Taking A Chance

Unexpected Outcome

Lance threw the folders and letters on the desk. He went over to Keith who stood in front of the window and wrapped his arms around him from behind, and rested his chin on Keith's shoulder.
‘What are we going to do?' asked Keith, quietly.
‘Not think about it for a while,' Lance said. Moving to the bed he piled all the pillows up. Sitting on the bed he lent back against then, and gestured for Keith to join him. ‘Come on, we are in need of some serious cuddle time.’
Keith smiled and joined him. Lance pulled him onto his lap and they day chest to chest and Keith bent his knees on either side of Lance's hips. Keith lay his head on Lance's shoulder, and buried his face in the crook of Lance's neck.
‘We need to set a date for the wedding,’ Keith murmured, tiredly.
Lance's heart thudded in his chest. He gently rubbed a hand over Keith's back.
‘For when?' asked Lance.
‘As soon as we can after the Garrison ceremony,’ Keith mumbled.
‘Anything you say, baby’ Lance whispered in Keith's ear.
Lance stared out the window and the cloudless blue sky. He continued to run his hand slowly over Keith's hard muscular back. Not for the first time he wondered how he got so lucky, until sleep claimed him as well.
A couple of hours later, Maria knocked on the door and opened it enough to peek in when they didn't answer. She went in when she saw them asleep, and placed a hand on Lance's arm and shook him gently.
Lance's arms tightened around Keith and he mumbled something she couldn't make out.
‘Lance, Keith, dinner is ready,’ she said.
Lance finally opened his eyes. ‘Mama?'
‘Dinner,' she said, again.
‘Oh, right,’ said Lance. ‘We'll be right down.’
Maria nodded and left the room.
‘Baby, it's time to get up,’ Lance said. Keith whined and held Lance tighter. ‘Dinner's ready, and if we don't go down, Mama will come back and drag us down.’
Keith pushed himself up enough to look into Lance's eyes. ‘I'd rather stay here,’ Keith said.
‘So would I,’ Lance replied.
Keith got off Lance and they went downstairs and were shocked to see Pidge, Hunk, Shiro and Adam.
‘What are you doing here?’ asked Keith.
‘We need to talk to our family about what to do,’ said Pidge, ‘so that's what we're doing.’
‘Come sit,' Maria said, gesturing to the dinning table.
There was an awkward silence as they started eating.
'We need to talk about this,' Adam said.
Lance sighed. ‘So what do you all want?'
They all looked at each other.
‘What do you want?’ asked Hunk, cautiously.
The table went quiet again.
Maria stood, went into the lounge and came back with paper and pens.
‘It looks to me no-one wants to influence the others,' said Maria. ‘I will give you all a piece of paper and a pen. Put Y to stay, and N to leave.’
‘And majority wins,’ said Pidge. ‘We all stay or we all go depending on the results, and Maria gets the count.'
They all nodded their agreement.
Maria distributed the paper and pens. It only took a minute for them all to hand their paper back.
Maria glanced around the table, then proceeded to count the votes.
She cleared her throats. ‘The majority vote was yes.'
After a second, Keith stood and hurried upstairs with Lance following.
‘What do you mean majority vote?' asked Adam.
‘Three yes, and two no,’ she said.
‘What?’ asked Pidge, horrified. She looked around the table. ‘I was sure they would say yes.’
Hunk looked down at his hands. ‘We all thought they would,’ he murmured.
Shiro shot to his feet.
‘Sit,’ said Maria, as she stood. ‘I will talk to them.'
Shiro sank slowly back into his chair, and Maria went upstairs. She had also been surprised by the two no votes. The door to Lance's room was open and the room empty. She moved to the room across the corridor and found Keith and Lance cuddling the babies.
‘I feel like this is my fault,' she said from the doorway. ‘I shouldn't have kept my mouth closed and let you all work it out.’
‘It wasn't your fault, Mama,’ said Lance. ‘We should have just said no, but you were right, we didn't want to influence anyone's decision. Only by doing that, we ended up with the one thing we didn't want.'
Keith sat in the arm chair in the corner, and held Jaya to him. It was the calmest the kit had been since coming here with Adam. Maria moved into the room and sat on the otterman in front of the chair.
‘Will you be okay?' she asked.
Keith nodded. ‘We agreed to go with the outcome, and we won't let them down.’
‘You know the Blade will want you to help them out,’ Lance said.
Keith sighed. ‘I know, and the Princess will want us to go to New Altea. I just hope we get to stay on Earth more often than not. I don't want to be away months at a time.'
‘And we're definitely not going anywhere when you're near your heat,’ Lance said.
‘Heat?’ asked Maria.
Lance explained what that was, and she listened intently. She felt she lean something new about their life together every time they spoke, and was secretly facinated by the half Galran and half Altean who sat next to her.
There was a knock atthe door and Jorge came in. ‘The others are leaving, do you want to come down?'
‘Can you please tell them we'll meet at the Castle tomorrow,’ said Keith, ‘just ask them what time.’
‘Sure,’ Jorge said, and disappeared again.
They heard arguing from downstairs, then it went quiet. Minutes later, they heard the lions leave.
‘Come down stairs and finish dinner,’ said Maria. ‘I will get some food ready for the babies.'
‘Thanks, Mama,' Lance said.
Maria left and when Keith stood, Lance went over to him and pulled him into a kiss. When Lance pulled away, he rest his forehead against Keith's.
‘Here we go again,’ Lance muttered.