(I'm baaack. Didja miss me? Hopefully the answer was 'yes' and that you've been looking forward to reading more antics that Lydia gets herself into.)
[Song Suggestions for Ch. 7]
~ 'Nothin' At All by Heart (the music Lydia is listening to when Yondu shows up)
~ 'Since I Met You, Baby' by Sam Cooke (when Lydia and Peter are bored in the M-ship)
~ 'Why Can't We Be Friends' by War (I feel the chorus works excellently when Yondu's deal goes south)
~ 'Armageddon It' by Def Leppard (play this the moment Lydia tells Peter to "Buckle up.")
~ 'What A Wonderful World' and 'Moon River' by Louis Armstrong (mentioned by Lydia when she's cleaning Peter's wound)
Chapter Seven
And It Feels Like the First Time…
A Week Later
Peter loved his new weapon – I mean, he loved it! He carried that thing with him everywhere and it became a permanent addition to his belt along with the Walkman. When I first presented Peter with his new stun gun I noticed that Yondu conveniently hung around to look over some star charts with Kraglin and dare I have imagined that I saw the blue borga smirk in satisfaction at the kid's excited reaction? Of course, the moment he caught me looking he wiped that smile off his face and glowered the rest of the time. To make it even more believable that he hadn't had a hand in the process, Yondu asked me in front of several crewmen if it was smart to be giving the kid a weapon! Considering the company on board the ship, yeah, I think it was a really smart decision to give the kid a weapon. After all, it was his idea. But could I remind him of that? No. So I settled for a bland excuse about dangerous situations amongst Ravagers and that seemed to cut it for the crew.
As for my new role on the ship as Miss Fix-It, I was doing really well. All the broken crap Yondu had complained about was soon drastically reduced and so were the crews' grumbles concerning my purpose on the ship. My new routine consisted of waking up, getting dressed, taming my hair, then waking Peter up, getting him dressed, and taming his hair, which by the way I thought I had bad bed head, but this kid could almost rival me. After breakfast, Peter would roam the ship and I'd go to my work station and see what needed to be fixed or altered. If the work load was small, I'd finish it up and go seek out Peter and take up my duties as guardian. If the work load appeared that it would take up a large amount of time, then I'd break up the process into set hours so I wouldn't end up shirking my responsibilities towards Peter. That's how it went for a week, and then I got my next communication with my mom's doctor.
The bills for her medical treatments were starting to pile up. Even though the units I earned from Yondu were more than I could have ever aquired on Knowhere, they were just enough to cover the bills but leave me and Peter with very little. It wasn't much of a problem since the ship spent most of the time out in space but whenever we made supply stops, it proved to be a bit of an issue. It never occurred to me that there were different rates of pay among the crew. For some naïve reason I thought everyone received equal shares. But then I was talking with Halvi about when he'd first started as a Ravager and he mentioned what he'd earned back then versus what he was earning currently.
"Wait; is everyone's earnings different on the ship?" I asked.
"Yes. The ones who make the most units are those who go off-ship during raids and such."
"Why's that?"
Halvi's midnight eyes gave me a humorous look. "If there is the chance that you'll be shot at wouldn't you want to make it worth your while?"
"Fair point," I conceded.
Our talk got me to thinking though. I knew that at some point the medical treatments for Mom would become more expensive. If my pay didn't increase I'd have to deposit my entire earnings to the hospital and leave Peter and I to chance, or I'd have to adjust her care to something more affordable and risk loosing the progress she'd gained. If I joined the ground team I'd get more units, but then by risking my life I'd be risking Peter's safety if something were to happen to me. Oh what's a girl to do with so many fabulous choices, right?
I was pondering said options while holding a blowtorch to a panel of metal and listening to my jams when I felt 'disapproval' being aimed at the back of my neck. I killed the torch and lifted my helmet to inspect my work while tossing a, "Hey, Yondu," over my shoulder.
"Ya shouldn't be listening to that crap while working a torch," he grumbled from behind me.
I turned and placed a hand on my hip. "This stuff," I said, pointing at my headphones, "is not sprek."
"How are ya s'pposed to hear anyone if ya got the torch goin' and yer ears blasted with music?"
"I've got my comm-link on."
"But which have you got the sound turned up louder?" he asked, pointedly.
"My comm-link," I answered with a sassy smirk. Yondu 'tsked' and looked over my work. "Is there something you wanted to say or did you just come down to my work station to grump at me?"
His eyes narrowed for a brief moment at my jab but he moved on. "We've got a prospect for a gig and I'm gonna be leavin' the ship. I want ya to keep a close eye on Quill while I'm gone."
My interest perked up. "What kind of a gig?"
"The fella we're gonna meet with has the coordinates and codes of a highly valuable fuel tanker. Says he needs our help to hijack it and wants to talk strategy and percentages with me."
"Are you taking some men with you?"
"Yeah."
"Could I come?"
The expression on his face would have been funny if it were aimed at anyone but me. "Excuse me, darlin'! You ain't even combat trained!"
"If it's just a meeting then it's not that dangerous, right?"
"Wrong! Anything involvin' Ravagers is dangerous. I ain't taken ya with me; I'd end up havin' to baby-sit you."
"I can take care of myself."
His hand moved aside his coat to reveal his arrow's holster. "Yeah, ya showed us how well you could do that, didn't ya, darlin'."
"I doubt anyone else is going to have a Yakka arrow with them."
"I made my decision. Yer stayin' on the ship an' lookin' after Quill," he said with such firmness that even I could see the folly of arguing further with him. But I had one last card to play.
"Fine," I fumed, turning my back and pretending to recheck the setting on the torch. "It's not like I'd be in any less danger on this ship with your men anyways." I flipped the helmet down and fired up the blowtorch.
Her last comment made him pause. He eyed her outfit of the day. Thank whatever deity that mattered, she'd worn long cargo pants instead of those shorts, but they hung low due to the heavy tool belt and gave Yondu a glimpse of perfectly shaped hips. She was also wearing that yellow tank top she favored along with her brown leather jacket as protection from any sparks caused by the blowtorch. She still cut a tempting figure and the leering stares from his crew hadn't let up. That was the real reason why he'd given Lydia back her spear gadget, because she'd been right. His crew were men and Ravagers were not known for being morally upstanding citizens. Even though sexual assault was against the Ravager Code, Yondu unfortunately couldn't say he knew for certain that each of his men would uphold it. And now he had a pretty girl on his crew and the time for another planet-side leave was a long ways away.
"On second thought," he started, and then paused to tap her shoulder when she showed no reaction to hearing him over the roar of the blowtorch. She lifted the heat shield and titled her head at him questioningly but he caught the little glimmer of triumph in her green eyes. He couldn't decide if he was impressed or mad that she'd played him again! "I'll take you and Quill with us on my ship so he can start learnin', but ya'll will stay behind."
Her brows furrowed in confusion. "What exactly is Peter going to learn if you leave him on the ship?"
"You wanna waste time questionin' me or do ya wanna get yer ass ready?"
Without another word, Lydia put away the blowtorch and ditched the helmet. As she hurried out of the room, Yondu could hear her informing Peter via comm-link about their change of plans.
On board Yondu's M-ship, Peter and I were squeezed in the back as the official ground team took up the seats. Before boarding, Halvi told me that Yondu was taking a small team for the trip instead of the usual pack which normally totaled around twenty. Kraglin sat next to Yondu up front, Halvi and Horuz were in the seats behind them, and Rixh and Yarov sat in the final available seats. Peter and I had to make do with the floor but I made sure to find something to strap Peter down. The last thing I needed was an unexpected loop-de-loop to send the kid face-planting the ceiling.
He sat next to me, contentedly bobbing his head to music and looking about the ship with awe. I gently elbowed him to get his attention. "What are you listening to now?" I asked. He grinned and slid off the headphones handing them to me without hesitation. I'd gained a lot of his trust over the past weeks and let me tell ya, that felt good. I was worried that he'd end up being suspicious of me because Yondu assigned me as his keeper but thankfully it never became an issue.
Another improvement I noticed was his appetite. He still disliked going to the mess hall on his own but so long as either I or Halvi were in there with him he did fine. Halvi had taken up a share of watching Peter without my asking which further solidified a bond between us. The darkness dweller never commented on it or held it over me as owing him favors. He just went about it in the most casual and subtle ways that you didn't realize it until later. Some of the crew had noticed and attempted to taunt him about it but that lasted for about two days. I never found out what he did to make them stop and honestly, I'd rather not find out.
Just as I was starting to get into the music, I felt the ship begin to descend and Yondu's raspy voice broke in. "Alright, boys. Once we land we walk to the meeting spot from here."
"How far is it?" Horuz asked.
"About two miles."
"Why'd ya park so far from it?" Peter's voice piped up.
"Cause sometimes ya don't want people to know where your transport is," Yondu answered.
"But if you got to make a quick get away don't you want it to be close?"
"That's why ya leave someone to pilot the ship fer emergency pick ups."
"So who's gonna –,"
I poked the kid's ribs to get him quiet before the vein on Yondu's temple started pulsing. As the ramp lowered and the team disembarked, Yondu lagged behind and adjusted his leather coat. "Don't be messin' with the controls, boy, or I'll let the crew eat ya. Got it?"
Peter quickly nodded.
"And Brosh, keep the comms open and contact us if you see anyone heading this way. Got it?"
"Loud and clear, captain."
He smirked and headed for the ramp. "By the way, Brosh," he added, "I know it's temptin' but refrain from stealin' my ship while I'm gone."
"Borga," I muttered under my breath.
"What's that, princess?" he hollered from the bottom of the ramp.
"Shove it up your blue tookum!" I shouted.
"You little –,"
"Cap'n, we can't be late," Kraglin intervened. Yondu growled but turned on his heel and stomped off.
You ever been stuck inside a small room with a bored eight year old boy? It's a very enlightening experience, I highly recommend it to you. What's that you say? I sound too sarcastic? Well, bully for you for noticing.
"I'm booooored," Peter whined for the umpteenth time.
I checked my time keeper again. We'd been stuck in the ship for over an hour and a half. During my boredom, I'd discovered a way to plug our music boxes into the M-ship's sound system (don't look at me like that; Yondu told Peter not to mess with the controls, he said no such thing to me) and that had kept us entertained for a while but jamming out to our tunes soon lost its novelty.
"Hey, Lydia?"
"Hm?" I sounded from lounging in the captain's chair. Listening to 'Since I Met You, Baby' by Sam Cooke had put me in a lazy mood and I was considering a nap.
"Can we go outside? I want to practice with my stun gun."
I sat up with a yawn. "I don't know, Peter. I'm pretty sure Yondu wants us to remain in the ship."
"But he's taking forever," he groaned dramatically. "Besides, I haven't had a chance to test it out."
"I've done that for you, remember? It works just fine."
"But I gotta practice with it. What if I suddenly have to use it but my aim is way off?"
I knew what he was doing, heck, I used the same ploy on Yondu to get us here, but I could see the kid's point. It would do him some good to practice his aim.
"Okay, but only for a few minutes and we can't go too far from the ship."
"Awesome!' Peter hopped out of his chair and hurried over to the ramp.
"Hey, wait for me, kid," I called, unplugging my music box. I snatched up my jacket and followed after him. He hadn't gone far, only to the very base of the ramp as if he'd stopped in his tracks. "What's up, kid?" I asked, ruffling his hair. I looked away from him and at the landscape. "Whoa," I whispered. The ship had landed within the clearing of a wooded area and the trees sported glass-like leaves that caught the sunlight and cast rainbows on the ground. When a breeze ruffled the limbs, colors swayed all around in a mesmerizing dance. I could have sat there and watched the spectacle for hours, but apparently Peter had his own priorities.
"Can we go shoot stuff now?" he asked.
I scrunched my eyebrows and gave him a, "Seriously?" look but he continued to blink impatiently at me. I sighed and nudged him forward. "Fiiine. Let's set up a target for you."
"What kind of offer is ten percent? I got a crew of over a hundred; that'll be pocket change once that's split among them!" Yondu shouted, spittle flying from his mouth.
"I suppose we could raise it," Eargu said, reluctantly.
"Now that's more like it."
"To fifteen percent."
"That's not more like it. You tryin' to insult me or are ya that stupid?"
"Alright, seventeen percent and that's my final offer."
"You can take that final offer and choke on it, boy! I ain't accepting anythin' less than forty."
"Now that's a bit much, don't you think?"
"No it ain't, considerin' how much my crew and I are contributin' to this gig."
"It's absurd!"
"Yer offer of seventeen percent is absurd! I've got over a hundred Ravagers to pay and what have you got? Fifty?"
Eargu lifted a haughty eyebrow. "Fifty-three," he corrected.
"Well, excuse me, boy, didn't realize you could count that high. If yer smart enough to be usin' big numbers like fifty-three then you should be able to agree to forty-five without any trouble."
As Yondu and his team were running for their lives and doing their best to avoid the gunshots meant for them, Kraglin managed to keep pace with his captain as he puffed out, "I thought forty-five percent was more than reasonable, Cap'n!"
"Greedy maggots!" Yondu shouted back. "That's why I try to avoid dealin' with Jodas!"
Kraglin felt something zip past his cheek and saw the energy bolt dig into the ground in front of him. A narrow miss. He ducked behind a boulder and brought out his gun. He'd teach those Jodas not to fire at him!
"Ain't no time to return fire, boy! Get movin'!" Yondu hollered.
Reluctantly, Kraglin holstered his gun and hurried to catch up.
"Brosh!" Yondu barked into his comm-link. "Brosh, we need an extraction! Brosh, answer me!" He pressed a button within his coat and a holo-screen appeared. It kept up with him, always a few feet ahead. "Brosh!"
In my defense, they really should make the alerts for comm calls louder in the event that someone has to step away from the controls and go outside with a loudly enthusiastic little boy. Another thing that should be addressed is labeling the controls and buttons. Big time saver, just sayin'.
"Yeah! Lydia, I got that one! I got that one, did you see that!" Peter crowed triumphantly. He'd been trying to hit the same target for twenty minutes. He turned to me with a broad grin on his face, red curls blowing in the wind. "Lydia, did you see!"
"Great job, Peter!" I walked over and ruffled his hair. "I think it's time we head back inside, though."
"Aaaaw. Can't I practice a little longer?"
"Nah, kid. I really think we should go back."
Peter moped as we returned to the ship. As we drew nearer I became aware of a noise coming from within. I strained my ears and… My eyes flew open. "Oh sprek! Speed it up, Peter!" We took off running and stumbled into the ship. A small holo-screen had a picture of Yondu flashing on it. I lunged forward and frantically scanned the controls for anything that looked like an answering button. As the seconds ticked on I began to mutter beneath my breath, "Please don't kill me, please don't kill me, please don't kill me."
"Um, Lydia?"
"Yeah," I answered distractedly.
"I think you press the screen."
My head whipped around to face him. "Say what?"
Instead of repeating, he simply reached forward and pressed the screen. A much larger holo-screen appeared in front of us and Yondu's giant, angry, blue face glared at us. "What took you so long!" he snapped, breathlessly. The only thing the holo-screen showed was Yondu as if the background had been cropped out, so it looked a bit odd when he appeared to be running but we couldn't see what from.
I cocked my head to the side. "Yondu, are you running?"
"Nah, I'm just takin' a frolic through a field of daisies – YES, I'M RUNNIN'!"
"Why are you –,"
"Deal went bad! Get the ship to our coordinates – now!"
My mouth went dry.
"Woman, did you hear me!"
"Uh, yeaaah."
"Then get a move on!"
"You say that like you expect me to know how to fly."
Yondu's red eyes seemed to burn. "You can't fly?!" he bellowed.
"No, I can't fly! What made you think I could!"
"Woman, that's why I left you behind – as our getaway flyer!"
"You mean this thing doesn't have auto-pilot!?"
Yondu let out a stream of obscenities and I hastily covered Peter's ears and wished I had another set of hands to cover my own. "What about Peter?" he suddenly asked.
Peter's face lit up and he opened his mouth to answer when I cut him off. "He's eight years old, Yondu! No!"
Yondu grunted and his body gave a jolt as if he'd jumped. "Woman, I don't care how ya do it, just get that ship over here now!"
The screen winked out and left me with my mouth hanging open. Peter turned and gazed up at me questioningly. I shifted my stare to him. "Peter, buckle up."
I wholeheartedly do not suggest flying an M-ship without any prior flying experience. It's terrifying. I couldn't find a pilot manual anywhere! I had no idea how to get the thing off the ground! You wanna know how I managed to do that? Peter! Peter once again pointed at a contraption and asked, "Doesn't that look like a parking break to you?"
I had no idea what a parking break was but I was in a rush and I pulled it. The moment I felt the M-ship begin to lift into the air I clutched the nearest thing to me with a white-knuckled grip and terror etched all over my features. Figuring out how to make the ship stop ascending was another mind-numbing terror because I accidentally turned off the engines. We plummeted until I restarted the engines within the nick of time and we ascended again. When I worked out how to hover, Peter nervously slid his eyes to me. "Are we gonna die?" he asked.
"Psh, nah!" I answered with all the false bravado I could muster which probably would have at least appeared real if I hadn't added a laugh that drifted into a whimper. Peter wordlessly tightened his seat belt. "Okay, I think this is what moves us forward and this looks like it would control the speed, right?"
"You're asking me? I'm eight, remember?"
"Well, so far you've gotten more stuff right than I have!" With an annoyed glare, I pushed the controls forward and let out an ear shattering scream as the ship moved with alarming speed. Peter was thrust deep into his seat and his hands sought purchase for anything to keep him from being pressed further into it.
"We're gonna die," he said, gulping.
Yondu and the others managed to buy themselves some time by crossing a wide river. Jodas were deathly afraid of water and couldn't swim worth squat so it put a damper in their pursuit of the Ravagers. "I think we lost 'em, Cap'n," Kraglin wheezed at his side.
Yondu shook his head. "Don't assume we're safe yet, boy. We know the coordinates and codes for that fuel tanker. They ain't gonna risk us getting' to it." He craned his neck around to take note of his team and noticed they'd begun to slow down, their gazes trained on something behind him. "Wha'chu all lookin' up for?" he snapped, coming to a halt himself.
"Uuuh, Cap'n?" Kraglin asked, squinting at the sky. "Ain't that yer ship?"
Yondu turned and directed his attention upward. Yep. That was his ship alright and from the way it was zig-zagging you'd have thought a drunk was flying the thing. It was also flying too low and wasn't slowing down.
"Does anybody else hear a woman screaming?" Rixh asked.
"Aw hell," Yondu moaned and faced his men. "Take cover, boys!"
Once the others caught on, they dived for shelter of any kind. The M-ship roared towards them and crashed through a low hanging tree limb on it's way down. It finally skidded along the ground, creating a groove in the earth and throwing waves of dirt in it's wake. The resistance helped to slow it's momentum and came to a full stop at the foot of a steep, grassy incline.
Do not throw up, do not throw up, do not throw up!
Maybe if I kept telling myself that my body would get the message. My hands were so tightly clenched around the controls that in the brief state of my addled mind I thought my skin had melded with it. Several locks of my hair had escaped the braid I'd plaited earlier that morning and probably enhanced my shocked appearance.
"I think I may have peed my pants a little bit," Peter said in a tiny voice.
At the sound of his presence my mind snapped back into focus and I reached for him. "Are you okay?" I asked anxiously. My eyes searched for any signs of injury. There was a cut on his forehead but it didn't look too deep.
"I'm good," he answered, the wide-eyed look never leaving him.
Greeeat, I may have just scarred this kid for life if being kidnapped by Ravagers hasn't already done that.
"Brosh!" Yondu's voice broke in over my comm-link.
"Oh boy." I unbuckled myself and wobbled a bit when I realized the M-ship was slanting heavily to the left. Luckily my boots had pretty good traction so slipping was minimal as I made my way to the door. Unfortunately, the angle was too severe for the ramp to activate so when the door opened I had about a six foot drop to the ground and my balance wasn't fully reinstated yet. I tipped over the edge and only just managed not to eat dirt in front of everyone. With unsteady legs I stood up and felt myself begin to tilt backwards. By some small mercy my back came to rest against the hull of the ship and I tried to pass off my imbalance as if I'd meant to casually lean against it. "Hey, boys," I greeted and blew away the pesky locks of hair from my face. "Need a lift?"
The team had gathered closer by now and through the steadily thinning clouds of dust I spotted Yondu glowering at me. "What the hell did you do to my ship, woman!"
I opened my mouth to speak when a thud from inside the ship interrupted me and Peter suddenly slid to the edge of the door, his eyes trained on me. "That was totally awesome!" he exclaimed. "You think we could do that again?"
"Um, now's not a good time, Peter," I said, giving a pointed dip of my head towards Yondu.
The little Terran followed my aim and the ecstatic grin promptly dropped off his face. "Oh." At the sight of everyone's stare, he gave a nervous chuckle. "I'll just, uh, wait in here." He scooted himself back up the incline and out of view. I wished I could do the same but I figured that during my attempt to jump onto the ledge and haul myself back in Yondu would have caught me. So I resigned myself to endure the hot-headed shouting no doubt in store for me.
He began to circle the ship, cursing at every dent and scratch he found until he made it back to me. "I'm fine, thanks for asking," I said with some bite at the obvious lack of inquiry.
"Woman, you better hope this thing can still fly," was all I got in response.
"Lydia!" I snapped. "My name is 'Lydia Christine Brosh'! Those three names are the options of which you can address me by!"
"I'll call you whatever I damn please! Right now I'm favorin' all sorts of unflatterin' words so you better be grateful I settled for 'woman'!"
"Cap'n!" Kraglin interrupted. "Those Jodas are still out there, might'nt we commence ta escapin'?"
Yondu bared his teeth at me but nodded at his first mate's suggestion. "Everyone get on board!" he ordered, finally looking away from me. The team hastily climbed inside and I was last. The adrenaline rush was fading away and left my limbs feeling like jelly, otherwise I wouldn't have had a problem leaping up and using my arms to lift myself over the ledge of the door. I heard Rixh chuckle at my struggles and Horuz turned away with a scoff of disgust when I asked for a hand. The sounds of the engines being fired up made something crack inside me and I felt my eyes sting with the threat of tears. I redoubled my efforts to pull myself up but my arms just wouldn't cooperate. Just when I was on the verge of giving myself up to crying, a pair of strong hands latched onto my arms and helped pull me over the ledge and set me down on the sloping floor. I looked up at the towering Halvi and nodded my thanks. He silently bowed his head in acknowledgement and returned to his seat.
"All in?" Kraglin asked loudly over the noise of the ship.
"All in!" Halvi boomed back.
The door closed and waited until we were level again before I made my way to sit beside Peter. A small trickle of red blood had leaked from the cut on his forehead. "Does your head hurt?" I asked.
"Nah," he answered and then slipped on his headphones to listen to music. Seeing that I was deprived of his conversation, I glanced around in search of another and found nothing but cold glances or the backs of their heads. Following Peter's example, I placed my own headphones over my ears and cranked up the volume to drown out everything.
"I don't want to cry
But I can't keep tears from my eyes
And when I meet friends,
I hope they don't realize
That I'm crying because I'm alone
I don't want to cry
But I can't keep tears from my eyes…"
Later that night, Kraglin approached Yondu while on the Eclector's bridge. "She was only doin' what you ordered, Cap'n," he reminded his fuming captain. Yondu didn't respond but Kraglin could tell he was listening. "Your M-ship didn't get any internal damage, just scraped up."
Yondu grunted in response. He was sitting in his captain's chair, fiddling with some of the figurines on his console, but he wasn't piloting the ship.
Reagan exchanged a glance with Kraglin from the co-pilot chair. "You sure you wanna keep pestering him?" he silently asked. Kraglin gave him a look that clearly meant, "Mind your own business!" Reagan shrugged and went back to his job.
Lowering his voice, Kraglin tried again. "Remember that talk we had a week back?" he asked. Yondu's red eyes slid away from the figurines to focus on him and they narrowed with warning. Kraglin proceeded cautiously. "Maybe this is one of them times that yer seein' things from an askewed angle when there was no other way for her to go about it. Ya gave her an order, she followed it despite the fact she ain't never flown before." Kraglin swallowed nervously and went on. "I think ya might 'ave been a bit too harsh and unfair towards her." This time Yondu fully turned his gaze on him. He worked his jaw a bit as he stared Kraglin down in silence. "Um…sir," Kraglin added belatedly.
Yondu looked away and focused on the figurine in his hand. A squat little creature that sported wild orange hair. He gave a long sigh through his nose.
Despite Peter's protests that his cut wasn't bothering him, I wanted to be on the safe side and told him to wait in his room while I went to med bay and got a vial of disinfectant. On my way out, I ran into the one person I least wanted to see.
Yondu was leaning on the wall beside the door as if he'd been waiting for me. "Wha'chu doin' in med bay for?"
"Disinfectant." I made to walk past him but his hand grabbed me by the elbow and steered me back to him.
"Are you hurt?" he asked, his brow furrowed with what I might have thought to be concern if it wasn't for the memory of his anger at me earlier.
I refrained from snatching my arm from his grip and settled for tugging it back. "No, I told you I'm fine."
"Wouldn't be the first time you lied to me."
I counted to five before responding. "It's for Peter."
Yondu's eyes flashed. "Peter? How bad?"
My words faltered at the genuine worry I saw in his eyes. "It's just a small cut on his forehead, nothing serious."
"Where's he at?"
"His room."
Yondu promptly turned and walked in the direction of Peter's quarters. I hurried to catch up and was relieved when he made no attempt to talk the rest of the way there. We found Peter sitting on his bed and listening to music. He looked up and quirked a brow in confusion when he saw I'd brought Yondu with me.
"Got yerself scratched up, huh?" He sat down on the bed to Peter's left. "Lemme see, boy." He took the boy's chin in his hand and turned his head towards him. "Eh, not too bad. Rub some dirt in it and you'll be fine."
"Suuure," I said, grabbing a clean rag from a drawer, "Let's rub dirt in it and risk infection." I sat on Peter's right and gently took his chin out from Yondu's grasp and turned him to me. I wet the rag with disinfectant. "This is going to sting so try to hold still."
"Okay."
I lightly began to dab his wound. He winced but didn't flinch. Yondu made no move to leave but watched. Wanting to fill the awkward silence I asked, "What are you listening to this time?"
"'I'm Not in Love'."
"Again?"
"I've only got the one cassette tape."
"Well, I've got plenty of tapes if you ever want to borrow one."
Peter's green eyes lit up. "Really?"
"Sure. Just not the one I've got in my music box at the moment. There's a couple of songs on it I've been favoring lately."
"What are they?"
"'What A Wonderful World' and 'Moon River'."
"Moon what?" Yondu and Peter asked in unison.
I smiled in amusement and continued cleaning Peter's cut. "'Moon River'. They're both nice songs and sung by a guy named Louis Armstrong."
"I heard my grandpa listening to him a lot. He's the one with the really scratchy voice, right?" He suddenly sucked air in through his teeth and cringed at a particularly sharp sting when I got a tiny bit of grit from his cut.
"I think you mean 'raspy', but yeah. I love the sound of a raspy voice."
I caught movement from over Peter's shoulder and noticed Yondu leaning forward, a sultry smirk on his face. "Is that right, princess?" he asked in his raspiest tone. My cheeks flushed and I cleared my throat in embarrassment. I attempted to give him a disapproving glare but he still wore that smirk that was making me feel uncomfortable with a small child in the room.
Quickly, I finished sanitizing Peter's wound. "All done. You can go on to my room and pick out some tapes."
Peter gave me a hurried 'thank you' and leapt to his feet, running off to my room. Giving him leave had been a mistake because now there was nothing in-between me and Yondu. I started to get up but Yondu's, "Wait just a sec, Brosh," stopped me. I waited. The silence stretched on. Unable to deal with the tense quiet, I jokingly said, "Geez, Yondu, you're yakkin' my ear off." He gave me an unimpressed look. The jovial smile on my face vanished. "Right…"
With his eyes trained on the floor, Yondu roiled his shoulders and looked as if he were about to undertake an unpleasant task. "It's been brought to my attention that I may have been too harsh with you this evenin'."
Somebody pinch me! Was Yondu about to apologize?!
"You were followin' my orders and I should have checked with you that you could fly a ship before leaving."
"Well…thank you for that. I accept your apology."
"Yondu's head snapped up. "Apology? I wasn't apologizin', I was telling you what I should have done."
My anger sparked at his remark. "Well you should apologize after the way you treated me."
Yondu rose from the bed, incredulous. "Me apologize to you? After the way I treated you? What about what you did to me, huh? If anybody should be apologizing it should be you!"
I shot to my feet. I couldn't believe this guy! "I have been apologizing to you! I've done nothing but say 'I'm sorry' over and over and over. I've lost count of how many times I've apologized to you and I've meant it every time but you don't scarrin' care! I can't keep saying 'sorry' because soon they'll have no meaning. They'll just be words." I held up my hands and took a step back. "I'm done."
"Yer done?" Yondu repeated, his brow wrinkling in confusion.
"I'm done telling a man 'I'm sorry' when he clearly won't accept my apology." I turned and stormed out the door leaving him to wallow in his own unforgiving misery.
(Well guys, there ya go. What did you think? Lydia's made it clear what her stance is but will Yondu learn to forgive and forget or will he keep holding on? Also, do any of you have some song suggestions for this fic? I'd love to hear from you guys! Until next time, Dear Readers!)
