Burn

Bribe

The next morning Allura went to get the three adults coffee as Lotor refused to leave the house with Arabella sleeping in the guest bedroom that night as he slept on the couch. Lance was making breakfast as Arabella sat on the counter smiling as he let her help with making the food.

Lotor leaned against the doorway watching his daughter and former lover interact as if Lance was already in love with the little girl, how he showed her how to bake and smiled when she poured pancakes batter on the pan.

Lance looked over seeing Lotor staring at them and smiled. He told Arabella to let him know when the pancakes are ready to flip and walked over to Lotor.

"Everything okay?" Lance asked with his back to Arabella.

"Everything's fine, I'm just glad to see she's adjusting to America well, she's never left Europe," Lotor sighed glancing back at her.

"It's weird ya know? Seeing you as a dad, your a good one too it seems, she adores you..." Lance smiled up at him and Lotor smiled back.

"I never thought I'd ever be able to have a child, despite how she's in the world and whom her mother was, as a single father... We've done well," Lotor nodded smiling a little.

"You have a life with your daughter, why bother with me?" Lance asked quickly but looked down immediately.

"My daughter is a priority but so are you, though I do wish you where there when she was born," Lotor shrugged. "Could've raised her together..."

"I'm only 18 Lotor," Lance pursed his lips.

"I don't mean now, I mean if things never changed, if we where still together, married, if we had the life we wished for... She would've made it perfect, you'll love her," Lotor explained and Lance looked at the child again.

"To have a daughter there has to be a woman..." Lance frowned.

"I was drunk at a bar and a woman came along, neither of us knew of each other's qualities as she had the power of life to siphon another, vampires have the power for them to take our energy to create magic, the witch died at child birth but belle is something magical," Lotor sighed nodding crossing his arms.

"And she made you flip your emotions back on?" Lance asked softly.

"The witch threatened to take pills to kill the baby inside her, I said I didn't care, she almost did but as she swallowed the pills I felt fear and made her throw it all back up," he gulped biting his lip.

"Arabella doesn't age like other children, she seems four but her birth was twelve years ago, I believe it's cause of her being a hybrid,"

Lance nodded understanding as he leaned against the wall.

"What else does she have that's not normal? Anything like vampires?" Lance asked curiously.

"She gets sick if she doesn't drink blood... I didn't realize it until she was a month old, she didn't cry much, because she didn't have the energy, she turned grey but I mixed a few ounces of human blood from a blood bag with her bottles, as she got older I went to see if she would be alright with animal blood instead," Lotor closed his eyes. He hated the fact he put that burden on his own daughter.

"But she doesn't know that she drinks it, I mix it in her drinks once in a while to keep her healthy, cranberry juice, hot chocolate, smoothies," Lotor listed and Lance put his hand on his arm.

"Your a good dad lo, I can take care of myself... I don't want to be your burden and something happen to your daughter," Lance looked at him seriously.

"Your no burden Lance," Lotor reassured.

"But if the choice ever came down to us... Don't freeze, don't think," he crossed his arms looking down but Lotor picked up his chin and looked at him.

"You've never been a burden, I fight for those whom I love, that circles just expanded a little," Lotor smiled gently at him and Lance blushed softly.

"Lance! Pancakes are crisp to the gold!" Arabella yelled out and the two men pulled away quickly and Lance walked back to her forcing an awkward smile.

"Perfect, alright you think you can handle pouring the next master pancake?" Lance flipped it and took some off as others continued to cook.

Lotor went to the living room and saw a computer on the table. He reached over and saw it was still open to a website and he scrolled only to see it was lances, Lance was apartment searching. Lotor smiled a little seeing more than one tab open for apartments and on a sticky note on the laptop was a list of the ones he wanted to rent.

The one at the top must be to expensive. Lotor put a hand on his chin as he thought for a moment.

"Whatcha looking at?" Lance spooked him as Lotor jumped a little.

"Must you give me a heart attack Elijah?" Lotor put a hand over his heart and looked back at Lance but realized his mistake.

"Lance, my apologies," Lotor shook his head and Lance snorted.

"I'm guessing I scared you a few times back?" Lance teased and saw the apartments.

"You made it a hobby," Lotor said flatly.

"So your moving out?" He asked and lance slowly nodded.

"Allura actually doesn't know but yea, I'm an adult... Gotta move on at some point, but my job doesn't pay me as much as I need to get to a place that keeps me away from this crazy," Lance explained with a small groan.

"Vampires?" Lotor asked.

"All of it, and if you say I'm as valuable to whoever hates you, then I better go somewhere witches and such aren't," Lance pursed his lips.

"Here, as my graduation gift I never gave to you, I'll help you pay to your dream apartment, where ever you'd like, and it'll still be in your name so only you can invite who you'd like," Lotor smiled and Lance perked up.

"This isn't a bribe is it to be my friend?" Lance smirked at him.

"I'm already your friend, no bribe is needed kitten," Lotor teased back.