(Bless the few people who left a review on the last chapter! I need to know what's working and what's not, Readers. Please, please, please, leave some reviews so I can know what I'm doing right and what I'm doing wrong. I hope this chapter will make up for whatever it was the last one lacked.)

[Song Suggestions: 'Only You' by Yazoo (or Yaz as they were sometimes called). 'I Know What Boys Like,' by The Waitresses is suggested for when Lydia and Yondu are comparing weapons. Listen to 'Cherry Bomb' by The Runaways when the competition is going on. Play 'Don't Stand So Close To Me' by The Police when Lydia is pacing outside of Yondu's room.)

Chapter Five

Wanna Bet?

'Only You' by Yazoo is my favorite song. I don't know why, I can't put my finger on it, but it's the one song among my music collection that I'll find myself humming or singing a couple a times a day. I know nothing about the band that plays it. I only have one other song by them on a mix tape I randomly purchased a few years back. It's been my song ever since.

I was softly singing said song's chorus as I got ready for Day (Cycle) Two on the Eclector. "All I needed was the love you gave/ All I needed for another day/ And all I ever knew/ Only you…" I'd managed to reclaim my travel bags and arranged my belongings the way I wanted them in my room. I was brushing my hair in front of a cracked and cloudy mirror on the wall when I detected the sounds of Peter moving about in his room next to mine. I grinned in amusement. The boy stomped about like a goolow in the mornings.

"Wonder if you'll understand/ It's just the touch of your hand/ Behind a closed door…"

After I finished braiding my hair, I shrugged on my brown leather jacket and tucked the blue stone pendant of my necklace beneath my shirt. I'd caught a few crewmen sneaking curious glances at it the other day-cycle as if they were trying to gauge if it was valuable enough to steal. It wasn't but if anyone came at me to try taking it, I'd pull a page out of Peter's book and bite some fingers.

I left my room and wrapped my knuckles against Peter's door. "Hey, short-stuff, you ready to get some breakfast?" I called. Last night-cycle – oh screw that, I'll call it day and night if I want! Last night I was able to get Peter to agree to go to the mess hall, but he made it clear that I had to go with him and sit at the same table as him. I was going to do that anyway; as if I'd let that child go into a room full of Ravagers alone.

The door slid open to reveal a haphazardly dressed Peter with his reddish hair sticking up in all directions. "Morning, Lydia," he greeted, smiling.

"Morning," I replied with a chuckle. I reached out and ruffled his messy hair. "Did you get in a fight with your pillow or something, cause you have got an extreme case of bed head, kiddo."

Peter grunted as he tried to pry my hand away from his head. "Knock it off," he whined as young boys do. "It's not that bad."

"Do you have a mirror in your room?"

"Yeah."

"Did you look in it?"

"No."

"Let me show you a thing. It's called a reflection."

I gave him a playful push back into his room and my eyebrows rose as I got a look at it. "Kid, your room is just a messy as your hair!"

"It's fine," he insisted.

I sighed and scooted him to the mirror. It was a bit cleaner than mine and had only a minor crack near the left corner. "You see this thing on your head?" I said, ruffling his curls again. "This is called hair. It has to be maintained in order to not frighten away other people." My gaze briefly flicked to my reflection's braid as I remembered the many times my own bleary-eyed self had been startled by the unruliness of my hair in the mornings. "I should know," I added under my breath.

"I don't have a brush," Peter said as if it excused him.

"You have fingers?"

"Yeah."

"The ya got a brush; and if you have any particularly stubborn hairs that refuse to cooperate," I ran my fingers through his hair to tame it down, "then what you do is you hock up some spit –," I cleared my throat and was not disappointed with Peter's reaction.

"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! I'll do it! I got it! No need!" He wriggled out of my grasp and swiftly ran his own fingers through his hair.

"See? Not so hard, right?" I asked, smiling mischievously. I glanced around. "Now about your room…"

Peter gazed sheepishly about him. "Just so you know," he began, meeting my eyes, "the room was already really messy before I moved in."

I barked out a laugh. "Fair enough," I conceded, "but that's no reason why your bed should be left looking like you had a fight with it. Seriously, Peter, do you thrash around in your sleep or something?"

"No, it's just that my bed was never made when I got the room. One of the aliens tossed some bed sheets at me and that was it. I never learned how to make my bed without help." He gazed sadly at the unmade bed. "Mom was going to teach me."

My chest ached a bit at the sight of his face and I cleared my throat. "Well, I know it's not the same buuut…" I approached his bed and gestured at it. "Would you be okay with me showing you how my mom taught me?"

He seemed to consider it a moment and then nodded, a small smile appearing on his lips. "Sure."

"Okay." I grabbed the base sheet. "Come on over here." Peter did as I said. "So the first thing you do is –," I flicked out the sheet so it would billow out and cover the mattress only to discover … "A fitted sheet!" I squawked.

"What's wrong with a fitted sheet?" Peter asked.

"Everything," I moaned. This wasn't going to be as easy as I thought.


Where is that girl, Yondu wondered, scanning the faces of his very ugly crew for the one person who was actually attractive. The tongue lashing Lydia gave him the previous day-cycle still stung, but he had a particular reason for wanting to find her. Kraglin informed him that during the ship's night-cycle someone had snuck into the armory and stolen an item from the holding. 'Holding' was where weapons the crew came across during raids that they hadn't tested yet or didn't know how the machinery worked, so it would be set aside under lock and key until a time came that they could properly examine it. For a Ravager a proper examination usually consisted of asking, "What's this one do?" while pressing buttons and pulling triggers and seeing the outcome. That was how Vorker lost his eye actually.

Yondu drummed his fingers on the table, red eyes locked on the mess hall's entrance. The moment she walked through that door he was going to tear into her. This was the final straw.

As the minutes ticked by and Lydia remained a no-show, Yondu's glare intensified and he began to grind his teeth. The crew subtly began to vacate the table, opting to eat their breakfast at a safer distance. When ten more minutes passed with no appearance from the red-headed vixen, Yondu slammed his fist on the table with such force that every crewmember in the hall went silent and apprehensively watched their captain. Yondu, not even sparring a glance at anyone, stormed out through the open doors and it was a full ten seconds before anyone dared to so much as move.

"Weeeelp," one blue-skinned Ravager said loud enough for all to hear. He turned his spiked head to look around at the majority of the crew. "She's dead," he announced.

"Don't speak so soon, Rixh," Halvi spoke up.

"She may be pretty but she pushes his buttons too often for her own good," Rixh insisted. He picked up his fork and fiddled with it as he went on talking. "Just you wait, Halvi. That little girl is going to go too far and – wham!" He stabbed his fork into his breakfast. "She'll be skewered like the others before her."

Halvi stood from his seat and carried his empty tray in one hand. He paused next to Rixh who beamed smarmily up at the seven foot tower of night. "You know I'm right, big guy." Halvi lifted his tray and swatted Rixh on the back of his spikey head. The blue alien grasped at his spikes and cringed into his seat. "Gah! Halvi! Geez, man!"

Halvi was already moving on, depositing his tray with the others waiting to be cleaned. A pearly smile was aimed back at Rixh. "Perhaps you'll learn to keep your mouth shut if given the proper motivation, yes?"

Rixh sneered then winced at the pinch of pain that caused him. "Giant ink blot," he mumbled.


Either the girl was purposefully avoiding him or she'd gotten lost on her way to mess hall. A quick trip to the observation room didn't turn her up on any of the screens so his next stop was her room. The scowl on his face warned away any Ravagers who came across him in the halls. Some men would take one look at their approaching captain and wisely take a different route to get to their destinations. Of course, Yondu didn't notice this – well, he did but it vaguely registered in the back of his mind. His heavy footfalls rang out, announcing to all, "Here I am, and I'm about to whoop some ass!" Those purposeful strides began to falter once he rounded the corner to the hall that Quill and Lydia's rooms were at. His ears picked up on Lydia's voice but she sounded … odd.

"Why won't you fit; glom it!"

This was followed by lots of grunts that made Yondu's eyebrows raise and his filthy mind jump to attention. His dirty thoughts came to a screeching halt when he realized Lydia's voice was coming from Quill's room and the door was open.

"I will make it fit!" Lydia's strained voice hissed.

"You almost got it that time," Quill said.

There was a grunt and then the frustrated growl of Lydia. "Glom it!"

Yondu got to the door and was greeted with the rather fetching sight of Lydia's fine backside prominently stuck up in the air as she coiled at the end of Quill's mattress. She'd kicked off her shoes and socks and curled her toes around the bottom edges of the fitted sheet and gripped the upper corners in her hands.

"Are you sure about trying it that way?" Quill questioned uncertainly.

"Kid, there is no win in a situation that involves making a bed with fitted sheets that are a smidge too small to properly fit." Lydia inhaled deeply and readied herself, which hoisted her butt higher in the air and Yondu shamelessly appreciated the view. That girl could fill some pants.

"Alright, here I go," Lydia announced.

"In five," Quill began, "four, three, two, one!"

She sprang from her coiled position, arms and legs extended, and she flopped face first onto the mattress. "Get it!" came her muffled cry.

Quill dashed forward and tugged the right corner from her foot. His face scrunched up with effort as he tried to make it cover the corner of the mattress. Lydia, meanwhile, attempted to do the same with the upper part of the sheet. Yondu couldn't hold back any longer. "If it weren't for the presence of that boy this might could be the opening for a very questionable erotica."

Quill, startled by the sudden sound of Yondu's voice, jumped back and let go of the sheet.

Lydia twisted her head to look back at him. "Peter, grab –," but it was too late. The lower half of the sheet slipped off the corners and snapped back, curling inward and encasing Lydia's feet. The upper corners slipped from her hands and repeated the incident, which enveloped Lydia's head and torso and now had her trapped in a cocoon.

Yondu roared with laughter as he watched the girl struggle to free herself. Quill bit his lower lip and moved to help her but a large, blue hand settled on his shoulder and pulled him back. "Not just yet, boy; I'm enjoyin' this too much," Yondu chortled.

"Borga!" Lydia shouted. "I'll kick your glom tookum, you blue-skinned loxtranti!"

Quill tugged at his ear while frowning with confusion. Yondu nudged his shoulder. "What is it, boy?"

"I think my transmuter-thing is broken."

"It's called a translator. The one I had our medic inject in you was brand new so it can't be broken."

"Then how come some of her words sound funny?"

"Like what?"

"What's a tookum?"

Lydia broke off from her tirade long enough to shout a rebuke at him. "Watch your language, Peter!"

Yondu chuckled. "It ain't broken, boy. I thought the same thing when I hired Halvi," at Quill's questioning look Yondu paused and offered, "the big black guy?" At the boy's nod of recognition, Yondu continued while also keeping an amused eye on Lydia's ongoing battle with the blanket cocoon. "Halvi and Brosh come from the same planet but Halvi's people got a slightly different way of speaking from the majority of the Threxians. His tribe didn't want to register their language with the verbal data corps so their lingo don't always translate with the devices."

"Freedom!" Lydia shouted as she successfully uncovered her head.

"I think the blanket over yer face was an improvement to your look, Brosh."

"Screw you."

"Not in front of the little one, honey," Yondu responded with a smirk. Lydia opened her mouth to retort then quickly shut it after a quick glance at Quill. Yondu's smirk toned down a bit as he gave the boy a little shove towards the door. "You go on an' get yer breakfast 'for the foods all cleared up. I got somethin' tah say to Brosh."

"Lydia's got to come with me."

Yondu's crimson eyes narrowed at him. "You hear what I said, boy? Git!"

Quill cast a worried glance at Lydia. She nodded at him and he nervously went away. Kicking the blanket to the side, Lydia picked up her boots and socks before plopping onto the mattress. She tossed him a grin. "Fitted sheets? Really? Does the depravity of Ravagers know no bounds?"

Yondu grunted, watching her as she bent over to tie up her boots and unknowingly giving him a good view of her cleavage. "Kraglin tells me there was an item stolen from Holding. You wouldn't happen to know anythin' 'bout that, wouldja, princess?"

Instead of a guilty look on her face, Lydia's expression was the picture of calm as she straightened up and fluidly produced her mysterious gadget from wherever she'd been keeping it. "Oh, you mean this item?" she asked.

Yondu exploded with rage at her blasé attitude towards his intimidation tactic. "Ain't even been on my ship for two day cycles an' yer already thievin' from me!" He made a move to swipe it from her but she just as swiftly pulled it out of his reach.

"If anyone's to be accused of stealing it should be you, considering it's my property to begin with."

Yondu lunged for the gadget and she nimbly leapt aside. "Hand that thing over, girl," he growled.

"No." She lifted her nose in the air playfully and affected a high society accent. "I shan't." She clipped it to her belt. "Besides, I needed it back so I can do some repair jobs on this ship that your tools are ill equipped to handle. Plus, I'll need it to help me emphasize my point if some of your crew gets a bit too friendly."

A growl rose in his throat. "I don't trust you with that thing."

Her head cocked to the side and Yondu got the feeling that she was observing him. "You don't know what my gadget is, do you?"

Yondu's jaw twitched.

"You've had it in your possession for forty-eight hours and your men still don't know how it works?"

"I know it's a weapon and I don't trust ya with it," Yondu growled.

A tiny spark of interest flared in her green eyes. She briefly looked away, considering something. She lightly bit down on her bottom lip and Yondu's mind instantly jumped in the gutter. "What if," she began and he dragged his attention away from her mouth. "What if I showed you how it works? Then you could determine if it's too much of a threat for me to keep on my person? You can't be biased though – I'm asking for a true assessment from my captain." She lifted her eyebrows as if to ask, "What do you say to that?"

Yondu eyed her, their gazes locked and assessing. A smirk slowly lifted the corner of his mouth and he gave a single nod.


"Alright, I get that it's more of a multi-functionin' tool," Yondu was groaning. He rubbed at his forehead and gave me an impatient glare. "Now show me how it can be used as a weapon."

I guess I can't blame him for being short with me. I'd been showing him every little thing about my gadget for the past hour and a half and I may have been stretching out my explanations over the mundane features.

"Fine, fine," I sighed and proceeded to make a few twists here, push a button there and a full sized spear sprang from the compact machinery, prompting Yondu to take a surprised step back.

Once he saw no other surprise was going to jump at him, he moved closer and looked it up in down. I couldn't stop a proud smile from curling my lips as he inspected it. "Is that the only weapon it can turn into?" he asked.

"Yeah," I answered.

"Hm," he grunted. My brows knitted together. It wasn't so much his grunt as the way he'd made it sound. It was as if he were saying, "That's it?"

"What wrong with it?" I asked defensively.

Yondu shook his head and pulled a half-hearted face that did nothing to hide his skepticism. "Nothin'," he said, circling me and giving my spear those insulting looks of doubt. "It's just…"

"Just what?"

"It don't look too intimidatin'."

"Looks can be deceiving."

"Ain't that the truth," he added, giving me a pointed once over. I frowned, unimpressed. He wasn't going to get away with that little jab.

Looking to his lower right side where his holster was I said, "I'm sure the same could be said for your flying arrow of doom, right, captain?"

He came to a halt on my left and lifted an eyebrow. "You got somethin' against my arrow, girl?"

I shrugged and pulled the same face he'd made a moment ago. "No, not at all. It's just that at first glance it doesn't make people shake in their boots."

He stepped around so that he was right in front of me and placed his hands on his hips. "The moment my fingers even brush against that side of my coat these boys start quakin' and look for cover."

"Yeah, now they do, but I'm sure there were a few snickers the first time you threatened them with it, right?"

He hesitated and I knew it was true. "They didn't snicker for long," he quickly responded.

I held onto the spear with both hands as I leaned towards him, a teasing smile created just to prick at his pride. "Face it, Yondu. Between your weapon and mine, I think my spear wins in the intimidation round."

I swear the man's face was turning purple. His crimson eyes sparked and that calculating gaze fixed itself onto me. "Is that right?" he asked, his raspy voice lowered to a near whisper. My skin startled to crawl at the intensity of those red eyes. His left hand reached out and grabbed hold of the spear just above my own hands, and he leaned in so that our faces were inches apart. "Just how intimidating is yer spear when facing men with guns, darlin'?" he asked, his words coming out like a low rumble.

I licked my suddenly dry lips as I maintained eye contact. "I'll admit that would be a problem but I've been in tough spots before and my weapon served me just fine."

"That was on Knowhere, darlin'. You're facin' the whole galaxy now and not everyone is gonna be cowed by this metal stick." He emphasized his words by jiggling the pole and I tightened my grip.

"I worked with what I had." I lifted my chin defiantly. "Perhaps if I was given a weapon –,"

Yondu's laugh rasped out but it didn't rise above a chuckle. "Oh-ho-ho, princess, that ain't gonna be happenin' any time soon."

"Alright, then I keep my spear."

"I didn't say ya could."

"You really expect me to let you take away my only defense against your crew?"

"They ain't gonna do anything to you –,"

"They're men, Yondu," I snapped harshly. "I've lived on Knowhere, so don't goolow sprek me."

He gritted his teeth and drew back from me, still keeping hold of the spear. I sensed more than saw the white-knuckled grip he had on the pole above my hands. I realized that I wasn't exactly warming him up to the idea of letting me keep my gadget or issuing me a gun so I changed tactics.

"Okay, how about this. A competition between you and me; my spear against your arrow. I bet that I can hold my own against it."

"What'll ya wager?"

"If I win, not only do I keep my gadget, but you register me with a gun."

He chuckled and I caught a glint of metal peek out from his teeth. "And if I win?"

I couldn't really think of anything. I knew what I wanted, why should I have to think of what he got? "I don't get a gun?"

He gave me a condescending tilt of his head. "Ya gotta come up with somethin' better than that."

I sighed. "Fine. You decide."

The slow, predator grin that curled his lips and revealed sharp, crooked teeth made me instantly regret the mistake I'd made. "Oh, sugar, you got a lot to learn about makin' bets. You just gave away some power there."

Oh, sprek he was right! "I take it back!" I blurted.

Yondu released the spear and resumed circling me. "Too late, princess." He tapped his chin. "Now, when I win, ya gotta turn over yer gadget and…" He stopped and grinned at me. "Well, I'll have to come up with somethin' real good, won't I?"

"Screw you and your cocky self."

The tip of his tongue poked out from between his teeth as he kept grinning confidently at me. "I'll take that into consideration."

I turned on my heel and stormed off.


Somehow word got around about Yondu and Lydia's competition. A majority of the crew had gathered in the hangar bay and Peter fidgeted nervously where he sat perched on top of a large crate. The crew was rowdy, waiting to see the showdown. Peter clutched his Walkman, focusing on the music and not on the jeers and shouts surrounding him.

Hello, daddy! Hello, mom!

I'm your ch-ch-ch-cherry bomb!

Hello, world! I'm your wild girl!

I'm your ch-ch-ch-cherry bomb!

Halvi stood next to him, a silent presence who's crossed arms and unflinching stare sent out a warning to anyone who was even thinking about approaching the boy. Despite being a member of the crew who kidnapped him, Peter decided he was okay with Halvi being near. The giant had yet to threaten to eat him, so that made Halvi alright in his book. It was Halvi who brought him to the hangar and lifted him effortlessly with one hand onto the crate.

"What's going on?" Peter asked for the third time.

Halvi had finally answered him after taking up his crossed arms position. "The captain and your guardian have made a bet with one another."

"What kind of bet?"

Peter couldn't get anything else out of the ink-black giant and settled his headphones over his ears. He was nearly to the end of the song when the roar of the crew drowned out his music and caused him to slip the headphones off and looked around. "They're here," Halvi told him.

Peter quickly scrambled to his feet atop the crate and saw them, Yondu and Lydia, entering the hangar. Yondu swaggered into the clearing and made gestures to encourage the crews' cheers. Lydia did her best to hide her nervousness as she tagged along after him. She didn't draw any attention to herself as she did a quick check up on her spear for probably the hundredth time.

Peter cupped his hands near his mouth. "Lydia!"

Her head lifted up from the spear and glanced around. He called out again and she spotted him. He gave her an energetic wave and she smiled as she waved back. Halvi tapped at Peter's leg. "Enough. Let her concentrate," he said without being harsh. Peter frowned but settled back onto the crate. He could see them fine now that they were in the center of the clearing.

Kraglin entered the circle and stood in between Lydia and Yondu. The captain stood with his legs apart, hands at his hips, a wide grin plastered on his ugly face. Peter fought the urge to 'boo' at him. Lydia also stood with her legs apart but bent at the knees, ready to run, to jump, and to move at a moment's notice. Peter saw Kraglin's lips moving but couldn't hear him over the din of the crew. He wished they'd all shut up.

Kraglin raised his arm, glanced back and forth, and then swiftly lowered his arm as if he were slashing the air. He quickly jumped back and happened to shuffle over to Peter's crate. "What did the captain decide?" Halvi asked. "Blood or life?"

"Blood," Kraglin answered, not looking away from the circling pair.

Halvi gave a solemn nod. "That's what I thought he'd choose."

The hair on the back of Peter's neck stood on end. Yondu was going to kill Lydia?


I watched closely as Yondu lazily moved aside the right edge of his leather coat and began to whistle. The arrow began to glow red and languidly lift out of its holster. I'd briefly seen this thing in action before and –

Yondu's warbling tune suddenly changed to a sharp whistle and I barely saw the red blur heading straight for me.

"Ah!" I dropped to the floor, felt the swift breeze pass over my back, and quickly rolled onto my feet to face the direction the arrow had gone. I had no idea he could make his arrow move so fast! What the sprek! I heard Yondu chuckle behind me. Borga.

A series of staccato notes were the only warning I had before the glowing red blur zoomed around and a stinging pain presented itself on my right calf. I looked down to see my pant's leg was thinly cut and a trickle of blood was visible. He ruined my best pants! I jerked my gaze back to Yondu. He grinned then whistled again. By some instinct, I thrust my spear to my left and twirled it as fast as possible. I felt it jar in my hands from a collision. I just blocked that sucker! Yeah!

If I could just get close enough to Yondu then I might could disrupt his whistling long enough to –

The arrow was coming back. Yikes!

I jabbed the end of my spear's pole against the ground and used it to propel me out of the way as the arrow flew past. I twisted around and attempted to lung at him but the arrow changed course faster than I expected and cut me off, causing me to give up the ground I had gained only moments before.


"He's playing with her," an older man with piercing blue eyes and a scraggly brown beard hissed at Halvi.

Halvi shrugged. "So what if he is, Horuz?"

"He should be making a lesson out of her," Horuz growled.

"He will," Kraglin assured him with a bored tone.

Peter's breath hitched in his chest. No. Not her – not Lydia. She's nice – she's real nice! She's my friend!

Peter shook Halvi's muscled shoulder. "You have to make them stop!" he said once the man turned to look at him.

Black eyes blinked at the boy. "Can't do that, boy. It has to play out."

"But –"

Halvi turned away to continue watching the fight.

Peter shifted his weight back and forth from one leg to the other as he watch and scrapped his brain for an idea but came up with nothing.


I was running low on energy. Yondu's arrow moved with such speed that it was nearly impossible to keep track of. I'd only managed to deflect it a couple more times and came to the realization that it was because he'd let me do it. I gained two more cuts, one at my right arm, another on my right hand. They weren't deep cuts, just grazed the skin enough to draw blood.

The arrow whizzed by close enough that I heard it whoosh near my ear. I flinched away, swinging my spear clumsily at the already vanished threat.

Yondu's arrow hovered by his side as he chuckled at me. "What do you say, boys? Should we bring this to a close?"

The crew roared wildly. I could have sworn I heard one voice scream 'No!' but I probably imagined it. Yondu's eyes glinted as he resumed whistling and released that sharp note that sent the arrow slicing through air right at me. I was too exhausted to move, my muscles trembled, and that glowing red blur kept getting closer.

I squeezed my eyes shut.

Nothing happened.

I eased open one eye. The tip of the arrow head was less than an inch from my nose and it hovered there as Yondu strolled over to me with a lofty expression on his face. At a trill from him, the arrow retreated back into his holster.

He snapped his fingers at my spear and held open his hand. "I win, darlin'."

Sighing with defeat, I twisted the spear's pole and glumly watched it shift back into a travel-sized gadget.


"Huh?" Peter said, confused. "I thought he was going to kill her?"

"Nah, Pete," Kraglin said, guffawing. Peter wrinkled his nose at the shortening of his name. "He chose 'blood'. He'd draw blood from her to teach her a lesson. Now, if he'd chosen 'life', he'd have taken her life."

Peter released a sigh of relief. Thank you, he thought to whoever was listening.

"Most men that cross him aren't that lucky," Horuz grumped.

"Well in case it's escaped your attention, Horuz…" Halvi placed a hand on top of the man's head and turned it so that he'd look at Lydia. "That is most certainly not a man."

"Sure ain't," Kraglin snorted. "Cute little red-head like her? Psh! Cap'n ain't gonna kill her."

Horuz scoffed and jerked his head out of Halvi's loose hold. "Just because the girl has a pretty face shouldn't prevent the captain from disciplining her as if she were a man."

"Horuz, how old would you guess the girl to be?" Halvi asked. He leaned back against the crate and noticed from his peripheral vision that Peter was trying to get down. He didn't even bother to look as he reached over and plucked up the boy by his backpack and lowered him to the floor. Peter blinked in surprise then hurried off to push his way through the crowd to meet Lydia.

"Judging by Threxian standards, I'd say she can't be twenty yet."

"Exactly. She's a pretty girl who pushes the captain's buttons but she posses no true threat to him. If she did, then you know the captain would have killed her without hesitation."

Horuz sniffed as he narrowed his eyes at the girl. "He shouldn't have let her off so easily."

"This is why the ladies don't flock to you, Horuz," Halvi teased.


"Alright, you won," I fumed. "So what do I have to do?"

As the crew continued to make a ruckus, Yondu pulled me by the sleeve of my jacket and whispered, "My quarter's tonight."

My stomach churned. Surely he didn't mean…

"Lydia!"

I glimpsed Peter trying to push his way through the crowded bodies. He looked so happy to see me; you wouldn't have guessed I'd lost the fight.

"Don't come until most of the crew's asleep, ya hear?" Yondu's gruff voice rumbled in my ear. I gave him a numb nod. He released my jacket and turned away. The crew parted for him and Peter slipped through the opening to rush at me.

"You're okay!" he cheered. He collided into my legs as he hugged me and I let out an involuntary hiss when he bumped the cut on my leg. Peter stepped back and looked down at it.

"Do you need to see a doctor?" he asked worriedly.

"Nah, kid. I'm good. Just gotta clean these cuts with some soap and I'll be fine."

Or at least I will be until tonight…


Later that night, just as he'd requested, I left my room when I knew that only those on the night crew would be about and stealthily made my way to the captain's quarters. Just as I got to the door, I froze. What would be waiting for me behind it?

I began to pace the hall, biting my thumbnail until there was nothing left. I could only think of one reason why Yondu wanted me to visit his quarters at night but I desperately tried to come up with other reasons. I prayed to whoever would hear me that it wouldn't be what I was dreading. It's not that I found Yondu unappealing, far from it; it's just that I'd never been with a man and I kept remembering the intensity of my first encounter with Yondu. Would he be like again?

Knowing I couldn't stall any longer, I went to the door and knocked. It opened and I drew in a breath before walking in. I'd barely gotten a proper look at his room the last time I was in here due to being – er – preoccupied. I took a moment to look at my surroundings. It was much larger than I or Peter's room. Much larger. The bed was large too, covered with blankets and one that looked made of some sort of fur. Despite the untidiness of the rest of the ship, Yondu's room was fairly clean but it was most definitely a male's room.

A small electric spark caught my attention and I directed my gaze to it. Yondu was at work bench, fiddling with some sort of device I couldn't make out from where I stood. He didn't raise his eyes to look at me but remained focused on his work.

"Come 'ere, girl."

I swallowed and warily made my way over to him. As I got closer I saw that the device he was working on was small enough for a child. "What is that?" I asked.

"It's a gun."

"Never seen a gun that looked like that before."

"I swiped it from the armory of the last town we raided a few weeks back." He paused in his tweaking and eyed the sightline. "It's an older model. Needs some upgrades." His gaze shifted to me as he held out the gun to me. Take a look at it and tell me what you see?" he asked.

I inspected the weapon, turning it this way and that. "Wasn't made for lethal attacks, it doesn't have a big enough power cell for it and the shot wouldn't get very far either." I squinted at the rim of the barrel. "A stun gun?"

"Yep." Yondu leaned back in his seat, watching me. "Can you tell what I'm trying to modify it to do?"

My eyes skimmed his work table, flicking from the various parts and tools he had spread about the surface and the settling on the gun in my hands. "From what I can figure, you want to up the stun voltage so that it gives the target more of a kick and than a tickle." I quirked an eyebrow at him. "You don't exactly strike me as the type to use a stun gun." I looked meaningfully at his holstered arrow.

"I ain't, but for a little boy who's barely got any meat on his bones it could be useful in case an enemy comes along."

I blinked. "You're re-modifying this for Peter?" That was almost worthy of a squeal of 'aaaw' from me.

"Nope. You are."

"…Okay, you lost me somewhere."

His blue fingers drummed on the table twice. "My crew can't know about this. I got myself a reputation to uphold and gettin' accused of bein' soft for the boy ain't something I'm aiming for. This project's provin' to be a bit more difficult than I thought and I'm hitting a few snags with the reconfigurations. Seein' the work you did on your gadget, I think you got the know-how. You help me fix up this gun and when it's done, you give it to Quill as if this was solely you. That's my wager's winnings."

I grinned mischievously. "A reputation, huh?"

Yondu smirked back like he'd been expecting me to try using this against him. "Ya might wanna hear what I'm gonna offer you in exchange for your silence."

"Oh." I pulled up an overturned bucket and sat down, chin in hand; the very picture of an attentive listener. "I'm all ears, captain."

"You do this for me and I let you keep your spear-gadget."

I nodded. "Alright. Deal."

I turned so that I was facing the table and laid the gun down. I started to really look at it now that I knew what was expected of me. Speaking of which… I was so relieved that Yondu hadn't ordered me to his quarters for what I'd feared that I started to giggle to myself.

Yondu gave me a funny look when he heard me. "What's got you so tickled?"

I shook my head. "Nothing, I just –" I snickered a bit and cleared my throat. "I thought you wanted me hear for a completely different reason."

"After what happened last time!" He barked a single, sardonic laugh. "Ain't happenin' again, princess."

It was such a stupid thing for me to do. I don't know why I thought it was okay in the first place. I leaned in so that my lips were close to his ear and placed my hand on his thigh. When I spoke, my voice came out in a sultry whisper, "You wanna bet on that?"

Yondu bolted up from his chair so fast that it fell back with a loud clang. His red eyes glared at me as his nostrils flared. I could feel anger and something else mixed with it radiating in waves off of him. I'd gone too far. I cringed into myself as I met his furious stare with my most apologetic expression.

"Um…" I stammered. "When do I start working on the gun?"

He was quite for a long time and I tried to muster my courage to slip out but that harsh glare kept me pinned on that scarrin' bucket.

"…Tomorrow night," he said. "Same time, in here."

I licked my dry lips. "…Okay." My muscles regained their movement and I carefully stood to my feet. A lock of hair brushed my cheek and I tucked it behind my ear while avoiding eye contact. I heard Yondu inhale sharply. "Um, well…Uh… Goodnight, Yondu." I told myself to start walking. Thankfully I listened.

As I hurried to the door, I found I'd begun to hug myself. I felt awful. That had been a rotten move on my part.

"Brosh," Yondu's raspy voice called out. I froze. "You'll be wanting this."

I looked over my shoulder. Yondu held out my gadget. The anger had lessened in his eyes but he still held himself tensely. I hesitated at first then quickly walked back and took it from his outstretched hand. "Thank you," I said softly, looking at his boots, then scurried out the door.

(Alright guys, that concludes chapter five! What did you think? In the next chapter, you'll understand a bit more of why Yondu reacted the way he did to Lydia's flirty teasing plus more stuff that I hope you'll find to be entertaining. Anyway, thanks for reading and I really do hope to hear from you in a review or PM. Until next time, Dear Readers!)