Welcome back! Thanks to all of you who took the time to comment. They were well recieved and appreciated. I like to know that I am going down the right path. :)

Here's a little light hearted fun, a little angst, and some K/A for all you hopeless fans out there. (Hey, we can smell our own.) If you like it, let me know. If you hate it, let me know. Suggestions and ideas are always welcome!

Enjoy!

The next day turned out to be no better than the previous few. The Voltron Force, along with Romelle and Sven, had arrived back at Galaxy Garrison HQ early that morning to begin giving their statements to the Alliance Justice Committee. They had been there for nearly eight hours, each taking their turn testifying to the horrible deeds that Prince Lotor had brought upon them. Keith, Lance, Romelle, and Hunk had given their statements that morning. After a break for lunch, Pidge and Sven had gone in. Allura was last.

Lance yawned and shifted uncomfortably in the wooden chair just outside of the hearing room. It had been emotionally draining having to recount all of the rotten things that the hierarchy of Doom had done to them. Zarkon, Lotor, Hagar...all of them. He was exhausted. He looked up at Keith who had spent most of Allura's time inside pacing restlessly. "How much longer do you think they'll keep her in here? It's been an hour and a half."

Keith stopped for a moment and stared at the closed door. "She has more to tell than any of us." Doom had taken more from Allura than any one of them. They had killed her parents and nearly destroyed her planet. She had been strong through it all. She had picked herself and her planet out of the rubble that had been left by Zarkon and Lotor and fought tooth and nail to bring Arus back to fruition. She was the stongest woman that Keith had ever known. He began pacing again.

They both looked up when the doors opened and Allura stepped out. She was visibly shaken. Her skin was pale and her eyes were red and swollen. When she saw them waiting for her, she dropped her gaze to the floor. Lance jumped up out of his chair.

"How did it go?" He asked.

She shrugged. "I-I just need a minute. Excuse me." She moved past them toward the end of the corridor.

Keith watched her for a moment, not really sure what to do next. Lance decided for him when he cleared his throat loudly then tilted his head toward Allura. Keith got the message loud and clear. It was his responsibility. He was charged with emotional well being of his team. He was the one who needed to be there for her. He nodded and walked purposefully toward Allura.

Sgt. Deckard, who had been standing by the whole time, started to follow him but was stopped by Lance.

"Give 'em a minute, Sargent. They're not going anywhere."

He watched the two from where he still stood in front of the hearing room. The day had taken its toll, and all he wanted was a club sandwich and a cold mexican beer. It seemed almost unreal. It had been four years since they had landed on Arus and took up the mantle of Voltron. In that time, Doom had tried to take over Arus an countless times. Sven had been almost mortally injured, Keith had been shot and nearly killed by Lotor's sword, and Allura had been poisoned, kidnapped, and spirited away to a dream dimension. And those were only a handful of things that happened. It seemed surreal that it was all coming to an end. Zarkon was dead, and Lotor was going to spend the rest of his life in a cell. It was over.

Keith slowed his pace as he drew near Allura whose back was to him. "Allura," His own voice sounded foreign to him as he reached out to touch her shoulder.

She turned suddenly and looked up at him with tearful eyes, and the pain he saw there broke his heart. Without a word, he gathered her into his arms and held her while she sobbed on his shoulder.

"I am so sorry that you had to relive all of those painful memories, Allura." It was true. He would give anything to protect her from the pain that she had been through. And he nearly had. He pulled back and took her face in his hands. With the pads of his thumbs he wiped the tear streaks from her cheeks. "You are one of the strongest people that I know. You have survived everything that Lotor has done to you. You will survive it's memory."

Allura backed away from him and squared her shoulders. She nodded and gave him a strained smile. Keith could always be depended on to give her a certain clarity. It was one of the things that made him special to her. He grounded her. Even when things seemed to be spinning out of control, his rational thinking leveled out her initial emotional reactions.

Things seemed to be winding down, and Lance hated to interrupt the rare moments that Keith and Allura got to spend together outside of protecting Arus. Oh who was he kidding, he got a kick out of making those two uncomfortable. He simply didn't understand them. It was obvious to everyone that they were totally into each other, but for some stupid reason, neither wanted to make the first move. Well, until that day came, Lance was going to enjoy every second of making an already uncomfortable situation even more so.

"You know that I hate interrupting these awkward little moments between you two, but I think we've all had enough angst for one day. Let's go get some grub, then we can have a drink."

Keith and Allura unconsiously stepped away from each other. Keith looked away as Allura wiped the remains of her tear tracks. Both tried in vain to cover the tinge of pink that suddenly appeared on their cheeks. Lance grinned. Mission accomplished. "What do you say, Princess?"

Taking a deep breath, she finally took hold of her emotions and smiled at him. "I think that's the best idea I've heard all day."

#############

Deirdre had done an excellent job finding the group a place to stay. The Starlight Terrace was an upscale hotel in the middle of downtown Freetown. When questioned as to how she had managed to secure such a place, Deirdre only smiled cryptically and said she knew a guy who owed her a favor. Noone questioned her any further.

The group had been split up into two indentical suites across the hall from each other. Each suite had a kitchenette and small living area with a sofa and loveseat, small dining table and chairs, and a television. Three bedrooms branched off of the common area, each with their own bathroom. Keith had been lucky enough to draw the long straw, which meant that he got his own room. Hunk and Pidge decided to bunk together. Lance and Sven took the other room, although Lance had made up his mind that Sven was going to be sneaking over to the ladies' room and staying with Romelle anyway. Allura, Romelle, and Deirdre were across the hall, each getting their own bedroom.

By the time that Keith, Lance, and Allura got back to the hotel, the general consensus was that everyone was starving. So, they showered and dressed and met downstairs in the hotel lounge. It was seven o'clock and there were very few people in the lounge so they enjoyed a rather quiet dinner. There had been very little time the night before for visitation, so they took the moment to catch up. Romelle was particularly interested in Deirdre's relationships with the pilots.

"I was in Hunk's class at the Academy," she was explaining, "we were a year ahead of Keith, Lance, and Sven." She grinned at Sven "I actually tutored Sven in Temporal Mechanics."

Sven laughed. "Yes, and in return, I convinced Keith to help her with Advanced Engineering."

Lance couldn't resist revealing the next bit of information. "Yeah, that's when you two started dating, right Keith?"

"Dating?" The word was out before Allura had even thought it. Sort of a knee jerk reaction. She knew that Keith had been engaged and had lost his fiancee before coming to Arus, but she had never thought of him as the dating type. Lance she expected it from. But not Keith. And now one of his ex-girlfriends was not only sitting across the table from her, but was sharing a suite with her. Allura suddenly wondered what Keith's motives had truely been when he called Deirdre for help.

Neither Keith nor Deidre seemed affected by Lance's comment. Deirdre only smiled. "Yeah, we dated for...what was it? Three months?"

"Nine weeks." Keith shot back immediately.

"But who's counting?" Deirdre shrugged.

Romelle glanced at her cousin and knew that there were a million questions flying around in her head. She knew that Allura had feelings for Keith. Unfortunately, Allura had grown up much too quickly and never enjoyed the wonders of prepubescant crushes and how to manage the opposite sex in matters of romance. "So what happened?" Romelle saw no reason to tip toe around it. It would only be a waste of time. Besides, she wanted to know.

"They decided they couldn't stand each other." Hunk cut in. He and Lance shared a laugh.

Keith even gave a small chuckle. "Actually, we decided that we were better off as friends. And we were right."

"Keith was way too straightlaced for me." Deirdre snickered. "And I was way more than he could handle."

"Yeah, that was it." Keith said.

Romelle sensed her cousin relax a bit and smiled to herself. Allura had obviously decided that Deirdre was no longer a threat. Good, thought Romelle. It should make the rest of the evening go a lot smoother.

An hour later, they were still enjoying cocktails in the lounge, chatting and catching up. The lights had been dimmed, and more people had begun to filter into the bar. Much to Lance's pleasure a group of three ladies had shimmied by their table and taken the table next to them. He had already scooted his chair closer and engaged them. A dj had set up the sound system and dance music was now being played.

Hunk, being in a relationship, found no joy in oogling the local fan fare, so he and Pidge set up camp by the pool tables. Pidge's intimate knowledge of physics made him an excellent pool player, which meant that there was a soon a group around them wanting to get their turn against the short, hot shot.

"What's going on here?" Romelle asked as she passed by on her way back to the table from the bathroom.

Her face was flushed and her eyes a little glazed. Hunk smiled widely at her. The cocktails were begining to have an affect on the pretty princess. "Pidge is about to win again." He said proudly.

Sure enough, Pidge banked the 8 ball twice before dropping it into the designated pocket. The large man standing across the table from him scowled loudly and, reaching into his pocket, tossed a couple of bills on the table.

Romelle was mesmerized. "You're taking his money?"

"Shh.." Pidge said. "Don't tell Keith. He'll kill me if he knew I was betting on pool."

The princess stood straight and crossed her chest with her finger. "What is it you say? Cross my heart." Then she put a finger to her lips and blew loudly before falling into hysterical giggles.

Hunk laughed with her, putting his arm around her. "I think I'll escort her back to the table. You good here, Pidge?"

Pidge was already watching the next sucker rack the balls. "Yeah, I'm good, Hunk."

"Looks like your gonna have your hands full tonight, Sven." Keith commented as they watched Hunk tote Romelle back to the table.

Sven shook his head. "I told her to stay away from the tequila."

When they arrived back at the table, Hunk handed her over Sven. He made a quick stop at the bar for another beer before returning to the pool room. Romelle dropped into the seat next to Sven and gazed up at the man she loved as if they were the only two at the table. He definitely returned the unspoken sentiment. Leaning closer, he whispered something into her ear that made her giggle madly.

Allura averted her eyes from the intimate scene and sipped her drink as her eyes wondered to the crowd around them. Lance was still sitting at the table next to them, flirting with one of the girls. She had jet black hair that hung past her shoulders and accentuated the largest pair of green eyes that she had ever seen. She was hanging on Lance's every word, giggling loudly every now and then. For his part, Lance looked as if he wanted to eat her alive. Allura sighed. Only one man had ever looked at her like that, and that man was a sociopath who had just been locked away for the rest of his life. She wondered what it would be like to have someone look at her that way who didn't make her want to throw up. Absently she glanced at Keith who was now talking with Sven. Every now and again she thought that she saw him looking at her that way but it was so fleeting that most of the time she was sure she had imagined it.

Her gaze wandered to the dance floor where several couples were moving in rythem with a slow paced beat. She spotted Deirdre dancing with some man she had met at the bar while she was ordering drinks. The dance was very friendly.

Shuffling at her own table returned her attention. Sven was standing, supporting the intoxicated Romelle on his arm. Keith had also risen from his seat.

"I think it is time to get the Princess to bed." Sven announced to noone in particular.

Romelle snorted. "Bed, right." Then fell into another fit of laughter.

"You two have fun." Lance called from the other table, raising his glass. There was an uproar at his table when another round of shots arrived. Lance and each of the girls grabbed for a glass before tipping them unceremoniously back.

Keith shook his head. "I think I'm going to take off as well."

"You're going to bed?" Allura was more than just a little disappointed that he was going to be leaving. Especially because she would now be at the table all by herself.

"I was think of heading to the gym. Get in a workout before bed."

Lance snorted. "You're seriously going to go workout? After the day we've had?"

"It helps me unwind."

The blond at Lance's table leered at Keith from where she was sitting. "I think that a man who takes care of his body his sexy." Her words were slurred but it was obvious that she was trying to sound unsuccessfully seducive. Keith seemed too preoccupied with getting his jacket on to notice.

"Easy, Kitten." Lance said. "That one is unofficially spoken for."

She pouted her shiny lips. "What does that mean?"

"It's a long story." Lance took a sip of his drink. "Trust me."

Allura was trying in vain to ignore the conversation, but it made her jump to action just the same. "Keith, would you like some company? I could use some pointers on my hand to hand techniques."

For some reason that she could not explain Lance began laughing so hard that he spit his drink out all over the table. Keith glared at him as if he could really burn a hole into his head. Lance ignored him and turned to the task of cleaning up his mess.

Keith glanced at Allura who was clearly confused by the whole incident. "Sure. I'd like some company."

"Great!" She stood up. "Let me go change, and I'll meet you at the gym in ten minutes."

Eight minutes and fifty-three seconds later...

Being that it was almost nine o'clock at night, the hallways of the hotel were fairly empty as Allura suspected the gym would be. As she moved through corridor, she could see the light from the open door of the hotel gym. She could see Keith's shadow moving fluidly on the walls outside. Quietly as she could she walked to the door and peered in. Keith was in the middle of the room his arms and legs moving gracefully around him in a series of fluid punches and kicks while he performed his kata. Allura couldn't help but stare at his perfect form moving through the motions as if he didn't even have to think about it. It wasn't the first time Allura had encountered him during his practice, but it always felt like it, and the familiar feeling of respect and admiration that she felt never ceased to amaze her.

Finishing his final moves, he bowed low seemingly to noone and straightened up, aknowledging her for the first time. As their eyes met, she could feel that he had known that she was there the entire time and the knowledge made her blush slightly. But she kept her head high and her expression nuetral as she skipped inside the room, dropping her towel carelessly on the floor. "Sorry I'm late." She said smiling broadly.

He wiped his damp brow with his own towel and glanced at the clock. "Actually, you're early."

"Oh. So I am. Where shall we start?"

"I was thinking we should continue to practice your defensive postures before we move on to some more advanced offensive strategies."

"Your the teacher."

Keith smiled at her as he moved to stand in front of her causing her heart to skip ever so slightly. There was rarely a time when she was treated to such acts from the normally serious and stoic commander. And they were mostly reserved for those occasions when they were alone. It was good to see his face relaxed. He even seemed somewhat happy. She stared wide eyed up at him, willing him to move closer. He did, but not like she had envisioned. He grabbed her wrist, spun her around and pulled her back up against him wrenching her arm behind her. His other hand snaked around her neck. The pressure wasn't painful but just enough to limit her movements.

"Well?" He said in her ear. "Are you going to try to get free?"

Once the surprise passed, Allura struggled against his grip, trying to break his hold. Nothing seemed to work. "I can't." She finally gasped.

"The first thing you've got to do," Keith kept his strong hold on her as she tried to struggle. "is not panic. Keep a level head. Find your options. Remember your training."

Allura took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Suddenly she remembered a tip that Hunk had given her when she first started training. A hostage is only a good as their mobility. Letting out a loud breath, Allura relaxed her muscles and went slack in Keith's arms. She felt the pressure on her throat tighten as her body went limp and he instinctively grabbed her harder to keep her from falling. Keith paniced briefly in surprise, no doubt he thought he had hurt her, as she grew heavy. She felt his grip loosen and look the opportunity to step hard down on the inside of his foot. He grunted and finally let go of her. She spun around, swept her leg behind his and knocked it out from under him. Without thinking, he reached out to grab her before he toppled backwards, pulling her on top of him as they both crashed to the floor.

Her head shot up, and the princess found herself nose to nose with the commander, staring into his very surprised eyes. Both were breathing heavily while their hearts pounded from the adrenaline. His face was flushed and she knew that hers was turning bright pink. "How was that?" was all she could manage.

Keith swallowed hard, trying to catch his breath. "Good. That was really good. Although," he noted their compromising position. "I think Nanny would have a coronary if she saw us like this."

They both laughed, but neither seemed ready to fix their current situation. Allura suddenly felt another sensation that put the adrenaline rush to shame. Her eyes flickered down to his lips struck by a sudden urge to kiss him. Embarrassed by her own thoughts, she rolled abruptly and sat up next to him, turning her head as a new blush stained her cheeks. Had she been looking, she would have seem the slight disappointment that flickered across Keith's face before pushing himself up to stand. He held a hand out to her and pulled her to her feet. They stood for a moment, looking at each other.

"You're getting better, Princess." He finally said. Then suddenly his face darkened, and he frowned deeply. His hand shot up to push a piece of her hair away from her neck. He swore under his breath.

Allura looked worried as he stared at her. "What?" She stepped away from him and moved to the wall sized mirror at the far side of the room. Tilting her head back, she saw a wide red band that had appeared around her throat where Keith's hand had been. It looked as if parts of it, the parts on either side of her neck where his fingers had held her, might actually bruise. "That? That's nothing." She looked at his reflection where he stood in the same place she had left him. Concern was etched all over his face. She moved back to him. "Your grip tightened for a moment when I went slack. It wasn't your fault."

His eyes narrowed at her, and all the light hearted joking was now a distant memory as she felt the guilt and regret suck any remaining jovality out of the room. "I'm sorry, Princess."

Now she was beginning to get miffed at him. "Oh, please," she said, raising an eyebrow. "I've gotten worse bruises getting in and out of blue lion. It's no big deal, Keith."

Keith's jaw ticked as he gazed at the red marks, already turning dark. "I think that's enough for tonight." Before she could protest, he grabbed his towel and his bag and made a hasty exit from the room. Allura started to follow him, but stopped at the door, watching his retreating figure darken in the corridor. She leaned heavy on the doorframe and let out a frustrated sigh.

"For every step we take forward, we take two back."

Chapter six: The morning after. Plus, three of our heroes are going to get into some hot water, and a rescue mission will be in order :)