Not Giving Up

Not a cute Meet-Made some changes

Turns out Katie was in a bad car accident of all things. Since they don't have the pods she had to heal the old fashioned way. It apparently was pretty bad because she was in a medically induced coma and now she's in rehab. Keith feels awful that he wasn't here to help her or take care of her. But he feels like there more that Matt is not telling him. He does not know what it could be but his gut is never wrong. Something is seriously wrong...

Keith and Matt arrive and Matt tells him to wait outside. Pidge should be getting out soon and he wants to ask if she wants to see him. Again, Keith asks him what the hell is going on and why she would not want to see him but Matt only looks at him for a long drawn out moment and then shakes his head.

Keith is sitting on a bench outside of the physical therapy places thinking maybe he should have stopped and showered or even gotten her some flowers or something. He knows he screwed up, he wasn't here for her when she needed him. And that really hurts. And while Keith is used to feeling clueless about relationships he just doesn't understand why she wouldn't want to see him. He takes a deep breath, texts Shiro and waits.

Later, when Keith reflects on this moment, he can pinpoint this exact moment as when he KNEW without a moment of doubt, he truly and irrevocably Loved Katie Holt. His heart stopped then started again. He took in everything in a second, her face, thinner than before, her arm in a cast and sling, her slight limp, her hair cut shorter than he's ever seen. He stands abruptly and just takes her all in, his body immediately going into fight or flight mode. She's wearing a pair of black stretchy pants, with her converse...and an Avengers sweatshirt. Months ago, Pidge made him watch all the Marvel movies and he couldn't help but smile, she joked if they were going to be super heroes he needed to know how he was supposed to act! And while she was a sight for sore eyes, he could tell she was in pain. He never really understood when someone said they felt someone else's pain...now he knows.

He meets Pidge's gaze, straight on. He knows while he wasn't here he didn't do anything wrong. But her gaze was guarded. He could usually tell or at least guess a direction of her thoughts. He was drawing a blank now and it made him very nervous.

Pidge and Matt stopped right in front of him. Matt stood a little in front of her, like he was protecting her. While Keith understood that as her brother that was a natural inclination, he didn't like feeling that she needed protection from him. He moves forward, eyes on her, and murmurs "Katie, please look at me."

Her eyes and mine meet and time

                                                               just

                                                                          stops.

Katie, you got this...looking straight into Keith's eyes after so long, it actually hurts. I say, "Hey", (dude great start) "I'm glad you made it back and are ok. Thanks for checking on me, but everything is fine."

He looks at me like I've grown another head in the past 3 months. "Katie" he moves in and before I can register his movement I'm in his arms. Omg, he feels like home. I can't help myself, I breathe in his scent, feel his body holding me and I just freeze. It's like the past 2 months never happened. Just for a minute, I take it all in and enjoy the feeling...safe, secure...loved. NO!!! Don't lie to yourself! You are better than this. I slowly move out of his arms, I feel them tighten, like he's not going to let me go...but we both know that is a lie. And I'm through lying to myself.

I take a deep breath and say, "ok, I really can't do this right now."

I feel his eyes on me and I want to cave. I want to dive back into his warm embrace and just pretend the past few months are nothing more than a bad dream. But I'm not. I've come too far and I am not going to be one of those weak women. I'm a Paladin of Voltron. And more importantly a Holt.

I straighten and give Keith a small smile and start to walk away. Keith steps in front of me and says, "No, what the hell is going on? I know that the mission ran long, but you have to know, I would have come back if I knew."

I laughed. You have got to be kidding me??? I am not taking responsibility for this fiasco. I look at him and say "I am not doing this here."

He replies, "Fine! Let's go, your place or mine?"

At that moment, James Griffin approaches, and heedless of the tension that surely must be radiating off of all of us, he walks up to me, casually kisses my cheek and says, "Hey darlin, wanna go home." Even I realize that was not going to go over well!
My mind literally froze...
Keith's mind stops. What the HELL was that?!? Did Griffin just go up to HIS girl and kiss her? Keith reacts instinctively, moving forward and shoving Griffin hard. He then turns, "Katie?" He then feel a hand on his arm and reacts, punching hard. Griffin goes down and then Matt is suddenly between them. He says, "Pidge maybe you and Keith need to have a talk."

Griffin replies while getting up, "Well he better have amnesia. By the way, Kogane, that push was a gift, touch me again and you will be on the floor."

Keith pushes forward, "Let's not stop now."

Matt again interjects, "Pidge!"

Katie takes a deep breath, and looks at James, "I'm sorry but obviously Keith and I need to talk some stuff out. Thanks for coming, I'll text you later ok??"

James stands and moves closer, "Katie, are you sure?"

"Yeah, obviously we have to resolve some stuff for Voltron and just my peace of mind."

"Ok, but you know I'm here for you, right?"

A smile surfaces, "Yeah you pretty much have shown that you're here for me. And I couldn't thank you enough."

"No thanks needed sweetheart."

At this point, Keith is almost quivering with the need to punch Griffin. He barely holds himself in check and turns to Pidge, "Well, SWEETHEART, let's go somewhere and talk."