It had only been two days since the accident but to Rick it felt like a lifetime. He leaned against the tank where Lisa lay unconscious, listening to the machines that monitored her heartbeat and tracked her brain activity. Claudia, Roy and even Captain Gloval had taken turns sitting by her side and talking to her, encouraging her to wake. The fact that there was continued brain activity was a good sign as the doctors hoped that it meant that Lisa would make a full recovery.
The burns she had suffered seemed to have healed, miraculously by the blue viscose liquid that surrounded Lisa and swirled around her. Rick hated the tank that she was in and kept him from touching her. He wanted to hold her hand, to run his finger along her cheek and let her know that she wasn't alone. They had warned him not to open the tank and to let that blue stuff do what it could for her, but Rick wasn't convinced that would be enough.
Looking around Rick realized that most of the main staff had left and that those that were remaining on watch were in the small break room. He could hear their light chatter and laughter and knowing this maybe his only chance, Rick unlocked the latches on the tank and slowly flipped the top open as not to make any sound. Checking to make sure he hadn't been discovered, Rick took a deep breath and then plunged his hand into the blue liquid. He thought it would have been cold and was surprised to find the liquid quite warm and inviting. He would almost say that it felt friendly and comforting, which was weird.
Seeing that Lisa's hand was near, he plunged his own hand down to pick up her lifeless fingers and entwined his fingers with hers.
Suddenly Rick heard a swooshing sound and felt a little dizzy. He closed his eyes for a second to clear his head and when he opened them he found himself, standing on top an overlook, where below he could see a beautiful green valley, with a stream running through the property feeding into a lake further down. Nestled in the valley was a beautiful Colonial style home and Rick wondered where he could be. Nothing was familiar to him.
"That's where I grew up," a voice next to him said, startling Rick. He turned to the voice to see Lisa standing next to him, barefoot, in a flowing white gown.
"Lisa! What, where, how did I get here?" asked Rick, wondering if he had gone mad or was dreaming. Maybe he had fallen asleep while standing watch over Lisa and had fallen asleep.
"I don't know Rick, I remember being in the house when I felt something and when I came outside, I found myself up here, with you."
Rick looked at Lisa with confusion, he didn't know what to think and blurted out, "but what are we doing here?"
Lisa looked at him with her sad green eyes and said, "I don't know Rick, the last thing I remember was being in the Knight and the next thing I found myself waking up in my childhood home. Maybe you can tell me what happened."
Rick just shook his head, he didn't know if this was real or just a dream, but he didn't want to be the one to tell her. Instead he just said, "I'm just as confused as you are. Have you seen anyone else since you've been here."
Lisa didn't look like she wanted to answer the question, but then an older woman materialized in front of them, who turned to Lisa and said, "Miss Lisa, you need to return back to the house and please bring your friend with you."
With that the figure disappeared, vanishing into air and Lisa simply said, "That was Mrs. HIll, she was our housekeeper when I was growing up."
Rick didn't know what to think. Was this just some crazy dream? But then he felt Lisa take his hand, and thought to himself, wow it feels so real. Real or not, Rick decided to follow Lisa as she led to him a small path on the side of the hill, as they started down the path together, the swirling mist returned and he found themselves in front of the colonial house he had seen earlier.
Lisa didn't seem surprised by their sudden appearance in front of the house and turned to face Rick.
"I honestly don't know how you got here. The last thing I remembered was being the the Emerald Knight and aiming for the landing bay. After that I woke up and found myself in the bedroom of my childhood home. I thought I was dreaming but haven't been able to wake up from the dream. During the time that I've been here, there are certain memories that have been recreated but I don't know why and now you are here.. Rick, can you tell me what happened?"
"Lisa, I don't know what to say. You made it back to the SDF-1, but you were hurt, badly. You suffered some burns from the flight suit monitoring your vital conditions, but the worst is that the feedback from the Veritech when you were hit. It may have caused some damage to your nervous system and brain. Dr. Lang had you put into the blue Zentraedi liquid and you'v been there for the last couple of days. I was visiting with you and I just wanted to touch you, to make sure you were still there and when I picked up your hand, I found myself here," Rick explained as best he could. This was starting to feel real to him, that he was standing here talking to Lisa and wanted to believe that this was true.
Lisa looked thoughtful for a minute and then said, "Hmmm, maybe that is why we are experiencing this. It's that blue gel! Did Dr. Lang tell you what we thought it can do?"
Rick thought back for a moment on the conversation he had with Gloval and Lang. "If I remember correctly, they said that it had some properties that could transmit information. Could it be doing that to us? I mean, did you experience this when the doctors were examining you."
"No, there's been no one else here except you Rick. Everyone else is just created from my memories, but I can't seem to generate them on my own, they aren't always the memories that I would want to relive. Do you think it could be Rick, that maybe you are here, because you were also exposed to the blue liquid when we were on the Zentraedi ship?"
They both looked at each other, in wonder and in amazement, not knowing what this meant.
"I don't know Lisa," Rick was about to continue, when they heard a loud noise from inside the house.
With a questioning look to one another, they silently agreed to go and investigate the noise.
Rick looked around in awe as they entered the house. He had never been in a house so elegant, the double doorway they had stepped through, opened up to a large grey and white marble foyer with dual staircases on either side. The walls were covered in a white flocked wallpaper with a faint floral pattern and portraits aligned each side of the staircases. He quickly followed after Lisa, who took no note of the decor, instead heading straight back towards two open double doors.
As they reached the door, Lisa paused looking into the room. Rick stopped just in time not to bump into her and seeing the sad look on Lisa's face, he followed her gaze into the room.
The tableau was slightly blurry and fuzzy, but started to sharpen as they stood at the door. A large grand piano was in the middle of the room and Rick saw two figures sitting on the piano bench. At first he thought that the woman sitting on the bench was Lisa, but looking closer, it wasn't her. Her hair was lighter than LIsa's in color and wound in an elegant bun at the nape of her head. She was working with a little girl with long brown hair on the piano, and helping her with her fingering on the piano. Rick could hear her, giving the little girl direction, "Lisa dear, try it again but try and extend your pinky to reach the last note."
Rick could see the look of concentration on the little girl's face as she studied the music book in front of her and slowly pressed the correct keys and as she completed the simple piece, he could see the look of satisfaction on her face. The woman beside her, gave her a side hug and said, "good job honey. Now let's do that a few more times just like that and then maybe we can try it a little faster."
The little girl just beamed at the woman next to her, "Okay mommy" and started to play again. As the little girl began to play the tune again, Rick turned to Lisa and could see tears falling from her eyes.
"She got sick about six months afterwards. They tried everything but the cancer just moved so fast and took her from us. Things were never the same at home without her. My father, never remarried and I stayed in this house with the housekeeper and a nanny while my father was stationed overseas. We would talk online everynight, but it wasn't the same as him being here. I wish I had more time to be with her."
Rick didn't say much, he knew what Lisa was feeling, he lost his own mother when he was not much older than Lisa was and gathered her in his arms, letting her lean on him and cry. They watched as the memory started to fade and Rick asked, "is it always like that?"
Lisa blew her nose into a tissue that magically appeared. "Yes, I was frightened at first when it started to to happen but scene's like this, I don't mind. It helps me to remember her and remember what she was like. She was beautiful wasn't she? I always envied her hair and wished that my hair would turn out the same color as hers, but it darkened as I got older."
Ricked who had always admired Lisa's honey colored hair just whispered, "Your hair is just as beautiful as your mom's and you look just like her. I thought it was you sitting on that bench at first. You were very cute when you little Lisa but I could tell even then you were stubborn as hell."
They waited a few minutes to see if anything else would happen, but nothing did.
Rick could feel Lisa pull away from him. With his arms still around her, she looked up at him and said, "I'm really glad that you are here with me." and hugged Rick tightly. Rick returned the hug, holding her the same way she held him. He knew that he couldn't be imagining this, her warmth and weight in his arms was real.
Suddenly Rick heard his name being called and surprised to hear it being called, he let Lisa go to see who was calling him. As she stepped away from him in confusion, Rick felt the same dizzyness affect him as before and closed his eyes to try and shake it away.
Reopening his eyes, he could hear Roy calling his name.
"Rick, wake up!" Roy shook him again. As Rick slowly woke up, Roy was pushing him back upright into the chair, "What were you doing Rick? You shouldn't be touching that stuff you don't know what it could do to you."
Realizing that he was back in Dr. Lang's lab, Rick sat straight up. "No, Lisa!" Frantically he looked around to see if Lisa was around and was dismayed to see that she was still unconsious in the tank.
Concerned, Roy and Claudia steadied Rick in his seat and Claudia in a soothing voice tried to calm Rick down. "There's been no change Rick..but she's no worse."
"That isn't what I mean.. I saw her!" shouted Rick excitedly, "and she was alive and I saw her house in the valley and Lisa played the piano when she was young."
Roy sharing a look with Claudia tried to calm Rick down. "Rick, you were dreaming, you fell asleep and I know you think you saw her, but you probably did dream that. Maybe Lisa told you she played the piano as a child?"
Rick could see that they were not going to believe him, but he knew what he saw and felt.
"I know you have a hard time believing me, but I saw her and talked to her. She was at the house she grew up in and she played the piano with her mom." Rick went on to describe his experience and what he saw. Dr Lang had come in during this time to check on Lisa and listened quietly to Rick's assertion that he had seen and been with Lisa.
Roy just shook his head and insisted it was just a dream when Dr. Lang interrupted.
"Lt. Hunter, I am intrigued with what you have claimed to have seen. I've known the Admiral and Lisa for many years and have been to the home their home. Indeed you have descibed their home as I remember seeing it, are you sure Lt. Cmdr. Hayes did not tell you about it previously?"
Rick thought back to the conversations that he had with Lisa that were non work related and with confidence said, "No, we never talked about her childhood or her family home." Hoping Dr. Lang would have an answer for this Rick waited for the doctor to respond.
"Hmm, it could be that your ability to connect to Lisa comes from your previous exposure to the Zentraedi liquid. Would you be willing to try again and see if you can make a reconnection?"
Rick readily responded and plunged his hand back into the tank to pick up Lisa's hand. He waited to feel the dizzyness that he experienced and was disappointed and frustrated when nothing happened. Confused as to why it wasn't working, he adamently reiterated that his experience was real and not a dream.
Sensing Rick's frustration, Dr. Lang made another suggestion. "I believe that Max Sterling may also have been in contact with the blue liquid. Would he mind if we called him to try as well?"
All agreed that it sounded like a sound idea and Rick and Roy left the lab to find Max and bring him to test Lang's theory.
Author's note: sorry for delay in posting updates but here you go! Hope you like it and thanks for the reviews!