Author's Note: DATE NIGHT BEGINS! Between Heaven Bar and the Russian Tea Room, we've run the gamut on date night outfits. Check out what our hotties are wearing.

On Allura: Short-sleeve Lace Tee in Indigo Mood (Victoria's Secret website), Daredevil Skinny Jeans in CRX Wash (Guess website), and Black Daf Booty (Christian Louboutin website).

On Lenora: Le Reve Dress (Kiki de Montparnasse website), Christian Louboutin Lady Peep Patent Leather Pumps in Plum (Saks Fifth Avenue website), Mosaic Pendant (Tiffany website), and Classic Ballet Wrap with Long Sleeves in Black (Abi and Joseph website).

To bknbu - Allura doesn't want to hurt Keith per se, she simply wants him to realize how she felt when he was telling Morgan that she was "the one that got away." And oh yes, they've all known since their Academy days that Aidan is the best-looking guy out of all of them. :O

To Sally On - Aidan is way hot. It's gotta be the long blond hair. :D And really, are you surprised that the Viking is managing to upset everyone around him? Really?

To Emie Mac - Chalk my writing skills up to watching WAAAYYY too much TV when I was a kid. But I also read a lot, so that helps, too. And as I've hinted before, if you think our man Jeff had a rough day with the wedding planning, just wait 'til his bachelor party. Just wait.

To Wade Wells - Our favorite princess is hurting, and while what she's doing may not make sense to us (or Lance), it makes sense to her. I'm not judging; I've done stupider.

Title Song: "Set the Fire to the Third Bar" by Snow Patrol

By the time Jon returned home to the triplex, he was exhausted. He had spent the entire day running around with Jeff and Christiane to get the framework of their wedding organized: marriage license, ceremony officiant, and of course, the food and wine at Per Se. In addition, he had to stop by La Bergamote Patisserie to make sure that Christiane had her Opera Pastry.

He was done with his part. Morgan and Lenora could handle the rest.

He was too tired to even take the stairs to the fourteenth floor. Instead, he took the private elevator, which was lazy, but he had been on his feet all day and just wanted to go to bed. It was too bad that he couldn't sleep without his wife next to him. Maybe he could convince her to call it an early evening.

As the elevator door opened up in the seating area of the master bedroom, he found her in front of the mirror, clasping her Mosaic necklace around her neck. He grinned, remembering how he'd given her that necklace as a wedding present.

Then he noticed what she was wearing.

He recognized the dress as one he'd purchased for her in Paris during their honeymoon. It was an exquisite lace-trimmed silk slip dress, black, with a transparent lace hem that fell right above her knee. That being said, the actual hem, the place where the opaque silk of the dress stopped and where the lace began, was higher than mid-thigh. On her feet, she wore obscenely high dark plum-colored peep-toed platform heels.

"Well." He cocked an eyebrow at her. "To what do I deserve this honor?"

She sighed, reaching for her ballet wrap top. It was meant to be used for exercise, but she often used it as a cardigan substitute, tying it around her waist instead of wrapping it around her torso. "I've been called into service."

"As what?" he teased. "My call girl?"

"I wish." She wrapped her arms around him and clung to him as though she might drown if she let go. She laid her head against his shoulder and closed her eyes, savoring the feel of him. "Sargeant Holgersson has asked me to join him for dinner tonight as part of his reward."

"Sven?" He kissed the top of her head. "Where are you going?"

"Russian Tea Room."

"Blech."

She burst out laughing and swatted him. "I cannot believe that word just came out of your mouth!" she cried out, still laughing.

"I've spent the better part of the day at Per Se, arranging for Jeff's and Christiane's wedding reception. Believe me, there's no competition between the Tea Room and Per Se. None." He made that face again.

"Even so..." Her fingers trailed down his chest slowly. "Can I convince you to join us for dinner?"

He shook his head. "I am exhausted. I don't think I could go anywhere even if I wanted to. You forgot, you're married to an old man."

"Forty-one is hardly old, Jon."

"Forty-two in a few days." He sat down on the edge of their bed. "Three years. We've been together for three years, Lenora."

She raised her eyebrow. "I never forget that. We'll always have Paris, right, mon coeur?"

He smiled wistfully. "You haven't call me that in a long time."

"Maybe I should start again." She sat down on the bed next to him. "I love you, Jon. Please come to dinner with me. Please."

"I hate the Tea Room."

"I know. But please? For me?"

He sighed. He hated telling his wife no, but he was too tired to join her. Even if dinner had been at Per Se, he most likely would have opted out. "You go without me. Have a good time. Send my regrets to Sven." He looked over at her. "Call Carlo. He'll take you wherever you need to go."

She nodded, looking crestfallen at his refusal to join her. "Please, Jon?"

"I'm sorry."

"I understand. But I wish you would." Unhappy, she accepted his answer, and reached into her clutch for her phone. "I'll call Carlo."

"Good. He'll keep you safe." Jon, relieved that he had a personal car and driver to take care of his wife, kicked off his shoes and laid back on the bed. "Je t'aime, mon ange."

She dialled Carlo's number. "Je t'aime plus, mon coeur."

Once she'd contacted Carlo to pick her up, she looked back at her husband one more time. "Please wait up for me," she requested from him. "If you won't come out with me, at least wait up for me."

He nodded. "I can do that. Be safe."

"I will."

As she made her way down to the lobby of the building, she found it ironic that her husband had told her to be safe. Now that he wasn't coming with her to protect her, not she felt as though even Carlo couldn't keep her safe.

"Twenty-six days. We're getting married in twenty-six days!" Christiane cried out gleefully, wrapping her arms around Jeff. "I'm doing some online research tonight for a wedding dress. What are you gonna do?"

"Morgan's got something up her sleeve. Something mysterious." Jeff shrugged. He had no idea what his best female friend had planned, but whenever Morgan Rackens had a mysterious plan, she was not to be questioned.

He unlocked the front door to the renovated Victorian, and Christiane went through first. As Jeff locked the door behind them, he heard her exclaim, "A new bottle of Ciroc! How did you know I needed some?"

Morgan had already tossed back a shot of their favorite vodka. "I need it for strength tonight," she answered, refilling her glass. "Here. Both of you, come do a shot with me." Before they could answer, she retrieved two more shotglasses from the cupboard and filled them.

"Where's Dave?" Jeff asked as he picked up his glass.

"Working late. I guess Len spent the day in the hangar fixing the Albegas mecha, and after everything was rebooted, she requested his help in the final systems scan." She wrinkled her nose. "Apparently, she couldn't get ahold of Aidan or Taye. Probably 'cuz they're both shacked up in their respective apartments with their respective girlfriends."

"Ha." Christiane tipped her head back and knocked back her entire shot. "Good, I needed that. Now I can look for wedding dresses." She cracked a grin at the two friends. "So, what exactly are you guys doing tonight?"

"It's a surprise," Morgan answered. "C'mon, Amigo. Do your shot with me, and let's get outta here. Time's wasting."

"Geez." Clinking his shotglass with hers, Jeff and Morgan knocked back their vodka - his first, her second. Then, after letting out a satisfied sigh, Morgan grabbed her purse with one hand and Jeff's arm with the other. She placed a kiss on the top of Christiane's head, the headed out the door with her Amigo in tow.

"Seriously, Morganza," Jeff told her as they headed back into the city, "what in seven hells are we doing, and where in seven hells are we going? You haven't told me anything."

Morgan giggled. She was beginning to succumb to the effects of the Ciroc, but she was grateful - she needed it. "I needed you here with me, Amigo. I came up with the idea when we were coming home on the Explorer. After everything we went through with Chris and Keith, I decided I needed to do this."

Jeff rolled his eyes. "And what, exactly, is this?"

She kissed his cheek. "You'll see when we get there." Her violet eyes darkened momentarily. "I asked Sven this afternoon if he wanted to go with us, but no, he's only got eyes for Len. Just like always." She sighed, frustrated. "Oh well."

"So you still haven't told me. What are we doing?"

She shot him a rueful smile. "Something I promised myself a long time ago, Jeffie. And now I intend to make good on that promise."

He shrugged. "You're crazy, you know that?"

"Yup. And proud of it."

She didn't say another word until they'd reached their destination, despite Jeff's many attempts to pry any information out of her. And when they arrived, he gasped, then looked back at her like she really was crazy. But he remembered. He remembered that night and her promise to someday come back and finish what she'd started.

The Tattoo Emporium. Open twenty-four hours.

Keith waited nervously in his room, wishing Allura would hurry up and finish getting ready for their date. He didn't know why he was so anxious about going to Heaven Bar with her; there was just something on Lance's face that made him think it was a bad idea.

He had dressed as best he could. He didn't have much for a frame of reference, and he felt bad that the last time he'd been to a trendy bar, it had been on his ex-girlfriend's twenty-first birthday. He dressed similarly, in dark-washed jeans and a white button-down shirt, with black leather shoes on his feet. Underneath his shirt, he wore a white undershirt to hide the scar across his chest. There was no need to scare people with it.

Finally, he decided to knock on her door. He didn't know why he was so hesitant, he only felt like this was a make-or-break moment for them. After a careful moment, he knocked, only loud enough for her to hear.

She answered and opened the door.

Keith stared at his girlfriend. Allura looked astonishing. She would have fit in anywhere, even in the New York club scene. Her blond hair was long and straight, unadorned and sleek. She wore - he guessed it was an homage to Blue Lion - a cobalt-blue lace T-shirt with a nude camisole underneath. She wore darker-washed jeans, ones that made her legs look longer, and black platform suede booties with an insanely high heel. She looked incredibly sexy, and the glint in her emerald eyes made him draw in a breath.

"I'm ready, Keith," she told him lightly, as if she wasn't stating the obvious.

"Oh...um...of course." He recovered his composure quickly and reached out for her hand. She took it adoringly, squeezing it. "Would you mind if we walked? I'd like all the time alone with you that I can get."

"I'd actually prefer it if we walked," she responded, leaning her head against his shoulder as they walked towards the elevator. In those heels, they were almost the same height. "That's why we always went to Heaven, Lance and I. Because it's within walking distance of the castle."

"Oh. I didn't realize that." As the elevator doors closed behind them, she wrapped herself up in his arms, hanging her head over his shoulder. Suddenly, she felt guilty. She didn't want to hurt Keith anymore, he'd been hurt enough. Lance was right. "When did you and Lance go to this place together?"

"When you were on the hunt for Black." She shook her head. "Whenever Lance would come to visit me, we'd go together." She tightened her arms around him. "I was so lonely then, Keith. I missed you all so much. Hunk and Pidge were on Earth, pretending to work under Wade. Lance was too, but he'd come to see me whenever he got the chance, and his visits made those years bearable."

Keith nodded but said nothing else. The elevator stopped on the ground floor, and the doors opened. He took her hand again and led her out through the main hall, where they slipped outside into the darkness. When it was just the two of them, headed towards the main city on the outskirts of the castle, he asked, "Was that when you met your boyfriend?"

"Yes." She didn't hesitate in her answer.

"I see." Keith continued to walk along, holding her hand. "Did you love him?"

"Not the way I love you. I've always felt bad about that. He was a placeholder, and I knew that. But that being said...I did love him in my own way."

"Should I be jealous?"

"No." Allura shook her head emphatically. "He was very, very good to me. I will always appreciate how well he took care of me in your absence. Or, I should say, in the absence of my entire team."

Keith felt a pull on his heart, but he decided to remain open-minded. After all, he had just put Allura through seven hells with Morgan. "Tell me about him."

"I took to him right away when I met him," she recalled, closing her eyes. She wasn't worried about finding her way to Heaven; her feet somehow seemed to know where to go. "It was his face. He was a little older than us, and therefore older than I was when Doom attacked, but he had been there. He suffered losses too." She clenched her teeth together for a moment. "He told me how he remembered his house on fire, then collapsing. His parents had been killed immediately in the blast from one of Zarkon's ships. He tried to drag his little sister out of the house, but she too had been killed immediately."

He inhaled, then gripped her hand to let her know it was okay. "I understand, Allura. He suffered, too, and lost as much as you had. I can see why you'd be drawn to him."

"He told me that when the house collapsed, a beam struck him in the face. It left him scarred. He was such a handsome man, but he had that scar...in any case, he said he was grateful that it was only a scar, and he hadn't lost his eye, too." She smiled grimly. "I liked him immediately. We spent so much time together, but if you think Coran and Nanny ever would have let us become serious, well, you'd have another thing coming. But I relished our time together, and I've never regretted it."

"Why did you stop seeing him?"

"Isn't it obvious? You came home, Voltron was resurrected...I didn't need him anymore. I missed him, but I didn't need him."

"Ouch. That's cold," he teased, planting a kiss on her cheek. "So, that's your dark secret. It feels good to know that I'm not the only one with a past and an ex."

"Ah. There's so much to our exes. So much love that's still there." Somehow, she managed a laugh. "Why couldn't we have normal break-ups? Ones where we hate our exes and never want to see them or talk to them again? Why do the two of us in particular have to still feel fondness towards our exes?"

"Because we're good people?" Keith guessed.

"Hmm. Maybe."

As Lance had mentioned, the walk to Heaven Bar was short, and Allura dragged him through the door. As soon as she entered, all activity seemed to stop. The wait staff seemed frozen, staring at her nervously. Finally, the hostess approached. "Your Majesty," she mumbled, giving a slight curtsy, "may I show you to your usual seat?"

"Please," Allura replied.

The hostess led them to a circular half-booth surrounding a small table. There were drapes and candles; it was the most romantic seat in a bar that Keith could ever recall seeing. As they sat against the exquisite red velvet, the hostess drew the drapes, and they were enclosed in their own dimly-lit little world. "I'll go get Mr. Halix," they heard her say through the curtains.

"Wow," he breathed. "This is really nice. Did they do this for you and Lance?"

"Sometimes," she answered. "It was more for our privacy than for any romantic interlude, though." She smiled across the table at him. "Lance never told me, but I always knew that there was a woman in his life that he'd never gotten over. His ladies'-man act never fooled me. I'm just glad that I finally got to meet her."

"Ginger's a nice girl."

"She is. I told you before, I like her."

Suddenly, the drapes flew open, and a man stood over them. "Your Majesty," he said simply, inclining his head towards Allura. "It is my honor and pleasure to have you here." He looked up and over towards Keith. "And you, Captain Kogane."

"Thank you, Brent." She looked up at him lovingly. "And you should know by now to call me Allura."

Keith knew. He knew. The long brown hair, the hazel eyes, the well-built physique...any woman would have been enamored of him for those qualities. But not Allura.

Allura had been drawn to the long scar underneath his left eye.

"I can't believe you're here," he murmured to the princess, locking his hazel eyes to her emerald ones. "When the hostess told me you were here, I couldn't believe it. I had to see you again with my own eyes."

Keith's heart felt like his girlfriend had set fire to it as he watched Mr. Halix lovingly dip down to kiss Allura's hand. He realized that this man had been her boyfriend. Her lover. The one who had gotten there first.

He didn't know whether he wanted to hate him or pity him.

Sven was there early.

Of course he was at the Russian Tea Room early. He did not want to keep his elskede waiting for him. If she had to wait, she might leave. And he couldn't afford that. Not when he was so close to getting her back.

He was glad he'd chosen to make a reservation. He had gotten a booth, a red vinyl half-booth instead of a table, which made their meeting all the more intimate. He'd already ordered a half-bottle of Veuve Clicquot champagne, chilling on ice, as well as two shots of Ciroc vodka, to be delivered when she arrived. He wanted everything to be perfect for her.

The restaurant was busy, but not exceptionally so. Still, he was glad that he was ready. He wanted everything to be perfect. He wanted to impress her. He wanted to make her fall in love with him all over again. Oh, she still loved him, all right. But he wanted her to be madly in love with him again, the way she was before he left for Arus.

The waitress delivered a basket of bread to the table, which he accepted gratefully. He was hungry. He'd barely eaten anything all day, he was more concerned with making sure tonight went as best it could. He had purchased a suit, a Hugo Boss one, much like one that Jonathan Hawkins might favor. Sven grumbled to himself. Why did he have to emulate Lenora's husband when he knew Lenora had loved him before she'd ever met the commander?

When the waitress stopped by again, this time to deliver the shots of vodka, she leaned over and whispered, "Mr. Holgersson, the rest of your party is here."

He looked up to find Lenora, clad in black, making her way over to the table. She carried an unreadable expression on her face. Here we go, he thought nervously as she approached.