Do not own Voltron or its plotlines, settings or characters. All characters are adults.

A deafening roar echoed in the clearing they had set the ship down. Keith felt his whole body tense in response and looked around at his friends. Unease pressed into him like a wave but he pushed it down.

"Might be time to get a move on guys, we need to pack up now."

"Who died and made you boss?"

Keith sighed. "Lance we are too old to be having petty squabbles."

"Uh guys?"

Keith pinched the bridge of his nose, immediately knowing that whatever Hunk said next wouldn't be good. "What is it Hunk?"

"Where's Pidge?"

Matt came around the side of the ship and furrowed his brows. "She was going for a quick walk, you know, scout out the surroundings for any fresh water and stuff. I think she mentioned something about cleaning up since she's been working under the panels all morning."

Keith felt the unease spread to his gut. "How long has she been gone?"

Matt frowned and Keith could see the worry starting to seep into the older mans face. "She should be back by now."

Another roar echoed in the air followed by a shout they all recognised. Keith whirled around as the others dropped their things. "Kosmo!"

He put a hand on his wolf and looked at the others. "Find Pidge!"

The others nodded and started running off at a sprint as Kosmo ported him to the middle of an over grown clearing with a large pool of water. He took a moment to survey the situation as Kosmo growled next to him.

Absently he had to wonder how it was that she managed to get herself into this much trouble in such little time. Katie Holt was currently staring down a very large bipedal creature. The thing stood almost 4 metres tall and had long thin talon like fingers with claws at its ends. Covered in feathers with a large beak it almost looked bird like.

Pidge it seemed had been swimming in its water source. He took a split second to note that she had shed her clothes at some point. Ignoring the fact that she was completely naked Keith focused on the fact that she had no weapon and he only had two on him. His blade and a spare blaster he was checking when he'd heard the first roar.

He stepped forward, breaking a twig. The thing looked up and Pidge stiffened.

"Keith?"

"Don't move Pidge."

"Bring any weapons with you?"

"Not enough."

She chuckled humourlessly. "Figures. Guess we're doing it the hard way then?"

"Don't we always?"

"Yep, gotta plan?"

"You need to get out of the way and give me a clear shot."

"Just shoot, I trust you."

"Pidge if I shoot now and manage not to hit you it will either fall on you or wipe you out when it reacts, you need to move."

"I won't be fast enough, not in the water."

It was then that an idea struck. "Don't move I'm coming to get you." Before she could protest he looked down and nodded at Kosmo.

In a split second he was two steps behind her. The creature screeched and raised a claw. Keith grabbed her arm, pulling her back into him and fired off two rounds before Kosmo poofed them to his original position in the middle of the clearing away from the pool. Keith got off two more shots before the creature, having realised it was not going to win against guns, turned to leave the clearing.

Keith sighed when the creature started to retreat but froze again when he heard rustling behind him. Looking down he blushed and looked up.

"Pidge?"

"Yeah?" she breathed quietly.

"Where are your clothes?"

"Over there."

She tensed as she heard the others burst through the bushes and she heard Lances voice immediately.

"What the heck is that thing?!"

"Looks like a dinosaur." Hunk murmured.

"I think it is." Matt responded.

Too focused on the creature at first they didn't notice Pidge hidden in front of Keith.

Finally Lances attention moved to them. "You guys okay?"

Keith cleared his throat. "Yeah we're fine."

Lance frowned. "Dude, why are you being weird? And why is Pidge hiding behind you?"

Pidge chuckled uneasily. "Uh, about that. I'm gonna need you guys to keep your eyes on the ground."

Matt stiffened and groaned in frustration and slight anger. "Tell me you're not naked Pigeon."

"Okay, I won't."

"You better not be looking Mullet."

Keith bristled. "Lance, I'm gonna pretend like you didn't just accuse me of being a pervert."

Pidge stood on her tip toes and glared at Lance over Keith's shoulder. "Knock it off Lance, he just saved my ass."

"And probably got a good look at it too."

"I'm going to shoot him." Keith mumbled, finger twitching on his trigger.

Pidge's hand rested on his chest. "Don't."

"Give me one good reason."

"We'd have to listen to him complain about it the whole way back."

"Tough call."

"You guys go back, we're right behind you."

Matt raised a brow. "We?"

She frowned at her brother. "Keith can stand watch while I get dressed."

He stared at her for a beat before coming to a conclusion and nodding. "Hunk, Lance, let's go."

Lance gaped at Matt. "You're seriously gonna leave Keith alone with your very naked sister?"

"I'm going to leave a trusted friend with my sister while she gets dressed after he saved her life and in the mean time we will make sure nothing has gotten to the ship."

Hunk looked at Lance. "Come on Lance do you really think Keith would pull that?"

His shoulders slumped slightly. "No, I don't."

"Then shut up and get out of here so I can get dressed."

They all rolled their eyes but did as she asked. Keith let go of her arm as soon as he realised they were alone and turned so his back was to her.

"You know if you hadn't wandered off in the first place this wouldn't have happened."

"Oh save it. I needed to clean up after going over the panels and engines."

"There's a shower on the ship Pidge. In fact there's more than one."

"And this clearing has clean flowing fresh water. Clear."

He turned at the word and glared at her. "Clear means fully dressed Pidge not underwear only."

She chuckled. "Calm down. You've seen me in a bathing suit, no difference."

Sighing he held up his hands in a sign of surrender before noticing something and moving towards her. she watched with confusion as he zeroed in on her arm and touched her bicep lightly. Looking down she noticed a few small bruises on her upper arm. Finger prints.

Looking up she watched him patiently as he reigned in the guilt clearly written on his face.

"I'm sorry Pidge. I shouldn't have been so rough."

"It's fine Keith, really. I'm okay."

Clearing his throat he stepped back and looked around the clearing. "Get dressed we need to get back. Who knows what else is in this jungle."

When she was dressed and they were walking back he broke the quiet once again.

"So, are you going to tell me why you really came out here on your own?"

"I told you already."

"No you gave me an excuse not the real reason. We both know you could have easily showered on the ship without a problem. So, why were you out here?"

Pidge sighed. "I just needed to be outside for a bit."

"In the middle of the jungle?"

She felt herself flush a little. "I may not be the paladin of nature anymore but I still feel the connection. Some times I just need-" she trailed off unable to explain it.

"I get it."

"You do?"

"Yeah, sometimes you need to reconnect with your element. Like you said, we may not be paladins anymore but we still have those connections that were formed while we were."

"So, are we gonna talk about what you saw back there or?" She watched with amusement as the back of his neck and ears went pink.

"I don't know what you mean."

"Correct me if I'm wrong but I'm pretty sure you saw me completely naked back there."

He took a deep breath and carefully chose his words. "I wasn't trying to, I swear."

She laughed walking right past him. "I know."

He watched frozen for a moment before mentally shaking it off and following her. "Pidge."

Stopping she smirked and turned around to face him. "Yeeaaas?"

"Can we forget about that?"

She raised a brow. "Can we?"

He felt his cheeks getting hot and cursed the fact that she had him. "I, we-"

She laughed and walked back a few paces reaching up she gave him a peck on the cheek. "Thanks for saving my life Blade."

She turned back around and continued on to the camp leaving him to follow.

A few days later they were back in space and heading for their destination.

After the incident Pidge had found herself in a rather different situation. Keith seemed to be rather skittish around her. It had taken her two whole days to figure out why. He was uneasy in her company, rarely looked her in the eye and when they had accidentally brushed against each other he had reacted like he'd been burned. When she'd finally figured it out she had blushed so hard she'd had to excuse herself from the bridge.

She had tried not to make it any worse for him. At first. But the longer she was exposed to his clear uneasiness and panicked reactions the more amused and confused she became. He was clearly embarrassed with having seen her naked and didn't know how to act around her now. So she'd tried to keep her distance but couldn't help how every minor incident gave her a slight thrill. She liked the fact that he noticed her.

Six days after the incident Keith got up during their sleep cycle to do a check of the ship. Stepping out of his room he was half way down the hall when he noticed a lump on the floor. Narrowing his eyes he blinked and focussed. Realising it was Pidge he quickly dropped down to her and felt for a pulse. He was checking her forehead for a fever when her eyes opened and she looked up in confusion.

"Keith?"

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine."

Keith sighed and chuckled. "You're on the floor in the hallway. Gave me a heart attack."

"I was running a diagnostic on the emergency lighting through the access port here. I must have fallen asleep."

"Come on let's get you off the floor."

He reached around her and secured one hand on her arm and the other on her waist. Carefully, he helped her stand and supported her weight as she swayed against him.

"Sorry." She mumbled.

"It's alright come on, time for bed."

"But my diagnostic."

"It can wait, you can't sleep on the floor."

She frowned when they walked into his bunk. "Wait, where are you gonna sleep?"

"What?"

"If I sleep in your bed, where are you going to sleep?"

Looking up he noticed he had indeed walked her into his bunk instead of her own. "I was taking you to your bunk I swear."

She hummed with amusement and tugged on his arm. "C'mon." She climbed into bed and pulled on his arm. When he didn't move she pulled again. "Keith get into bed. You're not sleeping on the floor."

Still out of it he simply did as he was told.

The next morning when Pidge woke she was comfortably cocooned in a blanket that wasn't hers on a bed that wasn't hers. Looking around she found no sign of her bed mate and decided to get up before anyone else found her. Right after she used the bathroom attached to his room to wash her face.

She stepped up to the door as it opened from the other side. Her eyes widened as Keith almost stepped into her on his way out of the shower. She took a moment to survey the bare skin now visible across his chest and abdomen, careful not to let her gaze travel lower to the towel wrapped around his hips. She looked up at a sudden intake of breath and noticed absently that he was using a second towel to dry his loose hair.

"I thought you were sleeping." He murmured.

"I woke up." She responded, hoping that he wouldn't notice the pink hue of her now warm cheeks.

He smirked. "I can see that."

"I thought you'd left."

He shook his head. "Just went for a shower, didn't want to wake you."

She smiled softly. "You didn't. I didn't want anyone to get the wrong idea. I was going to wash my face and go before I got caught."

"Caught?" his brow raised and she blushed more.

Rolling her eyes to try and dissuade his curiousness she poked a finger in his chest. "I wouldn't have to sneak if you hadn't brought me here last night."

His eyes narrowed as he leaned in. "I wouldn't have had to put you to bed if you hadn't been sleeping on the floor in the hallway." She opened her mouth to argue but stopped short and blushed. "Why were you sleeping in the hallway?"

"I was running a diagnostic."

"You're laptop wasn't even turned on Pidge."

She again attempted to reply but fell short. "You do not have enough clothes on for this conversation."

Keith dropped the towel he was using to dry his hair.

"This conversation?"

"Any conversation."

Keith chuckled low and gravelly. "Pidge is my lack of clothing making you nervous?"

She scowled at him. "Guess we're even now."

"You keeping score?"

"Are we playing a game?" she whispered searching his eyes for any indication of where this moment seemed to be going.

She could feel the fear, hesitation, the want. It shocked her to feel something so alien for her friend. Something she had never felt before, not like this. Not to the degree that she felt like her whole body was on fire and buzzing. She continued to look at him, unable to break eye contact hoping that he wouldn't see it but also hoping he would.

Keith searched, holding his breath, waiting for a sign. He hadn't realised how quickly she had grown into a beautiful young woman. Or maybe he had and he'd ignored it? Whichever it was it wasn't going to help the situation he was in now. He tried to find an emotion to latch onto something she could give him to work with. Finally he saw something and he knew exactly what to do.

Pidge felt her world moving in slow motion as surprisingly soft lips met her own. Arms wrapped around her pulling her into a sturdy, muscled chest. Her hands came up to rest on the chest as her lips moved in sync with the man in front of her. She didn't realise she had closed her eyes until she opened them again and met the sight of Keith's eyes up close. A beautiful mixture of onyx and purple.

His hand came up to rest on her cheek. "Pidge? Gonna need you to say something."

She smiled and tilted her head into his hand. "Something."

He chuckled and dropped his forehead to rest on hers. "Pidge."

"Everything's changed."

"Is that a bad thing?"

"No, but it is scary."

"Yeah. But I can be brave if you can?"

She smiled wrapping her arms around his neck. "I think I can manage that."

Keith swooped in for another kiss but when they pulled back he groaned.

"What's wrong?"

"We have to tell them."

Pidge giggled. "Let me guess."

"Lance is going to be incorrigible."

She reached up placing soft kisses to his cheeks before placing a light peck to his lips. "Guess I'll just have to make it worth it then won't I?"