Kleenex rating: well, have one on hand. You may or may not need it.

Mad at author rating: Um, see below comment.

The following chapters are small scenes which happen over the course of the 15 years from the time of Keith's infection to his death.

Wade Wells yelled at me for this one and said after her first read of it, "I DON"T LIKE YOU TODAY!"

Thanks my wonderful editor for putting up with me! So look for a completely Fluffy K&A story after this one. Totally and disgustingly fluffy because I made WW mad.

These scenes run from January 2710 to September 2712

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

January 2710

"Ready for this, my friend?"

"Not in the slightest, yet it seems I have been waiting for this forever. Am I making any sense?"

"It does, Lance, I totally understand. Maybe this is a bit faster than you thought it would be, but Glenna is amazing and just brings out the best in you." He reached up to straighten Lance's tie. "Besides, I am looking forward to being Uncle Keith and telling your child all about his Dad when…."

"Dude, I am never leaving my kid with you unaccompanied. You know too much."

Both men laughed. Keith brushed the shoulders and arms of Lance's coat, and straightened non-existent wrinkles. "At least today you look presentable. Glenna will be shocked and may just not recognize you."

"You just want to steal her away from me; I have watched you two and your not-so-secret conferences."

"You caught me Lance. I totally want to steal your bride and whisk her away to be treated as a proper lady. We plan on drugging you and tying you up tonight."

Lance stepped back and put up his hands in a mock fighter's stance. "Put 'em up! Put 'em up! I will fight for my lady's hand!"

Keith stepped back and held both hands up palm out, "Fight? Well, that puts a whole different perspective on it. Tell you what, you can have her, I just claim Godfather rights."

Lance held out his right hand for Keith to shake, "Deal. I know you will be an amazing Godfather and Uncle to Nibblet." Lance's smile faded for a moment, "Keith, I,"

"Don't. Not today, my friend. Today is about you and your happiness." Keith tugged his friend into a brief hug. "Now, let's take our places."

The two walked to the side door of the chapel and waited for the signal for the beginning of the ceremony.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

July 2710

Serena stood in the middle of the room, juggling Kora, shushing her. "Please baby girl, just five minutes. Can you stop crying for five minutes?" Tears ran down her face as she looked at the clock. Tsuyo's shift did not end for another hour and she did not know she would make it until then. Kora had started screaming an hour earlier and nothing Serena did would comfort her. She did not want to nurse, she had a clean diaper, no fever, but nothing consoled her.

She heard a faint sound of knocking over Kora's cries. Switching the baby to yet another position, she bounced on her toes, shushing like the midwife had taught her.

After a minute, she heard the door open and looked up, hopeful her husband had come home early. To her disappointment, Keith stood in the doorway. Unable to help it, she started sobbing. She had not slept more than an hour or two at a time in days, she needed a shower and sleep. Suddenly, she felt Keith envelop both her and Kora in his arms. "Shhh, Serena. Shhhhh." Serena could only cry harder.

Keith felt shocked when he overrode the door command to find Serena standing in the middle of the room with a screaming Kora, looking ready to collapse. She looked at him and started sobbing. Without a thought, he had gone over and wrapped his arms around her and Kora. When she started sobbing harder, he picked up the both of them and walked over to the large rocker built for Hunk and carefully sat down with both the sobbing mother and crying child. Not knowing exactly what to do, he let Serena cry on one shoulder while he awkwardly moved Kora to the other and patted her back. Racking his brain, he tried to think of a comforting song, but could only come up with ribald ditties from the academy. Hoping Serena would not understand the lyrics, he started singing one of the less offensive ones in a slow intonation, trying to rub Kora's back in rhythm and awkwardly patting Serena shoulder. After the first verse, Serena started calming. As Serena relaxed, so did Kora. By the third song, Serena took one shuddering breath and straightened. Kora lay tucked under Keith's chin, with Keith leaning awkwardly backward to keep her in place.

"Keith, your singing could peel paint off the walls and your subject matter is rather . . . coarse."

Keith kept singing his answer in tune with the ditty, "I know, but had to do something. Now you go and shower. Go take a nap. Kora and I are going to do paperwork."

"But, Keith, I,"

"No arrrrr-guing. We muuuust, be going. I am orrrrrrr-dering you around."

Serena leaned over and kissed Keith on the cheek. "Yes, commander." She carefully stood and walked to the bathroom. As she looked back, she saw Keith kiss Kora's head, still singing completely inappropriate songs not even close to pitch. Kora snuggled closer under Keith's chin, her head over his heart. Serena felt herself fall just a little bit in love with the man who obviously adored her baby.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

May 2711

"I don't want to."

"I did not ask."

"So?"

"So you are going to go and meet this person and be nice."

"We don't need another pilot."

"Yes we do."

"We have you and Lt. Mikelson, and Lt. Bragadier."

"And now we will have Lt. Toragon."

"No."

"Again, I neither asked for permission nor your approval. Am I or am I not still commander of this planet's military?"

"Yes, you are."

"By protocol, you have the obligation to welcome the new pilot and confirm my appointment of him as a pilot of Black. Correct?"

"Yes," came the sullen response.

Keith blew out a breath and ran a hand through his hair, "Allura, I do not understand. Kristof is a great pilot. He mixes well with the rest of the pilots, and has quickly become a personal friend of mine. What, exactly, is your problem with him?"

"I do not know. I feel like this is one more person people are pushing on me. One more person to force me into marriage."

Keith stepped forward and pulled Allura into his arms. "We have talked this subject to death. Haggar ensured we can never marry and have children. That evil bitch took away our 'Happily Ever After', but we can still ensure that Arus will continue."

Allura sniffed and wrapped her arms around Keith's waist. "I just cannot imagine being able to love anyone else."

Keith kissed Allura's forehead. "I will love you until the day I die. I need you to do this for me. I need to see you with children we both desire. Haggar took that from me and I am begging you, to not let her steal from you too. I long to see you pregnant with a child and watch your children grow. I cannot give you those children, but I can and will be the best Uncle and have as much joy in your children as I find with Kora and Makus. Please, Beloved? Will you try, for me?"

They stood together for long minutes before Keith felt Allura give a tiny nod against his chest. "For you, my dearest love, I will try." She felt wetness against her forehead, and held Keith close as he let the tears fall.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

March 2712

Lance wandered over to where Keith stood near the windows; drink in hand, chatting with Glenna. Holding one finger up to keep Keith silent, he walked slowly toward his wife. He drew near and reached one hand out to tug at her curly hair,

"Touch the hair and lose the hand McClain."

Lance froze momentarily and then slipped his arm around her waist and kissed the back of her neck. "One of these days, love."

Glenna leaned back against his shoulder and turned her head to give him a kiss on the cheek. "Never, fly boy. Now my drink is empty and I think it is gossip time with the girls. Keep Commander Serenity company for a bit." With that she patted the hand around her waist and then wandered off toward where Serena and Magda stood.

Lance watched her put a bit of extra sway in her step.

"Twitterpated."

"Am not!"

"Are too! You were staring at your wife's backside and you have drool at the corner of your mouth."

"Do not."

"Do too."

Lance reached a hand up toward his mouth, "Do," he paused and wiped away the incriminating evidence. "Not!" then he continued in a whisper "anymore."

Keith laughed and held up his drink in toast to his friend, "Although, I can see why you admire the view."

Lance sighed, "It is such a good view!" He took a swig of his own drink, and pointed toward Keith's glass, "Need a refill?"

Shaking his head, Keith set the drink down, "No, I have managed to nurse this one to death. It should be consigned to a watery abyss unmourned and forgotten."

Laughing, Lance finished his drink and put the empty glass next to Keith's then flung his arm around his friend. "Well bossman, then perhaps we should find something else!"

Both men looked up as familiar laughter filled the room. Lance felt Keith's shoulders tighten momentarily. By the time Lance looked at his friend's face, he could only see the genial High Commander Kogane, revered pilot of Black Lion, and unflappable leader of the Arusian Military. Lance glanced over and saw Allura standing with several people gesturing and laughing along with whatever story she told. He also watched as she absently rested her hand on the arm of the man standing next to her. The man reached up to cover her hand with his and they exchanged a fond glance before he removed his hand and she removed hers.

"C'mon, Keith. I want to go check on Makus and I am sure he is still awake and terrorizing his babysitter."

"Tell you what, why don't I go and relieve the babysitter and you go dance with your wife? I am sure you can find a way to pull one of those curls out."

Lance looked at his friend with his too polite expression, "You sure?"

"Yep. I am feeling rather fatigued anyway and I have the early patrol shift."

"Ok then. We may be rather late…."

Keith grinned at his friend, "I rather like the idea of raiding your wife's chocolate stash and watching an old movie in the Monster Chair."

Lance slapped Keith on the back, pretending not to notice when he winced. He needed to remember to be gentler. "Deal my friend, deal."

With a last small smile, Keith walked out of the room, pausing when people stopped to talk with him. Lance felt an arm creep through his and kissed the top of his wife's head as she leaned against his arm. "He pretends well."

"Hmmm. Years of practice. Did I ever tell you how he used to feel terrified at even the thought of public speaking or going to a party? I used to give him the worst time about being anti-social and a study-aholic. Finally forced him to go with me to a party. About half and hour into it, I noticed he had disappeared. So I grabbed Sven and we went looking for him. Found him in the corner stall of the bathroom, heaving his guts out. We thought he had been drinking. Turns out the crowd had set off a major panic attack. We snuck him out of the party and tried to take him to the emergency clinic, but he would have none of it and shooed us back to the party. When I tried to apologize the next day, he actually thanked me for forcing him to go. Said he needed to learn to deal with the crowds if he ever wanted to go up in the ranks of Galaxy Garrison. So he started seeking out gatherings. Sven and I acted as his wing men helping him escape before the panic attacks.

"He learned how to control the panic, but he still hates gatherings of people and will always look for an excuse to come late and leave early. He knows how to play the political game, but hates it more than any commander I have ever seen."

Glenna looked puzzled, "But I have seen him lecture to hundreds of people, lead troops, and do dozens of other activities that require interaction with people."

Lance nodded, "And you would be amazed by how many times before a lecture he is physically ill. That's why he always has rolls of antacids and breath fresheners in his pockets. As to leading on the battlefield or in drills, that is a routine. He can do that because it is a familiar pattern. Then he can shut off the emotional part of himself and be only the soldier. If you see him at council discussions he does the same thing. Approaches it as a military campaign and turns off the emotions for the duration. Glenna, he is the strongest man I know because he does what needs doing in spite of his weaknesses."

"Is that the only reason he is leaving?"

Lance looked over at Allura standing next to the commander, flirting with him. "No."

Glenna glanced over at Allura as well. "My hearts hurts for them."

Lance nodded and then shook his head. "What am I doing being all depressing when I have this lovely, beautiful, vibrant woman in my arms and there is music playing?"

Glenna ran a finger suggestively his arm. "Well, there is music. Or a quiet corner of the gardens."

Lance grinned and leaned over to give her a kiss before running his hand over her derriere. "Well, if my lady wants a moonlight stroll. . ." The pair laughed quickly headed to the gardens.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

September 2712

"You look beautiful, my dear. So like your mother. She would be proud of you, Allura, just as I am."

"Do you really think so?" Allura twirled around gently, letting the skirt of the dress flare around her and then settle back to its folds. The gown followed Arusian wedding tradition of starting out as pale green and growing deeper in color until the bottom resembled the rich understory of the forest by moonlight. Simple in design, the short-sleeved, scooped neck dress left arms bare. The tiered skirt ended just above her ankles. Her maid had threaded silver thread through her coiffed hair, allowing just a few tendrils to fall to frame her face. She carried a simple redwood box and would walk barefoot to meet her intended.

Coran placed his hands on either side of her face and gently kissed her forehead. "Yes, I really think so." Straightening, he bowed to her formally, "Your Highness. As your duly appointed guardian, I hereby ask if you are ready for the step you take. This joining shall be tested sorely through time. You shall have joy and sorrow. Times of plenty and times of famine. Do you now go to meet your intended with a light heart, easy mind, and joyful soul?"

"I do."

"Then I shall stand as witness to your joining."

Allura dropped into a deep curtsy, "I thank you, my dearest guardian, and ask you give your blessing upon me and wish my joy."

"Granted. You have my blessing and I wish you joy."

Coran extended his hand and helped Allura to stand. She gave Coran a brilliant smile and leaned forward to give him a kiss. "Thank you, Coran."

"You are welcome, my dear."

He bowed his head and turned to walk through the doors to find his place. Allura took a few breaths and composed herself for the ritual ahead. With a nod to the attendant, the doors opened. As Allura took the first step down the aisle, a single voice started singing the ritual joining song. A second and third voice joined weaving harmonies in and around each other. She smiled as she saw a handsome man in Uniform, dark hair and eyes walking to meet her.

As he drew near, she held out a hand toward him, which he captured and kissed. Placing her hand on his arm, they walked toward the center of the chapel where, upon a dais, waited one of the Witches to conduct the ceremony. From the third aisle, a man with dark brown hair and bright blue eyes approached the dais. His eyes widened as he took in Allura's appearance. The three met at the steps just as the music reached a crescendo and stopped.

The three exchanged smiles and Allura turned to hand the box to a waiting attendant, and then placed a hand on each man's arm. The three walked together up to stand before the Witch who smiled at them.

"You have come to stand before me, in this place and time, in front of friends, family, subjects, those both known and not-yet-known to offer your Pledge of Joining. Please indulge me a few minutes as I explain to the off-worlders your Pledge." She turned to face the crowd. "This tradition goes back to our earliest records. Unlike the marriage ceremony, a Pledge of Joining actually unites three individuals. This goes back to a time when one person could not fulfill all the requirements of marriage. Often this happened because of injury or sickness. A Pledge of Joining then is a partnership between three people. One stands in surety to care for any children. This relationship is closer than an Aunt or Uncle and is considered to be a blood bond and unbreakable. Many off-worlders mistake this as each person being married to more than one person. This is not so. The one who stands in surety may be beloved, but is like a brother or sister to the other two."

The Witch turned back to the three people standing before her. "Allura, Kristoff, Keith. Do you come to me now with the intent of offering your Pledge of Joining?"

"We do."

"Then I ask for the one who stands in surety to step forward."

With a smile, the dark haired man released Allura hand and reached into. his pocket to pull out a small box. In the box lay three thin steel rings. "I, Keith Kogane, do stand in Surety for Kristof and Allura. I do pledge to care for their children and take them to my heart as my own. I do pledge to help them through the difficult times and to love them as my family. As a symbol, I offer these rings. Simple and unadorned, they represent the circle we shall build as a family. Made of steel, they represent the unbreakable support I will give and strength I offer to build the foundation of our family."

The Witch nodded and took the box, placing it on a small pedestal in front of her. Keith stepped to the side to allow Allura and Kristof to step forward. Allura turned to receive the box from her attendant and Kristof took a matching box from his. Allura's box held three rings of bright gold, and Kristof's held three rings of silver.

"I Kristof, come her to Pledge in Joining to Allura. I will take her as my wife and promise to love and treasure her always. I will gladly accept any children from this union with joy and love. I will work through the hard times and the easy. I further accept Keith Kogane to stand surety for my family and embrace him as brother and friend. I offer these rings of silver to represent the circle we shall build as family. Silver shines in moonlight. Let it represent the light I bring to weave through our family even during the dark times."

"I come here to Pledge in Joining to Kristof. I will take him as my husband and promise to love and treasure him always. I will gladly accept any children from this union with joy and love. I will work through the hard times and the easy. As ruler of this planet, I will share decisions making with him and embrace him as my equal. I further accept Keith Kogane to stand surety for my family and embrace him as brother and beloved. I offer these rings of gold to represent the circle we shall build as family. Gold is malleable and a small amount can be hammered into many shapes and functions. When combined with other metals it gains strength. Let this represent the ability to be flexible and ready for change."

The Witch took the rings out of the boxes and held them in her hand. "So you have pledged. So we have witnessed and heard. So shall the Joining be whole." She held out her hands over the rings and they slowly rose from their boxes. The nine rings began spinning in a circle, the speed increasing until they formed a continuous blur. The Witch clapped her hands and the rings ceased moving.

A loud gasp could be heard from the off-world contingent of the audience. Where nine rings had spun in a circle, now only three rings remained; gold and silver and steel twisted together to form one whole, smooth, unblemished, and without mark of tool or hand. Two of the rings moved toward Allura and Kristof. They turned to join hands.

"Allura, this ring is the visible symbol of our joining. It is a blend of three metals because we will blend into one family unit." He reached to take one of the rings and slip it on Allura's finger and then raised her hand to kiss the ring.

"Kristof, this ring is the visible symbol of our joining. The twisted shape reminds us of how our lives intertwine and yet remain our own." She reached out to take the remaining ring and slip it on Kristof's finger and raised his hand to kiss the ring.

The two remained standing, holding hands for several minutes before turning back to the Witch and the remaining ring. Allura gently took the ring, and Keith stepped forward to stand before them.

"Keith, you stand before us as beloved friend and brother. We ask you to wear our ring. Your life shall intertwine with ours." Kristof placed his right hand on Keith's shoulder as Keith raised a shaking hand to receive the ring from Allura. She placed the ring on his finger and raised her eyes to his for a long moment.

"I Keith Kogane, do accept this ring as a symbol of my new family and as a symbol of how my life shall entwine with yours. As three separate rings have become one and grown in strength and beauty, let this Joining do the same."

Allura raised eyes swimming with tears to meet Keith's. He gave her hand a squeeze and then stepped back to stand on the side as the Joining ceremony continued.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

2709 July Serena/Hunk Wedding

2709 October Overthrow of 1st Doom, Keith's infection

2709 November Initial meeting with Gorma and Skeith

2710 January Lance/Glenna wedding

2710 May Kora's Birth (Serena/Hunk's child)

2710 July Makus Birth (Lance/Glenna's child)

2711 May Allura fights meeting Kristof

2711 December Nikko's Birth (Serena/Hunk's child)

2712 March Keith leaves party early

2712 September Allura/Kristof Wedding