Glad you're back! I must be doing something right if you're still with me. This chapter actually went a little astray as I was writing it, but I hope you enjoy it. Please R&R!
The alarm, courtesy of Keith's watch and communicator, blared loudly in his ear. He groaned loudly and tried to mute it in the dark. But it was too late. The damage was done. He was awake. It had been so long since he had actually allowed himself to sleep past 5:30 that he had forgotten to disable it before he had gone to bed the night before. He swung his legs over the side of the bed and sat up, immediately regretting the quick movement when a stabbing pain shot through his temple.
He held his head gingerly and wondered how in the hell he had ended up with a headache. A hangover was not physically possible when he had only had two drinks in the lounge that night. Perhaps the events of the past few days had suddenly caught up with him. Or perhaps it was the noisy neighbor that had kept him up most of the night. He glared at the wall to his left. Lance's room was just on the other side. He silently cursed his second in command and his late night antics as he finally got to his feet and made his way to the bathroom. Maybe a hot shower would help ease the throbbing pain in his head.
The steaming hot water from the shower did help to ease the pain in his head and the mounting tension building in his shoulders. As if the past four years could be magically washed away, the shower seemed almost like a cleansing ritual. But for all that, in the back of his mind, Keith still had a nagging voice whispering to him. Now that they had finished giving their statements, and now that they were done with Lotor and his malicious antics, Keith had tried to convince himself that there was nothing more to worry about. He had failed miserably. There was still a mole in the Alliance, and although the team seemed to be in the clear now that Lotor was incarceratied and no longer in their custody, there was no evidence that they were completely safe.
Wrapped in a robe with his hair still dripping, he padded into the kitchenette. It was no surprise to find it empty. It was only six o'clock, and he was the only one of them that had the irrestiable urge to be up a such an hour. Regardless, he turned on the coffee pot and took in the newspaper that had been left outside the door. As he glanced across the hall, he wondered if the others were up yet. Romelle was still most certainly still sleeping off the previous evening, and since Lance had been entertaining until an ungodly hour, Keith knew that Sven had stayed with her. Having no idea what had become of Deirdre after he left, but knowing her well enough to know that she had most certainly tied one one the night before, he surmised that she was still asleep too. Then there was Allura.
More than likely, Allura had been up late into the evening fuming over his actions. He couldn't really blame her for being upset with his behavior. The thing that he couldn't bring himself to explain to her was that he couldn't help it. It was a catch-22 for him. Allura was one of the strongest women that he had ever known. She had stood up amist the rubble of her kingdom, accepted the reign, and had almost completely turned it back into a thriving, peaceful place once again. She was no longer the naive young girl that he had pledged his loyalty to in a crumbling castle four years earlier. She had seen more evil than any one person should ever have to endure. She could handle anything that they threw at her, including a couple of bruises from combat training. On the flip side of the coin, Keith, and he knew the others as well, had an overwhelming urge to protect her at all costs. They never wanted to see their Princess in pain, and each of them would lay down his life to keep that from happening.
He closed the door again and shrugged. Well, there really wasn't anything he could do about it, so she would just have to be pissed.
With that behind him, he poured a cup of coffee for himself. Without glancing at the front page, he opened the newspaper right to the sports page. A little known fact about Keith, with the exception of those closest to him, he was a huge sports fan. Any sport. From college football to curling. He frowned when he saw that one of his favorite college teams had lost to their long time rivals in overtime. Skimming the article, he was made painfully aware that he had been gone for four years. He did not recognize a single name on either of the teams. And his favorite team had gotten a new coach. Go figure.
An opening door made him look up. Hunk poked his head out of the door and glanced around before deciding that it was safe to come out in his boxers.
"Mornin Chief." He greeted Keith with an almost annoying smile as he pawed around in the cabinets for a coffee cup and then filled it with hot liquid.
"Good morning." Keith returned. "How'd you sleep?"
"Would've slept better if Lance could keep his sexual exploits to himself rather than the ear splitting screeches that I listened to most of the night."
Keith nodded. "Yeah, I think I'm gonna have to have a talk with him about that." He grumbled.
Sven finally made his way back accross the hall, looking as if he had a long night as well. But from the expression on his face, it wasn't the kind that he would complain about. It was two more hours before Lance finally made an appearance. He walked into the room with a certain swagger and a stupid grin plastered on his face.
"Good morning all." He exclaimed as he plopped down in the overstuffed armchair.
Hunk snickered. "Yeah, from the sounds coming from your room last night, I guess it is a good morning."
Running his hand through his hair in a vain attempt to tame it down, Lance gave him a smug grin. "You heard that, huh?"
"We all did, Lance." Keith sneered. The man didn't even have sense enough to be embarrassed. "And it would be much appreciated if the next time you bring some random girl back to your room, you remember that there are other people sleeping here."
"Yeah, yeah, alright. I apologize if I kept you up last night, Chief."
Sven grinned devishly at him. "So? Which one did you bring back? That brunette was hanging all over you, but I thought you were always partial to blonds."
Laughing loudly, Lance shrugged. "Actually neither of them. Marie, the brunette, ended up puking all over the bathroom so her friends had to get her out of there."
Hunk and Sven glanced at each other before giving him a pair of confused looks. Before Lance could give them any details, the phone buzzed. Sven, who was leaning on the kitchen counter closest to the phone reached over and hit the intercom. "Hello."
"Sven?" Allura's voice drifted into the air. "Hi. Um, listen, I was wondering if any of you have seen Deirdre. She never came back to the room last night. Should I be worried?"
The room was silent as all eyes landed on Lance. He grinned largely and only shrugged. Keith narrowed his eyes at him before walking to the intercom. "Don't worry, Allura. I know where she is. She's fine."
There was a pause. "Oh," Allura sounded unsure how to respond. "Okay, well, we were supposed to go to breakfast this morning, so if you talk to her, will you please tell her I was looking for her."
"Sure." Keith said flatly.
"Thanks." The click on the line indicated that she had hung up.
Keith, Sven, and Hunk continued to stare at Lance, apparently waiting for an explaination. "What? Oh yeah, like any of you are really suprised."
It was true. It was common knowledge that after Keith and Deirdre had split up that she and Lance had started a, for lack of a better word, fling. It had been a strictly casual relationship that only happened when neither of them were occupied with anyone else at that particular moment. None of the others had ever quite figured out how they made it work and were still able to remain friends. But it never seemed to faze them.
It was at that moment that Lance's door opened a second time and Dierdre sauntered out. She was clad only in Lance's old hockey jersey and a pair of his shorts that hung loosely around her hips. Her clothes from the night before were bundled securely under her arm.
The term 'walk of shame' held absolutely no water with Dierdre as she strutted across the room, slinging wet braids from side to side. "Morning, boys."
"Morning, Dee." Hunk said, grinning at her.
Sven also smiled at her. "Good morning."
Keith offered no smile, however, as she passed by him. "Allura's looking for you."
"Yeah, I told her and Romelle that I would take them to breakfast this morning." She made her way to the door.
"Hey," Lance called from his seat. "I want that jersey back!"
"Yeah, yeah...don't worry. I don't like the Blackhawks anyway. I'm a Red Wings fan myself." She opened the door and walked out into the hallway. "See you guys later." With a smile and wave, she closed the door.
After a moment of silence, Keith finally turned on Lance. "You never change, do you?" The accusation was about as serious as Keith could make it. And that was pretty serious. "What the hell are you thinking?" He growled loudly.
"What?" Lance was more than a little irritated at Keith's reaction. "So, it would have been okay if I brought one of those 'random' girls back with me, but since it's Dee you're getting all high and mighty on me?"
The fact that Lance could not immediately understand why he was upset made Keith's anger escalate. "You just don't get it! We are still trying to find out who the mole in Galaxy Garrison is! Getting your rocks off is one thing. But you and Deirdre screwing around like two horney teenagers complicates things."
"Are you serious? How in the hell does us having a little fun 'complicate things'?"
"We're not in the Academy anymore! You know how I feel about teammates having relationships! Getting emotionally involved puts everyone on the team in danger!"
Finally, Lance stood up. Understanding finally dawned in his expression. Unfortunately, it wasn't the kind of understanding that Keith was trying to get across to him. "I get it now. You're jealous."
"Uh oh." Hunk, who had been watching quietly with Sven in the kitchenette, was beginning to see the situation escalating to an out of control level.
"What?" Keith couldn't have been more surprised at the statement if Lance had stripped down to his skivvies and did a jug to make his point. "You're out of your mind. You know that I never gave a shit about you two screwing like rabbits everytime you got drunk together. But there comes a time when you have to grow up and take responsibility for your actions."
Lance sauntered over to stand in front of Keith. "I wasn't talking about Deirdre. You're jealous because of everyone in this room," he pointed to Hunk and Sven for emphasis, "you're the only one not getting any. And we all know why."
The air seemed to be sucked out of the room as Keith and Lance stood toe to toe, staring at each other. Hunk and Sven unconsiously moved out from behind the counter to stand behind the pair. If things came to blows, and it wouldn't be the first time for the two of them, Sven and Hunk mentally prepared themselves to step in.
Keith's eyes visibly darkened as he narrowed them at his second in command. There was no mistaking the threatening expression on his face. When he spoke again, his voice was a low, gutteral growl. "Lance, I'm going to suggest that you think your next words over carefully."
There was no way in hell that Lance was going to let Keith intimidate him. He may as well spell it out for the commander. The sooner he did, the sooner they could all stop tip-toeing around the subject. He raised a defiant chin to his friend. "You're not getting laid, because you're too chicken shit to make your move."
For Sven and Hunk, what happened next was kind of a blur. Keith's lightening fast reflexes were too much for Lance to dodge as a fist came out of nowhere and connected with his jaw. He staggered back, catching hold of the kitchen counter to keep himself upright. It was no secret that while Lance could out manuver Keith in the air any day of the week, Keith was definitly the better fighter. And Lance knew well enough that his friend had pulled that punch. Had he wanted to seriously injure Lance, he could have easily broken his jaw and left him a bleeding heap on the floor before even Hunk or Sven could intervene. As it was, Sven had finally stepped in to reign Keith in while Hunk put a warning hand on Lance's shoulder. For his part, Lance had no intention of attacking Keith with force. He had deserved that punch.
Whether the fight would have escalated would remain a mystery when Pidge's door flew open and hustled quickly into the room. He went straight for the remote control to the TV and turned it on. "You guys gotta see this."
The disagreement was forgotten as the four men gathered around Pidge to find out what the emergency was. Pidge flipped through the channels until he found what he was looking for. It was a 24 hour news network that had taken time away from the latest celebrity scandle to cover a special report.
A tiny blond with too much make-up stood in front of Galaxy Garrision headquarters. "They are not allowing non-military visitors inside at this time. Once again, we are waiting outside of Galaxy Garrison headquarters where General Graham has been found dead in his office this morning. There are rumors that there is foul play suspected, although that has not been confirmed, and no suspects have been named yet. We are waiting for a representative from Galaxy Garrison to make a statement. Stay tuned."
"Holy shit." Lance breathed as he sat back down in the chair that he had previously occupied.
Pidge muted the TV and turned to the others. No one said anything and the silence in the room was deafening. A loud wrap on the door made all of them jump. Not knowing how much more he could take that morning, Keith moved quickly to the door. His mood fell even more when he opened it to find Allura standing in front of him. For a moment she looked as if she had a smile on her face, but it quickly disappeared when she saw Keith.
"Good morning, Keith."
He nodded. "Princess." He knew that she hated it when he called her that, but he wasn't in the mood to indulge her at the moment.
His formal address of their teammate was not lost on any of the others either. Lance raised an eyebrow as he looked from one to the other. Keith stepped back to allow her access, but she stayed in the doorway. "We're going to breakfast. Anyone want to join us?"
When none of them answered, she seemed to sense that something was wrong. "What is it?"
"General Graham was found dead in his office this morning." Keith's voice was so low that had she not been standing so close to him, she would have missed it.
Her hand went to her mouth as she gave an involuntary gasp. "What happened? D-Do you think it has anything to do with the mole at Garrison?" She was moritified at the idea that something they may have done had led to Graham's death.
"We don't know yet. But I think that we should go to HQ and find out what's going on."
Allura nodded. "That's a good idea. I'll get Romelle and Deirdre."
"Wait."
She stopped mid step to look at him, but she had a sneaking suspicion that she already knew what he was going to say. She shook her head defiantly. "No you don't, Keith. Not this time. You are not leaving me behind this time. This is too important."
"Allura, I have no intention of arguing about this with you. You, Romelle, and Deirdre are staying here." To make his point, he turned away from her and followed the path to his room. On his way, he addressed his team. "We leave in 15."
Allura's face flushed red as the anger became apparent in her expression. "You do not order me about, Commander!" She called to his back as he disappeared into his room. "I am NOT your subordinate!"
It was Lance who made his way to stand in front of her. "Allura,"
"What happened to your face?"
He was taken aback momentarily when she abruptly addressed the forgotten injury that Keith had left during their argument. "I slipped in the shower." He lied. No way in hell was he going to tell her why he and Keith had come to blows. Things were tense enough as it was. He did notice, however, the light shade of purple that adorned her neck. "My question is, what's that?"
Her hand flew up to her throat where he had indicated. She shook her head. "Nothing. Just an indication that I need more practice at hand to hand combat." She gave them a small smile.
Lance watched her for a moment then it became clear why Keith had been in such a foul mood that morning. While none of them thought Allura to be a porcelain doll that was easily broken, it was still difficult for them when she got injured or marred in any way. They recognized the hypocrisy of it all. If Lance had been standing there with a bruised neck, Keith would have most likely viewed it as a victory for himself. But Allura was differnt, and they all knew it. However, this was neither the time nor the place to contimplate the enigma that was Keith and Allura. "Allura, you need to let us handle this."
The anger flashed back in her eyes. Most of the time it was directed at Keith, but this time, Lance felt as if she would set fire to him at any moment. He placed his hands on her arms to calm her. "They are not letting civilians inside. Only military personelle. There is nothing that any of you can do, but wait outside. That would be too dangerous. I'm sure Romelle and Deirdre will agree with me."
To his surprise, she didn't start on another tangent about how they would not tell her what to do. Instead, she calmly removed his hands from her arms. "You know what? I...have...HAD IT WITH THE WHOLE LOT OF YOU!" It was rare that Allura truely lost her temper, but she apparently had been pushed over her limit of rationale. Sven, Hunk, and Pidge all went rigid at the outburst. "You are all a bunch of hypocrits! And I am done!" She turned on her heel and stomped back across the hall.
"Allura!" Lance tried to call her back.
She turned sharply to look at him. "You can all go...SCREW YOURSELVES!" With that, she slammed her door closed leaving three slack jawed pilots in her wake.
Lance closed the door behind him and looked at his friends, gingerly rubbing his chin. "You know what? I just don't know how much more of this I can take today."
Pidge, who had missed most of the activity that morning, looked around the room, thouroughly confused. "Did I miss something?"
Twenty minutes later, without any more altercations with Allura, the Voltron pilots, along with Sven, had taken a taxi into downtown Freetown. At the insistence of Hunk's rumbling stomach, they had been let out in front of a donut shop just four blocks from Galaxy Garrison headquarters. Hunk and Pidge had gone inside to get breakfast, while Keith, Lance, and Sven waited outside.
Sven was talking into his communicator with Romelle, so Lance sauntered over to Keith who was leaning thoughtfully against the brick building. Shoving his hands in his pocket, he mimicked the commander's stance, resting his back against the wall.
"Are you still mad at me for hooking up with Dee?"
Keith looked at him and a trace of amusement danced across his lips. "You still mad at me for hitting you?"
Lance shrugged. "Naw, I kinda deserved that."
His answer was a nod. And with that, the argument was over. "I just don't get you and Deirdre. I mean, why is it always just 'hooking up?' Why didn't the two of you ever date?"
"I don't know. It was always just more convienient to leave it at that. Besides, you're the one who's always telling me that I am emotionally stunted."
A small laugh escaped Keith's lips. He and Deirdre had had a turbulent relationship at best. She was nearly right when she said that he couldn't handle her. She was a spit fire who lived and loved hard. Unfortunately, she got bored quickly and never faired well with long term commitments. "Yeah, I guess you and she are two of a kind."
Lance was about to respond, but was cut off by the sound of squealing tires. They turned to the street just in time to see an unmarked, black van screeching to a halt in front of them. Things fast forwarded quickly when two men in black jumped from the van wielding rifles in their direction. Without warning they grabbed a hold of both pilots and began shoving them toward the van.
"What the hell?" Keith demanded.
"Shut up!" The taller of the two men yelled. "Get in the van!"
"You've got to be joking." Lance quipped.
"Hey!" Sven yelled as he began running their direction.
"Sven, look out!"
The call was too late. Another man jumped out of the van and clocked Sven in the back of the head with the butt of his rifle. Sven crumpled to the ground.
Inside the donut shop, Hunk with his arms already full, waited for Pidge to finish paying for breakfast. He turned toward the door just in time to see two men, through the glass, loading a listless Sven into the back of a van.
"Pidge!" He barked, dropping his load and sprinting toward the door. The yelling cashier was lost to them as they flung open the door just as the van was pulling away from the curb. They watched, helpless, as their friends disappeared amidst the morning traffic.
Chapter 7: The remaining members of the team scramble to rescue Keith, Sven, and Lance. Plus, more about the conspiracy will be revealed as they start digging into General Graham's death. Things are going to start moving along at a faster pace from here on out.
A point to note, I do prefer to write T rated fiction for my own reasons, but most of the time, I also write scenes that I leave out to keep a T rating (wink, wink). If anyone is interested in deleted scenes, like how Lance and Deirdre made it out of the bar and into the sack, please let me know and I will be happy to post some of them under the M rating section. There will be more instances when this might come up. You will know when that happens (another wink, wink) :)