Chapter Six

Breakfast was an awkward affair though no one really knew why. Keith was snappish, having not had any sleep the night before. Allura was annoyed--with Keith for snapping at her, and with Prince Alderain because he would not stop talking to her. Sven looked depressed and kept throwing looks at Alderain who was sitting in Romelle's usual place. Hunk and Gwen kept exchanging strange looks. Coran, Lance, and Pidge were the only ones acting normally, and they wondered what was going on.

"Would you like to take a tour of my ships, Princess?" Alderain asked. "The invitation extends to everyone else, of course," he added, an obvious afterthought.

"Thanks, but I've got some work to do," Keith muttered.

Before anyone could respond, Coran said, "You go ahead, Princess. We've all got some things we should be attending to."

Allura threw Lance a desperate look but he only grinned. She glared at him. Pidge snickered, but he covered it up with a cough when she turned her glare on him.

"I'll meet you at your flagship in half an hour," she said to Alderain through gritted teeth.

For his part, the Prince was a little embarrassed and insulted by Allura's reaction, but he was a man who liked challenges. Allura was definitely a challenge. His jaw set, he nodded curtly and stood.

"I will prepare my crew. Excuse me."

He marched out the door much to Coran's dismay.

"Could you not act more cordial towards him, Princess?" he asked. "He is only trying to be kind to you."

Looking like a petulant child, Allura tossed her napkin onto the table. "I'm trying, Coran, but I'm just not used to this kind of attention. I can't handle him." She pressed her lips tightly together, surprised that she'd said so much.

"He's just too much man for you," Lance said wisely.

Allura sneered at him. "And how would you know?"

"He doesn't seem bad, Allura," Gwen said, poking a fork in her food.

"No, he doesn't," the Princess conceded. "I just don't like having him forced on me."

"No one would like that, but remember what you're doing this for," Keith said.

She had to fight the urge to hurl her butterknife at him because he did have a point. She just wished it wasn't him that pointed it out.

"Would you marry him?" Pidge asked curiously.

"NO!" she answered vehemently.

"I'm sure that's the reason why he's here," Lance said.

"Well, I can't promise him anything," Allura said. "I'm not ready for anything like that---not yet."

"Not ready for marriage or just not ready for him?" Hunk asked.

Allura grew silent. The others watched her, waiting for her answer, except for Keith. He was staring at his plate.

"I don't know," she finally answered. "I just know I don't want marriage with him. So maybe it's both."

Coran sighed. "Tradition states that you should marry next year."

"I think that traditions are moot at this point," Allura said dryly. "I mean having lived underground for most my life and flying the Blue Lion and all."

"Besides, where is she going to find a man who can put up with her in a year's time?" Lance said with a glance at Keith.

"Beats me," Gwen said, peeking at Keith.

"I wonder if there's even a man in existence that can put up with her," Pidge teased, jostling Keith with his elbow.

"Oh, there is," Hunk assured him, grinning at Keith.

"I'm not that bad," Allura protested, missing their looks.

They only laughed.

"Shut up," she muttered, reddening though she wasn't sure why. "I'm going to go to Castle Control."

With a huff, she left the room. Keith stood, throwing them all a look.

"You guys are nuts," he told them.

"Go get some rest, Cap," Hunk said.

"You look like hell," Lance added.

"Death warmed over," Gwen remarked. "Do you want some sleeping pills?"

Keith looked hesitant, but before he could answer, Gwen stood. "Come on, I'll give you some," she said.

They left the room and the others decided they might as well get to work as well. They had a long month ahead of them.

Sven stared at the screen from beneath a furrowed brow. He'd been trying to get in contact with Romelle for the past half hour, but interspace traffic was jamming up the signal. Earth was a long way from Arus. Finally, her familiar face filled his screen and he smiled, all but crying tears of joy.

"Sven!" she exclaimed happily. "I'm so glad to see you."

"I've missed you," he said, his voice hoarse with emotion.

"And I missed you, my love," she replied, her eyes lowering demurely.

Smiling at her sudden attack of shyness, he asked, "How vas your trip?"

"Good. Tiring. But I made it in one piece."

"Tank God for dat. Haf you met vid de Senate yet?"

"No, not yet. But I have a meeting scheduled for tomorrow morning. We'll discuss...everything."

"Are you nervous?"

"I wish you were here with me. That would make me feel better."

"I vill be dere soon, I promise," Sven said with a gentle smile. "Just make sure dat no Senators try to put de moves on you."

She laughed and his heart lifted at the sound. "I'll be sure to hang a picture of you around my neck."

"Goot plan. Make sure dat you also get my name tattooed on your forehead."

"Consider it done," she said with a brisk nod.

He grinned. "If dis is how you are going to act after we get married, it vill be a very pleasant union."

She winked. "It's really just a ruse to lure you in--when you're caught then I'll show you my true colors."

A familiar warmth settled over Sven. He'd been unbalanced all day was because his she was gone. He hadn't realized how much he depended on her, or just relied on her being nearby, until she was gone. Whenever he thought of something, he moved as if to go tell her, and then he remembered that she wasn't there. Sven stared at her beautiful heart-shaped face, just savoring the sight. He lifted his hand and rested it on the monitor. Romelle did the same, placing her hand over his.

"I love you," she said.

"I lof you, too."

"I'm going to go now before I start weeping all over the screen. Goodnight, Sven."

"Goodnight, Romelle."

He sat staring at the darkened screen long after her image had disappeared.

Lance frowned as he studied the latest report from the repair bay. About a quarter of the damaged fighters were ready, but it had taken the mechanics nearly a month to get that much done. At this rate, they would only have half of the fighters ready by the time they went to Pollux.

"They're already working around the clock," Gwen told her brother, reading his mind. "Hunk get probably three hours of sleep every two days."

"What the hell did we get ourselves into?" Lance sighed, running a frustrated hand through his hair. "Even with help, we can barely cut it. There's something about this planet that makes you want to take crazy chances."

"I thought that was just you," Keith said, walking in.

"I thought you were resting," Lance said, squinting at him. "Didn't you give him sleeping pills?" he asked Gwen, accusing.

"I did, but I didn't watch him take them," she replied testily.

Keith made his way to where they were standing. His tan was already fading and he was turning back into the Keith that had left a week before. Lance was tempted to make him go back to the cabin, but something in Keith's eyes told him that wouldn't be a wise idea. He might look like the broken man they had wanted so badly to fix, but Lance sensed that Keith had come back with a stronger soul.

"What's the problem?" Keith asked.

"We won't be able to finish repairing the fighters on time," Lance said, swiveling around in his seat. "We have the resources, but not the manpower."

"Why not have other soldiers who are off-duty go to work in the repair bay. Hunk can give them the simple things to do while his mechanics work on the more complicated matters. It may not make a big difference, but it's a start."

Lance grinned. "I knew I could count on you. Gwen..."

"Should we ask Hunk first?"

"At this point, I think Hunk will take any help we can offer him," Lance said reasonable.

Gwen nodded. "I'll go make the announcement."

When she was gone, Lance turned to his friend. "So, what do you think of this Alderain fella?"

Keith shrugged. "He seemed nice enough."

"I suppose. Think he's good for her?"

Keith didn't like Lance's scrutiny. "What does that matter? Didn't we have this conversation already?"

"Yeah, but you hadn't met Alderain before that."

"You have an overactive imagination, Lance. Maybe you should be writing romance novels instead of designing battle plans."

"I'm just being meddlesome," Lance said easily. "Anyone in the same room as you and the Princess can see that you belong together."

Keith's jaw tightened. Lance smiled, but he mentally kicked himself. He hadn't meant to say that but the words just came tumbling out. No one had ever said anything like that out loud before, and there was a reason for it.

The reason was standing in front of him fuming with righteous indignation.

"Do you want me to have a relapse??" Keith demanded, his voice shaking with pent up fury.

"Of course not. Forget I said anything."

"You should be so lucky."

With that, Keith marched out of the room. Lance let out a whistle, and hoped that no one would be crossing Keith's path within the next twenty minutes. But Lance wasn't sorry about what he had said. It seemed the only subject that got any reaction out of Keith these days was his relationship with Allura.

And that spoke volumes.

Allura hated to admit it but Alderain wasn't bad company. In fact, he was quite charming at times and funny as well. She was more than a little surprised that she didn't feel like launching herself out of the nearest porthole because she was actually enjoying his tour. She could also see how much his crew respected him and liked him. He would make a good King one day.

Just not Arus' king.

On that she tried to stay firm though the way Alderain kept finding reasons to touch her told her he wasn't quite thinking along the same lines. And it wasn't unpleasant, just...different. She'd never been involved with a man before and she had to admit that she was enjoying the attention. It made her feel like a woman. It was certainly a feeling she wasn't familiar with as she did have a tendency to fight against the more feminine habits Nanny tried to instill in her.

They finished their tour a few minutes before lunch, and as Allura expected, no one was there to eat with them. Either on purpose or just by chance, she was left alone with Alderain. He didn't seem to mind it at all. In fact, judging by the gleam in his eyes, he was glad that they were alone.

And Allura was afraid she knew why.

As if on cue, he asked, "So, have you thought about what I asked you the other night?"

She squirmed uncomfortably. "About...?" she hedged.

"About my courting you officially," he supplied, toying with his fork. "You said you wanted to talk about it later."

"Yes, I did." She cleared her throat, but before she could answer, he held up a hand. She looked at him quizzically.

"I don't want that answer," he said quietly.

"It's the only one I can give you," she said honestly. "I'm sorry."

Alderain regarded her thoughtfully. "Don't give me your answer yet, Allura. Get to know me better. I know you had fun today. Maybe in a month..."

She raised an eyebrow. "A deadline?"

He shrugged. "I can't wait forever."

She snorted. "How romantic of you."

He smiled disarmingly. "I didn't say it was definite. Who knows what can happen in a month."

Allura eyed him suspiciously. Who knows...