A Bad Man's Second Chance

American Woman

Chapter One: Styx - Come Sail Away

Meredith Quill met an alien and it changed her life. Tonight she'll meet another.

Her folks always did say that this town wasn't big enough to hold her for long.

They were right... and they were wrong.

In the summer of 1974, their words couldn't have been more true as Meredith Quill hopped into the back of a beat up chevy truck and headed west to Sedalia for the Ozark Music Festival.

The days were hot, the music was loud, and the security lax. In the free spirit of the seventies, young folks came from miles around. A kind of hippy free-for-all that hadn't been seen since the days of Woodstock. If you were looking for drugs or alcohol then you could find it there, but mostly the vibe was good- just folks coming together for good fun, good music, and a good three day weekend party.

She was fourteen years old, but lied and said she was sixteen so that she could come to this once in a lifetime party playing the best bands. But they are two days in and so far, no-one has even bothered to ask.

So in the blistering summer heat, Meredith Quill danced to the sultry sound of rock and roll, lightly buzzed on cheap beer, sunburnt and sweaty as the sun slowly sunk below the horizon.

And that's when she saw him.

"Hey Lisa," She said to her friend, a busty brunette who is well on her way towards drunk and topless in a vain attempt to cool off, "Look over there. That guy looks just like Kurt Russell."

"Like who?" Lisa said as she craned her head to look, face flushed with booze and sunburn.

"You know. Fool's Parade? Johnny Jesus?"

"You're hopeless Mary." Lisa said rolling her eyes, before slumping back against her boyfriend.

"Ugh, don't call me that," She said, wrinkling her nose, "I'm gonna get a drink, don't wait up."

She knew that it most likely wasn't Kurt Russell, but passing curiosity had her wanting to get a closer look anyways. But in the time it took her to stand she'd already lost sight of him- the place was just too packed to keep track of one beautiful stranger. So shrugging it off, she had made her way to the cooler they'd left on the ground by the truck.

But as she lifted the lid of the ice chest a booted foot closed it down, nearly on her fingers. Irritated she looked up only for her words to die on her tongue-

And there he was. Back-lit by the setting sun and smiling down at her a cold beer in his hand. And as he held it out to her, there was look in his eyes she'd never seen before- an appraisal, an appreciation. A heat that raked her over hot coals and set her stomach fluttering.

"Hey there lil momma, now what's a pretty little thing like you doing here all alone."

She was irritated, and intrigued. Flustered and flattered. It was the first time she'd ever drawn the attention of a man, and it was a dangerous thrill. So she played at flirting with the older man, drawn in by his attention.

She'd shy away only to coyly let him back in. Tossing her head to laugh at him, only to offer her hand to dance the next- a fascinating game she'd never played before.

"Who are you?" She had laughed incredulously, "Where are you from?"

"Baby, I'm from out of this world," He said with a wink and she laughed again.

"No really," She hit him playfully, "At least tell me your name."

"How about you tell me," He quipped back, making eyes at her over his beer before holding it out to her once more. A drink they had been sharing as part of this intimate game.

She hummed, taking a long pull before looking him over, "I think... Jason. You look like a Jason."

"That's it! Got it in one," He said with a blinding smile as she threw back her head and laughed.

As the night pressed on, his flirting became more forward and she became more bold. He, Jason, held the singular focus of her attention that night- shared only with the music floating on the air. Hand in hand they danced, never noticing as they drifted further and further from the crowd because it already felt like they were the only ones left in the world.

And as the moon set she knew she was in love.

"I've never seen anyone so beautiful," She'd said somewhat breathlessly as she leaned into him, gazing into his eyes underneath the starlight as he pulled her close, "It's almost like you- It's like you're glowing."

"Oh, you're right," He said and pulled away suddenly- looking at his hand in dismay,

"Oh sweetheart, I'd hoped we'd have longer," He said, disappointment clear in his voice as she looked on in wonder. His whole body shining with an inner light, "But it seems I'm out of time."

"What? I - I don't understand," She'd said only to be silenced as he hushed her, brushing her hair back as he smiled reassuringly, confident and unafraid. Radiant. Angelic.

"Don't you worry, Meredith Quill," He'd said as motes of light started flickering away from him like fireflies, "I'll come back for you. But in the meantime, here's something to remember me by."

And then surging forward he silenced her questions and stole her breath, pressing her lips to his in a passionate kiss. Her first kiss. Her first summer romance. Her first heartbreak.

When she opened her eyes Jason was gone. Vanishing like stardust into the night.

Time passed, as time does.

That memory of that perfect summer night sustained her all throughout her high school years. She was bold and brave and wild as ever, but none of her boyfriends could hold a candle to that golden shining memory. The memory never fading, clear as the day it happened.

Her parents despaired at her ever settling down, and her friends just shook their heads at her terrible taste, while the boys all called her too hard to please. They tell her she was dreaming. They tell her she needs to move on. Grow up. Forget him.

They are all wrong of course, Meredith Quill knew exactly what she wanted.

Good music, an endless summer night, and a man made of starlight.

It was the summer of '79, and Meredith had just broken up with her most recent boyfriend, some boneheaded high school jock who thought he was all that cause his daddy had money, she'd left him that night and hot-wired his cherry red convertible when he wouldn't give her a ride back home.

Now screaming down the highway, blasting the radio loud- she's on her way to the senior year bonfire when she sees a light flash across the twilight sky, a falling star, and makes a wish.

Well that falling star falls a lot closer than expected- and before she knows what she's doing she's driving that red sports car through cornfields- chasing a gleaming orb of light that has her heart pounding in her throat.

And with a wild feeling beating in her chest- she clears the rows of corn, skidding to a stop in the fresh made circle as that orb slowly descends in a way most things do not. And in the smooth white face of it, a door appears and opens as she stumbles out of the car, staggering over the fallen stalks to be bathed in that oh so heartbreakingly familier light.

And there he is again. Her Jason. A Spaceman.

She never makes it to the bonfire.

Life with Jason back in her life is like nothing she could have imagined. It's wild, it's free, it's wondrous and amazing. In Jason's arms, the universe unfolded like a flower, spilling secrets of the stars against her skin and whispering wonders of a future she could barely understand against her lips.

"What are you really," She'd asked at last, cradled in his arms and naked under the moonlight.

"I'm a celestial," He said proudly, stroking her hair, "I am meant for greater things, a higher purpose. And you are too, my river lily. I cannot do this without you," his lips ghosting against the skin of her neck, "I need you."

"A celestial," She murmured, distracted and dazed, "Like... an angel?"

"Like a god."

In the morning she wakes and he's still there, and Meredith's joy knows no bounds. Together they stumble out of the field, giggling and drunk with love, following a shallow creek until they emerge from the little tangled wood into the parking lot of a Dairy Queen. And so it's ice-cream for breakfast on what is to be the best day of Meredith's new life in love with a spaceman.

With Jason in it, her small hometown has never felt so large, and she takes him to explore every inch of it. In return he tells her stories of his travels amongst the stars, and tells her now none of it compares to her beauty in his arms, whispers how he'd hate to leave her...

But this town, this world, has never been big enough to hold her. And with stars in her eyes and stories of space on her tongue, how could she ever be content to stay on earth when her Star Lord holds her in his arms. He has to leave. His reasons are vague, and claims she wouldn't understand it anyway, but as he continues to explain, she just smiles at him and says "Then take me with you!"

But he just laughed, shaking his head as he kissed her "Oh my river lily, you are a wonder."

They make love once more, and she never feels the urge to ask again.

In the morning he is gone.

He's gone and it's like the light goes out of her world. Like all the color has been drained away and everything is left dull and gray. The radio only plays broken-hearted love songs that she can't bring herself to sing. And that endless restlessness, that wild energy and wicked spirit of hers, seemed to have vanished with him that night.

Her folks just took it as a sign of her finally growing up, maturing into an adult- even as they shook their heads in confusion at her new sedentary ways. It didn't help that she couldn't really explain why. She just didn't want to leave anymore, couldn't imagine being anywhere else.

They had never met Jason, after all. Didn't know the spaceman who had stolen her heart.

For a month this was her life. Dull and gray, save for the sparks of poignant wistfulness and longing. She missed him so much it almost made her sick. Even food didn't taste the same anymore, it soured on her tongue and rolled her stomach.

And then, on that last day of summer, her spaceman came back.

He came to her home, in the middle of the night- throwing rocks at her bedroom window. And when she looked out she saw him, just the same as he always was, leaning against a cherry red convertible- just like the one she'd stolen and they'd abandoned in the cornfield. And just like that Meredith was whole again, clambering out the window and sliding back into his arms as if he'd never left. She jumps into his car, and they peel away onto the highway, her spirits rising with the sun.

Wind in her hair she sings Brandy with her love by her side in the bright sunshine and everything is right in the world.

He takes her back to the DQ, and the little wooded creek. And she can barely pay attention to the words he says as he shows her the strange little flower in its bank, so dazzled and delirious with joy, with love for him, back with her at long last. And when they make love again, right there in the woods behind the Dairy Queen, he places a hand against her stomach and smiles against her lips- and tells her that she's given him the greatest gift that he could ever ask for...

She's pregnant.

She doesn't grieve when he leaves her this time, because this time he's left something of his with her. A child. A son. She's pregnant with a spaceman's son, a little star lord, a little angel growing inside of her.

Her folks don't believe her when she tells them, but her wild stories alarm them as much as they worry about how her behavior changed. But when she gets sick, they take her to the doctor anyway...

Well, she did tell them she was pregnant.

And pregnant she is, all seventeen years old and unmarried with no man in sight to take care of her or her unborn child. But then, of course he's not here, her angel's out traveling the stars...

Peter is born perfect, and she sobs as they place him into her arms. Her little star lord.

He is a healthy happy baby, and the center of Meredith's universe now that Jason is gone. She croons gentle lullabies, sings to him everyday, and whispers words of love and stars every night. He grows well. He's seven now, almost eight, and he is so strong, and bold and brave...

And he needs to be. Because his momma is dying.

They'd called it postpartum depression at first, waved it away as a long recovery after a hard birth. But whatever it was, Meredith wasn't getting any better. Dizzy spells, light-headedness and headaches. Some days she couldn't move, she head hurt so badly. Other days she couldn't eat she felt so sick.

The seizures were unexpected. Terrifying, and unpredictable. But what scared them the most was how she would wander, like a daytime-sleepwalker- lost to her thoughts only to come too without memory as to how she got there or what she was doing.

Most of it was small, inconsequential, but other times... other times are terrifying.

They lost track of her once for an entire day. Her parents came home one day to find Peter in the playpen and Meredith nowhere to be found. She was just up and gone without a trace. They called the police and sent out search parties... Only to find her hours later, near sundown, wandering the backwoods behind the Dairy Queen in her nightshirt, and all she could say to the folks that found her, dazed and confused, was that she'd wanted to see a blue flower.

They took her to the doctor after that, because something was seriously wrong.

And they were right, something was wrong. Something was wrong with Meredith's brain, and it was about the size of a marble.

Meredith Quill is a single, teenage mom, and dying of brain cancer.

Her life after that became a series of doctors visits. An endless round of getting worse and getting better only to get worse again. Surgery to remove the tumor, and chemo to kill it away. Recovering from the chemo only for another session to send her bedridden once more.

And her poor baby, her little boy. She hates that he had to grow up this way. That he has to see her like this. And so she tries so hard to make him smile. She shares her music with him when she's too weak to get out of bed, cuddles him close on her bad days. And on her good days, she does her best to be the mom he needs, the mom he should have if she was better.

Tickle fights and pillow forts, and laughing breathlessly- and desperately pretending it's just the laughter that has her breathless.

He's grown so well, even after all of this. So strong. A fighter. Her precious little angel tries so hard to be a good boy for her, to make her smile when she's feeling poorly. Hating the doctors, and how she's so weak after visiting them, but knowing it's the only way she'll get better.

And now here he is almost eight years old, and she can't help but think about how much he looks like his daddy. Jason is there in her little boy's dimples, in the curl of his hair, and how his eyes twinkle when he's up to some mischief he thinks will make her smile. Looking at him now, she can only imagine what kind of man he'll be when he grows up, can only hope she'll live long enough to see it. Her little star lord is just a little boy right now, all grass stained sneakers and hole-y jeans, but he is just so full of love and compassion...

Even now, sprinting through the dewy grass as the sun goes down, her little boy chases the fireflies buzzing lazily through the air. He catches them gently, cupping them in his hands as he runs back to show her, and just as gently let them go. Only to run off again, smiling back at her.

Back in the old farmhouse, there is a manila folder lying on the kitchen table.

A thin envelope that holds the answers to her continued health, whether she'll live to see her baby's eighth birthday or not.

But she's not going think about that right now.

Right now, all she wants to do is be carefree and happy with her little boy. Enjoying the feeling of being well for as long as it will last. To enjoy the cool night air against her skin, the light breeze tossing her thin curls under her warn knit cap. She sits on the the blanket spread out under her, another wrapped around her shoulders. The soft sounds of old familiar music singing from the walkman around her neck.

Someday, her angel will return for her gentle little star lord. He'll come back and take Peter away to the stars, and she lets that thought fill her mind with hope and light- and does not think about how someday she might leave her little boy all alone before then.

Instead she focuses on her little boy today. Watches him play and enjoys the time she has with him. With the fireflies and the music and the evening stars.

"Look mom a shooting star!"

And Meredith looked up, and everything was bathed in light.

"Oh, oh! Oh Peter!" Meredith gasped, eyes wide as a hand flew up to her mouth to cover a wide disbelieving grin, "He's here! He came! Oh, my little star lord! Your daddy's here for you!"

Her mind awash with blue wonder, consumed with a blinding, rapturous joy. Babbling as tears of wonder pricked her eyes, gazing into the blinding light. She could barely see as Peter's feet slowly lifted up off of the grassy lawn. Heart pounding in her ears so loudly she could barely hear. Jason had come for Peter and all she could feel was joy-

"NO MOM! MOM!"

What the fuck is she doing?!

"I'm Coming Peter!" Meredith yelled, snapping out of the daze that had held her frozen, her baby's scream like a slap to the face. And she's up and running up the hill with a desperation that sets her feet flying, "I'm coming baby! Hold on!"

"Mom! Mom take my hand!" Peter cries out to her, fighting the light pulling him away from her, and hanging almost upside down in midair as he reaches down to her.

She crests the hill and leaps, hand outstretched and-

Peter latches onto her with both hands and with a pull she is caught up into the light as well.

"Mom!" Peter gasps, almost a sob as he throws himself at his mom, clinging to her as she clings to him just as hard, "I've got you Peter, I've got you baby. I'm here. I got you."

Wrapped up together, they watch as the earth falls away under their feet. The light pulling them up and up and up. Lifted higher and higher into the air, trees shrinking to the size of matchsticks until the whole of the small town could be seen under their swinging feet.

And then the spaceships floor closes in around them.

For a moment they hang suspended in the air, whatever power holding them aloft slowly dropping them to the metal floor of this strange craft they have suddenly found themselves in. And the room is silent, save for the low steady thrum vibrating the floors, the hard pounding of their hearts, and heavy breathing.

"Mom what-?" Peter starts to say, but quickly turns to look at the door, all deer-in-the-headlights as the sound of heavy hurried footsteps ring out heading their way- echoing loudly in whatever chamber lies beyond the heavy metal door.

But there's a dangerous ringing sound in Meredith's ears that she doesn't think is coming from the ship.
And the sound of footsteps comes closer and closer. And Peter has her in a death-grip as she tries to move him behind her-

She'll always protect him. But she might not be able to for long.
The world already starting to go dark as the ringing in her ears reaches a shrill note. (she shouldn't have run she's not well)...

The door swishes open.

Blue. Red eyes. Undoubtedly alien and looking just as shocked and surprised to see them as they are.

And Meredith Quill has only one thought as she faints, collapsing to the spaceships floor.

'Jason's not blue... he's not here. He didn't come.'