Disclaimer: I do not own VLD.

a/n: Shiro and Allura are 19/10, Lance, Hunk, and Keith are 11-12, and Pidge is 9.

Allura adjusted the shopping basket in the crook of her arm, taking her pen to strike out two more items on her list. She hummed under her breath and craned her neck up, strategically taking note of which items would be picked up as she passed aisles headed toward the checkouts.

Coran had teased her relentlessly when he found out about her careful system, but that's why she did it. She'd seen her uncle fall prey to never having a set list and wind up with far more than he needed and forgetting most of the items he truly did. She was particular in those ways and it never kept her cabinets overstocked with items that would spoil and have to be wasted.

She wasn't overly thrilled at spending more time in a grocery store than she needed. They tended to become a headache rather quickly in her experience.

And that had been her intention this morning as well...Until frantic footsteps stumbled behind her and she turned to see the naked fear in a pair of large, large eyes that caused her to waver.

Her throat constricted a little as she glanced around the aisle, hoping a parent would come careening around the corner admonishing the child for lagging or wondering off or even an overworked employee in a brightly covered vest assuring her that the child's family was waiting at the front desk and they were to escort the little one back.

When neither of those things happened, she cleared her throat to catch the child's attention. "Hello there."

The large pair of eyes blinked up at her in confusion and as they registered Allura's words, they started to back away as an air of distrust surrounded them.

Allura bit the inside of her cheek and slowly bent down to the child's eye level. "My name is Allura. What's yours?"

A butterfly clip loosely tucking the child's bangs away threatened to fall out as they vigorously shook their head. "I-I'm not supposed to talk to strangers."

She ticked her head to the side and smiled. ""Hm, that's very true. Your family must be very proud of you and I'm sure they're very anxious to find you. You don't have to tell me your name if you don't want to and I promise I won't hurt you, look up into the ceiling."

The child crossed her arms and sniffed, "I'm not gullible. I know that trick."

Allura repressed a laugh, obviously older siblings were involved. "You are very smart...But I want to show you something." She looked up and pointed. "Do you see those black bubbles in the ceiling there?"

She felt more than saw eyes narrowing on her before the child slowly did as asked. "Yes."

"Those are cameras the store uses to stop people from doing bad things. It also watches, so in case something does happen, there's a video the police can watch to catch them. They see us and watch to keep you safe. If it's okay with you, I would like to help you find your family. We can walk toward the front until we see them or someone who works here, all right?"

"I don't know about that, I'm not supposed to go with strangers either."

It wasn't a funny situation in the slightest, but she couldn't help but think that whomever the child belonged to, they were certainly kept on their toes. "I have one more idea, okay? You won't have to go with me. I'm going to give you my phone, that way you can call your family and tell them which aisle you're in." Allura settled down on her knees, letting go of the basket to reach into her purse. She shuffled through the pockets quickly, acutely aware of the child shifting their weight over and over again. She was more than a little endeared with how quick on the draw and stubborn they were. That made her feel a little better, clearly they came from a very caring family.

"Ah, here we go!" She unlocked the screen and had just handed it over when their attention was drawn by two boys that sped through the aisle, tripping over each other and trying to argue under their breath.

As they began to pass, a smile split the child's face then as she opened her mouth to yell, "Keith, Lance!"

They scrambled to a halt, further tripping over each other.

The taller boy shoved the other away from him and peeled down the aisle toward them. "Pidge! There you are. We've been lookin' all over for ya!"

"We wouldn't have had to if you had held her hand like you were supposed to, Lance." When the other boy, Keith, she guessed, caught up with him, he shoved his shoulder roughly into Lance's shoulder and it was then that Allura suddenly found herself on the receiving end of a most suspicious stare, the shorter boy cut his eyes and gingerly took a step forward. "Who are you?"

She smiled and held out her hand. "My name is Allura. I was just trying to help..." Her eyes ticked to the child and smiled cautiously.

Forgetting their 'no stranger' vigil, she was met with a smile missing several teeth. "My name's Katie, but everyone calls me Pidge."

Keith groaned again and raked his hands through his hair. "Pidge, you're not supposed to tell strangers your name."

"You guys are here now, so it's okay."

Allura bit her lip and pressed on, "Right, I was just about to let Pidge call your family so you would know she was okay and which aisle we were in. Would you like to do that now?"

Without missing a beat, Lance gladly took her phone and started rapidly dialing. "Found her in aisle 3.

"Yeah, we're all here.

"No, I did not steal someone's phone, they let me borrow it. Okay, bye."

Lance hung up, raising his eyebrows at Keith. "Can you believe this guy? Thinking I stole someone's phone."

Keith snorted, "You've stolen Shiro's before."

Just as she was placing her phone back into her purse and adamantly trying not to laugh, an older man and another boy around the same age as the other two rounded the corner. When she glanced up, a rush of breath caved the older man's shoulders as Pidge called out to him.

"Shiro!"

Allura stood and smiled as Pidge wrapped their small arms around the man's waist. He carefully unclasped the barrette from their hair and smoothed back it back from their eyes, fixing the clip back in its place. She was more than a little transfixed by his attention to them...to them all. There was clearly a strong bond between them. She felt a rush of heat to her cheeks as she chastised herself for gaping at the sight of so many with a man so young.

He couldn't have been much older than her if he was even a day.

Someone cleared their throat, cutting through the moment to get Shiro's attention. Lance folded his arms over his chest and smirked, ticking his head back in her direction. "You're welcome."

Keith hissed his name and jabbed his elbow into Lance's side.

"Guys." Shiro stepped forward, not once attempting to extract Pidge from his side as he scrubbed his hands over their hair and gently moved them away from each other. He carefully ran his hand between Pidge's shoulder blades as he stepped to her. "Ah, sorry...?"

Once more she stuck out her hand and smiled. "Allura."

This time, it was gladly accepted with a smile that left her more than a little taken aback. "Shiro. Thank you for your help."

"It wasn't easy. Someone's been taught very well about strangers." She looked down and when she caught Pidge's eye, she winked. "I must say, you're very brave to herd so many of them at once."

"Well, we have a system and I know there's only so many things you can do when the snack supply's gone and pickup's not for another four hours. Otherwise, they'd just start chewing on the furniture."

She laughed at his remark, bending down to collect her basket. "Well, I've kept you long enough and I'm sure everyone's probably ready to get their snacks and go." Allura waved her fingers at Pidge. "It was very nice to meet you, Pidge, as well as the rest of you."

As she left the aisle she overheard a small, soft voice say, "I like her."

Shiro settled everyone in the car, double-checking seat belts and counting the grocery bags to ensure he had them all. He didn't say anything until he began to pull off.

He didn't really plan on addressing the intensity of the situation, as he had caught Lance and Hunk diligently holding Pidge's hands and Keith quietly flanking from behind. He figured they'd learned that part of the lesson. Shiro glanced up in the rear view mirror, sweeping his gaze over each of them. "Everybody realizes I'll have to tell your parents, right?"

Lance groaned in his seat, Keith rolled his eyes, and Hunk nodded aptly.

"Not to get anyone in trouble, but it's important that everyone knows exactly what to do in case something like that happens again. Katie, you did very well. We're all proud of you. We'll work on remembering some phone numbers and where to go next time. Keith, I appreciate your suspicion, but not everyone in the world is bad and the conspiracy attitude needs to be toned down a notch." His younger brother huffed, not looking away from the window.

"And me?"

Shiro sighed, scrubbing his hand over his face as they pulled to a stop at a red light. "What about you, Lance?"

Lance met his eye in the rear view mirror, shooting him two thumbs up, clicking his tongue, and winking. "I got you Allura's number."

"Lance."

A/N: happy au!