Welcome, I'm stuck traveling for business this week and with hours spent in the car day dreaming, this little blurb came to me and I had to write it down. I'm still working on other stories, not sure which will get finished first (no killing me...Wade Wells, Harmony or Charigul!) In the meantime enjoy this little short.

Until next time...

Mertz

I make no claims to Voltron or any WEP characters.

How I fell in love with Keith Kogane:

The sound of machines beeping pulls him out of his deep slumber. His eyes crack open, the bright florescent lights of the hospital room he is in driving him to shut them again almost immediately. It takes several more minutes and tries before he is finally able to fully open them and look around. The machines he keeps hearing are hooked up to him. Glancing around, he finds the main monitor showing his blood pressure and heart rate. He becomes more cognizant of the pain in his chest when he tries to shift in the bed. Pain inflicted by Prince Lotor when he stabbed him with his laser sword in their latest fight, narrowly missing his heart.

Sighing deeply, he moves his hands, one of them encountering something soft. Digging his fingers into the silkiness, he realizes he is touching someone's hair. 'Not just someone though…', he thinks as he runs his hand down the long length. 'Allura…' Shifting his head enough to look down beside him, Keith Kogane finds the Princess of Arus sound asleep. She is sitting in a chair beside his hospital bed and leaning over onto the mattress to rest her head on her arms.

His dark eyes move over her slumbering frame and stop on a folded piece of paper in her hand. Curious, he pulls gently on it until it comes out of her hand then opens it. It takes a moment before he can get his eyes to focus then he reads,

Dear Keith,

You will most likely think of me as the world's biggest coward after this, but this is something I find I cannot say to your face. I'm quite terrified by the thought that you may not feel the same way. Quite simply, I love you. I came to that realization today, after you were injured once again saving me and Prince Lotor had left you for dead.

I sat by your bedside most of the afternoon, listening to these machines beeping. Their noises normally annoying to most people were comforting to me since they told me that you were still alive. I started to go back in my mind, as the realization that I didn't know how I would go on should you die, remembering how we met, slowly became friends until finally I discovered how much you mean to me today.

When you and the others first arrived over two years ago, Coran took me aside that first night. He warned me to guard my heart, to not allow myself to fall in love with any of you. I know that he meant well, I was destined to marry a prince or king in order to help revive Arus. And I tried Keith…I tried to keep you and the others away from me, away from my heart. But you crept in…

Remembering back, I think my affection for you started the night Sven was taken from us when he was injured by Haggar. I had gone down to my father's crypt to find solace only to find I wasn't the only one there. You sat against a wall, your knees to your chest and face in your hands, hiding your eyes from me. I said nothing at first as I moved across the crypt and finally slid down the wall until I was sitting beside you. I could tell by the stiffness of your body that you didn't want me there…didn't want me to see you like that.

I kept my silence for the longest time and simply leaned over and put my head against your shoulder. I felt you stiffen even more until I spoke, telling you how my father's crypt had become my hiding place…the place in the palace that I thought I could go to and let out my emotions without prying eyes. We sat in silence for the longest time after that, your body slowly relaxing until I could have fallen asleep against you. But you finally pulled away and stood up. There was a curious look in your eyes when you spoke to me, telling me good night and thanks for the understanding.

The next time we met in my secret place was after Prince Bokar had kidnapped me and tried to steal Blue lion. After the battle and I returned to the castle, I swore up and down to anyone that asked that I was fine. I even managed to laugh when Lance gave me a hard time for falling for a pretty face. But you knew…you found me down in my father's crypt, crying my eyes out as my entire body shook with the suppressed fear that I wouldn't show earlier. When you sat down beside me and pulled me to you, I crawled onto your lap like the child I felt I was at that moment and continued crying. You comforted me in a way that no one has since my parents died. For the first time since their deaths over ten years ago, I had felt safe and protected, if only for that moment.

You never said anything to me about that night…only held me until the shaking and tears stopped then escorted me back to my room. I didn't want to face you the next day. I thought you would be embarrassed by the way I had fallen apart. Instead, you greeted me the next morning the same way you do every morning, with a smile on your face.

I never asked you about that night and told myself I would never let anything like that happen again. I convinced myself that I could stand strong and not have to lean on you like that. How wrong I was…it wasn't even a month later when Haggar tricked me again, showing me images of my mother and father in the shape of that white lion. When the battle was over, you and Coran had taken me out to my mother's gravesite, trying to convince me that I needed to stand on my own two feet and not pray for help from others. I smiled and agreed, but inside, it felt like I had lost my parents all over again.

When Nanny finally left me alone that night, I went down to the crypt and tried to speak to my father's spirit. When he wouldn't appear to me, I went and sat down at our wall and waited. Part of me hoped you would come, part of me prayed you wouldn't and see me weak like that again as I cried like a child once more. When you didn't come, I eventually fell asleep down there. I woke up in your arms much later as you were carrying me to my room. You said nothing until you placed me in my bed. Only after pulling the blankets around me did you tell me, "It's ok Princess, I know how you feel." then left my room.

After that, we seemed to know when to meet down there. You, finding me when after stealing Black lion and trying to give myself to Lotor to save everyone only for you to have to save me from him yourself. Even though you and the rest of the team had sworn that I was still part of the team, I couldn't help but think I had lost your respect. You sat down next to me and said nothing. You simply sat beside me until I had laid my head on your shoulder then put yours on top of mine.

I came to you after you had returned from finding Pidge's home world destroyed. You kept up a good front for everyone else, but I knew…knew you were waiting to be alone to let your emotions out. That was the first time I found you with tears running down your cheeks. I simply sat beside you in silence for the longest time, giving you the strength of my presence the same way you had given me yours earlier.

That was the first time we truly talked down there…remember? Discussing how hard it is to be in a leadership position…to have to keep up a strong front for everyone else even when you simply want to go off by yourself to cry.

It was two months later when Lotor and Haggar put that spell on me that made you think I had died. I fell asleep by the lake and woke up with Pidge on top of me when the carriage exploded. Before I could comprehend what was going on, Pidge was yanking me up and forcing me to run with him as we tried to reach you and the others. Only after Lotor and Haggar left, and we returned to the castle did I finally understand what had happened. But it still didn't really hit me until I looked into your eyes. What I saw there made my heart clench. I could tell you were struggling to contain your emotions.

I watched as you left dinner early, saying something about needing to contact Garrison. I waited ten minutes before making an excuse to follow you. I found you down in the crypt, tears sliding down your cheeks as you looked up at me. I knew what you needed, without you saying a word.

Sitting down on your lap, I wrapped my arms around you, resting my head against your chest. You wrapped your arms around me, holding me tightly to you as you continued to cry. It took a long time for you to calm down before you managed to whisper to me, "I thought I had lost you…"

You were my closest friend after that. You knew when to make me laugh, when to let me cry and when I needed you to give me that extra encouragement to get through the practice, meeting or battle we were in. I came to depend on you in ways even I didn't understand until I thought I might lose you today.

As I write this letter, my mind keeps going back to all those meetings down in my father's crypt. With each meeting, you became closer and closer to me. Now I find I can't imagine life without you in it. I love you Keith and more than anything I want to spend the rest of my life with you.

With you by my side, I know I can handle the objections I'm sure Coran and Nanny will throw my way. I do not care what they say…I won't live without you. If you do not feel the same, please, do not cut off our friendship. I need that at least to survive.

But if you do feel the same, tell me by using my name. You always call me Princess or Your Highness, very rarely has my name passed through your lips. I want to hear it Keith…it would be sweeter than any poem or sonnet you could ever read to me.

I await your answer…

Love,

Allura

Keith finishes reading the letter and lets it fall down beside him on the mattress. His gaze moves back to the sleeping princess as he relives the events she had reminded him of in her letter. Shifting his hand, he places it on the back of her head, running it down the length of her hair and enjoying the silky feel of it.

He listens to her murmur in her sleep and watches as she slowly wakes up. His hand drops away as she sits up in her chair and stretches, her eyes still closed. As those eyelids slowly open and show him the sapphire blue eyes that he wants to see, Keith manages a soft smile as he whispers, "Hello Allura…"