Lotor found Coran, who was in deep conversation with Keith.

"Coran, sir, may I speak to you for a moment?"

Coran turned to him, looked him up and down, and raised an eyebrow. "What about?"

"About Elrine."

Coran's eyes widened. "Absolutely not! Listen, I don't know who you think you are, but I will not have my daughter mixing with the likes of you! After everything you've done, I could grind you into dust in less than one dobosh!"

"Yes, Coran, I understand. But... well, you know I'm trying to become better. And I really do want to make friends."

"Not with Elrine, you won't. You stay away from my family, you hear me?"

Lotor nodded sadly. "As you wish."

Rora watched him retreat to the kitchen. Then, she spotted Elrine making her way in there.

"Hey, stranger." Elrine said to Lotor, who was staring out of the window.

"Oh, Princess, I was just leaving." he replied.

"No, no, stay here for a moment." she took his arm, and he immediately heated up.

"I-I don't know if I should..."

"Lotor, you can't deny there's something between us." she murmured. "Now, I know my father wouldn't approve of us. At all. So we're going to have to use this skill called being sneaky."

"Elrine, if I'm caught doing this, I..."

"Shhhh." she touched his face. "Give into the passion. You've done it once before, what's stopping you now?"

Lotor, at that point, grabbed her waist. "Well, so long as you tell everyone it's your idea when we're inevitably caught..."

"Always." she smiled, leaning in, kissing him softly. "Now, I heard from Matt that it's not a party unless someone hooks up."

"I wasn't aware that was a rule."

"Well, I'm anything but a rule breaker." she looked slowly up at him with innocent eyes.

Lotor laughed. "So much irony."

***

"Uncle Pants!" Ulaz ran over to Lance from the downstairs of Rora's house, who gave a gentle groan.

"Morning, buddy. Woah, Uncle Pants drank too much."

"Too much orange juice?"

"Uh, yeah."

"Or booze?"

Lance looked at him. "How'd you know what booze is?"

"I know everything."

"Honestly, wouldn't even surprise me." Lance picked him up.

Keith was on the sofa, with Rora leaning on his shoulder, on the phone.

"No, Jaques. Jaques, listen. It's the green dress. It's got emeralds embellished into the neckline. Jaques- no, not the blue one. The green one." she covered the speakerphone. "This man makes me want to punch something. Jaques, Jaques, it's a green dress, low neckline, emeralds around it, it's on a goddamn mannequin! You found it? Good."

"Where's your mom and dad, Ulaz?" Lance asked.

"I'm here." Kassy yawned. "Morning, Lancey Lance."

"Morning, Kassy Kass."

"Don't call me that. Morning, Ulaz, baby." she picked took him from Lance's arm. "Ugh, mommy needs a coffee and a couple of aspirins."

"Mommy, were you and daddy watching a movie? I heard clapping in your bedroom."

"Uh... would you like ice cream for breakfast?"

"Happy new year, everyone." Keith said as Rora got off the phone finally.

"Starting with stress. It's only natural, isn't it?" Rora said, getting up. "Ugh, I think I'll join Ulaz in ice cream for breakfast."

Hunk and Shay joined. "I'm so glad I didn't drink much." Hunk said.

"I'm so glad I can't drink. These hangovers seem to suck." Shay sat with Hunk.

"Morning, guys, happy new year." Lance said.

"Happy new year, Lance." Hunk said. "Has anyone got any resolutions?"

"I'm gonna go to the gym and become super buff." Lance flexed, showing his skinny arms. "Like Shiro."

Kassy came to the doorway. "I'm gonna try and go one week no crying. Just one."

"No resolutions for me. Just keep moving." Keith said.

Hunk smiled. "Mine is to just be a good dad once this little guy comes." he placed a hand on Shay's stomach. "I can't believe I have to wait so long."

"Trust me, sweetie, it'll fly." Kassy said. "It feels like time is moving painfully slowly yet so quickly at the same time."

Shay nodded. "Yep."

Allura came downstairs with Coran and Romelle.

"Here's our second resident pregnant woman." Lance said.

"Morning, everyone." Coran said. "Happy new Earth year."

"Happy new year, Alteans." Lance said.

"Auntie Romelle!" Ulaz ran over to her. "My mommy and daddy watched a movie last night and clapped."

"Yeah, clapped them cheeks more like." Romelle said, going straight for coffee.

"Romelle, would you stop teaching him bad language?" Kassy sighed.

"Yeah, and that's Romelle's fault." Coran snorted. "What was his first word? The F word, like I said?"

"No, it wasn't!" Kassy said. "It was bitch." she said, quietly picking him up.

"Bitch." Ulaz repeated. "Bitch, bitch, bitch."

Kassy sighed. Shiro came into the room, tripped on one of Lance's shoes, and fell.

"Ugh, you little bitch." he muttered.

"Daddy said bitch." Ulaz pointed.

"Shiro, mind your mouth." Kassy said. "Where's Pidge?"

"Pidge went home because she wanted to play video games instead of being social." Rora said. "We're just waiting for Matt, Daisy, Elrine, and Lotor now."

"Elrine and Lotor?" Coran raised an eyebrow. "Hm."

"Guys, my baby is gonna be here at the end of January. That's wild." Romelle said. "Everyone's having kids. It's freaking me out."

Allura nodded, rubbing her bump. "Things really are changing."

Matt came downstairs, followed by Daisy and Elrine.

"Really, Matt? Two at once?" Rora joked.

Matt exchanged a glance with Kassy and Shiro. "Why would I ever have sex with 2 people at the same time?"

"You better not joke about that." Coran said. "That's my daughter."

Matt smiled, as Elrine took a seat with Allura.

"Where'd you run off to? I swear I couldn't find you anywhere." Allura asked her.

"Uh... I was around."

"Come to think of it, you did seem to disappear off somewhere. Last I saw was you going into the kitchen." Lance said.

"Oh, you probably all just missed me." Elrine laughed awkwardly. "Definitely."

Coran scrutinised her as Lotor came in.

"Ugh." Romelle said pointedly, getting up and leaving.

"Lotor." Coran said. "A word?"