"I'm not getting any response from the ground," Pidge reported. "Hopefully it's just interference from the wind."
"Okay, Team. Let's keep our comms open at all times," Shiro told them. "We have no idea how bad it is down there or how many people need help."
Just minutes ago, the Castle of Lions had picked up a distress beacon and a desperate message. The planet Araxius was experiencing hurricane force winds on a global scale, decimating the planet and its people. Voltron was dispatched immediately, but the five paladins were having difficulty finding a safe place to land.
"I don't know how much more of this we can take," Hunk said as the yellow Lion rattled around him. On top of the lack of visibility, something about this storm was keeping them from communicating with the Castle.
"Believe it or not, this is the tail end of the storm," Pidge replied. "My scanners say the winds are dying down. We should be able to see something soon."
"Hang in there, everybody," Shiro encouraged them. "Keep trying to raise the Castle and any survivors."
Visibility was not much improved with the storm's end, but at least the paladins could safely land their Lions. What they found down there was not encouraging. Their landing site had clearly been some kind of city until very recently. It was as if a giant hand had come down and swiped everything away. Nothing but debris and dead people.
Shiro heard Pidge sniffle and saw Hunk crouch to his knees beside the battered form of an elderly woman. Lance was moving like a ghost through what may have once been a house. Seeing the despair on the collective faces of his Team, Shiro knew he needed to get them out of here. This was going to be a long, hard day.
"Guys?" Keith's strained voice suddenly crackled through the comms. "I think you'd better get over here. I found something."
The whole team quickly zeroed in on the red paladin's location and raced over. They found Keith kneeling in the wreckage of what could have been a set of apartments or maybe an office building. It was hard to tell.
Keith's dark eyes were wide, almost frightened and in his arms was some kind of bundle, wrapped in blankets and making soft mewling noises of complaint. Shiro stopped short.
"Keith…is that?" The red paladin awkwardly shifted the squirming thing in his arms and stepped closer, pushing back one end of the blankets. Inside was a tiny Araxi child, completely hairless with bright purple skin. Hunk gasped softly.
"A baby?!"
"I found her just lying in the debris under a crossbeam. It must have shielded her, otherwise I don't know how she would still be alive. I don't think she's even hurt."
"'She'?" Pidge questioned, staring with wide amber eyes at the small creature. The red paladin shrugged.
"I don't know. I think it's a she. But she was all by herself, so either her family was killed," Keith's expression hardened. "Or they left her behind." As if she understood Keith's words, the baby's face screwed up in displeasure and she let out a piercing wail, causing everyone to wince.
"Here, Keith. Let me," Lance said decisively, holding out his arms.
Keith, feeling bizarrely protective, hesitated. Lance frowned at him. "Dude, it's okay. Between my little cousins and my brothers and sisters, I've had tons of practice." The red paladin snapped himself out of it and handed the child over. Lance cradled the bundle with a practiced hand and bounced her slightly, using a soft voice to soothe her. To everyone's astonishment, the baby calmed, staring up at this strange new being with large, dark blue eyes.
"Wow, you're…really good at that," Keith said.
"Told'ja." Lance looked up at their leader, who was watching the scene in impressed silence. "So now what, Shiro?" The black paladin frowned thoughtfully.
"Well, we don't really have a choice. We'll have to take her back to the Castle. At least until we can find someplace safer." He sighed sadly and looked around. "I don't think there's a lot more we can do here right now."
"But how do we take her up there?" Pidge wanted to know. "It's not like our Lions have car seats installed."
"Not a problem," Lance replied. Cradling the baby with one arm, he unwound the blanket and shaped it into a sort of sling. "Hunk, could you?"
"Got'cha." The yellow paladin took one end of the blanket in each hand and tied them together behind Lance's back, tightly enough that the baby could be swaddled comfortably.
"Thanks, buddy. Now I've still got my hands free." Lance smiled confidently at his teammates. "Don't worry, guys. Me and Blue'll take it nice and slow."
"Works for me," said Shiro, placing an appreciative hand on Lance's shoulder. "Let's head back, everybody." He paused awkwardly. "And maybe let me speak to Allura and Coran first."
"A child?" Allura cried, only to be shushed by at least 3 people.
"She's sleeping, Princess," Hunk explained. Allura composed herself.
"I can see that. But what in the name of all that is holy is a baby doing in the Castle?"
"We found her," Pidge said, adjusting her glasses. "Well…Keith found her." At Allura's questioning look, Keith scowled.
"We saved her," he said. "What was I supposed to do? Leave her in the rubble?"
"Keith, of course not! I only meant why is she here instead of taking shelter with her people?" There was an uncomfortable silence as all of the paladins looked at each other.
"Princess, there was no one left," Shiro explained quietly. "At least nobody we could find. All we saw down there were bodies and wreckage." Allura drew in a deep breath and sank into the nearest chair, her color drained.
"Gods help us," she whispered. "Those poor people."
"Now, let's not give up hope just yet," Coran spoke up, placing a comforting hand on his princess's shoulder. "Even if you didn't find anyone on the surface, it is possible that there are survivors. The Araxi people will sometimes retreat to the planet's underground volcanic tunnels in times of crisis. Their bodies are uniquely suited to the extreme conditions."
"If that's true," Pidge said thoughtfully. "It explains why we didn't find more survivors. Our thermal scanners wouldn't have been able to pick them out and our comms were only working short range."
"Then our course of action is clear," Allura decided, rising from her chair. "We'll look after the little one for as long as we safely can, and we'll do our best to reunite her with her people."
"Yes! The rescue mission is back on!" Hunk cheered. He received a "SHHH!" from six different directions.
"Seriously, Lance. You're gonna name her after her skin color?"
"What? Violet is a great name! Just as cute as she is."
"She's not that cute," Pidge grumbled.
"Aww!" Hunk cooed mockingly. "Are you jealous that you're not the baby anymore?" He reached down to ruffle Pidge's hair and she all but growled at him as she ducked her head.
"Whatever. Just don't let her drool anywhere near my equipment."
"While we're all here," Shiro cut in. "We need to come up with some kind of routine for…Violet. Lance is doing a great job taking care of her," the blue paladin beamed. "But he can't be on the clock all the time. Who else is gonna be comfortable with baby duties? Hunk?"
"Oh yeah, definitely," Hunk smiled. "Feedings, diaper duty, you name it."
"I knew we could count on you, Hunk. Anyone else? Pidge?" The green paladin typed away at her keyboard without looking up.
"Nope. I'm helping the Alteans try and locate survivors down on the planet." She smirked at Shiro over her glasses. "Are you gonna be on baby duty?" Shiro's eyes widened slightly and he cleared his throat.
"Well, I would but," he flexed his Galra arm and glanced down at it almost subconsciously. "I don't think I'd be very good. She's just so…small."
"Aw, don't sell yourself short, Shiro," Lance said. He held Violet up so that she was face to face with the head of Voltron. "Violet likes you just fine. " The baby stared up at Shiro and blew a raspberry at him, giggling madly at her own joke. "See?" Shiro laughed.
"Yeah, okay. I'll pitch in where I can. We are a team after all."
Nobody asked Keith if he wanted to help.
"I've been experimenting with the food goo," Hunk explained as he puttered through the kitchen that evening. "I'm trying to make it easy for her to eat and still make it taste good. Fortunately, this stuff's mostly liquid anyway."
Hunk leaned over and wiggled his fingers at Violet.
"Hey li'l cutie. Can I see you for a minute?" The baby grinned toothlessly in response, reaching out to Hunk with pudgy arms. Hunk scooped her up and supported her on his lap with one forearm, reaching for the impromptu baby food with his other hand. "I tasted it myself. It's not bad, but the real test will be if Vi likes it." The yellow paladin dipped the end of a clean washcloth into the bowl of goo, measuring a small bite's worth and presenting it to the baby. "What do you think, kiddo?" Violet regarded the food for only a moment before making a decision. She grabbed at Hunk's fingers with both of her little fists and popped the end of the cloth into her mouth, sucking on it with zeal.
"Hunk, you're a genius!" Lance exclaimed. Hunk grinned shyly.
"Yeah well, you're not the only one with tons of little cousins, remember." He scooped up a little more of the food and Violet continued inhaling it. "This'll work for now, but I think I might be able to rig up a kind of baby bottle." Lance grinned at him.
"Man, I really think we can do this."
"What? Keep feeding her food goo? We'll probably have to supplement it with something else before too long."
"No, I mean this. Like if we don't find Violet's family, maybe we could still make this work." Hunk said nothing for a long time.
"I hope you're right, man. I hate to think of our little Vi ending up in some kind of weird space orphanage." Lance looked up at him, horrorstruck.
"No way! Shiro wouldn't let that happen. And I know Allura's not crazy about babies but she's not heartless." Hunk looked startled.
"Well no, of course not. At least I hope not." He plowed through before his distraught friend could cut in. "I just don't know what we're gonna do long term, Lance. We're in the middle of a war and Violet's just a little baby."
"We'll figure something out," Lance said firmly. "We have to." Hunk merely nodded and kept feeding the baby her breakfast. There were tears in his eyes.
Keith yawned and popped his back, fresh from training and a hot shower. The Castle was quiet for now, everyone off doing their own thing, he supposed. The red paladin found himself wondering how Lance and their new little teammate were doing.
He didn't have to wonder long as he entered the common room and found the two relaxing on the sofa. Keith opened his mouth in greeting but the words died on his lips. Lance was staring at Violet with a pensive look on his face and Keith thought he looked a little sad. Weird.
"Um, everything okay?" Lance's head snapped up, his expression brightening.
"Hey! Yeah, Vi just ate so she's kinda tired. I'm thinking she might fall asleep soon."
"Oh. That's good…" Keith trailed off awkwardly and sat down on the couch next to Lance.
"Actually Keith, I'm really glad to see you right now," the blue paladin said. Keith raised an eyebrow.
"What? Why?"
"Cuz I really have to pee." Lance carefully shifted his burden, moving to hand her off to Keith. "Can you hold her for a minute?"
"Wait what?"
"You'll be fine! Here, just hold her like this," Lance easily passed the baby to Keith and steered the other boy's arms into position. "Now just support her head. Perfect! Thanks dude. I promise I'll be right back." Lance dashed from the room, a still stammering Keith left behind on the sofa.
"Okay, don't panic," the red paladin calmed himself. "How hard can it be to hold an eight pound alien baby for five minutes?" The alien baby gave no answer, merely staring up at him with those wide, thoughtful eyes. "You're good, right?" he asked her. Keith froze as she reached out with a tiny hand to touch his face. She was burbling conversationally at him. "Yes, good job. You found my nose." The baby laughed brightly and Keith found himself grinning at her. "Yeah, okay. You're cute."
Once she had grown bored of pinching his nose, little Violet yawned and shoved a fist into her mouth, chewing on it sleepily.
"You can go to sleep if you want to," Keith whispered, rocking her slightly like he had seen the others do. Violet gave him a drool covered smile as her eyes slipped closed. She was out like a light. As Keith stared down at the sleeping foundling, he felt a warm weight settle in his chest. It was something new and weird, but he liked it. This childcare thing really wasn't so bad.
When Lance returned a few minutes later, he paused just short of entering the room, opting to peek his head in first. There Keith remained with Violet sleeping in his arms and the red paladin was staring at her with nothing short of wonder. He was humming something and stroking her chubby cheek as he rocked her. The look on his face was so tender, almost radiant, that Lance hated to break the spell. Still, he had promised to come right back.
"Wow, you're doing great!" Lance whispered by way of announcement. Keith felt his cheeks warm at the unexpected compliment.
"Really?"
"Totally. You're a natural." Once he realized that Lance was serious, Keith couldn't keep the smile from his face. Lance quietly sat back down beside him but made no move to take the baby back. "You wanna keep holding her for a while?" Keith nodded.
"She is pretty cuddly," he said softly. Lance agreed but it was Keith that he was unable to tear his gaze from. Seriously, that glowing smile was turning his insides to goo. The blue paladin slid his arm along the back of the couch behind Keith and was pleasantly surprised when Keith actually scooted closer.
"So uh…what was that song you were humming? It was pretty." Keith stiffened almost imperceptibly.
"It was nothing," he replied slowly. "Just something my mom used to sing."
"Oh!" Lance said, reddening. "Sorry." Keith raised an eyebrow.
"Sorry for what?" Lance frowned tightly and averted his eyes. Keith studied him for a moment, trying to place the other boy's discomfort, when it suddenly clicked. "Sorry that I'm an orphan," Keith stated. Lance didn't reply, and Keith paused for a long moment before shrugging. "My mom's dead. I'm not gonna randomly burst into tears if you mention it." That earned a wince from his friend.
"Still, man. That's rough."
"Lance, it's okay. Really. It was a long time ago." Keith lifted his eyes to meet Lance's. "Maybe we could just…stop talking for a while?" Lance nodded. And then Keith was smiling again. He cuddled Violet closer and, to Lance's utter shock, laid his head down to rest on his shoulder. "This is kinda nice."
When Pidge and Hunk rounded the corner an hour later, they found the red and blue paladins fast asleep on the couch, Keith cuddled into Lance's side with the other boy's arm wrapped around his shoulders. Baby Violet was passed out on Keith's chest, snuggled protectively in his arms.
The two team scientists exchanged a long look.
"Scrapbook?" Hunk questioned.
"Scrapbook," Pidge agreed.