Robotech fic - maelström
Maelström chapter 12
“You stupid idiot! How could you?” Roy said as he pushed Rick against a nearby VT.
Disclaimer: I don’t own Robotech or any of it’s characters. This fic was written for entertainment purposes only. No infringement is intended.
Author’s note: This is a Roy and Lisa fanfic, you are warned. If you don’t want to read this please don’t. I wrote this because I have always think that Roy is an awesome character and that he and Lisa will make a wonderful couple if it weren't for Claudia. In order for this fic to work Roy never died in the episode “Farwell Big Brother”
Reviews: I love reviews, they are what keeps me writing and is the only way I have to know if you like it or not this fic. So please try to send one even if it just one word.
To: Carla, thanks for helping me to develop this idea and for giving me the courage to write this.To Dwayne for being my beta again, without you I don't know what I'll do and to Feña.
Enjoy....
Maelström
Chapter 12
“Map of the problematique”
Roy parked his Humvee in front of his house as he kept talking on his cellphone. He had spent most of the day doing the thing he enjoyed most besides flying: playing baseball. He'd been playing baseball with his squadron and the mechanics until the snow forced them to stop.
He looked up at the small snowflakes hoping the snow hadn't ruined Lisa and Rick's picnic. It had been a perfect day for a picnic and Lisa deserved nothing but a perfect evening. He had just turned his Humvee around when he saw a lonely figure seated at the front door of his house.
“Look Archer, I'm gonna have to call you back later,” Roy said and without waiting for a reply he hung up.
He knew immediately who was seated at his front door, even though all he could see from where he stood was a shadow. Seeing Lisa like that, alone at his front door wearing nothing more than a light jacket when it was already snowing and tightly holding a picnic basket with a sad look upon her face, made him ache inside.The whole situation was just wrong and if Rick had something to do with it, he was going to pay for it.
He walked towards her slowly, pulling up the lapels of his pilot jacket because the cold wind was hitting harder now that the sun had set off.
“What are you doing here?” Roy asked with a soft gentle voice, standing in front of her.
“I was going home and thought you'd might want some left overs...” Lisa was saying and then sighed. “Actually I have been sitting here thinking of an excuse for the last... half hour? And I still haven't come up with a decent one,” she added and gave him a half smile.
“You know you don't need an excuse,” Roy said frowning.
“I know,” Lisa said with her sad smile and then turned her gaze to the pile of snow that was starting to form a few meters away.
Roy opened his mouth to ask her what had happened but only a sigh came out of it. This was supposed to be a happy day for her. She should be happy and smiling, not like this. Not so sad.
“Do you want to come in?” he finally asked.
“No, not really,” she answered quietly.
He felt so powerless knowing that there was nothing he could do to make her happy, no matter how badly he wanted to. All he could do was be there with her, so he moved closer and without a word sat next to her on the first step of his front door.
“You really don't have to do this, it's freezing,” Lisa said looking at him but he kept looking ahead.
“I know.”
“I really don't know why I came...”
“Don't...” he said and turned to look at her. “I get it,” he added, looking at her in the eyes and giving her a sweet smile that she answered with the same tenderness.
They didn't need words or explanations. She had been there for him when he had needed someone and now he was here for her. Both of them knew that they were both pretty messed up, but somehow they felt less broken together, they felt safe with each other.
Roy moved carefully and before Lisa could notice, he placed his pilot jacket over her shoulders.
“Roy don't,” she said frowning. “I don't want you to catch a cold...”
“Shh,” Roy cut her off and looked away ignoring her complaints.
Finally she cuddled inside Roy's pilot jacket and both of them turned their gazes to the street lamp that was in front of Roy's house to better see how the snowflakes fell. But neither of them moved, they just remained there watching the snow fall without caring about the looks that the people who walked by gave them. They were there, together, and the rest didn't matter much.
Lisa woke up early the next day. She knew she had the day off, but there was no way in hell that she was going to stay home. She needed to be busy, to keep her mind focused on something other than her pathetic existence. She got up from her bed and looked at the answering machine next to her bed. The light that announced that she had new messages was blinking. She ignored it, just like she had done with all voice mails from her cell.
She arrived at the base and went straight to the bridge. She knew she could relieve some officer from duty and no one would say no. Working on the bridge as air controller was a difficult job; not many people could do it well and she, well she was excellent at it. She needed that today, to feel that she was good at something. She needed to feel like no one was better than her and that she wasn't just a desperate, pathetic girl who waited for a guy for hours outside a coffee.
Lisa had lost track of how many hours she had stayed on the bridge -too many probably. But she had stayed there longer and she was still able to be focused on her job. The moment she felt like she couldn’t focus she would leave. After all, lives depended on how well she could perform her job.
She was standing in front of the coffee machine that was near her office. She hated the coffee from that machine, but she would not risk a trip to the mess hall knowing that she might encounter Rick even though he might still be on the air.
“What are you still doing here?” a voice asked at her back making her jump and spill some coffee over the counter.
“Jeez Roy, you almost gave me a heart attack!” Lisa protested.
“As hooked as you are on caffeine I seriously doubt I can be responsible for that.”
Lisa just gave him a nasty glare and then took a sip from her coffee.
“But seriously Lisa, what are you still doing here?” he asked with concern.
“Catching up on some things that I had to do,” she answered without looking at him.
“Really?
“Really.”
“That's BS Lisa and you know it!” Roy said angrily. “You haven't slept in days, you are overworking yourself and living on caffeine.”
“I have not...” Lisa started to protest but he interrupted her.
“When was the last time you slept? Or eat something that didn't come out of a vending machine?”
“I have slept,” she snapped back.
“Then why is it that you look like a raccoon?” He said raising an eyebrow. When he didn't get an answer he continued. “You have been on shift since Sunday Lisa and it's Tuesday! The only time you are not on the bridge is when Rick is on shift, you can't go on like this.”
“I have been on shift more time than that,” Lisa said stubbornly.
“Yes when we were in combat, but we are not even in condition 2.”
“Roy look, I...”
“I know, I know. You don't want to talk about it. But I can't let you keep doing this, I care about you.”
“And I appreciate your concern but I'm fine. And yes, maybe I am working more than I should but that's how I deal with these things. Working is the only thing that helps, that makes me feel useful and prevents me from wallowing in self pity.”
“Lisa there are other...”
“I know, but this is the one that works for me. So please let me deal with this the way I know how to,” she said and placed a hand over his forearm. “Please?”
He frowned. He didn't like the idea, but there was nothing he could do either. So he grabbed her hand between his and nodded.
“I'm here though, if you ever need me... I'll always be here,” he said softly before kissing her on the forehead and walking away. He just had to escape from there, because watching her like tha knowing that she would not accept his help was killing him.
Roy was walking with his team members but he wasn't paying too much attention to what they were discussing. Lisa's bewildered expression when she asked him to let her deal with things in her own way was burned in his retina and it was all that it was in his head now. He kept trying to think about how to make her react, to make her explode, yell or do something, anything other than suffer in silence but nothing came to him.
He felt guilty too. After all the stupid picnic had been his idea; he had thrown the idea to Rick and encouraged him when he finally decided to invite Lisa. If only he had kept his mouth shut, Lisa would not be suffering now. But how was he supposed to imagine that Rick would stand her up? All he wanted was to see her happy like she deserved to be.
“I'm telling you Owen, it was an inverted dive at,” Maggie was saying but Owen cut her off.
“Come on! Tell her that that's impossible sir,” Owen said.
“I'm sorry Owen but Maggie is right, I saw Lt. Sterling do one with my own eyes,” Roy said finally getting out of his thoughts.
“You've got to be kidding me,” David, the last member of the Skull, added.
“You can bet I'm not,” Roy said seriously but with a grin.
“I told you,” Maggie added, proud of herself.
“And here he comes,” Owen said and everyone turned their gazes up front where Max, with Rick walking alongside was entering the hangar.
The incoming pilots saluted the members of Skull when they were a few meters away. Roy couldn't help but stiffen up a little when he saw Rick smiling at a comment made by Max- in fact his fist involuntarily closed.
“Hey Rick,” Roy said out loud.
“Hi Roy,” Rick answered and stopped in his tracks in front of him.
“So how was your day off?” Roy said and made a pause to evaluate his reaction, and he immediately noticed how Rick tensed up. “Did you have a good time with Minmei?”
“Roy, about that...” Rick stuttered.
“So you did stand her up for Minmei?” Roy asked while he felt his temper starting to build up.
“No, I mean yes, but it wasn't my...” Rick was saying when Roy leapt at him, grabbing him by the collar of his flight suit.
“You stupid idiot! How could you?” Roy said as he pushed Rick against a nearby VT.
“Sir!” Maggie yelled and every member of the Skull moved forward to try to stop Roy.
“Roy!” Max said trying to pull Roy away from Rick, while Rick tried to get loose from Roy's grip. None of them succeeded.
“I'm going to break your face!You idiot!” Roy said gritting his teeth and raising a fist.
“Sir!” Owen said and grabbed Roy's fist just before it reached Rick's face.
“Sir, let go, please,” Maggie said trying to talk some sense into Roy, while he tried to get loose from everyone and hit Rick.
“Sir,” David said, while helping Owen to hold Roy's arm.
“Sir, let it go. We should be in the air now, we should go,” Maggie said and somehow she found a way to put herself between Roy and Rick. “Sir?”
Roy gave one more killer look to Rick and hrld his hands up in a sign that he was giving up. Everyone looked at him, unsure if they should let him go or not, scared that it might be a trick and he would jump at Rick again and break his face for sure.
“It's fine,” Roy said with severity as he looked at the members of his squadron who immediately released him. Finally Max did the same, still wary about Roy's possible next reaction.
“You're lucky that I should be in the air right now,” he said taking a step closer to Rick that made everyone nervous. Then he added while pointing an accusing finger at Rick, “But this isn't over yet.”
“Let's go!” Roy finally said in a commanding voice to his squadron and started to walk away harshly. They followed him immediately still wondering what that was all that about.
Roy ignored the interrogating looks and just kept walking fast, wishing he was in the air already.
Lisa heard the siren that announced it was 6 am and reluctantly opened her eyes. She had fallen fallen asleep on the small couch in her office again and she tried to move her stiff neck.
She got up and stirred, thinking she might still have time to go home take a shower and get back No one would say anything if she arrived a few minutes late, after all she had spent almost the entire week on the base. She took a look at herself in the mirror of the small bathroom she had in her office. She looked like hell and there wasn't much she could do about it. She brushed her teeth and fixed her hair the best she could, and applied some makeup to cover her, by now black, rings under her eyes. And that was it; she would make a quick exit from the base, go home and take a shower and change into a fresh uniform, praying all the way that she wouldn’t bump into someone familiar, especially Rick or Roy or the Admiral.
She had not even taken a step away from her office when she collided straight against what seemed to her like a huge mass of muscle about two meters long. She knew immediately who it was, and cursed whoever was responsible for her bad luck.
“Where are you going in such a rush so early?”
“To the bridge, Sammie paged me,” she lied avoiding his gaze and starting to run away as fast as she could.
“Sammie? That's weird because I just saw her on her way to the parking lot,” Roy said crossing his arms over his chest.
“I assumed it was Sammie since she was the one who was on call, but seriously they're calling me.”
“You slept here didn't you?” Roy asked clenching his jaw.
“Don't be silly, of course not. Now please let me go, they are calling me,” Lisa said uncomfortably.
“What are you trying to do? Kill yourself with work? Because someone stood you up?”
“I'm not! And in any case what ever I do with my personal life is personal.”
“No it's not. It stops being personal the moment you put my pilots in danger up there because you haven't slept in days.”
“I would never put the pilot’s life in danger!” Lisa answered both hurt and angry.
“That's what you are doing and for what? For him?”
“I'm not the one who almost broke his face.”
“You should go and do something like that! You should yell at him or slap him or do anything other than this silent torture you are imposing on yourself because he chose her,” Roy said desperately.
“So he did, he did choose her,” Lisa found herself saying before she could prevent the words from leaving her mouth.
“That's enough!” Roy said and grabbed her by the arm strongly and started to drag her away.
“Wait, Roy! What are you doing?” Lisa tried to protest as he dragged her outside the RDF building. But Roy neither answered her question or stopped pulling her until they arrived at a small balcony at the west wing of the base.
“Where are we?” Lisa asked as she looked around the small balcony.
“We are under the flight deck of the Prometheus,” Roy said as he rested his weight against the banister looking serious.
“And you brought me here because?”
“I like to come here when I need to think, to clear my head, to unwind. And you certainly need to do that.”
“I...”
“You are blaming yourself for something that is not your fault. Rick behaved like an immature kid and yes, he might have chosen the pop star but that doesn't mean you are the one to blame.”
“Maybe, maybe not.”
“No, no maybe not, it's not your fault,” Roy said, convinced of his words.
“Probably but that's not why I'm angry. I'm angry because I was the pathetic one who stayed there waiting for him. Who does that?” Lisa said and made a pause trying to control her frustration and anger. “So no I'm not angry because he did not choose me. That's okay, because you know I'm not the type of person people choose, I'm just not,” Lisa said with resignation looking at the floor.
“Come here,” Roy said and waiting for Lisa go to where he was standing at the edge of the balcony.
“What?” Lisa was saying but Roy put his hands on her waist and brought her closer to the edge with him. “Roy?” she asked surprised.
“Wait.”
“Wait for what?” she interrupted.
“Just wait,” he said with calm and few seconds later a huge grin spread across his face.
Before Lisa could do anything a huge wave of wind, coming from a VT that had just took off, hit her, making her hair float on the air. It was all so sudden and unexpected that if Roy hadn't been holding her she was sure she would have fallen off her feet. She felt a huge rush of adrenaline running through her body; it was as if the wave of wind was washing away all her worries and replacing them with this exciting sensation that left her breathless and made her giggle at the same time. And then before she was prepared for it the VT broke the sound barrier and Roy immediately covered her ears with his hands trying to reduce the impact of the sound on her. The loud noise scared her at first making her catch her breath but when she knew what it was, she was amazed by the overwhelming sensations she was experiencing.
“How do you feel?” Roy asked as he moved his hands away from her ears, smiling.
“I... I don't know...clear?” she said with a frow, unable to find the right words, but then she smiled too.
“I know, it's like all your problems had flown away with the VT. Isn't it?”
“Exactly like that,” she said trying to fix her hair.
“Good, because you need to let things go, Lisa. You can't punish yourself for what happened, you were the one who sat there waiting. That's not a bad thing, that just shows that you cared.”
“Maybe, but it still doesn't mean I feel less pathetic about it,” she said pessimistically looking down.
“Nonsense. You should be proud of being “pathetic” because that means that you feel something, something strong enough to wait for hours for someone,” Roy said and made a pause. “And what you said earlier about not being the type of person people choose...” Roy said and stopped to search for her eyes. “I would have chosen you. Over Minmei, I would have chosen you,” he stated.
Lisa raised her eyes from the floor in an instinctive movement, as if by looking at him she could hear his words better or at least be sure that they were coming out of his mouth and not from her imagination.
“I would have chosen you,” Roy said again, looking at her straight in the eyes knowing that that would be only way that she would believe him. The moment he finished his sentence a new VT took off, leaving behind a trail that made Lisa shiver and her hair flowing in the air again.
It was the mixture of the VT's trail and Roy's words that made her feel as if she had been swept off her fete; her whole body was tingling, she felt as if she had jumped from an airplane and she was falling down at full speed. And it was fast and it was uncontrollable and she wanted to scream and laugh, all at the same time.
And in the middle of all the crazy feelings, and all her hair tangled across her face as it floated in the air because of the VT's trail, she could see Roy's eyes, his deep blue eyes, his intense blue eyes that held no regret in the words he had spoken. He wasn't going to take the words back, he wasn't going to pretend that he hadn't said them, he meant them. And the loud sound of the VT breaking the sound barrier hit them and she was thankful for it, because it could hide the loud thumbing of her heart against her ribcage.
When the sound disappeared and the trail was gone, Roy carefully moved some of the locks away from Lisa's face, still smiling at her and looking her in the eyes.
“I ...I should go, my shift is about to start,” Roy said and his words sounded like an apology.
“I should go too,”
“You don't have to. Enjoy the view or do whatever you want just, please don't get back to work.”
“I won't,” she promised.
“Good,” he said with a smile.
“Thanks,” she said before he left.
“For what?”
“For being here.”
“You've been there for me too,” he said taking one step closer to her. “Take care, okay?” he added caressing her cheek tenderly with the backs of the fingers if his right hand before walking outside the small balcony.
“You too,” Lisa murmured even when she knew he would not hear her.
She still felt the rush of the VT flying over her head, the powerful trail of wind that it left behind, the loud sound of the broken sound barrier ringing in her hears. But louder than that were Roy's words. And she could not help a grin spreading across her face, and a knot forming in her stomach. She knew this was wrong in so many ways she wasn't even going to start to think about them, but it was impossible for her to forget his words.
“I would have chosen you,” she said in a quiet whisper to herself while bitting her lower lip in an attempt to hold in the smile that was already forming on her lips.
To be continued....
Author’s note: the title of the chapter is from the song “Map of the problematique” by Muse. Here’s a link to the video video of map of the problematique and here one to the lyrics lyrics map of the problematique.
Also don’t forget to join do you remember love a community dedicated to all Robotech and Macross related things it’s both in english and spanish so don’t be shy and join ;)
“You stupid idiot! How could you?” Roy said as he pushed Rick against a nearby VT.
Disclaimer: I don’t own Robotech or any of it’s characters. This fic was written for entertainment purposes only. No infringement is intended.
Author’s note: This is a Roy and Lisa fanfic, you are warned. If you don’t want to read this please don’t. I wrote this because I have always think that Roy is an awesome character and that he and Lisa will make a wonderful couple if it weren't for Claudia. In order for this fic to work Roy never died in the episode “Farwell Big Brother”
Reviews: I love reviews, they are what keeps me writing and is the only way I have to know if you like it or not this fic. So please try to send one even if it just one word.
To: Carla, thanks for helping me to develop this idea and for giving me the courage to write this.To Dwayne for being my beta again, without you I don't know what I'll do and to Feña.
Enjoy....
Maelström
Chapter 12
“Map of the problematique”
Roy parked his Humvee in front of his house as he kept talking on his cellphone. He had spent most of the day doing the thing he enjoyed most besides flying: playing baseball. He'd been playing baseball with his squadron and the mechanics until the snow forced them to stop.
He looked up at the small snowflakes hoping the snow hadn't ruined Lisa and Rick's picnic. It had been a perfect day for a picnic and Lisa deserved nothing but a perfect evening. He had just turned his Humvee around when he saw a lonely figure seated at the front door of his house.
“Look Archer, I'm gonna have to call you back later,” Roy said and without waiting for a reply he hung up.
He knew immediately who was seated at his front door, even though all he could see from where he stood was a shadow. Seeing Lisa like that, alone at his front door wearing nothing more than a light jacket when it was already snowing and tightly holding a picnic basket with a sad look upon her face, made him ache inside.The whole situation was just wrong and if Rick had something to do with it, he was going to pay for it.
He walked towards her slowly, pulling up the lapels of his pilot jacket because the cold wind was hitting harder now that the sun had set off.
“What are you doing here?” Roy asked with a soft gentle voice, standing in front of her.
“I was going home and thought you'd might want some left overs...” Lisa was saying and then sighed. “Actually I have been sitting here thinking of an excuse for the last... half hour? And I still haven't come up with a decent one,” she added and gave him a half smile.
“You know you don't need an excuse,” Roy said frowning.
“I know,” Lisa said with her sad smile and then turned her gaze to the pile of snow that was starting to form a few meters away.
Roy opened his mouth to ask her what had happened but only a sigh came out of it. This was supposed to be a happy day for her. She should be happy and smiling, not like this. Not so sad.
“Do you want to come in?” he finally asked.
“No, not really,” she answered quietly.
He felt so powerless knowing that there was nothing he could do to make her happy, no matter how badly he wanted to. All he could do was be there with her, so he moved closer and without a word sat next to her on the first step of his front door.
“You really don't have to do this, it's freezing,” Lisa said looking at him but he kept looking ahead.
“I know.”
“I really don't know why I came...”
“Don't...” he said and turned to look at her. “I get it,” he added, looking at her in the eyes and giving her a sweet smile that she answered with the same tenderness.
They didn't need words or explanations. She had been there for him when he had needed someone and now he was here for her. Both of them knew that they were both pretty messed up, but somehow they felt less broken together, they felt safe with each other.
Roy moved carefully and before Lisa could notice, he placed his pilot jacket over her shoulders.
“Roy don't,” she said frowning. “I don't want you to catch a cold...”
“Shh,” Roy cut her off and looked away ignoring her complaints.
Finally she cuddled inside Roy's pilot jacket and both of them turned their gazes to the street lamp that was in front of Roy's house to better see how the snowflakes fell. But neither of them moved, they just remained there watching the snow fall without caring about the looks that the people who walked by gave them. They were there, together, and the rest didn't matter much.
Lisa woke up early the next day. She knew she had the day off, but there was no way in hell that she was going to stay home. She needed to be busy, to keep her mind focused on something other than her pathetic existence. She got up from her bed and looked at the answering machine next to her bed. The light that announced that she had new messages was blinking. She ignored it, just like she had done with all voice mails from her cell.
She arrived at the base and went straight to the bridge. She knew she could relieve some officer from duty and no one would say no. Working on the bridge as air controller was a difficult job; not many people could do it well and she, well she was excellent at it. She needed that today, to feel that she was good at something. She needed to feel like no one was better than her and that she wasn't just a desperate, pathetic girl who waited for a guy for hours outside a coffee.
Lisa had lost track of how many hours she had stayed on the bridge -too many probably. But she had stayed there longer and she was still able to be focused on her job. The moment she felt like she couldn’t focus she would leave. After all, lives depended on how well she could perform her job.
She was standing in front of the coffee machine that was near her office. She hated the coffee from that machine, but she would not risk a trip to the mess hall knowing that she might encounter Rick even though he might still be on the air.
“What are you still doing here?” a voice asked at her back making her jump and spill some coffee over the counter.
“Jeez Roy, you almost gave me a heart attack!” Lisa protested.
“As hooked as you are on caffeine I seriously doubt I can be responsible for that.”
Lisa just gave him a nasty glare and then took a sip from her coffee.
“But seriously Lisa, what are you still doing here?” he asked with concern.
“Catching up on some things that I had to do,” she answered without looking at him.
“Really?
“Really.”
“That's BS Lisa and you know it!” Roy said angrily. “You haven't slept in days, you are overworking yourself and living on caffeine.”
“I have not...” Lisa started to protest but he interrupted her.
“When was the last time you slept? Or eat something that didn't come out of a vending machine?”
“I have slept,” she snapped back.
“Then why is it that you look like a raccoon?” He said raising an eyebrow. When he didn't get an answer he continued. “You have been on shift since Sunday Lisa and it's Tuesday! The only time you are not on the bridge is when Rick is on shift, you can't go on like this.”
“I have been on shift more time than that,” Lisa said stubbornly.
“Yes when we were in combat, but we are not even in condition 2.”
“Roy look, I...”
“I know, I know. You don't want to talk about it. But I can't let you keep doing this, I care about you.”
“And I appreciate your concern but I'm fine. And yes, maybe I am working more than I should but that's how I deal with these things. Working is the only thing that helps, that makes me feel useful and prevents me from wallowing in self pity.”
“Lisa there are other...”
“I know, but this is the one that works for me. So please let me deal with this the way I know how to,” she said and placed a hand over his forearm. “Please?”
He frowned. He didn't like the idea, but there was nothing he could do either. So he grabbed her hand between his and nodded.
“I'm here though, if you ever need me... I'll always be here,” he said softly before kissing her on the forehead and walking away. He just had to escape from there, because watching her like tha knowing that she would not accept his help was killing him.
Roy was walking with his team members but he wasn't paying too much attention to what they were discussing. Lisa's bewildered expression when she asked him to let her deal with things in her own way was burned in his retina and it was all that it was in his head now. He kept trying to think about how to make her react, to make her explode, yell or do something, anything other than suffer in silence but nothing came to him.
He felt guilty too. After all the stupid picnic had been his idea; he had thrown the idea to Rick and encouraged him when he finally decided to invite Lisa. If only he had kept his mouth shut, Lisa would not be suffering now. But how was he supposed to imagine that Rick would stand her up? All he wanted was to see her happy like she deserved to be.
“I'm telling you Owen, it was an inverted dive at,” Maggie was saying but Owen cut her off.
“Come on! Tell her that that's impossible sir,” Owen said.
“I'm sorry Owen but Maggie is right, I saw Lt. Sterling do one with my own eyes,” Roy said finally getting out of his thoughts.
“You've got to be kidding me,” David, the last member of the Skull, added.
“You can bet I'm not,” Roy said seriously but with a grin.
“I told you,” Maggie added, proud of herself.
“And here he comes,” Owen said and everyone turned their gazes up front where Max, with Rick walking alongside was entering the hangar.
The incoming pilots saluted the members of Skull when they were a few meters away. Roy couldn't help but stiffen up a little when he saw Rick smiling at a comment made by Max- in fact his fist involuntarily closed.
“Hey Rick,” Roy said out loud.
“Hi Roy,” Rick answered and stopped in his tracks in front of him.
“So how was your day off?” Roy said and made a pause to evaluate his reaction, and he immediately noticed how Rick tensed up. “Did you have a good time with Minmei?”
“Roy, about that...” Rick stuttered.
“So you did stand her up for Minmei?” Roy asked while he felt his temper starting to build up.
“No, I mean yes, but it wasn't my...” Rick was saying when Roy leapt at him, grabbing him by the collar of his flight suit.
“You stupid idiot! How could you?” Roy said as he pushed Rick against a nearby VT.
“Sir!” Maggie yelled and every member of the Skull moved forward to try to stop Roy.
“Roy!” Max said trying to pull Roy away from Rick, while Rick tried to get loose from Roy's grip. None of them succeeded.
“I'm going to break your face!You idiot!” Roy said gritting his teeth and raising a fist.
“Sir!” Owen said and grabbed Roy's fist just before it reached Rick's face.
“Sir, let go, please,” Maggie said trying to talk some sense into Roy, while he tried to get loose from everyone and hit Rick.
“Sir,” David said, while helping Owen to hold Roy's arm.
“Sir, let it go. We should be in the air now, we should go,” Maggie said and somehow she found a way to put herself between Roy and Rick. “Sir?”
Roy gave one more killer look to Rick and hrld his hands up in a sign that he was giving up. Everyone looked at him, unsure if they should let him go or not, scared that it might be a trick and he would jump at Rick again and break his face for sure.
“It's fine,” Roy said with severity as he looked at the members of his squadron who immediately released him. Finally Max did the same, still wary about Roy's possible next reaction.
“You're lucky that I should be in the air right now,” he said taking a step closer to Rick that made everyone nervous. Then he added while pointing an accusing finger at Rick, “But this isn't over yet.”
“Let's go!” Roy finally said in a commanding voice to his squadron and started to walk away harshly. They followed him immediately still wondering what that was all that about.
Roy ignored the interrogating looks and just kept walking fast, wishing he was in the air already.
Lisa heard the siren that announced it was 6 am and reluctantly opened her eyes. She had fallen fallen asleep on the small couch in her office again and she tried to move her stiff neck.
She got up and stirred, thinking she might still have time to go home take a shower and get back No one would say anything if she arrived a few minutes late, after all she had spent almost the entire week on the base. She took a look at herself in the mirror of the small bathroom she had in her office. She looked like hell and there wasn't much she could do about it. She brushed her teeth and fixed her hair the best she could, and applied some makeup to cover her, by now black, rings under her eyes. And that was it; she would make a quick exit from the base, go home and take a shower and change into a fresh uniform, praying all the way that she wouldn’t bump into someone familiar, especially Rick or Roy or the Admiral.
She had not even taken a step away from her office when she collided straight against what seemed to her like a huge mass of muscle about two meters long. She knew immediately who it was, and cursed whoever was responsible for her bad luck.
“Where are you going in such a rush so early?”
“To the bridge, Sammie paged me,” she lied avoiding his gaze and starting to run away as fast as she could.
“Sammie? That's weird because I just saw her on her way to the parking lot,” Roy said crossing his arms over his chest.
“I assumed it was Sammie since she was the one who was on call, but seriously they're calling me.”
“You slept here didn't you?” Roy asked clenching his jaw.
“Don't be silly, of course not. Now please let me go, they are calling me,” Lisa said uncomfortably.
“What are you trying to do? Kill yourself with work? Because someone stood you up?”
“I'm not! And in any case what ever I do with my personal life is personal.”
“No it's not. It stops being personal the moment you put my pilots in danger up there because you haven't slept in days.”
“I would never put the pilot’s life in danger!” Lisa answered both hurt and angry.
“That's what you are doing and for what? For him?”
“I'm not the one who almost broke his face.”
“You should go and do something like that! You should yell at him or slap him or do anything other than this silent torture you are imposing on yourself because he chose her,” Roy said desperately.
“So he did, he did choose her,” Lisa found herself saying before she could prevent the words from leaving her mouth.
“That's enough!” Roy said and grabbed her by the arm strongly and started to drag her away.
“Wait, Roy! What are you doing?” Lisa tried to protest as he dragged her outside the RDF building. But Roy neither answered her question or stopped pulling her until they arrived at a small balcony at the west wing of the base.
“Where are we?” Lisa asked as she looked around the small balcony.
“We are under the flight deck of the Prometheus,” Roy said as he rested his weight against the banister looking serious.
“And you brought me here because?”
“I like to come here when I need to think, to clear my head, to unwind. And you certainly need to do that.”
“I...”
“You are blaming yourself for something that is not your fault. Rick behaved like an immature kid and yes, he might have chosen the pop star but that doesn't mean you are the one to blame.”
“Maybe, maybe not.”
“No, no maybe not, it's not your fault,” Roy said, convinced of his words.
“Probably but that's not why I'm angry. I'm angry because I was the pathetic one who stayed there waiting for him. Who does that?” Lisa said and made a pause trying to control her frustration and anger. “So no I'm not angry because he did not choose me. That's okay, because you know I'm not the type of person people choose, I'm just not,” Lisa said with resignation looking at the floor.
“Come here,” Roy said and waiting for Lisa go to where he was standing at the edge of the balcony.
“What?” Lisa was saying but Roy put his hands on her waist and brought her closer to the edge with him. “Roy?” she asked surprised.
“Wait.”
“Wait for what?” she interrupted.
“Just wait,” he said with calm and few seconds later a huge grin spread across his face.
Before Lisa could do anything a huge wave of wind, coming from a VT that had just took off, hit her, making her hair float on the air. It was all so sudden and unexpected that if Roy hadn't been holding her she was sure she would have fallen off her feet. She felt a huge rush of adrenaline running through her body; it was as if the wave of wind was washing away all her worries and replacing them with this exciting sensation that left her breathless and made her giggle at the same time. And then before she was prepared for it the VT broke the sound barrier and Roy immediately covered her ears with his hands trying to reduce the impact of the sound on her. The loud noise scared her at first making her catch her breath but when she knew what it was, she was amazed by the overwhelming sensations she was experiencing.
“How do you feel?” Roy asked as he moved his hands away from her ears, smiling.
“I... I don't know...clear?” she said with a frow, unable to find the right words, but then she smiled too.
“I know, it's like all your problems had flown away with the VT. Isn't it?”
“Exactly like that,” she said trying to fix her hair.
“Good, because you need to let things go, Lisa. You can't punish yourself for what happened, you were the one who sat there waiting. That's not a bad thing, that just shows that you cared.”
“Maybe, but it still doesn't mean I feel less pathetic about it,” she said pessimistically looking down.
“Nonsense. You should be proud of being “pathetic” because that means that you feel something, something strong enough to wait for hours for someone,” Roy said and made a pause. “And what you said earlier about not being the type of person people choose...” Roy said and stopped to search for her eyes. “I would have chosen you. Over Minmei, I would have chosen you,” he stated.
Lisa raised her eyes from the floor in an instinctive movement, as if by looking at him she could hear his words better or at least be sure that they were coming out of his mouth and not from her imagination.
“I would have chosen you,” Roy said again, looking at her straight in the eyes knowing that that would be only way that she would believe him. The moment he finished his sentence a new VT took off, leaving behind a trail that made Lisa shiver and her hair flowing in the air again.
It was the mixture of the VT's trail and Roy's words that made her feel as if she had been swept off her fete; her whole body was tingling, she felt as if she had jumped from an airplane and she was falling down at full speed. And it was fast and it was uncontrollable and she wanted to scream and laugh, all at the same time.
And in the middle of all the crazy feelings, and all her hair tangled across her face as it floated in the air because of the VT's trail, she could see Roy's eyes, his deep blue eyes, his intense blue eyes that held no regret in the words he had spoken. He wasn't going to take the words back, he wasn't going to pretend that he hadn't said them, he meant them. And the loud sound of the VT breaking the sound barrier hit them and she was thankful for it, because it could hide the loud thumbing of her heart against her ribcage.
When the sound disappeared and the trail was gone, Roy carefully moved some of the locks away from Lisa's face, still smiling at her and looking her in the eyes.
“I ...I should go, my shift is about to start,” Roy said and his words sounded like an apology.
“I should go too,”
“You don't have to. Enjoy the view or do whatever you want just, please don't get back to work.”
“I won't,” she promised.
“Good,” he said with a smile.
“Thanks,” she said before he left.
“For what?”
“For being here.”
“You've been there for me too,” he said taking one step closer to her. “Take care, okay?” he added caressing her cheek tenderly with the backs of the fingers if his right hand before walking outside the small balcony.
“You too,” Lisa murmured even when she knew he would not hear her.
She still felt the rush of the VT flying over her head, the powerful trail of wind that it left behind, the loud sound of the broken sound barrier ringing in her hears. But louder than that were Roy's words. And she could not help a grin spreading across her face, and a knot forming in her stomach. She knew this was wrong in so many ways she wasn't even going to start to think about them, but it was impossible for her to forget his words.
“I would have chosen you,” she said in a quiet whisper to herself while bitting her lower lip in an attempt to hold in the smile that was already forming on her lips.
To be continued....
Author’s note: the title of the chapter is from the song “Map of the problematique” by Muse. Here’s a link to the video video of map of the problematique and here one to the lyrics lyrics map of the problematique.
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