#avoquinnary

We’re the good guys now.

It all happened so fast, but to him it felt like time had slowed to a pathetic crawl. He didn't know how he hadn't seen it. He couldn't blame the lighting, Ventrexians had eyes as sharp as an earth felines. Then again, Gary was human so he probably didn't see it either. He was just so happy to have his son back. Maybe that was why he didn't notice it until it was too late.

He didn't have a choice then. He wasn't going to cheat his son out of a chance at life a second time and that was how he found himself face down against a sticky bomb right before it ripped his chest and stomach apart. As he fell from the Galaxy One into the emptiness of space his mind wandered. What would have happened if he had noticed the bomb earlier?

Would they have managed to stop the Lord Commander and close the breach? Then what? He didn't just want to drift forever through the cosmos even if it was with the people he had very quickly come to see as his family. If he was being completely honest with himself, he had wanted to settle down again. Things hadn't worked out so well with Little Cato's mom, which was how he had come to keep custody of him even before the loyalty fiasco. She hadn't wanted to raise a kit at all, more content to keep partying through the galaxies and doing her own thing for who knew how long and a kit would just cramp her style. So she dumped Little Cato on him the first chance she got and took off. A seven year relationship right down the drain.

Still, he couldn't just abandon his son like that even though his work as a bounty hunter, and later the Lord Commander's general, was dangerous. He loved him too much. That was why they were in this mess now, why he was free falling through space with a hole literally punched in his stomach. He loved his son too much to kill him, so the Lord Commander tried to instead. It seems like fate wanted to keep them apart and it just wasn't fair.

There was so much he hadn't gotten to do, hadn't gotten to say. And not just with Little Cato, but with Gary and Quinn too. The two of them were the closest thing he'd had to real friends in years and even that wasn't enough to describe what he felt toward them. He and Gary had clicked in a way he and LC's mom hadn't. Even though Gary was constantly pining for Quinn, who was stubborn but not hard to read so he knew she was feeling him too, there was something about the way the two of them acted that made Avocato's heart flutter something fierce.

He was dopey sure, and probably a little more crazy than he'd like, but there was something so downright adorable about Gary and he honestly wouldn't mind settling down with the loon when everything was all said and done. Hell even Quinn, the cold, shrewd woman that she was, had tickled that same spot in his heart that Gary very quickly wormed his way into. He could definitely see why he was so hung up on her. She was attractive, smart, very capable, and the perfect foil to them both. It was love. That's what he felt for them both.

Pure, unadulterated love. They offered him something he hadn't had before and he wanted nothing more than to settle down into a lazy, comfortable life on earth with them both. He hoped, that where ever he was going it would be somewhere warm and cozy like that.

Where he could just spend the rest of his days with the three people he loved more than anything else in the entire galaxy. In his own perfect world where things had gone completely different.

He closed his eyes as he let himself fall into that warm and inviting fantasy.

The breach? Closed. Earth? Saved. Lord Commander? Dead with a bullet in his egg shaped head. They would have set up on earth, he'd have insisted on it mostly because he wanted Little Cato to get a good education and get a good taste of a happy life. They'd get H.U.E a synthetic body that way his AI  wouldn't be tethered to the Galaxy One forever. KVN could go fuck himself for all he cared but chances are he and the S.A.M.E.S would stick around and they'd all be this weird mixed family. He'd teach H.U.E to bake better cookies because he knew for damn sure Gary couldn't cook and Quinn would probably have a fit if she had to do all the cooking. He wouldn't completely give up the weapons, he'd be a fool to do so and while he wanted Little Cato to learn all that the universe had to offer he wanted him to be able to handle himself in combat too. The kid was good but he could be better, the last thing he wanted was to fight some kids parents at a PTA meeting because their kid was being a little shit.

Speaking of PTA, could he do that? He probably would have to. Gary's too high strung to sit still for that long and H.U.E would probably stick around the house to make sure KVN and Mooncake didn't wreck the place. Quinn could probably go but he didn't wanna force her to parent if that wasn't her thing. He could dream though. She'd be a great mother to Little Cato. Underneath all that coldness anyway. He'd pack up his little family for trips to the beach in the summer and the mountains in the winter. Holidays? Hell yeah he could host holidays. They'd have the most badass house at Christmas time and Halloween. He'd make sure of it.

The more he thought about Christmas the more the idea of the three of them, him, Gary and Quinn, sharing a bed appealed to him. Gary was definitely a cuddler, Quinn not so much but she'd probably still appreciate a warm body on a cold winter night and he'd be more than happy to accommodate them both. Hell, if Mooncake and Little Cato crawled in that'd be even better. One big happy family slumbering together like something out of a storybook. A perfect little slice of life, his life. Their lives. Why didn't he see that bomb sooner?

Tears pricked the corners of his eyes as white started to edge his vision. He held onto that happy thought like a lifeline as he felt his body finally start shutting down. It began getting harder and harder to breathe, he felt cold and shut his eyes tighter, pulling himself into that thought, that warm and cozy thought. Safe in bed with his son, the loves of his life and their pet planet destroyer. Safe and warm and loved. Right where he wanted to be.

When he opened his eyes again, he was staring at the ceiling. Snow was falling outside the window but he didn't feel cold. He turned to see Quinn sleeping peacefully to his right with Little Cato snuggled right between them and purring contently as he snoozed. To his left was Gary and Mooncake, also sleeping soundly. Safe and warm and loved. He could smell pancakes cooking and the low chatter and clanking of the S.A.M.E.S and H.U.E in the kitchen. There was no pain in his chest as he carefully got up so he didn't disturb his bedmates on his way to the bathroom. He looked in the mirror and didn't see any blood. Was he dreaming? Was it just a nightmare?