A/N: Alright, this chapter is going to be a little different. It takes place after season 7 in regards to the whole possibility of Allura and Lance becoming a thing. Well, this is my take on how Pidge probably feels about it. Thank you to Juliastes for suggesting I do my take on the season finale! So, without further ado; Chapter technically 10 because I didn't realize my last one was off.

~Chapter Ten: Full Circle~

It hurt. It hurt a lot.

But Pidge dismissed it as soon as it had came. The horrible, gut wrenching, heart breaking, ice cold feeling in her whole being that had consumed her as soon as she saw Lance and Allura depart from each other; both with similar obviously love-struck blushes.

It hurt like hell to hear Lance talk about her constantly but to see that Allura was now falling for him was even more hard to bare. After all the times that he had made passes and flirts at her, she promptly dismissed him but now that Lotor was dead she decides now of all times to-!

Pidge took a deep breathe. Now was not the time to think about that. Nor was it the time back then only four weeks prior to overanalyze any possibilities because there was a war. But now that suddenly the war between the Galra and planet earth was over, Pidge found it easier for her brain to suddenly dwell on certain things. Things she had tried desperately to avoid.

For years she tried to avoid it.

...

Katie Holt was finally in the sixth grade. She was so excited! Finally able to be around the bigger kids of junior high rather than be stuck with immature elementary students. It was her chance to be as cool as her older brother, Matt. Though he would be starting as a freshman at the high school, she still considered this a big step in being just as amazing and smart as her brother.

The car stopped right in front of the junior high and Katie looked on in amazement at the vast size of the building before her. She'd never admit it but it was quite intimidating.

"Have an amazing day, sweetheart!" her mother, Colleen reached over to the passenger seat and gave her daughter a hug.

"Thanks, mom!" Katie hugged her mother back. She released her hug and gave her mother a serious look, "Mom, do I really look okay?" gesturing to her light pink dress and side-ponytail, her mom chuckled.

Colleen reached out to touch her cheek, "Sweetie, you look beautiful. You're going to do great today. Okay, Katie?" her daughter nodded but a slight frown still grossed her face. Her mom furrowed her brow, "What's wrong, honey?"

Katie sighed, "I wish dad was here, too…. And Matt." she looked down at her hands fiddling in her lap. She knew it was a bit of a sensitive topic to talk about her dad and Matt's absence.

Her mother sighed, "I know, dear. But you know dad had to leave early for the Garrison and Matt had to start school early."

"I know…." the look on her daughter's face and slumped shoulders made Colleen sigh in sympathy.

She smiled though, "Tell you what. After school today, you and I can go get gelato at the mall. Does that sound good?" Katie's face instantly lit up.

"Yeah!" her mom laughed at her sudden enthusiasm.

"Alright, but you gotta go and make today as great as you can. Okay?"

"Okay!" Katie turned and opened the car door to step out. "I love you, mom!"

"I love you, too, Katie!" Colleen watched as the youngest stepped out and shut the car door. Exchanging final waves, Mrs. Holt started up the car as soon as her precious daughter entered the doors of the school.

Katie looked back at the retreating car and let out a puff of air. It'll be great. Sixth grade will be a new start.

Turning back, she proceeded through the doors of her future.

….

The first day of school was a success. Katie was picked up by her mother and they proceeded to head towards the mall where they got vanilla (her mom's favorite) and mint (Katie's favorite) flavored gelato. Sitting at a booth, the excited sixth grader proceeded to tell her mother about what her classroom, classmates, and teacher were like.

"-and then Mrs. Thatcher said that since it was our first day all we needed to do was get our papers signed by our parents- which I need you to sign by the way- and then Jacob said that we should do that all the time. But then Mrs. Thatcher said for him to only speak when her was called on- which is true- and the-"

Colleen laughed, "Katie! Sweetie, slow down. Your gelato will have melted into condensation by the time you're done." her daughter smiled sheepishly.

"Sorry, mom. I'm just really excited! I think it's going to be a great year! All the material Mrs. Thatcher said we'd go over is already the stuff that Matt taught me during the summer so this year should be a breeze."

Her mom smiled, "I'm glad to hear that you think so. But don't slack off just because it's easy okay?" Katie nodded.

"Right, I won't mom." Colleen gave Katie a quick hug before they finished their gelato. Half of Katie's found its way onto her napkin since she rambled on so much.

….

A few months had passed and Katie had found it slightly difficult to focus on her studies. The material was easy enough to catch up on at home but it was during class that the young Holt had found it nearly impossible to concentrate.

It was all because of that Jacob Erickson's fault, she was sure of it! He made stupid jokes during class that would make her chuckled slightly to herself only to become distracted by his stupid face and his stupid smile and his stupid, stupid, STUPID-

Sighing in defeat, Katie made her way downstairs to talk with her mom. It was nearing six o'clock and her and her mom were expecting her dad back home any minute to visit for Christmas Break. Matt had gone to meet him from the station that the Garrison would be dropping him off from. She had to talk to her mom before they got home. It would be embarrassing if they knew her predicament.

Katie peeked around the corner to find her mom finishing up a salad for the night's dinner. Stepping into the kitchen, she took a deep breath before starting.

"Hey, mom?" Mrs. Holt looked over her shoulder.

"Yes, dear?" Katie let a puff of air escape through her nostrils before continuing.

"Can I- Can I ask you something?"

Colleen placed the salad bowl onto the adjacent counter before turning to face her daughter, "Of course, Katie. What's wrong?" the young girl started fidgeting with the hem of her shirt.

"Nothing, I just… Well, I just wanted…. To ask- I guess I wanted to ask you about….. Well, how do you deal… with… feelings?"

Sighing, Colleen gave Katie a warm smile. "Is this about that Jacob boy that you seem to talk about a lot?" her accusations were confirmed as her daughter (of only twelve years old, mind you) started to blush. Katie nodded. Stifling a laugh, Colleen made her way to the dining room table motioning for the inquisitive child to follow.

Sitting down, Colleen took a moment to process how to explain to her daughter the horrible experiences of having hormones, "You see, Katie. Falling for boys is a natural part of growing up." She explained the whole concept to her about 'having feelings' and how it may affect her daughter's life now and in the future. Katie listened intently knowing that her mom and dad had given this talk to Matt. Truth be told, the little girl had listened in on part of the conversation so she knew about the birds and the bees and whatever else there was. (Luckily her mother was not giving her any explanation on THAT topic, currently). But she still asked certain questions. Thankfully her mom answered all of Katie's questions to the best of her ability.

"If you like him, Katie…. Then my advice would be to be his friend first. Don't rush into anything- you're only twelve after all. Just try to be his friend first and see what happens. Not all feelings are mutual, honey. Don't be disappointed if he only wants to be friends, okay?" Katie nodded.

"Alright…. But what if he doesn't want to be friends?" her mom sighed.

"Then I guess-"

"-Then I guess I'll have to show him who he's messing with!" Katie and Colleen turned around to see the smiling faces of the rest of their family.

"Dad!" Katie flew from her seat to give her dad a hug and then turned to her brother who enveloped her in a hug. Bae Bae barking madly behind her, wagging his tail.

Colleen stood up to kiss her husband. "We didn't hear you come in." Sam smiled sheepishly.

"Sorry, dear. Didn't mean to scare you."

Matt pushed his sister out to arm's length. "Now what's this about a boy who has stolen my little sister's heart?" said sister blushed madly.

"Matt!"

….

Katie had taken her mom's advice. She began to be friends with Jacob and at first it was going well. They did projects together, talked about ridiculous things during lunch and after school. It was great. In fact, it had been about a couple of months into the summer after school let out that Katie thought Jacob might like her back. They had technically been on a date a couple of times (just getting ice cream or a snack together). She would never admit it- especially to her brother since he constantly was embarrassing her when around Jacob- but she thought that maybe, just maybe they would be able to start dating when the time for school to start back up.

However, life had different plans.

It was a couple of weeks after school had started back up when Jacob had told Katie.

The young girl stood there in stunned silence as Jacob explained that he and Rachel had started dating. Apparently, Rachel and Jacob had the same third, fourth, and sixth periods together and news got around because of Rachel's friend, Sharon had shared that the latter was really crushing on the boy….. Well apparently, Jacob felt the same way.

Katie couldn't understand….. Hadn't they been close to starting a relationship? They had just spent most of sixth grade and the summer together….. Didn't he feel the same way?

She swallowed back the lump forming in her throat before nodding, "Yeah that's super cool." And although she feigned being okay with it all, when she got home she practically threw herself into her mom's lap. Crying tears of heartbreak.

"W-why doesn't he like me, mom? I-I thought that he liked me b-back." Colleen combed her hand through her daughter's hair, making gentle shushing sounds to calm her daughter down.

"I know, honey. I know." the poor broken girl sobbed into her mother's lap. She couldn't help the thoughts that ran at full speed through her mind; Did she do something wrong? Had she not been interesting enough? Rachel was by far the most popular girl in school… is that all Jacob saw? Looks and popularity?

"I-i-is there- is there s-something w-wro-wrong with m-m-me?" Katie felt her mom stop her motion and made Katie sit up and look at her.

"Katie, nothing is wrong with you. You're intelligent, confident, beautiful- don't ever let a boy make you feel any less." She brought her tear-stained daughter into a hug before continuing. "I know it hurts. He was your first crush." the sounds of Katie's sobbing filled her ears. She rubbed her back. "But trust me when I tell you, sweetie. Someone is out there right now waiting to be part of your world. But in the meantime, never stop being who you are. Never feel like you are unworthy of such affection….. Okay?"

The sobbing slowed down to sniffles as Katie released the hug to look at her mom. Her eyes puffy and cheeks red. She nodded.

"O-okay, mom." she tackled her mom in another hug. "Thank you, mommy." she whispered, still fighting back tears.

"Of course, sweetheart. I'll always be here when you need me."

….

That memory brought a couple of tears to Pidge's eyes. She furiously wiped them away.

Jacob had been her first heartbreak. And with Lance, it felt like she was living that horrible year all over again.

Taking a deep breath, Pidge stopped working on the configurations for the Garrison and made her way to her mom's room. The Paladins had been sent home but because of the Garrison needing all hands on deck with the Altean and earth technological advances. All the Paladins and their families were given special quarters within the Garrison to accommodate for basically living there.

As she made her way to her mom's room, Pidge thought about what transpired after the whole Jacob heartbreak. It hadn't been pretty. Matt went into full on protective brother mode and said he'd blast that kid into deep space if needed, dad had tried calming Pidge down, too, and Pidge herself had done everything she could to stay away from not only Jacob but Rachel and basically all the boy population. Luckily, Jacob moved later that year.

She knew it was drastic but secluding herself from her peers was the only thing Pidge could think of doing. That's how she become "the nerd" later on in her school years. Having her nose shoved in a textbook or computer screen didn't exactly scream "Hey I wanna be your friend!"

Of course she had had feelings for various classmates but she never acted on them. No, relationships and boyfriends were not the top priority on her list. Especially after Matt and dad went missing. It's why she hardly talked to anyone at first when infiltrating the Garrison. Too focused on the task at hand... Nothing was more important than bringing her family back together.

But of course, Lance and Hunk had barged into her life. Which led to them spending time together, led them to becoming friends, led to them sitting on that roof to them following Keith (all because Lance wanted to one up the drop out)….. And, Pidge supposed it's what led them to finding Shiro and later the Blue Lion together. It was all because of Lance…

But that had been the equivalent of five years ago on earth's time. A lot has changed since then….. Their team, their friendships, their work….. Her feelings. She had tried so hard to dismiss them. Knowing Lance could never feel the same way it was easy to get lost in her work and to pretend it didn't hurt. But it did. Pidge knew it was not Allura's fault. The princess had her own personality about her that really attracted anybody. The young Paladin didn't blame Lance for how he felt, it was just hard to let go. She kept her feelings hidden for so long that it was hard to acknowledge that she even did have feelings. But now after all this time…. Now that Katie could once again confide in her mother the feelings she could never share with anyone else.

Not that she didn't trust anyone else. It was just… never the right time to talk to anyone else.

But now… now Pidge could now talk about her feelings.

She reached her mom's door taking a moment before knocking.

Her vision blurred as tears formed in her eyes. The feelings were happening again.

Jacob.

Lance.

It was all coming full circle.

A/N: Okay so, I hope that wasn't too out of the ordinary for this fic, it was really all I could come up with because a) I wanted to feature Colleen as the amazing mommy she is and b) I figured Katie probably had someone she may have had a crush on so *shrug* I hope it was alright. I will be jumping back and forth between their time in space and continuations for this chapter which will be taking a look at various other moments that could have been possible (ie the aftermath of cell scene from Season 7 *wink wink*). Anyway! I will see you all next time and hope you all have a wonderful day and drink lots of water. Stay hydrated, guys! :)

~K-Zittles