Welcome Home...

The man woke to a sudden violent lurch that tossed him from the crudely made bed. If one could call what amounted to a sock stuffed into a small metal container a bed. Bleary eyed, he looked to the other occupant in the room. "What's going on Toreal?"

The giant looked down to him, his own curiosity clear in the dim light.

"I do not know."

The man stretched as the deck beneath them rumbled once more and groaned from the dull pains that seemed to never leave his withered frame. Scratching at his thick beard, the man looked towards the door with dull blue eyes. "Sounds like we're fighting again."

Toreal nodded, his own scarred face looking down to the small human.

"Perhaps a rescue?"

"For you perhaps." The man sighed and ran a hand through his long hair that had streaks of gray in it. "We both know the odds of my people finding this particular ship are nil."

"You shouldn't lose hope my friend." The giant cautioned. "Your kind are resourceful."

The man sighed, his dead eyes turning to the dark blue ones of his long time cell mate and friend. "Toreal, we both know the odds of my people having survived Dolza's fleet are exactly zero. I'm probably the last of my race alive in the universe."

"Perhaps you are correct." The bald giant rumbled. "And if that is true, if just you remain and Dolza has indeed perished as is rumored, then you have won. If a single warrior remains at the end of the battle, he has secured victory for his people."

The ship lurched once more before the sounds of weapons fire reached their ears through the thick metal door before them. The thud of massive foot steps caught the man's attention. "Well Toreal, sounds like it's your rescue. Do me a favor and make sure your rescuer doesn't step on me, alright?"

The being grinned down at his friend as the massive metal door was ripped clear, exposing the cell occupants to the intense bright light. The man raised a hand, clenching his eyes shut as the light sent a wave of pain through his head. He slowly opened his eyes to get a better look at the being in the door way. Frowning, he could make out a slightly familiar form, but it looked slimmer than he remembered. "Who are you?"

The voice he had not heard in near ten years filled the room, making him blink in surprise. "Long time no see, huh Skipper?"

"Max?" The man's voice was hoarse as he took a tentative step towards the metal giant before him. "How?"

"I'll explain later Skipper. I've already contacted the Admiral and a medical team is on the way." Max looked over to the giant eyeing him with a curious look. "Not gonna hurt you big guy. Promise."

"If he trust you, than I too shall place my faith in you human." The giant smiled gently. "It is good to see your race has survived."

"Making new friends, huh Rick?" Max joked, wiping his eyes at the sight of his long lost friend. The bearded man didn't smile or show any kind of relief.

"How did you find us Max?"

"The Admiral wants to explain that in person. Trust me, this is real Skipper."

Rick snorted and crossed his arms over the shredded garb he had worn for the better part of ten years. "Alright. Fine. It had better be a damn good story."

-x0x-x0x-x0x-

Rick exited from the shuttle, on shaky legs as the sights and sounds of the bay reached his ears. The moment he exited from the hatch, the roar of cheers and applause filled the air. The man paused, looking around the room, spotting a few he recognized, though much older now. He tried to find Admiral Gloval in the crowd as he was the only Admiral he was aware of. That was, until his eyes landed on a very familiar woman that had been in his dreams constantly over the years. He rose to his full height, fighting hard not to let his past injuries show and brought his hand up in a trembling salute as she stopped in front of him, a whirl wind of emotions blazing in her eyes. His voice was rough as he opened his mouth to speak. "Permission to come aboard Admiral."

"Permission granted." She returned the salute before pulling him into a teary hug. "Welcome home Rick."

He closed his eyes, a tear escaping as he felt the warmth of her touch.

"It's good to be home Lisa." His voice was barely above a whisper as his body shook.

She pulled back and wiped her eyes before smiling at him.

"Well, let's get you to medical and checked out before anything else."

Rick gave a small smile that was hard to see behind the beard and long hair before his eyes closed and his fell to the ground unconscious.

-x0x-x0x-x0x-

Lisa waited as patiently as she could in the observation room for the last ten hours. It had been nerve wracking as a man long missing was finally found. She and the others had fought hard to keep his status one of missing rather than killed. Next to her, Roy Fokker had his face buried in his hands while his wife placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. Rick's disappearance had affected Roy in such a way that the man hadn't been the same since his brother went missing. He'd become much more vicious and determined in battle and that had saved his life over the Pacific ten years ago. In fact, it had affected every one. Max had lost the joking tone he normally had before battle and Ben had turned a full one hundred and eighty degrees over the years becoming a tough and deadly fighter pilot.

Lisa herself had become cold and standoffish to all but her closest friends. She'd refused to go on any blind dates Claudia and the others had tried to set up over the years and had never once wavered from her belief that Rick was alive. For years, she'd dreamed of this day. The day they'd finally bring him home. And this time, she would not let her nerve leave her. She'd beaten herself up over the years for not telling him those three little words, words that she had never had the courage to say to him. Now, now she would and the consequences be damned.

The silence was broken as Doctor Jean Grant exited the room, a small smile on his face.

"He's alive. Considering what he went through, it's a miracle."

Roy looked right at his sister-in-law. "How...how bad?"

"It's wasn't pretty." Her smile dropped as she sighed. Roy was still labeled on Rick's forms as next of kin so he had the right to know. "Two broken fingers on his right hand, a poorly corrected shoulder we reset. He's suffering from pneumonia and a staph infection in his left leg, but the antibiotics are working their magic so he'll be fine there."

She paused and lowered her gaze. "One of his kidneys had failed and the other was showing severe damage. We had to clone him two new ones. There was some internal bleeding. And he has a UTI. It looks like he was tortured on an almost daily basis up until a year ago. And with the malnutrition...honestly, I'm not sure how he survived this long."

"But he'll be okay, right?" Claudia asked.

"Yes. We were able to correct most if not all of the injuries he suffered." A sad smile crossed her face. "He's still stubborn as he was though and he wants to speak with all of you. Even though I cautioned him against it. Keep it short as he's still pretty weak."

-x0x-x0x-x0x-

Rick stared at the ceiling, luxuriating in the feel of warm, clean sheets. He smiled softly as if this was a dream, let him never wake up. He was broken from his thoughts as he heard the door to the room slid open and a smile crossed his lips. Roy blinked before a warm smile graced his older face.

"Well damn Rick! Thought I was looking at Pop!"

Rick gave a snort, but he could see how close his brother was to breaking down. "Look whose talking Old man."

Roy made his way over to Rick's bed and gripped the man's uninjured shoulder, a few tears falling from his eyes. "Rick..."

"Get it over with you old sap." His own voice was chocked with emotions as he pulled Roy into a one armed hug with his good arm, both men breaking down. "I'm sorry Roy."

"No, Little Bro." Roy choked out. "You did nothing wrong. I've always been proud of you and what you did that day."

"I got captured." Rick's hot tears were wetting his beard.

"You did it to ensure Lisa and the others made it back." Roy stated as he pulled away from his brother. "You sacrificed yourself to get them home."

The brothers smiled tearily at each other as Claudia took her place besides Roy, wiping her own eyes as she smiled softly at her Brother-in-law. "It's good to see you're home Rick."

"The feeling is mutual." His blue eyes spotted a flash of gold and he gave her a warm smile. "I see you and Roy finally made it official. Do I have any little hell raisers to call my nieces or nephews?"

"You have two." Lisa spoke up from the door way, wiping her own eyes. "The Twins are truly little hell raisers."

Roy gave a grin as he wiped his eyes. "Their both nine and spitting images of Claudia."

"But with Roy's rambunctious personality." The woman quipped.

Rick smiled as he turned his gaze to Lisa. The woman seemed conflicted, but Rick wasn't anymore. Ten years of captivity can allow one to gain a fresh perspective on things and allow them to figure out who and what is the most important thing to them. He gave her a tired grin. "You look great Lisa. And an Admiral now."

She nodded and felt her cheeks flush at his statement.

"Thank you." Was all she could manage as Claudia gave her a pointed look.

Rick, however, spoke up before Claudia could silently demand Lisa tell Rick. "Hey, not that I'm not thrilled to see you two, could you give me a minute alone with Lisa?"

The two looked at one another before they nodded. Roy clasped Rick's shoulder one more time and gave him a proud smile. "Alright Rick. We'll be back as soon as Jean says we can. It's damn good to have you back with us."

"Thanks Roy."

The two left the room, but not before Claudia gave Lisa's shoulder a slight squeeze. The room fell into silence as the Admiral settled her gaze on the bearded man before her. Despite the five year age gap between them, Rick looked to be pushing forty, not thirty like he should have been. Though, she figured once the beard was gone he'd look closer to his actual age.

"Why don't you take a seat over here Lisa." He grinned tiredly and patted the edge of the bed. "Plenty of room here."

She smiled and raised a single eyebrow. "Trying to get me in bed Hunter?"

He laughed, truly, for the first time in a decade.

"I don't think Jean will like me doing that kind of activity in my condition." He motioned for her to sit. "Come on. I've got a few things to say before I fall back asleep."

The Admiral took him up on his offer and sat on the edge of his bed, hands clasped in her lap as she looked down at him. Rick seemed to be trying to figure out how to start and locked his blue eyes on her green ones. "You know...the whole time I was on that ship, no matter how many times they beat me or tortured me, I never broke. Never."

"We know you didn't Rick." She assured him, gently. "And if we'd have known which ship at the time, we'd have gotten to you sooner."

"I know." He reached out and grabbed her hand, giving it a gentle squeeze as best he could. "I know you would have. In fact, the only thing that kept me sane was...well it was thinking about you."

Her cheeks flushed again as her eyes went wide. "Me? You used to tell me I drove you insane."

"Well, yeah, but I caused that myself." He chuckled before a pained wince crossed his face. "Point is, I had more than enough time to think about my life and the choices I made as a foolish young man. The most glaring was even chasing after Minmei."

"What do you mean?" Lisa asked, her voice soft. "You loved her right?"

He gave a sardonic smile. "I kept using the word, but at the time, it didn't mean what I thought it did. Crush would have been more apt. Besides, it wasn't her that comforted me in my dreams when I could actually get some sleep. It was you."

Lisa so wanted to pursue this conversation but saw him try in vain to stifle a yawn. She smiled down at him.

"You get some rest mister." She gently ran her thumb over the back of his hand. "We'll talk more once you're better."

-x0x-x0x-x0x-

It was two weeks before Rick could even walk on his own to even use the bathroom. Now, he stood before the mirror, eyeing his fresh shaven face. He'd gained a few more scars, most notable was the one that was a perfectly straight line that started just above his left eyebrow and ended about two inches below the eye. One he hadn't even realized he had was a three inch jagged line that went from his mid right check and ended just under his jaw. His hair, now trimmed, had a few streaks of gray along the sides of his head. All in all, Rick looked like he was in his early forties. Sighing, he turned away from his reflection and grabbed the officer jacket that was draped over the chair in the small hospital room which he would thankfully be leaving today. He eyed the rank insignia on the collar and ran his thumb over it.

Roy had explained that Fleet Admiral Gloval had given him a two rank promotion one year after he had been captured, making him a Captain now. He pulled it on and quickly secured the jacket around his still malnourished frame with a small scowl. Jean had told him it would be awhile before he was fully back to one hundred percent. He was thankful he had for the most part, kept his strength up to an acceptable level. His gaze snapped to the door as a sharp rap sounded in the room.

"Come in."

The door opened and Max Sterling stepped into the room. Rick had been informed early on that Max had settled down with a former Zentradi Ace and now had two little girls, one back on Earth in the care of her godfathers and a two year old currently on the ship. "Hey Skipper. You look a lot better."

"Well you know what they say Max, a man is like a fine wine. We get better as we age." He joked while he rubbed his beard free chin. Max just chuckled and gave a short nod.

"You ready to go to your welcome home?" He asked. It had been Gloval's idea actually for Rick to present himself before the council for an official welcome back from the brass. Rick didn't like the idea too much, but decided he'd need to speak with them eventually. As is, a lot of the information he and Toreal had given had been of a huge help to Earth and her Allies.

"Ready as I'll ever be."

The two men exited the room and began the trip to the main briefing room, which was thankfully not to far from the main infirmary. Rick gave a polite nod as he passed the crew members that were giving him double takes. Some of the younger woman gave him shy smiles and blushes as he passed, his more mature look coupled with the two scars seemed to draw a moth to flame. He seemed to have a primal sort of draw, the look of a hardened warrior. He really didn't pay it any mind as they passed one or two male crew members who gave him an appreciative look. Max noticed all of this and just grinned. "Well looks like you have some admirers now Skipper."

Rick smirked at Max.

"It's the grays Max. Can't help I can pull off the old man look."

-x0x-x0x-x0x-

Lisa waited in the council room as Rick and Max entered. Turning around, she had to fight down the heat in her cheeks as a warmth began to spread through her body. Rick had always been a handsome man, even when he was annoying the hell out of her, but seeing him now...this more edgy look to him, the pronounced scars on his face...it made her weak in the knees. He looked more rugged and she found herself liking the look very, very much. The man spotted her and gave a grin with a wave. "Afternoon Admiral. You look lovely today."

She gave a shy smile, mentally screaming at herself to act like the confident woman she was and not a giddy school girl eyeing some attractive man in a magazine.

"You look pretty dashing yourself Rick." She replied. "I'm betting you'll turn plenty of heads."

Lieutenant Sue Graham was eyeing Rick and gave a nod of her own. "Definitely will turn heads Captain."

Lisa sent one short look at Sue that Rick completely missed as his attention was on Roy as the two spoke, but Max saw it and covered his mouth as his shoulders started to shake with laughter. The look conveyed a simple message: Back off, he's mine!

The levity was broken as the main display activated and the image of a much older Fleet Admiral Henry Gloval appeared on screen, the hair on his head having gone gray many years before and his once dark mustache was now streaked with silver. He smiled fondly at the people in the room and his eyes landed on one particular man. "Captain Hunter. It is good to see you again."

Rick stood a little straighter.

"Likewise Admiral." He replied with a smile of his own. "I was told that you fought to keep my status as MIA over KIA as the council wanted to have done. For that sir, I thank you."

Henry gave a dismissive wave if his hand. "It was the least we could do. We had heard rumors for some time you were alive and on one of the last few loyalist vessels. It was a lucky break the SDF-3 stumbled upon the ship that held you. In fact, Supreme Commander Breetai has been sending ships out for years to track down the loyalists in hopes of finding you."

"Please pass on my deepest gratitude to him. I really appreciate it."

"It is of no trouble." A second, deeper voice sounded in the room.

Rick turned and spotted a rather tall and imposing man walking over to him. Rick titled his head in curiosity as the man stopped before him and placed his closed fist over his chest. "It was demanded by our honor to assist our allies in their search Captain Hunter."

Rick hesitated before he extended his hand in friendship.

"Still, you have my thanks Supreme Commander."

-x0x-x0x-x0x-

Rick stared at the bulkhead with tired eyes. He was having trouble sleeping as he had over the last few years. Nightmares that replayed every second of the torture and his own isolation from his people. He sighed and pushed the cup of tea in his hands around before he turned his eyes to the rest of the room. Admiral Hayes had been more than willing to have Rick stay as a guest during his healing process. And he had been extremely grateful to her. But something that was annoying him besides the nightmares, was that every time he tried to talk to her about his own self discovery, something always seemed to come up. The first day back, it had been his own fatigue. Then, she hadn't been able to come down and see him except very briefly between jumps. And just the other day, she had to deal with a missing science team that had gone out to to study a supernova remnant. Turns out the poor bastards had been cooked by a radiation flare. Bad way to go.

"Rick? Why are you up this early?"

He turned his eyes towards the sound and smiled warmly. Lisa was standing in the door way, rubbing her eyes clad in her sleepwear which consisted of a pair of old gray sweet pants and a rather familiar faded KISS tee shirt. He had an idea of where she had gotten that and it only reinforced what he felt he knew. He wasn't complaining as she looked good in it. Roy had once compared a woman wearing a man's shirt to planting a flag in conquest over a castle.

"Trouble sleeping." He stated simply. "Sorry if I woke you up."

She gave a tired smile. "I always get up at four. Habit I've had for a long time."

"I bet." He laughed before grabbing a cup from his spot and rose to his feet. "Tea?"

She nodded. "Please. Nothing against coffee in the morning, but tea gets me going quicker."

He grabbed the still hot brew and poured a cup for her as the Admiral took her seat next to Rick's. She muttered a thanks as he handed her the cup and inhaled the aroma before sighing. He watched her as she sipped her drink and gave a smile.

"Shirt looks very familiar."

Her cheeks flushed red as she turned her eyes away from him. She started to open her mouth to make up some kind of excuse as to why she had one of his shirts but he beat her to the punch. "It looks really good on you."

"I uh..." She started lamely before she finally answered in a small voice. "I've always liked them."

Rick smirked at how suddenly bashful the Fearless Admiral Lisa Hayes had become and found it very endearing. "Well that's another point in your favor."

She looked up and blinked in confusion.

"Point in my favor?" She repeated. "What are you talking about?"

Rick leaned back in his chair, small grin playing across his face as his eyes seemed to come alive. Normally, they were dull and lifeless, but since he'd started staying with her, life seemed to return to them. "We never did get a chance to finish our talk. I guess now sounds like a good time. Do you agree?"

She found herself nodding her own consent and Rick laced his hands together behind his head as his eyes showed warmth in them.

"Well, as I told you that first day back, you were the one that got me through the worst of it all." His smile faltered as a hard look crossed his face and his eyes seemed to become unfocused as he mentally relived his capture. "At first, I thought of how you stood strong in front of Dolza. You were defiant in his demand to submit. That gave me the strength and the will to defy them. As it got worse, I started to think about all the good times we shared. The talks, the jokes, even the kiss we shared."

She flushed beet red as he spoke, her gaze never leaving his face as his eyes seemed to refocus and he smiled gently to her.

"It was around the third year there that I had a sudden and rather surprising realization." He leand forward, hands laced as his elbows perched on the counter top. "I had first tried to use Minmei as a source of comfort. That didn't work. Actually that is being gracious. It was a horrible idea that only made it worse. My mind slowly began to place you in that spot and things became more bearable. My dreams turned to you. And in time, my head and my heart came to realize just who was my strength. Who the person was that was my light in the darkness. Wanna take a guess who it was?"

She gave a small, knowing grin at his joke and slowly reached over and took hold of his hand.

"Me?"

He nodded and started to lean over to her. "Yes. You. The woman who used to dive me crazy at times. But it was a good kind of crazy."

Screwing up her courage, she gave him a coy smile.

"So are you going to kiss me now? Or do I need to make it an order like I had to before?"

"Lisa, you'd never have to order me to do that again." He smirked. "In fact, I'm pretty sure I'm about to."

She leaned over herself. "You'd better Mister."

She closed her eyes, her own hand moving from her glass to the beck of his head. The kiss lasted for several seconds before she pulled back and smiled lovingly at him. Rick tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear and gave a wide grin. "Just as I dreamed it."

"You sure about this?" She asked him, her smile never wavering as Rick gave a snort in humor.

"I spent ten years thinking on this." He told her firmly. "Trust me when I say I am more than certain."