When Pidge's eyes opened and she saw her bedroom, she grinned. She'd woken up like this every morning for the past few days, and she had the feeling that this excitement wasn't going to wear off any time soon. Being in her old room, taking in the view of posters scattered on the walls and sunlight streaming in through the window…it was so different than she'd become accustomed to, but in a good way.

Speaking of the past few days, they'd been wonderful. First there was a tear filled reunion with her mother, then she and Matt sat down and talked about their adventures for hours, taking their time to give as many details as possible. That night, her mother had tucked them both in bed and gave them kisses, and neither of them complained.

The next day had been a little harder, if she was honest. All of their family came into town, and while it was nice seeing them, it was difficult to remember why they were there— to mourn the loss of her father. While she and Matt had already dealt with their grief together, they'd forgotten that no one else had known. It was a weird day, half filled with celebration that Pidge and Matt had made it out alive, and the other half filled with tears and resent for the people who had taken their loved one away from them.

Then, there was the next day, when she and Matt were invited to a local school to talk about their experience in space. You'd think that after fighting in a literal war, talking to some high schoolers would be easy, but it was actually terrifying. Luckily, Matt always covered for her if she started to stutter, and at the end, there was a whole line of kids who wanted to shake her hand! Some even asked for her autograph, and that blew her away.

The day after that was even more fun, though, and that was today! Her grandma and mom— after seeing that Pidge was basically wearing the same shirt over and over again— had decided to take her out shopping. She usually didn't like this sort of thing, but after hanging out with mostly guys for several years, she appreciated a moment to be, well, Katie again. They shopped for hours, stopping in every store possible and giving her a brand new wardrobe for her adult figure.

She was in the middle of trying on a blue dress, wondering why she'd had this strange sensation at the back of her mind for a while now, and that's when it hit her.

Lance.

A rush of anxiety, excitement, worry, and guilt flooded through her all at once. How was he doing? Was he happy to be back home? Quiznak, how had she forgotten about him this entire time?

She looked at her reflection in the mirror, playing with the hem of the dress as her mind began spiraling out of control. But then, she smiled, because she realized that the dress was the exact same color of Lance's armor. She'd have to get it.

Pidge was humming when she left the dressing room, and her grandma smiled. "Find something you like?"

"Yup!" she said, holding out the dress.

Her mother walked over and nodded in approval. "I thought you liked green more?"

"I do," Pidge replied quickly, then blushed. "But I, uh, the color reminded me of one of my friends. You remember Lance, right?"

"I recall hearing about him a few times," her mother hummed.

Pidge felt herself blushing even more. "Yeah…he, um, well, it's a bit of a long story-"

"Get a boyfriend in space, Katherine?" her grandma teased. "He better be a cutie!"

She was hiding her face now, wishing that she'd never brought it up in the first place. A hand touched her shoulder, and Pidge peeked out from behind her hands.

Her mother was smiling at her. "You can tell us all about it later, if you want."

Pidge nodded, her mind drifting off to Lance again.

By the time she got home, she'd formed a plan. Well, it wasn't so much of a plan as it was the fact that she'd remembered she still had his phone number from the Garrison. The last place she remembered seeing it was on a sticky note in her desk, and she was praying that it was still there.

Her prayers must have been heard, because sure enough, when she practically pulled the drawer out of the desk, it was sitting there. Blowing off the dust, she grinned and entered it into her computer. A few more clicks, and— there! A video chat line.

She reached to click 'call', but she was hit with a wave of nerves. Did her hair look okay? Maybe she should put on something else, one of her new tops. Was her room messy? She didn't want him seeing that. And Matt was right next door, what if he heard them talking and barged in?

Pidge scrambled out of her chair and ran over to the door. She flicked on the lock, then fell back against the door with a sigh of relief. Her eyes caught her reflection in the mirror, though, and yikes, she looked rough. The next few minutes were filled with her rummaging for a new shirt and yanking a brush through her hair. A bit later, she finally settled back down at her desk, feeling no less nervous than she had when she left.

"Okay," she breathed. "It's fine. It's just Lance. Maybe he won't even pick up…wait, that would suck." She took in a deep breath. "Get yourself together, Pidge."

Chewing her lip, Pidge hit 'call'.

The window came up on the screen, and an icon with his face popped up.

Calling…calling…calling…

She was biting her nails now. Then-

Accepted…

Her heart skipped a beat.

Connecting…

His face appeared on the screen.

"Hey!" he laughed. "I didn't expect to hear from you! How'd you get my number?"

She couldn't help but laugh right along with him. "I hacked the government again, duh." He rolled his eyes, and she grinned. "Just kidding, you gave it to me back at the Garrison."

"Huh, why don't I remember that?" he wondered aloud. "Anyways, how have you been? I've been thinking about you every day."

Lance said it so casually, like it was second nature for them, and Pidge's heart warmed. "I've been good! Super busy, actually. The day after we got back, we had a memorial service for dad."

He frowned. "Sorry I couldn't be there."

She smiled softly. "You were there when it happened, and that's what counts. Anyways, after that me and Matt went and talked at a local school-"

"That's awesome!" he interjected.

"Actually, it was pretty terrifying," she laughed awkwardly. "I think it went okay, though. I signed some autographs."

He winked at her. "Look at you, being a superstar!"

She just rolled her eyes, grinning. "Yeah, yeah. Today was fun, too. My mom and grandma took me out shopping-"

Lance gasped. "No, you? Shopping?!" He pretended to faint in his desk chair. "Oh the horror!"

Pidge giggled— giggled!— and said, "Shut up! It was actually really fun. I got this." She referred to the shirt she was wearing, a yellow and white striped one with a little pocket on the front.

"I knew I hadn't seen that one before," he mumbled to himself. "Looks good!"

She played with the ends of her hair, feeling a bit bashful and still not knowing how to take his compliments. "Thanks, Lance."

"Anytime, Pidge," he replied, and she got that warm, tingly feeling again when he said her name. "By the way, do you want me to call you Pidge or Katie? Because I've been thinking about that a lot, and I just wanted to know your opinion—"

Pidge rested her chin on her hand, more than happy to sit and listen to Lance chatter away.

"-and that's how I wound up stuck in the tree," Lance finished.

"I can't believe you're still afraid of heights," Pidge teased.

His eyes darted away from the screen. "Hey, it's just a thing I have! Phobias are there for a reason! It's in our DNA," he whispered conspiratorially.

"Lance?"

"Yes, Katie?"

She grinned at him through the screen. "Leave the science to me, okay?"

He smiled softly, nodding. "Yes, señorita." He leaned back in his chair, eyes wandering to stare out the window. Hold up a tick…was the sun going down?

"Quiznak, how long have we been talking?" he questioned.

Pidge scrunched her nose, then looked to her left. "Oh my gosh, it's been three hours!"

Suddenly, he burst out laughing. He just couldn't help it— how could they have been talking for three hours and not realized it? Moments later, he heard Pidge join him.

By the time they stopped, both had tears streaming down their faces. "Oh quiznak, my mom's gonna think I fell asleep or something," Pidge chuckled.

"My mamá is probably about to come hunt me down," Lance replied. They shared a grin, and he looked down at his lap. There was a moment of quiet, and he swallowed. There were words on the tip of his tongue…should he say them?

"So, uh…" he trailed off awkwardly. "I guess I'd better get going."

"Yeah, me too," Pidge sighed.

He nodded. Come on, get up the courage. Lance looked up at the screen and took in her expression. She looked about as excited to leave this conversation as he was, which was not at all.

Lance cleared his throat. He could do this. "Katie, I…I really miss you," he confessed, feeling his cheeks heat up slowly. "I can't stop thinking about you."

He swore he saw her blushing too, and she broke their eye contact. "Can I be honest?" she asked.

Lance nodded faster than he should've. "Of course! Always be honest."

She smiled at him, but it soon faded into a frown. "I've been so busy that…gosh, it sounds so awful," she groaned, hiding her face behind her hands. "I hadn't thought about you until today."

His heart twinged sadly, but he nodded.

"I was trying on this dress," she said, then suddenly laughed. "It was the same color as your armor, actually."

Lance smiled softly. "I'm sure it looked great on you."

She giggled. "You'll be the judge of that, I'm sure. Anyways, it made me think of you, and-" she stopped. He realized suddenly that her eyes looked glassy, and his heart twisted.

"I feel like the worst person ever," she admitted. "I can't believe I was so busy that I forgot about you. That's why I called."

He wished he was there. He wished he could reach through the screen and hold her close, tell her not to worry so much, that it was fine that she was busy and that he didn't blame her one bit.

"Katie, I-"

"No please, just don't," she cut him off. "I know this has to hurt you because you're a very emotional person and that's fine, that's great, actually because I'm not good at this, and can you just forgive me?"

Lance stared into her pixelated eyes. "Querida, you're being too hard on yourself. You've been through a lot lately of hurt lately. Don't feel bad about it, please. It's not like I think about you every single second of the day, no one could do that even if they tried."

Instead of still looking sad like he expected (sometimes Pidge was so stubborn when she felt bad about something), she was tilting her head. "What did you just say?"

He raised an eyebrow. "I said don't feel bad about-"

"No, no, you said something in Spanish," she clarified. "What was it?"

Lance blushed. He'd hoped she hadn't caught that— he'd barely realized he did it himself.

"Querida, it means, uh— darling in English is probably the closest translation," he mumbled, staring down at his fidgety hands. A beat passed. He opened his mouth to apologize—

"I miss you, Lance."

His head snapped up, and he saw— wait, did she look…wistful?

"I wish you were here," she continued. "I could show you around town, and take you to the place that has the best peanut butter cookies, and you could meet my mom again, and—"

"You're adorable," he blurted out.

She stammered, "W-What?"

Lance's eyes widened. "Sorry, I just- you looked- you were rambling, and it's really cute, and I-"

All of the sudden, she laughed and covered her face with her hands. "Quiznak, we're a mess, aren't we?"

He grinned awkwardly. "Yeah, we are…but it's okay with me, if it's okay with you."

Pidge smiled brightly, nodding. "Yes, it is."

"Good," he said with a loud sigh. "Because I can't stop stuttering around you."

"Me too," Pidge said, sticking her tongue out.

Lance let out a breath, smiling contentedly. "I can't wait to see you again."

She smirked. "I'm right here, silly."

"You know what I mean," he said with an eye roll.

"Yeah, I do," she whispered. His heart jumped with joy at the look in her eyes. He wanted to be with her so bad.

"See you soon, Lance."

"Yeah, see you, Katie."

There was one final shared smile, and the call ended.

Lance fell back in his chair, a giant grin on his face. He had to go tell his mamá…and then make a plan for how he could see Katie in that blue dress she mentioned.

He made his way downstairs, not surprised when he heard his younger siblings shouting "Lance! Lance!". He laughed, embracing them when they rushed into his arms.

"Where were you?" Mia cried.

"Yeah, you were gone for hours!" Sebastian whined.

He ruffled their hair affectionately. "I was just talking to one of my friends, you guys!"

Mia's eyes widened. "One of the other paladins?"

Lance nodded. "Yup, and she's a strong girl just like you!" he said, tapping her on the nose. She giggled, running back into the yard where she and Sebastian had come from.

"A girl, hm?" his mamá questioned lightly.

Ears turning red, Lance pulled up a seat at the kitchen counter. "Si, mamá."

She hummed. "And what is she like? Must be interesting if you were talking with her for tres horas."

He swallowed. He knew he couldn't hide this from her forever— she knew him too well. But he'd wanted to bring it up himself, not be on the other side of one of her famous interrogations.

"Well, she's…amazing," he started with a sigh. "And beautiful, and super smart. Half the time I don't even know what she's saying," he laughed, hopping off his seat and coming around to hug his mamá. "And she's funny and strong, like you," he said, kissing his mamá on the cheek.

She gave him a look. "You know I have to meet her before the engagement, si?"

"Mamá," he groaned. "I haven't even taken her out on our first date yet, can't you at least give Katie a chance? Por favor?" he begged.

His mamá sighed. "Only for you, mi hijo. Don't get your heart broken. And don't you dare break her heart, either."

Lance nodded seriously. "I won't, mamá. You raised me better than that."

The two shared a smile, and Lance hugged her again. It was so good to be home.