"Becca?  Are you okay?  What happened?"  Darcy jumped off her bed when she saw her sister walk into the room, her eyes red.

"He broke up with me," she whispered.

"What?"  Darcy was shocked.  She wrapped her arms around her sister and hugged her.

"He broke up with you?"  Lance asked as the door slid shut behind him.

Becca sat on the bed beside Darcy and nodded, feeling the tears run down her cheeks.

"But I don't understand why he would do that," Darcy said.  "You guys seemed to really hit it off."

Becca shrugged, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand.

"I know why."

They both looked up at Lance.

"What do you know?"  Darcy asked.

"He thinks he's protecting you from whoever is doing this."

"No," Becca shook her head.  "He said we should have never gone beyond just being friends.  He just doesn't like me that way."

"What?  Are you blind?"  Lance knelt in front of her.  "Becca, he's crazy about you.  But the stupid moron is afraid that being involved with him puts you in danger."

"I don't understand, this isn't his fault."

"No, it's not, but after what happened to Renata…"

"This is the stupidest thing I've ever heard!"  Becca declared.

Lance smirked, "Bec, you gotta understand that when a man is in love, he doesn't always think straight when his woman is involved."

"He's not in love with me."

Lance sighed and fell back onto the floor, "Becca!  God!  You're as dense as he is, aren't you?"

"If he was in love with me he wouldn't have broken up with me."

"It's because he is in love with you that he broke up with you."

Becca's mouth fell open, "What kind of reasoning is that?"

"Stupid male reasoning," Darcy muttered.

"Listen to me," Lance sat up and placed his hands on Becca's knees.  "In his mind, whoever is doing this will leave you alone if you're not involved with him."

Becca stood up so fast, Lance fell back on the floor.

"What are you doing?"  Darcy asked.

Becca snarled in response.


"Lance," Darcy nodded toward her sister as she stormed across the room.

Lance jumped to his feet and beat her to the door, opening it and watching as she hurried down the hall.

***********************************************************

Pidge lay on his back, staring at the ceiling in his room.  It had been the most difficult thing he had ever done, but he knew it had been the right thing.  She'll get over it.  She's only here for a month and a half.  As long as I keep busy with the investigation, the time will pass by quickly.

The pounding on his door startled him, but it didn't really surprise him.   Becca was a stubborn girl and not afraid to speak her mind.  Sighing deeply, he slowly pushed himself up and crossed the room.

"Come on, Pidge, I know you're in there."

He slid the door opened and looked at her.  That was a mistake.  She looked back at him, pale, her eyes red, and she was seriously pissed off.

"We need to talk."  Her voice was curt.

"Look, Bec, I don't…"

"No," she pushed her way past him, sat on the edge of his bed, and crossed her arms.

He decided to try another tactic.  "Becca, you have no right to just burst into my room!  I'm going to have to demand you leave."

"No."

"Why are you doing this?"

"Because I think you're full of crap."

Pidge shut the door and turned to face her, "Excuse me?"

"You heard me."

"Yeah, I did."

Becca stood and crossed to stand in front of him, "At no point while you were trying to break up with me did you look me in the eye."

"Trying to break up with you?"

She crossed her arms and raised her eyebrows.

"You're only making this more difficult, Rebecca."

"This can't possibly be any more difficult than you've already made it."  Her voice cracked.

He turned away and walked over to the window.  It was a beautiful evening.  The sound of her voice breaking started to crack his resolve.  "I don't know how else to make this clear, Becca, I don't want to see you any more."

"Liar."

His shoulders slumped, "Why can't you…"

"Look me in the eye," she interrupted.  "Look me in the eye and tell me you don't want to see me anymore."

Pidge took a deep breath and turned to face her.  She had moved and was now standing about a foot away from him.  He lifted his eyes and met her expectant gaze with his defeated one.

"I don't think we should see each other any more."  He whispered.

Becca struck out and punched him hard in the arm, "Bull."

"Ow!  Dammit!"

"You and your misguided sense of duty!"  She punched him again.

"Ow!  Stop it!  What are you talking about?"

"Can you honestly say you don't have feelings for me?"

"No, I can't," he rubbed his arm.  "You're my friend.  Of course I care about you."

"Be honest with me."  She stood with her hands on her hips, her eyes wide and wet.  "Are you doing this to try and protect me?"

He sighed and ran his hands through his hair, "We have no idea what we're up against here, Becca."

She let out a little cry, "So that is why you did this."  She smacked his arm.

"Stop hitting me!"

"Stop being so stupid!"

"I'm not being stupid!"

"Then you're a coward!"

He glared at her, "What?'

She lowered her voice and spoke slowly, "You…are…a…coward."

As a member of the Voltron Force, Pidge wasn't used to being called a coward.  "Yeah, well, you're a pushy, annoying, pain in the ass!"

"At least I'm not a coward!"

"Why am I a coward?"

"Because you're so afraid of this person, you're letting him dictate our lives."

"It's not that simple, Becca."

She felt herself losing her nerve.  "Pidge, I know how I feel about you and I thought I knew how you felt about me.  But I also thought you were stronger than this."

He sat on the edge of the bed and put his face in his hands. 

Becca watched him, but he didn't move and he didn't speak.  After a few moments, she sat down beside him.  "What is it, Pidge?"  She asked gently.

He dropped his hands and rubbed his palms on his jeans.  "I…I can't," he sighed.  "I can't guarantee I can protect you."

"Pidge, you don't have to."

"Yes I do."  He raised his red eyes to hers.

"I can take care of myself.  I'm not helpless."

He rubbed his arm where she had punched him, "Oh, I know you're not helpless."

"Then why, Pidge?"

"I don't know, it seemed to make sense an hour ago."

Becca looked out the window, feeling a little better, but confused.  "Are we still broken up?"  She whispered.

He shrugged.

She closed her eyes and tried to keep from crying.  The fight was no longer in her.  "I just don't understand Pidge.  How could us breaking up be a good thing?  How could you think that?"

"I didn't want you in the middle of all this."

"Too late."

"I don't want you in any deeper."

"Stop trying to be so noble.  What are you trying to protect me from?"

"That's the problem.  I don't know who or what we're up against?  What if something happens?  What if I can't protect you?"

"You don't have to."

"Yes I do!"

"Why?"

"Because I love you and if anything happened to you I don't know what I would do!"

Becca's mouth fell open in shock.

Pidge rubbed his hands over his face.  With a shaking voice he continued.  "I have lost so many people who were important to me.  My parents, my grandparents, my sister, my entire family except for my brother Chip, Renata.  Now we have this threat and I don't know what's going to happen next.  I don't want to lose you."

She wrapped her arm around his shoulder and pressed a gentle kiss to his temple, "Then explain to me how you're not losing me by breaking up with me."

He laughed softly and turned to pull her into a hug, "I don't know, it made sense an hour ago."

Becca buried her face in his shoulder as the tears that had been threatening to fall finally did, soaking his shirt.

"I'm sorry," he whispered as he hugged her tightly to him.  He felt incredibly guilty about upsetting her like this.

She sniffed and pulled back to look at him, "Are we still broken up?"

"I, uh, I guess that's up to you," he mumbled.

She sniffled and wiped her wet cheeks with the back of her hand, answering indignantly, "Nice to know I finally get a say in this."

He cupped her face in his hands and wiped her cheeks with his thumbs, "I'm an idiot."

"Well, we can agree on that."

Pidge leaned forward and rested his forehead on hers, "Are we still broken up?"

Becca sat up straight and feigned irritation, "I can only give you one more chance.  You try to break up with me again and we're through."

"Deal," he whispered.

She turned and punched him in the arm again.  "I can't believe you were going to break up with me!"

"Hit me again and you'll regret it," he growled.

She looked at him and raised an eyebrow, "Well, now I'm curious."  She smacked his arm.

With a speed that left her speechless, Pidge had her on her back and was bracing himself above her, "You're a glutton for punishment."

Becca stuck out her lower lip, "I'm still hurt."

He toyed with her hair, "I'm sorry, Rebecca, I thought I was doing the right thing."

"I think that next time you should try talking to me before you try to kick me out of your life."

"That sounds fair."  He leaned down and kissed her.

Becca wrapped her arms around his neck, holding him in place against her.  He broke the kiss and began running his lips across her cheek, down her throat.  She untucked his shirt and slid her hands underneath, feeling his muscles contract as her fingers skimmed over his skin.  He moaned against her throat and rolled over so she was on top.

Pidge pulled her hands out from under his shirt, "Watch it."

"Why?"  She asked, playfully.

"You know why."

Sighing, Becca pulled her hands from his and slid his glasses off his face, setting them on the bed beside them.  She toyed with his hair while she leaned down to gently kiss him.  When she pulled back, he still had his eyes closed.  "You're very handsome," she whispered.

Pidge opened one eye and looked at the slightly blurry image of her face hovering above him.  "Why thank you."

"Did you mean what you said earlier?"

"About what?"

"About, um, about how you feel."  Becca felt herself blush.

Pidge laced his fingers through her hair and pulled her head down so he could press his mouth to her ear.  "I love you, Rebecca."

She buried her face into his throat and murmured something against his skin.  He knew what she said, but he wanted to hear her say it clearly.  "What was that?"  He asked.

She lifted her head and crossed her arms over his chest, "I think I love you too."

"You think?"

"Well, I am still hurt that you tried to break up with me."

"You're going to milk this for all you can get, aren't you?"  He crossed his hands over the small of her back.

"Yes I am."  She stroked his cheek with her finger.  "But I have never felt anything like this for anyone before."

"Never?"

"Never."  She giggled when she heard his stomach rumble.  "Didn't you have dinner?"

"No, we worked straight through."

"Wanna go raid the kitchen?" 

"That sounds like fun."

Becca rolled off him and smiled when he groaned.  "Come on, we'll have a romantic dinner."

"Romantic?"

She took his hands and tried to pull him up, "Yeah, you still have some making up to do, so it better be romantic."

He groaned again, "I'm going to have to work for this, aren't I?"

"Oh yeah.  Get up.  I'm going to use your bathroom."  Becca walked into the bathroom and flipped on the light.  She couldn't help but blush when she saw her reflection in the mirror.  She was pale and her eyes were red and swollen, red tear streaks ran down her cheeks and her hair was sticking out in different directions.  She pulled his comb through her hair and washed her face.  Her eyes were still swollen but not as red.

When she walked out of the bathroom, Pidge stood in the middle of the room, shirtless.  She couldn't help but gasp at the sight of his well formed torso.

"Geez, Bec, will you look at this?"  He turned to show her his arm where a large bruise was forming.  "Where did you learn to hit like that?"

"Oh, God, Pidge I am so sorry, I don't know my own strength."   She walked over to him.

He saw how upset she was and smiled, "It's okay, Bec, I've had worse."

"No, I'm sorry."  She reached out and gently touched his arm.  "We should get some ice on that."

"Becca, I'm fine."

Her eyes roamed over his chest and she fought the urge to run her hands over it.

"Becca."

She looked up, blushing. 

"You okay?"  He asked, smiling.

"You're pretty hot," she teased, giving into her urge and ran her fingertips down his chest.

He turned bright red as he grabbed the t-shirt he had pulled from his drawer and yanked it down over his head.

"You're even hotter when you're blushing."

"Stop it," he mumbled as he strapped his blaster to his belt.

"At least I hit you high enough so the shirt sleeve covers the bruise."

He took her hand as they left the room, "Yeah, I would hate to have to explain to the guys that I was beat up by my girlfriend."

"You did deserve it though."

"I know.  Just remind me to never piss you off."

"It actually takes a lot to piss me off.  I'm usually not that violent." 

"I'm going to remind you of that next time you try to hit me."

"As long as you don't try to break up with me, I won't try to hit you."

He chuckled, "You have a deal."

The kitchen was empty when they arrived.  Pidge flipped on the lights and shut the door behind them.  "What did Nanny make for dinner?"

"Some ham dish with cheesy potatoes."

"Any left?"

"I don't think so."

Pidge began ruffling through the refrigeration unit.  "What're you hungry for?"

"Surprise me."

"Ohh…hamburgers.  Want one?"  Pidge pulled out a container of ground meat.

"Sure."

She watched as he fired up the stove and pulled out a grilling pan.  He heated the pan and went about forming the patties and adding spices.

"Where did you learn to cook?"  She asked as he laid the patties on the hot pan.

"No one else on the Force could, I had to pick up the slack."

"Really?"

"Lance thinks making a peanut butter sandwich is cooking, Keith can't boil water, and Hunk just likes to eat."

"Is there anything you can't do?"

He gave her a sly look, "Nope."

"What can I do?"

"Nothing, I'm still trying to make up."

"Good answer."

Pidge walked over to a radio sitting on the counter and flipped it on.  Nanny always had it on the news station, so he turned the dial until he found some soft music.

"Nice touch," Becca smiled.

He gave her a quick kiss as he walked past her.

They chatted about nothing in particular.  It was almost like they had left all that had been happening at the door and when Pidge had shut it, all the worries and fears were out in the hall.  He set her burger on a plate and placed it in front of her.

"I'm impressed," she told him, taking a bite out of it.

"Hey, I'm good."

"Yes you are."

They continued flirting in a silly, juvenile way that made them both giggle.

"Maybe tomorrow I can talk Keith into letting me have a couple of hours tomorrow night.  We can watch a movie."  Pidge suggested.

"What do you have in mind?"

"I was thinking Star Wars."

"Star Wars?"

"Not you too!"  He exclaimed.  "Seriously, do they not have movies in Canada?  How is it possible that neither you nor your sister saw the Star Wars movies before coming here?"

"We have better things to do with our time."

"We'll have to see what we can…"  Pidge stopped and dropped his burger.

"What…?"

He held up his hand to shut her up.  There was a low click.

"What was that?"  Becca asked nervously.

"The door just locked."  Taking his gun in hand, Pidge crossed to the door.  He tried to punch in a code, but saw that the small screen only read back gibberish.  He swore under his breath.

"What do we do?"  Becca asked.

The lights went out and they were plunged into a silent darkness.

"Stay calm," Pidge replied.