Allura felt as if she had been thrust into a waking nightmare. The infirmary was still in chaos from Keith's sudden, unexpected attack. One moment he had been calmly explaining that he was sorry, that he didn't understand what came over him in the forest, the next…

There was blood on her hands as she pulled Lance with her into an examination room while two burly orderlies wrestled Keith to the ground. She slammed the door behind them and struggled to push the exam table in front of it.

"Hey." Lance's hands were on her, gently making her stop. "We're safe."

She felt a sob catch in her throat and she grabbed handfuls large gauze pads from a cart in the room, which she pressed against his chest as she made him sit. Before Keith had been pulled back, he had managed to give Lance a serious slash running diagonally from his left shoulder to his stomach. How could he?

He wasn't himself.

Clearly.

I mean it. You see his eyes change?

I… He wanted to kill you.

Not the best way to win your heart, I'm guessing.

Don't joke about it.

"Hey." She felt him wiping the tears from her cheeks as he stood. "Worry about Keith right now. There's something seriously wrong with him. I'm fine. It's barely a scratch."

"A scratch? You call this a scratch?" She carefully lifted the gauze and saw that…he was right, for the most part. The cut was mostly superficial and a large portion of what she'd thought was laceration had cut only his flight suit. There was only one area that was still oozing small amounts of blood, far less than what she had soaked up. "Where is all this blood coming from?"

"Allura…it's yours. You tried to protect me." He peeled the gauze from her hands, revealing two deep gashes across her palms. "Next time, don't try to catch the sword."

"I…" She didn't feel pain until she had spent several seconds staring down her hands, tenderly cradled in Lance's. She tried to remember the injury happening, but all she could see when she closed her eyes was Keith charging at Lance with his sword out. "I couldn't let him hurt you."

"Shh. I know. I know." She felt his lips on the crown of her head as he nuzzled against her hair. "I'd kill him myself if I thought he was in control when he did this." He continued in her head, But he didn't hesitate when you stepped in front of me. He wouldn't hurt you any more than I would.

What's happening to him?

"I don't know, but I'm gonna find out."

She jumped as someone knocked on the door just as he had moved the table out of the way. She tried to activate her Voltcom, but found she couldn't hold her bow or whip. While she had been trying to draw a weapon, Lance had opened the door of the exam room for Dr. Gorma. "Everybody okay, doc?"

"Nothing serious." Dr. Gorma immediately pulled on a pair of gloves. "A few minor bruises for the orderlies and Dr. Lunnen broke her nose running into a wall in the excitement." Allura heard Lance laughing in her head until Dr. Gorma continued, "Commander Kogane calmed down the moment he had been separated from the two of you, but he nevertheless agreed to be restrained until we can determine what is wrong with him."

"Restrained?"

"Standard soft medical restraints, Princess. Nothing extreme. Now, Commander, if you would sit on the examination table?"

Lance shook his head and guided her toward the table by her elbow. "It's nothing. Treat Allura first."

"Princess? You're injured?" She held out her hands. "My word. I'll fetch the derma gel."

Ten minutes later, Lance was laughing as Dr. Gorma finished bandaging her. "Aw, you've got little lobster claws!"

She wasn't sure what a lobster was, but she imagined it wasn't a compliment. Dr. Gorma had managed to leave her thumb and index finger free so she would have some dexterity as her hands healed over the next few days. "I will pinch you."

"Although I wouldn't argue the Commander doesn't deserve it, I would recommend minimizing your activity over the next few days, Princess. Try to use your hands as little as possible." Dr. Gorma quickly took care of Lance's wound and walked out with the promise that he would check on Keith.

Lance didn't need to say anything, out loud or in her head, for Allura to know exactly what he was thinking. Don't even…

What? Just because you'll need someone to be your hands for the next couple of days…

"Sorry to interrupt!" Dr. Lunnen said as she burst into the room, white splint covering her swollen nose. "I've just come from taking some readings on Commander Kogane."

"Is he all right?"

"Are you wearing a piece of clothing I could take?"

Allura forgot that she was concerned about Keith's state of mind. "Excuse me?"

"Preferably something Lance hasn't been in contact with recently."

"Dr. Lunnen, this is…"

"I'm sorry, that must seem weird. Right, so I have a theory. I think Commander Kogane may have picked up on some of your signals, Princess, when you and Lance were first bonding. He then tried to send some of his own back, which you didn't respond to because you were only sensitized to Lance. With nothing to act in concert with, his brain chemistry goes haywire when he comes into contact with your pheromones now."

"But this should have started before he left, shouldn't it? And Keith was fine with both of us, right?" She looked to Lance for confirmation.

"Yeah, he was fine until…well, he came and found us at the falls and he was acting a little weird, then you saw him out there."

"Well, to be honest, I tried not to stick around to see much." Dr. Lunnen rubbed her nose. "Anyhow, this is only a guess at this point. This isn't a well-studied phenomenon. In fact, I've only read about it happening once before. Normally, all the people around you wouldn't notice the unique pheromones you were sharing, but it's possible that…can I ask if your relationship had turned physical before Commander Kogane went on his trip?"

"Nope, after."

"That could explain it. Everything would have gone into overdrive after that, and he had no way to adjust because he wasn't here. I'm sure your combined chemistry hit him like…well, a wall. Anyway, I've got the Commander hooked up to my monitoring equipment and I'd like to see how he responds to something with your pheromones on it, Princess."

Allura was still dubious. "Can't I just go in and talk to him?"

"I think it would be safer this way. He's agreed to be restrained for the moment, while we determine how to deal with the situation, if I'm right and this is actually what we're looking at."

"But he doesn't want to hurt me." She looked down at her hands. "Does he?"

"No, he simply wants to replace Lance. I'm not sure how that will manifest when Lance isn't in the same room. To confirm my theory, I want to try this without putting anyone in danger. So, clothing?"

"I have a tank on under my flight suit." She held up her bandaged hands. "But I can't exactly take it off without assistance at the moment."

Dr. Lunnen pulled a pair of gloves from a box on the counter. "I'm sure Lance will help. Just try not to touch it too much. I don't want Keith getting too much of you rather than the Princess."

Lance didn't waste time once Dr. Lunnen had left the room, snapping on the gloves. "Right, let's get you out of those clothes."

"Lance…"

"Hey, I just got a doctor's order to strip you. You can't say no." Although he remained eager, she had to admit he was surprisingly considerate about her injured hands as he helped her get out of the top of her flight suit so he could remove her tank top. He handed it out the door and removed his gloves a moment later. "Well, since you're topless…"

She rested her forearms on his broad shoulders. Their foreheads touched, but she didn't try to meet his lips, instead closing her eyes and enjoying his embrace as he stroked her back. I hope we're all in control again soon.

All?

She opened her eyes to look into his. You know we can't go on like this indefinitely. How can we fly our Lions or rule Arus if all we can think about for more than five minutes at a stretch is each other?

It's…okay. We'll figure it out. We may have to wait until we've finished bonding, though. In the meantime…

She allowed herself to get lost in his kiss, wishing that she could return his soft caresses with some of her own. She was on the verge of suggesting escaping back to her room, their room when Dr. Lunnen burst through the door again. "This is the best research I've ever done!" She bounced on the balls of her feet as she tapped rapidly on her tablet's screen, not noticing or not caring that Lance was discreetly helping Allura back into the top portion of her flight suit. "I wasn't even sure it could happen, but the data doesn't lie! Can you believe an attempted three-way bond?" She finally looked up with an excited grin.

Allura felt an unexpected possessiveness in his touch as Lance pulled her closer. "Um, I don't wanna bond with Keith."

"Oh, you won't. Neither of you will. In fact, Lance, if you don't keep away from each other, he's just going to try to kill you again and again until he eliminates the competition."

"But that's…"

"That's biology," she said with a shrug. "And can I just say that this just keeps getting more and more interesting the longer I stay here!"

"Yeah, great for you," Lance muttered. Allura rested her head on his shoulder. "Hold on, you said he wants to kill me, but how come I don't want to kill him?"

"Your bond with the Princess is strong enough at this point that you don't see him as a credible threat. Romantically, I mean. I wouldn't give him a sword when he's around you for a few days. I wish I'd been able to get some baseline readings on him. I'll have to talk to Dr. Gorma and see if…" she continued to talk to herself as she left the room.

"Think that means we're dismissed?" Lance turned toward Allura. "Great. Can't fly the Lions, can't be near Keith, can't be apart for more than ten minutes." He settled his hands on her waist. "Okay, that last one isn't a legit complaint, but the other two stand."

She could sense he was putting up a brave front for her sake and pecked his lips to show her appreciation. "I think I just need to lie down for a little while."

"If by 'a little while' you mean the next three days, count me in." He waved to Dr. Gorma, who nodded as they left the infirmary. "Maybe we could save ourselves a lot of trouble by just staying in bed until we've finished bonding."

"It is tempting, but…"

She couldn't finish her thought as Coran nearly ran into them as he walked around the corner. "Ah, Princess, Commander. I've been looking for you."

Lance gave him a guilty look. "Your office?"

"Indeed." He nodded gravely, but his manner became more caring as he looked down. "Princess, your hands!"

"It's nothing, Coran." She realized she had been almost as concerned about this conversation as she had about the one with Keith, though, given the events of the past hour, her concerns now seemed silly. She tried to smile at her trusted advisor. "Why don't we fill you in once we get to your office?"