It must have been around midnight, that Keith got the phone call. He squinted at the screen. Why was Lance calling?
"Lance, do you know how late it is?"
Barking and slapping sounds were the only answer. "Lance, this isn't funny-"
"Keith! Keith," he said, breathing heavily. There was another bark in the background.
"I need your help."
There was another, louder bark. "Lance, what the hell is that?"
"Um, there's a seal in my car."
"Are you f**cking with me, Lance?"
"They were gonna take her from her momma!"
"Calm down, Lance. Take who from who?"
"Lily!"
"The baby seal?"
"Yes! They were gonna take her from Louise and Luke, and it was my turn to lock the doors, and I just sort of picked her up and put her in my car?"
Keith put his fingers to his temples. "Lance-"
"Please, Keith! I need help!"
Keith sighed. He knew he would regret this. "What kind of help?"
As quietly as he could, Keith made his way downstairs.
There, in all his fatherly glory, was Shiro. Sitting on the couch and reading a book. "Hey," he said, and took off his reading glasses. "Where are you going?"
A blank silence followed.
"Out."
"Out where?"
"To see Lance..."
Shiro raised his eyebrows. "Oh."
"Not like that! And why do you care? You're not my dad."
Keith's older brother rolled his eyes. "I just want to make sure you'll be safe."
"Well if you want the truth, I'm going to buy heroin laced with elephant tranquilizers. Then I'm going to find a hooker and have sex in an alleyway."
Shiro didn't know how to reply to that.
"Oh my God, I'm kidding!" Keith yelled, exasperated. "Lance... got a cat. And it's peeing everywhere. He needs help."
"Why you didn't you just say so? Go ahead!"
As Keith walked out the door, Shiro reminded him. "Take your helmet!"
Keith begrudgingly picked up his motorcycle helmet.
"Stay safe! Make good choices!"
Keith slammed the door shut.
When Keith got to the aquarium parking lot, he found Lance instantly. There was only one car, and only one car with seal barks echoing out the window. He parked his motorcycle. Lance rolled down a window. "Wow man, a motorcycle! That's awesome!"
Keith was just about done already. "Hey Lance, in case you didn't know, you stole a seal from an aquarium. You need to put her back."
"I can't! They'll take her away!"
"Lance, you took her away. If she really is leaving, she should be spending her last night with her mom and brother."
"That's not it! She's sick! I don't know what's wrong with her, but her barking sounds weird and her breathing is shallow. I think she might have an underdeveloped lung."
"But wasn't she fine when she as born?"
"Aren't you a medical engineer?"
"Bio-medical. I know nothing about seal illnesses."
"She needs urgent help."
"Is there anyone at the aquarium who could help?"
"Everyone has gone home!"
"Lance, this is the kind of situation where you call and wake up an experienced marine biologist, not a sleeping bio-med student!"
Lance was about to answer when his phone rang. "Yes, sir? I know that Lily's missing, I have her with me! Yes, yes I know I'm not supposed to do that... sir, she's sick! I can't let her get shipped away tomorrow. No, please don't fire me! I'm not making things up, sir. I'm aware of how serious this is, but Lily's condition could be critical. I believe she has an underdeveloped lung. No sir. Yes, right away sir!"
Keith stared at Lance's face as he set down his cell phone. Lance took a deep breath. "I think they might put her down. Seal twins aren't that common, so the doctors were worried that something would go wrong."
Lily was asleep on the passenger seat of Lance's car. "Take her back to the doctors, Lance." Keith said.
"Thanks, man."
