Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters, settings, etc involving Voltron: Defender of the Universe, Voltron: The Third Dimension, Voltron Force, or Voltron: Legendary Defender. These stories are for entertainment purposes only and are to be viewed as parodies and satire.

Author's Notes: This was the hardest chapter to write. For some reason, no matter what I wrote I just wasn't happy with it. I eventually rewrote this chapter roughly 5 times before finally settling on the version posted here. After the last few chapters, I wanted to change the tone a bit, give a little more humor to try to balance out the heavy drama from the previous chapters, while still maintaining the seriousness of Allura's situation. I feel as though I finally achieved some semblance of that goal. I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Popstar Princess:

Charades

It was morning and the bright, golden rays of the sun bathed Lotor's mansion. There were just a few fluffy clouds floating along in a sea of blue sky. Grounds keepers, servants and other personnel fluttered about the compound, going about their daily tasks. As the world awoke around the luxurious mansion, there was one who preferred to remain in dream land.

Allura's room was devoid of all light, except for the faint pink glow from the digital clock on her nightstand, which read 7:00. The large black-out curtains struggled to block out the morning light as the popstar huddled underneath the heavy bed covers. The only sound in the room was that of her soft breathing; the overly large bed making her seem smaller and more fragile than she truly was.

Suddenly, the door burst open and in charged Nanny followed by one of the young house servants with a tray of coffee and bagels.

"Why are you still asleep, my dear?" Nanny asked as she strode over to the balcony doors. "Today is an important day; you should be up and getting ready."

With a groan of displeasure, the young popstar pulled the blankets over her head, trying to drown out the invading woman. "Go away, I want to sleep."

Nanny sighed as she turned back towards the bed. "You were up most of the night again, weren't you? Who was it this time and how much did you drink?"

"One of the stable boys and we drank more than enough," Allura responded, her voice muffled by the blankets.

"I swear, child. One of these days you're going to catch something," Nanny goaded her.

In one swift motion, Nanny turned around, grabbed the curtains and threw them open. The room was flooded with a penetrating light. Then the intrusive and over bearing woman approached Allura's bed, grabbed the covers and pulled them down.

The light struck Allura's face and in a squeal of shock and panic she tried to roll away. Before she could stop herself, she fell off the bed.

"Allura, stop playing around and go clean yourself up," Nanny scolded her, not caring that the young woman had hit the floor. "We have to meet Lance at the doctor's office in three hours.

"Fine," Allura grumbled from her place on the floor. Clad in just an almost sheer, light pink nightie, Allura crawled her disheveled self across the space between her bed and her private bathroom.

With a wave of her hand, Nanny dismissed the young house servant. As she looked out the balcony doors, she noticed a glint coming from some bushes in the large backyard. She opened the doors and stepped out onto the small balcony. She strained her old eyes until she finally saw the photographer hiding among some of the manicured bushes. With a devilish smile she waved to the invader. Once she knew she had his attention, she lifted her blouse and bra. Nanny stood on the balcony for several moments, her chest exposed to the photographer, then with a chuckle she went back inside.

Nanny proceeded to layout a cute, light blue summer dress for Allura that she felt would make the popstar look good for the cameras that would undoubtedly follow her around town that day. She draped it over a vintage, red leather and mahogany slipper chair that decorated one of the corners of the room.

Allura emerged from the bathroom a few moments later wearing her white robe; her blonde hair was still a tangled mess. She shuffled over to the tray of coffee and bagels that was resting on her dresser.

"What is the matter, child? You seem to not care at all about today," Nanny stated as she straightened up the bed.

"I'm going to the doctor…yay," Allura responded, her words dripping with sarcasm.

"Yes but afterwards we get to show the world your baby," Nanny said with glee. "All of your fans will be so excited. I'm sure your media coverage will explode today."

"You know I'm not really pregnant, right?" Allura remarked her as she took a bite of a bagel. "We're faking this." Allura emphasized her words by waving her hand around. "This, all of this, isn't real."

Nanny gave her a scolding look. "I'm aware that the baby isn't real, but we have to act like it is for now. Maybe you should show some enthusiasm, at least for your fans." Nanny had just finished making the bed when the sound of dogs barking and a man screaming drifted in through the opened balcony doors.

"What's going on out there?" Allura asked as she picked up her cup of coffee and walked out on the balcony with Nanny.

The two looked down towards the large backyard and saw a man with a camera in his hands running at full sprint; two large dogs were hot on his heels.

"Just another paparazzi being chased by Sendak and Haxus," Nanny remarked with a hint of glee.

The intruding photographer ran as fast as he could across the yard; he didn't dare look back behind him as he heard the dogs closing in on him.

"Do you think he'll make it out of the yard?" Allura asked.

"He'd be the first," Nanny replied with a chuckle. "Come now, you need to get ready." Nanny then ushered Allura back into her room. "I'll wait for you downstairs." Nanny then gave Allura a kiss on the forehead. "Don't dawdle," she said before she left the room.

Allura stood at the end of her bed and stared at the now closed bedroom door. Despite the sunlight filling the room and the sounds and smells of spring drifting in through the open balcony doors, Allura felt cold and alone.

Nanny reached the bottom of the stairs and heard Lotor's voice coming from around the corner. She stepped into the foyer and saw her host speaking with the head of his security team.

When Lotor noticed Nanny enter the room, he quickly finished his conversation and dismissed the man.

"Good morning to you, Nanny," Lotor greeted her.

"Good morning, Lotor," Nanny responded. "Is everything alright?" she asked, referring to the conversation Lotor was previously engaged in.

"oh yes," Lotor assured her with a smile. "There seemed to be a bit of a commotion this morning but all is well now."

Nanny took a moment to look Lotor up and down. "My, you look rather dashing today," she said while admiring his charcoal suit and blue neck tie. "Is there a special reason you are all dressed up?"

"I have some important business meetings to attend this morning. Then a rather special lunch engagement."

"So you are not coming with Allura to her appointment?"

"I'm afraid not," Lotor answered. "Speaking of which, how is Allura doing this morning?" The concern for his house guest permeated his voice.

"She's doing just fine," Nanny reassured him.

"I'm glad to hear that. She has seemed a bit melancholy lately."

"Allura just misses being on stage and seeing her fans," Nanny stated. "She's just not used to be cooped up all the time. She'll be right as rain once this whole ordeal is over and she gets back on tour."

"It saddens me to see her so down," Lotor confessed. "I'd like to do something nice for her, do you have any suggestions?"

"A think a night on the town is just what she needs," Nanny responded with glee. "A nice dinner, maybe a play or musical performance, something to get her mind off all the trouble that scoundrel Keith started all those months ago."

"Those are all wonderful ideas. I'll take them into consideration."

The conversation was disrupted by the sound of a commotion at the front of the house. Lotor and Nanny turned towards one of the large windows and saw a man being escorted by security personnel. His shirt and pants were shredded, his hair filled with grass and twigs and his face and arms were covered in dirt.

"Looks like Sendak and Haxus got their morning exercise," Lotor said with a smile.

"I just hope his camera wasn't damaged," Nanny chuckled.

Lotor gave her a quizzical look but Nanny just smiled.

At that moment, the front door opened and one of Lotor's security guards stepped in. "Sir, your car is ready."

"Thank you," Lotor responded then turned back to address Nanny. "If you'll excuse me, I must be going."

"Of course," Nanny replied.

Without any other words, Lotor stepped outside and the door closed behind him.

"If only I was a few decades younger," Nanny said to herself before rushing off to make sure all of the preparations were made for Allura's big day.

It was almost and hour later when Allura finally came downstairs. As she reached the bottom, one of the female servants approached her. "My lady, your nanny is waiting for you out front."

"Thank you," Allura replied. She proceeded to the front door and stepped out into the harsh sunlight. She quickly put on a pair of dark tinted, black trimmed sunglasses. There was a luxury car waiting in front of the mansion and standing beside it was a young security guard and Nanny. Allura could see the young man was on the verge of a panic attack, no doubt he wasn't trained for such a prolonged interrogation.

"There you are, my dear," Nanny said as she finally noticed Allura. "Come, we must hurry or we'll be late."

"Yes Nanny," Allura responded. As she and Nanny got in the car, Allura could see relief pour over the security guard's face.

Nanny have the driver the order to leave and the car pulled away from the mansion. The ride to the doctor's office took an hour, but to Allura is felt longer. Allura had stared out the window, mentally blocking out Nanny's incessant yammering. She was still suffering from a hangover and the constant drone of Nanny's voice didn't help any. When they pulled up to the medical office, a plethora of photographers, reporters and social media influencers were standing out front; ready to pounce on Allura the moment she stepped out of the car.

The door opened and Allura was bombarded with camera flashes and voices. She struggled to move through the crowd to get inside the building. Nanny was beside her; she guided her to the door but made sure to wave and smile to the crowd as much as possible. Allura felt a brief reprieve once she was inside the building, but it only lasted a moment.

"There you are!" exclaimed Lance. "I was started to worry that you weren't going to show up."

"We had some delays this morning," Nanny responded. "But as you can she, Allura is here and ready."

"Come on," Lance said as he guided them to an elevator. "Now listen carefully," he said after pushing the call button. "The doctor is going to five you a normal checkup and then he will go through all the motions of a pregnancy check. He will have a very limited staff in order to minimize the chance of our little charade being leaked."

The elevator chimed and when the doors opened three clowns stepped out. One of the clowns stopped and handed Allura a light blue balloon that was twisted into the shape of a dog. Then with a honk of his nose, he followed his fellow clowns outside.

Lance just shook his head and stepped into the elevator, followed by Nanny and Allura.

"And you can trust him?" Nanny asked as the doors closed.

"Yes, he's done this sort of thing before and he comes highly recommended," Lance responded. He pushed the button for the fourth floor. "Plus, he'll be cashing a very nice paycheck for this so, he'll cooperate."

"How will he get sonogram pictures of the 'baby'?" Allura asked.

"He'll be giving us copies of another woman's sonogram that we can pass off as yours."

"Your fans are going to be so excited," Nanny stated with glee. "You'll be all over social media tonight."

The elevator chimed and the three of them stepped out. Lance guided Allura to the check in desk and then introduced her to doctor Gorma. Nanny offered to accompany Allura but was refused, so she and Lance took a seat in the waiting room while Allura followed the doctor.

It was an hour and a half before Allura came back out.

"Did all go well?" Lance asked.

"Mostly," Allura said, her voice betrayed how tired she was.

"Here are her checkup results," said Doctor Gorma as he handed Lance a folder.

"Nanny, can we go get something to eat?" Allura asked. "I'm not feeling very well."

"Of course," Nanny answered her. The two walked towards the elevators as Lance spoke with doctor.

"Is everything ok?"

"For the most part," replied Doctor Gorma. "The pregnancy check went as we expected. But during her physical, I noticed some issues you might want to address."

"What sort of issues?"

"Her weight is a lower than I'd expect. She seems weak and lacks energy. She also seems to be showing signs of depression."

"What do you suggest we do about it?" Lance asked with concern.

"I recommend that she sees a mental health professional," Doctor Gorma answered. "Preferably sooner rather than later."

"Thank you, Doctor. I'll take your recommendation to heart." Lance turned to leaved.

"There is one more thing," Doctor Gorma added. "I've written a prescription for a bacterial issue that she has come down with, please make sure she takes it."

Lance nodded and walked to the elevators. As he did, he flipped through the folder and something caught his eye. "Allura!"

By the time Lance had gotten to the elevator, Nanny and Allura were already inside and the doors were closing.

"What is Athlete's Cooch?" Lance asked.