A/N: Yo! Not dead all! Been a lot of shit happening the past few years. Between work, Life, and losing a family memeber...not to mention a very bad break up...well...my life went sideways. Now, this is just a little one shot for now for y'all. I'm going to be taking down the Sequeal for Mars Alight to rework the story along with a second project I've been kinda working on here and there. This one might not be up to my normal standards so please bare with me as I get back into the grove. I'll say this though...it's good to be writting about.

Stay

She waked slowly through the empty corridors, a soft sigh escaping her lips as her eyes landed on the unoccupied office as she passed. Moments of peace like this always brought the forefront of thoughts she kept pushed down deep. She wasn't as obtuse to believe her thoughts on a certain subject were well hidden. If she was honest, it was probably the worst kept secret of her life. Frowning, she felt irritation creep into her being at the lack of bearing she had around what was probably her one weakness.

"Damn you Hunter." She grossed, continuing on her path. "Why must you task me so?

The sound of her heels making contact with the deck seemed to echo around her. Shaking her head to clear those thoughts, Lisa Hayes composed herself before entering the bridge of the ship. Her ship. A ship without a CAG. Max had turned down the CAG position when she had put the idea on the table should her first pick not put in a request for the slot. Lord knew the man had proven himself not only to be an outstanding Pilot but one hell of a wing commander. That kind of resource would be very much needed for her mission.

Glancing briefly at the primary status display, she made her way to the Captain's Ready room off the bridge and with in minutes, buried herself in status reports and crew transfer requests. In what seemed like hours but was only twenty minutes, she was broken from her attempt to get any sort of work completed. Grateful for what she hopped to be a sufficient distraction, Lisa looked up from her work.

"Come on in."

Maybe God hated her. Or maybe her luck was truly bad. For the reason she was attempting to drown herself in work stood in the now open hatch, his blue eyes locked onto her and a concerned tone crossed his features.

"If this is a bad time, I can come back Captain."

His formal tone concerned her more then anything else. Rick Hunter didn't stand on ceremony very often and when he did, it was something that required an official answer or something had him on edge. Curious to which, Lisa gave him a small smile, guesteruing to the chair before her.

"You're fine Commander." Her eyes dropped to the paperwork in front of her as a frown once more appeared on her face. "In fact, you'd be a very welcome distracrion since I realized I've been rereading the same report six times and haven't the slightest clue what it over."

The humor attempt seemed to lighten the mood as Rick gave a smirk and dropped into the offered seat. "Sounds like me when I'm going over quarterly evaluations."

A short nod to agree with his statement proceeded Lisa lacing her fingers together and eyeing the man.

"What's on your mind Commander?"

Rick leaned back and kept his face carefully blank. Lisa had only seen Rick's Poker Face as Roy used to call it three times. In all three cases, it was of subjects that deeply bothered him. This put Lisa on edge even worse than before. Rick took a moment to collect his thoughts before speaking.

"I know you want me as CAG."

Lisa blinked at the blunt statement, but nodded. It paid dividends to be up front with Rick. Seeing her nod, Rick continued. "I know the reasons why and I agree. Sending the best we have increases the chances of the SDF-2's mission succeeding."

She hoped he didn't see her slight show of unease before she clamped down on her emotions. To be fair, she was fairly sure Rick wasn't that oblivious to her feelings toward him. Though she did doubt he knew how deep they were. At most she suspected he viewed her as a valued friend. She nodded.

"That's true Commander." She agreed. "I want to ensure the best possible odds for not just us, but all of humanity."

"I can understand that. But I don't know what to do at this point." He sighed and put his hands behind his head, leaning back in the chair. "If I stay here...I can get these new pilots up to speed. I can also be here to defend Earth if any one comes knocking but this time, I'd probably become a statistic."

"That's rather grim Rick." She chastised. "I don't think-"

"Lisa, be serious." Rick frowned. "We don't have a fleet. The SDF-1 is pretty much scrap metal. And if these Masters Breetai has warned us about show up, we won't have the firepower to do more than annoy them."

Lisa had to conceded Rick's point as rebuilding the fleet was expected to take almost a decade at the most conservative estimates. Some felt they'd never get back to strength. "Alright. You have a point there."

"But..." He trailed off. "If I go with you...it could be decades before we come home. If we ever do. I just..."

Seeing his turmoil, Lisa rose from her chair and stood before him. Rick felt uncomfortable. Contrary to what everyone thought, Lisa included. He was damn well aware of the fact that she loved him. Why, he didn't know. Nor did he feel he deserved it. He opened his mouth to speak whilst making to stand up. A hand on his shoulder and a finger on his lips silenced him. Lisa smirked a small bit seeing the slight blush on his cheeks at the physical contact.

"Rick...I'm not going to change your mind." She smiled sadly at him. "I could give you a thousands reasons why I want you to come with me. All you have to do is take a minute. Just take your time."

She removed her finger and saw Ricks eyes take on a serious gleam.

"Do you want me to stay with you?"

"Of course Rick! You'd-" She found herself silenced in the same manner as she had silenced him. His eyes seemed to stare deep into her very soul as if looking for something, his voice low as he spoke.

"Lisa...I'm not talking about the mission." He paused. "I'm not talking about anything to do with Military reasons."

"If you say stay, I'll stay with you. I know I'm an idiot but part of what is driving me nuts is you."

Blinking in confusion, Lisa didn't know what he was talking about. Seeing her confusion, he continued, his finger still over her lips.

"I know how you feel." He smiled lightly. "I've know for a while now actually. But that's not the point. The point I'm making Lisa is this. If you want me with you, I'll go with out a second thought. I came here tonight to get this sorted out between us. I don't want any what ifs. You said I was grim earlier. Well, if I stay behind here on Earth, that's what it'll feel like. Because I've realized just how much I car for you."

"But...but...Minmei..."

He chuckled. "A crush that was going no where. Now...You have a simple question to answer. Stay or go."

Lisa felt like a deer caught in headlights as she stared at Rick in shock. So many questions tore into her mind but the most predominant one was WHY THE HELL WASN'T SHE SCREAMING FOR HIM TO STAY?!

"Rick...I..."

He slumped his shoulders, taking her hesitation as a bad sign. Thinking he misread her, Rick turned and started to the door. "I'm sorry Lisa...I just...I'll go."

A surprisingly powerful grip landed on his shoulder, startling him. Turning around he saw an irritated Lisa Hayes. Both her hands balled at her hips, her lips pressed tight in a disapproving frown.

"Oh no you don't Hunter." She glared at him, tapping a finger on his chest. "You can't just drop that bombshell on me and expect me to answer right away. You seriously think I'm going to tell you to go after how much patience I've had to gain just to not throttle you when you act like a damn fool?"

Rick gulped in fear as this isn't how he expected this to go down. Lisa wasn't paying him any mind as she threw her hands into the air in annoyance.

"For Christ sake! I've wanted to pour my heart out to you. To you that I've fallen for you!" She gave a huff of annoyance and turned her glare to the bulkhead. "Of all the people, of course I fall for the biggest pain in my ass."

"Hey, you're not all sunshine and rainbows yourself you know!"

Lisa cocked an eyebrow at him. "Oh?"

Rick shook his head in defeat.

"How the hell did I end up falling for such a troublesome woman?"

"OH REALLY?" She demanded, turning back to him, fire in her eyes. "How have I ever been troublesome?!"

"Yes! You act like you're my wife!"

"Well maybe I hope I'll be someday!" She blurted out before slapping both hands over her mouth. Rick's victorious smirk told her exactly what had happened but she was curious about one thing. "Why?"

He shrugged. "To be honest, pissing you off seemed like a good way to get to the bottom of things. That, and you're pretty damn cute when you get riled up."

Her irritation dropped away as her cheeks flushed. She refused to meet his eyes as she cleared her throat.

"Well...yes...back to the subject of you staying or going." She paused and locked her eyes on his. "I want you to stay. For me."

Rick smiled brightly and took her hand in his before speaking.

"Then I'll stay. For you." He looked at their hands. "For this. I can't promise I'll be perfect at this or how far it'll go but I'll try my best."

Lisa cupped his cheek, smiling at him as she spoke. "All you have to do is take your time, so stay. Let's take our time."