Robotech Macross: What If...?: "On My Way to You"
Part 6

Day 4 continued...

As Rick rolled into the loading bay, Captain Gloval and Sammie were already there waiting for him and his important passenger.
Admiral Hayes finished climbing down from the ladder and Gloval and Sammie snapped their salutes. Hayes saluted back then Gloval said, "Welcome aboard, I had hoped that the next time you visited us, it would have been under better circumstances."
Admiral Hayes nodded and watched as the flight crew unloaded his luggage. He didn't know what to say or feel at the moment, he didn't blame Gloval for Lisa being in danger, but he just couldn't get over the constant frustration he felt since the SDF-1 moved into harms way the day the Zentraedi attacked. Hayes wanted to immediatly remove Lisa from the ship, but Gloval had been adamant about not letting go of his First Officer, and the ensuing events over the many months hadn't eased Hayes' worry. 'This is the assignment she wanted, and she was an integral part to the SDF-1's survival...'
"Sir, I shall show you to your room now," said Sammie meekly, suddenly shy in front of such an important man.
"Thank you Sammie," replied Hayes and followed her down the hall. He had met Sammie once before, but Lisa had mentioned her a few times, as well as the other bridge crewmembers, so Hayes had somewhat an idea of what they were like.

Admiral Hayes changed into his uniform then Sammie escorted him to the hospital. He had insisted that that be the first thing he do when he arrived on the SDF-1. First and foremost, he was here to see his daughter, he wasn not here on business, so all other work-related issues would have to take a backseat for the time being.
When they arrived at the hospital, Wells greeted them in the waiting room of the ICU, then told Sammie she could be excused and that Wells himself would take care of everything else. Sammie nodded and told Admiral Hayes that if he needed anything that he could phone her and when he was ready to leave, she would escort him back to his quarters.
Hayes and Wells stood in the waiting room in silence for a few moments, then Wells held out his hand and Hayes shook it as Wells said, "Nice to see you again Nick, it's been awhile. I wish this meeting were under better circumstances." Hayes nodded. He was getting sick and tired of hearing that, already he had heard it at least half a dozen times from various people he met on the way to the hospital, 'Nice to see you again Admiral, too bad it's under bad circumstances, as in, your daughter being near death.'
Wells decided to not waste anymore time and said quietly, "Well, let me show you to Lisa's room."
Hayes followed, his gait still upright and distinguished, but his expression on his face betraying the fear and apprehension that was brewing inside him.
Wells led Hayes to the door of Lisa's room and said, "I'll be at the nurses station if you need me," then turned the door handle and opened the door just a crack and then left.
Nicholas Hayes stared at the door handle, he was afraid to touch it, afraid to open the door and possibly find his daughter a mere shell of what she used to be, or worse, to find her beyond hope or help.
From his vantage point near the door to the ICU unit, Rick could see that Admiral Hayes was having trouble. Rick had followed Sammie and Admiral Hayes to the hospital but had kept his distance. He wanted to talk to Admiral Hayes, to try and explain what happened, but he would wait until the Admiral got a chance to visit with Lisa first. Rick was afraid of what Hayes might think, say, or do to him, but he had to tell him what happened, because his conscious would eat at him if he didn't.
'Don't be a coward Hayes, your little girl needs you now.' Hayes' inner voice berated himself for hesitating, so he took a deep breath, then slowly pushed the door open and heard the whirring and beeping of the various medical machinery that surrounded Lisa.
He closed the door behind him then walked slowly towards her bed, afraid to look at her, but when he did look down, he could not help but feel a bit relieved. Aside from a few scratches and bruises, Lisa looked the same as when he last saw her.
Hayes sat down on the chair and pulled it closer to the edge of Lisa's bed and gently took he hand. He couldn't remember the last time he had held her hand, but he knew it was at least two years ago, maybe right before the SDF-1 had departed on it's maiden voyage.
Hayes realized that Lisa's hand was somewhat cold and it brought back flashbacks of the times he'd sit with his wife, her hand being a bit colder than Lisa's was right now. He stood up quickly, his hand still grasping Lisa's. His heart was pounding and he took a few deep breaths and forced himself to try and calm down. He had already lost his wife, he sure as hell wasn't going to lose Lisa as well.
He sat down again and calmed himself down before saying, "Lisa...it's me...dad." He felt the knot form in his throat. Lisa hadn't called him 'dad' since she was 14 years old. It has always been the very formal term 'father', and most recently it wasn't even 'father,' it was 'Admiral.' Hayes shuddered, a pit forming in his stomach and a cold chill running through him as he made the realization that he and Lisa had grown so far apart.
He cleared his throat and began again, "Lisa, it's me...dad. I came as soon as I heard what happened. Because, you know, nothing will keep me away from my little girl whenever she needs me."
Hayes waited, but all he heard were the beeps and buzzes. He remembered the time when he visited Lisa in the hospital after she and Roy had been nearly shot down. She was unconscious then too, for about a week, and looked very much like she did now, but she pulled through then. 'And she can pull through now,' Hayes thought to himself.

Lisa felt someone holding her hand, but she couldn't think of who it could be. She also heard someone talking to her but she couldn't make out what they were saying or who it was that was speaking. Whoever it was, she felt comforted to know someone was there with her. She was feeling much colder than she had been before, and she had resigned herself to it.

"You know, while I was walking up here, I was thinking about the time when you were 12 years old and I tried to teach you how to drive and we ended up sinking the car. That was something, Lisa do you remember?" asked Admiral Hayes.

'Lisa, do you remember?' Lisa knew that she knew that voice, it sounded so familiar, but something was different about it somehow.

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

"Dad! You're home early!" shouted an overjoyed Lisa as she ran down the stairs and jumped into her father's waiting arms.
"Well, I did promise you that I'd try and make it home earlier didn't I?" said Nick Hayes with a smile as he put Lisa back down.
"But you were only gone for 2 hours!" said a confused Lisa.
"Did you want me to go back to work and come back later?" teased Hayes, and he started walking back to his car.
Lisa tugged his arm and rolled her eyes, "Daaaaaaad!"
Hayes laughed and held his daughters hand as they headed into the house. After eating lunch, the father and daughter went to the garage to figure out which car would be least missed if it happened to end up as a pile of junk. Hayes decided to pick an Audi sedan, figuring that even though he would miss it, it would be a good car for Lisa to train on.
"Dad, are you sure you want to use this car?" asked an apprehensive Lisa as they drove towards the small lake.
"It's fine honey, don't worry about it," answered Hayes.
"Ok, but don't say I told you so," retorted Lisa.
Hayes chuckled and mussed up Lisa's hair, eliciting a light complaint from her, "Dad!"
Hayes laughed again then pulled the car near the grand oak tree and got out and waited. When he saw Lisa hesitate he smirked and said, "What's the matter, I thought you couldn't wait to drive?"
Lisa, never one to back down from a challenge, quickly unbuckled her seat belt and got out of the car and came around to the driver's side and buckled herself in and started up the car and replied, "Ok mister, the taxi driver is here now, get in or you'll be left on the road eating my dust."
Hayes rolled his eyes and smiled and got into the passenger seat and buckled himself in saying, "I wish I had put an extra seatbelt on this seat."
Lisa glared at him but he could see a smile trying to crack through the fake glare and in a few moments they were both laughing.
"Ok Lisa, take us back to the road," said Hayes as he looked around and tried to figure out how Lisa would carry out the instruction. "Do you want me to go over it step-by-step with you?" he asked.
"No I think I will be ok," replied Lisa, hands clamped tightly onto the steering wheel.
Hayes shrugged and waited. Lisa looked around and tried to figure out her course of action. She could either, head forward and make a left turn, although that would have her turning very close to the bank of the lake, or, she could back up around the tree and then head forward onto the road. She decided it was safer to back up so she put the gear in reverse and stepped on the gas pedal.

BANG!!!
"Oh s--t!" moaned Lisa as she looked in her rear view mirror and saw nothing but a large tree trunk. She looked over at her father with a guilty expression and saw that he was laughing.
"Dad! Why are you laughing?! Aren't you mad I wrecked your car?" asked a perplexed Lisa.
Still laughing, Hayes shook his head and said, "Don't worry about it...that's a strong bumper back there. I think you are pointing in the direction that you want to go in now, so put it in drive and head out onto the road."
"Roger!" replied Lisa.

They managed to drive around the estate several times without any further mishap. Hayes would've taken the opportunity to tell Lisa some more of his Navy hijinks stories but he wanted her to be able to concentrate, so he kept quiet and only spoke to give her instructions every now and then.
"Well, I think that went pretty well, despite the very start, I think you did pretty good," observed Hayes.
Lisa was proud of herself, not only did it make her feel good to be halfway on the way to becoming a good driver, even if she were only 12 years old, but she always sought to gain her father's approval and was pleased with his comments.
"Your mother will probably be wanting you to help her with dinner, so let's call it a day and head back home," said Hayes.
Lisa nodded. They were at the grand oak tree again and Lisa decided that she wouldn't try backing up, this time she'd go for the forward u-turn. She stepped on the gas pedal and started to make the turn but she didn't calculate the angle correctly and the front right tire ended up going into the water, she panicked and instead of stepping on the brake, stepped on the gas and the car plowed into the water.
"Dad!!" screamed Lisa in a panic.
"Don't panic! Quick, unbuckle your seat belt and climb out the window," ordered Hayes.
Hayes undid his seat belt and watched as Lisa's nervous hands fumbled with her own seatbelt. The water was rushing in the car quickly and Hayes wasted no time in helping Lisa out of her seatbelt. Lisa tried to open her window some more but the electronic mechanism had already malfunctioned and so Hayes pulled Lisa towards his window, which was rolled down completely.
They quickly got out of the car and waded over to the bank and watched as the car sank slowly. Lisa was crying and clinging to her father.
"Don't worry Lisa, you'll be alright. That must've been pretty scary for you. Just take a few deep breaths and you'll feel better," said Hayes, trying to calm his daughter.
"N-no...it's not that," said Lisa in between sobs.
"What is it then honey?" asked Hayes.
"I...I...I ruined your car..." said Lisa, then began to cry again.
Hayes couldn't help but chuckle, "Lisa, is that what you're so upset about?"
Lisa nodded her head and Hayes shook his head in disbelief.
"Lisa, dear. Don't worry about my car, the important thing is that we are safe and unhurt. A car can be replaced, but you can't," said Hayes, trying to get Lisa to see the wisdom of it.
"You're not mad?... that was one of your favorite cars..." said Lisa as she looked up at her father.
"No. Like I said, I can find another car, it can be replaced, but you can't. The important thing is that you got out of there safely."
"Dad, were you scared?" asked Lisa.
"Yes, I was."
"But you were so calm and didn't panic," replied Lisa, amazed at her father's cool-headedness.
"I have had training for situations like this Lisa, but that doesn't mean I wasn't scared. And since you were with me, I was more terrified than if I were by myself or with other people."
"Why daddy?"
"Well Lisa, because you and your mother are the most important people in my life, and if anything ever happened to you, I wouldn't be able to forgive myself."
"I see..." said Lisa quietly. "I wasn't too afraid, because I was with you, and I knew you'd take care of me and wouldn't let anything happen to me."
Hayes smiled as he saw the confidence on his daughter's face. He knew he would give his life to protect her.
"Well young lady, now we have to figure out how to explain this all to your mother.." mused Hayes.
Lisa squeezed his hand and said with a wink, "Don't worry daddy, I think I know what we can tell her."
Hayes shrugged, "Alright, I'll leave the explaining up to you then."
As Lisa and her father walked back to the house, Lisa said, "Dad, when I get a job and make some money then I'll buy you another Audi, same model, same color, but you'll have to wait a few years for that, because you know, I'm only twelve years old right now."
Hayes laughed and said, "Alright Lisa, I'll wait patiently."

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

'Wait, I know that voice now....Father! What is he doing here?' wondered Lisa.
Hayes looked at Lisa after he finished retelling the story. He put a gentle hand on her forehead and sighed. He leaned back in his chair and decided to close his eyes and rest for awhile before recounting more stories.

It was now six o'clock in the evening and Admiral Hayes had been at Lisa's bedside for some five hours. Wells finally was able to convince him to go get something to eat. Hayes was walking down the corridor towards the cafeteria when he saw the entrance door for a small chapel and decided to enter.
He entered quietly and noticed someone sitting in the front pew, apparantly unaware of his presence. Hayes was about to turn around and leave when he thought the person was Rick, so he quietly walked to the front pew to make sure.
Rick felt the presence of someone off to his right and looked up and saw Admiral Hayes peering down at him.
"I'm sorry, I hope I wasn't interrupting anything," said Hayes.
Rick shook his head, "No sir. I was just sitting here, thinking...praying."
Rick moved down the pew and told Admiral Hayes that he could sit down if he wanted to. Hayes took a seat and remained quiet for awhile.
"Lieutenant, I'd like to thank you for saving my daughter on Mars Base, as well as the POW incident, and this latest attack...I'm forever grateful to you," said Hayes quietly.
Rick felt the knot stick in his throat and he croaked out, "I'm no hero Admiral, and the fact of the matter is, if it weren't for me, Lisa probably wouldn't be this injured right now."
Admiral Hayes gave Rick a quizzical look and waited for him to elaborate. After Rick finished telling him what happened, Hayes stared straight ahead and tried to sort things out. He heard Rick sniffle and looked over to see Rick wiping his eyes.
"Lieutenant. I don't blame you for what happened, and you shouldn't feel responsible either. Lisa was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, and even if you hadn't challenged her on the manual, she coudl've gone to the front of the bridge for a different reason. You had no way of knowing the bridge was going to be fired upon, so please stop blaming yourself for the whole thing, it does no one any good." Hayes looked at Rick and hoped that he knew he was being absolutely sincere and that what he said was the truth.
Rick took a deep breath then continued, "But...I'm not the person you think I am. Lisa and I fight constantly and mostly it's because of my big mouth and arrogance. She's been a good friend to me, but I haven't been there for her, I've been so wrapped up with myself and my problems that I haven't stopped to be there for her."
"How old are you Lieutenant?" asked Hayes.
"I'm twenty-one sir," replied Rick.
"Well Lieutenant, that's not quite so unexpected. You're younger than Lisa, and just young in general, you seem quite mature, but have more maturing to go through, you shouldn't beat yourself up over it, all of us guys go through that stage," offered Hayes, but then he added, "That's not to say that I am justifying how you've treated my daughter."
"I know sir, I certainly am no Karl Riber," muttered Rick.
Admiral Hayes was surprised to hear the name and figured that Lisa and he must've talked about Riber, especially since he saved her from Mars Base. Hayes looked at Rick and said, "No, Lieutenant, you're no Karl Riber, the way I see it, you're better than Karl Riber."
Rick nearly jumped in his seat and asked, "What?"
Hayes reclined a bit, "Yes, I did mean what I just said. Listen, Lieutenant, I don't know what you've heard about Karl Riber, but I can tell you that he was a good man, but, and it's a very serious but. Karl Riber got engaged to Lisa, then left her to go run and hide on Mars and get away from Earth because he couldn't adjust to the current situation on Earth. He didn't think of how lonely Lisa would be without him, he thought of his own insecurities first before hers. He promised to marry her but then ran away? How long would Lisa have to wait to see him again? And he waited for her to come up to Mars with him. Why should she have had to go chase after him, he was suppose to be by her side, if he really loved her. Am I angry at him, you bet I am. Because of him, Lisa changed completely. Completely. She went from the fun-loving, charming young lady to someone who seemed a decade older than she really was, someone who became cold, isolated, joyless, and bitter. Do you know what it's like to see someone go through such an instant and complete transformation?? I tell you Lieutenant, it's hell."
Rick thought about it for awhile and he couldn't help but feel mad at Riber as well. As he thought about it some more, he wondered what it would've been like to know Lisa when she was younger, and happier. Rick saw flashes of the fun-loving, charming traits that her father described, several times when he and Lisa would be getting along well. He wondered what Lisa was like when she used to be that way all the time.
"For what it's worth, Admiral, I've seen the fun-loving, charming side of Lisa. It's not completely gone, and I am sure it will return one day. When we aren't arguing, we get along pretty well actually. You might even say we are good friends," said Rick quietly.
Admiral Hayes was pleased to hear this but didn't want to make Rick uncomfortable by getting too excited over it, so he replied, "I'm glad to hear that Lieutenant. I don't have much contact with Lisa and I worry about her constantly, not just her physical safety but her emotionaly well-being as well, so it pleases and relieves me to hear that, thank you."
Rick nodded his head and sat quietly, not quite sure what else to say.
"It's been a long day Lieutenant, why don't we go get something to eat," said Hayes as he stood up.
Rick wasn't feeling very hungry, but didn't want to refuse the Admiral so he shook his head and got up and then the two men went to the cafeteria. They sat there for an hour as Admiral Hayes told Rick stories about Lisa. In that hour alone, Rick got a good insight into the side of Lisa he didn't know, the fun-loving, mischievious, vivacious side. He berated himself for not taking the time or the effort to get to know her better and sadly wondered if he ever would get the chance.
As the two men headed back to the hospital, Rick said quietly, "Sir, you don't mind if I go see Lisa right now? It won't be long."
Hayes waved his hand, "Of course you can see her, take as much time as you need, I'm sure she would be pleased to know you are there."
Rick's eyes widened a bit, "Do you really think so?"
Hayes shrugged, "From what you've described to me so far about your relationship with her, I think she would be."
Hayes thought that Rick actually looked like he had perked up at the comment and watched as Rick walked into Lisa's room with a more purposeful stride.
Hayes walked up to the window and carefully peeked into the room.
Rick sat down at Lisa's bedside and took her hand again, "Hi....Lisa, it's me Rick again. I came back to see you, just like Roy said I would. I brought your father up here. I followed every single flight instruction exactly, that probably would make you laugh, since when do I ever follow all my instructions. But I know how important your father is and I didn't want to do anything at all to endanger him...just like I wouldn't do anything to endanger you. I know I've said it before, but I can't say it enough. I'm sorry for you being in here..."

'Rick? Is that Rick? What's he doing here? And what is he talking about?' wondered Lisa, finally able to put the voice to a face.

"Well, I have to be going now, your father is waiting to see you. I'll stop by tommorrow again to see how you're doing." Rick squeezed Lisa's hand and then kissed her on the forehead and left the room quietly.

'Did Rick actually kiss me just now? Wait, Rick, come back. Stay with me...'

"Admiral sir, good evening. Thank you for dinner," Rick said as he saluted.
"You don't have to leave so soon Lieutenant," replied Hayes, who was now joined by Captain Gloval.
"It's alright sir, I'm very tired. I think I'm going to head straight to bed," answered Rick.
Hayes nodded and Rick saluted again then left.
After Gloval had some time to visit with Lisa, Hayes joined him in Lisa's room. Hayes let Gloval keep the chair and walked over to the window and sighed loudly.
"Nick, she will make it through," said Gloval.
"I know she will Henry, it's not that I'm worried about, it's about what comes after. I want to let you know that I'm considering taking her back to Earth with me, when she's strong enough to be moved, but..."
"But?" asked Gloval, wanting Hayes to elaborate.
"But...I'm starting to think that maybe that's not such a good idea. If I took her away from her friends, well, she would probably hate me more now than she already does," answered Hayes.
"Nick, she doesn't hate you," retorted Gloval.
"Yes, she does. She won't talk to me. She won't give me a chance to explain why I make the decisions I do. Remember when you two came down to the base? I wanted to explain but she left. Do you know what it's like to live with the fact that your child hates you? It's very painful Henry," said Hayes as he stared out the window.
"Nick..." said Gloval.
"I believe that Lisa considers you more of a father than me," said Hayes as he shook his head slowly. He looked over at Gloval and asked in a pained voice, "Where did I go wrong Henry? What did I do that was so bad that my daughter hates me for?"
"Nicholas..."

Lisa didn't pay attention to what Gloval replied, she was too busy trying to process her father's words. She didn't hate him did she? Sure, she was mad at him for several things but were they really all his fault? She remembered how hurt he sounded as her father spoke to Gloval. She had no idea she had caused him so much pain. She wanted to talk, to move, do something, but nothing seemed to respond. It was as if only her thinking ability was working. She couldn't move anything or smell anything or feel anything or see anything but she could hear. She wanted to cry too but even that didn't seem to be able to happen. 'Dear God, please don't let me live the rest of my life like this...,' Lisa prayed, hoping that God could hear her.

"Well, I guess I should head back to my room now," said Hayes, "Lisa dear, I'll be back early in the morning." He kissed her on the cheek and left the room.

'No, father come back, stay with me...I...I don't hate you...' thought Lisa, but her father had already left the room. She heard beepings and whirrings and couldn't figure out what they were or where they were coming from.

"Ah, Jean, just about ready to call it a night huh?" said Wells as he packed his backpack.
"Yes sir, but I thought I'd show you this sir, we might all be able to sleep a little bit better because of it," replied Jean, with a slight smile on her face.
Wells wasn't sure what she was talking about and took the report Jean held out to him, but she saved him the trouble of reading it and said, "I've been monitoring Lisa's brain activity since her father arrived and just now before he left I found that she regained the 5% activity she had lost this morning."
Wells' eyes went wide, "That's impossible."
Jean smiled, "Yes, that's what I said too, but I double checked, and had the neurologist on-call check it as well and he confirms it."
Wells shook Jean by the shoulders and said, "This is good news!"
Jean nodded, "Yes, it is. Let's hope this trend continues. I think the combination of Rick and Lisa's father visting her is part of the reason."
"Indeed," replied Wells, as he held a finger to his chin, in deep thought. "Jean, let's have another neuro consult tommorrow."
"Yes sir," Jean answered and left the room with a smile on her face.
After she left, Wells went back to his desk and picked up the picture of his wife and daughter and whispered, "Please girls, help me out on this one. You have done it before, I know you can do it again." He put down the picture, picked up his backpack and headed to the chapel for a few minutes before heading home.

to be continued........

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This is almost almost finished, I am in quite a hurry to get this done before next week because I have a new work assignment that will take up a lot of my time. I think I will write one more chapter and that is it because I just won't have the time to write out a long long drawn out story.

aikiweezie: don't worry, this story will have a happy ending. :)