Red Begonias

Chapter 11: Don't Leave Me... Again

~Keith’s POV~

I watch as Lance flew off in the red lion and rub my stomach, waddling to the command center where I would be trying to help from. I rub my stomach and stand, looking at the holo screen to see the scans. I help guide the team into the mission before we lost contact with them. I panic and pace the command center, worried about Lance. Coran watched me, a worried look in his eyes.

“Keith, calm down. He’ll be fine.” Coran says reassuringly as he walked up behind me, rubbing my back gently. I wince away from his touch.

“S-sorry… my back hurts.” I whisper, looking at the older Altean. I ease myself into a seat and rub my stomach, feeling the babies shift around and kick. Coran pats my shoulder.

“Lance will survive. Don’t worry.”

“But that’s all I can do!” I shout.

“Lance is the father to my babies! I am just under four months away from my due date! I can’t lose him! Not again!” I sob, burying my face in my hands. I rub my stomach and sniffle, looking up when I heard an alarm blaring.

“Coran! Have a pod ready! Red took a hit and Lance isn’t responding!” Allura shouts over the comms. I gasp and stand up quickly, running to the hangar and seeing Lance. Everyone sees me and their eyes go wide.

“Shit… someone get Keith out of here!” shouts Shiro. Hunk runs to me and places a hand on my back and leads me out. I look over our shoulders and whimper.

“Wh-what’s wrong? Wh-why can’t I see Lance? I need to see Lance!” I scream at the yellow paladin. Hunk lifts me up gently and walks to my room and lays me on the bed.

“Keith, Lance is hurt, very, very badly… he m-might not make it unless he is rushed to a pod… even then…” The yellow paladin trailed off. I cover my mouth and let out a sob.

“No! NO!” I wail, gripping his yellow shirt tightly. He rubs my upper back gently.

“I can’t lose him again! He promised he’d live for me! He promised he’d live for the babies! They need a father!” I wail, crying against Hunk’s chest. He hugs me gently, petting my hair to calm me. I eventually fell asleep, both hands resting on my stomach while the babies kicked roughly.

~Hunk’s POV~

I lay Keith down in his bed and tuck him in, looking at his large stomach. I walk to the medical bay and see that Lance was in a pod.

“How is he?” I ask.

“He’ll live.” says Shiro.

“Keith’s pretty upset. He looked like he was in actual, physical pain.” I whisper, looking at Shiro.

“I’ll go check on him.” Shiro says, walking to Keith’s room. Once he was out of earshot I looked at the rest of the group.

“Should we let him go alone? We all know how opposed he is to Keith’s pregnancy.” I say. Pidge runs after Shiro. I watch them and sigh.

~Keith’s POV~

I wake up to the babies kicking rather harshly. It hasn’t even been ten minutes. I whine and waddle out of my room, waddling towards the medical bay. I was stopped not even three steps away from my door by Shiro.

“He’s dead.” Shiro says bluntly, not even trying to soften the blow. I feel everything just crush around me as my heart shattered. I scream, falling to my knees.

“N-no! Lance! No!!” I scream, sobbing loudly. More footsteps echoed in the corridor and I looked up to see Pidge. She looks up at Shiro.

“What did you do to him?!” She asks.