fanfic_name = Separate Lives

chapter = 2

author = LisaVang

Rating = AP15

fanfic = CHAPTER TWO

“You look very nice, Lisa,” Rick said and stared at her. He told himself not to stare but he couldn’t help it. She was hot.

“Thank you,” she said in a husky voice, unable to take her eyes of him for she had never seen him looking so handsome before either. She glanced up at him and saw appreciation in his blue eyes as he stared at her. Slowly she let out a breath and cleared her throat.

“Shall we go?”

As they rode the elevator down to Macross City, Lisa was so aware of him, standing there so close yet so far from her. She liked the way he smelled, clean and a touch of a heady aromatic echo of aftershave. Not overpowering, but oh, so pleasing to her senses.

Everything about tonight was a dream come true... she was really on a date with Rick Hunter! Her heart skittered in her chest and she had eyes only for him but he was quiet, noncommittal almost since they left her quarters and she wondered why.

“Rick? Is something wrong?”

He looked away. “No. I was just thinking about our situation… you know, being exile from Earth and all. I was just thinking about what we’re going to do and whether we’ll be stuck living in this ship forever.”

She wanted to tell him that she understood for she had thought about it constantly for weeks now since they’d left Earth. And it was those exact fears, anxieties and worries that had her asking Captain Gloval for permission to go back to Earth to talk to the Council again.

Lisa wished she could share with him her plans but she dare not for she didn’t know what his reaction would be. She didn’t want him to misunderstood her motives and accuse her of abandoning the SDF-1 and everybody else on board because she could.

“So where are we going, Rick? You never mentioned what you had in mind,” she asked and hoped he hadn’t noticed her not commenting on his worried thoughts.

“There’s a an Italian restaurant two blocks from the Signature theater that I have been wanting to try but never could find the time so I thought tonight is as good of a time as ever. Do you mind?”

“No I don’t mind at all. In fact, I love Italian food,” she said and smiled brightly at him. For a moment there she was afraid he was going to suggest Chinese food.

----------------------------

“How’s your baked ziti, Lisa,” Rick asked, watching her eat.

“Delicious, the spicy sausages are wonderful, just the right blend of herbs and spices. I haven’t had a good pasta dish in ages. Thank you for taking me her, Rick.”

Rick only nodded and she wished that he would do more than pick at his food.

“Is the penne with artichokes and shrimp not to your liking?”

“No… I mean yes, it’s very good, I’m just not as hungry as I thought,” Rick said, his tone was more abstracted than she’d liked.

‘What is wrong?’ she asked herself. ‘Maybe he’s regretting it now for asking me to have dinner with him. Maybe he’s wishing I was his precious Minmei.’ With a heavy heart, Lisa lost her appetite and pushed her plate away.

“Rick, I’ll understand if we leave,” she looked at him, flushing. “I shouldn’t have accepted your invitation to dinner in the first place. It was a mistake; we both had a long day…”

“No!” he interrupted and then hesitated but continued, “Lisa, forgive me. It’s not you and I’m glad that you accepted my invitation. I’d wanted to ask you out for a while now but never could work up the courage. What do you say, we start over?”

He reached over and squeezed her hand.

The warmth of his hand on hers was so unexpected and uncharacteristic of their friendship that she tried not to gasp. She wondered if he realized what he had just done and for an instant, time stood still as their glaze met. He had beautiful eyes, with the thickest black lashes she’d ever seen.

“Lisa…”

She shut her eyes then unable to bare the caress in his voice for it hurt. It hurt because she knew she could never have what she wanted-- him! Lisa swallowed hard; she had been silent too long.

“Sure, Rick,” she replied in a polite tone and slowly withdrew her hand from his. “What do you say…”

“Lisa, believe me, it’s not you. It’s me. I’m just feeling kind of depressed lately. I don’t know. I feel like I have nothing else to look forward to. I feel so lost, not knowing where I’m going or what I’m going to do,” now that he’d started, he didn’t know how to stop, he just felt like he had to get it all out or he’ll never be able to breath freely again.

“If you were to tell me two years ago that I’ll end up in the service and become Skull leader, I would have flipped my birdie at you and have you committed,” quirking a smile at Lisa, he continued. But his tone quickly changed and looking into his blue eyes she could see pain and bewilderment.

“I’m only twenty-one, Lisa, barely old enough to drink legally yet I have survived more dogfights than I could remember. I have written so many condolence letters that I’ve stopped counting and been to so many funerals that it doesn’t even faze me anymore... and I hate that… what it is doing to me. I just want it to stop. Just for a minute. I want to feel free again without worries and fears. The burden of command-- how do you do it? How do you handle it?”

‘Careful, Lisa, she told herself sternly. ‘You’ll be in over your head if you’re not prudent. He’s not ready. Don’t mistake his need for sympathy and companionship for love. He doesn’t need your love, he has Minmei.’

“You learn to make the most of what you have, Rick. You keep going and doing what you’ve been trained to do. There’s no easy way and you have to look at the big picture too or you will lose sight of who you are and your perspectives.”

Then an idea hit her.

“Do you know what I do sometimes when I feel like the whole world is sitting on my shoulder and I don’t know what to do?

“You work harder?” he said without looking at her or thinking about it at all.

It hurt that he thought her boring and had no life or hobbies but her work. But it was partly true too so she let it pass. “No, lets get out of here and I’ll show you.”

----------------

“Come on, Hunter, don’t be a baby!”

“Easy for you to say, you’ve done this before,” he retorted back.

“It’s just like flying, Rick!” Lisa said and smiled at him. “You can do it! Focus, keep your balance and have courage; I promise I’ll catch you if you fall.” Her beautiful green eyes shone brightly with warmth and laughter that he couldn’t help it but want to go to where she was.

“Okay, you asked for it! Here I come!” Rick yelled and using the inside edges as she had taught him, he pushed himself out towards her. He could feel his balance giving away but he willed himself to remain standing.

“That’s it, Rick, you’re doing it! Bend your knees a bit more to keep your balance,” Lisa said encouragingly all the while backing up slowly, widening the gap between them.

“Not fair, Lisa! I saw you moving!”

“Did not!” she yelled and stuck her tongue out at him.

“Did too!” he hollered back and smiled at her playfulness.

What seemed like an eternity, Rick finally reached her and she caught hold of his arms; he spun them around without meaning to and he could feel her trying to balance his weight but failed and he felt them falling.

They both screamed and ended on the ice with her on top of him.

“Hey, I thought you said you were going to catch me if I fall. How come I’m the one whose butt is on the ice?” he teased and looked up at her with a glint of amusement in his eyes.

They both laughed and he found himself liking her on top of him. He could feel the heat of her body through their layers of clothing and smelled the clean, musky scent that was her. He especially liked her clear, thoughtful green eyes dancing with mirth and joy at him.

“I can’t believe you’ve never skated before, Rick. Where did you grow up that there’s no skating rink?” Lisa asked staring into his velvety blue eyes and feeling herself falling under his spell even deeper than before.

“Flying was all that I’ve ever wanted so everything else was kind of secondary,” he answered looking sheepish.

“Well, Hunter, you’re going to learn how to skate after tonight or my name isn’t Lisa Hayes!”

Getting off him, Lisa stood up and extended both of her hands to him. Rick grabbed her outreached hands and got up to stand next to her. She let go of his hands once he got his balance back and began skating backward-- putting some space between them.

“The main thing to keep, Rick, is your balance. Don’t think about skating, just move, like this…” and she proceeded to show him by gliding graceful around him. “Being your first time and all, I don’t expect the double axle or triple salchow but you should be able to move without falling.”

Coming up to him once again she took hold of both of his hands she smiled at him. “I’m going to be right in front of you, okay, and I’ll hold both of your hands until you get use to the ice and your balance.”

Doing a few backward swizzles, Lisa got them moving then she quickly changed to gliding backward. Looking at him, she saw the concentration and determination on his face and she smiled. But her dreamily smile quickly disappeared when she realized that she was leaving tomorrow and might never see him again.

Shaking the depressing thought away, she noticed that Rick was blending too much. “Look at me, Rick. Keep your eyes on me, don’t look down. Remember, shoulders are down, back is straight and your chin is up. Fight the urge to walk, Rick. To skate is to glide, not walk.”

After awhile, she let go of one of his hand and turned so she could be next to him, side by side. Slowly, she guided him around the rink twice.

“You’re doing great, Rick! You really are skating,” she exclaimed and slipped her hand from his.

Rick was so focused on keeping his balance and enjoying the knowledge that he was skating or gliding, as she’d said to notice that she was not holding his hand anymore. It wasn’t until she glided ahead of him and turned around to skate backward so she could watch him that he realized he was skating on his own.

A bit more cautious now, he bent his knees a bit when he noticed his balance swaying and skated after her-- awkwardly, but he didn’t care for he was gliding! After a while, he felt himself slowing down but didn’t bother to swizzles for he wanted to stop and watch Lisa.

She glided effortlessly across the ice. She crisscrossed corners with ease and even did a counter-clockwise spin that left his head spinning. However she did one move that took his breath away. He knew he would never forget it as long as he lived for it looked as if she was flying on top of the ice.

In the move, she had glided on one foot while raising the non-skating leg towards the back; the free leg was lifted almost vertical while her back was arched a little and her head came up instead of looking down at the ice.

As he stood in the middle of the rink and watched her he became enchanted with her. He’d never seen this beautifully feminine, gloriously graceful and sexy Lisa before and he didn’t think anyone else had either.

“That was something else, Lisa, what do you call that move you just made, the one where you had one of your foot in the air as you glided?” Rick said as Lisa came up to him and stopped in front of him.

“It’s called a spiral,” Lisa answered, her eyes bright and her face flushed with happiness.

-----------------

“So, tell me how you know the guy who owned the skating rink again,” Rick asked as he drank his coffee and gave her a sardonic smile.

After they had finished skating and Lisa had taught him how to round the corners of the rink without using both feet; he had suggested coffee and they had made their way to a café he frequently visits.

“When I was first assigned to the SDF-1, Sammie, Vanessa and Kim took me there on a lark to play a joke on me but what they didn’t know was that I used to take lessons when I was younger. Anyway, when Jim, the owner found out that I was the First Officer on the SDF-1, he and I kind of came to an agreement and I have been going there ever since whenever I could.”

“What kind of an agreement did you have with him?” Rick interrupted.

“Nothing devious or illegal, I assure you,” Lisa said, looking rather amused. “I got to skate for free and have the rink all to myself on Wednesdays when the place is closed. As for Jim, he gets to boast that he supports the RDF and is a friend of the First Office to his friends you know, publicity stuff.”

“What else do you do beautifully, Lisa that I don’t know about?” Rick asked with that little half-smile of his that she could never tell whether he was serious or amused.

There was an odd silence between them.

“I feel like such an idiot,” she said miserably after a while. “Here I thought I was helping you to forget about your worries when all I really did was show off what I could do that was better than you.” She couldn’t even bear to look at him; a sense of humiliation was growing in her chest.

“You have never been an idiot,” Rick said pushing his cup of coffee away from him. “Lisa, watching you skate tonight, I forgot everything else but you and I envied you; how you could just let the world go, even if for a moment, and enjoy something that you loved doing. I used to be able to do that with flying but it’s different now...”

Hearing the sincerity in his voice she wanted to cry.

“I... I also play the piano,” she said trying to break the mood and looked up to see his eyes on her, glowing with something she couldn’t quite recognize. And Lisa realized with a great thump of her heart again that she was irrevocably in love with Rick Hunter and would always be. She almost choke on her coffee, the realization was so clear and true!

I’m in love with him. I’m in love with Rick... I can’t deny it any longer.

“Rick, there’s something I have to tell you. But I can’t say it here. Can we go back to my quarters?”

State = Continuará/To Be Continue

feedback = Sí/Yes

email = lisa_vangATmsn.com