#space pack

It was late in the castle, though Pidge often argued that since they were in space any semblance of time was merely a construct, and as such most of its inhabitants were sleeping. Keith however couldn’t find the will to close his eyes again after his rather disturbing dream.

Instead he buried his nose into the back of his mates neck and breathed in the scent that was all Lance yet something else as well. The knowledge that Lance was pregnant with his child was still difficult to process, he felt the usual alpha feelings such as pride and the deep urge to never let harm come to his family.

Yet fear was just as present, fear that he would fail as a parent and leave his child wondering why their father didn’t love them. Then there was the fear that he would fail as a mate, an idea that had begun to consume him, and the image of the blood soaked Lance from his dream had him tightening his hold on the other.

Sadly the spike in scent had Lance stirring with a grumble, which only made Keith feel guilty for waking his lover when a good nights sleep was increasingly rare for the pregnant omega.

Keith nuzzled into his neck and whispered as soft and even as he could. “Don’t worry everything’s fine. Go back to sleep.” The fact that Lance only gave a brief grunt of acknowledge before falling back asleep was a testament to how exhausted he was.

Slowly getting up, Keith made sure to keep watch on Lance to make sure he didn’t wake him and after throwing on a shirt, carefully tiptoed out of the room. Once the door slid closed, he let out a breath he hadn’t known he was holding and wrestled briefly with the deep urge to go back in there and hold his mate. Instead, he forced his feet to walk away from the room, though to where he wasn’t sure yet. He was weighing the options of going down to see Red or going to the training deck to let off steam when an energetic voice called out his name.

Turning, he saw Coran with his ever present smile coming over to him. “I wasn’t expecting to see anybody wandering about this late after young Pidge went to bed.” Keith had little doubt that Coran was the one responsible for that seeing as how Pidge rarely slept if not told to do so.

After the Altean got a better look and took in his over all disheveled appearance his smile dropped. “Got kicked out of the room again did we? Oh well, don’t feel to bad about it. Pregnant Alteans were well known for how vicious they could be and I’m sure Lance just needs some time to cool down. Unless you complained on his nest again.”

Keith knew from the beginning of their conversation that he was not awake enough for this and as Coran went on he couldn’t help but feel vaguely lost. At the mention of a nest, Keith felt the blood rush to his face, “I learned my lesson with that one and no, we didn’t get in a fight I just wanted to clear my head a bit and pacing in our room will lead to a fight.“

Coran nodded, knowingly, “I was wondering when they would set in.” At Keith’s blank look he continued. “The pre-father jitters. After all, dealing with so much stress, only to add being a father to them is a good way to get the jitters. King Alfor had a terrible case before Allura was born.”

It wasn’t often that Alfor was brought up voluntarily and the instances he was, gave Keith the impression that Alfor was a strong leader and devoted father with an unshakable mental fortitude.

Coran got that far away look that usually occurred when his former king was brought up while he continued, “yes it was almost humorous back then seeing him at such a loss of what to do, he even went from doting on Queen Alise to rarely spending time with her at all because he didn’t want to tell her about the jitters and disappoint her or make her think he wasn’t happy being a father. He never did sit down and talk to her about it."

Sadness crept into his tone and by the end, it had Keith trying to figure out how to comfort him.

“What happened?” The moment the words left his lips he mentally kicked himself, it was obvious that Coran was upset by whatever had happened and he certainly wasn’t equip to help him cope if he broke down.

Coran remained silent and Keith felt that he could have handled him yelling for being insensitive much better then he could handle the silence. As he began to stumble through an awkward apology, Coran cut him off.

“As it turns out the Queen was suffering through her own jitters. When Alfor began to devote most of his time and energy to Voltron, she fell into a bit of an emotional rut. I’m ashamed to say that no one noticed her health declining until it was to late. Alfor was naturally beside himself with grief, but the moment young Allura was in his arms something changed about him. He had little experience with children, but he made up for it with love and pure devotion, never once did he allow Allura to think she was responsible for Alise’s death. Instead he held into that guilt as only his to bear. Most likely until the end as well.”

Coran finished and blinked when he felt hot pricks in his eyes, forcing out a chuckle he wiped his eyes, “it’s been thousand’s of years and I still get emotional thinking about it.” Turning back to face the alpha, Keith could see the conflicting emotions that Coran still dealt with in terms of Alfor and a seriousness that made him subconsciously lean forward to better hear the man.

“Now Lance’s situation is rather different from what happened with Alise and I won’t claim to understand how exactly a pack works, but if there’s one thing you should take away it’s this. Honesty in a relationship is the most important thing, even if it’s the most difficult. I’m sure that Lance is having similar doubts about being a parent and it will help you both to talk about it to each other instead of us. You’re still young, don’t let regret haunt you when you get to be my age.” It was clear Coran was referring to his relationship with Alfor and his regret on not confessing before that faithful day. Keith nodded, “I will, thank you Coran.” Coran smiled and nodded, “anytime my friend. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to visit the land of dreams.“

After bidding each other farewell Keith made his way back to his room, digesting all of the information Coran had given him. Before he was ready, he was standing at their door and after taking a deep breath entered, half hoping Lance would still be asleep.

Instead, he found Lance awake and reading some book they had found on some random planet a month back. Keith still didn’t know what it was about and Lance seemed to be hiding it from him.

Upon hearing the door close Lance shut the book and quickly dropped it next to the bed. “Hey, didn’t hear you come in. What’s up?”

It was a lame way of asking where he had been and they both knew it, Keith noticed that Lance was resting a hand on his stomach and wondered if the child was being active. “I was talking to Coran, he told me about Queen Alise.” Lance did nothing to hide his shock, "what? Why did something happen?” He was leaning forward now and his voice dropped down. “Did he tell you I’m dying?”

Keith raised an eyebrow at the question, “no ones dying. It just kind of came up.” It was a weak excuse but the things Coran had told him felt to private to casually share, so instead he changed the topic.

“Are they active right now?” At the confused look he received he gestured to the omegas hand that had returned to its original place on his stomach. After looking down he apparently got a well aimed kick and rubbed the spot gingerly.

“Yeah, woke me up pretty fast. Think they may be stuck because their only kicking in like two places.”

Keith stopped walking to the bed and stared wide eyed at Lance, “can that happen?”

When Lance started laughing he felt his cheeks turn red and continued walking until he was sitting in bed, “a simple no would’ve worked.” Despite the words, his heart was racing at hearing his mate laugh and when he saw Lance’s hand slowly rub the spot he must have been referring to he felt his heart skip a beat. Holding out his hand uncertainly, he looked at Lance for permission and got a chuckle in response, “you know, this is your kid too. You can feel whenever you want.”

As he said this, Lance grabbed the outstretched hand and placed it where his had just been. It didn’t take long before a firm kick had Keith jumping slightly and smiling up at Lance.

“That is still so amazing.” He leaned forward and gave his mate a longing kiss that was eagerly returned, until another nudge had them separating.

“It’s a lot less magical when the kid is dancing on your bladder, trust me.” Keith smiled at the comment then remembered the advice Coran had given him.

Leaning back, he made sure to keep eye contact, and once Lance seemed to be listening he took a breath.

“I think we should talk.