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Chapter Text

Edward and Judith Roslin were not the type of people who went on holiday to the same place every year. They were both adventurous, loving to travel and explore new places. They had visited half of the Colonies by the time they'd both hit 30, and didn't intend on stopping there.

But when they had children, things naturally shifted. 

One day, when their eldest was six years old, Edward heard from a colleague about this place in Picon that was amazing for kids and parents alike. The Sunny Season Village had cottages to rent, at a walkable distance from the beach, a kid's club with a daily program of activities, and a restaurant and bar. It sounded too good to be true.

It wasn't. That first year, they all loved it. The parents got to socialise with other adults, have a drink on the terrace, invite each other over for dinner, and laugh, a lot. The kids had a blast, Sandra couldn't stop babbling excitedly about everything and nothing, the fish she saw, the ice cream she ate. Edward and Judith hit it off with two couples in particular, both with kids, and they exchanged contact details to stay in touch. 

It was only Laura who hated it, really.

It was all because of this one day, when they were playing Cylons and Officers on the grass by the main building. She was on the side of the Officers, having gathered the rest of her team around her to expose her plan. Then this boy completely dismantled her idea in front of the whole group, and said his was a lot better. So she broke out and formed her own group, taking almost half of the overall cohort. That made him really mad. The team leaders had to intervene and separate them. The group ended up using her idea, and won the game. 

But Laura kept pouting, because she had to see the boy every day. Her parents were with his all the time. She was happy that, by the time they went back home, she would never have to see him again.

#

The next year was busiest for the Roslin parents, with Edward losing his mother, and Judith struggling with her troublesome class and with a third, more complicated pregnancy. So when the couples they had got along with asked if they’d see them at Sunny Season over the summer, they immediately made plans. With two children and a baby, they would need a getaway. And although they remembered that Laura hadn’t had a great experience, she would get over it, right? She probably had forgotten that boy in the year that had passed. 

But she hadn't. As soon as she heard her mother say ‘ Joseph, Evelyn, it’s so nice to see you again. Bill has grown so much, hasn’t he? ’, her mood dropped. It didn’t go any better than the first year. He pushed her while they were running and made her fall — she felt him do it, she knew it was him — and he swore in front of everyone he didn’t do it. But he was a liar, and she hoped his pants caught on fire.

Her revenge came quickly. At dinner, she poured yoghurt on his chair and giggled so hard when he sat down that she had the hiccups for ten minutes afterwards. Her parents weren’t too happy with her, but it was worth it. 

To her utter surprise, Sandra loved Bill. She thought he was funny, and he loved battleships, just like her. Laura ended up wondering if he was obnoxious to her only. 

#

By the third year, she knew he’d be there. She’d made her peace with the fact that her parents hated her and wanted her to be miserable. But she resolved to ignore him. She had brought four books along for the two-week holiday, and didn’t have time to waste. He could play Cylons and Officers and give orders all he wanted. She spent her days reading and playing with Sandra and Cheryl at the beach, it was a much better time. 

Except that she ran out of reading material four days before the end.

The Roslins had been invited over to the Adama family’s cottage for dinner. Her mother had given her a stern talking to that she needed to behave, so she had brought along her last book, and excused herself out of the dinner table as soon as she could. Bill hadn’t said a word either, and she wondered if his mother had also told him off.

So she sat on the living room couch, in front of the huge windows with the nice view. After a while, when she had got comfortable with her legs folded under her, and a hand twirling a strand of her hair, she heard someone approaching. 

Bill sat at a distance from her, on an armchair to the left, but didn’t say anything. Was he watching her? She did her best to keep ignoring him, especially as she was nearing the end of the book. 

“What?” she turned the pages, stared at the back cover in horror as it dawned on her that she hadn’t brought the second book in the series, and wouldn’t be getting any answers. “No,” she groaned, throwing her head back until it hit the couch.

“I know.” Bill chuckled, as if he had been waiting for her reaction and she wanted to throw something at him. “I have the sequel in my suitcase,” he offered, then shrugged in response to her glare. “If you want.”

Laura looked between him and the book, assessing her options. The situation couldn’t be any simpler. She could either take the book, or wait over a week to know what was going to happen. She had no choice.

He smiled at her when she said yes.

It only took her two days to read it. This was her favourite series ever, and she was hooked. So the next afternoon, on her last day, she snatched one of her dad’s famous cinnamon rolls that were straight out of the oven, and went in search of Bill. 

She found him by the pyramid court, watching a game, and sat down next to him.

“Thank you for lending me the book,” she said politely, giving the thick volume back to him. 

He turned his attention away from the game to look at her. “Did you like it?”

She nodded. “Very much.” Hesitating for a second, she finally handed him the cinnamon roll. “This is for you.” 

He almost looked more surprised than during the yoghurt incident. “You don’t have to do that.”

“My dad’s cinnamon rolls are the best you’ll ever eat,” she proudly said.

“Thank you.” He took the napkin-covered pastry, only to proceed to stare at it for a moment too long.

“You don’t want it?” she asked, ready to tell him where he could stick it if he didn’t want it. It was something she had heard her dad say a few times. 

“It’s just really big,” he said. “Do you want to split it?”

She shrugged. “Sure.”

They didn’t say a lot more, just enjoying the sweet treat side by side, while watching a game. When he turned to her at the end, she laughed at the amount of sticky cinnamon that surrounded his lips. 

#

A few weeks after coming back from holiday, Laura found Bill's bookmark at the bottom of her bag, so she figured she had to send it back with a short note. Judith was only slightly suspicious when Laura asked for his address, and Laura had to explain the whole book thing, which seemed to satisfy her mother. 

A few days later, she had an answer waiting for her on the dining table when she came back from school.

She had devoured all six books by now, which she told him, and this sparked weeks of letters back and forth, with thoughts and debates.

So when Laura heard from her parents that the Adamas would be staying with them for a few days in the spring, she didn’t dread it, this time. She didn’t mind Bill that much anymore. He was all right. They were even, maybe, possibly, a little bit friends.

And it was obviously more than a little bit friends by the time next summer rolled around. They had spent the year sending each other letters. They had each other’s phone numbers too, but somehow, that didn’t stop them, and Laura found herself eagerly waiting for his responses. The correspondence transcended books now, they talked about life at home, school, and other things they enjoyed. Though still mostly books. 

Chapter Text

By the time they were 15, they were inseparable. Anyone who tried to interrupt Laura’s writing or reading of letters received a stern glare at best, or was just flat-out ignored. 

That year, Sunny Season offered a few new activities, such as windsurfing, jewellery making, and a live music night, which delighted the parents. Laura and Bill were too old for the kids club by now, but they occupied themselves well enough on their own. This time, he did push her into the water when they tried windsurfing together, and she more than returned the favour. 

They had also equally shared the load of books they would bring on this holiday. Two people, so twice the possibilities. They had to make sure they complimented each other, and didn’t both bring the same thing. Once there, they either picked a sun lounger and read next to each other, or spent their time competing in whichever activity, and bickering the whole time. 

Laura was away so much that Sandra sulked, saying that she never got to play with her anymore. This made her feel a little bad, so she brought her sisters along the next day, and Cheryl climbed on Bill’s shoulders in the ocean, a high point from which she claimed she could see Caprica. 

It was that year too, that she noticed how… how he looked. She had known him since they were 6 years old, but now she was noticing the sweat on his chest while he played pyramid, the way his skin looked in the sunlight, the way some strands of his hair flopped onto his forehead. And his eyes that made her forget her own thoughts.

More often than not, she found herself staring. She knew full well she had a crush from the fact that whenever he gave her this smile, wide and full of teeth, it made her heart skip a beat. However, she resolved to keep that secret to her grave.

“You like Bill.” Sandra annoyingly sing-songed one time they were picking shells on the beach. Apparently, her secret wasn’t so secret. 

“No, I don’t,” Laura huffed. “We’ve been friends since we were 6.”

“Since you were 9,” Sandra corrected. “But you do. You’re blushing.”

She was not blushing. 

#

When the next letter came, Laura had to re-read it several times until she could recite the thing by heart. She even missed her mother calling her three times for dinner. It was all because of one sentence. You should know I love you more than pastries. Now, she was blushing.

#

When the following summer came, Laura was seventeen, so she had signed up to be a team leader for the kids’ club. She saw it as a training ground to be a teacher, and she had convinced Bill to sign up as well, even though that really wasn’t his thing. He was happy to get away from his parents for a bit. Their relationship had degraded a little in the past couple of years. Bill had wanted to enrol into the Colonial Fleet at 16, but according to the letters, his father had refused, leading to a number of fights that made home life tense. 

Now, here they were, leading a game of Cylons and Officers. As she explained the rules to the first half, she saw Bill looking at her on the other side of the children, as if he was suspicious of her. She waved innocently at him, and laughed in response to his scowl.  

“What were you telling them?” he asked once she rejoined him, and the kids started playing. 

“Why?” she grinned, enjoying teasing him even though she hadn’t done anything. “Are you paranoid?”

He shrugged. “I wouldn’t want any of those kids to run into the same injustice I did.”

Laura had to keep from laughing again. Bringing up the fateful day they had met during that same game, eleven years ago, was a regular occurrence. They never agreed on what exactly happened. 

“My plan was the best,” she said. 

“You saved all of our lives back then.” He smirked. “And every day since then has been a gift. We should have made you President.”

She giggled, and hit his arm. “I forgive you, though your apology is eleven years overdue.”

“What’s the late fee?” He raised an eyebrow, and a completely ludicrous thought went through her mind, that she dismissed right away. Instead, she prayed not to be blushing as she turned back to the kids, watching them play and giving out warnings when they played a bit too rough.

The next day, the village organised a bonfire on the beach, so they sat close together, roasting marshmallows to varying degrees of crispiness. 

“You know, when you reach chapter 21…” he paused only long enough to glance at her and judge her reaction.

He had been teasing her for several days about the end of a book she was reading, and that he had finished first. All because she had accidentally told him who was dying in another series, and he hadn’t forgiven her. They had both recently started getting into mysteries, and these types of information were crucial to the plot. 

“Shut up. I swear if you ruin this for me, I’ll never speak to you again,” she threatened, a frown wrinkling her forehead. 

He took a moment to chew on his biscuit. He knew she was bluffing.

“It’s the one that’s titled No Surrender,”  he continued. 

“Bill, I mean it,” she exclaimed with increasing urgency.

That only encouraged him further. “They’re just entering the coffee shop when-”

Without another thought, Laura slammed a hand over his mouth, preventing any more words from coming out. He was stunned into immobility for a handful of seconds, eyes widened and locked onto hers. She had no idea what the frak she was doing. 

She might not have known what she was doing, but her body was moving anyway. Taking her hand away, she only gave them both the space of a breath before she pressed her lips to his. It was awkward and over too quickly. She leaned back, embarrassed and red down to the tips of her hair. But she didn’t go far. He snaked a hand behind her neck once he was past his shock, and his voice was no more than a whisper. 

“You should do it again before I spill more secrets,” he advised with a grin, leaning into her this time.

She showed less restraint now, with both arms around him and the marshmallow she'd been about to eat falling in the sand. She wouldn’t need it anymore. His lips were soft and sweet and she might never want to move ever again.

Except they weren’t alone. “Um, guys,” Sandra’s voice came from Laura’s right. “Happy you got your heads out of your asses, but dad is looking a little green over there.”

Laura rolled her eyes, letting out an exaggerated sigh as she glanced towards her father on the other side of the circle.

So for the rest of the days, they explored the shift in dynamics together. While they led activities together for the kids, they shared private looks and silent conversations, waiting for the moment they would be alone again. It was the best holiday Laura had ever had, way over every other summer. Cheryl and Sandra hung out with her and Bill, and when no one was looking, Laura could get closer to him and kiss him just because she felt like it.

That only meant that time flew by too fast, and before she knew it, it was the night before going back home. She had left packing until the last minute, so now she had to spend her evening gathering all her clothes, accessories and books lying around while the rest of the family was out on the terrace. It was depressing.

A knock on her window made her look out, and she smiled when she saw Bill standing there, and shirtless, too. 

“What are you doing here?” she asked, opening the window further. 

“I’m breaking you out,” he said, the corner of his lips stretched into a secret smile.

Laura scanned her room and the amount of packing left to do — a lot — but her mind was already made up. Stay here and be sad, or go out for an adventure? There was no choice. 

She was still in the tank top and shorts she had put on after dipping in the ocean earlier, so she didn’t even have to change. Taking the hand that Bill offered, she climbed on the window and jumped out on the other side. 

Together, they reached the beach, where it was late enough that the stars were already out. They sat down on towels that he’d brought along, but before long they’d switched to a horizontal position, with Laura’s head on his chest. Her heart only grew heavier with the silence that settled as they heard wave after wave coming and retreating, and watched the glimmering stars above. Something was going to change, she knew it.

“I wish we’d never have to leave,” he said after a while. 

She lifted her head to be able to see his face. “What’s going to happen to us?”

“We’ll be fine,” he replied confidently. “We’ve never had trouble keeping in touch before.”

“It’s different now.”

“I know. I’ll come to Caprica on the next school break.”

“It’ll be my turn to show you the ugliest statue in the city.”

He laughed and she kissed him, slotting her body against his, sharing heat in the nighttime air. Both of his arms came around her, pulling her on top of him. His hand stroked the naked skin of the back of her thigh, and her breath hitched. When they had to pull apart for air, cheeks hot and breath coming out fast, he rolled them over with a rearrangement of limbs. Then she was on her back and staring into his eyes with the stars in the background.

Instead of kissing her mouth again, he pressed his lips to her jaw, then to the whole length of her neck until he met the edge of her tank top. With a shy smile, she reached for the hem to pull the top over her head and throw it to the side. The way he stared at her was all-encompassing, all-consuming, and too much for her heart that was already hammering in her chest as hard as it could. Pulling onto his neck, she pressed his mouth to hers again, and let his hands explore her bare skin.

Soothed by the waves and the silence of the night, it was perfect. 

Chapter Text

Laura came back from the holidays feeling like she was walking on a cloud. She had shared with Bill moments she would never forget and that still made her skin tingle, and they were planning on seeing each other again soon.

Judith’s diagnosis was like a bomb that shattered the whole family. Suddenly, Laura was trying to do everything. Learn about the treatment her mother was undergoing, pick up Cheryl from school, take items off her father’s plate, all the while being in the last year of high school and getting ready for university. 

That meant she had pushed back calling Bill, even though she was dying to. All she really wanted was for him to be here, and to feel his arms around her. But she couldn’t say that, so she didn’t know what to tell him, and she’d claimed to be busy many evenings now to avoid having to talk. He tried to reach her with letters too, three of them that she hadn’t had time to reply to.

One day when she was exhausted, she finally called him, finding no more excuses to stop herself from doing it. She engaged him in mundane topics, safe topics, her classes, the book she’d just finished, and his application to the Fleet Academy.

“That’s good news,” she said, with a healthy dose of enthusiasm. He had wanted to enrol in the military since she’d known him, so it was a win that his father had finally come around. 

“Laura, what’s going on?” he finally asked. “You haven’t spoken to me in six weeks.”

“My mother is ill,” she blurted out, despite having explicitly not wanted to tell him. “She’s having treatment, she should have been showing signs of progress by now. I don’t know…”

There was a short moment of silence, she had to let him process the news. Then he said, “I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine. I’m fine,” she tried to argue. He didn’t have to feel sorry for her. She didn’t want him to. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

“I won’t talk to you about it,” he said. “I discovered something new in the town last week. Next time you come to Tauron, I’ll show you the ugliest statue you’ve ever seen.”

This managed to make her chuckle, just from the absurdity of it. “If you sell it like that.”

“Laura,” he started again more seriously, and she was taken by the urge to run away. Why couldn’t he just let it be? “If you need me, I’ll be here. I can come to Caprica.”

“I said I don’t want to talk about it,” she repeated, her eyes filling with tears. “You can’t come to Caprica. I can do it by myself. I have to go.”

Through the following months, each of the Roslin children dealt with the new normal in their own way while Edward spent most of his waking hours in the hospital. Cheryl, only 12, skipped school and got into fights. Sandra, at 16, went out every night, and Laura’s grades cascaded down, no longer able to focus. She fell out of the loop with her sisters, seeing them in passing but not looking at them. 

#

Judith wasn’t well enough to travel, so they had decided not to go to Sunny Season this year, and focus on her health. It would be the first time they wouldn’t go in 12 years. That, in itself, was a turning point. Laura didn’t include anything else in the letter she sent to Bill. She didn’t have the strength to even feel how much she missed him, let alone put it into words and tell him.

His response came quickly.

Upon Judith’s death that summer, Laura took it upon herself to take care of her family. Her father was falling apart, and her sisters constantly screamed at each other. She delayed her start at university by a year, which displeased her dad, but he got over it. Day after day and month after month, she let the letters from Bill pile up on her bookshelf. She couldn’t bring herself to throw them away, but she couldn’t open them either. She knew she could do it by herself, as if there was a badge of honour for not needing anyone. 

#

By the time she started breathing again, a whole year had gone, and the letters had stopped coming. One evening, Edward mentioned being in touch with Joseph Adama, and Laura was assaulted by guilt at how she had ruined her relationship with Bill. On an impulse, that Wednesday night, she sat at her desk, and wrote a new letter. He had probably moved on and forgotten about her by now, but she had to apologise anyway. 

To her surprise and her delight, she received an answer the following week. 

This time, Laura quickly replied, and, with that, they were talking again. It wasn’t quite the same as it used to be anymore, but it was something. At least, they were friends, and whatever more had happened between them that summer had stayed there, with the good memories of those 11 summers. She didn’t know if Bill’s parents were still going to Sunny Season, but her father wouldn’t go anymore. It was the end of an era.

Chapter Text

In the letters that they sent each other throughout the years, they kept each other up to date on life’s big events, but there was always a reason why they couldn’t meet in person. She shared the news with him when she graduated, when she got her first job as a teacher, and the second one, in a much better school. She gave him news of her sisters too, and he even gave advice when Cheryl expressed interest in enrolling into the military too.

Sandra and Cheryl, both of them, kept trying to get her to confess her undying love for Bill and burning need to take his pants off — their words, not hers, and hearing this felt like they were still children and not full-grown adults. She had moved on. He certainly had.

In his messages, he told her about his assignments, about climbing ranks, and the books he was allowed to take to space with him. Eventually, she received a wedding invitation, but she didn’t go. She was doing fine, and she did date, but she didn’t need to see it. She sent presents to celebrate the birth of his two sons, and she was happy for him. 

#

One day, she went from writing that Sandra was having a baby shower at her place to staring at the blank piece of paper, not knowing how to say that she had lost the remaining members of her family in one single night. So she didn’t tell him, but somehow he found out anyway. He sent flowers, a card, and a book. She cried.

She wrote another letter to thank him, and to give him another kind of news. The doctors had managed to save Sandra’s son after the accident, and Laura was the tiny one’s only remaining family. Her life was suddenly consumed by a baby that she hadn’t been prepared to raise. But frankly, having him to take care of was the only thing that prevented her from retreating from everything, like she had at her mother’s death. 

Bill offered his help, and she took it. But he hit a rocky road of his own, with his parents ageing and a divorce that seemed harder than he was letting on. 

#

It was a picture, found in a box from her parents’ house that she had never sorted through, that punched her in the gut. Cheryl was making a face at the camera, Sandra beamed, her hair still wet from the water, and Laura had her hand on Bill’s chest, with his arm around her shoulders. They looked at each other as if there was no one else in the worlds, nor would there ever be. They probably had already forgotten they were supposed to pose for the picture. It had been taken that last summer they were there, a moment of joy encapsulated into a picture, immortalised into a frame. 

Next to the picture, was an old flyer for the Sunny Season Village, and she stared at it, not really seeing it, but picturing the place instead. She wanted Sandra’s son, Alex, now 6 years old, to experience the same joy on those holidays as she had. And, she realised, she wanted it for herself too. The place still held a part of herself, and before she knew it, she had booked transport and accommodation. The part that made her nervous, however, wasn’t to go back to the place that would fill her with nostalgia, or remind her of her family. 

The part that made her throat tighten was the letter she decided to write to Bill. She couldn’t be there without him. He was part of all of her thoughts, all of her memories. She wanted him to be a part of her life.

Except he didn’t reply, and he didn’t show up when July came around. It was fair enough, after all. She had had time to second guess that letter, too, and the meaning behind it. What had she been hoping? What did she even want? A second chance? She couldn’t be that naive. Why would he give it to her now? 

The Sunny Season Village had got a makeover since she’d last been there, but its spirit remained. And Alex loved it. He had that unlimited energy that came with being a child, while Laura secretly thought he was like Sandra, and he would never lose his excitement and appetite for adventure. Instead of digging into her heart, it made her smile to see all the places she had forged memories with her family. She showed the little boy her favourite places in the village, and the best hiding spots. He was the same age she’d been on her first summer there, but unlike her, he instantly made some friends.

On the evening of the third day, while she did the dishes after putting Alex to bed, she found Bill on her doorstep. It was only awkward between them for the first few minutes, and then they were sitting out on the terrace like they used to do as children. She had made cinnamon rolls, her father’s recipe, and he gladly accepted one.

“Are you working?” she asked, seeing the navy blue uniform he was wearing. It suited him. 

“I’m on leave until Sunday. I needed to see you.” He stared into the depth of his glass of wine. “We haven’t been here in years.” When he looked up at her, what she understood from his words was I missed you. “Why did you ask me to come?”

“I thought we should come back.” She gave him a small smile. “I missed you.”

It was late, so he stayed the night. The next day, they went out swimming, then sat under the largest tree, like they always used to do. It was almost the same, except they were twenty years older. They were back to themselves in this place, back to each other, like it was muscle memory.

When two teenagers walked past, hand in hand, Laura’s gaze followed them.

“Bill?” She asked. Bill looked up from the book in his hands, and saw the young couple. “Is it too late for us?”

“It doesn’t have to be,” he replied.

After that, Laura didn’t know what to say. Had she been much better at this as a teenager? She didn’t know what to do, and she was saved by Alex wanting to show her a beautiful shell he’d found on the beach.

Bill stayed past Sunday, the time he’d said he needed to leave. He played with Alex in the ocean, letting him climb on his shoulders the same way that Cheryl had, which was a bittersweet sight. He even said that next year, he’d bring his kids too. Laura certainly liked the thought of next year.

On Tuesday, when Laura saw where Bill was in the book she’d lent him, she couldn’t help but tease him. That leap wasn’t that hard, after all.  “In chapter 17, you find out it was Lucy’s uncle they called the Mad Man,” she said as she sat on the couch next to him.

He frowned, then turned his shocked face to her. “You can’t tell me that.”

She shrugged, shooting him a satisfied smile. “Payback.”  

The expression on his face changed instantly once he realised what she meant. He closed the book, and leaned towards her. “You know what happened the last time I spoiled a book’s plot for you.”

She smiled, her teeth catching her bottom lip. “I remember it very well.”

When she felt his breath on her face again and his body against hers, it was like all those years in between hadn’t existed, and they had never stopped being one. 

After that, they started spending their summers on Picon together again (and the rest of the year together, too).