a/n: I'm back, already! Many thanks to those of you who left reviews for Home Is Where You Hang Your Hat; I am so grateful for everyone's thoughtful comments. And completely unsurprised that you all immediately recognized the significance of Keith's security code.
This is the first in what I think will become a series of vignettes/missing scenes/episode tags featuring the adult members of Voltron Force who we've come to know and love, and they will all take place in the castle kitchens. Because really, where else would our original Force meet up in order to complain about the cadets? :) This first meeting takes place a day or two after the events of episode six, The Hunkyard. I welcome your feedback!
Chapter 1 - The Price of Being a Grown-Up
Keith wandered the halls of the Castle of Lions late one night, having been roused from bed by the plain fact that he couldn't sleep. He'd been back on Arus for a few weeks now, but it was still a struggle to get past the lingering nightmares of being on the run. On nights when the dreams drove him from bed, he often ended up meandering around the castle, re-acquainting himself with all its nooks and crannies. Inevitably, however, he ended up in Castle Control, chatting with whoever was on duty that night and re-learning all the security protocols.
This particular evening, Coran was on duty, deftly managing all of Control's video monitoring feeds while communicating with soldiers from the Arusian military who were currently patrolling the Castle grounds. Not wanting to bother the royal advisor at this late hour, Keith tried to sneak out of the room quietly, to no avail.
"Can I help you with something, Keith?" Coran asked with a hint of laughter in his tone.
"How did you know it was me?"
Coran turned, pointing to a small video camera positioned right above the doorway, just off to his left. How have I not noticed that before? Keith wondered to himself.
"I had that camera installed the last time Princess Larmina decided to flout her curfew and attempt to play pranks on the duty staff late at night. It's motion-sensitive, inconspicuous enough that she's never looked for it, and the monitor it transmits to can't be seen unless you're sitting right here in front of the console. For now, at least, I think I have her convinced that I have eyes in the back of my head."
"That's very clever. I'm impressed, Coran."
"You don't get to be my age, having advised two generations of the royal family, without keeping a few tricks up one's sleeve, Commander. Particularly with Larmina, it's a challenge to stay even one step ahead of her. But you didn't come here to discuss her, I'm guessing." Coran leaned back in his chair, his sharp gaze fixated on Keith, who looked exhausted. "I find that when I have difficulty sleeping, sometimes a stop in the castle kitchens does the trick. A midnight snack now and then never hurt anyone. And you never know who you might run into downstairs," he added, winking knowingly.
Keith eyed him warily. "You know, a midnight snack does sound like a good idea, thank you, Coran."
"Sleep well, Commander," Coran called to Keith's retreating back.
It took Keith a solid fifteen minutes to find his way down to the Castle kitchens. He had not been in the habit of sneaking down here on late-night snack runs the way Pidge and Hunk had often done, so the corridors were less familiar to him. After two wrong turns that led to dead-ends, he heard two faint voices coming from behind a door at the end of the hall. Sounds like … Hunk and Allura?
"Hunk, knock it off! You know this batch isn't ready yet, so quit trying to steal a piece. There will be plenty when we're done!" Allura admonished teasingly.
Keith poked his head in the door, to find a very odd sight in front of him – Hunk and Allura working together at the large butcher block table in the middle of the kitchen, wearing aprons over their flight suits. The table was covered in baking ingredients and Allura's hair was streaked with flour, but the two were laughing and joking and seemed to generally be having a good time.
"Am I interrupting something?"
Allura smiled brightly and waved at him. "Keith, I didn't expect to see you down here this late! Of course you're not interrupting anything, come in." As Keith settled into a chair on the opposite side of the table, Allura hefted a large saucepan off the cooktop and started pouring a box of breakfast cereal into it. "Hunk is teaching me how to make – what is it you call these things again?"
"Rice Krispy Treats," Hunk reminded her.
She nodded. "Rice Krispy Treats, that's right. I need to write this recipe down somewhere." Allura looked all over the kitchen for paper and a writing utensil, but none were to be found in the mess.
Hunk reached up on a high bookshelf, retrieving a large binder and flipping through the pages. "Don't worry, Allura, I wrote the recipe down for Nanny a long time ago. It's in here somewhere, I'm sure."
Allura whipped around, slamming her hands on her hips and glaring at Hunk disapprovingly. "If you gave this recipe to Nanny, why didn't she ever make it for us?"
Hunk shrugged. "She said it was bad for your teeth with all the marshmallows in it. She would occasionally make a batch to take back to Earth for me when I came to visit. I had to ask extra-nicely, though."
Keith, who had been watching this back-and-forth with a mixture of amusement and confusion, now sat at the table totally dumbfounded. "Since when do either of you know how to cook?"
They answered in unison, "Nanny taught us."
"You might want to close your mouth there, Keith. The fly-catcher expression isn't your best look," Lance interrupted with a smirk as he reached for a mug of coffee and began rummaging through the refrigerator.
"Who are you people and what have you done with my friends?" Keith wailed in exasperation.
Lance sat down in the chair next to Keith, dumping several spoonfuls of sugar into his coffee while biting into a roll left over from dinner. "Don't look so shocked, Keith. Nanny tried to teach all of us how to fend for ourselves before she retired. Didn't quite take, though. Can't domesticate me, no matter how hard you try. I'm untamable," he growled in an unusually deep voice.
"How long has she been gone?"
Allura sighed. "Almost two years," she replied wistfully. "When I gave Lance the go-ahead to start recruiting our new cadets, I almost asked her if she would come back to the Castle and help us until we got settled."
Three pairs of eyes landed on Allura simultaneously. Apparently this isn't just news to me, Keith acknowledged silently.
"Why didn't you say something before, Allura? If you needed more time, that would have been fine. Lord knows, Daniel and Vince would have found a way to get into hot water at some point. They just happened to play into my hands at just the right time."
Before responding, she poured out the entire batch of Rice Krispy treat batter onto a cookie sheet and began beating it into submission. After letting out her frustrations with a few good whacks of her wooden spoon, she relaxed and stashed the cookie sheet on a shelf to cool, out of everyone's reach. "Coran convinced me that between the five of us, we could handle three young cadets. That was before we actually met Daniel and Vince."
Hunk wrapped her into a one-armed hug. "Aw, c'mon Allura, they aren't that bad. So they're a little headstrong-" Allura, Keith and Lance all stared at him expectantly. "Okay, scratch that, they're a lot headstrong, but weren't we when we were their age?"
"I wasn't," Pidge muttered from inside the pantry, where he was grabbing a plate and utensils. He narrowed his eyes in annoyance at the sight of Lance's plate. "Lance, did you eat the last of the rolls?"
Lance tossed a roll he'd hidden under his napkin straight at Pidge's head. "Saved this one just for you, since you missed dinner." Pidge caught it just before it sailed over his head, and he settled down at the head of the table to eat.
Hunk rested his head in his hands thoughtfully. "You were flying a lion already when you were their age. But you always were the exception to the rule, Little Buddy."
"They're good kids. But they are still just kids, even if they forget that sometimes." Allura started absent-mindedly drawing random patterns in the piles of flour on the countertop and chewing her bottom lip while she collected her thoughts. "There are times when I think it would be nice to have someone like Nanny helping us out. Taking care of these kids is a big responsibility."
"Keeping them from getting themselves killed on a daily basis is almost more than I can take," Lance admitted. "As long as they're still in one piece at the end of the day, I'm not sure I care all that much about what they do in their down time."
Allura eyed Hunk curiously, noticing the slightly uncomfortable expression that briefly crossed his face. "Everything okay, Hunk? You spaced out on us for a second there."
"Me? Yeah, no, totally fine. I just remembered I have some stuff in the workshop I didn't finish so I should go … work on that. Night, guys." He tugged off the apron, hanging it on a hook next to the fridge as he hurried out the door.
"That was weird," Pidge observed as he put away his dishes. "Maybe I should go check on him …"
"I'm sure he's fine," Lance commented as he put away his own plates. "I, on the other hand, need my beauty sleep. See you guys in the morning."
"I should go, too," Pidge sighed as he checked his watch. "Vince wants to go over the simulations with me in the morning before their classes. Night Keith, Allura."
Allura retrieved the cookie sheet off the shelf and dug around in a drawer for a knife. "Do you want to give these a try, Keith? I've never made them before, so I don't know what they're supposed to taste like."
"Sure. But Rice Krispy Treats need to be washed down with a glass of milk." Keith poured two glasses while Allura struggled to cut the dessert.
"I'm going to need a sharper knife for this," Allura muttered in frustration.
"Are you still wearing your Voltcom?" Keith questioned.
Allura stared at her right wrist, then smiled at Keith's ingenuity. "As a matter of fact, I am, even though I shouldn't be. Let's see what this baby can come up with." She closed her eyes, deep in thought for a second, and the device produced a laser that instantly divided the treats into perfectly-shaped squares. "That was pretty cool, I have to admit. But this has to be our secret. I'll never hear the end of this from Lance and Pidge if they find out I used my Voltcom for personal gain."
"My lips are sealed, I promise," he reassured her as he reached for the nearest piece of the tasty dessert. "Wow, Allura, these are good. I haven't had one in forever, but they taste just like I remember."
Allura grinned in satisfaction before tasting her own bite. "Oh, they are delicious," she mumbled around a mouthful of chewy goodness, chasing it down with a long swig of milk. "But Hunk was right, Nanny would have never let me eat these things, they're too sticky."
"You miss her, don't you?"
"I do," she confessed. "I mean, I don't miss her chasing all of us around, because we're adults now, you know, but she was the closest thing I've ever had to a mother, and I definitely miss that. Having Coran around helps, but it's just not the same."
"I think you're doing a pretty good job. You've had a lot of responsibilities handed to you that you might not have been ready for, but you haven't failed any of us yet, and I don't see that changing anytime soon."
Allura blushed at Keith's praise. "Thank you, Keith. That means a lot to me."
"It's the truth. I have faith that you can do whatever you set your mind to. Even whipping those cadets into shape."
"Luckily for me, I have help on that task."
Keith stood, gathering their plates and glasses for the dishwasher. "I have first shift in the morning, so I should be going. Unless you need me to stay and keep you company?"
"It should only take me a few minutes to finish cleaning up. Go, get some rest," she admonished as she playfully shoved him out the door.
Allura efficiently tidied up the counter, washed all of her mixing bowls and stacked the remaining Rice Krispy Treats in a cookie jar. Satisfied that the housekeeping staff wouldn't throw a fit in the morning at the state of the kitchen, she tugged her apron over her head and switched off the lights on her way out the door.
It's nice to have everyone finally home.