There is an envelope in Lances' mailbox.
People didn't typically send Lance mail, his family lived close by, and team Voltron lived in the Garrison with him. Because they lived at the Garrison as teachers, they didn't have bills to pay, so there was no reason to get those in the mail either. Any fan letters didn't go to his personal mailbox but were screened and dropped off directly to his room. But they rarely got fan mail anymore. It had been years since Voltron had saved the Earth.
Lance had received an email that there was mail waiting for him in his designated mailbox, and with nothing better to do at that particular moment, he had gone to pick it up.
The mailbox was tiny and surrounded by hundreds just like it, but Lance opened his easily with his thumbprint, and there it was. A single envelope was sitting in his mailbox.
And it was TARDIS blue.
Lance tore the envelope open right there in the middle of the hallway.
There was only one piece of paper and only a few lines written on it, but he knew what he needed to do.
Years ago, when he traveled with the Doctor, Amy told him about this day.
And now it was here.
The rest of team Voltron found him packing in his room.
"I'm going to need someone to cover my classes for a few days." He told them as a way of explanation.
"Lance, where are you going?" Keith asks, as all of team Voltron stands just inside his room and watches him pack, probably thinking he had gone crazy.
"2011." He told them, and he could practically feel the team trying to process what he just said.
"Lance, that's over one hundred years ago." Hunk tells him like he didn't already know.
"Wait, does this have something to do with the Doctor?" Pidge asks, and that gives the whole team pause as they look at him.
He hands them the envelope with the letter inside and finishes packing, grabbing his bag, slinging it across his back, and turning towards them fully.
"The Doctor sent it to me; it must be important."
The whole team is looking at the letter carefully, trying to figure out if it is fake or not as if they could tell just by looking.
"Listen, it must be important if the Doctor didn't just come to talk to me himself. I have to go."
"But Lance," Keith asks, looking up from the envelope. "How are you even going to get to 2011 if he doesn't pick you up?"
Lance grins, his team; as much as they had tried to understand the Doctor and Lances travels with him, they had never quite managed to understand Lances' entire history with the Doctor.
"There is more than one way to time travel."
The team had followed him to Iverson's office, and it was almost comical to see the way Iverson's face drained of color when he asked to be put in touch with Torchwood.
"How do you even know about Torchwood?" Iverson muttered in wonder but did as he was asked. If Lance knew about it, there was no use not doing as he was asked, especially since Lance was a paladin of Voltron.
"What should I even tell them?" Iverson asked him as the phone rang.
"Just tell them Lance McClain needs the Time Vortex and that it's about the Doctor," Lance ordered.
"What is Torchwood?" Pidge asked him while they were sitting in the office waiting for them to arrive.
"It was a government organization originally from London that was designed to kill the Doctor," Lance explained. "But its purpose changed later to helping the Doctor and keeping the Earth safe from aliens. When the Galra attacked they were fighting too. They're all over the world now, not just England." Lance explained, and Pidge could only nod as only moments later, government officials entered the room.
Lance stood up to greet them, and they each gave him a salute which he returned. One of the officials had a box that was placed on Iverson's desk carefully.
"We've brought you what you asked for, but it doesn't work, sir." The lady in charge told him as Lance opened the box.
Team Voltron and Iverson were leaning over in anticipation and seemed disappointed when all that was in the box was a thick black bracelet.
Lance grabbed the bracelet and put it on, making sure his backpack was on his back; he looked at the bracelet carefully.
"It's not broken; you just don't know how to use it." Lance told them before turning to look back at his team, who were looking at him in concern, clearly wanting to help.
"Don't worry. I'll be back in no time at all."
And then, with a few button presses, he was in 2011.
The Vortex Manipulator managed to get him only a few miles away from where he was supposed to meet up with the Doctor, so Lance started walking the rest of the way through the desert. A bus passed him after a few miles, and Lance wished he and thought to pack a water bottle. But soon, he caught sight of a car on the side of the road, and his thirst was forgotten.
Amy and Rory, so young, were standing there with the Doctors eleventh regeneration, a face that Lance hadn't seen in years. And right next to all three of them was River. Smiling at all of them, Lance realized that Amy and Rory probably didn't even know who River was to them yet.
It made him want to turn and walk away right then and there, but the Doctor had reached out to him, and he couldn't refuse.
River was the first to notice him, her instincts too good not to sense him.
He could see the way her eyes widened as she saw him, he wasn't sure when the last time this version of her had seen him was, but the last time he had seen her was when she had stopped by the Garrison, around a year after they had defeated the Galra.
River's reaction had caused everyone else to spot him, everyone turning to greet him as he finally reached them.
"Doctor!" He greeted.
The Doctor smiled wide when he spotted him. "Lance!"
The Doctor pulled him into a hug which Lance quickly returned. It had been ages since Lance had seen the Doctor, the last time he had seen him had been when the Doctor had grabbed him for help in relocating the Earth. But that had been with the Doctors previous regeneration.
Time travel was confusing on a good day, but now River, the Doctor, and himself were all at different points in their timelines, and it was giving him a headache.
Amy and Rory looked at him in confusion, and Lance tried not to grin. Sometimes it was fun knowing things no one else knew. Lance could understand why the Doctor found it so amusing sometimes.
They all squished into a booth in a restaurant that was down the road, closer to a large lake. And Lance watched happily as the Doctor and River compared diaries. It had been so long since he had seen them do that.
Amy and Rory clearly did not know what to make of him but figured that there was a story if he knew the Doctor.
"I used to travel with him." He told them honestly when they couldn't hold their curiosity back anymore and asked him.
It was clear that Amy and Rory had more questions for him as they grabbed drinks, leaving the Doctor and River to flip through their journals.
"Really, when? What was it like for you?" Amy launched the questions at him, and he was relieved to find that there was no jealousy in her tone, only curiosity.
"Spoilers." He told them, thanking the man they had ordered their food from as it was handed to him.
The Ponds seemed to realize that they wouldn't get anything from him and helped him bring the food over to their table.
Here's the thing, the Amy that he had met ten years ago hadn't been able to tell him a lot about what had happened when the Doctor had died. She had told him the when, but everything in between, all the details, Lance didn't know. He only knew three things.
The first thing was that the Doctor didn't actually die today, Lance had travelled with the Doctors next regeneration, proving that he would somehow live, even if he didn't know how. The second thing he knew was that he couldn't tell anyone that without messing up the timeline. The third thing that he knew was that he was still going to do everything in his power to make sure that the first point stayed true.
Because of this Lance was on edge as they sat by lake Silencio. The wine was nice, and the water had always been a way to calm Lance down, even if it wasn't the ocean, and the possibility of seeing the first moon landing was extremely exciting, but he wouldn't allow himself to relax.
He could tell River was giving him sideways glances, but he wasn't sure how much she knew about what was happening.
A car pulled up, and Lance was instantly on guard, but the Doctor just put a hand on his shoulder and greeted the man who came out. And he was so focused on the man that he didn't notice the astronaut until River pointed it out.
The Doctor was making Lance nervous, but he did as he was told and stayed put, trusting the Doctor.
Trusting the Doctor right up until he got shot in the middle of his regeneration cycle.
Lance let out a scream and was instantly running along with the others towards the Doctor. But while they stopped to help the Doctor, Lance was more focused on the person who had shot him. Since the war had ended, all of the Paladins had taken to carrying their bayards wherever they went, just in case. It had been something that had saved all of their lives more than once.
Lance's bayard was in his hands instantly, but it wasn't shifting. That had never happened before; the bayards were connected to Lance, not like the lions were, but it would take insane technology and intellect to disable a bayard.
The Doctor.
Only the Doctor would have known he had his bayard on him and how to deactivate it.
He was the only one who would have been able to do it without him noticing.
But why would he do that unless he had hadn't wanted Lance to shoot the astronaut?
What had the Doctor been planning?
Amy was still crying, and Lance left it up to River to comfort her. He was more focused on the man who was bringing them gasoline. The Doctor had greeted him, had known he was there.
Why had the Doctor been so cruel to bring him here to watch him die?
Even still, he helped Rory bring the Doctor to the boat and push him off the beach. And sat and stared as the body burned.
Canton Delaware left with the reassurance that they would meet him again, and River asked to see all of their envelopes.
Lance had a three on his, River a two, and Amy and Rory a four.
They returned to the dinner they had been sitting in before; Lance was careful to watch Amy, who looked like she might faint when the man came in through the door.
It was the Doctor, but he was almost 200 years younger and seemed very surprised to see Lance and everybody there.
While they were all in disbelief, the Doctor was confused, especially because of Lance's presence.
"What are we all doing here?" He demanded from them, eyes stopping on Lance. "And what are you doing here? And why does your face look like that!"
"I'm just older?" Lance questions, trying not to self consciously touch his face, knowing that the Doctor didn't mean anything by it.
Realizing that anything that they needed to talk about probably shouldn't be discussed in a restaurant full of people, they went into the TARDIS. It had been a long time since Lance had been in the TARDIS, and the TARDIS greeted him happily, and Lance greeted her right back. His hammock was still hanging where it used to, and Lance wasted no time in sitting in it, even if it was smaller than he remembered.
Amy had to leave, she was still so upset over seeing the Doctor die, and River was quick to follow her and Rory, making an excuse to leave as quickly as possible.
Lance wondered if it said something about him that he hadn't cried yet, or that he could still look the Doctor in the eye. Then again, he was a soldier, and they still had a mission. He could grieve for the Doctor when he was back home with the Paladins.
"Why is everyone so upset?" The Doctor asked him, frowning, his mind thinking of a million things at once trying to solve the puzzle.
Lance shrugged. "Spoilers."
"Don't do that, Lance. Why are you even here?"
Lance got up from the hammock. He was taller than the Doctor now. "I got recruited too, and trust me, we all have to go to 1969 and do this; no use trying to send us all away. We really can't tell you because of the timeline, trust us, Doctor."
The Doctor was frowning still, but he didn't change the TARDIS's destination from Amy and Rory's house to 1969.
"Why should I when no one is telling me what's going on?"
"Trust me, please, Doctor, we need you to do this, and you can't ask why."
The Doctor looked up at him carefully. "Swear on something important."
Lance could see the others coming back up from below the console, but his focus was still on the Doctor.
"I swear on Varadero Beach." He told the Doctor, not breaking eye contact.
The Doctor studied him for a moment.
"My life in your hands, Blue Paladin."
Lance felt his body freeze, and the others were only grateful that he had convinced the Doctor, but Lance felt like he had been punched in the gut.
Lance almost always loved being the Blue Paladin, but sometimes there was a pressure on his shoulders that was to much, the things he had seen and done while fighting in the war crushing him. So most often, Lance took a page out of the Doctor's book and would get dragged into an adventure on the TARDIS or go traveling somewhere when that pressure got to be too great. Running as far and as fast away from it as possible.
But now it seemed he couldn't run anymore, the Blue Paladin had found himself on the TARDIS, and he had a mission. Keep the Doctor alive.
The TARDIS landed in the White House shortly after.
Lance had been in the White House before, but it looked a lot different, seeing as it had been reconstructed after the Galra attacked.
And people hadn't been pointing guns at him then either.
They made their way to the warehouse where the little girl had called from, and Lance half listened to what the Doctor was saying as he watched in amusement as Rory tried not to cause an international incident while trying to explain the TARDIS to Canton.
And then they were on the run all across the United States.
His team was probably worried about him now. It had been months since Lance had time traveled back, and he wasn't sure when he would land in the future, but he had committed to this.
When Canton finally caught up to him, he was in California, and Lance thought he did a great job of pretending to put up a fight. His bayard was still not responding because of whatever the future Doctor had done with it, but he wasn't looking to shoot or stab anyone anyway. He settled on just breaking a few bones before he let himself get shot. Once in the body bag, he knew from there he would be back with the others soon.
And sure enough, everyone but River was there, and they soon had collected her also.
It was almost ironic, Lance thought, that this would be the second revolution he would be a part of in getting aliens off of Earth.
They split up again soon after, but this time they knew what they were going up against. Even if Lance wouldn't be able to describe them.
While Amy and Canton went to find where the girl was taken from, Lance got to pretend to be a bodyguard for the President to convince NASA to do as the Doctor said.
The Doctor was trying to explain to the President that he was helping when they got the message from Canton and arrived at the children's home that they thought the little girl had come from.
They broke into the room, but there was no Amy or little girl to be found.
Lance was trying to put what was happening in place of what he knew was to come. At this point, Amy thought that she was pregnant, which she was, but only Lance knew that for sure. Even Amy didn't know.
Well, River probably knew what was going on, seeing as this was her past, but some pieces were still missing.
But why would the Doctor want future Lance to be here? What was the point?
The Silence that they found on the first floor of the orphanage was injured but still able to talk to the Doctor and deliver it's threats. After that it was simple to bring the Silence to the dwarf star alloy prison using the TARDIS, and then go and track down the girl, leaving the Silence with Canton.
While River and the Doctor analyzed the space suit, Lance was transfixed by the sight of the Apollo 11 taking off on the small black and white TV. This was where it all started and would one day lead to the Galaxy Garrison; this was his history being pushed forward.
The Doctor seemed to know what he was thinking. "Quite amazing, isn't it, Lance?"
Lance grinned, "Never seen anything like it."
The Doctor laughed and went back to studying the space suit with River.
Rory was distraught, and Lance wanted to comfort him, but given what he knew, he held himself back in case he accidentally said too much. But it killed him to watch Rory struggle like this. Lance and Rory had gotten along great when he had traveled with them. He had always been closer to Rory than he had to Amy.
But soon enough, it was just a waiting game, Canton had gotten them the video they needed, and now they just needed to wait for the right time to get Amy, even if Lance knew that this was just the beginning and that it wasn't Amy.
The TARDIS materialized where the Doctor had tracked Amy to be, and they wasted no time in exiting.
Lance watched almost nostalgically as the Doctor did his thing, waving his arms around and talking. River had loaned Lance a gun since his bayard still wasn't working because of the Doctor, and he had it pointed at one of the Silence, ready to take them down at a moment's notice.
"Aren't you proud?" The Doctor addressed the Silence surrounding them. "Because you helped. Now, do you know how many people are watching this live on the telly? Half a billion. And that's nothing, because the human race will spread out among the stars. You just watch them fly. Billions and billions of them, for billions and billions of years, and every single one of them at some point in their lives, will look back at this man, taking that very first step, and they will never, ever forget it.
Lance couldn't help the smile that broke out on his face because everything the Doctor said was true. They had fought and worked to get to where they were now, but the humans were finally spreading out among the stars.
And Lance was going to be able to watch that moment live. And it was made even better when right in the middle of the broadcast Canton's video played.
And just like that the Silence had signed their own death warrant.
But then the Silence was fighting back, and Lance shot one down quickly, ducking under another and shooting the one in front of him before spinning and shooting the one that was behind him. River was similarly shooting the Silence down, and out of the corner of his eye, he could see Rory untying Amy. And they all started retreating towards the TARDIS.
Lance stayed outside until Amy and Rory were safely inside, and then the Doctor rushed past him, and soon it was just him and River.
The fight was over quickly.
Rory walked out and stared stunned at all the fallen Silence around them, and as River shot the one that was still behind them, before River too walked inside the TARDIS.
"What did you say you did for a living again?" Rory wondered aloud, looking at the carnage around them.
Lance wondered what he was allowed to tell them and what he wasn't allowed to tell them but settled on just shrugged and going into the TARDIS as well.
Once they dropped River off, Rory and himself were not so discreetly sent away to get thermo couplings while the Doctor and Amy talked. Lance figured it was about her pregnancy that no one knew about yet. Time travel was so confusing. Regardless they left the control room together to give them some space.
"When you traveled with the Doctor, was it like how it is now?" Rory asked him, breaking the silence that had settled between them.
Lance hummed, thinking it over. "The Doctor has changed; he has lost a lot, will lose a lot more. That does things to people. It's never good for the Doctor to be alone. But the adventures have always been like this. The Universe is in danger, and he comes to call."
"And you," Rory commented.
Lance turned to look at him, "What do you mean?"
"We are traveling with him, have been. But you and River get a letter in the mail and drop everything and come running for him even if you haven't seen him in years. I saw how you both used the guns back there with the Silence. The Doctor is in danger, and you both come running to save him."
"Of course I do," Lance said, wondering where Rory was going with this. "I traveled with the Doctor for a long time. I trust him."
"I get that," Rory says, and he takes a moment before continuing. "That scar on your face, did you get it when you were with him?"
Lance had almost forgotten about the scar on his face. It stretched across his cheek and towards his jaw. He had gotten it fighting a Galra commander only a few weeks before they had headed back to Earth, and it had scared his mother terribly when they had reunited but had ultimately healed very well.
"No." Lance finally said, realizing that he had gotten lost in thought. "No, I got that from something else."
They reached the room the Doctor had sent them to, and Rory grabbed the thermo couplings they had been sent to grab before they turned around and started to head back to the control room.
They continued to walk in silence, once again only broken when Rory asked a question before they arrived back in the control room.
"If you care about him so much, why did you stop traveling with the Doctor?"
Lance paused, mulling the question over. He and the Doctor had a very complicated history, more than most of the companions that traveled with him.
"Every kid has to leave home at some point. I just come back for holidays and Universe ending events."
And with that, he walked into the control room, effectively ending the conversation.
"I have to be getting back, Doctor," Lance spoke, announcing their return. "And you have someone you need to go and pick up."
"I do?" The Doctor asked, twisting his hands together in a way that showed he was either nervous or thinking. Probably both in this case.
"Yes, you do. I am sure you've noticed he's tried calling you by now."
"I wouldn't know; the phone has been disconnected." The Doctor told him. Honestly, with all the excitement, Lance had forgotten that the last time this Doctor had seen him was when he had quite literally slammed a door in his face. He figured maybe he could give the Doctor a push in the right direction.
"I think it would be a great time for you all to go to the beach," Lance told the three of them. "I hear that there is a great beach in Cuba called Varadero."
"A beach sounds amazing." Amy sighed, leaning against the TARDIS railing. "Do you need us to drop you off somewhere, Lance?"
"Better not," Lance told Amy. "I have my own way of getting home."
Lance took a step back from them, punching in the correct numbers to the vortex manipulator on his wrist.
"See you around." Lance smiled at them, before pushing the last button on the vortex manipulator.
And then Lance was gone.
The next thing he knew, he was back in a desert, although this time he could see the Galaxy Garrison in the distance, and he began walking. The vortex manipulator needed to be calibrated if it kept dropping him a few miles from the correct location.
A half hour later, the guards a the Garrison gate were scanning his ID and allowing him back into the facility, and team Voltron was running to greet him.
"Lance!" Hunk shouted, picking him up and spinning him around, only letting go so the others could pull him into a hug.
"So I'm not sure; how long have I been gone?" He asked them curiously, he had tried to come back on the same day he had left, but sometimes it was tricky.
"You've been gone three days," Keith told him, sounding grumpy about it.
"Yeah," Pidge pipped up, "You owe use for covering your classes. I don't know how you deal with the first years."
"Hey! My first years are just very excitable." Lance defended, but he could see how Pidge trying to teach that class could be frustrating. She was used to teaching the upper-level honor students.
"So, how was your trip? Was it the Doctor?" Shiro asked him, curiosity finally winning out.
Lance's face shuttered, not sure where to start. The others saw this and guided him to the teacher's lounge, which was currently empty. They shut and locked the door behind them for privacy.
"Lance, what happened?" Hunk sat next to him, putting his hand on Lance's shoulder for support.
"Well, it was the Doctor, and he invited me there to watch him die," Lance told them as calmly as he could.
The room, however, still erupted into chaos.
"The Doctor's dead?" Pidge asked, eyes wide and everyone quickly calmed themselves down to hear the rest of what Lance had to say.
"No," Lance told them firmly. "He's not dead, but he invited us there to watch him die so that we would think he was dead."
"Why would he want you to think he was dead?" Keith asked, his fingers rubbing together in a nervous tick Keith had never been able to break.
"It's a long story, but basically history said that the Doctor died, so he had to fake his own death so the timeline wouldn't collapse."
Everyone blinked at him.
Lance sighed.
"I also started a revolution in 1969 against aliens and witnessed the first moon landing."
Everything erupted into chaos again, and Lance smiled, glad to be back.