Keith let out a long breath as he left Castle Control, having just finished his afternoon duty, and headed toward his study to go over some Garrison reports.  Lotor had been true to his word.  A week after their ill-fated duel, the Doomian ruler had attacked.  While Voltron fought the hideous robeast, Doom fighters swooped in to attack Alforia.  Months of hard work were reversed in a matter of moments.  By the time the robeast had been defeated and the Lions made their way to the capital city most of the school had been destroyed, half of the stores were reduced to piles of smoldering rocks, and fallen trees and debris littered the roadways.  Luckily most of the people had returned to the caves at the sound of the alert sirens the Force had installed the month before.  But there had been some unfortunate casualties.  Twenty townsfolk had endured injures of varying degrees and three others had fallen.

It had been the three deaths that had truly knocked Allura down.  The towns could be rebuilt and the injuries healed, but you couldn't replace lives.  She saw the Arusian people as her personal responsibility and they were definitely not a responsibility she took lightly.

The rebuilding had started the day after the deceased had been buried.  Over two months had passed and they were making good headway.  But Keith was really worried about Allura.  She was working long days on the building plans and meetings with town elders, townsfolk, and neighboring monarchs.  Not to mention the wedding plans.  She was helping Romelle with hers and she was meeting with Nanny about their wedding.  Nanny was insisting upon a traditional ceremony that would include everything from an elaborate meal to live music to a guest list that had reached nearly five hundred the last time Keith had checked.

He stopped outside his study, noticing the door to Allura's study was closed.  Hoping that meant she had taken a break, he punched in the code to unlock and open his door.  At the sound of the deep, chest-rattling cough Allura had developed a few days earlier, Keith sighed deeply and turned to knock on her door.

"Who is it?"  She called out hoarsely.

"It's me."

"Come in."

Keith slid open the door and pursed his lips in annoyance at what he saw.  Allura was sitting behind her desk, her pale face lit by the computer screen she was studying.  A pile of correspondence lay unopened beside her that was matched by the pile of used tissues beside it.

"Have you gone to see Dr. Gorma?"

Allura tore her gaze from the screen in front of her and looked at him with tired eyes, "What do you need, Keith?"

He fell into the seat in front of her desk, "I need you to be in good health, you're wearing yourself out."

"I already have Nanny to fuss over me, I don't need you to too," she muttered, wiping her nose with a tissue.

"Allura, you're spreading yourself too thin and that isn't good for anyone.  You need to be in good form to fight."

She sat back in her chair and studied him, "So you're here because you think I can't handle flying?"

"Well, that and because I really don't want to kiss you when your nose is running and you're hacking up a lung."

"I'm not hacking up a lung.  I have the sniffles."

Keith snorted.

"Leave me alone," she mumbled.

"Honey, take a break.  Go see Dr. Gorma and see if he has something you can take."

"I have so much I need to do…"

"Stop it.  You have been doing an amazing job, take the rest of the evening off.  Koran and I will take care of things so you can rest."

She tiredly rubbed her eyes, "I can't do that."

"Why not?"

"I have to review and sign off on these requests for new parts and building materials."

"Koran can read them and give you a quick overview in the morning, they can't be sent until then anyway."

Allura glared at him, annoyed, "I have to write back to King Kasdar, he wants to work on an import/export agreement with us.  If we can work it out, then we would be able to set up the roadways and cars that you wanted to bring to Arus."

"He will understand if you can't get to it right away, a lot has been happening."

"Romelle is going to call me later."

"I'll talk to her."

She crossed her arms on her desk and rested her head on them, "Nanny wants to talk about the flowers for the wedding."

Keith stood and went to stand behind her.  He ran his hand over her hair, "That can wait."

"I don't want it to be this big," she muttered.  "It seems wrong to have a big, elaborate wedding when the war is still going on and people have died."

He crouched beside her, his hand on her back, "Don't worry about it now, sweetheart.  You need to rest."

"I'm so tired," she admitted quietly.

He smiled, "Come on, go see Dr. Gorma.  I bet he has something you can take to make you feel better.  Get a full night's sleep tonight and you'll feel a hundred percent better in the morning."

"But…"

"You are not letting anyone down, Allura."

She raised her head to look at him, it was like he was reading her mind.

Keith continued, "You're allowed to get sick and at the rate you're going, you're going to completely wear yourself out."

"Just tonight."

"Just tonight," he took her hands and pulled her to her feet.  "You go see Dr. Gorma and I'll put together the papers for Koran to go over.  We'll take care of this."

"Thank you," Allura whispered, kissing his cheek.  "Let me know if you need anything or if you can't find something."

"Go Allura."

"Don't touch those letters there, I have yet to sort them."

"Go Allura."

"And I have that pile put in order, so don't mess with those either."

"Allura," Keith took her by the shoulders and forced her to look at him.  "I promise to not let your planet fall apart while you're resting."

"I know you won't, it's just that if Kasdar calls tonight…"

"I'll talk to him."

"But you're…"

"The future Prince Consort," he interrupted.  "I want to know what you do and I want to be able to help you.  Just let Koran and I do this."

"Alright," her shoulders slumped.

"I'll come later and fill you in."

"Thank you, Keith."

"Love you, Angel."

"Love you too, Keith."

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

An hour later found Koran sitting across the desk from a very confused Keith.

"No, Captain, we can't just agree with Kasdar to send 450 gallons of our herathane to his planet in exchange for 600 gallons of berthane."

"But the berthane will be a huge help when we start up the roadways.  We will need to have a stash of fuel for the cars."

"The cars we're planning to get will run on a clean burning combination fuel of berthane and herathane, we'll need herathane as well."

Keith sighed, "I know that Koran, but we can spare 450 gallons for 600."

"Not when we've only produced 1000 gallons since we started digging and we have already agreed to trade 300 gallons of the herathane to King Yehsreh for more building materials for the downtown, including electrical and digital equipment that we need."

Keith ruffled through the papers on top of Allura's desk, "Why isn't that in here?"

"Because the Princess had signed off on it a couple of weeks ago, it's been filed away," Koran explained.  When Keith had told him that Allura had taken the night off, he was pleased.  The poor girl was running herself ragged.  And then Keith dropped the other shoe, he wanted to work with Koran to finish everything for Allura so she could relax.  The older man shook his head, the Captain meant well, but running the planet was different from running the Voltron Force.

"Then what do you suggest?"  Keith asked tiredly.

"Well, I was going to suggest to the Princess that we offer them 200 gallons for now in exchange for 300 from them and then set up a contract for a certain amount, probably 450 a year for 600, when we can properly gauge how many gallons we'll be able to produce a year."

Keith skimmed over the proposal from King Kasdar, "So you think we should come up with our own proposal, show to Allura in the morning, and, if she agrees to it, we can send it to Kasdar tomorrow."

"I'll type up the proposal, Captain, it's more important you concentrate on the Force and the military."

Keith raised his eyes to his fiancée's advisor, "I want to help Koran.  I want to know what it is Allura has to do as ruler of Arus, I want to be able to help her."

Koran smiled softly, any reservations he may have had concerning Keith and his intentions toward Allura had long ago been assuaged.  "I understand, Captain, and that is very admirable of you, but this is the Princess' responsibility.  The best you can do is to support her and do your job to the best of your ability so she doesn't have to worry about the safety of her planet."

"I knew she worked hard, but I never realized how much she had to do and how hard it is," Keith indicated the work piled up on her desk.

"We're lucky that Princess Allura is such a strong, smart young woman.  She has accepted her responsibilities to Arus and she has done so with dignity, determination, and love.  She loves her planet and her people.  With her as our ruler, Arus can only grow stronger."

Keith nodded.

"And, this isn't easy for me to admit," Koran added.  "But since she has become…involved with you, she has found more self confidence, more strength.  She has become an even stronger leader because of you."

Keith looked down as the heat rose to his face, "We're in this together, Koran."

"I know, Captain, and it makes me feel so much better to know that when I am gone someday, the Princess will have you to depend on."

"I won't let anything happen to her, Koran."

"I know," he got slowly to his feet.  "I'll put together this proposal and add up the necessary funds needed for the new parts and I'll show them to the Princess in the morning."

"What can I do?"  Keith asked.

"Go entertain the Princess, she is a whiny sick person."

Keith snorted, "Thanks, Koran."

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

When Keith arrived at Allura's bedroom, he had expected to find her curled up in bed asleep, or at least relaxing.  He should have known better.

"Come in!"  She called when he knocked.

The door slid open and he walked in to see Allura sitting in the middle of her bed.  She had changed into a pair of jeans and his Buccaneers sweatshirt, the sleeves rolled up to her elbows, and her hair pulled back into a hasty bun.  A large book was opened in front of her while various scraps of paper and photographs were spread out around her.  A glue stick in one hand and a pair of scissors in the other, she looked up at him.  "Hi, honey."

"I thought you were supposed to be resting."

"I am.  Besides, I'm feeling better," she told him, setting down the glue and ruffling through some cards beside her.  "Dr. Gorma told me it was nothing serious, it'll pass with…" she turned her head away to sneeze.  "It'll pass with some rest and he gave me some medicine for the cough.  So you can kiss me again without having to worry about me hacking a lung up on you."

He chuckled and sat on the edge of her bed, "What is all this and how, exactly, are you resting?"

"This is our scrapbook, your mother gave me the idea when she was here and she showed me the one she had made for you.  And I'm relaxing.  This isn't hard work, this is something I'm enjoying."

Keith leaned over and picked up a stack of cards, he recognized them as some of the congratulatory cards they had received when their engagement had been announced, "Where did you get all this?"

"I've been saving stuff and your mother sent me the supplies to get started and the book.  Here, look," she flipped the scrapbook closed so he could see the deep maroon cover and 'The Whitakers' written on the front in gold with the silver outline of a castle in the background.  "Isn't it nice?  She sent it when we got engaged."

"Uh, yeah, how come I've never seen it before?"

"Well, I was thinking about making it a surprise, but, oh well.  Here it is.  I didn't feel like trying to clean all this up before you came in."

Keith opened up to the first page and saw a picture of him as a baby next to a worn, cracked picture of Allura as a baby. Each picture framed with colored paper and stickers.  "Where did these come from?"

Allura took the book and scooted over so they were sitting close enough that their legs were touching and she could open the book on both their laps.  "Your mother gave me that picture of you and that was my only baby picture to survive the original attack.  Nanny found it for me in my parent's belongings."  She turned the page.  "Remember this?"

He smiled down at the page of pictures and stickers showing their first snowball fight.  Lance had had the frame of mind to have his parents send him his camera and they had taken hundreds of pictures over the years. 

They flipped through the book, reliving happy times both before and after they started dating. 

"What is this?"  Keith tapped a small clear bag taped to the page containing something brittle and dark pink.

"That," Allura leaned her head on his shoulder, "is one of the rose petals from our first date."

He smiled, feeling pleased that she had kept all of these things.  "And this?"

"Apparently Lance was taking pictures of us during our dance lessons.  Those are the lyrics from the first song we danced to."

"Allura!  I can't believe you put that in here!"

"What?  It was the first love letter I had ever received."

"It's private."

She kissed his cheek, "It's sweet."

"I remember that picnic."

"Yeah, Hunk, Pidge, and I kicked your butts at fooseball."

"Football," he corrected, chuckling.

"Whatever, I still beat you."

"Where did you find the time to do this?"  He asked, flipping through the pages.

"It's how I relax.  It's what I do now when I can't sleep at night."

With a small smile, he nuzzled her throat, "So that's why you haven't been to visit me."

"You were the one who said it wasn't safe."

"It isn't."

"But if Lotor were to attack, wouldn't I be safer with you?"  She teased.

"No, you're not safe when we're alone in my room late at night," he whispered, kissing her neck.

Allura smiled and turned to hug him, "Thank you, Keith."

"For what?"

"For looking out for me."

"It's my pleasure and my life's work."

"What do you think of roses?"

He shrugged, "They're flowers."

"No, silly, I mean for the wedding.  I was thinking of using the roses from my garden."

"Sounds good, but next time, can you warn me when you're changing the subject."

"There is so much going on, I can't seem to concentrate on just one thing."

"I spoke to Romelle."

Allura looked up at him, "What did she have to say?  Did you tell her I would call her tomorrow?"

"Yes I did and she and Sven are going to come for a few days next week.  Something about your dress and finishing up the plans."

"She's starting to panic."

"Are you?"  Keith asked her.

She shook her head, "Nah, but then she only has three months left to go."

"And we have, what?  A year?"

"Ten months, three weeks, and five days."

"I stand corrected."

{{  "You always were too over protective," Allura teased her husband.

"Someone had to look out for you, trouble seems to follow you," he replied.

"How long did it take you to rebuild?"  Becca asked.

"Oh, it took a while," Keith told her.

"We were trying to plan two weddings on top of all the other work," Allura pointed out.

Romelle smiled, "I was starting to feel a little stressed.  It was hard when my maid-of-honor lived on a whole other planet and the only help I had at home was my mother's former maid and seamstress.  She could sew beautifully, but she was also a bitter old woman."

Sven cleared his throat.

"Oh, Sven, you were of no help, you know that."

Lance snorted.

"Quiet you," Darcy poked him in the ribs.  "All you did was just agree with everything I said."

"And it was a lovely ceremony."

"Any way," Becca spoke up.  "Did you hear from Lotor?"

Keith nodded, "Yeah, he finally got his duel, well, sort of…"  }}

"You like the color?"

Allura smiled at her cousin, "It's beautiful, Romelle.  I'll take the pattern to Hilla and have her get started on the dress right away."

"Okay, then my dress and your dress are taken care of," Romelle ticked off her fingers as she went over her mental to-do list.  "The flowers have been decided upon and Nanny said she would make me a cake.  Sven's family is going to fly in a week before the ceremony so they can be there."

"It's going to be great."

"I am so excited, Allura, nervous, but excited.  I am looking forward to it, but at the same time I want it to be over."

"What do you mean?"

"I want to be married to Sven, I want it all complete and official.  Bandor has given us a piece of land near the castle so we could build our own place.  Sven wants a house of his own for our family.  Our family.  I love the way that sounds.  I want to be married and raising our family in our home."  Romelle clasped her hands together excitedly.

"And I have to wait almost a whole year for that," Allura whined.

"It'll be here before you know it," Romelle assured her.  "So how are you feeling?"

"I'm fine, why do you ask?"

"When I spoke to Keith, he said you were getting sick."

"No, I'm fine.  He was just worrying too much."

"What have you heard from Doom?"

"Not much.  Keith reported that there has been some activity on the planet, but we fought back pretty hard last time they attacked and we did some damage.  We're hoping that Lotor is finally taking the hint and is going to leave me, uh, I mean us alone.  You haven't heard anything from him on Pollux, have you?"

Romelle shook her head, "No, thank goodness.  But Sven and Bandor are working on rebuilding the military, so hopefully we'll be ready if anything does happen."

"That's good to hear.  And you know you only need to call us if you ever need help."


"I know," Romelle squeezed her cousin's hand.  "And I appreciate it."

"Keith and Sven are going to see about getting some Garrison soldiers in for the wedding as added security."

"Good.  I just wish it wasn't necessary."

"I know and someday…" Allura broke off at the sound of the castle alarms and rolled her eyes.  "It doesn't end, does it?"