It was looking to be an incredibly busy day at Intergalactic Aerospace Maintenance and Repair. Gamora was up to her elbows in work orders already and it was still early morning. Why did it seem like everyone had interplanetary trips planned over the weekend and just had to bring them in for last-minute check-up?
She grumbled to herself as she examined malfunctioning landing gear on an escape pod. She would be lucky if she got a break for lunch at this rate.
"Hey, Gamora!" her annoying coworker Quill called across the shop.
"What do you want, Quill? I'm busy." Quill liked to hang around and chat and today she was in no mood to put up with his laziness.
"Too busy to see your girlfriend?"
Gamora sat up so fast she almost hit her head on the underside of the pod. "What?" she growled. "She was just in here last week."
And she had completed a full, routine diagnostic on Carol's ship along with regular maintenance. The Pegasus had been in tip-top working order when she left. There was no reason for her to be back again so soon.
"She sure comes in a lot." Quill waggled his eyebrows. "Are you sure you're not fucking up the work so she'll have to come back and get everything fixed again?"
"You're a moron," Gamora said. "But not the only moron I know." She shoved her wrench into Quill's hands.
She was going to kill Carol.
Just as she suspected, Carol was in the waiting room, searching through the snack cabinets for something human-made.
Gamora put her hands on her hips. "Captain Danvers, what are you doing here?"
Carol straightened up and flashed Gamora a bright smile. "There you are. You know, I told them you're the only mechanic I trust to work on my baby and they let me get away with it because I'm such a good customer."
"You're not a good customer. Good customers don't need repairs every week."
"Aw, you know you missed me," Carol said with a playful smirk.
"I don't have a chance to miss you," Gamora huffed. "You're supposed to be halfway across the galaxy by now. I wasn't supposed to see you again for another month.
"What can I say? You're the only mechanic I trust."
"Then trust me when I say nothing's wrong with Pegasus and you need to stop bringing it in," Gamora hissed. She took a deep breath, steadying herself. "Look. I know you miss me. I know these long-distance treks have to be boring and lonely. But I have a job to do and I can't do it if you keep making up excuses to see me."
Carol rolled her eyes. "I'm not making anything up. Pegasus needs you. Just come take a look."
Reluctantly, Gamora followed Carol out to the second work bay.
On first inspection, the Pegasus looked perfectly fine. It was a lot dirtier than it had been when Gamora had last worked on it, but that was to be expected. But as Gamora made another circle around the ship, she could see some damage to the top of the hull.
"What happened here? It looks like you got hit by an asteroid."
"I did," Carol admitted. "I took a shortcut through an asteroid belt."
Gamora stared at her incredulously. "A shortcut?"
"You know how it is. I gotta show the boys how it's done. Higher, further, faster, baby."
Gamora shook her head. "You might have saved a few days on your route, but now your ship's going to have to be stuck here for repairs for a day or so, so did you really accomplish anything?"
"I got to see you. And if I'm stranded on planet for the time being, we're going to be seeing a lot more of each other. " Carol pressed a kiss on her cheek and skipped off back to the waiting room.
Gamora sighed heavily. Her girlfriend really was an idiot. But at least her ship had come in for a legitimate repair this time.