Lance and Keith couldn't believe what they were looking at. They were on a mission by themselves, Allura wanting them to scout a new planet to make sure if it was invaded by the galra. The planet was, in fact, deserted. The only life form the detected was plants, animals and what they had in front of them.

An Altean pod with a baby that looked very much human. It was wailing at the top of his lungs, face red in distress.

"I'll contact Allura." Keith mumbled and moved away.

Lance stared at the baby before picking him up. He couldn't be older than two which made Lance frown. The child seemed to calm down as he suckled on the paladin's finger.

"Allura said to bring him to the ship. We need to check where he came from." Keith stared at the baby, shivers running down his spine as the baby stared at him with large violet eyes, much like his own.

Lance took the baby with him on Red after he and Keith argued about who would be taking the baby. He flew Red at a slower place than usual. He had a baby on his lap and maneuvering with one hand. Keith stayed close by in Black, making sure the baby, dubbed Purple because of his eyes.

When they made it to the castle, Lance heard the lions purring. Purple let out a happy gurgle, clapping his hands.

Lance grinned. "Guess the lions like you."

He made his way towards the common area where everyone was waiting. They stood around Lance, watching Purple carefully.

"Allura," Pidge started, "is that…"

"It's a Balmeran crystal!" The Princess gasped, as she noticed the necklace around Purple's neck. "Alteans used to make special necklaces with the crystals. The uses were endless! Compasses, communication devices. Sadly, they all perished. How did he get this? By the looks of it, it's very ancient." She took the necklace in her hands, inspecting it.

It was in the shape of a drop, hanging from the tip of a gold crescent moon.

Everyone gasped as the necklace emitted a bright blue light and started to play a recording. Their jaws fell when they saw who was on the screen: an older version of Lance. The Lance on the screen looked strange. He had pointy ears and white hair. He had blue markings on his face like Coran and earrings like Allura's hung on his ears. He had a gold headpiece wrapped around his head, the sign of royalty. An older version of Keith was next to him, keeping watch as the other Lance recorded.

A fight was happening in the background, laser guns, explosions and yells could be heard all around.

"To anyone who sees this." His voice was desperate, pleading. "I am Prince Lance of Altea, paladin of Voltron. My home is being attacked by the Glara." He grunted as an explosion happened. "Keith!" He screamed, as the other man charged into battle.

"Send the message! There's no time! Get him out of here!"

Altean Lance turned back to the screen. "Please, whomever this is, please take care of our son. His name is Elías. Please have mercy on him." He managed to choke out. "Please." Tears were running down his face as the screen disappeared.

Everyone stared at the spot where the screen once was.

"So, what do we do?" Pidge asked, looking at Allura and Coran.

"The lions recognized him." Lance whispered to no one in particular.

"And you tell us now?" Keith snapped.

"Excuse me we were preoccupied with finding out where he came from, Mullet." Lance snapped back, clearly irritated.

"Enough." Shiro's voice was stern as he looked between the red and black paladin. He looked down at Elías who was staring at Shiro with wide purple eyes. Elías broke out into a gummy smile as Shiro rubbed his chubby cheek.

"I think we should keep him." Allura said.

"Are you sure, Princess?" Coran asked doubtfully.

"I'm sure. He is only a baby. We can't leave him. He's Altean."

"Oh, man." Hunk said, eyes wide in glee. "He's the cutest baby I've ever seen!" He started making face at Elías making the baby laugh.

It took Lance a few minutes to register what just happened. "Hold up!" He exclaimed. "Are we going to ignore the fact that I'm a prince and Keith and I had a baby?! How's that even possible?!"

"It's an alternate universe. Many Alteans used alchemy to have babies. Even more if they were of the same sex and wanted to procreate. In that Altea, they took both of your genetics and merged them to make Elías. The question is, how did he land on that planet?"

"Yeah, there was no life but plants and animals." Keith frowned.

"Who's going to take care of him?" Lance questioned as he sat down. "We're paladins. We aren't stable enough to raise a baby."

"We can keep him." Keith said, sitting next to Lance. "He's kinda cute." The smile was so small, Lance would've missed it if he wasn't sitting so close.

Lance let out a defeated sigh. "We don't have anything to care for him."

"There might be something around the castle. Coran, do you mind helping me?" Allura and Coran walked out, speaking to themselves.

Hunk, Pidge and Shiro sat around Lance, watching Elías closely.

"What does Elías mean?" Keith asked as Elías played with his fingers.

"It's Spanish for Elijah." The look on Lance's face was confused. "If that me was Altean, how did he know Spanish?"

Everyone shrugged, equally confused. Allura and Coran came in after a while with a bag. Inside were diapers to last them for about a month and what they hoped was baby formula.

"We found Allura's crib from when she was a wee one!" Coran exclaimed. "We place it in Lance's room."

"What?! Why mine?! I mean, not that I mind."

"We can all take turns caring for him." Shiro suggested. "How hard can it be?"

Shiro jinxed it the moment he opened his mouth. Elías was a constant cryer if Keith or Lance weren't around. They were equally exhausted from taking turns during the night to tend to Elías. During the first week, Keith ended up sleeping in Lance's room. Lance wasn't going lie, he enjoyed Keith's company.

One morning, they were in the dining hall feeding Elías food goo. He seemed to love it. Especially if Hunk added something to it.

Lance was watching as Keith fed Elías. The red paladin had surely matured. He seemed less irritated and could keep his calm much longer.

Soon after, the others joined them, saying their good mornings and joining them for breakfast.

"I've decided to cancel all missions until further notice." Allura said. "Elías is kind of our top priority right now."

"If we put our mission aside waiting for him to not need us, the rest of the galaxies will be taken over by the galra and it'll be too late." Pidge frowned.

Elías, who was looking like a mix between Lance and Keith everyday, was babbling as he played with the goo. Lance was frowning. "Pidge is right. It's a risk I'm willing to take. If we don't do anything, he won't be able to grow at all."

"I agree with Lance." Keith slumped against the back of his chair, watching Elías. "It's exhausting, yes, but I'm sure we can do this."

Allura sighed. "Alright. But they won't be as often. You two need to rest once in a while."

After breakfast, Lance and Keith walked towards Lance's room, Elías in Keith's arms. Lance flopped face first onto his bed. He let out a tired groan as Keith sat next to him. He set Elías down on the bed and chuckled at Lance's antics.

"Tired?"

"Mhmm." He let out a groan as Elías tugged on his hair. "Keith!" He screeched. "My hair!"

Keith chuckled and untangled Elías hands from Lance's hair. Elías eyes watered. "Papá!" He wailed.

Lance and Keith stared at one another then at Elías who was reaching for Lance. Keith let him go and watched as Elías crawled into Lance's arms.

"Did he just…" Keith trailed off, still in shock at what Elías called Lance.

"Yeah. I think he thinks I'm the other Lance. That's still weird to say." Lance huffed out a laugh. Internally, he didn't mind Elías calling him dad. Not one bit. He hugged Elías closer to his chest, watching as the little bundle of chubby cheeks looked at Lance with wide eyes.

Keith smiled the tiniest bit and scooted closer. He wrapped an arm around Lance's waist and placed a kiss on his temple.

A month into caring of Elías, Keith and Lance somehow ended up closer than before. Keith had blurted out that he found Lance attractive and he had a crush on him. A laugh had bubbled out of Lance's throat and he out right kissed Keith. They hadn't told anyone yet, but they knew they would probably catch up on it at some point.

They lied down, Elías between them, playing with Keith's hair.

"So, what do you want to be called?" Lance asked. "Dad or daddy? Cause I would be up for calling you-"

Keith slapped a hand over Lance's mouth. "Don't even finish that sentence."

Lance let out a muffled laugh. "I'm kidding, Mullet. But seriously. Dad or daddy?"

"I'm okay with whichever." He paused. "Do you think they survived? His real dad's."

"I… thought about it, too." Lance sighed. "Honestly, I would be heartbroken if they did. But I would be happy because he'd be going home with his real dad's."

Elías cooed as he kicked his legs out.

Lance smiled down at him, running a hand through his soft, white hair. Elías skin was slightly lighter than Lance's but darker than Keith's.

"Lance. Look!" Keith pointed at Elías cheekbones where the blue marks of an Altean appeared.

Lance grinned. "He really is an Altean." He peppered kisses on Elías face, making the toddler giggle. Keith could watch the scene before him forever and not mind it one bit. He was happy and nothing else mattered.