fanfic_name = Ricks Rain

chapter = 15

author = Adam Scott

Rating = AP

Type = Alternative Universe

fanfic = Chapter 15

        On a Friday afternoon, 5 months after Kyhrons attack, we got the news. Lisa was so excited; she called me from the doctors' office. "Rick!" she said "It's a boy! Isn't that wonderful?!" I was speechless; we had both wanted a boy but would have been just as happy with a girl but we had been blessed with a boy. "Are you sure?" was all that I could muster. "Yes!" she said. "The Sonogram was very clear, aren't you happy?" "Yes, I am" was all I could reply.

Every memory of my father and Roy when I was a boy went through my head; how much time we had spent together working on the old bi-planes we used in the circus and all the time on the road going to shows. By the time I was 6 I was a better mechanic then most people 3 or 4 times my age and by the time I was 7 I was flying solo in the shows. I was born to fly, that is what my father always said. He was so proud of me; he always said that he had never seen some one who could fly so naturally like I did. The only person better then I was Roy. After my crash he had left the circus and joined the Service. He was only 17 but he was made an officer and became one of there best pilots.

        Roy was my friend and mentor. Pop had always been there for me and spent as much time with me as possible but he had a business to run and 4 other young pilots to be a father to as well. Roy was the oldest of the pilots and he took me under his wing early. My first memories were of Roy, he was the big brother that I never had. He was the one that taught me to fly, sure, pop had shown me the basics but Roy was the one who taught me how to feel the plane. How to not just make the plane do what I wanted it to but have the plane do it without my thinking about it. He taught me how to make the plane an extension of my own body. Even now I credit him with making me the pilot I am today. With out knowing it he had prepared me for piloting a Veritech, a machine that responds to your thoughts. After Roy left for the service I took over the lead in pop's show. We always hoped that Roy would some day return. He did from time to time but it became less and less frequent. Then Roy got involved in the Robotech project and the SDF-1 on Macross Island, he never came back. My father never forgave him for that. Roy was like a son to him, all of his pilots were, but Roy was special to him, he had been his first prodigy. Roy's parents were air show performers as well but had been killed a car accident so pop's brought him into the family when he was only 6.

Pop had been amazed at how quickly Roy picked up the skills necessary in order to fly a plane and how nonchalantly he took to the danger. Roy soon surpassed my father in skills and risk that he would take. Nothing seemed to faze him. I would watch in awe as Roy would perform barrel rolls only a few feet from the ground and then loop straight up into the sky as a rocket. He was performing a beautiful and intricate dance and the sky was his stage. Roy was my hero, after every flight I would run out to him and he would scoop me up and place me in the cockpit with him. He would always say "Here you go little brother, show me how I did that". I would put my hands on the controls and move them according to how I thought it went. Roy would gently correct me as I went along if I made an error. Pop's planted the seed of flying in my blood but Roy nurtured it and made it grow.

When I was 11 I started competing in amateur flying contests. By then Roy was in the service and wasn't coming home very often. Pops would come to the shows every now and then but I was mostly on my own. I won every one that I was ever in, including the World's championship. I got to the point that I wasn't flying in Pop's air show anymore and I spent all my time practicing for the contests. Pops didn't mind because at least I was home every week. I would write to Roy and tell him what I was doing and he would write back with more ideas I could try and explain how I could perform the maneuvers. The letters dried up after a while. I would write him but he wouldn't respond except on rare occasions. I knew he was busy with the war and then the Robotech project. He was my big brother and I would always love him and forgive him.

Now I have a choice to make, I am having a son and I have massive responsibilities to the REF. Do I want to do to my son what my father did to me or do I want to be more like Roy and make time to be with him? I know the answer to that question, just fulfilling that answer is going to be a challenge.

        I came out of my thoughts to Lisa hanging up the phone. Did she even say good-bye? I decide that I have worked enough for today. "Lt. Rawlins," I say over the intercom to my secretary, "Cancel all my appointments and hold all my calls. I'm going home for the day". She responds with a quick "Aye, Aye". I clear my desk and leave my brief case behind. This is a day to celebrate, I am not going to let "work" interfere; my wife and son are the most important things to me now. The SDF-3 and the REF will just have to wait.


State = Continuará/To Be Continue

feedback = Sí/Yes

email = jscott_73ATyahoo.com