Morning in the desert was a pretty impressive sight, even if Lance could only see a small part of it through the window. The stars he'd been watching had gone out one by one, the sky gradually lightening to a brighter blue. The sun wasn't even over the horizon yet, but he could already see most of the desert in relief, the shadows growing gradually sharper.

He, Hunk, and Pidge had taken turns watching over Shiro through the night. Keith had left as soon as they'd gotten Shiro settled, saying something about laying a false trail for the Garrison. He wasn't back yet—not that Lance cared what happened to him or anything, except he kinda did, since Keith was the only person who knew where they were in the middle of this desert. He was also the one with the bike, or speeder, or whatever the heck that thing had been. Without that, Lance wasn't sure how they were going to get back.

He wasn't sure they should go back, and that was an even bigger problem. Any moment now, the instructors back at the Galaxy Garrison were going to realize that he, Hunk, and Pidge were missing. Or they were going to review the security footage from their rescue of Shiro—Pidge had tried to wreck it, but there was no way of knowing if that had worked. Or one of the people who'd chased them last night had already recognized them, and they were already doomed.

Either way, when they'd rescued Shiro, they'd joined Keith as washouts…but depending on what Shiro might know, even that might not matter. Which was the biggest problem, probably. There were so many he was starting to lose track.

Pidge had taken first watch, and Hunk had relieved Pidge. He'd told Lance when he'd shaken him awake a few hours earlier that it seemed like Shiro had had a nightmare in the middle of the night. "I thought he'd wake up, but he didn't," Hunk had mumbled. "Seemed okay otherwise. Good luck."

And with that, Hunk had wedged himself into a corner by the couch and zonked out almost immediately, and Lance had taken over watching. Not that there'd been much of anything to watch—Shiro's breathing was quiet and even, and other than that he was totally still. Lance had given him a once-over every few minutes, trying not to linger on the metal arm, but other than that he'd stayed busy looking out the window.

So when Shiro did wake up, Lance had barely any warning.

"Whoa!" he yelped, jerking out of the way as suddenly Shiro was upright. He stayed still for a long moment, panting, eyes darting everywhere. They started on Pidge, who was blinking sleepily at him, then roved over Hunk, who'd jumped about a foot in the air and then started burrowing even further out of the way. His gaze finally landed on Lance, who'd half-fallen against the arm of the couch in surprise.

Lance didn't like the way Shiro's right arm was angled, like it was poised for an attack that could cut right through him.

"Hey," Lance said weakly. "Shiro. It's okay. Nobody's gonna hurt you."

"Where am I?" Shiro demanded. "What happened?"

"We rescued you," Lance said, keeping his voice as steady as he could. "The Garrison drugged you—you remember that, right? They weren't listening to you. So we snuck in and got you out while they were distracted."

Shiro's eyes narrowed. "Distracted by what?"

"Keith rigged some explosions," Lance said, dismissive. Why focus on details? "It's not important. What's important is that you're here now, and you're gonna tell us about the aliens."

"And about what happened on the Kerberos mission," Pidge added, determined. Lance blinked, and Shiro turned briefly to look Pidge over again. His stance was gradually relaxing, and Lance felt his own breathing get easier.

Shiro hesitated, looking between the three of them. "Keith…Kerberos…" He sighed and stood up straight, rubbing at his forehead. He stopped after a second and looked down at his metal hand, as though surprised. "Sorry. This is a lot to take in."

"Take your time," Lance said. "Everything's okay. …For the moment, at least."

He got a slight chuckle for that one, as Shiro looked around. "Is this Keith's house?"

"Apparently."

"Huh." There wasn't much to see—the sheet covering most of one wall, with some old tech on a shelf Hunk had already dug around in. Some old-fashioned furniture, a kitchenette to one side, and that was about it. Shiro seemed to have realized the same thing. "I'm going to take a look around outside—if it's safe?"

"Sure, go ahead," Lance agreed. "We're in the middle of nowhere. Just let us know if you need anything."

"Yeah."

Shiro left, and the three of them stared at each other.

Hunk sighed and flopped back dramatically against the wall. "Man, did you see that? He went all 'martial arts' for a second there."

"He must've been pretty freaked out," Lance said. "Can't blame him."

"Yeah." Pidge was still staring after Shiro through the window, but then shifted and blinked. "Oh. Keith's back."

A minute later, the door opened, proving Pidge right. "Hey," Keith said, calm as a…well, calmer than he should have been.

"'Hey' nothing," he snapped. "What took you so long?"

"Like I said, I was laying some trails. We just stole a high-security secret right out from under them. They're looking pretty hard for us." He smirked slightly. "But I don't think they're going to have much luck anytime soon."

"Oh. Well, that's good," Hunk offered. Pidge just shrugged and kept staring out the window.

The amusement faded from Keith's face. "Anyway. I saw Shiro outside. How is he?"

"Dunno. I think he wants to clear his head or something." Lance shrugged. "You might wanna give him some space, dude. If last night was weird for us, it must've been super weird for him."

"Yeah. I'll…keep that in mind." But Keith still left, closing the door behind him.