Ivy here.

For those of you who've seen the movie, you know what happened next. Ship starts crashing, Groot grows a cocoon of branches around everyone.

The next thing I was really aware of was lying face down in the dirt, coughing.

I sat up to see Ronan giving a speech to the Xandarians about how they were all going to die. Why do villains do that? You'd think they'd learn.

And then Peter Quill was standing in front of him, singing and dancing.

"What are you doing?" asked Ronan.

"Dance off, Bro!" He offered a hand to Gamora, then me. "Come on!"

"I'm sorry, but I'd like to preserve whatever dignity I have left."

"Suit yourself."

Rocket and the others started scrambling around looking for their gun.

I remembered all too late about the Infinity Stone. Hey, a person can only remember so much at once, okay?

Ronan's staff exploded.

Purple exploded everywhere around us.

My heart began racing. This couldn't be good for me.

Peter Quill grabbed onto the Infinity Stone. One by one, all of the Guardians did the same.

I crawled toward them and grabbed onto – something, I think it was the stick that was left of Groot.

It was the most pain I'd ever experienced, and that's saying something. My body was in absolute agony, burning, incinerating. I couldn't scream or cry.

Then I was lying on the ground again. This time, though, there was a very peculiar in my stomach. Pain, lots of pain, so much pain.

"You okay?" asked Quill.

"On one hand, we just took out a genocidal lunatic. On the other, I think my little kid is coming out a little sooner than I expected." Probably from grabbing onto the Infinity Stone.

Quill pulled me onto my feet.

"Wait a minute," said Yondu's voice.

"Are you serious?"

"I want that orb," said Yondu. "And if you want to help her, you'll give it to me."

"You're despicable," I growled. Coming from me, that means something.

"Here!" Peter threw the troll-orb at him.

I'll spare you the vivid description of the next several hours because I'm trying to forget them myself. Quill and the others rushed me to a hospital in fifteen minutes, where it took them another fifteen minutes to make it absolutely clear what was going on and that if I didn't receive help, there would be trouble. After that, it was several hours of contractions, pain, and more contractions.

And finally, someone was wrapping something up in a blanket and pressing it up against me.

"It's a girl," said the woman who'd helped deliver the baby.

A girl.

I know this will sound, horribly, horribly stupid, but in that moment I thought I was holding the most beautiful little girl in the world. She had big blue eyes. My eyes or her father's eyes, both our eye colors were the same.

Edward here.

The Nova Prime turned to look at as she saw Ronan vaporized on the screen, cutting the image.

"Everyone, please leave the room. Except for you two." She gestured to us.

The room emptied.

We were so busted. So, incredibly busted.

"You know Ivy Williams, don't you." It wasn't a question.

I glanced at Carmen. Her face hadn't changed expression. She's really good at keeping calm when scared.

"We did our research. On Earth, there are pictures of you together. Both of you, with her. Red hair?"

Lying would only make us looks stupid. And they almost certainly had efficient ways to get the information out of us if they wanted it badly enough. "I knew her for about six months. Went to school with her. Carmen knew her for years."

Carmen nodded. "Ja. Well, 'knew' her might be a little strong. We attended school together and took dance classes together. I taught her to knit. But we never really knew each other well. I thought she was dead until earlier... I think it was today. It might have been yesterday. It was in the last twenty four hours. I think. The last few hours have been a bit of a blur and I'm still trying to figure out exactly what just happened to me."

"I believe I've forgotten everything that you told me over the last few hours. Would you care to start over and fill me in?" asked the Nova Prime. "And please be sure it's accurate."

Ivy here.

"Do you have a name for her picked out?" asked the woman.

"Natalia," I replied. "Natalia Skye Williams." You know, I'd never really thought about naming my kids after other people. I'd just sort of thought I'd pick out names I liked. But somehow, it felt right to name the girl after the people who'd helped me get to this point.

Then the contractions started again.

And I screamed. "GOD, WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY?!"

One kid I could take care of. I'd planned for one. Two... not so much.

Natalia was pulled away from me. I grabbed the rails on the side of the bed and kept screaming.

The second was more difficult than the first. The whole time, I sent up prayers – please, God, let these children be safe. Because there is no way on Earth that I am going to be able to take care of them without Your help.

Then the baby was out.

The nurse gave it to me. "It's a boy."

I just stared at the boy dully. No name came to mind. I wasn't prepared for this.

Peter Quill and Gamora came in.

"Twins," I said. "Twins. A boy and a girl."

"Where's the girl?"

I realized Natalia wasn't in the crib. "Nurse? Where's my daughter?"

The nurse was a Vulcan looking person – except for her pink skin. Her face went a very, very pale pink. "I... isn't she... oh, no."

An hour long search of the hospital by nurses and doctors yielded nothing.

Gamora announced it to me. She eyed me worriedly, as if thinking I would explode.

I took a deep breath. "Star-Lord, please take my son for a moment."

He took the baby, staring at me for a moment.

I started screaming, crying, and beating my hands on the sides of the bed. "OH GOD, WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY?!"

God... why?