. He reached out one hand and wiggled the curtain, knowing that if the President was looking that way at all, she'd see it, and if she wasn't, well… she'd be none the wiser.

The soft murmur stopped, and Billy took the hint and prodded the curtains again.

'Who is it?'

Billy stuck his head through the curtains and grinned. 'Me, Madam President.'

She rolled her eyes and beckoned him forward with the pencil she was twirling with one hand; the other was holding the phone to her ear, and she was nodding.

'No… not really. Billy's back. What? No!'

Admiral Adama – at least Billy assumed it was Admiral Adama, given how very relaxed Laura Roslin was looking, her shoeless feet propped up on her desk, and a mischievous smile playing around her mouth – seemed to be having plenty to say. Roslin smiled at Billy and he sank back into his own chair, happy to wait until they'd finished.

His eyes returned to Roslin when she giggled into the phone, a surprisingly girlish giggle. 'Sure. Yeah. Okay, oh-eight-hundred-hours it is, if I can chivvy this lot into being ready for then…Yeah. We'll talk about it then, Bill. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, I heard you the first time. See you tomorrow. Bye!' She put the phone down with a click, shaking her head. Then she swung her feet off the table so that she could lean forward with her chin on her hand and her elbow braced on the never-ending pile of papers in front of her.

'Did you have a good time?'

Billy's grin widened until he was sure it stretched from ear to ear, like the cartoons he'd watched as a child.

Laura's gaze ran him up and down, and she grinned in her own turn. 'Well, you certainly look as if you've had a good time.' She gestured. 'Suitably disarrayed. You been drinking?'

'Only a bit,' Billy said, rather feebly. He swallowed and grimaced at the dry taste in his mouth. 'Speaking of drinks, want one?'

'Hmmm. Coffee'd be nice.'

'Sweet?'

'As you can make it,' she said, and he smiled at her as he rose to go to the kettle. It was a familiar exchange between them now, dating from that very first day when everything went to hell and he'd found out about the cancer.

'So…' Laura began as he made their coffee, 'how far did you get?'

Billy turned to blink at her owlishly. 'What?'

Laura's smile was positively feline. 'What base? Second? Third -?'

'Madam President! I'm sure that's not an appropriate question for you to be asking your aide!'

He heard her giggle, and he smiled. Since her miracle recovery she'd been much more relaxed, more likely to laugh and to tease, and he enjoyed these times. They reminded him of his mother and sisters.

He carried the cups over and set hers down in front of her. 'Just as you like it.'

'You're the best coffee-maker I've ever had,' she told him blissfully as she blew on her drink. 'And after everything that's happened, that's saying something.'

'I aim to serve, Madam President,' he said with mock pomposity, and watched as she dissolved into giggles again.

'Stop trying to distract me,' she ordered once her laughter had subsided. 'I asked you a question. Do I need to command you to answer it, Mr Keikeya?'

'Okay, okay!' He raised his hands in mock surrender, and felt that silly grin cross his face again. 'It's not like that,' he told her. 'It's special.'

'Hmm-mm,' Laura said. 'So..?'

His grin turned sheepish. 'First base.'

She tutted sympathetically and shook her head, but he could see how her eyes danced behind her glasses. 'War is hell. Better luck next time.'

They sat in comfortable silence, drinking their coffee, surrounded by the blackness of space and the soft hum of Colonial One's engines. Billy drained his cup and yawned, his day suddenly catching up with him.

'Tired?' Laura asked, a little too innocently.

He pretended to glare at her. 'My boss is a slave driver.'

She laughed. 'Too right. Okay, go. Bed.'

'Yes, ma'am!' He saluted her as Dee had shown him, and she waved.

'Good night, Billy.'

He was preparing to turn away when he remembered the phone call earlier, and smirked. Fair's fair, wasn't it? He went to say something, but his common sense caught up with him and he clicked his mouth shut, and by then she'd noticed.

'What?'

Billy shook his head. 'It's uh, nothing.' His smirk deepened.

Laura narrowed her eyes at him. 'No, you were grinning like that for a reason. What?'

Billy smothered a laugh at the mental images in his brain. 'No, really. It's inappropriate…'

He might have known it was the wrong thing to say. Laura looked at first surprised, and then intrigued. She leaned over her desk, closer to him. 'Okay, now you have to say it. You can't leave it at that.'

He scratched his jawline. 'Well, uh, I was just thinking… you and the Admiral.'

'Ye-es?' Laura prompted, drawing the word out slowly.

'You've been awfully close, lately.'

'We are the leaders of the human race, Billy,' she said mildly. 'Would you rather we swore deathly feuds?'

He grinned and shook his head. 'All that time together, since Kobol… I was wondering how far the Admiral got. Did he get to –?' He held up one finger.

Laura stared at him and gestured towards the curtains. 'Go sober up.'

Billy stayed where he was. He raised a second finger and accompanied it with a look of pretend horror. 'Oh, no, you're not telling me-'

Laura's cheeks flushed. 'Good night, Billy,' she said pointedly.

He began to laugh and held up three fingers. 'Oh, my gods –!'

His boss turned a very interesting shade of crimson. 'I'm not letting you out to play again if this is what happens,' she said, half-sternly. She pointed at the curtains. 'Out!'

And Billy grinned at her, looked at his three fingers, whistled softly, and obeyed, chuckling. It was good to know even old people could get lucky.

-END.

And in case you're wondering, most of the dialogue from the second half came from the script. :) It amused me no end and I so, so wish we could have seen it performed, because I'm sure the actors would have had a ball with it.

Don't forget to leave feedback. Loved it? Hated it? Ideas for improvement? Got the giggles? I wanna know!