Not Giving Up

It's Never Easy

Pidge's nerves were nearing the breaking point...peak height. For starters, her mom was not happy that she was leaving Earth so soon after just getting better. She kept saying that she had plans for them. Which was cute, but she really didn't see herself working the greenhouses now that she was off punishment and light duty. But she knew her mom was just worried so she had to be patient.

Then there was James. James, who took his role way too seriously, repeatedly instigating fights with Keith...who was more than happy to rise to the challenge. Lord knows, anyone should have no doubt about their feelings about each other at this point. Their continual sniping and bickering were proof. But, while it was their actual plan...it was also wearing on all their nerves. Shiro constantly looked annoyed and would give him that disappointed look. Hunk would give the loser of any argument cookies and Lance...well he was probably the only one who thought it was funny. Yet, here she was, keeping things interesting by spending time with James, helping him work out the bugs on his MFE fighter plane.

The aircrafts took some damage a few weeks ago and she's only feeling good enough to finally help. In addition, she to what needed to be fixed she had also developed some upgrades that she was adding on the DL. Which was totally above board and useful. But she couldn't help but feel like James really thought this meant he still had a shot. And she didn't want to ask how much was acting versus real. Because ultimately she really liked James, he was sweet. A lot smoother than Keith, definitely more preppy boy than emo cryptid hunter.

But what was funny, is that she actually thought they were pretty similar. Maybe if Keith had a different upbringing, with a mom and dad, support and love. Their core belief that they were right,  their ability to stay the path as well as their willingness to step up was unique when comparing to the general population but similar. They had their own code that they held to. But, with their history, even though they respected each other, she didn't see them being friends anytime soon. Especially while her and Keith's relationship was so precarious. 

Which led to issue three, suffice it to say Keith was not taking to this well. At. ALL. It's weird cuz she never would have figured Keith as a jealous guy. While hot headed, she just figured he knew she loved him and trusted her. And while she didn't want him to feel insecure she could understand his point of view and she could see how James was actively needling him. While it was annoying she was trying her best to be patient because she knew that if Acxa was still actively trying to date Keith she would not be in a good mood either! Ultimately, this just meant she ignored Keith's poor behavior and encouraged the things she thought were sweet. After all, she's not known for being patient but desperate times called for desperate measures!

Regardless, the weeks passed quickly and the day finally came where she was leaving with Keith and the Blades. Opportunity wise, this would be a great time to strike. Two paladins were away and the team was supposedly fractured. So when she arrived on the ship with her things, she immediately went to work.

Unfortunately, Keith hovered too much, so she finally had to kick him out of their room so she could work in peace. There isn't a lot of privacy so she was doing a lot of work in their private quarters to ensure that no one else would see what she was doing. She told Keith to play off that she was a little sad about leaving Earth so soon, yada yada yada. Maybe he was worried she wouldn't fit in. Whatever. Keith felt that he wasn't the best at inventing lies so she told him to say one short sentence, then pause. The other person would probably fill in the blanks themselves. That's what any life form does. Gossip!

Upon researching the communications, she realized that there was a whole underground network of communication lines. Which she kinda figured. But as she went about disentangling them, she found herself realizing that there was a sub-network going on. As she patched in, she realized, this may be higher than anyone thought. Which could be a problem. A big one. But, she wasn't one to falter so she kept at it and hoped that they could handle the shit storm that was to come.

She relayed in her and Matt's unique code what she found to better prepare him. On Earth, Matt decoded the message and the color dropped from his face. Hunk knew this was a bad sign and felt his stomach start to hurt. "Matt, what is it?"

Matt solemnly replied, "Well, it is worse than we thought. The message has to be coming from one of the people in charge. And we don't know who they are signaling. Fuck, Keith better be on his A game. Because they are going to be targeting Pidge once this gets out."

Late that night, Pidge relayed to Keith what she found. He wasn't happy. To put it simply, he knew that once this information hit, everyone would know that Pidge was the one who found it and shined the proverbial light on the issue. But Pidge ultimately figured, the ends justified the means in this case. So onward with the plan.

Since they didn't know what area of the ship was safe and Pidge had already set up a system where no one could ease drop on them, they ate in their room. Acxa thought this would further alienate themselves from the others and cause people to not like Pidge. So they ended up whispering and bouncing ideas back and forth. When suddenly out of no where, Pidge was hit with how right this felt. They were laying in bed, with each of them under the covers facing each other. She could feel Keith's body heat and his thumb was absently stroking her hip. He was so amazing. And he was hers. HERS. She felt her heart stutter and finally return to it's original pattern.

"Keith," she interjected, interrupting his latest version or plan.

"Yeah what?"

"I know we said we loved each other..."