The first night they had the house to themselves, Lisa lay on top of Rick on his bed, looked into his eyes, kissed him deeply for a long time, then finally...

finally...

oh so slowly...

she got to make love with Rick Hunter.

It was the happiest night of her life. And it lasted an eternity.

 

They did it again the following night, and Lisa was astonished at how aggressive she was. But then, so was Rick.

 

And they did it again the next night. Lisa held him tightly, almost whimpering with need, her fingers in his hair, biting his ear, occasionally crying out in grief and joy.

 

During the nights, Lisa didn't think about Minmei at all. But during the days, in the little moments of quiet time Lisa could carve out, she thought about her a lot. Were her feelings fading, as Minmei warned might happen? Minmei was absent, and lying in Rick's arms was all Lisa had ever wanted.

No matter how she looked at the situation or analyzed her feelings, Lisa kept coming to the same conclusion: a life spent with Rick Hunter would be wonderful; a life spent with Rick and Minmei would be wonderful plus. Minmei was a truly special person, beautiful inside and out, and Lisa knew beyond all doubt she wanted Minmei in her love life. She knew it with a certainty she'd rarely had.

After four days of this, Lisa knew her heart was true. Which meant only one obstacle remained.

 

"I don't understand why you recalled our ground forces and insist on three full veritech squadrons for the final two concerts," Rick called out while he sliced the tomatoes.

"Uh uh," Lisa called back from another part of the house while struggling with a load of laundry. "No bringing work home. We agreed." She wearily shut the dryer, turned it on, and joined him in the kitchen.

"But there's no other time I can ask this. Unless you want me to question your orders in front of Colonel Leonard."

Lisa thought about this. "Okay, fine, we can bring a little work home. I want extra veritechs covering the concerts because yesterday morning, I learned those new mecha we rolled out early were rolled out too early."

"They're a kind of tank, aren't they? Built by DefTech? I read a little about them, but I haven't seen one up close yet."

"Hovertanks." Lisa drained the spaghetti. "They don't fly – they're about as aerodynamic as a brick – but they don't touch the ground, either. It's some kind of repulsion field Dr. Lang designed. And they can change into battloid."

"Nifty. So what's wrong? We already knew they weren't completely ready, but after losing the SDFs, we had no choice."

"There's a big difference between not being completely ready and Oh-my-God-they're-how-far-behind?" Lisa shook her head. "DefTech said they only lacked the final stage of testing, which we – I – found acceptable. But that wasn't true. There are three stages of testing the tanks still have to go through, plus a whistleblower told us yesterday that DefTech faked the results of their two most recent tests."

Rick whistled in amazement.

"So I decommissioned all the tanks, declared martial law on DefTech, and sent in our own people to finish the job. And extra veritechs will have to cover Minmei's next two concerts with limited ground support."

"Lovely."

Rick put the salads on the table, Lisa dished out the spaghetti, and they sat down to eat. Having mentioned Minmei, Lisa saw her opening. "You know, I never thought I'd say this, but I quite adore Minmei."

"She's pretty special, all right."

Lisa hesitated, then decided the simple and direct approach was the best. "Rick, what do you think about polyamorous relationships?"

Rick twisted some spaghetti onto his fork. "Poly...is that the special bonding used in the new hovertank casing?"

"No, that's polymer-metal hybrid. Polyamory is when more than two people form a romantic and sexual relationship."

Rick shrugged. "A lot more than two people have formed romantic and sexual relationships, Lisa. Billions, last I checked."

"No, with each other."

Rick stopped. He had to think about this.

Lisa tried to make it easy for him. "For example, three people might realize they all love each other dearly and form a single romantic relationship among all three of them."

Rick absorbed this. His thinking continued.

He finally asked, "Are you talking about that report?"

"What report?"

"The one which recommended men impregnate as many women as possible."

"Oh. No, actually, that hadn't been on my mind, but if people accept that report's recommendation, we might very well see an increase in polyamory."

Rick shrugged and went back to his spaghetti.

"So, Rick, I need to tell you something important. In addition to being completely, madly, hopelessly in love with you, which I will always be, I have also fallen head over heels in love with Minmei."

Rick nodded, took a bite of spaghetti, and his brain finally registered Lisa's words. He looked at her quizzically, swallowed, and said, "Um...okay."

"Rick, how would you like to have two girlfriends?"

Rick blinked at her. A lot.

He looked away and set down his fork, thinking some more. He finally asked, "Lisa, are you serious?"

"Yes, I am." She took his hand and smiled. "Look, I don't want you to get the wrong idea. I'm yours, always and forever. I love you, completely, and I'd never do anything to jeopardize that. If a traditional relationship of two people is what you want, then I'm happy to have that. Extremely happy.

"All I'm saying is that if it's possible to have a three-way relationship with you, me, and Minmei, I'd love to have that, too. I'm wondering if you are, or could be, interested in such a thing."

"Good grief, Lisa. What would everyone think?"

"Who cares?" Lisa thought of all their friends who had died in the past few years, and suddenly grew passionate. "Life is short, Rick. It's short, and it's precious. Just one week ago I was terrified of telling you how I felt about you, as if rejection was somehow a fate worse than death. And now I know how stupid that was and how much time I wasted, time out of my one and only mortal existence. We don't get another. So I'm not wasting any more time. If you say no, that's fine and I'll be happy, but I'm not going to back down from asking, and I'll be damned if I give a single flying toss what anyone else thinks of our life choices."

She rubbed her thumb back and forth along the back of his hand. "I've already spoken with Minmei. She's happy to be just friends if that's how things work out. And so am I. If you're not comfortable with the idea of a three-way relationship, she and I are both perfectly happy to be friends, and we'll say no more about it. But if you're open to it, I would love to have a three-way relationship with you and her."

Rick was silent for a while. "Well, that's certainly something I've never thought of before," he finally said. "And even if I had, I would have thought that you, of all people, would have been outraged at the very idea."

"A couple of weeks ago, I would have been."

"What changed?"

"Minmei. I never thought I'd fall in love with a woman, but I did. That's how special she is. And I will never again waste time minimizing or ignoring how I feel about someone."

"Hmp," Rick said with a slight smile. "Well...let me think about it, okay?"

"That would be fine. Take all the time you need."