Chapter Thirty-six
"Tell me about how you learned to fly," she asked him, direct to his mind. "Did you know right away you were a natural?" Allura press her hand gently against Lance's unharmed skin, above the gash the Drule's blaster had left on his right calf. It was hot against her palm. She hoped her idea to distract him from the needle worked.
"My grandpa was a crop duster," he started his voice low in her mind as it would be out loud.
"Crop duster?" she asked.
"Take a plane and spray a field of corn or wheat with water, pesticide; whatever it is that is needed. Also Grandpa McClain used his to help with brushfires. They happened a lot if there was a drought, I grew up in a drought."
"Oh," Allura thought, her mind searching for why her agrarian society didn't have anything of the sort for a brief second, it was right there, something she learned when she was a child...
"Because a long time ago, Arus decided to stay environmentally friendly, Allura. Nothing that runs on fuels, they'd never us pesticides either... Thanks for letting me have my motorcycle by the way," he said.
"Oh, I'm all flustered," she responded shaking her head at herself. "So, your grandpa?"
"I spent a lot of time with my grandparents, both my parents worked. He took me up in his plane all the time. On his runs, he called them. Told me all the dials, what everything meant, what it did, how it did it. There were random pop quizzes to make sure I was listening. I spent most of my time poking my head over the edge of my cockpit, looking down at the world below, watching it speed away behind us."
Allura started to sew the stitches, feeling her mind, Lance's thoughts gathering, the memories coming up and that he was going to move forward.
"When I was ten he started letting me take control in the front, for spurts of time. Flying straight, nothing crazy, I just got the feel of the plane, you know?"
"The front?" Allura asked, trying to get a full mental picture, she almost had it from him, but was lacking definition of terms from his mind to hers.
"It was a bi-plane, he retro-fitted it for crop dusting himself. He let me hold a wrench or two," Lance explained. "Their are two cockpits, the main pilot usually flies from the backseat. Just is, I guess, never thought about why."
Allura smiled as she saw it more clearly. "Oh. So, when did you start doing the crazy things?"
"There was a fire," Lance laughed.
"Allura giggled but her fingers stayed sure as she worked on the stitches. "Of course there was."
"Grandma and I were in the kitchen, I was a few months shy of my eleventh birthday. Grandpa was miles away in the city doing farm errands with my Dad - It was a Saturday. My mom was working at the hospital, she was always working."
"Hospital?"
"Animal hospital, she was a vet, a country vet. I think she was birthing a cow."
"Oh, okay," Allura said, her smile going wider than it was already.
"Well, a 911 call came in my Grandpa's radio in the kitchen. It was always on, in case of emergency. The brushfires."
"Right," Allura nodded.
"There was a brushfire, of course, he was the closest plane and a pair of local kids where lost out in the field too. Friends of mine as it was, but really there was them and me, it was a small town."
"Grandma picked up and explained that he wasn't home, they'd have get someone else, I guess. I wouldn't know what she said, I was gone. I was more than halfway to the barn - he kept the plane there - by then I think. I knew all the instruments, I'd seen him fly over brushfires, then find a lake and use his hose gadget he'd connected to reload the water. It'd be a piece of cake."
"If it was anyone else telling this story, I'd be worried right now."
Lance laughed, in her head and his voice vibrated and echoed within her in a way that made her blush, so she ducked her head down to focus on the stitches.
"I started the plane and I took off; then I saw Grandma McClain in the rearview mirror, my grandpa had put on the plane, running after me. Never knew she could run until then. I could see she was screaming and I could guess it was Lance Charles McClain get your fucking ass back down on the goddamn ground. You think my mouth needs to be washed out with soap," Lance explained.
"What happened in the air?"
"Everything was great, awesome, better than that really. Take was utterly fantastic Allura! Someday, I'll take up in a bi-plane, I don't know how but I will. The Lions are amazing but this is different.
"Sounds amazing," Allura said, feeling every wave of memory as he spoke to her of his first flight. She met his eyes happy he was sharing such a happy, amazing memory and he winked.
"Completely."
"And," Allura prompted.
"And then I was high in the sky, Baby."
"Completely awesome?"
"Better," Lance said.
"And..." Allura pushed needing to know more, wanting to know how the story ended and wanting to share the full memory with him. Yet she stayed focused on the stitches, she was at the hardest section of torn skin. It was the trickiest section of the wound, but luckily the last.
"Grandma came on the radio."
"Uh, oh."
"Oh yeah. She was swearing and screaming, telling me to turn around and get back in the barn."
"What did you do?"
"I told her, 'I'm going to go put out the fire.'"
"Did you?"
"Well..."
Allura laughed.
"I get to where the fire was, I doused it, just like Grandpa would do but it wasn't enough. I don't think the plane even had half of what it needed water wise. So, I was going to go to the lake I knew he used to fill her up, with the hose thing, I told you about..."
"This all makes perfect sense."
"You know, Blue Lion would've been really handy," Lance said, digressing.
Allura felt a surge of pride, she shook her head. "Finish the story."
"I saw my friends, and the fire was right on their heels. Which considering Tyler started it, made perfect sense."
"Small town my cute butt, of course your friend started the fire," Allura thought, her amusement pouring over in her thoughts.
Lance laughed and it was like a warmth unlike anything Allura knew until that moment, it coated the inside of her mind and she found herself blushing and quite happy she'd finished with the stitching. Now she was bandaging.
"How did you save them?" she asked.
"The hose," Lance said in her head but he shrugged.
"The hose?"
Lance grinned a wide grin that Allura felt had to be considered dangerous but she wasn't sure why. "I looped around, looking at them running, then it hit me how I could save them. I flew in as low as I could manage, released the hose, it always popped out a bit when on the ground. It worked how I thought it would, it completely unraveled. I lowered a bit in front of them, and them being who they were, didn't think and didn't ask. They just ran and jumped up. They both grabbed onto the hose for dear life. Then I flew to where I knew the firetrucks and emergency vehicles would be and deposited on top of an ambulance for effect."
"Then you flew back to your grandparents?"
"It was the plan," Lance said.
"Lance?"
Lance laughed. "I hit the switch that brings the hose back in, and it worked. I was thinking, hell yeah I am a genius. As I was flying off, I saw other planes coming in with water. I felt my job was done. So, I decided, to you know enjoy the sky."
Allura nodded.
"I zigzagged, I went up, I dived down, and pulled up really fast before I get the ground. I contemplated doing a loop but chickened out. And all that time I forgot one tiny detail."
"What?"
"To check the gas gauge."
Allura's eyes widened.
"Also, all this time Grandma has been coming on the radio every five minutes cussing me out and telling me to get home. The cycle only broken when she came on and said: You little bastard, you saved those goddamn kids. Now I got to thrash you and bake you a cake."
Allura giggled.
"Then Grandpa came on the radio. My dad and he had gotten home. Grandpa said: I hear you did some real good flying there, kiddo. But look at your gas gauge and get home before fall out of the sky."
"Then it was like one of those, confluence of events moments, because my eyes swung to the gas gauge, it was already on E, who knew how long it'd been there. And the plane sputtered and the engine crapped out."
"Oh my god,"
"Yeah, I was over a lake, though. So, I yelled into the radio. Crap, Grandpa it just died, uh, I'm diving off this plane before it hits the water. Then I unstrapped myself, climbed up, waited until I knew I wouldn't kill myself and jumped before the plane hit the water. The impact still pushed me further under than I would have liked. But uh, I survived, but man I was scared then. I'd drowned my Grandpa's plane."
"Were you punished?"
"Hell yeah. Grandma spanked me, nothing like getting swatted in the ass while your soaking wet, with all the local cops laughing at you. Then she asked me what I wanted her to bake for me. Grandpa stood staring out at the lake, forever, silent as a stone. I thought he might never talk to me again. And my parents, grounded me the rest of the summer and also told me I was no longer allowed to see Tyler. The pyromaniac."
"A good call."
"Yeah, I disagreed at the time. He was fun to hang out with."
Allura nodded. "We're done with the stitches," she said out loud.
Lance sat up straighter and looked at his leg, then he looked at Sven, who was sitting with Romelle, with the oddest expression on his face. "She has a way better bedside manner."
Sven shook his head. "Did you two just have a whole conversation?"
"Yeah, about your bad bedside manner," Lance cracked.
"I thought it'd distract him more if it was in his head," Allura said.
"It worked, that is all that matters," Romelle said. "How long are they going to keep us in here?"
Allura sighed and looked at the door. There were no windows, no way to look out, to see how many guards there were. No way to see if there might be a way to escape. She moved to sit next to Lance and folded her knees so they were under her chin. "I hope not too much longer," she said. "Lance needs a real doctor to look at his leg." She also shot Romelle a look, but Romelle shook her head, hand on her stomach. Allura took comfort in the fact she looked less green than before, now that she was leaning into Sven's hold.
Lance's arm came around her shoulders, warm and solid, familiar. Allura breathed out. Lance's voice was in her head again a second later. "What happens?"
"I'm not sure, but I think we get lucky, Lotor leaves. We just get put with the slaves. Sven should be able to go on with his plan, though walking is going to be awful for you."
"I'll manage."
"I'll be there, helping you."
"Thank you," Lance said. "For taking over, distracting me. It was fun to tell that story, I haven't told it in ages."
"I loved it, it would figure your first flight would be an adventure like none other."
"I guess," Lance shrugged, but he was grinning. Allura nudged him with her shoulder
~~.~~
Coran and Keith were glowering at the control room's main computer. Keith could feel Coran's own irritation, angry and worry waving over to him but he tried to keep his own body language in control, relaxed. He didn't want Coran to know he was as angry at Allura taking off against orders, on a possible dangerous mission, with Lance, as Coran was. He especially didn't want Coran to realize this was the second time it'd happened in a week - Keith took in a deep breathe. He had promised to try to trust her, but...she was testing him in the worse way possible. Why had she done this?
Keith was starting to think he didn't understand Allura anymore, or maybe he hadn't understood her at all and always had thought they had because of their easy connection when he and team had first arrived on Arus. They'd seen eye to eye more than not, and when they hadn't, when they hadn't it'd be Allura and Coran and him. He frowned. Somehow over the years, it'd become him and Coran against Allura?
Allura had grown stronger, he smiled as his mind thought back on the years, the idealistic young girl she'd been, the stubborn young woman who knew she could be a good team member, who felt it her duty to protect her planet. He'd been behind her decision, in awe of a young woman with so much strength and empathy for the plight of her people. He'd help her fight for it, and when she listened to Coran when he and the other thought she shouldn't... He explained it, and she listened.
Somewhere though on her way to being the woman she was now, Keith hadn't noticed things that he was noticing now. Allura was a woman now, he knew that for sure. She was still young, naive, idealistic in a lot of ways, and romantic. He knew when he had her in his arms, she didn't understand what her soft touches, smell, kiss and sounds did him.
It'd been a dream come true to be allowed to be with her, to tell her he found her beautiful, to see if his heart was taken with her forever. A priveledge he thought he'd never have. One he knew Coran didn't want to keep. Another reason he was keeping the fact that this action from Allura, was a pattern of behavior. He'd gotten caught up in the romance, the intimacy of speaking with her openly about how much he cared, the small touches they shared, the handholding. He never really noticed that he wasn't looking at the woman Allura had become, the woman who had gone to Coran to ask for permission for their courtship.
He'd missed it. He'd realized it last night while they were talking, in the way she and Romelle spoke with each other. In way Allura explained everything to him. He'd missed the actual transition from girl to woman. She'd been right under his nose, beautiful and wonderful. She was always the same in so many ways. Empathetic, wise beyond her years and sweetly naive all at once - it was perhaps his favorite part of her. That in itself was possibly his downfall, he'd been so focused on her gift for caring, the surprising way she could see things and say the wisest things, that helped him to be a better leader, and her sweetness... Her beautiful sweetness.
Hindsight in the past few weeks had him realizing that she was still all those things but she was also bold, stubborn, and independent. Also she needed and she was right to start to step out of the shadow of Coran and Nanny. She went to them less and less for advice on running her Kingdom, she disagreed with them more often and she fought her cases - well. She had a wicked sense of humor, that more than once caught him by surprise, that he didn't remember noticing before. It was always there, hanging out with Lance had only brought it out, not created it.
He'd had her in a box, and Allura was firmly not in that box anymore. Keith took a breath he had to get to know her again, now that he'd opened his eyes.
"He is late," Coran bit out about Lance.
Keith nodded. Lance was too late. "I'll try to contact them," he said.
"I want this fixed, Keith. The Princess cannot be going off on missions without permission, nor without you there. You are the leader. Now Nanny and I have been tolerating her friendship with Lance, but if it is a factor in this... there will have to be more ground rules drawn," Coran said then walked off briskly.
Keith sighed, he was going to read her the riot act of course. As her Commander. He didn't know yet what he was going to do as her boyfriend he was seeing things differently. He had to get to know her again and he didn't want things to be always so strained between them. He'd seen the truth in her eyes last night, she wanted to be with him. Keith knew he trusted her with his life, and he trusted Lance with it as well. He should trust them with the secrets they keep as friends. Allura should be allowed her own space as she grows more and more into the Queen she'll someday be.
Keith sat down and started to try to contact the Red Lion.
~~.~~
The door to the storage room boomed open. Lotor had kicked it open, Lance glared at him as he jumped up to his feet, forgetting that his calf had been slashed open. Allura and Sven both grabbed him before he fell back on his ass. Lance then shoved Allura, behind him as he Sven made an united front.
"It gives me great pleasure to know, Lance, that you'll be walking forty-five miles on the leg," Lotor grinned. "I would love to see it and have helped you along with a whip, or a laser blast to make your feet move faster, but alas I am needed back on Doom."
"I'm so sad," Lance muttered.
"Allura," Lotor moved forward, shoving Lance who lost his balance as he pushed against the wall of the room. He gripped Allura by the shoulders, Lance watched Allura struggle to try to kick, or push him away. Sven went to shove him away and was grabbed by a guard. Lotor's face was getting way too close to Allura's mouth for Lance's taste. Sacrificing his leg, he put his full wait on both legs, grabbed Lotor by the shoulder and pulled him off of Allura. Allura seeing an opening, shoved her combat booted foot in Lotor's groin.
Lotor stumbled backward, scrambled up and glared at Lance. "You'll be sorry, McClain. Allura, I'll see you on the other side," he said cryptically.
The Drule guard with him, let go of Sven. "Take the to the cell?"
"Yes, throw them all in with the other slaves."
Lance stood his ground, full force on both legs, ignoring the burning pain, praying he hadn't hurt his stitches but he wasn't risking a thing with Lotor, not until the Prince's backside disappeared. The Drule took out his blaster. "Get moving humans, we've got a walk," his eyes landed on Lance at the word and he grinned.
"Fuck off," Lance answered.
The blaster was in his face. "Keep it up, McClain, we will kill you."
Lance, please. He heard Allura in his head, two simple words with a huge dollop of fear for him. He kept glaring at the Drule but kept his mouth shut, for her, only for Allura.
Sven and Allura, both were suddenly taking his arms and putting them around their shoulders, Allura's arm snaked around his waist. Sven was shaking his head. "Always, got to do just one more stupid thing, couldn't just have left it at stopping Lotor from kissing Allura, no piss off the Drule guard," Sven muttered at him, but Lance met Sven's brown and saw the respect and worry.
Romelle came into his peripheral, her hand landing into Sven's free hand. "We'll be able to carry out the rest of the plan?" she whispered.
Sven nodded. "I think so, I think the intelligence was right. They walk the slaves over the mountain and from there they go somewhere else, why there are two sites for it, I don't know. But ships will be there for us to help them escape in."
"At least one thing went right," Lance said. "Keith's having a fit by now. He knows we're not on our way back."
Allura tensed. "I hope Doom doesn't attack Arus," she whispered.
Lance looked over at her as they walked, has he tried not to put too much weight on his bad leg, and to lean more on Sven than Allura. It was almost impossible she was softer, curvier and a lot more pleasing. "They will, lion short, but don't worry. They'll handle it."
Allura nodded.