Disclaimer: WEP owns everything except the voices in my head... Oh and Marcus - I made him up myself...
When Lance strolls back into the hospital wing, pillow under his arm, he is greeted by a guard at Keith's door. "Hey what's this all about?"
"Doctor Gorma didn't trust you, or the rest of the force for that matter, to follow his orders about visiting hours being over for a while. He stationed me here to make sure only medical staff has access to Keith's room until dinner. So, what can I do for you Lance? I know you're not here to see Keith outside of approved visiting hours…"
Lance smirks at the guard and lets out a soft chuckle. "Alright Marcus, you got me. But it's not what you think. I just wanted to give Keith this pillow, y'know comforts of home and all…"
Marcus raises an eyebrow at Lance. "Comforts of home, huh? So… are you trying to tell me that the Commander keeps pink pillows in his quarters?"
"Umm… Well… No… I got this from the Princess for him. I thought it might soothe him a bit. But if you want to call her and tell her that he can't accept her gift…" Lance shrugs and turns to walk away.
"OK, OK. Give it to me and I'll make sure that the next person that goes in brings it to him. Will that work for you?"
"That works perfectly! Thanks Marcus!" He tosses the pillow to the guard and turns to leave the medical bay with a big grin on his face.
A few hours later, Lance stands outside Allura's room and looks at his watch. It's been three hours and fifty minutes since the doctor declared his four hour ban on visitors. Lance starts counting down to himself quietly, "Five… Four… Three… Two… One… Hi Princess! Ready to go visit Keith again?"
Allura freezes in her doorway and looks at Lance in shock. "How? Where? What? Lance, have you been standing out there this whole time?"
"Nope, first I took your offering and left it for Keith. Then I spent some time at Control, followed by a quick workout and shower. After all that I came back here to escort you to Keith's bedside. And it looks like I was right on time too."
"Am I that predictable?" Her mouth forms into a slanted frown and she looks up at him questioningly.
"Only when it comes to the Captain, Princess, only when it comes to the Captain." She sighs and he puts his arm around her shoulders comfortingly. "Heh, it's ok though. Actually, it's kinda cute to watch you doting on him without realizing what you are doing. Normally he's the predictable one about this kind of thing."
She turns to look at him, a frown on her face. "What do you mean, Lance? What kind of things?"
He sighs and turns to her, his eyebrow raised. "You two really are meant for each other, y'know that Princess? You've both been mooning over each other when you think no one is paying attention for quite some time now and somehow neither of you realizes that the other is doing it. Do you really think it's a coincidence that he *always* seems to know when you need rescuing? Nevermind that he always knows where you are when you're in trouble. Any idea how many all-nighters he's pulled because he's worried for your safety or that you were going do something goofy like try to give yourself up to Lotor? Trust me; he hasn't been doing all that just because it's his duty. If it was only a job, he'd delegate some of it to the rest of us and he'd get a lot more sleep."
"But… I never realized… I thought… I mean… I always just assumed he was bad at assigning responsibilities to others, you know the control freak in him… How long as he felt like this about me?"
"Allura, shouldn't you be having this talk with him?" He gives her a lopsided grin and sighs, "Let's just say, I'm pretty sure he's never trusted anyone else with your safety… Not since we got here… Just think about it. What happens every time Lotor or anyone else challenges us or threatens to kidnap you? Does he even give anyone else a chance to react before he's off halfcocked?" He raises his eyebrow at her again and shrugs. "Those are the only times I ever see him completely shed his calm, cool, commander persona."
She looks at him thoughtfully, taking in his words. "I never realized… I never noticed that he only reacted like that when it concerned me…" Her voice grows softer as the words slip out.
"To be honest, I don't think he realizes that he does it either. I'd be willing to bet that he thinks he's kept it hidden all this time. And you, my dear princess, are no better. We've all seen you make those goo-goo eyes at him when you think no one is looking."
"I do NO such thing, Lance!"
The Red Lion pilot laughs for a second before getting himself under control again. "Oh really? Did you know that when his lion takes a hit in combat, you're the first one to look for him to get back up? And whether you realize it or not, he's always the first one you call for when you get in trouble in battle. It's like you told me the other day, he's the one you expect to be there for you. It's ok, the rest of us aren't offended. We've just been waiting for one of the two of you to do something about it. We figured he was close when he gave you control of Black Lion the other day at practice. After you wiped out, he just about lost it. We all know he's fast, but I've never seen him move as fast as he did when he couldn't get an answer from you after you crashed. He was on the ground and had you back in Blue with him before the rest of us could even react. And from what I heard, they had a harder time prying him off you when he brought you in, than they did getting you off of him later that night."
"I don't know what to say, Lance."
"Don't say anything to me. Figure out how the two of you are going to get Nanny and Coran to accept this. You know how strongly they feel about you marrying a prince."
They arrive at the hospital wing and see that Keith's door is open, but Marcus is still on guard duty outside it. "Hey Marcus, Keith up for some visitors now?"
"Sure, Lance. Go on in."
Walking into the room Allura looks to the bed and sees that Keith has the pillow she had thrown at Lance earlier and is holding it to his chest. His eyes are closed, but she can't tell if he is asleep or not. She sits beside him on the bed. He opens his eyes and smiles at her. She smiles back and reaches up to stroke his cheek. "How're you feeling?" She asks, her voice barely more than a whisper.
"Better now." He catches the hand on his face, brings it to his lips, and places a kiss on it.
Lance suddenly feels like he's intruding on a private moment, so he quietly slips out before they notice him, gently closing the door behind him. He smiles as the guard turns to him in surprise. "You just went in, Lance. You annoy him enough to get tossed out already? That must be some kind of record."
"Heh, nothing like that Marcus. I just think those two need a few minutes alone. If you want to take a coffee break or something, I can cover for you. I promise not to let anyone else in."
"Thanks, Lance. I could stand a few minutes with a different view, if you really don't mind."
"Nah, take your time." Lance leans back with one foot back against the wall and put his hands into his pockets.
Allura pulls her hand back from the captain's mouth and leans down to replace it with her lips. They kiss, oblivious to their surroundings, aware only of each other and the feelings that they have both been trying to fight for so long. When they finally break apart, Keith looks up at her, a mischievous glint in his eyes. "I could get used to waking up like that," he whispers to her huskily as he tucks a strand of hair behind her ear. She smiles back at him and blushes.
"Keith, we should think about how we are going to convince Nanny and Coran to go along with this…"
"Well… I don't think that Coran is going to be the problem. I think that he already suspects that I protect you out of more than mere duty. It's Nanny I'm afraid of." He gives her a sheepish grin at that admission.
Allura giggles, "Imagine, Captain of the Voltron Force, a man who fights Zarkon, Lotor, Haggar, and Robeasts without a moment's hesitation, is afraid of a simple governess…"
"Hey, don't make me laugh! It hurts too much and I don't want the doc to keep dosing me up on pain meds. I'm pretty sure he's adding something else to 'em and I'm tired of sleeping."
"Sorry. Then let's think about the problem at hand. Lance, do you have any suggestions on how to… Hey where did he go? He was with me when I got here…" Allura looks around the room trying to figure out where her escort escaped to. "Oh well, maybe he decided we needed some privacy. He's been really sweet since you got hurt. I don't know how I would have gotten through this without him."
Keith smiles and reaches up to caress her cheek. "I'm glad. He's a really great friend. So how do you propose we handle Nanny?"
"Well maybe we need to divide and conquer. Get Coran on our side and have him take care of Nanny." She purses her lips and taps them with her index finger. After a few seconds she snaps her fingers and smiles. "So how do you feel about using the doctor's orders to our advantage?"
Keith looks at her in confusion not knowing what orders she could be referring to. "What orders?"
"Oh that's right; he told all of us out in the hallway. He's limited your visitors to no more than two at a time. Maybe we can use that to get Coran in here alone to talk to him and see if we can get him to handle Nanny. Do you think you feel up to it or do you want to wait a few days until you feel stronger?"
"I think we should just get it over with since I don't think I can go back to the way things were before. Not even just when they are in the room." He looks into her eyes, willing her to see the things he isn't able to put into words yet.
She smiles at him and gives him another quick kiss. "Ok then I will go ask Marcus to send Coran in." Allura stands up and walks to the door, opening it slowly. She pokes her head out and is surprised to see Lance lounging against the wall. "Lance, there you are. What are you doing out here?"
"Not being a third wheel..." He smirks and winks at her. "How's he doing?" He jerks his head back in the direction of Keith's room.
"Complaining about being on forced bed rest and he's suspicious that the doctor is adding something to his pain meds to make him sleep. So, pretty much back to his old self." She giggles.
"Good, so what are you doing out here then, Princess?" He gives her a knowing lopsided grin and wiggles his eyebrows at her.
"Well I was going to have Marcus ask Coran to come in here. We decided it was time to get this over with and that we would use the visitor limit to divide and conquer. If we're lucky we can turn Coran into an ally against Nanny."
Lance laughs in response. "That sounds like a pretty good plan actually. When Marcus gets back, I'll send him to get Coran for you. Now get back in there before Keith tries to get out of bed and come looking for you."