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

It was that time of year again. They had all arrived on Altea to celebrate Allura Day once again. The festivities had been lively as usual and when the official part of the day had died down the ex-paladins had been more than happy to retreat to a more private space so that they may celebrate amongst themselves.

They had drank and ate whilst reminiscing and bringing each other up to speed on the current events of their lives. It was getting late when Shiro attempted to get everyone to retire for the night.

"Come on you lot. You're all half asleep where you sit. Time for bed."

"Shiro." Lance whined like he was fifteen again.

The others chuckled as Shiro rolled his eyes and lifted his hands in surrender. "Fine but I'm not carrying anyone to bed. You're all way too old for that now."

The boys laughed as Pidge sunk in her seat. "One time Shiro!"

"It was more than once and it wasn't just Shiro, for the record." Hunk explained as Pidge glared at them all for laughing.

She shrugged and sunk back in the comfortable lounger. "So what. Sometimes I'd fall asleep in strange places."

Keith snorted. "All the time and we couldn't leave you there because you were somehow always in the way of something."

"Was not!"

He lifted a brow at her and started listing off places. "The food dispenser in the kitchen, training deck, main hallway, bridge, lions resting garage-"

"Okay, okay geez."

Shiro smiled fondly at his space kids as they all laughed. "Good night everyone. Don't stay up too late or drink too much."

They all said their good nights and it wasn't long before they all returned to their own designated rooms. A couple of hours later Pidge snuck down the hallway towards the courtyard where they'd all sat around the fire earlier. Ten years had passed but she still struggled to sleep some nights. Re-living memories, past battles and losses.

She quietly crept into the courtyard but stopped short when she noticed a figure already seated in one of the larger lounges overlooking the garden.

"What's keeping you up so late?"

Her body instantly relaxed at the smooth and slightly gravelly tone of Keith's voice. She approached him and looked down noticing his calm and relaxed demeanour. He almost looked asleep but he had still heard her approaching. She shook her head slightly and looked at the garden.

"Couldn't sleep. I guess you couldn't either huh?"

"Never do. Wanna sit?"

She looked back at him and their gazes met. Before she could second guess herself she smiled softly and nodded, sitting down next to him. Once she was laid back against the back rest with her feet up on the lounger she took a deep breath and lent her head against Keith's shoulder as they settled in silence watching the moon and stars float over the garden.

"It's pretty, at night."

"Yeah. Want to talk about it?"

Her brow furrowed slightly as she turned her head towards him. "Talk about what?"

"Which memory has you out of bed this late at night."

She blinked and sighed. "Do you want to talk about yours?"

"I'm not good at talking."

She snorted and sat forward trying to cover the laughter attempting to bubble up to the surface.

He rolled his eyes and poked her side. "Very funny Pidge."

She turned back to him with mirth in her eyes which slowly dimmed after a moment. "I don't want to dwell on the past. It's supposed to be a celebration for her, not a day for mourning."

He reached forward and placed a hand on her shoulder. "It's okay to feel sad about it you know."

She smiled sadly. "I know. It's okay, really, I just had a bad dream and needed to shake it off. I don't need to talk about it. I just needed to get out of the room for a bit."

He squeezed her shoulder and gently pulled on it until she lay back against him. "Then we won't talk about it. We can just watch the stars."

She sighed and adjusted herself slightly until she was comfortably nestled into his side. "That sounds perfect."

Neither of them remembered falling asleep some time before dawn but Keith came too fairly quickly when he heard footsteps in the courtyard. In his peripheral he saw Shiro stop and watch them a moment before turning around and going back the way he had come.

The sun was just starting to breach the horizon and Keith could tell the sunrise would be a good one. Gently he shook pidge.

"Pidge, hey, wake up." She grumbled at him and frowned with her eyes still closed. He chuckled quietly and placed his lips to her ear. "You're gonna miss a spectacular sunrise if you don't wake up."

Huffing she groaned as she opened her eyes slowly. "I don't even remember falling asleep."

He smiled softly and brushed her hair out of her face. "Me either but we did. Look,"

He nodded to the side as the sun started to rise. Pidge turned her head and her eyes immediately widened in awe.

"Woah."

"Yeah."

"I wish she had been able to see this."

"Me too Pidge."

He pulled her close and she rested her head on his shoulder. "Can I ask you something?"

"Anything."

"Will you go for a walk in the garden with me?"

He grinned softly at her. "Lead the way Miss Holt."

They were half way through the maze, enjoying the morning sun when Keith gently tugged on her hand.

Stopping she turned back to him with a joyful smile on her face. "Keith?"

"Do you ever feel like you're missing something?"

Her smile was replaced with a thoughtful expression as she tried to decipher what he meant.

"How do you mean?"

He scratched the back of his neck and looked to the side for a moment. "I mean does it ever feel like there's part of you that's out of reach."

The small furrow in her brow told him she was taking his question seriously. She chewed on her bottom lip as she looked down at their hands.

"I guess, sometimes I feel like even though everything in my life is great there's still something I haven't done yet. Like I've forgotten something important or missed something that's right there."

Keith nodded. "Exactly, something hasn't felt right for a while now. I asked Shiro and Hunk and they didn't feel it so it can't be a paladin thing."

"What did Lance say?"

"Nothing, he just told me I'd figure it out eventually with a stupid smirk on his face." He replied grumpily.

She chuckled. "Of course he did, because he's Lance."

They stood for a moment each in thought until something struck Pidge. There was only one thing that took that feeling away and he was standing right in front of her. Her eyes widened in realization and she turned to him. Before she could think about it or talk herself through it she reached forward, surprising Keith and crushed her lips to his. A millisecond passed before his arms bound around her waist and he yanked her against him.

When they pulled apart she was on her tip toes. She rested her forehead against his and looked into his eyes. "I think I figured it out."

He grinned and nudged her nose with his own. "You are a genius."

Her arms slid over his shoulders as she grinned back at him. "I know."

From the courtyard Lance smiled sadly as he watched two of his best friends start to fall in love.

"Hey Lance, what are you looking at?"

The new voice didn't startle the man. He reached behind him and waved forward one of his oldest friends.

"A new day Hunk."

Confused for a moment Hunk followed Lances gaze until it landed on the blissfully unaware couple in the garden.

He smiled softly at his friends as he clapped Lance on the shoulder. "Well what do you know. It's about time."

Lance's smiled widened slightly as it transformed to happiness for his friends. "Yeah, it really is."