Can a second chance change it all?
Chapter 5
Everything I Do, I Do It For You
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 man)
To: Sphersian, to K71 for been my beta now (thank you so much, specially for check this one), for all the members of the forum and of course to Carla

Everything I Do, I Do It For You

Lisa woke up, but kept her eyes closed. For some reason she felt so secure, so safe and warm this morning, like she hadn’t felt in years. Then a smell was all that she needed to understand why she felt that way.
It was Karl’s perfume; it was his embrace that made her feel so safe and happy. Then she remembered that she had fallen asleep holding him, in the middle of the movie that he had rented.
She held him a little bit tighter and slowly raised her head to check out how late it was and if Karl was sleeping too. By the time that she raised her head enough to look at him, she found Karl’s eyes looking at her.
“Good morning sleeping beauty” he said with smile.
“What time is it?” asked Lisa with a sleepy voice and with her eyes barely open.
“Don’t know, but probably late in the morning” answered Karl.
“I fell asleep” said Lisa trying to remove her hair from her face.
“Yeah and in the middle of my movie” said Karl with a hurt voice
“I’m so sorry, I didn’t realize”
“Yeah, sure, I watch all your movie and you fall sleep at the middle of mine”
“I’m so sorry I promise that I’ll watch the movie again,” said Lisa with a guilty voice, but Karl only looked at her with a frown.
“I promise I’ll make up to you” she said and gave him a kiss on his cheek.
“You better” he said and held her.
“It’s been so long since the last time that I slept late,” she said closing her eyes and resting her head on his chest.
“I guess you have a pretty busy life”
“More than what you can imagine, and beside work was all that I had” she said with a sad voice.
“You have me now,” he said kissing her on the forehead.
“And that’s all that I need” Lisa said looking him in the eyes. Karl also looked at her in the eyes and they just stood there looking at each other, telling each other how much they love each other with no words.
Suddenly Karl broke the silence “I forgot, your cell phone rang early in the morning” he said.
“My cell phone?” said Lisa jumping out of bed to reach the phone “Why didn’t you wake me up?”
“Because it only rang once. I figure that if it was something important they’d call again,” he said sitting on the bed.
“Probably” said Lisa more to herself than for Karl as she checked her cell phone. She only had two unread text messages in her mailbox, so she opened her cell phone and checked the messages.
The first one was set at 05.00 am and it was from Roy.
“Come back soon!!! We need you; your replacement can’t distinguish an asteroid from a battle pod. She has made us do 4 emergency flights for nothing!!. Please come back, I miss you, I need you, I want you!!!!”
Lisa finished reading the message and smiled. She could imagine how pissed off Roy would have been to send her a message at that time.
Then she read the other message and it was from Roy too, and it was sent at 05.08 am
“I forgot something, are my clothes transferring my charmed to your boyfriend? Have fun >:) and you know what I mean. I’ve got the feeling that someone will have a big smile on Monday and it won’t be me or Claudia, thanks to your replacement >(, sorry for the late message hope I haven’t interrupted something”
Lisa smiled wider when she finished reading Roy’s message. Roy always had been some kind of over protective friend. Even when they didn’t show it too much in public they loved each other very much, and she was very happy that her friend was happy for her.
“It was something important?” asked Karl.
“No, it was just Roy, joking,” said Lisa smiling and leaving her cell phone on her coffee table.
“He’s the one that let me borrow the clothes right?” asked Karl.
“Yes, he is one of my closest friends, and he is the boyfriend of my best friend”
“Claudia?” asked Karl smiling.
“Yes, we’ve been friends practically since I finished at the academy”
“I would like to meet them”
“Sure, it would be nice. We must go out some time, like on a double date”
“Yes, I would love to meet the people that have taken care of you when I wasn’t there”
“Karl” said Lisa a little sad.
“It’s just that I want to meet your friends, see how you lived all this time”
“There’s not to much to see, but my friends are great, I’m sure that you are going to love them”
“If you love them, then I will love them” said Karl smiling and kissing her.
They stayed in bed for a while, until finally Karl got up and went to the bathroom to take a shower. Lisa stayed in bed until he left the bathroom and then she took a shower.

They cooked lunch together, between Karl’s jokes about how complicated Lisa was trying to cook. They ate and finally they left Lisa’s house and went to the park to buy some ice cream as a dessert.
They bought the ice cream and sat on a branch to share what they had bought and to talk for a while. When they finished the ice cream they held hands and started to walk, they had walked a few steps when they stopped at the park section where some kids were playing. Then they looked into each other’s eyes and kissed.
“You know, I hope that some day I’ll have one of those,” said Karl holding Lisa from behind and making her smile.
“It would be nice” she said and rested her head on his chest.
“Yes and I think I’m holding the perfect person for a mom right now” he said smiling, making her smile too.
“And there’s no one else whom I would like to start a family” said Lisa.
“Me neither” said Karl and kissed her on the corner of her forehead. They looked at the kids that were playing for a few moments and then they started to walk again, but a kid came running in their direction and crushed against Karl making him step back and hit his hurt shoulder against a tree.
“Karl” said Lisa worried.
“I’m fine,” said Karl hiding his pain and then he looked at the boy “How about you little fellow are you ok?” he asked.
“Yes I am, and you mister?” asked the little boy embarrassingly.
“I’m fine,” said Karl.
“Charlie, you need to be more carefully honey, you could have run into the tree and gotten hurt,” said Lisa walking next to the boy who was the son of one of the bridge assistance operators.
“I know,” said the boy looking at the ground.
“Where’s your mom?” asked Lisa but the kid that was chasing Charlie arrived and took Charlie’s arm.
“Gotcha!” said the kid.
“That’s not true I was talking with Aunt Lisa,” said Charlie.
“It’s true, now it’s your turn to chase” said the kid.
“No it’s not,” replied Charlie.
“Yes it is.”
“No it’s not.”
“Hey kids, kids,” said Karl making the kids look at him in silence “why don’t you two start to run and I’ll chase you. The first one that I catch will be the one that will chase,” said Karl with a smile.
“Yeah!!!!” said the two kids and started to run immediately. Karl ran after them after a few moments as Lisa looked at him with a sweet smile. Karl caught Charlie first and then Charlie started to chase the other kid and Karl walked back to Lisa.
“Hey, those kids run faster than what they should,” said Karl trying to recover his breath.
“You are so amazing,” said Lisa holding him “I love you,” she said and kissed him.
“I think that I should chase kids more often,” said Karl when they broke the sweet kiss and started to walk to Lisa’s home holding each other.

Karl entered to the bathroom; since he had come back from the park he had felt pain in his shoulder. Now he was looking at it in the mirror and could see that it was bleeding. He tried to treat it himself but after about 10 attempts he admitted that he needed Lisa’s help. He decided to try to cure it himself one more time before finally opening shyly the bathroom door and calling Lisa’s name.
“Lisa” said Karl from the bathroom door and after a few seconds Lisa appeared in the bedroom.
“Yes” said Lisa and when she saw Karl with his shirt open and his torso uncovered she froze and felt that she was starting to flush.
“I, I’m having trouble with my wound and … well.. I need your help”
“Oh.. sure” said Lisa and after a few seconds she came closer to him “What happened?”
“It’s bleeding in the back of my shoulder and I can’t bandage it”
“Maybe we should go to the infirmary,” said Lisa avoiding looking at Karl’s eyes.
“It’s not necessary, I just need to bandage it and I need your help to do it,” said Karl a little bit ashamed too.
“Ok, but the light of the bathroom is better” said Lisa.
“Yes, true,” said Karl confused and entered the bathroom followed by Lisa. She took a bottle with iodine and gauze to clean Karl’s wound before bandaging it.
“Well” said Lisa looking at Karl shyly waiting for him to take his shirt off.
“Well” said Karl looking at Lisa.
“Your shirt” said Lisa looking at the ground.
“Oh, sure my shirt,” said Karl and flushed. Then he slowly slipped his shirt down to his elbows, an action that Lisa followed move by move. She looked at him from the corner of her eyes and she felt how her heart beat faster with every inch that the shirt slipped.
“Now I’m ready,” said Karl with a smile when his shirt stopped at his elbows.
Lisa cleared her throat “Good” she finally was able to say. She wet the gauze with the iodine but when she was about to leave the bottle over the washstand, the bottle almost fell to the floor, making Lisa more nervous and making Karl smile a little. Lisa came closer to Karl again and raised her hand to cure his wound and the way that her hands were shaking was evident for Karl.
“I can’t believe that I’m this nervous, is not like I haven’t see you…. ” said Lisa and bent her head down to avoid looking at Karl.
“Naked before?” said Karl in a rush.
“Without your shirt,” said Lisa embarrassed and then she looked at Karl in the eyes, and saw that he was flushing and that made her flush too. Finally she came closer to him again until only a few inches separated them and she started to cure Karl’s wound. By doing that she first rested one of her hands over Karl’s naked chest, making him give a jump
“I’m sorry, cold hands” said Lisa with a nervous smile.
“Always” said Karl smiling too and finally Lisa started to cure Karl’s wound, then bandaged it. When she finished she slipped her hands across Karl’s chest and shyly raised her eyes.
“Ready” said Lisa with a soft voice. Karl only looked at her in the eyes and came closer to her and gave her a kiss on her forehead.
“Thanks” said Karl with his lips still on Lisa’s forehead.
“You have nothing to thank me for” said Lisa and looked again into Karl’s eyes. She could see how his eyes sparkled and looked at her with intensity, probably the same intensity that she was looking at him, because all of a sudden they found themselves kissing each other, the most passionate kiss that they had shared.
Karl dragged her closer to him with strength and she rested her hands again in his chest.
They broke the kiss when they needed to breath again and they looked into each other eyes briefly and they noticed the fire that sparkled in their eyes, after all it had been eight years since the last time they were together.
Lisa started to kiss softly the line of Karl’s jaw, until she arrived to his ear and then she started to go down his neck.
Karl at the same time had sunk his nose in Lisa’s hair that was around her neck and had started to kiss Lisa’s neck while his hand traveled across her back, making her feel like electric shivers traveled across her spine and making her breath more agitated.
They started to kiss again and when they broke the kiss Lisa found herself trapped between Karl and the washstand. In fact Karl was holding her with strength with his good arm and the distance between them was almost nonexistent. Lisa softly and slowly slipped Karl’s shirt down until she had discarded it, then her hands followed Karl’s arm contour until finally she stopped on his neck and they kissed again, with desire, with the desire that had waited for too long to come out.
Karl started to kiss Lisa’s neck again and his hands slipped under Lisa’s t-shirt by the corner of her waist and then moved to her back and from there started to rise leaving Lisa’s skin exposed. The touch of Karl’s hand over her naked skin made it more and more difficult for her to breathe. Lisa started to play with Karl’s hair that was behind his neck and kissed the spot where his neck merged with his shoulder. If it was possible she came even closer to him and by doing that she noticed his anticipation, making her give a little nervous smile before kissing Karl’s shoulder.
Karl had started to move his hand to the upper part of Lisa’s stomach and while he did that he continued leaving Lisa’s skin exposed. Then he moved his hand to her back to the point that he could feel her bra. She slid her hands across Karl’s stomach while she continued kissing his shoulder.
When Karl started to play with the hook of Lisa’s bra, they both looked into each other eyes and started to kiss passionately again when suddenly the phone start to ring. After a few seconds they broke the kiss and Lisa sank her head in Karl’s shoulder and he rested his head on her forehead while still holding her.
The phone kept ringing until finally it stopped and Karl started to kiss Lisa’s neck again but the phone started to ring again and he said, “I think it would be better if you answer the phone.”
“Mhhh” was all that Lisa said while she kissed Karl’s neck and then she started to walk away from him and they looked at each other in the eyes, “It could be an emergency,” said Lisa finally.
“I could be” said Karl as Lisa started to walk to answer the phone but Karl held her by her wrist and brought her closer to him and gave her a quick and passionate kiss; a kiss that Lisa answered. Before leaving she bit his lower lip softly and walked away fast.
Before she answered the phone, she fixed her clothes and her hair and finally picked up the phone.
“Commander Hayes,” said Lisa with her voice still agitated.
“Well, well I hope I haven’t interrupted something,” said the voice of Claudia on the other side of the phone.
“Claudia?” said Lisa with a little upset tone.
“Who else? How’s your weekend going?” asked Claudia in a funny way.
“Not bad.”
“How lucky some people are.”
“Very funny, what do you want?” asked Lisa serious.
“You see Lisa, we are finishing the relocation paperwork and I need to know if you asked him.”
“Well no, I haven’t ask him yet.”
“What do you mean you haven’t ask him yet? Lisa you should have asked him before he left the hospital.”
“I know it’s just that I don’t want to force things.”
“Lisa honey I know that it’s been a long time since you were with him and to deal with formal issues is not your priority, but you have to ask him.”
“I know Claudia, it’s just that I don’t want to force things, I don’t want him to feel like I’m pressuring him with questions.”
“I understand you Lisa, but you have to, we need you to ask him.”
“Fine, I’ll ask him today,” said Lisa upset.
“Ok, so tomorrow you will give me the information.”
“Fine, bye.”
“Bye, oh one more thing.”
“What?”
“Enjoy your afternoon for me would you, I have a shift of 12 hours.”
“Very funny Claudia, very funny” said Lisa now more relaxed and hung up. She remained seated on the couch, thinking about how she would ask Karl what she needed to ask him, until finally it was Karl himself who took her out of her thoughts.
“Who was it?” asked Karl when he appeared in the living room with his shirt on and his arm in his sling.
“Ah? Oh it was Claudia,” said Lisa sitting up straight.
“Something happen? An emergency?”
“No, fortunately nothing happen.”
“Then why that worried face?”
“Well you see, I need to ask you some questions,” said Lisa so Karl sat in front of her looking at her with attention.
“Tell me,” said Karl.
“You know that we are in war and that we lost officers in every fight that we have had with the enemy and the soldiers that we have are barely enough to fill the activities that must be done,” said Lisa and made a pause. “I, we, the RDF, need to know what your status is. If you will continue as an RDF officer or if you will retire, like most of your friends from Mars did” said Lisa and stayed there looking at Karl in the eyes.
“Wow, mmm, do you need the answer right now?” said Karl moving on the couch.
“I think so. You see, the deadline date for the relocation is closer and we need to know what your military status is, if you will remain with the RDF or not.”
Karl remained in silence for awhile. “You see Lisa, all these years that I was trapped in Mars, all those years gave me enough time to think about the decisions that I made in my life, about the mistakes that I made. All the dreams that I had, all those years made my ideas stronger” said Karl and remained in silence again.
“I know very well the ideas that you had on Earth and I understand perfectly well your decision. I know that you left Earth because of the war and I understand that you wanted to remain away from it,” said Lisa and looked at the ground on this occasion “It’s perfectly understandable that you want to quit,” said Lisa with a bittersweet smile.
“Certainly peace is one of my ideas and it was because of the war that I left Earth, because then I wasn’t ready for war and certainly I’m not ready for war now,” said Karl bending down a little more closely to Lisa, resting his right hand in her leg. “I think I’ll never be ready for war,” said Karl with a lost voice.
“None of us are,” said Lisa with a soft voice.
“But I understood in those years that the search for peace requires some sacrifices, that wanting peace is not enough. That you need to search and fight for it, that I can’t remain sitting here waiting for things to solve themselves, that doesn’t happen,” said Karl with a smile, a bittersweet one. “I’m not the cowardly and selfish teenager that ran away from Earth because he couldn’t stand the war. I’m no longer the egocentric kid that was capable of leaving you behind because he wasn’t capable of facing what he had to do. I’m not that kid anymore,” said Karl with a broken voice. He cleared his throat and continued, “Now I understand perfectly well my mistakes and I know that there are some sacrifices to do for the things that you love and for the one that you love. I know that you have to put aside the things that you want and the passion that you have, to fulfill those dreams. I know that things didn’t all turn out the way I wanted them to be and that I’ll not always have what I want, but I won’t stay sitting here anymore. I’ll not wait for things to be solved. I can’t do that, not anymore,” said Karl and looked Lisa in the eyes again and he noticed immediately that she was there, listening to him with all her attention. He realized that and flushed for a moment and then he searched for Lisa’s hand to hold.
“I’ll no longer wait for the rest to do the work, not anymore. Now I will leave my personal preferences aside and I’ll fight for what we all want. I’ll let Karl Riber aside and fight for the rest Lisa, I’ll sacrifice for the rest, I’ll make the difference,” said Karl and finally he gave a shy smile. Lisa remained there looking at him. She was charmed by his words, by his conviction about what he was saying. She could even feel how her heart was beating faster because of what he had said, because of how he had talked, with this strength, with this shine in his eyes.
“That means that you…” said Lisa fearfully.
“Yes Lizie, that means that I’ll remain in the RDF, that I’ll continue being a soldier. Now I’ll fight to reach peace, sometimes weapons are necessary to obtain peace and to maintain it. This time I’ll not run away from my responsibilities, not like the immature teenager that I was once. This time I’ll face my responsibilities, like the man that I am now, because now it’s not about doing what I want to do, it’s about doing what is needed to be done, what must to be done. About what’s right. I can’t pretend to do what I want always, now I’ll do what’s necessary to accomplish and make my ideas true,” said Karl holding Lisa’s hand stronger. “This time I’ll not let you down Lisa,” he said and kissed the back of Lisa’s hand.
“You never have,” said Lisa smiling and finally she held him “you have no idea of how happy it makes me that you have decided to remain with the RDF.”
“I know,” said Karl holding her too. After they stayed holding each other for a while Karl took Lisa’s face in his hands and noticed that she had tears in her eyes.
“Why are you crying?” ask Karl sweetly.
“For nothing, I’m just happy,” said Lisa and cleaned her tears. “I’m so happy because your are here with me, because we are finally together, because all my dreams are becoming true,” said Lisa and smiled.
“I know,” said Karl smiling too.
“I love you,” said Lisa softly and then she kissed Karl.
When they broke the kiss they remained on the couch holding each other until Lisa began to fall asleep on Karl’s arm, a fact that Karl noticed immediately so he kissed her on the forehead to wake her up. Then he helped her to make her bed on her couch and waited until she fell asleep on the couch and then went to the bedroom.
He thought about his decision while he was falling asleep. He had made that decision a while ago, just like he had told her. He had thought about it on those many lonely nights on Mars and he had made the decision to fight for what he wanted- to be part of the solution. But now that he was sure that there was a war going on, and a war of gigantic proportions with enemies that no one knows, that decision scared him, and worried him. What could he do to make a difference? What could he do to prove to Lisa that he was ready to fight for what he wanted? To impress her? He certainly wouldn’t be in the battle, he wasn’t ready for that and he would never be capable of pulling the trigger against any other living being, no matter if it wasn’t human. So what could he do? What would he do? He asked himself while his eyes were closing. And just before falling asleep he realized that no matter what he did, all that he was about to do he would do for Lisa, like he had always done since the moment that he had seen her, from the moment that he had fallen completely in love with her.

To be continued…

Author’s note: first of all Carla please sorry for stealing your idea of using song names as title of a fanfic, but the name of this song came to my head as I wrote the fanfic and I think it’s perfect for Karl, because I have always thought that all the decisions that he made, all the decisions that he will make in my fanfic are made it because of how much in love of Lisa he is, all that he does he does it for her, so Carla please forgive me.
Second: I’m waiting for your opinion people, about the relationship between Lisa and Karl
Third: this is the end of pure Lisa/Karl love, now the romantic triangle will began, now I finally have the pleasure of writing a jealous Rick, now he will live all that Lisa suffer in the real Robotech. So please stay tune
Oh an last: the song is “Everything I do I do it for you” – Bryan Adams