Gamora hated sleeping in.

It just was not a luxury she was used to. It had always been early to rise and late to bed in the care of Thanos. Any sign of tiredness or fatigue would warrant a brutal punishment from Thanos. It was either that or he would replace a new part of her with mods. She jumped into the routine rather quickly, but Nebula wasn't quite as keen.

Yet, here she was just now waking up in the late afternoon. She began to wonder what had gotten her so tired. They had been doing quite a lot of jobs for the Nova Corps, but that was never a bother to her. In fact, doing jobs is what made her feel useful in this galaxy. She no longer felt the guilt that came with being raised by the Mad Titan himself. It certainly wasn't from the activites her and Peter were doing last night. For some reason, sex always seemed to energize her instead of wear her down like it does to Peter. Terrans have always been seen as weaker to her, but in the moment she felt weaker than one.

Gamora rolled over to find herself in an empty bed. She lifted her head slightly, allowing her hair to fall rather ungracefully around her shoulders, as she rolled into an upright position on the bed. She had remembered falling asleep curled in Peter's arms once they had finished having their fun. He was nowhere to be seen now. She's not surprised he didn't wake her up. He is always on her case about needing more sleep and relaxing more. She would simply reply that there is no time for luxury when there is a galaxy at stake. She shook the tiredness from her body and rose up to stretch her arms. Gamora walked over to her drawer and slipped on some black leggings, and one of Peter's old shirts. She loved the way his shirt smelled on her body as she finally walked into the kitchen area of their ship.

" About time ya woke up. I've been workin' on repairs by myself this whole mornin'" Rocket said in an irritated voice

Gamora was quick to walk past him, rolling her eyes in the process. She saw Mantis standing over the oven in a desperate attempt at making breakfast. Groot was standing by Rocket, watching him as he was tinkering with their weapon supply.

"I am Groot." He said, running up to hug her legs.

He was about as tall as Rocket now and growing larger each day. She smiled at him and leaned down to give him a semi hug.

"I'm okay Groot. I just got caught up in my sleep a little too much. Which is what you need to start doing if you wanna continue getting bigger." She suggested. Rocket had been letting Groot stay up far too late, and she could she that he was starting to become more sluggish than he should.

Groot scurried away while Mantis beamed proudly at her creation of breakfast. It looked to be a porridge of sorts with a side of eggs. Mantis had recently taken on the role of a caretaker as she tended to them while they were injured and helped with the majority of cooking and cleaning. She had certainly grown on Gamora since their first meeting. Mantis had shown great interest in whatever Gamora was willing to teach her. Her innocence also made it a lot easier to work with her since she didn't often try to do the most perilous plan like Peter or Rocket.

"Mantis, how would you like to do a little more battle training today?" said Gamora sitting down to the table with a plate of eggs.

Mantis looked up from her cooking, smiling wide," I would enjoy that very much! I cannot wait to learn how to kick names and take ass like all of you"

"Um. it's actually take names and kick ass Mantis." Said Peter, finally walking into the kitchen and taking a seat next to Gamora. " And how is my beautiful sleepy head doing today?"

Gamora's eyes shifted towards Peter as he sat down next to her. His hair was curly and messy like always, but he seemed as happy as he ever has been. They had only been together for about a year since she admitted she found him attractive after their run with his father. He had been more than willing to start a relationship with her which still shocked her since she never thought anyone could want to be with her, Peter, however, has shown her everyday how much he adores and loves her.

Mantis handed him a bowl of porridge which he took gladly, almost instantly devouring it. Mantis seemed very pleased with this reaction causing her antennae to perk up.

"I am fine. I just decided to take your advice and give myself a chance to rest up a little." Gamora said as she began to eat her eggs.

"See, I told you I would finally get through to you. Now how does it feel to be all rested instead of cranky like you always are in the morning?" He joked with her. His eyes were shining bright as he put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer.

Gamora looked over at him with a playful look and said, " I have no clue what you are talking about. I am perfectly pleasant in the morning time."

Right as Peter was about to speak, Rocket cut in saying, " It would've been perfectly pleasant of ya if you would've helped me with all this shit like ya said."

Gamora narrowed her eyes at the raccoon, and was about to reply to his whining when suddenly she felt sick to her stomach. She stood still and closed her eyes trying to battle down the nausea that suddenly had taken over her body.

" Mora' is everything okay?" Peter asked her as he pulled back to examine her. She shook her head and rose from the table trying to steady herself. Everyone in the room was looking at her as her body kept trying to make Mantis' breakfast reappear. Groot ran up to the table in a worried fashion using his vines to climb the table.

"I am Groot?" He said in a small voice looking up to her with his eyes round and worried.

Gamora had no time to answer him as she ran to their bathroom quarter and released the sick feeling she had been holding in. She wondered what could have caused her to get so sick. It wasn't that the breakfast tasted bad, but it was the smell that seemed to have set her off. She noticed it was quite pungent when she entered the kitchen, but she never seemed to notice until Peter sat down with his porridge right next to her.

Once she was finished releasing her contents, She went to the sink to wash out her mouth. She couldn't be sick could she? The more she thought about it, the more sense it made that she could, in fact, be sick. Around two months ago, she had Nebula remove some of the mods that had been placed in her. Nebula warned that without these mods, her body could take a toll and become weakened. Gamora didn't care though. She wanted nothing more than to begin removing every piece of Thanos from her body. Now, she wondered if it was worth it judging by her appearance,

Gamora looked like hell when she saw herself in the mirror. Her hair was more messy than she would have preferred, she had bags under eyes, and her skin was a paler green than normal. She began to examine herself to see if there was an injury she may not have known about causing her weakness. As she lifted her shirt ( actually Peter's shirt), she saw that her abdomen had discoloration right below her navel. It was a dark green color that wasn't quite a bruise, but certainly was not her normal skin color. She put her fingers on the area feeling an intense heat, but no soreness that would accompany a bruise. She pulled her hand away as she heard a knock on the door.

"Gamora? It's Peter. I'm just checking on you baby. Can I come in?" Peter said in a soft loving voice. She opened the door slightly to allow him in.

"I think I'm sick." She said as he stood behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. She prayed he wouldn't question the intense heat that she could feel from her abdomen. Instead, he placed a kiss on the inner part of her neck and nuzzled his face into her hair.

" It's okay Mora'. I get sick all the time, and you're like a total badass so i'm sure this is gonna blow over." He said in a sweet voice

" I don't get sick. I haven't gotten sick since I was a child still in the care of my mother." She said in a monotone voice. She would have to go to Mantis to see what she could do. They recently found out that she can also sense illness within people and use her powers to make them feel stronger.

" Well, I didn't get sick for a while until we killed my asshole of a father. I think my celestial genes kept me from getting sick. You remember once they were gone, I was down for like a week. Maybe it's the same with your mods being removed?" He suggested.

"Maybe. I feel like I would have experienced this sooner if that were the case." She said. She didn't know why, but she had a feeling that this wasn't just an illness. Maybe her body couldn't handle being without mods after having them so long. Maybe her body would begin to shut down, and she would pass in the blink of an eye. She shook the thoughts from her head.

She turned to him and planted a kiss on his lips. He gladly reciprocated her sign of affection and pulled her in tighter. He pushed her against the sink and began deepening their kiss. She began to feel the familiar heat in her belly that comes with Peter's kisses. His hands travelled up and down her body as she pushed against him. She playfully nibbled on his ear as his hands slipped under her shirt. Her eyes opened wide as she realized her mistake and pushed him off of her, but it was too late.

"Gamora, you're burning up!" He said in a frantic voice, " C'mon, we need to get Mantis to check you out"

He grabbed her wrist and began pulling her out of the bathroom, but she yanked her hand from his grasp.

"I can go by myself Peter." She said in a low voice. Her moods have been very extreme which she blames her upcoming cycle for. This made it very difficult for her to tolerate the other guardians antics and Peter's overprotectiveness.

Sensing her mood switch, Peter backed away and said in a calm voice " Hey, I'm just looking out for my girl. I didn't mean to rush you like that."

"It's fine. I'm sorry for being in a cranky mood...I guess you are right about some things." She said softly. Peter broke out into a huge grin.

" Haha! Yes! I finally got you to say i'm right about something!" He exclaimed basically bouncing with glee. Before she could say anything, he came up and kissed her. This kiss wasn't like the one they shared in the bathroom. It was filled with happiness and love.

" You go see Mantis okay? I'm gonna go help Rocket and Groot with repairs, so he'll stop bitching about it"

Peter planted one more kiss on her cheek and walked or more like skipped off to the kitchen again. Gamora began her search for Mantis because she could see she wasn't in the kitchen anymore. She searched all over the Benatar in hopes of finding her. She passed Kraglin trying to master Yondu's fin with little success. She also saw Drax snoring loudly in a chair with his knives laid out on his lap. She figured he was probably cleaning them and then passed out. When she finally found Mantis, she was hiding in the corner of her bunk that she shared with Groot.

Gamora could see that her antennas were down, and she was sniffling with tears. Gamora hurried over to comfort her.

"Mantis what's wrong? Why are you crying?" Gamora asked sitting down next to her on the bunk.

"I feel that I have failed you by fixing you a meal that made you ill." Mantis said looking to her.

"No Mantis, your food did not make me sick. I actually don't know what made me ill. That's why i'm here so you can help me."

"I don't know… I do not want to fail you again." Mantis said sadly. Gamora knew she adored praise since she rarely got any from her time with Ego. Gamora sighed and awkwardly put her arm around Mantis trying to comfort her.

"You wouldn't fail me Mantis. In fact, you can help me right now by finding out what is wrong with me." As she said that, Mantis seemed to cheer up quite a bit.

"Okay, I will try my best to help you." Mantis said.

Gamora undid their awkward hug and laid back so Mantis could use her powers. She placed her hand on Gamora's shoulders which caused her antennas to light up. Gamora waited for Mantis to give her a diagnosis. Mantis sat there looking more confused than when Drax told her she should try to shave Rocket to " save his life". Her hand slowly moved from Gamora's shoulder to the area where her belly felt like fire. As she placed her hand there, her antennas glowed brighter than Gamora had ever seen before. A genuine smile broke out on Mantis' face as she continued her assessment.

"Mantis?.. What is it? Am I okay?" Gamora said with her patience running thin.

"Life."

"Huh?"

"I feel life." Mantis said pulling her hand back but keeping the smile on her lips

"What do you mean by life?" Gamora questioned starting to feel a knot in her stomach. It couldn't be possible for her to be….expecting. She nearly threw up again as reality struck her. Her fatigue, mood swings, sickness, discoloration. They were all clear signs of pregnancy for her kind.

Gamora sat up and whispered under her breath," Fuck.". Things just got a lot more complicated.