At first, Kraglin didn't know what to make of the two tiny kids Yondu picked up on Terra. They reminded him of how Peter had been when they first brought him onto the Eclector, scared and withdrawn.

They took the other girls to Moscow and to their families, but the captain seemed to take a liking to these two, offering them a place on the Eclector.

The first few weeks he hardly saw either of the girls as they hid in their bunk, but he didn't think much of it. After all, Peter had done much the same when he first arrived.

So Kraglin didn't give the two newest Ravager recruits much thought, figuring that they would emerge from their bunk eventually. He noticed that Peter began to spend much of his time sitting outside their bunk, listening to those Terran songs of his, but he paid it little attention. Yondu griped that Peter had started slacking on his chores, but Kraglin told him to leave the boy be. Someone had to help the girls get used to the ship, after all.

Gradually, the girls grew bolder, tagging along as Peter showed them the ins and outs of life on the Eclector. Kraglin crossed paths with them occasionally in the training room, watching from a distance as the boy showed them how to shoot a blaster or disarm a blast charge. Peter seemed to have taken it upon himself to look out for them and act as an older brother of sorts, and the girls appeared to have accepted him as such, the three of them enjoying a tight-knit, insular closeness.

The kids kept to themselves, and that suited Kraglin just fine.

About six months after Yondu had brought the two newest recruits on board, he sent Peter and several other Ravagers on a job to track down an escaped prisoner and collect the bounty, leaving Kraglin behind to man a skeleton crew.

With so much of the crew gone, Kraglin took advantage of the empty cafeteria to drink his coffee in peace and watch a Xandarian boxing match. After putting the ship on autopilot, he meandered down to the cafeteria and got settled with his datapad.

Just as the match started, however, the door to the cafeteria opened with a hiss. Annoyed, Kraglin looked up to see who had disturbed his rare moment of alone time.

"Wha - oh."

Schooling his face into what he hoped was a more patient expression, he set down his datapad. Natasha hovered in the doorway, eyeing him cautiously and pushing Yelena behind her.

"Sorry." She said stiffly, grabbing Yelena's hand and turning to leave.

"That's all right." Kraglin said, rubbing his neck awkwardly. "You - you don't have to go, kid. Plenty of room here for all of us."

Natasha turned back to look at him, frowning. "We're interrupting you."

It wasn't a question.

Kraglin shrugged, offering her a lopsided smile. "Well, that don't mean you have to leave."

He gestured to the seat across from him. "Sit down, if you want."

Natasha looked at him warily for a moment before walking over to the coffee machine. She poured herself a cup and grabbed a muffin before taking a seat across the table from Kraglin, Yelena sitting down on her other side.

Kraglin raised an eyebrow as the girl took a sip of coffee. "Should you be drinkin' that? Don't wanna stay short, do you?"

Natasha rolled her eyes. "I'm living with space pirates. This is the least of my worries."

"Fair enough." Kraglin shrugged, picking up his own coffee and returning to his datapad.

He watched from the corner of his eye as Natasha handed Yelena the muffin and coaxed her to take a bite.

"Мне это не нравится, Natka." The younger girl whined quietly, burying her face in Natasha's shoulder.

"Вкусно, Lena, I promise."

Natasha broke off a piece and handed it to Yelena.

"Просто один." She said softly.

Reluctantly, Yelena took a bite, her face screwed up in displeasure.

"Y'know, I never used to like those either." Kraglin said, looking up from his datapad.

The girls froze, startled by his sudden comment.

"She likes them fine." Natasha snapped, pulling Yelena closer to her side.

"Okay." Kraglin shrugged. "It's fine if you don't, you know."

He got up from his seat and walked over to the food cabinet, rummaging around for a few moments before grabbing a cardboard box and returning to his seat. He opened the box and took out a shiny foil package and slid it across the table to Yelena.

"Quill tells me these are pretty good." He said, winking.

Yelena picked up the Pop-Tart hesitantly, looking to Natasha for approval.

Natasha frowned suspiciously. "Where'd you get those?"

"Terran market on Xandar." Kraglin said casually. "Captain goes sometimes to find food for Quill. He was real homesick in the beginning, but Pop-Tarts and that orange pasta stuff always cheered him up."

Yelena perked up, eyeing him with excitement. "You mean mac and cheese?"

"Is that what it's called? I forget." Kraglin said, smiling at the girl's enthusiasm. "Next time we go to Xandar, I'll take you to the market so we can get some."

Yelena smiled widely, but Natasha seemed unconvinced.

"What's in it for you? Why are you being nice to us?"

Shrugging, Kraglin took a sip of his coffee. "Got no reason not to be. You're part of the crew now. We look out for each other, all of us."

"Simple as that?" Natasha asked skeptically.

Kraglin put down his mug and met her eyes, his expression serious. "I'm not gonna hurt you, kid. Captain trusts you, and that's good enough for me."

He nodded to the Pop-Tart in Yelena's hands. "Eat. There's more in the cabinet, if you're still hungry."

Yelena eagerly ripped open the package and took a large bite, getting crumbs all over the table. Natasha rolled her eyes fondly, picking up the muffin and eating it herself.

"Thanks." She said begrudgingly.

"Like I said, you're part of the crew now." Kraglin said, standing up and walking over to the sink to rinse his cup. He picked up his datapad and headed towards the door, pausing in the doorway for a moment and turning around.

"The name's Kraglin, by the way."

"Natasha Romanova. She's Yelena Belova."

Kraglin nodded solemnly. "Nice to meet you."

With that, he left the room and headed back to the cockpit.

It would take time, but the girls were slowly starting to adjust to the Ravager way of life. All Kraglin could do was be as reassuring and non-threatening as possible, and maybe they would gradually start to trust him. Peter had been the same way, after all, a scared kid far from home. Kraglin had never thought of himself as particularly sentimental or paternal, but something about these kids provoked some dormant protective instinct he hadn't known he had.

Maybe it was because of his own childhood. Maybe it was seeing what the Red Room had done to them. Maybe it was witnessing Peter's fierce protectiveness towards the two girls. Whatever the reason, Kraglin would protect them as best he could, as long as they were part of his crew.

They were Ravagers now, and Ravagers looked out for each other, no matter what.