Arus, Love, and Peace
Ch. 13: Boundaries
Disclaimer: I don't own Voltron and its characters—they belong to World Events Productions. The good news is that Diana, Lawrence, Leanne, and Granny Wills are all mine.
Two hours after Lawrence showed up at the Great Hall, Dr. Gorma had all his cuts sutured and a healing wrap on the bruised ribs and in a hospital room as well as managed to put an IV drip in Lawrence's right arm. Dr. Gorma managed to clean the wounds before inserting stitches from six deep cuts—two on his shoulders, two on his chest, and two cuts on his stomach. There were less severe cuts on both of Lawrence's arms and legs. There were also whip marks across his back and the top part of Lawrence's head was wrapped in a bandage. It looked like Lawrence won a hand-to-hand combat but lost a sword fight. Dr. Gorma hadn't seen anything like this in years. With a shake of his head, Dr. Gorma left the hospital room and went to the waiting room where Lance, Diana, Leanne, Coran, Keith, and Allura were waiting for news.
Diana and Leanne changed into similar outfits—Diana was wearing a white shirt while Leanne was wearing a blue shirt and both ladies were wearing jeans and sneakers. Allura and Keith changed into their usual jumpsuits. Lance was wearing his blue shirt and khaki set with the ever-present leather jacket. Coran simply took off his jacket instead of changing his clothes. Lance and Diana were sharing one of the couches in the waiting room, while Keith and Allura shared the other couch. Coran and Leanne sat in the separate chairs, but close to each other. Hunk was on patrol with some of the Garrison soldiers patrolling with him for back-up. Pidge and Lawrence's other Lieutenant, Carle was in Castle Control going through all the video footage they could find from the shuttle to piece together what happened as well as to find any clues on Birchen's current location.
When Dr. Gorma entered the waiting room, all eyes were on him. "Thank you for waiting. I was able to clean and dress all of Lawrence's wounds. I had to use two types of sutures—the soluble stitches to pull the cuts closer before using the traditional stitches to close the wounds. I'll have to pull them out in a few days to prevent any more scarring. His ribs were bruised and missed his vital organs, so I have a healing wrap around his ribs. There was also a deep cut on his forehead above his right eye that I was also able to stitch and patch up. The cuts on his arms and legs were not as serious, so I just used Nu-Skin on them. There were also several whip cuts on his back, so I cooled the skin around it before cleaning and applying NuSkin to reduce scarring." Dr. Gorma paused before continuing. "My guess is that Captain Wiley was fighting against a small group of people. Right now, he's sleeping. I believe that he'll be back to normal in a couple of days."
"That's great news, Dr. Gorma," Leanne responded first. "Can we visit Captain Wiley?"
"I normally don't allow visitors after visiting hours, but I'll allow everybody to visit with him for 10 minutes." Dr. Gorma said. "If he wakes up during your visit, make sure to let the nursing staff know. I'm turning in for the night."
"Thank you, Dr. Gorma for everything," Diana said as Leanne went to visit Lawrence first. "Have a good night." The doctor nodded before leaving the waiting room through the hallway in front of the Med-Wing. Lance took a few moments to look at Diana as she sat back down on the couch. A few minutes later, Leanne walked into the waiting room. "Is everything relatively ok, Leanne?"
"Yes. I'm just shocked that he survived this attack and made it back here." Leanne responded. "I'm going to my room and I'll make sure to update my team in the morning." Diana walked and hugged Leanne before whispering something and let Leanne go. "I'll see everybody tomorrow," Leanne said before leaving for her room. Coran left to check on Lawrence next before leaving a few minutes later. Diana hugged Coran and wished him a good night. Keith and Allura checked Lawrence next and wished Lance and Diana a good night as well.
"Lance, can you come with me?" Diana asked as she stood up one more time from the couch they were sitting on. Lance nodded his answer and walked with Diana to Lawrence's hospital room. Lawrence was still asleep, and the machines were beeping softly. Lawrence had an oxygen mask on to make sure that he could breathe in his sleep. Diana could see some of the cuts on his arms as well as the bandage on the top of his head. Diana sighed as she took Lance's hand for comfort as she continued to move her eyes over Lawrence's body. "What happened to you? Why didn't you call for back-up?" Diana asked Lawrence softly. Diana stayed a couple of minutes more before turning back to Lance. "I'm ready to go if you are."
"Let's go. You had a big day and the last few hours were emotional. You also need to get some sleep." Lance said as he held Diana's hand tight for a few moments. They walked out of the room, through the waiting room and out of the Med-Wing. Lance then led Diana to the elevators to their floor, to help Diana's leg rest some. When they arrived at Diana's room, Lance hugged Diana tightly. "I'm sorry about what happened to Lawrence. We'll find out what happened and then go from there. Whoever did this won't get away with it."
"I know," Diana said looking into Lance's eyes. "Thank you for being so understanding about Lawrence."
"Nothing to it, Diana. I'm an understanding kind of guy." Lance said as he kissed Diana's forehead. "Right now…" He then kissed Diana's nose. "I want you to get…" Lance then kissed Diana's neck. "some sleep." Lance finally kissed Diana's lips gently. Diana kissed Lance back before they broke the kiss up a few moments later. Diana opened her door and turned to look at Lance. "Goodnight, Diana," Lance said with a smile. "Sleep well. I'm on Patrol tonight, so I'll watch over everything."
"Have a safe patrol, Lance," Diana said with a smile. "I'll see you at breakfast." The door closed behind her softly and Diana changed into her red pajama shorts set before she laid down under her blankets on the bed.
When Diana heard her alarm clock go off a few hours later, she sighed and stretched her legs before getting off the bed to stand. Happy that she only felt slight pain on her left leg, Diana stretched her arms above her head before looking at the clock. Smiling that it was only 8:30 in the morning, Diana walked to her closet to pick out her outfit for the day. Diana decided to go with her maroon jumpsuit and a white blouse, as well as a pair of maroon flats and nude underwear. She then went to her bathroom and took a quick shower before changing into her outfit. After she was done changing into her clothes, Diana sat at her vanity in the bathroom and took a quick glance at her face and hair. She took a couple of facial wipes and cleaned her face before adding in her moisturizer and smiled when she noticed that her hair was still straight from yesterday—so she made two small braids from the part in the middle and pulled the rest of her hair into a high ponytail. After she was finished with her vanity, Diana left the bathroom with a smile and decided to go to the dining room for breakfast first.
As Diana was leaving her room, she met her grandmother. "Good Morning, Granny! Did you sleep well?"
"Yes, I slept fine. I see that you slept well yourself." Granny Wills replied, smiling back. "Let's get some breakfast before seeing me off. I already have my bags packed and they should be on the shuttle."
"Already," Diana said, as they continued to the elevator and made their way to the dining room. Just as they were going to enter the dining room, Lance arrived with a basket and a large smile. "Good morning, Lance. Who is the basket for?" Diana asked.
"Good morning, Granny Wills and Diana," Lance replied as he took an arm from each woman. "This basket is for the three of us. We're having breakfast outside again in the gazebo. I already have everything set up for us."
"How thoughtful, Lance." Granny Wills said as she took one of his proffered arms. Diana smiled back and took the other arm.
"It's not every day that I have breakfast with two beautiful women," Lance said as he guided them to the gazebo outside. As Lance said, everything was already set-up for the morning meal. Breaking from Diana's arm, Lance placed the basket in the middle of the table. Lance helped Granny Wills to a seat on the bench, before helping Diana to sit on another seat on the bench, next to him. With a smile, he opened the basket. "Allow me to serve my ladies," Lance said as he took the plates out. He then took Granny Will's plate and filled it with orange crepes, scrambled eggs, and bacon and returned it to her. He then took her glass before filling it up with orange juice and sat it by her plate. Lance turned to Diana with a smile and served Diana the same way. Finally, he served himself and sat comfortably next to Diana.
"Lance, this was very sweet for you to have a breakfast just the three of us." Granny Wills said, after a few bites of the crepes. "And it's nice to finally enjoy one of these famous breakfast picnics."
"I couldn't let you go back to Earth without having one," Lance said with a smile, before feeding Diana a few pieces of his crepes. Diana responded with a smile and gave him a few pieces of her crepes as well. For the next few minutes, Granny Wills took the time to have one last observation of how Diana and Lance were getting along. She noticed that Diana was the happiest she's been since her parents' death. Granny Wills also noticed that she never saw Diana so much in love, either. Smiling at the couple when they took a moment to engage her, Granny wills noticed that Diana also had a new glow about herself.
"It appears that you're enjoying Arus on a full-time basis. What are your plans for the near future?" Granny Wills asked before taking a couple of sips of her orange juice. Diana playfully slapped Lance's hand away from her plate before responding to her grandmother.
"Right now, Granny, I'm not sure. I still have more things to do with my public health project here. I'm still serving as a reserve for the Voltron Force. Then there's Arus Air Force project. I'm just taking everything day by day." Diana said before pausing, thinking about how long she's been in Arus. "Wow! I've been on Arus for around four months already. I love it here—although I know that Earth is my home, I feel more at home here in Arus."
"I know for one that I would love it if you decided to stay in Arus permanently," Lance said before giving Diana a chaste kiss on her cheek. Diana smiled and rolled her eyes before responding back.
"I know you would," Diana said with a soft laugh. "I haven't thought about my future outside of being here for a year with the public health system and reserve duty. I've been here four months but only feels like it's been a few weeks."
"No need for an answer right now but I want you to think about it. Give me an answer when you're ready and I'll make sure to take care of things." Granny Wills said, smiling back. She took all the tableware and placed them back in the basket. Diana and Lance got up from the table and with Granny Wills' help, they were able to move the table and benches back to their original spots. Once they were finished, Lance offered his arms to Diana and Granny Wills and they walked to the hangar to see Granny Wills off.
In the hangar, they were greeted by Coran, Keith, and Allura. Keith and Allura shared how they enjoyed meeting Granny Wills and having her on Arus. Allura extended an invitation to visit Arus and the Castle of Lions whenever Granny Wills decides to visit. After thanking Allura for the invitation, Granny Wills walked to Coran. They shared a hug and had a quiet conversation before breaking apart. Coran left for Castle Control and Granny Wills returned to Diana and Lance.
"So, this is it, kiddo." Granny Wills said with a smile to Diana.
"I'll protect and take care of Diana. She's in great hands." Lance promised Granny Wills after she gave Lance a hug.
"I know you will, Lance." Granny Wills replied when she released him from her hug. "Just continue doing what you've been doing to Diana."
Granny Wills then took Diana and gave her a tight hug. "I'll miss you. Have fun here in Arus and don't forget to let me know how you're doing every so often."
"I will, Granny," Diana replied. "I promise if my plans have changed, I'll let you know so you can take care of things for me on Earth." They hugged for a few more moments before they broke the hug apart. Granny Wills waved to the group left in the hangar before going into the shuttle. As the pilots were finishing their pre-flight checks, everybody except Diana and Lance stayed in the hangar to watch the shuttle leave Arus for Earth. When the shuttle was no longer in sight, Lance and Diana went back into the castle. They stopped at the kitchen to return the picnic basket before going their separate ways promising to meet at Diana's office before lunch. Lance gave Diana a lingering kiss on her lips before she entered her office while Lance walked upstairs to his room.
When Diana made it to her desk, she sat down and started up her datapad. For the first hour in her office, Diana checked the status of the new clinics and hospitals across the remote regions including LeMond, Smythe House, and Ocino. She was pleased that everything was going well at all the clinics and that they were starting to share projected needs and programs. One common concern was dealing with mental health—most of the clients coming into the clinics showed symptoms of PTSD while other patients were developing signs of substance abuse. Another major concern shared between the clinics and hospitals were the lack of vaccines available—without that preventive medicine, the clinics were seeing the rise of several preventable diseases throughout the populations. Diana spent most of the morning working on planning those programs and before she knew it, Lance was knocking on her door to take her to lunch.
At lunch, it was discussed that the video in the shuttle didn't provide any clues on what happened to Lawrence except for the fact that the fight happened away from the vehicle. Lawrence was able to walk out of the shuttle safely but limped his way back into the shuttle. The last thing the video displayed was how Lawrence stumbled out of the shuttle and limped towards the castle. Coran and Keith couldn't get Lawrence to share what happened. Diana volunteered to visit him in the Med-Wing. When Lance voiced his disapproval, Diana pointed out that she had the best chance to get the story and it was better if she did it alone. After a few more minutes of arguing, Diana won when she promised that Lance could escort her to the Med-Wing. When they arrived at the Med-Wing, Lance gave Diana a chaste kiss on her cheek and made her promise to call him if things get uncomfortable. Diana shook her head mentally to clear it before walking to the nurses' station. The charge nurse and Diana spoke a few moments before she walked into Lawrence's room. "Good Afternoon, Lawrence," Diana said in greeting as she noticed that he was wide awake. "How are you feeling today?"
"I'm feeling better than I was a few hours ago," Lawrence replied, wincing slightly from his bruised ribs. "I'll live to fight another day."
"That's great to hear," Diana replied as she sat in the chair to Lawrence's left. "You gave me quite a scare last night."
"I'm sorry for the scare, Diana," Lawrence stated. "Do I at least look better?"
"You're one day less from a Frankenstein project. Does that help any?" Diana replied with a smile as Lawrence laughed.
"No, not really," Lawrence said before they were quiet for a few moments. Diana looked at Lawrence for a few moments, showing her concern as a close friend. She sighed before speaking again.
"Do you feel like telling me what happened to you out there?" Diana asked.
"Not really. But since it's you, I will." Lawrence sighed before continuing. "After I landed at Millo, I walked around town and started asking discrete questions about Ornal, then if anyone saw a man fitting Birchen's description. After getting little to no answers, I started back towards my shuttle when I noticed movement at the edge of the desert. I followed them into a small cave and that's when I was attacked. I was able to fight my first two attackers but then lost the fight when somebody came from behind and hit my head with a blunt object.
"I woke up later to my back being whipped through my shirt. Once the whipping ended, I managed to escape my closest guards. With my adrenaline pumping, I managed to survive a hand-to-hand combat with a muscular guard—and took a hard shot to my ribs. Once I finally put him down, somehow, I found my way to the entrance of the cave.
"When I left the cave, I noticed that I was roughly about a mile and a half away from where I landed the shuttle. As I headed towards the shuttle, I bumped into Birchen in one of the sand dunes. He challenged me to a sword duel. I took the sword he tossed to me and we started to fight. For the first minutes, we kept barely cutting each other, before I got tired and ultimately lost my sword. It was then when Birchen went crazy and started moving his sword in loops and gave me the big cuts on my chest, arms, and stomach. I passed out for a few moments then I managed to wake-up. I made my way back to the shuttle. I tried flying over the cave and couldn't find any tellable activity. I flew back towards the castle and barely made it to the Great Hall and passed out as I heard you cry my name. And that's all I can remember." Lawrence finished.
"I'm glad that you made it safely back here," Diana said. "Dr. Gorma is the best doctor in Arus and it looks like you're healing well." Lawrence nodded his head. Diana sighed before speaking again as she glazed over him again. "Listening to your account, it appears that we're in the same boat we were in the beginning—no clues, no set pattern, and no way to stop Birchen before something else happens."
"Just about," Lawrence said. "We'll find a way to stop Birchen. It's just taking a little more time."
"We're sitting ducks. It's the worst situation." Diana said, standing up as she noticed that her shift at Control was coming up. "I'll go through our notes during my shift. Maybe we're not looking at the right places." Diana turned to leave the room when Lawrence grabbed her wrist.
"Don't go." Lawrence pleaded.
"I have to go." Diana pulled her wrist, trying to release it. "I have next shift at Control. I'll have Leanne visit you." She tried pulling her wrist free again.
"I want you. It's always been you since we first met." Lawrence said. "We belong together."
"No, we don't," Diana said. "The only thing we can be right now is friends. I'm in a relationship with someone who loves me, and I love him. Lawrence, you must move on, it's unhealthy for you to keep entertaining thoughts of a romantic relationship with me. I visited you as a friend and nothing else. Now let go of my wrist—I have to leave for my shift."
"I won't let go. You don't understand. We were meant to be together in a relationship. You're the only one for me." Lawrence said. "And I'll do anything to make sure we're back together." Diana pulled on her hand again and failed. Sighing, she tried to pry Lawrence's fingers off her wrist and failed.
"Lawrence Wiley, let go of my wrist," Diana demanded again after a quick sigh. She can't believe how Lawrence was able to hold her wrist hostage.
"Let go," Lance said coming into the room, staring at Lawrence. "The lady said let go of her wrist."
Lawrence stared back at Lance, showing no fear in his eyes. "No. This is personal between Diana and me."
"I'm only going to say this one last time. Let go of Diana." Lance said, narrowing his eyes at Lawrence. He was silently daring Lawrence to ignore the demand, while Diana tried to pry Lawrence's fingers off her wrist. Lawrence blinked for a moment and finally released Diana's wrist.
"This isn't over."
"Yes, it is," Lance said. "Diana, let's get you to your shift at Control." Diana nodded and followed Lance out of Lawrence's hospital room. Diana and Lance were silent as they walked out of Med-Wing and into the hallway. When they made it to the hallway in front of Castle Control, Lance finally spoke. "I told you that it was a bad idea to see Lawrence in the hospital room. I knew he was going to pull something like this on you."
"But I was able to find out what happened," Diana said crossing her arms. "I was handling the situation just fine."
"Could have fooled me," Lance said, crossing his arms as he stared at Diana. "He wasn't going to let you go, Diana. You do know that he hasn't gotten over you, yet. And right now, he doesn't care about whatever boundaries are you setting between the two of you. For the time being, I don't want you near Lawrence-especially not alone."
"You're not my—"
"I am your suitor," Lance said, cutting Diana's remark off. "And I have a stake in what goes on in your life. That's what happens when you're in a committed relationship with someone. But you already knew that." Diana started to open her mouth and say something but stopped when she realized what Lance was saying was true.
"Fine. For the time being, I'll stay away from Lawrence." Diana said, sighing. "But in the future, you don't have a say in what I do."
"That's what you think, Lady," Lance said. "As long as we're in this relationship together, my job is to keep you safe." Lance took Diana's chin and lifted her head closer to his.
"I understand you want to keep me safe. But remember that I'm strong, too." Diana said, looking into Lance's eyes.
"Wouldn't say otherwise," Lance said as he leaned his head closer to Diana. "I love you, Diana." Lance finally kissed Diana soundly on her lips.
"I love you, too, Lance," Diana said against his lips before kissing him back. A few seconds later, Diana broke the kiss before pressing the button to enter Castle Control. As Diana walked to the main console, she noticed that the shift change was nearly over and that her uncle was waiting for her. "My apologies for being tardy, Uncle Coran. How did today go so far?"
"No apologies needed, Diana. Everything is going fine so far. Your crew is already here and nearly settled. So, were you able to get what happened to Lawrence?"
"Yes. He's healing quite well so far." Diana said as she took the chair that Coran previously sat in. Diana shared what Lawrence told her in the hospital room, summarizing the tale. "You might need to see if we could locate said cave. Other than that, I think we're back on square one on how to prevent Birchen from attacking us again."
"Interesting. Did anything else happened while you were in the hospital room?" Coran asked Diana noticed that she was keeping a tight lid on her visit.
"Nothing significant, Uncle Coran," Diana replied, choosing to omit what happened during the end of the visit with Lawrence.
"I'll see you at dinner tonight?"
"I'll be there, Uncle Coran," Diana replied with a smile. Coran nodded before walking out of the room. Diana swirled back to the console and focus on looking at the planet from different screens. Her shift and her dinner break were uneventful. For the last hour of her shift, Diana was counting down until she saw Lance during the next shift change. Diana sighed as she took her last view of the planet when Lance strode in a few minutes later. After greeting the crews within the room, Lance pulled a chair and sat by Diana at the main console.
"I would think that you'll be glad to see me, Diana," Lance said to Diana softly. "I was expecting some kind of PDA. Like a kiss or a hug." He whispered the last part in Diana's ear—which made her shiver. "And you look so sexy when you shiver." He added in a whisper, making Diana shiver again.
"Stop that! We have an audience." Diana said with a smile. "I can't kiss you here." She whispered back.
"Never stopped you before. If I recalled a few days ago we shared a kiss here." Lance countered before placing a chaste kiss on Diana's cheek. "But this would have to do until later."
"Later?" Diana asked breathlessly.
"Tomorrow, later," Lance replied, softly as he noticed that the overnight crew were looking at the main console. "We're being watched."
"I see." Diana blushed as she looked at the main console for a few moments. "Everything is going fine on the screens—nothing significant. Uncle Coran asked that we continue to watch over the Davi-Smythe lands as well as LeMond and Yellow's den. I think he believes there may be some clues we might have missed."
"Roger that," Lance said. "Anything else?" He asked as he noticed that the crews were focusing back on their screens.
"That's all," Diana said, getting up. "The console's all yours, Captain." Diana started to leave the console area when Lance pulled her back to him and his chair. "And you, My Lady, are you all mine?" He whispered.
"Yes, I'm all yours," Diana whispered back, before standing up and smile. "Behave," Diana said smiling as she walked towards the door. "I'll see everybody later," Diana said to the whole room. The crew looked at each other before looking at Lance, then back to the screens, shaking their heads. Lance watched a move through the halls until she made it to her room. Diana blew a kiss to the camera before walking into the privacy of her room. Lance focused back on the views of the kingdom and answered a few questions from the crew about different guards on duty.