Keith's Knights: Part Three

Olivia shrieked with laughter as Hunk led her through a whirling dance that really did not go with the music playing. Pidge was leading Morgan through a more proper dance, agreeing with the little girl that her father was making a scene. He grinned when Hunk caught his eye and they kept right on dancing.

Keith laughed as he watched them, aware that Allura kept throwing looks his way.

"Forget it. I'm not dancing," he said without looking at her.

"Just one."

"No."

Allura glared at him before turning to their son who was doing his best to make a swimming pool in his dinner plate under the watchful eye of his older sister.

"Ethan, would you like to dance with Mommy?"

"Kay!"

Grinning, Allura picked him up and carted him off to the dance floor to Keith's amusement. He watched as Ethan and Allura shot twin smiles at each other, the little boy's hands buried deep in his mother's thick blonde hair. They nearly careened into Hunk and Olivia, but Hunk carefully guided Allura to more open spaces. She laughed, a sound that had become more familiar in the past few years, and danced away with her son. Keith smiled, a part of him wanting to go out there with them, but a larger part of him perfectly content to stay where he was. Bethie squirmed onto his lap and blinked wide blue eyes at him.

"You can look as cute as you want, honey," he told her. "But I'm not getting out there."

She pouted and didn't move from her post.

"Is Uncle Pidge really leaving?" she asked.

"Yes, he is."

"I'm gonna miss him."

"Me, too."

Keith gathered her close as Lance took a seat next to him, one-year-old Jason in his arms, his cheek pillowed on Lance's shoulder. Keith was sure that Lance was aware that he was getting drool all over his dress uniform, but he didn't seem to mind so Keith kept his mouth shut.

"Good party," Lance remarked. "Wouldn't have expected it from you."

"Allura planned it."

"Even more reason for the surprise."

It was just their close friends gathered in the ballroom and that was the way Pidge wanted it. He didn't want a hero's send off, wanting to spend his last night on Arus with the people he loved, and Keith could see that on his face. The grin had hardly faded from Pidge's face and he took Olivia from Hunk as Hunk took Morgan. Sven had pulled Romelle onto the dance floor, but their twins insisted on running around their legs so it was not too much of a romantic gesture on his part. But they were both laughing as Ian got tangled up in Romelle's skirts and she pulled him free.

"Didn't expect any of this when we first got here," Keith said, more to himself than to Lance.

"No," Lance said, looking down at his sleeping son. "Not at all. If you'd told me ten years ago that I would be perfectly happy playing first husband of a small Arusian city, I would have laughed you right out of the room, but here we are. We could have done worse."

"Plenty worse."

Bethie jumped out of Keith's lap when Pidge gestured for her to come over and she ran full tilt into his arms. Pidge danced her in wide circles, going around the people already there, much to their laughter. Her childish laughter floated above theirs and Keith smiled.

"Think he'll be back often?" Lance asked in the kind of voice that told Keith he already knew the answer.

"Every chance he'll get. Arus is home."

Jason mewled in his sleep and Lance adjusted his grip. Jack came up then, his gray eyes curious as he looked at his brother. Keith put a finger to his lips, signalling silence and for once the little boy listened to him, keeping his lips pressed tightly together. When he and the others grew up, Keith knew that he would have a new roundtable full of knights to watch over and he could not wait. He wondered if he should get some extra penknives for when that day would come. His friends were great fathers and they would raise strong sons...and daughters. His own son was slowly filling his shoes as the little boy danced with Allura, and Keith could imagine a bright future for him. Bethie was already showing the bullheadedness that made her mother such a huge hit with the Alliance leaders and Keith had a feeling he would have his hands full with her.

The music died down and Allura signaled for the cake to be brought in. Pidge's eyes lit up at the chocolate concoction that Nanny had been working on for the last two days and he cut Keith a generous piece.

"You're making it harder and harder to leave," he said when he passed the plate over.

"That was the plan," Allura said, coming up beside Keith and winding an arm around his waist.

Without being asked, Keith gave her the first bite and dropped a careless kiss on the top of her head as she hummed her approval of it. Pidge grinned at them both and before he could cut another piece, he enveloped them both in a big hug.

"Good plan," he said, kissing Allura's cheek.

She smiled. Years ago, she would have flung him through a wall if he'd tried that but she accepted affection easily now. It was yet another change that peace had brought to her and it warmed Keith's heart.

"I'm turning thirty soon, Pidge," she said. "You better be at the party."

"I will. I'll turn the galaxy on its head if I have to, but I'll be here for you. Besides, Hunk will go crazy if I'm not there to fix up whatever gadget he's working on. I can't live without you and these guys anymore than I can live without air. I'll be back. I promise."

Keith looked around the room at the happy faces of his friends, at the faces of the men he had led into the fire. They looked back at him, not an ounce of regret in their hearts. Raising their glasses, they toasted Pidge...toasted Arus and he wondered if he could be any happier than he was at that moment.

The present...

Keith pocketed the knife and looked around the room. The broken and hopeless faces of his people made him ache and he had the urge to force the docking bay doors open and challenge Merla to a fight. The idyll of their lives had been shattered by her invasion and if he could offer his life for their freedom, he would. Outside, his friends were fighting for their lives and he wanted to be out there with them. He'd killed before and though it had cost him, he would again. For them.

Taking a deep breath, he stood up. The time to wait was over and he was going to make things happen. The tide will turn and he would make sure of it.

"Cray," he said to the tall cook that many had said looked a lot like him. "Could you come here a moment?"

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