"Just through here." Laura nudged Diana with her knee and pushed a branch back with her free hand. "Okay?"

"Right behind you." Saul caught the branch as he followed her. "Better be worth the trip."

"Oh, it is." She smiled back at him. "Ready?"

"Yeah." As Apollo broke through the underbrush, Saul let the reins go limp as he stared at the vista in front of him. "Frak."

"Told you." Laura twisted to look at his face. "That's why Bill and I settled up here. We're still close enough, but out far enough so that we aren't bothered by it all."

"Figured the two of you would take all the privacy you could get." Swinging his leg over the horse, he slid off and glanced at her. "Need a hand?"

"Please." Waiting until he'd wrapped Apollo's reins around a branch, she pivoted so she could slide off the saddle, his hands gripping her waist. "This hand's a bother."

"Like you'd let anything that minor bother you." Chuckling, he took Diana's reins and settled her next to the other horse as Laura moved to perch on the large flat boulder overlooking the valley.

"Now I have the luxury of letting things like that bother me." She raised an eyebrow at him as he sat. "And, if I don't take care of it, Bill will hover again. Love the man dearly, but I've had quite enough of that."

"He does tend to hover over you." Saul winced as she hit his shoulder. "Hey."

"He hovers period." Laura giggled and settled down again, pulling her legs up so she could wrap her arms around them and rest her chin on her knees. "I told him about the first time they took us from our tents last night."

He glanced at her. "And he let you out of his sight today?"

"You're here." One shoulder shrugged. "I told him I'd tell him about the others…" Her voice trailed off.

"What?" Saul shifted so he could watch her face.

"I thought I'd put it behind me. But I remembered…remember everything." She took a deep, shuddering breath. "Kara and I talked once. Here. About it. What she went through…what we went through. She kept killing Leoben over and over. She couldn't escape…I was actually…" her voice trailed off again.

"I figured she was alive, for a while at least." He looked back at the city in the distance. "Overheard them talking about how many times the model…the Leoben had been resurrected. Didn't make sense until I started thinking about the time the two of you were interrogating him. "You mad because you hadn't been able to kill them?"

"I don't know." Laura closed her eyes. "I honestly had never felt the way I did on New Caprica. I didn't know what I was capable of…"

"But you did kill." Saul stated softly.

"Yes." She shuddered again. "I didn't think…I just reacted. And you found me."

"You should have known better." He nudged her shoulder. "You were lucky someone saw him follow you into the woods and came to get Cottle and me."

"We needed those plants. Cottle and I had found them, I knew where they were…it was a free day from school." She shook her head. "I'd only been out of detention a few days…I just needed to get out of the town, to be out in the woods, by the stream. You both knew I was going…"

"Much to our chagrin." Grimacing, he shook his head. "We should have had a guard follow you. Someone to help you carry the stuff back."

"I needed to get away from everyone and everything." Opening her eyes, she turned to gaze at him. "In spite all I'd been through, I think that was when it all came together."

Saul nodded, remembering finding her in the woods, panting as she stood over a Doral's body, the large branch she'd used still in her hand, blood and other matter on it and splattered on her body while she stared at them…

"Laura?" Cottle's voice was stunned as he pulled the cigarette out of his mouth and stared at her. "Laura, it's Saul and Sherman…."

"He's dead." She blinked at them. "I killed him."

"Laura…" Saul slowly stepped forward and took the branch from her hand, tossing it into the nearby stream, where it lazily floated for a moment before rolling and sinking under the current.

She gazed up at him. "I killed him. He came after me…"

Saul glanced at Cottle, who was kneeling next to the body, feeling for a pulse. "Well?"

"He's dead." Cottle looked up at them. "You okay?"

"I killed him." Laura repeated softly. "He grabbed me. Promised me what he'd do to me here…and in detention next time. He tore my jacket." She looked at Cottle. "Bill gave me this jacket. He tried to tear it."

"She's in shock." Cottle tore off part of the Doral's shirt and crossed to the stream, wetting it. "Get rid of the body. Won't matter, he's already downloaded, so they'll know what happened."

"Yeah." Waiting until Cottle was next to Laura, carefully cleaning her face with the wet cloth, he reached down and grabbed the body's feet, dragging it to the stream and hefting it in so it followed the branch downstream. "Good thing this doesn't go near the town."

"He tried…" Laura shuddered again and pushed against Cottle's touch. "I need…" He caught her waist and supported her as she heaved, the small amount of food she'd had that morning coming back up. As she panted, catching her breath, he gently washed her face again.

"Laura, I need to know…" Touching her chin, he inspected her face then let his eyes run down her body.

"He didn't." She pulled the torn jacket back up over her shoulder and lifted her eyes to meet his. "He didn't."

"I had never…really even hit anyone before." Laura mused softly. "And I killed him. It was different from giving an order to open an airlock. Even though I'd watched that happen."

"You didn't sleep for three days." Saul looked at her. "Not till they came and took us again."

"And that was when they took your eye." She looked at him, a smile crossing her lips. "I'm starting to get used to you having it back now."

"And we both ended up in Cottle's care again." He shook his head. "I can't remember if I told Bill you were in with me when they took it."

"I just remember the yell…" Laura shuddered. "I wanted to yell back at you, and I couldn't…they'd just left me and all I could manage was to lie there."

"You talked to me after." As she absently shifted to lean against him, he glanced down, startled for a moment before continuing. "They'd thrown me back in my cell, the first thing I remember hearing is you calling for me."

"I was so afraid you wouldn't answer." She admitted softly. "I couldn't imagine what I'd say to Bill…"

"Likewise." He chuckled softly. "Never gave up on him though. Or you."

"Yeah." Laura's lips twitched. "We gave them some good fights though, didn't we."

"We were good at that." Saul grinned. "Remember when Tory walked in on us, and we hadn't been sure who it was that was coming in?"

"And you pushed the classroom table over, scattering all the papers and pictures on it?" Laura laughed. "Her face…and Tyrol's – they thought we were about to kill each other."

"That one at least, we were acting." He chuckled again.

"Sometimes…I missed who we were on New Caprica." She admitted softly after a long moment. "Not New Caprica itself, or who we had to become after the Cylons returned, but who we were able to be. Baltar was an ass, but I liked teaching again, and I'd like to think that had there been another election things might have changed. But I liked being Laura."

"Bill liked you being Laura." Saul agreed. "Ellen, once she started to get to know you…"

"You can't tell her this." Laura sat up and stared at him. "Ever." She waited until he nodded. "I actually started to sort of like her. I was even envious of her, of her confidence and freedom to be who and what she wanted to be."

"Once you drank her under the table, she started to think there might be a bit more to you than…" his voice trailed off.

"Than who she thought I was?" She giggled. "It was mutual. She always looked out for herself, and to a degree you, first. But once you understood that, and accepted it, you knew who Ellen was. At that moment at least."

"She was almost happy. When I came down that was." He glanced back at the city in the valley. "Bill wanted to. Would probably have, eventually."

"No." Shaking her head, Laura smiled. "We would have gone back to the stars first, resumed our journey. He wanted to. And if it had been right, he would have. But, until then, we had our occasional nights together."

"Too much information." Saul shook his head.

"Like you didn't know." She giggled again. "Ellen wouldn't leave it alone. The insinuations when she'd see me…but she wasn't positive."

"Laura," he grinned, "I really hate to break it to you…"

"Don't." Holding up a hand, she shook her head. "Let me have my illusions that we were discreet enough. Please."

"Fair enough." He glanced at the sun, "Ready to head back?"

"Yes." She accepted his hand as he helped her down from the boulder. "I need to get back to start dinner. I have a feeling dinner tonight is going to be one of the full family ones. And I need to talk to Bill later. About New Caprica."

"Do I need to disappear?" He cupped his hands to help her mount Diana. "For dinner?"

"Why?" Gathering the reins, she waited until he was mounted. "You're family. And, it's just our parents, sisters, Kara, and Zak. Oh, and my sister's husband and my niece…"

"They know about me?" Together, they nudged their horses back through the brush.

"They will." Leading him on the path, she waited until he'd moved up next to her. "Like I said," she smiled at him. "You're family."