Chapter Text
“Can we go park, Mamí?”
“Only if you can hang on!” Lance scooped up his daughter and let her straddle his shoulders. Once he made sure she wouldn't fall, he took off running, hearing her squeal in delight. He slowed down after several blocks, moving her to be held in his arms. Spinning her around as he laughed, he brought her in close and kissed her nose, her yellow, Altean markings glowing vibrantly.
His little girl was three now, as of an hour and a half ago. He woke up that morning remembering giving birth to her in the bathtub like it had just been yesterday. Lance and his husband were not sure where the time had gone. Penina had thick, black tresses just past her shoulders that were insanely curly like Tía Rachel and Abuela Calida. Her skin was a match to her daddy and she had his puppy dog eyes, but they were her mamá's ocean blue. She was such a curious and smart child, but had the capacity to be more of a kidder and extrovert than Lance had ever WISHED he was in his teens.
Times had changed for most of the found family in the past few years. Henry was already set for college, riding on a scholarship through his soccer games. Lance had adopted a new work dog, letting Oso retire as a happy, old dog; her name was Mariposa, a Maremma sheepdog, and she was a stark contrast to Charcoal with her fluffy, white fur. Rafno was not only opening up much more, but was starting just this year with Blade missions (he made a video call with his Uncle Lance to show off his new uniform).
Lance and Hunk had, essentially, opened their home to the Koganes and it seemed to be a sort of therapy for the Carnanian. He also got along so well with their daughter that they were almost like long distance siblings instead of cousins. In turn, it helped them help Keith and vice versa, as if the three of them were all co-parenting together. Krolia couldn't help much, having not been around to raise Keith herself, and Olia could only help so much because she wasn't a Blade and, therefore, didn't live on the base.
The biggest change had been with the Shiroganes. After many years of the system failing them back home, they were finally able to adopt. The couple had been doing work in Africa, going to various countries to teach the kids and let them use the simulators and such. Their stop in Zambia last spring was at an orphanage, leading them to take one of the kids home after going through the legal work. They just CLICKED with Taban and refused to leave without him if they weren't going to get blocked like all the others. As such, their home hadn't been set up for the newcomer, but they'd made it work. Taban was a bright preteen who spoke softly but often. While not being shy, Curtis and Shiro wanted him to at least be settled before meeting everyone. Everyone was formally introduced at his birthday party in August.
Lance sighed dreamily, which prompted Penina to question if he was okay. Confirming he was indeed fine, he set her back down on the ground and continued their walk. He allowed his expression to turn glum only when she wasn't looking, Penina happier to watch her boots crunch the snow beneath them.
Of course Lance was delighted that he had his family and that it was his Little Pearl's birthday. But he still had that aching in his heart of wanting more kids; he missed being pregnant. Lance would never tell Hunk this, as to save his husband from a proverbial heart attack. But his body wasn't going to let that happen safely, so they'd agreed to save up for a medical procedure to make sure Lance couldn't conceive ever again. They were so close, but random mishaps would force them to dip into their savings. He knew they could adopt children and probably would so Penina could have a sibling, but Lance was still grieving and needed more time. Knowing he wasn't in the mental space to bring another child into their home, Lance had told himself to talk to his husband about adopting when he knew he was better. It wouldn't be fair to anyone if he was still like this.
While lost in his headspace, Lance would miss the shadow that fell over him and his daughter. In fact, Penina would notice it first. Tugging on his arm to get his attention, Lance's pupils dilated as he realized the small spacecraft was purposefully following them.
Notes:
I'm posting the first chapter early so that the entire installment can be done in time for the 12th, so I'm not panicking by not having it done.
Chapter Text
Fear gripped Lance as he picked up his daughter and held her close, Penina clutching fistfuls of his winter coat as she tucked herself under his chin. He held her tighter when he heard her whimper. Suddenly, he wished he was 18 again with his Bayard and Blue.
Lance hadn't seen battle since he was 21; he hadn't even picked up a regular hand gun in those years after the war ended. He was 36 now and was VERY much out of practice. Maybe with a scope and sniper's nest he'd be fine, but not anything short-range. Having Penina with him would have made it difficult as it was.
The ship didn't look like anything familiar, but it had a foreboding energy that made Lance feel sick. He didn't have any idea what it was doing here until it suddenly activated the tractor beam and his feet began to leave the ground as he was pulled upwards. Feeling the unfamiliar sensation, Penina began to cry.
Lance panicked. His parental instincts had kicked in before, sure. But never over something where he felt she was in drastic danger. Trying to analyze the situation, he realized whoever was trying to take them likely didn't know who she was and didn't care. Why would someone come after a simple rancher if not because he'd been a Paladin? But Lance had kept out of public eye for some time. The only one that had been common knowledge to have a child was Keith and only because he openly did so much work with The Blades. Lance was even certain no one off of Earth (aside from friends) knew he was married to Hunk. His husband knew there were some pockets of space that believed even he was still cooking across the universe.
He was going to keep it that way and did what he felt he needed to do. Knowing she was intelligent and their property wasn't that far away, nor were they terribly far off the ground, Lance managed to position himself to drop her safely to the ground, just outside the tractor beam's range.
“GO HOME TO DADDY! RUN!” She called out to him and tried reaching for his hand, but her chubby, little fingers missed and closed around air. Taking a few steps back, she wailed watching him blow a kiss to her sadly, then quickly turned and ran as fast as her little legs would take her back to Hunk.
Notes:
I apologize that this second chapter is a bit clunky, but I wanted to get rolling into part two as soon as I could <3
NapKing_islandOf_ruins on Chapter 2 Thu 16 Jan 2025 03:49AM UTC
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KuramaBabe on Chapter 2 Thu 16 Jan 2025 05:15AM UTC
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