Chapter Text
Lance's blood burned cold. His heart beat in his ears. His chest heaved, his gut ached, his head swimming in turmoil. He couldn't have seen that. It couldn't have happened. It couldn't have.
But it did. The entire rebel base was destroyed, blasted to near smithereens. And Pidge... Katie... she was...
His eyes went dark. His chest hurt so much. The last words he heard from her kept ringing forever in his ears. She sounded so scared, so terrified. And just hearing those words rip through his soul.
Lance... I-I-I love you so much...
His whole world was collapsing. All he could see was her face, her eyes, her freckles, her smile. He could hear her laugh, her sweet voice, her voice saying his name. He gritted his teeth, his face growing hot as more tears began streaming down his face.
"LANCE!!" he gasped at Hunk's voice booming in his ear, yanking him back to reality. "Lance, are you there? Please answer me!"
"H-Hunk..." Lance whimpered, his chin crinkling as more tears fell from his blue eyes. "Pi-Pidge... she-"
"Lance," Allura pleaded, yet he could the tremble in her lilting voice. "I need to you breathe, and concentrate. Please, Lance, please stay calm."
Lance scrunched his eyebrows, squeezing the handles of his Lion. "How... can you ask me to stay calm, Allura?" he scoffed. How could they not be more concerned? Everything he saw before him, any future he had imagined with Pidge, had suddenly been ripped from his embrace. He had seen so much. Wanted so much. Even in the few short months they had been officially dating, Lance had been thinking about everything, even further down the road. Even after Voltron. After their lives were finally normal. Having a home. Having a life. Spending their most precious time together. He could see her, walking in front of him, walking in the grass, her summer dress swaying in the breeze. He could see her sparkling amber eyes, even more vibrantly reflecting the orange sky of the evening, holding her hand out to him. But that was all over now.
In all the chaos, the rest of the paladins were just floating around. The Galra, having finished their mission, had suddenly vanished, leaving a terrible calmness left in the wake of their rampage. And all Lance could do was stare off. The tear trails on his face were dry. His eyes were tired. So tired, he thought he had seen a glimpse of her in front of his eyes. Wait... that was...
Green.
Lance's eyes got wide. He could see the Green Lion, its particle barrier flickering before it finally went out, revealing just below its paw-
"PIDGE." Lance screamed, shifting his Lion forward, hurling himself toward Green. He could see her. He could see her! She was floating in the area around the shut down Green Lion, but she was there. He huffed out heavy breaths, his hands trembling on his handles as he willed himself to go faster.
"You see her?!" Hunk exclaimed.
"Lance, where? Where is she?" he heard Allura shout frantically. Lance could hear his team, but he wasn't listening. He could hear his blood rushing to his head, his heart pounding in his chest, his stomach twisting in knots the closer he got to her.
"Red, open your mouth, get her in here!" Lance demanded, quickly standing from his chair and sprinting from the cock pit. Pidge... Pidge! He burst through the door.
And there she was, lying on the floor in front of Red's closed mouth. He wasted no time, skidding on the floor to her side. Her armor was severely damaged, scorches and cracks peppering her chest, her arms, her legs. He panted, carefully pulling off her helmet, dropping it to the side as he leaned down, his ear close to her nose and mouth.
"S-S-S-She's not breathing," he wheezed, his eyes quickly scanning over her, his brain whirring like an overworked computer as he tried to figure out what to do.
"Lance, what is Pidge's status?" Shiro's voice was the last thing he heard in his ear before he ripped his helmet off and dropping it next to his knees. "Lance?? LANCE?!"
Lance's labored breathing rang throughout the silent room, gasping as he suddenly knew what to do, scrunching his eyebrows anxiously, ripping the armor from Pidge's chest. Despite his heavy breathing, he laid her flat, keeping his elbows straight, he began compressing her chest.
"Come on, Pidge," he said to himself, feeling hot tears prick at his eyes as he continued the compressions. "You're strong, Pidge, come back. Come back. Come back to me. Please."
He gently lifted her chin, pinching her nose as he breathed into her once, twice, lifting back up and compressing her chest once more as tears fell from his cheeks.
"Breathe, Katie, breathe! Please, please, Katie... please," he whimpered, but not once relenting. You gotta make it through. You have to. You're my everything. You have to see your brother again. We still need to find your dad. You need to hug Bae Bae again, Pidge, please.
Pidge gasped, her eyes ripping open, a blood curdling scream tearing through her throat, sweat pearling at her forehead, curling into her side, her arms holding her stomach. Lance's face went pale, his lip quivering as he watched her thrash from side to side, listening to her rough, painful whimpers, tears streaming down the side of her face.
"Katie, Katie!" Lance sobbed, his eyebrows scrunching up as he desperately tried to look in her face. "I-I'm right here, I'm right here!"
Pidge's lips shook, gritting her teeth as she grasped Lance's hand frantically, her chest heaving heavy breaths in and out as she coughed, crimson blood ejecting from her mouth. Her eyes gazed so achingly hard into his, squeezing his hand with all her might, breathing intensely before her eyes rolled up, Pidge falling back onto the floor.
"Katie!! Katie!!" Lance cried, cradling her face in his hands. He felt a hand on his shoulder, jumping in fright as he looked to his side, Hunk right next to him as Allura ran in behind him, pulling a stretcher behind her with Shiro on her tail. They'd made it back to the castle? When had they made it back to the castle?
"It's alright, Lance," Hunk breathed shakily, "she's just passed out, s-she's still breathing." Trying to focus, Lance and Hunk as quickly and gently as they could, pulled Pidge onto the stretcher, pushing her out of Red and into the castle. His heart beat so hard in his ears, Lance feeling as though he was going to be sick.
"Allura, can you tell us anything?" Lance pleaded, his voice shaky as he looked over at his anxious friend. She set a trembling hand at Pidge's hot forehead, knitting her eyebrows and concentrating as much as she could.
"H-Her armor and the Green Lion surely saved her life..." Allura admitted. "If not for her being so close to Green when the explosion happened, she would absolutely have perished. B-But it seems the initial explosion sent her careening into Green's leg. S-She has several broke rips, a broken leg, a broken arm, all in several spots, most likely a severe concussion and massive internal bleeding."
"We need to get her to the healing pod," Lance exclaimed as they entered the infirmary. Shiro pushed her toward a pod as Coran clicked a few buttons to open it up, Hunk peeling off the rest of her armor.
"Lance..." Allura murmured, grasping her hand tightly to his arm. Lance stared back at her, his eyebrows knitting together. "Lance, the healing pods are advanced, but.... they are not miracle workers."
Lance yanked his arm away, a scowl appearing on his face. "What do you mean? The pod saved my life when this happened to me."
"But, Lance..." Allura whispered, looking down at her feet. "This is incredibly severe... Pidge may not come out of this the same," she scrunched her eyebrows together, still not looking him in the eye, her next words coming out in a rough whisper. "Or at all..."
Lance looked away, his hands balling into fists. He peered up at the rest of the team as they finished sealing the unconscious Pidge into the healing pod. Her face finally softened, a calmness waving over her as she floated silently in the pod, watching Hunk sink down to his knees, Coran holding his shoulder.
He looked at this small girl, this small, stunning, befreckled, captivating intelligent girl. This girl that he was completely enamored with. Head over heels. Totally and irrevocably in love with. His heart beat, so achingly sad as he looked at her small, injured frame floating alone in that pod. He ached to touch her, to feel her skin against his. He mourned for her sweet gaze. He desperately craved for her embrace. Her warmth, her smile, her kiss. His chest heaved, his eyes swelling with tears as he turned back to Allura.
"She has to, Allura" he sobbed, Allura pulling him into her arms, his hands holding her tight, shoving his face into her shoulder. "She has to."
"Katie?" Lance said, grasping her shoulder with a light squeeze. "You ready to go?"
Pidge breathed out a shaky breath, hugging her binder to her chest. She looked up into his face, her eyebrows knitting together. "What if I mess up? What if I get up there and drop all my note cards? Or the professors don't like what I have to say?"
Lance sighed, shaking slightly with mirth as he side smiled. "One: you know that speech, and probably that whole binder, so well that you can do it in your sleep. Which you have, by the way," he added, nudging her with his elbow, a small giggle escaping Pidge at the action. "Two: I've known you long enough, got to know you and your intellect, to know that you could present anything to that board staff and they would immediately want to fund it, regardless of what it was."
Pidge smiled, rubbing his blue clad bicep under her fingers. "Even if it was for a jelly bean fueled bread slicer?"
"If it could simultaneously make toast, it'd be the winner of the conference for sure," Lance laughed, hugging her briefly to his side. "By the way, did you remember to eat breakfast?"
"Ahh, no," Pidge threw her head back, groaning, pulling her sweater tighter around her shoulders. "I knew I forgot something."
"It's alright, I packed a peanut butter sandwich, it's sitting in the car," Lance said, fixing the collar of his blue button up and sticking his wallet in his back pocket.
"Smooth peanut butter?" Pidge asked, peering at Lance from the corner of her eye as she carefully stuffed her binder into her messenger bag.
"Who do you think I am?" Lance replied, narrowing his eyes jokingly at her, setting his hands heavy on his hips in fake attitude. Pidge grinned, a small laugh escaping her throat as she fixed her glasses on her face.
"I don't think I've ever bought chunky peanut butter," Lance said.
"Why would you?" Pidge said matter-of-factly.
"Because we are intelligent human beings, Pidge."
The two walked out of their room, Lance casually asking her if she let the dog back inside before they got ready to leave, Pidge replying as she locked the back door. She stood there with her hand on the door handle, staring down at the gold paint, slowly rubbing her thumb over the cool metal, lost in thought. She sighed, a nervous knot forming in her stomach. Pidge knew she had a high chance of being chosen for this grant, she had worked for months just writing up her research the best she could. Wormhole technology was still extremely foreign to Earth, especially in their current circumstances having to attempt wormhole recreation from scratch. She didn't think she'd gotten anywhere without the help of Allura, however. She had truly been the tethering might to Pidge even being able to research the topic in the first place. In her anxious reverie, she felt Lance's hand on her shoulder, looking up and turning around, his body close to hers, his face peering down into her amber eyes.
"You're going to be great, Pidge," he said with a genuine smile, holding her face in his hand, his thumb rubbing gently under her eye. She felt his ring against her neck, reveling in the coolness of the Altean metal on her skin. She grasped his wrists in her hands, standing on her tip toes to press a sweet kiss to his lips. She separated from him only a moment later, yet their faces remained so incredibly close. His eyes shaded, his pupils dilating as his eyebrows knitted down, a smoldering expression appearing on his face.
Pidge inhaled a short breath at his expression, her nervous knots disappearing only to be replaced with intense flutterings They both brought their lips together once more, Pidge wrapping her arms around Lance's neck as their mouths moved against one another. Pidge moaned into his mouth when his strong hand found her thigh under her dress, running his hand to the back of her leg. The other soon made it to her other thigh, Pidge gasping as he lifted her, pinning her against the cool glass of the door, Pidge hooking her legs around his waist. She moaned, feeling his hand squeeze her bottom, Pidge biting her lip as he peppered kisses to her jaw down to her neck.
"Lannnnce," she gasped, feeling his body shake with mirth at her reaction. "We... c-can't have a repeat.. of last time."
"Ah," he murmured, grinding against her, grinning smugly, eliciting a drawn out groan from her throat. "Just be late; they worship the ground you walk on..." He could feel her heart beating so quickly against his chest, pleasant knots turning up in his stomach.
"I-It's still.... unprofe-ESH-ssional," she panted. Her hands met the back of his neck, her fingers threading through his chocolate brown locks and gently squeezing. She felt him shiver, a groan exiting it his throat, a smug smile playing about her lips.
"Ooh ho ho ho," Lance smirked, moving his head to look back into her face, his aqua blue eyes shimmering with desire. "You know I like that, and now you're gonna get it."
"What?" she said, feigning ignorance, moving her fingers about the back of his head. "I know nothing, nothING!"
Lance held her against him, Pidge laughing as he moved her quickly from the door. He turned them around, laying her flat on the floor, his body fitting like a puzzle piece between her legs, his arms hooked under her thighs. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders, pulling him back down to her inviting lips. She truly had a perfect life, she idly thought as she felt him smile against her lips. She loved living in their wonderful little house, with their adorable little dog, sleeping in their warm, comfortable bed. She loved everything about her life.
She groaned as she felt him grind once more against her, cradling his head in her hands as she pulled his ear toward her lips. "Lance..." she murmured.
"Hmm?" he lazily replied as he kissed a place on her neck. He loudly yelped when he felt her fingers pull his ear, quickly sitting up as an overdramatic pained looked appeared on his face.
"We gotta go, Loverboy, off. Off off off!!" she cried, waving her hands toward him, him sighing and straightening up, reaching down and pulling her off the floor.
"Jerk," she heard him murmur. She rolled her eyes, quickly smoothing out her green dress and pulling her sweater back up over her shoulder.
"I do love hearing your reactions, though" he said smugly, one eyebrow perking up.
She gently smacked his shoulder. "Only because you're incredibly good at kissing."
"I was edging more towards-" she elbowed him in the stomach with an half laughed oof coming from his mouth.
Pidge grabbed her messenger bag from the table, throwing the strap over her head. "We better hurry, Hunk and Coran are already gonna be there."
"Oh yeah, and we're still going out to dinner after the conference with everyone," he said with a smile. "Can't wait to get some garlic knots and cinnamon bread."
Pidge nodded, beginning to walk toward the door with him. Pidge stopped short as a thought crossed her mind, stopping as she grasped the shirt at his waist. He stopped walking, peering inquisitively down at her.
Pidge's face dusted a deep red, looking anywhere but his face. "You know... w-when we get home tonight... could we....?" she murmured, peering up at him through her light eyelashes.
Lance's heart skipped a beat, feeling his face heat up as he gazed into her amber eyes. Mirth resounded from his chest, biting his lip as he caressed her freckled face. "Y-Yeah... of course..." he whispered, a wonderfully lovely expression appearing on her red face.
He smiled, letting her wrap her arm around his, Pidge hugging his bicep as the two walked out the door, pleasant conversation falling between the two about the conference, what they'd talk about at dinner with their friends, a blissful feeling softly emanating between the two. The scene faded, rippling, almost as if it were submerged in a pool of water, their voices muffling, growing fainter and fainter, before finally the view turning black.
Pidge stirred, cracking her eyes open slightly, immediately squeezing them closed as a bright light nearly blinded her. She felt as if she were floating, her ears muffled to any of the sounds around her. She thought she heard... beeping? While the feeling was not overall unpleasant, Pidge felt as if something were off. She willed her eyes open, cracking them slowly to adjust to the light, a bright room slowly materializing before her.
She was in.... the med bay? What was she doing in there? Everything was a giant blur at the moment. She felt as though she had slept for a long time, but had the feeling of sleeping so long that it felt as though she hadn't gotten any sleep. As she finally gained her bearings, she realized she was in a healing pod. Healing pod? What was she doing in a healing pod?
At that moment the pod opened, slowly setting Pidge down on her feet, carefully stepping out, feeling the cold floor on her bare feet. She groaned, holding her stomach in her hand, gripping the door to the healing pod hard in her hand. She felt horrible, slightly nauseous, still trying her hardest to remember why she felt that way. It was still slowly coming back to her, but only at snail pace.
She took a few cautionary steps, breathing slowly through her nose and out through her mouth, trying to calm the sick feeling in her stomach, her face feeling unpleasantly cold. She stepped to the side, looking down when she realized there was a person on the floor, leaning up against the pod.
Lance.
Pidge's heart sank looking at Lance, asleep with his arms crossed tight around him, his eyebrows knitted together, blue bags visible under his eyes. It ripped through her chest. She felt horrible that she could still only remember a few details on what happened. She remembered that the base's shielding systems were severely sabotaged. She remembered running. The last words she remembered... After she was sent careening into Green, everything else was a complete blank.
"Lance..." she murmured. He stirred, as if he was only barely asleep, tiredly opening his puffy eyes, slowly looking up to see Pidge peering down at him. She knitted her eyebrows, a small sad smile appearing on her face as she gazed into his exhausted eyes. He exhaled, resting his head on the back of the pod, looking wistfully off to the side as his face contorted into a grimace. His chin wrinkled, pressing the heels of his palms to his eyes, his back arching.
He let out a hard breath. "Quiznak, I'm seeing things again," he whispered to himself. Pidge's heart dropped into her stomach. Lance thought he was seeing things? Wait... again? What could he have meant by that? He looked so tired, so fatigued, like he'd aged two years in only a day. Seeing him look so forlorn, so incredibly despondent, it hurt her heart so much. She felt a catch in her throat, gently cradling his face in her hands.
He jumped back, a loud gasp coming from his mouth, ripping his eyes open, his eyebrows scrunching together. He breathed panicked breaths, his lip quivering as he stared into her amber eyes.
"Pidge...?" he whispered. He shuddered as Pidge moved closer, sitting on her shins, rubbing her thumbs under his blue tinged eyes. He nearly started hyperventilating, sitting up to grasp her shoulders in his shaking hands.
"You could have at least slept in a bed, silly," Pidge said softly, a side smile perking up on her lips. His face contorted, scrunching his eyebrows, tears welling up in his eyes. He moved forward, shifting to his knees and wrapping his arms right around her, burying his face in the crook of her neck. She felt him sob against her, her eyebrows knitting up in desperation. She pushed her face into his shoulder, curling her fingers into his jacket.
"Pidge... Pidge..." she heard him whisper against her. "Katie," she felt her heart ache when he said her name. "I thought I'd lost you..."
She was about to say something back to him, something reassuring, something to quell his anxiety; but at that moment he squeezed her a little too tightly, a labored wheeze forcing its way out of her chest. Lance jumped back, his hands still on her shoulder, his face grimacing in worry as he watched her cough and wheeze, struggling to find decent breaths. Lance talked her through it, telling to her breathe slowly, in and out, to take her time. Pidge realized at that moment that her whole body ached, feeling as though she were plagued by bruises. Her left arm hurt, her left leg all the way up to her hip felt like it was on fire. It hurt her chest just to carefully breathe in and out.
"E-Everything hurts, Lance," Pidge confessed. She grasped at the lapel of his jacket, Lance caressing the back of her head. She craved his touch. She reveled in the way he touched her hair, the motion so filled with affection that her stomach twisted in knots. I know I got hurt, and I love his touch so much, but.... why do I crave it so? What is so different from yesterday?
"Pidge!!" she suddenly heard the voice of Allura, seeing her sprinting through the doorway, sliding on her knees and grasping the back of her head near Lance's hand. The look on Allura's face nearly tore Pidge in half. Her pink blue eyes were swimming in tears, Allura's face so tired looking that she couldn't hold the tears in. After Allura's frantic shout, the rest of her friends came barreling in, everyone desperate to touch her or look at her.
"How do you feel, are you okay?" she heard Hunk say, noticing him wearing an apron covered in intergalactic ingredients. "How's your stomach? Your arms? Can you count to ten? What is the function of the Fourier Transform?"
"How's your head? Is your ticker still ticking??" asked Coran. "Don't know if humans have a nikwiki, but hopefully yours is functioning okay!"
A small smile played across Pidge's lips, happy to know that her friends care so deeply for her. But it hurt her heart so much to know that they were so desperately worried about her.
"Thank you so much for worrying about me, you guys," Pidge murmured, grasping at Allura's hand still holding the back of her head. "I know it was a close call, but the blast sent me into Green, I think that's what saved me. And you got me to the healing pod fast enough."
Allura slowly peered back at Shiro, whose arms were crossed, looking intently down at his feet. There was a stillness in the room all of a sudden, as if the rest of the team stopped breathing. Pidge noticed of course, looking around at all of her uncomfortable friends.
"What...? What's wrong? I told you guys, I'm fine. I-I just hurt really bad is all," Pidge said with a dry laugh. "I know I was hurt pretty bad, and I know I can't remember too much but.. I'm fine!"
Allura moved her hand down to the spot between her shoulder and her neck, giving it a gentle squeeze. She knitted her silvery white eyebrows, an overflowing expression of concern passing over her face.
"Pidge..." Allura spoke as softly as she could, her eyes awash in grief. "You died."
Pidge's eyes got big, her heart dropped straight into her abdomen. "W-W-What do you mean I... I-I died?"
"You died..." Allura nervously gulped, a tremble in her melodic voice, "twice, Pidge. W-We lost you... twice."
Pidge's lip quivered, covering her mouth with her shivering hand. "I-I d-died... twice?" she whispered through her fingers, feeling hot tears pierce her eyes. She scrunched her eyes shut, her eyebrows knitting together. How could I have died.... twice...? ".... How?" Pidge asked after she finally calmed her breathing.
Allura looked down, trying to find words that wouldn't completely traumatize her. "You had a severe concussion, Pidge. Your arm and your leg were shattered, and you had several broken ribs and massive internal bleeding. After the explosion, we were so stunned. We barely even realized what had just happened. It had felt like forever, but Lance found you after a minute or so, but... You weren't breathing. At all. He managed to revive you using what he calls see-pee-arr, and you were in such pain that you passed out.
Pidge sat back on her shins, holding her hands in her lap. "I-I.... I don't remember any of it..."
"We got you to the pod as quickly as we could, but..." Allura continued, trying her best to quell her stammering voice, Hunk sitting cross-legged next to Allura, gently rubbing her shoulder, "you flat lined, even in the pod."
Pidge shuddered, looking down, but peering over to the side at Lance. He was staring straight at her, almost as if he weren't hearing Allura explain it all to her. He had the most tired expression she had ever seen plastered all over his face. He was exhausted. Broken. It tore her apart. She realized then she hadn't been listening to Allura, suddenly hearing something that made her whip her head back up.
"I've been in a coma for two months??" Pidge exclaimed. She couldn't believe her ears. The reason they all looked so exhausted, so desperate to see her and feel her... She had been gone for two whole months.
Before she could articulate anything else, her stomach gurgled so loud that it rang throughout the entire chamber. For the first time since she woke, she saw her friends smile.
"Now that's a good sign," Hunk said, a cheerful tone finally finding its way to his voice. "Let's get some food goo in you."
Pidge let out a shaky breath, carefully trying to stand up as Lance gently took her by the arm, pulling her to her feet, Pidge feeling him shift behind her as his arms made their way under hers and grasping her hands. He moved her forward, letting Pidge set the pace as they slowly walked together to the kitchen.
The rest of the evening had gone by so quickly. The food goo, albeit not the best first dinner to have after two months in a solitary pod, really did make the nauseous feeling in her stomach go away. She was finally able to see her brother, who had been incredibly scared up til then since he had been so far away from her when it happened. Hunk had tried his best to recreate baked ziti for her for when she would hopefully come out of her coma. He hadn't perfected it yet, but since Pidge was finally awake, he decided to make it his resolve to make it for her soon. The best Keith could do was communicate through transmissions as many times as he was able, but Pidge understood that even in something as traumatic as his friend nearly dying, he couldn't leave the Blade of Marmora. Even Keith nearly started crying when he saw her, awake and for the most part well, on the other side of the transmission.
But then the night finally came. Pidge showered, reveling in the coolness of the water, loving the way it soothed her still aching body. She still hurt, incredibly, horribly even. She figured that the healing pod wasn't a complete miracle worker. Two months in an advanced healing chamber couldn't even completely heal her. She sighed, turning off the water, carefully drying her sore limbs. She padded quietly to her room after she slowly pulled her pajamas on. The door whooshed open, Pidge peering over to see Lance sitting cross-legged on the bed. The moment she walked in, he quickly stood up, staring at her in the dim light of the room.
His ocean blue eyes were so deep, his eyebrows were knitted up in conflicted emotion, his lips were parted as if he were trying to say something but nothing was coming out. Pidge grasped her shirt over her stomach, the nauseous feeling coming back again, but for different reasons. Lance quietly stepped toward her, gently threading his fingers with hers, softly pulling her toward his chest, feeling his nose press onto the top of her head.
Not only had Lance witnessed her die once, he had revived her, only to watch her die again. Watch her every single day in that pod, never knowing when or if she would ever come out. She couldn't blame herself for what happened, and she knew he'd never blame her for something going awry during a mission. But she never wanted to make the person who loved her most in this world feel like that ever again. And she didn't know how she could have possibly loved him more than before, but... that dream she had in the pod had felt so incredibly real. The smells, the sounds, the feeling of his lips, the love in her heart for their house and their dog, for their bed, for the rings around their fingers. It made her heart skip a beat just thinking about it.
"I-I wanna lay down..." Pidge whispered. She peered up at Lance, expecting just to gaze into the eyes she loved so much, but she found herself reaching up to press her lips to his. He laid his hands on her upper arms as gently as he could. She could feel his lips slightly quivering against hers as he pressed further against them. They slowly, achingly pulled away, their lips only a hair's breadth away, feeling their noses nudge against each other.
"I never thought I'd get to do that again..." he murmured. She wrapped her arm under his shoulder, pulling him in once again. They stood there, in each other's arms, kissing fervently, Pidge not knowing if her face was wet because of his tears or her own. They finally fell back onto the bed, Pidge laying atop Lance, her body screaming in anguish, but she didn't care. She needed to feel him, his arms around her, his lips on her, his heart beating against her. She shuddered when his lips touched her neck, her mind still idly returning to the dream she had in the pod. She loved where she was... she loved being here, as a paladin of Voltron, saving the universe little by little, but... she would be lying if she didn't admit that she was a little disappointed. She desperately wanted that dream to be real, or... at least for it to someday be real.
Pidge and Lance finally relaxed against one another, his arms wrapped as gently but firmly as he could around her, not wanting to hurt her but still wanting to keep her as close as possible. Her hand rested over his heart, feeling it raise up and down with every beat.
"I want to sleep so bad," she heard him murmur. She opened her eyes, adjusting herself to look into his face, a concerned expression passing over her. He looked away from her, suddenly ashamed of himself. "I-I... haven't been able to sleep since the accident. Only very briefly, and... I'd always startle myself awake...." he squeezed his lips together. "I was even seeing hallucinations of you..."
"I-I'm..." she said softly. "I'm so sorry, Lance."
He gave her a sad smile, caressing her chin with his thumb and finger. "I love you so much, Katie..." he whispered, pulling her down into his embrace.
She smiled. "I love you, too, Lance."
He was silent for a moment. She almost thought he was asleep when he shifted his arm, rubbing up her spine. "Your name is Katrina, huh?"
She peered up in awe at him. "H-How did...?"
Lance smiled sheepishly, his eyes gaining a little bit of their light back despite them still looking so desperately exhausted. "The healing pods are incredibly intuitive. They show your vitals, brain scans, x-rays... they even know the name of the person hooked into it. Yours said "Katrina Alessandra Holt".
Hearing him say her full name took her aback a bit. But it also made her heart soar. She curled her fingers into his soft shirt, Lance noticing the action immediately, a slightly smug smile appearing on his face. As much as she wanted to smack the smug look from his face, she couldn't help but feel so happy that he was feeling like himself again. She never wanted him to look or feel that way ever again.
She laid her head back down, feeling his arms wrap tighter around her body. But his touch didn't hurt. In fact, she craved it. His hand went under her shirt, shuddering as his warm fingers touched her bare skin. She sighed, feeling him relax under her as he finally drifted to sleep. Pidge didn't know how she felt tired after two months sleeping in the healing pod, but exhaustion overcame her, cradling her head into the crook of his neck, letting herself drift off, blissful in his warm, comforting embrace.