Peter tried to feed Lotus tricking her into thinking that her breakfast was actually candy. It worked. Groot had both his hands in a big bowl full of water, which diminished by the minute. He looked happy. Gamora munched silently on her cereal and Drax ate like an animal. He already had three plates of pancakes. Rocket just sipped a delicious fruit smoothie. Breakfasts were (amazingly) always silent on the Milano. When they ended, madness usually came after. Like right now, certain baby threw her whole food bowl at her daddy because she was watching how Drax ate.

"Drax, will you stop eating like an animal? That's no way to teach Lotus how to eat. I mean, she threw her food bowl at me!" Peter snapped, who in fact had his shirt covered in disgusting baby food. Carrot flavor to be specific.

"I do not eat like an animal. You may be insulting our friend raccoon here."

Now it was Rocket's turn to snap. "What!? I eat more civilized than you, you pesky cyber-whale!"

"Enough! Peter's right, Drax. You must stop behaving like this with your food in front of Lotus." Gamora said.

"Mama Bear!" Peter shouted.

Gamora glared at him and he shut up. But that didn't stop the smirk that formed on his face.

"I am Groot."

"Thanks, Groot. At least SOMEONE doesn't consider me an animal." Rocket said. Specifically to Drax.

Drax rolled his eyes, and finished his breakfast at a more civil way of eating. Peter sighed. "I'll be back in a minute."

Peter walked out of the kitchen and made way to his room. He took off his current dirty shirt, revealing his well build biceps and abs and threw it away. He grabbed a clean white shirt but he couldn't put it on because the alarm went off. He growled as he ran to the deck, clean shirt at hand. The rest of his team were there, talking to Nova Prime in a wide holographic screen. Peter stood beside Gamora, who instantly looked away. Groot, Drax and Rocket shared smirks and knowing looks. Lotus was in Groot's arms, looking confused, chewing on her sucker. Peter put on his shirt, much to Gamora's relieve.

"Nova Prime. What makes you call in this beautiful and sunny morning with thousands of stars hanging above our heads while we travel space with a beautiful spaceship?"

"No time for your stupidities, Quill!"

"Ouch…" Peter mumbled. Nova seemed serious.

"We have an emergency that requires all of you in Xandar. I'll see you at headquarters." And she cut off the conversation. The hologram disappeared.

"What are we waiting for? Let's go!" Peter commanded as he went back to his room to grab his red leather jacket. And the damned baby carrier.

OOO

They arrived in record time to Xandar. They parked the Milano and walked outside, towards the conference room where Nova Prime usually was. They looked so badass walking through the headquarter corridors. With a baby on a baby carrier attached to Peter motherfucking Quill. Some guards laughed at the site when they walked pass them. Peter ignored them, but Gamora couldn't. Just one glare and the guards where literary peeing their pants. She could have sworn one of them fainted. They took a right turn in the hallways.

But one guard had the audacity to say something along the lines 'I bet that baby is a bastard. I'm pretty sure she'll end up a criminal or a slut when she grows older if she's being raised by them'. That totally pissed off Peter. His heartbeat accelerated a bit.

"Hey Groot, do you want to hold the baby carrier for a while?" He asked.

"I am Groot." The tree said, grabbing the baby carrier eagerly and adjusting it to his chest. Lotus squealed happily when she noticed who was carrying her.

Peter turned around and walked towards where the guard stood. "Hey, dumbass! Would you care to repeat what you said?"

"I said nothing, sir." The guard stood still, not looking at Peter in the eye.

Peter leaned closer to the guard's face. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, sir." The guard was starting to regret his comment. The rest of the team watched from a few steps away. A few sweat drops fell from the guard's face.

"That's what I thought." Peter turned around, frowning, and made his way towards his teammates. But he heard another mumbled comment. Something along the lines 'I bet that green skinned girl is teaching that baby how to be a bitch.'

Peter had enough. Nobody, NOBODY insulted his daughter OR the love of his life. So he, again, spun around and in a matter of seconds, his fist connected with the guard's nose. HARD. The guard dropped his weapon and rubbed his now bleeding nose. Peter gave a satisfied nod and resumed his way back to his friends. Rocket and Drax were smirking, Groot smiled and Gamora just felt like she might melt and everything was color pink. He just defended her and Lotus' dignity! 'My hero…' She thought. Of course, she wouldn't show it.

"That asshole deserved that." Rocket said, still smirking.

"I am Groot." The tree agreed, as he passed down the baby carrier back to Peter. The man adjust it again and kept walking.

A few minutes later, they FINALLY arrived to the conference room, where Nova Prime waited for them with an angered look on her face. Her hair was not as groomed like the last time they saw it.

"What took you so long? You arrived twenty minutes ago! You should have been here by now!"

"Yeah, well…" Peter started. "There's a guard with a bleeding nose in hallway 237, so… yeah. Control your staff, Nova."

Nova stared at him. "You know what? I don't want to know. Now, to the matter at hand…" She made a gesture with her hand, giving the guardians permission to sit down in the rounded table. Peter took off the baby carrier and grabbed Lotus. He had a feeling this was going to take long.

"We have been tracking Thanos' goonies for a while now. So far, they were inactive. Until now, that is." A hologram of a red caped figure appeared in front of them. "This one is called Crimson Red. We can't tell if it's a male or a female."

"Female. Crimson Red is female." Gamora said, crossing her arms.

"You know this 'woman'?" Peter's question was unanswered.

"Thank you for that information, Gamora." Nova nodded at Rhomann Dey, her right handed corpsman. He was the one that threw them all in jail. He wrote down the information in the nearest computer. "As I was saying." Nova continued. "Crimson Red is not well known through the galaxy, due to the fact that she works in the shadows. But now she has surfaced, and we're pretty sure she's up to no good."

Gamora looked down. "Crimson might have something under her sleeve…" She mumbled.

"Why is that?" Drax asked.

Gamora didn't look up. "I don't know what she might be up to, but I… knew Crimson. I might have been Thanos favorite daughter, but Crimson came to him as a child. She came in voluntary, seeking someone to teach her the evil ways. Thanos took an instant likeness in her and decided to keep her." She finally looked up with a shadowed expression on her face. "She wasn't good in hand-to-hand combat, but she was powerful. Between Nebula, Crimson and I, she stood up in intelligence and battle tactics."

"Any physical appearance you might describe?"

"No. The last time I saw her was a long, long time ago. And even then, she always wore that red hoodie."

Nova nodded. "I see."

"You want us to find out what she is doing, right?" Rocket asked.

"No." Nova said. The guardians looked at each other confused. Lotus had fallen asleep during the conversation. "I want you to stay alert, in case she makes an appearance. We were giving you an orientation."

"She's quite unpredictable." Gamora commented.

"Yes, she is. Destroyed a whole village in a faraway planet, searching for something. We don't know what, our best guess is that she was after an Infinity Stone, which she doesn't have. This is an advantage for us. For now."

They nodded in agreement. "You may leave."

The guardians started to get up. Peter placed the sleeping Lotus back into the baby carrier and spun around to walk away, but Nova stopped him. "Peter?" He turned his head to look at her, the team waited on the doorway. "Take care of Lotus."

He raised an eye brow in question. "Why do you say that?"

"I may not know much about Crimson, but she seems the type that likes to strike where her enemies hurt the most. Not to mention that the five of you always manage to be in every criminal's black list."

"It's true." Gamora commented in the doorway.

"And it's obvious that this makes Lotus a vulnerable target, like my grandson is a target as well. Everyone is." Nova said. "Be careful."

Peter nodded and walked away.

OOO

"What was that all about?" Rocket asked while they entered the Milano. "I mean, about IT."

"I don't know. But it's not the first time someone warms me about Lotus and the possible fate of the whole goddamned galaxy." Peter says as he takes of the baby carrier and grabbed Lotus so he could put her on her crib. He remembered the Collector's words back in Knowhere. They were different but had the same meaning that Nova's: to take care of Lotus.

"I don't like this… at all." Gamora said.

"I am Groot." The tree agreed.

"Well, whatever is happening, we are ready, right guys?" Peter asked.

Rocket nodded. "We are always ready, I mean, we are the Jackasses of the Galaxy! It's our job to be ready."

"And if Lotus has something to do with it, we'll protect her. We are family." Drax's words were warm and honest. Peter smiled.

"Yeah, family."

They were all family. And as long as they were in this together, Lotus will be safe.