Hopes and Dreams
A/N: Well thanks to all those who have reviewed, an thank you Sphersian for being such a big fan, nineteen reviews in two days, that's got to be a new record for me. Don't worry about how many you submitted I know you like to read these. So enough of this pre-fic talk, and on with the story!
The Christmas Party at Claudia's house started out with a bunch of talking and mingling and for Rick, a lot of congratulations and patting on the back. An since the only two other guys in the house were Max, Henry, and Vince they went off and found themselves a little nook and talked.
Max sat off to Rick's right sipping his beer, "So Rick, when did you finally give up on Minmei?" Max asked in his usual cool tone. Rick took sipped his beer and looked at Max and raised an eyebrow, "Yesterday, or maybe the day before I can't really remember. I just knew the day we had our date and I didn't show up till hours after we agreed and she was still there waiting and smiling, I knew then."
Henry looked at Rick and swished his beer a little; he had never been much of a beer man, being Russian and all. He had always preferred a good Vodka to this pathetic excuse of alcohol these Americans called beer, but he wasn't going to complain, god knows he hadn't complained in years and there was no reason to start now.
But he watched the three other men carry on and watched as Vince and Max took turns drilling Rick, and Rick being a good sport about it took all the questions with a smile and a casual simple answer. Henry had to smile; this had been a long time in coming.
If he had known that Minmei would cause so much distress to Lisa, the woman that he looked at as the daughter he never had, he would have stuffed her in an a airlock and ejected her into space, but he was happy to see that Rick, after being oblivious to Lisa for so much time had finally come around to her.
Henry watched for a minute more and decided he needed to step outside for a smoke and got up, "If you gentlemen will excuse me I am going to step outside for a few minutes," Henry didn't say anything more as he walked towards the door and pulling his coat closer around him he stepped outside with his pipe in hand.
Henry walked to the end of Claudia's driveway and lit his pipe. With the pipe clenched between his teeth Henry thought back to all the events that had transpired over the last four years, he even thought to before then to his time in the Global Civil War. It brought a slight smile to his face as he remembered Lisa's father before he had been corrupted by power, before he de-rezzed in the Grand Cannon.
Henry thought back to when the SDF-1 had first landed on the planet back in 1999. The Global Civil War had been raging for years by that point and was on the brink of wiping out humanity. But that fateful day, the SDF-1 landed and with it an end to the Global Civil War, thought the war stopped the fighting continued for years as Anti-UEG rebels launched low intensity wars all over the globe trying desperately to stop the UEG government.
But the Anti-UEG rebels weren't the only group to flare up in protest during this time. The Faithful had risen up at this time vowing to the world that the SDF-1 was evil and that by allowing it to remain on the Earth, that God would take his punishment on the Earth by killing all of humanity and devastating the planet.
Henry for a long time had scoffed at the idea of The Faithful. Henry had never been a particularly religious man, an it wasn't for the lack of his family trying, it was just that Henry was a realist and he wanted proof that there really was a god, an so far as Henry was concerned, God still hadn't showed him, or anyone any proof that he existed.
This was one of the reasons why Henry never celebrated Christmas, and today wasn't going to be any different for him, except that, after long last, Rick had finally decided that he was going to open his eyes and take a good long look at the world around him and see that he couldn't keep living in his little fantasy world chasing Minmei all over the place and feeling sorry for himself.
Henry smiled, it had taken a strong woman almost four years to make him see that, an along that path this woman had suffered a great deal to make him see that there was quite possibly another person out there for him, and in Henry's opinion, a better woman for him.
Henry had nothing against Minmei except for that fact that she was a self- centered, spoiled little girl who still had a lot of growing up to do before she could really settle down with anyone. Lisa in his opinion was a better fit for Rick as she was the type of woman who had been there and had the experience to keep him in check, but was also loving enough to be there for him when he needed it.
He took a puff on his pipe and noticed that it was almost empty of tobacco, and as he stood there contemplating on whether or not to put another plug of tobacco in his pipe he thought better of it and decided to walk back into the house and finish having a good time with the people he had come to regard as his family, or most of them anyway.
Henry turned back and walked back into the house and left his ill thoughts outside when he came back into the friendly warmth of the house. He heard a few hellos and gave a wave and walked over to the couch and looked out the window and just listened to the greatness of youth around him.
But a much more different scene unfolded itself in Khyron's cruiser as it sat in the frigid cold of the Alaskan Tundra, or what was left of it. Khyron paced the command center of the cruiser with anger and humiliation present on his face. He was angry because his plan to get the Protoculture Matrix had failed and he was humiliated because, yet again he had been beaten by the micronians.
Azonia and Grel stood of to the side watching both with satisfied looks on their faces. Azonia was satisfied because after all of Khyron's talk he had failed to get the Matrix back to supply his ship with power, just further proving that he was quickly becoming unable to lead.
Grel was satisfied because it was he that was supposed to lead that attack and from what the few survivors told, the micronians were not in a mood to take any prisoners that day and they had all but wiped out Khyron's attack force. There was even word that a run on the SDF-1's bridge by Khyron and some of his best warriors had been stopped by one Veritech pilot.
But that wasn't all, this pilot appeared to be the same one that had held Khyron at bay in space and had damaged his pod so much. Grel almost smiled, by he knew that if Khyron caught anyone with even a slightly happy or pleased look on their face, that'd he kill them. Khyron had become that way more and more since his ingestion of the Flower of Life.
Grel stole a look at Azonia who gave him a sly smirk and Grel didn't like it. He had never really liked Azonia, but over the past few months of being stuck with her on Khyron's cruiser he had come to accept her and had learned to deal with her. He knew she was going to go and give Khyron trouble; she always did whenever he had lost a battle.
Azonia walked over to Khyron and all the while making a show of it by spreading out her arms and shaking her hips from side to side, "Oh Khyron, what happened this time?" Azonia said in a mocking childish voice. Grel watched with interest and Azonia was the only one who could do this without being killed.
Khyron turned to her with a murderous look in his eyes and both Azonia and Grel could see that he had just ingested some Flowers of Life and that now was not the time to be making jokes of him or trying to mock him in anyway shape or form.
Azonia backed off back to where she had been and Khyron gave her a look that told both of them that they had better figure something out soon or he was going to get very violent. Azonia took a step back, thought she and Khyron had been stuck together and she had a special place to him, and she was not excluded from his anger and wrath.
Grel knew the look and searched his brain for something meaningful to say or maybe something that would maybe pacify Khyron long enough for him to get away from him, "Uh, milord I do think I have an idea that will allow us to have our revenge on the micronians for defeating you," Grel said hoping that Khyron would hear him.
Khyron stopped and looked at him and Grel knew he had his attention, "Well milord, some of our spies report that the micronians have an inherent fear or completely random death. Things like explosions and random shootings scare micronians to their core. So milord I propose that we start to..." Grel thought for the word, "terrorizing the micronians."
Khyron watched Grel for a moment and thought, 'If Grel is right then we could find some of our most diehard warriors and have them go and sacrifice themselves to cause damage to the micronians towns and cities. To any other commander this would be a completely foreign idea.
"Grel, so you are telling me that if we go and blow up out warriors and cause damage to their cities and kill there people that they will become afraid?" Grel nodded his head and looked at Khyron and realized the look, he liked the idea, an as if to reinforce this, Khyron gave an evil smile.
Khyron walked up to Grel and placed a hand on his shoulder, "Good job Grel, now I remember why I keep you around instead of killing you," Khyron said with a devilish smile and Grel gulped, he knew his commander was deadly serious, "Now Grel, go get me some men, tell them that it is for the greater Zentraedi good," Grel nodded and ran off to find him some suitable warriors.
Khyron walked up to Azonia and gave her a murderous look, "If you ever humiliate me in front of my troops ever again, I swear I will kill you on the spot, do you understand that?" Khyron's voice was quivering and murder was in his eyes and Azonia just nodded her head and watched as he stormed off in a rage.
"...Five...six...seven, ah damn it," Rick shouted as his piece landed on Boardwalk for the third time in a row. At this rate Rick was going to be out of money and he looked up and saw a happy glint in Kim's eye, Boardwalk was hers and now Rick regretted not buying it when he had the chance.
"That's two thousand you owe me Rick," Kim said holding out her hand as Rick started to hand over the money and realized that he didn't have enough actual money and he would have to mortgage some of his property and he looked down and realized that even with mortgaging he still didn't have enough.
Rick rolled his eyes and looked at Kim, "I don't have enough," he said flatly and he could hear a general laugh from the people around him.
Kim huffed, "Well then I guess I am going to have to break your legs aren't I?" Kim asked in a mocking haughty tone.
Lisa rolled her eyes and put a hand on Rick's shoulder, "I really don't see how you got this far in life, you do have enough, but barely," Lisa started to look at his property and barely managed to get Rick the two thousand he owed Kim, but Rick's fortune didn't last long as he landed on Boardwalk the very next time around and gave an exasperated groan and just lead back and watched as the others continued to play without him.
He felt Lisa next to him and he looked at her and saw her smile at him sweetly, "You know it was funny watching you try to play Monopoly with the Terrible Trio, they play that so much that they have become the masters at it," Rick rolled his eyes, "an a lot of the time you would sell your property out before you had too," Rick rolled his eyes again and Lisa laughed kissing his cheek.
"Now I know why you're the one for me, God knows I'd never be able to take care of and fiscal responsibilities," Rick said in a hushed tone and Lisa smiled again and they both turned their attention from each other long enough to hear Claudia say that dinner was ready and everyone got up and went to get some food.
There were far too many people to sit at the table so it was decided that they would eat buffet style and everyone would sit where they could, but none of them got away without a stern warning from a wooden spoon wielding Claudia telling them if they made a mess she would use the spoon on them.
This got a laugh from everyone in the house and they started to get their food and Rick and Lisa lingered near the back talking and hugging and carrying on. They finally got to get their food and they made their way for the living room where everyone was gathering and everyone started to handle the gifts that Rick had brought.
Everyone looked around and realized that no one else had brought anything and looked at Rick who waved off their concerns and told them to go ahead and open the gifts. Henry was the first to open his gift and Rick heard a happy exclamation that he assumed was Russian and looked over and saw that Henry had opened his and was looking approvingly at the Vodka and pipe that Rick had gotten him.
Rick turned when he heard a squeal and looked at saw the Trio each hold their gifts, Rick hadn't known what to get them so he had gotten them all gift cards to the mall each worth fifty dollars. Rick saw them all smile happily and heard a "Thank you Rick," in unison and he smiled.
Rick turned his attention to Max and saw that he was already looking at the Beatles CD's that Rick had gotten him and Miriya already reading the book on Human Customs and insults, Rick knew she'd have a fun time with that.
An Jean and Vince Grant seemed to enjoy the his/her watched that he had gotten for them upon hearing that they were almost inseparable. Rick turned and saw that Claudia was smiling with the mini model of Skull One, Roy vintage.
Everyone seemed to be enjoying the gifts and then he heard the Trio ask what Rick had gotten for Lisa and Rick turned and pointed to himself, and saw the Trio give out a groan and before Rick could tell what was happening he felt a hand on the back of his head, and he gave out a cry. He saw a somewhat angry look on Lisa's face, and before anyone else could see it, she hid it.
"Yeah Rick, what'd you get Lisa," Max piped in.
"Yes, I too an very interested to see what you have gotten for Lisa," Miriya said with ever the correct grammar.
Rick didn't have to saw anything as Lisa pulled the necklace out of her sweater and heard all the women ooh and ah, and heard Max give out a whistle. The Trio jumped up and started to looked at the heart shaped pendant encrusted with diamonds and emeralds.
Then Max got up and walked over to Rick and patted him on the shoulder, "Hey man, sorry we didn't get you anything, it was kind of short notice," Max said trying to explain himself and Rick got an idea.
"You guys don't have to worry about getting me anything," Rick said as he pulled Lisa closer to him, "I got the best Christmas present ever right here," and he hugged Lisa and he felt Lisa melt in his arms. Whatever anger Lisa had over Rick's arrogant joke was lost by what he had just said.
As they broke the hug a cell phone rang and everyone turned to see a flustered Admiral Gloval fumbling with a cell phone, and he finally got it to work and he started to talk into it, and Rick took this opportunity to pull Lisa aside, "Lisa, I'm sorry for that joke you know I didn't mean it, if anything you still accepting me is more then I deserve," Rick said.
Lisa kissed him, "Don't worry about it, I over-reacted, I should have known that it was just a joke," Lisa said running her hand through his un- ruly mop of hair. Rick smiled and kissed Lisa cause he knew that she was more then he deserved, an a sudden commotion bring them back to Earth.
"But Admiral Gloval, do you have to go?" Kim begged, "It's Christmas of all days, I think they could figure something out without for once," Vanessa added. Henry held out his hands and halted any further protests.
"I am sorry everyone but I have to go, this is important, and General Maistroff said that I needed to be there to hear it so I have to go," Henry said. "Now I need to get the Ready Room Three, that's were they're meeting," Henry said. Rick pulled out his keys and tossed the Henry, "Make sure you get back here in a hurry," Rick said and Henry nodded and went out to door.
As the shock of having Henry leave so suddenly wore off the group went back to chatting and sitting by the fire that Rick had just started. But as it seemed that they would be settling down for a nice night of each other's company, at least a dozen ground-shaking explosions rocked Macross City.
The house emptied as everyone went into the street to see what happened. An they saw smoke rising from the RDF sector of the city and suddenly realized that they were under attack, and everyone began to make their way for the Barracks and meeting rooms. But the assault wasn't over; half a dozen more explosions rocked the rest of Macross and more pillars of smoke rose from the RDF area.
As rescue crews, both military and civilian began to arrive they could see the devastation and carnage that was before them. The RDF barracks and meeting rooms were in total rubble and bodies were everywhere and as Rick and the rest of the group got closer they could see body parts littering the area.
Rick grabbed a sergeant running towards the carnage ready to do his job and try and save anyone he could and fight the fires that were raging around the RDF base. "What the hell happened here," Rick demanded, the sergeant looked at Rick and a look of terror and sadness came over him, "Zentraedi terrorists attacks, they blew themselves up right here in the RDF base, and by the looks of it, they got a lot of good people before anyone knew what was going on," Rick let go of the man and started to stumble back but felt initiative take hold and started to run for the Barracks and he pulled out a young man from the rubble and saw he had no lower torso.
Rick saw Lisa to his left digging and pulled out a even younger soldier and saw that he was still alive and began screaming for a Medic, the young soldier looked up at her and tears formed in his eyes, "Are...are you an angel?" The young man struggled out and Lisa tears forming in her eyes only nodded and hugged him to her body when the Medic arrived, and pulled him from her.
The Medic gave the young soldier a quick once over and closed his eyes and Lisa gave a sob, the Medic pulled his dog tag and put a hand on Lisa's shoulder and moved off to help others. Rick moved over to Lisa and tried to pull her into a hug but she rebuffed him, "We have people to help," Lisa said and Rick and Lisa set about to find any survivors.
They worked there way east a few hundred yards and as Rick was removing rubble he found a hand and he touched it and it felt warm and he started to dig furiously, he cleared away more rubble and reeled back in terror and shock, Admiral Henry Gloval lay before him a shattered and broken man bleeding onto the cold Earth. Rick did the only thing he could, "MEDIC!!!" He yelled and saw a man run towards him and as he got closer he felt for a pulse and yelled for a ambulance, "This one's alive, but I don't know for how long, get the OR ready."
As they hefted Admiral Gloval onto the gurney and drove him away Lisa came over to Rick and threw herself into his arms and started to cry hard. He patted her back and stroked her hair, and then a professional rescue officer came to them and told them there was nothing more they could do and told them to go home.
Rick took Lisa to her place and lay her down in her bed after taking off the bloody clothes and giving her a fresh pair of pajamas and she went and changed in the bathroom. She was in the bathroom for so long Rick began to worry he opened the door and found her sobbing curled into a ball her back to the wall.
Rick picked her up and walked her into her room and laid her down and started to make his way for the couch when a hand grabbed his, "No, please stay here with me, please Rick, please," Lisa begged and Rick stopped and moved back to her and lay down next to her and she laid her head on his chest and cried herself to sleep and after a while Rick felt the warmth of sleep over take him, and he fell into a deep sleep.
A/N: Well what do you think of that!? Will Gloval survive, and what's next, tune in next time for the next exciting chapter in Hopes and Dreams!!!!! Ok sorry couldn't help it, but R&R anyway. Thanks for reading.
A/N: Well thanks to all those who have reviewed, an thank you Sphersian for being such a big fan, nineteen reviews in two days, that's got to be a new record for me. Don't worry about how many you submitted I know you like to read these. So enough of this pre-fic talk, and on with the story!
The Christmas Party at Claudia's house started out with a bunch of talking and mingling and for Rick, a lot of congratulations and patting on the back. An since the only two other guys in the house were Max, Henry, and Vince they went off and found themselves a little nook and talked.
Max sat off to Rick's right sipping his beer, "So Rick, when did you finally give up on Minmei?" Max asked in his usual cool tone. Rick took sipped his beer and looked at Max and raised an eyebrow, "Yesterday, or maybe the day before I can't really remember. I just knew the day we had our date and I didn't show up till hours after we agreed and she was still there waiting and smiling, I knew then."
Henry looked at Rick and swished his beer a little; he had never been much of a beer man, being Russian and all. He had always preferred a good Vodka to this pathetic excuse of alcohol these Americans called beer, but he wasn't going to complain, god knows he hadn't complained in years and there was no reason to start now.
But he watched the three other men carry on and watched as Vince and Max took turns drilling Rick, and Rick being a good sport about it took all the questions with a smile and a casual simple answer. Henry had to smile; this had been a long time in coming.
If he had known that Minmei would cause so much distress to Lisa, the woman that he looked at as the daughter he never had, he would have stuffed her in an a airlock and ejected her into space, but he was happy to see that Rick, after being oblivious to Lisa for so much time had finally come around to her.
Henry watched for a minute more and decided he needed to step outside for a smoke and got up, "If you gentlemen will excuse me I am going to step outside for a few minutes," Henry didn't say anything more as he walked towards the door and pulling his coat closer around him he stepped outside with his pipe in hand.
Henry walked to the end of Claudia's driveway and lit his pipe. With the pipe clenched between his teeth Henry thought back to all the events that had transpired over the last four years, he even thought to before then to his time in the Global Civil War. It brought a slight smile to his face as he remembered Lisa's father before he had been corrupted by power, before he de-rezzed in the Grand Cannon.
Henry thought back to when the SDF-1 had first landed on the planet back in 1999. The Global Civil War had been raging for years by that point and was on the brink of wiping out humanity. But that fateful day, the SDF-1 landed and with it an end to the Global Civil War, thought the war stopped the fighting continued for years as Anti-UEG rebels launched low intensity wars all over the globe trying desperately to stop the UEG government.
But the Anti-UEG rebels weren't the only group to flare up in protest during this time. The Faithful had risen up at this time vowing to the world that the SDF-1 was evil and that by allowing it to remain on the Earth, that God would take his punishment on the Earth by killing all of humanity and devastating the planet.
Henry for a long time had scoffed at the idea of The Faithful. Henry had never been a particularly religious man, an it wasn't for the lack of his family trying, it was just that Henry was a realist and he wanted proof that there really was a god, an so far as Henry was concerned, God still hadn't showed him, or anyone any proof that he existed.
This was one of the reasons why Henry never celebrated Christmas, and today wasn't going to be any different for him, except that, after long last, Rick had finally decided that he was going to open his eyes and take a good long look at the world around him and see that he couldn't keep living in his little fantasy world chasing Minmei all over the place and feeling sorry for himself.
Henry smiled, it had taken a strong woman almost four years to make him see that, an along that path this woman had suffered a great deal to make him see that there was quite possibly another person out there for him, and in Henry's opinion, a better woman for him.
Henry had nothing against Minmei except for that fact that she was a self- centered, spoiled little girl who still had a lot of growing up to do before she could really settle down with anyone. Lisa in his opinion was a better fit for Rick as she was the type of woman who had been there and had the experience to keep him in check, but was also loving enough to be there for him when he needed it.
He took a puff on his pipe and noticed that it was almost empty of tobacco, and as he stood there contemplating on whether or not to put another plug of tobacco in his pipe he thought better of it and decided to walk back into the house and finish having a good time with the people he had come to regard as his family, or most of them anyway.
Henry turned back and walked back into the house and left his ill thoughts outside when he came back into the friendly warmth of the house. He heard a few hellos and gave a wave and walked over to the couch and looked out the window and just listened to the greatness of youth around him.
But a much more different scene unfolded itself in Khyron's cruiser as it sat in the frigid cold of the Alaskan Tundra, or what was left of it. Khyron paced the command center of the cruiser with anger and humiliation present on his face. He was angry because his plan to get the Protoculture Matrix had failed and he was humiliated because, yet again he had been beaten by the micronians.
Azonia and Grel stood of to the side watching both with satisfied looks on their faces. Azonia was satisfied because after all of Khyron's talk he had failed to get the Matrix back to supply his ship with power, just further proving that he was quickly becoming unable to lead.
Grel was satisfied because it was he that was supposed to lead that attack and from what the few survivors told, the micronians were not in a mood to take any prisoners that day and they had all but wiped out Khyron's attack force. There was even word that a run on the SDF-1's bridge by Khyron and some of his best warriors had been stopped by one Veritech pilot.
But that wasn't all, this pilot appeared to be the same one that had held Khyron at bay in space and had damaged his pod so much. Grel almost smiled, by he knew that if Khyron caught anyone with even a slightly happy or pleased look on their face, that'd he kill them. Khyron had become that way more and more since his ingestion of the Flower of Life.
Grel stole a look at Azonia who gave him a sly smirk and Grel didn't like it. He had never really liked Azonia, but over the past few months of being stuck with her on Khyron's cruiser he had come to accept her and had learned to deal with her. He knew she was going to go and give Khyron trouble; she always did whenever he had lost a battle.
Azonia walked over to Khyron and all the while making a show of it by spreading out her arms and shaking her hips from side to side, "Oh Khyron, what happened this time?" Azonia said in a mocking childish voice. Grel watched with interest and Azonia was the only one who could do this without being killed.
Khyron turned to her with a murderous look in his eyes and both Azonia and Grel could see that he had just ingested some Flowers of Life and that now was not the time to be making jokes of him or trying to mock him in anyway shape or form.
Azonia backed off back to where she had been and Khyron gave her a look that told both of them that they had better figure something out soon or he was going to get very violent. Azonia took a step back, thought she and Khyron had been stuck together and she had a special place to him, and she was not excluded from his anger and wrath.
Grel knew the look and searched his brain for something meaningful to say or maybe something that would maybe pacify Khyron long enough for him to get away from him, "Uh, milord I do think I have an idea that will allow us to have our revenge on the micronians for defeating you," Grel said hoping that Khyron would hear him.
Khyron stopped and looked at him and Grel knew he had his attention, "Well milord, some of our spies report that the micronians have an inherent fear or completely random death. Things like explosions and random shootings scare micronians to their core. So milord I propose that we start to..." Grel thought for the word, "terrorizing the micronians."
Khyron watched Grel for a moment and thought, 'If Grel is right then we could find some of our most diehard warriors and have them go and sacrifice themselves to cause damage to the micronians towns and cities. To any other commander this would be a completely foreign idea.
"Grel, so you are telling me that if we go and blow up out warriors and cause damage to their cities and kill there people that they will become afraid?" Grel nodded his head and looked at Khyron and realized the look, he liked the idea, an as if to reinforce this, Khyron gave an evil smile.
Khyron walked up to Grel and placed a hand on his shoulder, "Good job Grel, now I remember why I keep you around instead of killing you," Khyron said with a devilish smile and Grel gulped, he knew his commander was deadly serious, "Now Grel, go get me some men, tell them that it is for the greater Zentraedi good," Grel nodded and ran off to find him some suitable warriors.
Khyron walked up to Azonia and gave her a murderous look, "If you ever humiliate me in front of my troops ever again, I swear I will kill you on the spot, do you understand that?" Khyron's voice was quivering and murder was in his eyes and Azonia just nodded her head and watched as he stormed off in a rage.
"...Five...six...seven, ah damn it," Rick shouted as his piece landed on Boardwalk for the third time in a row. At this rate Rick was going to be out of money and he looked up and saw a happy glint in Kim's eye, Boardwalk was hers and now Rick regretted not buying it when he had the chance.
"That's two thousand you owe me Rick," Kim said holding out her hand as Rick started to hand over the money and realized that he didn't have enough actual money and he would have to mortgage some of his property and he looked down and realized that even with mortgaging he still didn't have enough.
Rick rolled his eyes and looked at Kim, "I don't have enough," he said flatly and he could hear a general laugh from the people around him.
Kim huffed, "Well then I guess I am going to have to break your legs aren't I?" Kim asked in a mocking haughty tone.
Lisa rolled her eyes and put a hand on Rick's shoulder, "I really don't see how you got this far in life, you do have enough, but barely," Lisa started to look at his property and barely managed to get Rick the two thousand he owed Kim, but Rick's fortune didn't last long as he landed on Boardwalk the very next time around and gave an exasperated groan and just lead back and watched as the others continued to play without him.
He felt Lisa next to him and he looked at her and saw her smile at him sweetly, "You know it was funny watching you try to play Monopoly with the Terrible Trio, they play that so much that they have become the masters at it," Rick rolled his eyes, "an a lot of the time you would sell your property out before you had too," Rick rolled his eyes again and Lisa laughed kissing his cheek.
"Now I know why you're the one for me, God knows I'd never be able to take care of and fiscal responsibilities," Rick said in a hushed tone and Lisa smiled again and they both turned their attention from each other long enough to hear Claudia say that dinner was ready and everyone got up and went to get some food.
There were far too many people to sit at the table so it was decided that they would eat buffet style and everyone would sit where they could, but none of them got away without a stern warning from a wooden spoon wielding Claudia telling them if they made a mess she would use the spoon on them.
This got a laugh from everyone in the house and they started to get their food and Rick and Lisa lingered near the back talking and hugging and carrying on. They finally got to get their food and they made their way for the living room where everyone was gathering and everyone started to handle the gifts that Rick had brought.
Everyone looked around and realized that no one else had brought anything and looked at Rick who waved off their concerns and told them to go ahead and open the gifts. Henry was the first to open his gift and Rick heard a happy exclamation that he assumed was Russian and looked over and saw that Henry had opened his and was looking approvingly at the Vodka and pipe that Rick had gotten him.
Rick turned when he heard a squeal and looked at saw the Trio each hold their gifts, Rick hadn't known what to get them so he had gotten them all gift cards to the mall each worth fifty dollars. Rick saw them all smile happily and heard a "Thank you Rick," in unison and he smiled.
Rick turned his attention to Max and saw that he was already looking at the Beatles CD's that Rick had gotten him and Miriya already reading the book on Human Customs and insults, Rick knew she'd have a fun time with that.
An Jean and Vince Grant seemed to enjoy the his/her watched that he had gotten for them upon hearing that they were almost inseparable. Rick turned and saw that Claudia was smiling with the mini model of Skull One, Roy vintage.
Everyone seemed to be enjoying the gifts and then he heard the Trio ask what Rick had gotten for Lisa and Rick turned and pointed to himself, and saw the Trio give out a groan and before Rick could tell what was happening he felt a hand on the back of his head, and he gave out a cry. He saw a somewhat angry look on Lisa's face, and before anyone else could see it, she hid it.
"Yeah Rick, what'd you get Lisa," Max piped in.
"Yes, I too an very interested to see what you have gotten for Lisa," Miriya said with ever the correct grammar.
Rick didn't have to saw anything as Lisa pulled the necklace out of her sweater and heard all the women ooh and ah, and heard Max give out a whistle. The Trio jumped up and started to looked at the heart shaped pendant encrusted with diamonds and emeralds.
Then Max got up and walked over to Rick and patted him on the shoulder, "Hey man, sorry we didn't get you anything, it was kind of short notice," Max said trying to explain himself and Rick got an idea.
"You guys don't have to worry about getting me anything," Rick said as he pulled Lisa closer to him, "I got the best Christmas present ever right here," and he hugged Lisa and he felt Lisa melt in his arms. Whatever anger Lisa had over Rick's arrogant joke was lost by what he had just said.
As they broke the hug a cell phone rang and everyone turned to see a flustered Admiral Gloval fumbling with a cell phone, and he finally got it to work and he started to talk into it, and Rick took this opportunity to pull Lisa aside, "Lisa, I'm sorry for that joke you know I didn't mean it, if anything you still accepting me is more then I deserve," Rick said.
Lisa kissed him, "Don't worry about it, I over-reacted, I should have known that it was just a joke," Lisa said running her hand through his un- ruly mop of hair. Rick smiled and kissed Lisa cause he knew that she was more then he deserved, an a sudden commotion bring them back to Earth.
"But Admiral Gloval, do you have to go?" Kim begged, "It's Christmas of all days, I think they could figure something out without for once," Vanessa added. Henry held out his hands and halted any further protests.
"I am sorry everyone but I have to go, this is important, and General Maistroff said that I needed to be there to hear it so I have to go," Henry said. "Now I need to get the Ready Room Three, that's were they're meeting," Henry said. Rick pulled out his keys and tossed the Henry, "Make sure you get back here in a hurry," Rick said and Henry nodded and went out to door.
As the shock of having Henry leave so suddenly wore off the group went back to chatting and sitting by the fire that Rick had just started. But as it seemed that they would be settling down for a nice night of each other's company, at least a dozen ground-shaking explosions rocked Macross City.
The house emptied as everyone went into the street to see what happened. An they saw smoke rising from the RDF sector of the city and suddenly realized that they were under attack, and everyone began to make their way for the Barracks and meeting rooms. But the assault wasn't over; half a dozen more explosions rocked the rest of Macross and more pillars of smoke rose from the RDF area.
As rescue crews, both military and civilian began to arrive they could see the devastation and carnage that was before them. The RDF barracks and meeting rooms were in total rubble and bodies were everywhere and as Rick and the rest of the group got closer they could see body parts littering the area.
Rick grabbed a sergeant running towards the carnage ready to do his job and try and save anyone he could and fight the fires that were raging around the RDF base. "What the hell happened here," Rick demanded, the sergeant looked at Rick and a look of terror and sadness came over him, "Zentraedi terrorists attacks, they blew themselves up right here in the RDF base, and by the looks of it, they got a lot of good people before anyone knew what was going on," Rick let go of the man and started to stumble back but felt initiative take hold and started to run for the Barracks and he pulled out a young man from the rubble and saw he had no lower torso.
Rick saw Lisa to his left digging and pulled out a even younger soldier and saw that he was still alive and began screaming for a Medic, the young soldier looked up at her and tears formed in his eyes, "Are...are you an angel?" The young man struggled out and Lisa tears forming in her eyes only nodded and hugged him to her body when the Medic arrived, and pulled him from her.
The Medic gave the young soldier a quick once over and closed his eyes and Lisa gave a sob, the Medic pulled his dog tag and put a hand on Lisa's shoulder and moved off to help others. Rick moved over to Lisa and tried to pull her into a hug but she rebuffed him, "We have people to help," Lisa said and Rick and Lisa set about to find any survivors.
They worked there way east a few hundred yards and as Rick was removing rubble he found a hand and he touched it and it felt warm and he started to dig furiously, he cleared away more rubble and reeled back in terror and shock, Admiral Henry Gloval lay before him a shattered and broken man bleeding onto the cold Earth. Rick did the only thing he could, "MEDIC!!!" He yelled and saw a man run towards him and as he got closer he felt for a pulse and yelled for a ambulance, "This one's alive, but I don't know for how long, get the OR ready."
As they hefted Admiral Gloval onto the gurney and drove him away Lisa came over to Rick and threw herself into his arms and started to cry hard. He patted her back and stroked her hair, and then a professional rescue officer came to them and told them there was nothing more they could do and told them to go home.
Rick took Lisa to her place and lay her down in her bed after taking off the bloody clothes and giving her a fresh pair of pajamas and she went and changed in the bathroom. She was in the bathroom for so long Rick began to worry he opened the door and found her sobbing curled into a ball her back to the wall.
Rick picked her up and walked her into her room and laid her down and started to make his way for the couch when a hand grabbed his, "No, please stay here with me, please Rick, please," Lisa begged and Rick stopped and moved back to her and lay down next to her and she laid her head on his chest and cried herself to sleep and after a while Rick felt the warmth of sleep over take him, and he fell into a deep sleep.
A/N: Well what do you think of that!? Will Gloval survive, and what's next, tune in next time for the next exciting chapter in Hopes and Dreams!!!!! Ok sorry couldn't help it, but R&R anyway. Thanks for reading.