Disclaimer: I do not own Voltron or any of its characters.

Beta: Thanks Dawn!

Rating/Setting: Rating of T. Setting is AU but in the DotU universe.

Chapter Twelve: Rest and More Rest

With Allura making sure that Keith followed Dr. Gorma's instructions to the letter, Keith's recovery progressed just as the doctor said. He was released 48 hours after he regained consciousness with orders to take it easy, take his medications, and wear the bandages that were helping to heal his ribs. Keith had no problems following the last two orders; it was the first that caused him problems. Watching the team hold Lion practice without him was difficult, but Coran had added his opinion to the doctor's. Coran had told him, "Your ribs are too fragile right now, and you haven't recovered from your concussion. Do you really want to injure yourself in a practice when we may need you for a battle?" Keith knew as a commanding officer that he wouldn't let any member of the team practice if they were as injured as he was. He actually felt a little ashamed that he had even brought up the possibility and thanked Coran for being sensible about the issue.

It was now a week and a half since the battle and the swelling was completely gone. There was only a faint bruising visible along Keith's hairline and on his ribs. Keith wasn't vain, but he knew that he had to attend the ball. If the Voltron commander looked like he had taken a beating, well that wouldn't look good for Arus. The five pilots were in the rec room having some down time in the afternoon. Allura and Keith were sitting on the couch holding hands while Lance and Pidge were playing a game of pool. Hunk was having an afternoon snack, noting that it was just too long between lunch and dinner.

Allura looked over at the serious expression on Keith's face. She knew this recovery time wasn't easy for him. Sitting on the sidelines, not going to Lion practice, and being unable to work out, left him with little to do. But that was the point; Dr. Gorma had stressed the key element of rest. Against his nature, he had allowed Allura to confine him to his room for the last week every afternoon for a 'nap.' She started smiling, thinking about the look that had come over his face when she told him she wanted him to nap every afternoon. She had convinced him to do it by promising to give him a kiss before he went to sleep. She also thought he secretly craved the rest due to his battered body, but his work ethic just wouldn't let him give into it easily.

Keith glanced over to the smiling princess. A grin came to his face. "What's making you smile this time?"

"You."

"Me? And what in particular about me is making you smile?"

Allura watched as Keith leaned over to kiss her. "Your nap."

"What?" He pulled back in surprise. "I thought my 'naps' were over now." He said naps with almost the same tone and disdain that he usually reserved for Lotor.

"I was trying to decide if you needed to nap every day until the ball."

Keith heard low laughter coming from the pool table. Of course, Lance overheard.

"I believe that before that last attack, you asked Lotor if he needed to go back to bed for his beauty sleep. It seems like you should take your own advice." With that, Lance hit the cue ball sending a stripe into the corner pocket. He then turned around to ask Allura, "It's just two days until the ball and we haven't heard you raving about your dress, or which prince you've chosen to irritate by your indifference."

Allura felt Keith stiffen. She knew he was dreading the ball. "And when have you ever heard me rave about a dress?" She laughed as she said it.

A mischievous smirk crossed Lance's face as he chalked the cue stick and drawled out. "Oh, I don't know, maybe about a month ago when you went shopping for a special Valentine's dress. I believe you told me that you looked-"

Allura was ruby red as she broke in, "Well, that was an exception. This is for a ball. I do think that the dress is lovely. Don't worry guys, it's not pink. If you like, I could regale you with the choice of fabric, the intricate beading, the exquisite color of aubergine that is…" She watched as their eyes glazed over and smiled. "I didn't think so."

She was surprised when Keith leaned over and whispered so that only she could hear, "How much cleavage does it show and does it have a long slit in the skirt?"

She thought her whole body was blushing as she whispered back, "Some and no."

"Not fair you two!" Lance laughed out, he could only imagine what inappropriate comment Keith had made to make Allura blush like that. "I don't know what you said Keith, but it must have been good."

Keith only smiled back. His smile faded a little as he said, "I have some information about the ball." All eyes turned to him. "Coran would like for us to be in our dress uniforms, and he has asked me to escort Allura to the ball as a symbol of Voltron to the potential suitors."

Hunk had only keyed in on the dress uniform part. "What? We have to wear the full dress uniform? They won't just let us wear those suits the princess bought us?" He said this with a mouth full of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies.

"I'm afraid so," Keith replied. He watched as Hunk murmured something about tight collars and shoved two more cookies in his mouth.

Leaning in towards him, Allura asked, "Coran asked you to do that? When did he do that?"

"He asked me right before the alarms went off for the attack. At first I thought that he had figured out our relationship. I thought that King Alfor might have spoken to him. But then he had us walking in together like that, for a military reason; it doesn't make sense."

"Wait a minute," Lance said as he stopped his next shot and stood up. Looking at Keith, he said, "Let me get this straight, he wants you to escort Allura in because he wants the suitors to see you as a representation of Voltron and what she can bring to their military?" He watched Keith nod and then continued, "So you escorting her is supposed to be an encouragement to the suitors? Seeing you… with her…" He was pointing back and forth between them with the cue stick. "…..is supposed to encourage the princes to pursue the Allura?"

Glumly, Keith nodded. "Yes." He looked at the smiling faces of all his teammates, even Allura was smiling. "Why does that make all of you smile? What am I missing?"

Pidge walked over next to Lance. "Even I can figure that one out, Commander. If Coran has asked you to wear your dress military uniform with all the medals and escort the princess dressed in a beautiful gown to a ball, it's going to speak volumes."

"Yes, I know, that's what we were just talking about, representing Voltron…" Keith tried to get out and then stopped as everyone started laughing.

Creases formed between Keith's brows as he said, "I give up. Maybe it's my concussion…"

Allura leaned over and gave him a gentle kiss on the cheek. "No, my dear, it's not the concussion. It's just that you have never realized how attractive you are." She looked at him as he stared and turned red, "And when you add a dress uniform to an already sexy man, well… Lance would say something about a man in uniform being irresistible. Any prince seeing you would have to know they just couldn't compete. Coran isn't doing this to encourage them; he's doing it to discourage them."

Keith stared at her. Except for the part about him being irresistible, it made some sense. It was a little disconcerting to think about Coran thinking he was irresistible. However, he started to smile. "Do you really think that could be it? Why even bother with the ball then?"

"Because you know it's been planned for months and because we're still working on Nanny. Hopefully, she will also see how irresistible you are." She planted another kiss on Keith's cheek and then turned to Lance, "But then, Lance, Hunk, and Pidge will all be in their dress uniforms as well. Nanny may find one of them irresistible too!"

They all started laughing at that, and Keith thought maybe the ball wouldn't be so bad after all. With the support of their teammates and now possibly Coran, things were looking up.