Two years later…
Peter took a deep breath, keeping his eyes closed. He let himself smile. He shifted his body a little bit so he could more comfortable. He slid his arm around his wife's waist. Or at least the half of it, because of her growing belly. He rubbed his thumb against it, felling a spark of life growing inside. He could still not believe he was married to Gamora. Let alone having a child with her. Gamora always wanted a baby of her own. She told him that in their honeymoon two years ago.
Still, the last two years had been really eventful. Lots of birthdays, battles, punches, bar fights, the wedding, Lotus inventing her first gun (and accidentally sending him to the hospital) and now, he was going to have another baby.
It was crazy, but he wouldn't have it another way.
He opened his eyes as he felt Gamora shift her body so she could look him in the eye. She smiled at him with tired looking eyes. "Hey."
"Hey. How are you?"
She slowly grabbed Peter hand above her belly and smiled. "I'm fine."
"Are you nauseous? Hungry? Need a new pillow?" Then he panicked. "You are not going into labor right now, are you!?"
Gamora rolled her eyes at him. "Peter, I'm only six months."
His panic diminished and replaced it with a worried face. "But some pregnancies are premature and what if something happens to the both of you or what if you bleed too much and-" He shut up as Gamora placed her finger against his lips.
"You worry too much. Relax. Me and the baby will be fine." He removed her finger. "Until then, you promised Lotus you will teach her how to ride the Milano today."
Peter frowned. "Do I have to? I mean, I'm still not sure if I should let her use something mechanic near me."
Gamora frowned as well. "She stopped inventing guns after THAT incident."
"She shot me in the arm." He recalled.
"It was an accident. And besides, she's getting really good at it."
Peter sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Fine, I'll teach her. AS long as she doesn't bring a gun with her."
Gamora smirked. "She spends too much time with Rocket. I don't think that will be possible."
"Ja. Ja. Ja. Very funny, Gamora. Very funny." He said sarcastically.
She smiled. "Just go, ok? Knowing her, she's probably going to start the engines alone if you're not there on time."
"Shit…" He slowly got up the bed and walked towards the bathroom.
When Gamora and Peter married, they decided to stay in Peter's room and move Lotus to Gamora's room. The girl was excited to have her own room instead of sleeping in her dad's room. Nowadays, it's a total mess of mechanics, books and probably some leftover food. None of them wanted to know.
Lotus was now seven years old. Very intelligent and kind. But mischievous as well. She had also developed Peter's mocking attitude. Go figure. Also, Rocket had been teaching her mechanics since she was very little, so Lotus was technically a genius. Not even ten Nova Corps mechanics could compare to her. Kind of…
Peter rolled his eyes and washed his face. He quickly dried himself and dressed. He walked back to his room. He was wearing his usual gray shirt, pants and red leather jacket. "I'll be back later. Sleep all you want-" He stopped short as he saw that Gamora was already asleep. He smiled and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead. He slowly made way through the room, to the stairs into the common room.
Groot was there in the common room, watering some potted plant. Peter could have sworn that that plant was NOT in that pot yesterday. Yesterday, the pot had nothing and now a small weed was growing there.
Groot noticed Peter standing there and smiled at him. "I am Groot." He greeted.
"Hey, Groot. See you're busy. I'll leave you to it. Say, have you seen Lotus?"
"I am Groot." He pointed towards Rocket's workshop.
"Thanks Groot." He walked towards the workshop. Groot just keep watering the small weed.
Peter reached the small messy workshop. A few years ago, this room was more collected. But that wasn't the case nowadays. He saw Rocket sitting on the floor fixing some random mechanic thing and Drax sitting on a chair drinking some beer. At this hours of the morning. Good grief…
"Hey there, Rocket."
"Shut up, Quill. I'm trying to fix this."
"I was just going to ask-"
"Shut the fuck up, Quill." The raccoon mumbled.
Peter turned his head towards Drax. Drax shrugged. "He's been very grumpy this morning."
"Where's Lotus?"
Drax took a sip of his beer. "She just walked away a few minutes ago. I believe she was going to start the engines or something."
Peter held his breath and ran pass the very confused Drax. Rocket looked up from his work and growled. "We're fucked up."
OOO
Peter climbed up the stairs to the deck and saw her there. Lotus. She had her short legs swinging back and forth in the captain's chair. Peter smirked as he slowly walked towards the chair. This was his chance. He could scare her off. He slowly raised his hands and reached for the chair. He could put a good prank on his daughter.
That was not possible.
Just when Peter was about to scream or something, the chair spun around. Lotus was sitting there with a smirk on her face and her arms crossed over her chest. "Hey, pops. What are you doing?"
Peter lowered his arms in defeat. "Aww… Lotus. Why do you had to ruin my fun?"
Lotus shrugged. "I just like to tease you as much as you like to tease uncle Rocket. It's just a cycle." Lotus was wearing a pink shirt and some baggy khaki pants with pink converse sneakers (something that she declared it was the BEST birthday present ever! Peter found them on a store that sold Earth stuff.) Her hair was tied up in a low ponytail and her pink eyes combined with the pink tips of her long blonde hair.
"You weren't about to start the engines, right?" He asked eyeing Lotus, but worry was noticeable on his voice.
Lotus scoffed and waved her hand dismissively. "Of course not."
Peter looked at her.
"Kind of…" She shrunk in the chair.
He raised a questioning eyebrow.
"Maybe? Yes." Lotus finally gave up and got off the chair. Peter sat down and motioned Lotus to sit on his lap. She did as told and Peter turned around, facing the many different controls of the Milano.
"Ok, then. Let's start."
OOO
Gamora opened the fridge and looked around for berries. Because of her pregnancy, she was constantly eating and she felt fat. Peter always told her that looked even prettier when pregnant. Might be true, but she still hated eating for two. There were no berries in the fridge so she settled for a bag of chips. She took a chair and slowly sat down. Her growing belly didn't allow her to walk properly and sometimes she felt very uncomfortable. But she still wanted the baby. And each of the guardians were very caring and even Rocket knitted a baby hat. Or at least he tried… He just ended up throwing away the failed work and cursed it.
Maybe pregnancy had its advantages.
She stills remembers clearly when she told Peter she was pregnant. At first she was hesitant but after seeing Peter's excited faced and running around the Xandarian Mall screaming that he was going to have a new baby, all her fear and hesitation was gone. She will never forget it. And she will never forget Lotus' face when she was told that she was going to be a big sister, she ran around the whole Milano. She even stayed up that night with Rocket building a crib. Such sweetheart. It was even her own design.
Every time she was around Groot, he will follow her like an obedient puppy and will get very protective sometimes. She had a strong theory that Groot knew that she was pregnant way before she knew about it herself or had the symptoms. She was also convinced that if Groot knew that, then he should probably 'feel' what was the baby's gender. Then there was Drax. Though he was always looking out for her and the baby, he was looking out more for Peter. Sometimes he will tell him what to do on Labor Day and other stuff a man should do or know while his wife is pregnant. Experience, she guessed.
She finally finished the bag of chips and threw it away on the trash can. She was wearing a maternity black shirt with one pair of exercise gray pants. She got up of her chair and walked into the common room, see what Groot was up to. Indeed, he was there putting soil in that small pot. She smiled and sat beside him. "Hello, Groot."
"I am Groot." He greeted as he finished putting soil in the pot.
"What do you have there?"
"I am Groot."
Gamora could translate some of Groot's language, but she couldn't most of the time. "You know what? Surprise me. I guess I'll just have to wait and see."
Suddenly, the ship started to shake. Groot surrounded Gamora with one arm and grabbed the pot with the other. In a few seconds, the shaking ceased.
"What the fuck was that!?" She heard Rocket shout from the workshop.
"Sorry!" Lotus shouted from the deck.
"Yeah, Sorry!" Peter followed.
Gamora rolled her eyes. Guess the driving lessons are over for today. She rubbed her belly automatically. Groot looked down at her, then at her belly. "I am Groot."
"What?"
"I am Groot."
"You really think so?"
Groot nodded. He just told Gamora not to worry, that everything is going to fine. But of course, they were the Jackasses of the Galaxy. What can go wrong?
No, really. What can go wrong?
