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The entirely of Team Voltron had assembled on planet Gantira, the planet on which the new Galtean, the Altean and Galran Republic, was located. It was the fifth year anniversary of the Galtean Republic, and to honor this event Team Voltron had met. Romelle had organized a big banquet outside the capital city of Ordina.
Some Alteans and Galrans ran around the table always refilling the glasses and mugs of the Voltron members.
On the head of the long table sat Shiro, as the old leader of Voltron. Next to him sat Curtis and on his other side Allura with Lotor. Next to Lotor sat Romelle. Well, she was supposed to sit there but usually she was running around and organizing stuff. Next to the almost always empty chair was Shay seated. She had come with Hunk who sat with his best buddy Lance. On the other side of the table, across from Shiro, sat Keith, presenting him as the current leader of Voltron. Pidge sat next to Curtis and with her was Matt. Matt’s wife Artemis had stayed at the Atlas with two-months-old Andrea. Even though Matt didn’t talk about it, anyone knew that Matt’s and Artemis’ marriage was complicated in the moment. It helped him a little that Veronica, who sat next to him, gave him a positive way of thinking about the situation. Matt and Antemis had a daughter together after all.
During the feast, Veronica and Acxa took care of their little daughter Laura who sat in between them. Even Krolia had managed to make it and sat between her children.
At some point Romelle gave a brief recap of how the Galtean Republic was doing right now.
About an hour after the feast had began, Krolia noticed how secretively Keith and Lance talked all the time. They whispered a lot with each other, wrung their hands under the table and giggled. Nonetheless, Keith seemed to be very nervous.
“Keith?” she asked him after a long while, “Are you alright?”
“Yes.” he immediately answered, “I’m fine. Totally.” His head turned to Lance, “Shall we?”
Lance nodded, stood up, grabbed his glass and clinked his knife against it. Everyone turned silent and looked up at him. Krolia was confused. She sensed something was odd with her son, but she couldn’t put a finger on what it was.
“Everyone listen up, please.” Lance said loud, “We have something important to tell you all. We waited long enough.” he held out his hand to Keith and the other man stood up as well.
As Keith looked around his friends, he felt queasy. Everyone was looking at him. Everyone waited for something important as Lance had announced.
Keith felt Lance’s hand on his lower back and looked over at him.
“Hey, you wanted to tell them.” Lance breathed.
Keith nodded, “Yes,” and looked back to everyone else, “Well, we took this as a good opportunity to tell you all, that we… that we are going to become parents in about half a year.”
Everyone was silent at first and Acxa was the one to react first. She jumped up from her place and ran to Keith to hug him. It was a gesture so out of her usual behavior that Keith had no idea how to react.
“Congratulation, Keith.” she muttered.
“T-thank you.” he answered and hugged her back.
It was a very rare and intimate moment and everyone was more touched by that than the actual massage.
One after another their friends stood up and started to congratulate them. Hunk almost cried again, like always when something emotional happened. Minutes passed before Keith noticed that Allura sat rather still on her place. Lotor had gone and stood with Lance and Shiro and talked. Curious, Keith walked over to Allura and sat down next to her.
“Hey, you’re alright? You’re so quiet.”
Allura reacted surprised when he talked to her and after a short glance immediately lowered her head again, “I’m fine.” she said, but it didn’t sound honest.
“Allura,” Keith said in a low voice and touched her hand, “there…”
He stopped and looked at her hand in confusion. He felt something he had never felt before when touching her. Allura was warmer than usual and she… smelled different. After the touch lasted a little to long, Allura pulled her hand away.
“What?” she asked.
“Something about you is different.” he said, “Or about me. Probably the… the baby.”
Allura’s gaze dropped to the table again and she put her hand down on her tummy.
“This… is just not fair.” she breathed, “I wanted to be the first to tell.”
“You’re pregnant, too?” Keith asked surprised.
She looked back up and nodded slowly, “We only know it for a week. I’m only just in the fifth movement.”
“How long is an altean pregnancy?” he asked quiet.
“As long as a galrans usually. 42 movements or roughly nine phoebs.” she answered.
Keith chuckled, “As long as a humans. You want to tell today?”
“I don’t know.” she answered, “I am afraid, that I could loose the baby during a mission or because of health conditions. I know how it was for Honerva.”
Keith didn’t know what to say but wanted to comfort his friend anyway. But before he could say something he felt a strong presence behind him and turned around. It was Lotor.
“Looks like your senses are on edge.” he said with an arrogant smile. “You sensed her conditions, didn’t you?”
“Y-yes.” Keith answered and stood up, “Congrats and good luck.”
He knew Lotor very well at this point. He was a kind guy, but now and then his arrogant attitude showed again. Keith was relieved to be able to leave the two. After all he wasn’t able to comfort Allura or help her. He returned to Lance who was talking with Shiro and Romelle and put an arm around his waist.
~~~oOo~~~
Pidge sat in the grass with Hunk and Shay and talked about someone she was recently meeting more often. “Dennis is a surgeon and works in the Garrison Hospital. He is a leading expert in alien-biology here on earth and he is only 25. Isn’t that something?”
Hunk, who was only about a year younger than said Dennis, shrugged, “I guess. Is he nice?”
“It almost sounds as if you’re in love, Pidge,” Shay said giggling.
“What?!” Pidge questioned her statement with a high pitched voice, “Bullshit, he’s just a cool guy. He was the first person I ran into with Andrea. I meet him a couple of times since in the lab when I was… er… borrowing – yes – some equipment.”
Hunk let out a small laughter and said to Shay, “Don’t confuse this attitude of hers with love. She only loves technology. You should have seen her reaction when she first met Rolo’s small robot. And she once had a galran drone called Rover.”
“Really?” Shay asked fascinated.
“For the record,” Pidge said sharp, “The robot was called Beezer and he was awesome and the time Rover and I spent together was way to short. But he died saving my life. And I’m not only in love with technology. I love my family and you guys, too.”
“Pidge, we are your family.” Hunk said smiling.
The young woman hugged him and nodded, “Yes, you are. Punk forever!”
“Punk forever.” Hunk agreed.
Shay was visibly confused but smiled. She knew well how close the paladins were.
~~~oOo~~~
Lotor and Allura left the banquet early and returned to their small house on the other side of Ordina. As soon as Allura was inside she dropped dead on the couch and let out a very loud and long sigh.
“What is it, Princess?” Lotor asked, calling her by her pet name.
Since they founded the Galtean Republic they had given up their royal titles and only used them as pet names.
“I… am dead.” she muttered, “And I have the feeling I’m nothing special anymore. Is that a selfish thought?”
“You are special.” Lotor said, “For me you always will be something special. But what makes you think that?”
“I don’t know.” she admitted, “It’s just… I thought I could be the first one in the crew to get a baby, but now Keith beat me about two phoebs. And since the teludav is stabilized and doesn’t require me anymore… I feel a bit useless. I don’t really have a purpose anymore.”
Lotor sat down next to her on the couch, put an arm around her shoulder and kissed her forehead, “Maybe try something new. Do studies on alchemy, help scientists to unravel the last mysteries of the universe or just be a mother for a while. You still have Voltron too, don’t forget that.”
She leaned against his chest, “You’re right. It’s just… I’m a little afraid of the baby.”
“Afraid of it?” Lotor asked confused, “Why that? You worry it will bite you?”
She giggled, “Of course not. I’m afraid I could lose it. I know what the miscarriages did to your mother. I-”
“Allura, you are not my mother.” Lotor said in a harsh tone and moved from the couch to the ground, so he could look up at her, “You are not Honerva. You are like your mother, the brave and beautiful Melinor I was never able to meet. Please don’t worry. Everything will be fine. Perfect even.”
Allura smiled. It was an honest and happy smile. She was so lucky to have Lotor and she would love their baby more than anything else in the entire universe.
~~~oOo~~~
A couple of days later Keith and Lance were at the hospital ward of the Atlas again. When the doctor, a very beautiful looking, slender galran woman, with a slender face, completely yellow eyes, big fluffy ears and a skin in a rich purple color, walked in she greeted the two men and sat down on a chair.
“Hello, Doctor Aiphos,” Keith greeted her, who sat on the examination couch.
Lance sat behind Keith and braided his hair.
“Hello, Commanders McClain.” she greeted them, “So, today we’re going to listen to the fetal heart sounds. You’re excited? It’ll be the first time you hear your baby.”
Both men nodded and Lance put his chin down on Keith’s shoulder and his hands on Keith’s belly.
“I’m so excited.” he said, “I can’t await it.”
Doctor Aiphos smiled. She asked Lance to get off the couch, Keith to lay down and to lift his shirt.
“Okay, first we do an ultrasound to see where the baby’s heart is and then we can listen to the heart sounds.” she explained.
Keith nodded and the doctor put some gel on his belly. It was cold and his stomach’s skin shivered a bit under it. With the ultrasonic scanner she spread the gel on his belly and looked up to the screen. The detailed, black and white picture on the screen showed… something after some ticks and something else that was beating very fast.
“Here we have the heart.” she said.
“It’s beating fast, isn’t it?” Lance asked and sounded worried.
But doctor Aiphos nodded her head, “Yes, and it’s perfectly normal. A galra’s heart does beat a tad faster than a humans and a baby’s heart beats even faster. We now will listen to the heart.”
She changed a setting on her machine and tuned up the volume on her screen. All of the sudden the room was filled with the steady sound of a quickly beating heart. It was incredible. There was only this sound. Steady and so wonderfully alive. Ba-bum Ba-bum Ba-bum. Lance felt how every hair on his body got up.
“This is beautiful.” he breathed.
“It is.” Keith agreed and grabbed Lance hand tighter.
“In about six movements we can examine the gender.” the doctor said, “Do you have preferences?”
“No.” Keith said, “I just want them to be healthy.”
“I would like to have a girl,” Lance said, “I could braid her hair and dress her in pretty dresses and make her adorably cute and I thought about naming her Antonia.”
“I like Kyle.” Keith said.
“Kyle?” Lance asked, “But that’s a boy’s name.”
“I know.” Keith replied, “This way we have a name for a girl and a boy. We can’t influence it anyway.”
Doctor Aiphos giggled and revealed long fangs while doing so, “We’ll see in six movements what the child will be called.”
She wiped away the gel on Keith’s body and he put down his shirt again. The doctor stood up and sat down behind her computer.
“I’ve sent you a photograph of the ultrasound screen and the date for your next appointment.” she explained, “I’m going to run a scan on the black and blue lions systems soon, together with Lotor and Allura. You’re probably going to have to step out of the active duty around hitting the fifth or sixth phoeb.”
“And when can I return to active duty?” Keith asked, “It wouldn’t be good for Voltron to have two Paladins off duty for too long.”
The doctor eyed him a bit and answered, “You’re a very trained young man. You should be able to return to active duty about a movement after giving birth, but only in emergencies for the start.”
“Great, thank you.” Keith said and stood up, “Then until next time.”
Doctor Aiphos said goodbye and Keith and Lance left the ward. Outside Lance pulled out his phone and checked the mail from the doctor. He opened the picture from the ultrasonic screen and showed it to his husband.
“It’s lovely, isn’t it?” he said.
“Yes, it is.” hummed Keith and they returned to their apartment.