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Keith sighed, running a hand down his face. He hated paperwork. Which meant he, for the most part, hated his job. But the Coalition saved lives, and the people were great, and if you didn't count the paperwork, he liked it. You could say Keith had a very complicated relationship with his job. When the war had ended and Honerva been defeated, he'd thought he'd be going around liberating planet from Galra generals rule, flying his lion, doing dangerous missions. He hadn't been expecting to turn the Blade into an alien Red Cross, to do paperwork everyday and attend diplomatic meetings. Starting to date and marry James certainly hadn't been a part of the plan. But he wasn't mad. The past 8 years weren't what he'd expected them to be, but he wouldn't change them (much. It would've been better it so many people hadn't died). And the war itself... the less said about that the better.
Sometimes, he found himself wondering what his life would've been like without it. He probably never would've met Lance or Hunk. He certainly never would've met Allura or Coran, have found his mom, or Romelle, met any of the Blade members. Hell, he might not even be with James. Or he might've been with him sooner and they'd have been married for years. And he'd lost so many people during the war. Ulaz, Thace, Regeris, Allura.
He heard the door to his office open, and saw his daughter smiling at him. When him and James had first gotten married, it was a small courthouse thing, just them, Krolia, Shiro, Alice (James's big sister)and Nadia. After months of debating, they had decided to look at getting a surrogate. When that turned out to be a dead end, they'd almost given up hope at having a family. But then they discovered this machine the Galra had, that made children. It was similar to the machine Haggar had used to clone Shiro, but it could make them a child. After nine months and lots and lots of paperwork, they had Bella. She had James's hair and Keith's eyes, and they adored her.
Krolia was overjoyed to be a grandmother, and her, Shiro and Alice spoiled her rotten. When she turned four, they decided they wanted another child, and nine months later, Charlie was born. He was a spitting image of Keith, but with James's eyes. Bella was now almost six, and Charlie was 5 months old.
"Daddy, Daddy!" Bella cried, running at him.
Keith grinned and bent down to pick her up, sitting her in his lap. "Hey Bells! How ya doing?"
"She's excited." James said, coming over with Charlie on his arm. Keith chuckled and set Bella down, striding over to his husband. "I see that. Hey babe." James pecked him on the lips, but Keith leaned in for another, deeper kiss, and Bella giggled. James smiled into it and placed a hand on his shoulder, pushing him away lightly. "Since you're in such a good mood, you can change Charlie's diaper."
Keith groaned as James handed the 5 month old to him, and the diaper bag. "I'd hurry and do that before we get in the ship. It's a two hour flight, and he gets thirsty." Keith huffed and headed to the bathroom, quickly changing the child and returning to his husband.
He found James talking with Ryan in the hall as Bella chased one of Pidge's drones around.
For a while, Keith and Ryan's relationship was rocky. Keith knew Ryan had liked James back when the war was just barely over. Keith had asked James out before he knew. After they started dating, him and Ryan got into the habit of avoiding each other, but as time went on, and Ryan started seeing Hunk, things changed. They became friends. Now Him and Hunk would go on double dates with Keith and James, or babysit Bella and Charlie if needed.
Ryan offered him a smile before saying goodbye, grabbing the drone from the air and heading to Pidge's office. "Thank you." James said, taking the freshly changed baby from his arms. "You ready to go?" Keith looked at his husband and two kids, and smiled. "Yeah. Let's go."
When they got in the ship, buckling the kids in the back. James handed Bella her tablet as Keith made sure Charlie was buckled in properly and the seat was in place. Charlie grabbed his finger, waving it around in his little hand as he gurgled. Keith cooed at his son, tickling his stomach so he let go. Charlie had a very strong grip, and it was hard to extract his finger from his fist without upsetting the child, so they'd learned to distract him and slip his finger away.
"You ready?" James asked, checking the controls. "I can't fly?" Keith asked, sliding into the copilot's seat. "Uh, no. There's precious cargo on the ship. And me." Keith chuckled, buckling his seatbelt. "Ready kids?" He called. "Yep!" Bella chirped, and Charlie cooed. "Alright. Here we go." James took off, and Bella laughed. A wormhole opened and James flew into it. They flew in silence for another two hours or so, and Keith stared out at the stars. He'd flow to Daibazzal thousands of times, and through countless different galaxies, but the stars took his breath away. They never failed to amaze him.
They landed and took one of the Blade's rovers to the house.
Krolia, Kolivan, Zethird, Ezor and Axca are there, along with Alice and Leilani (her five year old). Krolia kneels and Bella runs into her grandmother's arms, hugging her tightly. "Hi darling. How was the trip?" "Good! We got to go through a wormhole!" Bella cheers. "Well that's always fun." Kolivan rumbles. "Hi Grandpa!" Kolivan smiles and kisses her forehead before going to hug Keith. The girls are cooing over Charlie, who's asleep in his carrier.
"Dadddy, can you put me down? I wanna play with Lani!" Bella whined. Keith chuckled and set her down, going to sit at the table.
Leilani and Bella start chasing Kosmo around the front yard of the BOM house and Charlie yawns and opens his eyes. He sees all the people staring up at him and smiles. "Aww. Can I hold him?" Zethrid asks. James nods and she gently extracts the baby from the carrier. He coos, and Zethrid smiles softly.
Alice and James hug, and she congratulates him on their second child before going to Zethrid and fawning over her nephew.
James made his way over to Keith, sitting next to him at the table. "Something on your mind love?" He asked.
Keith smiled softly. "Just thinking about how lucky I am. I love you, James."
"I love you too." James replied, kissing him softly.