Chapter 3: Barely Breathing.

Lisa woke up late. She was very disoriented at first, specially when she felt the presence of someone around her. She sat up in her bed, and realized that she was still in her clothes from the day before. She felt puffy eyes and the light of the morning wasn't exactly her best friend right now. She sighed and tried to adjust her view around. She was in her room but how she did she get there? Then she fixed her eyes on the sleeping figure in the chair in front of her bed. Feet crossed and lying at the bottom of her bed, arms crossed on his chest and very messy black hair was the first thing she notice. Rick was certainly not comfortable sleeping in that small chair. **Rick? What the hell is Rick doing in my bedroom!** was the first thing Lisa though, but after a second, she noticed two other figures sleeping on the little couch, in the corner of the room. There was Roy sleeping with a calm face, and Claudia, sleeping next to him, her head on his chest. That was probably why Roy look so relaxed. Both of them were sleeping in a very odd position, and they were sure going to feel pretty bad when they woke up.

Lisa though a little, and after a few seconds she remembered, and when she did, she couldn't stop shaking. Her first reaction was curl herself in a little ball and just…disappear. But almost immediately she remember and felt into her soul Roy's words from last night, those words that made her wake up from the nightmare. She also remembered her own reply "I'm going to fight".

Feeling a suddenly rush of bravery over her, she look around feeling more awake than ever. She looked at her friends, almost her family, and she accepted that she wasn't alone, not anymore.

Then Lisa looked at the sleeping figure of Rick Hunter, all uncomfortable in her chair. And that image was very disturbing. Why he was there, specially after all this time, years fighting for every single detail, and now there he was…here. She tried to think how his mind works, but didn't have a clue. She sighed a little, and accepted the fact that, that was part of his mystery, of his charm. This was Rick Hunter the hero, and it was weird to have his attention focus on her. She couldn't stop the bitter though of where was Minmei, that maybe he was confused and he though she was her for a moment, but as soon that though fill her head, she shacked it away, telling herself that Rick Hunter can be a pain in the ass, but he's always there for his friends. His friends…was she his friend then?

Lisa smirked to herself the way she only did it when she was alone, but then froze when a male voice talked to her.

- Well, well, why I have the feeling that someone is going to be in trouble…looks like Miss Hayes is back and want to some revenge - said the sleepy voice of Roy, who looked at her with his own eyebrow raised.

- I don't want revenge Roy, I just want him to leave me alone - said the still sleepy voice of Lisa Hayes.

- Yeah, right!! Well…that guy can use some kick in his b…- but he was interrupted for the hand of Claudia Grant over his mouth, shutting him up.

- Shut up Fokker, you are going to wake up everybody from here to Europe- said Claudia in a teasing voice and laugh when Roy kissed her palm.

Lisa smiled at the scene in front of her and look at Rick who was still sleeping. Claudia. still with her head on Roy's chest, looked at him and smiled.

- Well, he must be a very heavy sleeper if he didn't wake up with all your noise.

- Oh…you don't know him! A varitech can land next to him and he's just going to snore more.

Claudia and Lisa giggle a little when Claudia look at Lisa and express.

- Well, why don't you give him a good morning kiss, Lisa? Maybe he's going to wake up happy and won't care about the neck pain his is going to have - she teased her, touching her own neck and sitting up.

Lisa got very embarrassed and her face flushes a very dark kind of red.

- Oh C'mon Lisa, you have to get used to it, I mean, you can't be that mean and not kiss you husband every morning - say Roy stretching himself before he realized what he just say.

- MY WHAT!! - screamed Lisa aloud enough to wake up Rick and almost make him fall from his chair.

- What's going on? - say a very sleeping Rick Hunter touching his eyes.

- Oh My…- said Claudia - Err, Lisa, we need to talk, I think I'm going to make some coffee…we are going to need it.

Lisa looked around confused to everyone with her big green eyes, still sitting on her bed. Claudia walked to the door, pushing Roy in front of her out of the bedroom and leaving Rick and Lisa alone. Rick looked at Lisa sitting on her bed, and even though she wore her morning face, she looked really beautiful. Her hair was a mess, falling over her shoulders and her face was a little red for her flushing, big green eyes looking at him for an explanation. She almost look…funny, if the situation weren't so serious. He gulped and then blushed himself, he raised his arm behind his head.

- Errr …I….I'm go for…err…the bathroom…- he say pointing to the door and making some weird gestures with his hands and leaving her there.

Lisa looked at him, not understanding a word, but really feeling that she needed to know what was happening, specially because everybody looked so calm, like they have the solution for her problem, but they didn't…right?. She just remembered falling asleep on Rick's chest, and then she blushed some more. She got up, and then walked to the living room, deciding to find out what was going on.

Claudia was in the kitchen boiling some water and making some comments about that Lisa didn't have anything remotely good to eat, except coffee, when Lisa stood in the door, hands on her hips and demanded:

- I want to know exactly what happened yesterday because I can't remember much.

Roy chuckled a little with his toast in his mouth when Claudia give him a hard look.

- Lisa, honey, I think is better if you sit down and eat something first, you didn't eat anything last night.

Lisa looked at her, then at Roy and sat next to him. Then Claudia come with a mug of fresh dark coffee, and more toasts with some eggs and put it in front of Lisa, who start eating. Claudia brought two more mugs and put them on the table, she sat and waited.

Rick came to the kitchen and looked around, Roy makes a gesture to him to sit and he obeyed. When everybody was sitting, with their mugs for a while, Claudia start talking.

- Ok Lisa, I really don't know how to tell you this, but…well…let's start saying that we…we have a solution for your problem…

- …OUR problem - replied Roy, taking a sip of his coffee.

- Yes - said Claudia- our problem

Lisa was going to complain but Claudia didn't let her talk at all, she just look at her, not leaving room for arguing.

- Look Lisa, I know what are you going to say and yes, this is our problem. WE are not going to let you risk yourself again, Roy is right, this is our problem, because we love you so much and we are not going to let you get hurt.

Lisa looked at her and then looked at Rick, asking him with her eyes if he agreed to this, if he was part of this. He just looked away.

- Lisa, we talked a lot last night, and we clear some points, some very important points… - express Roy, looking very serious, which was odd, thought Lisa.

- …Well….Oh God this is hard to do…Lisa, we say aloud a lot of thing that are necessary, because in a situation like this, we need to be completly honest with each other... - say Roy and grabbed Claudia's hand and she squeezed it, encouraging him.

- What things? - asked Lisa looking like she was on duty, very serious.

- Er…well… Lisa, we, we know…

- …We know that you are in love with Rick and that he likes you too - said Claudia interrupting Roy when he couldn't speak the words aloud.

Lisa was stunned. She sat very still and couldn't stop the flushing in her cheeks when she heard this declaration, but after the first shocking impression, she got very upset.

- Pardon me, but I don't think this is a topic we need to discuss right now, and actually didn't even concern you. This have nothing to do with MY problem - said Lisa.

- It has a lot to do with OUR problem - say Roy, arguing with her - Do you think we…you think I am going to let you get into a situation like that again? No way!..

- I thank you for your concern for me, Roy, but I can handle this - say Lisa acting like a petulant child.

- Yeah RIGHT! - smirk Roy to her - you show us all that you can take care of yourself with that guy behind your tail!

- You don't have the right to…

- SHUT UP YOU TWO, RIGHT NOW! - say Claudia pissed of - This is not going to bring us anything good, the past is the past and there's nothing we can do about that, but we have to face the consequences of our acts… Lisa - and she grabbed her hand from the table - Honey, do you honestly think that you can handle this situation alone? We are not saying that you can't take care of yourself, of course you can, we all know that, you are an independent woman, but this is out of your league, of anybody who is alone. We are talking about life and death here - says Claudia calming her voice and trying to make Lisa understand what she was saying.

Lisa looked at her in shock for a moment and then nod a no, she looked at the table.

- Look, nobody can't handle this alone, and you are not alone, you have us! - continued Claudia after a moment and she squeezed her hand - You have to let us in…

- I feel so…so helpless right now - say Lisa looking at the now cold toast on the table.

- We know- said Roy, arms crossing over his chest - we all feel that way.

A tense silence grew in the little kitchen and the four of them didn't know what to say.

- What does Rick have to do with all this? - asked suddenly Lisa not looking up.

The three of them looked at each other and Claudia nodded.

- We thought about any possibility last night, we read over and over again the letter and we realize that this guy, Jake, thinks you are alone because you are waiting for him, because you love him….

- ...so, what you need is a boyfriend. - say Roy looking at her, arm still folded across his chest.

Lisa was shocked and her mouth dropped open, then she smirked at him.

- Really Roy? So you believe this guy is that stupid that is going to believe I suddenly have a boyfriend from nowhere?

- No - say Roy coping her smirk sarcastically- I know he's not THAT stupid, just crazy…- Lisa looked away from him - That's where Rick comes into scene.

Claudia made a gesture to Roy to shut him up, the tension between the two was palpable.

- Lisa, hon, what my dear football head here is trying to explain is Rick and you have a "thing" for each other…

- Yeah…a fuc---ing soap opera - murmured Roy under his breath and got a kick in the leg, this time from Rick.

- …SO, the rumor about you two is out there already, and we can use that to our advantage. You know Lisa, it's a military tactic - she say to her and looked at Claudia back when she made the reference to work, Claudia smiled congratulations to herself for how well she knows Lisa - You see now?

Lisa looked at her, then to a annoyed Roy who didn't want to look at her, then to Rick, who was speechless.

- So that's the great plan? Rick is going to pretend to be my boyfriend? He's going to need to be better than George - she say raising an eyebrow.

Slowly, Claudia look down, Roy put his arms down and looked at Rick, who was blushing.

- What? Did I say something wrong?

- No…no sweetie…is just…well, we think that a boyfriend is not enough…

In that moment Lisa froze. In a millisecond the words of Roy from the early morning come back to her "husband…" over and over again. She was still, couldn't move at all for a while, and they waited for it to sink in.

- a husband? - asked Lisa to Claudia looking at her with big eyes, and then Claudia looked up, and just nodded.

- You guys must be crazy!- expressed Lisa, dropping Claudia's hand and standing up - There's no way I'm going to go through with this madness!!

- Lisa… - said Claudia and she got a step back from her.

- NO!, I told you, I'm not going to do this, it's impossible, no way!!

Roy stood up and grabbed Lisa's arm hard, making her look at him.

- Look, face it, we are not talking about love here, we are talking about you not get killed!

- Get your hands out of me Fokker or I swear, I'm going to kick you!

- Try it - said Roy smirking at her - but after that, you must understand what are we saying.

Lisa looked at him stunned for a moment and then stepped on his foot, hard. Roy yelled and Lisa walked to the door of the kitchen and crossed her arms over her chest looking proud. Rick looked at her impress for her odd behavior, and stood up. It was obvious that Roy and Lisa were more close than what Rick

knew, because he never ever saw Lisa acting like that with anybody else. Claudia just nod her head annoyingly.

- Well…I think this is crazy, I'm not going to get married for something like this!

- Oh yeah?! - Said Roy trying to put his foot on the floor and smirking at her - I'm glad you remember some of your self-defense classes, I was starting to believe you were getting a little out of shape!! and with that temper baby, you need someone as stubborn as you who can handle the little lion that you are! Hunter is perfect for that!.

- Geez, thanks Roy! - say Rick for the first time. Everybody looked at him, specially Lisa.

- Well, as the "possible" groom, Rick, you think you have an opinion about this at all? - asked Lisa angrily.

He looked at her scared at first and then just say what he thought at first.

- Believe me, is not my first option - as soon as he said it, he regretted it.

- Great! You think that shocked me?! I am not precisely Little Miss Macross, right? - she was mad at him, not knowing exactly why, but she was. Maybe it was because after all this, he didn't say a word, or simply, maybe was because everybody made decisions without her at all.

- What I did I do anyway?! I'm trying to help and you insult me? And what the hell has Minmei to do with all this?!

- Well, I-don't-need-your-hero-complex!

- Perfect! Then you don't need me here!

- Great!

- Cool!

- STOP IT!!

Everybody stayed where they were. Claudia had this ability to turn everybody into a 3 years old kid when she was angry, and she was angry now.

- Lisa, stop acting like we are attacking you, that's not the idea and don't give me that look missy, because we are not going to leave you, No one! - she said looking at Rick who looked away - Rick, you are involve in this as much me and Roy now, and you took a decision yesterday, stick to it!

Rick made a fist with his hands and closed his eyes hard for a second, he really wished to be away from all this. He took a big breath and looked at Lisa hard. She looked at him with her chin up.

- Claudia is right, I was here yesterday and I'm part of this now. And…and I'm not going to leave. - Lisa's eyes grow wider - Listen, it's true, you are not my best option for a wife, but I certain didn't have any until last night…

- Why are you here then? This is not your problem - say Lisa, looking a little pale.

- Now it is. Now this is my problem as much as yours, because I was the one who saw you last night, looking scared, looking powerless - he walked slowly to her - I'm the one who held you and I realized that I wouldn't let anybody do that to you ever again. Because I can't change the past, but I can help now…- now he was in front of her, Lisa put her arms down and looked into his eyes for an answer.

- Why? - she whispered.

Rick looked at her for a moment and without looking away he said, - I don't know, but I feel it is the right thing to do.

Lisa looked into his eyes more, and she almost couldn't breathe. She was so confused, everything was a mess, her life was changing just in a couple of days and her best dream and worst nightmare were becoming true.

- Are you willing to do this Rick? For me? For…- us thought Lisa, but couldn't say it aloud. She was so close to him that she could feel his breath on her skin, and his eyes locking into her gaze. He was so beautiful, she thought.

- Yes - he whispered back, almost not making any sound, and making the words sound so intense at the same time, that his heart beat started a raise on its own. Without control, forgetting why he was going to marry her, forgetting about Jake, Minmei, Roy or Claudia next to him, he felt her perfume. He felt excited, almost aroused with this women who can turn from ice to fire in a second. He didn't think, he just looked at her eyes, then to her lips and how she was parting them…waiting.

- Ahem….Ahem…- Roy cleared his throat, braking the spell. Claudia elbowed him into the ribs, hard. After that, Rick and Lisa look at them, blushing hard.

- Well, I think we have an agreement then? - say Roy touching his left side where Claudia hit him before.

Rick look at Lisa one more time and nod, oddly confident, he took her hand and said firmly:

- Yes, we have an agreement. We are going to got married.