Give Them Back To Me

How Could You

When Peter woke up, Gamora was still fast asleep beside him, but Meredith was nowhere to be found. Peter immediately got up and ran out of the room as he searched for the child. Peter then heard his music coming from the cockpit and rush there. Sitting in one of the pilot seats was the young girl, Meredith. Peter sighed with relief, walking into the cockpit and taking his seat next to his daughter.

"What are you doing here?" Peter asked Meredith. Meredith shrugged in response, looking over at her father.

"Since I was little, when uncle Rocket used to put me to bed, I would always wake up from nightmares. I knew I could always find him here. He would teach me how to fly the ship until I got tired again, sometimes he would be asleep to and I would put him to bed like he would with me. Tonight I woke up and came out here and saw him asleep, so I put him to bed," the young girl said as she continued to pilot the ship towards Xandar.

Peter chuckled, ruffled the young girl's hair. "You were flying my ship at a younger age than me. I've been piloting the Milano since I was 10 years old." Peter looked around the cockpit, noticing things he knew were not there when he got trapped inside the Soul Stone.

An old picture of the Guardians was hung up, taken after Yondu's funeral. The rest were pictures of Rocket, Nebula, and Meredith. Peter started to take down some of the pictures and examine them closer. One picture was of Meredith and Rocket; Meredith was holding a blaster and smiling wide, Rocket had his arm around the girl, smiling as well. The back of the picture said she was four years old. Another picture was for Meredith's birthday, Rocket stood on a chair so Meredith could rest of his and Nebula's shoulders, the Ravagers in the background. One of the last pictures Peter looked at was of Meredith standing between Rocket and Nebula wearing his jacket and helmet, Gamora's sword in hand. The back of the picture said that it was Meredith first bounty. Her age, nine years old.

Peter looked over at his daughter in surprise. He put the pictures back and faced Meredith who was preoccupied with the ship's controls. "You were taking bounties at nine years old!" Peter exclaimed.

Meredith shrugged her shoulders, looking at her father. "Yeah, what's the big deal?" 

Peter sighed heavily, running a hand over his face. "You were nine years old is the problem. Why would Rocket let you take bounties at nine?"

"I didn't really give him much of a choice. Thor found me on my ninth birthday and told me the truth about everything: Thanos, the Soul Stone, how mommy didn't know she was pregnant with me when Thanos sacrificed her. So after I found out I tried to go hunt Thanos down on my own. Rocket and Nebula wouldn't let me but said that they would train me for when the time to fight Thanos did come," Meredith explained, yawning after her statement.

Peter sat back in the other pilot seat, absorbing the information his daughter had given him. When he looked back over at her, she was starting to fall asleep in the chair as well. Peter didn't say anything, just scoop the little girl up in his arms and carried her back to bed where Gamora still laid. Instead of getting back in bed with the girl, he went to hunt down Rocket.

Peter found Rocket in his quarters and jolted his awake, anger taking over his body. "What the hell is wrong with you! Letting a nine-year-old go out on bounties!" Peter screamed in a dazed Rocket's face. Groot was startled awake as well, running out to go find Drax and Nebula. Rocket threw Peter's hands off of him, sitting up in bed to face Peter.

"Do you actually think I wanted to let her take bounties? Do you think I wanted her to even know what that kind of lifestyle was?" Rocket sneered back at Peter. 

"You got manipulated by a fucking kid is what you're telling me!" Peter shouted back at Rocket.

"No! It was either train her and go with her on the bounties and make she was safe, or she would have run off in search of Thanos on her own! I wasn't gonna lose the only thing I had left of my family!" Rocket was now standing up, as close as he could get to Peter without touching. Peter backed down a little, taking in Rocket's words.

"What are you talking about Rocket?" 

"I was searching for Gamora when I found Meredith. I wasn't ready to find your kid, let alone raise it. I had no idea what I was doing, I lost it a couple times too. That's why I called in Nebula for help. I could handle it. Half the time when I saw her I would see Gamora or you. When she was a baby she reminded me of Groot. Hell, there were times she reminded me of Drax too! That little girl was the one thing in the entire universe that kept me alive, and I wasn't gonna lose her. So yeah, I let her take bounties at nine, cause it was the only way to make sure she wouldn't run off and get herself killed!" Rocket clasped back on the bed, hands covering his face to hide tears slipping out of his eyes.

"The day I called Nebula in to help was when she was around six. We got in an argument, I don't even remember what it was about, I just know she reminded me of you Quill. Her face, her tone, her body language, no doubt it was you. After she slammed the door in my face I broke down. I was gonna end it all. But I couldn't leave her alone. So I called in Nebula to take care of her and I took off once she got here. I ended up on Contraxia, drinking my life away till I found the courage to put a blaster through my face. That's when she called me. Meredith was bawling her eyes out on the phone after a nightmare, freaking out because she couldn't find me. I kept telling her she would be fine with Nebula, but she just cried harder, begging 'uncle Rocket' to come back. It was when she slipped up and accidentally called me dad, that I swallowed my pride and went back to the Milano," Rocket exhaled deeply, looking over at Peter who was now sitting next to him. "I love that little girl Quill, and I did everything in my power to keep her safe. So if that meant letting her take bounties at nine to keep her away from that ugly purple fuck, then that's what I had to do," Rocket finished, turning his head away from Peter and laying back down in the bed.

Peter figured the rest of this conversation could wait till the morning. He got up and exited the room, heading back to where the mother of his child and his daughter slept. When Peter entered the room, he found Meredith curled up in Gamora's arms. Peter couldn't help but smiled, crawling back into bed and finally going to sleep.