Broken Promises and new ones
By Jo.
Author Notes: The events of this fanfic happened after the mission commanded by Admiral Lisa Hayes-Hunter reached Tirol and they joined the Sentinels. But the story was modificated, and after the military campaign to free the planet Karbarra, Lisa, Rick and other highs officers of the REF returned to the SDF-3 to help, from there, to their allies, The Sentinels. This was my first fanfic, so be nice with me please
To: Carla, of couse thank you very very much for helping me to translate this, to Sphersian for encourage me to do it and dedicated to all the members of the forum.

A lot of his partners, not to say all of them, fell in love with Minmei and maybe until a certain point he too, but all this just transformed into an insignificant memory after that day in Breetai’s ship, when they captured the satellite. There he saw her for the first time, so tiny that a hit with his hand would break her. When her face came onto the screen, he memorized every line, the color of her eyes, the glow in her hair, the softness of her skin and her slender figure in her white uniform. In human’s words, Captain Hayes stole his heart. The same way Minmei's singing had pushed his partners to micronize and leave their army, the picture of Captain Hayes pushed him to work harder, to learn human culture so he could work with them on Robotechlogy, become one of Breetai’s right hand men and finally be as important as she was.

The only impediment to his dream becoming true was Rick Hunter, that micronian, who he wanted to crushed since the first time he saw him, since he saw how he kissed Lisa on Breetai’s ship and who now was her husband. Crush him with his own hands, slowly and painfully was his only thought every time he saw him. But he couldn’t do that now, because he micronized to realize the mission that Breetai gave him, and with it, his dreams slowly began coming true, after such a long wait.

Lisa left the bridge just a few minutes ago and now she was in her office, reading some documentation. She was so tired that her head bounced dangerously to hit the desk, her eyes closing slowly. But she couldn’t let herself lie down, she needed to finish with all the paperwork before going home.

“My home…” thought Lisa “a planet full of Invid is more welcoming than my own house”, but her thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door.

“Come in” said Lisa and then she saw Miriya come through the door.

“Admiral, I need…”

“Miriya, its so nice to see you, please take a seat” said Lisa when she saw Miriya.

“Thanks Lisa, you look tired”

“I am. I knew that commanding a fleet would be something exhausting, but this is way too much more”

“And I came here to give you more problems”

“What happened?”

“Breetai wants to send a recognition ship to Haydon IV”

“To Haydon IV? We have enough problem with the Invid here”

“Well, he thinks it is convenient. He wants to send a Zentraedi squadron under my command and in charge of all the mission would be commandant Berir, one of his right hand men”.

“I never heard of him before”

“He is a very responsible, quiet man, very dedicated to his job. He worked with Dr. Lang in Robotechnology and understands human perfectly. Actually he spent almost all his time like a micronian”.

“Working with Lang gave him several good points in his favor. I think I will visit Breetai and ask him to better explain his idea”.

“Changing topics, how are things between Rick and you?”

“How do you think?” she said standing up “he still doesn’t talk to me, except if its for a discussion”.

“I imagined he is pissed off because of what happened, but soon it will pass”

“I hope so, because our marriage is getting weaker and weaker”

“Listen Lisa, your decision was the right one and Rick would realize that soon and he will understand”

“Let’s hope he will understand that soon, because I don’t know for how long we could can keep up with this situation” and then Lisa walked to the door. “What do you think if we go with Breetai tomorrow so he can explain to us this mission?”

“I think so” said Miriya and she left the office “and cheer up”.

“Bye” said Lisa with not very much enthusiasm and went back to work.

---------

Finally she went home and opened the door slowly, fearing to see Rick. The situation between them was almost unbearable, since the incident 3 weeks ago. Simply they weren’t on speaking terms anymore, and if they talked, they argued, and apparently today wasn’t any exception.

“Good evening” said Lisa.

“Evening” answered Rick without looking at her.

“When are you going to forget what happened on the Farrago?” asked Lisa. Rick looked angry at her and went to the kitchen.

“I asked a question Rick. I think I deserve an answer” said Lisa following him.

“Who deserves the answer? Admiral Hayes or Lisa Hayes?” said Rick sarcastically.

“Don’t start with that now Rick, I’m very tired”

“True, I forget that commanding the ship and my life is exhausting”

“I don’t command your life, you do it, you always have, you do what you want, in your personal life and in the army too, no matter if you broke rules or not!”

“I try to live a normal life not under the orders of the REF, but its your job to remind me, right?”

“If you wanted a normal life, then you shouldn’t have married me. You always knew that the army was a huge part of my life”

“The army is your life, even our marriage is ruled by that”

“Then you should have married Minmei and saved us all this trouble!”

“Sure, I am always the one who brings the problems. How long are you going to keep with this?”

“You think I am not tired of fighting with you everyday?”

“Well, you look like you enjoy it”

“Do you think so?” said Lisa with pain.

“Its always the same Lisa. How long are we going to fight over the same things?”

“You know how long Rick? Until you stop thinking about yourself, not everything revolves around you. I am part of this relationship too, if you didn’t notice that earlier”

“Do you think I don’t know that?”

“Well, looks like you forgot it, and all this will end if you stop thinking about what you think and think just a little more of what I want, of what the hell happens to me, of what happens to both of us. Do you think I am not tired? I’m always the one who works for this relationship and I’m tired, I need air” said Lisa and walked to the door.

“What are you trying to say?” said Rick grabbing her arm.

“I am the one who pushes this relationship to work, and I’m tired” she said, eyes full of tears.

“What did you say?” asked Rick in shock, but his words came out full of anger.

“That I am tired. That I can’t do it anymore. I just can’t keep up with this relationship alone” she said freeing her arm from Rick’s grip.

“You are right Lisa. You are the one who is keeping this relationship alone. You are the one who put us in this” said Rick suffered.

“I didn’t do anything wrong. You are the immature one who is unable to see it, accept the things and move on” shout Lisa aloud and went into their bedroom, slamming the door hard.

She fell onto the bed crying. She couldn’t take it anymore. She has too many responsibilities on her shoulders and everyone had a limit.

“I never thought I would reach this point, that I would not be able to hold this relationship anymore, that I just give up. The thing is that the relationship with Rick is affecting me, I feel suffocated, misunderstood. Why is it ok he can make a mistake and things go on but not me? Why do I have to always be the one who forgives and makes things better?. The job consumes our lives and it’s making our relationship weaker. We spent so much time together working, that we don’t have enough time to miss each other and realize what we loved about each other. We see each other 24/7 and from those 24 hours, 20 we spend fighting, because we reached the point that just the simple presence of the other bothers us. If we don’t fight about the mission, its because something one of us didn’t do or said or, to change things a little, the same old and cliché argument about Lynn Minmei. Looks like with the years I just hate more and more that name and that woman who, for an unexplained reason, thinks that we are friends, when the only thing I want is to push her in the space in the middle of an Invid battalion. But with my luck, they probably rescue her and turn her into the new Regis. But lately work is the main cause of our problems, what happened on the Farrago affected seriously our relationship and if Rick doesn’t cooperate and do his part in this, our relationship will never recover.

I know I did the right thing on the Farrago, maybe the wrong way, but it was what needed to be done and I’m not going to apologize to Rick for that. He is the one who has to realize the situation, he is the one who has to open his eyes. And this time he will not turn this into my fault, I’m just tired to be the one who puts everything to make things better, but not anymore. If Rick wants to throw away our relationship into the trashcan, then so be it. Because I will not do anything to stop him. I’m bored of been the one who always came back sorry when I didn’t do anything wrong. Enough problems I have trying to keep this ship and the members united. If Rick wants to solve this problem, then he will have to do it alone, because I’m at my limit”.

Rick sat on the couch, with a glass and a bottle of whisky in his hands, when there was silence he could hear the crackle of the bed, from the bedroom “Lisa must be crying” he thought, he had been able to decipher the sound that the bed made when Lisa cried “Why does she have to be so stubborn, why doesn’t she just accept the fact she had been wrong on the Farrago, that she made him look like a fool, that what she had done was wrong”

The famous incident on the Farrago, all the fleet knew about it, the rumor had spread faster than an Invid battalion “the incident in the Farrago ”he thought

******************Flashback************************
The attack alarm was sounding on all the ships, an Invid battalion bigger than usual had appeared in the system and was about to attack them with their entire arsenal.
The ship and the crew still didn’t recover from the last fight with the Invid troops, they had lost several pilots, the ship was seriously damaged, most of the system weren’t completely operational

“Prepare all the squadrons to take off and put commander Grant on line” said Lisa

“Right now” answered a technician and the image of commander Grant appeared on the screen

“Vince what is the status of the GMU canon?”

“It’s 50% operational admiral, it received a direct hit in the last battle and the technicians are still trying to fix it” answered the commander Grant

“Make all the technical adjustments that you can, but be ready to shoot at my signal, a 50% should be enough” said Lisa and cut the communication

“Admiral the commanders Sterling and Wolf squadrons are in position and they’ll meet the enemy in 2 minutes” said one of the technicians

“Lisa, according to the intelligence estimates the Invids forces are two times more than us, our pilots wouldn’t have a chance out there” said Rick

“Lieutenant” said Lisa talking to one of the technicians “tell infirmary to be ready to receive the wounded and that the rescue squadrons must be ready to take off in 10 minutes”

“Lisa that’s not the solution, we need pilots out there not stretchers waiting for them in the infirmary or rescue teams” said Rick standing in front of Lisa

“I know that Rick, but for the moment that’s all that we can do” said Lisa and looked at the lieutenant again “prepare the weapon systems to shoot at my signal”

“I’m going out Lisa, they’ll need me more out there that in here” said Rick and walk to the bridge exit

“Come back Rick, your post is here on the bridge” said Lisa sitting on the edge of her chair

“I’m sorry Lisa but I’m more useful out there than in here” said Rick

“That’s not true, the pilots need somebody to guide them, what good could it do thousands of pilots flying if there is no body to guide them”

“You could do that, my place is outside fighting”

“Your place is in here” said Lisa standing on her feet “You were assigned to the bridge”

“I know, but I belong there, outside”

“Rick don’t make this more difficult, you must stay here and that’s an order”

“I’m sorry Lisa but I have to disobey your order, I’ll go out with or without your permission”

“Then you don’t leave me any other choice” said Lisa and stood straight in front of Rick “rear admiral Hunter for disobeying a direct order from the admiral of the fleet you are under arrest and will be confined to your quarters until the end of the battle in course”

“What?” said Rick surprised, it was the last thing that he expected to hear from Lisa’s mouth

“You heard me rear admiral, you will remain in your quarters until the end of this battle” said Lisa in middle of the surprised looks of everybody that was on the bridge

“You cant’ do this to me Lisa” said Rick still in shock

“I can and I’m doing it” said Lisa trying to look tough “officers, take the rear admiral to his quarters and make sure that he won’t leave them until the end of the battle” said Lisa looking at two corporals that were on the bridge, who looked at each other for a few moments, like asking if the order that they have received was for real. They only needed to look at Lisa’s face to realize that the order was real and fearfully they came closer to Rick

“Come with us Sir” said one of the corporals

“I can’t believe that you are doing this to me Lisa” said Rick furious

“Sir please follow us” said again the corporal and took Rick by one of his arms

“Get your hands off of me, I know perfectly well where my quarters are” answered Rick and left the bridge in the company of the two corporals with out even looking at Lisa again.

Lisa sat in her chair, she knew that the decision that she has made would affect seriously her relation ship, and the probable thing was that Rick would never forgive her for that, but she prefer to be pissed off with Rick than lose him. Rick had tried to prove that he was still able for combat and had ended up in the ICU and probably he would have lost his life if it wasn’t for Max, that almost losing his life trying to save him. She couldn't allow that to happen, not now that she needed him more than ever, definitely she prefered to see him furious at her than watching him die in front of her eyes because of one stupid caprice

“Lieutenant order the squadrons to take the enemy to the 52nd quadrant, we’ll shoot all our weapons in that direction” said Lisa, but the lieutenant didn’t answer

“Lieutenant did you hear me?” said Lisa raising her voice

“Yes ma’am, immediately” said the lieutenant and everyone seemed to get out of the shock that had taken them, because of what had happened on the bridge.

**************************End of flashback*******************************

The incident in the Farrago has mark an after and before in his relationship with Lisa, the arrest order that she had gave had hurt him in the most deepest part of his heart and he didn’t know if someday he would forgive her, Lisa had hurt his pride, she had attacked him on the only thing that he really knew he was good at, in his flight skills. The arrest order had been like telling him that he wasn’t good enough to be out there.

An as if the problem with the Farrago wasn’t enough to hurt the relationship now Lisa was accusing him of not doing anything to keep up the relationship and even more she accused him of never having done anything for the relationship. And if at some point it was true that he had put a barrier between the two of them after what had happened on the Farrago, she also hadn’t done any thing to pull the barrier off. She still was as stubborn as always and he, well he was the king of stubborness and what had happened on the Farrago had hurt him. He had been avoiding her and ignoring her during the last couples of weeks, but that didn’t mean that he did not participate in the relationship, he loved her and love had never been a problem, if she had said that lately he didn’t participate in the relationship that would be acceptable but that she told him that he had never been part of it, hurt him, even more than what had happened on the Farrago, because he could prove to her with facts that he could fly, but proving to her that he was part of the relationship was so difficult, the relationship was built by the two of them, how could he show her something that he had done alone.

How could he prove to Lisa that he wasn’t only a spectator of the relationship?, thought Rick as the served him self another glass of whisky and let him self fall on the couch in the middle of the darkness that filled his house.

It was like telling him that he doesn’t love her enough or even telling him that he had never shown her how much he loved her and even when he was bad at showing her how much he loved her, that didn’t mean that he didn’t try hard to make the relationship work or had he really let her make everything in the relation ship?, asked Rick to him self, What had he done for the relationship? And the only tangible fact that came to his mind was when he proposed to her, but that had been the logical step to do after almost five years of being a couple

“Maybe Lisa was right?” said Rick out loud, filling his glass again and drinking all in just one sip

No, I can’t accept that, I haven’t been only a spectator in the relationship, How could I be only a spectator? If I feel so many things for Lisa, when even after all these ups and downs that we have had I still love her, I love her much more than when we were engaged, than when we just got married.

I can’t be only a spectator in this relationship, when this relationship is the only thing that makes me go on.

--------------------

When Lisa woke up that morning she felt different, like if some weight had been removed from her shoulders. The decision was made and she wouldn’t step back, as always she found comfort in the only thing that has always been unconditional in her life, in what she knew she good at, in the army, in the mission, in the ship.

Lisa went to the Ship section that was occupied by Breetai in the company of Miriya

“Breetai, how long has it been since I last saw you” said Lisa as a mechanic belt put her and Miriya in front of Breetai’s face

“Certainly Lisa”

“Miriya told me something about your plan, I came here so you could explain your idea to me and I must say that the idea doesn’t convince me too much”

“I just gave her the basic idea my Lord, I was waiting for you to give her the details in person” said Miriya

“Thank you very much Miriya” said Breetai bending his head down “All your doubts will find an answer Lisa, but first let me introduce to you to the commander Berir” said Breetai and from another mechanic belt appeared a micronized Zentraedi. Lisa looked at him attentively, he was pretty tall even when he was micronized, with brown hair, brilliant green eyes, athletic, too attractive for being a Zentraedi thought Lisa, something like Miriya was for Zentraedi woman

“It’s a true pleasure to meet you Admiral” said Berir saluting her

“Nice to meet you too” said Lisa saluting him too, a little bit intrigued by this Zentraedi that was wearing an REF uniform and that looked at her with a special brightness in his eyes

“Commander Parino, its a pleasure to see you after all this time” said Berir saluting Miriya now

“I agree with you commander Berir, I still remember the battles that we fought together” said Miriya smiling

“Certainly it was something unforgettable” said Berir

“Now that the presentations are done, I’ll explain my plan to you Lisa” said Breetai

After the meeting was over, Miriya and Lisa separated, Miriya went to the runway Bay and Lisa was going to the bridge when she heard that somebody was calling her

“Admiral” said the voice and Lisa turned to find there the Zentraedi commander

“Tell me commander…”

“Berir, Kahl Berir”

“Tell me”

“You see admiral Hayes, I think that maybe you still have some doubts about the mission and I wanted to tell you that any questions that you have you can call me at any time”

“Thank you commander, in fact I still have several doubts. Not about the mission but about the supplies and some technical stuff”

“If you have time tomorrow I can present you a report and answer your questions”

“I think that will be good, what about lunch time? Its the only free spot that I have in my agenda”

“Any time that you want it will be fine”

“Then I’ll see you at lunch” said Lisa and left

-------------

Lisa arrived home before Rick, and had dinner alone in the kitchen and went to bed, leaving the door of the bedroom open

Rick arrived home and thought that he was alone, he repeated the same routine that Lisa had and went to the bedroom and to his surprise he met Lisa leaving the bathroom in pajamas

“So, what’s the reason that I could sleep in the bedroom too?”

“You can sleep where ever you want” said Lisa with out even looking at him and lay on her side of the bed

“If you are going to continue acting like that I’d prefer to sleep on the couch” said Rick and took his pillow and his pajamas

“As you want” said Lisa with out even turning

“Fine” said Rick and left the room

“And then I’m the one who doesn’t do a thing to improve the relationship” thought Rick as he fell asleep on the couch

--------------

Since the meeting with Breetai had already past two week and Lisa was more busy than ever with only 3 weeks left for the recon mission to Haydon IV to begin, for other side the Farrago hds contacted them and asked for reinforcements, besides the usual problems of the ship and if that wasn’t enough she had to keep an eye over Edwards because she was sure that he was after something.

But for her luck the mission to Haydon IV, hadn’t been a problem at all, in fact the efficiency of the commander Berir was admirable. He had solved all the problems that Lisa had thought would cause her more than one headache, he had found the way to get all the supplies, personnel, and even had found a way to make Lang build a small ship for the mission with the pieces of Alphas and Betas that were destroyed in the battle.

In fact she and the commander had gotten along pretty well, he understood immediately her suggestions and she also understood perfectly well the ideas that he had to improve the mission. Lisa admired his good work and enthusiasm about the mission, and reminded her the enthusiasm that she had had to put in motion the mission that now had her in charge of the SDF-3, she understood his concerns and admired his devotion, in other words the commander had won her appreciation.

And as had become usual, they met for lunch every two days, to discuss the lattest details of the mission. Punctually at lunchtime, Lisa’s door was knocked on

“Come in” said Lisa looking at her watch and smiling “as punctual as usual” she thought

“Admiral I hope I’m not interrupting anything” said Berir saluting her from the door

“No, of course not”

“I came for our meeting, and I brought the reports that you want to look at”

“You will have to wait for a few minutes, if it’s not a problem”

“Don’t worry admiral, but if you want I could come pn another occasion”

“No it fine, there’s no better time than right now, I just have to sign some papers and I’ll be ready”

“I hope you don’t mind, but I took the freedom of bringing lunch”

“Really?”

“Yes”

“Well commander you are full of surprises” said Lisa smiling and leaving her papers aside

“Well I thought that for a change we could eat something different than what the REF cafeteria has” said Berir and left a tray on Lisa’s desk

As they ate lunch Berir explained to Lisa the latest modifications of the mission and answered some questions from Lisa, finally they ended up talking about things that had nothing to do with the mission.

“I still haven't gotten used to the idea of eating food, real food to name in some way”

“Exedor told me how weird it was, he said that the vitamin pills and the protein paste weren’t comparable with our food”

“Oh of course not, but believe me when I told you that natural food had caused more than one embarrassment”

“For example?” asked Lisa funny

“One time I was with doctor Lang and he offered me some fruits, he left a tray in front of me and turned to find something, before he noticed I took one the fruits and gave it a bite, before doctor Lang could warn me”

“Warn you about what?” asked Lisa

“That the fruit was a natural coconut and that it had to be prepare to be eaten, my ignorance cost me two teeth” said he in the middle of a laugh

“I can imagine your face when you found out that it was eatable” said Lisa still laughing

“You should have seen doctor Lang’s face” he said when the door was opened

“Excuse me admiral, I need to talk with you” said Rick as he entered Lisa’s office to realize that she was having lunch with the commander “I’m sorry, I didn’t know that you were with somebody”

“Commander Berir let me introduce you to the admiral Hunter” said Lisa

“Admiral” said Berir saluting him

“Commander” said Rick saluting him back

“What do you want?” asked Lisa

“I have been looking for you all morning, a few minutes ago they informed me that you were in your office” said Rick

“I’ve been busy” answered Lisa

“I can see that” said Rick in an ironic voice

“You have anything to ask me?” asked Lisa with no interest

“It was a tactical business that has to do with the Invid, but it could wait until when you aren’t so busy” answered Rick

“You should ask for an appointment with lieutenant Roberts, that way you will save the trip”

“I don’t think that it will be necessary, it’s lunch time” said Rick a little pissed off

“Well if you had asked to Roberts he would have told you that I have lunch with commander Berir every two days”

“I’ll have that in mind for the next occasion, that way I won’t interrupt meetings that are so important” said Rick with a notorious upset in his voice “Now if you’ll excuse me admiral, I don’t want to distract you anymore” said Rick and after saluting Lisa he left the office

“Who the hell was this commander Berir? And what the F*** was he doing having lunch with Lisa?” asked Rick to himself and even more “Since when had Lisa had the habit to laugh with her subordinates and lunch with them? And every two days?” the questions seemed to burn him inside, and were spinning in his head, until he arrived home at night

---------

He waited for Lisa to wake, even if now they were sleeping together in the bedroom that didn’t mean that things between them were better. Lisa lately had become extremely indifferent and it wasn’t that she didn’t talk to him, the problem was that she did talk with him but with no interest, she was there with him, but it was like if she were hundreds of miles away, to the point that it seemed that things were better when they were fighting, than now with this cold indifference that he didn’t know how to handle, he knew perfectly well how to handle an angry Lisa, but an indifferent one, that was completely new to him.

“Good evening” said Rick when Lisa entered the bedroom

“Good evening” said Lisa taking off her shoes and her uniform jacket

“Aren’t you going to have diner?”

“I’ve already ate” answer Lisa and finished changing her clothes, once she had her pajamas on she went to the bathroom and left the door open

“So now I also have to make an appointment to talk with you?”

“That would be convenient” said Lisa brushing her teeth

“I can’t believe that I have to make an appointment to talk with my own wife, do you think that that is normal?” asked Rick but Lisa ignored the question

“Lisa I’m talking to you” said Rick standing at the bathroom door

“And I’m listening to you” said Lisa with calmness

“No, you aren’t”

“Oh Rick I am listening you”

“Then tell me, do you think its normal that I have to make an appointment to talk to you?

“Its normal to make an appointment to talk with a superior officer,” said Lisa getting into bed

“You are my wife” said Rick anger

“I know” said Lisa and turned off the light of her side “I’m really tired Rick, what do you say if we continue with this tomorrow?, Good, then good night” said Lisa before Rick could say a word, and turned and curled to sleep

“This is unbelievable” said Rick and got into the bed from a jump

--------------------

Rick woke up and saw that Lisa wasn’t at his side, but he heard noises in the living room, he show up there still in pajamas and found Lisa there training with some weapons that Bela had given her

“So in the reinforcements request from the Farrago they asked for amazons?” said Rick mocking

“No” said Lisa and continued training

“I think so, I don’t know what good they'd do”

“I hope that Bela never hears you said that” said Lisa and left the weapon with what she was training in the ground with a smile

“I imagine that now you want to join the sisterhood, that way you have another thing to control, don't you?”

“I haven’t thought about that, thanks for the idea” said Lisa smiling and entering the bathroom

“S***” said Rick and kicked Lisa’s weapon “what the hell is wrong with her?” thought Rick, he had tried to make her angry, but she even had been tough for his comments. “What's happening with the Lisa that I know? Or at least I used to know” thought Rick angry

-----------------

The activities of the ship ha slowed down a little and Lisa divided her self now between the activities from the bridge and the preparative for the mission to Haydon IV, she had changed the lunches with commander Berir for meetings, after her work in the bridge was over and many times these meetings had become dinners.
That was the case today, they had left Lisa’s office and even when she had refused at the beginning, she had accepted the invitation of the commander to have dinner at his place. When the dinner was over, they sat in the living room to talk

“Do you want anything to drink admiral?” asked Berir

“What do you have commander?”

“Well it could be coffee, tea or juice?”

“Don’t you have anything more stronger?”

“I’ve got just what you need” he said and showed up with two glasses “this is an antique Zentraedi liquor”

“Well I havent heard talk about it” said Lisa and tasted “It’s pretty good” said Lisa and drank what was in her glass

“More?” asked Berir surprised

“Please” said Lisa and her glass was filled again

“You look tired admiral, problems with the mission?”

“Among other things” said Lisa and looked at him “go ahead commander, ask what everybody in this ship wants to ask”

“I don’t want to be intrusive“

“Forget the protocols and ask”

“Problems with admiral Hunter?”

“When not? Have you ever heard the expression of not mixing love and business”

“Yes, I imagine that it must be hard for you to work and have a relationship with the admiral at the same time”

“It’s hard when the personal issues are taken to work and believe me the admiral could have a case”

“He’s a whole hero” said he trying to test Lisa’s feelings for Rick and filling her glass again

“Well yeah, that’s why he is an Admiral and so young”

“You are a very young admiral too”

“Thanks” said Lisa with a smile

“I meant it, that’s why you are the admiral of the fleet”

“Something that I have done right, don’t you think?”

“Call me Kahl, and I don’t understand what you mean”

“Nothing, forget it”

“All right” he said and drank from his glass

“Can I have a little more?”

“You should be careful admiral, its a very strong liquor”

“Don’t worry” said Lisa and he filled her glass again

They talked until they drank the entire bottle and continued with a wine one

“You will see admiral”

“Lisa” interrupted her

“Lisa, I still find hard to understand that feeling”

“Of course it’s hard to define and some times I envy you”

“Who the Zentraedi? Why?”

“Because it seems to be easy live with out love”

“Why do you say that?”

“Love sometimes comes with pain, guilt, sadness and deception”

“You said that for your relationship with the admiral?”

“For that and other things, love seems to come tight with suffering”

“But after the war I believe that its worth to feel it”

“Certainly, but it also depends on the other person”

“Of making the right decision?”

“Maybe, but how to know its the right one?”

“You think that its wrong, your decision?”

“Oh, I don’t know, usually you wait too much from the other person and the reality is very different, the truth is that I don’t…” was saying Lisa nervous and she cross edher legs and accidentally she spilled the wine glass “I’m so sorry, I didn’t notice that that was there”

“Don’t worry” said Berir between laughs and with Lisa started to clean the carpet laughing

“I’m truly sorry, there will be a terrible spot in your carpet”

“It’s ok Lisa, don’t worry about it”

“Ok” said Lisa and they sat “what were we talking about?”

“About Love”

“Right, of choosing the right person”

“One time I heard somewhere, that you don’t choose who you fall in love with, you just do it”

“You’re completely right” said Lisa looking at him

“You don’t choose who you fall in love with, even when you don’t know what that means” said Berir standing in front of Lisa

“Why do you say that?” asked Lisa almost hypnotized by the Zentraedi’s eyes

“For, nothing, forget it” said Berir still looking at her in the eyes

“Well Kahl, it’s very late now, I think I’d better go, tomorrow will be a long day”

“You are right” said Berir and stood up and walked with her to the door

“Thank you so much for the dinner, it was delicious”

“Thank you for coming”

“And thanks for the conversation”

“It was a pleasure”

“Goodnight”

“Goodnight” said Berir and stood in the door until Lisa’s figure disappeared

--------------------------

She arrived home and found there Rick having dinner

“Goodnight” said Lisa and went to the bedroom. Rick showed up there a few minutes later

“I left you some beef, if you want to have dinner”

“I already ate”

“And it seems that the dinner was pretty good, I can smell the wine aroma from here” said Rick upset

”Yes it was pretty good, the commander Berir worked pretty hard”

“You had dinner with him?” asked Rick amazed

“Yes, we had dinner at his house”

“And since when do you have dinner with your subordinates?”

“It was for the mission and besides I don’t have to give you any explanation” said Lisa a little upset

“I’m your husband in case that you forgot that, I think I deserve the explanation”

“And since when did it matter to you?”

“Since” was saying Rick but shut up “you are right it doesn’t matter to me, I had forgot that I’m the one who doesn’t care about the relationship” said Rick and left the house slamming the door

Rick was furious; he wanted to go to kick this famous Zentraedi commander right now. And Lisa, what was wrong with Lisa? Did she were involved with the Zentraedi? No, Lisa wasn’t like that, Lisa would never cheat on him, about that he was completely sure. “Da** it, how much did I want to be like the guy Lisa thinks I am, How much I wish that the relationship doesn’t matter to me, so that way I could live my life in peace or at least give Lisa motives to act like she was doing” he thought, but no, he wasn’t like that. He loved her and the relationship did matter to him, But what difference does it makes?, none and the relationship was dying in front of his eyes, and there was nothing that he could do about it, thought Rick as he drank a glass of whisky in the officers lounge of the ship “What difference does it make to love her so much? If our problem has always been the same, we aren’t able to communicate. Loving her doesn’t serve me nothing, it doesn’t make any good to hold on to something that is dying, loving her the way I do doesn’t serve” he told to him self as he drank another glass

-------------
After the dinner with Berir, Lisa and the commander had become friends, every day she was getting along better with him, to the point that on some occasions they forgot the military protocol when they were alone and the just treated each other like Lisa and Kahl

With Rick they barely talked to each other, they only did it for professional business, when they left behind any kind of problem to defend common interest, they hadn’t fight again, now they just took a non-aggression policy, they just didn’t bother each other, they just didn’t talk.

Rick was very distant, he apparently was hurt by something and she was still indifferent, if Rick didn’t tell her what was bothering him she wasn’t going to bother to find out. Did he ever bother trying to find out what was bothering her? No. So she wouldn’t do it either.

Today she was working and it seemed that with every Invid attack the paperwork multiplied, so there she was with a mountain of paperwork and a million things to do.

“Admiral, the Commander Berir wants to see you Ma’am” said a young officer

“Tell him to come in” said Lisa resting in her chair

“Good after noon admiral” said Berir when he entered the office

“Good after noon commander”

“I see that you are busy” said Berir when he closed the door

“You can’t even imagine, what brings you here?”

“I need your signature on these papers”

“Then you are not welcome, I don’t want more work”

“Come on, you only have to sign”

“Ok” said Lisa and read the paper to sign them later “I appreciate very much how well written the paper are, I have passed hours reading fuel requests that are unreadable, I’m so tired”

“Can I?” said him walking in her direction and standing behind her back to start giving her a massage

“Mmmmm, thanks Kahl, you don’t have any clue how tired I am”

“I can imagine, you have an entire fleet at your command”

“And as if the problems with the Invid weren’t enough and running this ship was easy, the idiot Minmei wants the authorization to have a concert, as if I had nothing else to think of”

“You don’t like Minmei?”

“Me? Let’s say that she is not in the group of people that I find intelligent and nice”

“I see” he said and stayed in silence for a while “But she saved you from the destruction and allowed you the victory”

“Yes, she help us a lot and allows us to form an alliance with you and yadayadayada, believe me I'm thankful to her for all that she did for the Earth, but don’t ask me to love her”

“Its weird to hear someone who doesn’t love Minmei”

“It seems that everything revolves around her”

“You were my Minmei” said Berir getting on his knees in front of Lisa

“Pardon me?” asked Lisa amazed

“That you were my Minmei, you guided me to be a better Zentraedi, to be more human, to be better”

“I don’t get it”

“Like Minmei guided much of my people to leave the weapons with her singing, you motivated me to be a better Zentraedi, to understand what I was fighting for, what allows me to fight and how I do it, that’s why I studied Robotechnology and stopped been just a simple Battle pod pilot to become one of the trust men of Breetai”

“But how did I do that?”

“When I saw you for the first time on the Satellite you face stayed recorded in my memories” he said as he touched softly the face of Lisa “You, your entirety as a soldier guided me to be better, you guided me to transform my self from a clone to a person, you gave the meaning to my life, you showed me that I had a life”

“I, don’t know…”

“You have nothing to say Lisa, I just fell in love with you and that gave me life and will” he said and made a pause and came even more closer to Lisa “I just fell in love with you, with out even knowing what love meant” he said and kissed her, Lisa wasn’t able to react, she just let her self kiss and the sensation of guilt mixed with how flattered she felt for the words of the Zentraedi had her more than confused, it had been so long since the last time that someone told her how much she meant to the life of somebody else, that the words of Berir clouded her and she found her self kissing him, like if something had taken control of her body. She knew what she was doing something wrong, but it was something completely intoxicating.

He was the first to react and step away from her, Lisa stood up immediately

“I’m very busy Kahl if there’s anything else that you want, I think it would be better that you leave” said Lisa with her cheeks red and avoiding looking at the commander in the eyes

“I think so, I only needed that you sign the papers”

“Well, then I'll see you tomorrow when we meet with Lang to see how the ship construction is going”

“Alright” said Berir and left the office

Lisa went back immediately to work, she didn’t want to think about what had happened, but when her shift was over she found her self thinking of Berir’s words when she was laying on the couch of her home. She was incredibly amazed with the fact that she had been able to produce such a change in someone's life, that she had caused the same effect that Minmei had. This made her feel strange, happy, that knowing that she could compete with Minmei, it was like she was injected with life, it made her feel alive again.

And she remembered the kiss that she had shared with Kahl had the same effect on her, But what would happen with Rick?, she knew that what she had done was wrong, but all that mattered seemed to bring life back to her, life that she felt was slipping away from her between the duties as admiral and the chaotic relationship with Rick.

What to do?, Lisa asked herself. She couldn’t deny how attractive the Zentraedi commander was and how good they got along. Certainly she felt attracted to him, but have something with him? She was a married woman.

“God I’m so confused, besides who said that he wanted to have something with me” thought Lisa, she felt the same butterflies in her stomach as fifteen years old girl in love.

And in the middle of all the indifference and distance that Rick had to her, of all his cold comments and even burlesques, the words from Berir excited her, flattered her and confused her. It made her want to jump into the arms of this Zentraedi, trying to find caresses, understanding, and love, thought Lisa until she finally fell sleep.

Rick arrived home late and he was surprised to find Lisa sleeping on the couch, well he didn’t want to wake her up so he brought a blanket and covered her. How beautiful Lisa looked when she was sleeping, why couldn't he tell her all these thing when she was awake?. Because he still was mad at her, because he didn’t know how to face this new cold and indifferent Lisa. Watching her sleeping made him remember all that he felt for her, remember the night that he had stayed awake taking care of her after Khyron’s attack, how he had realized how much he loved her and how much he had wanted her then and how much he still desired her now.

----------------

Lisa woke up and found Rick having breakfast in the kitchen

“Good morning” said Rick without raising his eyes from the report that he was reading

“Good morning” said Lisa and made her self a cup of coffee “are you going to see the new ship that Lang is building?”

“Maybe, I don’t know. Sue Graham will an interview me today”

“That silly girl?” said Lisa a little upset, she didn’t like that young girl, since the first moment that she had seen her she didn’t like her

“She’s just doing her job” said Rick defending her

“I know and she is good at that”

“I’m thinking of asking her to be my personal photographer”

“I don’t know what use that could have, but it’s your decision”

“Do you always have to criticized my decisions?” said Rick and left the house

---------------

After checking that all was fine on the bridge, Lisa headed to the construction Deck, there she found Doctor Lang and commander Berir talking

“Doctor Lang, Commander Berir, good morning” said Lisa

“Good morning admiral” answered the two men

“How’s the ship going?”

“Fine, still are some details to fix, but it will be ready next week” said Lang

“I was telling to Doctor that I think it will be necessary to add more armament to the ship” said Berir

"It will only be a recon mission” said Lisa

“But I think its important to have support, I was thinking of taking Miriya’s squadron with me” said Berir when a voice from a technician interrupted him

“Admiral on deck” said the technician when he saw Rick come in

“Don’t take for granted that you will take commander Sterling's squadron with you” said Rick a little up set walking with his hands behind his back

“That’s how the mission is planned Sir” said Berir looking Rick out of the corner of his eyes

“Well nobody asked my authorization for that” said Rick

“We are still discussing the mission with Breetai, that’s why you hadn’t found out” said Lisa

“I thought that we had all decided all ready” protested Berir

“There are things that the council must decide” said Lisa

“And the squadron of commander Sterling is not for recon missions” said Rick

“But Lisa, we have all ready discussed this” said Berir and Lisa stayed looking at him in disbelief

“Commander” said Lisa up set because of the indiscretion of the commander “this is a decision that the council must make”

“This is the army commander, I think that I don’t need to remind you that there are protocols to follow, the decisions are not take it based of favoritism” said Rick angry, Berir was bestowed his patience. Who the hell did he think he was to call Lisa, the admiral of the fleet, by her name? thought Rick

“I know Sir” said Berir clenching his teeth

“Fine” said Rick and turned to Doctor’s Lang direction” I believe that you have to put more weapons in this ship doctor”

“I think so” said the doctor

“I have to come back to the situations room, I hope I have a complete report of the mission on my desk tomorrow morning commander” said Rick looking at Berir by the corner of his eye “It will be incredible inappropriate and outside of the rules that I found that about the mission the day of the take off, don’t you think Admiral?” said Rick
now looking at Lisa

“Certainly” answered Lisa

“Don’t take things for granted only because the admiral supports you commander” said Rick

“No Sir” answered Berir tighten his jaw because of anger

“If you'll excuse me admiral” said Rick saluting Lisa and leaving the deck, with a strange feeling to this commander, he felt anger, and mistrust, rejection, Could he be jealous?

“I’m also leaving admiral” said Berir saluting Lisa

“Wait commander” said Lisa and looked at Lang “will the construction of the ship be delayed because of this new armament?”

“Just a day, maybe two” said Lang and looked again the ship “Don’t worry admiral, everything will be in order”

“Thank you doctor” said Lisa and said goodbye to Lang, to later arrive by Berir's side

"What do you want admiral?” asked Berir serious

“Come to my office” said Lisa and they started to walk to her office, Lisa asked for two coffees and she walked to the window that allowed a look at the distance the bright moon of the planet Fantoma, Tirol

“You have a very nice view from your office admiral” said Berir

“I’m for what happened down there” said Lisa

“I thought that the mission was ready”

“There are things that don’t depend on me Kahl, you know that”

“I know, forget it” said Kahl looking at her in the eyes

“Rick was too hard, the council must make the decision but believe that I’ll do everything that I can to help you”

“Forgive me for getting upset with you, I wasn’t fair, it’s not your fault”

“It’s ok” said Lisa looking at him in the eyes “Aren’t you mad at me anymore?”

“I couldn’t be” he said with a smile

“Good” said Lisa and stayed looking at him to come closer slowly to him “I don’t like that you be”

“You know that I can’t” said him and put one of his hands on Lisa’s face

“You have coffee creame on your nose” said Lisa cleaning a little his nose and looking at him in the eyes

“Did you know that you have the most gorgeous green eyes of the galaxy?” said Berir and kissed her

This time Lisa answered immediately the kiss, she wanted to kiss him, she felt young and careless in the arms of the Zentraedi, she felt like the teenager that she was when she entered the RDF, with no responsibilities, with nothing to worry about, she felt free as if nothing else mattered, she felt for the first time in her life that she was living the moment with out worrying about the consequences that her actions might have

“You know that its not right, I shouldn’t” said Lisa resting her head on the chest of Berir

“I know” said the Zentraedi and took Lisa’s face in his hands “I want you to know that I’m not asking anything from you Lisa, being with you is enough for me”

“Kahl, I…” said Lisa looking at him in the eyes

“You have nothing to say” said Berir and hugged her

Lisa tightened the embrace of Berir, as her sight got lost in the space.

------------------

During the entire week, Lisa had been visiting with Berir, they had dinner together or share lunch or even both. Lisa was completely surprised of how romantic this Zentraedi could be, always in every one of their meetings he had bring something to her, if they weren’t flowers, were chocolates or anything that she has mention that she like it and she keep carefully all this presents in her office. She knew that the relation ship that she was having with Berir was something wrong, but been with him make her feel alive somehow, and as the things with Rick were still the same, she justify what she was doing thinking that Rick don’t want to save the relationship or finding any excuse in Rick’s behavior to convinced her self that what she was doing wasn’t wrong. But for other side the Zentraedi commander had her blind, she found her self often thinking in him at work or waiting with anxiety the dinner or lunchtime that she share with him, his attentions and his caresses seams to be all that she need to get out of this dark place where she was, oppress for the work, for the relationship with Rick, for the responsibilities, for everything, in a away Berir take her out of this routine, made her feel younger and appreciated.

Today was a very important day; today will take place the meeting with the council to authorize or not sending Miriya’s squadron into Berir’s recon mission.
And Lisa was in the middle of a dilemma, she had promised to Berir that she would help him for the Miriya’s squadron will be send it in his mission, but as admiral of the fleet, Lisa knew that she could not take the risk of loosing one person so valuable as Miriya was in a recon mission, doesn’t matter how much this mission will help the fleet.

Rick met Lisa before entering the meeting room

“I read the report of the mission, it was very detailed, I congratulate your favorite commander” said Rick serious

“It’s good that you have read the report”

“That doesn’t change my opinion about sending Miriya with him”

“I believe that that’s not your decision”

“Neither is yours, no matter how much you appreciate this commander”

“This has nothing to do with appreciation or silly resentment, this a decision based on facts and reports”

“Then you know as well as I do that your crusade is lost”

“Who said that it was my crusade?” said Lisa looking at him by the corner of her eye

“He seems to believe that it is” said Rick pointing Berir with his chin

“My decision wouldn’t be affected because of what he believes” said Lisa serious

“We'll see” said Rick and entered the room

The meeting ended after almost two hours of deliberation, the first one to abandon the council room was Rick and he was wearing a smile on his face, he saw Berir waiting anxiously the answer of the council and with him was Miriya

“Miriya come here” said Rick standing far away from Berir

“What happened?” asked Miriya

“You will not go on the mission, you are too valuable to let you go”

“Thank you Rick, even when I wanted to go with the commander in his mission, I can’t leave Max alone, my heart is here next to him” said Miriya

“Don’t thank me, it was the decision of the council

Miriya only smiled and added, “Then I guess I have to report to the take off bay”

“Yes, you have” said Rick and walked until he met Berir face to face, who was waiting anxious that Lisa leave the room, but she was talking with Lang

“Commander you look nervous” said Rick with a malicious smile

“The council decision is crucial for my mission”

“Well then I’m sorry to inform you that Commander Sterling will not go with you” said Rick and Berir look at him in disbelief “It was like I told you commander, she is too valuable to go on a recon mission

“Then you won admiral”

“Oh no, this wasn’t my decision, it was the unanimous decision of the council. But if you want it to put it in that way, then yes, I won” said Rick and start to walk away

“Enjoy your victory admiral, you could face bigger defeats in the future” said Berir

Rick ignored him and keep walking, but was thinking “What did he have mean? In what could this commander defeat me?”

-----------------------

Lisa abandoned the room and walked to Berir’s side

“Kahl..” said Lisa when she was by side

“I know, your husband told me” said Berir a little angry

“Let’s go to my office” said Lisa and they walked in silence to her office

“You too voted against me” said Kahl when they were at her office

“It wasn’t against you and besides I had no other choice” said Lisa and came closer to him and took his hand “Kahl look at me”

“What?” he said looking at her in the eyes

“I tried to defend your mission, but you and I know how important Miriya is, and how much she is needed here, when the time of voting came I had no other choice and deep down you know it was the right one”

“I know” said he and squeezed Lisa’s hand “its just that I have had the hope that she was on the mission”

“I’m sorry” said Lisa and held him

“It’s ok, I guess that the new armament that Lang put in the ship will be enough” said him holding her and caressing her hair

“He will put the best guns that we have on board” said Lisa and looked at him again

“You know, sometimes I don’t want to go on the mission” said Berir looking at her in the eyes

“Why?”

“When I’m like this with you, the last thing I want is to leave” said Berir and kissed her

“Kahl” said Lisa and hugged him “now it’s me who has to go”

“Will we have dinner together tonight?” he said letting her go

“Sure” said Lisa and gave him a soft kiss “Bye”

-------------

Lisa arrived home late, she entered in silence and in the dark trying to not wake Rick up

“You arrived a little late” said Rick sitting in bed and turning the lights on, he was laying in bed with the uniform still on

“I lost track of time”

“I guess that you were having dinner with your commander”

“Your guess is right, I was having dinner with Berir”

“Did he need comfort?”

“There was no need to comfort him, but it seems that you look at all this as if you have won some kind of battle and he lost”

“I wasn’t the one who put the things in those terms, he did”

"As you said” said Lisa soft and indifferent

“What I do believe it doesn’t look good is that you meet REF officer until so late”

“Are you serious?” asked Lisa funny and incredulous

“What do you think?” said Rick upset “This late dinners and these lunches don’t look good”

“And since when do you care about what looks good or wrong?”

“Since when did it stop mattering to you? You are admiral of the fleet Lisa!”

“I know” she answered now upset

“Then behave like it”

“You know, you are right, I’m the admiral of the fleet and I don’t need to give you explanations of what I do, aren’t I a controlling witch Rick, that controls everyone’s life?”

“You know what. You can do what ever you want I couldn’t care less, if you want you can have dinner with all the f***** pilots and Zentraedis of the ship” said Rick and got up and picked up his jacket

“I wasn’t asking for your permission”

“As if ever what I said mattered to you” said Rick and left the house. He went straight to the officer’s lounge of the REF and sat in the bar, in the darkest corner of it.

He was so upset that he felt like his head was about to blow, the bartender serveed him the usual in the same minute that he sat, a bottle of whisky and a glass with ice. Since the things with Lisa started to go wrong, it ha became a habit of his to come to this place and drink a glass of whisky, but today he was more than angry, he was hurt, he felt so bad that he couldn’t even put in words or describe how he felt.

“Was she seeing Berir?” he asked to him self and he refused to believe it, something in his heart told him that things weren’t ok, that Lisa wasn’t like that, that Lisa didn’t relate with subordinates in that way, that Lisa could take many positions in front of a situation but this cold indifference and this facing him constantly that she was doing wasn’t normal. That’s not how Lisa behaved, not his Lisa. “What am I going to do if she is cheating on me?” found Rick thinking after the fifth glass of whisky “No, it cant be, she can’t do that to me, I don’t know what I’m capable to do to that bastard” thought Rick when a hand touch is back

“Rick my friend, what are you doing here so late?” said Max, that was behind Rick

“Hi Max” said Rick with no enthusiasm and with a very melencholy voice

“Well it seems like things aren’t pretty good aren’t they?” said Max and sat next to him and ordered a drink “What’s the matter my friend?”

“So many things that I don’t know where to start”

“How about from the beginning? What’s the problem with Lisa?”

“Lisa has been acting so weird Max, I don’t know how to treat her, don’t know what to say to her, I feel like I don’t know her any more”

“It has something to do with what happened on the Farrago?”

“This and this f***** Zentraedi commander”

“A Zentraedi Commander?”

“A guy named Berir, since Lisa has been working with him on this recon mission to Haydon things have gone from bad to worse”

“Maybe she is just tired, Lisa has too many responsibilities”

“Its more than that Max, things are so bad that I don’t know how much longer we can last like this”

“Are you thinking of getting a divorce?”

“No, I could never leave her Max, but I don’t know if she wants to stay by my side anymore Max”

“Rick, Lisa is in love with you that I’m sure”

“Well I’m not that sure anymore Max”

“What’s about you?”

“I still love her Max, in fact I love her more now than ever”

“Then why don’t you tell her that?”

“I have shown her that so many times”

“Are you sure?. You see my friend, woman, human or Zentraedi they need to be told that they are loved, showing her is not enough, they need to hear it and maybe that’s your problem my friend”

“You think? Lisa and I have never been good telling each other things”

“You think that I don’t know? For God sake’s it took three years for the two of you to realiz that you were in love with each other, when everybody else knew it way long before you”

“Maybe you are right”

“Hey! I’m always right and I think that there is no better time to make peace than at my birthday party”

“Your birthday?”

“In case you forgot, my birthday is tomorrow and Miriya want to make a party here” said Max and stood up “ tomorrow at 2000 SDF-3 time, don’t miss it and now I’d better go or the Imperative that Miriya has in her comes out if I arrive late with the dinner” said Max leaving

--------------

Berir waited until Lisa was alone in the hallway that united the bridge with the take off bay to show up behind her and held her

“Kahl have you lost your mind? Somebody could see us?” said Lisa

“Sorry I couldn’t help it” said he with a grin

“You have no shame”

“Where are you going?”

“To the take off bay, Lang is going to test the new SDF-7 class ship for the first time”

“He is going to test the new reflex engines, he already made it fly with the old engines inside the hangar”

“You always seem to be one step ahead of me, aren’t you?”

“It’s not easy to make it” he said with a smile “you really don’t need to go, Lang had checked the engines over and over again, you only lose your time with something that has already been tested”

“It’s my duty” said Lisa with a smile

“Are you sure that you aren’t half Zentraedi?”

“Very funny Berir”

“Are we going to have dinner together tonight?

“I’m sorry, I can’t tonight is Max’s Birthday and I can’t miss it”

“I see” he said a little disappointed

“How about lunch together tomorrow?”

“That sounds good”

“Ok, well now I got to go” said Lisa standing in front of him, and after checking in every direction that nobody was there, she gave him a quick kiss “bye”

“Bye”

-----------------

Rick entered the house running, he was late for Max’s Birthday and worse, he had forgotten to buy him a present

“Is that you Rick?” asked Lisa from the bathroom

“Were you waiting for someone else?” asked Rick as he changed his clothes

“You are late, Max’s birthday party is in ten minutes”

“I know” said Rick and Lisa opened the bathroom door, to show up in a very beautiful white dress and her hair in a chignon. Rick couldn’t avoid looking at her like a fool and stopped buttoning his shirt

“What's wrong?” asked Lisa

“Ah, nothing” said Rick and continued buttoning his shirt “I forgot to buy a gift for Max”

“I thought that you would, that’s why I bought him something”

“Good”

“Are you going to take long?”

“No I’m ready” said Rick trying to knot his tie “D*** it, I’ll never learn how to do this”

“Let me see” said Lisa and stood in front of him and knotted his tie “there it is”

“What was that for?” asked Rick

“Nothing, today is Max birthday, at least for this night it would be good we try to not fight, don’t you think?”

“Ok, for me that is no problem”

They arrived at the REF officers lounge and they met there with the Grants, with doctor Lang, and some members of the council, almost the entire skull squadron was there and of course the Sterlings, they sat at a table away from the rest of the guests with the Sterlings and the Grants. They ate in calm, laughing of some Macross histories, of the mission preparative and so many other things.

They were in the middle of a great conversation and suddenly Lisa was frozen when she saw Berir enter the room and even more when she saw that he was walking straight to the their table, Rick noticed immediately his wife's surprised look and looked at the room’s door and found that Berir was there, the blood seemed to come straight up to his head.

“Commander Sterling, happy birthday” said Berir shaking Max’s hand

“Thank you very much commander…”

“Berir, Kahl Berir” said Berir with a smile and Max looked immediately to Rick’s direction, who was red with anger

“Kahl, its so nice to see you, How are you?” asked Miriya shaking his hand

“Fine, thanks and how about you?”

“I’m fine too, well let me introduce you to rest of the table, but I guess that you know every body here” said Miriya and stood up “this is Admiral Lisa Hayes-Hunter”

“Good evening Admiral” said Berir with a smile looking at her in the eyes

“Good evening commander” said Lisa holding his hand and couldn’t help a smile and blushed a little

“The admiral Rick Hunter” said Miriya pointing Rick

“Good evening admiral” said Berir with the same calm with that he had saluted Lisa

“evening” said Rick forced to shake Berir’s hand, but he squeezed his hand with anger

“The commander Grant” said Miriya turning to point to Vince

“Good evening commander” said Berir shaking his hand

“Good evening”

“And finally the doctor Jean Grant” said Miriya

“Good evening Ma’am” said Berir

“Good evening” said Jean holding his hand

“Not that the introduction is made, I’ll show you your table” said Miriya and she lef with the commander who looked from the corner of his eyes to Lisa. Rick didn’t move his eyes ffrom him in all the trajection and when he noticed that he was looking at Lisa, Rick put one of his arms over Lisa’s shoulder making her look at him with surprise.
The time of the cake arrived and everybody came closer to a table where the cake was, it was a blue VT, everybody start to sing happy birthday and as they did Berir didn’t take his eyes away from Lisa, and she looked at him once in while always with a smile on her lips and her cheeks blushed. When Rick noticed the look of Berir he moved and put him self between Lisa and Berir’s look, to block him and he held Lisa again.

After that they came back to their table and Berir sat at the bar in front of their table, he sat in the exact post so he could see Lisa, who was trying to avoid his look, after a few moments he stood up and started to walk into the bathroom direction.

Lisa excused her self and walked to the bathroom, trying to find Berir, when suddenly she felt that somebody grabbed her by her arm and pulled her into a dark room that was next to the woman bathroom.

“What are you doing here?” asked Lisa as Berir held her and kissed her

“Miriya invited me”

“Kahl” said Lisa trying to release herself from Berir's hug, but he kissed her passionately

“You look gorgeous” said Berir resting Lisa against the wall

“You look handsome too” said Lisa and this time she kissed him

“I was dying to kiss you” said Berir as he started to kiss Lisa’s neck

“Kahl stop, have you lost your mind?” asked Lisa separating her self from him

“I’m crazy for you” said Berir and he held her again

“Kahl” said Lisa with a smile and kissed him again ”I've got to go”

“Lisa” he said taking her by her wrist to not let her go

“What?”

“Come with me”

“Now? You know that I can’t, Rick is outside and beside its crowd with..” said Lisa but Berir shut her off with a passionately kiss

“I don’t mean now, I want you to come with me on the recon mission”

“But Kahl, I cant leave the ship, the mission” said Lisa nervous

“Lisa, calm down” said Berir and caressed her hair “I’m not asking you to answer me right now, I just want you to think about it”

“Ok” said Lisa almost in a whisper and Berir held her

“I love you” said Kahl and kissed her in her forehead

“Kahl” said Lisa and caressed his face and then she kissed him tenderly “I have to go back to the party, they’ll be waiting for me”

“I think so” he said and let her go slowly

Lisa left the room and met Miriya face to face

“Lisa I was looking for you” said Miriya surprised

“Miriya” said Lisa almost terrified “eh, I, you see, I heard a noise in that room and went to check out what it was”

“And what was it?” asked Miriya

“Oh, nothing, I couldn’t find the light” said Lisa with a smile

“I see” said Miriya incredulous

“Well I think I’ll better get back to the party, I don’t want Rick to worry”

“Sure” said Mira and watched Lisa get away, she entered the bathroom but she left the door open, after a few minutes she saw Berir leave the room.

Rick was waiting for Lisa sitting at the table talking with Max, Lisa sat next to him and they started to talk. In the mean time Berir came back to his seat and kept looking at Lisa

Rick noticed that Lisa came back a little nervous and distant from the bathroom, but he didn’t worry about that too much and keep talking happily, until he noticed the looks that Berir was giving Lisa, and the drinks that he had drank to celebrate Max’s birthday started to make their effect, he didn’t have the same self control that he usually had and he stood up furiously, with his face red of anger and fists tightened, he started to walk in Berir’s direction

“Who the hell did he think he is to look at my wife in that way” thought Rick as he walked

But Miriya had seen him stand up and walk in Berir’s direction and gt in his way

“Rick what do you say if we dance?” asked Miriya grabbing him by the arm and taking him to the dance floor

“But Miriya”

“But nothing Rick· said Miriya and made a gesture to Max, who took Lisa to the dance floor, after dance 3 songs, Max came closer to Lisa’s ear

“I hope that you don’t take this in the wrong way, you dance wonderful, but I’m dying to dance with my wife”

“Don’t worried about it Max, I won’t take it in the wrong way, maybe I'll gave you some days in the brig, but I won’t take it bad” said Lisa smiling to Max. Max took her by the arm and started to walk in Rick and Miriya’s direction

“What do you say if we change partners?” said Max smiling to Miriya and the smile of Lisa disappeared

“Great idea” said Rick and held Lisa immediately, so they could dance the romantic song that was playing. Lisa didn’t have any other choice than dance with Rick and as she did she felt a hundred different sensations, she felt guilty for dancing with him, as if something was terribly wrong. Finally she looked over Rick’s shoulder into Berir’s direction, who was still sitting at the bar and when he saw Lisa dancing with Rick so close, he got angry and left.

Lisa entered the house and went immediately into the room, she couldn’t stop thinking of Berir’s proposition “Would she be capable of leaving with him?, what would happen if she did?” she asked to her self as she walked like a zombie

Rick followed Lisa slowly and he watch her attentively as she changed her clothes and put her pajamas on. The years seemed to not have affected her beautiful body, her curves, the perfects curves of Lisa’s body woke up in him feelings charged with lust, and his mind remembered the moments that they had shared dancing, the fact of feeling her body between his hands again had made him desire her more than ever.

He put his pajamas on and got into the bed, Lisa was giving her back to him and she was covered to her ears, slowly he came closer to her, maybe because he was afraid of her reaction. “Too much time has passed since the last time” thought Rick

Finally he put softly one hand over Lisa’s waist and she was so absorbed in her thoughts that she didn’t even notice. Rick took this as a good sign and next he started to kiss her neck that took Lisa abruptly out of her thoughts and she turned into his direction

“What are you doing?” asked Lisa looking at him with a mixture of anger and surprise

“Nothing” said Rick looking at her with brilliant eyes “You look so beautiful tonight” said Rick and tried to kiss her on the neck again

“What’s your problem Rick?” said Lisa avoiding him

“Nothing, its just that” said Rick and came a little more closer to her

“What?” asked Lisa serious trying to win some distance between them

“I want you so much Lisa”

“What?” asked Lisa with surprise

“You are my wife” said Rick upset by her reaction

“I could be your wife but that doesn’t mean that I’m hear to please your wishes, maybe some other woman had done what ever you wanted but not me”

“But I only want you” said Rick almost in a plead

“But I don’t want you, not now” said Lisa and got away from him

This was the last straw, now Rick was furious. He stood up quickly and took his clothes “You know, you are right, there are many woman that are willing to do what ever I want, I don’t know why I’m wasting my time with you” Rick said and next he left the room slamming the door, he dressed up quickly in the living room and left to the REF officer lounge, to calm down his anger with alcohol and even when in his mind the idea of having sex with the first woman that crossed his road and that was willing to do it, he just couldn’t, he couldn’t stop thinking of Lisa, he couldn’t stop wanting to make love with her. Finally he ended up sleeping on a couch of his office and visibly drunk.

In the mean time Lisa stayed there in bed, with her head about to blow up because of so many questions, that she was asking to her self. “How could Rick ask her to make love right now? Why, Why now after all this time” she asked to her self and as the answer to why she had said no to Rick’s proposal was only a strange feeling, she felt like the hole thing was inappropriate, she saw it like something dirt, out of place. Finally she fell deeply sleep.

-----------------

Lisa had been working all morning on the bridge and at lunchtime, as usual she went to her office, but Berir didn’t show up for lunch. Lisa was worried, even when there were just two days missing for the take off of the recon mission that wasn’t a reason for him to miss the lunch, probably he was angry about something. But now unfortunately she had no time to go to visit him, it had to be in the afternoon, when her watch was over.

She waited anxiously for her watch to be over, and when it was finished she went to the quarters of Berir at full speed, because she knew he would be there. She arrived to them and knocked on the door softly and as she waited outside she fixed her hair, she had finished fixing her hair when the door was opened and the Zentraedi wearing his uniform pants, a naked torso and a towel around his neck appeared.

“Lisa what are you doing here?” he asked surprised

It took Lisa a few seconds to react, the perfect torso of the Zentraedi left her with her mouth wide open, but finally she answered him “I came to see you, I was surprised because you didn’t show up at lunch”

“I was busy”

“Come on Kahl” said Lisa and took his hand “What’s the matter?”

“come in” he said and stepped away from the door

“I know you Kahl, you are mad about something,” said Lisa once she was inside his quarters

“You are right, I am mad because last night you danced with Rick”

“Oh come on Kahl. What else could I do?” said Lisa coming close to him “let me remind you that he is my husband” said Lisa putting her hands on Berir’s chest

“I know” he said with a sad voice and finally held her “Did you already make the decision?”

“I’m still thinking about that” said Lisa and kissed him

“Don’t think too much” he said and kissed her back

“I can’t leave everything like that” said Lisa with difficulty as Berir kissed her on the neck

“Yes you can”

“This is not right” said Lisa and she felt that her knees were turning into jelly

“But it feels so good” said Berir as he continued kissing her and guiding her carefully to the couch that was in the living room

“You are evil, you know that?” said Lisa looking at him in the eyes

“You are the one that forces me to be” said Berir but Lisa kissed him again and the two of them fell onto the couch in middle of kisses and caresses

“Kahl” said Lisa almost in a whisper when Berir started to unbutton her uniform

“Shhh” was the answer that Berir gave to her and he continued to focus on unbuttoning Lisa’s uniform jacket, in the mean time she ran her finger through his hair.

When Berir finish unbuttoning her jacket, he watched her for a few moments

“You are so beautiful” said Berir

“Shut up and come here” said Lisa and took him with strength by his neck and pulled him over her to kiss him, after some moments Lisa’s hands started to travel down his back and the Zentraedi’s hand started to move Lisa’s legs

“I want you so much Lisa” said Berir in a whisper and for Lisa it was as if someone has thrown a bucket of cold water on her, she remembered the words of Rick and suddenly she saw Rick’s face in Berir’s and she was frozen

“What's wrong Lisa?” asked Berir when he saw Lisa's face

“I’m sorry…” whispered Lisa as she escaped with some difficulty from the arms of Berir and from the couch where they were “I can’t”

“You can’t what?” asked he standing next to the couch and with a boasting voice

“I can’t do this, I’m sorry Kahl, Its just that…. That I can’t” said Lisa as she buttoned her jacket

“It’s ok Lisa, I understand, maybe I rushed things too much”

“I think I better go” said Lisa and walked to the door

“Ok” said Berir desolate and holding the door so Lisa could walk out of his quarters

“I’m really sorry Kahl, but I’m not ready for this”

“It’s fine Lisa, don’t worry about it” he said with a smile.

Lisa took his hand “See you tomorrow?”

“Of course ” said Berir squeezing Lisa’s hand

“Fine, then tomorrow I’ll give you the answer”

“Then I’ll be waiting” said Berir and Lisa released her hand from Berir's and looked in every direction when she was sure that there was no body she kissed him

“Aren’t you mad?”

“Of course not” he said and took her face in his hands

“Good, then I’ll see you tomorrow” said Lisa, kissed him with tenderness and left buttoning the last buttons of her jacket

Rick had went to visit Exedor, to ask him some advice in the tactical issues referring to the Invids, about their strength, he was walking in the direction of his house when he saw Lisa in front of the door of one of the quarters of the area and he surprise he found out that at the other side of the door was Berir, only wearing his pants and had Lisa taking by her hand, but the big surprise was when he saw her kissing Berir, in that moment he felt that everything that was around him start to banish, his sight was blurry and he only could see with clarity again when Lisa left the place buttoning the last buttons of her jacket. His brain started to make all the wrong conclusions, to relate what he had seen with the fears that he hid in the most deepest place of his heart and then an incontrollable rage took control over him, he walked with strong steps, and with his jaw tightened up and his fist tight too, in a few seconds he was in front of Berir quarters knocking on the door

“What did you forget Lisa?” asked Berir when he opeedn the door but he didn’t realize that it was Rick and not Lisa who was in front of him, and neither he could react in time when Rick hit him hard in the face

“Son of a B****” was what Rick said between his teeth before punch Berir in the face. The hit took Berir by surprise and made him lose his balance and step back

“What the hell do you think you are doing?” asked Berir when he was out of his stupor

“What the hell do you think you were doing with my wife?” said Rick pushing him

“That’s between Lisa and me” said Berir mocking him, that caused Rick’s growl and hit him again, but this time the Zentraedi answer edthe punch, and hit him back. They fought all across the house until finally Rick stepped away from Berir tired and cleaned up the blood that was running from his nose and Berir rest against a wall and cleaned the blood from his mouth

“I don’t want to see you near of my wife again” said Rick breathing fast

“And who do you think searched for who? she is the one who came to me” said Berir as tired and in pain as Rick was

“Listen to me you bastard” said Rick raising Berir and strangling him with his right arm “Lisa is my wife, I hope that that is clear for you” said Rick and released him

“Not for too long Hunter, treasure the last hours that you can call her that, because she is coming with me”

“What are you saying?” said Rick turning in his direction between angry and incredulous

“Wait and see Hunter, she found in me all that you can’t give her, she is the one who came looking for me, she is the one that fell into my arms”

Rick jumped over Berir again and was about to give him a brutal punch in the face, when suddenly he calmed down, and released him and walked away

“Keep dreaming Zentraedi” said Rick and finally left the house. He walked home with a heart about to be break and with a knot in his throat, the punches of Berir hadn’t hurt him, it had been his words that had hurt him.

He arrived home and open the door strongly, but he coudln't control himself and slammed the door when he closed it, the felt noises in the room that they had fix as a library and went there, there he found Lisa working, she raise her sight a little and almost with no interest from her paper, but she was surprised when he saw Rick with his face a little bruising and with some blood

“What happened to you?” she asked and stood up, walking closer to him

“What happened to you?”

“What are you talking about?” asked Lisa intrigued

“What were you doing in Berir’s quarters?”

“Me? I was…” said Lisa a little nervous and giving her back to Rick “I went to pick up some papers”

“Do you think that I’m stupid?” said Rick grabbing her by the arms making her turn in his direction

“What are you trying to say?” asked Lisa

“I saw you Lisa, I saw you with my own eyes”

“What are you saying?”

“How could you do this to me Lisa” said Rick and threw away all that was on the desk

“How could you?” yelled Rick, that made Lisa scareed and step back

“You are wrong Rick..” was saying Lisa but Rick interrupted her and gave another punch to the desk

“Stop lying, I saw you and that son of a B**** confirmed me”

“You went to beat him up?” asked Lisa

“Now you are worried for him?”

“How could you Rick? What gave you the right to go to somebodys house and hit him?”

“You are my wife”

“This is it” said Lisa and started to walk to the door

“I forbid you to go there” said Rick stepping in her way

“You are no body to forbid me things” said Lisa angry

“I’m your husband”

“That doesn’t give you the right”

“I won’t let you go with him, do you hear me?”

“What the hell are you talking about right now?” said Lisa looking at him

“I know that you plan to leave with him on that stupid recon mission and I won’t let you”

“You do not have the authority to forbid me to travel, I’m the admiral of the fleet and if I want to make that trip I’ll do it” said Lisa challenging him

“I won’t let you do that” said Rick grabbing her by the arms

“It’s not your decision”

“I won’t let you” said Rick and looked at her in the eyes, with eyes red because of the anger and squeezing her arms with strength “you hear me, I won’t let you go with him, I don’t care a f*** that you are the admiral of the fleet, you will not get on board of that ship” said Rick clenching his teeth

“Let me go Rick” said Lisa trying to release her from his arms, the tightened grab was hurting her. Rick looked at her deep in the eyes and finally let her go. Lisa walked decided to the door

“Even if I had to kill him Lisa, you will not get on board of that ship” yelled Rick as Lisa closed the door

Lisa left the house almost running, Rick’s behavior scared her, She was afraid that he would chase her and do something to her, never in the almost 15 years that she knew Rick had she seen him like this and that scared her. “What would happen if he really tried to kill Berir?” asked Lisa to her self and the thought froze her blood, she was almost sure that Rick would be capable of killing him and she ran faster than before in the direction of the quarters of the Zentraedi.

Rick went to his office, he couldn’t stand be in home, everything there reminds him to Lisa, everything was fill with her smell, her voice, her laugh. No, he couldn’t be there. He seat in front of the window of his office, looking at the stars and remembered the moment years ago when he and Lisa had promise together that they will reach the stars together.

“Reach the stars” whisper Rick and drink a sip of his drink “What’s the sense of reaching the stars alone?, what’s the meaning of going on with all this?”
The words of Lisa made echo in his head, they repeat them self over an over again “You don’t have the authority to forbid me to travel, I’m the admiral of the fleet and if I want to make that trip I’ll do it” she has said and it was like if she has told him that she will leave with the Zentraedi and as more as he think in that, more he submerge in this feeling that he couldn’t explain, he felt like if something inside him had been broken, like if somebody has took some part of him that it could never be replace.
Rick haven’t left his office in all day, he haven’t show up at work, haven’t ate, he haven’t even changed his clothes, he only have been there seating watching the stars he wasn’t even been drunk anymore, he only was there seating with a terrible headache and thinking in all the things that he should said or done to not been like this, even the initial anger that he felt has gone now, the same anger that had made him break all the pictures that were on his office were Lisa was on it

Somebody knocked on his door and his aide came in fearfully

“Sir, they are calling for you from the situations room”

“Tell them that I’m not disposed” said Rick giving the back to his aide

“Sir they said it’s important”

“Well then tell them that I can’t go, that Max or Grant take my place”

“Yes Sir”

“Do you have any news about admiral Hayes?”

“No Sir, she hasn’t shown up on the bridge and she isn’t at home either”

“One more thing, I don’t want that anybody, but absolutely anybody enter my office, I don’t want to be disturbed” said Rick turning his chair to his aide

“I understand Sir”

“Nobody, Is that clear?, Not even you”

“Yes Sir” said his aide and closed the door

“So everything was decided, she will go with him and I couldn’t do anything to stop her” thought Rick and looked through the window again “How will it worth to have her by my side by force? If she prefers him, and that’s how it is, then there is nothing that I could do to stop her” his eyes were full of tears as he though “What did I do wrong Lisa? Where did I fail you? Or what I didn’t do?, in what moment all the love that we felt just banished? In what moment did you stop loving me?” he questioned him self, when he heard the door opened, he cleared his throat and wiped his tears

“What part of 'I don’t want to be disturbed you don’t understand?'” said Rick with a boasting voice and giving his back to the door

“It wasn’t’ his fault I entered when he didn’t notice” said Lisa and bent down to pick up one photo frame that had her wedding picture on it “I think it needs a new frame”

“What are you doing here?” asked Rick still giving his back to her

“I need to talk to you” said Lisa softly and left the picture on Rick’s desk

“If you came here to tell me that you are leaving, then I don’t need your explanations” said Rick trying to sound cold

“I didn’t came because of that, besides you know that I can’t leave the ship, the mission, my crew” said Lisa and made a pause and took a breath “You know that I can’t leave you” said she with a broken voice

“What are you saying?” said Rick looking at her

“That I can’t leave you” said Lisa and her eyes were full of tears “I’ll never could”

“Then why did you get involved with that Zentraedi?”

“We were in a bad moment Rick” said Lisa with a cut voice

“That’s not an excuse”

“You were so distant, pissed off with me, I felt so alone, so oppressed by everything” said Lisa and turned to the window giving her back to Rick “He said all that I wanted to hear when I needed to hear it, he told me what I wanted you to tell me”

Lisa waited for an answer from Rick, but there was only silence, she dried the tears that were falling without control and continued between sobs “His words blinded me and I gave my self excuses to justify what I did because of you behaved and create all this indifference cover when all I wanted was that you come back to my side, that everything would be like before”

“I’ll never leave you”

“I know, I just realized that last night when I was running to Berir’s quarters worried by your threat to kill him, worried because I had never seen you behave like you did last night, because I really thought that you would kill him, then I realized that I wasn’t worried for him. I was worried because of what could happen to you if you did it, in that moment I realized that I could never leave your side, that I never could stop loving you” the sobs suffocate the words that were on Lisa’s throat, she breathed fast a couple of times and then continued “I’ll never stop loving you, never and I don’t know if you could forgive..” was saying Lisa but Rick grabbed her in his arms

“I love you too” was all that Rick said and started to kiss her, it was a kiss charged with passion, pain, need, that Lisa answered in the same way as Rick held her with strength in his arms

Rick raise her from the floor and she crossed her legs behind his back, with out breaking the kiss he took her to the desk and sat her over it. He tried to unbutton her uniform without stopping kissing her but he couldn’t, then he stopped the kiss and started to unbutton her jacket, but his finger were dumb because of the urgency and he ended up tearing the jacket off and he also tore her bra

She in the mean time, more in control to her self could unbutton his jacket buttons very fast and slip it down his shoulders, but it got stuck ion his elbows, because Rick's hands were too busy trying to pull down Lisa’s panties, then she forgot the idea of leaving him with out the jacket and moved her hands to Rick’s pants, to try to release him from them. When Rick accomplished his goal he interrupted Lisa and in a fast move he took his pants off and took her in his arms again and she held onto his neck as if her life depended on it. Rick’s hands fast but softly moved up Lisa’s uniform skirt and he lifted her again over the desk and there half naked half dressed they started to make love, with an intensity and a desire that they had never experienced before.

Rick thrust in her fast and deep and she found her self holding him with more strength than usual, bringing him closer to her, she needed him inside her, she needed him with urgency and desperation.

Very soon they reached climax, Rick slowed down and look in her eyes

“Tell me that I’m the only one, that there is no body else, that nobody has been like this with you, I need you to tell me that, I need… I need to hear it, I need that you say it” said Rick in a beg that broke the heart

Lisa looked at him in the eyes and tenderly she caressed his unruly hair and ordered it so she could look at him better in the eyes, to look in those eyes full of fear and desire, she took Rick’s face tenderly in her hands

“You are the only one for me Rick, there’s nobody else, and there never will be” said Lisa with a soft and calm voice, then she held him tightly and kissed him again.

Rick brought her close to him with strength and started to kiss her with the same passion that he had before, in just a few seconds they reached orgasm, together, holding each other, Rick if it was possible, held her even tighter and she dug her nails into his back

Finally Rick let himself fall onto Lisa’s chest and she held him tenderly and started to play with his hair, to kiss him on his forehead.

Rick raised his eyes slowly and kissed her, this time with tenderness, after that he held her tight and delicately at the same time, he raised her off the desk and left her on the floor. Lisa stood there holding him and rested her head on his chest as he sank his nose in Lisa's blond-brown hair

“I love you” said Rick softly that made Lisa look at him in the eyes

“I love you too” she answered and her hands caressed his face

They held each other again and stood like that until a few moments later Lisa in a whisper said, “Let’s go home”

Rick looked at her with attention and made a few steps away from her so he could dress

“I think we have a little problem” said Lisa looking at her jacket

“Put this on” said Rick and gave her one of his jackets, it was bigger for her, but it was better than wearing the torn one

Rick walked to the office door and waited for Lisa to come out first, once they were outside they held each other hands and walked to their house. The first one to enter was Rick and he stayed a little away from Lisa

“What did he say to you that you want me to say to you? asked Rick giving his back to Lisa

“Rick” said Lisa and walked to him and hugged him from behind, “That doesn’t matter”

“It matters to me” said Rick squeezing Lisa’s hands that were crossed over his chest “I want to know what I did wrong”

“We both made mistakes Rick” said Lisa standing in front of him and taking his face in her hands to make him look at her “and if there’s somebody here that made a mistake that’s me”

“I failed you somehow, you and I know that” said Rick putting his hands on Lisa’s face

“Rick” she said with sadness and kiss him with love

“I can’t allow my self to lose you, not again” said Rick with Lisa’s face in his hands and looking at her in the eyes

“You never lost me” said Lisa and kissed him again “and you never will”

Lisa held him again, with strength, then she looked at him in the eyes and they kissed again, but this time Lisa started to unbutton his jacket’s buttons slowly and kissed every inch of skin that was left uncovered with every button that was released, when she finished unbutton his jacket she looked at him in the eyes again

“There’s no body else but you Rick, you are my husband, my partner for the rest of my life”

“And you are mine” said Rick and kissed her “my partner forever”

They kissed again, and this Rick with tenderness and patience unbuttoned all the buttons of Lisa’s jacket, they walk between kisses and caresses, leaving a trail of clothes all the way to their bedroom

Lisa was half sleep when she started to search between the sheets for Rick, but she couldn’t find him, then she opened her eyes and saw the slender figure of Rick in the middle of the dark room looking out the window

“What are you doing?” asked Lisa covering her self with the sheets

“I was watching the stars and thinking” said Rick turning to her direction with a smile and started to walk to her

They had made love all night and finally they had fallen sleep holding each other. Rick had woke up first and got up to watch through the window. They had made love with a mixture of feelings, first with an incontrollable desire, he had made love to her with anger, with need, almost in a savage and primitive way, it was like if he needed to make her his in that way, to be where nobody else had been, to claim what was his and to prove that nobody will ever have what was his. and Lisa seemed to feel the same, she seemed to need him in a desperate and brutal way, that could be seen in all the marks that her nails have left on his back.

Later things changed, they had found them self, doing it with tenderness, with care, caring for the other, it was no longer to satisfy the need of property anymore or to probe something. But passion wasn't diminished, on the contrary, it was the same passion but expressed in a different way. This time they had put in movements and physical sensations all the love that they felt for the other.

“What were you thinking of?” asked Lisa when Rick lay on the bed, resting his weight on his elbows so he could look at her face to face

“About how much I love you, about all the mistakes that I made, about the things that I should do” said Rick and kissed her

“Rick” said Lisa and kissed him

“My mistake was taking you for granted, of being so sure of your love that I never made an effort to keep the flame on, I was so sure and trusting that I forgot to keep telling you how much I love you” said Rick as he played with Lisa’s hair

“I also made mistakes too Rick, I had this ideal of you and forced you to accomplish what I wanted you to be, and not what you really are”

"But I think that our biggest problem is communication”

“What happened on the Farrago I believe left us that more than clear, you didn’t know why I acted like that and I didn’t bother to tell you why I had done what I did, besides I only now that you were mad about that, but I don’t really know why you were that mad”

“I was pissed off because I felt that you made me look like a fool, the fact that you sent me to brig was like if you had said to me that I was a terrible pilot, for saying it some how you hurt my pride, you put in discussion the only thing that I’m sure I’m good at”

“I never thought about that when I ordered to put you in prison, the only thing that I was thinking about was that there were too may Invid and that if you went out, you wouldn’t have a chance, I knew that I couldn’t see you die in front of my eyes, that if there was something that I could do to prevent you dying, then I’d do it and definitely I preferred to see you mad at me than to watch you die”

“But we never said that to each other and maybe if we had done that we wouldn’t be where we are now”

“There’s so many things that we should have done and that we didn’t do Rick, but what’s done is done and now we have to move on, I don’t know if some day you will forgive me for what I did because I don’t know if I…” was Lisa saying but Rick interrupted her

“I’ve already forgiven you Lisa, but the wound is there, it always be there and I’ll always remember this, but as you said we need to move on, we need to correct the mistakes that we did and make our relationship stronger, because love never was the problem, the problem is what we did with it”

“We’ll get over this Rick, I promise you that we will find the way to solve our problems”

“I hope so Lisa” said Rick and gave her a soft kiss “but it won’t be easy”

“I know, it wont be easy” said Lisa and held Rick tightly

----------------
She walked to the take off Bay, the doubts filled her head “it would be right that she was here?” she asked but finally she crossed the door and the sound of a serious voice echoed in the bay

“Admiral on deck” said the officer and all there present saluted her

“Admiral I thought that you wouldn’t come” said Berir

“It’s my duty to be here, besides I need to talk to you” said Lisa and making a pause she continued “alone” was the only thing that she needed to say to make all the people there step away from them

“I imagine that you came to say goodbye”

“That’s right Kahl” said Lisa, "I can’t leave my ship, my crew, I can’t leave”

“You mean that you can't leave him” said Berir and Lisa bent her head down

“He is my husband Kahl, and the truth is that I…, well I still…”

“You’re still in love with him, you don’t have to tell me that Lisa, I already knew” said Berir with a sad voice

“I’m sorry Kahl, I'm really sorry, it was never my intention to hurt you”

“I know Lisa and don’t worry about it, I’ll always treasure the moments that I lived with you, you have been the best thing that happened to me in my life”

“Kahl I… … don’t know what to say” said Lisa with a nervous smile

“You don’t have to say a thing Lisa, everything is already said”

“Some day you’ll find the right woman Kahl, and she will fall at your feet because you deserves it, because you are a wonderful man”

“a Zentraedi you mean”

“The best Zentraedi that I have had the honor to meet, and I’m telling you this from my heart Kahl, you'll find the right woman some day, the one that is destined to be with you”

“Maybe, all I know is that you’ll always be my first love” said Kahl and stood looking at her; Lisa didn’t know what to answer to him

“Well, I think its time for me to go, my crew is waiting for me” he said with a smile

“I wish you the best of luck in you mission and that you come back home safe”

“Thank you Lisa” he said and stepped away from Lisa “Goodbye admiral” said finally Berir and saluted Lisa

“Goodbye commander” said Lisa saluting him too, she waited until Berir was on board his ship before leaving the take off bay.

She entered Rick’s office and he was looking through the window again

“Again, looking at the stars Hunter” said Lisa when she was by his side

“You caught me” said Rick looking at her out of the corner of his eyes, she stood there next to him watching the stars too “The truth is that I was making sure that Berir left”

“His ship took off 20 minutes ago and is heading in direction of Haydon IV, estimated time of arrival to the planet, two weeks”

“His ship must be one of those spots outside” said Rick and came closer to Lisa and she held him

"Doesn’t this remind you of something?” asked Lisa

“Certainly, it reminds me of Macross”

“It makes me remember the promises that we made down by the destroyed SDF-2”

“And we have accomplished a big part of them”

“But not the most important”

“The promise that we made for the two of us” said Rick and looked at her

“But we will make it come true” said Lisa and came closer to him

“Of course we will” said Rick and kissed her, there in his office, in front of a window and with the stars as witnesses, stars very different from which they had watched years ago when they made the same promise at the foot of a destroyed ship

THE END.