The day was unseasonably warm for January, and the warm sun had melted most of the snow heaped on the Macross Area over the previous few weeks.

After a few hours of cleaning and doing some preflight maintenance on his beloved mockingbird, Rick spent the afternoon flying complex acrobatic maneuvers for as long his fuel tank would allow. Rick found flying to be a great release, because while flying, nothing else mattered, or existed. All of his concentration was focused on the dangerous business of staying in the air. Consequently, he found himself a little surprised that when he landed some things that were confusing him just that morning had become crystal clear by that afternoon.

After landing at the airfield, and securing his plane, Rick decided to call Max to see if he could get away to meet for a beer.

After checking with Miriya, Max agreed to meet Rick at Slammers Sports Bar at 7:00. He had heard some of the rumors that were floating around that Rick and Lisa were on the outs, and figured that Rick needed to talk.

When Max arrived at the always-crowded Slammers, he found Rick sitting at one of the tables in the back with two empty beer bottles in front of him and one in his hand. Not wanting to startle him, he gave him a smack on the back on his back and said "Hey, Rick!"

Rick jumped a little, as though he had been jerked out of deep thought, and responded "Hey. Max. Good to see you. Sit down."

"I hope I didn't keep you waiting long. I had to wait until Miriya got home and she was delayed a little. So what's going on with you? I haven seen or heard from you in two or three weeks, before Christmas even? First I heard you were sick and then I heard you were on leave."

"I was not sick," replied Rick sounding a little annoyed. "Why is the RDF like a goddamn gossip factory?"

Max didn't know how to respond, and just gave his friend a confused look. Before he could say anything the waitress came over and Max ordered two more beers and a couple of appetizers.

"I've been on leave since right after Christmas, " Rick continued. "I'm sure you've heard on the news that Minmei's been missing, or in hiding or whatever they're saying now."

Max shook his head, wondering where Rick was going to go with this. "Yeah, I heard that. What do you think happened?"

"Well, actually Max, she's been staying with me since Christmas Eve."

Max just stared at his friend out of disbelief for a moment while the waitress put the beer and appetizers in front of them.

"No way! Are you guys,...you know…together?" Max asked as he took a large gulp of his beer.

Rick shoved a forkful of potato skins in his mouth and responded, "Yeah. You could say that."

"Wow." Max left it at that, wanting Rick to continue on his own. Instead Rick changed the subject. He wasn't quite ready to elaborate.

"So, how's Miriya and Dana."

"Fine, Rick fine. Dana's a handful all right. Growing like a weed. Miriya's taken some time off herself to be at home with Dana for a couple of weeks. Besides that everything's pretty much the same."

After about an hour of talking about sports and some of the other things that happened over the past few weeks, Rick asked.

"Have you seen Lisa lately?"

"No, I haven't. I think Miriya has, though. I take it she knows about you and Minmei?"

"She knows." Rick said and took another large swig of his beer.

"And how's she taking it?"

"I don't know. She won't talk to me. At all. Won't return my calls. Avoiding me like the plague."

Max laughed a little and asked, "Now why do you think that is?

Rick didn't understand what Max meant and just said "What?"

"Nothing. Listen, Rick, I'm not probably not the best person to give advice on relationship stuff, considering mine has been anything but normal, but what's going on? You've wanted to be with Minmei for long as I've known you, and now you've got her. So what the hell's wrong?"

Rick leaned as far back as he could in his chair without falling over and suddenly realized he had quite a buzz going. He welcomed the feeling, which was rare for him, since he wasn't much of a drinker, looked his best friend in the face and decided to let it all out.

"I don't even know where to start, Max…I mean, for God's sakes, I've got Minmei Lynn, movie star, famous, gorgeous, every guy's fantasy, living with me," Rick stopped and took a quick look around the bar hoping that no one heard that, took a big breath and continued on, "And we have absolutely nothing in common any more, and nothing to talk about. We watch TV, eat. Eat a lot. She's a great cook …have sex. And that's about it. We can't go anywhere. I can't talk to her about flying, or what happens when we're out there; she doesn't get any of it."

By now Rick was beginning to show some obvious signs of being rather inebriated. Max found it very amusing, since he never saw Rick like this before, and certainly never heard him being so open about his personal life.

Rick put his elbows on the table and pointed his finger at Max and continued "And you know what? The weirdest thing about all this is that I can't stop thinking about Lisa". Rick realized that this time he was getting really loud and that several people looking at him. He took another big gulp of beer, and continued almost in a whisper,"Even when I'm with Minmei if you know what I mean"

Max decided not to say anything yet, and just let Rick go on. He wondered to himself if Rick Hunter was the only person left on earth who couldn't see how he really felt about Lisa Hayes.

"I don't know what to do. I know it's not fair to Minmei at all to keep going on like this. She's gotta know something's bugging me but I doubt she knows what."

Max decided it was a good time to ask the question that Rick had been evading for several years. He leaned on the table and asked, Rick, slowly and clearly,

"Rick you owe it to yourself, and to both of them to fix this. Before it's too late. Are you in love with Minmei or not?"

"No."

"So, who do you want to be with, Rick, Minmei or Lisa?"

"Max, I……."

Rick stared off in to space for about fifteen seconds before continuing.

"Lisa."

Max started laughing and said, "Well it's about damn time."

Rick gave Max a look of total confusion and said "What?"

"What took you so damn long? You two belong together. You were the only person who didn't see it. Now do something about it will you!"

"I guess I have to figure out a way to tell Minmei, huh?"

"That would be a good start."

"Max, I don't even know if things could work out between me and Lisa. You know how we argue sometimes. Besides, she hates my guts right now. And I don't even know if she feels the same way. She could have told me, you know. I thought maybe things would change after that night when I picked her up at Claudia's"

"What did you two talk about?"

"I don't remember exactly. We both said we cared about each other and wanted to take our friendship to the next level, you know. But that never happened, because, of course, I screwed it up."

"All I can say, Rick, is that you'll never know unless you try."

Max could see that Rick had a lot to process, and needed to go home. Rick was in no condition to drive so Max dropped him off and on the way home told Rick, prophetically, no to wait too long before doing something about his unusual predicament.

What's going through Minmei's head right now? (I could say something, but….I'll be nice)