Hello All,

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! I am not dead, I'm just slowly editing this story and recovering from a semester of school. This chapter is kind of fluffy filler but it's okay. I hope to finish and post more chapters a lot more regularly but who knows if that will happen. Let me know what you think of this chapter and this story. It's very separate from GotG Vol. 2 and the story and anything you don't recognize spring from my own warped imagination.

Pen


Philly ran around the Milano like a chicken with her head cut off, wielding a cleaning rag and a bottle of very potent cleaning spray, attacking everything that would stay still long enough for her to scrub clean. Peter grumbled and rolled his eyes but didn't out right complain, even when she made him change chairs three times and move his feet off the table so she could scrub it down. Nearing a full decade of living with Philly, he at least knew when to leave her to her own devises and let the blue haired woman go nuts.

The rest of the team, however, did not.

"Would you cut that out!" Rocket growled as she tried to wash the plate he was using before he had finished. With a huff Philly put it back down with a little more force then necessary.

"I have to get this mess at least presentable by the time we get to Rimbor." She threw up her hands in exasperation. "And if you guys aren't going to help me, I have to go non stop. So deal with it."

Gamora stood and cleared away her empty plate, "I think what Rocket is trying to say is that you are being somewhat…" she trailed off and looked to the boys for support.

"Obsessive?" Peter offered.

"Completely out of your mind and slowly drowning the rest of us in bleach." Rocket said.

"Taking up a cause with the devotion of a wounded solder returning home victorious from the field of battle." Drax boomed.

"I am Groot?"

"Yes." Gamora agreed with a short nod. "And it's a little unnecessary."

"Unnecessary?" Philly's fists were propped up on her hips. "If this place isn't spotless within the next five hours we will come knocking on Rimbor like this. I can't show up with a filthy ship!"

Peter sighed, "Philly she's your mom. She lived with you for years, I'm sure Cana is expecting this." He gestured to the rest of the room the same way Philly had just done.

"And that is precisely the reason why I need to show her I'm not that angry teenager who wandered into town." Philly answered back, "I can take care of myself in a level-headed and responsible manner and she can please stop treating me like a youngling."

Peter groaned. "Ugh, fine. What still needs to be done?"

She thought a moment. "The kitchen and the main hall both need to be wiped down, the cargo hold has to be organized so we can at least walk though it in a straight line, and all your rooms need to, at the very least, look okay."

"Well, you heard the lady. Let's go…" Peter's nose wrinkled in disgust, practically biting out the next words, "clean the ship."

Philly assigned herself to the cargo hold and enlisted the help of Drax to move the heavy supply crates. With Philly's pickiness and Drax's help the boxes containing things of value, be it theirs or the things Philly just so happened to be transporting across the galaxy under the radar, were moved so they lined the walls. A row of creates holding supplies like food and medical equipment went in front of these as well as getting stacked up to the ceiling and lashed down. Crates of weapons or parts the team used often but should not be paraded down a Xandarian street were mixed in with legitimate, law-enforcement friendly cargo and filled in the unused space in the hold with more then enough room for even Drax and Groot to walk side by side to the loading ramp. What had been affectionately dubbed Groot's Corner was left alone. They made sure the water tap and sun lamp were off and the bag of plant food Groot was working on was closed but other then that, after the wall of crates partially enclosed it again, all that was left was to sweep the floor and dust the walls.

"Good job, big guy." Philly said nodding in approval of their work. "I'll go get the broom."

Drax frowned and Philly asked what was wrong. "Nothing of consequence." He answered. "Only, before today I was unaware we had any sort of cleaning supplies on the ship."

Rocket and Groot had been armed with cleaning supplies and assigned to hallways. The cleaner they used now in the Milano was from a pacifist world where the people were part plant. It was designed to not hurt beings like them and, by extension, like Groot. Rocket was grumbling his displeasure to his tall companion and inadvertently Gamora who, working in the kitchen just off the hall, could hear every word.

"Why do we have to clean this stupid hallway? It's not like we're the one's who is seeing their mom."

Groot had given up saying anything. Rocket had started complaining the second he had volunteered them for the task and had only stopped to correct Groot on where to go or what to do. Not that Groot minded the directions; after all, Rocket was scrubbing all the while. The tree man was almost done with the high places and the corners and Rocket was just finishing up on the floor.

They took a moment to look back and inspect their work and heard footsteps too light to be Quill or Drax.

Philly gave a low whistle. "Very nice, you guys. You done with the broom?"

"Yeah." Rocket tossed her a rag. "Wipe ya shoes. We didn't do al this for you to track grim up from the cargo hold. Gamora has it."

Philly complied and practically skipped to the kitchen where Gamora was just putting away the newly cleaned dishes and shutting the now spotless cabinets, making sure the latch caught. The chairs were pushed in and all the food from their earlier meal was stowed.

"Wow…" Philly said. She poked her head back into the hall to make sure it was still clean and then looked back at the kitchen. She repeated three times. "It's so clean." She whispered, as if speaking too loud would break the spell.

Gamora handed her the broom and corrected, "it's so much better."

"So…livable." Philly added, "Good job."

Gamora gave her an off-handed wave and moved on to the drawers. Philly took her leave and said good job to Groot and Rocket again as she pasted them on her way to the hold.

Drax left Philly to sweep up and went to the bedrooms. There were three bedrooms on board the Milano, each had a bunk bed built into the wall and a shared closet squeezed into a corner. One room was Rocket and Groot's, one was Gamora's and occasionally Philly's when she wasn't in the cockpit, and the last belonged to Quill and Drax. Quill let the destroyer have the bottom bunk and didn't mind him storing weapons in the closet. And in turn Drax usually didn't mind the Terran's untidy habits.

Today however was a cleaning day and they had all worked hard making sure the ship was more then presentable. So when Drax opened his door to find Peter ankle deep in the things he had collected over the years scattered all over the floor he was…less then pleased.

Under Drax's…persuasive supervision, the situation was soon remedied.

All six of them were in the common room. They were all standing so as to not make any mess and have to do any more cleaning. Philly breathed a sigh of relief, there were about five minutes to spare before the ship broke Rimbor's atmosphere and she would have to be up in the cockpit. Aside from Peter, who was scowling because Drax had forced him to put his stuff away, everyone was very satisfied and glad the ship was clean for the first time any one could remember.

"This is so strange." Gamora said breaking the silence.

"The good kind." Philly added.

Rocket scoffed, "too bad it won't last."

"Why would it not last?" Drax asked. Collectively, Rocket, Philly, Groot, and Gamora turned to glare at Peter with varying degrees of accusation. Drax, who caught on and understood much more than he was given credit for, frowned at the Terran, "I see."

Philly let the Milano swoop and curve through the clear skies on Rimbor. It was one of the Nova Empire's colonized planets whose cities had spread so fast and grown so much over the decades that now it had nearly enough population to count as a first world planet. It was still just remote enough for a small cruiser to fly into with out checking with the flight control towers if one was careful and know the route.

Philly's adopted mother lived in the country on Rimbor. She owned a farm with a yellow house and a red barn and barley fields that needed someone to fly the old crop duster over every season. Philly had walked off the old ship that had raised her after Tuppie, her mentor, had retired. She'd been sixteen and didn't want to be stuck on the ship for the rest of her life; the port just so happened to be on Rimbor and she had said her good byes and went out on her own. The captain of the ship gave her his number so when she gave up and wanted to come back and do something sensible, she could. His words.

Philly had lasted a whole month before she seriously considered calling for help and asking them to take her back. No one wanted to hire a teenager who was dressed like a street rat who didn't have anyone to vouch for her and no references except her own word about how good she could fly. Desperate, the girl had taken a flyer on the town bulletin board. It was a wanted poster for a crop duster position. The ad said it was low paying but free meals and a place to sleep in the barn if desired.

The woman who ran the farm had three other kids living there, all adopted, two boys, seven and ten, and an eight-year-old girl. The two farm hands, who had also been her adopted children, had just moved out. Also slightly desperate, Cana gave the girl a chance and let her dust crops for the whole season.

Everyone on Milano knew this because Philly wouldn't shut up about it ever since they had decided to visit the farm. So it was a massive relief to everybody when they finely touch downed in a small grassy field, kept cleared as a makeshift-landing pad for when the Milano's crew visited.

An old human woman with hair that was now mostly grey with streaks of black now, instead of the other way around like when Philly had first met her, was waiting on the porch for them. She was short and very plump looking, sitting in one of the five rocking chairs in the shade of the porch. No sooner had the ship settled and the loading ramp had dropped was Cana Resh moving toward it. Philly loped down the ramp and met her half way embracing her in a tight hug.

"Hey, mama."

"My little Philly." Cana smiled fondly at the woman, then opened an arm to the Terran man fast approaching. "Peter."

"Hello Cana." He grinned as the farmer gave the two of them a simultaneous hug, and yelped along with Philly when the two got sharp, simultaneous smacks to the back of their heads.

"Ouch, what was that for?" Philly whined rubbing at the back of her head.

"What were you two thinking?" Cana demanded, hands on her hips, "Getting arrested. Going up against Ronan. You could have been killed."

"Sorry Ms. Resh," Peter let his head drop down guilty. "But there were people in trouble, we had to do something!" He looked as repentant as he could, adding quietly, " Especially since it was kind of our fault in the first place."

"But it was their fault for getting us arrested." Philly pointed at the rest of the team, trying to divert her mother's attention.

"So these are the guardians of the galaxy I've heard so much about." Cana mused, surveying them each in turn. She looked between Peter and Philly and cleared her throat expectantly.

The two promptly made introductions as the whole group moved out of the noonday sun and into the shaded porch. Groot and Gamora were polite, albeit the latter was a little awkward, Drax was much too blunt for formalities and declared that any relatives (on good terms) of his friends were also his friends and Rocket at least played nice after a nudge from Groot.

"I thought Nova wanted to keep us under wraps." Peter said, pushing the over stuffed rocking chair back and forth so aggressively it looked like he might topple over. "How do you know about all this?"

Cana shot him a sharp look. "After you broke out of prison your friend, Corpsmen Dey called asking if I knew where you were."

"What did you tell him?" Philly asked, sitting up.

"The truth." Cana shot her adopted daughter a reproachful look, "I had no idea where you were or how to find you. I was so worried."

Peter and Philly exchanged guilty looks. "Sorry…" They murmured.

Cana sighed, "What's done is done. I'm just so glad all of you are okay."

"So are we." Gamora assured.

"You must be hungry," Cana said. She missed Peter's eager smile and mouthing 'yes'. "I have a roast cooking and it should be ready in about half an hour."

"Any pies?" Peter asked hopefully.

"Three." The motherly woman smiled fondly, patting the man's shoulder assuringly.

The Terrain licked his lips. "Mmmm, you guys are in for a treat!"

Peter had not been exaggerating. The roast was cooked to perfection, seasoned with herbs form the garden on the side of the house and so fresh out of the oven it was still sizzling with loud pops. Cana cut it into thick slices, served with fresh boiled potatoes and coleslaw on old chipped white plates with green looping patterns. To Peter and Philly's disappointment, Drax and Gamora got the first plates followed almost immediately by Rocket. Groot was out in the garden enjoying the homemade compost and the country sunshine.

"Guest get served first." Cana admonished the two when they complained. "Now since you have the energy, go get the cups and drinks for us."

Having learned from experience it was no use arguing with the woman who had raised over half a dozen younglings and knew every retort in the book, Philly and Peter hopped up and set about doing as they were told.

"What have you been up to since Xander?" Cana asked setting down two plates at their empty chairs and getting a dinner for herself.

Behind her mother's back Philly shook her head sending Rocket, Gamora, and Drax a warning look.

"We have been trying to figure out how to work and live together in such close proximity," Gamora answered truthfully.

"And how's that going?" No one really wanted to reply and Cana nodded understandingly, "I see. Things like this are always hard to get used to at first but give it a little time and it will get better."

"Hey guess who I ran into a few weeks ago." Philly jumped in to change the subject before her mother could do something drastic like an impromptu therapy session. She liked to meddle in her older children's lives, "Mac. Remember me telling you about him? From the ship."

"Yes," the woman nodded, "you said he is like an older brother to you."

"That's the one." She chirped, "anyway we ran into each other and he gave me a data stick with my baby pictures on it and now I'm giving it to you." She pulled her present out of her pocket with a flourish and presented it proudly to her mother. Philly had found it in her mad cleaning rampage and decided on a whim it would make a nice present.

Her mama squealed like a little girl who'd been offered the toy she'd always wanted, "have any of you seen them yet?"

When she got a no form each of them Cana plugged it into the kitchen monitor, completely ignoring the protest form her daughter.

"Oh, hush girl." She laughed merrily. "What kind of mother would I be if I didn't show your baby pictures to the friends you bring them over?"

"Can't be that bad." Peter told her grinning widely as he stuck his head out the back door. "Hey Groot, come in here, you have got to see this!"

"This is really backfiring on me." Philly mumbled as she sat back down and slowly slumped in her chair

How right she was. There were about fifty pictures in all, they started when she was about seven and went on for about a year afterwards. Most of them had her then white hair in regular pigtails. She was smiling in most of them, some had a younger version of Mac and a Trogodile, some were in a spacious cockpit on something like a large transport or a freighter, one had her completely covered in chocolate head to toe. Peter and her mama cooed and aww'ed at each one of them. Someone, including Gamora, Drax, or Rocket, had a comment or a quip ready.

"Why did I have to be so darn adorable?" Philly moaned burying her face in her hands looking at a shot of her after dumping an entire jar of glitter over her head. She had wanted to be a princess. It was just a phase all little girls went through.

"So this can happen." Peter shot back at her.

After three days, many fantastic meals and a tour of the new and exactly the same Milano it was time for them to go. Cana gave Philly and Peter a tight hug and a peck on her cheek, then, to their delight and everyone else's surprise, did them same with Gamora, Rocket, Groot, and Drax.

"Have a safe trip, and come visit any time, sooner the better!"

"We shall." Gamora told her with sincerity.

Cana waved at them non stop as the loading ramp closed she continued until she lost sight of the ship into the twilight sky. "Be safe." She whispered.