And We Meet:
Rick Hunter was get more irritated as time went by. It had been close to two weeks. Close to two weeks of pure irritation! Rick was stuck in a cargo hold aboard the massive SDF-1 with an irritating teenager. Her voice drove him up the wall. "Be nice," Rick told himself.
Rick thought he was being a nice guy by giving into Minmei's demand to get off of the ship. He was tired of hearing her complain, more so, it was her voice that drove him crazy. Rick wanted to kick himself for being stuck in this situation. He thought back to the moment he agreed to attempt to take Minmei back to Earth, and wished he refused her request. Every minute stuck in there, he regretted more and more to ever agreeing To help. Now on top of that, his hand was split open when he tried open a stuck water valve. He doesn't know how it exactly happened, but it happened when was trying to accommodate Minmei's request to shower.
His hand hurt and the only thing he could do was use some first aid supplies from his crashed Mockingbird. It was getting infected, and Rick knew he needed to see the doctor soon. Rick was getting despondent, because he was feeling like he was going to be stuck in the cargo hold forever.
The Mockingbird was a total wreck! The more Rick looked at it, the more Rick wanted yell and scream. That was his only connection to the Flying Circus. It also was his last connection to his late father, "Pop" Hunter. Rick thought he was stuck on this ship for good now. He desperately wanted to be back on Earth. Rick felt a headache coming on. All the stress of being stuck there was finally getting to him. Rick's solitude is broken by Minmei's voice. He really hated her voice. It was like fingernails on the chalkboard.
Rick knew it was mean, but he sent Minmei off with a flash light to find an exit somewhere, anywhere. His hand was really hurting too, on top of that. They were making small talk, and the time away gave Rick a chance to tolerate Minmei a little bit. Rick thought it was odd that she never asked once about his hand. He figured that's how she was. Rick became startled when Minmei asks Rick, "Do you think you would like to hang out with me if or when we get out here?"
Rick looked at her with disbelief. Rick goes on to tell her, "Look Minmei, I don't hang out with high school girls. Sorry no offense, but you're a little too young for me!" Being an immature girl Minmei slaps Rick on his face and goes off crying.
Suddenly a big crash is heard from above. Chunks of the ceiling are falling to the ground. Rick hears Minmei screaming, and runs to where he last heard her screams. Rick finds her huddled in a corner quivering and crying. She looks like she is unscathed, but checks anyways. Minmei just nods her head when Rick asks if she's OK. Rick realizes how lucky they were that they weren't crushed by the falling debris.
The construction crew who created the mess hears Rick and Minmei talking and realize that they are stranded there. The construction crew calls the Emergency workers to come and extract the stranded pair. It didn't take long to get Rick and Minmei out of there. From there the two went their separate ways. Minmei thanked Rick as he was taken to the hospital to get his hand checked out.
Rick arrived at the Emergency Room, to find Roy Fokker and his girlfriend Claudia Grant waiting for him. Roy was worried sick about Rick after he went missing and thought he had died. Roy told Rick that they would be waiting for him when he was done. They had to wait a bit because Rick's injury wasn't life threatening. Rick thanked Roy, and asked who was with him. Roy informed Rick that was his girlfriend. Rick started laughing and said, "That's funny Roy Fokker has a girlfriend!" Claudia raised an eyebrow to Rick's comment, and Roy noticed. So Roy smacked him in the back of his head and said, "Thanks a lot, Rick!"
The ER nurse finally called Rick's name and he followed her the nurses station. Rick was stunned! The nurse was beautiful, she was about his height, with long blonde hair with grey eyes, and a curvy body. Rick thinks silently, "I wonder if she has a boyfriend?" The nurse took his vitals and asked why he was visiting the ER. Rick told her the story as the nurse led him to an examining room. The nurse informed him that doctor will see him shortly, and if he needed anything to page the nurses station.
Seeing his chance to act, Rick nonchalantly says, "Actually there was something I needed; what's your name?" The beautiful nurse blushed and then laughed. "My name is Keira," she told him with a sexy voice. Her voice was all it took to reel him in completely. Keira looked at Rick's chart and finishes, "My name is Keira Westgate, Rick Hunter!" They both laugh and she closes the curtain to ER examining room.
The ER doctor finally comes to see Rick after waiting for an hour. The doctor is inspecting his wound and begins to clean it out. Keira is assisting the doctor as he cleans Rick's wound. Rick and Keira keep exchanging glances and awkward smiles, while the doctor bandages his wound. The doctor leaves to write Rick's discharge orders and Keira is cleaning up. She quickly leaves before Rick can say anything.
Rick feeling like he blown his chance with the beautiful nurse is waiting in the examining room in a dejected mood. Keira returns with Rick's discharge orders. She tells him to clean it daily and to change the bandages frequently. Keira gives him some antibiotic cream, and tells him he's done. Rick gets up and Keira notices his sour mood; she smiles and says, "Hey Rick, I new here on the ship and new to the hospital. I work weird hours and really don't have the time for a relationship. You seem nice, so I'm going to give you my number and we'll see if we can get together."
Rick perks up instantly, and tells her he is really new to the ship also. He mentions he doesn't even have a job yet so he has a lot of free time on his hands. She smiles and writes her number on prescription script; she hands it to Rick and leaves. Rick is on cloud nine, and walks into the lobby with a shit eating grin.
Roy and Claudia see Rick walking toward him, and they get up to greet him. Rick tells them his hand is fine and he needs to keep it clean. Roy tells Rick that he can stay with him until he figures out what he is going to do.
Roy, Rick, and Claudia arrive at Roy's quarters. Claudia orders some pizza for everyone, figuring Rick must be starving. While they wait Rick takes the time to catch up more with Roy and gets to know Claudia. Claudia thinks to herself that Rick might be the perfect guy for her friend Lisa to meet; she totally forgot about Rick and Lisa's not so pleasant exchange when they first met over the communications line. The evening goes on uneventfully to everyone's delight. Rick goes on to tell the couple his story of being stranded with Minmei, and how he can't stand her. They both laugh at Rick and decide that it's getting late. Roy tells Rick he's staying at Claudia's, and Rick has Roy's place to himself. Roy lets Rick know that he will be back in the morning. Roy said he wants to talk to Rick tomorrow.
As Claudia and Roy strolled down the hallway to her quarters, Claudia asks Roy, "What do you think if we went on a double date with Lisa and Rick?" Roy stopped dead in his tracks and said to Claudia, "You really think those two would get along? You do remember their spat over communication line when I was bringing Rick and that girl back to the ship. I think Rick, needs to find out what he wants to do with his life first. I'm going to try and convince him to join the RDF. He loves to fly, so he can try it out and see where it takes him!"
Claudia thought about Roy's comments and agreed with him. Claudia totally forgot about that hilarious exchange. Claudia figured it would do Lisa some good to have someone to keep her on her toes. She mentioned that they should put the Rick and Lisa thought on the back burner until Rick figures out what he wants to do. Roy agrees with Claudia as they reach the front door of Claudia's quarters.
Rick was in the bathroom at Roy's place. He was cleaning the wound on his hand. He couldn't believe how big it was, it stretched the entire width of his hand. Rick's thoughts drifted to the beautiful nurse, Keira. Rick went through his pants pocket and found Keira's number. "Even her handwriting is sexy," said Rick laughing at his own comments. I will give her a call tomorrow and hopefully she's off. Rick walks to Roy's couch and turns on the TV. Even though the TV is on, his thoughts are focused on Keira. Slowly, Rick drifts off to sleep his thoughts on the beautiful stranger he met today.