"Izzy. Stop that b'fore ya hurt yerself." Yondu calls from the couch of the small state room.
Izzy his adopted 6 year old daughter continues to jump on the bed as if she never heard her father. She grins as she leaves the soft comforter, being pushed into the air. Peter, who is sitting next to yondu, shakes his head fondly. He knows that she heard their father but she doesn't care enough to stop. If that was him or Kraglin as kids Yondu would of been pushing them off the bed if they hadn't stopped. But Izzy was a girl and at different ages then him and Krags when Yondu decided to raise them. Maybe the old man mellowed out in his advancing years.
"Izzy." Yondu sighs looking up from the holopad he has in his lap.
Izzy stops for a second, looking at her small family, "But daddy the beds aren't as bouncy at home."
All three men, Yondu, Peter and Kraglin, smile at the small pronouncement. Only this little girl would view the Eclector, a Ravager filled ship, as a home. Granted it was home to all the men and women that are part of the group, but this is different. Most had homes on other planets. But Izzy has only known the Elector as her home for the past 3 years since they've taken her in. She takes the silence as the opportunity to start jumping again. Yondu sighs pinching the bridge of his nose.
Kraglin leans around the corner, setting the holopad on top of the desk he's sitting at, "Hey princess. How about you come over here so we can find that Nebula you saw earlier and see what the name of it is."
Izzy smiles broadly, moving to the edge of the bed. She was fascinated by the colors and shapes. She had asked Yondu what it was but even the older man didn't know the name. So Kraglin bribed her that they would look it up later when she started giving Yondu a little attitude about something. She jumps towards the edge, intending to land her bottom and bounce on her feet. But she misjudges. Her foot lands on the edge of the bed and slips, causing her to lose her balance. She falls forward, smacking her nose into the wall that separates the bedroom from the bathroom. All the men tense as they watch to see what the youngest member of the family does. Izzy blinks her dazed eyes a few times before pain from her nose reaches her brain. Her face scrunchies as she starts to cry. All the men were on their feet and crowding around her. Yondu pushing past his boys to get to his youngest.
He gently picks her up, settling her into his arms, "This is why I told ya t'stop. I should smack ya for not listening." The small girl whines, intensifying her crying. Isn't having a sore nose enough? Why should she have a stinging bottom as well. "But I ain't since ya busted ya nose up pretty good."
There is no heat to his words as he settles the two on the couch, placing the little girl on his lap. Kraglin leans over his captain's shoulder, wanting nothing more than to check on his baby sister. Peter goes to the sink and grabs a towel. Izzy hit her nose hard enough that there is blood running out of it and down her chin. Peter hands it to Yondu who mumbles a thanks and settles it under her nose. Peter settles to the side, hands on his hips as he watches the two. Yondu settles into the couch, allowing Izzy to take in some comfort. He's gonna have to check her nose soon to make sure that she didn't break it. After several minutes Yondu sighs. It's time to look at her nose, but he knows it's gonna be a fight. He knows from experience that it's sore and you don't want anyone messing with it. It's gonna be even worse since Izzy is only 6 and he can't tell her to suck it up. Yondu stills himself, pushing Izzy away from his chest. Better get it over with and check her nose. He removes the towel and goes to run his fingers over the bridge. Izzy whines, pushing the blue hand away from her face. She is not ready for him to touch her nose.
"Isabella. I have t'check t'see if yer nose is broken." Yondu says holding both her hands in his one.
He runs his fingers over the bridge of her nose, forcing a whine pass the young girls lips. He can see the bruising that will definitely be there by tomorrow morning. But the nose is still straight. He turns her head to the side, checking to see if there is any bulging spots or the nose is bent to one side. Luckily there is nothing like that. So it's not broken, but definitely sore and will be for the next couple days.
Yondu looks up at his boy Peter, "Go see if ya can find some ice boy. Keep the swelling down."
Peter nods his head, quickly leaving the room in search of ice. Yondu hands the towel to Kraglin, "Get this damp, so I can clean the blood off."
Kraglin takes the towel and wets the corner in the sink of the small kitchenette. He wrings it out making sure not to have any water dripping off the towel. Izzy is wearing a shirt of his to bed tonight. And if they get it wet, she'll have nothing else to wear. He hands it back to his captain. Yondu takes it wiping the blood off of Izzy's mouth and chin. She whines, turning her head away trying to get away from the assault. Yondu tightens his hold on the wiggling kid. He continues the assault, not willing to back down from the challenge. Yondu sets the towel aside, after succeeding in getting all the blood off the kid. He leans back allowing her to snuggle into his chest. Small sniffles leaving the small form trying to find comfort in her daddy's arms.
The family sits there quietly. They listen to the sound of running water from the bathroom. The final member of this little group, Lizsa, is showering. It won't be long before she comes out and attacks the Centaurian with endless questions on what happened. Yondu shifts to get more comfortable waiting for the ambush. He doesn't have to wait long when the water to the shower shuts off. Lizsa, a pink skinned woman steps out of the bathroom. Her robe was singed tightly around her waist, her wavy hair cascading down her shoulders. She takes notice of the pitiful state of the young girl curled up on her daddy's chest. And the hovering of the older first mate.
"What happened?" She asks soothingly as she walks over to the father figure.
Yondu grunts, shifting his arm to wrap more around the little frame, "She smacked her nose on the wall, after falling off the bed. After I told her t'stop jumping on the bed in the first place."
Lizsa tisk at the reply. Shaking her head fondly. She knows how dysfunctional this small family is. She leans back into the couch listening to the small conversation going on between the captain and first mate. She brushes her fingers through the dirty blond hair of the young girl. She knew that she couldn't compare to her daddy and brothers, but she could still add a little bit of a woman's touch to the situation.
The adults tense when the door suddenly opens. Peter pushes himself through the opening, shutting it behind him. Everyone relaxes. Peter hands the bag of ice to the blue man staying nearby hands in his hip. Yondu shifts, placing the bag on Izzy's nose. She whines but doesn't pull away completely.
Yondu jerks his head towards the bathroom, "Kraglin. Go shower."
Kraglin didn't question or hesitate to obey the command. He slips into the bathroom turning on the hot water. Peter watches the older man retreat before residing himself on the coffee table in front of Yondu. Looking over Izzy. She gives him a pitiful look. Ice pack covering her nose, teeth chattering a little, eyes red and puffy from crying. The sight breaks his heart. Peter smiles at her though, making his eyes go crossed and sticking out his tongue. Izzy grins, laughing quietly. Peter is the fun, silly older brother. She hardly got in trouble with him because they are getting in trouble together. They were partners in crimes despite the almost 17 year age difference.
Izzy reaches out for her older brother, grabbing his shirt before he can pull away. At the moment she wants him more than Yondu. Yondu rolls his eyes, knowing she only wants him because he won't make her listen. But he gives in handing the girl over to Peter. Yondu gets up, throwing the bag of ice in the sink. It has done the trick and her teeth were starting to chatter. Most of it has melted anyways.
"Hey pipsquick." Peter says softly, wrapping his muscular arms around the small frame of the 6 year old.
It didn't take Kraglin long before he comes back out. He has a towel around his waist and another drying his short hair. Izzy looks over her brother's shoulder at the sound of the door opening. When she sees her eldest brother she grins widely. She watches as he slips into the bedroom that he and Peter were sharing. He pulls on a pair of comfortable soft pants, not bothering with a shirt. Izzy, wiggles in Peter's arms wanting down. She wants Kraglin now. Peter sets her on her feet, watching with amusement as she runs over to Kraglin, arms raised. It may be weird but if there was one thing Izzy loves it's the skin to skin contact she gets when the men in her life doesn't bother putting on a shirt. She'll snuggle into them more deeply, loving the warmth that radiates from the bare skin.
Kraglin throws the towels in the bathroom, not caring that they end up in a pile on the floor. These vacation places have room cleaning services. So, picking up dirty towels is in the job description. He turns around to see the baby running towards him. He smiles, gently picking her up. He cradles her head, pressing her into him. He sways back and forth as the 6 year old snuggles deep into his chest.
"You're next boy." Yondu says, kicking Peter's foot gently.
Peter nods, walking past Kraglin and Izzy while taking his shirt off. The peaceful scene was instantly broken by a knock on the door. Every person within the room tenses. They were there on a job. Something needed to be stolen and returned to their payer. They had a whole facade. They were not in ravager clothes and they were supposedly a happy family on an outing. Lizsa being the motherly figure, yondu the father, and the three kids; Kraglin, Peter and Izzy. The job itself was not dangerous, hence why the youngest member of the family was around. But there was always some small amount of danger to every mission. They were hired to do this job, but that doesn't mean that someone else didn't want the same item. And since no one was expecting anyone, the tension grew.
Yondu walks up to the door. He peers through the small peephole. On the other side of the door was a well dressed Xandarian in a white coat. A healer. They are a specialized group of people, mostly Xandarians, who can perform miracles in the medical field. Whenever there was a serious accident that the doc couldn't handle, they went to the healers. Yondu scoffs a little at the sight.
"What's a healer doing here boy?" Yondu questions Peter who stands behind Kraglin.
Peter raises his hands, "I didn't get him! The woman must of sent him."
"What woman?" Yondu growls.
"I asked for help in getting ice. She asked what had happened and I told her my little sister fell off the bed and hit her nose. She must of sent the healer to make sure that it wasn't broken." Peter defends himself.
Yondu sighs, placing a hand on his hip, using the other to pinch the bridge of his nose. He could just tell the healer to get lost they were fine. But then that would draw undue attention to themselves. And that is not needed. Yondu opens the door just enough for the healer to see him.
"Yeah?" He asks gruffly.
"Hello. I was informed that there was an accident?" The healer says.
"Nothing we can't handle." Yondu states, starting to shut the door.
"Sir please." He rests his hand in the door, stopping it from shutting in his face. "I just wanna check on her. I won't be long." The healer pleads.
Yondu looks the healer up and down. He sighs, something he seems to be doing a lot here lately. He moves out of the way offering the healer an invitation to come in. The healer lets out a sigh of relief as he walks through the door. He stops in his tracks as he sees what's before him. There is a tall lanky man(Kraglin) holding a small terrified child. He has a mean looking glare on his facial features. Beside him is a well build muscular young man(Peter) who also has a glare on his face. He watches the healer with a suspicious critical eye. And on the other side is a short pinked skin woman that has her hands on her hips. She looks as mean as a rattlesnake. Yondu turns his attention to the man, not knowing what had stopped the healer till taking in the scene.
Yondu laughs deeply, smacking the healer on the shoulder, "Don't mind them. They're the big brothers."
The healer chuckles, "I understand. I was one of those overprotective older brothers as well."
Feeling more at ease, the healer approaches Kraglin and Izzy. Izzy eyes him nervously, narrowing her eyes in an attempt to look mean and unaffected. The healer could see that he was going to get nowhere with this girl unless he came up with some kind of bribe. He looks into his bag finding a blue colored teddy bear. He leans back to whisper to Yondu. In his many years of practice he has learned that it is always wise to have permission from the parent to give their child a gift before proceeding. Yondu nods his head in approval knowing that the healer wasn't going to get anything done with the way she is now.
The healer watches as the pink skinned woman walks up, whispering something to Yondu. They give each other a grin before she disappears into another room, shutting the door. No doubt she is done with all the excitement of today and going to bed. That just left the 3 men, the young girl, and himself. The healer finally turns his full attention on his new little patient.
"Alright little one. I have a surprise for you." That got the girl to raise her head in curiosity, "But you can only get it if you let me look at your nose." The healer states.
Izzy narrows her eyes, clearly not trusting the strange man. But the appeal of a surprise was more convincing. After some warring with her emotions she concedes.
She nods her head slowly, "but I stay here." She states, still uncertain of the whole situation.
The healer can work with that. He approaches, examining the nose first my sight. It does not appear to be broken but there is swelling which concerns him a little. He goes to touch the tender spot, only for Izzy to pull away. She turns her head away, looking over her brother's shoulder. The healer stops. She's gonna be abstinent. There has to be a way of distracting the girl. He needs to do a full examination of her nose.
"How did you smack your nose little one?" The healer asks.
Izzy turns her head back around. She tucks it under the older man's chin, "I was jumping on the bed. After daddy told me not to." She states matter-of-factly.
The healer hums in response, "I'm sure your daddy wasn't very happy about that. Did you get in trouble with your daddy?"
"No." She lifts her head to look at the healer fully, "Daddy said that smacking my nose was enough of a punishment. I didn't need a spanking."
The healer tries not to chuckle at the innocent response. Yondu grunts behind him, agreeing with the statement. And about how much she tells on herself. The kid could never keep a secret when it came to something she did wrong. They could read her like a book. The healer runs his fingers down her nose. Checking to see it any of the cartilage is broken. Luckily nothing is. So he moves on to checking the bone and cartilage around the nose and eyes. Sometimes if the impact was hard enough it can cause that to fracture or break.
"That's okay. My daddy use to say that all the time to me and my brothers as well."
"Really?"
The healer hums in agreement, "oh yes. My brothers and I would do all kinds of stupid things. And dad would tell us not to. But we'd do it anyways and then we'd get hurt." The healers smiles at the fond memory as he runs his hands under one of her eyes, "Dad use to tell us that he should spank us for our doings but whatever was hurt was punishment enough."
The small girls eyes got big at the pronouncement, "So it must just be a daddy thing."
That gets all the adults around her laughing. The healer finishes his checkup noting that there was indeed no harm to the child minus some bruising and swelling. With a satisfying nod, he straightens back up.
"Alright little one. You've earned your surprise."
The healer digs through his bag till he finds the blue colored teddy bear. He hands the plush toy to Izzy. Her eyes widen with excitement at seeing the toy, almost as if she hasn't had one. Now
don't think that she doesn't have toys because she does. They're just all on the Elector. And the three men are always doting on her with little things. But it has been some time since she has had a plush toy. They always get so dirty or lost. The last one got accidentally mauled by one of the cargos they were transporting. Izzy acted as if it was okay and it didn't matter but she couldn't sleep for days after the incident. The men had tried to find something to replace it but they just weren't leaving the ship enough planet side to find one. Izzy gently takes the bear, rubbing its head before squeezing it tightly against her chest.
"Thank you." Izzy says quietly, keeping her attention on the bear.
The healer nods his head, a small smile gracing his lips. This is one of the reasons that he became a healer. He turns his attention to Yondu, pulling out some small pills that would help with the pain. He instructs him to just give her one every few hours. Yondu nods his head to the instructions pocketing the container.
"Thanks doc." Yondu says, ushering the healer out of the room.
"What ya gonna name it?" Kraglin asks Izzy.
Izzy contemplates the question, "he's name is Yondu. Cuz he reminds me of daddy."
Kraglin bits the inside of his cheek, trying not to laugh at the young girl. He clears his throat trying to compose himself, "And how does he do that?"
"Because he's blue. And daddy is like a teddy bear. He can be like a bear, mean and growly." She states scrunching up her nose and growling at her brother, "but he ain't nothing but a cuddly teddy bear." She finishes hugging the bear tightly.
That broke the camel's back. Both Kraglin and Quill bust out into laughter. Yondu turns to face his children after shutting the door behind the healer. He knit his brows in confusion at the scene. Quill is laughing so hard he's holding his side and leaning against the closest wall. Kraglin is laughing just as hard, but unable to double over as he is still holding Izzy. And Izzy, well she has a look of confusion on her face. She swivels her head between her brothers trying to figure out what has them laughing so hard.
"Wat ya laughing at boy?" Yondu asks as he stands in front of the three with his hands in his hips.
Kraglin hands over Izzy, "Izzy. Tell Capt'n wat ya just told us."
Yondu takes the small child, raising an eyebrow at her. Izzy goes about telling Yondu what she named her new toy and why she gave him his name sake. Both men were stifling their laughs as she tells the exact same thing she told Kraglin. Making the faces and noises at her daddy. At
the end of her storytelling, she hugs the bear looking up at Yondu with big innocent eyes. Yondu blinks wide eyed at his daughter before sighing and hoisting her up higher on his hip.
"Quill shut it." Yondu snaps. "Go shower boy."
Peter walks away, still laughing boisterously. He throws his shirt in the room, before walking into the bathroom to shower. Yondu eyes his eldest who covers his mouth. He desperately tries not to let his captain know that he is laughing at him. Kraglin turns away, grabbing his holopad. He arranges the pillows so he can lean against the backboard. Yondu lowers his head, placing his forehead on his daughters. Izzy closes her eyes, taking in the scent of old leather, oil and a small amount of cologne. They were scents that have become so familiar.
"Don't tell anyone what ya just told me. Or else I'll feed ya t'the crew." Yondu whispers.
Izzy giggles. The threat not phasing her in the least. That old joke may have worked on Peter when he was younger. But it definitely didn't work on Izzy. She knew that her daddy wasn't going to feed her to any body. So the threat only made her giggle and laugh at her daddy. Yondu shakes his head, playfully swatting her bottom. The action only making her giggle harder. Yondu looks over at the clock, realizing that it's past the youngest's bedtime. Yondu walks over to the bed that he, Kraglin and Izzy were sharing. He places the girl on the edge, jerking his head towards Kraglin. Izzy looks up at her brother, who is leaning back, messing with his holopad. She grins broadly, crawling up to the top of the bed and snuggling into Kraglin's side. Kraglin lifts his arm, laying it around the small form. He drags her closer to his side. Izzy yawns and buries her face into the soft teddy bear.
She lays there quietly, listening to her brother's even breathing. A moment later Peter walks out of the bathroom, singing one of his terran songs softly under his breath. A small smile graces Izzy's lips at the sound. She loves it when Peter sings, especially when he sings to her. She snuggles even deeper, taking in the warmth from her eldest brother and listening to the singing of her older.
Yondu whispers to Kraglin that he's going to shower. Kraglin has set everything aside and laid down under the blankets next to his sister. Izzy hears Yondu. She cracks an eye open to watch Yondu walk into the bathroom. Izzy wiggles herself away from her brother. She wants to stay awake long enough to be able to snuggle into her daddy. But the battle is becoming harder with every passing minute. She whines quietly, hoping that Yondu doesn't take long. As if he can read her thoughts, he takes less than 8 minutes to shower completely.
Kraglin hears the whine and the continuous wiggling. He pulls Izzy closer to his chest. He is trying to get her to settle, but the increase moving and fidgeting with the new toy shows that she's not going down without a fight. Yondu walks out a moment later. His body wash filling the room. Izzy cracks an eye open to watch her daddy slip on a pair of comfort pants. He checks a few things on his pad before shutting it off and crawling into bed himself. He settles in, laying on his back. It takes Izzy no time to wiggle her way out of her brother's grip and crawl over to her daddy. She shoves herself between Yondu's side and arm. Yondu huffs at the action, moving his arm so she could get comfortable. Izzy lays her head on Yondu's chest, teddy bear clutched happily in her little hand. A happy sigh leaves her body. Yondu wraps his arm around his youngest, bring her even closer to him. He closes his eyes, sighing contently, knowing that his small family was all here and safe.