Robotech Macross: "What If...?"
Story 1 part 5
Day 3 continued....

Rick had decided to go on patrol, he needed to be flying in order to try and clear his wrecked mind a bit, but it didn't help. Everytime he called up to the now auxillary bridge, it reminded him of Lisa. Whenever he received coordinates, it reminded him of Lisa. Whenever he looked at his instruments and looked at the comm screen to the bridge, it reminded him of Lisa. He had hoped that each time he looked at that screen, he would see Lisa. But he didn't, and he realized that he wouldn't see her on that screen for quite some time.
He managed to clear everything from his mind for the next two hours, as hard as that was to do, in order to not lose concentration and either end up crashing into a wingman or crashing into the SDF-1. He was proud of himself for being crash-free for this patrol but he knew he would not be able to sustain his concentration for very long. He wondered if he should take some time off, but what would he do? He wanted to be by Lisa's bedside but it was just too difficult for him to stay there very long. Just being there in the room with her being practically lifeless made him feel as if his heart were being ripped out from his chest.
After landing and then going to shower and change, Rick headed to Mess Hall for dinner. He carried his tray back to his table but just picked at his food. He looked around him and saw people seemingly enjoying each others company. He watched couples in particular and remembered the many times when he and Lisa would come to the Mess to go over reports and schedules. A wave of emptiness came over him and he left his table and tossed his unfinished dinner into the trash.
Rick wandered aimlessly through the halls of the SDF-1 and ended up near the quarters of the bridge crews. He ended up in the hall where Lisa's quarters were located and went up to her door. 'Why didn't I stop by and see her when I had the chance?' Rick stared at the door and put his hand against the wall just to the right of the doorbell. He wondered if he should ring and hope for an improbable miracle, that Lisa would open the door and greet him with what he so longed to see for the past two days, bright green eyes and a smile.
The image of Lisa so strongly occupied all of Rick's thoughts at the moment that he didn't hear Sammie walk up.
"Hello Rick..." said Sammie quietly.
Rick turned around, his heart beating rapidly, not knowing who it was and hoping against hope that it was Lisa. Rick got his eyes to focus and he realized that it was Sammie who was standing in front of him.
"Sammie...uh...hi..." said Rick, trying to keep the disappointment out of his voice.
"I'm sorry, I hope I didn't startle you," replied Sammie, studying Rick's face and trying to get a gauge of his emotions.
Rick shook his head, "It's alright."
Sammie watched Rick and noticed a haunted look on his face, even his blue eyes, which always seemed to glow like neon, looked faded, worn out with despair.
"I guess you must be wondering what I'm doing here," said Rick as he turned around and leaned against the wall.
Sammie didn't know what to say so she just simply shrugged. She was indeed surprised to find Rick there, but after thinking about it, given what had happened for the past two days, it occurred to her that she shouldn't really be surprised. It also got her thinking about..just how much did Rick care for Lisa? She believed that it was much more than she or anyone, and maybe even Rick himself, had originally thought.
"I...I just couldn't stay away...I was here the day she went home sick, the day before the bridge was hit, and I had come to see if she was ok, but..." Rick stopped, took a deep breath, then sighed loudly.
"But...?" asked Sammie, impatient to know what happened.
Rick looked down at the ground and said quietly, "But...Minmei called and asked me to come over right then...so I did...I regret it, I really do."
Sammie was about to comment when she saw a few people walking in their direction, so she waited until they passed then said, "Rick, I don't think this is the best place to talk. It's shift-change time, lots of people will be coming and going. Why don't...why don't we go to my quarters and have some tea or coffee."
Rick shuffled his feet and mumbled, "It's alright, I don't want to bother you, you must be tired."
Sammie shook her head and said, "No, I'll be fine. Besides, it's kinda lonely there without Kim and Vanessa. We can keep each other company for a little while. I can show you our photoalbums, we've got quite a few pictures of Lisa I can show you, if you want to see them."
Rick looked up when he heard Lisa's name and nodded, "Ok, I'd very much like to see them."

Rick poured two cups of coffee and waited for Sammie to come out of the bathroom. When she came out, dressed in a comfortable set of sweats, she went to the bookshelf and pulled a few binders and set them down on the table.
"I'm sorry, I didn't ask how Kim and Vanessa are," said Rick as he noticed how quiet the room seemed to be without it's other two occupants.
"They're doing pretty good, I saw them before I came home. Kim will have to have some weeks of rehab, but she should be ok. Vanessa should be back on her feet sooner than Kim," replied Sammie as she took a sip of her coffee.
Rick put down his cup then picked up one of the photo albums and began to leaf through it.
"There's a Lisa section in the back," stated Sammie, "that's our album from when we all went to South Macross Island for a three-day vacation."
Rick quickly skipped to the back pages and eagerly looked over the various pictures. There was one with Lisa and Sammie, both wearing identical sunhats, waving at the camera. Then there was one of Lisa and Kim arm wrestling, then another one of Lisa manning the wheel of a small yacht, then another one of Lisa shopping. Rick noticed that in each picture, Lisa was smiling and seemed extremely happy, and it brought a smile to his face.
Sammie watched Rick and saw that he was entranced with the pictures and decided to play devil's advocate a bit, "Hey Rick, check this one out over here, this is the page from when we went swimming in the lagoon, look at the water, isn't it beautiful!?"
Rick looked over the page and first saw a picture of the Trio, Lisa, Claudia, and Roy, in swim attire. Lisa was standing behind Sammie, so he couldn't get a good look at what she looked like in her bathing suit. He looked at the next picture that had Sammie and Lisa and Sammie pointed to the picture and exclaimed, "Look! Don't we look great in our bathing suits?!"
Rick chuckled and then studied the picture more carefully but Sammie cut him off by saying, "Wait, you don't want to see me with my big butt, turn the page, there's some good ones of Lisa by herself. We teased her so much on that trip, we kept telling she should go try out for the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition, heehee."
Rick turned the page with anticipation and Sammie smiled as she saw Rick's eyes nearly pop out of his head.
"What did I tell you!" exclaimed Sammie. "Here here, look at this one. We wanted it to look just like one of those magazine pictures, so we made Lisa go back into the water and come out again, like 8 times, because we wanted to get the picture perfect. I think it looks great!"
Rick stared at the picture, it did indeed look like something from a magazine and Lisa did indeed look like a swimsuit model.
Sammie let a minute go by, watching Rick just sit and stare at the picture.
"I bet you never imagined Lisa could look like that huh Rick?" said Sammie quietly, not sure if she had any right to interfere in Rick and Lisa's relationship. She, Vanessa, and Kim had speculated that Lisa was in love with Rick and concluded that Lisa was keeping her distance because of Rick's involvement with Minmei. Although she found Rick annoying at times, he could be a very nice guy, not to mention that he was really cute, and even though Lisa was five years older than Rick, the Trio thought they made a perfect couple.
"She's...gorgeous," said Rick quietly, almost as a whisper to himself.
Sammie wanted to add that Lisa should've entered the Miss Macross contest but decided to keep her mouth shut for the time being.
"Um...Rick, if you want, you can have that picture. You can have any other ones of Lisa that you want too. Go ahead and pick out which ever ones you want," offered Sammie.
Rick nodded slowly and said quietly, "Yes, if you don't mind, I'd like that very much."
Sammie sat quietly for a few minutes and watched as Rick looked through the pages of photos, then decided to be a bit inquisitive, "Rick, can I ask you something? And you don't have to answer if you don't want to."
Rick looked at her, and thought for a moment, then said, "Sure, go ahead and ask whatever you want."
Sammie fidgeted slightly then asked, ""I...well...I was just surprised at how much you've been affected by all that's happened. I didn't think...uh...what I mean is...well, I know you must feel really bad about what happened, but it wasn't your fault..."
"Yes it is my fault Sammie," interrupted Rick.
"No, it isn't," said Sammie firmly, "even if Lisa hadn't gone to the front of the bridge, she'd still be the one closest to the breach."
Rick mulled it over for awhile and realized that Sammie was right, but that didn't disspate his guilt.
"You said you wanted to ask a question...?" said Rick flatly, wanting Sammie to come out and just ask what was on her mind.
Sammie began cautiously, "Oh, yeah, well...I guess my question is...how do you...feel about Lisa? I know you guys fight alot but when you don't, you seem to get along pretty well. I, and everyone else I guess, is just surprised that you were so upset, it was almost as if..."
"As if what?" Rick cut in.
"I don't know...it's just that I would expect Roy to act like that if it were Claudia, or Max if it were Miriya," explained Sammie, wondering if Rick understood what she was trying to hint at.
Rick looked at her with a perplexed look and she added, "Um...well I know you're involved with Minmei...so I guess if it were Minmei instead of Lisa you'd probably be even more upset..."
Sammie saw that Rick was completely confused and so she pretended to yawn and get rid of Rick before she stuck her foot in her mouth anymore than she already had.
She got up and went to get an envelope for the pictures Rick was going to take with him. As Sammie was placing the pictures in the envelope she said, "You know Rick, you're a really good friend. I'm sure Lisa would really appreciate all that you've done for her."
Rick stood up and had barely heard Sammie's last comment. He was too busy trying to answer the question, how did he feel about Lisa? Then he was also trying to figure out whether he would be even more upset if it were Minmei who had been injured rather than Lisa.
Rick's mind was a jumble and he shuffled out of Sammie's room, weakly thanking her for the pictures and wishing her a good night before heading back to the barracks.

Back in his small room, Rick changed his clothes and climbed up to his bunk and laid down and stared at the ceiling. He had thought about going to see Lisa again but he couldn't bring himself to do it.
As he stared at the ceiling, Sammie's question and comment kept alternating in his mind, how did he feel about Lisa? and would he be more upset if it were Minmei injured? He thought that the first question would be more difficult to answer. As for how he'd react if Minmei were injured... he tried to create the scenario in his mind and no matter how many times he tried, he didn't think he could feel that stinging pain of losing Minmei that he did when he thought about losing Lisa. Maybe it was because, even though he tried to dismiss the notion, the fact was that Minmei really didn't seem to care about him very much, at least not the way he wanted her to, and it made him feel hopeless most of the time.
Lisa, on the other hand, when she wasn't mad at him, was very concerned and interested to know what was going on in his life and how he was feeling and she eminated a deep, real, caring and compassionate vibe when he was with her.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Flashback ^^^^^^^^^^^^

Rick had just finished writing the condolance letter to Ben Dixon's parents, even though it couldn't be delivered until the SDF-1 was officially allowed to land on Earth and re-establish communications on the ground. Rick needed to write it, he felt it was his duty and thought that he personally should write it, instead of the Casualty Office, in order to make it more honorable to Ben's memory.
Rick wandered through Macross Central Park. It was near midnight and there was no one in sight. 'Good, I need to be alone...' Rick thought to himself.
Rick thought that maybe he should tell Minmei, since she had seen Ben a few times at the restaurant. Rick found a park bench and sat down and pulled out his cellphone.
"Hi Minmei," said Rick quietly.
"Hello, oh Rick hi. Listen, I was just about to go to sleep, I'm exhausted. Can you make it quick please," replied Minmei.
"Umm, yeah sure. I just wanted to let you know that Ben Dixon was killed in action yesterday," said Rick somberly.
"Ben Dixon?...Um, I'm sorry, I don't recognize the name," answered Minmei.
Rick looked at the phone in disbelief, then replied, "Ben Dixon, you know, my wingman. We had been to the restaurant several times."
"Oh...oh, the guy with the blue hair and glasses?" asked Minmei, still clueless.
"No Minmei, Ben, the tall stocky guy. The one who always ordered two steaks," replied Rick, starting to grow frustrated.
"Oh...gee, I'm sorry Rick, I've been so busy, it's as if my days at the restaurant were all a big blur, hehehe," said Minmei in a lighter manner than Rick thought appropriate.
'Doesn't she understand? Ben died!' thought Rick angrily.
"Well, I thought you would've remembered him, which is why I thought to call you and let you know, anyways, I'm sorry I took up your time, you have a good night Minmei," said Rick, trying to keep the anger out of his voice.
"I'm sorry Rick. You know, maybe if you go out and try and not think about it then you won't feel so bad, you know, like just put it behind you. Well anyways, thanks for calling Rick, goodnight," said an unaffected Minmei.
Rick heard the dialtone and was so angry that he felt like throwing his phone on the floor. Instead, he decided he'd head to the gym and hit the punching bag for awhile. He started stalking off and rounded the corner around a group of tall shrubs when he ran right into someone.
"I'm so sorry!" Rick apologized.
"It's alright, next time, I'll remember to wear my hockey gear whenever I'm walking out here," replied Lisa as she rubbed her shoulder.
"Lisa!" exclaimed Rick, surprised, that of all people, he should run into her.
Lisa gave him a small smile and shrugged as she continued to nurse her shoulder.
"I'm so sorry! It was so deserted out here I didn't think anyone else was here except me," explained Rick, then put a gentle hand on Lisa's shoulder and asked, "you're not hurt too badly are you? Do we need to go to the emergency room or something? I can take you if you want."
Lisa hesitated for a moment then answered, "No...thank you though, but I'll be fine."
Rick dropped his hands down at his side, "Damn, I'm really sorry Lisa. I guess I was just too preoccupied and upset that I just stormed through here without paying attention."
Rick saw Lisa's eyes register concern and even a bit of fright before she asked softly, "Why are you upset Rick? It must be about Ben, would you like to talk about it? I mean...if you want to."
Rick felt relieved that she offered to listen, in fact, he always felt relieved when she offered to listen to him, which was often, but he knew it was late and after he had seemingly injured her he didn't want to bother her further by keeping her up half the night listening to his grievances.
"That's so nice of you, but I don't want to keep you up, it's late and now I've bummed out your shoulder..." replied Rick apologetically.
Lisa shook her head, "Nonsense. You know that I'm always available to listen to you, no matter what time of the day."
Rick knew she meant what she said and looked around them and saw another park bench several dozen feet in front of them, so he gently put his hand on the back of her shoulder and escorted over to the bench. Once he was assured that Lisa was comfortably seated, he began his account of his phone conversation with Minmei.

"I'm sorry she wasn't more sympathetic Rick," replied Lisa quietly, after hearing Rick's story.
"Yeah, me too. Well, I guess I shouldn't be surprised. She seems to live in her own little world all the time," said Rick, leaning back against the bench, then he chuckled a bit and shook his head, "I guess that's Minmei for you."
Lisa remained quiet. Rick always noticed that, although there were many opportunities present in their conversations, Lisa never took any cheap shots at Minmei, even though she could have easily. Rick respected this about Lisa, he thought it showed a lot of class.
"I...I wrote the condolance letter before I came out here to the park," Rick said as he stood up. He then looked back at Lisa with a pained look that reflected the pain he felt and said, "That's one of the most difficult things I've ever had to do..."
Lisa watched as Rick covered his eyes with his right hand and bit out in a choked up voice, "Dammit, I miss him already..."
Lisa got up quickly, and despite the pain in her shoulder, wrapped her arms around Rick.
"Why? Why Ben?" asked a grieving Rick as he held onto Lisa.
"I'm sorry, I don't know why..." answered Lisa softly, emotion in her voice as well.
Rick held onto Lisa tightly, he felt so glad that she was there to hold onto, it comforted him knowing that he wasn't alone and that someone understood what he felt. He remained quiet for several more minutes, just letting his mind replay memories of Ben and then when he finished revisiting the past he turned his attention to the present. Lisa was still holding onto him and she had remained quiet throughout, just letting him be and grieve in peace, instead of trying to tell him to put it behind him and move on, like Minmei had told him to do. Lisa understood that it would take a long time to heal, and Rick appreciated that.
Rick let his senses take over and realized how good it felt to be in Lisa's arms. He didn't ever want to let go. She gave him a calmness and comfort that he couldn't feel from anyone else, not even Minmei. Minmei. What would she think of him being in the arms of another woman? He didn't care at this point, all he knew was that he didn't want to leave Lisa's embrace. He wondered what was going on in Lisa's mind and if she felt the same way about him, then he remembered that he had shoulder-checked Lisa earlier and blurted out, "Oh! You're shoulder! I'm sorry, did I squeeze you too tight? Did I hurt you?"
Lisa looked as if she were trying to hide a smile as she answered, "No, not at all Rick, in fact, I totally forgot about my shoulder, and...what do you know, it feels much better now."
Rick apologized again, "I'm so sorry,"
"It's alright," said Lisa as she held up her hand to halt him from apologizing again.
"So...what were you doing out here, just out of curiosity," asked Rick.
"I take a walk out here, once a week, just to be alone and have some peace and quiet to think about things," said Lisa as she looked at the ground.
Rick nodded his head, "Yeah, it's nice to have a place to escape to after a hectic day."
Lisa nodded and they both started walking towards their respective quarters, on the way there swapping stories about Ben. As they neared the floor for Rick's quarters, they stopped at a small lookout window and reflected for a little while, then Rick got ready to head to his room.
"Well, I...first of all, I want to apologize for hurting your shoulder. Please, if you are having trouble with it let me know and I'll come over and massage it or something, it's the least I can do," said a repentant Rick.
Lisa gave a tired smile and assured Rick that she would be fine.
As Rick turned to leave he stopped and turned back to Lisa and walked up closer to her, "Lisa...thank you. Thank you for being here for me. I really...really do appreciate it. I feel better now, sometimes it makes all the difference in the world to just have someone to listen to you and understand you," then Rick leaned over and gave Lisa a quick kiss on the cheek.
Lisa looked shocked and Rick wondered if maybe he shouldn't have kissed her, but Lisa quickly shook herself out of her stupor and said, in somewhat of a pained voice it occured to Rick, "You don't have to thank me. You know I'm here for you whenever you need me. I'm glad you're feeling better, and it is true, it does help to have someone to talk to." She looked as if she was about to give Rick a return kiss on the cheek but she she stopped herself and hurriedly said goodnight and quickly headed into the nearby elevator.
Rick sighed and headed to his room, wishing that Lisa was still there with him.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ End Flashback ^^^^^^^^^^^^

Rick rolled over on his side and tried to remember what it felt like to hold Lisa in his arms. How do you feel about Lisa? Sammie's question replayed itself over and over again. How did he feel about Lisa? He wished that he had an immediate answer but that was not possible at the moment. He felt too many emotions and they were so jumbled together that he couldn't possibly begin to make sense out of them all.
He grew restless just trying to think about one thing or another so he got down from his bunk and decided to look through the pictures he had received from Sammie. He liked all of them, especially the swimsuit one and one of Lisa sitting on the beach looking out over the ocean, a thoughtful, intelligent look on her face.
Rick turned on his computer and powered on his scanner and decided to enlarge some of the pictures so he could stick them on his wall. He had invested a fair amount of money on a good printer and scanner because he had collected a great deal of Minmei photos and would retouch them or enlarge them and print them out in his spare time. There was a large Minmei photo on the side wall nearest his bunk, but he felt he had grown tired of it and pulled it down. There was also another Minmei poster on his door, but he decided he was tired of that too and also took it down.
After Rick had completed all of his scanning he opened up his graphics program and had an idea of making a new desktop background wallpaper from the photos he had scanned. After about an hour of adding and arranging the pictures, adding tints and shadows and other special effects, Rick was satisfied with the Lisa-themed desktop wallpaper he had come up with.
He then enlarged and printed out his two favorite Lisa pictures and decided to call it a night, but first called the hospital to see how Lisa was doing.

"I'm afraid there's no change Rick," replied Dr. Jean Grant, the new medical intern, and Claudia Gran'ts sister-in-law.
"Ok. Well, please let me know if anything comes up," replied Rick with discouragement.
"I will Rick, you get some rest now, you've got a long trip ahead of you tommorrow," remarked Jean.
"Trip?? Oh s--t! I forgot! Thanks for reminding me," said Rick.
Jean added, "I think Captain Gloval said something about leaving a message for you at the check-in station."
"Message...I didn't even bother to ask them, ok, I'll go check now, thanks again!" said Rick before hanging up the phone and dashing out the door.

The orders were clear and simple, leave at 8am and pick up Admiral Hayes at Alaska Base and bring him back to the SDF-1.
Rick felt nervous. He had never heard much about Lisa's father and didn't know if he could make a good impression on the Admiral.
Rick set his alarm and decided to try and sleep instead of worrying.

* * * * * * *

"Nicholas, you have to be out of your mind, you just can run off whenever you want," said Blaine with annoyance.
Hayes pounded his fist on the table and shot to his feet, "Damn you, my daughter could be dying! Don't you understand?? Unless all of you suddenly forgot what it's like to have children."
Herbert reclined back in his chair and replied, "Of course we know what it's like to be a parent Nick, but they are old enough to take care of themselves. I'm sure they are taking extremely good care of your daughter aboard the SDF-1."
"Weren't you listening to what I said?! Lisa was nearly killed! I need to be there with her," said Hayes, flairing with anger and desperation.
Zukav turned to the rest of the Council and said calmly, "I think we can handle things here for awhile, until Nicholas gets back."
Councilman Blaine whined, "But Nick is the mastermind behind the Grand Cannon! What happens if we are attacked?? Then what are we going to do if he's stuck on the SDF-1??"
Edwards rolled his eyes in disgust at Blaine's cowardice.
"T.R. will remain here to help you incase that happens, although I highly doubt you'll have to worry about anything. I am going to the SDF-1, otherwise..." Hayes lingered on his sentence.
"Otherwise what?" asked Herbert.
Hayes glared at them all then answered, "Otherwise I shall resign."
The room erupted into chaos and everyone except Zukav and Edwards questioned Hayes' sanity. Finally Zukav got everyone to quiet down and said, "I am in favor of allowing Hayes this leave of absence."
The other council members looked at each other and thought it over for a moment. Hayes was their most valuable member and they knew it, Zukav was second most valuable because he was in charge of the very important European sector. It would be unwise to cross both men.
Herbert threw up his hands in resignation, "Alright, but make sure you get back here as soon as you can."

After the meeting, as Hayes was heading back to his quarters, Zukav caught up with him and the two walked down the hall.
"Thank you for your help Anton," said Hayes distractedly.
"It's quite alright Nick. I know what it is like to have children, and to lose them too," replied Zukav quietly, remember his own son that had been killed in action over six months ago.
Hayes nodded and remained silent.
"Your daughter is bright and tough, anyone can see that. I'm sure she'll make it through Nick," said Zukav as they neared his quarters.
"Thank you Anton."
Zukav punched his command code into the console and his door swished open. Before entering he shook Hayes hand and said confidently, "Godspeed to you and Lisa."
Hayes nodded his thanks and turned around slowly and headed to his quarters. On his way there he thought about what Zukav had said and wondered if maybe he should've gone the cowardly route, at least Lisa wouldn't be hurt right now. No. She wanted to carry on the family's military dynasty, and ever since she had joined up she had done the family name proud. She wasn't one to run away and hide from danger, he knew that when she applied for openings on the SDF-1. He hated the idea of her being on an alien ship, engaging in combat with an alien enemy, and his fears were verified when the SDF-1 was under constant barrage by the Zentraedi and when Lisa was taken as a POW. He thought maybe that incident might have rattled her into consider leaving the SDF-1, but it didn't, and although he continued to fear for her, he had to admit that he felt very proud of her.
So what was he going to do now? Was he going to bring her back home where he could send her to any medical specialist she needed? Or was he going to let her stay on the SDF-1, where she felt she belonged.
Nicholas Hayes sighed and decided not to worry about those questions for the moment, the most immediate thing that needed to be done was to make it up to the SDF-1 and be with her. He also wondered what this Rick Hunter guy was like, were he and Lisa dating? Was he Lisa's boyfriend? Surely after all they had been through together, the POW incident, the Mars Base rescue, surely they had become close. Hayes thought about it some more and realized that he already liked Rick Hunter. The fact that he had saved Lisa's life a couple of times made Hayes believe that Rick was a good, brave soldier, and he felt comforted to know that Lisa had someone to look out for her when he himself couldn't. Who knows, maybe Hunter might even become a son-in-law someday... Hayes shrugged and scolded himself for thinking too far in advance and so he shelved his thoughts and hurried to his quarters to get prepared for the morning flight to the SDF-1.

* * * * * * *

Day 4

"Hey there Rick," said Roy cautiously as he entered the locker room.
"Hi Roy," Rick said weakly.
"So...are you feeling ok about the flight? If you have second thoughts then just go ahead and let me know and I can cover for you," offered Roy.
Rick shook his head, "No, I'm fine Roy, thanks. I just...I don't know what I'm going to say when I meet Admiral Hayes... 'Oh geez, by the way, I'm sorry I am the reason for your daughter being seriously injured' ?"
Roy had expected this and decided to be more harsher in his reply this time, in the hopes that he could get Rick to quit his guilt-trip, so he pushed Rick up against the locker and stated, "Now enough of this bull---t! I don't want to hear you say that again. You had no control over what happened and didn't cause what happened either. Now I don't want to hear you go on and on with this crap anymore. Just get over it and concentrate on helping Lisa now instead of whining over the past!"
Rick cowered a bit, he knew it was always a bad thing to make Roy mad.
Roy let go of his grip on Rick's shirt and then calmly added, "You better hurry up, you're suppose to depart in 10 minutes."
Rick finished his equipment check then followed Roy out to the hanger. Before climbing into his plane, Rick looked back at Roy and asked, "Could you...could you tell Lisa that I'm going to pick up her father. I stopped by the hospital early this morning and asked how she was doing but I didn't have the heart to go in and see her. Could you tell her I'm sorry that I didn't come and see her this morning, but when I get back, I'll come and see her."
Roy said he would and as he watched Rick close the canopy he couldn't help but feel helpless and sad. Rick talked as if Lisa were wide awake and would hear and understand everything Rick asked him to tell Lisa, but the fact was that Jean had reported another 5 percent decrease in neurological activity this morning. They didn't tell Rick, because they didn't want to upset him before his flight and because they just didn't have the heart to tell him the latest news.

"How are you doing out there Rick?" asked Sammie, who was assisting as well as training for flight ops.
"I'm doing ok, I'm surprised it's so clear out here," replied Rick, wondering why there was no enemy movement.
"Yeah, well, shhhhh, don't knock on wood ok?" answered Sammie, looking over her shoulder to check on a radar monitor.
Rick managed to crack a smile and said, "From the looks of things, I should be at Alaska Base in about two hours. I'll sign off for now and contact you if anything comes up."
"Sure thing, talk to you later," replied Sammie.

"Lieutenant Hunter, this is Alaska Base, you are cleared to land on runway 17, over," said a male flight controller.
"Roger, prepared to land on runway 17, ETA 2 minutes, Hunter out," replied Rick, trying to sound calm. He was feeling the butterflies in his stomach and wondering if maybe he should've taken Roy up on his offer to be the one pickup Admiral Hayes. 'What do I do? Tell him now? Or later?' wondered Rick. 'Maybe everyone is right, maybe it's not entirely my fault...'
Rick taxied his plane until it finally came to a halt and then steered it towards the waiting hanger, stopping just outside the entrance. He took several deep breaths to calm his nerves, then did his post-flight instrument check and then disembarked from his VT.
As he stepped off the final rung of the ladder, he turned around and saw a tall man, whom he instantly assumed was Lisa's father, the man bearing a very strong resemblance to Lisa.
Rick saluted and said clearly, "Lieutenant Richard Hunter reporting to pilot Admiral Hayes back to the SDF-1, sir!"
Hayes returned Rick's salute and said, "At ease Lieutenant. Thank you for agreeing to be my pilot for this trip."
"It is my privilege and honor sir, thank you for requesting me," replied Rick, a little bit surprised at Hayes' lack of stuffiness.
Admiral Hayes nodded then motioned to several people in the hanger who then brought out a couple of trunks and began to load them into the cargo compartment of Rick's plane.
Admiral Hayes excused himself to give parting instructions to some of is aides and as Hayes was conversing with his officers, Rick waited near the ladder of his plane and observed.
From the looks of things, Rick estimated Admiral Hayes to be in his early fifties, maybe even very late forties. He had a full head of hair, the color being the same as Lisa's. He seemed to be around six feet tall and solidly built, but not overweight by any means and seemingly in good physical shape, save for what Rick thought was the slightest trace of a limp.
After Admiral Hayes had finished his conversations and his luggage was loaded up, he climbed into the co-pilot seat and fastened the various safety harnesses, then waited for Rick.
"Is everything alright back there Admiral?" asked Rick as he checked the instruments.
"Yes Lieutenant, everything is fine," replied Hayes as he looked out the window.
"If you need anything, just let me know," answered Rick, as he turned the plane towards the runway for takeoff.

The two made it back out into space without any incident. Rick had asked Admiral Hayes about Alaska Base and Hayes had obliged Rick by telling him all about the base and hoping that he didn't bore him with too many details.
Admiral Hayes was feeling a bit tired, having suffered from insomnia the entire night before, so he told Rick he would take a short nap, since they still had aways to go before landing on the SDF-1. Rick was relieved at the suggestion, not so much because he found Admiral Hayes unpleasant, on the contrary, he thought he was a very interesting person, but rather because Rick knew they were both avoiding the subject of Lisa. And when they finally did address that topic, it would be difficult for both of them.
Though he was exhausted, Admiral Hayes couldn't fall asleep, so he decided to rest his eyes and listened to the intermittent communications Rick had with the bridge. He noticed that Rick didn't chit-chat much with the bridge crew, and was actually very quiet and downcast, reminding him a bit of Lisa. He wondered how old Rick was, he thought for sure Lisa was older than Rick but that didn't concern him very much. He thought that Lisa and Rick made a nice couple, and secretly hoped that were dating. 'Lisa needs a good, caring, protective man in her life,' Admiral Hayes thought to himself, and as far as he was concerned, Lieutenant Rick Hunter fit the bill.

to be continued.........

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I'm still also working on my To the Stars chapter 21, that is only about 15% complete because I've been quite busy lately :(

and on that note...in fact, I need MORE Rick and Lisa stuff to read!! Please people!! Hmm...I wonder if I threatened to only update my stories only every other month if that will spur more people to write Rick & Lisa stories.... probably not, but it's worth a try! Mwahahahahahaha! Me so bad :) Who? Me kidding?? Nope! I'm serious! :)

PLEASE WRITE YOUR RICK-LISA STORIES OR UPDATE THE ONES YOU ALREADY HAVE ON HERE! :)