Can a second chance change it all?
Chapter 2
Reunited

Author: Jo
Disclaimer: I don’t own any of the characters of Robotech or Robotech; I’m just doing this for fun. Well, maybe the personality of Riber is mine (he is my ideal manJ)
To: Sphersian, as always thanks to Carla and especially to K71 for been my beta now, oh and for all the members of the forum.

Lisa had found the way to escape from her watch early, thanks to the help of the girls from the bridge, who made her work faster.
First she had passed to her house and made some arrangements and then she went to the hospital. She was there standing outside of Karl’s room, but she wasn’t able to get in.
Almost a week had past since they had escaped from Sara Base on Mars and today was the day that he would be release from the hospital. The entire week during which Lisa had spent most of the time in the hospital with him, they had talked about how everyone’s life had been in the time that they had been separated. He had told her how he had kept himself alive in the base after the attack; how little by little the hope for the rescue had vanished. She told him her military accomplishments and how even when the possibilities were against her she had kept the hope that he might be alive on Mars.
Medically Karl was better, fortunately his arm wasn’t to hurt with the shot that hit him, but he needed to use a sling and had several stitches in his shoulder and his arm. Slowly and with exercise he would recover the motion of his arm.
Finally Lisa got into the room and found Karl watching through the window of his room, to the city, sitting on the border of his bed, Karl turned in her direction immediately.
“Hi” said Lisa softly.
“Hi” said Karl with a smile.
“Wow you shaved your beard!”
“Oh yeah! Finally I shaved! I begged the nurse to allow me to shave myself,” said Karl with a smile and added, “I also cut my hair.”
“Right, you have your hair shorter.”
“Now I look decent and don’t look like a mendicant.”
“You look handsome,” said Lisa putting her head down.
“You look beautiful too, I think I haven’t told you that the white uniform makes you look even more beautiful”
“Karl” said Lisa and her cheeks started to turn red slowly.
“I mean it,” said Karl and he looked to the floor too.
“Are you ready to leave?” asked Lisa finally, after a moment of silence when the two of them had their eyes fixed on the floor.
“Yeah, well besides the pajamas that you brought me the other day I don’t have anything else.”
“We will have to change that,” said Lisa crossing her arms and then putting her hands on her face thinking
“Where am I going to stay?”
“In the mean time at my place. We still are trying to relocate you, a few of you depend on your military status and some of you also have been located as civilians in the city, the rest are in military shelters waiting for their quarters to be ready. That shouldn’t take more than couple of days”
“I see, but are you sure it’s not a problem that I stay in your home for so long?”
“Of course not, besides you need somebody to take care of you, you are still hurt”
“Yes, but I don’t want to cause you any troubles”
“Karl, you will never be a problem, besides you almost lost your arm and it’s my fault, it’s the least that I can do” said Lisa and smiled.
“I don’t want you to feel guilty for what happened”
“Karl” said Lisa and came closer to him “don’t say that, you know that this has nothing to do with guilt, I… I want to take care of you” said Lisa and looked at the floor again, to avoid looking at him in the eyes
Karl took carefully Lisa’s face, with the hand that he could move, so he could look at her in the eyes
“And I want to take care of you” said Karl and smiled and they both looked into the other’s eyes. They stayed looking at each other’s eyes, as if the time had stopped, everyone lost in the other’s eyes and slowly they started to come closer attracted for some force that not one of them could control. When the distance between them was minimum, both closed their eyes; let them self-guide only by their hearts, hearts that beat crazily, only a few millimeters separated their lips.
“Are you ready to leave Lieutenant Riber?” asked one nurse entering the room with one wheelchair
Lisa bent down immediately and hid her head in Karl’s shoulder, to avoid that the nurse see how red she was. Karl for his side only kissed Lisa’s hair and still a little bit confused only nodded a yes to the nurse
“Oh I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt, I can come back a few moments later” said the nurse, a little bit ashamed when she noticed how inopportune she had been
“Don’t worry, we are ready” said Lisa and took the small bag of Karl’s, then started to walk to the door without looking at the nurse, because she was still a little red
“Is it necessary that I use the wheelchair?” asked Karl trying to change the subject
“It is hospital policy Lieutenant,” said the nurse
“Well, then I guess it’s ok” said Karl and sat in the chair, which was led by the nurse and a few steps behind Lisa followed them with Karl’s bag in her hands

After leaving the hospital they got into one small military Jeep that took them into the area that had been designed to be military residences. Lisa helped Karl to stand up and they started to walk to the place where Lisa’s quarters were.
“Come in, this is my house” said Lisa opening the door and letting Karl enter
“It’s pretty, you have a very lovely house” said Karl after giving a quick view to Lisa’s house
“Well I have tried to make it comfortable, after all it is the military standard house”
“Well you have made excellent work”
“Why don’t you sit down, I’ll go to the kitchen and make something to eat” said Lisa
“You? Cook?” said Karl with a face of incredulity
“Hey what’s the matter?” said Lisa defensibly, but kidding
“Well the only thing that I remembered that you knew how to cook was scrambled eggs”
“Ha, very funny Karl, very funny” said Lisa crossing her arms and coming closer to him, forcing him to sit down “you stay here and watch TV or listen to some music, and I’ll go to the kitchen and I’ll show you that I do know how to cook”
“Ok, I’ll stay here” said Karl smiling
“Good” said Lisa and started to walk to the kitchen
“Maybe I’ll search in the phonebook and find some place where we could order something to eat”
“You will see Riber, you will see, I’ll make you eat your words” said Lisa and took off her jacket and put on an apron
Once she was in the kitchen she opened the refrigerator and found there all that Claudia had left there cooked and ready to mix. Lisa only had to follow the instructions that Claudia had left and warm the dinner, which according to Claudia’s words would look like a professional chef.
After some 20 or 30 minutes, Lisa put out her head out of the kitchen to the living room, where Karl was watching TV.
“Dinner is ready, do you have enough courage to taste it?”
“Of course I do,” said Karl and he stood up with some difficulties, to later start to walk to the small table that was in the kitchen, where Lisa had already served the dinner. The table had a romantic air, maybe because it was a very small table and because the seats were very close to each other.
“Smells delicious,” said Karl when he was seated
“Wait until you taste it”
“If it’s a third better than the hospital food, then I’ll be happy”
“Karl” said Lisa protesting
“I’m just kidding, I’m sure that your food is delicious” said Karl smiling
They ate slowly, talking once in while, the most of the time Lisa answered Karl’s questions about the town and the ship or they just simply talked about trivial things
“I can’t eat any more, it was delicious” said Karl putting his fork over his dish
“You really liked it?” asked Lisa innocently
“It was wonderful,” said Karl and with the hand that he could move, he took softly Lisa’s hand, making Lisa flush
“I…. eh…. I have your favorite Ice cream flavor, white chocolate,” said Lisa a little bit astonished
“I can’t believe that you still remembered that,” said Karl and lights appeared in his eyes
“You… do you remember my favorite ice cream?” ask Lisa with a soft voice
“Strawberries with cream” said Karl and Lisa only smiled, both of them stayed there looking at each other without releasing their hands for a few moments
“Do you want some?” said Lisa nervous.
“What?” ask Karl a little bit distracted, still lost in the green ocean that were for him Lisa’s eyes, that charmed him every time that he look into them.
“Ice cream” said Lisa downing her sight.
“Oh, ice cream, no thanks, I can’t eat a thing”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes” said Karl and slowly he released Lisa’s hand “May I help you?”
“With what?” asked Lisa slowly, trying to prolong the feeling of security that having Karl’s hand between hers provided her.
“To clean up the table” said Karl
“Oh, no, don’t worry, you go and sit on the couch and I’ll clean up the table” said Lisa and stood up
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, well I don’t know if you need anything else”
“No, I’m fine, thanks,” said Karl with a smile, with one of those smiles that made Lisa’s knees shake
Karl went to the living room and waited there for Lisa, who appeared a few moments later
“Lizie” said Karl
“Yes” said Lisa standing in front of him, few things made her heart beat fast and one of those things was when Karl call her Lizie, he was the only person in the world that called her that
“I don’t want to be boring, but my shoulder is bothering me a little and I’ll rather to rest a little, if is not a problem for you?”
“Oh Karl, I’m so sorry, sure, forgive me, I forgot completely about your shoulder” said Lisa worriedly
“You forgive me”
“Come” said Lisa and led Karl into her bedroom “You are going to sleep here”
“But this is your room, What about you?”
“Me, don’t worry, I’ll sleep on the couch”
“But Lisa, you can’t sleep on the couch, no way, I’ll sleep on the couch”
“Are you crazy Karl, you are hurt, forget it”
“It’s just my shoulder, you just give me a pillow and a cover and I’ll sleep on the couch, I won’t let you sleep there and certainly not because of me”
“Karl” said Lisa protesting, “You are going to sleep here and that’s it”
“But Lisa”
“But nothing, I’ve sleep in worst places than my couch and I’m not a little girl anymore, I’m an RDF officer”
“But you are a lady and I’m a gentleman and I’ll not allow you to sleep on the couch”
“I’m not going to discuss this, you are going to sleep in the bed, period” said Lisa crossing her arms
“Lisa don’t be stubborn,” said Karl trying to cross his arms and looking at her with a frown, but he couldn’t avoid a smile
“So you don’t be stubborn either, you are hurt, and this is my house and you are going to sleep in the bed” said Lisa trying to look serious, but couldn’t hide her smile either
“Lizie” said Karl pulling Lisa’s jacket sleeve, as if he was kid
“You aren’t going to get a thing with that, you’ll sleep in the bed” said Lisa smiling
“Ok, ok, you always win. This is not fair you know that I can’t fight with you”
“I know,” said Lisa with a big winner face “I always win” added Lisa and winked
They got into the room and Lisa showed him the bathroom, pulled out Karl’s pajamas from his bag and left them on the bed
Karl took his pajamas and walked to the bathroom, as Lisa took out of the closet the clothes that she needed for tomorrow’s day of work. She opened the bed and accommodated the pillows. A few moments passed and when she noticed that Karl didn’t come out of the bathroom she started to worry and came closer to the door
“Karl are you ok? Do you need something?” she asked
“No, I’m fine,” said Karl trying to hide the pain from his voice. He was trying to put on the top part of his pajamas and moving his harmed arm to put on the sleeve caused him a lot of pain, but he did not dare to ask for Lisa’s help, for some reason he felt ashamed
“Are you sure?” asked Lisa again
“Yes” said Karl and after biting his lower lip, he could put the top of his pajamas on. He stood in the bathroom a few more minutes, waiting for the pain to disappear and when he felt better he came out.
“Are you ok?” asked Lisa when he came out of the bathroom
“Yes, I’m fine, don’t worry” said Karl
“I open the bed for you and left you a glass of water” said Lisa
“Thank you” said Karl and started to walk to the bed
“Oh, and Roy, my best friend’s boyfriend, got these in the military clothes store, I hope they fit you” said Lisa showing to Karl a pile of clothes that were on a chair
“Thank you so much Lisa, you didn’t have to bother,” said Karl
“It’s not a problem, maybe tomorrow we could go downtown and buy you some clothes”
“That wouldn’t be a bad idea, but I don’t have any money” said Karl ashamed
“That won’t be a problem, I’ll fix that” said Lisa and winked to him
“I’ll return to you every penny,” said Karl sitting on the bed
“All right” said Lisa shaking her head “I know that you’ll do it anyway, so I’ll not argue about that” added Lisa and started to walk into the bathroom. She got out a few moments later, wearing the pajamas that the RDF officer’s school gave them and found Karl laying on the bed, but not at all, he was more sitting than laying, but with his eyes closed. Lisa walked in silence to not wake him up
“I’m awake” said Karl opening his eyes
“I thought that you were sleeping”
“No, I just was resting my eyes”
“Is there anything that you need?” asked Lisa
“No, I’m fine” said Karl and smiled “There’s something that you need from the room?”
“Don’t worry, I already took my uniform and all the things that I need for tomorrow”
“I’m sorry for having invaded your house”
“Karl, don’t be silly” said Lisa and came closer to the room’s door “You’re no trouble at all”
“I hope not,” said Karl and after playing with the sheets for a while he added, “In fact I’m happy to be here”
Lisa smiled and rested her head on the doorframe “And I’m happy that you are here”
Karl just looked at her and smiled too, he knew that Lisa’s words were honest, that they came from her heart, and that made him incredibly happy
“Goodnight” said Lisa softly
“Goodnight” answered Karl and a few seconds later, when Lisa’s figure had been lost behind the door’s frame he turned off the lights and closed his eyes, but the smile stayed on his face

Karl woke up in the middle of the night, he wasn’t sure of what time it was. His shoulder was hurting him a little and he reached for the glass of water that Lisa had left him and drank a little. Then he stood up and walked to the window that was in Lisa’s room and from where space could be seen. He looked at the stars for a while and then he examined a little Lisa’s bedroom and couldn’t avoid a smile when he saw one picture of Lisa on her graduation day. He had the same picture in his room on Mars and he couldn’t stop thinking how much his Lizie had grown up. She was no longer the shy little girl that had enlisted in the army to accomplish a promise. Now she was a woman in the world, a career military woman, successful and respected. He couldn’t avoid feeling proud, but also he felt sad, because he had lost all these changes and growing up of the woman that he loved. He knew perfectly well that there was no way to recover all that lost time, those almost eight years of absence, but he wanted to find a way to make up all this time. He would take this second chance that life was giving him and make the best of it.
He walked slowly outside of the room, into the living room, where he found Lisa sleeping on the couch. She was a little bit uncovered and with all her hair mixed up, but she still was beautiful. The soft light of the stars that came in through the window of the living room made her face shine, and the expression of peace and happiness that was mixed in Lisa’s face made her look even more gorgeous. Karl stood there looking at her from the distance, without daring to come closer to her for fear of waking her up. Only the fact of looking at her made him feel numb and is heart beat faster. In fact he found it funny to feel this way, it was the same feeling that Lisa had caused in him when he first met her, when he was just starting to fall in love with her.
He started to walk in her direction, to cover her a little when suddenly Lisa opened her eyes slowly, then she closed them again and after rubbing them a little she opened her eyes again.
“Karl?” asked a still half -asleep Lisa trying to sit up on the couch
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you up” said Karl softly and walked until he was by her side and got on his knees in front of her
“Don’t worry, you, are you ok? Does your shoulder hurt you?” asked Lisa with a soft voice, still trying to fix the image of Karl in her eyes
“Yes, I’m fine, don’t worry” said Karl and took one of Lisa’s hands, making her wake up completely and look at him in the eyes “I… when I told you that I was happy to be here, I really meant it. You don’t know how happy it makes me to be here with you again,” said Karl looking at Lisa’s hand, that was between his
“I happy too Karl, more happy than what I could tell you or you could imagine” said Lisa looking at her hand between Karl’s hand
“All those years that we’ve been separated, I… there wasn’t a night that I didn’t dream about being again with you, to look into your eyes, to hold your hand between mine” said Karl and kissed the back of her hand, tenderly. “There wasn’t a day that I didn’t regret the fact that I left you behind on Earth,” added Karl with sadness
“I missed you so much, when…when they told me that everyone on Mars had die, I felt like the world fell over me, over my shoulders, I felt that I was going to die too” said Lisa with a broken voice and tears in her eyes. “I … hid in the most deepest place of my heart the hope of seeing you again alive. Dreaming about seeing you was what kept me alive” said Lisa and the tears had already start to fall across her face.
Karl looked at her in the eyes, with his eyes full of tears too and in a gesture filled with tenderness he wiped the tears that were falling across Lisa’s eyes with the tip of his fingers. “Forgive me, please forgive me for making you suffer the way I did,” said finally Karl with a broken voice too.
“I have nothing to forgive you, I… see in your eyes that you also suffered by being trapped on Mars,” said Lisa caressing Karl’s face
“Staying on Mars was my mistake and I promise you that I’ll do everything that I can to recover all the time that we lost, I promise you” said Karl and kissed again the back of Lisa’s hand.
“At least we are together now,” said Lisa softly and Karl look at her in the eyes.
“And we will never separate again” said Karl and caressed softly Lisa’s face.
Only that gesture made both of them fall into the spell that were for each of them looking straight into the other eyes and they started to come closer slowly and the closer they were, the faster their hearts started to beat. Lisa felt that if she wasn’t sitting on the couch, probably she would have fallen onto the floor, because she felt that here knees were becoming jelly. For his side Karl felt that his heart would leave his rib cage and with every inch that he came closer to Lisa, it became harder for him to breath
When the distance between them was almost non-existent, they shared a soft, tender and full of love kiss, that for both seemed to last an eternity. When they separated they kept their eyes closed and finally Karl softly caressed with his nose Lisa’s nose and gave her a tender kiss next to her mouth, making Lisa turn red and after recovering her breath she softly whispered
“You remembered”
“How could I forget?” said Karl to Lisa’s ear, making her smile and blush a little more, when she remembered this habit that she and Karl had created when they were boyfriends, of caressing their noses and then kissing next to the mouth. At the beginning they did it because every time that they were about to kiss somebody interrupted them and to dissimulate they kissed on the cheek, because Lisa’s father was the direct superior of Karl and a relationship between them was almost a forbidden thing. But later it had became a habit and remained as a secret for both of them
Lisa hid her face in Karl’s shoulder and he sank his nose in Lisa’s hair, they stayed like that a long time until finally Karl kissed her on the forehead and smiled
“It will be better if I let you sleep, you have to work tomorrow”
“Right” said Lisa with a little sadness
“Goodnight” said Karl and kissed her on the forehead again
“Goodnight” said Lisa and laid back again on the couch, but Karl before leaving made sure that she was well covered with the blanket, only when he was sure that Lisa was comfortable on the couch he went back to the bedroom and got into bed.

Lisa woke up early trying to make the least noise that she could; she entered in silence to the bedroom with her uniform in her hand and got into the bathroom to take a shower. On her way to the bathroom she stopped a few moments to watch Karl, who slept peacefully and with a small smile on his face, which caused immediately a smile on her face. Lisa felt that her heart was growing in her chest, she was so happy because she was with Karl again; she felt that her heart didn’t fit in her chest any more. Slowly she put one of her hands on her lips and closed her eyes to remember the sweet and tender kiss that Karl had given to her, the first kiss that they had shared in almost eight years and her smile became bigger and brighter
When she left the bathroom she stopped harshly when she discovered that Karl was no longer in the bed and ran to the living room, but she didn’t find him there. Then the soft smell of coffee came to her nose, making her release her breath and walk more calmly to the kitchen
“Good morning” said Karl with a smile
“Good morning” said Lisa with a smile too and walked in his direction. When she was only a few inches away from him, she raised one of her hands and softly ordered Karl’s hair, that still was in disorder and with the shape of the pillow
“Thanks” said Karl and took Lisa’s hand and kissed it
“Your welcome”
“Breakfast is ready” said Karl and served two cups of coffee
“You shouldn’t bother, I don’t want you too make too much effort”
“Don’t worried to much about me, besides it’s the least that I can do after the great dinner that you made last night”
“Thanks, but remember that only yesterday you were released from the hospital and you must to take care of your shoulder”
“I know” said Karl and took a toast and tried to put some butter on it, but Lisa took the toast and made it
“Here” said Lisa passing him the toast
“Thanks” said Karl and both started to eat their breakfast in silence
“When will you come back?” asked Karl when Lisa stood up
“Don’t know, I hope early”
“At lunchtime?”
“Probably, but don’t worry about lunch, I’ll buy something on my way back” said Lisa
“Ok, I’ll be waiting for you”
“Well I… have to go, but I’ll try to come back as soon as I can” said Lisa when they were at the door
“It doesn’t matter how soon you come back, for me it will be an eternity,” said Karl looking at the floor
“For me too” said Lisa and then came closer to him
“It’s weird that we spend so much time separated and we actually make it through and now that I know that you have to leave for just a couple of hours I don’t know if will be able to make it” said Karl coming closer to her
“I know, the same thing is happening to me” said Lisa and started to look for Karl eyes, but he was still looking at the floor.
“Come back soon” said Karl and took Lisa by her waist and brought her closer to him, making Lisa stay breathless and feel that everything was spinning around her, but then she looked into his eyes, that were looking at her and she forgot about the rest
“I promise,” said Lisa in a whisper; without knowing how she could talk when she barely could breath
Karl started to come closer to her slowly, still looking her in the eyes. Lisa could see in Karl’s eyes, that his words were honest, that he had the same fear that she had to leave him. But there was something else in his look, that fire, that sparkle in Karl’s eyes, that made Lisa lose her head every time she looked at them. Karl look at her with intensity, the same intensity that was in everything that Karl did.
When they were about to kiss, Lisa closed her eyes, she couldn’t keep looking at Karl in the eyes, for fear that he could see in her eyes how much she wanted him, how much she wanted to kiss him again. Karl had always known how to read the secret that her eyes hid. But with closing her eyes Lisa couldn’t help separate her lips a little, anticipating the kiss
Karl closed his eyes too and with tenderness he caressed his nose with Lisa’s nose and then only touched Lisa’s lips with his, barely kissing her, finally he rested his forehead over Lisa’s and stayed like that, with his eyes closed
After a few more minutes Lisa still with her eyes closed and her hands resting on Karl’s chest said, “I think I should go”
Karl only nodded a yes and slowly started to separate from Lisa, but took one of Lisa’s hands
“Take care” said Karl
“You too” said Lisa smiling, without knowing what to do, Karl still holding her by her hand without letting her go
It took Karl a few seconds to let her go “Go, before I regret and don’t let you” said Karl smiling when he released her
“I’ll be back as soon as I can and if you have any trouble or don’t feel good, please don’t hesitate to call me, on the table are all my numbers, the first one is for my emergency pager”
“I’ll be fine” said Karl smiling
“Bye” said Lisa and opened the door
“Bye” said Karl and stayed looking at Lisa, until she closed the door
A few seconds later the door opened again and Lisa walked decidedly to Karl and gave him a kiss on the lips “Ok, now I better go, I’m late” said Lisa with a smile and left the apartment definitely, leaving Karl with a smile on his face

Lisa entered the bridge, trying for all the media to look serious and professional as always, but she couldn’t get the smile off of her face, a smile that covered almost all of her face. A smile that the girls from the bridge noticed immediately and that when Lisa gave her back to them they started to comment. The watch was calm, for Lisa’s luck and during the lunch break she came closer to the Captain, who like all the members of the bridge crew had noticed the good humor that Lisa had showed today
“Excuse me Sir, but can I talk with you?” asked Lisa coming closer to the captain, when he, Claudia and Lisa where leaving the bridge to
have lunch.
“Sure Lisa tell me,” said the captain stopping in the middle of the hallway
“Could it be in private?” asked Lisa a little shyly
“Sure, let’s go to my office” said the captain and they walked in silence to his office.
Once they were in, he sat behind his desk and Lisa remained standing up in front of him.
“Well Sir, you see, I… I want it to ask you a favor”
“About what?” asked the Captain
“Well, I know that the enemy has diminish the frequency of their attacks and well you see, I want to know if there is the possibility to take some days off”
“A day off?”
“I know that maybe this is not the best time, but I’ll really appreciate it if you could just give me a couple of days off Sir,” said Lisa avoiding looking at the captain
“Lisa you know perfectly well that the enemies are anything but predictable and maybe we would need you”
“I’ll be available for any emergency Sir” hurriedly said Lisa
“When was the last time that you took a day off?” asked the captain seriously
“Well I…” said Lisa and stopped to think; trying to remember the last time that she had asked a day off “Since”
“I’ll tell you since when” said the Captain and reclined his chair a little “since almost three years ago Lisa”
“Wow” said Lisa surprised, she knew that it had been a while since she had taken a day off, but she don’t know that it was that long
“Of course you can take a few days off Lisa, in fact I’m happy that you asked me for a few days to rest”
“Thank you so much Sir, you don’t know how much this means to me” said Lisa smiling
“I think I might know” said the captain and couldn’t avoid a smile when he noticed that Lisa was blushing
”But I’ll need to know that you are available for any emergency” added the captain
“I will be Sir” said Lisa
“There’s anything else that you want to tell me?” asked the captain
“No sir, that’s all” said Lisa smiling
“Good, then you can be dismissed and don’t worry about the afternoon watch, you have the day off from today”
“Thank you Sir” said Lisa smiling again
“You have nothing to thank me for, now go and enjoy this day of rest,” said the captain
“Yes Sir, thank you Sir” said Lisa and saluted the captain
“Oh, Lisa” said the captain when Lisa was opening the door
“Yes sir?” asked Lisa turning to see the captain in the eyes
“It’s good to see you smile again” said the captain making Lisa blush again
“It’s good to smile again Sir,” said Lisa finally before leaving the captain’s office

After leaving the Captain’s office, Lisa went to the bridge to give some instructions to the girls from the bridge and to ask them that in any emergency case they shouldn’t hesitate in call her. She also talked to Claudia to tell her that the captain had authorized her to take some days off and to thank her for the help with dinner. When Lisa was waiting for the elevator to abandon the military installation she saw far away Corporal Hunter and started to walk in his direction. When she was close enough, she raised her voice and called him by his last name
“Hunter” hears Rick and recognized immediately the voice. It was Commander Hayes and he couldn’t avoid making a grimace, he knew
perfectly well what was coming next. The commander had promised him a second part of the discussion that they had the day that he had rescued her from Sara Base and surely this was it.
After all it had passed a week already and he just had too much luck to not find her all week
“Yes” said Rick with no enthusiasm turning to her
“Hunter, so good to find you, I wanted to talk with you for a few days” said Lisa with a neutral voice when she was by his side
“Tell me commander,” said Rick, appealing to all the patience that he had to hear what the commander had to tell him
“You see, I…” said Lisa and stopped, she cleared her throat before continuing “Well I want to, to…, to apologize” said Lisa finally
“Ah?” was all that Rick was able to articulate, he was completely surprised, he was waiting for the commander to shoot off her artillery about how immature and how bad of an officer he was, and now she was apologizing to him.
“That’s all, I just wanted to apologize” said Lisa and crossed her hands behind her back “I behaved in a very inappropriate way with you the day that you rescue me from Sara Base, I believe that I was very unfair with you”
“I… don’t know what to say Ma’am,” said Rick still surprised, he couldn’t believe that the Lieutenant Commander Lisa Hayes was apologizing to him. The person that every time that he could had caused her a headache
“You have nothing to say Hunter. I just was unfair with you. I should thank you for saving my life and Lieutenant Riber’s life instead of punishing you, but I guess that I was scared, so many things happened at the same time that they affected me in one away or another”
“You don’t have to apologize with me Commander, In fact I’m the one who should apologize for my unrespectfull behavior,” said Rick finally. He knew pretty well that he had faulted by not showing respect to her, and not only on that occasion, and maybe this was the right time to apologize
“You did what you had to do and thanks to you Lieutenant Riber and I are alive”
“I just did what anybody else would have done, like you said I was just a solider accomplishing his duty”
“No Hunter, you were more than just a soldier, you risked your life to save us and I’ll be always thankful for that,” said Lisa avoiding looking at Rick. Then she add quickly “Well I just want it to tell you that, I just wanted to apologize for my behavior and thank you for saving my life and Lieutenant Riber’s”
“Commander the truth is that you have nothing to thank me for,” said Rick honestly. The action that he had done that day, he had made them for a reason that he still didn’t understand very well, but he was sure that he hadn’t done it waiting for Lisa to thank him. He just had done what his heart had told him was the right thing to do.
“Then at least accept my apologies” said Lisa and extended her hand, making Rick stay dazed watching Lisa’s hand, and taking him a few seconds to react and hold Lisa’s hand, making her believe that Rick would denied holding her hand.
“Only if you accept mine” said Rick as he held Lisa’s hand and was amazed how soft Lisa’s hands were and how delicate, but at the same time decided her hand shake was
“All right” said Lisa and gave a small smile, making Rick smile too. Later he was amazed; it was the first time in more than six months that he knew the Commander that he saw her smile and certainly she had a wonderful smile
“Well corporal, I have to go, and thank you for accepting my apologies” said Lisa releasing Rick’s hand “Good afternoon” said Lisa and started to walk away leaving Rick there standing in the middle of the hallway, watching her until she entered the elevator and disappeared. Rick was there standing with his hand still a little extended and a little bit admiring for the beautiful almost smile that the Commander had made, he couldn’t avoid asking himself what had caused this change in the commander. How is it possible that from one day to another she has started to smile? And why didn’t she do that more often when she looks so good when she did it? He was thinking about all those things when a hard punch in his back took him out of his thoughts.
“Hey little bro, what are you doing in the middle of the hallway and with you hand extended?” asked Roy.
“Ah? What?”
“Don’t tell me that you saw again that girl from the Chinese restaurant and that she entered the RDF.”
“Who Minmei?” asked Rick still a little distracted
“Who else made you have that silly face?” asked Roy and hit Rick in the back again.
“This has nothing to do with Minmei, In fact I was talking with Commander Hayes.”
“With Lisa?” asked Roy funny and surprised “boy you got me completely fooled I was sure that you hated her” said Roy and winked to Rick.
“It’s not what you are thinking Roy,” said Rick a little pissed off “She came to apologize to me.”
“Apologize? What for?” asked Roy now genuinely surprised.
“Because of what happen the day that I rescue her from Sara base.”
“Well, well” said Roy and scratched his head for a second “So I guess that this is the Riber effect that Claudia talked about,” said Roy more to himself than to Rick. In fact he had noticed a small change in Lisa; he had seen brightness in her eyes that he hadn’t seen in all the time that he knew her and that they were friends.
And if she had come to apologize to Rick, who was a real pain the ass for her, then something was truly changing in Lisa, and that made him feel happy. He was happy that his friend let herself be happy again, and put aside this cold and correct military woman that she had become.
“Riber effect?” asked Rick but he noticed that Roy wasn’t paying attention to him so he spoke louder “Roy I’m talking to you. What is this Riber effect that you are talking about?”
“Nothing Rick, nothing,” said Roy avoiding touching the subject with Rick. Then he put one hand over Rick’s shoulder “Hey little bro what do you think if we go eat outside the base? The food from the casino sucks today”
“Yeah sure” said Rick in a bad mood, when he noticed that Roy had changed the subject completely, Riber effect? What the hell was that? Did that have something to do with the Lieutenant Riber that the commander had mention? Who the hell was this guy? Asked Rick to himself intrigued, but finally he followed Roy outside of the base. Maybe if he was lucky enough he would convince Roy to go eat at Minmei’s restaurant and he could see her, after all he haven’t seen her in almost a week and he had started to miss her. Besides, maybe he would find the way to pull from her some information about her favorite birthday present, thought Rick as he walked at Roy’s side.

To be continue…

Author’s note: I hope you like it, your opinions as always you can leave it in the forum or e-mail me at Jo_anderson19ATyahoo.com. I’ll be waiting.