Keith, Allura, Lance, Hunk, and the Merionians all stood at the entrance of the caverns on the side where the Lions had landed. The townspeople had all come to show their thanks and say their farewells.
Jael clasped Keith’s right hand and shook it heartily. "Thank you, thank you, all of you," he said, leveling his gaze at all of them.
"That’s what we’re here for," Keith said with a smile, his other arm in a sling to keep the wound in his shoulder from tearing open again. "Besides, we wouldn’t have been able to pull it off without you, Airic, and the rest of your people. Remember, if you ever need us, we’re all just a call away."
Pidge jumped down from his Lion and approached Samantha. "I’ve called Coran," he said brightly. "He says that he’s managed to retrieve your ship from the lake. He’s doing repairs on it right now and is souping it up a bit – it’ll be ready by the day after tomorrow, Arus time, and it’ll be better than it was before it crashed."
Samantha nodded gratefully. She turned to Allura with a shy smile. "Are you sure that you don’t mind my flying your Lion back to Arus?" she asked uncertainly, remembering Allura’s reaction the night before.
Allura laughed. "Of course not, Sam," she said. "Besides, Keith can’t fly the Black Lion with his injured shoulder – so I get to fly it on the way back home."
Keith raised an eyebrow at Allura, giving her a teasing grin. "Princess, I’ll have you know that I'm letting you to fly the Black Lion home only because I'm afraid of what you’ll do to my bum shoulder if I don’t," he joked, drawing an indignant gasp and glare from Allura and a laugh from the rest of the group. "Just kidding," he said, warding off her impending tirade. "It’s part of her training," he explained to everyone else.
"You just want to get the Princess to yourself
for five whole hours," Pidge teased, smirking at Keith, causing another
laugh to erupt from the group. Keith and the Princess were both blushing
lightly, and Keith shot Pidge a mock threatening look that made the younger
pilot scamper off behind Hunk for insurance just in case Keith was serious.
"I guess this is goodbye, then, Jess," Lance
said. Jessamyn was perched upon his shoulder again, and he reluctantly
handed her back to her mother. He kissed the baby’s soft brow gently. "At
least you don’t object to my kisses," he whispered to her, looking
up to meet Ella’s amused gaze.
"Why do I get the feeling that I’ll be seeing a lot more of you soon, Commander Hawke?" she quietly asked him with a small smile. Lance looked nonplused for a moment, then gave Ella a sheepish smile and a shrug before turning away.
After one last wave to everyone, the entire Force boarded their Lions, with Keith and the Princess both taking Black Lion. Only Samantha was left on the ground facing Jael and Ella, giving Jessamyn one last kiss goodbye.
Jael took Samantha’s hands in both of his. "So, is this goodbye then, cousin?" he asked, searching her eyes.
Sam returned the gaze steadily. "I will be back, Jael. Till then, take care of Merion for me," she said, giving her cousin a hug. Ella kissed her cheek and patted it with gentle, motherly hands.
"He’s a good man, Sam," she said with a sweet smile. "He has a good heart, and, if I’m not mistaken, it already belongs to you."
"I wish I were as sure as you are, Ella," Sam said, embracing her and Jessamyn at the same time. "I wish it so much, it almost scares me. I’ll see you both in three days?" With that she boarded the Blue Lion and joined the rest of the Lions as they blasted off.
"Will she be back?" Airic asked his brother, watching the Blue Lion disappear from sight.
Jael nodded. "She will be back," he said, looking
towards the sky as well. "She will be back, but will she stay?"
"This is the Castle observation deck," Allura was telling Samantha, leading her towards the tall, clear glass windows giving a panoramic view of the lake and the breathtaking vista of midnight blue sky and millions of stars. The two girls stared that the sight in comfortable silence, keeping themselves company with their own thoughts, neither feeling the need for words in the face of such beauty.
It was Samantha’s second and last night in the Castle of Lion, and her ship would ready for flight the next morning. She had spent the time waiting getting to know the Princess and the other members of the Castle household better, becoming a fast favorite with Nanny and Coran. She had flown some drills with the Voltron Force in the Blue Lion and had taken lessons from Keith and Pidge on using the state-of-the-art instruments Coran was planning to install in the Falcon. Samantha was fast beginning to fall in love with Arus’ idyllic beauty and pace of life, so different from the stark, desolate beauty of Merion.
"It’s just so beautiful," Samantha finally breathed, breaking the silence, the stars and the lake reflected in her wide gray eyes. She turned towards Allura with an enchanted smile. "You know, I’ve been on Merion for so long that I’ve almost forgotten what a landscape looks like without snow," she said, laughing ruefully. "I’ve missed this."
Allura looked at the spectacular scene before her with a slight smile. "Would you mind terribly if I left you here? I’m afraid I have something else to do for Coran at Castle Control, but if you don’t wish to stay, I can bring you to your rooms before I go there," she said.
Samantha shook her head. "Don’t worry about me, I’ll be able to find my way," she said with a grin. "After all, I’ve been here for two days. I’m afraid I might even be overstaying my welcome."
Allura looked at Samantha, who was wearing one of Allura’s borrowed gowns, a simple silver-gray dress that matched the color of her eyes. Her chestnut hair was tucked into an upswept coil, with wisps of brown framing her delicate face. She looked as if she belonged here. "Oh, Sam," Allura said with a warm smile. "You’re always welcome here. I even wish you didn’t have to leave – and I’m sure I’m not the only one." After a moment’s hesitation, the princess gave Sam a warm hug, then turned to go.
Samantha felt tears well up in her eyes at the princess’ sincere expression of affection. A part of her also never wanted to leave Arus, to leave all the beauty that was spread before her, to leave these people who had already become her friends – and never wanted to leave a certain daredevil pilot with almond-shaped dark chocolate eyes… even if she had been avoiding talking to him for the past two days, afraid of what he had to say, afraid to hope that he was about to tell her words she had wanted to hear for the longest time.
"The Princess told me you were up here, Evans."
Samantha spun around in surprise, her lips forming a small ‘o’ of shock. His eyes were filled with tenderness and uncertainty, but he continued to grin at her cockily. "Looks like even the number 5 graduate in our class is no match for my stealth and cunning."
He looked her over and it was like seeing her the way she was that last night, two years ago, his best friend of many years, a tomboy who could outplay, outrun, and, outfly him any day. His best friend and the woman he loved. He had been given a second chance by fate, and he was determined not to blow it this time – if only he knew how…
She turned away from him, her silhouette framed by millions of stars, giving him a view of the graceful slope of her back instead.
"Why are you here, Lance?" she asked, continuing to look at the stars with a wistful expression in her eyes. "Shouldn’t you be downstairs patrolling the Castle grounds – or something like that?" She suddenly bit her lip, looking uncomfortable.
He took a step closer to her, standing right behind her, their bodies almost touching. "Nah – it’s Keith turn for patrol duty tonight," he said. He placed a hand on her shoulder and was not surprised to find her stiffening. He took it away and placed both his hands to the back of this nape, leaning his head into them.
"So, what are you planning to do now?" he asked her after a few moments of silence.
Reluctantly, she glanced at him then back outside, taking a deep breath. "What else is there I can do, Lance? I’m going back to Merion, where I’m needed," she said. "I’ve stayed away too long as it is."
"You don’t have to go. You’ve already trained Jael to fly the Falcon Fighter," Lance said quietly. "You told Keith he was good. He can take over your duties a Guardian. You can fly the ship back to Merion, and I can fly with you to give you a ride back to Arus, if you wanted to stay." He paused, tipping her head up and gazing into her startled gray eyes. "With me."
At the words, a light flared in her eyes, and Lance felt some hope. His heart suddenly beat just a little bit faster, keeping his eyes on her beautiful face, seeing upon it all the things she was, all the things he had always known she was and always would be to him.
"I love you, Samantha. I never want to lose you again," he finally said in a thick voice, breaking the tense silence, feeling his world tilt off its axis as she waited for her reply.
She slowly closed her eyes, but not before Lance thought he saw the sign of tears glistening in them. "Lance, I… I… don’t know what to say." She took a deep shuddering breath, raised her palm to touch his cheek gently, and continued. "Do you… do you have any idea how long I’ve waited for you to say that?"
Lance expelled his breath in an audible whoosh, the relief evident in his eyes.
"I’ve loved you for years," she whispered. "And it hurt so much to know that you never saw me the same way." She opened her eyes, and the tears streamed down her cheeks.
"Sssh… please don’t cry." He took her into a warm embrace, holding her head down against his chest. The earthy scent of clean soap and leather enveloped her, and against him she felt as if she had come home. "I did love you then, Sam – I just didn’t know it at the time," he said wryly, stroking her hair. "You were always different from all the girls I ever knew… you were the only one I really let into my life. At the time, I thought it was because you were my best friend – but you were always different. Special."
She looked up at him in disbelief, putting a finger to his lips to silence him. "You don’t have to pretend –"
He gently took her finger away, shaking his head. "But it’s true, Sam. The night you told me you were leaving, it threw my entire world into a spin, and I realized how much I had taken what we shared for granted – and how life would be so empty without you there," he said. "I hardly had any time to sort it out to myself when I found the next morning that you had already gone. I felt like you had just walked away from something that was central to my world, and I was hurt and angry – not just at you, but also at myself for believing that I was important to you when you evidently didn’t care at all."
At that, Sam shook her head frantically. "It wasn’t like that at all," she said softly, willing him to believe her. "It hurt so much to leave you – but it hurt even more to stay when you evidently didn’t love me in the same way. So I ran away."
Lance nodded. "I know that now, Sam. I’m sorry I stayed away."
"If that’s true, why didn’t you ever try to find me?" she asked in a small voice, laying her cheek back against his chest. "I used to radio back home and ask about you, and Dad said you never asked him where I was." She took a shuddering breath. "It made me think that I didn’t mean anything to you, not even as a friend."
She felt him sigh under her cheek. "Sam, do you remember what I told you about my mother?"
Samantha looked up at him. "Her name was Elizabeth, wasn’t it? And she was famous actress – and she left you and your sisters when you were eight to go back to her acting career."
His face was expressionless, but his eyes were even darker with remembered pain. "That’s not where the story ended, Sam. When I was thirteen, I managed to find out where she lived. I spent five years of my life hunting her down, although she didn’t contact us even once during all that time. I was naïve enough to think this was because Dad was reassigned to different places several times during those five years," he said, a tinge of bitterness in his voice.
Sam could feel him tensing with anger under her hand, and she lay her cheek back against his chest to soothe him. "What happened?" she asked quietly.
"I went off-campus with Keith and Sven, and we took a monorail ride to the city where she was living to visit her, thinking she would be happy to see me and hear about us," he said, holding her closer, grateful for her warmth. "We waited at her apartment building for hours, waiting for her to come down. When she finally stepped off that elevator, I ran to embrace her, so happy to see her that I didn’t see the expression on her face."
Sam looked up at him, and she saw a hint of tears in his eyes. "She pretended that she didn’t know me, said that she was never married, had no kids at all," he concluded softly. "And for the second time, she walked away from me without looking back."
"Oh, Lance," she breathed, finally understanding.
"I never told anyone about this, not even my sisters, not even Nana, not even my Dad. Only Keith and Sven know about this because they were there with me at the time," he said, giving a hollow laugh. "I should have left well enough alone, but I had to set myself up for that second time. I never tried to contact her again after that."
Sam tightened her hold on him. "I never would have done that."
"I know that – now," he said softly. "But when you left, it felt like my mother leaving me all over again. I – I cared too damned much for you to risk going through that again. I never wanted to give anyone the chance to hurt me that much ever again." He laughed ruefully, stroking her hair absently. "I thought you wanted your own life without me there. When you left, I bottled the feelings up and just tried to forget you – and thought I did a good job of it until I saw you again. Then I knew I couldn’t let you go again without letting you know."
"And all that time…" she said softly, laying a hand against his cheek. "All that time I thought it was because you didn’t care at all."
"I love you, Sam. I always have," he whispered, leaning down to plant a kiss on her lips that she returned with all of her heart. They were both dazed when the kiss ended. "Wow," he breathed, laughing ruefully. "Tell me again why I waited so long."
Sam laughed with him, clutching the lapels of his jacket, drunk with happiness, starlight, love, and him.
He suddenly sobered. "Stay with me?" he asked, tenderly tipping her chin up to look at him. "Please?"