fanfic_name = Every Silver Lining

chapter = 4

author = Kitsune-Baka

Rating = AP

Type = Angst

fanfic = Standard Disclaimer: Robotech not mine. Not making money. No sue I. :p

Chapter Four: Friendly Advice

Rick Hunter had had some weird dreams in his life, but this one had most of them beat. For some reason, he'd gone to a spa for a beauty treatment, and, even stranger, he'd ordered the peanut butter wrap.

Peanut butter wrap? He hadn't even known such a thing existed.

The beautician patted his face, smoothing out the sticky, mudlike substance. "Dana!" she called out. "Dana, stop it! Oh, Rick, I'm sorry!"

He blinked--or tried to. Because whatever the sticky substance was on his face, it had been plastered over his eyes. He wiped ineffectually at it, and Miriya--he was awake enough now to realize that it was her voice he'd heard--said "Hang on, Rick, let me get you a washcloth."

"Good plan."

He felt Dana's hands patting his face again, and levered himself to a sitting position, out of her range. His feet got tangled in the blanket that Max had loaned him, so he ended up in an awkward, half-curled position.

_What time is it, anyway? I hope I didn't oversleep again._

"Here you are," Miriya said, handing him a damp washcloth. He rubbed it over his face, and got himself cleaned up enough to get his eyes open. Then he retreated to the bathroom to get the rest of the peanut butter off his face.

"I'm sorry about that, Rick," Miriya said.

"Don't worry about it. I should have thought about this _before_ taking Max up on the offer of couch space."

Miriya giggled, sending Dana into gales of laughter. A stab of jealously went though his heart; he'd always wanted a little girl.

But now...

"Max isn't up yet," Miriya said, breaking into his thoughts, "but if you're hungry, I can get you a bowl of cereal or something."

"No. I'll grab something on the way. Thanks again for letting me spend the night."

He jogged back to Lisa's place to get his bike. The lights were all on , but he didn't knock on the door. He didn't need to compound whatever bad impression he'd already made on the Admiral by showing up with peanut butter on his uniform. Instead, he rode home to grab a quick shower and a fresh uniform. While he munched on a piece of toast, he looked through his closet. He grabbed an oversized windbreaker, and hopped back on his bike, heading for the command center.

He got there half an hour before he was supposed to leave on patrol, which meant Lisa would still be there. He called up to tell her that he was leaving the windbreaker, so that her father would have something to wear over the kitten shirt, but to his surprise, she said she'd be right down.

"Hey, Lisa." He felt suddenly awkward.

"Rick, I'm glad you came." She put her arms around him, and kissed him, deeply enough to take his breath away. When they came up for air, she said, "I'm sorry about giving you a shock yesterday."

"It's okay. I, uh, guess it's not really something you can plan for."

"No." Her green eyes took on an amused sparkle. "Though I had hoped to catch you before you came over."

"I'm sorry. I should have called."

"Don't be silly. You know you're always welcome." She sighed. "Although I suppose my new roommate would probably appreciate the warning."

"Yeah. How's he doing, by the way?"

"He's--I don't know."

"What do you mean?"

"He's hurting. Not just the knee, though I think that's worse than he lets on." She sighed. "I'm going to take him to the doctor after I get off shift."

"Then it should be fine."

"Yeah." Except there was obviously more on her mind. "Rick. Do you ever think about?when you rescued me?"

"Which--oh right." Of all the times he'd rescued her, there was one that would be foremost in her mind now. "Lisa, from what you told me, you had every reason to believe he was dead."

"Did I?' she asked. For a moment, her eyes lost focus. He could see she was back there again, in the dark and the smoke and the horror that he could only imagine. She'd told him only the barest of details of what had happened; her father had contacted her, urging her to get out of Alaska Base, but they'd gotten cut off when an explosion had rocked the central core. The screen had gone dark.

Rick had been there to rescue her, once again. That was his clearest memory of the day; Lisa running into his arms. But for Lisa?

"You did everything you could," he said. "How many search and rescue flyovers did you order?"

"I should have gone myself."

"You were needed on the SDF-1. You knew that."

"Yes, but?" Her green eyes took on a downcast look, and he could take a guess at what going through her mind. He knew she'd tried to get search and rescue teams to Alaska Base, but Admiral Gloval had vetoed the idea of sending people inside the shattered ruins. It was too dangerous, he'd said, and they were needed elsewhere.

Gloval had been much more than a commanding officer to Lisa, Rick knew; he'd been a surrogate father as well. The last thing she'd want was to blame him for what had happened to her father. But the only alternative was blaming herself, and he didn't want to see her do that, either.

"You did everything you could," Rick reassured her.

"Everything I could?" she echoed. "I just?left him there, Rick. I didn't even try--"

"You didn't think there was a reason to try."

"If our positions had been reversed, my father would have been there, digging with his bare hands if he had to, until he found me." Her eyes shone with tears. "I took one look at a blank screen, and walked away."

"That's not fair, Lis, you're being too hard on yourself." Time to try another tactic. "Do you really want to go home to your father all teary-eyed?"

"No?"

"You've been given another chance to make things right with him. That's what you need to concentrate on now, not what-might-have-beens."

"But how do I make _this_ right? How can I ever make it up to him?" She looked up at him through teary lashes.

"I don't know," Rick was forced to admit. "But I think he loves you enough that you can get through this."

She nodded, and leaned against him. "Oh, Rick. I don't know what I'd do without you."

"If you need anything, just ask, okay?"

She nodded, and brushed the tears from her eyes. "Oh--speaking of asking, what did you want to ask me last night?"

"I just wanted some advice on dealing with one of my subordinates. It can wait." He held out the windbreaker. "I just wanted to bring this by, so your father could have something else to wear."

"Something without kittens on the front, you mean?"

He found himself blushing. "Well--yeah."

"I'm sure he'll appreciate that." The twinkle was back in her eyes. "Thank you, Rick." She kissed him again, making his heart skip a beat. "I have to go; they'll think I've deserted. Give me a call when you get home from patrol."

"I will."

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