A/N: I am SO SORRY about the late update! I got a case of writer's block and school and sports got kind of busy and I just ended up procrastinating a lot. But now I've finally got it written! Hopefully the next chapters will come out quicker! I hope you enjoy!

A rooster crowed outside and Pidge groaned as she sleepily opened up her eyes. She turned to the window and frowned when she saw the sunlight slowly filter in through the gap in the curtains.

Does the day really have to start the second the sun rises here? Pidge thought to herself.

She wasn't a morning person by a long-shot, and especially not this early in the morning. But she didn't want to take advantage of the McClain's hospitality so she offered to help out with some of the farm chores today. Unfortunately that meant she'd have to get up early. But for Lance, she'd do anything.

She shifted in the bed and was surprised to find that she couldn't move as easily as she should, like there was something on top of her weighing her down. She looked down and her face turned bright red when she saw Lance laying down on top of her, his head resting on her chest as he snored, blissfully unaware of who he was sleeping on top of.

He smiled in his sleep and wrapped his arms around Pidge's torso, holding her tighter to him.

"Lance..." Pidge softly whispers.

"Such a soft pillow." He mumbles sleepily and nuzzles his face against her.

Pidge shrieked and then then Lance's eyes fluttered open. He picked his head up, saw that he was holding Pidge in his arms and screamed. She screamed back and then they both tried to get out of each other's arms but they ended up getting even more tangled in the sheets and rolling onto the floor.

Veronica was downstairs, helping make breakfast but she rushed upstairs as soon as she heard the thud. She threw the door to the guest room open and found Pidge on the floor.

"Pidge are you alright-" She gasps when she sees the sheet move and Lance appear from under it.

She goes from concerned to smug in a snap.

"Oh so you two slept together huh?" She asks teasingly.

Pidge and Lance both scurry away from each other on the floor.

"No we didn't!" They both scream at the same time.

"Well technically we did but-" Lance started then stopped when Pidge hit him in the head with a pillow.

"It's not what you think!" Pidge insists.

Veronica just laughs at the two of them.

"I know, I know. I'm just teasing you guys. Breakfast is ready so come down whenev-" Before Veronica can finish her sentence, Pidge rushes out of the room in embarrassment.

"Er you're ready..." She finishes and looks at Lance.

His face was still beet red and he was staring at the blanket on the floor.

"So how'd you end up in Pidge's bed last night?" Veronica asks him smugly.

"I didn't mean to." He tells her sternly. "We were both just really tired. She was already asleep and I sat down on the bed next to her to tuck her in and exhaustion overtook me and I fell asleep too. There's nothing more to be said. Pidge is just a friend. Allura's still the one I love."

"Okay." Veronica says and gives her baby brother a hug. "It's your heart, so it's your choice."

Meanwhile, Pidge ran downstairs to try to get as far away from Lance and Veronica as possible. Her heart was racing, she couldn't believe that she and Lance had spent the whole night cuddled in each other's arms! The thought made her whole body tingle with excitement and she just knew that she'd let something slip regarding her crush on him if she stuck around any longer.

"Hey Auntie Pidge!" Nadia, Lance's niece calls to her and she stops in her tracks and turns to the children who had left the kitchen table to come stand in front of her.

"Uh, you kids know to just call me Pidge right? No need to have 'Aunt' in there." She says and laughs. "I'm not related to you..."

"Okay!" Nadia says nonchalantly. "We have a lot of chores to do today. Do you mind helping us out?"

"Of course!" Pidge says cheerfully.

This means I'll be able to get out of the house and get some space to clear my head. She thinks to herself.

"What do you guys need me to do?" Pidge asks.

Lance's nephew, Carlos hands her a basket.

"We need you to collect some eggs from the chicken coop!" He says and smiles.

"Oh...eggs, from chickens. Perfect." Pidge says, faking a smile while her face paled.

"Who's Keira?"

Allura did not know. That question haunted her in her dreams that night. In fact, her dreams that night seemed to only give her more questions about the person who this name belonged to and even fewer answers. She was back inside of what appeared to be the cradle of creation. The place where she died.

She gasped when she heard a little girl's laughter. She looked around, trying to locate where the sound was coming from but she couldn't see anyone. Just glowing particles of quintessence.

She blinked a few times, trying to remember something, a reason for her being here. She was in the afterlife, shouldn't she have all of her questions answered instead of asking herself new ones. Her path was ended, there was nothing else for her to learn, so why was she feeling so uncertain of her place in this realm?

"You still have questions because your journey is not complete." A voice says behind her.

Allura turned and tears of joy streamed down her cheeks when she saw the face of her mother.

"Mother." She says. "Father!"

Alfor appeared next to his wife. She ran to them and hugged them both. The three of them held each other tightly. It had been so long since the three of them had embraced. Their family was whole again. For a moment she felt complete. But then she heard that laughter again and her ears perked up and she looked around.

"We cannot give you any answers about the rest of your journey while you're here visiting but since you're in the afterlife you're bound to come across a few hints." Melenor chuckled.

Allura heard the laughter again and gasped as she felt a tug in her heart. She felt like she wanted to find the girl and embrace her, and laugh with her. The sound of her laughter made her feel immense joy, she wanted to see the smile and the bright eyes that belonged to the girl. But she had never met her, she knew nothing about this child. So why was her heart yearning to find her?

She looked back at her parents and found them both smiling at her, holding each other's hands and giving each other a knowing look.

"Can you see it in her eyes?" Alfor asked his wife.

They both turned to face Allura and Melenor covered her heart with her hand.

"That sparkle, it's so beautiful." She says and cups her daughter's cheek. "It twinkles just like you did when you were in mine when I was your age."

Allura's brows furrowed in confusion until she heard the laughter again but this time she realized why she couldn't see the child it belonged to, and she woke from the dream with her heart racing and softly muttering the word "Voltron".

Her eyelids fluttered open and she saw the light streaming in through the window and she smiled, the sound of the wind rushing between the cliffs and mountains of the desert calming her racing heart that she had forgotten the reason for why she awoke with it beating at such a rapid pace in the first place. She knew it was a dream about her time in the afterlife because such things would be vague to her while she was awake in the physical world and only available in her subconscious. But she did recall seeing her mother and father, and the sound of a little girl's laughter that made a warm feeling spread through her chest and a smile creep on her face as she recalled it.

She contentedly snuggled against the firm couch cushion that separated her side of the bed from Keith's and sighed happily from how warm it was, and how Earthy it smelled. She furrowed her brows slightly and sniffed the fabric of the cushion and smiled as a musky, timber scent filled her nose. She blushed, realizing this scent must have come from Keith. She liked it, it made her feel safe and warm and reminded her she was alive and with one of her dear friends.

She moved her hand up to find a place to grip the cushion and then grunted in confusion when she felt some hard lumps on it. She pressed on it and grew even more perplexed at how firm these lumps were. She knew next to nothing about Earth furniture but common sense told her that something this hard would certainly have no place inside something that was meant to be sat on.

Her eyes fluttered open as she decided to see what was causing this anomaly as she slid her hand under the fabric of the cushion and she looked up and a slight blush crept on her cheeks when she saw Keith's peaceful sleeping face. The sunlight shone against his alabaster skin and the sweat droplets that had collected on his raven hair during the night made it shine as various strands and locks of his now longer mane lay messily about his head on the pillow and covered some of his face. He looked like he had slept well. She was happy for that. But then she wondered how she was able to see Keith's face through the pillow barrier.

Her eyes widened immediately when she remembered that after she and Keith went back to sleep neither of them had bothered to replace the cushion. She pressed her hand down and instead of feeling couch stuffing she felt smooth, warm skin. Those hard lumps were his abs!

She then became aware of two strong arms wrapped around her waist as Keith shifted in his sleep and wrapped them tighter around her. One of Keith's hands was resting on the small of her back, under her t-shirt, and the other had was resting halfway up her ribcage and his thumb was a hair away from touching the underside of her-

She gasped when his hips shifted and she felt something hard poking her thigh. She screamed and Keith instantly woke up. He groaned and picked his head up, blinking sleep from his eyes and looking for danger only to see his arms wrapped around Allura, his left hand on the small of her back.

Heat rose to his cheeks as his eyes quickly followed the curve of her side to find his other hand nearly touching her-

He shouted in surprise and immediately pulled away, his face bright red while hers was crimson as she quickly scuttled to the edge of the bed, holding her shirt down with her hands tightly as if it would somehow ride up on her of it's own accord. Keith gulped when he noticed how angry she looked.

"Why were you cuddling me?" Allura angrily asked him.

"I don't know I was asleep!" Keith exclaimed. "I didn't mean to!"

"Well this is all your fault!" Allura scolded him.

"My fault?" Keith asked, confused as to why she was blaming him.

"You didn't put the cushion back last night after I woke you up." Allura tells him.

Keith looks down and sees the cushion by his side of the bed and blushes.

"And then I wake up to find your hand under my shirt you pervert!" Allura accuses him again and looks away from him, a band of red across the bridge of her nose.

"Pervert!?" Keith exclaims and heat rushes to his cheeks. "You're accusing me of trying to cop a feel while I seem to recall your hands under my shirt too, feeling up my abs!"

Her face turned even redder and she squeaked in embarrassment after he mentioned that little incident. Keith smirked, knowing he'd won the argument. She looked rather cute when she was flustered, he had to admit.

"Well then how do you explain that!" Allura retorts and points to the tent in Keith's sweatpants. "You're obviously aroused!" She says and crosses her arms over her chest and gives Keith a satisfied smile, thinking she's successfully called out his bluff.

Keith just laughed and ran his hand through his messy long hair.

"This ain't for you princess." Keith says and points at his crotch. "Guys get these like five times a night no matter what, and I always wake up with one."

"Why?" Allura asks.

"'Cause I have to piss." Keith says casually with a shrug. "It's called morning wood."

"Ew!" Allura says and her nose scrunches up and she shivers in disgust and looks at Keith's crotch. "Penises are gross."

"Yeah you're not wrong." Keith agrees.

He gets off of the bed and comes over to her side and sits down next to her.

"But I am sorry about accidentally cuddling you...and almost touching your boob." He adds on with a blush and a cough.

Allura's face gets red again and she pulls her knees up to her chest as if to further hide it from Keith.

"It was an accident and won't happen again." Keith continues and gives her a serious look. "I'd never purposely touch you without your consent. But if you want to slap me in the face right now for accidentally cuddling you then I wouldn't blame you. I deserve it-"

"No you don't." Allura says softly, her anger subsiding. "I shouldn't have been so harsh. I know it was obviously an accident. I just overreacted. I've never been held so intimately like that before, not even by Lance..." Her voice trailed off and her eyes glossed over with tears.

"Please don't cry." Keith softly requests and places his hand on her knee.

She stops sniffling and looks up at him.

"You will be with him again. If that's what will make you happy then I'll do everything in my power to get you back to him as soon as possible." Keith promises, disguising the hurt in his voice from saying those words to the woman he's been in love with for nearly a decade.

"Thank you Keith." Allura says and dries her eyes with her fingers. "But right now what would make me happy is some food."

Her stomach grumbles and Keith lets out a short laugh.

"Sounds good." Keith says and stands up.

Allura watches as Keith stands up and pulls his hair back into a ponytail, tying it with a hair tie that he kept around his wrist. He yawned and rubbed one of his eyes and stumbled into the kitchen and over to the fridge to get out the carton of eggs.

"Eggs. It's just their eggs." Pidge told herself as she stood in front of the chicken coop.

She gripped the basket tightly in her hands as the chickens walked around their fenced in pen, occasionally staring at her with their beady eyes and cocking their heads to the side and squawking.

Pidge yelped and held out the basket to shield her. She opened on eye and groaned in frustration with herself, throwing the basket down as she slapped her hands to her cheeks.

"They're just birds Pidge!" She peps herself. "You're a human being and a scientist. You're more powerful than them, they can't hurt you..." She looks at them all, standing between her and the coop where she would have to get the eggs and she gulped.

She carefully walked up to the fence and looked in, trying to see if there was some sort of clear path to the chicken coop but the chickens were moving all over the place. There was no way she'd be able to sneak in, and she didn't have anything to fend them off...

She looked around and laid eyes on a black umbrella that was leaning up against the front porch of the house.

"Perfect." She said as the gears in her head started turning.

The chickens all picked their heads up when they saw a small girl glaring at them as she opened the gate to their pen and then closed and locked it behind her. She shook out the umbrella she was holding and then as the chickens charged her she opened it up and pushed them back.

"Heh. Your dumb bird brains can't beat mine!" She declares as she carefully side-steps her way to the coop.

Allura laid down on her stomach on the bed with her knees bent so her feet were in the air. She occasionally kicked them back and forth as she looked at the book that Keith had given her to read. She couldn't actually read it because it was written in English and while she was able to speak it, reading it was another story. But she enjoyed the pictures.

So...much...Earth food. She felt a small droplet of drool drip down from the corner of her mouth as she salivated over the pictures of cakes and cheesy pastas and breads oozing with sauces and juicy meats cooked to perfection. She recognized some of these dishes from ones that Hunk had made for her before. What she wouldn't give to have one of those melted cheese sandwiches right now...

She frowned when she sensed a large furry presence beside her and turned to find Kosmo looking at the book over her shoulder, equally salivating over the delicious looking food. She huffed and took the book and turned away from the large wolf and he whined from behind her, wanting to have a look too. But after a few ticks he gave up and padded over to Keith who was currently having a video meeting with Ezor, Zethrid and Acxa.

"How much longer are we gonna have to wait for the sweets for the kids?" Keith asks them.

"The supplier said it would take them at least two weeks." Ezor says.

"We tried to negotiate with them but apparently there's some sort of space storm that's going to delay them no matter what." Acxa says.

"Well I don't want to keep those kids waiting, nor do I want to show up at the orphanage empty handed." Keith says and sighs.

Allura rests her cheek on her hand and watches as Keith runs his hand through his bangs and rests his forehead on his palm as he tries to think of a solution to this problem. She tried to think of one too. She felt guilty about having to stay in his home, taking his clothes, his bed and now here she was using little sticky squares of paper to pick out which Earth foods he would spend his hard earned money to buy for her.

Once she returned to New Altea and took her place as Queen then she would be sure to pay him back handsomely for all of the money he'd spent on her but who knows how long that would take? And what if she could never return to her people and she'd be stuck living off of his kindness forever? She fiddled with the corner of a page as she mulled over her thoughts about her future situation when Ezor broke the silence with an idea.

"Hey wait a minute!" Ezor says. "Don't the Garrison students have a community service requirement?"

"Yeah they do." Keith says. "Why do you ask?"

"Because that means we can just ask them to bake for us!" Ezor suggests. "They need the hours and we need the manpower. It all works out!"

"That's a brilliant idea Ezor." Keith compliments.

"Thanks boss." Ezor says and winks.

"We could also get in contact with Hunk." Acxa suggests. "Romelle may have some recipes that are favored among Altean children."

Allura picked her head up and Keith looked at her, figuring she would overhear that and he smiled and winked at her.

"Who are you winking at?" Ezor asks teasingly.

Keith immediately whips his head back towards the screen, hoping that they wouldn't notice the blush on his cheeks.

"Uh...no one. Just Kosmo." He says.

"You wink at your wolf?" Zethrid asks.

"Yes. He heard the word sweets and now he's all-Ah!" Keith exclaims as Kosmo teleports on top of him.

Keith was pinned down on the floor under the weight of his wolf, his chair broken and Kosmo looked down at Keith, wondering how he had gotten underneath him on the floor and then looked at the three alien women on the screen and barked happily at them. The three girls laughed and even Allura couldn't help but let out a little chuckle from the sight of Keith struggling to get out from under his large cosmic canine.

The galra trio signed off and Kosmo looked down at Keith and barked at him, happily wagging his tail in Keith's face.

"Kosmo, off." Keith grunts a command and the wolf barks and teleports off of his master.

Keith took deep breaths to refill his lungs with air and Kosmo sat on his haunches and looked at his master from the other side of the room, wagging his tail as Keith stood up and walked back towards Allura in the main living room.

"Those sweets are going to an Altean orphanage?" Allura asks Keith and sits up, propping herself up on one arm as Keith made his way over to her.

"Yeah. The Blades have been helping all different races of aliens all across the universe. We're a humanitarian relief organization for now, but I'm hoping that maybe within a decade or so we could become some sort of agency to keep the peace between everyone, as a way to fulfill you and your father's wishes for universal peace." Keith explains and smiles at her.

She started to tear up and covered her mouth in surprise.

"Oh Keith..." She says and hugs his torso as he stood by the side of the bed. "That sounds wonderful! I always knew you would do great things and now you're helping make the Galra peacekeepers just like the Alteans! I imagine Lance is helping my people become the great diplomats they were once famed for 10,000 years ago?"

"Uh..." Keith starts then trails off. "Well he has been living with his family on Altea."

Allura's face lit up and she blushed, thinking about how she would get to live with him on Altea once she was able to be in his presence again-

"Running a farm." Keith says and her smile falls.

"A farm?" Allura asks and tilts her head.

Well, it's not like there was anything wrong with farming. Allura thought to herself. It was a perfectly good and necessary profession for society. The only reason she was surprised to hear of Lance's career is because Keith had told her earlier that all of the paladins had been dedicated to spreading her message throughout the universe. All of the others had been doing that by building robots, sharing culture through food, and by helping those in need to keep the peace and quell unrest while the galran government re-stabilized. But how could Lance spread her message by staying...stationary on a farm? Needless to say she was confused.

"Yeah." Keith says and nods. "He grows ingredients for Hunk and the rest of us get free produce too. Pidge goes up to visit him a lot." He bites his tongue after mentioning that.

Keith wasn't blind. He knew that Pidge had been crushing on Lance for quite some time, way before he even met them. And since Allura had been gone, no one could deny that certain feelings were starting to come to light between the two of them. And Allura still clearly loved Lance. It'd break her heart if she knew that another woman, one of her friends, could potentially steal him away from her. And breaking her heart is the last thing that Keith would ever think of doing.

"That's nice. Those three were always such good friends. I'm glad that they're still so close after all of this time." Allura says and plays with one of the holes in her t-shirt. "I wish I could heal faster so that I could see them sooner. And so that I can be of some use to you here instead of just stealing your bed and clothes and eating your food-"

"Hey, you don't have to feel bad about any of that." Keith says. "You've sacrificed more than anyone else for this world. Giving up a few trivial material things of my own for you isn't nearly enough to thank you for that."

Allura smiled at him then blushed when he leaned down to pick her up.

"What are you doing?" Allura asks as she's scooped up into Keith's arms.

He lifts her off of the bed with ease and then proceeds to carry her towards the front door of his house.

"I am taking you to come get some fresh air with me and Kosmo." Keith says. "You shouldn't be cooped up in here all day it's not good for your health."

"But it's so hot outside." Allura pouts.

"I'll keep you on the porch. You'll be in the shade." Keith says and opens the door with some difficulty since he was holding her while trying to open it and carries her outside.

He brings her over to a chair and gently sets her down on it. From this position she had a perfect view of the tree next to his house and Allura looks confused by something on it.

"Why do you have a tire hanging from a rope?" Allura asks and points to the tire swing on the tree.

"It's an old swing I used to play on when I was a kid." Keith explains.

Allura's ears perked up with joy and she squirmed in her seat.

"Can I swing on it while you push me?" She requests.

"No." Keith answers, shaking his head. "That thing is at least 20 years old, the rope is covered in mold and is fraying rapidly, it would snap the second I sat you down on it." Keith says and points at the swing.

Allura's bright eyes dimmed and she pouted.

"Oh...so much for that fun plan then..." She sighs.

Keith's smile fell from the sight of her disappointment and he scratched the back of his head.

"Well I've been meaning to replace it." He says to her in an effort to cheer her up. "Adam's getting older and Shiro and Curtis drop him off here a lot for me to babysit so I've been meaning to get a new rope so he can swing on it." Keith says and examines it.

"Did they adopt Adam from the orphanage that you're currently trying to obtain sweets for?" Allura asks him.

"Yeah." Keith says and smiles. "There's a lot of good kids just like Adam there. I want to do whatever I can to make sure they're fed, dressed and happy."

"I was never very good with children." Allura admits. "Sometimes I would have to visit orphanages on official royal business and I just wouldn't know what to do with myself. I was always taught how to speak with officials and diplomats, adult Alteans. But I was never prepared for how to address children or communicate well with them. I would always refer them back to their parents. But I'm older now, and these are Altean children in need." Allura says and grips the arm-rests of the chair. "I should help them too." She began to push herself up to stand.

"Whoa! What are you doing?" Keith asks and rushes to grab her waist to keep her from falling.

"My people are without a leader. I know that I can't become their Queen yet but perhaps I could help them in some other way. I was thinking that maybe I could help them through you." Allura suggests.

"Through me?" Keith asks, confused and blushing slightly.

"Yes." Allura says and lets go of the chair and holds his shoulders to steady herself. "Through the blades specifically. Your masks hide your faces. If I wear a blade's armor then I'd be able to help and no one would know it's me."

Keith smiled. It was a brilliant idea.

"That's perfect." He says. "If you're well enough by that time I'll let you come with me to Altea."

"Perfect! Then I should start practicing walking." Allura says. "If I'm going to blend in with the other blade members then I'm going to need to be able move around on my own. Also, you won't have to carry me around everywhere anymore."

Keith felt his heart drop for a second. He didn't mind carrying her around everywhere she needed to go. In fact, he rather enjoyed the physical contact. But he reminded himself that her happiness should come before his own.

"Yeah...let's try it." He says and holds her waist to keep her upright as she shakily tries to take a step.

Lance walked outside onto the front porch to take in a deep breath of fresh air, only to find his niece, nephew and Veronica on the porch, watching something over by the chicken coop and laughing.

"What are you guys doing?" Lance asks.

"We're watching Auntie Pidge play with the chickens!" Nadia giggles.

"The chickens?" Lance asks. "Why is she in the chicken coop? Pidge is terrified of birds."

"She is?" Veronica asks. "Then why would she say yes to helping out the kids with their chores in there?"

"Stay back!" Pidge shouts and the kids laugh.

Lance picks his head up and his eyes widen in surprise when he sees Pidge with an umbrella, backing up to the coop where she'd have to get the eggs out of the nests.

"Don't come any closer you feathered demons!" Pidge screams and thrusts her umbrella towards the chickens as they try to approach her.

She backs up into the coop and disappears inside. Lance couldn't help but shake his head and laugh. Pidge really was something. She was the smartest person he knew, and yet sometimes she still managed to do things that you wouldn't expect of her.

"Uh oh." Nadia says and points at the coop.

Lance's eyes widened as he watches all of the chickens rush inside of the coop. Without even thinking he leaps over the porch railing and sprints towards the pen as he hears Pidge scream from inside. He braces his hands on the wooden gate door and swings his legs over it before making his way inside of the coop to find Pidge cowering up against the wall as the chickens squawked and flapped their wings around her.

Lance shooed them all away before scooping Pidge up in his arms.

Pidge opened her eyes and blushed when she saw Lance's concerned face looking at her as she was cradled in his arms like a princess or a bride.

"Are you okay Katie?" Lance asks her.

Katie...He called her bye her real name. There was that warm, tightening feeling in her chest again.

"Uh..uh, y-yeah I'm fine." Pidge says nervously and pushes her glasses up her nose.

She looked away from him, hoping he wouldn't see her blushing. Thankfully for Lance, since she was looking away, she couldn't see the red on his cheeks either.

"Ooo look at how Uncle Lance is carrying Auntie Pidge!" Marcos points as they emerge from the coop together.

Nadia gasped and her eyes lit up as she held her hands together and swayed back and forth.

"Oh! So romantic! He's carrying her like a princess!" Nadia exclaims.

A chicken squawked at Pidge and she screamed and held onto Lance tighter, burying her face in his chest.

Lance couldn't help but snicker. But then he stopped when he looked down and saw Pidge glaring at him, so he changed his smirk to a soft smile.

"Don't worry, I won't let them hurt you." Lance says. "This is my farm after all. So technically I'm their master."

Pidge laughed as Lance swung one of his long legs over the gate, followed by the other one as he brought Pidge to safety and reluctantly set her down.

She was a bit reluctant to leave his arms but when he set her down she didn't protest. She wasn't the girl who still had his heart after all...

"Thanks for uh, saving me in there." She says and plays with a lock of her tawny hair. "You're like my knight in shining armor." She jokes.

"Well we are war heroes." Lance says. "It doesn't hurt to be heroic every now and then. Especially if it's my best friend who's the damsel in distress-"

"Hey I was not in distress! I could have handled it!" Pidge argues.

"Yeah, finding you hiding in a corner screaming as chickens hop all over you definitely paints the picture of someone who's in charge of the situation." Lance retorts with a smirk. "Ow!"

Pidge punched him in the gut and he doubled over in pain. He looked up and found that he was now at eye-level with her.

"If you were as short as me, you'd be scared of them to!" She argues.

"Fair enough." Lance says with a groan as he stands back up. "But why were you even collecting eggs from them in the first place? Aren't you terrified of birds?"

"I am." Pidge says. "They creep me out, but when Nadia and Carlos asked me to collect their eggs, I don't know why but I just felt like I couldn't say no to them. Your family's always so kind to me whenever I come to visit. I just don't want to feel like I'm taking advantage of them."

"You're not taking advantage of us pigeon." Lance tells her.

Pidge glared at him briefly from her nickname before softening her gaze.

"You're my best friend, you're one of the most important people in my life. I care about you so much. It's like you're already a part of my family." Lance says and Pidge's eyes widen and she blushes.

Lance quickly realizes his error and he blushes and coughs and thinks of a quick way to change the subject.

"Now how about we go do a different chore? One that doesn't involve birds?" Lance suggests.

"Sounds great!" Pidge says and follows Lance to the barn.

Allura's walking lesson went pretty well. She tripped and fell into Keith's chest a few times, resulting in awkward blushes from both of them but aside from that, Allura was able to take a few steps on her own. She just needed more practice. But right now Keith wanted her to have some rest. So he let her take a nap on the porch chair while he played fetch with Kosmo.

"Okay boy go get the stick!" Keith says and tosses a stick off into a sand dune.

Kosmo watches it, wagging his tail before teleporting after it. He teleported back on top of Keith's chest and dropped the spitty branch onto his master's chest and wagging his tail.

"Yay. You brought it back." Keith groaned underneath him. "Good boy."

Kosmo suddenly picked his head up and turned towards the porch. He barked and Keith turned and his eyes widened when he saw that Allura had fallen out of the chair and was laying curled up on the floor, her aura of quintessence forming around her.

"Shit!" Keith exclaimed.

Kosmo let him up and he ran up the steps and carefully cradled her in his arms. He held the back of her head and searched her face for any sign of distress.

"Allura! Allura!" He called to her and she groaned.

Her eyes fluttered open and locked with his. She smiled and nuzzled her face into his hand as he pulled it away from the back of her head. His presence was helping, he let out a sigh of relief as he saw her quintessence starting to return to her fragile form.

"Keith..." Her soft voice called to him.

He looked at her glowing eyes and his eyes widened as she brought a shimmering hand up to cup his scarred cheek. His heart rate quickened as she brought her face closer to his.

"Darling..." She whispers. "You came back to me..."

He knew he should pull away, she loved Lance, he would never have her heart. And yet, he found himself getting pulled closer to her, like two opposite charges of a magnet being attracted to each other, and it felt right. He saw her lips move closer to his and he closed his eyes, his breath hitched and his heart leapt in his chest as he felt her lips gently brush against his and he held her tight, prepared to kiss her back and give in to the desire he's harbored for so many years but all of that comes crashing down with her hand smacking his cheek, making him turn away from her as she quickly scrambles to get out of his hold.

She backed up against the railing of the porch and watched as he winced and held his cheek where there was a red handprint forming before giving her a confused look. She had stopped glowing, her quintessence returned to her body and she was back to the way she was before her episode.

"What the quiznack do you think you were doing!" Allura exclaims.

Tears welled up in her eyes and instinctively Keith crawled towards her, wanting to hold her and keep her from crying but she shook her head and pressed herself more against the railing.

"Stay away from me!" Allura yells at him.

"Allura what's wrong I was just helping you-" Keith explains.

"You tried to kiss me!" Allura shouts.

Keith stopped his advancements as Allura frowned at him angrily.

"I tried to kiss you?" Keith repeats back to her.

"Yes! You did!" Allura affirms. "Are you going to try denying it? Because after waking up in your arms this morning and now this it's starting to seem like these little 'accidents' aren't exactly 'accidents'."

"They are accidents!" Keith argues. "We're living together now! We're gonna bump into each other occasionally!"

"Yes but I don't think our lips should be bumping into each other!" Allura retorts. "And our other body parts seem to linger a bit longer than they should."

Keith sighed, knowing she was referencing their accidental cuddle session, although for the record, it took both of them some time to move away from each other after realizing that they had spent the night in each other's arms.

Allura pulled herself up on one of the posts and held the railing to steady herself in a standing position.

"I think that's enough fresh air for one day." Allura says. "My head is quite clear now." She snaps at Keith and slowly stumbles towards the door.

Keith stood up. He held his arms out for her.

"Here, let me carry you." He offers.

"Absolutely not!" Allura retorts harshly. "The only man who is ever going to hold me so intimately again is Lance. Keep your filthy hands off of me unless it's an emergency from now on!" She declares and Keith scoffs.

"My filthy hands?" Keith asks incredulously. "These filthy hands have done nothing but help and fight for you since the moment I met you! And for your information, you're the one that tried to kiss me during your little episode just now. So maybe you should be the one apologizing?"

"I would never try to kiss you!" Allura argues. "My heart belongs to Lance!"

"Well it certainly didn't seem like it a dobosh ago." Keith retorts and Allura growls.

"Well even if I really did try to kiss you, you still tried to reciprocate! You're just as much in the wrong!" Allura declares angrily. "So go throw sticks at that filthy mutt of yours! I hope the biggest one you have hits him on the head!"

She turned back around and pushed open the door using her weight to move it.

"Fine then! I hope Kaltenecker squirts her milk in your face the next time you try to get a milkshake from Lance!" Keith shouts back.

Allura lets out an offended gasp and angrily slams his front door. Keith clenched his fists and his jaw clenched. Kosmo appeared beside him and whined.

"Don't worry buddy." He assures his wolf and pets his head. "I know I sounded mad a moment ago but I don't hate her. I could never hate her." He smiles. "I made a mistake, and we both let our stubbornness get the best of us, and now she won't accept my help, or accept that Lance might not be meeting the expectations she set for him..." He sighs.

Kosmo grunts and tilts his head at Keith, making him roll his eyes.

"No I don't think that I'm meeting her expectations either!" Keith tells him. "She's a princess. She deserves a Prince Charming that can make all her dreams come true, not some washed out desert hick with a ponytail and hardly any money to give her the life she deserves. The comfortable and happy life I would want to be able to give her once she's healed."

He looks back at his front door longingly. Little did he know that Allura was doing the same after she pulled herself up onto the bed, starting to feel guilty about snapping at him like that. Keith sighed.

"But who knows how long that'll take." He says and scratches Kosmo behind his ear. "If it takes a long time then I just hope she can forgive me soon. It's hard enough living in close quarters with a woman I love who I can't tell my true feelings to. It'll be even harder living with a powerful Goddess that's out to get me."

They heard a coyote howl off in the distance. Kosmo quickly turned his head in the direction of the noise and howled back before teleporting away. Keith rolled his eyes.

"Great. Everyone's ditching me for their lovers now." Keith grumbles and makes his way over to the garage.

A/N: I know this chapter may not be written too well...but the next one should be written better! What was your favorite part of this chapter? What predictions do you have for later on in this story? Please give me good feedback if you want me to keep writing this series!