Chapter Eighteen

She was shoving the black heels she had worn to the party on the night she wished she could forget into her bag. A knock on the door made Jessica go still as dread and anticipation warred inside of her. Then a beat of relief tinged with profound disappointment. Not Lee.

"Ms Talbot?" Laura Roslin's sweet, soft voice called out in greeting on the other side.

"Come in, Madam President," Jessica called out, turning back to her clothes as Laura entered the room.

"I… "

Jessica was pretty sure Laura's distraction was due to the fact that her hotel room currently looked like a tornado had hit it. She'd gone a little bat-shit trying to purge herself of her pain over Lee's betrayal. She appreciated Laura's discretion in not asking what had happened.

"Not-so-organized chaos," Jessica offered with a sad shrug.

"Ah," Laura replied, the vague reply full of feminine understanding. "I was hoping I could get a chance to talk with you in private before we left."

"Oh? Would you mind if I kept-" Jessica gestured towards her mess of tangled bed clothes and her few belongings.

"Please, continue," Laura assured her. "I wanted to ask you if you'd consider taking over as my personal aide on Colonial One."

Jessica stopped, her black lace bra hanging from her wrist. Her mouth fell open in undisguised surprise. "Eh?"

"Well, now that Billy and Petty Officer Dualla are getting married-"

"They are? When did this happen?" Jessica asked.

"I thought you knew. They became engaged last night at the Colonial Day celebration."

"Oh," Jessica's face fell and she turned away so Laura wouldn't see the pain in her eyes. "I left early," she added quietly.

"I see. Well I re-assigned Billy to be my personal representative on the Galactica, keep an eye on Baltar, keep him from letting the vice presidency from going to his head."

"Billy babysitting Baltar? Keikya must loooove that," Jessica snorted.

"He'll be close to Dee. Not that I'm any kind of expert but I imagine that's sort of a requirement for matrimonial bliss." Laura gave Jessica a witty smile that faltered when Jessica didn't reciprocate. She cleared her throat and continued on. "I thought you'd enjoy a new position, change of scenery."

Jessica turned back to Laura as the truth suddenly became apparent to her. "Adama is trading me to you like a pyramid card, isn't he?"

Laura winced and shrugged. "Only in the most technical sense," she tried to assure her. "The opening presented itself when Billy came to me this morning. When Adama suggested you're transfer-"

"He suggested it? Why?"

"I don't know and that is the truth. I met with him a few hours ago after his meeting with a journalist from the-"

"Katya!" Jessica suddenly gasped, realization dawning with mortifying clarity. The redhead that Lee had slept with.

"I don't remember her name but she seemed pretty upset when I came in, though Adama is not known for coddling the press so I thought nothing of it at the time. Is this gonna be a problem?"

"Oh good lords of Kobol. She went straight to him. That bitch! Oooh, I'm sorry Madame President," Jessica waved absent mindedly as her thoughts raced.

The woman was gonna get Jessica back for her involvement with Lee, thwarting Katya's amorous little tryst. She wasn't quite sure how yet though but a feeling of dread started pulsing through her, making her belly tighten.

"Ms Talbot?" Laura pressed, trying to regain Jessica's attention.

"Hmm?" Jessica asked distantly, snapping back to attention. "Oh, I'm sorry. Um…I'd be honored. I'd like that." A chance to get off the Galactica and avoid Lee? Sign her up.

Laura smiled. "Oh good. I'm looking forward to it. We'll iron out-What are you doing?" the older woman asked when Jessica spotted the green dress that started this whole mess, crumpled on the floor.

"This miserable thing!" Jessica seethed, bunching the fabric in her fists. She dropped the dress on the bed then went into the bathroom and came out with a pair of scissors.

"What are you-Oh don't do that! It's a lovely dress," Laura protested.

"This? This dress? I wish I'd never seen this dress. Madame President, I hate this dress," Then she stopped, an inspired smile on her face. "Maybe I should burn it!"

Laura raised her hand in protest. "Now I don't think would be the best idea. Space ship and everything. Would you like to talk about it?"

Jessica bit her lip, fighting back the desire to fall on the woman and sob her heart out. "No, cause then I'll turn into a sobbing basket case. Mad is better." She stiffened her spine just as another knock on the door heralded Kara's arrival.

"Come in, Kara,"

Laura got to her feet. "Well, I imagine you and Captain Apollo could work as an efficient team on my military-Oh dear," she started when Jessica sent her a glare. "Ah, I think I understand now."

When Kara entered, Laura placed a comforting hand on Jessica's shoulder. "I look forward to working with you and I think we can keep Captain Adama on the Galactica for now. Hello, Lieutenant." Laura smiled at Kara, who looked at her in obvious confusion.

"Madame President," Kara nodded, sending Jessica a questioning glance.

"Oh and Lieutenant Thrace, I would keep Ms Talbot from any kind of open flame."

As Laura walked past her, Kara raised an eyebrow at Jessica. "Open flame?"

Jessica shook her head trying to forget the source of her misery. "So I got a new job," she announced with forced brightness.

"And the part about the open flame?"

"President Roslin's a little paranoid."

Kara looked at her with obvious skepticism but figured if Jessica wanted to talk about it, she would.

"So, word has it you and Captain Tightass left the Colonial Day celebration early," Kara said with a wide grin.

"What? Was there a story on it over the wireless?" Jessica grumbled.

"Next best thing, pilots still hung-over from too much ambrosia. I'm gonna take a shot in the dark here and say the two of you, for reasons known only to your stupid selves, didn't seal the deal?"

"So what, you're the seer now?" Jessics snapped but Kara didn't take offense.

"Nope, just figured if you two had frakked you'd be in a much better mood."

"Right. Well let's just say Lee got his, okay? And I really don't want to talk about this anymore."

"Gotcha. Okay, so you all ready to go?"

"Wait, you're coming with me? What about Baltar?"

Kara grimaced and shrugged. "Switched security detail with Racetrack and Goober."

"How come?" The Jessica clamped a hand over her mouth in shock. "Baltar? You and Vice President-Oh Ew! Just ew! For Gods' sake Kara, why?"

"Yeah well, like I said, too much ambrosia," Kara explained, her face twisting with self disgust.

"Next time you reach for the ambrosia, I'm reminding you of last night," Jessica pointed out.

"Ditto, kiddo. Ditto," Kara shot back.