Another embarrassing thing about parenthood, is that your own kid embarrasses you. It happens ALL the time. For Peter, it happens when his daughter tries to pull Rocket's ears. In public.

"QUILL! Tell IT to stop pulling my ears!"

A few people turned around to see what the fuss was all about. The guardians had to make a stop at Knowhere and Peter didn't feel like leaving the ship while Lotus was inside it even if someone was watching over her. This place was full of fucking criminals and outlaws! He was so NOT going to let his daughter in the ship. She had to know about the real world. So he had to put on the baby carrier (again) and walked with his team around the place. At some point, Lotus got bored out of her mind and decided that it was better to try and play with 'Mr. Ears' as she now calls him, since she's learning to speak. Mr. Ears didn't want to but she did. So she decided to pull his ears.

"Lotus, please, not now." He said as he looked nervously around the place, some people were mumbling things about him. He knew it. Some random guy looked at him in disapproval. Peter frowned at him. "What are you staring at? Don't you have something better to do?" The man seemed a little intimidated and walked away. "Yeah, walk away! Bitch…" He turned to Rocket. "Sorry, Rocket. I think we should part ways for now so Lotus can't pull your ears."

Rocket just scoffed. "Yeah. Just tell IT to not do it in a near future, ok?" And the raccoon walked away.

Peter growled in annoyance. Today was NOT turning out good. He decided he'll just walk towards a less populated area of Knowhere so he could get into less trouble. Or Lotus. Especially her. She has been getting in trouble lately. She was proving to be the troublemaker her dad was. And he didn't like it. In fact, he was afraid that she turned out to be like him: a troublemaker for the galaxy. But in some weird, twisted way, he was a little proud.

Peter turned around a corner and almost bumped into a man but he fell on the floor. He surrounded Lotus with a protective arm. "I'm sorry, sir. I-"

The man that fell onto the floor was in fact… The Collector. Shit. Peter's grip on Lotus tied. The Collector stood up, facing Peter straight in the eye. "Well, well. If it isn't my favorite Terran."

"Hey." Peter said casually.

The white haired man looked at the Terran. Then at the baby. "Oh. I was not aware that you were a father. Congrats."

"Thanks?"

The Collector dusted himself off but something caught his eye. And whatever or whoever called the Collector's eye… was screwed up. "She has beautiful…pink eyes…" He approached closer to the baby, but Peter stepped back, his grip getting tidier.

Lotus looked at the white haired man. He was weird. Why did he wore all those things in his body?

"Oh, the protective kind of father. I would have never expected you of all people to be like that."

"Back off or I'll-"

"I was just complementing her eyes. They are quite… unique." He smirked. Peter gulped and surrounded Lotus with his other arm.

"Well, good to know that she has pretty eyes and that boys will be falling for her when she gets older but I got to go." Peter turned around.

"Stop right there, Mr. Quill."

Peter turned around again and faced the Collector. A determinate look on his face. "Listen carefully because I'm not saying this again. Stay. Away. She's not an object for any collection, so you can damn forget about her."

"I don't have my usual interest in her, Mr. Quill." The Collector replied, crossing his arms. "It's… more complicated than that."

"Then I must worry even more." Peter snapped.

"Listen to me, Mr. Quill. And listen carefully." He approached, lowering his voice. "There are things in this galaxy that are a danger to us all, even for my collection. I know what things are valuable when I see them and your daughter… is priceless. She might look like a simple baby, but she's not. Take care of her, you don't know what kind of game you are playing. You don't know what kind of a priceless flower you possess." He backed away, smirk on his face. "Have a good day, Mr. Quill." He looked at Lotus. "Miss Quill." And he walked into the direction Peter came from.

Peter stood there, thousands of thoughts consuming him. What was that all about? The Collector must have lost his mind or something in the explosion of his museum because, how could he tell how special Lotus was by just looking at her eyes? He sighed. Things were turning out to be weirder each day that passed, but he was not surprised. His whole life was weird. Psycho even. For the most part.

Lotus pulled his shirt collar, shaking him from his thoughts. He smiled at her. "No, Lotus. No pulling."

The baby glared at him.

"Seriously? You're glaring at me now? It's Rocket's job to be glared at." He chuckled. "Let's go. We need to find your motherly figure and your three crazy uncles."

As he made way back to the ship, he thought about the Collector's words. What? What was so special about Lotus that cough the crazy man's eye? What was it?