The Honeymoon
"Good morning, beautiful." Keith's voice was a soothing wake-up call she never tired of.
Allura turned her head to the left to see him lying on his side, looking like he'd been awake for some time. She wondered how long he'd been watching her sleep.
"Good morning, handsome."
"Wife," he whispered, as a lopsided grin brightened his face.
"Husband," she replied, marveling at how naturally it rolled off her tongue.
She had no idea how late in the day it was, but the sunlight was settling itself on them like a warm blanket. This was one disadvantage of living in space, days and nights running together with no natural way to keep time.
For the moment, they were happy to relish their new relationship status. The day was theirs to do as little or as much as they wanted.
Keith slid towards her until his arm draped over her stomach. For a second a look of surprise crossed his features before he pulled the sheets back. He moved his hand to outline the rising circle of her abdomen, thoughtfully tracing the only outward proof of her motherhood.
"Was it this big yesterday?"
Before a statement like that may have insulted her; now she welcomed it.
"If it was I imagine you were too distracted to notice," she teased.
Keith leaned over to kiss her belly as he laughed. "I don't know what you're talking about, Princess."
Even though they had been intimate many times before, the previous night felt like starting over. Maybe it was the residual excitement from the day. Maybe it was the romantic atmosphere of the room.
Whatever it was she was hoping they could find a seamstress to repair the buttons on Keith's vest. She'd love to see him wear it again.
Allura really wanted to get her mind off the memory however, otherwise they might not leave the hotel for some time. The look on his face and the fact that he'd moved even closer didn't help. Especially not with his leg that had slid between hers, or the press of his muscles into her side. None of that was distracting her at all.
"Keith?"
"You know one of the side effects of the binding ceremony is that I know exactly what you're thinking about right now," he purred as he placed long, slow kisses on her exposed shoulder.
They were certainly not going anywhere anytime soon.
A few hours and a short nap later they were showered and dressed. Hunger had finally won over and they'd decided to check out the hotel restaurant.
The smell from the kitchen directed them to the place, which was thankfully quiet due to the odd hour. They were seated in a corner booth which hid them from other patrons, meaning Allura didn't have to worry about curious onlookers. Even with her ears covered her facial markings sometimes drew attention that sometimes ended in awkward questions or comments.
Keith looked at Allura thoughtfully, as if he were trying to gage what he wanted to say.
"Princess, how are we going to do this?"
"Do what?"
"Raise a baby in the middle of a war. How will we protect him?"
She'd be lying if she said it hadn't been on her mind nearly constantly since that day. Her mind vacillated between worrying about losing the child and worrying about the child losing them. As Keith had been orphaned also, she could only imagine how this affected him.
"Shiro should be nearly ready to return to the team, and I've agreed to have Anton move into the castle as well. We'll have plenty of people who will love him and protect him as much as us."
Keith nodded in agreement, although his face still showed concern. Allura decided it was time to change the subject to something lighter. They were still on their honeymoon and couldn't spend it miserably.
"So, next important topic. What are we going to name the little paladin?"
She could tell that did the trick. He'd obviously not even thought about it to this point as his face went blank for a moment. Finally, he smiled warmly as he seemed to settle on a choice.
"I like Daniel. It was my dad's name, if- if that's okay."
At first Allura was shocked by the suggestion as Keith so rarely even spoke of him that his name to this point had been a mystery. Still, it touched her that he loved the father he'd lost enough to memorialize him in such a way.
"Daniel, hmm? That would make a great name for a young prince," she responded thoughtfully.
Her heart warmed with the sight of her husband's face lighting up at her approval. His hand reached across the table to grasp hers tightly in a silent symbol of gratitude.
"I hope he looks like you," she continued.
"Not if he's lucky."
The remainder of the meal was spent discussing plans for the baby, which of course reminded Allura that Keith needed to find a safe place to store his weapons when he wasn't using them. She laughed to herself when she imagined what his bayard might become in the hands of a precocious toddler. Stuffed animals and toy space ships would likely fall outside its capabilities after all.
After dinner, they retired early so they could get a head start on the next day.
Morning came far too quickly for her liking, but Keith had obviously gotten up even earlier. Breakfast had just been delivered and he'd already packed most of their things for the return trip. They were due back at the Garrison the next day so they'd decided to spend the night closer to the base.
Still, there were places they wanted to see, even if just for a brief time.
First, they flew down the coastline of North America, Keith pointing out famous landmarks in large cities like Boston and New York. Allura was enthralled by the amusement parks in Florida and demanded that they come back to visit first chance they got.
Next up were the ruins of ancient tribes of the Mayan civilization, who also built pyramids like the Egyptians of old.
Finally, they made their way to South America to a place called Machu Picchu, which was settled high in the mountains. They stayed there for a while, marveling in the ingenuity of the Incans who had built it. Afterwards Keith turned the ship towards giant hieroglyphs called the Nazca Lines.
"These are amazing! How did they do this?"
"No one's sure. There's lots of theories though," Keith replied.
It was the straight lines that caught her eye, however. They weren't roads, but she couldn't be sure what they were intended to be.
"Keith, can you scan those darker lines and send it to Coran. They look a bit familiar."
After a few passes over the landscape they decided to hail the Castle of Lions.
"Ah, Princess! How goes the sugar moon?"
"Coran, it's called a honeymoon," Keith argued.
"Hunk informed me that honey is just a cheap substitute for sugar. You should be giving the Princess nothing but the best!"
Allura looked over at her husband, who was biting his lip trying not to laugh out loud. Humans were so funny when it came to naming things. She could understand Coran's confusion but it was amusing to say the least.
"Coran, can you run the scans we sent you through the system? For some reason they feel a bit…familiar."
"I'll get right on it. Will we see you two tomorrow then?"
Allura nodded before signing off.
"We should probably start heading back towards the Garrison. Where are we staying tonight?"
Keith pondered a moment before replying. "The Grand Canyon?"
Once she saw it she understood. The name didn't even begin to do it justice, even Voltron would be dwarfed by its size. Layers upon layers of earth worn away by nature leaving behind the most breathtaking scenery.
The heat of the day was starting to give way to the cooler evening. They'd rented a cabin to stay in but they both wanted to enjoy the view for a bit longer. Keith started a campfire and they curled up under a blanket for additional warmth.
They stayed there until exhaustion began to overtake them, finally retiring to their cabin for the night.
The sounds of nature roused them the next day, birds happily carrying on their business while oblivious to the sleeping couple inside. Allura would have been thrilled to have even a few extra ticks to sleep. Every day her muscles tired more easily and her clothes strained a bit more. She worried at this rate if she'd be able to walk around the castle once she was close to full term.
Finally, she dragged herself out of bed, ate a quick breakfast and then readied herself to head back to the Garrison.
The honeymoon is over, back to reality now.
They left the cabin shortly after to meet with Commander Iverson that afternoon. Keith had been anxious to know more about the secret plans Matt had alerted him about. She herself was curious about the lines they'd seen the day before in Peru.
En route to the Garrison they were contacted by Coran. According to the analysis it was a kind of map. The interesting part is that it was a map of the solar system, and it pointed to the moon known as Kerberos.
Keith's eyes blew wide at the mention of the name. Allura knew its relevance as well, since it was where the Galra had abducted Shiro's team.
But why would an ancient people draw directions to a place they didn't even know existed?
"Coran, can you do some reconnaissance to Kerberos for us?"
"Already on it Captain. We should be there any—" Coran's voice sputtered. He wasn't looking at them anymore, but at the large screen above. His face froze in a look of utter disbelief.
"Is everything okay? Tell me what's going on," she demanded.
"It's—it's gone. Where Kerberos should be, there's nothing but debris."
Allura could feel her heart sink with those words. She'd seen too many planets destroyed at the hands of the Galra. The only relief she felt was knowing it was uninhabited and that no one had died needlessly.
"Coran, do you think the Galra blew it up after they grabbed Shiro's team," Keith queried.
"I'm not sure but it doesn't look like it was hit by blasters. It looks like it was cracked open, like an egg."
At that moment, the screen on the pod switched over to a view of the remnants of Kerberos. Just as Coran had stated there was bits of planet, but it looked as if it had been hollow on the inside. As if it had been formed around something and someone had removed what was inside.
"Something tells me this wasn't the work of Zarkon's forces, it seems a bit too crude," Allura pondered.
She looked over to Keith for confirmation; he nodded sternly in agreement. There was a very good chance that the Kerberos mission had been to look for more than microscopic life-forms. Maybe someone before them had figured out the directions to the planet and had come looking for treasure instead of knowledge.
But who? And what did they find?
As soon as they reached Galaxy Garrison, Keith had demanded a meeting with Iverson. Instead they were met by a young officer, Staff Sergeant Williams.
"Ah, I never expected to see you here again," she smoothed as she shook Keith's hand.
Allura never considered herself the jealous type, but she didn't appreciate being ignored either. She stepped forward to remind the young woman that they had not been introduced.
"This is my wife, Princess Allura," Keith offered, putting an emphasis on her newly acquired title.
"I see. Nice to meet you, Princess. So, you're the one who bagged and tagged him. Congrats on accomplishing something no other girl here could."
Her response came with a rather terse smile; Allura couldn't help but wonder what the history behind it was.
"Sorry, I'm unfamiliar with the phrase 'bagged and tagged' so I'm not sure what that means."
"Oh, Keith was chased by lots of girls here. He was our hot-shot pilot which brought him a lot of attention. Sadly, he never returned it, always too busy reading books and going out to the desert."
At this point he was blushing profusely, something that almost never happened. Still, it was endearing and she was enjoying every minute of it. She also wondered if that played into Lance's imaginary rivalry with him. Maybe she'd ask him about that later.
"That's enough reminiscing, thanks. Can we just get on to what we came here for?" Keith pouted.
Williams directed them to an elevator that took the trio down to a long, dark passageway. Waiting for them was an electric cart, which Allura was thankful for since she had no idea how long the distance was they'd need to travel.
Finally, they reached a doorway that opened to a hangar filled with white airplanes, each marked solely with a single red stripe. The Staff Sergeant motioned for them to board one of the planes before excusing herself.
"This will take you where you need to go. Enjoy your trip."
Once seated on the jet Allura could feel the vibrations from the engines as it started to taxi towards a small opening. It seemed odd to her that they would go to such lengths to hide an airstrip.
"Keith, where are they taking us?"
"From the looks of it, a place called Area 51."