fanfic_name = From Now until Forever

chapter = One-Shot

author = lisav

dedicate = Rick & Lisa Fan!

Rating = AP

Type = Angst

fanfic = Warning: Not a typical R/L story...

This fan fiction was written for entertainment purposes only. No infringement is intended. I do not own Robotech or any of the characters.

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It was a large house with two stories and pillars framing a deep porch on three sides. She had commissioned it fifteen years ago on a whim. Many had referred to it as her antebellum mansion but she didn’t care for she had fallen in love with it on first sight after it was finished.

Here, no one would dare to intrude on her privacy or time. She had giving them too much already, in fact she had giving them her whole life except for the last ten years when she had secluded herself to this house and retired permanently from public life.

Tonight the half moon was high and unusually bright. It shone brightly down on her once silky hair, the blue-black of a raven’s wing now streaked with grays as she sat quietly on her swing. Her midnight blue eyes, once sparkling, sensuous and dreamy now stared blankly at the note in her shaky hand.

'Dear Ms. Lynne-Minmei.

I regret to inform you that Admiral Richard Hunter died last night quietly in his home. The late Admiral died of natural cause and was eighty-two years old. He is survived by his wife, Admiral Elizabeth Hayes-Hunter, two children and a grandson.

His funeral is set for Monday, May 27 at 5:00pm. However a military memorial service will be held at noon that same day.

If you would like to attendant either or both, please do not hesitate to contact me and I will make the necessary arrangements. My deepest condolences Ms. Lynne for I knew the late Admiral and you were once good friends.

Your humble servant,

Andrew C. Jordan, Attorney-at-Law'

Yes, he was a good friend but so much more... What he was, no one will ever know, not even him.

He was the love of my life!

Looking now at the enclosed family photo, Minmei’s eyes opened wide as though she were staring at a ghost; for Roy Hunter was the splitting image of Rick when she had last seen him. Except for the color of his eyes-- they were his mother’s eyes, brilliant, green and direct.

Moving to Grace Hunter-Durant, Minmei suddenly felt a pain so deep and sharp it momentary knocked her breathless. For Grace was the exact image of a child she had always imaged she and Rick would have-- long, silky black hair, laughing cobalt blue eyes and a winsome smile no one could resist.

In the photo, Grace was holding a cute, chubby toddler in her arms protectively while the handsome man standing next to her had his right arm around her waist. Minmei could see the love in the man’s dark eyes and she knew he loved Grace Hunter very much.

How could anyone not fall in love with Rick’s children?

Even thought she had never seen them before today and did not know them; for they had never been to Earth, she felt great love for them. Yes, she loved them because they are an extension of Rick, the man she loved with all her heart and soul.

Slowly against her will, her eyes moved to Lisa-- her rival, her arch enemy and the bane of her existence.

Lisa.... it’s not fair. You have everything that should have been mine. All these years I tried not to hate you but I can’t pretend anymore! I hate you! I hate you with a passion and it’s slowly eating me alive.

Rick was mine!

Critical now, she studied the physical changes in Lisa that time has brought. Minmei couldn’t help it but rage in silent envy.

Even life and old age has been good to you! Compare to your elegance and style I look like a homeless bag lady.

The heady fragrance of honeysuckle, pine leaves, and numerous other plants that no one had been able to put a name to but she, hung poignantly in the muggy air. In the past she had always found comfortable in her home and its surrounding greenery. But tonight they brought her nothing but regrets and pain.

Who cares if I have an antebellum mansion? Who cares if I can grow plants and flowers no one else could? Who cares if I’m a billionaire? I have no one to share them with. I don’t have Rick...

Slowly her finger brushed over Rick’s face. Her hungry eyes took in every detail of him and found him as handsome as ever if not more. She noticed that age had distinguished him; gave him a confidence she had seen before.

In the photo, he was smiling and his cobalt blue eyes shone brightly with laughter and amusement. He was behind Lisa, his arms around her waist and she had her hands on top of his, their fingers were intertwined.

Sadly her mind drifted to yesterdays-- seeing the three of them as they had been that winter day so long ago. Hearing the dreadful words coming out of his mouth, ‘Minmei, I’m in love with Lisa,’ and feeling his hand slipped from hers as he ran after her-- Lisa.

I should have never let him go. I should have held on to his hand tighter...

'I used to think

I had the answers to everything

But now I know

Life doesn't always

Go my way, yeah...

Feels like I'm caught in the middle

That's when I realize...

I'm not a girl

Not yet a woman

All I need is time

A moment that is mine

While I'm in between'

Oh Rick, why couldn’t you have waited? I was so young then, I didn’t know what I wanted or what was best for me.

How was I to know that I would love you all my life; would miss you every day and dream of you every night? I didn’t know I would compare every man I meet to you and find them lacking your sensitivity, charm and compassion.

I didn’t know you were all I needed. It’s not fair!

I was just a girl while Lisa was a woman already. How could I compete with her experience, maturity and confidence?

I was just Lynne-Minmei, a wide-eyed girl with big dreams one day and suddenly a star the next. While she had been an Admiral’s daughter all her life, bred and trained to fight for what she wanted and to stand firm for what she believed in.

You were meant for me! You loved me, I know you did!

Why were you in such a rush to grow up, Rick? To be what she wanted you to be? Did you really love her more than me?

All I needed was time; time to grow, time to become the woman I was meant to be. Time to love you the way a woman should love her man.

Why couldn’t you have given me that time, Rick? Why?

Minmei suddenly crumbled the note and photo in her hand and quickly wiped the tears away. Tears, she had shed plenty through the years but it had never helped her to get what she wanted-- not the important things anyway.

Her midnight blue eyes blazed with anger and they looked like they could have been forged from ice. Gone was any trace of her earlier softness and tears; gone, all signs of dejection. Lynne-Minmei was mad. Fighting mad!

But...Rick Hunter was dead.

Empty.

The anger left her as fast as it had appeared. She felt vast and empty.

How strange that her blood was still circulating; her heart beating, and her lungs breathing air in and out when she knew she was dead inside.

He was dead yet she could not let him go. How could she when she had always hoped he would come back to her for she had never stopped loving him.

'They say in this world nothing lasts forever

but I don't believe that's true

'cause the way I feel when we're together

I know that's the way I'll always feel for you

From now until forever

That’s how long I’ll be true

I'll make you this vow

And promise you now

until forever

I'll never stop loving you'

Have you forgotten me, Rick? Did I mean so little to you that once you had Lisa’s love, mine was not good enough anymore?

Who’s the fool now, Rick?

Getting up, she walked slowly into her house and to her office. Reaching the foyer, she had to stop for she felt lightheaded and weak. She leaned against a newel, hugging herself, squeezing her eyes, attempting in vain to clear her head once and for all the memories, mistakes and regrets that were hunting her.

Opening her eyes she saw her reflection in the large mirror hanging across from her.

Where did the years go?

Where is the laughing, gullible girl who had wanted to be a star more than anything else in this world? The girl who would let nothing stand in her way of becoming famous?

The girl everyone-- human and aliens had adored, admired and even envied; the girl Rick Hunter had love with reckless abandonment and joy.

'There's a girl in the mirror

I wonder who she is

Sometimes I think I know her

Sometimes I really wish I did

There's a story in her eyes

Lullabies and goodbyes

When she's looking back at me

I can tell her heart is broken easily

'Cause the girl in my mirror

Is crying out tonight

And there's nothing I can tell her

To make her feel alright

Oh the girl in my mirror

Is crying 'cause of you

And I wish there was something

Something I could do'

Even that girl had left her now.

She smiled bitterly at her reflection, seeing all the changes age and time had brought yet not seeing them at all too for she did not care anymore.

Her world had stopped turning a long time ago. She lived all these years because of hope and now that hope is no more.

“It’s time to fly away Minmei; it’s time to leave all this to yesterday…”

Note:

All songs by Britney Spears

I’m Not a Girl Not Yet a Woman

I’ll Never Stop Loving You

Girl in the Mirror

Last line inspired by Moulin Rouge

State = Fin/The End

feedback = Sí/Yes

email = lisa_vangATmsn.com