Disclaimer: WEP owns Voltron.

Back in her room, Keith regards herself in front of a full length mirror. Why? What is it about me that no one’s attracted to me unless they think I’m female? Silently letting the bitterness flow through her, Keith crumples to the ground, mouth tight -- holding in the noise.

Swallowing heavily, she scrubs at her eyes. Right. Enough of that. Now, time to ‘desensitize’ Lance. Sourly, her mouth twists as a few more tears leak out. Of course, he didn’t want me when I was male. But now, I’m so _gorgeous_, he’s distracted in my presence... Blinking, she clenches her jaw and forces that train of thought away. Clean up, and I’ll go visiting...

_________________

The fog finally lifting from his thoughts, Lance begins to pace in his room. What did I do? I made love to Keith! What happened to all my fine arguments? Kami! What must Keith think of me now? I threw away our friendship just to ease my libido... Growling in disgust, Lance’s pacing becomes even more frantic. Maybe he didn’t realize that I was subtly turning him down before. Maybe she doesn’t know that I knew he was interested in me before... What am I thinking? This is Keith! Of course she knows... Shimatta! Lance, you put yourself in the most godawful messes... As Lance’s thinking starts kicking into high gear, his pacing calms, becomes smoother. Okay. What’s done is done. Gotta work on damage control. Bah! How could I be such an idiot... Never mind, now. Keith’ll be here soon; I have to figure out what I’m going to do... I ought to tell her I’m over it now... Except I’m not, and she’ll be able to figure that out real easily. If I tell her I’ve changed my mind... I can’t do that. It was so good... Kuso! Okay. The least I can do is not treat her like all the others I’ve bedded. No silly endearments, no sugary fluff... Maybe that’ll reassure her that I still see her as _Keith_ first and foremost, not as a beautiful lady...

His door chime rings softly. Whirling around, Lance stares at the door for a long moment. Then, taking a deep breath, he opens the door.

__________________

What’s taking him so long? Maybe I ought to have dressed differently.. No. I just got the rest of the team calmed down; I don’t want to go through all of it again. Nostrils flaring, Keith straightens defensively. Besides, he wanted me after I just beat the crap out of him and the others, and was dressed in that practice suit...

As the door opens before her, she glides in. Tilting her head back, she looks at Lance. “Well? What are you waiting for?”

Startled, Lance stares down at Keith’s face, a bare handspan away. “N-Nothing.” He bends slightly and kisses her, pulling her close to him.

Kissing leisurely, they make their way to Lance’s bed, shedding clothes on the way.

________________

Curled up together once more, in what was fast becoming Lance’s favorite position, the two lovers rest. Idly drawing patterns on Lance’s chest, Keith murmurs, “What race are you, anyway? I always wondered...” And I don’t want to think. I’m not ready for sleep yet; you’re not ready for more sex. If we just lie here, like this, I might start thinking this is real. Even if you don’t grace me with a love-name..

Drowsily, in a post-coital haze, Lance absently answers. “Gemini variant out of Centauri... lucky for me I’m not fertile with many other human races...”

Alarm bells beginning to sound in her head, Keith tenses. “_Lucky_? _Most_ other races? Lance, tell me you have a contraceptive implant.”

Becoming more alert, Lance tightens his arms in response to her distress. “The implants are useless in me. Keith, what’s wrong? You’re a Trondian, right? Even if you’re not, there’s almost no way anything could happen. You’d have to be either a Gemini out of Centauri also -- which you can’t be -- or one of the Psylock Earthians...”

Keith pulls free, her face absolutely white. “I _am_ a Psylock Earthian.”

Frozen, Lance just stares at her. “How...? But they’re... You don’t...”

“I’m one of the last. My first foster-parents were Trondian.” Keith is beginning to tremble.

Completely unnerved by the way Keith is falling apart, Lance grabs at straws. “_You_ had an implant, right? Maybe it’s still working..”

“My implant was for a male, idiot.” The monotone Keith uses frightens Lance even more.

“It’s only been twice --”

Eyes like black ice -- like bits of space -- turn on Lance. “How much of Repro did you miss? All we needed is once, let alone _twice_.”

Desperately moving closer, in hopes that his warmth will thaw her, Lance enfolds Keith in a hug and pleads, “Keith, will you, for once, stop thinking ahead? If you let there be a next time, I’ll be careful. Let’s not borrow trouble, especially since Doom will probably be attacking soon, to test us...” For a moment, Lance thinks Keith will continue her breakdown. Then, with a shudder, she softens into his arms.

“All right. I’m okay now. You don’t have to worry about me breaking down now.”

Lance winces. Was I that obvious? “Do you want to stay? We don’t have to have sex...”

Black eyes look at him sideways, measuring his motives. Lance holds his breath. Sighing, Keith curls herself into Lance. “okay. I’ll stay. Thanks, Lance...”

Relaxing himself, Lance cuddles Keith closer, breathing her in.

_____________

The alarm rings.

Sore, feeling even worse than yesterday (well, three of them are, anyway), the Voltron Force members fall out of their respective beds and stagger to the control room.

_________

Looking about as warm as an ice sculpture, Keith impatiently awaits her teammates. “Doom’s attacking. There’s a robeast at the northernmost section.” With that, she turns and flows onto the handlebars and disappears from sight.

The rest of the team exchange looks, and carefully limp over to their respective handlebars.

___________

Yesterday’s hard won lesson works extraordinarily well. They even manage, for once, to bring down the flagship and capture Zarkon, Lotor, and Haggar.

Lions surrounding the downed escape craft, Keith cautiously gets out of Black, signaling the others to stay put.

The rest of the team just stare, for a moment, at the sight of Keith dressed in the skin tight uniform with black and gold accents... Until they take in the death glare that Keith is giving all of them. _That_ is enough to remind all of them about business...

Searching the wreckage, Keith manages to pull out all three of the Doom hierarchy and bind them. A bit of a distance away, she sits down and awaits their awakening. And casually starts sharpening her knife.

______________

Blearily, Lotor begins to wake up. What happened? We were losing, badly... Escape craft Abruptly remembering, he completely wakes up and tries to sit up. All he actually manages to do is flop around like a particularly ungraceful fish.

“So, you’re all awake. Good. Now, will one of you mind ending the spell? Or telling me how to reverse it? Either way will work quite well.” A cool alto voice wafts over him.

Managing to flop over once more, and right himself, Lotor sees a vision.. Slender body, well muscled, delicate features, and huge eyes with all the warmth of a black hole. Involuntarily, he shudders back. This is not someone to mess with.. Belatedly, he identifies this Lady of Ice... “Keith?”

Something that is not a smile stretches her lips. “Yes, Lotor. I take it you’re not going to attempt the idiocy of trying to put me in your harem?”

“Gods, no!” involuntarily comes out of Lotor’s mouth. Embarrassed and off-balanced by being captured, he flushes a delicate green...

Haggar, watching the by-play, cackles. “Good to know some of your survival instincts are still intact.” Looking Keith over thoroughly, she laughs. “You must admit, Captain, you make a good looking female...”

Zarkon, veins pulsating, is still in shock over being captured and the revelation that the delicate looking female before him is the heart of Voltron -- and quite clearly much more dangerous as a female than she ever was as a male...

Keith, sizing up all three, gives up on both Lotor and Zarkon as sources of information. Both are too terrified to talk much, and their surprise is too complete for them to have any useful information. Slipping her knife back into its sheath, she decides it’s time to get serious. “Haggar. How much energy are you spending, keeping me female?”

Haggar laughs again. “Why would you think I would tell you?”

Keith snorts. “I know you can get free at just about any time you chose. I could maybe make it harder for you, but I can’t stop you. This was just to show you how much more annoying I’ll be as a female. Do you really want me to stay as such?”

Startled, Haggar glares at Keith. Unflinchingly, Keith meets her gaze. Surprising how I finally find someone who doesn’t underestimate me... And she underestimates herself. Haggar begins to smile evilly. I need a distraction -- and the truth will do quite nicely. “Well, normally, it _would_ require a great deal of power to hold you to a shape not your own. But, since you now have an anchor, I stopped feeding the spell power. Now, you’ve trapped yourself. Get rid of the anchor, and you’ll resume your natural form.” Cackling, Haggar awaits the moment of revelation -- and when she sees Keith’s concentration waver in shock, she acts.

Two seconds later, there is nothing left to mark the presence of any of the Doom people except empty loops of rope.

Keith sits frozen in place. Anchored... No... I’m not....

~~~~~~

“You’re a Trondian, right? ... You’d have to be ... one of the Psylock Earthians...”

“I _am_ a Psylock Earthian.”

“It’s only been twice --”

“All we needed is once, let alone _twice_.”

~~~~~~

“Skipper? Keith? Are you okay? What’s wrong? We couldn’t hear what you were talking about... I don’t know how they escaped..” Pidge’s anxious voice washes over Keith, and snaps her partially out of her daze.

“It’s okay, Pidge, I expected them to escape...” I feel like I’m floating. This can’t be real... Keith slowly makes her way back to Black Lion, ignoring all the anxious questions her teammates pester her with.

________________

Back at castle control, Lance confronts Keith. “What’s going on?!? What do you mean, you expected them to escape?”

Turning her head slowly, Keith looks distantly through Lance. “Don’t you expect them to escape by now? They just do so every single time..” Somehow, there’s no bite to her words, which scares Lance even more.

While the rest of the team and Coran watch in shock -- and at a careful distance away -- Lance grabs Keith firmly by her shoulders. “Keith! Look at me. If that’s not it, What. Is. Wrong?”

Keith finally focuses on Lance, and the despair in her eyes deadens the air around her. “I’m pregnant.” With that admission, she faints.

In disbelieving shock, Lance still manages to hang onto Keith as they crumple to the ground.

_________________

Brooding, Lance studies Keith’s profile. Not so different, from male to female... I wish she’d wake up. I hope she’ll talk to me... I can’t believe this mess. Who’d have thought Keith would be one of the last survivors of the only race Gemini can cross-breed with...

Eyelashes fluttering for a moment, Keith startles awake.

“Easy, easy. I’m not sure how much reassurance this is, but I’m here.” Lance croons and cautiously strokes Keith’s hair back.

Sighing, she subsides back onto her pillows. “What happened?”

Lips twitching, Lance answers, “Well, you fainted.”

Snorting softly, her lips twitching upwards as well, Keith relaxes further. “I remember _that_ much. What happened after I acted like a ditz?”

Seriousness descending abruptly on his face, Lance hisses. “You were not a ditz. If anyone was ditz, _I_ was a ditz for assuming fertility was impossible. If I found out I was pregnant, I bet I wouldn’t have handled myself half so well.”

A true smile curves her lips for the first time since Keith changed into a female. “Especially since you’re still male...”

“Well, there is that...”

Waving off trivialities, Keith looks around. “Back in my own bed? No one else hovering about?”

Wanting more of her smile, Lance bares his teeth and puffs his chest out ridiculously. “I scared them off.”

Keith delicately arches one eyebrow. “You scared them off?”

Lance deflates, comically. “Well, the thought of your mindset when you woke up scared them off...”

Keith laughs.

Lance sits entranced, and does his best to hide it.

Winding down, Keith sighs. “Thanks. I needed that.”

Lance nods. Pausing briefly, mourning the necessity, he breaks the moment. “What now?”

Keith’s lips twist. “Haggar told me if I got rid of the child, I’d become male again.”

Lance manages to hold back the protests that rise in him. “Whatever you want, Keith.”

Narrow eyed, Keith pins Lance in place with a glare. “This baby is a part of both of us. Both of us have to make the choice.”

Swallowing, Lance carefully takes Keith’s hand. “But you’re the one who’ll have to carry the baby. You’re the one who’ll have to _birth_ the baby. _I’m_ just the ass who assumed too much.”

Keith regards Lance. “So if I have this baby, you’ll be around to help raise him?”

For a moment, Lance’s eyes blaze, then he clamps down on the emotion. “Whatever you’re comfortable with. _If_ you carry the child, I’d be honored to be a part of his life.”

Keith didn’t miss Lance’s elation. “Well, I guess we better start training someone else to pilot the Black.” Maybe, before I get too fat, I’ll get a few more nights with you...

Startled, Lance stares at Keith. “What?”

Amused, Keith unthinkingly kisses Lance’s hand. “Do you really think I’d needlessly risk our unborn child in battle? One must keep one’s priorities straight...”

Barely able to breathe, stunned by the look in Keith’s eyes, the touch of her lips, and her words, Lance can only nod.

Laughing softly, Keith closes her eyes to rest a bit more.

_____________________

“I have good news, sire.” Haggar looks insufferably smug as she strokes her cat.

“Yes, witch..?”

Haggar cackles. “The fool space explorer has decided to stay female.”

Lotor pales. “This is a good thing? We’re captured for the ---”

Haggar interrupts. “Of course it is. She’s going to be pregnant. If she continues to fly in Black Lion, she will get worse, if only because she can’t move around as easily. The other pilots will be overprotective. Both reactions will benefit us. If she doesn’t fly Black Lion, we’ll have someone who isn’t as experienced as the leader of the Voltron Force.”

King Zarkon’s eyes start to gleam. “This may work out quite well....”

Lotor flicks his gaze between them. They may think this is a good news. I don’t. I’m going to be sure I have several escape routes planned...

_____________________

It’s been two weeks since Keith’s realized she’s pregnant. Telling Galaxy Garrison was -- interesting, to say the least. After a great deal of incredulous bureaucrats, Keith finally manages to convince them to send more pilots to Arus. Unfortunately, she finds out that getting the pilots to Arus was only the beginning.

____________________

Hands clenching, eyes narrowed, Keith stares at the screen. Idiot. What is he doing...

A deep masculine voice sputters. “Stupid bucket of bolts --”

And Black Lion plummets to the ground.

The insectiod robeast bellows in triumph. The other lions, attempting to regroup, start attacking the robeast.

Keith growls. “That’s it. I’m going out there.” No more. Black Lion isn’t behaving for any of them. I’ll just have to be careful. Lance isn’t going to be happy...

Coran starts in surprise. “You can’t go out there as you are! You have the baby to think of--”

Keith snarls back at Coran. “If we become slaves to Doom, my baby won’t be good shape, now will he?”

“But--”

Keith whirls away and disappears, heading for the stables.

Lance calls. “Keith? You better stay there -- we can handle this...”

Coran sinks back into his chair. “too late..” He manages to keep it quiet enough that the com doesn’t pick it up. No need to upset Lance as well...

“Lance, watch yourself! Can’t you keep your mind on the business at hand --”

_________________

Going at a full gallop, Keith heads toward the site of battle. I wish we had a skimmer... Then again, that would make a pretty obvious target... At least this horse’s survival instincts are pretty good... There! Dodging the careless strikes of the robeast, Keith heads to the downed Black. Miss me?

The Black Lion purrs as Keith enters.

Right. The other pilot, Kevin, is out cold. Completely useless. And he was the only one of the lot who could handle Black at battle speeds... Sighing, Keith shoves the pilot out of the seat, and settles in.

________________

“Hey!” Pidge crows, “You got him up and running again -- Keith! What are doing here? I thought you were going to sit this one out...”

“Not when the fool couldn’t operate Black, and all of you were about to pay the price...”

“Keith.”

“Not now, Lance. Destroy the robeast, and then we can talk about this... Let’s form Voltron!”

______________

Back at the castle...

“Keith, you said--!”

“I _can_ do this, I just need practice--”

“Kevin, you quite clearly demonstrated that you can’t handle Black Lion in battle.”

Glaring a promise of ‘later’, at Keith, Lance reluctantly subsides. Okay, I guess I can see how getting Kevin to realize he just doesn’t cut it comes first..

“Keith! We have the same ratings --”

Dryly. “We _had_ the same ratings. And you have don’t have a lot of respect for the Lion..”

“It’s just a ship--!”

Allura rolls her eyes. “And that is what your problem is. Pack your bags; I’m sure Galaxy Garrison can find another place for you...” I can’t believe how _lucky_ we were that these particular pilots were dispatched to Arus...

Outraged, Kevin looks around for support. Not finding any, he snorts, and stalks off, back stiffly straight. “And if you think more pilots are coming to this godforsaken place, you’re very mistaken...”

Allura sighs. “And we thought he might work out...”

Ignoring her, Lance stalks up to Keith. “You told me --”

Keith glares right back. Icily. “What I said was that I wouldn’t take _unnecessary_ risks.”

Lance interrupts, waving his arms about frantically. “You call moving through the middle of a battle -- on a horse, no less! -- a necessary risk?!?”

Allura clears her throat. Lance and Keith, abruptly remembering they have an audience, whip around and stare at her. “Before you two really start arguing -- I agree with Keith. We were having problems, and we needed Voltron.” Pidge and Hunk, choking a bit, manage to nod in agreement.

Lance glares at them. Keith smiles, slightly, and inclines her head in thanks. Allura’s lips twitch.

Keith’s smile widens. “How about we at least sit down before we continue?”

Outmaneuvered, Lance throws up his hands, and stalks off in the direction of the meeting room. Muttering under his breath, he absent-mindedly tucks Keith’s arm under his and tows her with him as he walks out.

Looking back over her shoulder, Keith winks.

Hunk lets loose a strangled sound before he manages to regain control. Grinning widely, he trades a look of laughter with the other two. Lance’s lost this one without a word being spoken... Waiting until they have control again, they follow after the couple, to enjoy the show.