Many thanks to Trek and Wade Wells for the beta. It is great to have another pair of eyes to catch errors!

This is for all those who continue to follow the story, ask for updates, and have such great patience with me. The rough draft of the final two chapters and the epilogue wait now only my editing and the betas. The school year has ended. The schedule has calmed down. Supposedly, I will have more time to finish this.

The last two sections (beginning with 'Hunk let the whooping noise. . .') came about solely at the request of Wade Wells. Many thanks to her for the missing piece.

Please, enjoy!

Oh, for anyone who cares to look, my husband has added new pictures on his astronomy site. The address is in my profile.

--KM

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Late afternoon found five communication units beeping with an urgent message to come to the hospital. Three of the five left conversations unfinished and instructions untold as they answered the summons. One finished cutting a wire, then uncharacteristically left a mess on the floor. The last one paused to send a prayer to the Goddess and God Above before hurrying as bidden.

They met in the entry way of the hospital, the last to arrive only a minute behind the first. A waiting nurse smiled broadly, "Dr. Gorma has requested your presence in the Captain's room. If you would follow me?"

Walking quickly down the hallway, the group did not speak. As they approached their destination, Cady's voice drifted down the hallway, sounding more animated than anyone had heard for some time. As she paused, Hunk's voice sounded in laughter along with Dr. Gorma's quiet chuckle and a third rough sounding laugh.

A gasp from the group had the nurse turning around and holding out her arms to prevent all five from flooding the room. She looked quickly over her shoulder and hissed at them to stop, with a finger to her lips. "Just a moment, please!" The five people stopped, grudgingly. The nurse continued, "He woke just ten minutes ago, and recognized Cady. Be gentle when you enter the room, his body has woken, but it will take time for the rest of him to catch up. Dr. Gorma will talk to you after your SHORT visit! If you cannot keep calm, keep the visit SHORT, we WILL ban you from visiting on anything other than an authorized schedule and with authorized staff. Am I clear?"

Five startled faces looked at one another and then back at the fierce nurse.

"Understood, Nurse. We will comply."

The nurse nodded and then smiled brightly, "Go on in then. Remember, he does not know how long he lay in a coma. To him it has only been a short time since the last battle." Stepping aside, she let the five people closest to the Captain enter his room. A chorus of greetings sounded as she returned down the hallway to check on her other patients.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Hunk, Cady, and Dr. Gorma looked over as the five people trooped into the room, with their greetings. The doctor stepped back to allow them to approach the captain. He knew the nurse would have relayed his instructions and warnings. "Take a break, when the grunt work needs doing!" Lance could not stop smiling broadly at his best friend and commander awake at long last.

"It's a new training method relayed to me by Garrison. Drop out of sight and see how your team does with no communications and no orders," came the dry reply.

The laughter in the room had little to do with the repartee. The group needed to give voice to the emotions bombarding them, and laughing too heartily at a dumb joke helped.

Cady laughed with a slightly confused look on her face. She opened her mouth to ask the question, but stopped when her Uncle Hunk shook his head slightly. He would explain it to her later.

Allura kept herself composed, although she wanted nothing more than to throw herself on Keith and never let him go again. Instead, she studied him. Someone had given him a shave, clearing away the stubble which had accumulated. His face, although gaunt, held animation in it for the first time since the fight with the RoBeast. It had acquired the pallor of someone who had not seen the outside in a few weeks. Knowing Keith detested hospital gowns, someone had kindly dressed him in a wrap around shirt to allow access to his wounds. A small blanket covered his legs, but Allura suspected he wore matching loose fitting pants. Cady held tight to his right hand, while his left rested on a specially designed support to keep any strain off of his shoulder. His hands looked as though they belonged on a man fifty years Keith's senior. The knuckles stood out prominently. Allura hoped as he regained weight, this sign of his sacrifice would lessen. In all, he looked…diminished. Even his eyes held something not present before Lotor's attack. Perhaps because of the medications? Inside she shook her head, no. Perhaps only because he had just awakened, and when he healed, his eyes would go back to normal.

The group continued to keep conversation light, spending more time chatting amongst themselves as time passed. After only twenty minutes, it became obvious to everyone that Keith struggled to follow the banter. His eyes started closing in long blinks. One by one, they each made excuses to leave until only the doctor, Cady, and Hunk remained.

"Rest, Captain. Let yourself sleep."

"Been sleeping, awhile, I suspect," came the slurred response.

"True, but you will need more, yet."

"Go to sleep, Daddy." Cady reached to pat his face gently, running her fingers down his forehead and nose, as he would do when she fought sleep.

The captain found his eyes closing, against his will and he drifted into slumber with the feel of his daughter beside him and the sound of an Arusian lullaby in his ears.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

A short time later, Hunk walked into the small conference room with the doctor right behind him. The group could hear him giving some instructions to another member of the medical staff. "One of the nurses agreed to walk Cady to the crèche. She did not sleep much last night, and spent the day here waiting for her father to wake," the doctor explained as he walked into the room and sat. He took a quick look at the room around him. Lance sat with a huge grin on his face. Coran looked much the same, but some tension had gone from his body. The young green pilot looked dazed. Magda held one of the princess' hands, gently petting it repeatedly in a soothing motion. Allura looked shell shocked, relieved, and joyful by turns. The doctor made a note to have Magda slip something soothing into her next drink.

Of the group, only Hunk seemed himself. Perhaps because he had come to believe in what Cady told him. Perhaps because of his relationship with Saria, Whatever the reason, Mikko knew the yellow pilot would quietly stand as their pillar of strength now, when really needed. His lion had chosen well.

Clearing his throat, he brought his thoughts to order. "Yes, it is perfectly normal for someone waking from an extended coma to have only brief periods of wakefulness at the beginning. I would expect it will take several days for his body to adjust. Today will see the briefest waking periods. Taking into account the Captain's will and connection to his lion, I believe within two days he will have long periods of wakefulness. In the next few weeks, we will focus on weight gain and building muscle. It will take some time to find the right balance of nutrients and calories to let both happen.

"As you all know, this type of severe muscle atrophy takes months to rebuild. In the meantime, I expect some muscle spasms due to muscle fatigue. During the last few weeks, I have regularly given him muscle relaxants after the physical therapy sessions because of this very reason. The therapists must carefully monitor how much stress they put on the Captain's muscles as it changes from day to day and session to session.

"Knowing the Captain so well, I shall endeavor to release him as soon as possible. The conditions for this will be the following: One. He must gain enough weight to put him at 85 percent of a standard weight for his height or around 150 to 160 pounds. Two. He must be able to walk unaided. Three. He must regain sufficient mobility in his shoulder and hand to take care of everyday tasks, although the definition of this is subject to change." The doctor paused and looked around the room. "We will have to be very careful to not let the Captain overtax himself either physically or mentally. I realize he will want to have all the information since his last day of battle and will also want to return to duty quickly. I will allow duties involving planning or communications; those tasks which require mental exercise not physical." Pausing, he looked around the room, "Any questions I can answer?"

"Any restrictions on visiting?"

"No. However, during the next several weeks, he will still require much sleep. Come down whenever you can, but check in with the nurses before popping into the Captain's room."

"Will he fly again?"

The room held a collective breath, waiting for the doctor's answer. The man took little for himself, asked little for himself; except flying. In the beginning, before losing Sven and before training enough people to take shifts, the men had taken shifts in the control room to monitor the planet and watch for incoming attacks. Lance suspected the reason Keith took so many night patrols had little to do with sparing the rest of the team. His friend ran perpetually short on sleep, but the night flights rejuvenated him. Lance could not count the times when Keith had taken Black out on patrol, sometimes nearly staggering with fatigue. He had always maintained the rest of the team needed their sleep more. Hunk and Darrell could not safely repair and rebuild castle systems with fatigue dragging at them. When Lance had protested about their commander needing sharp mental faculties, Keith had merely smiled and went out anyway. After the third or fourth time, Lance stopped protesting. Their captain would do as he would.

Then he started paying attention. Though Keith would leave nearly staggering, when he returned, he always brought an aura of calm and centeredness with him. Depending on the time, he would either take a quick meal before practice, or sleep for a couple hours. It made no sense to Lance that an activity which required focus and concentration rejuvenated the captain. He would never forget his captain's reply when he finally asked.

Keith had studied him for several minutes before replying. "When Black and I fly at night, I can see the world and its possibilities. In the silence, the true silence of night, with no one near, I can let go of everything but the feeling of flying. For a time, no one needs me, no one makes demands of me, no one expects me to find answers to impossible quandaries. My mind can lay quiet." He then gave Lance a wry smile. "Curiosity satisfied, Lieutenant?"

Lance returned the smile and then saluted, "Sir, yes, Sir!"

Snorting, Keith glanced at the time. "Practice in two hours. I will have a shower and nap before then. Beep me if anything arises."

Nodding, Lance turned back to the control panel in front of him.

Shaking his head, Lance brought his attention back to the doctor to catch his reply.

". . .cannot say at this time. I think it safe to say the Captain will let very little stand in his way of flying. The truer question posed: will the captain fly combat again? With the help of the Goddess and God Above, yes. This recovery will take many months. Just returning Captain Kogane to quote, "normal," standards would challenge anyone. That is neither here nor there. Little of what I say here today may pertain to tomorrow. I would rather not speculate on the future, but deal with the present. Can I answer any other questions?"

"How are you going to keep Keith to a slower recovery? Tie him to the bed?"

"Lance! Only you would think of that!"

The red pilot only smirked, "Hey, if you need to keep a good man down. . ." He laughed and ducked as several objects came flying at him from various parts of the room.

The doctor only smiled. Typical of the new Captain; finding a way to let the tension out of a room. It surprised the doctor, yet again, the depths to the pilot. Captain McClain, although a brash playboy and ready to thumb his nose at authority, had an innate understanding of people which led to the same maids with whom he romped, to cry on his shoulder or look to him for consolation. Cliché, but in his case true. The brash exterior hid a heart filled with good intentions and caring.

While the younger people joked, the doctor exchanged a knowing look with the older two in the room. As both nodded, he rose. "As there seems to be nothing else I can answer?" Heads shook. "Coran, Magda, if I could have a few minutes?"

"Of course, Doctor."

"My office?"

Both nodded and the three turned and left the room. As they exited, a jubilant whooping started. Coran suspected a rather large party would soon commence. He made a mental note to have the beta team take over for the group in the morning. Somehow, he suspected all of them would rise feeling rather worse for wear. He chuckled to himself at the thought. Ten years ago, he would have joined them. Perhaps he should stop in for a while; yes, yes he would. Time to remind himself what relaxing with the youth felt like.

"I think many will hold celebrations tonight as the news of the young commander spreads." Magda mused.

Both men nodded, then stood to let her enter the room first. They settled into the chairs and Mikko opened a drawer with a smile, holding out a bottle. "Perhaps we should preempt the celebration, then?"

Gaping at the bottle, Coran could only nod his head. "Ethusian elixir. Did someone start making it again, and when?"

Gorma laughed and poured a small amount into three glasses designed specifically for the drink. "Yes, but this came from a friend of mine who stored a cache of the stuff before the first of Zarkon's attacks. He has spent the last year trying to remember where. Finally, I had Zima put him under a memory trance. He repaid me by giving me two bottles." He held up his glass, "To Commander Keith, may his recovery be swift and may Arus follow suit."

"To Commander Keith," the other two replied in tandem.

Three people tossed back their glasses and slammed them back on the table as custom. A few moments later, all three gasped as the liquor hit. "Ahh, I had forgotten the punch it holds!" Magda smiled and then hiccupped. All three laughed, and the doctor carefully poured out one more before regretfully replacing the stopper and placing the bottle back in the drawer.

"To business?" At the nods of acceptance he continued. "The lore masters report the vote goes well, and early results yield the expected and desired outcome. Final results will come this week. We can expect an announcement shortly thereafter."

Coran smiled and nodded. Magda beamed. "Then I have some planning to do. Much to be done in a short amount of time."

"Has anything leaked?" the diplomat questioned.

Gorma shook his head. "No, many beaming faces, but for once the gossip tree has failed to keep pace. I think, for once, tradition has trumped the gossip mongers' need to spread tales."

Coran raised his glass, "To tradition!"

Following suit the other two replied, "The lore masters!"

Gasping quickly following the slamming of the glasses on the table.

The three talked about old friends and new plans. Twenty minutes later, Magda and Coran took their leave. The doctor smiled as they walked with careful dignity down the hall. It just would not do to see the castellaine and the head diplomat to weave through the corridors tipsily. He smiled and then tipped his chair back, happy to not have to move for a couple house. With a command to leave him undisturbed, Mikko turned off the lights and settled in for a long nap. Today had been good.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Hunk let the noise of the whooping and crying from his teammates wash over him. Outwardly, he made appropriate noises. Inwardly, he thought again of the moment when Keith's eyes had finally opened.

Several times throughout the morning, Keith rose toward consciousness only to fall back to a dreaming state before the actual moment of wakening. The doctor had explained to Cady and to Hunk about the various stages of sleep. It had amused Hunk enormously to see the doctor try to bring medical speak down to Cady's level without insulting her intelligence. Not surprisingly, he managed beautifully. When the yellow pilot had inquired about the ability, the doctor had simply laughed. "I have three children, Lieutenant. Although they have grown and I may be a little rusty, I still remember how to talk to children about complex medical issues. Probably why none of my children followed me into medicine!" He had smiled, inviting the pilot to join in his mirth.

As the morning continued, the pilot and the doctor swapped stories about growing up on their respective planets. Hunk shared stories about his unconventionally large family and the doctor described the planet before Zarkon attacked. He told many stories about his children and his wife. Only one of his children, one grandchild, and his wife survived the ensuing horrors. His other children, their spouses and children perished. It amazed Hunk how the people of Arus kept their joy of life and celebrated the life of those lost to Zarkon rather than despairing their loss. It did not lessen their grief or their anger; rather it granted their loved ones a way to remain beyond their deaths through memory and remembrance.

Nurses came in a continuous stream throughout the day. The doctor had chosen to remain until the Captain woke, but other patients still needed his tending. The nurses and other medical staff came with charts, questions, and problems. Dr. Gorma quickly and efficiently solved each problem. Only four times did he leave to check on another patient.

Midday came. Hunk grew more anxious with each time Keith rose toward consciousness only to slip away without waking. He stopped jumping every time Cady reported a change in the monitors or his limbs twitching. Then, at 2.23pm, Cady announced, "He is waking up, for real!"

Dr. Gorma and Hunk quickly stood and walked the few steps to the bed. As they watched, the captain's eyes twitched, and they could see him trying to open his eyes. Cady sat on his right side with his good hand in her lap. "C'mon, Daddy! Open your eyes. You can do it."

With Cady's encouragement, Keith finally opened his eyes. He blinked heavily several times to focus on the little girl next to him. His hand turned over to take his daughter's and his head turned to look directly at her.

She beamed with happiness, "Hullo, Daddy. I love you."

Keith blinked several more times and he opened his mouth, but only a croaking sound emerged. With ease of long practice, Cady reached for the glass of weak tea next to her. The nurses had replaced the glass with a fresh one through out the day, covered with a lid and a straw poking through the top.

"When you are ready, Daddy, I have the tea for the yucky mouth."

Blinking a few more times, the Captain finally turned his head and took a small sip. He swished it around his mouth and swallowed before taking a second sip. Cady put the glass back on the table. Hunk felt his eyes well up at the picture before him. Keith's child had never once doubted her father would return. She believed with a child's ability to look beyond what their eyes told them.

The doctor had informed them that when Keith finally woke, it could take a few minutes for his mind to catch up to his body. In typical Cady fashion, she simply began talking.

"So Black told me you would wake up today and it took you forever! The nurses even brought me lunch today and afterward Uncle Hunk told me I ate Ruba Roots! Yuck, I do not like Ruba Roots. Of course, I just wanted to eat really really fast, cause I did not want to miss you opening your eyes. You have been sleeping a really long time, Daddy. Black said you will still feel tired for a long time, and that I have to be patient before we can go flying again, but I bet Uncle Darrell will find a way for us to going flying sooner." Cady continued to talk to her Dad and after several minutes, the doctor walked to check Keith's responses. As he flashed a light in the Captain's eyes, checked his arm and hand, Keith focused on Cady.

When the doctor had finished his exam, he picked up a data pad and sent the message which had waited all morning.

". . .and then Dara slipped and fell into the horse poop!" Cady giggled, and her dad let out a rusty chuckle.

"Did Nanny have a fit?"

"Well. . ."

Hunk jumped into the conversation, "Tell the truth Cady-did-what!"

"Um, well she did call Uncle Hunk and told him I was not to come back the rest of the day."

As Keith smiled, Cady continued her rambling.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Looking around the table at his companions, Hunk felt the sudden need to find Saria. This morning a miracle occurred and he just wanted to bask in her love for a few minutes. Abruptly standing, he headed for the door waving at the room, "Well, I had best go tell Saria. She left standing orders to be told immediately if anything changed with the Captain!"

"Hen-pecked already!" came the reply from the red pilot.

"Smart men always try to fulfill the simple wishes of those they love!" Allura glared at Lance. "Which is how they KEEP them!"

The green pilot, opened his mouth, looked at the princess and closed it again.

"At least, Lance-who-cannot-keep-a-girl-more-than-two-months, I have a hen who can do the pecking!"

Allura and Darrell just laughed at the consternation on Lance's face. Taking the victory, Hunk quickly left the room. He heard Darrell's voice and more laughter as the door closed behind him. Touching his com unit, he smiled as Saria quickly appeared on the screen. "Good news, love. . ."

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .