Hi!

Thank you guys so much for your wonderful and helpful reviews, you have no idea how much I appreciate them.

Bell & RedLion2 ~ I totally agree with you guys about the new comics.  I am really enjoying them.  Did you get the first issue with their biographies?  Keith's background is just heartbreaking.  While most of my stories have dealt mainly with Lance, I have to admit that Keith was always my favorite in the show.  I just wish the comic books came out more quickly.

Enjoy,

Failte

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Keith watched as Koran left his study, still unable to respond to what the older man had just told him.  Had he been that obvious?  Marriage had never even entered his mind.  What about Allura?  He couldn't allow anything like this to happen to her, to Arus. 


"Hey, Koran," Lance walked into the room as Koran was leaving.

"Good evening, Lieutenant."

Lance waited until the door closed before he sauntered over to Keith's desk, "How're you feeling, Cap?"

"Fine, Lance," his voice was strained.  "How're you?"

"Alright, a little sore," he fell into the seat opposite the desk and grinned at his Captain.  "So?"

"So what?"

"Well, there's a story floating around Castle Control and I decided to come directly to the source and see if it was true or not."

"I am really not in the mood, Lance, will you just get to the point."

Lance's grin grew a little more, "Well, it seems that when you shut off the lines of communication to have a private tête-à-tête with the Princess, you didn't close the visuals with Castle Control."  He watched as Keith paled and then turned a brilliant red.  "So it is true?"

"What, uh, what is, uh, being said?"  Keith stammered.

"Oh, something about how you and the Princess were getting rather cozy."

Keith buried his face in his hands and groaned.

"Oh man!"  Lance sat up and leaned closer to the desk.  "You did do it!"

"It's not what you think, Lance," he mumbled into his hands. 

"What happened?  I heard you guys were making out and Koran was so pissed there was steam pouring from his ears."

Keith raised his head, "We weren't making out.  It was just, we, uh, it was a…"

"I've never seen you so flustered, man."

Taking a deep breath, Keith continued, "It wasn't what you think, Lance.  We both got caught up in the moment and we kissed.  Just one little kiss.  It didn't mean anything."

"It didn't mean anything?" Lance repeated.  "What the hell does that mean?"

"Just what I said, it didn't mean anything.  We were just caught up in the moment, I was totally out of line.  It won't happen again."

Lance furrowed his brow and watched as Keith pushed his chair back and stood, "You can't be serious, Keith."

"I am.  I was serious, Lance, when I told you that no one in the Force is to pursue the Princess, she is completely off limits."

"No, she is off limits to Hunk, Sven, Pidge, and I.  To you, she is the perfect woman."

"Before long Princes from various planets will be arriving to court the Princess and we are not to get in the way."

Lance rose to his feet, "What are you talking about?"

"What don't you understand, Lieutenant?  She is totally off limits to all of us."

"But I thought…"

"You thought wrong."

"Alright, Keith, drop the act.  I am asking you as your friend, what happened?"

"Nothing, Lance.  There is nothing going on between the Princess and me and there never will be."

"Who's going to tell Allura that?"  Lance asked, angrily.

"What are you talking about?"

"She does have feelings you know.  What are you going to do?  Waltz into her room and tell her you changed your mind?  You just wanted to cop a little feel and then move on?"

"I don't need you to lecture me, Lance."

"You know, Keith," Lance ran a hand angrily through his hair.  "I know you've always been the quiet, brooding kind, but I never knew you to be such a total asshole."

"You are completely out of line, Lieutenant."

Lance spoke slowly through clenched teeth, "Don't you dare pull rank on me, Keith.  Right now there is a beautiful, sweet, wonderful woman who is in love with a man who seems to think he can toy with her emotions and then dump her."

"You have no idea what you're talking about, Lance, and you have no right to talk to me like that.  You have had your share of women."

"This is totally different, Keith.  I have never led on a woman who was in love with me and then just dropped her for no reason."

"She isn't in love with me…"

"Are you really that dense?"  Lance cried, incredulously.  "She is in love with you just as you are with her.  But for some unknown reason you won't act on it and you insist on hurting her."

"I have my reasons."

"And they are?"

"None of your business, Lance."

"When you're hurting a friend of mine, and this is involving two of my best friends, it is my business."

"I can't trust you with it, Lance."  As soon as he said, Keith knew he was wrong. 

The hurt was clearly evident on Lance's face, "We've been best friends for many years, Keith, when have I ever let you down?"

"That's not what I meant, I do trust you, I trust you with my life.  I trust you more that anyone else I've ever known."

"Then why can't you talk to me about this?"

"I don't want Allura to know we were discussing it," Keith whispered dejectedly.

Lance's expression softened at the obvious frustration in Keith's voice and body language, "Tell me about it, man."

"Koran was just in here, I didn't know he saw Allura and me in the cockpit, and he told me that there was a law on the books that said that if Allura ever married a commoner, she would lose her crown."

"What?"

"The law has been there for years, if she married a commoner she would have to give up ruling Arus and she is the last of her family, what would happen to Arus and it's people?"

Lance rubbed the back of his neck, trying to think of what to say.  "I knew you had feelings for her, but I didn't realize they ran that deep."

"We can't let it go that far."

"Shit, man, this can't be happening.  Are you sure about it?  I mean, did Koran show you the law?"

"No.  I have no reason to doubt Koran, why would he lie?"

"Because he's overprotective of the Princess."

Keith shook his head, "No, Lance, he's right.  We can't allow silly crushes to get in the way of our work.  We're here to do a job, to protect and rebuild Arus."

"You're going to have to talk to her," Lance pointed out.


"I know.  Just let me do it, don't say anything to her, I have to figure out how I'm going to do this."

Lance laid a hand on Keith's shoulder and squeezed gently, "I am so sorry, Keith, there has got to be a way around this and we will find it."

"No, I don't want you wasting time reading the constitution and laws of Arus when we need you fighting with us."

"You need to stop being so damn noble and start doing what you feel is right?"

"Is it right for me to allow my hormones to dictate what I do and ruin Allura's life?"

"I think this goes deeper than just hormones."

Keith sighed, "Yeah, it does."

{{  "Oh, Keith, that's horrible," Darcy sighed.  "I can't believe Koran would do that?"

"He was just doing his job, Darc, he was looking out for Allura and what was best for Arus," Keith explained.

"Yeah, but if you had told me what he had said, I would have had a few choice words for him," Allura huffed, tucking her legs under her and curling up against him. 

Keith smiled, "Which is why I didn't tell you."

"How did you get around it?"  Becca asked.

"Well, if you guys would stop interrupting I could tell you," Lance teased.

"How long had you been on Arus at this point?"  Paton asked.

Keith thought for a moment, "Oh, about six months."

"And you and Allura were already that close?"

"It's hard to explain," Keith told her.  "But when you're living in such close quarters, working together, hanging out together, essentially spending all day every day together, you tend to grow close very quickly."

Lance snorted and tugged on Darcy's hair, "That's for sure."

"Come on, guys, I want to hear how they ended up together," Becca spoke up.

"Well, it wasn't easy, he walked into my room and broke my heart," Allura pouted.

"I did what I thought was right," Keith corrected her.

She sniffled and stuck out her lower lip, "It felt like my life was ending, my whole world was falling down around me."

"See, that stopped working on me a few years ago."

"What do you mean?"  Darcy asked.

Keith turned to her with a small smile, "Whenever Allura wanted anything, she would try and guilt me by using the time I broke her poor little heart."

"Well, that's just a waste of time," Lance teased.  "You have Keith wrapped so tightly around your little finger, you don't need guilt, you have other ways."

The Queen stretched her arms out in front of her and yawned, "Yeah, I know."

Keith rolled his eyes, "I'm not that whipped and besides, you fought back.  I was impressed."

"Come on," Becca whined.  "What happened?"

"You want to know what happened?"  Allura asked.  "I'll tell you what happened.  I was in my room, unable to walk, waiting for a certain someone to come visit me…}}

Allura was reclining back on her bed, pillows piled behind her and her swollen ankle elevated on a couple of cushions.  Nanny had fussed and poked and prodded and drove her crazy.  She had finally convinced the older woman it was time to go fix dinner.  Nanny didn't want to leave her alone, so a young maid, Lea, was told to stay with the Princess.

"You really don't need to stay," Allura told the young woman.

Lea bit her lip, not wanting to disobey the Princess, but she was also more than a little afraid of Nanny.  "I, uh, I can…"

"No, really, Lea, I just want to rest.  Oh, and don't worry, Nanny will be angry with me, not you."

As soon as the door closed behind the girl, Allura leaned forward to check her appearance in her vanity mirror.  With Nanny's help, she had washed up, brushed her hair and changed into a clean dressing gown.  There was a bruise on her jaw where Lotor had struck her, her wrists were still raw, and her whole body ached.  She hated this, but she knew Keith would come and visit her.  The thought of seeing him again brought an unconscious smile to her lips and caused her stomach to knot up.  He had kissed her.  Her first kiss.  She brought her fingers to her lips and closed her eyes, drawing on the memory of his lips against hers; gentle, kind, warm.

Heat colored her face when there was a knock on her door.  "Come in," she called, her voice a little higher than usual.

Taking a deep breath, Keith watched the door slide open.  He had rehearsed what he was going to say after Lance left his study.  But all thought, all his rehearsed words slipped from his mind.  He thought he had steeled his heart as to what he was going to do, but as soon as he saw her, it broke a little.  She looked so small, so vulnerable.  He knew as he looked at her now just what his feelings were for her.  She really was everything he ever wanted in a woman and then some.  If only things were different.  But they weren't.

"Keith," she smiled shyly.

He nodded to her, "Princess.  How are you?"

"A little sore and tired," she admitted.  "But now that Nanny isn't fussing over me, I'm feeling a lot better."

He smiled despite himself, "Well, I'm glad you're feeling better and that you're home safe."

"Me too."

A thick silence hung in the room.  Keith looked around, taking in the little girl room with pink walls and white trim combined with the scent of roses that was Allura.  A portrait of her parents hung above the fireplace opposite her bed.  The only clutter was on top of her vanity where various bottles and hair accessories littered the white top of pink skirted table. 

"How, uh, h-how are you feeling?  How's your, uh, back?"  Allura asked, blushing.

"I'm fine, thank you."

"This is silly, Keith, why are we having such a hard time talking?  We're friends."

He nodded stiffly and took a few more steps into the room.  He fought for control to stop himself from going to her, touching her, kissing her.  It would be best to just come right out, say it, and move on with their lives.

"Princess…Allura, we need to talk."

She nodded.

Keith sat carefully on the edge of the vanity chair.  "What happened earlier, in Black, I want to apologize for that.  I was totally out of line and it should not have happened, it won't happen again."

Allura furrowed her brow, ignoring the pain and insult that came with what he just said.  "I don't understand Keith, this is the second time you've apologized for…something like this.  Why?  I mean, it keeps happening, but then you regret it?  Why?"

He hadn't expected her to argue.  He thought she would nod, agree and then they would go back to work.  "Uh, well, to be honest, it wouldn't work.  We have to work together and I enjoy your friendship, but we can't go any further, it would be totally inappropriate."

She shook her head slowly, "I just don't understand.  Do you always kiss a girl and then regret it?  What game are you playing?  Because I don't have time to put up with this."  Her voice rose slightly.  "I have a planet to run and Lion practice and workouts.  I don't have time to allow you to do this to me."

Keith took a step back, surprised by her reaction.  Why did she have to fight back?  "It's not like that, Princess.  I think we both just got caught up in the moment."

Her voice shook and she cursed herself for it, "Well, then I guess we will just have to be careful to not let that happen again."

He nodded.

"And I think you should learn to control your behavior better."

Keith started, totally unprepared for that remark.  He wanted to tell her how he felt, he wanted to go to her apologize repeatedly and beg for her forgiveness.  He had hurt her and he knew it.  "I'm sorry, Princess."

She nodded again, unable to speak.

"I'll take my leave," he mumbled.  "If there is anything at all you need, just ask."

Allura turned away from him, staring at her window.  She did not want him to see the tears in her eyes.

"I'm so sorry," he whispered quietly, slipping from her room.

The door slid shut behind him, but Keith couldn't move.  He stood in the quiet hallway and listened as she cried.

{{  "Geez, Keith, how could you?"  Becca asked.

"In my defense, when you look back now I seemed cold and heartless, but at the time it was the right thing to do," he explained.

Allura batted her eyes at him, "Breaking my heart was the right thing to do?"

"Alright, fine," he threw his arm around her shoulders.  "What was it you wanted?  That necklace in the window of Mazell's?"

She nodded, "That'll do."

Keith smiled and shook his head, "You are one expensive woman to keep."

Allura kissed him, "Hey, you still owe me for that."

"No," Lance interrupted their playful flirting.  "You owe all of us for having to put up with you two after that little incident."

Hunk nodded in agreement, "The two of you were almost impossible to deal with."

"It wasn't that bad," Keith said.

"What are you talking about!"  Lance exclaimed, leaning forward.  "For months, every time the two of you were in the same room the tension was so thick it was like walking into a wall.  You both kept trying to steal little glances when the other wasn't looking.  It was sickening and sad."

"But you were able to get your work done," Pidge added.  "I always admired that about you guys."

"It wasn't easy," Keith admitted. 

"No, it wasn't," Allura agreed.  "Half the time I wanted to throw myself at you, the other half I wanted to smack you upside the head."

"What happened next?"  Darcy asked, pulling Lance back so she could see Keith and Allura.

"Next came Nanny and Koran's interference," Keith muttered.


"The Parade of Princes," Lance corrected.

"There were so many times I thought Keith was going to lose it and shoot a couple of them," Pidge said.

"I almost did, especially that Prince from Planet Wollege."  Keith scowled.


"I wouldn't have stopped you if you tried," Allura mumbled.

"What happened," Becca asked.

"As time went on, Voltron became better known and we became more comfortable with the Lions," Lance told her.  "The battles with Doom weren't as often and we continuously kicked their ass.  So, the rebuilding of Arus really began as well as the search for Allura's husband…}}