{ TRIGGER WARNING! Full disclosure: Keith recalls part of what happened to him in this chapter and everything. Be careful while reading if noncon content is triggering to you!!! }

Keith was dressed and sitting in his living room soon enough, the two officers also inside of his home by then. Shiro had been gracious enough to invite them in and get them beverages. Being polite to people like that was just something in his nature.

" Thank you for agreeing to sit with us, Mr. Kogane... I'm sure everything you've been through is traumatic enough." The first officer said. He weirdly resembled Shiro, so much so that Keith had to double take him. " My name is Sven Gamara, and I work with the LAPD on cases such as yours. This is my partner, Detective Slav. Please excuse him if he has any random outbursts."

" Nice to meet you." Keith stammered, and Lance took a seat beside his omega. He wrapped an arm around the other's shoulder and pulled him against himself snugly, wanting to be sure that he was comfortable with everything. If the police ever pushed him too far, Lance would've made sure to protect Keith and put them all in their place without question.

Romelle yawned and came into the room, still wearing her pajamas. She really did have a tendency to sleep in. She was covered in Kosmo fur from the dog cuddling by her as well.

" Woah. Okay." She blinked a couple times while seeing the cops. She just awkwardly circled around the couch and sat by her brother.

" So what exactly do you need to know?" Keith asked, clearing his throat. He wasn't sure what to expect from any of this, but prayed that it would go by quickly.

" Well... we need your account of what happened that night, and going off of that, we can decide which charges to pursue against him."

Keith held his face for a few seconds before taking a deep breath. Lance pulled him in snugly and leaned closer.

" It's alright, KitKat... I'm right here." He assured.

Keith nodded. He really had no idea where to start.

" Whenever you're ready." Sven said. Slav held the laptop and was ready to type whatever the omega said into the statement.

" I guess... this whole thing started... after Lance and I got together." Keith began. He felt Lance holding him protectively and could sense the alpha's instincts strengthening. " James didn't like that I was with someone new and he wanted to be back with me."

" Mr. Griffin didn't want to break up?"

" Right. He was unhappy about it to begin with, but when Lance and I got together, I think it set him off." Keith said, looking to the side. Just thinking about this made him so uncomfortable.

" What makes you think that?"

" Well... soon after Lance and I got together, he showed up at my door. I don't know how he got in, but he did and he kept telling Lance that he was my alpha and how he needed to spend my heat with me." Keith explained more so, and honestly just the thought of spending a heat with James was nauseating.

The police turned to Lance.

" Would you be willing to describe James' tone? Was he threatening when he came here?"

Lance scoffed.

" The guy was trespassing on private property and refused to leave. I had to use my alpha voice to defend myself and Keith. So... yeah. We were threatened." He said, tempted to just hold Keith in his lap. All this talk of James was making him unintentionally irritated.

" After that James began leaving photos of me around with taunting and eventually threatening messages on the back of them." Keith sniffled. " He used to t-take naked pictures of me and he kept all of them."

Right as they were telling Keith to continue with his explanation, the front door clicked. Everyone looked over toward it, every alpha in the room on alert and ready to bash someone's face in if they meant harm. Shiro's fists were clenched and his teeth were grit, and Lance pulled Keith way closer to himself.

Kolivan sniffed the air.

" We're fine." He said, and the door opened to show Krolia coming in.

" It's just me." She said and managed to kick the door shut. After going for a run in Keith's neighborhood she'd become ambitious and gone to Starbucks. It wasn't like she had much else to do with being in town and all. Next on her agenda was to clean Keith's house, but before she could even think about that, she saw that there were unfamiliar people sitting in Keith's living room. " Oh... I didn't realize you had company."

" They're the cops here to get his statement." Kolivan informed and took the drink tray off of her hands. She'd gotten some for everyone, having guessed on people's orders who she didn't get exactly.

Krolia gulped and gave a wave to say hello, then introduced herself as Keith's mother.

" So, Keith, you were saying about these pictures?" Sven asked.

" R-Right." Keith stuttered nervously. " He threatened me and kept putting lewd messages on the backs of them. Then after Lance left town, he left one at my house. But this time it was a nude of Lance and I don't even know how he got it, but he did, and James basically said that if I didn't meet him at his place for dinner then he was going to leak all of our photos to the public."

Shiro sat there with wide eyes and Krolia pinched the bridge of her nose. Her poor baby really was just trying to do the right thing for Lance and it had all backfired into something so much worse, but still, now was the time to try and fix what happened and work on damage control.

" You went to him voluntarily?"

" Yes. Only because he had pictures of Lance, too. And it also said that if I told anyone about it he'd leak them anyway." Keith looked down, ashamed of himself. " After that I didn't want to be alone so I went to my friend Pidge's- or... Katie's house and I stayed there. But the thing was... we went out for dinner, and after we came back, there was lingerie and a note from James laying on the bed in the guest room. B-by..." He sniffled and looked at Lance and then at the cops. It was so embarrassing and he felt like shit about himself just from even thinking about it. " By then I knew he was watching me... and I really couldn't get help."

The officers looked at each other in a perplexed way. It was a hard thing to understand why Keith would stick his neck out for Lance like that, but it was something that was commendable indeed even when thinking about what happened afterward.

" When I got there... he was dressed up nice and set the table and was trying to be classy. We ate pizza and he was trying to be mature and prove himself or something- I honestly don't even know what the fuck he was trying for." Keith wiped his eyes. " But he wouldn't let me leave after dinner."

Romelle choked up from beside Keith and couldn't take listening to it any longer. Just thinking about her brother in that position was so painful. Krolia walked over and held her in a hug and the blonde was crying soon enough.

Keith tried to focus on the cops, knowing that he could talk to her once they were gone and had everything they needed.

" He... he forced himself onto me on the couch... and... he eventually dragged me back to the bedroom... and..." Keith felt his eyes getting even wetter the more he talked and thought back to those moments. They were so vivid at times, but clouded in others, and he wished that he could just forget every single second of it. But that unfortunately wasn't how things worked.

" What did he do to you, Keith? I'm sorry, I know this is hard, but we need to know everything that you can remember..."

Keith gulped and took a second to compose himself. He let Lance hold him, which the alpha was especially eager to do.

Lance could feel rage burning in his chest as he hugged Keith closer and kissed the side of his head. He was going to end James. He wanted to throw him off a cliff into shark infested water, but in that moment, he did his best to remain calm for Keith. His omega was already dealing with enough and really didn't need a hotheaded alpha on his hands either.

" He bound my wrists together and he kept beating me and biting me... it was like he did everything he could to make me feel less than him." Keith's voice was extremely shaky as he went on to tell them it all. He explained how James had used something large and hard instead of his own member, and how it seemed to go on forever. " And when he was finally done stretching me out he released all over me... because apparently I hadn't been good enough for him to do it inside... thank god."

The room sat in silence and even the officers seemed taken off guard by the series of events that Keith described.

" We know that your friends tracked you down using Snapchat. And we have your car being transported here as we speak via tow truck, but Keith, is there anything else that you think is important about what happened? Any details that really stood out to you?" Sven's accent was thick and Keith had only just noticed that.

Lance rubbed Keith's shoulders gently and rested his face by the back of Keith's neck, wanting to be as close as he could get to him.

" I don't think so..." Keith murmured.

" Okay... well... thank you for sharing everything with us. Just from these allegations and the wounds the hospital confirmed, we're looking at plenty of charges. False imprisonment, coercion, sexual assault, battery, harassment. I'm sure there are more."

There was a honk outside and everyone looked toward the door. Shiro decided that he needed to go check it out and then headed there. Outside of the gate there was a tow truck waiting to be let in.

" It's Keith's car. I'll go out there and let them in."

The officers stood up.

" Oh, and this." Sven said, reaching into his pocket. He pulled out a ziplock bag with a phone in it, then handed it to Keith. " It's all yours now."

" Thank you for everything." Lance said, but truthfully he was just ready for them all to leave. Keith had been through enough.

...

" Keith, I don't understand why-"

" Because."

" Because why?"

" Because I feel cooped up... and I don't feel like being here with everyone here." The omega said, his voice somewhat pleading. " Lance, please, just for the night?"

Lance contemplated, looking outside and seeing that the sun was setting. He knew that it was truly impossible for him to understand exactly what Keith was feeling, but he wanted to believe that he could trust him. He wanted to do what Keith thought was best for himself, not just force him to do things he didn't want to for "his own good."

" Fine. But what the hell are we going to tell your family?" Lance asked.

Keith was currently sitting criss cross applesauce on the floor with a backpack, putting some clothes in there with other essentials.

" That you need to take care of some things at your place and I feel safer with you so we're leaving for the night..." Keith said, and Lance decided it would work. Really he was willing to do exactly what Keith wanted as long as it was safe and made him comfortable.

Keith thought about how all his family was at the house and just trying to help him, but at the same time he felt somewhat smothered. He wasn't being ungrateful since he still appreciated it, but he needed some room to breathe. There was still tension between Kolivan and Lance which Keith ultimately felt, even Krolia and Lance, and really he needed a night alone with his alpha.

" Let's do it, then." Lance said. " I'll go tell them."

Shiro had gone home by then to be with Matt, but Romelle, Krolia, and Kolivan all remained there. They were all sitting in the living room watching something on Keith's TV.

" Um... hey." Lance awkwardly greeted.

" What's up?" Romelle asked, and Kosmo jumped off her lap and paced over to Lance, sniffing around his pant legs curiously.

" I'm heading home tonight and Keith wants to come with me. He says you guys are welcome to stay as long as you want, but he feels better when he's with me, so he just wants to come over for the night." The alpha felt like he was asking for parental permission or something, making him feel like a high schooler again.

" Oh... okay." Krolia said. She was definitely surprised that Keith was willing to leave the house, but if that's what her son wanted, that was what he was going to get.

" Take good care of him." Kolivan told him sternly. If he heard that Lance did anything wrong to Keith he might've just wrung the other's neck.

Lance was tempted to scoff at Kolivan and taunt him, but he didn't. He decided to take the mature route.

" I will."

Once Keith had a small bag packed and said goodbye to everyone, they both got into Lance's car. Kosmo was staying at Keith's for the night, but the omega was actually happy about it. As much as he loved his pet, he wouldn't have to worry about keeping him from destroying Lance's house.

" You know... I really just missed you." Keith confessed and reached across to hold Lance's hand. After getting everything about James off of his chest, it really helped him to stop thinking about it for that moment. He felt like a new person, knowing that the cops were doing everything in their power to hunt that asshole down and throw him in a cell for what he'd done. All of it just put Keith in an insanely cuddly and affectionate mood.

Lance raised a brow while pulling out of Keith's driveway and closing the gates. That familiar smile on the other's face was something he'd longed to see since forever ago and he couldn't believe that it was finally back. He squeezed Keith's hand and smiled as well.

" I missed you too, KitKat... so much that you don't even know." Lance brought it up to his lips and placed a kiss on the top of Keith's hand, glancing at him only for a moment before refocusing on the road.

Keith blushed and wanted nothing more than to curl up beside Lance and be held by him. When he was with the other... he had figured out how to show his omega side without feeling weak or unsafe. It was quite the opposite. Lance made him feel grounded and stable in a way no one else could.

Reaching toward the radio, Keith turned the station and found nothing good was on. He decided to pull open Lance's Jeep's console to look for CD's. Avril Lavigne, All Time Low, One Direction... but the best yet, Shawn Mendes.

" Hell yeah." Keith smirked and put in the CD, then looked over at Lance and waited for his reaction.

The song Treat You Better came on and Keith bit his lip. Lance turned over at him and deadpanned.

" Don't even-"

" Sing." Keith said with a smile.

" No."

" Yes."

" You can't make me." Lance turned up his nose, though in the back of his mind... he was tempted to open his mouth. Keith couldn't know everything yet, though. Dreams of being a singer? Please. Sappy alpha musicians hardly had a chance, or so Lance assumed.

Keith narrowed his eyes.

" I could tickle you to death." The omega threatened.

" And I could also crash the Jeep." Lance replied.

" Or you could just sing for me." Keith fired back playfully. He really did want to hear him do it.

" Not today, Princess. Not today." Lance told him with a content sigh. He was only doing it to mess with Keith at that point. But still... one thing would lead to another, and he wanted to save his voice for a special moment between he and his omega.

It would wait.

{ Ya'll really seem to like  t e a. Based off of question stickers on my Instagram all you guys ever expect from me is angst or tea. But what about fluff and smut? Comment what you all are okay with :P. I have a bunch planned already but I might be able to squeeze in some extra fluff chapters. Also how do ya'll feel about rare!pairs? Idk just comment I guess.

Love you guys!

-Soki }