Keith exhaled as he finished telling lance his story of Abigail. He had watched in fear as his friends face shifted between a mixture of different emotions; sadness, horror, warmth, and everything in between. Keith couldn't tell Lance how he felt as he stared at the blue eyed man in guilt because there were no words to describe his emotions he felt. What do I do? He's just.. Staring at me.. Keith felt uncomfortable as Lance's eyes dug into his soul as if he were judging him, as if he were god passing judgment on Keith's sins.

"Lance I-" Keith began but abruptly stopped when he felt Lucifurr nudge his hand gently with a soothing purr. His purple eyes slowly glanced down at the cat that was gently licking his hand with it's rough tongue as if she were telling him everything was going to be alright. He swallowed down saliva and looked at Lance, "I hope you understand the actions I took and why I'm here now..."

Lance blinked slowly at Keith however, he couldn't tell if it were out of disbelief or from something else. "You hope I understand?" His voice was slightly shaky as he fidgeted with his hands on his lap slightly, his blue eyes however did not move. "Keith, I've always known there was something you refused to tell the group; I'm not as stupid as you would think. I swore from the day my locket unlocked that I wouldn't judge you for any secrets you his away from me or the others.

I plan to keep that promise even now after you spoke to me with your deepest regrets. I understand what you did, sure it was kinda stupid for you to do but you were a teenager looking for an easy way out, right?" Lance let out a long and drawn out breath as Keith's eyes became brimmed with unshed tears. "Because of your choice, you're here now in this hospital bed and healing emotionally and physically. If you hadn't done what you had back then, so many lives could've been changed because their best detective wasn't there. My life wouldn't be the same because the man I'm destined to be with forever wouldn't even be with me now. So I understand everything... Pretty boy." Lance slowly backed away from where he stood and smiled warmly at Keith as he tried to hold back tears, the whites around his purple orbs were red from unshed tears.

Keith was biting his lip as he stared up at Lance, his heart feeling relieved and joyous at the fact that Lance didn't hate him for his past. "T-thank you L-Lance..." He hiccupped as a tear fell down his cheek.

Lance's eyes seemed to grow sympathetic as he slowly leaned down and placed his arms around Keith in a gentle embrace. His hand slowly touched the scarred shoulder gently as if he were trying to feel them through the ugly hospital gown Keith was being forced to wear as long as his wound was still healing. "Stop crying, it makes you look like a child that needs support..." Lance whispered into Keith's ear quietly and lovingly.

Keith sucked in air as he tried to stop the stream of tears from falling down his cheeks, Lucifurr had moved out of the way of the embrace moments before and now sat at the end of the bed as she stared at them with annoyance. "I-I'm sorry, I d-don't want to look like a-an idiot in front of you." Keith choked out and placed his arms around Lance slowly and squeezed him as he shut his eyes, one last tear fell from his cheek.

"You're always an idiot in front of me, this just makes me want to cradle you in my arms is all." Lance smiled slightly and pulled away as Keith opened his eyes slowly to stare up at a blurry Lance. "And anyways, it's good to let out emotions right, it hurts more to keep them inside." With those words he slowly stood back up and stretched slightly before letting out a whistle, his posture looked awkward and uncomfortable as he itched the back of his neck. "I should get back to Kouki before he comes to check on me; he looks up to you so I don't want him seeing his idol looking like a crybaby."

Keith wiped his eyes with his hands and smiled slightly, "I'm supposed to be the mature one here since I'm a detective, you're supposed to be the one crying to me." He was trying his hardest to sound the slightest bit manly even though that was impossible for him since he had just cried in front of his usually dorky soulmate.

Lance looked at him with narrowed eyes, "Stop trying to act like a tough guy, I don't like that on you; you're way cuter when you're emotional because it reminds me you're human." Lance sighed slightly and then played with a lock of brown hair, "also, don't blame me when you find pictures of sixteen year old modeling Keith in our apartment because I want to see you with glasses on." He spoke quickly and his behind his hand as he began to rush out of the room.

Keith's hand shot up and he couldn't help but attempt to grab for those stupid chibi penguin patterned pajamas that Lance was wearing. "Lance, wait." He exclaimed as he sucked in a breath. He couldn't grab the man but he did however, stop him from leaving the room. Lance stood in the doorway with his eyes glancing over his shoulder but his face away from Keith as if he were trying to hide something. "Can you..." Keith slowly began to awkwardly play with his hands as he tried to find the right words to explain what he wanted, "Can you uh- erm... Sleep in here tonight? It's just that when you're...when you're around me I feel uh- safe?" He stated with an unsure tone as he glanced up to look at Lance with uncertainty and awkwardness. What was he even trying to achieve?

Lance seemed dumbstruck as his mouth became ajar in a silent gasp, "I thought we broke up Keith, only couples sleep together." He stated with a hint of remorse.

Keith felt as if a dagger had been buried into his chest, Lance was right but for some reason the detective didn't want to accept that. "Y-yeah I guess you're right... But we're soulmates so-"

"If we're soulmates then I have one request that you have to fulfill before I ever sleep in the same bed as you." Lance held his slender index finger up and placed a hand on his hip as he turned around, he looked dead serious as he pinched his lips together. "You aren't allowed to flirt with that white haired bimbo." Lance stated.

Keith's face became screwed up in disgust as he held his hand out palm up, "Lance, I'm gay. I like guys not girls." This part, he thought was quite obvious. The fact he would avoid most physical contact with women or even avoid verbal discussions with them unless it was necessary should've been enough of a hint that he held zero interest in females.

"You should really tell that to Irene then, I do believe I stepped in on a good time before she said something stupid that she would regret." He slowly placed his hand onto the handle and let out a longing sigh, "I understand how she feels to love someone and not get the same love in return but it's just life and even if she isn't my friend, I'd rather her not regret speaking her feelings out loud."

Keith felt confusion cloud over him as he tilted his head slightly, "What do you mean by that Lance? Irene doesn't love anyone, she loves her job at most..."

"You're an oblivious idiot sometimes but I guess you're excused since you've never been introduced to the world properly." Lance looked at him sternly before his eyes became softer. "I'll introduce you to it properly when this is all over..." He smiled and then left the room without another word.

Keith was left alone in his dark hospital room with a cat purring loudly and stitches in his side he wished would go away as fast as possible. He wanted to be able to check on Allura on his own instead of making the poor traumatized young woman come by every now and then with a very over protective Shiro. She's pregnant now, he has to look out for his family... His fingers plucked at the bed sheets as he smiled softly to himself, I wish I could feel that sense of duty like I once did for Abby again; I want to be useful to Lance and the kid I might adopt in the future...

He leaned back onto his pillow and let out a small yawn of exhaustion as Lucifurr curled up at his side. It was late already and just forcing himself to get into a wheelchair in order to look at the stars required a great amount of physical effort that drained his life out of his body. He felt like a feeble old man who couldn't move without feeling like he was putting forth too much effort. His eyes slowly began to close subconsciously as he began to drift between the world of reality and dream slowly, he danced along the line until he was finally given a gentle push into the dark abyss of sleep. He needed it anyways for when Irene and Antonio brought the investigation to him in the morning.

He however, wished there could've been another person in the room to make him feel safe as he slept. As he laid there alone he felt as if there were someone watching him.