Veronica was scrunched in the kitchen with everyone else in the family. Mamma replayed the video for the sixth time and everyone watched intently as they savored every word Lance spoke. Mamma and Veronica were bawling their eyes out as they looked at Lance. He was okay. He was alive. He missed them so much too. After his "see you soon" Mamma stopped replaying the video and turned to look at everyone's faces. Veronica could see the range in expressions like a rainbow. She and Mamma were crying with red cheeks and bright smiles on their faces. Luis has the most relieved look on his face, studying Lance's features like he still didn't think it was real. Maria and Marco were excitedly discussing the new appearance of their brother and already planning for when he came back.

When he comes back.

Veronica couldn't help but widen her grin at that. Lance was doing exactly what he'd dreamed of doing when he was younger. He was protecting his family even though they hadn't known it. Something suddenly occurred to her.

"So when does he come home?" Veronica asked Mamma quietly. Mamma's head shot up for a moment. Her eyes went skyward as she thought.

"I asked Greta, she said that this video was taken five months ago but I don't really know much else." She responded as if solving a puzzle with each word, "so that means… he could either be on his way to us right now or…"

Veronica saw Mamma's smile fall.

"Or he's still out there protecting us." Veronica finished for her. No one else seemed to be paying attention, still caught up in the excitement that Lance was actually alive.

"You said that Greta's husband actually met with them, correct?"

Mamma nodded, "Her husband and her son met them. They call themselves Voltron."

"Voltron?" Veronica laughed a little bit, "like a superhero name voltron? Like they have a boy band and named it "Voltron" Voltron?"

Mamma didn't seemed amused so Veronica just scoffed, "Right, anyways, could we maybe meet with them?"

"I mean, they live very far away from us, not only that but just to talk about when Lance might come home." she paused for a moment, "I think it would be better that we video call them rather then meet with them."

Veronica nodded, "yeah, okay, when could we do that?"

Mamma was thinking again, Veronica could see the gears grinding in her head. She was definitely uncertain, very uncertain, but she wanted Lance to come home more than anyone so, that made it twice as likely that Mamma would figure it out.

"I'm not sure…" Mamma was nibbling at her nails as she thought, "I could ask Greta, we would need to set up a specific time to do it-"

"Is it possible that I could talk to them?" Veronica said flatly, less like a question and more like a statement.

Mamma looked up from her thoughts, "yes, it would be possible. It'll take a few days to set up, and we have to consider the time difference, but I'm sure that we could do it."

Veronica smiled. She knew Mamma would figure it out. Then she would be able to figure out what was happening while they were out in space. She would be able to know when Lance would be coming home.

It was a few days later when Veronica and Mamma were waiting at the computer, seeing if the call would go through. A large loading screen was displayed on the monitor. Veronica looked at Mamma's, seeing the screen displayed in the reflection of her eyes. There was so much hope in every fiber of her being. Now that she new Lance was alive she just wanted him to come home. A small swishing noise came from the computer, diverting Veronica's attention. The call had finally gone through and no one said anything as they waited for the Holt's to appear on the screen.

…

"Hello? Is this the McClain residence?" a Man with grey hair and kind eyes greeted them.

"Yes! I am Veronica and this is my Mamma Rosa." Veronica quickly explained, "We wanted to know if you could tell us anything about what Voltron is and why the space cadets are still out in space."

"And when they will come home." Mamma added on to Veronica's statement with a sternness in her voice that wasn't present before.

"Woah slow down." He responded with a small laugh, "okay yes I'm happy to answer your questions but that was a lot at once."

"I'm sorry Mr. Holt." Veronica sheepishly responded.

"Please, call me Samuel, and it's perfectly fine." He was very calm. Only moving his hands for subtle emphasis, "I had just as many questions when I was first dragged into this so ask as many as you want. I just ask that you slow down a bit so I can hear what you're saying."

"Okay." She said, slowing herself down, "Then if you don't mind. Could you start with what they're doing?"

Lance was flying the red lion in formation with the other paladins. He rubbed at his eyes and slapped his face to try and keep awake.

"Lance, did you just slap yourself?" Hunk spoke through the comms. He sounded worried but they were all so tired that it could have just been confusion.

"Yep." Lance responded, little to no enthusiasm, "I'm not going to be able to stay awake much longer."

There were a chorus of grunts in response. Including from the back of his lion where Coran was trying to rest. Between the attacks that Zendak was raiding them with, and the distance they had to travel each day to get closer to Earth, everyone was struggling to find the energy to stay awake.

"Allura, how much longer until we reach Earth?" Lance asked with a wine.

"Well, I'd be able to tell you if we still had the castle, in fact we would be able to wormhole there but…" She stopped and everyone went silent.

"Could you make a guess?" Shiro asked, his voice was rough.

"Well…" She yawned in the middle of the sentence, "we've been flying for about 120 quintents so I'd say we probably have at least 90 quintents to go."

Lance groaned, "Pidge, I'm too tired to translate that, can you just…"

Pidge sighed, "It means we've been flying for four months and have three months to go."

Everyone let out a frustrated groan except for Allura and Coran who did so earlier.

Lance daydreamed of home. The beach, his family, the food, the customs. He got this lovingly fond looking on his face when thinking about it. Why couldn't they just be there already! Why did it have to take so long to get back home. He couldn't wait to see what Coran and Allura would do once they were on Earth, or how they would react to the customs of their planet. Everyone would love his family. Hopefully Veronica had gotten into the garrison, and maybe they weren't mad at him for leaving if they got his message. Keith would love his Mamma, even though they'd never met Lance kne-

"Guys we have incoming!" Hunk's voice rang out through the comms, tearing Lance away from his daydream. They all saw the fleet of Galra ships that were flying full force at them. Another groan rang out through the team.

"What's the plan Keith?" Lance asked, about ready to tear his hair out from the constant attacks.

"Lance you get the three on the right and lead them away from our group," Keith commanded

"On it!"

"Pidge and Hunk, I want to you to take on their main ship in the middle, then they can't send out anymore fighters."

"Right! On our way!"

"Hold on Allura, I'm going to take out the rest." He said. Allura grabbed onto a makeshift handle so she could stay put during the flying, Shiro helping her.

Lance lead the three away, just as asked. Flying a full speed, he leaded strait into a star, knowing his lion was faster than the smaller ships. He was about to turn up when something T-boned him, throwing him off to the side and sending out of control. It felt like someone and turned his lion into a washing machine and he just couldn't stop it. Lance blindly sent his lion to go upwards, trying to fly away from the ships. What was that?!

Once his vision cleared Lance saw bright light flood his vision as he flew straight into the star.

"HOLY MOTHER OF-" Lance shouted, trying to turn his lion up as fast as he could, "GO UP, GOUPGOUPGOUPGOUPGO-" his lion's sudden response at the very last second sent him flying in the opposite direction, off balance, "AHHHHH, QUIZNACKING F-"

Everything was spinning around him and he didn't know which way was up. His lion suddenly crashed into two of the galra ships. Both exploded, making his spacecraft rumble and blur Lance's vision even more. It was at these times that he understood where Hunk was coming from when they went to the Garrison.

"LANCE. I'M STILL IN THE BACK YOU KNOW." Coran's voice piped up from behind him. Lance thought Coran was going to be sick.

"Sorry Coran." He responded though he sounded a million miles away, "I got two of the ships, I just have to find the third."

Once Lance was finally able to see again, it appeared the third ship had floan off. That's what he was supposed to think anyways until he caught something in the corner of his eye. Normally, he wouldn't have thought anything of it, the small burst of motion could have been anything, but the fact that it was moving directly behind him made Lance think that there was a more sinister reason for it. Lance was no idiot. He pretend to still be looking while the cloaked ship flew up behind him silently. He waited until the very last minute to turn around and explode the ship with one beam of Red's tail.

Lance smirked. Coran sighed relief, "Oh thank mother that's over! I was about to cover the ship in slosh."

"Lets head back to the team," Lance said, Coran nodded his response.

The battle was over by the time Lance got back to the other paladins.

"How'd it go down here?" Lance asked as he flew into position.

"I don't know how many more of these battles I can take," Hunk responded, tiredness seeping into his voice.

"We have to focus on getting home." Keith said, a hint of sleepiness showing up in his voice, "Its the only way we can build another castle of lions."

"Uh, yeah and how long will that take?" Lance questioned.

"It could take a while depending on the materials we need and if the galra get to us before its done, not to mention the techniques we need to learn- because we're using Earth materials -"

Everyone groaned.

"Pidge we get it."

"We know its not gonna be-"

"Why did I even ask?"

Keith took over the conversation, "That doesn't matter, we need to get back in formation and try to get back to Earth as soon as possible."

No one objected to that statement and everyone continued flying in silence. Lance couldn't help but think about something though. If the galra were really tracking them and they flew directly to Earth, wouldn't that mean that Earth would be vulnerable to the attacks? He didn't know long they could stay there and fend off the galra until some of the people got hurt too. For now all he could do was take a deep breath and fly onward.