It was Hunk's idea, but Lance couldn't say he hadn't already been thinking of something similar. With the appearances of Pidge's dad, Lance's homesickness had kicked in full force. And when Sam announced his intentions to return to Earth—to do what none of the rest of them could—Lance had been toying with the idea of giving him a message for his family.

It wasn't as though they didn't wonder about what was going on back home. Lance had spent many a late night up with Pidge and Hunk, speculating as to what it was like at home, what the Garrison had told their families and the rest of the world, how their families had reacted—

"Did they tell them we're dead? Like the Kerberos mission, just another 'missing, presumed dead'?"

So being able to pass along a message, a way to say "Hey, I'm not dead! Love you!" was something that jumped out at him.

And when Hunk brought it up to him, Lance was already on board.

Actually sitting in front of the camera, though, was something entirely different.

How could he say everything that he wanted to say? How could he possibly begin to explain everything that had happened? How could he look his mother in the eye and tell her that he still wasn't coming home, that he didn't know when he'd be back, that there was no guarantee he'd even be coming back at all?

After a long moment, he reached forward and restarted the recording, taking a deep breath.

"Hola, Mami."

It had been Hunk's idea, but he hadn't arrived at that conclusion right away.

At first, he had been content to leave things be, be happy for Pidge and glad that she'd been reunited with her family, keep doing what he'd been doing and defend the universe.

Then Sam had brought up the suggestion of going back to Earth, of going back home.

And Hunk had started thinking of being able to talk to his moms again, of all the things he'd want to say to them, of all the things that he wanted them to know.

So he talked to Coran.

Coran has been more than just understanding and helpful: finding a compact holo-projector that they could store the messages on, showing Hunk how to work the recording device, demonstrating how to transfer the recordings to the projector.

And not for the first time, Hunk thought about Coran's home, the destroyed planet Altea—had he had his own family back there? One that he'd never get to see again?

And Hunk wondered if he would ever really get to see his own again.

He mentioned his plan to Lance, and watched as his eyes lit up, and knew that this was something he'd been wanting too.

So they took turns before the camera, recording their stories for home. Hunk started with a script, writing out everything he wanted to say so he wouldn't accidentally miss anything. It didn't take long for the script to get tossed aside.

"Hey. Um, thought you should know I'm okay."

"I'm so sorry" seemed like a good place to start. Sorry for leaving, sorry for not telling you, sorry for making you think I died.

So "I'm sorry" is what he said. Perdonemen.

"I'll be honest, the night we left? I was not expecting to get blasted off into space and get to meet a bunch of aliens." He ran a hand through his hair, laughing nervously. "But all things considered? I wouldn't change it for the world."

"I don't even know where to begin," Hunk said with a laugh. "But it's been the most incredible adventure! We found the pilot from the Kerberos mission, and then we found this alien ship out in the desert, and it was so cool!"

"I made it, I'm a pilot!" Lance cried, throwing his arms out. "I just didn't think that the ship I'd be piloting would be a sentient robotic lion that was built by aliens."

"A lot of it was because we wanted to help Pidge," Hunk mused. "I mean, she lost her family to the Galra, and we went with her to find them. Though actually we didn't really know that at first? She told us about that later. But yeah, we wanted to help her find her family—"

"And I miss you like crazy," Lance said, staring sadly into the camera. "But I've really...grown really close with the rest of the team. Hunk and Pidge, and even Keith, and Shiro, and Allura and Coran too. Some of my best friends are aliens?" He paused, as though really processing what he had just said. "That's not a sentence I ever really expected to say," he laughed.

"Weirdly enough, one of the things I miss most from Earth is the food," Hunk commented. "Like, the stuff out here is so weird? It's goo, Mom. They were trying to feed us goo." He shook his head. "Thankfully, I fixed that. Actually, there's this thing out here, Coran called it a lefker? It's like this root that works in just about every meal—"

"I haven't seen the rain in so long," Lance mumbled numbly. "Doesn't rain in space. And we don't spend too long on any one planet at a time." He smiled softly, looking down at his hands as he clasped and unclasped them. "Do you remember that time when it was raining, I think I was probably about eight at the time? And it was late, maybe eleven at night, and it started raining, and I just left the house to go jump in the puddles." He laughed, but it seemed strained. "Dios, you were furious when you found me, soaked to the bone and covered in mud."

"So we got this distress call, right?" Hunk was raving. "And I knew it was a trap, like it was suspicious from the very beginning. Like, the thermal pipe was cracked, but none of the surrounding hardware was damaged at all, which made no sense. I mean, we should have had to replace the entire undercarriage of the reactor!" He was waving his hands around wildly. "I knew they had to be hiding something. And you know what? I was right! And Lance got handcuffed to a tree!"

"Sometimes the enormity of everything gets to me," Lance murmured softly. "Everything just feels so big, and I'm just me. And I know that we're making a difference out here, and we're saving lives, and we've freed nearly half of the entire known universe?" He paused, taking a shuddering breath. "But there's still so much left out there. And now with Lotor in charge, everything is going to be different."

"It's a lot of work," Hunk said, sobering. "And to be honest, there have been a lot of close calls. And things get scary. And I don't always know what I'm doing. But...I think it's all worth it. I mean, we're saving the universe."

"Honestly?" Lance rasped. "I'm scared. I—I'm so scared."

"This is starting to long and rambley," Hunk said with a laugh, wiping at his eyes. "I should probably wrap this up so Lance can have a turn too." He smiled into the camera. "Love you. I'll see you soon, I promise."

"Los quiero mucho," Lance whispered, frantically rubbing his eyes, trying desperately to dampen the flow of tears. "I love you, I love you so much."

There was a knock at the door.

Kiana looked up in surprise, frowning. "Were you expecting someone?"

Lani had already gotten up to go to the door. "No, Colleen's visit isn't until next week." She wiped her hands on her apron, opening the door to reveal a middle-aged man with a neatly trimmed gray beard. She narrowed her eyes trying to place why he looked so familiar to her."Hi, can I help you?"

"Mrs Garrett?" he asked. At her nod, he continued. "My name is Sam Holt. I have a message for you."

Eva McClain held the small white device with trembling hands. She pressed the large glowing cyan button, and a holographic projection screen flickered into view. Her breath caught as an image of her youngest son filled the screen, staring right at her with a sad smile.

"Hola, Mami."

AN:

hey guys look what time it is, hmm i think its time for sADNESS

(Shoutout to my bff/roommate/qpp who is a native spanish speaker and can help me make Lance bilingual, i love you Sei)

Thank you all for reading! I hope you enjoyed by ramblings, aha

See y'all tomorrow for Day 6 (I promise, it's gonna be way more lighthearted than this one 3 )

As always, please feel free to come hang out on tumblr ( .com) or the Platonic VLD Discord server (invite code NHYrCz5)

~Brigit