fanfic_name = The Sit. Room Incident

chapter = 21

author = Dwparsnip

Rating = AP15

Type = Romance

fanfic = Two days after Sue Graham’s visit, Lisa still hadn’t been able to remove the restraint on her left leg. It seemed as though it just didn’t want to let go of her.



The days had been long and full of anger, worry and sadness. Each day she would feel white-hot anger at Sue Graham for doing this to her. More than that, she would feel angry for what Graham was doing to Rick and her son by making them go through the grief and pain they were going through. As she thought of that she began to worry about the plans that Sue had concocted for them both. It was painfully obvious that Sue would do anything to get her hands on Rick, even use Roy to do it, and that was more than she could stand. Mind numbing sadness would invade her soul at the thought of Roy being used in such a way, and Rick being manipulated to be with someone like Graham. It would be those thoughts that turned her feelings back into anger, and the sequence would start again.



What really smothered Lisa’s spirit was the fact that those terrible feelings wouldn’t end when she went to sleep. On the contrary, they intensified. Her subconscious drew images that made her heart want to stop, just to keep the visions from hurting so much. Every night, she would dream of her husband and son, and every night those wonderful dreams would turn into nightmares in which Sue Graham maneuvered her way into their lives. The previous night had been the worst. She had been having such a wonderful dream. It started out warm and loving, with a family outing in an amusement park, such as used to be found on Earth. They were having a grand time and Roy wanted to go into the hall of mirrors, so they did. Her heart glowed as the little boy walked up to the many trick mirrors and made funny faces, laughing at his distorted reflections.



Lisa let him go about his business, and Rick moved off to study one of his own peculiar looking reflections. She found herself looking into a mirror that made her look shorter and chubbier than she was when she heard Roy call out to her. She laughed at her image and moved to where his voice was coming from, but no matter which way she went, a mirror blocked her path.  Finally she heard Roy’s voice very close by, talking as if she were next to him listening to every word. She moved to his voice and was blocked by yet another mirror…or so she thought. It wasn’t mirror, it was a panel window, and through it she could see Roy talking to Rick and someone else. The other person was knelt down and Roy was in between the person and Lisa, so she couldn’t get a good look at the woman, though she could see that she had long black hair. Her stomach began to churn as Roy leaned in and gave the person a kiss, and when Sue Graham stood up and kissed Rick on the cheek, she screamed…



…and she woke up screaming. It took her only a moment to remember where she was and to realize that it was a nightmare, but the dreadful feelings lingered all the same.



It was the most vicious of cycles. She would wake up from the nightmare, struggle to regain some sort of composure and strength, only to have it ripped away when she closed her eyes for the night.



She sat on the thermal blanket and rubbed her eyes. There had been no sign of Graham for three days. ‘She said she’d be back in a few days’, thought Lisa bitterly.



She leaned her head back against the wall. She hadn’t even bothered to turn on the light. ‘What’s the point?’, she thought dejectedly. ‘There’s nothing to see.’



She shook her head hard to remove those thoughts from her mind. She had to keep a constant vigil against the hopelessness that threatened to overwhelm her. She had to have faith that she would get out of this…she had to have faith that Rick would save her, as he had so many times before…she had to have faith that the universe wasn’t so cruel as to allow someone as evil as Sue Graham to triumph.



“Rick.” She closed her eyes and pictured Rick asleep in their bed. Every night before drifting off to sleep, she would tell Rick that she loved him.



“I love you, Rick…”

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Just as Lisa’s days had become uniform, a pattern also emerged in the life of Admiral Rick Hunter. He would be home in the company of either Max or Miriya, and they would talk for hours at a time about Lisa. He marveled at the discoveries he made about his wife just by listening to two of their closest friends. It really didn’t surprise him to find out what a special friend she was to them. After all, she had been his friend, his very good friend, for a long time before they became a couple. What had surprised him was the fact that he had forgotten how wonderful a friend she could be, having thought of her for so long primarily as his wife. The stories Max and Miriya shared with him made him laugh, made him cry and made him wonder. Most importantly though, they made him remember, or more to the point, they kept him from beginning to forget about her.



He realized it was only a few days after her death, but he feared that he would begin to forget her almost immediately; in fact it was his biggest fear. He was afraid that he would forget her fragrance, the sound of her laughter, the way she looked at him and the myriad of little things that she did that made him love her so much. But thanks to his friends, that all stayed with him. Rick realized that with them around, and with his own firm resolve to never forget any detail about Lisa, his biggest fear would never happen.



When he would begin to fall asleep, he would go to bed, and whoever had stayed with him would bunk on the couch or the recliner. While Rick felt guilty about the discomfort that Max and Miriya were going through, he was incredibly grateful for their support. He hadn’t heard either of them complain about it, not even when as they talked to each other when they thought that he was asleep or not paying attention. When he fell asleep, he dreamed.



As he woke up in the morning, he would try to focus on the visions of whatever dreams had visited him during the night. The dreams were always of Lisa, of course, and they were always full of love and joy. She was the writer, director and lead actress of every dream, with his only role being the spellbound audience…and he was completely happy with that. Like every great story throughout the ages, each dream of Lisa only made him want to see…to experience more. Every night in every dream, Lisa would tell him she loved him and to be strong. The details of the dream were so vivid…so real, that Rick almost felt her sleeping next to him.



It hurt so much to feel her presence so strongly, like she was just outside his reach. Every night he would hear her say that she loved him, as though she were lying next to him. That is until he reached across the bed to touch her and the emptiness in her place hit home like a sledgehammer to his chest.



After the inevitable period of a few minutes to pull himself together, he would head out to check on his company. They were usually still asleep, and Rick would be very careful not to disturb them, especially Miriya. Ever the night owl, Max was used to long nights and little sleep. Miriya on the other hand, could be a little cranky if she never got at least a decent night sleep. Max told him many times, and not always in jest, “You haven’t lived dangerously until you have lived with a sleep deprived, female Zentraedi fighter pilot.” To her credit, despite the late nights and early mornings, Miriya had been nothing but supportive and kind hearted.



He would begin breakfast and wait for Max or Miriya to wake up, after which time they would visit certain areas of the ship. One day it was the Sit. Room and the Bridge. Another day he went to Engineering and the Infirmary. He wouldn’t try to do too much, as several times certain memories of Lisa associated with whatever area he was visiting would threaten to overcome him.



During a visit to the Engineering section, he and Max passed by the Botanical Gardens and he had almost fallen to pieces in the corridor. He had stopped by the entrance, taking in the fragrances that invariably spilled out into the corridor from the gardens. The delicate scents reminded him of Lisa’s perfume and the bath oils she loved so much. He was doing fine until one of Fraser’s assistants walked by the entrance with a tray of red lilies in his hands, and as soon as he saw those beautiful flowers the memories of the night he had raided Fraser’s garden began to overwhelm him. The memories surged into his mind…raiding the garden, bringing Lisa breakfast in bed the next morning, talking to Amanda about how much he loved Lisa and joining Lisa in the tub after work. The raw emotions were physically hurting him. As he wavered and thought for sure that he was going to end up on the deck, he felt the supportive hand of Max on his arm, steadying him and bringing him back from the brink of emotional and physical collapse. Thankfully his faithful friend realized what was happening and was there to help pull him out of the tailspin he was in.



Just the day before he had tried to sneak out and head to the Sit. Room to check on things, leaving Miriya asleep in the recliner. He got half way to the Sit. Room when he felt her iron grip on his shoulder, and when he looked at her he would have laughed except the scowl on her face told him that would be …ill advised. She had woken up when the smell of coffee reached her, and realizing that Rick was gone she bolted after him without fixing her hair or washing the sleep from her eyes. By the time she had caught up to him, she looked as though she were quite capable of belting him if he said or did the wrong thing. He never said a word and started heading back to his quarters with her by his side.



After his visits, he would go back to his quarters and try to catch up on some paperwork, although he didn’t get much done. Every time he read something he thought of what Lisa would think of it, and that would be the end of work. He had considered several times going down to visit his son, but he didn’t want to disrupt the time with his friends, especially in the state he was in right now. Of course he spoke to Roy every day, and he had been in regular contact with the camp counselors, who said that Roy was doing exceptionally well under the circumstances. That gave Rick some comfort. Besides, he would see Roy at the service, and he would spend some time with him then…maybe visit a park or something. It was strange some of the thoughts that had entered his mind over the previous few days, almost as if the thoughts weren’t really his own.



After supper, he would sit in the company of Max or Miriya or both, and talk. The one or two times that he had tried to bring up a memorial service for Lisa, Miriya would change the subject by bringing up a particularly emotional memory of Lisa, and he would forget about it. It wouldn’t be until later that he would realize what had happened, and he would get angry with her…but then he remembered that it was hard on her too, and she was looking out for his emotional well-being.



‘The service’, he thought as he waited for Jean Grant to arrive. ‘There isn’t a ceremony special enough…’ He cut the thought off before he got emotional…again. It was another extremely annoying, common occurrence in the last few days…to have a thought and have to prematurely end it before he became overcome with grief and sorrow. He had to hold it together for another little while, he wanted to go and visit the last department he hadn’t been able to visit yet: Fleet Intelligence.



The thought of going there today made something in the back of his mind perk up and pay extra attention, and for a moment he couldn’t figure out why. ‘You know why, Rick’, he thought after that moment had passed. ‘Lisa told you to be careful around Sue, and you’re heading into her domain.’ He took a deep breath and blew it out. He couldn’t very well avoid that department. First of all, it was a major on-ship department which reported to him. Second, he couldn’t visit every other department on the ship and leave out one…it just wasn’t fair. Third, he wanted to talk to Woods. Vince said Woods hadn’t been checking in on the investigation as much as he should have been. Finally, he needed, despite his misgivings, to figure out what was going on with Graham. He and Max, after some consultation with Miriya, had come to the conclusion that Graham had not been truthful about her injured lip. While that in itself wasn’t something to get worked up over, her history and past activities in relation to him made any indiscretion on her part that much more suspicious.



A knock on his door interrupted his train of thought. When he opened the door Jean had the biggest, most genuine smile he had ever seen, and he couldn’t help but return it. “How are you, Jean?”



“I’m fine, Rick.” She lifted one eyebrow and asked, “How are you?”



He had known Jean Grant for a lot of years, so he could hear what only a few other people would have heard in her cheerful voice: concern. That was one of the things that he thought made Jean Grant the best doctor he had ever known. No matter how tired, upset, angry or frustrated Jean Grant was, she always sounded cheerful and never gave the impression that she was focused on anything else but her patient at that particular time. Add to that that she was extremely intelligent and tenacious when it came to helping people, and she became the best doctor the REF could have. He had asked Jean to go with him to Fleet Intelligence primarily to give Max and Miriya a break, though it wouldn’t hurt for her to take a look at Graham’s lip too.



Rick smiled and said honestly, “I’m doing okay, Jean. I’ve been better and I’ve been worse.”



Understanding showed in Jean’s eyes, and her smile never wavered as she said, “I know. You know if there’s anything we can do…”



Rick laughed and stepped out into the corridor, closing the door behind him. He looked at her and said, “I know, Jean.” He held out his arm, which she took, and as they started walking he said, “Jean, I want you to take a good look at Sue Graham’s lip…on the sly, that is. Don’t let her catch on that you’re really looking at it.” Though he couldn’t see it, he could feel Jean cast a questioning glance his way.



“When Max and I…” He stopped as two pilots walked by, and when he continued his voice was soft. “When Max and I visited the hangar deck the other day, Graham had a split lip, and we don’t buy her story. Just take a good look and tell me what you think.”



“Sure, Rick”, she said, not allowing the curiosity to show in her voice. “No problem. What was her story?”



Rick shook his head. “I want you to see it first and give me your unbiased opinion. I’ll tell you what she said after.”



A little hint of mischief flavored Jean’s voice as she responded. “All right there, Sherlock. Let’s see what we can see.”



Feeling up to her banter Rick responded, “Very well, my dear Watson.”



As they walked on towards Fleet Intelligence, the two friends shared a hearty laugh.

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Commander Sue Graham sat in her office in Fleet Intelligence trying to ignore the throbbing pain in her lip. ‘Two days and it still hurts like hell’, she thought with a little amusement and a lot of bitterness. More than that, it just wouldn’t stop bleeding. Just when she thought it had stopped she would forget about it for just a second and rub it, or it would reopen as she slept, as she showered…something would happen.



She thought constantly about her plans, when she could ignore her painful lip…going over every little detail and even modifying them in a few places.



Her biggest obstacle to being with Rick, namely Lisa, was under control for the time being. The next, and more immediate problem was Angie. Angie’s doubts and regrets about her role in the scheme seemed to have lessened in the last couple of days, but it was hard to say for certain. Angie had been avoiding Sue and Andrea, and the couple of times when either of them had managed to corner her, Angie was distant towards them. The stress of the situation was getting to her, and Andrea in particular had been trying very hard to get her to feel better about it all. That would soon end though, as Andrea would be leaving within a day or two to take up her new post as the senior personnel officer of Base Delta. It meant that Sue would have to keep an eye on Angie and take care of any problems that may arise from her, but having Andrea at Base Delta was a safety net she could no longer afford to be without.



Close behind Angie on the potential risk-o-meter came the Generals Sterling. Max Sterling was already suspicious of Sue. His not so subtle threat after he rescued her and Rick during the MED and the suspicion she could easily see in his eyes the other day on the hangar deck made that obvious. The actions of Miriya Sterling over the previous weeks also made it clear that she was also less than trusting of Sue. She would have to be more careful around them. Besides being ace pilots, both were highly intelligent, and very protective of Rick. And now they were Generals. The new rank complicated how she would be able to deal with them. Generals had more tools at their disposal in what she expected would be an all out offensive to keep her far away from Rick. As a Fleet Intelligence officer, she could stay out of the clutches of flight Captains, but it was going to be extremely difficult to not cross paths with the two Generals put in charge of the new Shadow fighter program.



Indeed, it would be impossible to avoid them now, especially if Woods granted her request to be the Fleet Intelligence officer assigned to the program. It would mean less flight time, but she would still get out there occasionally.



Max Sterling was the reason why she hadn’t been able to visit the MED Moon on her last patrol. She heard through the grapevine that he had been making some inquiries of the pilots about her…her actions, her attitudes, if she had been acting strangely. That in itself wasn’t a big problem, as she had been careful not to let any details slip out around anyone besides Grace and Marques. No, her problem came when Sterling talked to the one person who could tell him something that could be considered at the very least unusual: Lt. Roberts. He knew where she had been going whenever she had left the squadron during patrols, and someone as intelligent and suspicious as Sterling might start piecing together the puzzle and end her game prematurely.



But Roberts, not wanting to get Graham in trouble for whatever reason, told Sterling that she was a capable officer and a good pilot who followed orders. She wasn’t sure why Roberts hadn’t told Sterling about her trips to the moon. Some part of her mind suspected that it was because he had some sort of feelings for her, and because of those feelings, whatever they were, he didn’t want to see her get into any kind of trouble.



‘There could be a way to turn that to my advantage’, she realized.



A knock on her door interrupted her she came to attention when she found her CO, Major Woods, standing on the other side.



He motioned for her to relax, and as she did he said, “We have a special guest coming by in a few minutes, Commander. I would like all personnel front and center for this. Take care of it.” And with that he turned and walked back to his office.



Sue walked out into Fleet Intelligence and looked at Woods’ door as it closed. He had become withdrawn from his people, and even when he did associate with them he wasn’t his usual jolly self. He had become curt and very impatient with everything and everyone. The only time she tried to ask him about it he nearly took her head off, so she was very careful to refrain from even hinting at it again. She walked around telling the department commanders to prepare for a VIP, and as she did so she wondered who the visitor could be. ‘One of the Sterlings perhaps, trying to assert their newfound authority over the rest of us’, she thought sourly.



A minute later she had everyone alerted to the visit, and she stood near the door to Fleet Intelligence, surveying the massive department. Woods was a good CO and had been doing a fine job, but she took some pride into the improvements that she had made since her transfer.



She heard the door open behind her, took a deep breath and turned to regard their visitor. Her heart jumped up into her windpipe when she saw Rick. She recovered almost immediately, came to attention and then announced loudly, “Admiral on deck!”



All over the expansive room, activities ceased and people turned to face their Admiral and came to attention.



Rick looked around the room and said, “As you were everyone.” He turned his attention, out of necessity, not choice to the ranking officer present: Graham. “Major Woods is not around, Commander?”



“Ah, he’s ah…he’s in his office, sir.” She swallowed the lump in her throat and added, “If you’ll excuse me for a second sir, I’ll go and get him.” She took a step towards his office door.



“As you were, Commander”, said Rick. Graham stopped in her tracks and as he walked past her he added, “I’ll get him.



Sue watched attentively as Rick walked up to Woods’ door, gave a quick double knock and entered without waiting for permission from the room’s occupant.



Sue was so intent on watching Rick that she never even noticed that she was the object of someone else’s concentrated gaze.

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Rick knocked on the door, opened it and walked in without waiting for permission. He closed the door behind him and sized up the person sitting behind the desk. Woods looked as though he were asleep with his eyes wide open. Rick cleared his throat and said, “What’s up, Tim?”



Woods jumped a little, startled to find the highest-ranking officer of the REF in his office, and shocked that he hadn’t even heard Rick Hunter come in. He stood up immediately and cracked his knee off his desk, but despite the pain in his knee, he stood at attention, trying very hard not to let the red hot flush go to his cheeks.



“As you were, Tim”, said Rick as he motioned for Woods to sit. As Woods lowered himself carefully into his chair Rick said, “I’m sorry I surprised you, Tim. Are you all right?”



Rick wasn’t sure what to expect from Woods. He knew him of course, but not as well as some of the other department heads. Rick recalled his knowledge of Woods. ‘Middle-aged, never married, career officer, been head of Fleet Intelligence for years, worked with Lisa aboard the SDF-1…Lisa.’



That was it. Lisa knew Timothy Woods and knew him well. In a gentle voice Rick said, “Tim, there was nothing…”



Woods quickly looked up to Rick and said harshly, “I am responsible, Admiral. What’s the saying…’The buck stops here?’ Lisa is dead because Fleet Intelligence failed to sniff out and eliminate any potential risks. The responsibility is mine.” When he finished he lowered his eyes to his desk. “The failure was mine.”



Rick looked at Woods and felt nothing but compassion for the man. “Tim, listen to me very carefully. There was no reason to believe the shuttle would be targeted. Come on Tim! I see the intelligence reports every day, from Fleet Intelligence and from the other departments. Fleet Security had no idea; Base Alpha security and intelligence had no indication at all that this was going to happen. No one had any idea this was going to happen. Tim…this isn’t your fault.”



Rick watched as Woods slowly shook his head. “Tim, I need you get tough. I need you to command this department.” Rick saw that Woods still wouldn’t look at him. “Tim!”, Rick almost shouted. Woods looked up and Rick seized the chance and looked Woods square in the eyes and said, “I need you to help me catch whoever did this…for Lisa.”



Rick watched as a new look came over Woods’ face, a look of newfound purpose and determination.



Woods stood up slowly, looked at Rick as he walked towards him and said confidently, “We will find who did this, sir…I swear it.”



Rick nodded his head. When Woods reached him he put his right hand on Woods’ shoulder and said, “Good. Now come and escort me around your department, Major, so we can both get back to the important stuff.”



“With pleasure, sir.”



A moment later Admiral Hunter was walking around Fleet Intelligence, escorted by Woods, Graham and Jean.

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After Rick and Dr. Grant had left, Major Woods assembled the Fleet Intelligence staff together in the main conference room. He seemed more like himself since Rick visited him in his office, and Sue was glad to see it. She genuinely liked Woods.



When he entered the room, everyone turned their attention to their CO. He looked around and began, “As of now Fleet Intelligence exists for only one purpose: to find out what happened to Admiral Lisa Hunter’s shuttle. With the exception of a couple of extremely sensitive ops, all other operations are suspended or cancelled, depending on their individual importance and what stages they are in.”



Sue felt the blood drain from her face, but she kept her focus on Woods, as was expected of her.



“Captain Grant has assured me that salvage teams will have recovered all of the shuttle pieces by tomorrow morning in cargo bay three. Our experts have already determined that the shuttle explosion was not an accident, nor was the explosion of the Alpha on Base Alpha. The salvaged remains of that Alpha will be ferried up to cargo bay three as well, for comparative analysis of the blast patterns and so forth. I have requested assistance from explosive experts from Tirol and Kabarra…they will also arrive tomorrow.” Woods looked around at his people. “It will take the engineers a couple of days at best to go over the wreckage and to some preliminary reassembling of shuttle. We will use those days to do the necessary research and assimilate what information we already have.”



He looked down to the folder he had in his hand for a moment, and then looked back up. When he did Sue was sickened to notice that his gaze fell to her.



“I will be leading this investigation personally from now on. All information will flow through me, no exceptions. I want to know anything and everything, right down to the tiniest detail. Commander Graham, since I will be devoting my full attention to this investigation, I am turning operational command of Fleet Intelligence to you. I’ll brief you on the operations that need to be kept ongoing. It’ll probably keep you from flying for a while, but that’s it.”



He paused and looked around at the faces of the people assembled before him once again. “We will find out what happened. We will find out who is responsible for these murders. We will bring the person or persons responsible to justice. Is that clear?”



The Fleet Intelligence staff murmured their affirmation of his statements. Not at all satisfied with the halfhearted response, Woods sighed loudly. “I am perturbed by the apparent lack of enthusiasm for this endeavor”, he began with a vicious joviality. “I promise that if I find anyone gliding through this investigation or not doing his or her absolute best to find out who did this, I’ll have their bars decorating my office wall, along with a fair sized chunk of their hide.” He let his not so delicate threat sink in for a second and then repeated, “We will find out what happened. We will find out who is responsible for these murders. We will bring the person or persons to justice. Is that clear?”



“YES, SIR”, came their collective response.



Satisfied he had made his point, Major Timothy Woods departed from the conference room and headed for his office to plan his schedule, and totally unaware of the havoc he had just thrown into the life of Sue Graham.

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As they walked arm in arm through the corridors of the SDF-3 towards his quarters, Rick looked Jean and asked, “Well Watson…what did you deduce about the injury of one Sue Graham?”



Jean smiled and responded in kind. “Well Holmes, I deduce that her injury was most likely caused by a blow to the face. A relatively small object would have caused the blow, as the injury appeared to be localized to a certain area, a small area at that. I could see no other injuries. For example, her nasal area, chin or cheeks…even her top lip all appeared to be undamaged and unmarked.”



Rick’s head was hurting. He let loose a sigh and asked, “In other words, Jean?”



She smiled. “If I had to guess, Rick, I’d say that someone gave her a petty solid smack to her kisser.”



It was Rick’s turn to smile. “So, someone hit her?”



“That’s my opinion”, said Jean. “Now keep in mind I didn’t get the closest of looks. What did she say happened?”



Rick told her the story Graham had given him and Max when he had asked on the hangar deck, and even before he had finished, Jean was shaking her head.



“Not a chance that caused her injury, Rick.” She thought for a second. “I’ve very seldom heard of that type of injury for starters. But if that did happen, she would have done more than split her bottom lip. Something else would have impacted the fuselage as well. If her head were tilted up, her chin would have hit too. If it were tilted down, her top lip would have hit, and maybe her nose as well. If her head were tilted to either side, the injury wouldn’t have happened to the front part of her lip, but to the side of her mouth and her cheek. If she hit flush, both lips at the very least would have been traumatized.” Jean paused for a moment and then said confidently, “No. What hit her would have been the size of a fist…maybe a little bigger, but not much bigger.”



Rick nodded absently, going over in his mind the possible reasons for someone wanting to hit Graham. As far as he knew, and from Max and Miriya could find out, she had been keeping out of trouble, performing well in Fleet Intelligence and as a pilot with Pegasus. Lieutenant Roberts in particular had been quite adamant that she was an exemplary officer and pilot.



‘Miriya might take a crack at her if the right circumstances presented themselves to her’, he thought with mild amusement. ‘But she would have told me or Max. Max wouldn’t touch her physically without severe provocation. The only person I could think of that would want to physically harm Sue Graham would be… Lisa…’

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The pain in Sue’s injured lip was approaching tortuous proportions.



‘Of course it could be the fact that I just got grounded’, she thought, but she shook her head as she realized the truth. ‘No, it’s more than that.’



Sue leaned back in her chair and went over the talk she had with Woods after the meeting proper. Actually, it could be classified more as the talk he had with her. She didn’t get to say much…Woods was like a man on a mission.



Woods’ new attitude towards the investigation and her place away from that investigation were troublesome. Woods was incredibly intelligent, and if he focused all of that intelligence into the investigation, he would find out what happened, no matter how careful she had been. And the explosive expert from Tirol…



Her tongue gently probed her bottom lip, and when she tasted that telltale copper flavor she once again, for what seemed to be the millionth time, cursed her lips inability to heal. She reached down and took a tissue out of the box on her desk and wiped the blood from her lip. She contemplated going to the infirmary to have it looked at, but she decided against it. There would be questions asked that she wasn’t prepared to answer.



Then there was Rick. He never touched her today, not once. He barely even acknowledged her presence.



‘Of course he couldn’t’, she thought. ‘He is supposed to be grieving.’ That would change. If she could spend time with him…if Woods didn’t figure it all out…if the Sterlings would mind their own business…if Angie wouldn’t…



‘NO!’, she screamed at herself as she shook her head in an effort to remove those negative thoughts. ‘No more ifs, Sue…it’s all or nothing now.’



She shook her head again and amended, ‘It’s Rick…it’s me and Rick.’

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Rick looked at himself in the mirror of his bathroom, once again sizing up the gray hairs and lines around his eyes. ‘It’s not getting any better’, he realized sadly. He looked at his reflection and asked, ‘And it’s not going to…is it?’  He waited for an answer. His image declined to respond, of course, and he managed to laugh at himself a little. He didn’t need anyone or anything to tell him that the pain would never go away. Even after all these years, the deaths of Roy and Ben still affected him, as did the deaths of his parents.



Rick stood up, straightened his uniform and opened the bathroom door. When he walked out into the living room, he looked at each of his friends. Max, Miriya, Jean and Vince were all sitting down, watching him carefully.



Rick Hunter took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “It’s time.” His friends looked at him, and one by one he looked at them for their agreement, until he finally arrived at Miriya, who hung her head, foreshadowing the grief and sadness the topic of Lisa’s memorial service would evoke in them all. Rick looked upon the beautiful Zentraedi with unadulterated sympathy. He knew it would be extremely difficult for her… the conversations they had recently left no doubt about it. If she said no, he would wait, out of respect for her and all that she had done for his wife, and for him.



Finally she looked up, and with a steady but emotion filled voice she said quietly, “Yes…it is time.”



Rick smiled, for her benefit more than any other reason, and took the seat next to her. For the next couple of hours, Rick Hunter planned the service that would be forever etched in his mind, heart and soul as his final good-bye to the woman he loved so much.















State = Continuará/To Be Continue

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