"Sit down, Lance," Keith sighed.

Lance stood, glaring down at the surface of the conference room table, "What if it was Cady, Keith?"

Darcy took his hand and tugged until he fell back into his chair. She and Lance were sitting at the table with Keith, Allura, Pidge, Becca, and Hunk. They had just gone through all the information that had been gathered during the day.

"I would be as angry and frustrated as you are," Keith admitted. "But Sky is in the castle and safe, we won't let anything happen to her. But you know we can't just go down there and accuse them of attempted kidnapping on very circumstantial evidence."

"Paton is placing officers within and around the circus to keep an eye out for anything odd," Hunk added.

"Gordon and Lajed are working on the prints they lifted from the window," Keith told them. "They're running them through the Garrison's and the Intergalactic Policing Organization's databases to see if they can find a match. If they do match anyone connected to the circus, we will go right down there and arrest them immediately."

"I can't stand this," Lance slammed his fist down on the table. "There is a threat to my daughter out there and we know it and you're telling me I can't do anything about it!"

"Lance," Allura said gently. "We are doing everything within our power. We want to make sure that when we arrest them, we have enough evidence to put them away forever. We want to end their business completely."

"So we sit on our asses and wait for them to attack? We use our daughter as bait."

"You're being unfair, Lance," Becca chided him. "We are all doing everything we can to protect Sky, we all love her and you know that. But we have to be logical about this."

"Logical? You expect me to be logical! This is my daughter!"

"Lance," Darcy squeezed his hand. "Calm down, this isn't helping."

Hunk's cell phone rang, he plucked off his belt and announced, "Its Paton."

"Alright," Keith stood. "We've all been brought up to speed. Pidge, Becca get back to your research. Lance, go run a mile and get over your attitude problem so you can help us better…"

Lance scowled at him.

"I'm going to go check on the kids," Allura said, pushing back from the table.

Darcy turned to her husband, "Come with me, Lance."

"What?"

She took his hand and pulled him from the room and to the Observation Deck. Once they were alone and the door was locked behind them, Darcy turned to him. "Lance, you are not helping the situation. I want to go down there as badly as you do and knock some heads, but we have to go about it the right way or it will all blow up in our faces."

"I know," he murmured, staring at the floor.

"Honey," Darcy cupped his chin and forced him to raise his eyes to hers. "We'll get through this, all of us, safely."

Letting out a long sigh, Lance pulled her to him and hugged her tightly. "I feel helpless."

"You're not."

"I was thinking that if nothing comes of this tonight, we'll go to the circus tomorrow and see what we can find."

Darcy tilted her head back, "I don't think that would be a good idea."

"Why not?"

"Because I know you, Lance, and you will beat up any clown who crosses your path."

He smiled humorlessly, "Would that really be a bad thing?"

"Come on, let's go tuck our daughter in for the night," she said, stepping back and taking his hand.

The wing that had once been occupied by the Voltron Force was pretty much deserted now. Pidge still had a room there, but he only used it as an office since his computer was set up in there and he was essentially living with Becca. Allura was able to set Darcy and Lance up in their old room, so Sky could stay in what had been her nursery and their rooms were joined by a door in the wall.

"This brings back memories," Darcy smiled softly as they walked toward the door to Sky's room.

"You sneaking into my room late at night?" Lance teased.

"I never sneaked into your room," she huffed. "You were the one always invading my privacy."

"But they were welcome invasions," he added, wrapping his arm around her shoulders.

Darcy nodded to the guard who was patrolling the hallway and punched in the code to Sky's room. The door slid open and they heard a quick rustling of blankets and Sky whispering, "Shh."

Lance stood by the door while Darcy crept into the room.

"Sky?" She whispered. "Are you asleep?"

"Yes," Sky whispered back.

With a smile on her face, Darcy sat on the edge of the bed, "Well, if you're asleep, then I guess you don't need to hear a story."

"Yes I do," Sky sat straight up in bed. "I really do. One of da new ones."

Lance flipped on the light, "Who were you talking to when we walked in?"

"Chewy."

Darcy pulled back the blankets and uncovered the dog who was curled up beside the little girl, "Was he making a lot of noise?"

"Nanny doesn't want him in here," Sky explained. "She thinks he should be ou'side, but, um, but I told her dat…dat Chewy, he doesn't sleep, um, ou'side."

"I'll talk to Nanny," Lance assured her. "Chewy can sleep with you."

"But on top of the blankets," Darcy said, as Chewy got up, walked around in a circle and then curled up on top of the quilt. "It'll get too hot for him under the covers."

"'Kay."

Darcy walked over to the bags of things they had bought that evening, "What should we read?"

"Da elly-fant book!"

Darcy stretched out beside Sky and cracked open the book while Lance fell on his back across the foot of the bed and stared at the ceiling as he listened to his wife tell their daughter the story of Eddie the Elephant. How the young elephant got lost and was so sad because he would never see his family again, but he didn't give up hope and they were happily reunited at the end of the book. He let his eyes drift shut thinking about what a boring, predictable story it was and that he would be reading it to Sky over and over again because it was about a family of elephants.

"Mommy," Sky yawned when Darcy closed the book.

"What?"

"Am I in trouble?"

"No. Why do you think you're in trouble?"

"'Cause…'cause Cady said we was here 'cause I'm in trouble."

Darcy kissed the top of Schuyler's head, "No, baby, you're not in trouble."

"Dat's what I told Cady. I told her dat if…if I was in trouble…den…den you would make me sit in da corner."

A smile crossed Lance's face as he listened to them talk.

"That's right, but you've been such a good girl lately, you haven't had to sit in the corner for a long time."

"Not since I sprayed Daddy's shavin' cream all over da sink."

Lance lifted himself up on his elbows and looked at her, "That was you?"

Sky nodded, "Sorry, Daddy."

"You need to go to sleep, Schuyler," Darcy said, setting the book on the bedside table. "We'll be in the room next door, if you need anything, you push the green button and the door will open, okay?"

"Da gween button."

"That's right," Darcy kissed her cheek. "Good night, baby girl."

"I'm not a baby," Sky said sternly.

"You're right," her mother stood and helped Sky settle under the covers. "You're a big girl."

"Dat's right."

"But you'll always be my baby," Darcy said quickly.

Lance leaned down and kissed her, "Goodnight, Shorty."

"G'night Daddy."

"If you need anything, Sky, just push the green button."

"Da gween button," she repeated, yawning.

Darcy took Lance's hand since he seemed hesitant to leave her and pulled him to the door that led to their room.

"Mommy!"

Darcy jumped, "What is it, Sky?"

"I almost forgot."

"Forgot what?"

"Um, tomorrow, um, Nanny said dat, um, we can go swimmin' in da lake, um, but she…she said I had to ask you."

Darcy looked at Lance, he shook his head.

"What if I went with her?" she whispered to him.

"I don't want you guys out in the open."

"Nothing will happen on castle grounds and she'll be disappointed if she can't go."

"A little disappointment never killed anyone."

"You're being too overprotective."

"You're being too careless."

Darcy felt the heat rise to her face at his accusation.

"Mommy?" Sky called from across the room.

"I don't know, Schuyler," Darcy replied stiffly. "We'll talk about it in the morning."

Sky recognized that tone and knew not to argue, "'Kay. G'night."

"Good night," her parents replied before disappearing into their room.

"You think I'm being careless with our daughter?" Darcy asked in an angry stage whisper when the slid shut behind them.

Lance ran a hand over his face, "That's not what I meant, Darcy."

"Then what did you mean?"

"I meant…I don't know…I want her locked up in her room until this has passed."

"Are you going to tell her why, Lance? Are you going to go in there and tell a four-year-old little girl that we think there is a clown who wants to take her away? Are you going to put her on a leash and make sure she is no farther than two feet from you?"

"No! But I'm not going to let her just wander out into the open while this threat is going on."

"I will be with her, Nanny will be there, and I can probably convince Becca to go with us too. She'll be fine."

"An old woman and a med student, not quite the backup I would like for you to have."

"You're being ridiculous," Darcy said, pulling a nightshirt out of her suitcase.

"Wanting to keep my daughter out of danger is ridiculous?"

"I want to keep her out of danger too, Lance, but she's a little girl, its summer, she wants to be with her friends. I want to keep her out of danger, but I don't want her to lose out on the fun of being a little girl."

Too tired to argue, Lance sat on the edge of the bed, "Fine. Why don't you guys wait until I'm done with work and we'll go for a swim before supper."

Darcy sat beside him and looked down at the blue nightshirt in her hands, "I understand your concern, Lance, I really do, and I agree with you. But don't you think, after all these years together, that you could trust me and my judgment?"

He lowered his head, sick of this argument, "I do trust you, Darcy, but it's dangerous out there."

"I would never do anything to put Sky in danger."

"I know."

She leaned against him and laid her head on his shoulder. Wordlessly, Lance leaned his cheek against the top of her head and they sat in silence, trying to figure out how they got to this point and why anyone would want to go after their daughter.

………………………………………………………………………………..

Lance woke the morning still wearing the clothes he had on the day before. At some point last night, Darcy had fallen asleep leaning against him and he had simply curled up in the bed with her. He lifted his head to see his wife still asleep, curled up on her side. Checking the clock on the bedside table, he was surprised to see it was almost nine.

I guess it was a late night last night, he thought as he stood and stretched. After taking a quick shower and sneaking Chewy out of Sky's bed to let him outside, he went in search of food.

"There you are," Keith said when Lance walked into the kitchen fifteen minutes later. "I was going to give you another ten minutes before I called you."

Lance walked over to the coffee pot and poured himself a cup, "What's up?"

"Paton called me about half an hour ago. She spent all night going over the information we gathered yesterday. No match has been found for the prints yet, but she thinks we have enough now to bring Pepo in for questioning."

"Just questioning?"

"It's a start, Lance, and she believes she can prevent them from leaving the planet until we have it all figured out just what is going on."

"When are they going to bring him in?"

"She's putting together the necessary paperwork now and they'll head over to the circus early afternoon."

"Why do we have to wait? Can't we go get him now?"

"She's going to try and confiscate his computer and papers to see if there is anything in there."

Lance let out a long breath, feeling a huge weight lifted off his shoulders. "So this could all be over today."

"Hopefully. Keep in mind that the evidence is circumstantial, Paton can't use what Hunk heard since technically he got it illegally."

"Great."

"Don't worry, man, they are not going to leave Arus until we know just what is going on. I do, however, think you guys should hang out here until we're sure any threat has passed."

"Alright, thanks, Keith, for everything."

"Sky is one of our own, Lance, we're not going to let anything happen to her."

……………………………………………………………………………………..

Darcy reached out for Lance, finding nothing but an empty bed beside her. With a groan, she rolled over and saw it was almost 10:00. Sitting upright, she was startled and more than a little worried that Sky hadn't wakened her yet. She quickly got out of bed and hurried over to the door, sliding it open.

Sky was on the floor with Chewy flipping through her new elephant book, making up a story to tell him. She was dressed in her swimsuit and her red sneakers.

"Good morning, Sky."

She looked over her shoulder, "Hi Mommy!"

Darcy sat down beside her, "How long have you been up?"

"Since Daddy put Chewy back in my room."

"You've been very good," she kissed the top of her head. "Why don't I go grab a quick shower and then we'll go get something to eat."

"Den we'll go swimmin'?"

"We'll go swimming tonight, with Daddy."

"But I wanna go with Cady."

"We'll go later, Sky."

Her lower lip trembled, "No!"

"Fine, then we won't go at all."

Sky stood and stomped her feet, "I wanna go with Cady!"

"Don't yell at me, young lady," Darcy warned. "If you want to go swimming, we'll go tonight with Daddy. If you keep behaving like this, then we won't go at all."

"You're mean!" Sky cried.

"But I'm still the Mom."

Sky wailed and threw herself on her bed. Chewy slunk into Lance and Darcy's room to hide under their bed.

Darcy rolled her eyes and stood, "Schuyler Grace, there is no reason to behave like this. Stop crying. When I'm done with my shower we'll get something to eat, then we'll decide what we're doing the rest of today. Do you understand, Schuyler?"

Her response was a louder wail, "I wan' Daddy!"

"Fine, Daddy can deal with you when you're behaving like a spoiled brat," she muttered.

Leaving the door open between their rooms, Darcy pulled a pair of jeans and a t-shirt from her duffle bag. She was too tired, cranky, and stressed to deal with this at the moment.

Sky sat on the bed, wiping at the tears racing down her cheeks with the backs of her hands and thinking about how mean her mother was. It just wasn't fair that Cady and the twins got to do whatever they wanted and she had to stay in her room. It wasn't fair! She slammed her small fist on the bed and let out another sob. Then something caught her eye. A green button.

Sliding off the bed, Sky peeked in her parent's room. The bathroom door was open just a crack and she could hear the water running. Mommy might be mad, but she was wrong and Cady was waiting for her. Walking on tiptoe, Sky reached up and touched the green button beside the door that led out to the hall way. She looked left and then right, seeing a deserted hall.