Chapter 7
January 24th, 2015
The sunlight streaming through the window finally
managed to awaken Rick. He slowly opened one eye and then the other
and allowed himself to adjust to the light then he lay there staring at
the ceiling. He started remembering the evening before and had a
need to see Lisa's face. He turned his head and saw that she wasn't
there. Her side of the bed had been neatly made as if she had never
been there. Rick sat up and looked around the room and then at the
clock, which read 7am. He got out of bed then went into the hallway
where he found Kim shuffling to the bathroom, her hair sticking up in every
possible direction.
"Hi Rick," said Kim as she yawned. After a
split second she quickly became more awake as she hurriedly tried to fix
her hair, embarrassed that he had seen her looking such a shambles, then
said more alertly, "Good morning Rick."
"Hey there Kim, good morning. Have you seen
Lisa?"
"Lisa? No, why?"
"Well, I thought maybe you guys had to leave early
for the base because she was gone when I woke up," answered Rick.
Kim scratched her head, "No, we don't have to report
until 9am today...maybe she went over to visit Claudia, although I don't
know if Claudia would appreciate being woken up this early since she's
not on duty."
Rick shrugged and said, "Yea that's probably where
she went."
Kim winked at Rick and continued, "So! How
did it go last night?"
Rick couldn't help but grin and answered, "I think
it went pretty well, despite Minmei showing up."
Kim rolled her eyes and made an exasperated sound
before saying, "Tell that b---h to stop bothering you. Do you want me to
do it for you, I can, no problem!"
Rick held out his hands in a halting motion and
told her, "No no, it's ok, don't worry about it. I think my yelling
at her last night might probably scare her off for awhile."
"For awhile..." echoed Kim.
Rick gave her a worried look but Kim slapped him
on the shoulder and rejoined, "Don't worry, just call on me, Sammie, and
Vanessa anytime and we can kick her ass for you! What's a little
hair-pulling, name-calling, screaming, slapping, pushing, punching and
shoving anyways? Sammie, V, and I do that to each other all the time!
And none of us are a whiny, spoiled, selfish little tart like she is, so
it would be even more fun to catfight with her than with each other!"
Before Rick could answer Kim smirked then spun around,
on her good ankle, and headed towards the bathroom, leaving Rick standing
in the hallway trying to picture the scene of the Trio beating up on Minmei,
doomsday indeed, or rather a second doomsday, because if Lisa ever got
her hands on Minmei, especially if Lisa were drunk.... Rick shuddered
at the thought.
Kim turned on the faucet and splashed her face with
water and then looked at herself in the mirror. She was fixing
her hair when suddenly Gloval's face flashed in the mirror's reflection.
She gasped in fright but didn't scream. The image faded away and
she splashed her face with water again and slowly raised her head to look
up in the mirror and breathed a small sigh of relief when she saw only
her reflection. She grabbed a hand towel and dried off her face and
looked in the mirror again because something out of the corner of her eye
had caught her attention. As she looked straight into the mirror,
Gloval's face flashed at her again and she panicked and ran out of the
bathroom. She bumped into Rick, who was on his way downstairs, towel
in hand, apparently heading to take a shower. He looked at her and
immediately saw the terrified look on her face. He grabbed her by
the shoulders and asked her what was wrong but she only nodded a few times
then backed out of his grasp and said somewhat angrily, "It's nothing!
I'm fine!" She was going to head back to her room but seemed to decide
against it and instead hobbled downstairs quickly but calmly.
Rick followed Kim downstairs, deciding not to sit
back and shrug things off for a change. As Kim heard Rick following
her she quickened her pace but Rick was quicker and managed to grab hold
of her arm at the foot of the stairs.
He held her arm with a firm grip as he said, "Don't
tell me nothing's wrong. It's like your moods did a 360 degree turn.
Now tell me what happened, what scared you?"
"You'll think I'm crazy!" answered Kim.
Rick shook his head and let go of her arm, "I won't
think you're crazy. Please, we're friends aren't we? You can
trust me, I just want to help you that's all."
"I don't need your help, I can take care of myself!"
retorted Kim.
Rick was genuinely hurt and it showed on his face.
Kim looked down at the ground in guilt, then looked back up at Rick and
quietly said, "I'm sorry Rick. I didn't mean to be so ungrateful.
I'm not a freak alright, and I don't need to visit the psychiatrist every
other day. It's just, what's that called, post-traumatic stress disorder.
Everyone's had that right?"
Rick didn't want to give in too easily but he didn't
want to be too badgering either, since he understood what she was going
through. He looked at her for a moment then said quietly but firmly,
"I understand but just make sure that you talk to someone. Alright?
Promise me you'll do that."
Kim looked at him and saw that he was expecting
her to make a promise, so she lightened the mood by cheerfully saying,
"Alright little brother, for YOU. Now if you'll excuse me, I need
to get ready for work."
Rick watched her go upstairs and didn't think he
felt any less worried than before her promise. He sighed and made
a mental note to himself to make sure to discuss the issue with Lisa sometime
soon.
* * * * * * *
Lisa walked down a long hallway, on her way to visit
Claudia. It was early and there were hardly any people in sight.
She heard the sound of footsteps behind her but paid no attention to it
and reached the elevator after a few more paces. She stopped and
the other footsteps had also stopped. She looked in both directions
but saw no one in sight as she stepped into the elevator. As she
reached the floor where Claudia was staying, exited out of elevator and
looked down both directions of the hallway and saw no one there.
She started walking down the hall when she heard the footsteps again.
As she kept walking she slowly turned around to look behind her and found
no one there. She started walking again, only a few feet from Claudia's
door, but this time she didn't hear any footsteps as she came to Claudia's
room. She looked around her one more time, still seeing no one around,
then knocked on Claudia's door and entered her room.
"Well, Admiral, I haven't seen you in awhile," said
Claudia from her spot near the window. Lisa walked over to her and
the two best friends hugged each other.
"Should you be up like this, shouldn't you be in
bed?" said Lisa in a worried tone.
"No mother. I'm doing ok, nothing an oak tree
like me can't handle. Jean told me the same thing earlier during
rounds but as you can, I didn't listen to her," retorted Claudia with a
smirk.
Lisa took a seat in a chair as Claudia remained
standing near the window. The two talked about the most recent events
then about the Trio.
"I have the utmost confidence in Vanessa," Lisa
was saying proudly. "I think that if anyone can solve the mystery
of the radar failure, she can. As for Sammie, I think she'll
do just fine after she gets over some of her promotion jitters."
"Have you heard about her aide, 'Antell from hell',"
asked Claudia with amusement.
"No I haven't, I don't ever recall coming across
that name before," replied Lisa with puzzlement.
Claudia laughed then said, "Well, Antell from hell
is driving everyone there crazy. And if you met her, I'm sure she'd
drive you crazy too, especially since she's a huge Minmei and Kyle fan."
Lisa groaned then Claudia continued, "She's like some music and movie encyclopedia.
She's so knit-picky and fussy about every little thing. She comes
into the break room and complains about the coffee, then she complains
about the chairs, then she complains about the windows. Then when
she's at her work station, she complains about the chair being uncomfortable,
complains about the keys not being ergonomically safe, complains about
the headsets volume not being loud enough, the display lights hurt her
eyes, the layout of the of the consoles is not correct. Then if you
get her started on Minmei she'll talk forever and if you ask her a question
she'll go on and on, or if she thinks your facts are wrong she'll go on
and on about that too, trying to make sure you get the point that she's
more knowledgeable than you and you're the one who's stupid to not know
the right answer to the question you asked in the first place. I'm
sure Maistroff assigned her to Sammie on purpose, to drive her crazy.
I'm telling you, if Ant-hell ever crosses my path, she'll be sorry she
did. What are you going to do when you meet her?"
"Meet her?"
"Yea, Lisa, you'll have to meet her eventually,
whether you want to or not."
Lisa thought for a moment, "I can't think of anything
at the moment, it all depends on how she acts, but if she pulls any of
her Minmei fandom bull---t on me, I don't intend to take it quietly."
Claudia chuckled then became more serious and asked,
"So...and how are you are Mr. Hunter these days? I heard you were
suppose to have a date with him last night, and how did *that* go?? Come
on, tell Aunt Claudia."
Lisa smiled shyly and replied, "It was nice."
Claudia gaped at her, "It was *nice*?? Is that all?
Nice?"
Lisa laughed and said, "Ok ok, it was wonderful!"
Claudia nodded knowingly, "That's what I thought."
"Except for Minmei showing up," Lisa added in a
hurry.
Claudia groaned, "Oh no, please tell me your joking.
I have this overwhelming urge to take the Trio and go down to Minmei's
door and-"
"It's ok Claudia. Besides, Rick gave her a
good tongue-lashing so I expect Minmei probably won't come around bothering
us for quite some time."
"I can just hear her now, 'Oh Rick, I'm so alone,
I have no one to turn to except you.' " said Claudia as she tried to mimic
Minmei's childish voice.
"Well Lisa, Minmei can whine and b---h all she wants
about how lonely she is and how there's no one for her to turn to, which
is really bulls--t because she still has her aunt and uncle. She
can try and make you look like the villain for stealing Rick and try and
make herself look like the poor helpless and naive little saint and martyr
for losing Rick, but everyone knows. Everyone knows. She has
no one to blame but herself. She doesn't love Rick, she just says
she does and tries to convince herself that she does but she doesn't.
He's just her crutch, he always has been. She only comes to him when
she needs him, she was never there for him when he needed her. Now,
she knows she's lost him to another woman and it stings her ego so badly
she can't stand it. It's more of the embarrassment of losing than
it is actually losing Rick that bothers her. Just remember the most
important thing Lisa, who's got Rick now? You do. Who is it
that he will turn to when he needs someone to talk to? You.
Who is it that he will marry, who knows when, but eventually some day.
You. And who is it who will be the mother of his children?
You will Lisa. And there's not a damn thing Minmei can do about it,
not one thing. So if Minmei comes poking around and tries to cling
to Rick sometimes, just keep that in mind."
Claudia patted Lisa's shoulder and then sat back
down on the hospital bed. Lisa gave her a worried look then asked
if she was ok. Claudia answered with, "Fine honey, old Aunt Claudia
just needs to rest for a bit. I'm still not used to standing up.
They told me I shouldn't try standing but to hell with them, I need to
recouperate ASAP because there's a lot of work to do.
Oh and speaking of Antell. I have been thinking
about it while I've been ranting about Minmei. Lisa you better be
on your guard against Antell. If she knows you're the reason why
Rick broke up with Minmei, and she being the Minmei fanatic that she is,
she might not be too happy with you."
Lisa frowned and thought for a moment, then said,
"I don't think she will be a problem, from what I heard she just seems
more bark than bite."
Claudia sighed, "Maybe you're right. Well,
just make sure never to strike up a conversation with her. I'm sure
she won't talk about Minmei around you, but she will find something else
to talk about and tell you the million things she doesn't like about it,
either that or she'll tell you the whole history about it, just to prove
that she's the most knowledgeable person."
Lisa laughed then quickly said, "I'll make sure
not to let Kim and her get into any conversations, because of course it
will turn into an argument."
Claudia covered her eyes and let out a long groan.
"Oh my god, I totally forgot about Kim. Make sure you DON'T let Kim
and Antell get into a spat. I know those two will end up in the brig
for sure."
"Probably, because we all know Kim would never back
down from a fight, and if someone makes her mad enough, she'll let them
have it. Plus you know how much Kim is proud of herself as being
a music encyclopedia too," responded Lisa.
Claudia shook her head, "And it's not just that.
They both have a stubborn streak, neither one will give up until they have
won the argument."
"Maistroff sure knew what he was doing when he picked
Antell," said Lisa.
"That bastard!" spat Claudia. "Lisa isn't
there anything you can do about it?"
Lisa shook her head sadly, "We're of the same rank
and he's above me for the moment, because of his seniority. There's
nothing I can do."
"If I didn't already have a concussion I would,
because I feel like pounding my head against a brick wall. That's
all we need right now, some monkey wrench getting in our way and impeding
us," said Claudia tiredly.
Lisa stood up and said firmly, "Don't worry.
I'll handle any trouble Antell and Maistroff throw our way. I'll
definitely make sure Kim doesn't get into a scrap with her. You just
make sure you get well quickly."
"Speaking of Kim, how is she?" asked Claudia.
"She's fine I suppose. Still a little bit
traumatized from her ordeal at the SDF-1, but I don't think it's anything
to worry about."
Claudia look at Lisa apprehensively. "What
is it?" asked Lisa. "Is there something you're not telling me?"
"No Lisa, it's not that, it's just I think she's
probably still more traumatized than she's telling us. I'm sure you
have noticed it that she's not quite herself, and then when she claims
she is, she tries too hard and makes it so obvious."
"Well, we're all doing that..."
"No Lisa, I think with her it's something more,
and I'm worried about her, but I have no proof and I'm sitting here in
this damn hospital bed, so there's nothing I can do right now."
"I'll keep an eye on her, and if need be, I'll order
her back to the hospital," answered Lisa.
Claudia regarded her for a moment, then nodded and
waved as Lisa left the room. Once she closed the door, Lisa looked
around and listened for any footsteps but heard none and saw no one.
She chided herself for being easily spooked and walked to the elevator.
As she was heading out towards the lobby, she saw Edwards walking towards
her. He saluted and she returned the salute.
"Major Edwards, you are feeling alright I hope?"
said Lisa, wondering why Edwards was coming to the hospital.
"Yes Admiral, I am recouperating well, I just stopped
by to visit someone," replied Edwards.
Lisa gave a nod then bade Edwards goodbye and walked
out of the lobby. Edwards smirked to himself and headed towards the
elevator.
* * * * * * *
"Commander Young! Hang on a second please,
ma'am!" said a voice from down the hallway. Kim turned around and
saw that it was Lieutenant Montgomery, the person who was put in charge
of military housing that they had met several days prior.
"Commander Young. I need to speak to Admiral
Hayes, or you. It's about the housing, I'm afraid I need to relocate
all of you," said Montgomery, out of breath from her sprint to catch up
with Kim.
"But we just moved in," protested Kim.
"I know ma'am, and I'm truly very very sorry, but
it's per orders from General Maistroff. He wants people to be closer
to where the new Command Center will be built," said Montgomery as she
wrung her hands.
Kim let her shoulders slump and said, "Alright,
we'll start packing today."
"I'm very very sorry ma'am!" apologized Montgomery.
"It's alright Lieutenant, it's not your fault,"
said Kim, trying to calm a nearly distraught Montgomery.
"I don't know why they gave me this job anyways.
I've never done any type of organizing before, and I can't handle everyone
yelling at me. This is a tough job you know. You should see
how mad everyone is over their housing assignments but I'm doing the best
I can. I'm not cut out for administration, I was just an MP, doing
sentry duty. Why don't they just let me go back to my old job?"
Montgomery finished her last sentence on the verge of tears.
Kim tried to calm her down by offering to buy her
a cup of coffee but Montgomery balked at the idea, "No ma'am thank you
that's very kind of you but I really must be finishing these relocation
notifications or else I'll get in trouble. Please stop by my office
around 2pm, I will have your papers ready by then."
Montgomery turned to leave then quickly turned back
to Kim and said, "Thank you Commander."
Kim had no idea what she was talking about and asked
her what she meant. Montgomery replied, "You're one of the few people
who hasn't yelled at me. That's all I hear, all the time, people
yelling at me, I don't know how much more of this I can take!" Montgomery
took off running and Kim, with her bad ankle could not chase after her
but made a futile plea to call out her to stop. After Montgomery
was out of sight, Kim stood there and shook her head, hoping that she wouldn't
end up a basketcase like that.
* * * * * * *
"Lieutenant Antell, are those flight group schedules
ready yet?" asked Sammie in a peeved tone.
"Almost ma'am, they'll be ready in about an hour,"
replied Antell unapologetically.
Sammie cast her eyes upwards, asking the unseen
forces to give her just another ounce of patience. She took her seat
as Antell stood up.
"Yes Antell?"
"Captain, I wish to leave early today," said Antell
stoically.
"You *wish* to leave early?" echoed Sammie.
"Yes ma'am."
"What for?" asked Sammie curiously.
A flight tech nearby reclined in his chair so he
could see Sammie and said loudly, "Because Minmei is gonna be at some bookstore
in town today."
Sammie saw Antell shoot a cold glare at the tech
and then turn back and wait for Sammie's answer.
"I wish to leave early today for personal reasons,"
repeated Antell.
Sammie resisted the urge to roll her eyes and scream.
Didn't anyone ever teach Antell how to say 'please'? Sammie looked
at the tech, who's face pleaded for her to agree. Sammie thought
for a few seconds then looked at the clock and said plainly, "Very well.
Finish the schedules and you may leave after that."
Antell saluted and said a crisp, "Yes ma'am," then
returned to the desk in the corner of the room.
Sammie looked at the tech who just shrugged.
Apparently no one ever taught Antell how to say 'thank you' either.
Sammie was actually glad that Antell asked for time off, this way, she
could be out of everyone's hair and they could all get a little peace and
quiet for a change.
* * * * * * *
It was 1pm and the Trio and Lisa managed to meet
at Vanessa's office for lunch. Sammie had run into town to pick up
some deli sandwhiches and the four women were crowded and cramped around
Vanessa's desk eating their lunches.
"I tell you, she is really stressed out," said Kim
as a pickle fell out of her sandwhich.
"Why'd they give her that job in the first place?"
asked Sammie as she stole the pickle that had fallen out of Kim's sandwhich.
"That bastard Maistroff! He's trying to drive
everyone crazy!" said Kim angrily.
"We don't want the poor woman to have a nervous
breakdown, maybe I can try and do something for her," mused Lisa.
"Can you Lisa?! That would be great.
She seems like a really nice person, it's actually painful to see her so
stressed out like this," replied Kim.
Lisa shook her head, "I'll see what I can do."
"You said she was a sentry?" asked Vanessa as she
chomped on a potato chip.
Kim opened her can of cola, which then started to
fizz and overflow onto the desk, "Yea she said she was an MP on sentry
duty."
Lisa looked at Vanessa and said, "You might want
to ask her a few questions."
Vanessa shook her head, "Yea, I think I will.
Not right now though, she seems too stressed out and the area she was assigned
to is far away from where the radar was, so I doubt she knows anything,
but it wouldn't hurt to ask."
"Lisa," started Sammie as she talked in between
bites of her sandwhich, "can't you also do something about Antell?"
Lisa looked at the Trio then shrugged, "I can try
and talk to Maistroff but I think we all already know that he's not going
to budge. Antell is his eyes and ears here. We just need to
be careful around her, that's all."
"What did I do to deserve this!" moaned Sammie.
"That she-devil questions my every move and if she thinks something isn't
being done right she goes on and on about how it should be done properly,
stupid miss know-it-all! You don't know how many times a day I just
want to scream!!"
Kim snickered and then said, "You'd think Maistroff
would've stuck me with her instead of Sammie, since it's me that he hates
the most."
"Maybe he has something else planned for you Kim,"
said Vanessa apprehensively.
All four women looked at each other then Sammie
exclaimed, "What the hell could be worse than Ant-HELL?!!"
Sammie and Lisa started to laugh but Kim and Vanessa
remained quiet. Lisa stopped laughing
when she saw the worried look on Kim and Vanessa's faces and said in
a hushed voice, "You really don't think that Maistroff would be that evil
do you?"
Vanessa pondered for a moment then said, "Not evil,
but definitely out to get Kim. I think he just sicked Antell on Sammie
to frazzle her more than hinder her."
"Oh how very thoughtful of him!" shouted Sammie.
Kim brought one fist down on the table, "Let him
throw at me what he wants, I'm ready for it and I won't go without a fight!
That stupid windbag will be out before I will, I can feel it in my bones."
Sammie threw down in sandwhich, what little remained
of it and said, "We wouldn't be having these problems with Maistroff if
Admiral Gloval were-"
Everyone looked at Sammie and waited for her to
finish her sentence but everyone knew she wouldn't and everyone knew what
she was going to say anyways. Vanessa looked at Kim and waited for
some type of reaction but none came. Sammie looked down at the table
and started to grow teary-eyed, and Lisa stared blankly at nothing in particular.
They remained silent for another half minute then Kim's phone went off.
She jumped, startled by the noise, then fumbled in her pocket to pull it
out and answer it. She listened for awhile then held the phone out
to Lisa. Lisa answered whoever it was, telling them they would be
there in about an hour then handed the phone back to Kim.
"We...uh...Lady Hialeah's people want to speak to
me," she said quietly, still semi-lost in her rememberance of Gloval.
Kim started to pick up the trash she'd left from
her lunch and then collect everyone else's too and then stood up and waited
for Lisa by the door. Sammie, knowing that Kim would get mad if she
stared at her, kept her eyes on her food and slowly picked up her soda
to drink it. Vanessa got up and rearranged the furniture back to
its original position as Lisa quickly walked out of the room. On
their way down the hall, Kim asked Lisa, "Are you Ok?" Lisa looked at Kim
for a moment then shook her head and asked, "You?"
Kim shrugged and tried to fake a weak smile, "I'll
get by," she said quietly.
Lisa and Kim remained silent during their drive to
Lady Hialeah's offices, each lost in their own thoughts. Lisa pulled
into a parking spot then helped Kim down from the car and the two headed
into the reception room. Lisa gave her name and stated her business
and she and Kim were escorted to a large office. After waiting for
5 minutes, the door opened and a Zentraedi female came lumbering into the
room.
"I am Uradana, I am Lady Hialeah's aide. She
will be with you shortly."
Kim fumed, "That's the b---h that almost killed
Miriya! Why isn't she in jail?!!"
Lisa put a restraining arm on Kim and told her quietly,
"Make sure you keep control of your temper. We don't want to go and
make these people angry, or else they'll pull out of their relocation agreements."
Kim huffed and folded her arms to her chest and
continued to sit and wait for Lady Hialeah's arrival. She observed
Uradana and realized she was wearing makeup and it seemed she had spent
a lot of time styling her hair. She even had a compact with a mirror
and had already looked at herself in it more than three occassions already.
Kim leaned over to Lisa and whispered, "That's a vain Zentraedi if I ever
saw one."
Lisa looked over at Uradana, who was fixing her
hair at the moment, and let out a small, hushed laugh and said, "Maybe
she's getting ready for the next Miss Zentraedi pageant."
Kim tried to keep her laugh quiet as she slapped
Lisa's shoulder. They watched Uradana for about 5 minutes more then
heard the door open and saw another woman enter the room.
Uradana bowed as the new woman made her way to the
seat behind the desk and then motioned to Uradana, who walked towards
Kim and Lisa and held out her palm. Kim and Lisa looked at each other
and then realized that Uradana was to carry them and so they stepped into
her hand and tried to balance themselves as Uradana stood up rather quickly.
She then set them down on Hialeah's desk. Uradana bowed to Hialeah
then went back to her seat and picked up her mirror.
Hialeah folded her hands on her desk and leaned
forward to speak, "Welcome Micronians. I am Lady Hialeah. I
have heard much about Admiral Hayes, which one of you is she?"
Lisa stepped forward, "I am Admrial Hayes," then
she motioned to Kim and said, "This is my aide, Commander Young."
Hialeah smiled smuggly, "Admiral Hayes, I have researched
about you, since I heard it was you who had masterminded the Daedelus Maneuver.
I was very impressed to learn that you have a long military lineage, one
very noble indeed. And I have read about your many decorations and
awards of service...very impressive." Before Hialeah could continue,
the door opened and three men walked through, one of them carrying a tray
with drinks on them.
"Ahh, the refreshments have arrived," said Hialeah
like a proud hostess.
One man put a glass in front of Hialeah, then held
out the tray, waiting for Lisa and Kim to take their glasses. The
tray was massive and their glasses, miniscule in comparison to Hialeah's
was too deep towards the center of the tray for them to reach. The
man finally realized this and, using his index finger, pushed the glasses
towards them. They took their glasses but did not drink yet, as they
didn't know what it was they were drinking.
The drink smelled sweet and fruity but Lisa caught
a wiff of an alcoholic aroma as well. Kim saw that Hialeah was waiting
for her to taste her drink so she took a sip. Lisa still held off.
Hialeah drank some of her drink then looked at the
three men and announced, "These are my personal assistants. This
one is Togo, that one over there to your left if Jigo and this one to your
right, the handsome one, is my new acquisition, Pogo." Hialeah looked
proudly at Pogo and continued, "Yes, Pogo is, what do you Micronians call
it, ah, yes, 'showpiece'? Yes, I think I was fortunate to have acquired
him; he has already made his impression on the Quadranos from the Brazillian
Quadrant, however they are expecting me to lend them to him next month,
something I am not looking forward too. I think your micronian custom
of females and males intermingling is most ingenious! I am grately
fond of it! Do you have males whom you are proud of as I am of Pogo?"
Kim and Lisa looked at each other, not knowing what
to say, then Kim suddenly pointed to Lisa and said, "She does! As
for me, I am still looking for a handsome man. I am very picky, you
see."
Lisa tried to glare at Kim out of the corner of
her eye.
Hialeah put down her drink, then sat back in her
chair and said, "Tell me about your male, Admiral. Is he a handsome
as Pogo?"
"I..." stuttered Lisa, trying to think of the diplomatic
way to answer the question. "I, well, I don't know, I can't really
say either way."
Hialeah arched an eyebrow and broke into laughter
as she said, "Very very tactical answer Admiral. I am pleased.
Oh my, you haven't even drunk half your Oidua yet. Please, drink
up Admiral, that is very expensive Oidua."
Lisa, her gut instinct telling her that she would
regret it, had no choice but to drink up or end up possibly offending Lady
Hialeah. She drank a few sips and tried not to groan, it was indeed
an alcoholic beverage, and somewhat strong, from what she could taste.
"So Lady Hippoleah," said Kim, starting to grow
tipsy, "Why'd you ask us to come here?"
Hialeah wore a lop-sided grin as she watched Kim
finish her glass of Oidua. "Well, Micronian, I had merely wanted
to meet Admiral Hayes, while she was here, since I am sure she will be
working on many important projects in the near future. However, after
meeting her in person, I also want to offer her a proposal."
Lisa stepped forward, "What kind of proposal?"
"Ahh, well, drink up and then I will tell you what
my proposal is," returned Hialeah.
"Yea Lisa, drink up, this is good crap!" said a
rosy-cheeked Kim.
Lisa stared at her glass, knowing that in a while
she'd be much worse off than Kim. She looked at Hialeah again and
decided to finish her drink, grateful that at least her stomach was full
from lunch, hopefully it would dampen the Oidua's effects.
Hialeah sat forward again and said, "Join us, Admiral.
You can be more than my right hand, you can be my equal. I can get
the Council to create a seat for you! Your Micronians would have
many advantages they wouldn't ordinarly have in my territory!"
Lisa frowned, trying to process what it was that
Hialeah was offering her.
"Why be a small, fragile Micronian, when you could
be a strong and mighty Zentraedi. Macronize and you will see what
advantages it is to be Zentraedi," said Hialeah, sounding more like a salesperson
for a religious cult.
"I am very grateful for the honor, but I am quite
content with being a Micronian," said Lisa.
Hialeah sighed and said, "Oh, you Micronians, you
are very enamored with being Micronians. That other Micronian also
didn't wish to be macronized either, neither did Miriya. I don't
understand what is so great about being so small. Very well then,
I had suspected that would be your answer but I thought I would try just
in case."
Hialeah put her palms on her desk and pushed herself
out of her chair and said with a smile, "That is alright Admiral, we are
still friends and you can call on me whenever you wish. I will always
try to be of assistance whenever possible." Hialeah motioned to the
three male Zentraedi and they collected the glasses and the tray and headed
out of the room, with Hialeah following behind. Uradana came over
and held out her hand. Lisa stepped onto her palm but Kim was starting
to wobble where she stood so Lisa went back and pulled her over onto Uradana's
hand.
"Please go very slowly," said Lisa. Uradana
raised an eyebrow at her but did as Lisa had requested and carefully placed
the two micronians back on the ground. Lisa had to hold onto Kim,
who not only hobbled on her bad ankle, but also was now wobbly from the
Oidua.
As Lisa helped Kim into the car, Kim mumbled, "Hey,
what's so bad about being macronized anyways. We should try it, just
once, to see what it feels like. I bet Sammie and Vanessa would do
it, if they saw those Zentraedi guys. That Pogo is a looker eh?"
Kim gafawed then started giggling as she slumped
in her seat, "Pogo?! Did you hear those names? What kind of
stupid names are those? Jigo, Togo, and Pogo!? She probably
ordered them from the same test tube set!" Kim started laughing hysterically
as people began to look in their direction because of the noise and commotion.
Lisa grabbed Kim by her turtleneck and said, "Stop it!! Do
you know what would happen if Maistroff saw you like this!?"
Kim laughed defiantly, "F--k that idiot!"
Lisa counted to three to try and calm herself down,
then sped the car home as quickly as she
could, all the while, Kim giggling ever so often and repeating the
names of Togo, Pogo, and Jigo.
Lisa was grateful to finally reach the driveway
and noticed that the door was wide open and got out of the car then pulled
Kim from the car and made their way to the door. Once inside they
saw boxes scattered around the room. Vanessa came down the stairs
and Sammie followed behind her. They stopped in their tracks when
they saw Lisa trying to hold up a giggling Kim.
"Oh no!!! What happened?!" exclaimed Sammie as she
ran to help Lisa keep Kim from falling on the floor.
"Hialeah made us drink this Zentraedi drink called
Oidua," reported Lisa.
"WHAT?!!" said Rick from the kitchen doorway.
He walked quickly up to Lisa and looked at Kim
and said, "Please tell me you didn't drink any of that stuff!"
Lisa gave him a resigned look and said, "I did. And more than
Kim did, why I'm not like her right now, I can't explain."
"Do you know how strong Oidua is?! Miriya
told me and Max that a long time ago, if anyone ever offered you Oidua,
don't drink it!" continued Rick.
"Too late now," said Lisa.
Sammie went up to Lisa and looked at her carefully
and said "What I don't understand is why you're not drunk like Kim.
That Oidua stuff is super potent from what I hear."
"Well, who cares WHY Lisa isn't like Kim right now,
just be glad she isn't," interjected Vanessa.
"I know...but it doesn't make any sense," said Sammie,
still puzzled.
Lisa, sensing that Rick was looking at her, tried
to brush off the incident by saying, "Well, it seems to have bypassed me
for some reason. Why don't you girls get Kim settled so she can recover
and I'll go change so I can help you guys finish packing."
Rick looked at her, still concerned, but didn't
say anything and carried some more boxes outside to Sammie's car.
After about another two hours, they finally managed
to get everything packed up and shuttled between their new housing.
Sammie and Vanessa would be relocated to a small two-room apartment about
10 min from downtown Monument. Rick would be moved into an even smaller
apartment, 20 minutes away from Monument, and Lisa and Kim were moved to
a suite in a hotel only 5 minutes from the temporary base. To Sammie
and Vanessa's great dismay, Antell was moved right next door to them.
By the time everything was settled it was 9pm.
Everyone was congregated at Lisa's suite and Kim had, for the most part,
recovered from her drunken episode. There was a stack of books on
the table and Rick picked one up and asked, "What are these for?"
Kim smirked and said, "Counterstrike material.
If Antell wants to spar with me, let her. If she fires a volley my way,
I'm going to fire one back. If she leaves me alone, I'll leave her
alone, but it's all up to her. I'm not looking to fight with her,
but if she antagonizes me, like she does to some people, the troll, then
I'll have to respond. And we all know that NOBODY knows more about
the group 'cat's Eye' more than me. If she wants to get into film
history skirmishes, so be it, I'll be ready for her, with the help of that
book there that you have in your hand."
Sammie groaned, "Oh Kim. Just leave her alone,
because once you get her started, she'll never shut up until she thinks
she's won."
"But why should she win if she's not right in the
first place?" argued Kim.
"Kim, just let her babble on like the idiot she
is, there's no need to try and fight with her," said Vanessa.
"You guys don't get it do you? You see, that's
why she's the way she is. No one ever stood up to her and told her
to be quiet. Everyone just appeased her and let her continue to keep
thinking that she's the all-knowing," countered Kim.
"Kim, don't waste your time, you've got other things
to do. Everyone knows how she is and nobody likes her, and she knows
it. Whether she cares or not, she knows she's ostracized so lets
just leave it at that," said Vanessa in a last ditch effort to head off
the Kim-Antell showdown.
Kim shrugged, "Yea well we'll see. Like I said,
if she doesn't antagonize me, I'll leave her alone, won't even say a word.
But if she says something against me, I'm not going to take it lying down."
Insult me and I will insult back! I will not
take a punch and not react! You can call it pride, yes I am proud,
but no one should give in to people like Antell or Maistroff and other
idiots like them!"
Kim seethed the last words and everyone there was
surprised at her sudden change in mood.
Nobody said anything in reply because they didn't
want to set her off any further so Vanessa and Sammie bade everyone a good
night. Before they left, Vanessa pointed to Kim and said, "Make
sure that woman never gets command of her own battleship!" Everyone,
except Kim, laughed nervously and Kim showed that she had recovered from
her little dark episode by picking up a pillow from the couch and throwing
it at Vanessa, who managed to duck in time and so the pillow ended up hitting
Sammie. Sammie threw the pillow back and stuck her tongue out at
Kim, then followed Vanessa out the door.
Rick lingered and made himself comfortable on the
couch, apparently not wanting to leave. Kim was sober enough to fake
being sleepy and said that she was going to her room to sleep off the rest
of the Oidua.
Rick watched Kim go to her room but since there
was no doors on the bedrooms, he still didn't feel comfortable talking.
Lisa sensed this and said quietly, "We can go over to your place and talk
for awhile if you want."
Rick smiled at her and was about to ask her if she
wasn't too tired and would just rather stay home and go to sleep but he
knew what her answer would be, so he stood up and held out his hand.
Lisa thought to leave a note for Kim, and then Rick and Lisa drove back
to Rick's small apartment.
Rick greeted several pilots and flight crewmen as
he and Lisa walked the winding hallways to his apartment. Each time
they saluted someone they could see the look of amusement on the faces.
Rick was worried, he knew what went on in guy's minds and he could almost
see the leers on some faces. Here he was, bringing Lisa back to his
apartment. This was no ordinary 'girlfriend' that most guys bring
over, this was one of the highest ranking officers in the Defence Force,
following behind him as he led her to his small apartment.
Rick open the door and turned on the light and looked
around a bit embarrassed. "It sure is a downsize from what I've been
used to for the past two years," he said.
Lisa went and sat down on the couch, tiredly, and
gave him a weak smile, saying, "It's not so bad really, sort of reminds
me of the rooms on the SDF-1."
Rick agreed with her then joined her on the couch.
He looked at her intently, "Lisa are you sure you're alright? It's
just not possible how you could have drunk that Oidua and not have any
after-effects."
"Well, I do feel a bit cotton-headed, but hopefully
I will sleep that off."
Rick, still worried yet amazed, said, "Wait till
Miriya hears about this, she won't believe it. Oidua is enough to knockout
even big guys like Breetai. She said it would be disastrous on micronians.
In fact, she said she didn't even really know how it affected Micronians."
Lisa shrugged, "Well, maybe it affects certain people
differently and I was one of the fortunate ones to not have been affected.
Rick, please stop worrying, as you can see I'm doing fine."
Rick smiled at her and brushed a few strands of
hair back behind her ear, letting his hand linger on her cheek. "I
can't help but worry about you. I don't know what I'd do if anything
happened to you," he said softly.
She took his hand and held it, not saying anything
as she looked into his blue eyes.
"You know," said Rick with a chuckle, "this reminds
me of the time when I picked you up from Claudia's house that rainy night.
I wanted to kiss you, but I didn't dare 'cause I knew you were drunk."
Lisa stared at him and said in disbelief, "You wanted
to kiss me? That night?"
Rick hung his head, "I know, it's terrible of me-"
"No. I mean...why didn't you?" asked Lisa.
Rick looked at her, confused at first but then he
answered, "Because I didn't want to take advantage of you of course."
"Rick, what was it about me that night that made
you want to kiss me?" Lisa was curious beyond words, realizing that
that night might've been a missed opportunity.
Rick shrugged, "I don't know. I guess it was
'cause we were both so open and honest with each other in our conversation
that night, it was like we finally understood one another. It was
just you and me, enjoying each other's company."
"So then, if I wasn't drunk that night, would you
have kissed me?" asked Lisa directly.
Rick gave her an embarrassed grin and said, "I don't
know, I guess...maybe I would have."
"You mean like that time after the movie where we
got stuck in a corridor after a modular transformation," remembered Lisa.
Rick blushed and Lisa continued, "Would you have
kissed me then, had the ship not transformed back?"
"Well, I suppose I might have," said Rick.
Lisa laughed, feeling giddy all of a sudden.
"So then, what about now? If you thought I wasn't drunk, would you
kiss me?"
Rick smiled, "Yes of course."
Lisa narrowed her eyes, "Well then, what are you
waiting for?"
Rick hesitated, "But you're-"
"I'm drunk?" answered Lisa.
"I guess so," stammered Rick.
But you can't be sure," countered Lisa.
Rick: "No, not really."
Lisa: "Then?"
Rick: "Then what?"
Lisa: "What are you waiting for? Kiss me Rick
Hunter."
Rick leaned closer to her and hesitated for a moment,
Lisa nodded and so Rick continued his journey to her lips. They began
the kiss gently and leisurely for awhile but soon the ardor in both of
them arose and kiss intensified. Lisa leaned back against the arm
of the sofa and gently pulled Rick down with her as she wrapped her arms
around his neck and he wrapped his arms around shoulders.
After a minute or so, Rick began to realize that
Lisa grip around his neck had become tighter and tighter and now it was
to a point where he was having trouble moving and breathing. He tried
to push away from her but she grabbed the front of his shirt and flung
him against the wall with such strength that he was lifted off his feet.
"Where do you think you're going? Not going
back to Minmei are you?" snarled Lisa.
Rick felt the hair on the back of his neck stand
up in fright as he looked at Lisa. She was sweating profusely and
as pale as a ghost and she wore such a sardonic look on her face that she
almost looked evil.
Rick tried to get away but Lisa had him by the shirt
again and then put both hands over his neck as if trying to strangle him.
Her grip was unbelievable and Rick couldn't break loose and thought he
was surely going to die when all of a sudden Lisa released her grip and
turned around. Rick didn't move but his eyes followed her.
She turned around and this time instead of being as pale as a ghost, she
was rapidly starting to turn red and her hands started to shake.
"Rick," she said in a hoarse whisper, "what's going
on?? What's happening to me?"
She was teetering and Rick could see that she was
about to fall, so he jumped up quickly and managed to catch her on time,
dragging her back to the couch so she could lie down.
"Rick, I feel so strange," said Lisa in a weak voice.
Rick rushed to the phone and said, "Don't worry,
I'm calling for the paramedics now, you'll be ok, lie down and rest."
"No!" Lisa rushed up and pulled the phone from his
hand, then crumpled back down to her knees. "I don't want to go to
the hospital, just call Jean, ask her to come over."
Rick, thinking it best to call the paramedics, did
as Lisa requested and called Dr. Jean Grant.
Ten minutes later, Jean Grant arrived and rushed
into the room. After running a litany of standard procedures, she
pulled out another medical box and announced that she would do some blood
tests. She said that some of the tests would take up to 30 minutes
to complete so she pulled up a chair and looked at Lisa who was now sitting
up on the couch, leaning against Rick.
"So what you're telling me is that you drank Oidua
earlier today? Are you crazy?!" scolded Jean.
"I didn't want to offend her," said Lisa.
"Lisa. Who cares if you offended her, don't
you understand how bad Oidua could be for you?" said Jean, still angry.
"I didn't know it would be this bad? All I
had ever heard about it was that it was strong stuff thats all. I've
drunk strong stuff before so I thought I could handle it. Kim drank
it too, and all that happened to her was that she got a little bit drunk."
"Lisa!" exclaimed Jean as she threw her hands up
in the air, somewhat reminiscent of her sister-in-law, "Kim has a much
higher tolerance than you do, you know that."
It was Lisa's turn to be angry, "Jean. It
is important that I stay on Hialeah's good side, for the sake of the refugees!
If I had made her angry somehow, she has the power to simply wave her hand
and then every single refugee could be kicked out of Monument, or even
worse, she could put everyone in jail. She has that much power.
She can do whatever she wants because she runs the Council. I had
to do it, I couldn't take the chance that she would get upset and expel
everyone out of Monument."
Jean held up her hands in resignation, "Alright,
you win. But just remember this little incident the next time Hialeah
invites you over for tea."
"Jean, could it be possible that Hialeah slipped
something in Lisa's drink?" asked Rick.
"Yes it is possible, and if she did, the test results
might show us what it was, but that still doesn't negate my previous order.
DON'T DARE DRINK OIDUA!"
"Yes ma'am," mumbled both Rick and Lisa.
"You know what Jean," said a smiling Rick, "you're
a lot like your sister-in-law sometimes."
Everyone laughed for a few moments then settled
into quietness as they waited for the test results. Jean announced
that the results were finished and tore off the printout and studied it
for several minutes.
Jean eyed Rick and Lisa then said slowly, "Now,
tell me, what was it you two were doing before Lisa had her episode?"
Rick and Lisa both started to blush and stammer
some type of explanation but Jean spared them and said, "These tests indicate
an unusually high level of testosterone, now it is just a theory and I
would need to run some experiments back at the lab, but my hypothesis is
that an Oidua reaction is triggered by an elevated level of testosterone,
or vice versa. I will have to talk to Kim to at least get some notion
of whether my hypothesis is correct or not. In fact, I think we had
better go over and talk to her now, before her body chemistry gets fully
back to normal."
Rick helped Lisa up and they followed Jean back
to her car and headed towards the hotel. Once there, Jean flipped
on the lightswitch and shook Kim.
"Huh...wha...is it time for breakfast already?"
mumbled Kim, half her face smashed against the pillow.
"Kim, wake up, I need to ask you a few questions,"
said Jean.
Kim yawned and rolled over on the other side, facing
away from everyone.
"Kim, come on, wake up!" said Jean more loudly this
time.
"No!" said Kim as she pulled the covers over her
head.
Lisa came and sat on the edge of the bed, "Kim,
look, Pogo has come to see you."
Kim started to rustle under the covers then poked
her head and arms into view, like a turtle coming out of it's shell and
said groggily, "Uh? Huh? Did you say Pogo?"
Lisa tried to keep her voice even as she said, "Yes,
Pogo's here to take you out on a date."
After about 3 seconds of silence, the covers flew
off of Kim and she was quickly trying to fix her hair.
Lisa, despite still feeling ill, couldn't help but
laugh. Kim looked at her then looked around the room and at Lisa
and Jean.
"Where's Pogo?" demanded Kim.
Lisa, still chuckling, said apologetically, "I'm
sorry Kim, I had to get you to wake up quickly somehow. I knew that
would do the trick."
Kim looked at her and pretended to pout, "You sure
have fun getting me all worked up for nothing."
Lisa looked at Kim then realized the connection
and then quickly looked over at Jean. Jean shook her head and said, "That
must be it then!"
Kim looked back and forth at Lisa and Jean and asked,
"What's going on here?"
Jean looked at Lisa and saw that she had gotten
upset at the thought of having to tell Kim the story, so Jean thought quickly
and said, "It's a long story, I'll tell you about it tommorrow, but for
now, since it's late, I need to ask you a few questions. Lisa, I
think it's alright, you can go now, I'll see myself out when I'm done here."
Lisa left the room quietly and went to the living
room expecting to find Rick, but he wasn't there. She figured he
had left and so she headed to her bedroom. She saw a light on in
her bathroom and didn't remember leaving it on, so she carefully headed
into the bathroom. Once there saw that Rick was examining the bruise
marks that had formed on his neck. When he saw Lisa's reflection
in the mirror he instinctively jumped then turned slowly around to face
her. He saw a hollow look on her face and then her expression changed to
pure horror as she got a better look at the bruises she had left on his
neck. She held out a shaky hand but couldn't bring herself to touch
him and a sob escaped her as she turned around and tried to run away.
She managed to get a few paces into the bedroom but Rick managed to grab
her wrist and keep her in her spot.
"Jean is right, I shouldn't have drunk that Oidua!"
sobbed Lisa.
"You did what you thought you needed to do and you
made the right choice," said Rick firmly.
Lisa shook her head over and over again, "No! Look
at your neck." Her voice became a disbelieving whisper, "Look at what I
did to you! I saw the look on your face when you first saw me come
into the bathroom. You were scared of me!"
"Lisa, I, no. You must understand that was
just a instinctive-"
"No! I waited so long, went through so much,
now look what I've done, you're afraid of me!"
"Lisa no! I'm not afraid of you, look, come
here."
Lisa pointed at his neck with a trembling hand and
whispered, "Look at that, look at what I did to you..."
Rick grabbed Lisa by the shoulders and told her
firmly, "No! Lisa look at me! I am not hurt, I am not afraid
of you, please. Please calm down and let me take care of you."
Lisa managed to squirm out of Rick's grasp, and
backed towards the door slowly. "No no....this is all Hialeah's fault.
She did this on purpose! She'll pay for this. That Zentraedi
b---h will pay for this!"
Rick ran after her and tackled her to the ground,
"She'll pay for this!" shouted Lisa.
Jean and Kim ran into the room. Jean and Kim
helped Rick pick Lisa off the floor and Jean ran back to her medical bags
to retrieve a sedative. After 10 minutes, Lisa was relaxing peacfully
on her bed, Rick sitting on the edge of it, holding her hand. For
all accounts, it seemed that Lisa had completely calmed down, but she hadn't
said a word since the sedative. She sat up in bed as Rick helped
her up and she smiled at him then her eyes grew wide as she again saw the
bruises on his neck. Jean, Rick, and Kim all instinctively got up
slowly, getting ready to restrain Lisa if need be.
"Rick," said Lisa with curious tone, "what happened
to your neck?"
Everyone there gaped at her, then looked at each
other with confusion.
"Jean, what was in that sedative?" asked Rick.
Jean shrugged her shoulders and said, "It was just
your normal sedative, well, this is one of the organic-based ones, not
the synthetic ones."
Jean thought for a moment then said, "I wonder if
something in it had some type of negating affect on the Oidua."
Jean put a gentle hand on Lisa's arm and said, "Lisa
dear, what's the last thing you remember?"
Lisa looked at everyone and tried to think, "Well,
the last thing I remember...I remember being at Hialeah's office."
"Do you remember anything specific, what were you
doing, the last you remember?" continued Jean.
"I...I can't remember. I just remember being
there but I don't remember anything specific."
"Interesting. Ok, Rick, why don't you kiss
her, let's see what happens." ordered Jean.
"Wait a minute," protested Lisa. "What's going
on here?"
"Don't worry Lisa, I'm trying a little medical experiment,"
said Jean calmly. "Rick, kiss her like you guys were kissing over
at your apartment."
Rick scratched his head and stammered, "Uh...well...I
don't think that's such a good idea..."
"It's ok Rick. Kim and I are here to keep
an eye on her," answered Jean.
Rick blushed and said, "Well, I wasn't so much worried
about Lisa getting out of hand..."
Jean chuckled and patted Rick on the shoulder, "I
see. Well, then just do what you feel comfortable with and stop when
you need to."
Lisa looked around at everyone and dryly, "Why do
I feel like I'm back on Dolza's ship again?"
Jean couldn't pass up the cheap shot and said, "Very
well Micronians, you may begin the demonstration. Wait! Kim,
leave the room."
"Why?!" protested Kim.
"Because I said so, and because you haven't been
given the 'anti-serum' yet," replied Jean.
Kim's expression turned from disappointment to realization
and she quietly left the room.
Jean turned back to Rick and Lisa and said, "Proceed
Micronians!"
Rick and Lisa kissed for some time until Rick finally
broke away breathless. Jean looked intently at Lisa and saw no change
in her demeanor except for breathlessness. She hurried to her medical
bag and pulled out another syringe and told Lisa she was going to take
another blood sample and run the tests again.
Lisa was still confused and finally demanded to
know what was going on as Jean called out for Kim to come back to the room.
Jean stood up and walked a few paces around the
room then turned back to Lisa and replied, "It seems you've had a bit of
a bad reaction to some Zentraedi Oidua. Whether it was tainted or
not, I still cannot say. The one thing that seems almost certain
now is that the reaction is worsened by increased levels of testosterone.
Fortunately however, whatever is contained in this sedative seems to have
some type of reversal effect. So it could be used as a sort of antidote."
Lisa looked completely flabbergasted, "So what you're
telling me is that Zentraedi Oidua is some type of psychosis-inducing aphrodesiac?!"
Jean laughed, "Not quite, you've got it a bit out
of place. It seems that the Oidua effects are triggered by the level
of testosterone. That would explain why Kim got drunk right away
at Hialeah's office. She was checking out Pogo and very attracted
to him, yet her feelings were shallow so she had a light-headed type of
drunken effect. Whereas you didn't have any drunken effects until
you and Rick were getting pretty intense. Your level of testosterone
was spiking pretty high so your reaction was more severe."
"This has got to be the most ridiculous thing I've
ever heard!" exclaimed Kim in disbelief.
Jean shrugged, "Well, ridiculous as it is, it seems
to be true."
"Women don't have testosterone! That's a male hormone!"
replied Kim.
Jean rolled her eyes, "Let me guess, you flunked
your anatomy class right? Kim, every person has testosterone.
It's just that the men have it in higher quantities than women. The
higher the level the more aggressive the person is. Too high a level
and they can become violent."
"Wait a minute, you mean...those bruises on Rick's
neck...," said Lisa slowly as she looked at Rick, "I did that?!"
Jean motioned to Kim and the two women left the
room. Rick tried to get Lisa to lie down and go to sleep but his
efforts were in vain and he dreaded having to go through the explanation
and seeing her reaction all over again.
"Lisa please don't be so upset. You weren't
yourself you didn't know what you were doing."
Lisa couldn't look at him and started to sniffle.
Rick took her face in his hands and said gently, "Lisa please don't cry.
I know that you love me and that you'd never hurt me. What happened
was...was an accident. My feelings for you haven't changed one bit.
Please don't blame yourself."
Lisa touched his neck with trembling hands as Rick
gave her a kiss on the cheek. Lisa started to kiss Rick's neck, pecking
at wherever she found a bruise and he could feel the moisture her tears
fall on his neck.
Rick hugged her tightly and whispered, "It's ok
Lisa."
"But I could have killed you," said Lisa, also whispering,
in a shaky voice.
"It won't happen again Lisa. Please don't
think about it anymore," replied Rick.
Rick pulled away from her a bit and said quietly,
"Can I stay here tonight? I don't want you to be alone. And,
I don't want to be alone either."
Lisa knew that Rick's request was a sign of his
confidence in her and that despite her having nearly strangled him to death,
he wasn't afraid of her, because he loved her, and he would always be there
for her, the way she had been there for him so many times before.
Rick took off his shoes and his shirt and climbed
under the covers and Lisa curled up next to him and rested her head on
his chest, listening to the sound of his heartbeat until she fell asleep.
=================
Author's notes:
You can find my notes here: http://www.geocities.com/sphersian/chapnotes.html
:)