Life sucked. Voltron sucked. And, most of all, Lance sucked.

Pidge was curled up against herself, knees to her chin as she halfheartedly listened to the daily briefing, via Keith. Her breakfast of instant food goo was left untouched on the dash. They would be stopping at a planet near the Ferrenial System, Quadrant 67. The inhabitants offered a place for the Paladins to regroup and reach out to their allies for more information to be passed along.

Keith had already spoken to the rest of the team, and when he was speaking to Pidge, she was zoned out. "Pidge?"

"Mm-Huh?" Pidge wearily exclaimed, head jerking up. She hadn't realized she was almost asleep.

Keith gave her a stern look. "I want you to go up to Fresnew Hill and see if you can set up a communicator with Hunk. I'll send you the coordinates. Were you even listening?"

Lance snorted. "Pidge is the narcolepsy queen, Keith. Probably fell asleep listening to your annoying voice."

"That's not true!" Pidge snapped. Lance stiffened and widened his eyes, and Pidge could feel the awkwardness simmer in the silence of the comm line. Pidge cleared her throat. "Uh, sure. Hunk, think you can carry the supplies?" Hunk nodded, standing up hastily.

Keith opened a seperate line only to Pidge, while Pidge closed the rest of her comms. "Pidge, are you alright? I've never seen you so..."

"Snippy?" Pidge finished his sentence. "Yeah, me neither. I'm hoping it's just cabin fever. Maybe this'll help." She gave him a weak smile, to which Keith responded with a curt nod.

"Of course. Just comm me if something comes up."

Pidge nodded, closing the comm and leaning back. She had never acted this way before, even due to stir craziness. She had been stuck at the same dorm at the Garrison for months at a time, (she could probably rattle off the number of cracks in the ceiling at this point,) and yet she remained normal. Always her typical sarcastic self. Never this... Agitated. Not to mention the odd ache in her abdomen. Had she been given the chance, she would have likef nothing more than to sleep for eternity, curled up in a ball.

She groaned, stood up wobbily, and walked out of the lion. Hunk had already exited his lion, breathing heavily as he lifted the massive mound of sattelites and wiring. Pidge only carried her laptop.

"Geez, thanks for leaving a guy hanging!" Hunk wheezed, struggling to keep his balance.

Pidge grimaced. "Sorry, was, uh, preoccupied." Hunk nodded hastily.

"Yeah, alright, less chatter, more moving! I dunno how long I can hold this thing." Pidge nodded, jogging in front of Hunk, slow enough as to let him keep up. Too close. She could feel his breath on her back.

She didn't know why that bothered her so much, but it did. The feeling of hot breath on her lower back annoyed her to no end, and he tried to move faster to get away from it. Hunk tried to compensate her fast movements by taking large strides, and it worked, though Hunk was now panting twicefold.

This, combined with the stabbing ache in her abdomen, made Pidge crack. She whipped around and pushed Hunk slightly behind her, agitation burning on her features. However, she didn't expect Hunk to fall over, right into a prickly bush. She gasped, running over to him, worry overriding annoyance in an instant.

Hunk seemed to be fine, as far as his facial expression showed, but he was confused. No malice was in his features. Just confusion. Very, very prominent confusion. He cocked his head at her. "Did you just push me?" Pidge blushed bright red, looking away ashamedly. "I'm sorry, I don't know wha-" Her voice wavered. 'No, Katie, don't cry,'she begged her mind. Her mind betrayed her.

Hunk stood up and gingerly hugged Pidge. "Hey, hey, don't get all blubbery on me, I don't like seeing people cry." He pushed her chin up to look at him. "I'm not upset. Okay? It's probably the sleep deprivation. Happens to the best of us." Pidge shook her head, stepping away from Hunk, her eyes still wet. She wiped them pathetically and crossed her arms. "I'm sleep deprived all the time, Hunk." She looked at her feet. "With this, and all of the snippiness before... I dunno, man." She looked at Hunk. "It's something else." Hunk gave Pidge a thoughtful look before bending over to retrieve the mechanical parts he dropped during his fall.

"I've never acted like this normally. Even on Earth. I mean, sometimes I'd..." Pidge trailed off and paled. No, that couldn't be it. It can't be it. She's a paladin of Voltron, for quiznak's sake, she couldn't be having to deal with something this frivolous. But the aches and the moodiness were too obvious to be anything different.

"Hunk?" Pidge started, swallowing a lump in her throat.

Hunk looked behind him. "Hm?"

"Do you still have the Earth calendar you started when we originally left?" Hunk nodded, looking confusedly at Pidge. "Yeah, downloaded it to my mini tablet before we left the Castle. Why?"

Pidge ignored his last question. "What day is it?"

Hunk pulled out his tablet and looked up. "Wednesday."

Pidge rolled her eyes. "Number date."

"The twenty fourth of October?" Pidge did some mental math in her head before groaning in despair. Her suspicions were correct. She was PMSing.

At least it explained her odd behavior. But to be dealing with it in space of all places? She was fortunate enough that the shock of suddenly getting hurtled out onto space stopped her body from going through that particular torture, but she figured her body would catch up at some point. She was just hoping she'd get back to Earth first. The universe had other plans.

Hunk waved a hand in front of Pidge's face. "Uh, Earth to Pidge? Hello? Anyone there?" Pidge shook her head, face blushing a brilliant crimson. "Yeah?"

Hunk gave her a confused look, one that was becoming more and more common. "Why did you need to know that? Did something happen?" He gasped. "Is it your birthday or something today? I can make a cake or something when we-"

Pidge shook her head fervently. "No, Hunk. I just, uh, remembered something." Hunk gave her a suspicious look. "What did you remember?" Pidge looked at Hunk, blush still there, but a calculating face still firmly pressed on. Hunk was the type who was persistent. A kind persistent, unlike a certain Cuban. Someone who wouldn't let you go scot free if something was troubling you. It was either she come clean about her, ahem, condition, or deal with the persistence and stubborness of Hunk. She'd risk losing 'bro' status over the latter option. She didn't want to hurt Hunk anymore because of her increase in violent tendencies.

She sighed in dissent. "Do you have sisters, any females living with you?"

Hunk cocked his head. "No sisters... I have two moms though, so...?" He shrugged. "I still don't know what that has to do with you being snappish and wanting to know the dat-" He paused.

Pidge could practically see the moment realization kicked in. He looked at Pidge, in pity. She was shocked. Disgust? She expected that. Pity, of all things?

"Oh." Hunk said lamely, arms full with mechinical parts. "That, uh, explains the snappiness. Uh, do you need anything? Painkillers and stuff? I could probably try to find a chocolate substi-" Pidge cut him off with a hand. "Just a promise that you won't tell anyone. A rumor like that? Lance wouldn't hesistate to take advantage of it."

Hunk shook his head. "I'd doubt that, knowing Lance's family. He's got a lot of sisters. A lot of extremely open sisters. Lance pretty much was my saving grace back in Health class." He sighed. "But if it makes you feel better, I will. But you don't have to be embarrased, you know?" Pidge groaned. "Hunk, I love ya buddy, but can we not get into the whole 'you're beautiful just the way you are' spiel? We still have got a lot of hill to trek." Hunk nodded. "Okay... Just saying."

Pidge would never admit it, but she did tear up a bit. She blamed it on the hormones. Maybe she also gave Hunk a huge hug once they got to the top.

But not that she would ever admit it.