"Shiro!" Pidge ran down the hall, "What's going on! Lance's mom has been filling me in on a few things, but-"

Layla and Iverson were right behind her and While Iverson greeted Allura and Coran again, Shiro addressed Lances mom.

"I don't know, Layla?" Shiro asked, "If you could explain things a little more clearly?"

Her fingers were twisting the ends of her jacket and she nodded, "yes, i shall explain. But let me check on Paul first."

"We'll wait for you in the lounge down the hall," Shiro replied and she nodded.

"The kids are at a friends house," Pidge said, "Lance's mom was crazy about not letting them talk to anyone other than those she'd met before. She up and threatened the lady they're staying with saying they weren't even allowed outside."

"Well, yeah," Shiro sighed, "makes sense."

"Keith is hurt and Lance is missing?"

"Yeah," Shiro rubbed his head as he sat on a straight backed chair, "i wasn't thinking clearly and-"

"Don't even go there Shiro," Pidge said kicking him lightly, "Lance AND his family didn't tell us anything,"

"Lance told me this afternoon," Shiro stressed, "I…I didn't think his first dad would attack if he had other people with him. I didn't think he'd have the advantage of numbers…damn, that's the worst excuse…"

"I've heard worse," Iverson said, thinking he was helping, but Shiro just sunk further into his self loathing.

When Layla joined them she was no less fidgety.

"He'll be fine- they both will be fine," she said, "the doctors are very confident in their recovery."

"That's good," Pidge said.

"I am very sorry all of you have gotten involved with my mistakes," Layla took a shuddering breath, "this really is the worst possible situation."

"How about you start at the beginning," Iverson suggested. Layla bit her lip and sat down on the couch. She'd never had an audience before, and she didn't care for it, but these were people she could trust…right? Keeping silent hadn't done any good. It was time to try something different and see where that took them.

"My first husband wasn't the best, but he…became intolerable once Victoria and Lance were born. Even after we enrolled them in the best school available to us when they were four years old! They were the most clever children. Then…he started to take Lance out when he went to work."

"What did he do for work?" Shiro asked, wondering about what Victoria had told them.

"…I don't know," Layla said, her bottom lip trembling, "i know it wasn't any good…but we didn't have money and it was all we had…i wasn't allowed out of the house. I didn't ask questions and i was able to feed my children. But then Lance started to have…what the doctors at the time called Night Scares. Some nights he just wouldn't sleep. Victoria…she sometimes would dress up as Lance and pretend to be him and go in his place. Every time i tried to interfere…i was told to stay out of it…I'll admit, i wasn't the best mother…i should have been stronger…"

Allura didn't know what she was talking about, but judging by the looks on the others faces she knew it was hard. The princess scooted closer and took Laylas hand.

"I'm sure you did the best you could," Allura said, "we all love Lance so you had to have done a good job."

"...Thank you, dear," Layla smiled, but her eyes lingered on Alluras ears and hair, "well…everything came to a head one day and he was arrested. It took a long time…it took a long time for them to be released into my care. In that time i made sure i had a divorced finalized. I looked at the papers myself. His family, of course, were upset. My own family was livid and I've not spoken with them for a long time. the people i had once called friends practically ran me out of town. I took that opportunity to take the money i'd been hiding…under the porch, and I took the kids out of Cuba. I was not going to be around when he was let out of prison. We traveled around. I worked and we moved from one place to the next….we had fun…those were good years. It was a while before we settled here. I met Paul and he'd already had Mary. Everyone thinks she's mine, and i let them. His first wife had died and we were both so awkward and strange with each other. Without our kids working together i don't think we would ever have started dating, forget marriage."

She chuckled to herself at the memories, forgetting momentarily the reason she was telling them the story in the first place. Then she remembered and sobered.

"If I had known sooner that he had gotten out of prison, i would have moved…but then again, Lance went missing and i couldn't move with him gone. What if he tried to come home and found an empty house or a stranger? I couldn't leave…"'

"Of course you couldn't," Coran said, also not really following the conversation, but feeling the need to agree. The woman in front of him was sobbing and Coran never knew what to do when people leaked.

"So…really only Victoria and Lance know what your first husband did for a job," Pidge said, "Which of course makes them targets if its illegal."

"only Victoria remembers," Layla sniffed, "Lance doesn't remember much of Cuba…too many…too many blows to the head…"

"He does a good job hiding that," Pidge said, "He's always bragging about how he'd play hooky from elementary school."

"He fills in the gaps with his own…imaginings…the doctors all say that's normal. And we've tried to fill in and explain the snippets he does remember… oh …he's…my baby…That beast has my baby…"

Allura held her as she sobbed.

"I'm confused," Coran whispered to Shiro, "What kind of beast are we talking about?"

"The worst kind," Shiro muttered, "absolutely the worst kind."

()

Victoria held her lollipop the way one would hold a cigarette. she typed in a way that made Hunk cringe no matter how effective it was.

"So far i'm not seeing any increase in the usual store sales-"

"What are you looking at?"

"I've hacked into various commerce systems," she shrugged and licked her candy, "Its almost eleven, I am half starved. Think you can go grab me a meatball sandwich next door?"

"Sorry," Pidge said dropping a fast food bag next to the computer, "all i have are burgers."

"Bless you Pidge!" Hunk cried and was shushed. He reached into the bag and ate his share gleefully.

Victorias eyes Pidge up and down, "the spunky one…"

"shiro and Iverson are with your mom and the little kids," Pidge said, "your mom is really mad that you're here and not at home. But we promised that we'd bring you home."

"Not until i find Lance," Vik said leaning back, "I've got a good run going and i can't stop now. So far those jerks have hidden themselves very well."

"I think you all need to go into hiding," Pidge said, "Your mom is already looking into some places."

"What's the point in hiding?" Vik grinned and Hunk finally realized why it unnerved him so much. a few of her teeth were broken which gave her a wolfish look. And she was on the hunt. "Lance and I would find papa's targets if they went into hiding. I know all the tricks. they will find us if they really want to."

"Don't you think you'd find out more if you used better resources?" Pidge asked raising an eyebrow.

"Your alien ship will not give me access to bank statements…" Vik said absorbing herself back into the screen.

"No, but I know of a garrison computer that will give you more than just a few easily accessed bank statements…but only if you think you can stand the company of us…intellectual snobs."

"Lance didn't tell me you were a bitch," Vik said standing up, "but i like the way you work, and quicker access to what i need would be nice. And I'll tell you the same thing i told this guy, only follow me if you can keep up."

()

Lance focused on his breathing. It wasn't that he didn't also have panic attacks, it was that he could control them better than his sister. He couldn't feel his hands anymore and even though the tape was holding his shoulders to the chair, it was too much work to sit up straight on his own. His ankles hurt and he could feel the blood pressure around the tape was holding them to the chair legs.

how long had it been?

He'd been able to get the tape off his mouth by pushing spit out and working it off. He'd already shouted himself horse and still no one was in the room with him.

He was in a basement of some kind, but he couldn't see anything through the tiny and filthy window. The floor was dirt and the ceiling was wood and old. He couldn't really tell where he was, but he knew it wasn't anywhere near the garrison town. He, Vik and Mary had explored most abandoned structures and he didn't recognize this one.

Being by himself like this was not his favorite. It allowed his mind to wander and he hated it when his mind wondered. He needed a distraction. Any distraction.

He didn't want to think about how worried his mom was at this moment.

He didn't want to think about Paul in the hospital.

He didn't want to think about the way Vik was handling his disappearance.

And he REALLY didn't want to think about how the team was handling the news. Everything he'd not said. Everything he'd bold faced lied about.

It was going to be very awkward facing them again.

And with that thought he was no longer afraid of dying.

()

"Vik, we're warning you."

"noted, and ignored."

"Shiro will find out," Hunk said sagely.

"And when he does he'll lock you in your room and have Iverson post guards outside your door and window," Pidge threatened, "All we're saying is that you should sleep for an hour."

"Its been two days," Vik reached over for her Dr Pepper and Pidge snatched it out of her reach.

"We know how long its been," she snapped, "and how do you think Lance would feel once we found him and you're half dead from exhaustion?!"

"Happy," Vik said very secure in her answer, "because then we'll both be in the hospital and we can have fun with the equipment like we did before."

"Wow," Hunk said, "i can actually see that…"

"Help me out Hunk," Pidge hissed. Shiro had trusted them to make sure Vik was getting the rest she needed…not only had she refused her medicine, but she also refused to sleep. It set Pidge and hunk on edge because…it was Lance. She looked and made the effort to sound just like her twin, but she was winning every argument they tried to pit against her.

It was like Lance himself was suddenly brilliant and savvy.

So unnerving.

"Until i get a solid lead, i can't stop," Vik said pulling out a lollipop from her pocket, "its the rule. Its how we were taught. Lance would do the same for me."

"Except Lance isn't as savvy as you are," Pidge said, "he'd have to rely on us-"

"Shut up," Vik growled barring her teeth at Pidge, "you know nothing. Just because he's spacey now doesn't mean he was always like that. He was actually smarter than me when we were kids. Everything i'm doing now i actually learned from him. he showed me how to manipulate a conversation and how to observe everything in a flash. It all came so naturally to him. Then papa beat his head into the ground and cut off his oxygen for..well…it was long enough for brain damage. The doctors were positive he'd never talk again. they thought i'd never walk again because of all the badly healed fractures i had. But we took care of each other and mom worked hard to get us the help we needed. I KNOW that the moment push comes to shove, Lance will remember how to do what he used to. Like i said, it came naturally to him. He'll just do it."

"that's it," Pidge threw up her hands and spun vik around in her seat, "I've had it with you. I understand that you're lives sucked, and its coming back for a round two, but DON'T YOU DARE assume we don't care about Lance every BIT as much as you do! We are looking just as hard! but because we have to be here and watch YOU, WE can't be out THERE physically LOOKING!"

As Pidge watched, Viks eyes glazed over and lost focus.

"I'm positive that they arn't in the county," Vik said pushing away from Pidge and going back to the computer, "I'm searching the surrounding areas for activity. If papas old pal is here as well, then there is a specific item that will have a higher sale rate."

"What if he's not here."

"It was a figure of speech, of course he's here. I think his name was George, or something like that. He's a real nasty piece of work. There's no way papa will do anything without him since he's also the smarter one and the one that got him into the country."

"You know this?"

"I already looked into how papa got here," Vik said waving her hand at them, "old news. I'm guessing about five of the original band of murderers are here with him from Cuba and then they made friends here- damn, a double negative."

"Sooo, we catch them and get them deported and then put them on a watch list so they wont ever be allowed in the country again."

Victoria laughed.

"What?"

"two things," Vik said through her laughter, "first, that only happens if you guys find him before me. Cause they all die if i find them first. second, This is not going to court. There is no one better at looking like an innocent than papa. He will play every heart string like an acoustic guitar. Give him one breath to speak and we're done for. We'll be split up, at best, and at worst we both will be taken from mom and dad. If we don't play a better strategy, even you guys will get into trouble."

"We'll just tell the police the truth," Hunk said, "we all saw the damage Keith and Paul took. and Shiro saw you and Lance being attacked the other day."

"…let's pray it works out that way…" Vik said, but she wasn't convinced.

()

Shiro paced in the Mcclains living room. Layla stared at the tv, her jaw open. the little ones were looking between the three of them and tried hard to not ask questions.

On the 6 o'clock news the anchor reported a body that had been found in a nearby ditch. the mug shot of the victim showed a clean shaven man with deep blue eyes. His children had inherited a lot of his looks.

Kevin Diaz, 48, two shots to the chest and one shot to the back of his head. suspected gang related death. Time of death between 48 and 72 hours ago.