Waning Hours of a Rainy Night
Rating: AP13
Summary: This is based on the episode "A Rainy Night." You know how Rick picks Lisa up at Claudia's, and the two of them go back to his place and have some kind of heart to heart? You know how we don't get to actually see that scene? To hell with that! Here it is, for your reading enjoyment.
Lisa Hayes busied herself with the simple task of brewing
a pot of tea, trying desperately to keep her hands from shaking.
Only a short time before she had wanted to talk to Rick more than
anything in the world, but now that the moment was actually
upon her, she still didn't know exactly what it was that she
wanted to say. Or how she would ever manage to say it, for
that matter. She could hear him in the living room, sporadically
clearing his throat and pacing from one side of the room to
the other.
Well, at least he was as nervous as she was.
Of course, she reflected, he still has me at a disadvantage.
He's not embarrassingly drunk on cheap burgundy. How
many glasses had she downed at Claudia's? She'd lost track
after the first couple of hours. Her brain was still swimming in a
dreamy haze of alcohol-induced stupor. Granted, the current
situation had gone a long way toward sobering her up, but
she was still more than a little tipsy.
When the kettle started whistling, emitting a high-pitched
squeal that cut right through the fog clouding her brain,
she removed it from the heat and poured two cups of tea.
It occurred to her that there was something vaguely pathetic
about the fact that neither one of them saw anything unusual
in her commandeering Rick's kitchen. It was a routine that both of
them had become all too used to. She bit back a bitter laugh.
A lot of good all that caring for him had done for her so far.
She cut short that line of thinking. She was here with him now,
and he apparently wanted to talk. Maybe, just maybe, he wanted
to talk about the same things she did. She could sense the tension
radiating off of him, and took it as a sign that he was preparing
himself for a heavy discussion.
Well, she thought finally, here goes nothing. She took a deep
breath and picked up the teacups, then navigated her way into
the living room, concentrating on putting one foot in front of
the other without falling over. My tolerance for alcohol would
put a five-year old to shame, she thought self-mockingly.
Rick stopped in mid-pace when he spotted her. "Smells great,"
he said cautiously.
She narrowed her eyes at him. What the hell was he talking about?
It was tea, for Pete's sake. She felt herself starting to sway and
quickly set the cups down on the coffee table, then threw herself
onto the couch gratefully. "Help yourself," she murmured.
She realized she wasn't referring to the tea, and suppressed a
drunken giggle.
"Thanks." Rick sat down in the armchair next to the couch and
sipped carefully. He was a bundle of nerves and he hoped against
hope that the tea would help calm him down a bit. Everything
had seemed so crystal clear an hour ago; but now that she was here,
with him, he felt himself getting tongue-tied once more.
To top things off, Lisa was acting weird. He could smell
the distinct aroma of alcohol on her and had a suspicion that
she was more than a little drunk. He had dark visions of
Lisa and Claudia getting shit-faced while gleefully mocking him
and his recent behavior. The thought did not help to put him
at ease.
"The tea is good," he said nervously.
"Rick, all I did was berl...I mean, boil the water," she said,
slurring her words a little.
"Er, right."
They sat in utter silence for a full minute. Then:
"Lisa --"
"Rick --"
She smiled at him, that trademark slow smile of hers, and Rick
felt his heart pound a little faster. She really has no idea of the
effect she has on me, he thought with a touch of disbelief..
Doesn't know that in her own way she has as strong a physical pull on
me as Minmei does. Maybe because I haven't shown her often
enough. "Is it all right if I go first?" he asked. She nodded.
He stared down at his cup of tea, trying to gather his thoughts,
trying to put into words the emotions that had been consuming him
all evening. I guess the best thing is to just come out and say it,
he decided.
"Lisa, I know we've been having a lot of problems lately, even more than
usual. And I know that a lot of that is my fault. I haven't been as honest
with you as I should have, I guess. Maybe it's because I wasn't even sure
what I was feeling. But I did a lot of thinking tonight, and I think I had some
sort of epiphany." He glanced up at her, but she remained quiet, frozen
still.
"Maybe that sounds too dramatic, I don't know." He shrugged.
"But I realized that you're the one I want to talk to at the end of the day,
you're the one whose face I want to see when I've been mopping
up malcontents for twenty-four hours straight. You're the person
whose input I want when I have an idea, or whose shoulder I want
to cry on when I'm depressed.
"Lisa, my relationship with you...it's the most important one in my
life."
There, it was done. Now that he'd said it he held his breath,
bracing himself for her reaction.
Lisa was stunned. He'd never been so forthright with her
before, and it touched her so strongly it hurt. She could feel the
tears stinging her eyes, and for once she made no attempt to
hold them back.
And yet while her soul sang to hear him say those words, a
part of her seethed and mourned. Still no "I love you." Three
simple words, but with too much weight behind them for him to
bear.
Face it, sister, she said to herself, slurring the words inside her
head. That's never going to happen. Not as long as Minmei
draws breath.
And so, instead of telling him what she had wanted to say, instead
of revealing the true nature of her heart, she said, "I feel the same
way, Rick. You're...you're the most impertinent..." She broke
off, a sharp laugh escaping at her flub, and Rick grinned in return.
"...most important person in my life."
Rick smiled happily at her, trying to fight back a wave of relief
that Lisa hadn't taken the opportunity to confess some sort of
undying love for him. He just wasn't ready to handle that yet;
he wasn't sure he ever would be.
Nonetheless, the fact that he had finally told her how special she
was to him...he felt freer, somehow. Lighter. Almost giddy. And
very, very aroused.
Lisa, oblivious to his reaction, forged on. "And I'm sorry that we've
been biting...fighting so much lately." God, never again will I get
drunk with Claudia, she told herself. "I wanted to talk to you today,
but then when you reported in you were so angry, and when you
pulled that stunt with Vanessa..." She trailed off, still too annoyed
with him over that bit of childishness to continue.
"That was totally out of line and completely lame," he admitted.
"I'm...I'm sorry."
Lisa blinked. Rick Hunter actually realized that he'd acted like a jerk?
Apparently he had been doing a lot of thinking. "So where do we go
from here?" she whispered finally, almost dreading his answer.
"I, uh, I don't know," he said truthfully. He knew that Lisa was
incredibly important to him, but his feelings for Minmei still lingered.
Sometimes it felt as if that bittersweet yearning would never leave him.
Lisa shook her head, feeling oddly resigned to her fate. She
knew where she wanted to go, but obviously Rick was not yet
ready to make that trip with her. He quite possibly never would be.
As she was trying to sort through her jumbled mind to come up
with a suitable response, a way to tell him that she accepted how
he felt and would make the best of it, Rick got up from his seat
and moved to sit next to her on the couch, his movements
purposeful, his eyes glinting with desire. She knew what he
had in mind and was powerless to stop it. Didn't want to stop it.
Wanted him, then, more than she ever had.
And when he kissed her, his hands reaching for the buttons of her
blouse, she surrendered to him willingly, giving him everything he
was ready to take.

end.