So this started out as a discussion with a friend about Lance's middle-child syndrome which somehow took a turn to "Lance is probably the only Paladin who's ever changed a diaper" and other discussions about Lance probably being the only one who has any child care experience.
And then I was in need of a baby fix, but I have no babies in my life to give me said baby fix. So I settled for writing this instead. Because if I can't snuggle tiny babies in real life I'm going to make fictional characters do it.

This was just supposed to be a short and quick thing and then I went a tiny bit overboard. Oops.

Anyways, I hope you all enjoy it as much as I do. Because who doesn't love adorable tiny baby and small child cuddles?

-Becks

Weekend Guests

An eerie silence hung over the city, broken only occasionally by the shifting and settling of debris. It smothered the Paladins as they picked their way through the rubble; finding mementos of someone's life, finding even more evidence of someone's death.

"I can't believe the Galra would destroy an entire city like this." Pidge's voice was soft and disbelieving.

"They must have known we were coming." Keith stated grimly.

"God, who is this commander? He bombed out an entire city just to get a small band of rebels." Hunk turned to Lance. They were making their way down a mostly intact city block. "Do you think there were any survivors?"

"A lot of people probably evacuated," the Blue Paladin reasoned. "More probably escaped underground. They'll come back and rebuild." He paused as the wind shifted. It howled through the blown out windows of the surrounding buildings. "Do you hear that?"

"Hear what?" Hunk paused to listen. After a moment he shrugged and kept walking. "Just the wind."

"No… I heard something else." Lance turned slowly, straining to hear the sound again. Suddenly, without a word he took off running down a side street.

"Lance, we're not supposed to split up!" Hunk called after him. He sighed softly and followed his friend. Only Lance would go running off at random into a structurally unsound city. After a minute or two he began to hear the sound as well. It was faint; a strange croaking wail… like someone was crying and had been for a while. Was it a survivor?

Lance skidded to a stop in front of a building. It seemed mostly intact, and the crying was definitely coming from inside. The façade had crumbled and a pile of debris blocked the door.

"We gotta get inside," Hunk said as he caught up.

They cleared the rubble from the door in a matter of minutes. The crying continued.

"Hold on, we're coming for you!" Lance called out. If the crier heard they did not respond or stop crying.

The door was jammed on the other side with more debris, and it took both Hunk and Lance to push it opened. The crying became more distinct – Lance could hear two voices now. Almost as soon as the door had been shoved out of the way, the doorway itself began to crumble. Hunk reached up and braced the top.

"You go ahead, I'll hold the door," he grinned. "Just be quick about it."

Lance took off running deeper into the building. There were no windows in the hall and Lance relied on his helmet light for guidance. Occasionally a small slice of sunlight would come in from an opened door of an exterior room, but the surrounding buildings were tall, and the hanging smoke and dust from the bombing kept the light weak. Lance peeked into a few of the rooms he passed. This place had the feeling of a school, and he saw desks in one room, but further down the hall there was a room filled with low tables, and further down rooms with beds in them. Maybe a boarding school?

Lance was beginning to think that the building had held together remarkably well when he came to a juncture in the hall. To the left was nothing, just a solid wall of rock and twisted metal, the collapsed half of the building. The right was still in one piece though, aside from a few fallen pieces of plaster. He breathed a sigh of relief; the cries were coming from the right. He followed the cries to the end of the hall, far away from any damage. The door was locked, or jammed shut, but it gave way after he slammed into it a couple times. It flew opened and he stumbled into the room, throwing weak light onto its occupants. A couple of them screamed and ran for cover behind a bed.

"Dios mio, it's a bunch of kids!"

He counted five. The oldest couldn't have been more than seven, the two behind the bed looked about four. He found the criers too. An infant wrapped in a blanket and kept in a box by the older girl's feet and a toddler who sat by her side. Lance immediately took off his helmet and crouched down to their level.

"Hey, it's okay. I'm here to help." He offered the kids a small smile. "I'm here with Voltron. Have you heard of Voltron?"

The older three shook their heads.

"That's okay, I can introduce you. I'm here to take you to safety." Lance held his hand out for the kids. The two hiding behind the bed stepped out; they watched him warily, looking to the eldest for guidance.

She shook her head resolutely. "Matrons told us to stay here where it's safe."

Hunk's voice carried in from the hall. "Lance, hurry up, this door won't hold forever!"

Lance smiled at the eldest. "I can see you're a very smart girl. What's your name?"

"Mira."

"Mira, you've done a very good job taking care of the others. You've kept them safe so we can rescue you."

Mira looked like she was weakening, but she remained resolute. "Matrons said not to go with strangers."

Lance couldn't help but smile. The kid was smart. He knew she'd probably follow if he picked up the babies and left, but he also doubted she'd stick around after getting out of the building. He did have one more card to play though.

"Would you like to go for a ride in my robot lion?"

That did the trick. It didn't win Mira over, but the two who had been watching from the bed gasped in delight. They would follow Lance, and the babies would be easy enough to carry. Mira would follow him too, if not to satisfy her own curiosity then to make sure the others were safe. She considered Lance for another moment before conceding with a soft "okay."

Lance smiled and popped his helmet back on. He was immediately bombarded with questions from the other Paladins. He chose to ignore them for the time being. "I'm coming out, Hunk. I found five kids."

It did nothing to satiate his teammates, but at the moment Lance had more important things to worry about. He scooped the baby out of the box and tried to soothe it.

"He's been crying all day," Mira informed him. "I tried to get him food, but I couldn't get to the kitchens."

"I can't say I blame him." Lance tucked the baby into the crook of his arm and hoisted the toddler onto his other hip. They both stopped crying for a moment, happy to be held by someone bigger. Lance knew it would only last until they realized they weren't going to be fed immediately. "Okay, Mira, I need your help one more time. Can you hold the other two's hands and make sure they don't get lost and you follow close behind me?"

Mira nodded and grabbed the other's hands. Lance stepped out of the room and led the kids back to the door. One of the younger kids whimpered fearfully as they trekked through the dark hallways.

"Don't worry, we'll be outside soon, I promise."

"Make it sooner, Lance," Hunk's voice was clearly strained. "I can't hold up this wall much longer."

"Be there in a minute, Hunk."

They finally reached the entrance. The kids brightened instantly at the sunlight. They rushed forward but stopped when they caught sight of Hunk.

"It's okay, this is my friend Hunk. He's helping too." Lance explained, nudging the kids forward.

Hunk offered a tight smile as he shifted, holding the doorway together, but making room for them to pass. The younger two took charge then, dragging Mira out into the street. Lance ducked under Hunk's arms and followed the kids. They hadn't gone far, and one of the younger ones looked around anxiously.

"Where's your robot lion?" he asked impatiently.

"We have to walk a little bit, but I promise you are going to love Blue," Lance assured them, taking the lead again. "Just follow me, okay."

Hunk ducked out from the doorway. It crumbled immediately in his absence, bringing more of the entrance down with it. "Uh, Lance?" he asked uneasily, catching up. "You know you picked up a Galra kid right?"

Lance blinked. Actually he hadn't. It had been too dim in the building to get a good look at the kids and he had been a bit more preoccupied with getting them out safely than anything else. He looked back, wondering which kid it was. In the sunlight it was easy to see.

Mira's skin was a light lilac, her hair a darker shade of purple. She had wide bat-like ears and Lance could see that her fingers ended in small claws. All typical Galra features, but it was her eyes that were particularly interesting. Most Galra Lance had seen had the same pupil-less yellow eyes; they were Galra eyes. Mira didn't have Galra eyes. Her eyes were yellow, but barely and it only made her bright blue irises stand out more.

He looked at the other kids too. The little boy looked like an Unilu with four arms and light blue-gray skin. The little girl was a species he had never seen before, she was covered in short, coffee-brown fur, black hair fell around rounded ears, and a fluffy tail waved behind her with every step. The toddler looked to be the same species as Nyma, he had orangey skin and green eyes, and a few buds that could possibly become tendrils grew out behind his conical ears. Lance peeked down at the baby, but his face was mostly covered by the blanket. He did get a glimpse of violet skin and was certain the kid was another Galra.

"Yeah, so?"

"Well what if somebody comes looking for her?"

Lance shifted his grip on the toddler a bit. He had dug his small fingers into the seams of his armor and was clinging tightly. "I don't think anyone is going to be looking for these kids. I'm pretty sure we just pulled them out of an orphanage."

They walked the rest of the way in relative silence. Lance half listened to the Paladin's conversations, but mostly he was watching the kids and making sure they didn't lag too far behind. He only had to answer "how much farther?" three times, which he considered impressive for such young children. When they finally did reach Blue the older kids stared at her in rapturous awe.

"Are we really riding in that?" the little boy asked.

Lance couldn't help but smile. "Yep, all the way to our castle space ship where you can meet our princess."

Mira and the little girl looked particularly pleased at that. "A real princess?" they asked.

They walked up to Blue and she lowered her head gently for the children. One of the kids let out a fearful squeal, gripping Lance's leg tightly. The other lions had appeared in the sky.

"It's okay, those are my friends." Lance soothed the kids. "Are you ready for your ride?"

"We'll meet you up there." Hunk said before jogging off to his own lion.

Lance shepherded the kids into his cockpit. He set the toddler down briefly and turned to Mira. "Mira, can you hold the little one for the trip? I need two hands to fly."

The little girl nodded, sat down, and held her arms out for the baby. Lance handed her the baby and made sure she was holding him right before he turned to the other two. "Now I need you two to make sure squirmy here doesn't wander off." He picked up the toddler and plopped him down between the two kids. "Can you do that? It's a very important job."

They both nodded silently, and each took one of the toddler's hands. Lance jumped into his seat and powered up his lion.

"Alright, Blue, nice and gentle for the kids."

The trip back to the castle was uneventful. The baby and toddler both fussed, but the older kids kept them secure. They were the last ones into the hangar and Lance could already see the other Paladins gathering. After Blue powered down, he resituated himself with the baby in one arm and the toddler on his hip and led the kids out of the lion.

The Paladins had all gathered near his lion, and Allura had joined them. Shiro and Allura were closest, Hunk, Keith, and Pidge hung back a little ways. Lance didn't mind the crowding because at that moment the toddler decided he was done behaving and began trying to wriggle out of Lance's grip. Fortunately Shiro was within arm's reach.

"Shiro, quick, take the baby. I'm losing my grip on the toddler."

Lance awkwardly passed the baby over just in time for him to have to drop to his knees to the toddler wouldn't fall. Both the toddler and the baby began to wail.

"Here, I'll take him." Allura volunteered, picking the toddler up and giving Lance a chance to rest his arms.

"Thanks, he's probably starving." Lance stood up, stretching his arms, and turned back to the older three. "They all are. I think some food, a bath, and clean clothes are in order." He paused, and wrinkled his nose. "Plus a diaper change for him and the baby. Who knows how long it's been since – Oh my God, Shiro! What are you doing? That's not how you hold a baby!" Lance immediately snatched the baby back, holding him close and trying to soothe him. "You were dropping his head, no wonder he was crying. Who taught you how to hold a baby?"

"Um… no one." Shiro blinked in surprise at the sudden absence of baby in his hands.

"You've got to support their heads. Especially when they're so small," Lance chided.

Allura listened to Lance lecture Shiro on proper infant handling mildly bemused. She had hardly expected Lance of all people to know much, if anything about taking care of babies, but the Paladin seemed to be full of surprises. She felt a small hand reach up and tug at her arm, and looked down into the bright blue eyes of the oldest girl. A Galra without yellow eyes… how curious.

"Are you really a princess?" she asked quietly.

She smiled at the child and crouched down to her level. "Yes I am. My name is Allura. What's yours?"

The child smiled back shyly. "I'm Mira." She looked around at the other Paladins; they were all being instructed on how to hold a baby by Lance. She leaned in closer to Allura to speak next. "I gotta go potty."

Allura smiled again. "Just a moment, Mira, we'll get you taken care of." She stood up and cleared her throat. "Paladins, I think it's time we make our guests comfortable."

Lance stopped his lecture and looked back at the kids. They were all dancing around a bit, looking anxious and scared.

"Right, yes. Shiro, can you take the older three to the bathroom? Hunk, can you go put together some food for the kids? Allura, I will need to find something for the little ones diapers, because these ones are really old. Keith, can you go find some clean clothes for the kids? T-shirts can work short term if everyone donates one. Pidge I need you to find Coran. Let's all meet in the kitchen."

Pidge was the first to react, not hiding her relief as she scooted away from the group. "Yep, find Coran, can do."

Keith left without a word.

"The poor little guys must be starving. I'll see what I can put together." Hunk said, already heading for the door.

"You can follow me." Shiro turned back to the kids, offering his right hand automatically for them. He hesitated a moment, pulled his hand back and offered his left instead. Mira grabbed the other kid's hands and followed after Shiro obediently.

Lance followed Allura on a hunt through the castle. He let her know that small towels would work, if there were any floating around, and he'd need something to hold the diapers together, like pins or tape. It took a few minutes of hunting, but they did eventually find something that would work.

Lance took care of the changing, which was hellish. The toddler was first. He sat still well enough – despite being hungry and upset—but Lance could tell that his diaper had to be at least two days old. The poor kid. He cleaned him as best as he could, but he definitely needed a bath later.

He expected much of the same from the baby. As Lance unwrapped him from his blanket cocoon, he confirmed his suspicions. The baby was definitely Galra, and more Galra than Mira appeared to be. He had violet skin and a tuft of deep indigo hair. His eyes were screwed up tightly while he cried, but Lance had a feeling they'd be Galra yellow. He was wearing only a diaper, and Lance saw a small tail curling around his leg. Small hands clenched in fists, and tiny feet kicked the air. If Lance was to guess the baby's age he'd put him at around four months… provided Galra babies aged like human babies.

The improvised diapers weren't pretty, and they were held together with tape, but Lance was satisfied. They'd serve their purpose for the time being. It was time to find some food for the kids. The baby was crying inconsolably and the toddler was on his way too. The toddler would be able to eat the food goo, he wasn't concerned about him. The baby, however, would need something liquid and nutritious.

Lance was pretty certain the castle didn't have infant formula stocked in its larders. He made do short term to keep the baby happy by wetting a clean cloth and letting him drink from that.

Everyone else was already waiting in the kitchen. The kids wandered about, looking at everything, touching everything within reach. The Paladins sat at the table, watching the kids with varying levels of wariness.

Hunk gave a cautious sniff as Lance sat next to him. "Oh good, they smell so much better," he exclaimed with relief.

"Yeah," Lance chuckled. "They'll be even better after we bathe them. But first we need to figure out a plan and feed them. Everyone except the baby should be good with solid food, so that's easy. The little one is too young though."

"Yeah, wait, Lance. I have to know. How do you know so much about child care?" Pidge asked from the end of the table.

"I've been watching cousins and nieces and nephews since I was like twelve." Lance shrugged casually. "Part of being the middle child who was old enough to take responsibility but young enough to not have other places to be." He looked around the table. "Has nobody else ever taken care of a child before?"

Shiro shrugged. "I watched my neighbor a few times when his parents worked late, but he was like ten so…"

"I took a Red Cross class once," Hunk offered. "But kids are sticky and smell weird, so I generally avoid them."

"Yeah, I don't do kids." Pidge stated.

Keith and Allura just shook their heads 'no.'

"Aside from when Allura was little, no." Coran explained. "She was older than these kids when I started watching her."

"Huh," Lance breathed with a slight nod of his head. He honestly hadn't expected, or realized, he was the only one on team Voltron who had dealt with little kids before. The next few days were going to be interesting. "That's okay, I have plenty of experience for everyone," he assured them with a grin. "I guess I'll be in charge."

A collective grimace passed over the group, but nobody said anything.

"First thing's first, we gotta get the kids settled in. Food is easy enough, the food goo will work great and I'll find something for the baby. Afterwards, they really need to be cleaned. I'm going to need help getting all five of the clean, so all hands on deck for that. There's no shortage of spare rooms in the castle for them to bunk in, they might all want to bunk together, they might not. But I imagine once they've eaten and they've been washed and put into something clean they'll fall asleep real fast. They've been through a lot in the last couple days. We can figure out what to do with them after they're settled in."

The others nodded in agreement.

"If some of you can go hunt down towels and such for the kids while they eat, that would be great. And like a tub to wash the babies in. And someone to get a room set up for them."

Pidge was quick to volunteer, she shot to her feet. "I can set up a room."

"I can help!" Keith added. He and Pidge made a quick retreat from the kitchen.

"Coran and I can find stuff for the kids," Shiro volunteered.

"Awesome. Hunk, can you set the kids up with some food. Allura, help me find something for the baby."

They went about their separate tasks. Allura and Lance scavenged through the kitchen storage. Allura pulled out a container of what she assured Lance was a type of milk. They scrounged some more and pulled together what could be turned into a makeshift bottle.

While Lance worked on feeding the baby, Allura went to see how Hunk was getting on feeding the kids. The older kids were sitting at the table waiting; the toddler had either been placed on top of the table or had crawled up there. She sat down in front the toddler, ready to help.

Hunk looked apologetic as he set the plates in front of them. "Sorry, but food goo is all we have at the moment."

"What is it?" Mira asked, poking at her plate with her spoon.

"It's … food."

"But what kind?"

"It's magical space food, Mira." Lance explained, walking back in. He sat next to the Unilu boy, the baby sucked quite happily on his dinner. "It doesn't taste bad."

Mira looked back and forth between her plate and the toddler, who was quite determined to not eat the goo Allura was trying to feed him. "You try it."

Suppressing a sigh, Lance took a clean spoon and scooped a bit off Mira's plate. Hunk had given the kids way too much anyway. He popped the bite into his mouth, making exaggerated yummy noises. The younger kids didn't need much more convincing. They were hungry. Mira watched the younger kids for a moment before deciding the goo was okay to eat.

Truthfully, the goo wasn't as bad as it had been. Hunk had found a mix of spices and seasonings that made the goo much more palatable… either that or he had just gotten used to the taste.

Allura was still struggling to feed the toddler. He had goo all over his cheeks and none in his mouth. Lance scooped a bit of the goo onto his finger and swiped it onto the toddler's lips. As expected, the toddler tasted the goo, realized it was indeed food, and dug into his plate with both hands.

"Just let him play with it, it's easier," Lance advised. "He will eat his fill."

Lance let the kids eat for a bit before he began probing them for information. Aside from Mira he still didn't know any of their names. The younger two had clammed up in the presence of the other Paladins. They hadn't been very talkative in the first place, and they made no indication of sharing anything with Lance.

Luckily, Mira was becoming more trusting. "His name is Lekan," she informed Lance after he spent several minutes trying to talk to the Unilu boy. "And her name is Rylen." She nodded to the other girl.

"And what about our little friend?" Lance asked, gesturing to the toddler who was quite happily smearing goo all over his face and the table.

Mira shrugged. "Matrons didn't tell me his name; just to watch him."

"I see, and what about the baby?"

Mira shook her head. "They don't name those ones."

"They don't name the babies?"

"No, they don't name the ones who look like Galra."

"Why not?" Allura asked.

"They don't stay. When one like him shows up some Galra comes and takes them away to the Academy."

"The Academy?" Allura looked confused, she had never heard of a Galra Academy.

"All Galra go to the Academy."

"But you didn't."

Mira shrugged again, pushing some of her goo around. "Matrons said I can go when I'm older, but I'll have to pass a test."

Lance shared a look with Allura and Hunk. None of them had any idea that the Galra were taking and raising their own from childhood. It made sense, given the nature of the Empire, but still… Lance looked down to the baby in his arms. He was finishing up his dinner and was beginning to look sleepy. No name, no family, no future other than to be processed by Zarkon's war machine and turned into another enemy. Not much of an existence for a kid.

"How old are you, Mira?" Lance asked. She looked seven or eight, but Lance also knew Galra tended to be larger than humans.

"Six. Just had my birthday last week. Matron's made a cake!"

"And how old are you Lekan?"

The Unilu considered the question for a moment, before stating, quite uncertainly. "Four."

"And what about you, Rylen? How old are you?"

The little girl shyly held up three fingers. Lance smiled and nodded, about the ages he expected the kids to be. He looked at the toddler, and guessed him to be about a year and a half old. These kids were so young.

After the kids had eaten their fill, Lance led them to the showers. He had called all hands for this task. Most of the Paladins were waiting, the supplies gathered, most had even thought to change into soakable clothes.

"Where's Pidge?" he asked, noting the conspicuously absent Paladin.

"Can't find her," Shiro explained. "I think she's hiding in the vents."

Lance sighed. "Fine, she can help Coran and Allura. We probably shouldn't hang around this system for too long, that Galra might come back. Allura, Coran, can you get us someplace safe? Once we're safe, please come back and help."

The Alteans both assured Lance they would help however they could before hurrying off.

"Hunk, Keith, Shiro, we're gonna wash the kids. They really need it." He led the kids into the showers. They looked around wide eyed. "The older kids can probably wash themselves in the showers, just help however they need. Hunk, you're going to have the most important job. Because if these kids are anything like earth kids they will immediately make a break for freedom as soon as their clothes come off. Do not let them run around the castle naked. And hold Squirmy here for a minute."

Hunk awkwardly took the toddler, holding him at arm's length. "Oh, he's all sticky."

"He'll be un-sticky in a few minutes. I just need to go change. I'll take the baby with me. He's asleep anyway."

His fellow Paladins responded confidently in their ability to bathe the children. Lance was skeptical, but he left to finally change out of his armor. The scene he returned to in the showers was nothing short of chaos.

The kids had made of game of chasing each other between shower stalls and turning on the water. The Paladins were doing their best to keep up with them and turn the water off that the kids left running. The kids were all still fully clothed.

Shiro almost caught Rylen before she slipped out of his grasp with a delighted shriek. "How are they so fast, and full of energy?" he asked, exasperated.

"They're kids." Lance explained with a shrug.

He picked up one of the tubs Coran had found and carried it to a stall. While it filled with warm water he looked around. Washing the toddler would be a two hand job; he needed some way to hold the baby while he worked. Spying the stack of towels, he got an idea – a few quick knots later and he had a makeshift baby sling. It held the baby close to his chest and held him snug. It would do for the time being.

Hands now free, he scooped the toddler up from the floor and carried him over to the filling tub. He gently wrestled him out of his clothes and as soon as the tub was filled he turned off the water and plopped Squirmy into the tub. The toddler happily transitioned from running to splashing.

Lance let him play while he gently wiped away the remnants of food goo stuck to his cheeks. As expected, the kids did quickly tire of their game. They seemed more comfortable around the other Paladins too.

Lekan was looking at Shiro with much interest. Finally he stepped forward, reaching out for his hand. "Is that a robot hand?" he asked, turning Shiro's fingers over in his hands.

"Yeah, it is."

Lekan's eyes light up. "That's so cool! Is it super strong? Does it have any weapons? Can you kill bay guys with one touch?" a stream of rapid questions fell out of his mouth.

Shiro looked at Lance, the blue Paladin nodded encouragingly. "How about you take a bath, and I will answer all your questions," he offered, taking the opportunity to get the kid to wash.

"Okay! But … Matrons always helped."

Shiro smiled at the kid. "I think I can help today."

"Will you use your robot hand?"

"Sure," he chuckled.

At that moment, Rylen ran smack into Hunk, who was fast enough to catch her. He lifted the giggling child up into the air. She only playfully protested as Hunk carried her over to a shower too, after a few minutes though, Hunk picked up a tub for Rylen to wash in.

Mira was the only one left, and she eyed Keith shyly as she hovered near Lance.

"Mira, if you need any help, my friend Keith will be happy to help you." Lance told her.

She nodded silently, but walked over to Keith. Tugging on his hand gently, she asked him if he could help wash her hair, "like Matrons used to."

Finally, all the kids were being bathed with varying levels of assistance. Rylen only cried a little bit when Hunk let soap run into her eyes. He apologized so profusely that the girl ended up laughing just a few seconds later.

When the toddler was clean, Lance set him out of the tub and dumped it. The toddler was free for three seconds and he immediately made a break for the door. Lance tried to catch him, but the kid was slippery, and he couldn't move quickly with the baby.

Fortunately, Allura made a timely reappearance and caught the toddler just as he got to the door.

"Look who's all clean!" she exclaimed, scooping the toddler up. She smirked at Lance. "Nice sling, Lance."

"Hey, don't knock the baby sling until you've tried it," Lance shot back defensively.

Allura only rolled her eyes, smiling. "We're safe and far away from any known Galra territory. We should have some time to figure out what to do with the kids before we need to move on."

"Thanks. Can you get Squirmy here dried and into a clean diaper and into some clothes? I still need to wash the baby."

"Of course. Oh, and I brought a couple combs for the little girls." She looked around the showers. "Looks like things are going well."

Things were going well. Mira was sitting on the floor, letting Keith wash her hair. Rylen danced around gleefully while Hunk rinsed soap out of her fur. Lekan stood still while Shiro scrubbed his back. Lance half smiled, at least the kids seemed happy.

Lance refilled his tub with water for the baby, settled back down and began gently washing him. The baby protested to his sudden submersion in water, but only briefly. Lance talked to him quietly while he washed. The baby smiled up at him, and Lance felt that familiar warmth one gets when a baby smiles.

Honestly, he was half convinced that baby smiles could bring peace to the galaxy. Baby smiles and baby toes. They were just so small and adorable.

"Itty bitty, teeny tiny, little purple toe beans!" He whispered while he played with the baby's toes. Or he thought he whispered. A muffled snigger over his shoulder said otherwise.

"'Little purple toe beans.' Really Lance?" Keith mocked.

"Excuse you, but you have never seen baby toes. You have no place to judge." Lance shot back, lifting the baby out of the water. He wrapped him in a clean towel and stood up to join the others.

The other kids had been cleaned and dried and outfitted with donated t-shirts. Rylen was having her hair combed by Allura, Mira was waiting her turn. Shiro had taken over holding the toddler. Lekan was still asking him questions about his arm. They all seemed to be tiring a bit though. It was time to get them settled into bed.

Lance got the baby back into a diaper, and then for lack of better options tucked him back into his makeshift sling.

"Aright, kiddos, it's time to get you settled in."

"But 'm not sleepy." Rylen protested, yawning widely.

"Well, you don't have to fall asleep, but I think you need to spend some time sitting quietly." Lance reasoned, taking one of her hands. "Keith set up a room for you and everything."

He let Keith take the lead, the kids trailed behind them. Lance asked the other Paladins to find Pidge and Coran so they can all meet up to discuss the kids. Keith and Pidge had picked a good room for the kids, a little bigger than average, but it would have room for all the kids. They had found plenty of blankets and pillows, and had pulled extra mattresses into the room.

"Here is it," Lance announced brightly. "Mira, you're the oldest, you can take the bed if you'd like."

"Is this where we're staying?" Mira asked, wandering around the room.

"For tonight, yes, tomorrow we can find your own rooms."

"Never had my own room before…" Mira mused aloud, running her hands over the bed sheets.

The kids settled down quickly. Despite their protests, they were dead tired. The toddler barely had to be tucked in before he was drifting. Lekan and Rylen soon followed him on mattresses on the floor. Lance was going to leave the baby on a mattress in the far corner, but he started crying almost as soon as he was put down. Mira was the last one to settle, tucked into the bed, but even she was getting drowsy after she settled in.

"Can you leave the door open?" she asked meekly after Lance turned out the lights.

"Of course, sleep tight," Lance assured her gently before leaving the room. He stepped into the hall to find Keith waiting, leaning against a wall, shaking his head in disbelief.

"Never in a million years would I have expected you to be the baby obsessed one, Lance."

"I'm not 'baby obsessed'" Lance scoffed with a roll of his eyes.

"You were crying over the baby's toes in the showers."

"I wasn't crying." Lance began walking away. "Just because he's Galra doesn't mean he's not cute. Nor does it mean I can't show him a little affection. He's a baby."

"Yeah, sure." Keith followed him. "Everyone else is waiting in the lounge."

True to his word, everyone was waiting in the lounge. Even Pidge had crawled out of her hiding hole for this meeting. As they walked through the door, Hunk leaned over to Pidge and nudged her with his elbow.

"I told you he'd bring the baby. He won't put him down."

"That's not true, I tried to leave him with the others, but he just cried." Lance shot back defensively.

"You made a baby sling out of towels," Hunk deadpanned.

"I needed both hands."

"And you were crying over his toes while you washed him."

"See, told you. Crying." Keith smirked, elbowing Lance.

The Blue Paladin readied a sharp retort, but was interrupted.

"Can we get to the matter at hand, please?" Shiro cut off Lance's retort. "We've got five orphans relying on us." Lance shut his mouth and let Shiro continue. "Obviously we can't keep the kids for more than a few days. We should look for another orphanage that can take them."

Unanimous nods. Coran volunteered to look around and see what there was.

"What about Mira and the baby?" Allura asked.

"What about them?"

"Mira mentioned the Galra taking babies and young children away to an Academy. Presumably that's where they're trained for Zarkon's uses."

"So we find a place for the kids on a planet outside of the Empire. It might not protect them forever, but at least they'll have a shot of staying out of Zarkon's claws," Coran reasoned.

"How long do you think that'll take?" Shiro asked.

"If we're lucky, a few days, probably longer, though."

"Then we'll need supplies for the kids. Lance, you're our resident expert. Can you go on a supply run with Coran and get what we need?"

"I could, but I think I should stay here with the kids, at least for their first night. I'm the only one they really trust."

"That makes sense." Shiro nodded. "Any volunteers?"

"I'll go!" Pidge jumped up quickly.

"Alright then, we'll get close to a populated system and Pidge and Coran can go get supplies and look for information. Lance, can you draw up a list of things you'll need."

"Yeah, we shouldn't need too much to last the next few days."

"Great, now I think we should all take turns watching the kids – yes, Pidge, even you – to make it easier on everyone. We can go in pairs so nobody is stuck with all five at once…"

XXXXXXXXXX

Lance walked back to the kid's room slowly. The baby had finally fallen asleep and he wanted to make sure the other kids were alright before heading off to bed. He was discouraged to hear soft talking as he approached the room.

"You kids are supposed to be asleep by now," he told them, stopping in the doorway. Even the toddler was awake and sitting in Mira's lap.

"We can't sleep," Mira replied meekly.

"Why not? What's wrong?"

"Don't wanna be alone," Rylen admitted.

"Can you stay with us, Lance?" Lekan asked.

"Of course," he said softly. "Let me find something for the baby and I'll be right back."

He picked up a dry wash tub from the bathroom and padded it with a towel. It was just big enough to the baby. Not exactly a roomy crib, but at least for the night he wouldn't be rolled over or stepped on or fall off the bed. When he got back to the room he saw that Mira had vacated the bed and was setting up her blankets on a mattress.

"Oh, Mira, you can keep the bed. I don't mind."

"You're oldest, you get the bed," she reasoned, throwing Lance's own words back at him.

He smiled tiredly and thanked her. He set the baby at the foot of the bed in the space past the mattress. His box fit there perfectly. The other kids had snuggled back into their blankets; only the toddler was going to need help falling asleep. Lance scooped him up and sat on his bed, rocking him gently.

"Can you tell us a story?" Rylen asked quietly.

"Sure." Lance paused for a moment trying to pick something. His first thought was Goodnight Moon, but that's didn't work so well without the book. He settled on Jack and the Beanstalk. Not that it mattered much, the kids fell asleep two minutes into the story. Even the toddler was out. Lance gently tucked him back into his bed.

He sat down on the floor, watching silently for a few minutes - just to be sure they were actually asleep this time. Then he'd get up and check back in with the others before he crashed himself. Just a few minutes to make sure the kids were going to be okay if he left for a bit. Five more minutes...

It had been several hours since anyone had seen Lance; Coran and Pidge were back with the requested supplies. Shiro went to hunt down Lance so he could make sure everything was in order. He finally found him in the room they had set aside for the kids, in the middle of the floor, tangled up in blankets, and tiny limbs. The toddler was crooked under one arm, Rylen under the other. Lekan was using Lance's stomach as a pillow and Mira was curled up nearby.

Shiro smiled and tiptoed away. Lance could check the supplies in the morning.