Notes: This is a Birthday Fic for the lovely Harmony and the lovely Melody. :-) I hope they both love it! The deadline is their birthday, March 12th, I will not make it. LOL. So, yay, more fic for them! Woohoo!

I do not own anything Voltron, that is WEP.

1. Bursting Bubbles

Allura was immune to annoyance. Badly behaved nobles with their horrible dancing and their worse breath. Nothing could get through the armor of how happy she felt. All of because of what was going to happen at the end of the night. However, Allura sighed in relief when her dance ended with her current dance partner, The Duke of W'Thy of the Planet Ebb, a fat, sweaty, man in his thirties. He could dance, so her toes had been saved, but his breath and body oder had been atrocious, it reminded her bad milk. She was floating though, on a cloud of happy she'd created for herself. Nothing couldn't penetrate her inner happiness, even if foul smells could still penetrate her nose. She curtsied him her thankfulness for the dance and said so out loud. A hand touched her arm immediately, she turned and was relieved to find Lance there for the next dance, adding to the feeling that she floating on a bubble.

The music started and she was in strong, able hands. Lance wasn't the most graceful dancer, unlike Keith who moved with precision and grace to the music across the floor. He made Allura feel as if she was a wave moving across a lake. Lance wasn't clumsy, not at all, he never stepped on her toes, but with him she felt as if dancing held secrets she hadn't yet figured out when she was in his arms. He was always surprising her with something...

"Hey, sweetheart," Lance said as he spun her onto the dance floor in a move that was not normal Arusian Ballroom decorum, for instance, spinning her away from him, only to spin her back een faster. Allura laughed as she followed his lead. "I'm wonderful."

"I've noticed, never seen you smile so much at one of these frilly frou-frou parties before. Is it because you have that huge table of presents waiting for you and have legally turned into an Arusian adult. Does this mean you can tell Nanny to stop threatening to spank your a-"

"Lance!" Allura chastised, blushing and she shook her head. "No, it's not the presents, or the legal adulthood, because Nanny will probably threaten to spank me until I turn 100 years old."

Lance chuckled. "Nanny will be what by then 8,000 years ancient?"

Allura hit him with her hand on his arm, giggling. "Stop it."

"Then why the million watt smile while you dance with smarmy pigs and get your toes stomped on by noble assholes?"

Allura shook her head at Lance, he'd never change and she wouldn't want him to. He hated all the pomp and circumstance. He railed the hardest at Coran and Nanny making noise about her finding a man to marry amongst the nobles invited to any Ball on Arus. He'd been especially loud about this Ball, her eighteenth birthday. Secretly she thanked him, more than he'd ever know. Allura hoped it meant when she made her choice clear, he'd be in her corner, their corner and help the two of them make it happen.

"I've made a very important choice," Allura said, unable to stop her smile from growing into a even bigger grin. "I believe tonight, after the Ball, the rest of my life will begin."

"The rest of your life will begin?" Lance repeated.

"Yes, the rest of my life will truly begin. Everything will begin to really start, everything will be perfect. And, not even Coran and Nanny could possibly argue with my choice, Lance."

"Allura?" Lance said, his voice sounding serious, which sounded odd to her ears. Lance never sounded serious, unless he was arguing battle strategies with Keith.

"What?" she asked.

"Keith..."

The Castle alarm klaxons went off, blaring and screeching, a shock to everyone in the ballrom after the dulcet tones of Arusian classical string music. Allura and Lance stopped dancing and ran out of the nearest door, toward the control room where they met up with Keith, Hunk, Pidge, Coran and Nanny coming in a moment after.

Coran and Pidge were at the computer controls. Allura went to stand next Keith, she stared at the screens in horror as Lotor and his troops enter her planets atmosphere. She should've known he do this, that he'd attack the night of her birthday and try to ruin it. Only he couldn't, not even Lotor could ruin this night, not this night. Tonight she was going to tell Keith she loved him and she knew he had deep feelings for her too. His actions had spoken louder than any words. Allura turned around and started heading for the door, she had to start getting out of her dress, she had hurry into her flight uniform.

"Where do you think you are going?" Nanny yelled.

"I need to get out this dress, we're going to have to deploy, Nanny," Allura said.

"No, no, you will not be fighting on your eighteenth birthday. You have Princes and Lords to meet, to dance with..."

"Ball is over, Nanny," Lance spat out.

"She is the Crown Princess, it is her birthday, she should not be fighting!" Nanny yelled.

Allura watched as Lance stepped closer to Nanny and looked ready to yell something else, but Keith stepped between them. "Stand down," he shouted to Lance. "Go out ahead of me, Hunk go with him. Pidge take charge of Castle defenses until Allura is ready to go out."

The three of them went into action.

"No, no I won't allow it," Nanny yelled, ever stubborn.

Allura gritted her teeth.

Keith shot her a look, their eyes met and she felt a rush of strength rush her, she was okay. She could stand against Nanny, and not feel guilty for disappointing her. Too much, anyway. Allura knew what was best for her planet, even if it hurt her to worry Nanny so much it had to be done. Allura nodded and continued on her path to get out of her ball gown.

"No," Nanny cried. "Coran."

Coran shook his head. "Nanny, I'm afraid I can't argue with Allura's decision to fight."

Keith nodded. "I know you wish to protect her, and I know you were hoping she'd find a man she'd think she could marry tonight at the Ball, Nanny but those things aren't in the cards right now. It's a fantasy. Arus is in danger, at every moment. Lotor is giving his idea of a birthday present, and we have to stop him. And we need Allura do it. She's strong and brave and she does it for her people. It's more of an asset to Arus that Allura fights for them rather than dances and looks for a husband." Keith finished and then he talked into the device on his right wrist. "Pidge, hand over control, and get in your lion, I'm heading out. Allura, head out as fast as you can. Lance, what are you seeing out there?"

Allura jumped when Keith spoke to her via her communication device. She'd loitered outside the door, thinking it'd just be for a second. She wanted to hear what he'd say, but now she felt ashamed. She'd let her feelings for him and need to hear him speak about her, stop her from doing what was right. Keith called her brave, he called her correct to fight, and said it was better for to do something proactive for her planet than worry about marriage and dancing. Shamefaced, Allura ran faster than she ever had before, to the room where she changed into her flight suit, faster than she knew she could.

~~.~~

The battle had been longer than most. Lotor had tricked them into separating the lions and then tried to board Blue lion. His birthday present to her was to take her with him to Doom and make her his wife. Allura shuddered again at the thought. He hadn't stood a chance. Keith and Lance had gotten to her, they both fought viciously, and they kept her focused. Their were times when she thought she couldn't stand the bombardment any longer and what Lotor wanted would happen. She'd crash, but she'd stayed in the air, fighting and the whole team had united. The five of them formed Voltron and faced down the most unsavory of Robeast. It'd been appalling to look with an oblong, lopsided face. Worse than that there had been evil its eyes. However they had found the beast Haggar had transformed it hadn't been innocent when it had been made Doom's victim, Allura had felt it as she fired bombs into its eye sockets on Keith's commands. It was the hardship and the adrenaline that made them all not realize Lance had been hurt. Allura was sure of it, they hadn't know that there was even a thing wrong until he hadn't walked into the control room with them all. He was usually the first there, even before Keith sometimes, ready to celebrate a battle won.

Pidge and Hunk were already talking about their best moves during the battle, bragging about how they'd done this or that. Counting how many times who saved who, pretending they were keeping score of who owed who what...Allura enjoyed the laughter, it brought her back to the fact it was her birthday and she was going to get her birthday wish before the night was over.

She had turned to talk to Keith, only to find him staring at the door, fingernails between his teeth. It was his extreme look of worry, the one he got when he thought they were really against a wall and there were limited options. It was strange to see it after a battle, that though it'd been hard was won at last. "Keith?" she said, walking over to him and touching his arm.

"Where the hell is he?"

It'd been then that it hit her that Lance was missing, which she felt ashamed about, he was such a big presence, how had she missed it. He would've been the first to grab her up by her waist and swing her in circle and tell her she kicked butt. No one had said a thing about it. She looked toward the door too, she heard her heart in her ears. "I don't..." she started but Keith pushed the button for chutes down the lions and swung down number two before she could finish.

Pidge was at the computer controls. "Bringing up Red Lion's internal censors...he's in there."

Hunk hit a button. "Lance, dude, you playing possum, cause Keith's coming your way, he'll be mighty ticked if you're just sitting there twiddling your thumbs?"

It happened quickly after that, much like the battle. Keith came on shouting about blood and Lance being unconscious. Gorma was called and before Allura knew it they were all in the waiting room in the medical wing. Keith hadn't sat down in the twenty minutes they'd been waiting, Allura stood up but Pidge grabbed her by her wrist.

"He's got to pace it out," he said.

Allura looked down at Pidge, saw the wisdom in his green eyes and that he knew. He understood something she didn't. She did know Keith took every injury his team took personally. They got hurt it was like he bled to, he would be training them extra hard once Lance was flight ready, she could see it already. Keith always wanted to make sure they were ready, that they were at the top of their game and that no one ever got harmed under his command. His heart was huge, she watched him pace, feeling his worry and started to get more worried herself.

But Gorma had said it looked like a few bruised ribs, and a bad knock to the head. They'd check it out, make sure he wasn't bleeding internally and then let them all know, but he expected Lance to wake up soon and be perfectly fine. She wondered if Keith heard it over his own inner monologuing berating himself for allowing a teammate to be injured.

"Keith, Gorma expects him to be fine?"

"Or, a rib could have punctured his lung," Keith muttered.

"Come on, Keith, don't go scaring the Princess," Hunk said, standing up and walking in front of him. "Maybe it is time for you to sit down."

Keith just turned around from the wall Hunk presented and continued to pace. Allura sighed, she hadn't even thought of that, but she wouldn't let what ifs run through her head. It was pointless to worry so much, plus Lance had been breathing fine. She'd grabbed his hand for a moment as they'd rolled him through the control room on the stretcher. It'd been warm, his palm calloused, he'd been breathing fine. She was about to say it out loud, unsure if it was for herself or for Keith, when Dr. Gorma walked into the room.

"He's fine, but I'm keeping overnight anyway."

"If he's fine why does he need to stay over night?" Keith questioned.

"His blood pressure is a little high, but I'm not too worried about it. Also, he has one of the worst concussions I've seen you boys manage to get yet, I want to keep an eye on him. But he's awake now, flirting with the nurse, so I say he's fine."

Hunk let out a chuckle. "Yep, he's fine."

"I want to see him," Keith barked.

"Of course, Commander," Gorma said. "Follow me."

"Tell him to try to behave, Chief," Hunk called out.

"Yeah, and tell him I out shot him out there tonight five to one," Pidge shouted as Keith turned a corner.

Allura sat back in the seat, she was going to wait for Keith to come out. In her flight suit, in the hospital waiting room. It hadn't been where, nor how, she planned to tell him how she felt and how she surmised he felt. It wasn't where she planned to start the rest of her life, to begin her life as she'd always envisioned it as being. A Princess who found real true love, with a true Prince. Not someone who merely carried the title. The place didn't matter, the scenery wasn't important. It was him and her, it didn't matter where. Her heart pounded in her chest, the anticipation started to buoy her feelings again, she felt a smiling turning up the corners of her mouth.

"Princess, are you coming?" Hunk asked, as he opened the door that led out of the medical wing.

"I'm going to wait for Keith," Allura said, trying not to let her smile show, Lance was still hurt after all.

Hunk nodded. "Suit yourself, it might be awhile."

"That is okay, I can wait," she said.

"Goodnight, then," he said. "You did a great job out there tonight."

"You really did," Pidge added. "Once Lance is in the all clear, he and Keith will tell you too."

She blushed, thinking about everything she and Keith would soon be discussing. "Thank you, I was able to do it because I knew you four were right behind me."

Hunk and Pidge nodded as they left the room. Allura got up and went to the table with all the magazines, she browsed through them and picked one on wedding gowns with the vision of her dream coming true in her head. Then she curled up on a chair in the room facing the door Keith would exit out of, so she wouldn't miss him.

~~.~~

A strong hand on her shoulder was shaking her, she wasn't in her bed. She'd been asleep, or possibly unconscious, she didn't recognize the smell or the feel of her surroundings. Allura moved, pushing, to fight off whoever was touching her. Instead of facing an enemy when she opened her eyes, she was staring in the dark warmth of Keith eyes and she blinked realizing she had her nails digging into his shoulders.

"I'm sorry, you startled me."

Keith gave her a lopsided grin, it was tired and lasted briefly but she smiled back brightly at him nonetheless. She remembered now where she was, and what was going. "How is Lance?"

"He's snoring, loudly, and he told me to tell you, you kicked ass today."

Allura nodded, pleased, but she cared more that he was okay. "I'm glad he's okay."

"The nurses told me you were asleep out here, Allura. You should go to bed, it's late."

"I was waiting for you," Allura said, sitting up straighter. "I need to talk to you, it's very important, Keith."

Keith ran a hand over his face, he looked back toward where Lance's room most likely was, then around the waiting area. "This isn't a very good place to have a talk, Allura. It can wait until morning can't it?"

"No," Allura said and she stood up, she felt her heart starting to pound. It had to be tonight, she had to get it out tonight because that was the decision she had made. She wasn't going to turn back on the decision because the plan hadn't gone perfectly. So what if they weren't still in their fancy ball attire. It was okay they weren't walking in the garden, fresh from the last dance of the evening. She would have preferred Lotor not attacking, but he had and they'd stopped him. Lance was on the mend...this was it. It was time. Later than she planned and she probably looked a mess, Keith was tired and still looked worried but none of that mattered.

"What is it?"

"Sit, please sit," Allura asked, walking over to the lone sofa in the waiting room. As they sat down, wires creaked and it was rather uncomfortable but Allura didn't care. Keith was holding her hand, his warm gaze was locked with hers. She had his full attention, she felt heat rising to her cheeks. "I think you are a wonderful man Keith. You are intelligent but not only that you have a wisdom that cannot come from age, or experience, it something that is granted at birth. It's a way of thinking and knowing, seeing things that is rare among people. But you're so blessed, and you care so much about everyone you consider family. You've been torturing yourself all night over Lance..."

Keith's eyes shifted at Lance's name toward the hall, he'd rushed down before, on Dr. Gorma's heels. "Thank you, Allura..." he said, sounding confused.

"What I'm trying to say is... I have to be wed, it's tradition, it's even law, though I wish to change it. Only I cannot until I am Queen, which puts me in a horrible position. I've met men of no grace, no nobility, no dignity, and no intelligence all of whom have royal blood or a sheet of paper giving them a title that elevates them above others. Other's like you who are far more Kingly than they. I know you care deeply about me Keith, and I care deeply about you, so I'm really hoping you'll be my Prince Consort. There is no way Coran or Nanny would say no to you, either. You are the leader of the Voltron Force, an honored Garrison soldier and they know you would die for me and for Arus. I hope you know I would die to rescue you, honor you too..."

Keith was staring at her, face blank, eyes wide. "Die... Prince... Kingly?"

Allura smiled, she knew she'd laid so much on the table. She hoped maybe her next step would make it a bit of easier for him to comprehend. She wished for them to be together, to stop walking around their feelings. She was so tired of pretending her heart wasn't beating for him, only for him. She moved forward and pressed her lips against his.

With her lips pressed against Keith, Allura held her breath. His hands immediately came up and grabbed her shoulders but instead of pulling her in closer he pushed her away. "Allura..."

"Keith we can be together. I'm eighteen now, we don't have too..."

"Allura, I...this is my fault. I, I let this go to far. I thought you'd out grow it and come to realize that I'm not the man for you."

"But you are the man for me," Allura said, her heart pounding as her ears heard what she had said, tears hurt her eyes but she blinked. Crying wasn't an option, this wasn't over yet. "I don't understand."

Keith bowed his head, he looked ashamed and contrite. "I hope you will someday forgive me, Princess. I knew of your crush, I tried to do all I could to not encourage it."

"No, never, you would never be so ungentlemanly as to lead me on, not when you thought we couldn't be together," Allura said.

Keith shook his head. "Allura, I love you deeply and dearly. I feel a connection with you, that I have rarely felt with anyone else in my life. I believe that their people who come into, and out lives for reasons. I do. You and I have met to be something important to the other, but husband and wife, that is not it. It is my fault this has come to this moment, which could have been avoided, which should'v been avoided, which I am still trying to avoid," Keith sighed. "Allura, I'm gay."

Tears fell from her eyes, she couldn't stop them now, Keith reached out with his hand to dry them but then pulled back and the action provoked a sob from inside her chest. She felt confused and she didn't understand. "Gay? But, you've never brought a man back to the Castle."

"No, I haven't. I have my reasons, Princess. But I am gay, very much so, I only like men."

"Lance likes both," Allura said, trying to force her voice not to tremble, as she grabbed Keith's collar, trying to grasp at straws.

"Allura, I'm so sorry," Keith said, his voice full of emotion. Allura heard it, despite her own despair, the guilt he felt at doing this to her. Suddenly she hated him, because he could have told her this years ago. He should have told her this from the first day. Why hadn't he ever told her? Why had her let her go on believing she had a chance with him. He knew about her crush.

How obvious and pathetic had she seemed? She stood up, Keith was right behind her. "Let me walk you to your room," he said.

"No. I can get there myself," she said.

"Wait, while I arrange for a guard to come to be..."

"I said no, I will walk to my room on my own," Allura snapped, turning to face him. He blanched and looked away. "I would really like no one to see me right now," she said.

There was silence until Keith nodded. "I understand, go ahead. We can talk later."

~~.~~

Allura went straight to her bath and ran water into the tub. The sound of the water filling the tub usually helped to calm her after a fight with Coran, or Nanny. Or after a Battle. After any kind of stress. She filled it with bubbles, scented with the soft floral scent of the Arusian Starflower, a small flower that bloomed at night under the light of the moons.

Allura found she couldn't cry anymore, the tears that had spilled as her heartache was triggered had been fresh, they'd been more out of fear than anything else. This couldn't be happening, what he is saying isn't true. Keith had been sincere, he'd been guilty and he'd looked ashamed.

She'd had a burst of solid fiery angry at him but now, all she felt was numb. Allura stepped into the warm water and the softly popping bubbles of the bath, she breathed in the scent of the starflower. It was said to be soothing. Allura wondered if she could be soothed.

Her mind was a jumble of her own words, her fantasies, and of all the rescues. All the times Keith bled for her, pulled off miraculous feats of strength and intelligence for her and her planet. She swallowed over the lump in her throat. They'd been linked psychically more than once, he'd gone into a world of dreams, she'd heard his sorrow in her mind after a fight and run to him knowing he was right.

As she thought about it all, the rest of the team started to join the images. All the times it was Pidge bleeding from saving her. Hunk dodging in front of her in Yellow taking fire meant for her that she wouldn't have been able to handle. Then came all the times it was Lance, all the times he went beyond what was needed because she'd been ill, or Arus in danger, or Lotor had threatened her...

She started to cry as she saw it all in her mind's eye.

Had she read more into Keith's actions? Had her feelings caused her to create things that were never there. The tears started to fly again, she wished she could sink under the water and it would take away the hurt in her heart, in her soul. Keith always took away the hurt. If she was hurt, he asked about her, if she was sad he took the time to talk with her. Keith listened to her worries about being a good leader for Arus. Keith would look at her, and she'd see concern and love in his eyes. He cared. She knew he cared.

The word sister came to her mind. Keith never uttered it in his speech to her about being gay. He never said it at all, he said he cared about her of course, more than she knew. She felt he still cared. She felt his love, the connection he spoke about and it flooded her now and gave her the definition of sister and family.

Allura sunk under the water for a long moment.

When she came up she let herself bawl because she'd fallen for a guy who'd given his heart to her as a brother and nothing more. Allura felt stupid, awkward and the numbness was starting to seep in again even as she cried.