It was only hours after the battle on Xandar. The whole team was recovering from the injuries inflicted by the infinity stone that they managed to restrain from destroying the entire planet. Nova Prime, Irani Rael, was generous enough to provide them with a luxurious penthouse to stay in until they were able to get back on their own two feet. With the 'Guardians of the Galaxy' now officially known to the people of Xandar, the group decided to stick together as friends...family.

Even with the catastrophic gem in possession of the Nova Corps, Peter couldn't find the strength to overpower the insomnia engulfing his mind like a disease. No matter how many times he tossed and turned on the bed in his temporary room, he couldn't fall asleep. He couldn't feel any pain with the exception of occasional throbs that weren't remotely as painful as holding the stone. He knew the reason for not being able to go to sleep; he had people he cared about now. People who are now targets to his enemies. He knew all of them, besides Groot, could hold their own, but that never meant that others weren't going to try and kill them to get to Peter.

The man rubbed his eyes and looked out the large circular window in his room. It was black outside, the only lights coming from the buildings below him and the stars above. Knowing he wasn't going to sleep anytime soon, he pulled the egg-white duvet off of him and stepped onto the cold, tile floor. He lazily walked over to the rectangular, opaque door and slid it open, exiting the room.

He was going to turn on the news and lay on the couch when he realized someone beat him to it. Only this certain person wasn't watching the news, she was watching the stars out of the transparent glass wall behind the screen. Peter gently sat down next to her on the grey sectional couch.

"What are you doin' up this late at night?" He asked, gazing at the twinkling lights of the night sky.

A halfhearted smile grew upon Gamora's face. "I could be asking the same about you." Her brown eyes shifted to the green folded hands in her lap.

Peter huffed in amusement. "Touche." His head dropped to his lap before turning to face Gamora. His soft smile quickly faded when he saw her staring off into space. "Nightmares?" He asked in concern.

Gamora continued to stare at nothing. "How did you know?" She finally looked up at him with an eyebrow raised.

"Lucky guess." He replied with a small shrug. A smile crept on his face, when he heard a soft chuckle escape from the green woman next to him. They sat there gazing at each other for a moment, in silence. Peter inhaled and focused his attention back to his lap. "To be honest, with everything that's been going on, I haven't been able to fall asleep at all."

"Let's go for a walk." She suggested out of nowhere. Peter raised an eyebrow in confusion. "It's useless to stay here and risk waking everyone else up, when we aren't going to sleep anytime soon. There's a beautiful garden not too far from here that's within walking distance."

Peter smirked playfully, but the soft look in his eyes never left. "Are you asking me on a date or do you just really want to visit that garden?"

Gamora glared at him. "I'm not asking you on a date and if I wanted to visit it that badly, I would've already gone, alone." She sighed and softened her expression.

"Sounds like fun." Peter admitted after a few more minutes of gazing silently at the stars.

"So, these 'nightmares' you've been having...wanna talk about em'?" Peter asked with his hands in his pockets, kicking at some loose gravel in front of him.

Gamora was walking closer to him than she normally did. He could feel her body heat radiating onto him. "I don't know, Peter. It's not something I really like discussing."

The man stood in front of her, preventing her from walking any farther. "Hey," He gently placed a hand on her arm. "You have friends now. I might be an ass at times, but I can keep my mouth shut. Plus," He moved out of the way so that they could continuing walking. "Sometimes, it feels better to just talk to someone about it."

The ex-assassin took a deep breath and crossed her arms over her chest. "They're more like memories...flashbacks...from when I was under Thanos' command." Peter drained out the noise of 10cc coming from his headphones and focused intently on the sound of Gamora's voice. "When he would torture me for failing my missions. When he murdered my parents. My worst nightmare was about the time I ran off while on a trip with him at Tartoonla #7."

Peter flinched at the mention of the planet, knowing it's bad reputation. "Were you trying to escape?"

Gamora shook her head. "Thanos ordered me to stay by his ship, but I was young and curious. I fell into an ambush set up by a group of criminals. They fought me until I was too weak to fight back and then, they-" She couldn't finish her sentence. Her voice trembled and she fought back the tears that threatened to fall. She took a deep breath and waited for it all to subside.

Listening to what had happened to Gamora made Peter fill up with rage that he didn't even realize he had. He heard a soft apology escape from her mouth as they finally reached the entrance to the garden. "Don't be. I'm glad you were finally able to tell someone." For some odd reason, he desperately wanted to hold her hand or just hold her in general. She didn't deserve anything that happened to her.

The green woman looked at the entrance in front of them. It was beautifully lit up with golden bulbs. The metal arch was wrapped in vines of various colors. She looked at the hologram beside it:

For Your Safety,
Please Keep Out After Dusk.
~The Nova Corps

Peter studied her face as she stared at the sign. No way in hell was he gonna let a dumb sign prevent them from going inside the garden. "Let's go inside." He started to walk in until a green hand pulled him back.

"It's closed, Peter."

"I know. It's closed for our 'safety'. He patted the sides of his thighs and started slowly walking backwards through the entrance. "I got my blasters. You got your sword, right?" Both of their eyes shot down to Gamora's sheath. Sure enough, it was carrying her beloved Godslayer. "Great!"

"Peter..." She warned. The ex-Ravenger grabbed both of her hands and gingerly started to pull her inside.

"Relax. We're the 'Guardians of the Galaxy'. They can't suppress us." Gamora rolled her eyes, allowing Peter to pull her along.

Once they were inside, they looked around in awe. The garden was filled with different types of flora in various sizes, shapes and colors. A small, circular pool of water sat in the middle, surrounded by a small metal barrier. A few silver benches were scattered around and a large swing hung down from one of the trees. After spotting the swing, Peter gestured for Gamora to follow him. "Hey, come here."

They both sat on the swing, Peter rocking it with his legs and Gamora sitting down with her knees to her chest. They sat there for what felt like hours, gazing at the stars from the swing. "Who knew we'd leave the penthouse just to walk to the garden and do the same exact thing?"

"Yeah." Gamora smiled softly, but faded not too long after. She cleared her throat. "I told you about my previous nightmares, but the one I had tonight was probably the worst of all." The man beside her quickly whipped his head around. "It wasn't a memory though. It was like a vision. I dreamt about Thanos once again, except he wasn't torturing me...he was torturing you and Drax and Rocket...even Groot."

"I can't sleep because of a similar reason. I'm so used to not caring about anyone, but myself, mostly because of the fact I don't wanna get hurt or hurt others. Now I have you guys, it's hard to think that now I have to worry about people who hate me going after you to get to me." Gamora nodded, understanding everything he was saying. "But, I guess when you have other people to care about, you don't feel so alone."

The woman smiled softly once again. "Yeah."