It was amazing how cool the Garrison was about their return. They expected the Garrison to be wary and defensive as they made their way to land on Earth. Instead, they agreed to contact their families as long as they made their return discrete. Obviously, they agreed and told them that they would land in the same place Iverson saw Blue fly away. It wouldn't be very long until they got back to Earth and understandably everyone was really excited. Except for Lance.

He was worried for many different reasons. He didn't know what his family felt when he went missing. Were they sad? Did they not care? What would happen when the Garrison called them? Maybe he would be angry? He honestly didn't know and it terrified him. Or maybe he regretted what he did to Lance, and he would be happy to see Lance again.

No.

He shook his head. His father hated him. He wouldn't give a damn if he was back or not. He looked around at everyone else and saw just how excited they were to be going back to Earth. He would be happy, just to see them reunite with their families.

With one wormhole jump, they could see Earth in the distance. Allura turned away from the holoscreen to look at the paladins, Matt, and Sam.

"I wish you the best of luck paladins," was all she said before she made a shooing motion towards the doors.

They nodded and quickly rushed out of the bridge and to the lion hangers. They decided to pile into Black and quickly shot out into space. Like they said they landed in about the same place that Blue took off. When they got there, Garrison staff was already lined up outside and barely flinched when Black's paws landed in front of them. They all exchanged salutes as they filed out and were escorted back to the base to wait for their families to arrive. In order to stay out of sight of the students, they waited on the tarmac on the base, instead of the campus.

The first person that walked across the tarmac was Colleen Holt, who burst into tears and ran over to them, dragging their dog Bae Bae along with her. Sam and Colleen crashed into each other with a sob, Matt, and Pidge wrapping around them. Eventually, their attention turned to Bae Bae who was frantically waving his tail and stepping excitedly around them.

While the four of them reunited, Hunk's name was called from across the pavement and his head whipped around. His eyes quickly teared up and then he was sprinting to his parents in the distance. They laughed as Hunk easily picked both of his parents up off the ground in a hug. When he put them down, they wrapped their arms around him and Donavan pushed Hunk's head into his shoulder as he started crying.

"Keith!" A loud voice shouted, startling everyone in the group. They looked over and saw a man hopping off of the hoverbike that Keith drove them away from the Garrison on.

"Dad!" Keith cried out, breaking away from Shiro and Lance and jumping into the man's arms. His dad wrapped his arm around him and pressed his head into his shoulder. They could clearly see both of their shoulders shaking in the hug. As they watched the two of them, Iverson walked up beside Shiro and Lance.

"We contacted your families but they said it would be a little bit before they arrive," he informed them.

"Thank you, Sir," they nodded and he stepped away again.

"Who is coming for you?" Lance asked curiously looking up at him.

"My mother I imagine," he hummed his finger laying on his chin. Lance nodded and looked down at the asphalt.

"Do you think that your father is going to come?" Shiro asked with concern. Lance flinched and immediately he felt bad.

"Honestly, I hope not," Lance admitted. Shiro nodded and went quiet.

"I won't let him take you back to his house," Shiro promised, laying his hand on his shoulder. Lance didn't look up but he nodded in understanding. They watched the others interact with their families, their cheerful voices ringing out over the tarmac. It was only broken when some of the Garrison staff invited them inside for a small party they put together while they waited for the paladins to arrive.

When they got in, their mouths started watering at the spread of Earth food that was put on a table for them to enjoy. They all glanced at each other before booking it to the table and filling their plates with food and sitting around one of the long tables. They laughed with each other's families while they ate, sharing stories of their adventures, and talking about Allura and Coran. Shiro was biting into a sandwich when the door to the room opened again.

"Takashi!" A woman's voice rang out and instantly he was out of his chair and running at the door.

"Ma!" he cried out in excitement, almost tripping over the chair legs in the haste to get over to her. He didn't pick her up like Hunk did, instead, she rested her head on his chest and he curled over her. He stepped back after a moment and her hands came up to squish his cheeks.

"Takashi, what happened to your hair?" she asked, reaching up on her tiptoes to thread her fingers through the white part of it.

"You're not going to ask about the scar or the arm?" Shiro asked in amusement. She huffed and slapped him on his human arm.

"Who cares about that? I want to know what happened to your beautiful black hair," Shiro laughed before he teared up again and reached his hand up to wipe away the tears.

"Oh, Takashi," She sighed and pulled him down again into a hug. After a few minutes, he pulled away with a sniff and took her hand, leading her to the table. It was pretty funny watching Shiro walk with his mother because he was so tall and his mom barely brushed the height of his shoulder. He dragged a chair over to sit beside him and pushed it in for her as she sat down.

"Thank you Takashi," she said patting his cheek after he sat down.

"How are you Yuuki?" Joni asked reaching across the table to take her hand with a smile.

"I'm very good Joni, how are you?" he responded, turning her attention over to Hunk's parents and nodded her head at Donovan at the same time.

"Wait, you guys know each other?" Keith asked, interrupting their conversations.

"First of all, that was rude. Second of all, the Garrison pronounced all of you dead at the same time, except for Shiro, so yes we all know each other," Ken answered, sitting up in his chair. At the admission, the paladins looked down at the table. They knew that they had probably put their parents through a lot but they didn't think about it as often as they wanted to in space. Now though, was the perfect time for them to apologize and make up for what happened to them.

Hunk was the first to turn to his parents, his mouth open for an apology. His mother put her hand over his mouth before he could utter a sound.

"Don't you dare apologize," she warned with a stern expression on her face.

"Yeah, we may not have known where you went but it seemed like it was important, and you came back to us, that's the only thing that matters," Ken added, ruffling Keith's hair affectionately. He smiled and swatted his dad's hand away.

They found out that they had all attended a mass funeral held by the Garrison and they had told the families that they had disappeared during a lock-down and there was no surveillance to give them any idea where they might have gone. For weeks and months after the funeral, they held a support group for their families to help cope with their disappearances.

It was a relief that half-way through their tale, officers from the Garrison began arriving in the room and congratulating that paladins on making their way back home, and a few of Shiro's graduate buddies showed up to welcome him back. Soon enough the room was filled with Garrison staff all talking to the paladins and their families.

Like usual, they all found each other and formed a tight circle. As soon as they found each other, they turned to Keith with confused faces.

"Honestly, I thought your dad was gone or dead or something," Pidge deadpanned. Keith's jaw dropped.

"What!? Why!?"

"Cuz' we went to your shack and you were the only one there, and you have a cryptid board," Lance said gesturing wildly with his hands.

"He's an instructor at the Garrison, he lives here,"

"Ohhh," they chorused after a few moments.

"Hey guys, what are you talking about?" Shiro asked, walking up with a cup of punch.

"Keith's cryptid dad, I'm going to go get some of that," Lance explained before brushing past Shiro to the refreshment table again.

"Oh yeah, I thought your dad was dead or something," he said turning to Keith.

"Why? You even knew him before you left," he groaned, smacking his forehead.

"I didn't know he had a son," he cut himself off with a gasp before he looked wide-eyed at Keith. "I have to ask him what he saw in a Galra,"

"No!" Keith cried, grabbing Shiro by the shoulders. They all burst out laughing at him and started trying to pry him off of Shiro.

Instantly all the noise came to a halt when a loud slap echoed through the room. They turned towards the noise and saw Lance holding the side of his face and cowering in front of his father. Shiro dropped his cup and ran to stand protectively in front of Lance, facing the fuming man.

"What the hell do you think you're doing!?" Shiro shouted at him. The man didn't even flinch and only glared at Shiro coldly.

"Disciplining my useless son, what the hell are you doing? Get out of the way?" He growled, looking at Lance to see him shaking in fear.

"No," Shiro snarled. The man clenched his teeth, a vein bulging out of his forehead. He stepped forward, his hand swinging up towards Shiro. He stayed in front of Lance, knowing that he was frozen in fear and tensed ready for the hit.

It never came.

Yuuki ran forward tackling him around the waist immediately taking him to the ground and quickly cuffed his arms behind his back.

"Name?" She asked, eyes on Lance.

"Cedro McClain," he said quietly, shocked at what just happened. She nodded and turned back to him as he tried in vain to knock her off his back spitting curses at her.

"Cedro McClain, you're under arrest for assault, you have the right to remain silent. If you do say anything, what you say can be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to consult with a lawyer and have that lawyer present during any questioning. If you cannot afford a lawyer, one will be appointed for you if you so desire," without any effort, she hauled Cedro up to his feet and escorted him out of the room, a few Garrison soldiers following after her.

"What just happened?" Lance asked quietly. Shiro turned to him and saw that his jaw was already swelling slightly and it was turning purple at an alarming rate.

"My mom arrested your dad?" Shiro shrugged.

"Right..." he trailed off. Shiro looked at him with concern and gently turned his face to look at him.

"Are you okay? Do I need to call a doctor for you?" He asked, his eyes darting across Lance's face. Lance shook his head and pulled away from Shiro.

"No, no, I'm fine, I'm just... surprised I guess,"

"Don't worry Lance, after my mom saw what he did, she won't let him take you again," he comforted him with a smile. A few minutes later Yuuki came back in the room and walked over to Lance and Shiro.

"He's in Garrison custody now and won't be leaving for quite a while, do you have anywhere to stay?" She asked with concern. Lance shook his head slightly and looked down at the ground.

"That settles it then, you'll be staying with Takashi and I," she decided, smiling gently at the boy. His head whipped up in surprise before he turned to see an identical smile on Shiro's face.

"Takashi," Yuuki's stern voice wiped the smile off of his face and he looked down at his mother.

"I don't know what you've been doing up in space but you better not have been throwing yourself into unnecessary danger like that," she crossed her arms. Although she was at least a foot shorter than her son, she seemed so much bigger than him in that moment.

"It wasn't unnecessary," he argued, gesturing over at Lance. "I couldn't just let him hit Lance again,"

"You know how to tackle, I taught you how,"

"Yeah but,"

"No buts Takashi, that would have been much safer than standing and waiting for a hit," she strode forward and took his face in her hands.

"I just worry Takashi, I lost you for so long," she said quietly.

"Sorry, Ma," he said equally as quiet.

"Good," she said before smacking a kiss on his cheek and joining the other parents again. Shiro and Lance went over to the other paladins again, where Pidge, Hunk, and Keith immediately started laughing. Shiro and Lance glanced at each other, causing Lance to burst out into laughter as well.

"What!?" Shiro cried, eyes darting across the group.

"You got a little something there momma's boy," Pidge snickered gesturing to her cheek. Confused, Shiro wiped his hand on his cheek and looked. Smeared across his hand was his mom's bright red lipstick. A blush immediately heated his face and his head whipped over to see his mom and the other parents snickering at them.

"Ma!" He cried out embarrassed. He turned back to the other and saw that they were doubling over.

"Shut up!" He sputtered.

Lance looked at the people around him. These people were his family. He didn't need someone that had the same blood as him. He didn't need the people that are on his birth certificate. After all, the blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb.