Lance ran forwards as she fell. Her shout of pain and surprise filled the silent room. She hit Lance's arms and fell unconscious.
"Everybody out!" Shiro boomed. Everyone started screaming and scrambling to get out the door. Lance lowered the woman to the ground and made sure she was still breathing, still had a pulse, all that jazz.
He shielded her from the people that would have trampled over her in their haste, taking the brunt of any shoes that kicked him while running.
Once the building had been cleared, he lifted her in his arms and carried her to the infirmary. He hoped Blue was still asleep at home, safe and sound. He had to leave when he got the call that the gangs warehouse had been infiltrated, and a party was being thrown.
Lance set her down gently on a cot and removed her jacket. The green t-shirt she wore earlier in the day had been shed, only to be replaced with a black one. Her purple bandanna was still in her hair, however.
He called for Coran and the ginger man rushed forwards. He took one look at the bullet wound in Camilla's mother's arm and grabbed all his utensils. He started to work on digging the bullet out while Lance gathered bandaging materials.
"Let's hope she stays unconscious for the sutures," Coran noted under his breath. Lance removed his belt and strapped her to the cot with it, so that she wouldn't jerk around too much. He put the strap of her bag in her mouth for her to bite in case she woke up.
Coran carefully maneuvered the skin tissue around while he dug out the bullet. Once he was done, Lance handed him tools to stitch her back up. As soon as the needle pierced her skin, she tried to shoot up, crying out in pain.
"It's okay, bite down. That's it." Lance brushed her hair out of her face, trying to soothe her. She started breathing heavily and groaning in pain with every stitch.
"Bandages," Coran said, quickly wiping a mixture of healing creams and disinfectants across the wound. He wrapped it and tied it off with the bandages Lance handed to him. She had passed out once again, and Lance waited with her until Coran had finished bandaging her up. When the older man was finished the two left the room and Lance immediately sought out Allura.
"What that fuck?" he yelled as he slammed Allura against the wall with his forearm, a small bit of spit flying from his mouth as he yelled. "We don't shoot people! We're the good guys!"
Allura glared at him, shoving him off.
"She exposed our gang. She knows who we are. Shiro said she was downloading intel on us. I'm only sorry I missed her head." Allura stalked off. Lance fumed. The woman had a daughter. He couldn't imagine what it would be like for Blue to grow up without any parents, as his mother had run off as soon as he was born, leaving the baby with Lance. Lance remembered Blue telling him that Camilla didn't have a father. If Allura had hit her in a detrimental spot...
Lance shook the thought from his head, and walked back to the infirmary. He was met by Hunk.
"Is she alright?" he asked nervously. Lance nodded.
"She'll live. But we need to search her for the information Shiro said she took." The two men walked into the infirmary and stood shocked and silent in the doorway. The woman had woken up again and managed to wiggle her way out of the belt strapping her down, as it was still clasped on the cot.
"--alk to Cammie? Thanks Keith." She was on the phone. "Hi mia bambina!" Lance didn't recognize the language she spoke. "I know you're tired, honey. You can go back to sleep in a minute. I just wanted to let you know that you're going to be staying with Uncle Keith for a little while, and that I love you so much. More than anything in the whole world. Yes, more than peanut butter." Allura and Shiro arrived to listen at the door.
"No, dolcezza. I don't know how long. He's going to take you to school in the morning, okay? Mamma had to go on a business trip." The woman sniffled. "No, I'm not crying. Don't worry my baby. I'll be home soon. My vampire boss said I had to do this special trip. No, he didn't. Not yet. I'll let you know when he tells me though, okay?
"Can you give the phone back to Uncle Keith now? Thank you baby. I'll be home soon." She finally broke down. "Keith I swear to god if anything happens her- don't let her go to any friends houses. When she asks where I am, I'm on a business trip in the South. Don't take her to meetings and don't- Don't tell me that you know how to raise my child!" her voice raised slightly.
She turned around and saw Lance standing in the doorway. The other three had left. Allura started crying, the severity of what she had almost done finally striking her. Shiro took her from the doorway to another room, and Hunk followed, needing to stress cook. His friend had almost killed a single mother. He felt terrible on her behalf.
The strange girl's face changed from pained and sad to angry. She pulled a gun from her belt - Lance hadn't seen it, and mentally face palmed - and aimed it at Lance's face. "I have to go. Yes. Please keep her safe. Okay. Bye." She hung up and put her phone in her pocket.
"Move and I'll shoot, I swear to god." The woman stepped forwards and Lance stepped back, hands raised in surrender.
"Hey, I'm a single parent too. Please," Lance begged. "Don't orphan my son." His voice shook slightly.
"I won't. But I am going to leave. And you're not going to stop me if you want to stay out of the hospital."
"I won't do anything. I want to help you get back to your daughter." The woman wiped her eyes quickly. "I just need you to give me back the information you took."
She ran towards him and slid through his legs, running through the building to the exit. Lance sprinted after her, catching up quickly thanks to his long strides. He ran her into the wall, catching her wrists in his hands and pressing them to the wall.
"I'm Pidge Gunderson, by the way," the woman said.
"Lance McClain." He was breathing heavily, looking down at her, examining her face closely, taking note of how big her eyes were behind her glasses. He was close enough to see every freckle.
"You know, for a rival gang member, you're kinda cute." She smiled up at him, a lopsided grin taking over her features. Lance loosened his grip accidentally at her words and her wrists slipped out of his hands. She brought her knee up to his stomach, and when he doubled over, she placed her hands on his back, pushing down to launch herself over, and shoving him to the ground. She made a break for her car. Lance once again caught up, but not until she was in and buckled up, starting to back out of the parking lot. Lance threw open her car door before she had the chance to lock it, and climbed into the passenger seat.
"So where are we going?" he asked.
"I was thinking about taking you home," Pidge said, turning to face him with a grin.
"Please. You wouldn't."
"Of course I'm taking you back to your house. You have a son to take care of, right?" Pidge raised an eyebrow, turning her attention back to the dark road ahead of her. Lance stayed silent.
"Besides," she continued, "I'm sure Blue's mother wouldn't be very pleased to find out if you had cheated on her. Is she the woman that shot me?"
"Blue's mother is long gone. She left once he was born."
What the fuck are you doing? You shouldn't be talking about your personal life with her!
But she just seemed like such a real person. Lance had seen her cry over her child. He decided she wasn't actually a bad person, just fell in with the wrong crowd.
Like me...
Pidge drove the car, trying to think of a way to get rid of Lance. She hit the on button for her stereo. Circus by Britney Spears started playing. Her phone dinged, and she pulled over the car to answer the text.
It was from Lotor.
Lotor: Do you have the information?
Pidge: Yeah, but we have a problem. I was shot in the arm, fixed up, and now Lance McClain is in my car. I don't think he's going to leave until I give him the USB...
Lotor: Just shoot him!
Pidge: I can't have blood on my hands with Cammie. Or in my car. That's nasty.
Lotor: I'll deal with it.
Pidge: How?
Pidge: Lotor?
Pidge: FUCKING ANSWER ME
Pidge slammed her phone down on the dash, most likely cracking the screen with the force, and rested her head on the steering wheel for a moment, clutching it tightly. She pulled back onto the road. She drove for another five minutes, ignoring Lance's questions of "What's wrong?" "Is everything alright?"
Pidge pulled the car to a stop in front of the light blue house across from the park, and immediately saw that something was wrong. The front door was ajar and had clearly been kicked open. Lance and Pidge scrambled to get out of the car quickly and the two ran to Blue's room, Pidge following Lance through the small flat.
"No!" Lance cried. Pidge saw a trashed room and an empty race car bed.