Chapter 27: Dust in the Wind.

"NOOOO!" screamed the little girl, standing up showing on her little face all the shock of the information she had just received.

Lisa sighed, expecting a reaction like this.

"Sarah, please listen to me." said Lisa trying to calm the girl, but she stepped back, trying to escape from the reality.

"No! He is NOT my father! I don't have a father!" answered Sarah shaking like a leaf.

"Of course you have a father, Sarah. this is your father," said Lisa, worried by the pale face of her little girl.

"NO! I REFUSE!" shouted Sarah, angrily looking at Rick. "I don't want him to be my father! I don't need one, Mom!"

"Hey!" said Rick offensively from the corner of the room where he was listening to the conversation. Sarah stuck her tongue at him.

"SARAH HAYES! BEHAVE YOURSELF," said Lisa in her Mother/Captain tone and Sarah immediately stopped and looked at the floor.

Trying to settle down her emotions, t he girl finally ended up angry and confused. She looked at her tiny hands as she stopped a sudden sniffle and looked at her mother with her eyes full of tears.

"I am sorry Mom.but I don't want him to be.my.father." Sarah said quivering. Lisa kneeled in front of her and held her hands in her own, looking straight into her baby blue eyes.

"I know this is a shock Sarah.I know baby. I know you are confused and I have to tell you why he wasn't with us all these years.I need you to understand." said Lisa but Sarah's expression changed to anger once again.

"I know why he wasn't with us," said the girl bitterly. Lisa looked at her cluelessly.

"You know?"

"Yes. yes I know. He wasn't with us because he didn't want me," said Sarah and looked like she was going to cry at any minute.

"No!" said Lisa looking at her with confusion, "It wasn't like that at all baby!" she said and couldn't stop herself from holding her little girl and kissing her little head. "Oh baby. you are so wrong, so wrong, and this is all my fault.I should have told you before.I should." answered Lisa, feeling miserable and guilty . Rick looked at the floor, feeling out of place in the family scene.

"Then what?" asked Sarah, her face wet with her tears. Lisa cleaned the little face with her hands, thinking about what she should say.

"Come here," she said, taking the hand of her daughter and walking to the living room. Lisa looked at Rick as he slowly followed behind and finally sat in front of them in silence. Sarah looked at him with distrust. When everybody was sitting and ready, Lisa took a big breath and began with a story she hoped she would never have to tell.

"Almost 10 years ago a bad man. a very bad man threatened me. He wanted to. take me away from my friends and I didn't want to go with him." explained Lisa carefully trying not to scare her too much, but Sarah's eyes were already wide open in disbelief. Lisa immediately held Sarah's hands in her own ". Your fath.err.I mean Rick here, well we were in love then and we married even though this man threatened us." lied Lisa. Rick moved uncomfortably in his seat, but thankful for Lisa's white lie about their complicated relationship, ". so Rick and my friends helped me go through this problem with this bad man. We were all right for a while, until he came back.for me."

"Why did he want you so much, Mom?" asked Sarah worriedly. Lisa didn't know how to answer that question. They stood in silence until Rick cleared his voice and replied.

"He wanted her because he was in love with her," said Rick. Sarah looked at him, raising a challenging eyebrow, almost saying with her eyes 'don't talk here, this is not your place'. Rick gulped.

"Well, the thing is." answered Lisa, noticing the eye battle between father and daughter, ". he came back and told me that if I stayed with my husband and my friends, he was going to hurt them. He told me that if I loved them, I should leave them forever." said Lisa and a tear came down from her eyes. Sarah reached up and cleaned it tenderly with her hand.

". I had to. go. and when I left Rick and everybody else. I didn't know I was pregnant with you, Sarah," said Lisa, shaking a little and asking forgiveness with her eyes. "I didn't know. and when I found out, I wanted to go back and find him, because I needed him very, very much," explained Lisa. Sarah looked at her with alarm. She bit her lower lip, thinking hard and trying to concentrate on the bizarre story.

"I couldn't go back. this man, this bad man. he chased after me and I had to hide until you were born. and then I was too scared that he might find out about you and try to hurt you too. I just ran away with you until I found this place and you know the rest of the story."

Sarah sat there looking at her mother and feeling very confused. An hour before everything had been fine. She was at her Aunt's Jo's house having breakfast after staying the night there. Of course, she had been a little worried about the presence of the stranger from the night before, but still it was a normal morning. Nothing to worry about because her mother was there. Her mother would protect her because she was strong and could take anything. And now, after just one hour, her world was turned inside out. Everything was changing. first she found this stranger who had chased her in the woods and called her ugly. then the same stranger found her home and made her mother faint, then she found that this stranger was her father! And now all the ideas she had of a bad father who left them when she was a baby had gone all to the toilet because it was her mother who, running away for her daughter's safety, hid herself from the man she loved and her friends to. protect her?

Sarah blinked a couple of times, looking completely blank. She looked at her mother's eyes and saw all the pain visible in her green sad eyes. She understood why her mother ran away from her father, she understood that it was for her own good. She couldn't blame her, because when she was scared, she ran away too, to be alone and to think. Sarah slowly came close to Lisa and hugged her.

"I am so sorry Sarah.I am so sorry, please forgive me baby. please." sobbed Lisa, hugging her daughter close to her heart.

"Ok, I forgive you Mommy. It's OK, please don't cry. I don't like it when you cry and I can't do anything about it," answered Sarah, holding her mom.

Rick watched the scene and felt his own eyes fill with tears. He was tired, physically and emotionally tired. He still couldn't understand everything himself and he understood how confused Sarah probably felt. But who was getting the worst part of this was Lisa and he knew it. He saw mother and daughter hugging each other and felt a little jealous not to be part of it.

After some time when they both calmed down a little and just hugged each other, then Sarah and Lisa finally talked.

"What is going to happen now Mom?" asked Sarah worriedly.

Lisa bit her lip, not wanting to have another confrontation with her so soon.

"Well. I guess you have to get acquainted with your father," she said looking at Rick. Rick looked shyly at them. Sarah looked at him suspiciously, still not liking him.

"I guess." she said, having a bad feeling and talking about him like he wasn't there. Rick looked back at her, a little bothered by her attitude. "Is he going to live here now?!" she asked worriedly.

"No, no." answered Lisa trying to find out why Sarah disliked him so much. It wasn't exactly Sarah's normal behavior to be this cold with people, but again she never knew about her father.

"Good," said Sarah raising a victory eyebrow at Rick and he jumped a little in his seat thinking that it was obvious that the girl was challenging him.

"Not exactly Sarah." answered Lisa honestly, "I. we are going to move where he lives. to Macross. City".

Sarah was speechless. Her mouth opened and then closed but no sound came from it. She looked from Lisa to Rick not understanding. Lisa was now very worried.

"Sarah.it is the city.you said you wanted to live in the city, remember?" tried out the young mother dumbly.

"NO! I wanted to visit the city! NOT LIVE THERE!! AND EVEN LESS WITH.HIM!!" answered Sarah standing up.

"Sarah, we owe him this. I owe him this. he has been apart from us for 8 years! You can't ask him not to be with us anymore!" said Lisa to her, but this time Sarah was out of control.

"You owe him! I don't owe him anything!!! I HATE HIM!!" shouted Sarah angrily at her mother. Lisa resented the words and Sarah saw the pain she caused, but she couldn't say sorry yet.

"I DON'T WANT HIM TO BE MY FATHER! I HATE HIM!... I HATE YOU!!" shouted Sarah looking at Rick, who was speechless and frozen in his seat.

Sarah turned around and ran to the second floor and shut her door hard. Lisa sat on the couch looking in the direction of her daughter's exit. Feeling sad, she sighed and looked at Rick who looked back at her with a clueless expression.

"Welcome to parenthood" said Lisa sadly to him.

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Sarah closed her door and threw herself on her bed crying. She hit the pillows angrily over and over again.

"Whyyyyyy.." She asked herself and kept crying. She wasn't the crying type, but since this man had come into her life, she cried more than she ever had in her short life.

"I hate him! Why did he come back?!... why. I was happy." she sobbed and hugged her punched pillow against her body. She sniffed for a long time on her bed, feeling angry, but mostly. scared.

"My Mom isn't thinking about me. she believes she owes him and that we should live with him now. But I don't need him! I don't need a father.I have my Mom." she said to herself and cried again.

She stopped crying after a while and looked at a point on the wall in front of her. Sniffing, she thought about all the times she had wondered about her dad and why he wasn't with them. She had convinced herself that he was an ugly man had who left her mom and her and that he would never come back and that was why her Mom never talked about him. With that idea in her mind, she grew up feeling that her mother and her were all they needed and there was no need for anyone else. Sarah believed she was strong enough to help her mom and she always saw her mother so secure, strong and independent. But always sad. even when she played with her, deep in her eyes she was sad. and she blamed her father for that.

And that's why she hated him. The idea of him. Deep inside she was jealous of Peter and Michael, so close to each other and she wished she could have that. She would think of Michael as her surrogate father. but then she would curse herself and deny any need of a father. She had her mother and that was all she needed.

But now her whole world had changed in a minute. There was another truth and a very difficult one at that. Her father was not an ogre, even if he called her ugly and shouted at her. He didn't look bad, either. But more than anything, when her mother saw him her eyes changed in a way Sarah didn't recognize. For a second before the panic struck her she was simply.happy.

And she wanted that for her sweet mom. She wanted her mom to be happy. But even with that wish, she didn't want her world to change that much. It was too scary.

Sarah turned around and faced the ceiling. There they were, some of her model planes. Some were made of plastic, some of paper. There were lots and lots of planes over her head. along with stars and the moon. She always dreamed of planes and flying. It was her dream, to fly someday and feel free, like a bird in the sky. it was her dream, but now she understood why she had it. It was because he was a pilot. It was in her blood.

And in that moment a single tear escaped from her eyes. She was his daughter. She had a lot of him in her. Like the love for planes, she belonged to him.

"NO!" she said aloud, feeling completely vulnerable and scared. She stood up over her bed and took her model planes one by one and destroyed them into pieces.

"I don't want to have anything from him, I don't! Stupid toys!" she said jumping over the pieces, denying what she was and crying in the process.

"I hate you! I.hate." she said and fell onto the floor crying and taking the pieces of what used to be beautiful planes and held them in her trembling hands.

"I wish you never came. I wish you never found us. I wish. I wish I never saw your plane. I wish you wouldn't take us away." sobbed Sarah crying over her broken toys until an idea crossed her mind.

Cleaning her face with her sleeve hard enough leaving red marks on it, Sarah walked to the window and looked outside. The day was warm and it was probably 11 AM . The birds sang and there was not one cloud in the sky. Her eyes showed determination in that moment, the same determination she saw in her father's eyes the night before. Jumping out and holding herself in the tree, she climbed down and ran as fast as she could to the forest with one idea in her little mind: to destroy the damn fighter.

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"Is she always like that?" asked Rick walking behind Lisa who was starting to put up the clean dishes she never had the chance to use the night before.

"No, she is not like that at all. She is just very upset now," answered Lisa as she turned to face him. Rick saw her with a sad expression on her face.

"Don't worry Rick, she didn't mean it. she is unable to hate, she is just angry and scared with all. this," she explained looking at him. He nodded affirmative thinking about it.

"Has she ever said that she hated you?" he asked her. Lisa sighed and looked as sad as him.

"No, she hasn't. But that doesn't mean she meant it now."

"I have been a dad for less than 24 hours and I've already made my kid cry, get hysterical, scared, angry and sad. I am one hell of a father," he said sitting down in the chair next to him. Lisa walked near him.

"You can't blame yourself for that. You didn't know," she assured him.

"Yeah, me and my big mouth, some things never change."

"Well Rick. I think she is as loud mouthed as you." said Lisa sitting in the chair next to him, smiling softly. Rick looked at her and wondered how he survived all these years without her tender tone. He couldn't help but stop and touch her cheek.

"Yeah, I noticed. she really said what is on her mind without thinking," he commented. Lisa smiled widely holding his hand in her cheek.

"She is like you in so many ways that it is almost scary. but she certainly has the 'Hunter's delicacy'" she joked softly and Rick smiled genuinely for the first time.

"Do you think she is going to forgive me for taking her out of her home ? Am I being selfish, Lisa?" he asked, looking in her eyes.

"It is not the smart thing to do, really it's not, but I can't ask you to wait anymore and you can't came here to stay with us," said Lisa and Rick raised an eyebrow.

"Why not?"

"Because first, if you just disappear from the army everybody will look for you and eventually find this place and that is not fair for the people of the town. They want to remain apart from the rest of civilization."

"But I can tell Claudia and Roy and they can make something up!" said Rick and Lisa's eyes sparked a little at the sound of the name of their friends.

"Are they alright?" she asked, hoping for an answer.

"Yes, yes they are. thanks to you, they have a healthy and very annoying little boy," explained Rick and Lisa's eyes brightened with sudden tears.

"A boy?" she repeated.

"Yes, a boy. Sean. He is just. well, he is a little arrogant because Claudia and Roy spoil him rotten, but I can't blame them.I would do the same if I had a." said Rick until he realized, for the first time, that he "had" a daughter to spoil too. Lisa smiled at him.

"Tell me about him," she asked.

"Well. Sean is a very good mix of Claudia and Roy. Since he was born he was very demanding of his parents and everyone else. I am his godfather." he said proudly ". Sean is very smart; he can read 4 or 5 books a day. He loves books and computers and mechanical things in general. But he is not very social with other kids. Somehow, with all the attention, he began to think he was better than everyone else-which he is most of the time-but that makes him a lonely child. If it wasn't for Dana who is the only one who can get him out and make him talk with other people, he would be in his room reading all the time."

"Wow, I never thought a child of Roy would be like that." said Lisa amazed.

"Yeah, but Roy doesn't care, he is just proud of his little genius. And he looks like him too, so he is also a very good looking boy, but don't tell him or he will be grumpy all day." joked Rick feeling calmed for the first time. Lisa laughed.

"Sean is a good boy, a very good boy. He doesn't like to fly at all, he said flying is for birds and his dad. he likes to have his feet on the ground, which is a blessing for Claudia who doesn't have to worry about "that". But Roy doesn't care if Sean doesn't like to fly, again. Sean has his parents on his pinky finger. his parents and all of us, except for Dana."

"How is she? She must be how old now? 10?" asked Lisa intrigued.

"She will turn 11 this year.yeah she is fine, she grew up beautiful but with a very special temper. She is sociable, nice and smart but doesn't have any patience at all. Everybody loves her, but poor of the soul that crosses her when she is angry. She IS her mother's daughter, no question about it. So different from Sean, who spends his time in the engineering department of the base when he is not reading. Dana spends her time shopping for clothes or flying with her parents. Both Max and Miriya are still in the air and, if it is possible, they are even better than before. Dana learned to fly when she was 7 and now is capable of flying alone, but just regular planes, we don't let her get even close to a Veritech fighter. But still.10 years and she can do everything I could do in a plane at 17. She is very, very good."

"It is amazing. I wondered so many times how they were. What about Sammie and V, and Kim?" asked Lisa wanting to know everything.

"The trio is fine, as chatty and funny as always. Sammie and Kim are still single, but I think they dated every single man on the base. They say they can't find a man good for them. Vanessa got married and she has a little girl, 3 years old. Very cute".

"Vanessa is married?? Wow.to whom?"

"I don't know if you remember him, he was a Lt. when we were in England . I didn't like him at first. Lt. Spencer."

"Robert Spencer?!" interrupted Lisa, amazed by the news.

"Yeah, him. I didn't like it at all, but he won his place in Vanessa's heart and I trust her good judgment. If she said he was good enough, well, then I wasn't going to be an obstacle and after all these years, well. He isn't that bad and he is a good father for that girl he has and he somehow turned the trio into a quartette. The baby is cute, very shy, like Vanessa, without the intervention of Sammy and Kim who are both her godmothers and love her dearly."

"What's her name?"

"Lisa. Vanessa named her after you," said Rick and Lisa was speechless.

"Ohh, my poor V, she probably was so sad when I went away," said Lisa feeling guilty. Rick held her next to him.

"She was, we all were, but you are here now. and we will have you again, and we will be like before, like the family we were."

They stood holding each other until Rick asked her, "You think Sarah is all right? Shouldn't we see how she is?"

"She needs her space, let's give her some time and privacy, I am sure she will come to a reasonable conclusion ," said Lisa, breathing against her husband's neck.

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Sarah faced the Veritech and couldn't stop watching it with admiration. After some time, she remembered she had come to destroy the thing that changed her life for good. She took a stone and threw it at the machine.

"Take this you stupid piece of junk!" she said, but the stone didn't do any damage to the white Veritech.

Even more angry, she took another stone and another and threw them all at the Veritech fighter. None of them even made a scratch on it.

"Damn it!! Why do you laugh, ugly face?" she said talking to the skull on the back of the machine.

"Stupid thing! You will see!!" said Sarah running around the machine, looking for something.anything.

Finally she found it. It looked like the beginning of a stair to something, so she jumped and jumped until she finally held the edge and the stairs came down. Finding her breath, she began to climb on the stairs until she was probably 3 meters off the ground. Sarah held tighter to the stairs and looked up into the cockpit.

"Here we are." said Sarah happily when she was finally inside the Veritech looking down. It was really high, but she didn't care. Getting comfortable, she looked around at all the buttons and was extremely confused.

"So what now? How does this thing work?!" she asked herself until down at her feet she found a red, blue and white helmet. She took it and put it on, but of course it was too big for her and she couldn't see a thing.

"Ohh.this is too big, I can't see a." she said and without knowing she pushed a button and the cockpit closed over her. Sarah couldn't take the helmet off and when she moved again, she hit another button and the VF lifted from the ground. Sarah began to panic when she felt the movement. Finally, she was able to get the helmet off of her head.

"Oh my!" she said and looked out. She was getting higher and higher at a fast speed. Her stomach was making flip-flops. Looking around desperately, she decided to press every single button of the control panel until finally the machine stopped in mid air.

"Oh God, what I have done!. now my mom is going to kill me for sure!" she said, trying to catch her breath. She dared to look outside and from that high she could see the trees as little things on the ground. There was nothing at her feet, the machine was protecting her, and she was controlling the machine.

She felt desperate.

"This is NOT the moment to cry Hayes" she told herself, trying not to get out of control. You have to put this thing down.slowly" Sarah instructed herself and looked at the panel again.

"Now.easy. this thing looks like a.stick.lets move it.slowly," she said and with her trembling hand took the stick and moved it slowly up. The Veritech fighter fell fast to the ground, in collision position.

"MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM," screamed Sarah and closing her eyes she moved the Veritech to the middle position and stopped, in mid air, just as high as the tallest tress of the forest.

Opening one eye, slowly she checked first to make sure she wasn't dead. Scared to death, yes, but not dead. She looked out and found out she was probably 10 meters off the ground. That wasn't close enough to jump, considering if she were able to open the cockpit.

"Oh My God, Oh My God, Oh My God..." she said in panic. Closing her eyes and trying to control her breath before she started to feel dizzy, she rested against the pilot's chair and waited.

"I have to do something, but I can't do this alone. my mom.my mom will know what to do," she said aloud one more time as she thought carefully.

"Ok, so if I move this stick up, the plane goes down.if I move it down.goes up.I guess if I move to the right, I am going to the left.or something." she said and, this time slowly, she move it to the right and the Veritech moved to the right.

"All right.Ok, I am still alive and I deserve a punishment for this, but I need my mom first. I am going home. my house is that way, so I will just go.there.but.how I moved this thing to go straight?!"

Sarah looked around until she finally realized there was another stick. This one was down and had one direction, up. Holding her breath, the little 8 year old girl closed her eyes and moved it slowly up, and the machine moved forward. A smile spread across her face.

" WOW ! I AM FLYING!!"

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Lisa and Rick were cleaning the kitchen when they felt a vibration all over the house. Like a growing earthquake, the whole house started to tremble and a deep sound could be heard. Lisa looked at Rick in panic and she ran upstairs to Sarah's room and couldn't find her there. The tremble was getting stronger and the sound closer and she knew what it was, she knew it. It was the sound of a protoculture engine. Running to the window, she looked out and saw a Veritech fighter hovering closer and closer to her house. The wind blew everything away but Lisa tried to see who was it. 'Where was Sarah? Was this Jake?' she wondered.

"THAT IS MY VERITECH!" shouted Rick, coming next to her to see the machine getting closer and closer but slowing down in speed until it stopped right next to her house.

"Who is piloting it?? WHERE IS SARAH?!" said Lisa trying to hear Rick but unable to because of the sound of the engine.

With all the noise, the little town was alerted to the presence of the machine in their neighborhood. Scared people ran away from the machine and others, like Michael and Jo, came out to watch what was happening to their friends next door.

"I don't know!!" said Rick but then thought of something.it couldn't be possible."it can't be," he murmured and Lisa read his lips "WHAT?!" she asked.

"SARAH! SARAH IS IN THE VERITECH!!" said Rick feeling how his stomach was getting smaller from the thought of his 8 year old daughter inside that machine. "I have to do something!"

Lisa was shocked. She looked up until she saw very far away a little figure moving her arms up and down inside the cockpit.

"Oh my God." said Lisa on the edge of panic. It was Sarah, not Jake, who was inside the Veritech.

Inside the Veritech, Sarah lost all control of herself when she saw her mother outside. She jumped and shouted at the top of her lungs, but the noise was too much to make herself heard. Crying and in panic she was at the edge of losing consciences.

"We have to do something! NOW!" said Lisa thinking fast.

"I am going to the roof!"

"NO! She can move it and fall on you! She is hysterical now!"

"I can't stay here!!" shouted Rick desperately.

"ME EITHER! But I have to do something that helps her. she just needs to land".

"She will be never be able to land Lisa! You know how difficult it is!"

"I know! Don't lecture me! But she has to or she will lose conscienceless and we won't be able to help her."

"If we just could communicate with her..." said Rick trying to get an idea, but it was Lisa who thought of something.

"YES! THAT'S IT!!" she said and ran down the stairs until she reached her desk on the first floor. Taking a big piece of paper that she was saving for a sign for the store, she grabbed a permanent market and wrote a huge "B" Letter and then "AT" and "RIGHT".

"What are you doing?!" asked Rick not understanding.

"If she can't land, she can at least transform the VF into a Guardian mode! And that way she can reach the ground and we can get her out!" she said running outside the house with Rick following right behind her.

Lisa stood far enough for Sarah to see her from her place in the cockpit. The little girl, who was crying, saw the tiny figure of her mother outside holding a sign.

"Mommy." she sobbed and then read the paper she held " a B at right" said Sarah not understanding at first, but controlling her emotions she looked around to find what her mother was telling her. After some time she found at her right another stick with a G letter on it. This time without being careful, Sarah moved the stick all the way down.

The Veritech immediately sounded different. The engine worked differently and inside the machine everything trembled. Sarah began to scream when she realized everything around her was changing and she was being moved on the inside of the plane and couldn't see a thing.

From the outside, the fighter changed its form into Battloid. The people around Lisa and Rick screamed in panic and some of them ran away. Lisa and Rick were the only ones who sighed with some relief.

When the transformation was complete, the Battloid was standing over them.

"Ok, now I am going to the roof and jump for her..." said Rick but stop in mid-sentence because the robotech machine moved from left to right in a very unstable way.

"Oh no, she is moving it from the inside, Sarah must be trying to get out! " said Lisa worried again and unable to do anything.

"WATCH OUT! IT'S GOING DOWN!!" said Rick and grabbed Lisa's arm and ran away from the dangerous perimeter. The Battloid moved like a drunken man, with no stabilization and when it looked like it was going to fall over on everyone, it did a turn and went straight down on the house.

The Battloid was finally on the ground, between the ruins of what used to be the house of Lisa and Sarah Hayes for the past five years. The house fell immediately because it was made of wood and unable to hold the thousands of pounds of machine. As soon as the machine was down and the dust settled enough to see, Lisa and Rick ran to check on their daughter.

"Oh My God, let her be unharmed, please," begged Lisa as she ran over what was left of her house, not even caring about the destruction. Rick was the first to reach the head of the Battloid and looked around for the emergency exit button. Absolutely pale, Rick Hunter hit the button and moved a little to let the machine open up. With his heart in his throat, he saw a little sobbing girl appear from it.

"Oh Sarah" said Rick, unable to control himself, as he moved immediately next to the girl who threw her arms around his neck sobbing uncontrollably.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry." repeated the child over and over again almost shocking Rick who was sitting on the floor holding her and feeling how the life was coming back to him.

"SARAH!" screamed Lisa finally reaching the place where they were and Sarah ran to her mother, and they both hugged each other.

"Mommy I am sorry, I am so sorry!" said the girl and Lisa shushed her and asked her if she was all right. She looked over her from head to toe, and realized that her prayers were heard because she didn't even have a scratch.

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Five long hours had passed since the accident, and after a complete check on Sarah, Lisa was able to look at all the disaster around her. The town council demanded an explanation from her, and she had to tell the truth about how Rick found the town by coincidence. The council evaluated the damage and finally determined that Lisa and her family must leave the town immediately, because this situation was putting all of them in danger of being found.

Jo and Michael protested, but Lisa calmed them down, telling them that she already made her mind about that topic. Jo cried for hours, not wanting her only true friend to leave after all those years.

Rick was quiet and feeling uneasy. He didn't belong there and everyone was making him feel that way. Well, everyone except Michael who was with him in silence, keeping him company. Rick felt really bad about the way he acted with him at the beginning. But even with the good will of Michael and Jo, Rick wanted to leave that place as soon as he could, so he concentrated on flying the Veritech into an open space.

Peter was with Sarah, and both kids were extremely quiet. Suddenly most of the gang came to say goodbye to their boss, except the twin, which their parents didn't let them go to say goodbye her . They were all holding their tears as much as they could.

When Sarah was finally alone, she walked to the edge of what used to be her house. It was the only home she remembered and she had destroyed it. Sarah looked at the thousands of pieces of wood and tried to remember what used to be her bedroom or her mommy's bedroom. She sniffed a little remembering all those afternoons together, singing and dancing alone in the living room. Now in that space there were just pieces of everything. Nothing was recognizable anymore. She felt angry and ashamed with herself.

"Are. are you looking for something here? Can I help you?" said the voice of Rick Hunter walking next to her. He still felt odd thinking of the girl as a piece of himself, but he wanted to give it a try. Well, more than a try.

"Like what? Everything is destroyed," said Sarah coldly, not looking at him. Rick swallowed hard.

"I.I don't know, maybe something you want to bring with you? A diary maybe?" suggested Rick, looking at her. Sarah looked at him straight in his eyes and Rick still saw the fury in them; the fury that was still directed at him.

"How stupid would I be to go in there just to pick up a diary?" Sarah said, answering his question with another sarcastic question, and then leaving him there alone.

Rick looked at her walking away from him and sighed. She was his and Lisa's daughter, no question about it. He looked at the ruins of the house and a soft wind blew enough to bring to his feet a broken paper plane model. He took it and examined it carefully. It had a broken wing, but it was obviously a good job, almost origami perfect. He looked again in the direction of where Sarah walked away and knew she did it. Folding it carefully, he put it into his pocket and turned around to look for his wife.

There were so many things they had to consider now. So many emotional things and practical ones also. They were not two anymore, but three. They had to get to know each other all over again; eight years was a long time and a lot of things had happened. They had to know each other again as a couple, as friends, as colleagues. There were so many things now, thought Rick, but he didn't care. He couldn't care less about the problems in the future.

Now his wife was on his lap, as they were a more than ten years ago when he rescued her from Alaska base. Now with a little girl sitting in back of his seat, watching them carefully, Rick took off from that small hidden place, and flew in the direction of Macross City . As soon as they left the mountains, the communication channel was operative again.

"This is the control tower trying to contact Captain Hunter in Skull one, answered Skull one," said a male voice. Rick grabbed the communicator and opened the channel without a video signal.

"This is Captain Rick Hunter, I am in quadrant T-57 and going back to the base Control, and I'm bringing a surprise with me."

"It's good to hear you again Captain, we were worried about your location," replied the voice.

"I am fine Lt. Commander Spencer, please arrange that Colonel Grant and Captain Fokker wait for us. me I mean, on the landing board. Also please contact Commander Porter, Leeds and Young and both Captains Sterling with the same instructions. I need them all there."

"Aye Sir, may I ask why, sir?" asked Spencer curiously.

"It is a surprise Rob. A big, big surprise," said Rick watching the woman he loved in his arms finally, like it was a dream. Lisa, for the first time in almost a decade, felt safe, but was very worried for her daughter. Sarah, behind them, looked sadly at the change of the landscape outside and at the new lights and colors that she had never seen before. A single tear fell across her cheek and she put her only possession, her hat, down enough to hide her face from the world.

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To be Continued.

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A/N: Thank you for waiting so long! I am not going to leave my fanfic, but my time is getting little and little. The idea is all in my head, even a epilogue (or a few) ;) Just wait ok? Please leave a review! Just hit the button here a submit it, YOU CAN DO IT! ;)